Reporters catch flack for allowing the President-elect a friendly photo op at a Mar-A-Lago shindig while he still spurns demands for a press conference. Rocky a.k.a Rambo takes himself out of the running to lead the National Endowment for the Arts. -Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director

 

DARE: Daily Alert on Rights and Expression

PEN America’s take on today’s most pressing threats to free expression

U.S.

Trump holds off-the-record party with reporters, but photos were okay
President-elect Donald Trump regularly vilifies the news media, has ditched his press pool on at least one occasion, and hasn’t held a news conference since July, but on Sunday, he invited reporters to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for a holiday party.
THE WEEK

Newt Gingrich ramps up attacks on “propaganda media”: If you’re not with Trump, you’re the enemy
Pundits and politicians have been griping about the “liberal media” for eons now, in an effort to shame and bully reporters into going easy on Republicans lest they be accused of bias. But Gingrich’s new term, “propaganda media,” is an escalation.
SALON

On campus, lines blur between what’s hate and what’s not
The crackdown on free speech, more specifically on unpopular speech, by college administrators has been a festering problem for years. And nothing is more unpopular on campuses these days than expressing admiration for Donald Trump.
BOSTON GLOBE

A national law needed to protect online freedom of speech
To fix a legal loophole, Congress should pass the SPEAK FREE Act (H.R. 2304) – bipartisan legislation that would address the patchwork of often contradictory state laws and provide a national standard to protect online freedom of speech by creating a special motion to dismiss.
THE HILL

 
Global

Norway, China normalize ties after Liu Xiaobo Nobel Prize row *PEN Case List
Norway and China on Monday normalized diplomatic and political ties, frozen since 2010 when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
REUTERS

France plans internet ombudsman to safeguard free speech
Ombudsman role would serve to protect companies from spurious complaints and prevent excessive censorship.
THE GUARDIAN

Tor network outlawed in Turkey amid crackdown on web anonymity
In an clampdown on freedom of speech and access to the web, the government of Turkey has reportedly started to enforce nationwide restrictions on connections to the Tor anonymity network, an independent internet watchdog has reported.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES

The erosion of academic freedom in Malaysia
Universiti Malaya student Anis Syafiqah Md Yusof and two other student activists were recently suspended for a semester and slapped with a RM400 fine for their involvement in the “Tangkap MO1” (MO1) rally.
FREE MALAYSIA TODAY

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