Trademark troubles
Canadian activists are the subject of a lawsuit from one of the country’s largest media organisations, writes Mordecai Briemberg
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Yemeni editor jailed
Abdul Karim al Khaiwani, former editor of now blocked website al-Shora.net, has been sentenced to six years in jail for distributing publications allegedly calling for solidarity with Houthi rebels in the south of the country. Mr al Khaiwani had been due to travel to London next week to attend the Amnesty Media awards, in which he was shortlisted for the Special Award For Human Rights Journalism Under Threat.
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Al Dura controversy continues
A recent French court decision leaves us no closer to the truth about footage that shook the Middle East, writes Natasha Lehrer
A seven-year debate over the authenticity of the footage of the death of Mohammed al Dura in the arms of his father Jamal reached a new stage on 21 May when the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a defamation verdict against blogger Philippe Karsenty.
In 2004 Karsenty joined the chorus voicing scepticism about the al Dura footage. He accused the veteran France 2 Middle East correspondent Charles Enderlin, who provided the voiceover for the report from Gaza, which was filmed by freelance cameraman Talal Abu Ramah, of knowingly having broadcast faked footage of the shooting at the Netzarim Junction on 30 September 2000. Enderlin and France 2 have consistently rebutted this accusation and have so far taken four bloggers, including Karsenty, to court. In the original court case, in 2006, the court did not demand that France 2 hand over the rushes. Karsenty was found guilty of defamation.
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Ireland: perverse argument
Gay sex, moral crusades and Desperate Dan: the Mayo Echo row has it all, writes Joseph Sexton
A popular community-based website in the west of Ireland was forced to cease operating last week in the fallout that followed the publication of an inflammatory article in a local newpaper attacking alleged gay ‘perverts’.
The article, penned by Tony Geraghty, editor and proprietor of local freesheet, the Mayo Echo, provoked widespread debate on Irish web forums. This quite startling front-page article, which reads like a bad Onion spoof, told the story of a recreational area in Castlebar, Co Mayo being transformed into a latter day Sodom, with hundreds of men visiting on a weekly basis to have anonymous sex with strangers, propositioning young boys, and getting their rocks off whilst thumbing through children’s magazines. Perhaps most horrifying, the article described ‘drooling perverts getting off whilst watching children’ playing at an adjacent playground.
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