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Press Freedom

Appeals Court Upholding TikTok Ban Is A Grim Sign For Press Freedom

December 10, 2024 Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. , , ,
Donald Trump is just weeks away from returning to the White House, and when he gets there, it is all but assured that he will attack press freedom (FAIR.org, 11/14/24; NBC, 12/4/24). But the will and desire to clamp down on free speech and expression isn’t just a Trumpian phenomenon. A US District Court of Appeals panel, with two Republican-appointed judges and one picked by a Democrat, has upheld a law forcing the sale of TikTok because of its alleged Chinese government control (AP, 12/6/24). All corners of government, joined by members of both major parties, concur that national security concerns should allow the government to scrap First Amendment principles.

Leaks Expose Secret British Military Cell Plotting To ‘Keep Ukraine Fighting’

November 19, 2024 Kit Klarenberg, The Grayzone. , , , , , , , , ,
Emails and internal documents reviewed by The Grayzone reveal details of a cabal of British military and intelligence veterans which plotted to escalate and prolong the Ukraine proxy war “at all costs.” Convened under the direction of the British Ministry of Defense in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the cell referred to itself as Project Alchemy. As British leadership sabotaged peace talks between Kiev and Moscow, the cell put forward an array of plans “to keep Ukraine fighting” by imposing “strategic dilemmas, costs and frictions upon Russia.”

Keeping Your Data Safe When Reporting From The Field

November 5, 2024 Davis Erin Anderson, Freedom of the Press. , , , , ,
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.

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

November 3, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
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.”

United Kingdom Snubs Council Of Europe Over Assange Inquiry

October 26, 2024 Mark Curtis, Consortium News. , , , , , ,
Britain’s Home Office is making a “grave mistake” by ignoring a call from the Council of Europe to review its treatment of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder’s wife has warned. The council’s parliamentary assembly, of which the U.K. is a member, passed a resolution earlier this month designating Assange as a “political prisoner”. Assange endured five years in Belmarsh maximum security prison in London before being released in June, and flying to his native Australia. The U.K. government had incarcerated him while the U.S. pursued extradition proceedings in the British courts. His treatment has outraged the Council of Europe.

Fighting For More Evidence Of Assange’s Political Prosecution

October 24, 2024 Joe Lauria and Mohamed Elmaazi, Consortium News. , , , , ,
A tribunal in Britain is set to decide whether to order the government’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to prove it deleted emails that may have covered up more evidence of a politically motivated prosecution of Julian Assange. The three judges heard arguments on Sept. 24 in the nearly decade-long freedom of information saga regarding the emails that top British prosecutors say were deleted. They involved an exchange with Sweden during a Swedish prosecutor’s attempt, beginning in 2010, to extradite the WikiLeaks publisher from Britain. Assange was wanted in Sweden for questioning during a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual assault, which was dropped three times, definitively in 2017.

Journalist Jeremy Loffredo, Detained In Israel, Heads Home

October 23, 2024 Hannan Adely, North Jersey Media Group. , , ,
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.

Samidoun’s Coordinator Speaks Out On US And Canada’s Targeting Of Them

October 19, 2024 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. , , ,
On October 15 the United States Treasury Department announced a joint action with the Canadian government, targeting the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. The U.S. slapped sanctions on the organization and Canada listed the group as a terrorist entity. The Treasury Department press release refers to Samidoun as a “sham charity” and accuses it of raising funds for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular Marxist-Leninist Palestinian political party, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department. “Samidoun is particularly targeted because of our political and vocal support for the Palestinian prisoners movement and the Palestinian people’s right to resistance,” reads a statement put out by the group in response to the development.

UK Police Raid Home, Seize Devices Of Electronic Intifada’s Asa Winstanley

October 17, 2024 Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada. , , , , , , ,
British counterterrorism police on Thursday raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley. Approximately 10 officers arrived at Winstanley’s North London home before 6 am and served the journalist with warrants and other papers authorizing them to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents. A letter addressed to Winstanley from the “Counter Terrorism Command” of the Metropolitan Police Service indicates that the authorities are “aware of your profession” as a journalist but that “notwithstanding, police are investigating possible offenses” under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006). These provisions set out the purported offense of “encouragement of terrorism.”

Australia: Whistleblower David McBride Wins Leave to Appeal

October 12, 2024 Cathy Vogan, Consortium News. , , , ,
Australian military whistleblower David McBride was back in the Canberra Supreme Court on Wednesday where he won leave to appeal his conviction for leaking evidence of alleged war crimes by the Australian military in Afghanistan to Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC. McBride was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison in May. The former military lawyer was forced to plead guilty to stealing and leaking the classified documents to the media after he was essentially denied a defense at his trial last November. McBride’s defense had rested on the court accepting his argument that his oath to the British crown gave him a duty beyond obedience to military orders to instead inform the entire nation of government wrongdoing. The court rejected that argument. 

Israel Charged American Journalist With ‘Aiding The Enemy’

October 12, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , ,
The Israeli government arrested, detained, and charged American journalist Jeremy Loffredo with “aiding the enemy during wartime and providing information to the enemy.” According to Israeli news site Ynet, Loffredo was arrested by security forces on “suspicion of endangering national security after reporting on where missiles landed in the attack launched by Iran earlier this month including in the [Israeli military’s] Nevatim Air Base and an intelligence base in central Israel.” Loffredo appeared in an Israeli Magistrate's Court on October 10 after being detained for nearly a day and a half. He was taken to an Israeli military base along with at least four other journalists, who were later released. 

Washington Keeps Silent After Israel Arrests US Journalist

October 11, 2024 The Cradle. , , , , , ,
The US government has yet to comment on the case of Jeremy Loffredo, an independent US journalist who remains in Israeli police detention on suspicion of “endangering national security.” Loffredo may potentially face life imprisonment or the death penalty after reporting the locations where Iranian missiles struck in the attack launched by Iran earlier this month. US officials refrained from commment despite a Yedioth Ahronoth report from Thursday stating that representatives from the US Embassy attended the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court for a hearing on the request of the police to extend his detention. In his report, Loffredo stated that the strikes hit targets, including the Israeli military's Nevatim Air Base and an intelligence base in central Israel.

Journalist Reaction Panel To Assange Testimony

October 2, 2024 Defending Rights & Dissent. , , , ,
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.

Assange’s Testimony In Strasbourg

October 1, 2024 Julian Assange, Consortium News. , , , , ,
Julian Assange appeared before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France on Tuesday morning. He testified to PACE members, passed a resolution last month dealing with Assange’s treatment by both the U.S. and British governments; the need for “urgent” reform of the U.S. Espionage Act; and for the U.S. to cooperate in the Spanish legal case about the U.S. surveillance of Assange. These are highlights of the resolution: “The Assembly considers that the disproportionately severe charges brought against Julian Assange by the United States of America, as well as heavy penalties foreseen under the Espionage Act for engaging in acts of journalism fall within the criteria set out in Resolution 1900 (2012) “The definition of political prisoner”.

Assange To Testify At Council Of Europe

September 25, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , ,
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, who was released from prison in June, will address the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France on Oct. 1 after he was granted  Status as a Political Prisoner by a rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), WikiLeaks said today. It will be the first time Assange will speak in public since his hearing in U.S. federal court on the North Mariana islands in June, at which he was granted his release after a plea deal. Assange will give evidence before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which will meet from 8.30am to 10am at the Palace of Europe, WikiLeaks said.
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