Mediaboss Marketing

Once again our elected state representatives are attempting to nail a lid on the constitutional right to protest, assemble, and express contrasting ideas. The recent bill passed by the state Senate to ostensibly protect businesses from property damage perpetrated by so-called professional anarchists is a thinly veiled attempt to intimidate and punish citizens who get off the couch and activate their right to protest.

Laws that punish violence and mob rule are already on the books and have been so for generations. I suggest that these elected officials see themselves as police rather than representatives of the people. Controls and censorship seem to be the prevailing philosophies driving many folks in the Arizona government and feeding on peoples fear of the what ifs is their tactic to nail down the commonweal to a prescribed set of behaviors they deem acceptable.

No responsible citizen supports violence or mob rule, but this bill assumes that there is a demon lurking in every shadow and every living room and so will punish citizens for even discussing the possibility of expressing their right to protest. What are they afraid of a broken window or an open society?

Read the original:
Rioting bill about censorship - Arizona Daily Sun

Raymond Ahner, Loudwire

When bands perform in China, it is no secret that they must submit their song lyrics to the government, who then return to the band with a list of songs they can and cant play as well as allowing certain songs as long as the lyrics are altered to something permissible. Metallicas recent trek to the country was no different, though James Hetfield seemed nonplussed by being forbidden from playing classics like Master of Puppets.

In an interview with South Morning China Post, the frontman was more than understanding about the censorship, stating,Why shouldnt you respect their culture when youre there as a guest and youve been invited to play? We want to be respectful and just because we do things differently, it doesnt mean it should be forced upon [others].

Hetfield is optimistic about returning to China and having the ability to play not just Master of Puppets, but other exclusions like One (in Shanghai) and Hardwired. But hopefully well keep coming back and theyll realize were not a threat politically and we have no agenda except to cross boundaries with music and let people enjoy the songs, he continued. Were not trying to bring a secret message to anybody.

During Iron Maidens performances in China last year, Bruce Dickinson toed the line with the censors, mouthing curse words and instructing the crowd to take a picture despite cameras not being allowed at the concert.

Metallica will embark on a North American stadium tour this summer, bringing along Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat and Gojira on select dates. For more info and a list of all stops, check our 2017 Guide to Rock + Metal Tours.

Where Do Metallica Ranks Among the Top 50 Hard Rock + Metal Live Acts of All Time?

10 Bands That Were Banned From Countries

Subscribe to Loudwire on

10 Unforgettable James Hetfield Moments

Read the rest here:
James Hetfield Talks Metallica Concert Censorship in China - Loudwire

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and President Donald Trump are two peas in a pod.

While Trump blasts news organizations for "fake coverage," and closes off press to White House gaggles, Levine takes censorship a step further, tryingto gag the pressby blocking them off of social media. Mayor Levine's feelings are so fragile, in fact, that he's gone block-happyon Twitter, censoring reporters and members of the public who raise questions about his tenure as mayor or say, well, pretty much anything else he doesn't like.

How do I know? I'm one of the reporters who'sfound themselves in the crosshairs of Levine's Twitter block spree.

It all started three weeks ago when SSN published a column raising questions about Levine possibly using Miami Beach taxpayer dollars to fund a lawsuit against Florida and in turn, raise his profile for a gubernatorial bid.

I tweeted out the story thatMonday. From what I heard, Levine didn't take the it well, exploding at Miami Beach commissioners and threatening to sue.

By Saturday, I noticed Levine had been running a paid ad campaign promoting his "living wage" schtick. I tweeted it was ironicto run a paid campaign so close to what was undoubtedly critical coverage of Levine -- coverage that didnt make him look good. Can you say PR overhaul?

Levine fell off my radar until last Friday, when I heard he was speaking at the Central Florida Urban League conference in Orlando with other possible gubernatorial contenders. I went to tweet about it, but Levine's name turned up blank when I went to tag him.

I searched for him, clicked on his profile, and saw I had been blocked. I still have no idea why it happened, but suspicion leads me to believe Levine wasn't thrilled about my previous tweet.

Levine's adviser Christian Ulvert told me thepage was not an official Miami Beach social media account, but Levine does officially represent the city and often tweets what he's up to on a day-to-day basis, which seems pretty official to me.

Ulvert said Levine's accounts don't allow individuals to post "slanderous, false...misinformation" and says anyone who uses social media for those purposes isblocked.He also told me I could look at how many people the mayor was following, which has zero indication of how many people Levine has actually blocked.

I can only imagine it's because the number is so high, Levine has lost count.

"His long supported policy, utilized by many, is to allow constructive dialogue to take shape through social media," Ulvert told me, adding that I was "inadvertently" blocked, assuring me it would "be corrected."

Constructive? What's constructive about blocking people you don't agree with? By the way, at the time this article was published, I am still blocked.

I'm not alone in being cut off from Levine, though. I recently found myself welcomed into the fold of dozens, possibly hundreds, who have also been given the "Closed for Business" sign on Levine's social media pages. A quick search on Twitter showed many other people had been axed from seeing what Levine was up to -- some of them merely replied to tweets criticizing him for failed projects and high crime rates.

Theirlistof grievances against Levine is long. At the end of the day, however, they all share a common thread: they got blockedfor speaking up.

The Levine Twitter outcastsinclude normal residents, businessmen, and yes, even members of the press.Click thelinks above and see for yourself.

Take Grant Stern, for example. Stern, a journalist and activist with Occupy Democrats, wrote a tweet criticizing Levine last year. Blocked. So, Stern took his comments to Levines official Facebook page. Blocked again.

Dozens of people came to Stern at the time and said they, too, had been closed out of Levines social media pages for criticizing him. Hundreds of comments from Levines official Facebook page have disappeared, presumably deleted by the miffed mayor.

Levine has a history of lashing out at critics. Last June, heaccused the Miami Herald of conspiring with scientists for a hit piece because they wrote the city was pumping human fecal matter into Biscayne Bay. TheHeraldstood by the story.

But wait, theres more. In 2015, the Miami New Times criticized Levine. They got blocked, too. Levine said it was a mistake (sound familiar?), but never unblocked the paper.

Stern filed a public records request to get the names of all the people Levine had shut out from his accounts, but the city deniesthat request was ever made. In the suit, Stern claims Levine uses the Twitter account, @MayorLevine, to communicate official city business, which would make his accounts subject to the Sunshine Law. That means the proceedings of Levines accounts would have to be public information.

Beyond communicating whats going on in the South Florida city, it appears Levine also uses the account to snuff out and censor comments he doesnt like.

Levines skin is so thin, he should be known as the naked mole rat of Miami Beach.

For someone with his political desires, hes got the impulse control and knowledge of a10-year-old, Stern said.

That, to me, is a huge red flag for someone who's thinking of running for governor next year. For all we know, Levine might censor the entire Tallahassee press corps once they dig -- and they will -- anywhere below the surface of Levine's corrupt career as mayor of Miami Beach.

Let me ask you: Do you really feel comfortable putting someone in the governor's mansion who can't even handle one critical tweet from a reporter?

Can you imagine? The entire Tallahassee press corps would be cast out with the click of a button should they "wrong" Levine.

Bye bye, free press. This circus only runs as long as Levine isthe one cracking the whip.

In a way, the timing of this story couldnt be better. Its like journalistic kismet. On Friday, President Donald Trump deliberately expelled CNN and scores of other news organizations from a White House press gaggle. Unsurprisingly, the entire press corps is now out behind CNN, screaming bloody murder.

Is this ringing a bell yet? Mayor Levine is Florida's very own Donald Trump, attacking outlets and squenching coverage he doesnt like. Except, unfortunately for Levine, he has no solid messageand no parade of hundreds of thousands of adoring fans to push him to the top like Trump did.

He's delusional, Miami filmmaker and Levine critic Billy Corben told me. He runs around everywhere with a Secret Service-looking security guard. But nobody even knows who he is.

But as Trump has realized, the funny thing about censorship is that, more often than not, it has the opposite of the intended effect.Censorship causes journalists to pursuestories they wouldn't otherwise write. It emboldens us to dig deeper. It compels us to push harder.

Mayor Levine can try tosilence members of the media from knowing what he's up to, and he can block us all he wants, but it's only at his own peril.

Levine,totally naivein underestimatingthe power of the reporter, has only shot himself in the foot.

Reach Allison Nielsen by email atallison@sunshinestatenews.comor follow her on Twitter:@AllisonNielsen.

Go here to see the original:
Block-Happy Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine 'Turns Trump' with Censorship - Sunshine State News

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that his Government will not give in to any public urge for censorship as a response to controversial cultural activities, including dancehall music.

Holness told a breakfast meeting with members of the board and senior editorial staff of the Jamaica Observer at the newspapers Beechwood Avenue head office in Kingston on Friday that education would be a better response to public alarm regarding anything that may be considered offensive.

My point is, how do we create consumers who are more discerning of the products that are being produced. Because, once you start to censure you kill creativity, Holness said.

The prime minister was reacting to a question about his response to issues like the current controversy over comments made by Opposition spokesperson and former Minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna, on radio about banning Vybz Kartels music and him recording from his prison cell.

Hanna, who was addressing issues of violence and culture at the time on local radio station, Nationwide News Network, noted that, despite being sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, Kartel seemed to have continued recording his music, which some Jamaicans consider unfit for public consumption, from behind bars, which music is played publicly

If you are convicted, until you are not convicted, perhaps it is that your music need not be played on the radio, Hanna said in the interview.

The issue is where Kartels music is coming out (more) than any other person, because I have not heard any new song from Buju (Banton) since he has been incarcerated. I think that we need to get to the root cause of that. We need to find out how the songs are being made, how they are getting out. Is there corruption in the prison system? And not only for Kartel, I am not singling out Kartel alone. I am singling out all persons across the spectrum who are having an imprint on our childrens value system, she said.

Holness responded:

We have a liberal democracy, we cant escape that. And the society is not one that brooks any argument about censorship. We are not a society that holds heavily to censorship.

The way to combat that, however, is that while we dont like censorship, that shouldnt mean that we allow everything to get in the public space. So the important thing that a society that is a liberal democracy must develop, if it is not going to censor, is to develop literacy and education.

In other words, you combat negative information with positive information.

So the challenge we have is that a lot of people are absorbing, within the public space, much of the artistic creativity but without the context as to how this creativity can lead to the realisation of a certain reality.

In other societies, you go and you watch the movies and it is not just dancehall, its just general. You have hip hop, you have rap music; we are just bombarded with things that have different moral perspectives. But, if you have a well-educated society that can place these things in context,and say this is art, this is from ones own belief, its not what I necessarily believe, or I know that what this person is saying is wrong, then your society can survive that.

But, if you have a high level of illiteracy or unreasonableness in the society, and people literally take what is being produced not just as artistic content, but take it literally as their theme or anthem then you begin to have a problem. So, the solution to Jamaica is not censorship, the solution is to increase our education; our teaching has to place things in context.

Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 for the murder of Clive Lizard Williams. Kartel received the harshest sentence of any of his co-defendants, as he is serving 35 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole. The sentencing of Kartel and three other co-accused followed a 65-day trial.

Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, was found guilty of killing Williams at his house in Havendale, a suburb north of Kingston, in August, 2011. Also found guilty were: Shawn Campbell and Kahira Jones, who were each sentenced to serve a minimum of 25 years, and Andre St John, who can apply for parole after serving 15 years of a life sentence. A fifth defendant, Shane Williams, was found not guilty.

Continue reading here:
Holness says no to censorship of the arts - Jamaica Observer

Personal Liberty Poll

Exercise your right to vote.

In an effort to make websites more advertiser friendly some media outlets have taken to eliminating comment sections where, without considerable effort from moderators, they are unable to control the direction of reader conversations. But a Google-funded algorithm could change that via censorship.

The technology, called Perspective, uses machine-learning to ferret out toxic comments. Its designers reportedly based the technologys moderation standards on those used by the team of human moderators tasked with keeping discourse civil on The New York Times website. The Times is also reportedly now using Perspective to expand the number of articles it allows comments to appear on without overtaxing its moderation team.

Developers explain how the tool works thusly:

Perspective is an API that makes it easier to host better conversations. The API uses machine learning models to score the perceived impact a comment might have on a conversation. Developers and publishers can use this score to give realtime feedback to commenters or help moderators do their job, or allow readers to more easily find relevant information, as illustrated in two experiments below. Well be releasing more machine learning models later in the year, but our first model identifies whether a comment could be perceived as toxic to a discussion.

The level of potential toxicity appears largely based on the use of vulgarity or insulting language in comments.

Here are a few examples of comments the technology would deem highly toxic in comments:

And here are a few that are considered the least toxic:

Personal insults and name calling cheapen any pointand theres certainly no shortage of uncomfortable language on the internet. But is the top-down sanitation of comment sections really the answer?

How long before the machine decides whole topics are too uncomfortable for discussion and are likely to cause readers to leave?

And if the problem is online harassment, are we really going to pretend that simply silencing the true assholes among us will make them disappear? Theyll still be out there Ever been in a big city traffic jam?

Civility is important. But pretending that life isnt uncomfortable, and partially so because of the personalities of people we have to deal with, isnt the answer.

Besides, sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade or a f*cking moron.

. Bookmark the

.

Go here to read the rest:
Behold the censorship machine! - Personal Liberty Digest