Al Jazeera journalist freed after 12-hour arrest by Israeli forces in Gaza

 Media watchdogs decry Ismail al-Ghoul’s arrest from al-Shifa Hospital, where thousands of civilians are trapped.

By Al Jazeera Staff

Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul has been released after being arrested for 12 hours and severely beaten by Israeli forces in Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.

Al-Ghoul was there early on Monday with his crew and other reporters to cover the Israeli army’s fourth raid into the hospital, where thousands of civilians are trapped, including medical staff, patients and displaced families.

'You're A Terrible Reporter!' Trump Rages At NBC's Peter Alexander In Bonkers Press Conference (video)

Donald Trump held another one of his daily coronavirus press conferences where the White House staff tell the Dear Leader how amazing he is on live television. It also gives Trump a chance to rage at the press live, one of his favorite pastimes.

Today, NBC's Peter Alexander actually gave Donald Trump a chance to show a tiny bit of empathy, asking him the most simple question possible: There are 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick, and millions who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?"

The problem with Alexander's question was that it came with some unhappy facts about infections and death rates, right after Trump was challenged on his happy talk about antimalarials treating the virus.

A chilling reality: Media's not equipped to deal with Trump’s ramped-up war on democracy

Eric Boehlert 

Purging the Department of Homeland Security; cheering the cover-up of the Mueller report while claiming federal prosecutors who investigated Russia collusion were guilty of treason; defying a lawful order to turn over his taxes; ordering the Department of Justice to launch criminal investigations into perceived enemies; wishing he could unleash "rough" U.S. soldiers on women and children seeking asylum in America; promising pardons to border officials who break the law; aggressively subverting the independence of the Federal Reserve by nominating two obviously unqualified board members; and inciting violence against a sitting member of Congress.

That was Donald Trump's recent week, as he clearly escalated his war on democracy and democratic institutions in America. Increasingly, though, it looks like the press simply isn't equipped to deal with his radical and dangerous foray into authoritarianism.  

"This is how democracies die. The rule of law is slowly strangled. The unthinkable becomes commonplace. The illegal becomes accepted--from violations of the emoluments clause to self-dealing to Federal election law crimes to serial sexual abuse," tweeted David Rothkopf, a professor of international relations. "We are dying the death of a thousand cuts. Right now, this week, the president and his band of thugs are winning. They have become unabashed in their attacks on the law."

And the press is playing a central role in this dangerous demise. It’s been part of allowing the unthinkable to become commonplace, and last week provided many stark examples. Trump's brazen, anti-democratic behavior becomes more pronounced, and as he appears to operate without the slightest concern of the press for holding him accountable, it seems the American news media doesn’t understand, or won't acknowledge, what is happening, and the dangers that democracy faces. They don't know much about covering authoritarian regimes, or how to respond to them, and they're too busy treating Trump's spectacle as a reality TV show.  

That's the kind interpretation. The unkind interpretation is that the press is simply too cowardly to confront Trump, and hides behind phony newsroom guidelines in order to avoid loudly telling the truth.

"So many ‘Savvy Washington Insiders’ and ‘fair journalists’ are actually in on the con," Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii lamented last week on Twitter. "They know one side is absolutely bonkers but they are deeply, personally attached to the fake objectivity that allows them to be blind to cruelty and racism manifested as public policy."

Those racist policies were on full display with regard to the southern border last week. After musing about permanently closing the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump threatened to separate refugee children from their parents when they came across the border, urged officials to ban asylum-seekers from entering America (contrary to U.S. law), promised pardons to those who did, and wished the U.S. military could be more "rough" with migrants seeking shelter in America, completely unconcerned that a founding principle of American democracy is that the military is not allowed to enforce domestic U.S. laws without specific authorization from Congress. (That's why the troops Trump has sent to the border as part of the "national emergency" are not allowed to apprehend anybody.) Then came word that the administration had directed the Department of Homeland Security to ship immigrant detainees to “sanctuary cities,” including the district represented by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

At least one of last week's anti-democratic incursions clearly represented an impeachable offense: Trump ordered government officials to break the law, and then promised pardons if they were prosecuted. Yet none of that sparked "scandal" coverage in the press. As writer Oliver Willis noted, one CNN reporter treated the lawbreaking as just more Trump news. She stressed, "He seems more intent on creating chaos and scoring political points, especially as he looks ahead to the 2020 re-election campaign, and perhaps reanimate his base, which of course we know cares very deeply about the border.”

Breaking the law in order to animate your voting base isn't a thing! Or at least, it shouldn't be. But for Trump there are no rules. Just look at the unfolding Mueller report cover-up and how Trump's attorney general is busy obfuscating for the White House and trying to create legal distractions. While testifying before Congress last week, William Barr obediently pushed conservative conspiracy theories about Trump being targeted by the so-called “deep state” in 2016. “I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Barr said, adding when pressed: “I think spying did occur, yes." The nation’s top cop seems intent on helping Trump punish his enemies.

“His testimony raises profound concern that the attorney general is doing what we urge emerging democracies not to do, and that is, seek to prosecute your political opponents after you win an election,” California Rep. Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Post's Greg Sargent. "The Trump precedent after only two years is that you can fire the FBI director who is running an investigation in which you may be implicated as president.”

Recall that one reason the administration's slow-walking of the Mueller report cover-up is motoring along today is because news outlets provided a crucial assist when they pretended the press release Barr released on March 24, supposedly summarizing the report, and announcing Trump had been exonerated, represented a good-faith effort to be transparent. News teams tripped over themselves to declare that "Mueller" had cleared Trump, when in fact it was just Trump's hand-picked attorney general doing damage control. Pretending they had actually read the Mueller report, newsrooms eagerly ran with GOP-friendly headlines: "Mueller finds no conspiracy" (Washington Post), "Mueller finds no Trump-Russia conspiracy" (New York Times)," Mueller finds no Trump-Russia conspiracy" (Politico), "Mueller doesn’t find Trump campaign conspired with Russia" (Wall Street Journal), "Mueller finds no Trump collusion, leaves obstruction open" (Associated Press).

The fact that journalists have to wait until this Thursday to finally see even a redacted version of perhaps the most important government report in decades ought to remain a source of embarrassment. Yet it also stands as testimony to Trump's ability to bully journalists and bend reality to his will.

Note that when the Trump administration refused to comply with a lawful congressional demand that Trump turn over his tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, after Trump became the first American president in nearly half a century not to make them public, the press mostly played the refusal as a ho-hum he said-he said partisan affair. That despite the fact that Trump occupies a mental never-never land on the topic. "No, there is no law," he absurdly claimed, when asked about the statute supporting the request for his tax returns. "There’s no law whatsoever."

The Post buried this quote in the final paragraph of its staid report on the showdown: "Mark W. Everson, who served as the IRS commissioner under President George W. Bush, said there is little dispute that Congress has the authority to receive Trump’s tax returns."

When the president of the United States refuses to acknowledge the law of the land, that represents creeping authoritarianism. And that that ought to be the day's only news.

Eric Boehlert is a veteran progressive writer and media analyst, formerly with Media Matters and Salon. He is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush and Bloggers on the Bus. You can follow him on Twitter @EricBoehlert.

How Trump wins press conferences

The White House press conference has always been a frustrating spectacle, with reporters trying to pry information from government officials who do everything in their power to avoid sharing too much information. But these press conferences are typically appreciated because of their symbolic value -- they reaffirm the democratic idea that the government must answer to the people.

This Week With Anpanman For President

This week found Anpanman on the road in Iowa cruising around in his  Scoopy Van

meetin and greetin the voters of that state with the press

chasing after it like it was the winning lottery number.


As with any campaign food is needed to sustain ones energy.  So a side trip to the local Chipotle was called for.  Anpanman   had a

  

and was accused by a Fox News presenter of pandering to the "It's not real Mexican food voter."

Tune in next week:  When the Scoopy Van accidently on purpose runs over the press corp.

Cambodia's News Blackmailers

Hundreds of Cambodian journalists make a living by uncovering news and then extorting bribes to bury the story.

Journalism has become synonymous with blackmail in Cambodia. Growing numbers of reporters are combing the country for news, only to extort money from lawbreakers in return for hiding their findings.

Out of 400 registered newspapers in the country, only 20 publish regularly.

Hundreds of journalists use their skills to uncover crime and misconduct - often in remote areas where illegal logging is rampant - and demand bribes to keep it under wraps. In recent times, journalists have been assaulted and even murdered in retaliation.

Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2014

Press freedom or lack there of in Asia.

Japan ranked 59 in this years index for issues such as these:

Censorship of Fukushima

 

Arrests, home searches, interrogation by the domestic intelligence agency and threats of judicial proceedings – who would have thought that covering the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster would have involved so many risks for Japan’s freelance journalists? The discrimination against freelance and foreign reporters resulting from Japan’s unique system of Kisha clubs, whose members are the only journalists to be granted government accreditation, has increased since Fukushima.

Often barred from press conferences given by the government and TEPCO (the Fukushima nuclear plant’s owner), denied access to the information available to the mainstream media (which censor themselves), freelancers have their hands tied in their fight to cover Japan’s nuclear industrial complex, known as the “nuclear village.” Now that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has tightened the legislation on “state secrets,” their fight will get even more dangerous.

South Korea ranked 57

In South Korea, independent journalists Kim Ou-joon and Choo Chin-woo were accused of broadcasting “false information” and “defamatory content” about President Park Geun-hye’s brother and father in their satirical podcast “Naneun Ggomsuda.”

South Korea has laws which make it illegal to defame the President.  That covers everything from straight up reporting to using satire to lampoon the President.  It's also illegal to rebroadcast or publish material from North Korea even when used in a comedic skit or writings.

China ranked 175

CHINESE BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING, AND 

EXPORTING ITS METHODS

In a speech shortly after his appointment as Communist Party general secretary in November 2012, Xi Jinping addressed journalists directly: “Friends from the press, China needs to learn more about the world, and the world also needs to learn more about China. I hope you will continue to make more efforts and contributions to deepening the mutual understanding between China and the countries of the world."

Woe to any journalist who thought he was saying “Describe China’s stark realities” when what he really meant was “Follow the Party’s propaganda to the letter!” Since the speech, the authorities have arrested more journalists and bloggers, cracked down harder on cyber-dissidents, reinforced online content control and censorship and stepped up restrictions on the foreign media.

Embarrassing officials or exposing corruption means risking public condemnation. Luo Changping, a journalist who was forced to leave Caijing magazine in November, Liu Hu, a New Express reporter who was arrested for disseminating “false information”, and the New York Times newspaper are among the recent examples of journalists and news media that have been punished for investigative reporting. Human rights activists and dissident bloggers such as Xu Zhiyongand Yang Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), who were jailed on trumped-up charges are among those who paid a high price in the past year.

The daily “directives” to the traditional media from the Department of Propaganda, the constant online censorship, the growing number of arbitrary arrests and the detention of the largest number of journalists and netizens in the world (including 2010 Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo) have made China a model of censorship and repression. Adoption of the model is unfortunately spreading in the region.

Vietnam has stepped by information control to the point of being close to catching up with its Chinese big brother. Independent news providers are subject to enhanced Internet surveillance, draconian directives, waves of arrests andsham trials. Vietnam continues to be the world’s second largest prison for bloggers and netizens. Of the 34 bloggers currently detained, 25 were arrested since Nguyen Phu Trong became the party’s general secretary in January 2011.

The party took censorship to a new level in September 2013 when it issued Decree 72 banning the use of blogs and social networks to share information about news developments. It shows that the party is waging an all-out offensive against the new-generation Internet, which it sees as a dangerous counterweight to the domesticated traditional media.

  

Japanese Public Pushes Back Against Secrecy Law

When the Japanese Diet passed into law last week Japan's new state secrets law Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had what one might call a "George W. Bush moment" in that he believed that with passage of the law the electric would turn away from its opposition and forget the law was ever enacted.  That hasn't happened. Just the inverse has taken place with the voting public  more opposed to law with its passage than during its consideration by the Diet.   Governments keep secrets for reason especially where intelligence is concerned for the obvious reasons.  Exposing specific types of information would give your enemies insight into means and methods of intelligence acquisition which should be protected.  Yet when a government writes a bill which is vaguely written as to what is considered necessary to protect national security and punishments involved with their exposure one must ask the question just how far will the Japanese government go to protect that which it believes are the nations most valued secrets.   Its a slippery slope one which Shinzo Abe's government doesn't seem to have thought  through in its rush to pass this law.

Under the new law, public officials found to have leaked information defined as a “special state secret” face up to 10 years in prison. Journalists who use “grossly inappropriate” means to obtain sensitive information could be jailed for up to five years. 

A poll by Kyodo News found that support for Abe's cabinet had sunk more than 10 percentage points since the bill passed, to 47.6 percent, the first time it had fallen below 50 percent since he took office almost exactly a year ago. Even more devastating was another Kyodo poll in which 82 percent of respondents believed the law should be revised or abolished.

Many have equated this law with the Peace Preservation Law which was enacted in 1925 as means to oppress the opposition and control the press.

The Public Security Preservation Law of 1925 (治安維持法 Chian Iji Hō^?) was enacted on 12 May 1925, under the administration of Kato Takaaki, specifically against socialism,communism, and anarchism.^[1] It was one of the most significant laws of pre-war Japan.

The main force behind the law was Minister of Justice (and future Prime Minister) Hiranuma Kiichiro.

Anyone who has formed an association with altering the kokutai, or the system of private property, and anyone who has joined such an association with full knowledge of its object, shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding ten years.

By using the highly vague and subjective term kokutai, the law attempted to blend politics and ethics, but the result was that any political opposition could be branded as “altering thekokutai”. Thus the government had carte blanche to outlaw any form of dissent.

Renewed activity by underground Japan Communist Party in 1928 led to the March 15 Incident, in which police arrested more than 1,600 Communists and suspected Communists under the provisions of the Public Safety Preservation Law of 1925. The same year, the highly anti-Communist government of Tanaka Giichi pushed through an amendment to the law, raising the maximum penalty from ten years to death.

A “Thought Police” section, named the Tokkō, was formed within the Home Ministry, with branches all over Japan and in overseas locations with high concentrations of Japanese subjects to monitor activity by socialists and Communists. A Student Section was also established under the Ministry of Education to monitor university professors and students. Within the Ministry of Justice, special “Thought Prosecutors” (shiso kenji) were appointed to suppress “thought criminals”, either through punishment or through “conversion” back to orthodoxy via reeducation.

In the 1930s, with Japan's increasing militarism and totalitarianism, dissent was tolerated less and less. In early February 1941, the Security Preservation Law of 1925 was completely re-written. Terms for people suspected of Communist sympathies became more severe, and for the first time religious organizations were included in the purview of the Thought Police. In addition, the appeals court for thought crimes was abolished, and the Ministry of Justice given the right to appoint defense attorneys in cases of thought crime. The new provisions became effective on 15 May 1941.

From 1925 through 1945, over 70,000 people were arrested under the provisions of the Public Security Preservation Law of 1925, but only about 10% reached trial, and the death penalty was only imposed on two offenders, spy Richard Sorge and his informant Ozaki Hotsumi. The Public Safety Preservation Law of 1925 was repealed after the end of World War II by the American occupation authorities.

What better excuse to enact such a law than Edward Snowden who leak the NSA files to the media

The law applies to four areas – defense, diplomacy, counterterrorism, and counterespionage – and gives senior officials from dozens of ministries and agencies the power to keep sensitive information out of the public domain for up to 60 years, and in some cases, indefinitely.

Abe insists the law is a non-negotiable accompaniment to his US-style National Security Council (NSC), approved days before the secrecy law passed.

That need has taken on greater urgency, the thinking in Washington goes, in light of the intelligence leaks by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

“[The law] has the effect of bringing Japan into line with the US model of how to run its intelligence services – placing them under the central control of the NSC,” says David Murakami Wood, Canada research chair in surveillance studies at Queen’s University in Ontario, who has studied Japan's secrecy law.  

The gun and the press in Pakistan

When news broke from Pakistan that a 14-year-old girl had been shot by members of the Taliban just for promoting female education on her blog, news organisations around the world jumped on the story. In Pakistan, however, they had to treat the subject with care. The Taliban warned local media to curb their reporting, or deal with the consequences. This is not just a story about one attack - it is a tale of how the journalistic environment in Pakistan has grown so dangerous. According to media watchdog groups, at least 20 journalists have been murdered since 2010 and not one of those cases has resulted in a conviction.


From  CNN

As coverage of the shooting -- and the appalled reaction to it -- swept across the Pakistani and international news media, the Taliban began issuing lengthy statements trying to justify the targeting of Malala, who had defied them by insisting on the right of girls to go to school.

They also complained that "this filthy, godless media has taken huge advantage of this situation, and journalists have started passing judgment on us," raising the prospect of killing those journalists.

Reporters in northwestern Pakistan, the region where the Taliban are active, say they have been alerted by authorities of an increased risk to their security and some of them have received warnings that they are being specifically targeted.

"Things after Malala have become more tense, as the Taliban is very angry with the way the attack was reported," said a veteran journalist in Peshawar, the main city in the restive northwestern region near the border with Afghanistan. "We are scared, but what can we do? We have to work."

Tanvir Ahmed Tahir, the executive director of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, a trade body of publishers, said the organization had requested extra security from the government to protect its members' operations and staff in light of the Taliban statements.

According to the BBC, Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ordered subordinates to target news media in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad and other cities. The media that criticized the schoolgirl blogger’s shooting are being targeted in particular.

Reporters Without Borders hails the speed with which the Pakistani police have reacted and their efforts to guarantee the safety of journalists targeted by the Taliban. At the same time, it condemns the death threats being made against journalists, which have the sole aim of creating a climate of terror in order to silence dissent.

"Even if Malala Yousafzai’s prognosis continues to be uncertain, the media’s coverage of the attempt to murder this young activist and the developments in her state of health is essential," Reporters Without Borders said. "Freedom of information must be respected and the Taliban threats must not serve as a spearhead for the imposition of self-censorship."