The New Censorship
Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom
by Joel Simon
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Pub Date Nov 11 2014 | Archive Date Mar 30 2016
Description
Journalists are being imprisoned and killed in record numbers. Online surveillance is annihilating privacy, and the Internet can be brought under government control at any time. Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, warns that we can no longer assume our global information ecosystem is stable, protected, and robust. Journalists -- and the crucial news they report -- are increasingly vulnerable to attack by authoritarian governments, militants, criminals, and terrorists, who all seek to use technology, political pressure, and violence to set the global information agenda.
Reporting from Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and Mexico, among other hotspots, Simon finds journalists under threat from all sides. The result is a growing crisis in information -- a shortage of the news we need to make sense of our globalized world and to fight against human rights abuses, manage conflict, and promote accountability. Drawing on his experience defending journalists on the front lines, he calls on "global citizens," U.S. policy makers, international law advocates, and human rights groups to create a global freedom-of-expression agenda tied to trade, climate, and other major negotiations. He proposes ten key priorities, including combating the murder of journalists, ending censorship, and developing a global free-expression charter challenging criminal and corrupt forces that seek to manipulate the world's news.
Advance Praise
“From his vantage point as director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon has worked tirelessly to get kidnapped or imprisoned reporters freed. He’s campaigned globally for justice in cases of murdered journalists. In The New Censorship, he warns us of new threats – like the insidious information management techniques of “democratators” Vladimir Putin and Recip Tayyip Erdogan. Simon’s prescriptions for how to counter these new challenges are wise and insightful. He offers hope to all who care about maintaining the free flow of information in a world full of would-be censors.”
—Ann Cooper, Columbia Journalism School
“Joel Simon is a warrior for press freedom and the place of journalists in every culture and country. Here he writes with characteristic passion and insight on the importance of fighting press censorship around the world, reminding us we have new tools, but old demons remain.”
—Tom Brokaw, NBC News
“Fascinating and comprehensive, The New Censorship should become the bible for anyone seeking an honest, up-to-date grasp of the global state of press freedom. Tackling everything from China's internet firewall to the growth of jihadist terrorism and the new breed of authoritarians he calls Democratators, Joel Simon has produced a compelling inquiry into some of the most pressing challenges of today's world. Well-written and lucidly-argued, this is a must-read.”
—Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer for The New Yorker, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
“ 'Journalists gather information. Spies gather information. So, journalists are spies,' said my inexplicably ignorant and violent interrogator in a dark room in Evin Prison in Iran. “Except, spies don’t have any organization to protect them.” All kinds of individuals, governments and organizations try to suppress journalists around the world. Journalists are increasingly, and at times tragically, becoming characters in their own stories. As the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon has the difficult task of advocating press freedom around the world, and saving the lives of many journalists whose lives are in peril. And he’s doing a magnificent job. In his profound, and oddly entertaining book, Joel draws on years of experience dealing with censorship, its victims and its perpetrators. His book tells us why the world would be a much better place if journalists could continue doing their job safely and securely. I recommend reading this book to anyone who is interested in the news, and wants to understand the lengths journalists go to in order to process that information.”
—Maziar Bahari, journalist, filmmaker, and author of And Then They Came for Me
“Media freedom is under attack all over the world, as Joel Simon shows us in often hair-raising detail. Yet while the diagnosis is frightening the prognosis need not be fatal. Fortunately, Simon offers a practical road map for how media freedom can and must be defended - and even expanded. That road will be long, hard, and steep. But thanks to Simon, and the dedication and sacrifice of his many colleagues and allies, it does exist.”
—Rebecca MacKinnon, author Consent of the Networked.
“While climate change, persistent poverty, and sectarian violence typically top the list of the world’s most urgent challenges, the progress of future generations also will depend upon the success we have in ensuring free speech across the globe. Joel Simon understands like few others that without a free press, modern societies will be severely stymied in solving their problems. Through insightful analysis and gripping stories relaying the experiences of front line journalists, he offers a compelling portrait of the fight for free expression occurring around the world. The New Censorship is an important contribution to a matter that deserves far more attention than it currently receives.”
—Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University
“No one understands better than Joel Simon the reasons that press freedom is now in decline nearly everywhere in the world. In The New Censorship, he brings us riveting and powerfully moving accounts from the front lines. For anyone who wants to understand the peril that independent media faces around the world today, this is a distressing, essential piece of work.”
—Jacob Weisberg, Chairman, The Slate Group
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780231160643 |
| PRICE | $27.95 (USD) |
