by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams
August 5th, 2013
CA Senator Dianne Feinstein advocated for citizen journalists to be exempted from a federal shield law during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing.
Press Freedom and Media Workers
| Senator Feinstein On "Real Journalism" at Senate Judiciary Shield Law Hearings by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams August 5th, 2013 CA Senator Dianne Feinstein advocated for citizen journalists to be exempted from a federal shield law during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing. |
 | Tim Redmond Sacked from Bay Guardian After 30 Years June 15th, 2013 After 30 years as the voice of progressive San Francisco, new Bay Guardian owners have sacked the editor of the publication. |
_2.jpg) | 86 Organizations Petition Congress to Enact Patriot Act Reform to Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance June 11th, 2013 86 organizations petitioned Congress this morning to reform Section 215 of the Patriot Act, hold hearings immediately on the sweeping surveillance program revealed by NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden and UK Guardian reporters Gleen Greenwald and Ewan Mcaskill, and hold accountable those found responsible for overreaching the 4th amendment of the United States constitution. |
 | The Constitution? Fuggedaboutit. Guardian Breaks Multiple Stories on Widespread Warrantless Surveillance June 6th, 2013 Glenn Greenwald and Ewan Mcaskill break huge stories about NSA surveillance of American phone calls and virtually unlimited access by NSA to every major computer server in the US. |
 | Scripps Reporters Uncover Lifeline Data Leak: Threatened with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by Ms. Smith, Network World Blog May 27th, 2013 Reporters who uncovered a 170,000 consumer data privacy breach within the subsidized Lifeline telephone program find themselves perjoratively described as "hackers" and threatened with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. |
| 62 Public Interest Groups Demand Answers on AP Seizures May 25th, 2013 More than 60 civil liberties, digital rights, press freedom and public interest groups sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a full, transparent account of the Justice Department’s targeting of journalists and whistleblowers. |
_2.jpg) | AP Phone Records Seizure by Sean Sullivan, Washington Post Several news organizations slammed the Justice Department for the Associated Press phone records seizure. |
 | Urban Habitat Suspends Publication of Race Poverty and the Environment Urban Habitat has announced the suspension of Race Poverty and the Environment, their journal of 20+ years which chronicled movements for social justice across the Bay and across the United States. |
 | Google Says To Tone It Down by Daniel Eran Dilger, Apple Insider Google asked an Australian Tech reporter to tone down coverage of security flaws in the Google Play store. |
 | Tavis Smiley and Cornel West Show Dropped at Chicago PBS Due to Lack of "Balance" by Robert Feder, Time Out Chicago WBEZ president Torey Malatia stated the show had an "advocacy identity" and was becoming more like Democracy Now. Some say the problem was the show's critical stance on Barack Obama as not liberal enough. Obama hails from Chicago. |
.jpg) | The Right to Call Home Take Part/Middle of Nowhere This infographic on the prison phone scandal and the right for everyone to stay connected with their loved ones at fair and affordable rates. |
| Prisoner Media Access Bill Would Keep Public Informed Update: 10/1 To compound the bad news, Governor Brown also vetoed AB 1270, adding himself to the list of Wilson, Schwarzenegger and Davis who also vetoed previous incarnations of the reforms. |
 | 30-Year New Mexico Public Access Center Evicted by Police Albuquerque citizens along with the staff and board Quote Unquote Inc. showed up to the station at 519 Central NW to find their access revoked by an armed officer placed there by the City of Albuquerque. |
 | Court Challenge to Fleeting Expletives by Jonathan Rintels, Center for Creative Voices In Media Update: On June 21st, the Supreme Court overturned indecency penalties against Fox Broadcasting and ABC broadcasting, but declined to overturn the larger indecency regulatory structure initiated in the 1978 Pacifica vs FCC case immortalized by George Carlin as "The Seven Dirty Words". See below a press release from the Center for Creative Voices in Media. |
| FBI Seizes Riseup Server On April 18th, the FBI removed a server from the colocated hub in NYC shared by Riseup, The May 1/People First Collective and ECN. |
 | 2012 Board Election by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance It's that time again. MA members, we need you to vote in our uncontested board election and ratify some bylaws changes. |
 | Al-Jazeera - Under Fire for Distorted Coverage Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-funded international news bureau, has been accused by it's own editors and reporters of intentionally distorting coverage of conflicts in Syria and Libya. |
 | Tasini vs. Huffington Post Update 4/9/2012: Huffington Post/AOL won the dismissal of a lawsuit by unpaid bloggers. |
| India Deports David Barsamian for Kashmir Reporting On September 23rd, Alternative Radio founder David Barsamian, was deported from India. |
 | Hikers Freed from Evin Prison http://www.freethehikers.org Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were freed from Tehran's Evin Prison on September 21st after serving more than two years on allegations of spying. |