Twitter, reaching out for improvement ideas, acknowledges an edit function would need to preserve the public record—especially that of its most powerful users. And for the last days of 2016, a suggestion that we take a longer look at what’s gone right over time because freedom depends on faith in what is possible outweighing fear of what is wrong. – Dru Menaker, Chief Operating Officer

 

DARE: Daily Alert on Rights and Expression

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

U.S.

Twitter Seeks a Little Help From Its Users
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey solicited suggestions from users during an online event that included calls for an edit button and consistent abuse policies.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Sean Spicer: Trump May Replace Regular Press Conferences With Twitter, Facebook
Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that President-elect Trump may not hold regular press conferences. Instead, he may replace them with live chats on Facebook and Twitter, Spicer told Hewitt.
TOWNHALL

Trump’s Demolition Derby
President-elect Donald Trump is on a collision course with the White House press corps, and the resulting crash could greatly limit the information that the public gets from the Trump administration.
U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORTS

Provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos Was The Speaker Most Likely To Be Disinvited To Colleges In 2016
The number of serious attempts to keep speakers off college campuses because of their politics doubled this year. One quarter of the disinvitations were aimed at Milo Yiannopoulos, a provocative British writer for Breitbart.com.
FORBES

Melania Trump, currently suing a publication for defamation, says her goal is to protect the First Amendment
Melania Trump will reportedly fight for freedom of speech when she assumes the role of First Lady, even as she’s in the middle of suing British tabloid The Daily Mail and a Maryland-based blogger for defamation.
SALON

 
Global

Journalist Ahmet Şık referred to court for arrest
Turkish journalist Ahmet Şık, who was detained in Istanbul on Dec. 29 over several tweets and articles, has been referred to court for arrest.
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Venezuela’s oldest daily shuts down amid claims of government censorship
Venezuela’s oldest daily newspaper, El Impulso, a sharp critic of President Nicolas Maduro, is halting production because of a paper shortage after the state company charged with importing paper stopped delivering its orders.
THE MALAY MAIL

Sudanese journalists protest confiscation of Al-Jareeda newspaper
Al-Jareeda has been confiscated by the National Intelligence and Security Services eleven times during this month of December 2016. The seizure which is often without any justification causes heavy financial losses on the newspaper.
SUDAN TRIBUNE

British universities accused of stifling free speech by gagging ex-staff
Universities have been accused of coercing thousands of former staff into signing deals preventing them from speaking out about why they left. MPs said it was worrying that supposed “bastions of free speech” were preventing former workers from speaking out about potential failings that could be affecting students.
THE TIMES

Global Press Freedom Has Taken An ‘Unbelievable’ Hit This Year
Media freedom has undergone a “deep and disturbing” decline in several parts of the world and at the global level this year, according to a new report.
HUFFINGTON POST

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