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"Pae Prachathai-Ya, photographer" has been charged with defamation of 'Senator Seri' in the case of making news about activists posting flyers calling on Senator Seri to listen to the people.
tlhr2014.com/archives/65740
22/03/2024 admin26 News
March 22, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at Wat Phraya Krai Police Station, Natthaphon Meksophon or “Pae”, a reporter from Prachatai News Agency, and Natthaphon Panphongsanon or “Ya”, a photographer from online media. Came to acknowledge the charges in the case where Seri Suwannaphanon, Senate member, was accused of defamation by advertising – causing property damage – causing nuisance. From the case of making news, activists posted flyers calling on the Senate to listen to the people's voices in voting for the Prime Minister. At Seri Market 2 on August 1, 2023
At 10:00 a.m. “Pae” and “Ya” along with their lawyer. Travel to meet the investigating officer Today, officials from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the media came to observe the filing of the allegations.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Arun Lertsakkaset, investigative inspector at Phraya Krai Police Station, was the one who reported the allegations and stated the circumstances to the two, concluding that on August 1, 2023 at approximately 6:00 p.m., “Ket” Sophon Sur. Ritthamrong, activist of the Mok Luang Rimnam group along with three fellow activists, including the names of the two reporters and photographers Together they went to Seri Market 2, Charoen Krung Road, with the accused knowing that it was the company's business. Yok Suwanmontri Co., Ltd., which has Seri Suwannaphanon as a partner and an authorized director.
The charges are described in the same manner as the other activists, without specifying the specific actions of each. or not doing anything For example, it was stated that all of them put up flyers and posted announcements in the market. causing dirt and damage in various places and slandering the accusers who is a member of the Senate that he would not vote for the Prime Minister which is not true
They also posted announcements of arrests and announcements of defamation against third-party citizens throughout the market. They brought a picture of the accuser and printed the message: “Announcement to arrest senator who serves dictatorship. Or follow the voice of the people. Seri Suwannaphanon was a member of the National Council for Peace and Order after the 2014 coup.” But I don't like the fake democrats' speaking at the 62 meeting. The message on the leaflet that was posted was completely false.
inquiry official Three charges were filed against "Pae" and "Ya" including defamation by advertising, loss of property, and co-operation in any act that is a form of harassment or abuse of others. or causing others to be ashamed or annoyed
“Pae” and “Ya” have denied all the charges. and wished to submit written testimony to the investigation within 15 days. In addition, they refused to take fingerprints. Because it is considered that there is no need to use fingerprints to prove innocence. Including it is a symbolic show that working in the media is not a crime. As a result, the investigating officer has filed a charge of violating the officer's orders. without allowing fingerprints One more charge has been added.
After completing the process of acknowledging the charges Investigators released the two without detention. Because he came to meet the investigative officer according to the summons.
This case is the second case of "Pae" and "Ya" after following up on the activities of political activists. In the first case, both of them were charged for following and reporting the case of an activist's "accidental" spray-painting of the wall of Wat Phra Kaew on March 28, 2023.
Besides the two of them In this case, the police also went in to file charges against "Get Sophon" in prison on February 20, 2024, and on March 15, 2024, three other activists who were issued summonses include Athitaya, Duangporn and Supawit have also traveled to acknowledge the allegations. All three charges were reported in the same manner.
For such activities It happened after on July 13, 2023, the parliamentary meeting voted "disapproval" for Pitha Limjaroenrat. is the Prime Minister, with Senator Seri also casting the "disapproval" vote, and the government is still in the process of voting to elect a new Prime Minister again, until there is talk of the role of senators who do not come from population but has the power to vote for the Prime Minister And talking about #BanSweetBusiness in the social media world
“เป้ ประชาไท-ยา ช่างภาพ” ถูกแจ้งข้อหาหมิ่นประมาท ‘สว.เสรี’ กรณีไปทำข่าวนักกิจกรรมติดใบปลิวเรียกร้อง สว. ฟังประชาชน
22/03/2567 admin26 ข่าวสาร
22 มี.ค. 2567 เวลา 10.00 น. ที่ สน.วัดพระยาไกร ณัฐพล เมฆโสภณ หรือ “เป้” ผู้สื่อข่าวจากสำนักข่าวประชาไท และณัฐพล พันธ์พงษ์สานนท์ หรือ “ยา” ช่างภาพจากสื่อออนไลน์ เดินทางมารับทราบข้อกล่าวหาในคดีที่ถูก เสรี สุวรรณภานนท์ วุฒิสภา กล่าวหาในข้อหาหมิ่นประมาทโดยการโฆษณา-ทำให้เสียทรัพย์-ก่อความเดือดร้อนรำคาญ จากกรณีไปทำข่าวนักกิจกรรมติดใบปลิวเรียกร้องให้ สว. ฟังเสียงประชาชนในการโหวตเลือกนายกรัฐมนตรี ที่บริเวณตลาดเสรี 2 เมื่อวันที่ 1 ส.ค. 2566
เวลา 10.00 น. “เป้” และ “ยา” พร้อมทนายความ เดินทางเข้าพบพนักงานสอบสวน โดยวันนี้มีเจ้าหน้าที่จากสำนักงานข้าหลวงใหญ่สิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งสหประชาชาติ (OHCHR) และสื่อมวลชน มาร่วมติดตามสังเกตการณ์การแจ้งข้อกล่าวหาด้วย
พ.ต.ท. อรุณ เลิศศักดิ์เกษตร สารวัตร สอบสวน สน.พระยาไกร เป็นผู้แจ้งข้อกล่าวหาและระบุพฤติการณ์แก่ทั้งสองโดยสรุปว่า เมื่อวันที่ 1 ส.ค. 2566 เวลาประมาณ 18.00 น. “เก็ท” โสภณ สุรฤทธิ์ธำรง นักกิจกรรมกลุ่มโมกหลวงริมน้ำ พร้อมกับเพื่อนนักกิจกรรมอีก 3 คน รวมทั้งมีชื่อผู้สื่อข่าวและช่างภาพทั้งสองคน ได้ร่วมกันไปที่ตลาดเสรี 2 ถนนเจริญกรุง โดยผู้ต้องหาทราบดีว่าเป็นกิจการค้าของบริษัท หยกสุวรรณมนตรี จำกัด ซึ่งมี เสรี สุวรรณภานนท์ เป็นหุ้นส่วนและเป็นกรรมการผู้มีอำนาจ
ข้อกล่าวหาระบุในลักษณะเดียวกับกรณีของนักกิจกรรมคนอื่น ๆ โดยไม่ได้มีการแยกว่าแต่ละคนกระทำใดบ้าง หรือไม่กระทำการใด อาทิระบุว่าทั้งหมดเข้าไปติดใบปลิวและติดประกาศในตลาด ทำให้เกิดความสกปรกเสียหายตามจุดต่าง ๆ และได้พูดใส่ความผู้กล่าวหา ซึ่งเป็นสมาชิกวุฒิสภา ว่าไม่ไปลงคะแนนเลือกนายกรัฐมนตรี ซึ่งไม่เป็นความจริง
และยังติดประกาศจับกับประกาศใส่ความหมิ่นประมาทต่อประชาชนซึ่งเป็นบุคคลที่สามไปทั่วตลาด โดยมีการนำรูปภาพของผู้กล่าวหาและพิมพ์ข้อความว่า “ประกาศจับ สว. รับใช้เผด็จการ หรือทำตามเสียงประชาชน เสรี สุวรรณภานนท์ เคยเป็น สปท. หลังรัฐประหารปี 2557” “‘นิยมเผด็จการประชาธิปไตย แต่ไม่ได้นิยมพวกประชาธิปไตยจอมปลอม’ พูดในที่ประชุม 62” ซึ่งข้อความใบปลิวที่ติดประกาศล้วนเป็นความเท็จทั้งสิ้น
พนักงานสอบสวน ได้แจ้งข้อกล่าวหา 3 ข้อหาต่อ “เป้” และ “ยา” ได้แก่ หมิ่นประมาทโดยการโฆษณา, ทำให้เสียทรัพย์ และ ร่วมกันกระทำการใด ๆ อันเป็นการรังแกหรือข่มเหงผู้อื่น หรือกระทำให้ผู้อื่นได้รับความอับอาย หรือเดือดร้อนรำคาญ
“เป้” และ “ยา” ได้ให้การปฏิเสธตลอดข้อกล่าวหา และประสงค์จะส่งคำให้การในชั้นสอบสวนเป็นหนังสือภายใน 15 วัน นอกจากนี้พวกเขายังปฏิเสธไม่พิมพ์ลายนิ้วมือ เพราะเห็นว่าไม่มีความจำเป็นต้องใช้ลายพิมพ์นิ้วมือในการพิสูจน์ความบริสุทธิ์ รวมไปถึงเป็นการแสดงเชิงสัญลักษณ์ว่าการทำงานของสื่อมวลชนไม่ใช่อาชญากรรม ทำให้พนักงานสอบสวนได้แจ้งข้อหาฝ่าฝืนคำสั่งเจ้าพนักงาน โดยไม่ยอมให้พิมพ์ลายนิ้วมือ เพิ่มขึ้นอีกหนึ่งข้อกล่าวหา
หลังเสร็จสิ้นกระบวนการรับทราบข้อหา พนักงานสอบสวนปล่อยตัวทั้งสองไปโดยไม่มีการควบคุมตัวไว้ เนื่องจากมาพบพนักงานสอบสวนตามหมายเรียก
สำหรับคดีนี้นับเป็นคดีที่สองของ “เป้” และ “ยา” สืบเนื่องจากการไปติดตามทำข่าวการทำกิจกรรมของนักกิจกรรมการเมือง ซึ่งคดีแรกทั้งสองถูกแจ้งข้อหาจากเหตุติดตามไปทำข่าวกรณีการพ่นสีกำแพงวัดพระแก้วของนักกิจกรรม “บังเอิญ” เมื่อวันที่ 28 มี.ค. 2566
นอกจากทั้งสองคนแล้ว คดีนี้ตำรวจยังเข้าไปแจ้งข้อหาต่อ “เก็ท โสภณ” ในเรือนจำมาแล้วเมื่อวันที่ 20 ก.พ. 2567 และเมื่อวันที่ 15 มี.ค. 2567 นักกิจกรรมอีก 3 คน ที่ถูกออกหมายเรียก ได้แก่ อาทิตยา, ดวงพร และ ศุภวิชญ์ ได้เดินทางเข้ารับทราบข้อกล่าวหาไปแล้วเช่นกัน โดยทั้งหมดถูกแจ้ง 3 ข้อกล่าวหาในลักษณะเดียวกัน
สำหรับกิจกรรมดังกล่าว เกิดขึ้นภายหลังเมื่อวันที่ 13 ก.ค. 2566 ที่ประชุมรัฐสภา ลงมติ “ไม่เห็นชอบ” ให้ พิธา ลิ้มเจริญรัตน์ เป็นนายกรัฐมนตรี โดย ส.ว. เสรี เป็นผู้โหวตลงมติ “ไม่เห็นชอบ” ด้วย และยังอยู่ระหว่างการจับขั้วรัฐบาลเพื่อโหวตเลือกนายกฯ ใหม่อีกครั้ง จนเกิดกระแสการพูดถึงบทบาทของสมาชิกวุฒิสภาที่ไม่ได้มาจากประชาชน แต่มีอำนาจโหวตนายกฯ และการพูดถึงการ #แบนธุรกิจสว ในโลกโซเชียล
“เป้ ประชาไท-ยา ช่างภาพ” ถูกแจ้งข้อหาหมิ่นประมาท ‘สว.เสรี’ กรณีไปทำข่าวนักกิจกรรมติดใบปล
tlhr2014.com
22 มี.ค. 2567 เวลา 10.00 น. ที่ สน.วัดพระยาไกร ณัฐพล เมฆโสภณ หรือ “เป้” ผู้สื่อข่าวจ…
5/11/24 SF Vigil for Palestinian Journalists
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May Day 2024: Workers Rally in Solidarity with Palestine; Zionists, Police attack UCLA Encampment; Longshore Workers Vote to Stop Cargo to Israel
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org/2024/05/06/may-day-2024-workers-rally-in-solidarity-with-palestine…
By Capitalism, Race & Democracy
–
May 6, 2024
On May 1, violent Zionist mobs and other Fascist forces, including the Proud Boys, attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California-Los Angeles. The organized attack went unchallenged by the University and California Governor Gavin Newsom. According to encampment participants, these rightwing forces were allowed to physically assault the people at the encampment for three hours. The following night, Governor Newsom, with the support of the UC regents, ordered hundreds of police and California Highway Patrol to attack the encampment. We hear the voices of the student protestors confronting the authorities. Host Steve Zeltzer spoke to Peter Ross is a member of the UAW 2865 and a graduate student at UCLA. He was at the encampment during the attacks by Zionists and police.
***
One hundred and thirty three journalists have been killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza, who have also targeted the journalists’ families. We hear from Rania Khyatt, spokesperson for the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
***
In 2008, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union held a West Coast strike against the Iraq War. In keeping with that spirit, ILWU Local 10 has voted to submit a resolution to next month’s ILWU convention to halt the movement of all military cargo to Israel as part of the worldwide boycott called for by the Palestine General Federation of Trade Union on May Day. The resolution was passed unanimously. We talked with retired ILWU Local 10 longshore worker Jack Heyman.
***
On May Day, teachers, healthcare workers, and longshore workers rallied to speak out about their working conditions and their support for the struggle of Palestinian workers and people. Some also supported united labor action to stop the genocide in Gaza.
***
International Workers’ Day had its usual strong turnout in France, with unions taking to the streets in huge numbers. However, this year’s march wasn’t preoccupied by domestic concerns, but by demands for peace in Palestine. Press TV correspondent Ramin Mazaheri has more from Paris.
South Africa’s ruling alliance has marked International Workers Day with calls for continued solidarity with Palestine and other countries which are facing attack from western hegemony. The ruling ANC’s leadership was out in full force at events across the country to show their support.
Activists in Seoul, South Korea marked the ‘Global Day of Action’ to end arms transfers to Israel with peace advocates and lawmakers performing a ‘die-in’ across from the office of President Yoon Suk-Yeol. They say South Korea’s tens of millions of dollars in arms trade with Israel must end, and that Hyundai must stop selling Israeli equipment to demolish Palestinian houses for Israeli settlement. PressTV’s Frank Smith has this report.
And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Steve Zeltzer, Akua Holt, Ann Garrison and Polina Vasiliev.
Thanks for listening!
Music:
Billy Bragg and Wilco, “All You Fascists”
Tom Morello, “A Wall against the Wind”
Mike Stout, “Time for a General Strike”
Zeinab Shaath, “The Urgent Call of Palestine”.
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org
On May 1, violent Zionist mobs and other Fascist forces, including the Proud Boys, attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California-Los Angeles. The organized attack went unc…
NWU Report Details Retaliation Against Western
Media Workers Speaking Out on Gaza War
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, May 6, 2024
Contact: Elena Novak
NWU Comms Manager
comms@nwu.org
NWU Report Details Retaliation Against Western
Media Workers Speaking Out on Gaza War
As the world recognized Press Freedom Day on May 3, Palestinian journalists continued to be incarcerated, injured, and killed in record numbers by the Israeli military. Western media workers, meanwhile, face retaliation and obstruction for seeking to elevate Palestinian voices or simply expressing concern about the media’s lopsided coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. Some are even being pepper-sprayed, detained, and arrested while covering pro-Palestinian campus protests.
Member-organizers with the Freelance Solidarity Project, the digital media division of the National Writers Union, are releasing a groundbreaking report, “Red Lines: Retaliation in the media industry during the war on Gaza.” This is a first-of-its-kind effort to document a pattern of retaliation against Western media workers as well as the implications of the phenomenon for media coverage of the ongoing bombardment of Gaza. The report tallies 44 cases of workplace retaliation occurring between October 7, 2023, and February 1, 2024, impacting more than 100 people. It draws on data compiled from two NWU-administered surveys as well as news reports and social media posts.
The report suggests that leaders of Western media companies and cultural institutions have disproportionately targeted workers of color, particularly workers of Middle Eastern or North African descent and those who identify as Muslim. It also gives a clearer picture of the multiple forms of retaliation levied against media workers: termination, suspension, restrictions on assignments, online harassment, social media censorship, and the cancellation of speaking events. Despite the report’s limited sample size, the results hint at what is likely a much more widespread, systemic phenomenon that demands further examination. The results raise important questions about the state of journalism in the West, including political contestation over the concept of objectivity, and point to major gaps in the commitment that newsrooms have made to diversity and inclusion in recent years.
Testimony from impacted media workers highlights the ways that such retaliation is affecting coverage of what might be the most important geopolitical event in at least a decade. It also highlights the ways in which retaliation is a labor rights issue. Analysis of the cases revealed that labor unions offered some protection from actual or potential retaliation.
“Our analysis underscores the importance of ongoing labor organizing—and solidarity between full-time staff and freelance workers—across the media industry,” said Olivia Schwob, Co-Chair of the National Writers Union’s Freelance Solidarity Project (FSP-NWU). A team of two dozen FSP-NWU member-organizers collaborated to research and produce the report. “Media organizations that do not already protect their workers from political pressure and retaliation are unlikely to start on their own—workers must use our collective power to make those protections a reality.”
“As a member of the International Federation of Journalists, the National Writers Union has stood for press freedom and against political targeting of media workers since the union’s founding in 1981,” said NWU President Larry Goldbetter. “Now, we are witnessing how a coercive and retaliatory environment within the media industry can give way to the arbitrary and violent repression of the press, even in a U.S. context. It has never been more urgent to stand in solidarity with our Palestinian journalist colleagues who have been targeted with extreme violence simply for doing their jobs.”
A team of two dozen FSP-NWU member-organizers collaborated to research and produce the report, which can be read at redlines.nwu.org.
Israel shuts down Al Jazeera’s operations, raids Jerusalem office
The government is banning Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel over its Gaza war coverage. Israel’s Foreign Press Association called it a “dark day for democracy.”
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/05/al-jazeera-israel-shut-down-gaza/
By Kareem Fahim and Adela Suliman
May 5, 2024 at 2:27 p.m. EDT
A man maneuvers media equipment following an Israeli police raid on an Al Jazeera de facto office at the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem on Sunday. (Jamal Awad/Reuters)
JERUSALEM — Israel’s government moved Sunday to shut down the Al Jazeera Media Network’s operations in Israel, clamping down on one of the few international broadcasters providing largely uninterrupted coverage of the Gaza war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision followed a unanimous vote by Israel’s war cabinet, posting on X that “the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel.” In a separate statement, he accused Al Jazeera correspondents of having “harmed the security of Israel” and said “the time has come to eject Hamas’s mouthpiece from our country.”
Israel’s actions placed it in the company of several autocratic countries in the region that have tried to stifle the network — which has attracted praise and controversy since it was founded nearly 30 years ago and helped reshape the media landscape in the Arab world.
“This is a dark day for the media,” the board of Israel’s Foreign Press Association said in a statement. “This is a dark day for democracy.”
The move also threatened to rankle Qatar, Al Jazeera’s sponsor, at a time when the country is playing a key role as mediator in cease-fire negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
On Sunday afternoon, several uniformed and plainclothes Israeli officers were seen by a Washington Post reporter entering one of Al Jazeera’s offices in a hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The officers carted out camera equipment, cases and cardboard boxes as a group of photographers looked on.
“They confiscated the equipment and closed the office, as per the order,” Stefanie Dekker, a senior foreign correspondent for Al Jazeera English, said as she left the office, referring to the government edict shutting down the channel.
In a statement Sunday, the network criticized what it called a “deceptive and slanderous move,” occurring less than a week after World Press Freedom Day.
A message broadcast on the Al Jazeera television network Sunday reads, “In accordance with the government decision, Al Jazeera channel broadcasts have been suspended in Israel.” (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)
“Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information. Al Jazeera affirms its right to continue to provide news and information to its global audiences,” it said.
It added that its news websites had been blocked and some transmissions halted in Israel, while its staff had accreditations withdrawn. The network said it “vehemently rejects the allegations presented by Israeli authorities suggesting professional media standards have been violated,” and accused Israel of attempting to “conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip.”
It was not immediately clear whether the government order would affect the channel’s operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, or the ability of visiting correspondents for the channel to remain in Israel.
Imran Khan, another senior correspondent for Al Jazeera English, said in a post on Instagram that the ban “was only from Israel” and would not stop the channel from broadcasting from the West Bank or Gaza.
The network was created in 1996 and includes English- and Arabic-language news channels, as well as news websites and a large social media presence. Funded by the Qatari government, it quickly became known for hosting freewheeling debates on delicate topics, previously unheard of on state-run Arab media. Its audience grew as it covered the U.S.-led military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Arab Spring uprisings that began in late 2010.
The office of late Al Jazeera network journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is decorated with memorial items, inside the network's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday. (Nasser Nasser/AP)
In recent years, the Arabic-language channels have earned the ire of regional governments for giving space to Islamist groups, including militant organizations like Hamas, which frequently provides the network with exclusives. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Al Jazeera reporters across the enclave have provided intimate and highly critical coverage of Israel’s military operations. Other international outlets have been barred by Israel and Egypt from entering Gaza.
The channel’s employees in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have repeatedly come under fire over the years.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American correspondent for the network, was killed by Israeli gunfire while on assignment in the West Bank in May 2022.
Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, Walid Omary, told the network Sunday that there have been more than 50 attacks against Al Jazeera journalists since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people inside Israel.
Relatives of Al Jazeera journalist Hamza al-Dahdouh, including his widow, right, and his father, Wael al-Dahdouh, left, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, mourn over his body during his funeral. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
In December, Al Jazeera cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, 45, was killed by an Israeli drone attack as he reported in Khan Younis. A veteran Gaza correspondent, Wael al-Dahdouh, was also injured in the attack. Dahdouh’s son Hamza, also a journalist, and drone operator Mustafa Thuraya were killed in an Israeli drone strike in January.
The network vowed Sunday to “pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions in its quest to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public’s right to information.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists had called on Israeli authoritiesnot to impose a ban when it was first proposed it October, saying that a “plurality of media voices is essential in order to hold power to account, especially in times of war.”
Israel’s Foreign Press Association said the move to shutter Al Jazeera was “cause for concern for all supporters of a free press.”
“With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station,” the group said. “We urge the government to reverse this harmful step and uphold its commitment to freedom of the press — including outlets whose coverage it may not like.”
An Al Jazeera English correspondent reports live from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday. (Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images)
The United Nations’ Human Rights office also urged the Israeli government to overturn the ban.
As of Friday, at least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed in the war so far, according to preliminary investigations by the CPJ — among them 92 Palestinians, two Israelis and three Lebanese nationals.
“Israeli military authorities adamantly deny targeting journalists or provide only scant information when they acknowledge press killings,” the CPJ said in its latest report. “Critical information about their lives and work may have been lost forever.”
The cabinet decision Sunday comes a month after Israeli lawmakers voted 71-10 in favor of the bill that allowed Netanyahu’s government to ban Al Jazeera from operating in Israel, citing national security concerns.
At the time, the Biden administration offered muted criticism, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling the news, “concerning” and adding that the United States believes “in the freedom of the press.”
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi vowed Sunday to “immediately implement” the order, but the government’s decision could be brought before a district court within 24 hours. The judge can impose a time limit on the order, which currently provides for a 45-day shutdown that can be extended for another 45 days.
Suliman reported from London. Lior Soroka, Annabelle Timsit and Rachel Pannett contributed to this report.
Israel shuts down Al Jazeera’s operations, raids Jerusalem office
www.washingtonpost.com
The government is banning Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel over its Gaza war coverage. Israel’s Foreign Press Association called it a “dark day for democracy.”
Four UCLA student journalists attacked by pro-Israel counterprotesters on campus
www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-01/four-student-journalists-attacked-by-counterprotester…
By Colleen Shalby
Staff Writer
May 1, 2024 5:18 PM PT
Four student journalists who work for the UCLA Daily Bruin were attacked shortly before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday by Pro-Israel counterprotesters during a campus demonstration that turned violent.
Daily Bruin news editor Catherine Hamilton, 21, told The Times she recognized one of the counterprotesters as someone who had previously verbally harassed her and taken pictures of her press badge. The individual instructed the group to encircle the student journalists, she said, before they sprayed the four with mace or pepper spray, flashed lights in their faces and chanted Hamilton’s name.
As she tried to break free, Hamilton said, she was punched repeatedly in the chest and upper abdomen; another student journalist was pushed to the ground and beaten and kicked for nearly a minute. The attack was first reported in the Daily Bruin.
“We expected to be harassed by counterprotesters,” Hamilton said in an interview Wednesday, adding that every Daily Bruin reporter was instructed to use a buddy system, to report from outside the encampment and to leave the area if it became unsafe. “I truly did not expect to be directly assaulted.”
One of the other student reporters who was attacked, Shaanth Kodialam, said they watched their friend get pummeled to the ground and begged for the counterprotesters to stop.
Demonstrators clash at an encampment at UCLA early Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. Dueling groups of protesters have clashed at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
CALIFORNIA
Timeline: UCLA’s night of violence before police moved in
“It’s not easy to do that job. It’s not easy to cover this event,” Kodialam, 21, said Wednesday, recalling how their eyes burned from the spray. “At the end of the day, we’re all trying our best to serve our campus community and make sure our students, our faculty, our staff get the information they need.”
The incident lasted about five minutes. The group of four made their way to the Daily Bruin newsroom before Hamilton went to the hospital, accompanied by her editor in chief, when the bruising made it difficult for her to stand and breathe. She has since been released.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – May 1: A woman prays in front of CHP officers next tot he pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA early Wednesday morning. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
CALIFORNIA
Photos: Tensions grow as pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses continue
The attack is one of several recent incidents involving journalists. It also is one of the first known attacks involving student reporters covering the ongoing unrest on campuses over the Israel-Hamas war, often when outside news media have been prevented from entering universities.
Hamilton, who has been a reporter for three years, said that she believed her identity as a journalist would have prevented her from being assaulted. Instead, she said, it made her a target.
‘Unacceptable’: Why it took hours for police to quell attack at UCLA pro-Palestinian camp
10 minutes ago
“I have never feared for my safety or the safety of my fellow Daily Bruin staffers” until last night, she said. “I was on edge the entire time looking for the three others who were with me to make sure that they were safe. Because I could not trust that they would be.”
Aggression against journalists at protests and demonstrations has steadily escalated over the last 20 years “in the age of internet surveillance and photographic capture,” said Steve Wasserman, the publisher of the Berkeley-based nonprofit Heyday Books.
Wasserman was arrested at UC Berkeley during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration when he was a student in 1970. He said a major difference between now and then is that the press was previously viewed with more neutrality.
“The press was largely regarded as a neutral arbiter … and could be useful in spreading the word of the causes around which the protest occurred,” he said.
Now, a growing mistrust of the media has all but normalized the current aggressive treatment.
Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders, USA, said the recent threats against journalists are reminiscent of the summer of 2020, when violence erupted at protests over the police murder of George Floyd.
“I am hopeful that we are not going back down that same path,” Weimers said.
A record number of arrests of journalists and attacks against the press occurred during that period four years ago, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
CALIFORNIA
Dueling Gaza protests at UCLA draw hundreds as USC sees peaceful demonstration
“It’s imperative that both [professional] journalists and student journalists who are covering their communities are able to do their jobs without fear of assault,” said Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “It’s also really important that law enforcement and school administrations across the United States provide conditions in which the student journalists and other journalists can do their jobs without having to worry about being assaulted.”
Demonstrators clash at an encampment at UCLA early Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. Dueling groups of protesters have clashed at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
CALIFORNIA
University of California President Michael V. Drake said Wednesday that he had ordered an independent review of the university’s actions and law enforcement’s response to the violence.
The Daily Bruin, which said its site was down intermittently Wednesday due to a surge in traffic, previously reported that a building designated as an area for student reporters to seek safety was locked when reporters tried to access it. UCLA did not directly respond to questions emailed by The Times about that claim.
“I want to express my sincere sympathy to those who were injured last night, and to all those who have been harmed or have feared for their safety in recent days,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement. “We are still gathering information about the attack on the encampment last night, and I can assure you that we will conduct a thorough investigation that may lead to arrests, expulsions and dismissals.”
Hamilton, a junior, is one of two students who has spearheaded the Daily Bruin’s coverage of the reaction to the Israel-Hamas war, which began Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, an estimated 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliatory attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Despite what happened, Hamilton said, she will continue to cover the campus unrest. And Kodialam, also a junior, continued their coverage Wednesday afternoon.
“I can’t sit back while I watch my friends, my peers, the people who have trained me, the people who I have trained, be hurt that way and allow myself to not continue to do my job,” they said.
Four UCLA student journalists attacked by pro-Israel counterprotesters on campus
www.latimes.com
Four student journalists were attacked by Pro-Israel counterprotesters early Wednesday morning.
Palestine: Launch of Palestinian Media Sector Coordination Group
www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/press-releases/article/palestine-launch-of-palestin…
23 April 2024
Four media associations and organisations met online on 17 April to launch the “Palestinian Media Sector Coordination Group-PMSCG.” The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the launch of the group which will aim to support journalism in Palestine. The group is composed of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), the Palestinian Publishers Association/Founding Committee (PPA), the Palestinian Association of Private Radios (PAPR), and the Media Development Centre (MDC) at Birzeit University.
csm_Image20240417134337_bfdc9fc322.png
Credit: IFJ
The group’s establishment comes amid the worst crises facing journalists and media in Palestine since the start of the war in Gaza on 7 October. Over 100 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed and many more injured or displaced.
The PMSCG aims to lead the rehabilitation and improvement of the media sector and to launch a process of rebuilding a more resilient media in Palestine.
At the meeting, the PMSCG resolved to organise a joint event on 3 May to mark World Press Freedom Day, to highlight journalists' challenges in Palestine and possible ways to overcome them. The event will also bring together all organisations involved in supporting journalists, and create an “Alliance for freedom of expression and fundamental rights in Palestine”.
The organisations that launched the PMSCG were represented in the meeting by Buthayna Alsemeiri, director of MDC, Naser Abu Baker, president of PJS, Raed Othman, chair of PPA, and Reyad Khamis, chair of PAPR. Representatives of the IFJ also attended as observers.
For more information, please contact IFJ on +32 2 235 22 16
The IFJ represents more than 600
Palestine: Launch of Palestinian Media Sector Coordination Group / IFJ
www.ifj.org
Four media associations and organisations met online on 17 April to launch the “Palestinian Media Sector Coordination Group-PMSCG.” The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the l…
WW 4-25-24 Police Attack Palestine Rally At Labor Notes SF Library Workers & French Rail
soundcloud.com/workweek-radio/ww-4-25-24-police-attack-palestine-rally-at-labornotes-sf-library-w…
WorkWeek covers the attack by police of a labor palestine rally in front of the Labor Notes conference on
April 19, 2024. Then WorkWeek covers a rally of San Francisco Library workers who are facing safety
issues on the job and also privatization. SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21 members talk about the issues
and the upcoming contract.
Last WorkWeek looks at the struggle of French railway workers with CGT WFTU locomotive railway
worker Axel Persson about the struggles in rail and the fight against privatization. He also discusses
the role of the AFL-CIO and the danger of world war.
WorkWeek
soundcloud.com/workweek-radio
WW 4-25-24 East Palestine Class Action Settlement & Aussie MUA On Palestine
soundcloud.com/workweek-radio/ww-4-25-24-east-palestine-class-action-settlement-aussie-mua-on-pal…
WorkWeek hears from residents and workers of East Palestine about the proposed class action settlement
to compensate the people of East Palestine. Residents LIUNA 1059 member Chris Albright and SEIU 1199
member Jamie Rae Wallace talk about the poisoning of the community by vinyl chloride which was ignited
over the community by Norfolk Southern railway. They talk about the fight to get healthcare and the need to
get President Biden to declare the area a mass incident casualty site under the Stafford Act.
Next WorkWeek interviewed Maritime Union of Australia Sydney Branch secretary Paul Keating about the
struggle to shutdown the Zim line in solidarity with Palestinian workers. He also discusses the war drive by
the US to surround China and the AUKUS agreement.
WorkWeek
soundcloud.com/workweek-radio
For AIFLD The American Newspaper Guild And The AFL-CIO International Affairs Program/AIFLD
aflcio-int.education
For AIFLD The American Newspaper Guild And The AFL-CIO International Affairs Program/AIFLD by mBayram_y2k@Yahoo.com | Mar 1, 2024 | AFL-CIO Betrayals, CIA, Featured, Labor Imperialism, Organizations |…
A new bill could help save California journalism. Google wants it dead
AI is poised to finish off local news reporting as we know it unless lawmakers act
www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/california-journalism-protection-act-google-1940405…
By Matt Pearce
April 16, 2024
Gift Article
On Friday, Google announced it was testing removing links to California news websites from some people’s search results. The search giant said it was preparing in case the Legislature passed a bill requiring it to pay media companies a fee for linking to their content.
On Friday, Google announced it was testing removing links to California news websites from some people’s search results. The search giant said it was preparing in case the Legislature passed a bill requiring it to pay media companies a fee for linking to their content.
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press 2019
Last Friday, Google issued an ultimatum, announcing that it was taking steps to block news stories in California in response to a bill from state Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland. The California Journalism Preservation Act would require tech giants to pay journalists, like me, for profiting from our labor. Google’s move followed a similar threat by Meta last year over the bill.
Big Tech’s threats to ban journalism from its platforms in California are just the beginning. Tomorrow’s artificial intelligence-powered internet is poised to finish off local journalism as we know it — unless lawmakers act.
For much of the past two decades, Google and news publishers have operated on an implicit bargain; outlets like the Chronicle or the Los Angeles Times, where I was a longtime reporter, would allow Google to crawl and feature my stories on its services. In exchange, Google would send these publishers a river of users via hyperlinks.
How Trump could use an obscure law from 1873 to effectively end abortion in America
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Once upon a time, veteran newsmen hosted Sunday TV talk shows
Not just journalists anymore.
The understanding was that users who no longer subscribe to print newspapers would look at digital ads on news websites or buy digital subscriptions. In return, those users would presumably continue using Google (itself a profitable seller of digital advertising) as their preferred portal to find high-quality information from a variety of sources.
That arrangement has become increasingly unfair for newsrooms — and the California communities that count on them.
You don’t need an MBA to figure out that commandeering endless free labor from journalists and other content creators has been the deal of the century for Google. The internet giant has cornered 90% of all search engine traffic, collecting $48 billion in digital advertising revenue last quarter alone.
Wicks’ bill would require Google, under threat of arbitration, to return a share of these revenues earned from journalism back to news publishers, which would be required to reinvest 70% of those funds into journalism jobs. Australia and Canada have passed similar laws.
Absent these changes — and more ambitious ideas like them — the economics supporting local journalism in California will continue to collapse. The Los Angeles Times newsroom has roughly 40% fewer journalists than in 2019. Many of the savviest digital newsroom innovators I know have lost or left their journalism jobs.
Wicks’ bill has only become more urgent as Google experiments with generative AI, which also scrapes news sites but this time without any pretense that journalists might benefit. Some Google search responses already compile an AI-generated blurb that summarizes news stories.
Jim Albrecht, senior director of news ecosystem products at Google from 2017 to 2023, recently wrote in the Washington Post that AI-powered chatbots, not human-written articles like the one you’re reading right now, are the future of news.
“Publishers will have to think less about those articles and more about conversations with users,” Albrecht wrote. “The users will interact less and less with the actual articles and instead talk about the articles with what the tech industry used to call ‘intelligent agents.’ ”
Anybody hoping to shore up Google’s still-significant referral traffic to publishers — or anyone who’s propagandizing that the idea of paying journalists is tantamount to a “link tax” (the government never touches Google’s money) — is fighting yesterday’s war. The old internet where users actively hunt for information and prowl from site to site is dying.
Following hyperlinks in search of accurate information is annoying, inefficient and increasingly filled with scammy clutter. On the fenced-in internet of tomorrow, AI-powered portals controlled by a small handful of powerful international companies will treat us like stationary consumers who passively expect knowledge and content to come to us, not the other way around.
Think of the uncanny algorithms of TikTok’s For You Page, OpenAI’s general purpose GPT chat interfaces or Elon Musk’s (not exactly successful but persistent) quest to transform the once hyperlink-friendly Twitter into X, an “everything app” where users “can do payments, messages, video, calling, whatever you’d like.”
The dream of the open internet is fading and being replaced by a surveillance-driven dystopia powered by free and low-paid labor. The California Journalism Preservation Act is just the first of many bills that will be necessary to point out that this content-creation arrangement is unsustainable for workers — and also everyone else.
With each day that passes, data-devouring AI models like the kind Google is developing, which are prone to inaccurate “hallucinations,” are at greater risk of ingesting and plagiarizing their own low-quality vomit for want of enough original knowledge to consume. It’s in the long-term interest of artificial intelligence developers to help foot the bill for original, human-produced local journalism because AI models will need more material that’s “grounded” in the real world — to borrow an AI term for verification.
As a journalist, I’m largely indifferent to how the public consumes my reporting. Throughout American history, we have always adapted to changes in the medium; maybe you’d like to get news alerts and investigative reports from me via text message?Journalists will go wherever you want us to be.
But if California and Google still want to have independent journalists around — people who will report what’s going on in our communities, investigate corruption in local government and dig up hidden documents, even if just to feed an AI — somebody is going to have to pay us to do it. The California Journalism Preservation Act reasonably suggests that the people who profit from journalists’ work should help foot the bill.
Matt Pearce is a former Los Angeles Times reporter and the president of Media Guild of the West, a local union of the NewsGuild-CWA, which supports the California Journalism Preservation Act.
April 16, 2024
Matt Pearce
A new California law could save journalism. Google wants it dead
www.sfchronicle.com
Big Tech’s threat to ban journalism from its platforms in California is just the beginning. AI is poised to finish off local journalism as we know it.