Justice Dept. Inspector General launches probe into FBI’s handling of Clinton emails, prompting the President-elect to slam his former rival on Twitter as “guilty as hell.” Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson says he needs time to study before drawing any conclusions regarding Philippine, Saudi and Russian complicity in rights abuses. Case of Asian conflation ‎prompts online mob to excoriate Washington Post editor for taking photos at a Senate hearing she did not attend.
-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.

Rex Tillerson says ‘these things happen’ when asked about the death of Russian political dissidents
Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State has played down the alleged murder of Vladimir Putin’s political opponents saying “these things happen”.
THE INDEPENDENT

Trolls Attack Editor Over Claims She Spied On Trump Nominee
Online trolls have attacked a Washington Post editor over a fake news story falsely stating that she had snapped a photo of Rex Tillerson’s notes during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.
HUFFINGTON POST

Trump Team Bars Reporter From Press Conference Due To ‘Space Constrictions’ But Finds Room For Cheering Staff
The Trump team told Gothamist that there was no room for their reporter at the press conference “due to space restrictions,” which seems to be contradicted by the fact that there was room for people to cheer the President-elect.
GOTHAMIST

Richard Prince, Protesting Trump, Returns Art Payment
Mr. Prince, in an act of protest against Ivanka Trump’s father, President-elect Donald J. Trump, said in an interview Thursday that he had returned a $36,000 payment that he received in 2014 for a work that depicts Ms. Trump.
NEW YORK TIMES

A warning to the American media from a journalist who covers Putin
Congratulations, US media! You’ve just covered your first press conference of an authoritarian leader with a massive ego and a deep disdain for your trade and everything you hold dear. We in Russia have been doing it for 12 years now so quite a few things during Donald Trump’s press conference rang my bells.
QUARTZ

 
Global

Gunmen kill Pakistani journalist in Balochistan province
Muhammad Jan, 37, who worked for local Urdu language daily newspaper ‘Qudrat,’ was shot late on Thursday while on his way home on a motorcycle in Qalat district, some 160 kilometres south of Quetta, the provincial capital.
GULF TODAY

Nine years in jail demanded for renowned Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal
An Istanbul prosecutor has demanded up to nine years in jail for prominent Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal on charges of “making terror propaganda” in one of his articles.
HURRIYET DAILY

Palestinian journalists frustrated with inability to cover PA corruption
No journalists in Gaza — no matter how senior — would even think of criticizing the leaders of Hamas, and in the Palestinian Authority (PA), criticism of any kind against President Mahmoud Abbas, or exposure of corruption in the PA, could result in the journalist’s arrest.
AL MONITOR

Bangladesh’s Women Journalists Rise Against the Odds
Social taboos and hostile work environments have kept women away from joining the media in Bangladesh. But this is slowly changing.
THE WIRE

Don’t weep for Trump’s press victims, Europe has its own despots to worry about
If you want to see the reality of Trump’s vision of the rule of law; look across the Channel first, where countries perceived to be more advanced and democratic have membership of NATO and the European Union to mask their steady slide into authoritarianism.
TELEGRAPH

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