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Constraints of Freedom of the Press
Topic Started: Sep 10 2012, 02:37 PM (410 Views)
Pasta
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Around the globe there seems to be an increasing intolerance of criticism. Any group in power, and not just restricted to Islamists but they are perhaps top of the heap, feels they have a right to use or abuse their power to put down criticism.

Some criticism I admit is over the top and not based on fact whatsoever. But there is why we have libel laws. Perhaps such laws could be strengthened. Dear National Enquirer - please provide evidence of every factual statement or innuendo you make. Problem solved.

Unfortunately groups in power are less patient and less likely to want to follow rule of law. They prefer to use their muscle which is, after all, much cheaper and faster to silence critics.

When it becomes a crime to write satire or cartoons to make a point - to the extent you incarcerate a journalist for expressing a point of view - then that jurisdiction has a problem.

Below is the full text of the BBC article but first a selected quote:

Quote:
 
Government officials say that while they are in favour of free speech, there is a thin line between that and insulting national symbols, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi reports.


Insulting national symbols? Drawing a frigging cartoon? If we (and who the hell is WE?) don't like your cartoon then you go to jail. On what basis - they insulted a national symbol.

I come from Canada where both the national symbol and the goal of every normal healthy male is a beaver. We Canadians are used to it and our government doesn't arrest people for lampooning politicians for cartoons of beavers with extreme sexual appetittes.

Shame on India.

This is the text of the BBC article:

Quote:
 
The arrest of an Indian anti-corruption cartoonist on sedition charges has sparked widespread criticism.

Aseem Trivedi appeared in court in Mumbai and was remanded in custody until 24 September for cartoons allegedly mocking the constitution.

Mr Trivedi is demanding the charges be dropped. Many Indians see his arrest as an attack on freedom of expression.

The cartoonist has been participating in the anti-corruption movement led by campaigner Anna Hazare.

"As of now we demand sedition charges are dropped against him," Mr Trivedi's lawyer, Vijay Hiremath, said after Monday's court hearing, AFP news agency reports.

"Obviously they don't have a case so they should have dropped it instead of giving him judicial custody."

Mr Trivedi was arrested on Saturday for a series of cartoons lampooning politicians. He refused to apply for bail at Monday's hearing, and said if telling the truth made him a traitor then he was happy to be described as one.

In one of his cartoons the customary three lions in India's national emblem are replaced with three wolves, their teeth dripping blood, with the message "Long live corruption" written underneath.

Another cartoon depicts the Indian parliament as a giant toilet bowl.

Government officials say that while they are in favour of free speech, there is a thin line between that and insulting national symbols, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi reports.

But Indians have condemned Mr Trivedi's arrest, calling it a "wrongful act". Protesters on social networking sites said it was shameful that corrupt politicians were being let off while those who highlighted corruption were being jailed.

"From the information I have gathered, the cartoonist did nothing illegal and, in fact, arresting him was an illegal act," the chairman of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju, told The Hindu newspaper.

"A wrongful arrest is a serious crime under the Indian Penal Code, and it is those who arrested him who should be arrested."

Mr Katju, a former Supreme Court judge, asked how drawing a cartoon could be considered a crime, and said politicians should learn to accept criticism.

"Either the allegation is true, in which case you deserve it; or it is false, in which case you ignore it. This kind of behaviour is not acceptable in a democracy," he said.

The editor of CNN-IBN news channel, Rajdeep Sardesai, said he found it "amusing but also very dangerous that you can get away with hate speech in this country, but parody and political satire leads to immediate arrest".

A former senior police officer and lawyer YP Singh told the Mint newspaper that from "what I have heard, it seems he [Mr Trivedi] can be booked at the most under a law to prevent insults to national honour and not on serious charges like sedition, which attract much harsher punishment".

If proved, a sedition charge can bring a three-year prison term in India.

Police detained him on Saturday after receiving a complaint from a Mumbai-based lawyer who said his cartoons were anti-India.

The arrest of Mr Trivedi comes after other recent controversy over cartoons in India.

In April, police arrested a professor in the eastern city of Calcutta for allegedly posting cartoons ridiculing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the internet. He was later released.

A month later, a row over a cartoon showing Dalit icon BR Ambedkar in a school textbook disrupted the Indian parliament.
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Rob
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This should pique your interest, in more ways than one...

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-08-17/world/w...a-russian-court

Russian court imprisons Pussy Riot band members on hooliganism charges

Three members of Russian female punk rock band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison Friday after they were found guilty of hooliganism for performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in a church.

The five months they have spent in detention since their arrests in March count toward the sentence, Judge Marina Sirovaya said.

The judge said the charges against the three young women -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- had been proved by witnesses and the facts.

The Pussy Riot members were charged after screaming, "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away," in a protest act in February inside Christ Savior Cathedral, one of Moscow's grandest houses of worship.

Punk bands perform in support of jailed rockers

Sirovaya rejected the women's defense that they were acting from political motives, ruling that they had intended to insult the Russian Orthodox Church and undermine public order.






2 years for one statement? <wtf>
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Pasta
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Rob,Sep 10 2012
06:08 PM
This should pique your interest, in more ways than one...

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-08-17/world/w...a-russian-court

Russian court imprisons Pussy Riot band members on hooliganism charges

Three members of Russian female punk rock band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison Friday after they were found guilty of hooliganism for performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in a church.

The five months they have spent in detention since their arrests in March count toward the sentence, Judge Marina Sirovaya said.

The judge said the charges against the three young women -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich -- had been proved by witnesses and the facts.

The Pussy Riot members were charged after screaming, "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away," in a protest act in February inside Christ Savior Cathedral, one of Moscow's grandest houses of worship.

Punk bands perform in support of jailed rockers

Sirovaya rejected the women's defense that they were acting from political motives, ruling that they had intended to insult the Russian Orthodox Church and undermine public order.






2 years for one statement? <wtf>

Yes I followed that case as well. Absolutely bizarre. Putin's Russia is slipping into the dark ages.

In fact I would go so far as to say that Putin is more repressive than the old Soviet regime. A horribly evil man.

This is just one example of his repression and control of - well everything. Even wealthy are not immune as he just arranges for whatever they have to be taken and given to someone else of his choosing.

Russia's stances in the UN show further how soul less Russia is under Putin.

Unfortunately the world is going down this road.

Notice in Hong Kong how they had to protest against this China Nationalism Pride crap? Hong Kong people are actually THE beacon of light in all of Asia when it comes to individual rights and protection of same.
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Pasta
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I just sent the following to "Letters to the Editor" of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. It will probably get published. I have been published a few times before. And I should say one of the best columnists at the SCMP is Jake Vander Kamp - a fellow Vancouverite. He is top notch, as is the SCMP.

Quote:
 
The recent Hong Kong protests against mandatory Chinese patriotism lessons is a beacon in this world today.

Whilst there is much I love about China, her arrogance, simplistic self-promotion and extreme tenderness about any criticism I find distasteful. The regular willingness of Hong Kong people to rise up and say "no" to China is absolutely refreshing.

In our evolving world today there seems to be a rapidly diminishing tolerance for dissenting views in any society. 

An Indian satirical cartoonist, Mr. Aseem Trivedi, has been arrested on the basis that his anti-corruption cartoons were really insulting Indian national symbols versus corrupt individuals.  He is now in jail.

Russia's Pussy Riot band members were convicted for hooliganism and causing disrepute to the Russian Orthodox Church for saying "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away."  They were jailed for two years.

Pakistan has shut down Google for carrying messages critical of Islam - whose Islam I don't know.  This from a society that has the highest per capita visits to animal porn sites according to Google.  Islam these days tolerates no criticism whatsoever and issues fatwa after fatwa against anyone critical of the most extreme of followers.

I consider Hong Kong people a standard bearer in the world today.  Their willingness to protest even against China is encouraging and refreshing.

I should also point out that Hong Kong is one great place to live in that she not only tolerates regular public protests, but actually listens to her people.  The abandonment of this Chinese patriotism nonsense is refreshing and, better still, it happened quickly without the need for extended and expensive public expenditures to study the issue.  The people spoke, and the government listened.

Well done Hong Kong!
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Rob
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While I have always respected you insights, and usually respected your opinions, or at lest the fact that you put though and experiences behind them, I have to ask, How in the ever loving hell did you get this stat?

Quote:
 
This from a society that has the highest per capita visits to animal porn sites according to Google.


Just wondering.
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Pasta
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Rob,Sep 11 2012
03:22 AM
While I have always respected you insights, and usually respected your opinions, or at lest the fact that you put though and experiences behind them, I have to ask, How in the ever loving hell did you get this stat?

Quote:
 
This from a society that has the highest per capita visits to animal porn sites according to Google.


Just wondering.

Google published it.
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Pasta
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Actually I think it was a senior Google exec that put out that statistic perhaps in anger or retaliation at Pakistan's actions of blocking Google for carrying criticisms of Islam.

I am confident that while the SCMP will publish the bulk of my letter, they will edit that bit out.

The two items that Pakistan apparently leads the world in is child and animal porn site visits.
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Pasta
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Now to be fair....

Given the rural and agricultural nature of much of Pakistan, perhaps they thought they were looking for livestock and animal husbandry sites. Husband - Husbandry pretty close and an understandable common mistake.
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Lex
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Sorry, couldn't resist....

Posted Image
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Pasta
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Rob - I was thinking about this today. In fact I never say things without having good reason to believe what I say, and if I learn I am in error I am quick to correct myself.

The truth is that at the time the source of the statistics was credible and from Google. I read it in a legitimate news media which is why I relied on those statistics (not statistics per se but rather a statement about the highest per capita site visitations). My normal sources of news are BBC and CNN. As such I believe that there was merit.

In my mind I recall being somewhat incredulous at that statistic but was also impressed by the quality of the source and media.

However I didn't write down the name of the source or the name of the media and, as such, cannot prove. I will therefore not refer to this "statistic" anymore. I will not, however, retract.

Cheers mate and thanks for the catch.

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Lex,Sep 11 2012
04:53 AM
Sorry, couldn't resist....

Posted Image

<roflmao> <roflmao>
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Rob
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Pasta,Sep 11 2012
08:21 AM
Rob - I was thinking about this today. In fact I never say things without having good reason to believe what I say, and if I learn I am in error I am quick to correct myself.

The truth is that at the time the source of the statistics was credible and from Google. I read it in a legitimate news media which is why I relied on those statistics (not statistics per se but rather a statement about the highest per capita site visitations). My normal sources of news are BBC and CNN. As such I believe that there was merit.

In my mind I recall being somewhat incredulous at that statistic but was also impressed by the quality of the source and media.

However I didn't write down the name of the source or the name of the media and, as such, cannot prove. I will therefore not refer to this "statistic" anymore. I will not, however, retract.

Cheers mate and thanks for the catch.

My sister in law works for Google, so I might be able to get the stat confirmed. I make no promises.
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Pasta
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Rob,Sep 11 2012
01:28 PM
Pasta,Sep 11 2012
08:21 AM
Rob - I was thinking about this today.  In fact I never say things without having good reason to believe what I say, and if I learn I am in error I am quick to correct myself.

The truth is that at the time the source of the statistics was credible and from Google.  I read it in a legitimate news media which is why I relied on those statistics (not statistics per se but rather a statement about the highest per capita site visitations).  My normal sources of news are BBC and CNN.  As such I believe that there was merit.

In my mind I recall being somewhat incredulous at that statistic but was also impressed by the quality of the source and media.

However I didn't write down the name of the source or the name of the media and, as such, cannot prove.  I will therefore not refer to this "statistic" anymore.  I will not, however, retract.

Cheers mate and thanks for the catch.

My sister in law works for Google, so I might be able to get the stat confirmed. I make no promises.

Just chuckling to myself. It is such a bizarre item of knowledge. I look forward to whatever your sister in law can find.
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