Index on Censorship with Safe Havens Freedom Talks on Friday 30 October 2020
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2020-10-30

Safe Havens Freedom Talks presents a panel in collaboration with Index on Censorship livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 30 October 2020 at 2:30 p.m. CET (Stockholm, UTC +2) / 13:30 BST (London, GMT +0) / 16:00 MSK (Nizhny Novgorod, UTC +3) / 9:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)

After hosting two interesting conversations reflecting on the Balaha case and arts and culture in Southeast Asia, this time Safe Havens Freedom Talks series offers a panel on how Covid-19 is affecting press freedom globally, as researched and presented by Index on Censorship in the project Disease Control. The panel discussion titled Disease Control features a front line journalist and representatives of both Index on Censorship and Justice for Journalists.

Disease control is a map run by Index on Censorship in partnership with Justice for Journalists Foundation. It tracks the media attacks that are happening globally as a result of Covid-19. In times of extraordinary crisis, governments often take the opportunity to roll back on personal freedoms and media freedom - and this is exactly what we have seen during the pandemic. With reports from as early as January of this year, we have tracked where journalists have been attacked across the globe in an easy-to-navigate map. These attacks range from journalists being blocked from attending key government meetings or having their questions avoided by heads of state to actual detentions, arrests and physical attacks. We also feature situations where governments have implemented laws to stop the spread of “fake news” – an idea that may sound sensible but sets up governments as the final arbiters of what is true and what is not.

In the panel, Mark Frary (associate editor, Index on Censorship) and Maria Ordzhonikidze (director, Justice for Journalists) will talk about the findings of the mapping project “Disease Control” of Index in partnership with Justice for Journalists and Alexander Pichugin (independent blogger) who is working on the ground to report on Covid-19 will share his experiences. The panel which focuses on reporting in the shadow of Covid-19, how it is working/not working and what consequences we see will be moderated by Zandra Thuvesson.

About the talks
The Safe Havens - Freedom Talks series is closely connected to the annual global Safe Havens conference which has been organized in Malmö since 2013, and in Cape Town, South Africa in 2019. The Freedom Talks series will on a monthly basis focus on issues regarding threats towards artistic freedom, free press and intangible heritage. Guests in the Freedom Talks series are highly knowledgeable and prolific actors in the global Arts Rights Justice sector – fighting for artistic freedom.

https://howlround.com/happenings/livestreaming-conversation-index-censorship