Viewpoint: Media freedom dented
By William Horsley
Writer on European affairs

Was it lese majeste or just a good laugh? Scurrilous libel or a witty commentary on a topical issue for Spanish parents?
A court in Spain has convicted Manel Fontdevila, cartoons editor of the popular satirical weekly magazine El Jueves, and cartoonist "Guillermo" of "damaging the prestige of the crown".

Both men received a hefty 3,000-euro (£2,100) fine.

Their offence was to have published a cartoon last July making ribald fun of the heir to the Spanish throne, and of the government's scheme to encourage women to have more babies by giving mothers a special payment for each new birth.

It was a caricature of Prince Filipe having sex with his wife, Princess Letizia, and telling her: "Do you realise that if you get pregnant, it will be the closest thing to work I've done in my life?"

'More censorship'

The cartoon is funny, but the issue raised by its banning is serious. The episode has worrying echoes of last year's frenzied and violent protests against the cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad printed in European newspapers.

The offending copy of El Jueves
Spanish law gives special protection to royals
Those cartoonists faced death threats, a number of people died in disturbances around the world, and the end result was a defeat for freedom of expression.

----------------

Cartooning has never been an experience of beauty and charm... although some cartoonist indulge from time to time into beautiful whimsical illustrations in a cartoon style. But the purposes of the cartoon is to shake preconceived ideas, is to challenge the hubris and to magnify the slanted slopes... There is no honour in cartooning. Cartoonist are the pamphleteers of the 18th century and beyond...

For example the cartoon above may be funny for some, annoying to others, unfunny to most... I did make it to show a Mr Murdoch who cleverly claims something like he's only returned to Australia in the last two days so he's got no idea about the state of Australian politics... Bollocks!! The man knows a lot more than that and his stables of papers have been pulling a few strings this time on both side of politics... He knows but does he want to commit.. To a point... He's poised like a crow watching a couple of rats fighting it out and he will come and take the carcass of the defunct, just before the election... Will he sing the praise of the victor? who knows... To the right is our Rattus experiencesus, the glorious captain of the sleepy vessel — mining boom — this lovely sun-burnt country, looking despondently as to claim his "experience" (old cheese) at avoiding rocks, while the workers slave at the boilers and the bilges of the trade deficit fill up with water fast... The plimsoll line is already below the watermark but he's prepared to load the ship with more handouts and stuff... But trying to stay captain, Rattus is painting a new waterline, way above the old one... Cosmetics.

On the other side, Rudd, the smiling cool cucumber, watches... For a Mr Murdoch to claim "no difference between you guys" is like a massive acknowledgement of Rudd's equal status... For a newcomer on the blocks this is praise indeed from the master of entertaining news.

Goodbye to Freedom?
A survey of media freedom in 20 European countries

[item in related links]

Published on November 10 2007


Edited by William Horsley
AEJ Media Freedom Representative and Chairman of the AEJ UK Section


This Survey is written by journalists active in 20 member states of the Council of Europe, the main guardian of human rights and democracy for the continent. It provides a snapshot of the many different aspects of the continuing struggle for media freedom and independence, including violence against journalists, legal barriers, and distorting political and commercial pressures on media workers. All the countries included are members of the Council of Europe and have committed themselves to upholding the freedom of the media and freedom of expression. The Survey is intended to be a source of information and motivation to journalists, media organisations and government authorities across Europe, in the belief that free and independent media are essential to democracy and the rule of law.

... 

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY


By William Horsley


The AEJ Media Freedom Survey investigates the relationships between the media and governments across Europe, especially the constraints and obstacles to the media playing their proper role of recording and scrutinising events in public life. The resulting picture is cause for concern. Although some free and vigorous media can be said to flourish in all but a handful of the countries covered, the Survey reveals a picture of a profession and an industry beset by problems of political interference, economic weakness and uneven or doubtful professional standards. The authors of many of the Reports report serious abuses of media freedom and independence – hence the title Goodbye to Freedom?

The Survey reveals a common pattern in many countries: journalists and news organisations face multiple barriers to their work from restrictive laws, unjustified interventions by government authorities and a mixture of overt and unseen pressures to manipulate or distort their work. In Russia and Armenia journalists who seek to investigate official abuses of power face intimidation and real dangers of violence or even death. In many of the countries covered, laws on state secrets and defamation are regularly used to stop journalists from examining the actions of those in power or exposing corruption in various forms. Even in Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland, countries where the principle of media freedom is highly valued, attempts were made in the past year to punish journalists with prison terms for publishing classified papers on matters of public interest.

The Survey is the result of the determination of members of the Association of European Journalists to take stock of the political and legal framework in which the media now work and to share the information about the barriers they face. Those who work in the media reflect its values and priorities and also help to set them. They now operate under the intense pressures of multi-media working and rolling 24-hour news. Within Europe they work using many different languages. It is not easy to make informed judgements about how they compare with one another or how free they are to work without fear or favour. This Survey is intended to contribute to a better understanding of these things.

The Annual Reports published by media-watching organisations such as the International Press Institute, Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House have provided a valuable reference point for our Country Reports, some of which refer to their findings and to their international rankings of the level of media freedom in the various countries. This AEJ Survey is a snapshot of the media in action in 20 countries, written by active journalists who assess the general health of media freedom in their own country and also draw on their personal experience and observations of the media’s relationship with governmental power. The Reports highlight important clashes between governments or the courts and the media and give insights into the informal and unseen ways in which the powerful can shape the media landscape, for example in President Sarkozy’s France or in Italy under the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
...

Ex-Publisher Says News Corp. Official Wanted Her to Lie to Protect Giuliani
By RUSS BUETTNER
Published: November 13, 2007

Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired by the News Corporation last year, asserts in a lawsuit filed today that a senior executive at the media conglomerate encouraged her to mislead federal investigators about her relationship with Bernard B. Kerik during his bid to become homeland security secretary in late 2004.

The lawsuit asserts that the News Corporation executive wanted to protect the presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor, who had appointed him New York City police commissioner and had recommended him for the federal post.

Ms. Regan makes the charge at the start of a 70-page filing that seeks $100 million in damages for what she says was a campaign to smear and discredit her by her bosses at HarperCollins and its parent company, the News Corporation, after her project to publish a book with O.J. Simpson was abandoned amid a storm of protest.

----------------

Gus: Remembering the recent Andrew Olle lecture by John Hartigan, see ABC site, one can only ponder at the sorta vehement denial of editorial interference from the big bosses at News, Limited or Corp. But that's life, question mark... And like many things between two parties, unless there are solid proofs, nothing can go very far...

Crikey, Murdoch and the medical bill

Posted Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:07pm AEDT
Updated Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:17pm AEDT
Trouble at the Walkley Awards

The Crikey.com founder Stephen Mayne has asked the chairman of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, to pay his medical bill incurred after a run-in with a News Limited journalist last year.

Mr Mayne was presenting an award at last year's journalism Walkley Awards ceremony when columnist Glenn Milne went onto the stage and shoved him.

Mr Mayne has raised the matter today as a question from the floor during a News Corporation shareholders' meeting in Adelaide.

He says Mr Milne should have been sacked by The Australian and claims the newspaper has refused to pay his $65 physiotherapy bill for a sprained ankle.

"I just reach up to the head office, to the guru, and say 'Would you pay my physio bill as a small signal that this was unacceptable conduct?'" Mr Mayne asked.

"I was thinking of giving him [Glenn Milne] a drink tonight as a matter of fact," Mr Murdoch replied.

------------------

Gus: Lovely... we can't get away from the man, Mr M.

When modern elections can be won or lost at the stroke of a keyboard in some etherial office, one has to be pleasantly courting the stroker... but then the polls might influence that final stroke, because sometimes it's easier to go with the wind, than spit in the breeze... Who knows... When we have a Glenn Milne writing or punching stuff, we've got to wonder... With Voltaire on any libertines' side, one has to accept the right of bias, including that of Mr Milne — as long as we can bag him for it — versus the right of relative truth and virtual punch.

In a grand magnanimous gesture, Mr Murdoch should pay the physio bill and take Mr Mayne for a quick drink — although it could set a precedent for someone less humourly encline as Mr Mayne to take advantage of the next step... Anyway, a smile at the cameras likely to buzz and a nonchalant stroll — with ten minders, five advisers and three lawyers — towards another pub where Mr Milne might possibly be already preparing himself for another Walkleys... All's well in the best of the worlds...

Display of Anti-Bush Sign Has Competitive Bridge World in an Uproar
swangames.com
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: November 14, 2007

In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.

At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.”

By e-mail, angry bridge players have accused the women of “treason” and “sedition.”

“This isn’t a free-speech issue,” said Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, the nonprofit group that selects teams for international tournaments. “There isn’t any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them.”

Not so, said Danny Kleinman, a professional bridge player, teacher and columnist. “If the U.S.B.F. wants to impose conditions of membership that involve curtailment of free speech, then it cannot claim to represent our country in international competition,” he said by e-mail.

Ms. Martel said the action by the team, which had won the Venice Cup, the women’s title, at the Shanghai event, could cost the federation corporate sponsors.

---------------

Gus: blimey, brave women!... they deserve a medal and an accolade... at least they only said they "did not vote for Bush", not said he was a murdering idiot...

James Kemsley, the modern patron saint of decent Australian larrikin cartoonists, has died too young.

James Kemsley ... "He was one of those few guys that you meet who always helped other people."

I met him once when he was about to take over the licence to draw the "Ginger Meggs" strips... I thought it was a magic task, a difficult task and that he was brave to do so. He did it with flying colours...

Kemsley was also a strong driver behind the "Stanleys", the Black and White Artists' awards. At one stage he was also president of the Australian Black & White Artists' Club Incorporated, behind the "Stanleys"...

May James rest in peace, in pen and ink heaven — with lots of fun and billycarts doing wheelies and with larrikin angels doing Ginger pranks...

Our thoughts are with all his family and those who loved him... 

Read the blogs above about the cartooning rights to cartoon... and those who try to silence their satire.

A conversation with veteran journalists Chris Masters and Paul Barry on the legal perils of investigative reporting.

Chris Masters tells of the toll that defamation disputes can have on even the toughest media professionals. And why he came to fear a cold-blooded QC more than a gangster.

And Paul Barry reveals his tips on how to deter potential litigants from pressing the litigation button.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lawreport/stories/2010/3059987.htm

read transcript or listen... See toon at top

The offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo have been destroyed by a petrol bomb, French police say.

It comes a day after the publication named the Prophet Muhammad as its "editor-in-chief" for its next issue.

The magazine said the move was intended to "celebrate" the victory of an Islamist party in Tunisia's election.

Charlie Hedbo's editor is quoted as saying: "We no longer have a newspaper. All our equipment has been destroyed."

A single Molotov cocktail was thrown at the offices of Charlie Hebdo during the night and a large amount of material in the office was destroyed, police said.

There have been no reports of injuries.

Charlie Hebdo's website has also been hacked with a message in English and Turkish attacking the magazine.

The magazine was criticised by Muslims in 2007 after reprinting the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that caused outrage around the Islamic world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15550350

Bloody hell... One cannot satirize the muslims without being bombed, one cannot say anything against zionism without having one's passport confiscated and no-one is allowed to vote for Marge Simpson as the next democratic catholic pope... No wonder life is F$#@&*d... That's what some of my friends say...

The religious luminaries are treating the world with contempt under the guise of the next world propriety. Charlie Hebdo is no more controversial than this site... and has less support for any "democratic" party than a pair of broken suspenders ... Like this site it is also WITHOUT "PUB" (French argot for ADVERTISING)...

For those who love technology, this invention is without par... Techno term is in English, Commentario is in Spanish with French subtitles, unfortunately, but even without understanding these languages one can get the gist of things....

Note: I am fortunate in being able to converse in English, Spanish, French, Italian, some African dialects, German and of course Gustaphiananan... But as I get older with one foot in the grave, I feel less and less relevant in a world of 7 billion Homo sapiens who most of them have no idea about what happened before, nor any care about what happens next...

See toon at top...

Death threats have closed the website of a French satirical magazine fire-bombed this week after featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed, but that did not deter the daily Libération from publishing new drawings yesterday in a show of solidarity.

The Belgian company which runs Charlie Hebdo's internet site pulled the plug yesterday after anonymous threats were emailed. The magazine has been the victim of an intensive cyber war waged from the Muslim world, especially Turkey, since it published an edition on Wednesday which it said was "guest-edited by Mohamed", and was littered with Mohamed cartoons.

Charlie Hebdo's Facebook page has been inundated with messages in English, French, Turkish and Arabic, rejoicing in the Molotov cocktail attack which destroyed the magazine's offices in Paris in the early hours of Wednesday. Messages, repeated over and over, include, "Go to the devil, Charlie Hebdo" and "Shame on Charlie Hebdo".

The centre-left Libération risked the wrath of Islamic extremists yesterday by publishing a special edition of Charlie Hebdo, including two new Mohamed cartoons. A four-page supplement, wrapped around the main newspaper, carried a joint Charlie Hebdo-Libération masthead and 17 cartoons drawn by the magazine's regular contributors.

One cartoon showed a bearded man's head on the body of a fire-breathing dragon. The caption asked, "Is this the real face of Mohamed?" Other drawings were self-mocking. One showed a cartoonist in the centre of a defensive ring of heavily armed soldiers. The cartoonist says, "I have got another hilarious gag." A soldier replies, "I was afraid of that."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/more-death-threats-as-newspaper-escalates-mohamed-cartoon-row-6256958.html