24 Jun 2020 | Index in the Press
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship is quoted by Neil Mackay in The Herald as he examines the anti-democratic implications of the Scottish authorities barring of freedom of information during the coronavirus crisis, when transparency from the authorities and accountability is as vital as it ever has been.
“The Index on Censorship said that FoI delays by governments around the world “allow politicians and public bodies to sweep information that should be freely available and subject to wider scrutiny under the carpet of coronavirus. News that is three months old is, very often, no longer news”.”
Read the full article here[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
16 Jun 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Editions, Volume 49.02 Summer 2020
Journalist
Issa Sikiti da Silva is an award-winning freelance journalist who has traveled extensively across Africa. Born in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he has lived in South Africa and worked as a foreign correspondent in West Africa. His work has been published in nearly 40 media outlets
Actor and playwright
Katherine Parkinson is a Bafta-award winning English actress. She has appeared in several television series, including The IT Crowd and Humans. She has also appeared in such films as How to Lose Friends & Alienate People and The Boat That Rocked, as well as on stage in various high profile West End shows. In 2019 Parkinson’s debut work as a playwright, Sitting, had its London premiere, after a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe
Playwright
David Hare is a playwright and film-maker. He has written over thirty stage plays which include Plenty and Pravda (with Howard Brenton). For film and television, he has written nearly thirty screenplays which include Licking Hitler, The Hours, The Reader and Denial. In a millennial poll of the greatest plays of the 20th century, five of the top 100 were his
8 Apr 2020 | Hungary, News and features
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Viktor Orbán Credit: European People’s Party/Flickr
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, leader of right-wing nationalist party Fidesz, has responded to the coronavirus crisis by pushing through sweeping emergency laws that have no time limit and have enormous potential to limit media freedom.
These laws essentially allow Orbán to rule by decree, which presents a huge threat to democracy and freedom of expression. While Index acknowledges that extraordinary measures need to be taken to protect lives, the passing of emergency laws of this nature for an indefinite time period was described in an Index statement as “an abuse of power”.
Under the emergency laws, journalists can be imprisoned for up to five years for publishing what the authorities consider to be falsehoods about the outbreak or measures taken to control it. But what exactly constitutes falsehoods is open to interpretation.
As Index notes, Hungary already has “one of the worst free speech records in Europe”. This further blow to journalists’ ability to report freely and objectively on the actions taken by the government is crippling for press freedom. It follows a pattern of state authorities infringing on press freedom under the guise of quashing “fake news” that Index has recorded happening globally in the wake of the crisis.
Transparency about the official numbers of those infected and those who have died from Covid-19 is critical for public safety. The scale of the outbreak will inform public behaviour and support for health services. Authoritarian regimes around the world such as North Korea and Turkmenistan have reported zero cases, the implausibility of which suggests censorship of the real figures by these countries’ despotic leaders.
Orbán is on the road to joining these leaders as, under the emergency laws, journalists are unable to hold the government to account over the accuracy of the data. Orbán has singular control of the public knowledge of the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, which, according to a government website, is 817 to date. See more here about this on the Index map tracking attacks on media freedom in Hungary.
Hungary’s neighbour Austria, which has a smaller population and recorded its first cases just 8 days before Hungary, has to date recorded 12,206 cases.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”3″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1586344862424-03642fb1-d46b-2″ taxonomies=”4157″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
24 Mar 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Editions, Volume 49.01 Spring 2020
Director
Émerson Maranhão is a Brazilian director and filmmaker, who has directed the short film Aqueles Dois, about two transgender men, amongst others
Writer
An award-winning Libyan academic and writer, Najwa Bin Shatwan has written three novels, a collection of short stories, plays and contributions to anthologies
Historian
Tom Holland is a writer and historian, who has published a range of bestselling books. He specialises in classical and medieval history
