Category Archives: Transhuman News

One of my friends recently told me a story about the son of her friends. He had to be taken to a psychologist after watching news on TV about a mother killing her child.

At the end of the 18th century, many West European countries banned The Sorrows of Young Werther, a novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The protagonist commits suicide by shooting himself because of unrequited love. The book was banned because of a series of suicides committed by young men in the same manner. Thats when the connection between publication of information about violence and its social effects was made.

The U.S. and many European countries have legal mechanisms regulating the media when it comes to reporting on violence. Many media also have codes and standards about reporting such incidents.

In Britain it is forbidden to show close-ups of severed limbs after accidents. There are clear regulations for how many seconds and how closely you can show such videos. This is not censorship, but a way to be responsible about every word you say and every frame you screen.

In Ukraine, its not regulated. The only thing that can potentially restrain newsrooms are personal ethics of journalists. Unfortunately, not everyone has them.

Just a few weeks ago, I walked into a cutting room and bumped into a young female editor with a very red face. She turns around and tells me: I cant edit this. It was a video of a news item about the rape of a nine-year-old girl. But other people can do it.

Imitation of television

There is a direct correlation between media reports about suicides and the increase in numbers of suicides, especially among teenagers. Suicides, as well as other forms of violence are known to have produced copycats.

Does this mean that news of violence should be hushed? No. It means that it needs to be done carefully and guided by the principle of do not harm. I found a document developed by the department of mental health of the World Health Organization, published in 2000, entitled Prevention of suicides.

In it are recommendations for media workers, how news about suicides should be reported as to not harm society. Its basically a list of prohibitions: a suicide cannot be reported as a routine event. Details should be withdrawn about the exact manner of suicide. You cannot describe the situation that caused it as hopeless and present the reasons as if they justify the action.

See the article here:
Censorship by violence

EVREN BALLIM AND PAUL SANDLE

Reuters

SUPPORT NETWORK: A protester uses her mobile device as she walks at Gezi Park on Taksim Square in Istanbul.

Turks are turning to encryption software to thwart any ramp up in censorship of the internet after six days of anti-government demonstrations and a wave of arrests reportedly for urging people to protest on social media sites.

Hotspot Shield, a VPN (virtual private network) that disguises users' identities and encrypts traffic on the Web, said more than 120,000 people had signed up to its service in Turkey since the weekend, more than 10 times typical levels.

The software has been used in recent years by democracy movements around the world, including in the Arab Spring, to circumvent government censorship of social media services such as Facebook and Twitter, said David Gorodyansky, founder of Hotspot Shield creator AnchorFree.

Authorities in Egypt, Libya and Syria attempted to close down Internet access completely to quell protests.

Gorodyansky said authorities had not blocked access in Turkey, but they had "throttled down" speeds, making the sites unusable for periods of time.

Police raided 38 addresses in the western port city of Izmir and detained 25 people on suspicion of stirring insurrection on social media with comments on the protest, opposition CHP party deputy Alaattin Yuksel told Reuters on Wednesday.

Izmir Deputy Prosecutor Ali Haydar confirmed that a detention order was issued for 38 people, but declined to give information on charges or how many were detained.

More here:
Turks skip suspected censorship online