Want to receive this digest in your inbox? To subscribe, simply click here and choose DARE: Daily Alert on Rights and Expression from the list. 

Trump Administration’s tariff on the price of Canadian-produced paper drives up the cost of newsprint. Former government contractor and whistleblower Reality Winner sentenced to more than five years’ imprisonment. Trump launches petition to demand that ESPN televise the national anthem ahead of football games after the network announced plans that it would stop doing so. Tabloid magazine National Enquirer found to have a safe containing damaging stories about Trump it had purchased and killed ahead of the 2016 election. -Anoosh Gasparian, External Relations Manager

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

U.S.

How a Trump tariff is strangling American newspapers
The broader impact of the newsprint issue was laid out in a survey last month by the News Media Alliance. Nearly half of the 272 newspaper publishers who responded to the survey said they had laid off staff as a direct result of newsprint price increases; some 71% said they had cut back the number of pages they published each day.
WASHINGTON POST

Leaker of secret report on Russian hacking gets 5 years
Reality Winner pleaded guilty to a single count of transmitting national security information. The former Air Force translator worked as a contractor at a National Security Agency’s office in Augusta, GA, when she printed a classified report and mailed the document to an online news outlet.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Trump starts petition to get ‘spineless’ ESPN to televise anthem
Renditions of the national anthem before NFL games have gained scrutiny over the past two seasons and into the early part of this one because some players have staged protests against racial injustice and police brutality during the song.
WASHINGTON POST

National Enquirer hid damaging Trump stories in a safe
The National Enquirer kept a safe containing documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed as part of its cozy relationship with Donald Trump leading up to the 2016 presidential election, people familiar with the arrangement told The Associated Press.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Global

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of freedom of Edinburgh
The move, prompted by her failure to condemn the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims by her country’s army, comes after the city council wrote to her on the issue in November and received no response. Yesterday the council unanimously approved a motion to remove the honour with immediate effect.
EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS

Google Tried to Change China. China May End Up Changing Google.
Under a plan called Dragonfly, the company has been testing a censored version of its search engine for the Chinese market. In a meeting with employees last week, Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said that “we are not close to launching” a search engine in China, but he defended the company’s exploration of the market.
NEW YORK TIMES

How Did Things Get So Bad for Turkey’s Journalists?
In his speeches, Erdoğan regularly vilifies journalists as “terrorists” while stoking fears of terrorism among his voters. He frequently eschews facts and voices conspiracy theories, including the idea that Turkey’s allies are secretly working to undermine the country’s supposed economic might.
THE ATLANTIC

Facebook, Twitter and Google have an important role to play in promoting a freer Iran. Will they use it?
“Even though Iran has long been involved in disinformation, it hasn’t exactly managed to distinguish itself in the field. The same country that shuns the notion of free expression at home is happy to turn other countries’ free media to its own benefit.”
WASHINGTON POST

DARE is a project of PEN America’s #LouderTogether campaign, bringing you a daily-curated roundup of the most important free expression-related news from the U.S. and abroad. Send your feedback and story suggestions to [email protected]