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Index on Censorship | A voice for the persecuted
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Mapping Media Freedom: In review 30 June-7 July

Click on the dots for more information on the incidents.

Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.

Turkey: DIHA reporter arrested in Batman

4 July 2016: Dicle News Agency reporter Serife Oruc was sent to court on the charges of being “member of an illegal organisation”, news website Bianet reported. Oruc was arrested with two other men who were in the same car with Oruc, Emrullah Oruc and Muzaffar Tunc.

All three were transferred to a prison in Batman.

UK: Journalist claims Telegraph censored article critical of Theresa May

2 July 2016: The Daily Telegraph pulled a comment piece critical of Theresa May as May fought to become the leader of the Conservatives.

The piece was published on 1 July in the news section of the Telegraph but was subsequently taken down from the website. It was entitled “Theresa May is a great self-promoter but a terrible Home Secretary”.

“Daily Telegraph pulled my comment piece on Theresa May ministerial record after contact from her people #censorship”, journalist Jonathan Foreman tweeted on 2 July.

The journalist authorised Media Guido to republish the piece and it can be read on their website.

Russia: Free Word NGO declared a “foreign agent”

1 July 2016: The Pskov office of the Russian justice ministry declared Svobodnoye Slovo (Free Word), an NGO which publishes the independent newspaper Pskovskaya gubernia, a “foreign agent”.

The decision was made after an assessment of the organisation was conducted by the Pskov regional justice ministry department. It established that the organisation “receives money and property from another NGO which receives money and property from foreign sources”.

In addition, the statement said the NGO is running “political activities” because the newspaper is covering political issues.

Independent regional Pskovskaya Gubernia became well-known after a series of articles revealing Russian casualties in eastern Ukraine in the beginning of the Donbass conflict in the summer of 2014.

Azerbaijan: Editor sentenced to three months in jail for extortion

1 July 2016: Fikrat Faramazoglu, editor-in-chief of jam.az, a website that documents cases and arrests related to the ministry of national security, was arrested last Friday. He has been given a three-month sentence after being accused of extorting money by threats.

Faramazoglu’s wife said a group of three unidentified men showed up at their home, confiscating his laptop. Documents and even CDs from his children’s weddings were confiscated without any warrant. The three men informed Faramazoglu’s wife that her husband had been arrested.

Russia: Police detains Meduza freelancer covering death of children in Karelia

30 June 2016: Police detained Danil Alexandrov, a freelance journalist for Meduza news website working in Republic of Karelia reporting on the death of 14 children in a boating accident on Syamozero Lake. He was accused of working “without a license“.

Alexandrov was detained on his way out of the Essoilsky village administration building, where he spoke to the head of the town. The police reportedly approached Alexandrov and threatened to confiscate all his equipment unless he signed aan administrative offence report. He signed the document.

“They hinted that it might be necessary to confiscate ‘evidence of my journalistic activities’,” Alexandrov told Meduza, adding that the police insisted the publication was a foreign media outlet and had to be accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Foreign Ministry’s rules on accreditation discuss full-time staff members of foreign media outlets but do not comment on freelancers. Alexandrov’s court case is scheduled for 6 July. He faces a maximum penalty of 1,000 rubles (€14) for working “without a license”.


Mapping Media Freedom


Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/


European Parliament adopts resolution condemning Bahrain’s human rights abuses

Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted, with a large majority, a resolution condemning recent human rights abuses performed by Bahraini authorities, and strongly called for an end to the ongoing repression against the country’s human rights defenders, political opposition and civil society.

Members of the European Parliament called for the immediate and unconditional release of Nabeel Rajab and other human rights defenders jailed over charges related to the exercise of their freedom of speech. They further condemned Bahraini authorities’ measures to prevent representatives of civil society from participating in the work of international bodies, such as the recent imposition of travel bans on the delegation set to attend the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June.

In the resolution, MEPs urged the Bahraini government to stop persecuting legitimate political opposition. They condemned the decision to suspend the country’s biggest opposition group, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, and called for the release of Sheikh Ali Salman, the group’s secretary general whose sentence was increased from 4 to 9 years in May.

The MEPs particularly condemned the Bahraini authorities’ misuse of anti-terrorism laws and mechanisms for denaturalisation as means of political pressure. The European Parliament strongly called on the authorities to reverse the decision to revoke the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim and to “restore Bahraini citizenship to all those individuals who were unfairly stripped of it.”

The resolution also called for the effective implementation of the 2011 recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, the Universal Periodic Review and the country’s own constitutional provisions linked to the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Furthermore, the resolution recognised the risk of impending execution faced by Mohammed Ramadan and Ali Moosa.

Finally, MEPs condemned the agreements on trade in weapons and technologies used to violate human rights and called for the prohibition of exports of tear gas and anti-riot equipment to Bahrain until investigations have been carried out into their inappropriate use.

The undersigned NGOs strongly welcome the resolution as a clear signal to the Bahraini authorities that they must respect their international commitments, as well as their own constitution, and allow their citizens to exercise their basic rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression and assembly.

We believe that it is of the utmost importance that EU policy and decision-makers assert the respect for human rights and legitimate expression of political dissent as a condition for any further development of relations with Bahrain and GCC countries. The next opportunity to do so will be the EU-GCC ministerial meeting which will be held in Brussels on 19 July 2016.

Please read the full text of the resolution here.

Background:

In what has been a concerted crackdown on civil society, media and fundamental freedoms, Bahraini authorities have in the past month embarked on a series of arrests, impositions of travel bans and denaturalisations of their citizens who have tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

These moves include:

  • the arrest and prosecution of the prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab;
  • the suspension, announced dissolution and the asset-freeze of the country’s biggest opposition party, the Al-Wefaq Islamic Society;
  • an increased jail sentence, from 4 to 9 years, for the party’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman;
  • the imposition of travel bans on journalists and activists, including a delegation of human rights activists set to participate at the 32nd UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva;
  • the forced exile of prominent human rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja;
  • the suspension of several non-governmental and religious organisations;
  • the denationalisation of Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of the Bahrain’s Shia majority population

These moves, and in particular the decision to revoke the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim, provoked a wave of mass protests across the country, representing the largest public outcry since the 2011 unrest.

Signed By

Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain

Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy

English Pen

European Centre For Democracy and Human Rights

Index on Censorship

International Federation for Human Rights

Justice Human Rights Organization

Pen International

Reprieve

Serbia: Journalists protest “government control” of public broadcaster

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Journalists and citizens in Serbia’s northern city of Novi Sad are taking the streets after a wave of dismissals at the regional broadcaster Radio Television Vojvodina, which they believe is a direct result of political pressure.

It was late in the afternoon on 17 May when journalist Vanja Djuric heard that her job was no longer necessary. “We had just prepared the news items for the next day,” she told Index on Censorship. “They just told us, ‘You don’t have to come to work tomorrow.’”

She was not the only one. By the end of that week, 18 RTV employers had been replaced without explanation. Some received a phone call, others were stopped in the building’s hallway. “The whole newsroom, all the editors and journalists, we’d all been sent home,” Djuric added.

Novi Sad, Serbia’s second city, has been the centre of protests for media freedom ever since. Thousands have taken the streets to demonstrate against editorial reforms at one of the biggest public broadcaster in the country. Protesters believe that the ruling party of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is gradually taking control over the radio and tv station that used to be one of the few independent broadcasting media companies in Serbia.

It is believed that the dismissals of RTV editorial staff was a direct result of a shift in government in the autonomous province of Vojvodina.

Elections had taken place on 24 April and the results, which caused a dramatic shift in power when the results were revealed on 4 May. The Serbian Progressive Party had won a majority like it already had on a national level.

The national equivalent of RTV, Radio Television Serbia, is already under strict government control, and major concerns have been raised that RTV is now headed into the same direction.

Over 100 journalists and editors have signed an open letter criticising the dismissals and asking the new board of directors to resign and to restore free media at RTV. A newly formed protest movement called Podrzi RTV (Support RTV) has organised four protests so far.

Vojvodina’s journalist association, the Independent Journalist Association of Vojvodina, believes that the new political leaders were intended to take over the public broadcaster. “The political takeover of one of the most objective televisions in Serbia started immediately after the elections with the non-transparent replacement of RTV’s programme director,” Nedim Sejdinovic, president of the Independent Journalist Association of Vojvodina told Index on Censorship.

“Soon after that the general director and the director of one of the most popular news programmes resigned,” he said. “It was the start of the new leadership.”

Most journalists were taken off their editorial positions and transferred to non-journalistic jobs within RTV. The programme schedule changed overnight. “Under the excuse of ‘summer shifts’, they took down almost every political and investigative programme,” Sejdinovic said.

While the majority of the journalists are still on the payroll, five prominent journalists so far have been fired.

NDNV is expecting more journalists to lose their jobs in the coming months. The association is looking into the dismissals with a team of lawyers. “We found out that most dismissals were against the law so we are preparing court cases up to the European Court for Human Rights,” said Sejdinovic. Serbia’s national journalist associations NUNS and UNS, as well as the OSCE have strongly condemned the developments at RTV.

Journalist Sanja Kljajic was working on RTV’s recently launched investigative journalism programme, which was also cancelled by the new management. She is one of the initiators of the protest movement Podrzi RTV.

“We’ve been accused that we were not objective and didn’t fulfil our role as a public service, with no evidence or arguments,” she told Index on Censorship. Her show was called Behind the Wall, the first season was about to start, dealing with the country’s problems within the judicial system. “Bearing in mind that we were doing research about terrible results of the judicial reforms over the past 15 years in Serbia, we are sure that the reason for cancelling the project is a textbook example of censorship,” said Kljajic.

RTV had a unique reputation in Serbia, where the media has become more and more unfree in the recent years. It had managed to operate objectively and has been praised for being one of the few broadcasters in the country that managed to resist political pressure. While other public media have turned into a mouthpiece for the prime minister, RTV kept broadcasting debates and critical reports. Sanja Kljajic was proud to be a part of it. “I was free to ask any question to anyone,” she said.

That started to change already in the period leading up to the elections. There were signs that control was about to get tightened. At the beginning of April, journalist Svetlana Bozic-Kraincanic was expelled and had her salary cut after asking the prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, a critical question during a press conference. It was election time, Vucic was running to be re-elected. Bozic-Kraincanic touched on a sensitive topic asking him about his ties with the Serbian Radical Party of the recently acquitted war criminal Vojislav Seselj, a party of which Vucic was a member during the 1990s war in former Yugoslavia.

“It is very disturbing that RTV is now transformed into another media that serves the regime of prime minister Aleksandar Vucic,” said Nedim Sejdinovic of NDNV. However, he also sees optimism in the response it has got. “The protests have brought out to the streets of Novi Sad not just journalists, but also citizens themselves,” he added. “The story of journalists became the story of the people. They are coming to the protest to show their growing dissatisfaction with the current government.”

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the date of the elections.


Mapping Media Freedom
Violations, censorship and needs of threatened journalists in Europe


Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/


6 July: What a Liberty! launch the Magna Carta 2.0

Untitled presentation (2)

On Wednesday 6 July, What a Liberty! will launch their Magna Carta 2.0 at the Collection Museum in Lincoln.

Since February, eighteen British teenagers have worked together to re-imagine the Magna Carta and create their own Great Charter, the Magna Carta 2.0. Led by Index on Censorship and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Magna Carta 2.0 aims to spark discussion, provoke change and encourage young people to make sure their voice is heard. The group focused on the need for justice, equality, education and environmental consciousness. They have launched a self-managed website and social media presence to spread the word and spark discussions about human rights in the 21st century.

This event is open to the public – and will include  a presentation from the group, audience Q&A and speeches from special guests, including Rachael Jolley, editor of Index on Censorship magazine. Following the presentation, we’ll be hosting a tea reception at The Collection, a chance to meet the group and other invited guests.

If you’d like to attend, please email: events@indexoncensorship.org.

2.15pm-3.15pm – presentation and discussion
3:15pm-4:15pm – tea reception

The Collection Museum, Danes Terrace, Lincoln, LN2 1LP

“We’re here to influence the future. We’re here to promote a new charter. We are Magna Carta 2.0.”

14 July: The role of investigative journalism and a free media in fighting corruption

How can we protect a free media and space for civil society? What are the growing restrictions facing journalists? How can investigative journalism fight corruption?

As the space for free media in Europe is threatened, the importance of an independent media must be emphasised. A free and independent media plays a vital role in exposing corruption and holding governments and the corporate world accountable.

Join Transparency International EU for a conference on The Role of Investigative Journalism and a Free Media in Fighting Corruption” including:

Restrictions on Media and the Press in the European Union, 3.45pm-4.45pm

  • Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive, Index on Censorship
  • Andras Peltho, founder/editor, Direckt 36 Hungary
  • Dirk Voorhoof, board member, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom

Investigating Corruption, 4.45pm-5.45pm

  • Miranda Patrucic, editor, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
  • Kristoff Clerix, Knack Magazine (ICIJ member who has worked on LuxLeaks, SwissLeaks and Panama Papers)

When: 2-6pm, 14 July
Where: Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi 155, Brussels
Tickets: To attend this event, register here. To apply for a travel grant contact EMcMillan@transparency.org

Journalists attacked by police and protesters during French labour reform bill demonstrations

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In almost four months covering protests against France’s labour reform bill, a number of journalists in the country have faced intimidation, detention and injury. Others have had their equipment broken or been physically prevented from doing their job.

On 9 April, a group of protesters threatened journalists in Rennes. The following month, a journalist working for Le Figaro newspaper was hurt by a projectile, likely to have been thrown by a protester and aimed at the police.

However, there have been more reports of violence against journalists being perpetrated by police forces. On 5 April, a Mediapart journalist reported that a member of the police force tried to break his phone while he was filming a violent arrest at a protest in Paris. On 10 May, a journalist who works for Les Inrockuptibles was hurt by a grenade launched by riot police during a protest in Paris. Six days later, it was alleged that an Agence France Presse journalist had their camera broken by a police officer while filming an arrest.

Journalists have also been attacked with batons and one as hurt by a Flash-Ball gun. On 23 June, two independent journalists, including Gaspard Glanz from Teranis News, were detained for hours in a police van while on their way to cover a protest in Paris.

“I didn’t think this could happen in France,” Julie Lallouet-Geffroy, an administrator for Club de la Presse de Rennes et de Bretagne and journalist for Reporterre, told Index on Censorship.

Club de la Presse de Rennes et de Bretagne, a press club based in the city of Rennes, Brittany, has been particularly active in denouncing violence against journalists covering the local protests. After journalists were attacked in Rennes on 2 June, the group took the case to France’s constitutional ombudsman for citizens’ rights and met with the interior minister.

Lallouet-Geffroy told Index what happened when journalists were caught in the middle of the clash between police and protesters. “Police forces first hit an independent photographer, then they hit Vincent Feuray [a contributor to Libération],” she said. “He fell to the ground unconscious and remained unconscious for a few seconds.”

Lallouet-Geffroy said she was also shoved by police.

She told Index that meetings with journalists at the club resemble “group psychotherapy”: “Journalists often won’t talk about this type of incidents – they consider it’s just behind-the-scenes stuff. But soon you realise that journalists working for very established media outlets, such as AFP or France 3, who have a 12kg camera on the shoulder, are teargassed at point-blank range. What really struck me is the banalisation of such violence.”

Reporterre recently published a report on police violence against protesters, which includes a few pages on cases where journalists were targeted. “What’s disconcerting is this litany of violence in all French cities, with the same words and the same incidents reappearing while police forces are supposed to protect citizens,” said Lallouet-Geffroy.

The emergence of new journalists and new media outlets that occupy a grey zone between journalism and activism has been seen as disconcerting for some.  

“There are young journalists who will go on the hotspots, taking risks that journalists who have a steady job won’t take,” Lallouet-Geffroy said. “Sometimes it feels like they are cannon fodder, particularly isolated, with no outlet to have their back if they get in trouble or if they are sued for libel. Some of the images they get are really valuable, though.”

Teranis News recently published an “encyclopaedia of police violence”, to show force being used against protesters.

The deteriorating relationships between French police and young people continues to be a problem. It was announced on 29 June in the National Assembly that a plan to issue written receipts to people stopped by police, which organisations fighting police violence have long campaigned for, would not be implemented. A popular chant among French protesters remains: “Tout le monde déteste la police” (“Everybody hates the police”).


 

Mapping Media Freedom


Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/


Index award-winning GreatFire launches groundbreaking new site to test VPNs in China

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Anti-censorship group GreatFire has today launched a new service that will help internet users inside China live test how well different virtual private networks are working in the country.

VPNs, which create direct links between computers and offer a way in which to gain unrestricted access to the internet, are vital for business in China as well as for accessing information. The country actively censors the internet, with users having to use circumvention tools in order to access over 18,000 websites including Google, Facebook, the BBC and the New York Times.

“There is a commonly held belief in China that if you have a VPN that works then you should keep quiet about it,” said GreatFire co-founder Charlie Smith. “In terms of freedom of access to information, the problem with this approach is that it keeps useful knowledge secret. We hope this project will destroy that model and give people accurate information so they can make informed choices. The public need to be able to get online quickly, reliably and free from state censorship.”

Chinese authorities have stepped up their attacks on circumvention tools over the past 18 months and GreatFire’s new testing site is part of the group’s attempt to fight back. The site – Circumvention Central (CC) – provides real-time information and direct access to both free and paid-for censorship-evasion tools that are working in China.

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Constantly updated using information from within China, all VPNs (including GreatFire’s own circumvention tool FreeBrowser) are measured on both speed (how quickly popular websites are loaded) and stability (the extent to which popular websites load successfully).

Speed tests typically measure download and upload speed by sending a few requests to a speed test server. That means reported speeds do not reflect user experience because normal browsing involves frequently sending lots of requests to many different servers.

In contrast, GreatFire’s speed test aims to reflect real user experience by downloading resources from the ten most popular websites in the world, including Google, Facebook, YouTube, Baidu, Amazon and Yahoo. If the contents returned are incorrect or if the download fails to complete within 40 seconds, the test is marked as failed.

Besides speed, stability is also tracked. Typically not taken into account by other services, the stability test reflects the likelihood of a connection failing. Although any connection anywhere should deliver 100% stability unless unplugged, VPNs on the ground in China fail regularly. Testing happens in real-time, which is essential to an environment where VPNs get blocked and unblocked continuously.

Visitors to the CC site can purchase any paid-for tool currently tested. GreatFire will act as a reseller of these tools in China and as such be given a portion of each sale by the VPN providers themselves. Users need not be based in China to purchase a circumvention service.

Any revenue generated through the site will be used to support the ongoing digital activism of GreatFire, which earlier this year won an Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for its work fighting online censorship in China.

“At the moment, GreatFire relies on the kindness of individuals who send us donations and a limited number of grant-making organizations around the world,” said Smith. “We want to reduce our reliance on these organizations and raise enough funds to properly end internet censorship in China as soon as is humanly possible”.

Smith hopes the new site will revolutionise VPN use in China. “Until CC, nobody has provided public information about the effectiveness of circumvention tools in China. Many have provided misinformation,” he said. “Some VPN providers have also famously encouraged their customers to “keep quiet” about the effectiveness of their solutions. On the contrary, we encourage everyone who hears about this project to share this information with those who they think could benefit.”

For more information please contact charlie.smith@greatfire.org

 

Notes for editors

See below for image, copyright free.

GreatFire.org campaigns for transparency of Chinese censorship by providing numerous effective online services that enable users to better understand how censorship operates in China. GreatFire also provides mechanisms for internet users to access censored content. The organisation operates six projects: GreatFire, FreeWeibo, Collateral Freedom, FreeBrowser, FreeBooks and Circumvention Central. A seventh project, Free WeChat, is in development.

Index on Censorship is an international organisation that defends people’s freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. Our Freedom of Expression Awards celebrate some of the world’s most creative and courageous artists, campaigners, journalists and digital activists. As winners of the 2016 award for Digital Activism, GreatFire are current Fellows, supported to magnify their impact and further the fight against censorship worldwide.

Survey: Are ad-blockers killing the media?

In the summer 2016 issue of Index on Censorship magazine, Spiegel Online’s managing editor Matthias Streitz and Privacy International technologist Richard Tynan go head to head to debate the rise of ad-blockers.

Many publishers have voiced concern that this software – which allows users to block online adverts from their screens – is damaging their revenue streams.

“If you consume our content, you must allow us some means of monetisation,” said Streitz. While Tynan argued that online adverts pose a security risk and ad-blockers allow users to “retain control over who the communicate with, and [minimise] the amount of data companies collect on users’ online patterns”.

Streitz and Tynan explore all the pros and cons at great length in the latest issue, which you can order here, but in the meantime Index on Censorship would like your thoughts on the power of adblockers.

[os-widget path=”/indexoncensorship/are-ad-blockers-killing-the-media” of=”indexoncensorship” comments=”false”]

Azerbaijan’s war on independent media (Global Journalist)

Under President Ilham Aliyev, the economy of Azerbaijan has expanded spectacularly. An oil boom has fueled a 10 fold increase in the size of its economy since he took power in 2003.

But under Aliyev, the country of 10 million has been one of the hardest and cruelest places in the world for journalists. According to Freedom House, Azerbaijan’s government has used spurious charges to jail journalists and human rights activists. Disseminating information that harms the “honor and dignity” of Aliyev is a criminal offense. Journalists’ telephone calls and internet activity are regularly surveilled.

Read the full article

Discussion: What are taboos and what role do they play in society?

Do taboos play an essential role in culture and society or must we simply get rid of them? Index on Censorship magazine editor Rachael Jolley spoke on the topic at Fritt Ord headquarters in Oslo, Norway, on 21 June at a discussion co-organised by Index, Fritt Ord the Free Word Centre.

Other speakers included Maria Stepanova, poet and editor of the webzine Colta.ru, Moscow, and Pål Johan Karlsen, author and editor-in-chief of the website Psykologisk.no.

Index magazine’s winter 2015/16 issue was on the theme of taboos and why breaking down social barriers matters. In her talk, Jolley presented a global survey of taboos, discussed their history in certain countries and explored why certain taboos lead to censorship.

“Who decided these are the rules and how do they change?” she asked. “Sometimes it takes a generational shift such as we’ve seen in Ireland with the vote to change the law on gay marriage.”

“There’s a tipping point theory where a body of resistance builds up to such a point that the dam breaks and the public suddenly demands another way is found and an older way is discarded,” Jolley added.

Stepanova focused on taboos in Russia, paying special attention to “government-inspired” taboos that were virtually non-existent until a few years ago, but which are now shaped and encouraged by propaganda. Johan Karlsen spoke in defence of the elephant in the room: Why are taboos useful? If we are to co-exist and find inner peace in a dangerous world, we must make space for taboos in our lives, he argued.

Knut Olav Åmås, executive director of the Fritt Ord Foundation, moderated the discussion.

Mapping Media Freedom: In review 24-29 June

Click on the dots for more information on the incidents.

Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.

Turkey: Access to Social Media Sites Blocked After Deadly Blast At Istanbul Airport

June 28: Shortly after an attack that saw three suicide bombers target Istanbul airport, killing 41 people and injuring more than 200, the government imposed a gag order to Turkish media outlets. This was followed by social media users reporteing problems with access and switching to VPN services.

Gag orders are frequently used by the Turkish authorities. But this time, shortly after the attack, RTUK, Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, expanded the ban to include all media.

According to Vocativ, the office of the Turkish Prime Minister instituted the ban on any photos or videos of the explosion for national security reasons.

According to Mashable, the media ban has been an issue as Turkey has been the victim of a spate of terror attacks in the last year, including a suicide bombing in Suruc in July 2015, a double suicide bombing in Ankara in October 2015, a suicide bombing in Istanbul in January and a deadly bombing in Ankara in February.

UK: Guardian journalists denied entry into Donald Trump event

25 June: A Guardian reporter was denied access to a golf course resort in Aberdeen owned by Donald Trump, where US presidential candidate was on the second day of a two-day UK visit.

Two Guardian journalists were denied entry to the golf club by staff who said they weren’t on the list and did not have credentials.

At a press conference on Friday at his Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, Trump took offence when a Guardian journalist asked him why UK and Scottish senior politicians had not come to meet him, suggesting it might be because he was toxic.

He replied by saying the questioner was a “nasty guy”.

Trump has banned several newspapers and media organisations from campaign events, including Buzzfeed in 2015 and The Washington Post in June 2016.

Spain: Police attempt to seize recording of conversation between interior minister and anti-fraud chief

24 June: Two days before the general elections, two police officers entered the newsroom of website Público in Madrid asking for the recording of a conversation between the Spanish interior minister and a regional anti-fraud office chief, the newspaper reported.

Público executives refused to hand over the material because the agents didn’t have a court order, according to Público.

On Tuesday 21 June, left-leaning Público website published the secret conversation between centre-right interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz and Daniel de Alfonso, director of Catalan anti-corruption office.

The conversation took place in October 2014, when the officials discussed the investigation directed at members of the two regional political parties which had been organizing a referendum on independence. They were planning to fabricate scandals related to separatists, informed Público, calling it a “conspiracy”.

In November 2012, the local centre-right Democratic Convergence of Catalonia party and left-wing party Republican Left of Catalonia organised a non-official referendum in Catalonia, north-eastern region, where a majority of citizens voted in favour of independence from Spain.

The Spanish Constitutional Court prohibited the referendum, claiming it was not legal according to the constitution.

Center-right Partido Popular has been in power since 2011 and both interior minister Fernández Díaz and prime minister Mariano Rajoy said the case, [in the run-up to the general elections], is a “campaign maneuver” produced by their political rivals.

Turkey: Cumhuriyet newspaper receives death threats from businessman

24 June: Turkish businessman Mehmet Cengiz threatened newspaper Cumhuriyet with death threats over the phone, Turkish Minute reported.

Cengiz whose name was mentioned during the corruption scandal in December of 2013, called the newspaper headquarters telling them “I will fight you. Don’t make this man a killer”, reported Ozgur Dusunce news website.

The threat came shortly after Cumhuriyet newspaper announced it was set to publish a series of documents leaked through the Panama Papers, which would include Mehmet Cengiz, and other well-known businessmen with ties to the ruling government of Justice and Development Party.

Serbia: Local politician menaces cameraperson

24 June: A local politician for the Democratic Party of Sandzak, Behri Beganovi, menaced and tried to stop Alem Rovcanin, a cameraperson for TV Novi Pazar, from filming during a session of the local parliament in Prijepolje, news agency Tanjug reported.

According to Rovcanin, Beganovic cursed at him multiple times, and then reached for his camera, telling him he should not film him.

Due to the interference of other parliament members, the camera remained untouched.

Beganovic, the founder of the party DPS, was reportedly unhappy that cameraperson Alem Rovcanin was filming him during a parliamentary session.

Regional TV Novi Pazar has condemned the incident and asked journalist associations to react.


Mapping Media Freedom
Violations, censorship and needs of threatened journalists in Europe


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Podcast: Kenyan journalist forced into hiding after reporting the news

“Yassin Juma is an extraordinary journalist, who has taken great personal risks to get the story of what is happening in the war that is being waged in Somalia against Al-Shabaab,” writer Ismail Einashe told Index on Censorship.

But Juma is now in hiding.

Einashe interviewed the Kenyan investigative journalist for the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, which is themed on the risks of reporting worldwide.

Juma was arrested in January for posting information on social media about a recent attack on the Kenyan Defence Force by the Al-Shabaab militant group. Juma revealed that, according to a credible source within the KDF, 103 soldiers had been killed in an attack on the Kenyan army base in El Adde, Somalia.

The journalist was later arrested and faced charges of  “misuse of a telecommunication gadget”. After being grilled by police and detained for two days, he was released without charge but has since gone into hiding, fearing that his reporting is angering the authorities.

Listen to Einashe explaining the significance of this case on the Soundcloud above. The full article, written by Einashe, is in the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine.

Print copies of the magazine are available here, or you can take out a digital subscription via Exact Editions. Copies are also available at the BFI, the Serpentine Gallery, MagCulture, (London), News from Nowhere (Liverpool), Home (Manchester) and on Amazon. Each magazine sale helps Index on Censorship continue its fight for free expression worldwide.


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