PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out.
- On Election Day, PEN America’s digital safety team, in collaboration with the Knight Election Hub and an all-star group of safety experts and organizations, launched the Election Urgent Care safety helpline. The helpline is providing U.S. journalists and newsrooms covering the election with support for digital, physical, psychosocial, and legal concerns—from dealing with doxing, threats, and arrests to preparing for risky assignments. Our partners include the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Women’s Media Foundation, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Aegis Safety Alliance. To get help, U.S. journalists and newsrooms can email [email protected] with the word “SAFETY” in the subject line.
- PEN America’s digital safety team led workshops in local newsrooms across the United States and at this year’s annual meeting for A Culture of Safety Alliance, a multi-stakeholder network focused on keeping journalists safe globally.
- For a new Facts Forward interview, PEN America’s journalism and disinformation team spoke to Isabel Jones, a digital research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. They discussed misinformation narratives and conspiracy theories around elections, as well as violence against election officials and volunteers.
- Martina Van Norden, a Dallas-Ft. Worth-based social entrepreneur and educational leader wrote about the disinformation landscape in a blog post. Offering her perspective as an organizer, specializing in leading community-forward workshops including for PEN America’s Disinformation and Community Engagement program, she wrote, “Restating the truth is needed to reset the consequential hurt of disinformation.”
- Artist Ellis Angel spoke to Communications Assistant Amulya Hiremath about her latest weaving series, The Censor’s Cut: Weavings for Intellectual Freedom, which was presented at Magic City Books in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a part of Banned Books Week 2024. In the interview, she discussed the role books play in her life, how she took to weaving, and the impact she hopes to have.
