Global Free Speech Update

 

 

Malaysia:  protests marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Internal Security Act, an anti-communist measure passed in the 1960s that allows for virtually limitless detention without trial on quite meager grounds of suspicion. Predictably, dozens of protesters were arrested and charged with violating the ISA.

United States:  a federal judge dismissed a group of Texas cities from a lawsuit challenging the state’s open meeting laws. The judge ruled that municipalities do not enjoy First Amendment protection as such, and that the rationale for extending free speech rights to private corporations in Citizens United does not carry forward where public municipalities are concerned.

Somalia:  journalists are calling on the newly elected government to put forth a media reform bill that would liberalize broadcast licensing criteria, ensure judicial independence, and clamp down on violence and threats against journalists and broadcasters. Link here to the 2008 Media Sustainability Index Report for Somalia.

Europe:  The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media released it’s first regular report to the OSCE council in July. The report takes note of media developments in several OSCE states, and promises to give more attention to "the digital switchover in broadcasting and matters related to New Media."

-Kathleen Bergin

Comments

[Jeffry House]

How about mentioning the prosecution of Venezuelan General Rivero for complaining about Cuban influence in Venezuela?

Rivero is a retired general and ex-Chavez supporter. The court has told him he cannot speak about his case or Cuban intervention until his trial date.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/world/americas/15venez.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/world/americas/12venez.html