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Censorship tactics have become more complex, posing new challenges for journalists and non-journalists alike, a new report finds.

In its annual "Attacks on the Press"report, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented a range of censorship cases from around the world and revealed a new world of media repression.

"[Censorship] is definitely becoming more sophisticated and complex and is occurring at a variety of levels," CPJ's Advocacy Director Courtney Radsch told IPS.

CPJ's Executive Director described these new strategies as "repression 2.0" in the report, stating; "Repression 2.0 is an update on the worst old-style tactics, from state censorship to the imprisonment of critics, with new information technologies including smartphones and social media producing a softening around the edges."

At the end of 2016, there were almost 260 journalists in jail, the most CPJ has ever documented.

Turkey is the world's leading jailer of journalists with over 145 imprisoned journalists, more than China, Egypt, and Iran combined.

The country's media crackdown deepened following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and the subsequent imposition of a state of emergency which the Turkish government allegedly used to shut down over 50 newspapers, 30 TV channels, and three news agencies.

The government also reportedly used anti-terror laws to imprison journalists, including the chief editor of Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet Can Dndar who was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of disclosing state secrets, espionage, and aiding a terrorist group. Most recently, life sentences are being sought for 30 people with ties to Zaman newspaper, which is associated with Muslim cleric Fethullah Glen whom the government accuses of organising the coup attempt. The newspaper has since been under government control.

In Kenya, authorities are increasingly using a new mechanism to control the media: money.

"As revenues drain away from traditional media due to the inroads of digital technologies, the use of financial-induced self-censorship, or 'fiscing', can also ensure that journalists are more 'reasonable' in their reporting," said journalist Alan Rusbridger in the report.

"Murder is messy. Money is tidy," he continues.

However, the control of information is not unique to developing countries, said Rasch.

In the US, President Donald Trump has raised anti-media hostility to levels "previously unseen on a national scale," said journalist Alan Huffman in the report.

President Trump has consistently described some media organizations as "fake news," most recently reiterating the claim that media fabricate stories during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). "They have no sources, they just make them up when there are none," he told attendees.

Trump's rhetoric often emboldened his supporters who would boo journalists. Huffman described one case in the report where a Trump supporter wore a T-shirt that suggested the use of lynching, stating: "Rope. Tree. Journalist. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED."

The president has also restricted and even denied access for reporters perceived as unfriendly, including those from Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post, and the Washington Post, and has threatened to change libel laws to make it easier to sue journalists and news agencies.

In one chapter, Christian Amanpour noted the similarities in such "poisonous" trends in the US and around the world.

"The same dynamic has infected powerful segments of the American media, as it has in Egypt, Turkey, and Russia, where journalists have been pushed into political partisan corners, delegitimized, and accused of being enemies of the state. Journalism itself has become weaponized. We cannot allow that to happen," she stated.

In Ecuador, the government has allegedly used social media as a way to suppress journalists.

After tweeting that Ecuador's former Vice-President Lenin Moreno had not paid income taxes, journalist Bernardo Abad's twitter account had been blocked for violating its terms of service. By the end of the week, nine accounts had been temporarily suspended after also tweeting about Moreno's taxes.

Radsch told IPS that with the internet and social media, there are now "more outlets for repression and threats."

China has taken this to the next level, making plans to link journalists' online posts to their finances.

Under the country's proposed social credit plan, journalists who write or speak critically of the government could face personal financial consequences including decreased credit score or a denied loan. Such censorship goes beyond the business as usual tactics of shutting down reporters' social media accounts to affecting journalists' daily activities.

Rasch highlighted the need to advocate for an open internet and the rights of journalists.

"[We must] remember the importance of the press that continues to help us make sense of all the information that we are bombarded with all the time," she told IPS.

She also recommended journalists adopt secure communication practices in order to maintain their privacy and their sources' privacy.

Most importantly, journalists must stand strong and commit to fact-based reporting.

"This is the best and most important way to fight back against the new censorship," said Simon.

"Journalists cannot allow themselves to feel demoralized. They need to pursue their calling and to seek the truth with integrity, honestly believe that the setbacks, while real, are temporary," he concluded.

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On World Press Freedom Day, Censorship and Repression Reported Globally - Truth-Out

Inside Higher Ed

Kansas community college student reporters allege censorship Inside Higher Ed Hutchinson Community College student journalists say they are being squelched. The journalism professor who advises the paper has been suspended. By. Jeremy Bauer-Wolf. May 4, 2017. Comments. Alan Montgomery. A journalism adviser at a Kansas ... and more »

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Kansas community college student reporters allege censorship - Inside Higher Ed

The 33 journalists and media workers murdered in the Americas during 2016 represent an increase in censorship and corruption in the countries of the Americas, according to the annual report of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The annual report, documents trends and critical events, including advances, restrictions and violations of freedom of expression in the Americas. In 2016, a critical year for democracy in the region, it looks at violence against journalists, capacity for social protest, use of criminal law to restrict expression, stigmatizing statements against journalists, and freedom of expression in the context of the internet.

Journalists were killed in Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, the United States, El Salvador, Peru and Venezuela in 2016. Most of the murdered journalists investigated political corruption or were leaders in their local communities. As a result, a high rate of impunity continues to affect many countries in the region, according to the study.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Office of the Special Rapporteur recorded an increase in the number of journalists and communicators killed. According to the organization, there were 27 murders of journalists in 2015, 25 in 2014, and 18 in 2013.

Even though it seems clear that these murders of journalists are directly related to the exercise of their profession, it is difficult to confirm this link in all cases due to the high level of impunity in the punishment of these crimes, the organization said.

The report - the nineteenth of the IACHR since 1997 - has three major chapters on current topics: Standards for a Free, Open and Inclusive Internet; Silenced Zones: Highly Dangerous Areas for the Exercise of Freedom of Expression; and National Case Law on Freedom of Expression.

In the report, the Office of the Special Rapporteur also emphasized the application of criminal laws to prosecute those who have published some information that offends public officials as an obstacle to freedom of expression.

The Office of the Special Rapporteur continued to follow up on the government's numerous sanctions against the media in Ecuador. This was a consequence of the application of the Organic Law of Communications, a law incompatible with international standards regarding the right to freedom of expression, the organization said.

Other obstacles to freedom of expression identified in the IACHR report are the use of stigmatizing statements against journalists and media by state authorities, and the use of direct and indirect censorship mechanisms to condition the free flow of information.

In the chapter about silenced zones, the report highlights three emblematic cases in the region: one from Tamaulipas (Mexico), Mazatenango (Guatemala) and the Paraguayan border.

These places are characterized by a sustained increase in violence against journalists, both at the level of criminal organizations and by government entities and officials, and by a high level of impunity.

In Mexico, despite the implementation of federal measures and mechanisms to protect journalists, the country remains the most dangerous in the region to practice journalism. Some peripheral regions of the country face the most serious risks.

For example, the report points to Tamaulipas as the place where violence against journalists originated in Mexico. Since the 2000s, drug cartels have launched attacks on the media and journalists. This has generated a situation of structural violence, impunity and self-censorship of the press in the state.

Despite this, the government of Tamaulipas does not have specialized agencies on crimes against freedom of expression, the Rapporteur said.

Other obstacles to exercising the right to freedom of expression in many countries of the region are the state restrictions imposed on the exercise of this right. Also, excessive use of force by police officers during social protests is an affront to this right.

Through the Rapporteurship, the IACHR has recommended to the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) that they design regulatory frameworks that protect and allow the exercise of social protest. It also proposed that they adopt special measures to protect journalists who cover situations of high social conflict, so that they are not arrested, assaulted nor have their rights violated.

The Office of the Special Rapporteur noted in its report multiple cases of intimidation and physical aggression against journalists in Venezuela during the course of their work. Some of these attacks on communicators have been caused by state security agencies such as the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin). All this happened in the context of a severe polarization between the opposition and the government of Nicols Maduro.

In the context of a deep political, economic and social crisis, which has already taken the lives of 29 Venezuelans, the Maduro government began the process to withdraw Venezuela from the OAS on April 28.

The report also noted, with concern, the existing concentration of media, and the lack of pluralism in the media systems of several countries in the region. This reduces public debate and makes it less possible for all to express themselves, the analysis determined.

Media and the internet are vehicles for society to access and disseminate information and opinions on issues of undoubted social and political relevance, the report said.

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Censorship increased in the Americas while 33 journalists and communicators lost their lives in 2016, according to ... - Knight Center for Journalism...

"The globalist elite have always exercised their influence through manufactured consent," continued McNally. "In the past they used the mainstream media to convince everyone that their point of view was the only point of view. The waning influence of the mainstream press and the growth of the internet threatened to democratize information and break their control of their preferred narrative."

"Not surprisingly, this is a huge threat to the tech-left and the new global elite -- leftist Silicon Valley billionaires. They have quickly forsaken their commitment to a free and open internet and are using their dominance to push their own values while silencing those with other points of view."

The new campaign has already compiled more than 137 examples of Silicon Valley companies brazenly banning users, censoring content and manipulating search results to undermine the democratization of information on the web.

"We gathered these examples in less than 24 hours," said McNally. "The most surprising aspect of our research is that the majority of censorship examples have occurred since 2015, after President Obama passed rules regulating the internet as a public utility. We believe there are thousands of examples, so we're opening this up to citizen investigators to help us by submitting their own examples."

"If you've had your account banned on Twitter or Facebook; if you have examples of how Google is manipulating search results; or if your opinions have been censored by Silicon Valley companies, we want to hear from you," McNally concluded.

Citizen investigators can submit examples of web censorship by visiting http://freeourinternet.org/campaigns/report-the-bans/. Cases will be individually investigated and added to the chronological database to track the extent of the tech-left's and Silicon Valley's efforts to undermine a free and open internet.

CONTACT: Chad Wilkinson chad@freeourinternet.org 215-900-3245

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/free-our-internet-launches-new-campaign-to-expose-tech-left-censorship-300451809.html

SOURCE Free Our Internet

http://freeourinternet.org

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"Free Our Internet" launches new campaign to expose tech-left censorship - PR Newswire (press release)