The new vanguard of journalism and transparency - Opinion. When, in late 2010, Wikileaks started releasing a trove of US diplomatic cables, lawmakers were dumbfounded.
The whistleblowing organisation had previously raised ire within the US government for its release of its "Collateral Murder" video, but until the leak of the classified cables, requital seemed uncertain. Then, unable to take legal action against the site because of First Amendment protections, panicky legislators did the one thing they could: Pressure intermediaries to deny service to Wikileaks. The strategy was immediately effective. After public calls from Senator Joseph Lieberman, web giant Amazon.com was first to follow, dropping Wikileaks from its servers and creating a domino effect. Recently released evidence shows that both Lieberman and House Representative Peter King privately called Mastercard to demand the same thing. In nearly every case, the company publicly claimed that providing services to Wikileaks was against policy. Strangled by politics. Internet Freedom: Protect, then project.
Posted by Ethan on Mar 22nd, 2010 in Berkman, Human Rights, ideas | 0 comments A few weeks back, I offered a blogpost that was intended to spark some conversation about the idea of Internet Freedom.
I’ve gotten a wealth of reactions to that post, laudatory and critical, and I’ve recently been more involved with more conversations about Internet Freedom than I’d strictly bargained for. It’s an issue near the front of many minds, as we wait to hear whether Google will stop censoring its Chinese search engine, as we ponder the implications of Treasury’s recent rule changes regarding social media, and we watch congressional hearings and the progress of multiple pieces of legislation. (My friend and colleague Rebecca MacKinnon, who’s been busy trying to educate Washington about these issues, offers a thorough overview of the complexities of this space, from the legislative and lobbying side.)
But the main pushback I got was this: “Okay, so circumvention can’t be our sole strategy. Freedom of the Press 2012: Breakthroughs and Pushback in the Middle East. The Middle East and North Africa saw dramatic if precarious gains in press freedom in 2011, and for the first time in eight years, global media freedom did not experience an overall decline, according to a Freedom House report released today.
However, due to downgrades in some previously free countries, the percentage of the world’s population living in societies with a fully free press has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade. The report, , found that three countries—Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia—experienced significant improvements as a result of the Arab Spring. Dramatic gains in press freedom in Tunisia and Libya in particular marked major breakthroughs for countries long governed by autocratic rulers. Outside the Middle East and North Africa region, positive improvements were seen in countries including Burma, Indonesia, Niger, the Philippines, Thailand, and Zambia.
At the same time, independent media continued to face challenges in a number of environments: Why is Data Journalism Important?
Tunisia: From Revolutions to Institutions. Reboot is a social impact consultancy that helps organizations design better ways to serve communities worldwide.
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