Paul's Web Space 2.1

Press Intimidation at the National Political Conventions

There were disturbing examples of police trampling on press freedom at both the Demcratic and Republican national conventions in recent weeks.

First, at the DNC08 convention in Denver, an ABC News producer was arrested outside the hotel where a private breakfast was being held for Democratic party leadership and VIP donors to the party. Nightline was in the midst of a series called "Money Talks," reporting the continued influence of big money donors on the political process, and ABC News correspondent Brian Ross opined "We're getting under their skin, I think."



Then the following week brought many incidents of harassment of independent journalists covering the RNC08 convention in St. Paul. In perhaps the most infamous, Amy Goodman or Democracy Now!, along with two of her producers, were arrested while trying to cover the police response to a demonstration, even though their press credentials were plainly visible. As Goodman recounts the arrests were somewhat violent — her producers were stomped and bloodied and Goodman's press pass ripped from her neck when she protested that they were credentialed journalists.

What possible reason exists for these arrests other than to intimidate journalists interested in covering the dissent – and not just the spectacle – surrounding the conventions. It's a chilly day when freedom of speech is infringed and diverse voices are deliberately silenced and marginalized in conjunction with these highly visible manifestations of our democratic process. And for the most part, mainstream media stood silently by as these events transpired, and for the most part concentrated their coverage on the packaged spectacle.

Labels: DNC08, freedomofspeeech, journalism, politics, RNC08

¶ 3:46 PM | Permalink | | | Links to this post
Sphere: Related Content

Lessig Final Free Culture Lecture Thursday

This Thursday, January 31, Lawrence Lessig is delivering his final lecture on Free Culture, Copyright and the future of ideas at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium. After ten years, numerous books, and the founding of Creative Commons (a practical, proactive attempt to free up some cultural content by enabling content creators to declare less restrictive licenses on their works than the default "All Rights Reserved"), Lessig is moving on to address the problem of government corruption. His talk will be filmed by Open Source Cinema, for inclusion in their upcoming feature film "Basement Tapes," an open source documentary. Those in attendance will also be treated to scenes from the film and re-mixed work from Open Source Cinema's web site.

The recently-released film "Good Copy Bad Copy" covers much of the same ground, and features Lessig, DC policymakers, and artists such as Girl Talk and Danger Mouse. The filmmakers seek further distribution and funding to support more similar efforts. I learned about Good Copy Bad Copy via the blog of Jake Shapiro, Executive Director of Public Radio Exchange and Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. In a fascinating post describing a trip he took to Moscow last year, he turned me on to both that film and an organization based in London called the Freedom of Expression Project. This effort sounds remarkably like iCommons, which seems to involve everyone from Creative Commons to Wikipedia, to the Berkman Center; I wonder if they collaborate.

I have already mentioned "Before the Music Dies" in this space — another film that comes to mind. BFMD really focuses on numerous systemic problems with the music industry, but its attempts to control artists and creativity, and its inability to embrace new ways of dealing with and distributing content are related. Seth Godin recently wrote an insightful piece covering the same territory, reviewing lessons to learn from the challenges facing the music industry.

Labels: creativecommons, freeculture, freedomofspeeech, lessig

   Link: http://events.stanford.edu/events/125/12594/

¶ 10:00 AM | Permalink | | | Links to this post
Sphere: Related Content

Verizon blocks political TXTs

Today's New York Times reports that Verizon is censoring pro-choice speech using its SMS network. Lots of groups have used this capability to keep members or supporters informed – so far, with little interference from cellphone carriers. No longer.

In his post to the People for Internet Responsibility list, Lauren Weinstein points out that this action calls into question the very notion that we would allow such large and powerful public entities to control political speech in this country. Verizon makes as good a case for Net Neutrality as AT&T did when they censored Eddie Vedder during a Pearl Jam set at Lollapolooza (bleeping anti-bush lyrics he inserted into a song).

MobileActive.org, an organization that has been encouraging the use of mobilt technology for activism worldwide, and has also written about this event, noting that NARAL plans to call on it's members to protest this censorship. In the end, this action can only help the cause of Net Neutrality championed by the likes of SaveTheInternet.com, of which I am a supporter.

Labels: freedomofspeeech, internet, netneutrality, telecommunications, verizon

   Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/business/27cnd-verizon.htm

¶ 7:04 AM | Permalink | | | Links to this post
Sphere: Related Content