Journalism

The Empire Finds An African Enemy: African Stream In The Crosshairs

September 26, 2024 David Hundeyin, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Africa, African Stream, Freedom of Speech, Journalism, Media, Propaganda, Russia

On Friday, September 13, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed a press briefing in Washington DC, as he has done many times before. The purpose of the briefing was to announce new measures to counter “Russian propaganda,” a pronouncement that was not out of the ordinary. The US has placed nearly 6,000 sanctions on Russia over the years, making a press briefing to announce the State Department’s latest Russian sanctions a normal and prosaic event. That is, until Blinken got to the main point of his briefing: Last week, our government revealed how RT launders information operations through unwitting Americans to covertly disseminate Kremlin-produced content and messaging to the American public. Today, we’re exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world.

‘Democracies’ Attack Journalism As They Attack Democracy Itself

August 30, 2024 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Democracy, Democrats, Elections, Journalism, State Repression

The nations of the collective west love to brag and to praise themselves as being democracies. They say they abhor authoritarian, autocratic governments and constantly condemn anyone they don’t like as belonging to that club. In reality, the word democracy is used to fool the gullible into accepting actions and policies they ought to reject and also as a weapon meant to disguise evil intent. But the facade is cracking as the dictatorial tendency becomes harder to hide. Here in the United States, Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee after wealthy donors orchestrated a coup against the sitting president they put into office four years earlier.

The Slide Into Authoritarianism

August 28, 2024 John Kiriakou, Consortium News. Educate! Authoritarianism, Journalism, Press Freedom, Richard Medhurst, State Repression

All of us who care about civil liberties, civil rights, human rights and freedom of the press have had a front-row seat lately to a slide toward what can only be described as authoritarianism. The governments of the U.S., U.K. and even Canada have been working hard, sometimes in a coordinated fashion, to silence dissenting voices. The governments’ tactics have been heavy-handed, to say the least. Most recently, journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested last week by British authorities. Richard, who is one of the loudest and most important voices in support of human rights for Palestinians, was arrested at Heathrow Airport. Detaining a journalist is not terribly unusual in the U.K., unfortunately.

Meta Permanently Bans The Cradle In Latest Attack On Free Speech

August 19, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Censorship, Facebook, Instagram, Journalism, Meta, Press Freedom, Repression, The Cradle

On 16 August, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta permanently banned The Cradle from its social media platforms for allegedly violating community guidelines by “praising terrorist organizations” and engaging in “incitement to violence.” “No one can see or find your account, and you can't use it. All your information will be permanently deleted,” reads the message accompanying the ban on Instagram, where The Cradle had surpassed 107,000 followers and amassed millions of views. “You cannot request another review of this decision,” the message ends, despite the fact the ban came with little warning or any chance for review.

Police Must Respect Journalists’ Rights To Freely Report On DNC Protests

August 19, 2024 Seth Stern and Jimena Pinzon, Chicago Sun-Times. Educate! Chicago, DNC, First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Illinois, Journalism, Journalists, Police, Press Freedom

Hundreds of journalists are expected to converge on Chicago to cover the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19-22 – and they must be allowed to do their jobs unimpeded. The city’s plan to “streamline” mass arrests during the convention, by processing arrestees at a makeshift court at the Area 3 police station at Belmont and Western, does nothing to alleviate the threat mass arrests pose to journalists. The plan, reported by the Sun-Times last week, is supposedly for the arrestees’ convenience: It’ll be easier for them to get home on public transportation that way. But “catch and release” arrests are never convenient for journalists, or their readers.

Consortium News Condemns FBI Raid On CN Columnist’s Home

August 10, 2024 Consortium News. Educate! FBI, Foreign Agents Registration Act, Journalism, Press Freedom, Scott Ritter

Consortium News condemns in the strongest terms the F.B.I. raid on the home of CN columnist Scott Ritter. Federal agents removed Ritter’s electronic equipment and numerous boxes of paper files from his Albany, N.Y. area home Thursday on suspicion that the former U.N. weapons inspector is violating the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act. In a video posted to his Substack page, Ritter said that normally in alleged FARA violation cases the authorities send a letter to the subject of the inquiry informing them of the investigation. They do not send numerous F.B.I. agents to the door with a warrant to search and remove potential evidence.

Ruling Challenges Media Stance On Palestine

August 9, 2024 Mick Hall, Consortium News. Resist! International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel, Journalism, Media, Palestine

Major international media faces a dilemma over whether to adapt its reporting to the World Court’s judgment last month that Israel is an apartheid state illegally occupying Palestinian territory or continue to reflect a dominant narrative giving Israel ideological succor. The legal opinion followed a request in December 2022 from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the legal status of the occupation, as the United States and its sub-imperial allies continued to dispute international law on the matter. Western media outlets have for decades been wary of calling the occupation illegal, largely due to international law being disputed by Israel and its Western backers.

Decay, Decrepitude, Deceit In Journalism

August 8, 2024 Ray McGovern, Consortium News. Educate! History, Journalism, RussiaGate

Russiagate continues to survive like a science fiction monster resilient to bullets. The latest effort at rehabilitating it is an interview by Adam Rawnsley in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine of one Michael van Landingham, an intelligence analyst who is proud of having written the first draft of the cornerstone “analysis” of Russiagate, the so-called Intelligence Community Assessment. The ICA blamed the Russians for helping Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. It was released two weeks before Trump assumed office. The thoroughly politicized assessment was an embarrassment to the profession of intelligence. Worse, it was consequential in emasculating Trump to prevent him from working for a more decent relationship with Russia.

The Corporate News Media At Work

July 14, 2024 Jonathan Cook, Consortium News. Educate! Corporate Media, Israel, Journalism, Media, Palestine, Propaganda, Russia, Ukraine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

When all we have to rely on in understanding our relationship to the news media is the media’s self-proclaimed assessment of its own role, maybe it is no surprise that most of us assume the West’s “free press” is a force for good: the bedrock of democracy, the touchstone of a superior western civilisation. The more idealistic among us think of the news media as something akin to a public service. The more cynical of us think of it as a competitive marketplace in information and commentary, one in which ugly agendas are often in evidence but truth ultimately prevails. Both views are fanciful. The reality is far, far darker – and I speak as someone who worked for many years in The Guardian and Observer newsrooms, widely seen as the West’s most progressive newspapers.

Assange’s Case Shows Why Reforming The Espionage Act Is Imperative

July 12, 2024 Chip Gibbons, The Nation. Resist! Congress, Espionage Act, Journalism, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

On June 25, 2024, the 14-year persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange came to an end. As part of a plea deal, the journalist pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act. In exchange, he received time served for the five years he spent in a British maximum-security prison while fighting his extradition. Although Assange walked out of the courthouse a free man, his freedom came after paying an extraordinary harsh price. Officially, Assange’s crime was “conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information.” According to the plea deal, Assange helped to set up WikiLeaks, which announced that it would publish “classified, censored, or otherwise restricted information of political, diplomatic, or ethical significance.”

Julian Assange Freed By The Prospect Of Justice

July 7, 2024 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Espionage Act, Journalism, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

The sudden announcement that Julian Assange would be freed after a plea agreement came as a great and very welcome surprise. Assange and the Wikileaks team were targets of United States persecution and prosecution by three different presidential administrations because they revealed secrets that the state wanted to keep hidden. Wikileaks revealed war crimes committed during the George W. Bush administration in their Iraq War Logs and Afghanistan War Logs. Private Chelsea Manning leaked the Collateral Murder video, which shows the deaths of civilians, including two Reuters reporters, as they were gunned down by a U.S. army helicopter crew in 2007.

We Can’t Let The Press Launder Israel’s War

June 28, 2024 Lara Witt and Maya Schenwar, In These Times. Organize! Genocide, Israel, Journalism, Media, Palestine

The United States-backed Israeli siege and genocide in Gaza is entering its tenth month. Israel’s relentless bombings and executions by Israeli snipers and soldiers have killed more than 38,100 Palestinians in Gaza, with thousands more uncounted and decomposing under the rubble, and more than 86,000 injured. Reports by nonprofit agencies and organizations have detailed the Israeli military’s numerous war crimes, including abductions, torture and sexual violence against Palestinians. More than 2.3 million Palestinians are at risk of dying from Israeli-imposed starvation, indiscriminate bombing, the spread of disease, and the cold because of Israel’s systematic targeting and elimination of hospitals, sanctuaries, homes and shelters.

You Saved Julian Assange

June 26, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. Resist! Espionage Act, Journalism, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Social Movements

The dark machinery of empire, whose mendacity and savagery Julian Assange exposed to the world, spent 14 years trying to destroy him. They cut him off from his funding, canceling his bank accounts and credit cards. They invented bogus allegations of sexual assault to get him extradited to Sweden, where he would then be shipped to the U.S. They trapped him in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for seven years after he was given political asylum and Ecuadorian citizenship by refusing him safe passage to Heathrow Airport. They orchestrated a change of government in Ecuador that saw him stripped of his asylum, harassed and humiliated by a pliant embassy staff.

Experts Warn Julian Assange Plea Deal Could Set Dangerous Precedent

June 26, 2024 Alexandra Topping, The Guardian. Educate! Journalism, Journalists, Julian Assange, Whistleblowers

The next UK government must push the US for reassurance it will not pursue journalists for publishing classified information, human rights organisations and experts have argued after the release of Julian Assange. Experts have warned that the plea deal struck between the WikiLeaks founder and the US authorities – which will see him plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act, but avoid serving any additional time in custody – could set a dangerous precedent. Assange, who has battled his extradition to the US since WikiLeaks published more than 250,000 leaked classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010, was facing up to 175 years in prison on 18 counts.

Arresting Reporters Is A Crude Form Of Censorship

June 22, 2024 Jen St. Denis, The Tyee. Educate! Canada, Journalism, Press Freedom, State Repression

Press freedom advocates in Canada are calling on Quebec prosecutors to drop mischief charges against Savanna Craig, saying her arrest and charges are part of a larger trend across Canada. Craig was arrested in April while covering a pro-Palestinian protest at a Scotiabank branch in Montreal for CUTV, a university television station at Concordia University. Although she identified herself as a journalist to police and showed them her press card, she was detained along with 44 protesters. Police have now recommended mischief charges against her. “We’re very concerned about the behaviour of Montreal police towards Savanna Craig on April 15, and local law enforcement’s decision to recommend charges against her despite the evidence that she was not in violation of Canadian law at the time of her arrest,” said Katherine Jacobsen.

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