An Indonesian teenager was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for “insulting” President Joko Widodo on Facebook. The 18-year-old high school student from Medan on the island of Sumatra, identified by the initials MFB, was found guilty of violating the country’s internet law by making defamatory and slanderous comments online. Judges also ordered him […]
Journalism and Free Speech articles on Democracy Chronicles
A basic necessity in a democratic society, is journalism and free speech play a central role in creating a system of checks and balance, and in distributing power equally between governments, businesses, individuals, and other social entities. Access to verifiable information gathered by independent media sources, which adhere to journalistic standards, can also be of service to ordinary citizens, by empowering them with the tools they need in order to participate in the political process. Also see our articles on Civil Rights.
Iran’s Blocking of Telegram App May Have Backfired
Many Iranians now use online tools such as VPNs to bypass government restrictions and have access to the web
Vietnam Seeks to Stifle Dissent with Rules On Internet Services
Vietnam is adding pressure on foreign internet firms to keep data on local users and be more accessible to the country’s authorities as the country tightens control over online dissent. A bill that the Southeast Asian country’s Ministry of Public Security offered to legislators this month would require foreign internet services to open representative offices […]
International Pressure After Burma Prosecutes Journalists
As the trial of two Myanmar journalists begins in Yangon, the case has now passed from the sphere of Myanmar’s military, which retains full control of the police, to the sphere of the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, local reporters for global newswire Reuters, were arrested […]
Amnesty Seeks Release of 2 Detained Burmese Journalists
The human rights group Amnesty International called Tuesday on Myanmar to immediately release two Reuters journalists it has detained, contending the government was trying to thwart their investigation of its military actions against the minority Rohingyas. Amnesty International said the journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, “have done absolutely nothing but carry out their […]
How Social Media Has Disrupted Traditional Street Protests
Social media is shaping the narrative in important and effective ways, and wresting this from traditional media
China Says It Shut Down 128,000 Websites in 2017
30.9 million illegal publications were confiscated in 2017, while 1,900 people were subject to criminal penalties
Sudan seizes newspapers after bread price protests
Sudanese security agents on Sunday seized all copies of six newspapers after they criticised the government over soaring bread prices that have almost doubled this week, editors said. Discontent has been simmering over the past few days as bread prices jumped on the back of a sharp rise in the cost of flour after a […]
Vietnam’s 10,000-strong cyber censorship army criticized
The deployment of 10,000 cyber warriors to fight online dissent in Vietnam adds a grim “new dimension” to controls on free speech in the Communist country, a rights group has said. Vietnam routinely jails its critics and closely monitors activists on social media, which is not banned unlike in neighbouring China. A top Vietnamese general […]
Reporters face obstacle run in corruption-hit Bulgaria
Bulgaria is the new holder of the EU presidency but also ranked as the bloc’s worst press freedom violator