· February, 2009

Stories about Freedom of Speech from February, 2009

Thailand: Australian gets royal pardon

  23 February 2009

Australian Harry Nicolaides has been granted a royal pardon after spending almost six months in a Thai prison on lese majeste charges. New Mandala posted a statement from Harry's brother. Bangkok Pundit examines the lese majeste law.

China: Closer Look at the 50 Cent Party Member

  23 February 2009

If you want to take a closer look at the 50 cent party members, read RConversation. Last month, Beijing Association of Online Media held a meeting regarding illegal content, in which “40 representatives of Internet supervision volunteers” had attended.

Azerbaijan: News site closed down?

  21 February 2009

Following a recent ban on foreign broadcasts in the country, the content of a leading news site considered more independent than most in Azerbaijan was replaced on Thursday with a message informing readers that the “project is closed.” Although the authorities denied any involvement with the site's disappearance, bloggers were not convinced.

Guadeloupe: Local media under pressure

  20 February 2009

Guadeloupean CaribCreoleOne is the first blogger to talk about the political pressure put on Guadeloupean media RCI and Canal 10. Some journalists even seem to have been summoned by the Local service of the Judiciary Police [Fr].

Georgia-Russia: Information War

  19 February 2009

Writing for the Frontline Club blog, Al Jazeera's Matthew Collin comments on a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists which criticizes both Russia and Georgia of exerting control over the media. In particular, the blog says that coverage of the August war over South Ossetia in both countries...

Cuba: “Boring Home”

  18 February 2009

The book Boring Home, which was banned at the 2009 Havana International Book Fair, is now available on the Internet. Cuban bloggers talk about it here, here and here.

Russia, EU: “Policy-Media Interaction” and Blogging

  18 February 2009

Vilhelm Konnander posts his reflections on Russia-focused blogging and “policy-media interaction”: “So, by the end of the day, there is little room for deviance as the public policy-media discourse evolves. When one, to the contrary, gets one's message across, there is no saying how it will be processed by its...

French Caribbean: Strikers Bloggers

  17 February 2009

Nowadays, no mass movement can ignore the importance of public relations and the social crisis in Martinique and Guadeloupe is no exception, according to Collectif5février [Fr, Martinique] and LKP and Elie Domota [Fr, Guadeloupe].

Russia: Yandex, Anonymity, “Oligarchs”

  17 February 2009

A few updates from IZO: “Yandex (acronym apparently of Yet ANother inDEXer), which is way ahead of Google in Russian search, is opening an office in Silicon Valley”; Ministry of Internal Affairs demands “an end to anonymity on the internet”; Russian organized crime in Israel; and what awaits “most of...

Thailand: Scholar charged with Lese Majeste

  16 February 2009

Accused of violating Thailand's lese-majeste law, Bangkok-based professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn fled to the United Kingdom to avoid prosecution. FACT writes that “Thailand seems intent on sending its best and brightest into exile. If no free-thinker stays to fight lese majeste repression in Thailand, only tyranny remains.”