Free Expression Digest: Wed. March 23
PEN’s Free Expression Digest brings you a daily curated round-up of the most important free expression-related stories from around the web. Subscribe here. *This mailing list is currently in BETA as we work out the kinks. Please send your feedback and suggestions to [email protected]
Turkish journalist faces prison over ‘insulting’ politicians
Journalist Onur Erem faces over two years in jail for allegedly insulting Turkish leaders. The “insults” were other people’s words. He is only one of numerous Turkish reporters facing similar charges, he told DW. DEUTCHE WELLE
Indian reporter arrested after posting criticism of police
Police in eastern India arrested Prabhat Singh, a local journalist, and beat him after he criticized authorities on social media and demanded a law protecting reporters in a region embroiled in a Maoist insurgency, his supporters said Wednesday.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Blogger gets jail term in Singapore for posts said to incite ethnic hatred
Ai Takagi, a Japanese-Australian woman, was sentenced on Wednesday to a 10-month jail term in Singapore over blog posts that besmirched foreigners in the city-state.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
85% of Hong Kong journalists say press freedom has declined
An overwhelming 85 percent of Hong Kong journalists believe that press freedom has declined on the island, according to an annual survey by the Hong Kong Journalists Association. ASIAN CORRESPONDENT
Media freedom under threat in Kenya
A dispatch from Human Rights Watch describes a tough year so far for the media in Kenya, with journalists and bloggers bearing the brunt of what seems to be a concerted government effort to silence the press. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Turkey’s media faces ‘unprecedented crisis’, says English PEN
Turkey’s independent media now faces “an unprecedented crisis” due to the erosion of their rights during Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s time in office as prime minister and now president, according to the free speech organization, English PEN. THE GUARDIAN