#Media Freedom

[hussyknee]

Ayat Khaddura, 27, was a digital content and podcast presenter in North Gaza. She was one of the five journalists murdered by Israel's targeted air strike on Nov 20, along with her sister and grandmother in her home. She posted this video in the knowledge that these were probably her last moments.

Video description:

A young Arab woman in a hijab and abaya speaks into her camera in Arabic in a high, frightened voice. The subtitles read: "This might be the last video from me. Today the Occupation Forces dropped phosphorus bombs on the Beit Lahia residential area, and frightening sound bombs. And uhm, they dropped letters from the sky ordering us to evacuate. So of course nearly everyone evacuated for the most part. Everyone ran into the streets in a crazy way. No one knows where they're coming or going. Uhm, we're all split up and around. Me and some others stayed at home. The others evacuated and left. We don't know where they've gone, that's for sure. The situation is terrifying, the scenes are horrifying [voice breaking as she starts to cry], the situation is extremely difficult. May God have mercy on us." [She closes her eyes as she starts to cry openly. End clip.]

[New clip.] The same young woman is seated on a desk in front of a world map wearing a jacket over a t-shirt and her hijab. Large video caption reads "Message from Ayat Khaddura who was martyred yesterday". Her voice is sad and resigned, and her face is tired and tear-stained as she speaks in Arabic. Subtitles read:

"We are human beings, just like other human beings around the world. We had many big dreams, but unfortunately today our dreams are that if we are killed we will be martyred in one piece, one body (not torn to pieces) so that people can recognise us, and we will not be cut off in pieces and put in a bag. [struggles not to cry.] When we are martyred there will be a shroud for us and we will be buried in a grave. Our dreams have become that the war will stop, that we stop hearing the sound of bombing. We never imagined we would reach such a stage and live such a life that does not have the lowest basic necessities. [Blinks back tears.] There are things we can't talk about, there are things that people photographed and did not document. When the war will end, who will continue to talk to people? What happened to us, how we lived, what we saw. Everything is being destroyed before our eyes." [Looks down with a sob. End video.]

Israel dropping leaflets onto trapped and hiding people minutes before bombing them is nothing but a sick PR exercise— there's nowhere safe to go, no telling where the bombs will drop, no way to not leave family members behind while fleeing. Many people in North Gaza decided not to evacuate to the South, not only because similar calls to go South have ended in Israeli airstrikes massacring the refugees, but the possibility of being killed while trying to make the journey, the lack of food and water to sustain them, and inability to leave old and disabled family members behind. Some like Hind Khaudary, who had the opportunity to leave the Gaza strip entirely through foreign embassies, stayed behind to continue reporting the situation unfolding in the North. Meanwhile, Israel is continuing to bomb the South, despite their own evacuation orders.

Ayat is one of the fifty-three Middle Eastern journalists killed since Oct. 7. Forty-six of them were Palestinian, most massacred along with their families. Air strikes on other journalists managed to kill only their families instead. This is the deadliest period for journalists recorded by the Committee to Protect Journalists in its thirty years of existence. In fact, Israel killed one of the CPJ's own journalists documenting the murders around the same time as Ayat.

Nearly all these are targeted strikes. Israel controls the census in Gaza and therefore has information on where everyone lives. They also track journalists cellphones and use surveillance drones and quadcopters (drone snipers). Journalists and their families are known to receive threatening phone calls from unknown numbers before they're eventually attacked.

As to why Israel is so concerned about journalists? For the same reason the Biden Administration has stated openly.

But the administration remains wary about Netanyahu’s endgame and seeming lack of a plan for what to do once Hamas is defeated. There was no sense that the pause would turn into a lengthier cease-fire, a senior administration official said. And there was some concern in the administration about an unintended consequence of the pause: that it would allow journalists broader access to Gaza and the opportunity to further illuminate the devastation there and turn public opinion on Israel.

Please spread news of these journalists' murders, show their faces, say their names. While Western journalists from CNN and BCC are embedded with IOF teams to safely "report" on Gaza, Palestinian journalists who have been reporting there for years, wearing a press jacket and helmet they know won't protect them, are documenting and broadcasting the situation on the ground, watching their colleagues being picked off one by one for the last month and half, not knowing when it will be their turn. Ayat was not a combatant. She was a young woman a lot like most on this site, young and angry at injustice, armed with only a degree and internet connection to fight for her people. She wanted the world to witness her last moments: documenting the situation till the end, her terror of dying, how she clung to her faith and wanted to live. Hers and her compatriots work is to resist letting their people disappear among the vast uncounted; she resisted it to her last breath.

Empires and colonizers win wars by reducing people to numbers. When people become numbers they become collateral, cattle, "unavoidable casualties". This is what Palestinians have fought for decades to show: "We Are Not Numbers". If the West wants to kill human beings with impunity, everyone gets to see exactly which lives and loves and hopes it's snuffing out forever.

[wikipediapictures]

Anything to Say?

[hussyknee]

I'm going to plug my own post on here.

Ayat is one of the fifty-three Middle Eastern journalists killed since Oct. 7. Forty-six of them were Palestinian, most massacred along with their families. Air strikes on other journalists managed to kill only their families instead. This is the deadliest period for journalists recorded by the Committee to Protect Journalists in its thirty years of existence. In fact, Israel killed one of the CPJ's own journalists documenting the murders around the same time as Ayat.

Nearly all these are targeted strikes. Israel controls the census in Gaza and therefore has information on where everyone lives. They also track journalists cellphones and use surveillance drones and quadcopters (drone snipers). Journalists and their families are known to receive threatening phone calls from unknown numbers before they're eventually attacked. While Western journalists from CNN and BCC are embedded with IOF teams to safely "report" on Gaza, Palestinian journalists who have been reporting there for years, wearing a press jacket and helmet they know won't protect them, are documenting and broadcasting the situation on the ground, watching their colleagues being picked off one by one for the last month and half.

Politico article https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/21/biden-hostage-israel-hamas-war-00128351

Tweet source

[iri-desky]

GET KOSA TRENDING.

STOP SCROLLING NOW!

AS OF FEBRUARY 21ST, 2024, WE GOT FIVE DAYS UNTIL THE DAY OF DECISION OF THE KOSA BILL, WHICH WILL CAUSE MASS CENSORSHIP ROUND THE INTERNET IF PASSED. WE NEED EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS AND CONTRIBUTE. I'M NOT GIVING UP ON YOU ALL.

(IMPORTANT UPDATE: Kosa will not necessarily pass on the 26th. It only has the support to pass in Senate, and we STILL HAVE TIME. That being said, time is of the essence.)

WE'RE DOWN TO THE WIRE BUT WE CAN'T GIVE UP YET. IF WE GIVE UP, EVERYTHING IS OVER. IF WE DON'T, AT LEAST WE HAVE A CHANCE.

I'M THE ONE WHO SOUNDED THE ALARM, AND I'M NOT GOING TO CURL UP AND DIE YET.

Reblog this post in every LEGAL way you can under the Tumblr guidelines with the appropriate tags. TELL AND TAG EVERYONE YOU KNOW, then add the tags to see below... and more if you can think of any complying.

Visit badinternetbills.com if you want to find a way to defeat KOSA. It WILL NOT take much of your time. Reblog with any other information or sources, too-- but make sure to reblog if you can.

Reblog if you support lgbtq+ content.

Reblog if you support questioning queer youth and/or abused youth getting the information they need.

Reblog if you support Ao3 and/or other sites that wholeheartedly preserve talentedly made media.

Reblog if you're going to repost this on other sites than Tumblr and spread the word across Twitter, Tik Tok, Pinterest, or elsewhere, alongside the link to badinternetbills.com.

Reblog if you think KOSA is unfair and shouldn't be anyone's problem -- including the adults ALL OVER THE DAMN EARTH forced to face the mass censorship it causes because "think of the American Children!".

Reblog if you support internet activism and Palestine.

Reblog if you hate fascism or censorship, and don't want actually serious and helpful conversations censored on the internet.

Reblog if you value the internet in any way at all whatsoever.

CHECK THIS PETITION, TOO! https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-kosa?recruiter=1331807538&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf&recruited_by_id=57368c40-d0fd-11ee-98f7-2175430f819f&share_bandit_exp=initial-36809664-en-US

(Also, please reblog with at least "stop kosa" as a tag and not "kosa". I made the mistake of not adding just "kosa" as a tag...)

We won't let this stand any longer. Let's start a riot and get this trending.

[endimpunityday]

Collaborative Solutions: Solidarity Centers and Exile Hubs.

Panel Discussion on Collaborative Solutions: Solidarity Centers and Exile Hubs. International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists 2024.

11:40 - 12:00 pm.

- Mr. Viacheslav Solomka, Media Hub, Ukraine

- Mr. Nasser Abdallah Salim Abubaker, President, Palestine Journalists Syndicate (PSJ)

- Ms. Rafa Renas, Community Manager, Exile Media Hub, Kenya

- Mr. Laurent Giacobino, Director for the Mediterranean Region and Asia, CFI.

[tmarshconnors]

Article 10: Freedom of Expression

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) guarantees the right to freedom of expression. This right is fundamental in a democratic society, enabling individuals to express themselves, share information, and engage in public discourse. However, this right is not absolute and can be subject to certain restrictions under specific conditions.

Article 10

General Right:

Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right includes the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.

The freedom also covers media freedom, including press freedom and broadcasting.

Permissible Restrictions:

Restrictions: The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions, or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of:

National security

Territorial integrity or public safety

The prevention of disorder or crime

The protection of health or morals

The protection of the reputation or rights of others

Preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence

Maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary

Interpretation and Application

Article 10 has been widely interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in various cases. The court balances the right to freedom of expression with the need for restrictions to protect other rights and interests. The key points include:

Freedom to Offend: Freedom of expression also includes information or ideas that may "offend, shock, or disturb" the state or any sector of the population. This is essential for pluralism, tolerance, and broad-mindedness in a democratic society.

Hate Speech and Incitement: Article 10 does not protect speech that incites violence or hatred, and states may lawfully restrict such speech to protect public order and the rights of others.

Journalistic Freedom: The court has emphasized the importance of press freedom and the role of the media as a "public watchdog." However, this freedom is balanced against the need to protect individuals from defamation and invasion of privacy.

Restrictions: Any restriction must be "prescribed by law," serve a legitimate aim, and be "necessary in a democratic society." The necessity test is stringent, requiring that the restriction be proportionate to the aim pursued and that less restrictive measures were unavailable.

Article 10 is crucial in protecting the right to freedom of expression while allowing for limitations that balance this right with other important societal interests. The European Court of Human Rights plays a vital role in interpreting these rights and ensuring that any restrictions meet the strict criteria established by the Convention.

[imperialgurgaon]

On World Press Freedom Day, we salute the brave journalists who strive to keep us informed and empowered. Your dedication to truth inspires us all.

[notasapleasure]

Another option is to support the OC Media fundraiser here:

Independent journalists are going to be hit hard by this law too, they've been directly targeted in previous protests, and will need protective gear and access to legal defence.

How can I, someone outside of Georgia (the country), help fight the foreign agent bill?

For information about brands you can boycott and the summary of what the foreign agent law entails, click on the link above, which refers to my older post.

The government's escalating use of force and intimidation techniques during and outside of protests, such as threat phone calls, jumping people in the street, paying sportsmen to physically assault people. The police force has been using methods such as physical violence, torture, tear gas, rubber bullets, and water streams.

Along with boycotting, there is a big amount of Georgians emigrating from the country, and organizing protests in other countries.

Think about the resources and skills you have that you can use to help demonstrations on the ground and spread awareness on the issue. This might include your graphic design or copywriting skills, a large social media following - aid the protesters by spreading the word.

SHARE information that might be useful for protesters inside and outside of Georgia.

And most importantly donate, speak to people around you, and attend protests closeby to where you live. Some details of protests outside of Georgia and donation links will be listed below:

List of currently known international protests:

12/05 15:00 Venice Biennale Georgian Pavilion | Venice

12/05 15:00 Piazza Garibaldi | Naples

12/05 16:00 Placa de Catalunya | Barcelona

12/05 16:00 Consulado de Georgia | Madrid

13/05 18:00-20:00 Brighton 4th & broadwalk | New York

14/05 18:30-20:30 Place du Pantheon | Paris

17/05 17:30 EU Commission | Brussels

17/05 18:30 Embassy of Georgia | London

(And keep an eye on gza.europe on Instagram, for any further news on protests in Europe, and keep an eye on your local protests even if they're not on gza.europe or listed here)

Donation links:

Shame Movement - Provides gear for protests, organizing demonstrations.

GYLA - Georgia's Young Lawyer Association, providing legal help to those detained at demonstrations.

All we ask for, is to have you fight together with us.

[hussyknee]

Dithered about posting this, because IMO calling people heroes is dehumanizing. These are people going through something unimaginable who're doing their best to help their people survive alongside thousands of other medical and rescue workers. They put on a hard hat that won't protect them, a vest that makes them a target, and document horrors that slowly drain their will to live, all while watching each of their colleagues and family members picked off one by one, nearly all in targeted strikes— air strikes, drone snipers, being shot from helicopters. The unlucky ones like Wael and Momen Al-Sharafi lose their entire family in strikes meant to kill them and go right back to work to make their deaths mean something.

Five more journalists have been killed since this infographic was made. Killing journalists is a war crime. Gaza is reported to be the deadliest conflict for journalists in decades. All because Israel faces zero consequences on the world stage, protected by the US and nearly every Western country.

I'm not sure whether all of the journos in the video are still alive by now. If we're going to fail them so badly, their bravery, kindness and determination deserves to be seen and remembered. In two months, they have done more to counter the systematic dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims carried out by the Western military entertainment complex for decades than most have managed in a lifetime, showing the courage and independence of the women, the gentleness of the men, the innocence of the children, the grief of the parents, the suffering of the elderly.

Most of these people are in their early to mid-20s, the youngest is 17 (Motaz is 24, Bisan 25, Plestia 22). This video is set to Motaz Azaiza's favourite song.

[head-post]

‘Media pluralism test’ should achieve its goals

Karim Iburki and Mark Dempsey believe that the inclusion of a “media pluralism test” in the proposal for a European Media Freedom Act is a very welcome innovation. However, some changes at Board level are needed for its successful implementation, Euractiv reports.

Mark Dempsey is a Senior EU Advocacy Officer at the free speech organisation Article 19. Karim Iburki is a board member of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) and President of the Conseil supérieur de l’Audiovisuel.

Read more HERE

[crinaboros]

Bullied over a Freedom of Information request for environmental data

As data reporter, I'm used to working with databases, not being the subject of one.

But following an aggressive episode to persuade me to give up on an FOI request pursuing government transparency sent to the Romanian Environment Ministry, I ended up in a database.

In particular, a map of media freedom abuses, which I warmly recommend to any journalist who has ever faced harassment, threats, humiliation or abuse of any kind in pursuit of transparency.

Media Freedom Map features the particulars of this case, currently under investigation at the Romanian Ministry of Environment - https://lnkd.in/ek9ikRH6.

The International Press Institute has expressed “concern over major obstruction facing journalists in accessing public data on illegal logging and deforestation”.

Difficult access to environmental data is part of EU’s logging infringement against Romania, currently unfolding.

[officialamirulk]

Media Freedom Index

By Reporters Without Borders

Malaysia is ranked first in Southeast Asia & ranked 73rd in the world in the Media Freedom Index

[dykedvonte]

I think depictions of Anya being cruel to Curly or drawing out his suffering are artful and chilling but completely miss the point of the story and her character.

I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to have that "I told you so" moment with him but not in something callous or cold. Even if that is how it happened, she'd immediately feel guilty cause at that point she's not tormenting her tormenter or even the person truly at fault. She's doing something cathartic, similar to how Jimmy likely hits Curly to release rage he can't against the rest of the crew. She'd see herself as no different when she'd come back from the moment and see Curly cowering at her. She wants someone to take responsibility but how does being cruel to the defenseless help? Why would she want the power Jimmy has over her over Curly?

The idea of her extending someone else's pain is just so against the struggles she already faces and how she can't even bring herself to cause someone pain even to help them. Her very desire is to release herself from her own suffering and I doubt she'd even fine some sort of guilty release in being cruel to another.

[kinialohaguy]

Never Imagined

Aloha kākou. I never would have imagined this great nation would hold law abiding, freedom loving Americans as Political Prisoners. But here they are languishing in Washington D.C. jails and prisons. People that marched peacefully and patriotically to express their grievances against the stolen 2020 election. Americans of all walks of life: The average working Six Pak Joe, the university student…

[media-bias-fact-check]

Media Freedom Suffers Record Setbacks Globally in 2022

The easing of restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic meant more journalists were out on assignment in 2022. But that, combined with an expansion of deadly conflicts, has triggered a spike in killings and jailings of journalists.