Australia remains one of the few first world countries to lack an 18+ classification for video games. By restricting a large portion of the gaming market, we become victims of media censorship, says Joel Vaughan.
Media censorship
Is Newsweek censoring its letters page?
After running a cover feature on Al Gore, 74% of the letters Newsweek received in response were negative. Yet, according to NewsBusters, the magazine ran only positive letters in its following edition. And it’s not the first time.
China fails to fall in love with Obama
US President Barack Obama is on a diplomatic visit to China, but is struggling to win the country’s citizens over with his usually irresistible charms. Perhaps it’s because he’s being kept on a tight leash and well away from the media spotlight.
Cuban blogger tells: beaten black and blue by government agents
Cuba’s most famous blogger, Yoani Sanchez of Generation Y blogs about her beating and attempted kidnapping by Cuban state security officials while on her way to a peace march in Havana.
The Newspoll numbers The Australian won’t print
The Australian appears to have decided to not publish the results of an opinion poll on voting intention in the wake of last week’s outlier that had Malcolm Turnbull gaining ground on Kevin Rudd.
Video of the Day: Julian Morrow’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture
The Chaser’s Julian Morrow delivers this year’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture, offering a surprisingly witty and insightful take on press freedom, censorship and media ownership.
US military bans photos of war dead in Afghanistan
The US military has officially banned embedded journalists from taking photos or recording footage of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Is it press censorship, or just giving the deceased and their families the respect and privacy they deserve?
Berlusconi’s Ministry of Truth
Silvio Berlusconi’s ongoing war against newspapers saying nasty things about him continues, with the Italian PM assembling a crack team of journos and PR hacks to monitor the world’s media for mean comments and “bombard those newsrooms with truthful and positive news.”
Guardian: We’ve been gagged from reporting Parliament
The UK’s Guardian newspaper says it has been censored from reporting on Parliamentary proceedings, after a gag order was placed on the details of a question to be asked later this week in Parliament.
Local politicians: gagged by their own councils
In parts of Australia, local government politicians are being prevented, under threat of legal action, from talking to the media. It’s ridiculous, undemocratic and probably illegal, says Margaret Simons.
No sunshine for Fijian journalists
Fijian authorities are censoring and intimidating the media with ‘Gestapo-like’ tactics, including arrests and interrogations, finds a damning new report on Fiji released by Amnesty International, titled Fiji: Paradise Lost.
Censorship and cowardice at Conde Nast
Publisher Conde Nast has buried a story from GQ on possible connections between Vladimir Putin, the KGB and a series of 1999 bombings officially blamed on Chechen terrorists, keeping the piece off the web and out of Russia, for fear of reprisals.
Conde Nast’s attempt to keep quiet just turns up the volume
The censored GQ article linking the KGB and a series of 1999 bombings wouldn’t have even made headlines in Russia, says Evgeny Morozov. Of course, it probably will now.
Media says “Nyet!” to self-censorship
While magazine publisher Conde Nast’s attempts — and initial success — in censoring a story in GQ magazine are troubling, but it’s at least reassuring that GQ’s editors didn’t take it lying down, says Julian Sanchez.
Gawker translate censored story into Russian
Outraged at revelations that GQ buried a story linking Vladimir Putin to a series of 1999 bombings to keep it out of Russia, Gawker has rallied its readership to translate the article into Russian and spread it online.
Ass-erbaijan: donkey bloggers face prison
Two bloggers from Azerbaijan have been arrested for posting a YouTube video of a donkey giving a news conference — a spoof of the government’s press conferences.
An embedded journo defends his record
Following revelations that the US military is vetting journalists’ past work for negative war coverage before allowing them to be embedded in Afghanistan, writer Nir Rosen — who was allowed to embed — has scored a copy of the intel prepared on him, and he isn’t happy.
US military screening embeded journalists
The US armed forces have employed a PR firm to “screen” journalists before they’re allowed to be embedded with military units in Afghanistan, analysing whether they have provided positive or negative coverage of the army in the past, according to Stars and Stripes.
East Timor’s media blackout is a pox on the nation
East Timor this week celebrates 10 years of independence, but it seems the nation’s government is struggling to grasp basic democratic principles, writes Steve Holland.
News outlets censor killer’s racist rant
The AP and other news outlets have omitted racist comments and references to US President Barack Obama when publishing excerpts from the diary of gunman George Sodini, who opened fire on a Pittsburgh fitness center yesterday, killing four women.
Thailand censors The Economist
Thai magazine distributors have blocked an edition of The Economist from even entering the country due to an article about the Thai government’s censorship of internet sites said to be critical of the royal family.
Exiled Iranian cartoonist Nik Kowsar is nuts
Iranian-born political cartoonist Nik Kowsar has been jailed and sent death threats for his refusal to cease publishing his cartoon criticisms of the Iranian leadership. “As a cartoonist in Iran, you should be nuts,” he tells the Washington Post,/em>. “I was nuts.”
Forbes Russia editor murder, five years on
It has been five years since the murder of Forbes Russia founding editor Paul Klebnikov, killed for dreaming of a better, more enlightened Russia. Half-a-decade later, has anything changed?
