Russia’s new blasphemy law is censorship under the guise of protection for believers, says Padraig Reidy
Vladimir Putin and the new defence of the faithful
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CATEGORY: News and features
Greeks protest public broadcast closure
Antonis Samaras, prime minister and leader of the Greek coalition government, announced that the state TV channel ERT, the equivalent of the BBC, would be shut down from midnight on 11 June. Dawn Foster reports. Plus: Index condemns ERT move
National security should not be used by governments to justify mass surveillance
Index on Censorship, English PEN, Privacy International, Open Rights Group and Article 19 are calling on the Foreign Secretary’s speech to the House of Commons on the GCHQ links to the Prism scandal, we the undersigned condemn the collection and surveillance of British citizens’ online communications and activities through the US Prism programme.
Free speech groups protest violence against Ugandan journalists
Index on Censorship has joined Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) in writing a letter of protest to the country’s president President Yoweri Museveni, after the network’s national coordinator, Geoffrey Wokulira Ssebaggala was attacked and arrested by police
UN report calls for freedom of expression in post-2015 development
Calling for a transformation in the approach to global development that includes a larger role for freedom of expression, the United Nations’ High Level Panel of Eminent Persons released its report Post-2015 Development Agenda report, Milana Knezevic writes
Self-censorship stifling UK artistic expression
Could “snooper’s charter” stop terror attacks?
Some UK politicians have said the murder of a soldier in Woolwich, London this week demonstrates the need for greater surveillance of communications data. But would a “snooper’s charter” really have made a difference? Index asked
Emma Carr of Big Brother Watch and Jamie Bartlett of Demos for their views
South Africa’s secrecy bill signals growing political intolerance
The so-called secrecy bill’s passage through the South African parliament mirrors an increasing political intolerance towards diverse views that in some cases has spilled over in violence, Christi van der Westhuizen reports.
In Mexico drug gangs target local journalists
Journalists in Mexico’s border area with the United States face huge pressures from drug gangs in reporting on violence, Ana Arana reports.
Glitz and glamour can’t hide Eurovision’s politics
Europe was once again be swept away by a sparkly hurricane of techno beats and pompous ballads, kitschy and/or traditional costumes, wind machines, pyrotechnics, heavily accented English, awkward host banter and nul points. Yes, Eurovision took our breath away in more ways than one, Milana Knezevic writes.