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Last summer’s uprisings were likely the most photographed in history, with not only mainstream press in attendance, but near-every attendee equipped with their own networked camera, live-streaming and hashtagging the protests, creating layers upon layers of unquantifiable documentation. The rampant circulation of these images—often shared in real-time— propelled the movement on and offline, allowing the summer’s events to swell into a global uprising. When these images were quickly co-opted by the state, with law enforcement using them to retaliate against BLM activists, photographers online began to employ a variety of visual answers to the problem of privacy, blotting out the faces of protestors with digital ink.
posted by klangklangston on Aug 9, 2021 - 9 comments

What next for photography in the age of Instagram? Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian's photography critic, examines the changing landscape of a thriving medium, and provides updates on his musings on an ever-evolving art form from six years ago, covering everything from the absurd number of photography festivals held each year to the value of truth in photography in the age of Photoshopping, in contrast with videos of a fatal shooting at an Iranian protest that went viral. In his prior piece, O'Hagan compared photographs netting high bids at auctions, between the 1906 "old master," Edward J. Steichen's The Pond - Moonrise, and Andreas Gursky's "The Rhine II". Adding to the discussion is the fact that the latter was, as Gursky said, digitally altered to "leave out the elements that bothered me." [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Oct 17, 2018 - 13 comments

Alex Jones, the First Amendment, and the Digital Public Square - "How should we challenge hate-mongering in the age of social media?" [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Aug 19, 2018 - 88 comments

Ahead of Cambodia's July 29th national election, regarded by rights groups as a sham after the opposition party's forced dissolution, Voice of America has released a rich special issue: Cambodia Adrift. [more inside]
posted by cichlid ceilidh on Jul 28, 2018 - 8 comments

The foundation that administers the .cat domain for Catalonians just got raided by the Spanish police, but all the media wants to talk about is cats. The office was raided because Catalonia hopes to hold a referendum on October 1 to decide if it should secede from Spain, and in an effort to quash the referendum, the government of Spain ordered puntCat to “block all .cat domain names that may contain any kind of information about the forthcoming independence referendum,” according to a press release from the foundation.
posted by Sys Rq on Sep 23, 2017 - 128 comments

Freedom of speech in the digital age - "Speech that disseminates ideas is more valuable than speech whose purpose is to intimidate others." [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Oct 10, 2016 - 26 comments

RBC recently became the latest of many independent news organization in Russia to face resignations, restrictions and closures due to mounting pressure from authorities. In May, the editor-in-chief was dismissed, reportedly due to political pressure resulting from stories about Putin's inner circle. Two other chief editors and numerous editorial staff left in protest. The replacement chief editors, brought in from state-controlled media outlet TASS, wanted to introduce themselves to the remaining RBC staff. The Q&A with the new bosses started with a simple request: “Everything we discuss here … doesn't go beyond this room and doesn't end up on social media.” Naturally, the whole thing was recorded, and the transcript was posted online. [more inside]
posted by Kabanos on Jul 12, 2016 - 16 comments

Russian Purge Part 1: Putin Doesn't Need to Censor Books. Publishers Do It For Him. by Masha Gessen [The Intercept_] [more inside]
posted by Fizz on Feb 22, 2016 - 7 comments

On January 20th Medium received a takedown request from the Malaysian Government over a supposedly false report on the Malaysian Prime Minister and corruption by the Sarawak Report, a whistleblowing news organization whose main site was banned in Malaysia. When Medium Legal requested clarification, such as official court documents and proof of the report's falsehoods, instead of providing such documentation, Malaysia blocked Medium.
posted by divabat on Jan 26, 2016 - 22 comments

French journalist accuses China of intimidating foreign press. by Tom Phillips [The Guardian]

China is facing accusations of attempting to muzzle and intimidate foreign press after it said it would expel a French journalist who refused to apologise for an article criticising government policy. Lu Kang, a spokesperson for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, claimed Ursula Gauthier, the Beijing correspondent for French magazine L’Obs, had offended the Chinese people with a recent column about terrorism and the violence-hit region of Xinjiang. “Gauthier failed to apologise to the Chinese people for her wrong words and it is no longer suitable for her to work in China,” Lu said in a statement, according to Xinhua, Beijing’s official news agency.

[more inside] posted by Fizz on Dec 27, 2015 - 21 comments

Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo [New York Times]

“The decision by PEN American Center to give its annual Freedom of Expression Courage award to the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo has prompted six writers to withdraw as literary hosts at the group’s annual gala on May 5, adding a new twist to the continuing debate over the publication’s status as a martyr for free speech. The novelists Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi have withdrawn from the gala, at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.”

[more inside] posted by Fizz on Apr 27, 2015 - 400 comments

Face-Stabbing and Cop-Killing: Inside 2015's Most Controversial Video Game [VICE]

"Destructive Creations' Hatred has drawn plenty of criticism for the fact that its main character, a big hairy man, seems intent on killing innocent civilians for no particular reason."

[more inside] posted by Fizz on Jan 20, 2015 - 59 comments

As this research report will show, North Koreans today are learning more about the outside world than at any time since the founding of the country. North Korea is consistently ranked by Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders as the country with the least free media in the world. This ranking reflects the country's complete lack of an independent domestic media, its legal restrictions against accessing foreign media and the harsh punishments it metes out against citizens who violate those restrictions. Yet, since the late 1990s the information environment in North Korea has undergone significant changes. Although the media environment remains extremely restricted by international standards, North Koreans' access to outside media has grown considerably over the past two decades. Many inside the country continue to develop new ways to access information while avoiding the ever-present risk of detection and punishment.
posted by DiesIrae on Dec 11, 2012 - 13 comments

Today the South African parliament, dominated by the ANC, passed by a large majority a media law which will restrict and constrain independent journalism in that country. Indeed, the law seems designed to squeeze, chill or eliminate independent reporting. The state is going to be accountable to the state. [George Brock]

[more inside] posted by not_the_water on Nov 22, 2011 - 17 comments

The Haystack application aims to use steganography to hide samizdat-type data within a larger stream of innocuous network traffic. Thus, civilians in Iran, for example, could more easily evade Iranian censors and provide the world with an unfiltered report on events within the country. Haystack earned its creator Austin Heap a great deal of positive coverage from the media during the 2009 Iranian election protests. The BBC described Heap as "on the front lines" of the protesters' "Twitter revolution", while The Guardian called him an Innovator of the Year. Despite the laudatory coverage, however, the media were never given a copy of the software to examine. Indeed, not much is known about the software or its inner workings. Specialists in network encryption security were not allowed to perform an independent evaluation of Haystack, despite its distribution to and use by a small number of Iranians, possibly at some risk. As interest in the project widens and criticisms of the media coverage and software continue to mount, Heap has currently asked users to cease using Haystack until a security review can be performed.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Sep 13, 2010 - 30 comments

The ever-oddly dated Project Censored has released its list of undercovered and ignored stories for 2010.
posted by Pope Guilty on Oct 14, 2009 - 37 comments

Caijing (财经) is an independent, Beijing-based magazine devoted to reporting on business in China. The publication's title means "Finance and Economics." [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu on Jul 26, 2009 - 6 comments

The talk show host, Miss Oprah Winfrey is illegally invading my privacy to promote show ideas on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Further, each time I gather evidence of proof, she pays people with her talk show earnings money to bribe them to destroy evidence. Many more complaints to the FCC about selected tv shows here.
posted by oxford blue on Jan 31, 2008 - 76 comments

Leave Jesus Alone!
posted by homunculus on Sep 17, 2007 - 71 comments

Blacklisted! The bankruptcy of the liberal Air America Radio Network is old news. What's new is a leaked ABC memo to affiliates (.pdf original) listing 90 corporations and major advertisers that stipulated that their ads not be aired during the broadcast of Air America content. Is there any hope that radio or television news in the United States can report stories that do not uniformly support the goals and viewpoints of the S&P 500? There are of course, alternative models. Is it time for a PBS Newschanel?
posted by washburn on Nov 4, 2006 - 58 comments

PM of Malaysia: Those who spread untruths on the Net will be detained Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia, warned all bloggers that "if information in blogs, websites and online portals were incorrect, bordered on slander, caused disturbance or compelled the public to lose faith in the nation’s economic policies, their authors would be detained for investigation". The Malaysian government is even considering adjusting the Printing Presses and Publications Act^ to include blogs and online media.

This comes hot on the heels of a government-ordered media blackout on Article 11, a coalition of NGOs dedicated to upholding the principles of Article 11 of the Malaysian constitution, about freedom of religion, after several protests claiming Article 11 to be anti-Muslim and confusing it with the now-defunct Interfaith Comission Initiative, which aimed to be a body of people of different faiths raising awareness about diversity of religion and working together on religious issues.

Minister of Energy, Water, and Communications Dr Lim Keng Yaik said that they will not censor the Internet (as promised when the Multimedia Super Corridor was launched), but after events such as prominent Malaysian political blogger Jeff Ooi being investigated over a supposedly offensive comment on his blog entry about Islam in 2005, and alternative news source MalaysiaKini's office raided after carrying a letter critical of the ruling party's policies in 2003, no one is really quite sure.
posted by divabat on Aug 3, 2006 - 16 comments

The news you knew, yet didn't really know Project Censored has become more and more relevant in our self-censored and compliant media. These are the top ten stories that received very little airplay or no air play at all. It makes the Baby Jesus cry. . .
posted by mk1gti on Jan 28, 2006 - 28 comments

Shock and gore. The people behind "the world's goriest website", why they do it, and what it says about us.
posted by ascullion on Jan 14, 2006 - 47 comments

Every weekly meeting causes me to feel ashamed. I listen to people lie. I listen to people lie shamelessly and authoritatively. And you cannot refute them. You cannot stand up and say, "You are lying. What are you lying?" Tolerating lies is regarded as wisdom. Those who are anxious to speak the truth are regarded as being victims of too much hormone. People make fun of themselves this way, and then wisely say: "Those naive actions will only bring even worse consequences. Be mature, be rational, be practical. Research more issues and talk less about theories."

This was written by an employee at The Beijing News after three of it's head editors were fired from their positions last week. The paper, one of the most progressive newspapers in China, was taken over by editors from The Guangming Daily, a paper directly controlled by "The Ministry of Publicity". Via Eastwestnorthsouth who translated the original blog post as well as this one written by another member of the staff at The Beijing News.
posted by afu on Jan 2, 2006 - 22 comments

The Parents Television Council has released their list of the top 10 worst shows for family viewing. The Fox network led the way with six of the ten shows, Family Guy, American Dad, The War at Home, The O.C., That 70s Show and Arrested Devlopment. The PTC also released a top-nine list of shows that are family friendly (they claim they couldn't find a 10th show to complete the list), leading the way is Three Wishes and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They also accuse Fox of being deceptive with their marketing of their Sunday night lineup, and using cartoons to pedal the "filth" to children.
posted by SirOmega on Oct 19, 2005 - 56 comments

Walmart vs the free press again... other examples: the book mentioned in this thread is no longer available. This and that and the other thread too. Another point in a pattern of steadily increasing restriction of the press by this taxpayer funded mega -corp? Or simply a case of private enterprise making decisions in its own interest - nothing to see here, move along...
posted by dorcas on Jul 27, 2005 - 118 comments

If the president can say it, why can't Gary Trudeau?
posted by ZachsMind on Jul 26, 2005 - 58 comments

Who's sorry now? Artists! Have you ever felt the need to apologise for the hurt caused by your Satan promoting work? Have you ever been forced to apologise or see your public funding withheld in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights? Have you then decided to say sorry by organising a parade, whipping yourself and leaving wreaths outside cityhall?
posted by Damienmce on Dec 15, 2004 - 6 comments

The 10 big stories the national news media ignore
"Every year researchers at Project Censored pick through volumes of print and broadcast news to see which of the past year's most important stories aren't receiving the kind of attention they deserve. Phillips and his team acknowledge that many of these stories weren't "censored" in the traditional sense of the word: No government agency blocked their publication. And some even appeared – briefly and without follow-up – in mainstream journals."
Surprise, surprise, most of the stories have to do with the current administration. Some of the stories are pretty shockingly awful, like (links are to referenced resources for the list) 3. Bush administration manipulates science and censors scientists, 4. High uranium levels found in troops and civilians, 5. Wholesale giveaway of our natural resources, 8. Secrets of Cheney's energy task force come to light and finally, 10. New nuke plants: taxpayers support, industry profits.
And people say Kerry gets a free pass by the media?
via Captain Normal (again).
posted by fenriq on Sep 3, 2004 - 28 comments

"I Have a Gentil C**k." A rooster that is, but Apple may not have realized that when they altered the title on iTunes (iTunes link.) The song (sample: Real Audio, Windows Media), arranged by Carol Wood, is a 14th-15th century medieval love song, a variation of the aube. It may have inspired Chaucer's description of Chantecleer in the Canterbury Tales. [Via Digital Medievalist, SFW unless you work for Apple.]
posted by homunculus on Feb 3, 2004 - 10 comments

Dying for your country no longer warrants a picture in the paper. Ban on pictures of the coffins of soliders killed in Iraq.
posted by spazzm on Oct 23, 2003 - 12 comments

"Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda." This quote, captured in a USA Today article, came from Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti in response to allegations that CNN "was intimidated" by the Bush administration and Fox News, which "put a climate of fear and self-censorship."
posted by FormlessOne on Sep 15, 2003 - 37 comments

Search the New York Times website for any occurrence of the words "Valerie Plame" during the last week...and you'll find nada, zilch, zip. The so-called "paper of record" has remained totally mum on what may be one of the biggest scandals of the Bush administration yet. You can read about it at Newsday, CBS, Time, and The Nation, and it's been mentioned on NBC... but not a word from the New York Times (save for a reference to it last week by syndicated columnist Paul Krugman, and a wire service story today; neither of those pieces mentions Plame by name). The Times' news and editorial divisions are asleep at the switch on this story. Maybe the Jayson Blair scandal was a distraction from the deeper problem: a paper that is so concerned with being balanced and respectable, it refuses to cover any politically controversial stories. You can e-mail letters@nytimes.com to ask why the Valerie Plame news blackout. Or just click this link a few dozen times to send 'em a message.
posted by Artifice_Eternity on Jul 25, 2003 - 38 comments

GOP Warns TV Stations Not to Air Ad Alleging Bush Mislead the Nation Over Iraq They claim that the ad itself is dishonest, and cite the obligation of broadcast outlets to be free of misleading information. “Such obligations must be taken seriously. This letter puts you on notice that the information contained in the above-cited advertisement is false and misleading; therefore, you are obligated to refrain from airing this advertisement.” Despite the implicit threats, only one station has refused to run the ad, a Fox station.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly on Jul 23, 2003 - 69 comments

Enforcing silence: American media are unsurprisingly preparing to publish details of Vancouver's Pickton case despite a Canadian publication ban. Are media blackouts censorship, necessary for justice, or both? Or are they just doomed to fail when you can just, you know, do stuff like this?
posted by transient on Nov 21, 2002 - 22 comments

MTV bans Public Enemy 's video "Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need" because the video contains the lyric "Free Mumia and H Rap Brown". MTV are willing to air the video if the lyric is cut. Public Enemy front-man Chuck D is vocal in his response. Responsible action or censorship in its worst form?
posted by nthdegx on Sep 14, 2002 - 72 comments

"A Slight Case of Anthrax" CBS pulls tonights episode of The Agency (at least on the West Coast, don't know about East Coast). Hmmm...I can't imagine why: "The team works against the clock to stop an anthrax threat in the United States. A Belgian kennel has fallen victim to a terrorist attack in which the deadly disease anthrax was used. When the CIA discovers the perpetrator's identity and that Washington, D.C., is his next target, the team mobilizes to stop the criminal before he can reach the capital." Is the shrinking line between truth and fiction becoming too close for comfort?
posted by nix on Oct 11, 2001 - 6 comments

Another year, another 25 under-reported news stories. Courtesy our fine friends at Project Censored, take a gander at the articles mainstream media shied away from throughout 2000, while aiming the consolidated investigative spotlight at all that presidential bollocks, and J-Lo's breakup with Puffy.
posted by legibility on Apr 4, 2001 - 9 comments

USA Network complies with Tylenol's request to halt production of a drug-tampering movie.
posted by gluechunk on Dec 6, 2000 - 11 comments