world forum democracy – media-freedom

Why I have resigned from the Telegraph

The coverage of HSBC in Britain's Telegraph is a fraud on its readers. If major newspapers allow corporations to influence their content for fear of losing advertising revenue, democracy itself is in peril.

By Peter Oborne

/ 17 Feb 2015

Charlie Hebdo [insert 'offence' here]

Why did hundreds of media outlets across the world publish the most offensive images of all? (And I'm not talking about cartoons...)

By Mary Fitzgerald

/ 22 Jan 2015

Charlie Hebdo tragedy: free speech and its broader contexts

This was a specific attack designed to sow division. We musn't let it.

By Des Freedman

/ 9 Jan 2015

Charlie Hebdo: how journalism needs to respond to this unconscionable attack

The killings at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo highlight the threat to media workers in a world where free expression faces many violent threats. But they provide no excuse for hateful rejoinders.

By Aidan White

/ 7 Jan 2015

Say what you want, think what you like

This week's 'interview' with the Turkish PM is deeply problematic, sometimes enraging. It lets large tracts of propaganda go unchallenged. Here's why we published it anyway.

By Mary Fitzgerald

/ 17 Dec 2014

Beyond Al Jazeera: Egypt’s chilling verdict on media freedom

The draconian treatment of three Al Jazeera journalists who have been sent to jail by a Cairo court amidst worldwide condemnation is a sharp reminder to aspiring democrats in Egypt that the Arab Spring in the media is close to collapse.

By Aidan White

/ 24 Jun 2014

The Snowden saga begins

This essay is a shortened and adapted version of Chapter 1 of Glenn Greenwald’s new book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Security State, and appears at TomDispatch.com with the kind permission of Metropolitan Books. It is republished here with that site's permission.

By Glenn Greenwald

/ 14 May 2014

No more sources

Revelations by Edward Snowden, National Security Agency dissident, have grave implications for the role of journalists in the ‘Fourth Estate’ and the primary duty of source protection in the era of mass-surveillance.

By Paul Lashmar

/ 17 Oct 2013

The path to hell…. an investigative journalist’s view of Leveson

The Leveson inquiry and demands for tighter regulation have already led to a chilling effect in the British media. The law of unintended consequences may lead to well-meaning measures undermining "serious" investigative journalism and democracy.

By Paul Lashmar

/ 27 Mar 2013

BBC bias? Reporting on Israel and the Palestinians

When it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, both lobbies claim that the Corporation is 'on the other side'. Is there any truth in it?

By Hilary Aked

/ 10 Dec 2012

Tragedies of the fourth estate

The recent crises must be understood in light of systemic pressures on the BBC's resources and the wider struggle to maintain healthy and well funded investigative journalism - an essential part of democratic accountability.

By Paul Lashmar

/ 20 Nov 2012

Murdoch and the Big Lie

The Murdoch affair is demonstrating not only that Rupert and James are not 'fit and proper' people to run a media empire in Britain, but that David Cameron and George Osborne are ill-suited to running a government.

By Anthony Barnett

/ 4 May 2012