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Alabama newspaper editor who urged the Ku Klux Klan to begin night rides again is replaced as publisher and editor by African American strategic leader Elecia R. Dexter. Facebook content moderators weigh in on their role reviewing social media platform posts and describe the heavy toll it takes on them. Pennsylvania Department of Corrections settles lawsuit and will end its mail policy that violated inmates’ First Amendment rights by withholding original legal mail from recipients. PEN America President Jennifer Egan joins CNN to discuss the rise in persecution of journalists around the world, highlighting the important role press freedom advocacy can play in these cases. -Nora Benavidez, Director of U.S. Free Expression Programs

The most pressing threats and notable goings-on in free expression today

U.S.

Alabama Newspaper Editor Who Urged Klan to ‘Ride Again’ Replaced by African-American Woman
Elecia R. Dexter replaces Goodloe Sutton, the newspaper’s owner who penned a staggering editorial with the headline “The Klan Needs to Ride Again” in the paper’s February 14 edition. Sutton told the Montgomery Advertiser he urged the white supremacist group to “clean out D.C.” via lynchings.
CNN

The Trauma Floor: The Secret Lives of Facebook Moderators in America
Collectively, the employees described a workplace that is perpetually teetering on the brink of chaos. It’s a place where employees can be fired for making just a few errors a week—and where those who remain live in fear of the former colleagues who return seeking vengeance.
THE VERGE

PA Corrections Dept. Settling Lawsuit Over Contentious Legal Mail Policy
The DOC has confirmed it will stop photocopying inmates’ legal mail and go back to giving them original copies. Legal mail gets special protection under the First Amendment. It is supposed to be confidential and must be opened in the presence of its recipient.
WITF

PEN America President Optimistic in Face of Press Arrests
Jennifer Egan joins John Avlon to discuss recent reports that the number of imprisoned journalists around the world is rising. “Because there is this increase in persecution of journalists, it feels evermore important to do what we can to try to shine a light on those cases. And the truth is that it can work,” she says.
CNN

 
Global

Artist and Journalist Zehra Doğan Released from Turkish Jail After Nearly Three Years *PEN Case List
Her release is being celebrated by many across the spectrums of culture and wider civil society at large, including PEN America, Freemuse, Ai Weiwei, and Banksy (who, in March 2018, painted a mural in New York City raising awareness about the imprisoned journalist).
HYPERALLERGIC

Censorship and Silence: South-East Asia Suffers Under Press Crackdown
“South-east Asia has never been an easy place for press freedom but what we have seen recently is a really alarming decline in almost every country, from arrests in Myanmar and the complete obliteration of opposition press in Cambodia to everything that’s been happening to Rappler in the Philippines,” said Shawn Crispin of CPJ.
THE GUARDIAN

The Washington Post Announces the Launch of the Jamal Khashoggi Fellowship
The fellowship will provide an independent platform for journalists and writers to offer their perspectives from parts of the world where freedom of expression is threatened or suppressed. The Post has named Hala Al-Dosari, an award-winning activist, scholar and writer from Saudi Arabia, the first Jamal Khashoggi fellow.
THE WASHINGTON POST

‘They Have No Idea What Democracy Is’: Tania Bruguera on Cuba’s Artist Crackdown
Bruguera, one of Cuba’s most prominent artists, is coordinating a protest against Decree 349, which was brought in by the country’s communist regime to clamp down on artistic expression. The proposed decree required artists to get a permit from the Cuban ministry of culture if they wanted to perform in public or private spaces.
THE GUARDIAN

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