I’m Scott Nover. Welcome back to Pressing, a newsletter about press freedom. If you haven’t yet subscribed, you can do so here and receive this letter in your inbox every Tuesday morning.
This is the 69th issue of Pressing and it’s great to have you with me. Please send me feedback, thoughts, suggestions, and tips at sgnover@gmail.com.
Today is a short issue! Your inboxes are cluttered and so is my head. So, I’ve got some news and recommended reads for you about press freedom, the media, and more.
Thanks and I’ll see you all next week!
What’s New?
Associated Press reporter Thein Zaw was released from detention in Myanmar on Wednesday, three weeks after he was arrested while covering the military coup in Yangon. (AP)
Amnesty International named Agnes Callamard its new Secretary General. Callamard was the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions. In that role, she investigated the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (AP)
Callamard recently revealed that a senior Saudi official issued multiple death threats to her during the investigation. (Guardian)
A Brazilian court ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to pay journalist Patrícia Campos Mello around $3,500 in damages for disparaging comments he made about her, in which he claimed she offered sex to a source for information about him. (BBC)
The L.A.P.D. arrested multiple reporters, including James Queally of The Los Angeles Times and Kate Cagle of Spectrum News 1 SoCal, at a demonstration at an Echo Park homeless camp. In total, at least five journalists and multiple legal observers were detained. (WaPo)
The Guinean journalist Amadou Diouldé Diallo was detained for criticizing the president. Guinea’s 2010 press law criminalizes insulting the president, which the reporter allegedly did on a TV broadcast. (CPJ)
The Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez has repeatedly criticized her employer for its policy banning her from reporting on issues involving sexual assault or harassment because she is a sexual assault survivor. On Monday, the Post reversed its decision. (Politico)
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Read Last Week’s Issue:
“It should be borne in mind that the first step taken by any potential authoritarian or dictatorial regime is to gain control of communications, particularly the delivery of news,” a judge wrote, quite correctly, in a recent dissenting opinion.
From there he devolved: “It is fair to conclude, therefore, that one-party control of the press and media is a threat to a viable democracy.”
I think it’s safe to say Judge Laurence Silberman doesn’t like the American press […]
Recommended Reads
CJR: Reporters hype—then waste—Biden’s first press conference (Jon Allsop)
CJR: Covering the Atlanta massacre from inside the Korean community (Shinhee Kang)
Lawfare: Here’s Merrick Garland’s Orientation Memo for the Trump-Era Hangover on Press Freedom (Bruce Brown and Gabe Rottman)
Newsweek: 'Egypt is Holding My Cousin Hostage' (Sherif Mansour)
Vanity Fair: “I’m Afraid to Open Twitter”: Next-Level Harassment of Female Journalists Is Putting News Outlets to the Test (Charlotte Klein)
The Washington Post: Opinion: I’m a photojournalist. Why is the administration banning me from border facilities? (John Moore)
Thanks for reading Pressing today and always. Like what you read and want to support me? Consider donating via a paid subscription here. I’ll see you next Tuesday! Send tips and feedback to sgnover@gmail.com.