Trump’s “fake news awards” fizzle due to lack of fanfare and technical malfunction. (see our response here, highlighting six stories from the past year that demonstrate the value and impact of a free press.) YouTube cracks down on usage rules, including by limiting Chelsea Manning Senate campaign launch video to adult audiences only. Energy Department photographer seeks whistle-blower protections after he was fired for leaking photos showing Energy Secretary Rick Perry chumming with oil man. HuffPost dissolves self-publishing platform in bid to counter spread of fake news and unsubstantiated reporting. -Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director

 

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

U.S.

Trump’s ‘Fake News Awards’ were a huge flop
President Trump’s “Fake News Awards” button did not work. He tried via Twitter to name the “losers,” but technical difficulties at GOP.com caused the president’s link to misfire. Yet even before the website trouble, the president’s “Fake News Awards” were shaping up to be a total flop.
THE WASHINGTON POST

YouTube listed Chelsea Manning’s campaign video as inappropriate
Chelsea Manning announced her campaign to run as a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland. However, her campaign video on YouTube carries an age-restriction tag. Who is being protectd and why?
PAPER MAGAZINE

He leaked a photo of Rick Perry hugging a coal executive. Then he lost his job.
As a photographer for the Department of Energy, Simon Edelman regularly attended meetings with Secretary Rick Perry and snapped pictures for official purposes. Now he is out of a job and seeking whistle-blower protections after leaking photographs of Mr. Perry meeting with a major energy industry donor to President Trump.
NEW YORK TIMES

HuffPost, breaking from its roots, ends unpaid contributions
The site’s everyone-is-welcome ethos was once seen as a democratizing force in news. But Lydia Polgreen, HuffPost’s editor in chief, said that unfiltered platforms had devolved into “cacophonous, messy, hard-to-hear places where voices get drowned out and where the loudest shouting voice prevails.”
NEW YORK TIMES

 
Global

Rights groups call for Ilham Tohti’s release on fourth anniversary of his arrest*PEN Case List
Rights activists and Uyghur advocacy groups renewed their calls for the release from prison of Uyghur academic and blogger Ilham Tohti, who was arrested four years ago on charges of promoting separatism and is now serving a life term behind bars.
RADIO FREE AISA

In a time of ‘Fake News Awards,’ here are 11 real, imprisoned journalists
In response to Trump’s “Fake News Awards,” the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) included the president in its list of “Press Oppressors,” alongside familiar names such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Here are 11 of those imprisoned journalists.
THE WASHINGTON POST

A ‘fraught time’ for press freedom in the Philippines
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the corporate registration of Rappler, an online media startup that has reported aggressively on Duterte’s troll army and police abuses in the government’s war on drugs. Threatening as this crackdown is, it’s only one arm of Duterte’s pincer-like assault on the press.
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

Communist Party mouthpiece accuses Hong Kong university student unions of ‘selling’ independence under guise of free speech
A Communist Party mouthpiece lashed out at university student unions in the city, accusing them of touting Hong Kong independence under the guise of free speech and academic research, an act it compared to “selling dog meat but displaying a sheep’s head.”
SOUTH CHINA MORNING 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]