Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an unlikely coalition of Australian media organisations fighting for press freedom and source protection. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: October 2019 (Page 2 of 4)
Freedom of thought stands at a critical crossroads. Technological and psychological advances could be used to promote free thought. They could shield our inner worlds, reduce our mental biases, and create new spaces for thought. Yet states and corporations are forging these advances into weapons that restrict what we think. Continue reading
In a news week dominated, as usual, by Brexit the newspapers continued with their predictable and entrenched editorial positions. The vote in Parliament on Saturday was, on the front page of the Mail on Sunday “House of Fools”, in contrast, the Sunday Mirror had the Prime Minister “Humiliated”. The Guardian had a piece with the front pages and headlines from the various Sunday newspapers. ITV news also had coverage. Continue reading
Freedom of expression has long been extolled by those who love freedom generally. As George Orwell once said: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” And, according to the European Court of Human Rights, this includes offending, shocking and disturbing. Continue reading
Earlier this week, in a written statement to the House of Commons, the UK’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, announced the end of the UK’s controversial age-verification plans for online porn Continue reading
During the 2019 Australian general election, a news story about the Labor Party supporting a “death tax” – which turned out to be fake – gained traction on social media. Now, Labor is urging a post-election committee to rule on whether digital platforms like Facebook are harming Australian democracy by allowing the spread of fake news. Continue reading
The European Court’s Second Section recently found that criminal proceedings against the owner and the editor of a newspaper for having published statements by the leader of a terrorist organisation were justified and did not violate the right to freedom of expression. Continue reading
A new report from the Media Standards Trust [pdf] has found that the press complaints handling body, IPSO, fails 25 out of 38 of Leveson’s recommendations for an effective and independent press regulator. Continue reading
On 27 August the Express published an article under their ‘crusade’ to ‘End this injustice’ (in family courts). We were concerned that it contained serious inaccuracies and was misleading. We wrote about that in a post on 30 August : The Danger of Crusades. On 1 September we also lodged a complaint with The Express about those inaccuracies, referencing Clause 1 IPSO Editors’ Code. Continue reading
On 8 October 2019, Ben Stokes was once again the subject of widespread press coverage when pictures which were said to show the England player acting aggressively towards his wife face after the Professional Cricketers’ Association Awards. Ben Stokes’ wife Clare has denied as “nonsense” allegations the couple had a physical altercation. There was a piece on the BBC website. Continue reading
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