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G_j

(40,367 posts)
Wed Feb 12, 2014, 09:26 AM Feb 2014

*Press freedom under attack - the risks journalists face in order to report*

Last edited Thu Feb 13, 2014, 09:07 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/feb/12/journalist-safety-press-freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is carrying eight essays on its website based around the theme of "attacks on the press in 2013."

One, by San Francisco lawyer and university tutor Geoffrey King, deals with the threats to freedom posed by the National Security Agency.

It is long, 4,500 words long, so a précis doesn't really work. But it merits reading so set aside 20 minutes to absorb it. Among the people who should definitely read are those who think the wholesale collection of metadata is an innocent and unthreatening activity.

See also Maya Taal on the threats to journalists by the supranational sphere of cyberspace and Joel Simon on the implications of the US-China dispute over control of the internet.

Another piece that shouldn't be missed is on impunity by Elisabeth Witchel, "When journalists are killed, witnesses may be next". One factual paragraph stands out:

"In the last 10 years, 348 journalists have been murdered for their work worldwide. In only a handful of cases- one in 10 - have any perpetrators been brought to trial and sentenced."

Witchel shows how dangerous it is becoming for the witnesses to such murders. They are being killed in turn to prevent them giving testimony.

Michael Casey, in "Without stronger transparency, more financial crises loom", argues that the press needs to overcome secrecy in a market economy because of the threat to everyone's well-being posed by banks and financial institutions.

The other three articles are about censorship; the role of journalists as the voices of the poor and powerless; and the risks journalists must take in certain countries in order to report rape and sexual violence.
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*Press freedom under attack - the risks journalists face in order to report* (Original Post) G_j Feb 2014 OP
Huge K&R woo me with science Feb 2014 #1
a must read for '..those who think the wholesale collection of metadata is innocent' G_j Feb 2014 #2
Thank you for posting it. woo me with science Feb 2014 #4
K&R and marked to read the links during lunch Luminous Animal Feb 2014 #3
Thanks for that article... countryjake Feb 2014 #5
weak organizations G_j Feb 2014 #6
k G_j Feb 2014 #7
kick woo me with science Feb 2014 #8

G_j

(40,367 posts)
2. a must read for '..those who think the wholesale collection of metadata is innocent'
Wed Feb 12, 2014, 02:44 PM
Feb 2014

lots to read here..

countryjake

(8,554 posts)
5. Thanks for that article...
Wed Feb 12, 2014, 07:17 PM
Feb 2014

and also, going to all the trouble of adding in the links from it. Excellent reading!

Lots to absorb.

From the Committee to Protect Journalists, Geoffrey King:

Said Bamford, “The NSA is gathering power and they’re gathering more capabilities and more eavesdropping, more invasive technologies.” He added, “At the same time, they’re deceiving the very weak organizations that are supposed to be the oversight mechanisms--the Congress and the FISA Court. I think it’s a very worrying situation, not just for journalists, but for anybody.”

The NSA Puts Journalists Under a Cloud of Suspicion
http://cpj.org/2014/02/attacks-on-the-press-surveillance-storage.php

G_j

(40,367 posts)
6. weak organizations
Wed Feb 12, 2014, 08:45 PM
Feb 2014

that are supposed to be the oversight mechanisms..

An important point seldom made, and all too common to a lot of "oversight" mechanisms.

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