Terrible new Pennsylvania law muzzles speech, threatens press freedom; Washington Post, 1/21/15

Radley Balko, Washington Post; Terrible new Pennsylvania law muzzles speech, threatens press freedom:

"Pennsylvania just passed an awful new law that bars convicts from publicly discussing their crimes if doing so could cause victims “a temporary or permanent state of mental anguish.” Journalist Christopher Moraff is part of a group that’s suing to have the law overturned. At the Daily Beast, he explains why striking down the law, which he calls the “Silencing Act,” is so important."

News organizations wrestle with whether to publish Charlie Hebdo cartoons after attack; Washington Post, 1/7/15

Paul Farhi, Washington Post; News organizations wrestle with whether to publish Charlie Hebdo cartoons after attack:

"Ever since a Danish newspaper drew death threats and incited protests by publishing cartoons satirizing the prophet Muhammad in 2005, American news organization have wrestled with a question: to publish or not to publish the offending, if clearly newsworthy, cartoons?

The issue came roaring back Wednesday with the attack on a satirical Paris publication that had republished the Danish cartoons and created its own in the face of violent threats from Muslim extremists. The attack by three gunmen on the publication, Charlie Hebdo, left 12 people dead, including its editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, who once defiantly posed with a copy of his magazine featuring a cartoon of an Orthodox Jewish man pushing Muhammad in a wheelchair."

Whither Moral Courage?; New York Times, 4/27/13

Salman Rushdie, New York Times; Whither Moral Courage? : " Rohinton Mistry’s celebrated novel “Such a Long Journey” was pulled off the syllabus of Mumbai University because local extremists objected to its content. The scholar Ashis Nandy was attacked for expressing unorthodox views on lower-caste corruption. And in all these cases the official view — with which many commentators and a substantial slice of public opinion seemed to agree — was, essentially, that the artists and scholars had brought the trouble on themselves. Those who might, in other eras, have been celebrated for their originality and independence of mind, are increasingly being told, “Sit down, you’re rocking the boat.”... It’s a vexing time for those of us who believe in the right of artists, intellectuals and ordinary, affronted citizens to push boundaries and take risks and so, at times, to change the way we see the world. There’s nothing to be done but to go on restating the importance of this kind of courage, and to try to make sure that these oppressed individuals — Ai Weiwei, the members of Pussy Riot, Hamza Kashgari — are seen for what they are: men and women standing on the front line of liberty. How to do this? Sign the petitions against their treatment, join the protests. Speak up. Every little bit counts."

When Employees Blast Your Company Online; Forbes, 10/25/10

Alexander F. Brigham and Stefan Linssen, Forbes; When Employees Blast Your Company Online:

"If a company's executives feel an employee has unfairly criticized the organization online, should they take legal action? Is that always even ethical?

The executives might argue that the suits are simply meant to intimidate. There's even a word for that: "Slapp," for "strategic lawsuit against public participation." Many states, including California, have enacted anti-Slapp laws, outlawing such suits as detrimental to freedom of speech and criticism."