Press Freedom
We talked with Steven Waldman, founder of BeliefNet and author of the new book Sacred Liberty, about America’s battles for religious freedom— how the notion that the US was founded with religious liberty in mind is wrong— our current challenges for preserving it, and much more.
(COMMENTARY) A month after the Notre Dame blaze, there continues to be little to no coverage when it comes to the rash of suspicious fires and vandalism that plagued French churches in the weeks before the Paris incident, which was quickly deemed unintentional by Parisian authorities.
(NEWS ANALYSIS) The Media Council of Kenya, the sector's regulator in the country, is demanding that the New York Times take down a graphic photo of a terrorist attack in Nairobi, threatening to withdraw accreditation of its journalists working in Kenya.
(COMMENTARY) This is an issue journalists — whether they’re writing opinion/analysis pieces or constructing hard news stories — should stay tuned into to avoid crossing the wrong side of a shifting line.
After the unprecedented acquittal of a Christian from blasphemy charges, Pakistan is bowing to pressure from hardline Islamist groups to ban her exit from the Muslim-majority country.
(COMMENTARY) Europe took a dystopian turn last week when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that governments can punish citizens for criticizing the prophet Muhammad if such criticism “conflicts with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected.”
TMP’s flagship Coaching & Leadership Fellowship program just wrapped up in St. Petersburg, Fla., where we hosted a week-long workshop Oct. 7-13 at the Poynter Institute. Fellows participated in a series of interactive sessions on leadership principles they can use in their newsrooms. strategic thinking, global fact-checking, social media, coaching writers, using feedback, resolving conflict, and improving newsroom collaboration.
The Kenyan media is fighting back against politicians who are determined to restrict them from exposing corrupt deals. This comes after President Uhuru Kenyatta approached the church seeking divine intervention and comfort after he lost friends who were unhappy with his stance against theft of public land.
Nathan DiCamillo reflects on his time as a freelancer for The Capital Gazette. He freelanced for the paper while he was in school from 2014 to 2016 and says the staff there taught him the basics of journalism and helped him to launch his career.
Why has a letter by the Archbishop of Delhi to all the Parish priests and religious institutions in the Archdiocese of Delhi with the subject ‘Prayer for our nation’ created a firestorm in India? The media suddenly is abuzz after several different voices across the political spectrum cry foul that the letter is meant to divide the nation on communal lines. Notably, the right wing Hindu organization’s ideologue called it a "direct attack on secularism and democracy."
Since the beginning of the Internet, traditional media has tried to adapt to new technologies and business models. Newspaper sales are declining and online media adds pressure as they compete for reader’s attention. Journalism in Argentina is now facing economic crisis. Our biggest newspapers, La Nación and Clarín, are reducing their staff while others close their doors. This is not only a newspaper problem, it is known that radio & TV stations are firing journalists, as well.
It is a time of reckoning in the media industry. Breakthrough reporting revealed that newsroom sexual misconduct is both pervasive and protected. That truth became the catalyst for the #MeToo moment, which opened eyes by opening old -- and not-so-old wounds for all to witness. How did it happen here? How did our systems and values harbor harassment and discrimination?
(COMMENTARY) Jenny Taylor meets the Nigerian peace-maker on a mission to learn why Sierra Leone’s Muslim and Christian populations live together in harmony.
U.S. President Donald Trump and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi may differ in their leadership styles and values, but the two share common ground when it comes to their rise in popularity in conservative nationalist movements in their countries.
Police identified the slain journalist as Leodoro Diaz, columnist of Sapol, a weekly tabloid newspaper in General Santos City
At least 80 local and international journalists are risking their safety to cover government clashes with Islamist insurgents in Marawi City, where thousands of civilians have fled their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
MEXICO -- Corruption cannot be beaten with weapons, pistols, police, or prosecutors. Corruption is not just in politics. It's also in business. In sports. In the academe, and the family. So what remedy can we possibly find?
Critical thinking is the mantra of a modern humanist education. For the chattering classes, to use Matthew Arnold’s phrase, there is no higher intellectual virtue than empathy, of understanding diverse points of view, and thinking critically about one’s own beliefs.
The Poynter Institute today announced the creation of a monthly newsletter dedicated to the future of local news and the reporters who produce it.
Almost three years have passed since I took pen to paper in aid of the work of GetReligion and TMP. I welcome the opportunity to return to the team of writers led by TMatt who cover the coverage of religion reporting in the secular press.
Where do we most often find real truth, real facts in a new era of Internet hoaxes, fake news stories and new political administrations that tout their own “alternative facts”?
[File photo of journalists rallying after the 2009 massacre of 32 reporters.] MANILA – Amid the upsurge of killings of Filipino journalists the past nine years, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has come up with safety counter measures for members of media to undertake, particularly those who are under threat.
FROM AL JAZEERA. JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's ruling African National Congress has called for the establishment of a media appeals tribunal in a bid to punish what it calls irresponsible news reporting.
The ANC's media panel met behind closed doors this week at the party's National General Council meeting to work out details of the plan.
MANILA, Sept. 15 – The Maguindanao massacre trial resumed Wednesday with top prosecution witness Lakmodin Saliao disclosed in detail how his former boss Andal Ampatuan Sr., one of the 196 accused in the gruesome killing, allegedly attempted to bribe police and government officials with millions of pesos to avoid indictment in the massacre of 57 people, including 32 journalists in southern Philippines on Nov. 23, 2009.
LOME - Two weeks after becoming a celebrated victim of abuse at the hands of an officer of the French Army, Togolese journalist Didier Ledoux was kidnapped and beaten by Togolese police outside the courthouse where Togo’s government is suing seven newspapers. Ledoux’s saga continues to be a symbol of deteriorating press-freedom conditions in Togo.
A wave of indignation sparked by a viral video of an altercation between a French officer and Togolese journalists forced the French Minister of Defense to sanction the French lieutenant.
[Traduction par Jerry Johnson.] JAKARTA (PNA) – Soixante dix journalistes venus de différents pays ont convergé ici pour débattre du thème “Diffamation de la Religion et Liberté de la Presse”, au cours d’un atelier de cinq jours qui s’est clôturé pendant le weekend.
LOME- Le souvenir de la grève des conducteurs de taxi et de taxi-moto le 22 juin 2010 et les émeutes qui en découlèrent est encore très vif au Togo. Au cours de ces manifestations, les forces de sécurité s’en sont pris à deux journalistes, blessant gravement l’un et détruisant l’appareil photo de l’autre.
[This is the full text of a speech that Dr. Taylor gave to a Media-Project-sponsored gathering in Prague in 2008.] I have been asked – and I quote – to “focus on the new religious reality with Islam and how Islam is challenging Europe in our coverage of religion”.
My credentials for doing so are presumably that I was a secular journalist covering race, who became a Christian, and did a PhD in Islamics at SOAS. When I became a Christian, my eyes were opened to the fact that religion, not race, was the real story.
Every day, state control intensifies at every level. All forms of demonstrations are prohibited. Cities across Venezuela have become militarized zones littered with heavily-armed soldiers and tanks. My friends, who are also journalists, have been fired from reporting the truth.