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I have just signed the petition against the recent Nikon photo of the year.

https://chng.it/LKBfY8D5Rt

It displays the corpse of Shani Louk shortly after she was murdered on October 7th.

Shanis body was then driven through Gaza on the back of the same truck.

She remains in death, a captive.

Recently I listened to the interview with Yehuda Kurtzer and Ron Hassner, the Berkeley professor who staged a sit-in against the universitys refusal to challenge the rise of antisemitism on campus. (The university has now accepted his requests).

In the discussion Ron states his preference that the antisemitic graffiti that is commonly displayed around the campus is not removed or covered-up. He believes it should remain as a demonstration to others, now and in the future of the reality of student life in 2024 America.

I am not sure how universities in the UK behave, whether they get-out the paint stripper or choose to ignore what has been written.

You could argue that the photograph should be placed on the cover of every newspaper to demonstrate the reality of what happened on October 7th, however, to me that feels a desecration.

There is a split between those who show-off the bodies of their dead and those who hide the images of the terrorists and missile-launchers.

The images from Israel of the 10/7 victims are pixilated. This a reflection of the Israeli values, dignity in death (and, more appositely, life).

Over recent years in media, particularly in movies on TV or on the news, trigger warnings have become a norm this video depicts images of offering the faint of heart the opportunity to turn-away or switch off.

I never really understood the utility of these alerts surely for most people, it is the not knowing that is the true horror whatever we create in our imagination is surely worse than any reality. And then, there is the essential human curiosity, What can be so awful that a warning is required, I had better look.

Triggering comes in many forms, either something that precipitates a flashback or even for some with epilepsy, a seizure. It arrives with enough time for the person to switch-off and move on to other things.

For me, a Jew living in the UK every news item has become a trigger.

I am faced with the options of either not accessing any media or defaulting to only that on the Right which is against everything I have ever believed.

The term for this, much loved by my dad was stuck between a rock and a hard place, meaning, there isnt much we can do, stick, or budge, you lose.

I am just now reading Dan Harris book Ten Percent Happier. Although I have not reached the reveal, my suspicion is that his answer is to read the facts then switch off the thoughts. Move into mindfulness.

This, I struggle to achieve.

Does anyone have an answer?

Dr Rod Kersh is a Consultant Physician working in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. He blogs at http://www.almondemotion.com

Excerpt from:
Censorship | Rod Kersh | The Blogs - The Times of Israel

North Korea deleted a large portion of its online presence in January 2024, with eight of its websites going offline along with most of its social media accounts. This followed a speech by North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un during an important party plenum in late December 2023 where he declared that unification with South Korea was impossible.

The scope of this deletion only slowly made headlines in South Korea due to the comprehensive censorship of North Korean websites and social media accounts. This was underlined by the piecemeal fashion in which journalists realised what was missing. Yonhap News quickly noticed the disappearance of sections on unification on two websites on 4 January 2024, but it took a full week for a journalist at News1 to figure out that content had also disappeared from a third website. The same was repeated several days later when whole websites disappeared.

Despite his initial campaign pledge, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has refused to lift censorship of North Korean media, which is currently enforced through the National Security Law. Though he has repeatedly criticised fake news and anti-intellectualism, he continues to ignore the question of how journalists and analysts are supposed to accurately report on and understand North Korea without access to basic information.

His government has also refused to explain why censorship has not been lifted even slightly after almost two years, pointing only to a lack of public support. Not surprisingly, right-wing activists had showered the government with protests hoping to stop the plan to relax censorship.

The vast censorship has led to the bizarre phenomenon that South Korean journalists frequently learn about major news from international outlets. They only noticed that scenes from the movie Frozen were being used in North Korean schools when NK News reported on it five days after being shown on North Korean television in May 2023.

Weeks before, major outlets only learned of an actor being scrubbed from movies aired on North Korean television after a scholar released her analysis through NK News. In this case, the scholar and journalists had missed domestic reports on the actor being cut from movies three times since May 2021.

This underlined how little access South Korean journalists have to North Korean television footage. If outlets cannot afford an expensive satellite dish and recording equipment, the only option is to access footage through the Ministry of Unifications library, which releases recordings only after a two week delay.

Between 18 and 21 October 2023, North Korea revealed in state-run newspaper Minju Chosun two central pillars of its 2023 electoral reform that would be applied in Novembers local elections separate ballot boxes for dissenting votes and two-person competitions for candidate nominations. This made it obvious that North Korea would give up on its alleged 100 per cent approval rates, which eventual election results confirmed.

But this time even after an analysis was published on NK Pro a sister site of NK News on October 23, South Korean journalists did not report on this information for weeks. The fact that all access points to the Minju Chosun newspaper are censored certainly played a role.

The Ministry of Unifications library claims to have found no outlet selling print Minju Chosun issues since 2020, while a Japan-based service providing almost immediate access to a digital version online is censored. The newspaper is shown in full on North Korean television in the afternoon, but there are no public channels available to access it and the only YouTube channel that uploads those newspaper sections daily is also censored.

The progressive online outlet Tongil News was the first to write about the electoral reforms on 5 November 2023, citing the newspaper Choson Sinbo, run by the North Korea-friendly Association of Koreans in Japan and censored by South Korea. Yonhap News, South Koreas quasi-public news agency, only released a report on 8 November, following a Radio Free Asia piece from the day before that only commented on the two-person competitions.

But the problem becomes even more obvious when South Koreans have no foreign outlets to rely on. While South Korean journalists now pay a lot of attention to disappearing content on North Korean websites or the halt on usage of certain terms, they missed the fact that major websites stopped publishing unification-related content earlier in 2023. The unification sections in Minju Chosun and Ryomyong did not publish new content after early May 2023 when inter-Korean relations had hit a new low.

This silence should have alarmed South Korean journalists and hinted that North Korea was set to cancel agreements including the 15 June NorthSouth Joint Declaration. But due to censorship, none of the South Korean public noticed this sign.

Naturally, foreign journalists take their clues from South Korean media about what is newsworthy. The fact that much goes unreported in South Korea or is reported late and with only shallow analysis thereby also diminishes the quality of global coverage.

This could be blamed on the generally low quality of South Korean journalism or its lack of interest in North Korea. But a major factor hindering constructive reporting has been the vast censorship by the South Korean state. This censorship keeps not just South Korean journalists but also their audiences, domestic and international, from exploring the facts.

Martin Weiser is an independent researcher based in Seoul.

Read this article:
South Korean censorship obscures vital information - East Asia Forum

InNebraska,a bill that would criminalize librarians did not get enough votes.Meanwhile,inGeorgia, educators worry about legislation aimed at ALA funding;and in one Texas county, a citizen review board will now decide what stayson public library shelves.

Obscenity Bill that Could Criminalize Nebraska Librarians, Teachers Fails to Advance | KOLN Three days of tense debate ended with lawmakers falling three votes short of advancing a bill that received national attention after a senator read an explicit rape scene on the legislative floor.

Georgia Teachers Raise Concerns over Legislation Aimed at American Library Association Funding | 11 Alive The bill bars state and local governments from giving money to the American Library Association.

Texas County Directs Citizen Board to Review, and Potentially Remove, Library Books | KHOU Montgomery County, TX, officials adopted a new policy empowering a citizen committee to review, and potentially remove, library materials at the request of the public. County Judge Mark Keough, the policys author, said the process will prevent children from accessing inappropriate books. Critics argued the new guidelines strip librarians from the reconsideration process and will target books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters.

Amid Book Bans, DEI Cuts and 'Don't Say Gay' Laws, Seven States Will Mandate LGBTQ-Inclusive Curricula | NBC News Washington is the seventh state to enact legislation mandating that public schools incorporate LGBTQIA+-inclusive curricula in some capacity. The other six areCalifornia, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, and Illinois.

Ali Velshi Banned Book ClubBlack Stories in Philadelphia | The Philadelphia Citizen Philly is not only the birthplace of American libraries, it's also an epicenter for resisting book bans through the use of "Little Free(dom) Libraries."

Teen Social Network Launched by Austin Public Library to Save Banned Books| KVUE The Save The Books Social Network unites teens who want to defend their freedom to read.

The Post-2020 Surge in Calls for Banning Books, Visualized | The Washington Post Data provided to The Washington Post by the ALA shows that this increase is part of a surge in such efforts in recent yearsones that are centered more heavily in Republican-voting states.

Texas District Votes to Remove The HatersFrom School Libraries | KVUE A discussion over two Jesse Andrews books, The Haters and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,endedwith Lake Travis (TX) ISD leaders voting4-2 to remove The Haters from the Lake Travis High School library. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl will remain in circulation.

Libraries are always evolving. Stay ahead. Log In.

More here:
Nebraska Obscenity Bill to Criminalize Librarians Fails to Advance | Censorship News - News Letter Journal

Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik pans draft legislation allowing the government to censor foreign media as constitutionally problematic after lawmakers attempt to remove a clause requiring judicial authorization for the closure of outlets deemed to pose an actual harm to the states security.

During a debate in the Knesset National Security Committee, Afik objects to efforts by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and rightwing lawmakers to change a clause requiring a judge to sign off on shuttering foreign networks operating in Israel and instead only grant the judiciary the power to hear an appeal against a government decision on the matter.

Committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel-Shor also objects, stating that shutting down a media outlet is a matter of balancing freedom of expression and state security here and we need to be extremely careful.

Communications Minister Karhi pushes back against their objections, stating that there is no precedent for requiring a judge to sign off on a government decision and it must not be allowed.

Too few people understand that the media today is a weapon, and if we do not neutralize this weapon, it may strike us dead, adds committee chairman MK Zvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit). This law is good and the responsibility should remain with those who are responsible.

Under the bill, the communications minister will be empowered to shutter foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if the defense minister identifies that their broadcasts pose an actual harm to the states security.

If ultimately passed into law, the bill which would also allow for the censoring of a targeted networks website would pave the way for Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi to follow through on his threat to shut down Qatari news channel Al Jazeera, which he has said is working against Israels defense interests and fueling anti-Israel sentiment.

It passed a first reading in the Knesset plenum in February and is currently being prepared for its second and third readings in the committee.

A previous amendment pushed by Fogel which would have given National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, in consultation with the National Security Committee, the power to make the final determination in banning an outlet received strong pushback from Minister Benny Gantzs National Unity faction, which threatened to veto the controversial legislation.

Karhi has previously taken aim at domestic media as well, threatening to halt government advertising in Bolshevik abomination Haaretz and promoting a far-reaching communications reform that critics assert undermines the freedom of the press.

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Knesset legal adviser pans attempt to remove judicial oversight on foreign media censorship bill as 'constitutionally ... - The Times of Israel

The Internet has always been filled with junk: porn, flamewars, and the dreaded misinformation. According to a new study in Nature, its no more toxic today than in the past. Levels of rudeness and hostility online have stayed the same for over 34 years across practically every platform.

The only thing that has changed is the surface area. Not only are more people online, but more people are online all the time. The Internet has gone from a place where you could theoretically get your news to where most people get their news, with few exceptions. Its understandable that people would feel more impacted by the Internet and mistake that for a change in toxicity. The real change, as it turns out, is our time online.

According to the researchers behind the study, toxicity online is just human nature. In other words, the medium how we communicate, as opposed to the what is the danger.

It inspires a question: why do we focus on moderation and curbing toxic comments and misinformation with entire industries of so-called experts instead of trying to moderate our Internet usage?

On a recent episode of 60 Minutes, featured misinformation experts argued that researchers are experiencing a chilling effect on social media platforms because of pushback from Republican policymakers who feel that claims about misinformation are being used to silence conservative voices. The experts argue that conservatives do spread more false, misleading, or downright dangerous information.

One one of their recommendations for solving that problem is a process called pre-bunking. In their words, pre-bunking is simply arming users with the tools to identify these posts. They fear that the public will struggle without this help Republicans, rightfully, say that all theyre doing is vilifying conservative positions.

The researchers interviewed on 60 Minutes framed the issue in a way that sounds like a plea for censorship. But this is a slippery slope: why should any speech protected by the First Amendment be censored, including by labelling? And why shouldnt we trust the public to use their best judgement?

A recent article from R Street points out another problem: defining what is and isnt misinformation in the first place isnt clear cut, something these experts seemed to take for granted on the 60 Minutes segment. How do you regulate something you cant define? As the Twitter Files showed us, politicisation and weaponisation of the term are very real issues, too conservative voices were suppressed.

But lets assume the term is clearly defined, as is the impact. Handling misinformation is more complex than determining the best content moderation policies.

Determining expertise has never been more difficult. For example, in the 2000s, you could advise people to avoid personal blogs or pseudonymous posters. Today, the rules around pseudonymity and blogging have changed. Its plausible that a Substack written under a pseudonym may be more reliable and even more widely read than a piece from a legacy publication. But how do you know which ones you can and cant trust?

While imperfect, Xs Community Notes feature is a good solution. It allows users to add context and clarification to potentially misleading posts, providing a layer of fact-checking and nuance that can help readers navigate complex issues. By crowdsourcing this process, Community Notes taps into the X user bases collective knowledge and expertise, which can be more effective than relying on a centralised team of moderators or fact-checkers.

Of course, there are potential downsides to a crowdsourced approach. Users may have biases and agendas, and theres a risk that popular opinion could drown out dissenting voices or minority perspectives. Its unclear how quality control works outside of the voting system.

But the alternative relying on a small group of experts to determine what is and isnt true is far more problematic.

As for the misinformation experts? They should also publish their findings and create supplementary material that people can opt into, should they want to use it to educate themselves. Because of the potential for bias (and their history), the problem is when they become the sole adjudicators of what is and isnt the truth.

Its not that misinformation researchers should be silenced. But we should be careful when they are treated like the be-all and end-all of speech online.

Read this article:
Misinformation 'experts' are paving the way for more censorship - UnHerd