censorship
Ethics in the News: Censorship and Survival in Egypt and Beyond
For media workers, internalising red lines presents some of the most challenging ethical decisions they will face in their careers and lives. Join us to hear from those who’ve experienced first hand how censorship affects journalists – and journalism – in Egypt.
“Post-truth” and fake news: what about the rest of the world?
It is the news media’s major preoccupation – how can journalists best serve audiences in a world riddled with misinformation and ‘alternative facts’, and when the President of the United States makes baseless claims and labels accurate reporting as “fake news”? We will discuss how journalists new to these challenges learn from reporters elsewhere in the world who contend daily with misinformation and state hostility. This event, held to mark World Press Freedom Day 2017, will bring together journalists from a selection of countries to discuss these issues and explain how they are dealing with the “post-truth” environment.
Eritrea’s Forgotten Journalists
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists Eritrea has the most censored press in the world. Has Eritrea become Africa’s North Korea? With only state communication remaining, contacting the outside world has become nearly impossible. What was once a relatively unknown and underreported country is now at the forefront of the EU’s mind, as Eritreans make up a significant number of those entering Europe on dangerous crossings. Who are Eritrea’s forgotten journalists, and how did this extreme stifling of press freedoms come to be?
An Evening with Molly Crabapple: Drawing Blood
We live in an age of frenetic journalism. When the internet can deliver any snapshot of the world to us at the press of a button, it is easy to forget that there are some places the camera cannot go.
Screening: They Will Have to Kill Us First + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Johanna Schwartz.
In 2012, three extremist groups captured most of northern Mali – an area the size of the UK and France combined. The cities were virtually shut down, sharia law was instituted and all music was banned. They Will Have To Kill Us First follows a number of prominent musicians in Mali in the wake of a jihadist takeover and subsequent banning of music.
Screening: I Am Sun Mu + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Adam Sjöberg. I Am Sun Mu documents the life and work of North Korean defector and pop artist ‘Sun Mu’. In North Korea, Sun Mu was a prolific propaganda artist for Kim Jong-un’s regime. After swimming to safety and beginning a new life in South Korea, Sun Mu turned his skills against North Korean leadership, satirising those who he once worshipped.
Screening: Frame by Frame + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Mo Scarpelli and Alexandria Bombach.
After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban regime, four Afghan photojournalists face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own – reframing Afghanistan for the world and for themselves.
The New Censorship and the Global Battle for Press Freedom
By Josie Leblond What are journalists worth in an age where anyone can tell their own story online? Has their diminishing value led to the growing violence against journalists across the world? This is the argument that executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Joel Simon, put forward at the Frontline Club on Tuesday 17 March. […]
UK Premiere: The World According to Russia Today + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Misja Pekel. Its critics call it a bullhorn for Russian propaganda, Russia Today (RT) claims only to show a different perspective on world events, and presents itself as an alternative to the mainstream media. In Misja Pekel’s The World According to Russia Today, current and former employees, journalists and media analysts dissect RT’s modus operandi. What is it like to work for the channel? How much influence does the Kremlin really have? And is it possible to discern between fact and opinion when Russian interests are at stake?
The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom
From Egypt to Mexico, Russia to Syria, journalists are increasingly coming under attack. They are murdered, imprisoned and intimidated for doing their job. As executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon is on the front line of the global battle for media freedom. He will be joining us to offer an insight into the problems we face and to examine what needs to be done to ensure future generations are not deprived of a free press.
Shorts at the Frontline Club: The Different Faces of Documentary Filmmaking
By Daniel Alan Kennedy While many people often have a conception of what a documentary “should be” in terms of length, style, content or subject, the Frontline Club’s July 19 screening of four short documentary films demonstrated the breath of different choices available to filmmakers. Ranging from 8 to 25 minutes, the films covered subjects […]
Open City preview screening: High Tech Low Life
High Tech Low Life follows Zola, a smart, tech-savvy and playful youngster and Tiger Temple, a 50-something citizen reporter as they each travel the country to report stories that would otherwise remain unknown. A unique peek behind the notorious Great Firewall of China that captures the fearlessness of a new digital generation.
Russian blogger arrested after post-election protests
Russian blogger and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny has been arrested after participating in post-election protests in Moscow against the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The BBC has a good profile of Navalny which explains how his Livejournal blog gained traction for exposing corruption: "The popularity of his blog allowed him to start mobilising internet users to take an active part in […]
BBC journalist detained in Egypt
The BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil has been arrested in Egypt while reporting from Cairo. She had travelled to Tahrir Square after Egyptian security forces had moved in to clear the area of protesters. The demonstrators have been demanding swifter political change from Egypt’s military generals amid concerns that the revolution which brought down President Hosni Mubarak […]
Do images of the aftermath of an attack help insurgents?
Earlier today I came across an interesting blog post by Holly Pickett who recently finished her seven week rotation as the New York Times bureau photographer in Baghdad. She says: "It is nearly impossible to photograph the aftermath of a car bomb or street battle. In most cases, the scene is blocked by police, and cameras […]
Russian war correspondent discovers journalism is more dangerous at home
In this New York Times article we learn of the fate of Mikhail Beketov who dared to investigate corruption in Moscow. Beketov, a former army officer, had reported from both Afghanistan and Chechnya but Russia proved to be more dangerous. As his paper, Khimkinskaya Pravda, wrote about the dealings of local officials and questioned party […]
Live: World Press Freedom Day 2009 debate
YOU CAN NOW WATCH THE EVENT HERE. To mark World Press Freedom Day, we’ll be debating the state of press freedom at the Frontline Club this morning. We start at 10am GMT May 1. The debate will cumulate in an audience vote on the motion “Governments at war are winning the battle of controlling the […]
10 worst countries to be a blogger
On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists puts together a list of the 10 worst countries to be a blogger. Visit their site to find out more about the 10 countries and the justification for inclusion. The list, in order, is below and Burma comes out worst. Click each […]
Banned in Kenya Sort Of
The one book all Kenyans ought to have the opportunity to read about their country is Michela Wrong‘s new "It’s Our Turn to Eat/The Story of a Kenyan Whisteblower." But only those Kenyans who get to travel or know someone who have smuggled the book in or read pirated excerpts on the Internet or can […]
Welcome to the axis of evil
It’s a devastating critique. Syria is being kept in the dark ages because of a lack of American culture, and poor access to the internet argues a Gulf-based journalist. "Less fortunate young Syrians who [didn’t go to the American school] used to look forward to movie night at the [American] Cultural Centre every Wednesday. … […]
Doing journalism in Sri Lanka
They live in fear. A dozen have been assassinated. Such is the fate of journalists trying to cover the war in the north of Sri Lanka. link A report from CBC about journalists working in Sri Lanka. The sub-7 minute feature takes us inside the offices of The Sunday Leader, the newspaper Lasantha Wickrematunga edited […]
22 attacks on journalists in Cambodia
A report by the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ) catalogues a series of 22 attacks against journalists in the south-east Asian country between 2008-2009. In addition the report slates unethical practices among journalists including bribery and corruption and those pretending to be journalists who are not, The press release urges the Ministry of Information to […]
LIVE: Gaza – missiles and messages
Click To Play The media’s role – or lack of – in the recent Gaza conflict is up for debate at the Club tonight. We start at 7pm GMT / 11am PST Thurs 5 Feb. If you can’t make it to the club in person, do please tune in to the Frontline Club live channel. […]
Spoiled crybabies
So, all those Foreign correspondents who couldn’t get into Gaza despite the Israeli Supreme court ruling and many, many attempts are nothing but a bunch of “spoiled crybabies”. That’s the word according to Daniel Seaman, director of Israel’s Government Press Office in a statement issued on Sunday, “Israel did not want to endanger the lives […]
For the truth to get out, journalists have to get in
Journalists still can’t get into Gaza. The Israeli government have banned media access to the war torn strip. The result for foreign reporters, on the 11th day of this war, is that hundreds of them sit at border points waiting to be granted access by Israeli authorities. The ban flies in the face of a […]
Press Freedom report 2008
Reporters sans frontières release the 2008 Press Freedom report today. While the figures are depressing they are better than 2007, “The figures may be lower than last year’s but this should not mask the fact that intimidation and censorship have become more widespread, including in the west, and the most authoritarian governments have been taking […]