Download PDF The New Censorship Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom Columbia Journalism Review Books Joel Simon Books

Product details Series Columbia Journalism Review Books Paperback 248 pages Publisher Columbia University Press; Reprint edition (January 23, 2018) Language English ISBN-10 0231160658

The New Censorship Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom Columbia Journalism Review Books Joel Simon Books Reviews

• This book puts the reader at the heart of the battle for press freedom at a time when most rules have changed or are changing. In a precise, lively and balanced assesment of the crisis Joel Simon shows how technology can be both liberating or suffocating for journalism. He describes the new and brutal actors who threaten the press at a time when an interconnected world needs journalists more than ever to shape informed responses to global pressing challenges. The author also introduces us to courageous journalists around the world who confront violence and intimidation to report on issues of public interest. And instead of bailing out by declaring that the world is too harsh or too complex he sketches a roadmap that gives a global future to journalism and press freedom.
• A very stimulating, thought-provoking read on an under-discussed topic that threatens our democracy a little more every day. Government and corporate censorship of what used to be the free press is whittling away our First Amendment freedom no less surely than murders of journalists overseas have already done in those countries.
• Insightful, original and compelling reporting and analysis on the globalization of information and threats to freedom to gathering and disseminating it in the public interest, with excellent reporting on how those threats have played out in individual cases and countries. Essential reading.
• This books is now somewhat dated. History or current events have outstripped the book. Oh well.
• Nothing defines a democracy more profoundly and more directly than a free press. Nothing labels a dictatorship more clearly than censorship. And no organization, certainly no individual has labored more diligently, more effectively than the Committee to Protect Journalists and especially its brilliant leader Joel Simon to identify and stamp out challenges to press freedom. Now Simon has given us The New Censorship Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom--the quintessential handbook of how precisely and graphically to define censorship in all its varied and pernicious forms. This is a work that sheds light into the world's darkest corners where, every day, journalists are threatened and attacked. Simon's riveting stories of courage and confrontation are deeply enriched by a blueprint for supporters of those who labor diligently in so many lands that persist in attacking journalism's best and brightest. Where was CPJ when I was beaten by the Polish secret police, threatened by Rumanian state security, expelled by the leaders of communist Czechoslovakia? Sadly, those were the years before the creation of CPJ, before Joel Simon went to battle for our interests. This must-read volume is a beacon for the future of press freedom and journalists in every medium on every continent.
• As we are well aware since the murders of magazine staff in Paris, journalists are under increasing threat worldwide. This book recounts experiences of the author and other media persons as to the situation in a broad context. From Pakistan to Mexico and even Turkey come stories which sound extreme but are a part of life for journalists working and living in these countries - murders, abductions and mass arrests. The Arab states have seen an upswing in violence where previously a journalist was seen as a neutral, sympathetic observer.
  
  A survey in 2011 for the Freedom of The Press index states that only fifteen percent of the world's citizens live in countries with a free press.
  
  Citizen journalism is also discussed; this is reporting on the spot by means of phone tweets, vid clips and posting on social sites about events as they unfold. Repressive regimes such as in China crack down on the internet; they censor posts by their own citizens and block those from other countries.
  
  As the author is established with media outlets, he does at times display a partisanship towards mass media and against unregulated, possibly activist led citizen journalism. He may well be right. He also gives a little space to the necessity for regulation and self regulation among the established media if people are not to be libelled.
  
  Overall this will be of interest to students of journalism or world geopolitics, and will provide the information that the average person needs in order better to understand and appreciate the work of journalists.
• This is one of the best books I read in 2014 . I have bought multiple copies for friends and I will be assigning it to my students as well. Joel Simon draws on decades of experience in journalism and in human rights to explain why dangers to journalists have increased in recent years. Some of the trends that Simon has seen democratically elected leaders in countries like Ecuador, Venezuela and Turkey have curtailed press freedom through both legal means and intimidation. Wars in Iraq and Syria have made journalists working in those conflict zones extremely vulnerable to being kidnapped, tortured, killed. In Latin America and many other places, the decline of the foreign correspondent means US and European media outlets hire more freelancers and local journalists. These brave men and women are often not known internationally and working without the protection afforded by a strong and well-known employer makes them susceptible to pressure and more likely to be killed by local gangsters or governments. Simon also devotes a couple of chapters to the internet and the dangers of surveillance. He is particularly critical of China and its attempts to control the internet domestically. I am not sure I agree with everything Joel Simon says (I’d need to think a bit more about some of his points) but this book is well written and should be read by anyone interested in technology, journalism and free expression.