12 Jun 2018 | Index in the Press
Let’s start small and then go big. This week the writer Lionel Shriver was turfed off the judging panel of a women’s short-story competition. The reason for her ejection was that she had written something disobliging for The Spectator magazine about a major publisher’s diversity strategy. Shriver is a vivid writer and her views were expressed vividly. Her arguments were a variation on the usual concerns that many people have about the practical application of positive discrimination. Read in full.
8 May 2018 | Index in the Press
In the wake of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, few are likely to disagree that we ought to have more protections over the use of our data. The right to privacy is one enshrined in international convention. But it is vital that in striving to ensure we have greater control and oversight over personal information, we do not undermine another fundamental right in the process: that of freedom of expression, and, in particular, media freedom. Read full article.
6 Apr 2018 | Awards, Fellowship 2018, News and features
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Mèdia.cat is a Catalan website devoted to highlighting media freedom violations and investigating under-reported or censored stories. Unique in Spain, it has been a particularly significant player in the last year when the heightened atmosphere in Catalonia over the disputed October independence referendum has brought issues of censorship and the impartiality of news, as well as the actions of public bodies like the police and government, under the spotlight.
Without the website, there would have been no online platform to catalogue systematically, publicly and in real time censorship perpetrated by the Spanish authorities against the local Catalan population. One of its most high-profile initiatives has been its Map on Censorship. This was set up two years ago in response to the Spanish government approving a so-called gag law, limiting the right to protest and effectively stopping people filming police officers. The Map on Censorship website was used particularly effectively during the 2017 crisis over the Catalan referendum campaign, giving the population in Catalonia live information about censorship, and other violations.
Between September and November 2017 as part its Map on Censorship initiative, journalists at Mèdia.cat documented and raised awareness about more than 125 possible restrictions on freedom of expression or information. All the incidents were related to the independence referendum in Catalonia of 1 October 2017, including both the lead up to the poll and its aftermath. The site deployed a team of 11 volunteer journalists to provide live updates on media freedom violations. The crisis in Catalonia in the last few months increased the reach and significance of the Map on Censorship with the map having 55,523 visits from 1 January to 12 November 2017.
Mèdia.cat describes itself as a critical media watchdog. It is run by a group of local Catalan journalists and publishes in Catalan about Catalonia. The financing for Mèdia.cat projects comes from a variety of sources including grants from the Catalan local government and the Barcelona City Council, crowdsourcing, foundations and donations. Mèdia.cat maintains its independence and is part of the Ramon Barnils group of journalists.
Mèdia.cat’s Hate Speech Media Watchdog ( https://www.media.cat/discursodimitjans/) also identified eight far-right media outlets in Spain which use fake news and other strategies to spread racism, xenophobia and islamophobia, among other forms of discrimination.
On their spot on the 2018 shortlist, Journalist at Mèdia.cat said “It is a great honor to be nominated to the Freedom of Expression awards. We were inspired by Index on Censorship’s work when we launched our Map on Censorship in 2015, which nowadays has become one of our most relevant projects. The nomination itself feels like an award for us. Especially in the current context, where freedom of expression is at stake in Catalonia and the Spanish state. Journalists have suffered physical aggressions, threats and other restrictions to their jobs, some artists have been censored and even retweeting a critical message can get you accused. We need to fight against this situation, unique in Western Europe, and this nomination is a great encouragement to do so.”
See the full shortlist for Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2018 here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” equal_height=”yes” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1490258749071{background-color: #cb3000 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”Support the Index Fellowship.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:28|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsupport-the-freedom-of-expression-awards%2F|||”][vc_column_text]
By donating to the Freedom of Expression Awards you help us support
individuals and groups at the forefront of tackling censorship.
Find out more
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1521479845471{background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-awards-fellows-1460×490-2_revised.jpg?id=90090) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1522918006370-df72cba5-2f37-3″ taxonomies=”10735″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
29 Mar 2018 | Awards, Fellowship 2018, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/M6Amr_zAgpc”][vc_column_text]Team 29 is an informal human rights association of lawyers and journalists that defends those targeted by the state for exercising their right to freedom of speech.
Run by prominent human rights lawyer Ivan Pavlov, Team 29 is based in St Petersburg and named after Article 29 of the Russian Constitution on freedom of expression.
“We use court cases not only as an opportunity to restore justice within a specific case, but also as an excuse to attract public attention to the problems of freedom of information in Russia,” said Team 29.
By taking up high profile human rights cases, and writing and disseminating information about them, Team 29 has found a way around some of the restrictions imposed on campaigners.
The legal part of the Team conducts about 50 court cases annually. These are cases of high treason and the disclosure of state secrets of journalists and citizens whose right to freedom of speech is infringed, the refusal of the state to share information, and cases of extremism.
This year, the journalist section of the team set up a website to report on legal cases, explain the background to policies which threaten free speech, give advice, and explain what is happening to human rights in Russia and the different and myriad ways it is under attack.
It is the successor organisation to the Freedom of Information Foundation (FIF), which existed between 2004 and 2014, but which was shut down by the Russian government after it was included in the state register of “foreign agent” non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The very right of civil society organisations to exist has been cast into doubt in Russia over the past few years and ever tightening restrictions placed on public protest and political dissent, making the work of Team 29 of increasingly vital importance as the space for free expression shrinks in the country. Most human rights organisations based in Russia have been closed down and it is very difficult to campaign.
Last year, Team 29 lawyers took on the Russian state to find out the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust, but was captured by Soviet intelligence, placed in the Lubyanka prison and never seen again.
Journalists of Team 29 have also developed their niche media about state secrecy this year. Journalists of the team conducted their own investigation into the behaviour of Sochi’s “state officials” on the back of the Sevastidi case and are conducting a special project The Seventeenth Year in which they compare 1917 and 2017 in the history of Russia. They want to have videos on their site and develop their human rights campaigning work.
“It is a great honour for the whole Team 29 to be nominated for the Freedom of Expression Awards together with colleagues from Iran, Egypt, and Kenya, who are risk their lives constantly due to their work,” said Team 29. “Several years ago, it seemed not so dangerous to be a human rights defender or activist in Russia. We just didn’t know about a lot of cases of violence towards activists before; however, today we hear more and more news about tortures by the police, people vanishing, or security services’ secret prisons. The more people who know about our work, the better protected we become and the better chance we have to achieve our objectives and to help people whose rights to information access are abused in Russia.”
See the full shortlist for Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2018 here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” equal_height=”yes” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1490258749071{background-color: #cb3000 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”Support the Index Fellowship.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:28|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsupport-the-freedom-of-expression-awards%2F|||”][vc_column_text]
By donating to the Freedom of Expression Awards you help us support
individuals and groups at the forefront of tackling censorship.
Find out more
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1521479845471{background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-awards-fellows-1460×490-2_revised.jpg?id=90090) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1522067531601-cc030204-bc1b-9″ taxonomies=”10735″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
