Index on Censorship weekly round-up

[link removed]
Latest ([link removed]) Subscribe ([link removed]) About Index ([link removed]) Donate ([link removed])
Friday, 11 October 2024
[link removed]
This fake AI-generated image of a flooded Disney World has been widely shared by Russian news agency RIA Novosti. Index has added a watermark for transparency.

Hello, readers. This is Sarah Dawood here, the new editor of Index on Censorship. Every week, we bring the most pertinent global free speech stories to your inbox.

This week, headlines have been dominated by the ongoing devastation of the war in the Middle East, where the death toll is now more than 42,000 in Gaza, and more than 2,100 in Lebanon. Monday also marked a painful milestone for Israelis and Jewish people everywhere, as the first anniversary of Hamas’s attacks, which killed 1,200 people. You can read Jerusalem correspondent Ben Lynfield’s forensic analysis on the region’s risks to journalists and press freedom below.

Attention has also been on the destructive Hurricane Milton in Florida, which has killed at least 16 people. The climate event has resulted in human tragedy, physical damage and the distortion of truth, with false information and AI-generated images accumulating millions of views on social media, including a fabricated flooding of Disney World in Orlando. Such imagery has been seized upon by hostile states, far-right groups, and even US politicians to advance their own aims: Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reposted the fake Disney World photos to its Telegram channel ([link removed]) , whilst Republican members of Congress have proclaimed conspiracy theories of government-led “storm manufacturing”. This emphasises how crises can be manipulated and monopolised to stir up division.

But while disinformation can undermine democracy, so too can information blockades. This brings us to some important stories coming out of Latin America. In Brazil, the social media platform X is now back online after a shutdown in September. The platform was banned by a top judge during the country’s presidential election campaign ([link removed]) , in an attempt to prevent the spread of misinformation. But as Mateus Netzel, the executive director of Brazil-based digital news platform Poder360 told Reuters ([link removed]) , social media bans not only restrict public access to information, but can undermine journalists’ ability to gather and report on news. Elon Musk himself was using X to post about the development of the ban, but this was inaccessible to Brazilian journalists. “In theory, there are journalists and outlets who do not have access to that right now and this
is a very important restriction because they need to report on this issue and they will have to rely on indirect sources,” said Netzel.

We also heard frightening news from Mexico, where a local politician was murdered and beheaded ([link removed]) just days after being sworn in as city mayor of Chilpancingo. Whilst we don’t yet know the reason that Alejandro Arcos Catalán was killed, his murder is yet another example of journalists, politicians, and other public figures being routinely targeted by criminal gangs. Bar active war zones, Mexico has consistently been the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, topping Reporters Without Borders’ list in 2022 ([link removed]) .

Meanwhile, in El Salvador ([link removed]) , climate activists are being silenced through false imprisonment. Five protesters, who fronted a 13-year grassroots campaign to ban metal mining due to its devastating environmental impacts are now facing life in prison for the alleged killing of an army informant in 1989. The charge has been condemned by the UN and international lawyers as baseless and politically motivated, and echoes heavy-handed prison sentences being handed to climate protesters globally, including in democratic countries. As Index’s Mackenzie Argent reported ([link removed]) last month, human rights lawyers have called out the UK’s hypocrisy in claiming egalitarianism whilst disproportionately punishing environmental activists, pointing specifically to the sentencing of Just Stop Oil’s Roger Hallam to five
years in prison in July. These two stories, although taking place 5,000 miles away from each other, underline how climate defenders are currently on the front line of attempts to be silenced.

Sarah Dawood, Editor
Help support Index on Censorship ([link removed])


** Index pays tribute to Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna who has died in Russian detention
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna has died in Russia during transfer from Taganrog prison. Photo: Hromadske

The Ukrainian government has confirmed the death of journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died during a prisoner swap in September. Free expression organisations, including Index on Censorship, are calling on Russia to disclose the circumstances in which the 27-year-old died. Read our tribute here ([link removed]) .


** One year on from 7 October: free speech violations in Israel and Palestine
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
The wall separating Israel (left) and Palestine (right), also known as the security fence, cuts through communities in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank. Photo: Andrew Aitchison / Alamy Stock Photo

For people in Israel and indeed many Jewish people around the world, this Tuesday was a painful milestone, the first anniversary of Hamas' brutal attacks in Israel. On 7 October 2023 and in the year since the world has watched in horror as violence has gripped the region. As is so often the case during war, free speech has been a casualty. We reflect on how people have been silenced here ([link removed]) .

[link removed]

Join Index on Censorship at Liverpool John Moores University on 29 October for a discussion on the multiple forces working to silence scientists today to mark the launch of our autumn magazine. Science at its core is about the pursuit of knowledge concerned with our physical world and its phenomena. Yet, for some rulers and populations, the very notion of it challenges ideological beliefs and political aims.
Book your free ticket here ([link removed]) .


** Al Jazeera’s closure sets a dangerous precedent for journalism
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
The Al Jazeera headquarters English cable television studio in Doha, Qatar. Photo: B. O'Kane / Alamy

Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera’s offices in the occupied West Bank is harming the Qatari network’s coverage in the territory and heightening fears for its journalists, writes Ben Lynfield ([link removed]) .

The closure, which happened on 22 September, was labelled an essential security step by Israeli officials, but has widely been seen among Palestinians as a means of limiting information coming from the West Bank.


** From the Index archives
------------------------------------------------------------


** Murder in Moscow: Anna’s legacy
by Andrey Arkhangelsky
Autumn 2016

------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

This week marked the 18th anniversary of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya's murder. In 2016, on the tenth anniversary, we asked Novaya Gazeta journalist Andrey Arkhangelsky to write on the state of Russian journalism and published an extract from an earlier interview with Anna. Read the article here ([link removed]) .
Help support Index on Censorship ([link removed])
Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.

We rely on donations from readers and supporters. By donating ([link removed]) to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.
[link removed] ([link removed])

============================================================
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

INDEX ON CENSORSHIP © COPYRIGHT 2024
** Privacy and Cookie Policy ([link removed])