Our media freedom map passes grim milestone 

[link removed]
[link removed] Donate ([link removed])
[link removed] Subscribe ([link removed])
Friday, 19 June 2020


** Index on Censorship announces Ruth Smeeth as new chief executive
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

Index on Censorship has this week announced the appointment of Ruth Smeeth ([link removed]) as the organisation’s new chief executive.

Ruth Smeeth was the MP for Stoke-on-Trent-North from 2015 to 2019, and prior to that was deputy director at HOPE not hate.

Smeeth said: “I’m excited to be joining Index on Censorship at a time when the organisation’s work to protect free speech is more important than ever.

“As governments and citizens seek to navigate increasingly complex and intimidating global issues – from Covid-19 to systemic racism – we’ve seen just how easily our fundamental right to freedom of expression can be threatened."

In her first blog post ([link removed]) for Index, Smeeth wrote: "My role in the months ahead is to highlight the threats to free speech, both in the UK and further afield, to celebrate free speech, to open a debate on what free speech should look like in the 21st century and most importantly to keep providing a platform for those people who can’t have one in their own country."
Donate to Index on Censorship ([link removed])

[link removed]

The summer 2020 edition of our podcast ([link removed]) features the world premiere of About Time, a new playlet written specially for Index on Censorship by actor and writer Katherine Parkinson (above left). The play covers life in lockdown, online dating in this strange new world and the loving relationship between a mother and daughter.

Parkinson, best known for her role as Jen Barber in The IT Crowd, also stars as Sarah in the play, alongside actors Harry Peacock (above right) as Damien and Selina Cadell, who appears regularly on the small screen, as Sarah's mother.

The podcast also looks at just how much of our privacy might we give away – accidentally, on purpose or through force – in the battle against Covid-19. We hear from Arturo di Corinto and Dr Emma Briant.


** 200 incidents reported on our map of attacks on media freedom in the Covid crisis
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed] week we passed a grim milestone - there have been more than 200 incidents reported to our map of attacks on media freedom ([link removed]) . This includes a death threat made to Cape Town-based freelance journalist Jacques Marais ([link removed]) while New York Times foreign correspondent Chris Buckley has had his visa renewal denied ([link removed]) by Chinese authorities after reporting directly from Wuhan, the original centre of the outbreak, for 76 days.

With attacks on reporters and photographers increasingly considered acceptable in many parts of the world, we ask you to keep watch on those in power. Report incidents of attacks and incidents of journalists being barred from reporting on the Covid crisis here ([link removed]) .


** "The lawsuit broke me completely"
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]“For me it was a shock, maybe because it was the first time I was dealing with the penal code. I didn’t do anything wrong [but] at trial, I passed prisoners in handcuffs in the corridors. It broke me completely.”

These are the words of a Polish journalist facing a vexatious lawsuit for her work and one of many we spoke to when producing our detailed new report ([link removed]) on the laws being used across Europe to stop investigative journalism being published or broadcast.
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 2020
** Privacy and Cookie Policy ([link removed])