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Journalists

Why More And More Journalists Are Launching Worker-Owned Outlets

When staff at the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal decided to unionize in March, they were almost immediately hit with layoffs. The paper’s parent company, a nonprofit called the Long Beach Journalism Initiative, laid off nine of the 14 staff involved with the union drive just four days after their unionization attempt. Undeterred, those nine workers — along with three others who had gone on strike in protest — decided to start their own publication: a worker-owned cooperative called the Long Beach Watchdog. “We wanted to build this as a place that respected workers, respected the labor that they do, and allowed everyone a seat at the table and a voice in how the business is run,” said Dennis Dean

Asheville Blade Journalists Sue Over Illegal Arrests

A news co-op in North Carolina and two journalists convicted of trespassing offenses filed a federal lawsuit alleging that their constitutional rights were violated by Asheville Police Department officers. In December 2021, residents in the Asheville community gathered at Aston Park for five evenings to urge the City of Asheville to leave people without any shelter alone in the park after it closed at 10 p.m. They took a stand on Christmas, refusing to disperse. Police responded by sweeping the encampment and arresting six people. Two of the people arrested were reporters for the Asheville Blade—Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit.

20 Years After His Death, Gary Webb’s Truth Is Still Dangerous

Twenty years ago this month, on December 10, 2004, former San Jose Mercury News investigative reporter Gary Webb died by apparent suicide, following a stretch of depression. The subject of the 2014 film Kill the Messenger, Webb had left the newspaper in 1997 after his career was systematically destroyed because he had done what journalists are supposed to do: speak truth to power. In August 1996, Webb penned a three-part series for the Mercury News (8/18–20/96) that documented how profits from the sale of crack cocaine in Los Angeles in the 1980s had been funneled to the Contras, the right-wing, CIA-backed mercenary army responsible for helping to perpetrate, to borrow Noam Chomsky’s words, “large-scale terrorist war” against Nicaragua.

Why Did The FBI Show Up At Alison Weir’s Door?

Journalist and author Alison Weir has raised concerns over what she describes as an unsettling visit from the FBI, alleging that agents showed up at her home unannounced to question her. In a public statement on November 18, Weir revealed that she was approached by agents who informed her the visit was connected to a matter involving Press TV, the Iranian state-owned news outlet. She said she asked agents to allow a family member to be present before continuing the discussion, during which she learned the agents had been directed by one of their offices to “check in with certain people.”

Keeping Your Data Safe When Reporting From The Field

It’s not uncommon for police to seize cellphones and other equipment from journalists who are covering protests. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented at least 49 cases of equipment searches and seizures targeting journalists covering protests, and many of those have happened in the last year. One case that I want to highlight is the case of Dilan Gohill. He is a student journalist at Stanford for The Stanford Daily, and he was arrested last June while he was covering a student protest on campus. It was a pro-Palestinian protest in which protesters broke into a campus building and barricaded themselves inside, and Dilan, in his capacity as a reporter, was with them to report on what was happening.

101 BBC Journalists Say It Is Biased Against Palestine

The BBC has been accused of bias against Israel but here over 230 people, including 101 BBC journalists have argued that there is a strong bias towards Israel and certainly the Israeli narrative. The letter was sent to the Independent arguing that Broadcaster bias is failing to hold Israel to account. It is noteworthy that only 72 of the 230 signatories felt able to sign openly and this included none of the BBC journalists. Distrust of mainstream media is growing but there is a real need for unbiased reporting. The BBC has previously claimed that the fact it receives complaints from those in support of Israel as well as those in support of Palestine shows its impartiality.

After Police Raid, Journalist Focused On Stopping ‘Digital Strip-Search’

London-based journalist Asa Winstanley says when British counter-terrorism police raided his home on October 17 they asked which electronic devices were personal and which were used for journalism. “I was very reluctant to do that because it seemed to me that by doing that I would almost set myself up,” Winstanley added during a Space hosted by Sulaiman Ahmed. “It’s a way of stopping me from doing my journalism, if they were going to take those devices away.” But if Winstanley did not identify the devices that he used for journalism, the implicit threat was that they would “basically ransack the whole house.”

Lebanese Journalists Defy Israeli Threats To Expose The Truth

While reporting from south Lebanon for the past year, Mortada has received many threats, including directly from the Israeli army’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee. “He put a tweet on his X account saying I’m not a journalist. I am a spy working for Hezbollah on the border,” says Mortada, the Al Mayadeen field correspondent in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah fighters are fiercely resisting Israel’s ongoing ground invasion and mass bombing campaign. The Israelis started to make online polls, asking people whether they should kill me today, or tomorrow. It was hard because we know they are not joking. There is a big probability they will do something.

Groups Tell Biden To Urge Israel To Allow Media Access To Gaza

Defending Rights & Dissent and 18 other press freedom and human rights organizations endorsed a call from 64 members of Congress asking the Biden Administration to urge Israel to allow independent access to Gaza for U.S. and international journalists, in the interest of transparency, accountability, and press freedom. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) led the congressional effort. Read our letter to President Biden and Sec. of State Blinken here and below. International media and press freedom groups have called on Israel to allow media into Gaza, but, as a press release from McGoverns office notes: … foreign media remains largely prohibited from entering the region, except for a few controlled trips arranged by the Israeli military. This effective ban on foreign reporting has placed an overwhelming burden on local journalists who are documenting the war they are living through.

Journalist Jeremy Loffredo, Detained In Israel, Heads Home

Jeremy Loffredo, the journalist from Toms River who was detained in Israel and charged with "aiding the enemy during wartime," has left Israel, a State Department spokesman said Monday. Loffredo was arrested Oct. 8 at a checkpoint in the West Bank and held in detention until a judge ordered his release Friday. The allegations against him stemmed from his reporting for The Grayzone, which included information about the locations of strikes launched at military targets inside Israel this month. Asked about Loffredo at a press briefing, spokesman Vedant Patel answered, "My understanding is that he has left Israel," but he provided no further detail.

Jordanian Authorities Arrest Thousands In Year Since October 7

Jordanian authorities have arrested thousands of citizens since October 7 last year in an increasingly repressive climate in the country. Despite the increasing repression, the people have continued to take to the streets every week to protest the ongoing US-funded Israeli genocide in Gaza. Raya Sharbain, a digital security trainer, tells Mondoweiss that the crackdown on citizens, journalists, and activists is unprecedented. “It is difficult to know where the red line is. It seems that any slight criticism can lead to interrogation or detention,” Sharbain says. Hundreds have also been charged under Jordan’s 2023 Cybercrimes Law, enacted in August of last year, which expands upon an older law from 2015.

Journalist Self-Immolates Outside White House To Protest Gaza Coverage

A journalist set himself on fire outside the White House on Saturday, after publishing a blog post where he expressed remorse over his role in shaping news stories that he felt made him complicit in Israel's war on Gaza. Samuel Mena Jr reached out to a friend three hours before setting himself on fire, telling them to watch an Instagram stream, where the journalist read from a script where he expressed regret at his perceived role in contributing to Palestinian suffering. He then set himself on fire with images circulated online showing Mena Jr draped in a keffiyeh immersed in flames, as people ran to help him.

Journalist Reaction Panel To Assange Testimony

On October 1, 2024, Julian Assange broke his silence. The WikiLeaks founder testified before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) about the chilling effect his detention and conviction has had on human rights. When Assange was detained,The Committee previously found he met PACE’s definition of a political prisoner. Assange’s testimony marked his first substantive, public comments in over half a decade. Other than his remarks at his sentencing hearing, the public has largely not heard from Assange since his 2019 arrest.

Israel Closes Al Jazeera Bureau In Ramallah: All You Need To Know

On live television, heavily armed Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s occupied West Bank bureau in Ramallah and handed the bureau head, Walid al-Omari, a notice to shut it down. The soldiers ordered everyone working the overnight shift at the bureau to leave, telling them they could take only their personal belongings. The order came from the Israeli military authority despite the bureau being in Area A, an area delineated as being under Palestinian control in the Oslo Accords. This is not the first time Israel has undertaken actions in the Oslo Accords-defined Area A, where Ramallah is and where the Palestinian Authority (PA) has its seat.

Human Rights Activist Sarah Wilkinson Arrested By UK Police

British human rights activist and social media influencer Sarah Wilkinson was arrested by UK police on 29 August, reportedly over “content she posted online.” “The police came to her house just before 7.30am. [Twelve] of them in total, some of them in plain clothes from the counter-terrorism police. They said she was under arrest for ‘content that she has posted online.’ Her house is being raided, and they have seized all her electronic devices," Jack Wilkinson is quoted as saying by the social media account Suppressed News. “The pro-genocide UK regime has arrested [MENAUncensored's] roving reporter and Human Rights Activist Sarah Wilkinson for supporting the Palestinian resistance and relaying what is really happening in Gaza and the West Bank to the world,” MENA Uncensored announced.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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