Ten years ago, on April 5, 2011, photojournalist Anton Hammerl was killed in Libya when loyalists to Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi targeted Hammerl and several other journalists he was traveling with. The assailants opened fire on them although they clearly identified themselves as members of the international media.
The security forces have arrested at least 56 reporters, outlawed online news outlets and crippled communications. Young people have stepped in with their phones to help document the brutality.
Another photojournalist shot that day, U Si Thu, 36, was hit in his left hand as he was holding his camera to his face and photographing soldiers in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city. He said he believes the soldier who shot him was aiming for his head.
Tennessee state lawmakers working together with the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office have introduced a bill to the state legislature that seeks
This new law would target those who are taking “embarrassing” or “offensive” images of people in public but would apparently not target general public photography. This new bill, which you can read here, would make it illegal to take a photo for the purpose of “sexual gratification or arousal.” This would apply to photos that would offend or embarrass the subject or are focused specifically on an “intimate” part of the body.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), New York Times, and Washington Post are urging
“We heard through the Reporters Committee’s hotline that one photojournalist wore a bulletproof vest that prevented her from getting injured when she was stabbed by one of the members of the mob,” the letter reads. “Accordingly, we request that credentialed journalists covering the 2021 inauguration be allowed to carry this life-saving gear, at least outside the most secured area where the inauguration will occur.”
When Trump took the stage Wednesday at his “Save America” rally, he started his speech with a rant against the media, calling it “the biggest problem we have as far as I’m concerned — single biggest problem” and falsely claiming “fake news” had stolen the election. Hours later, some of his supporters had taken his message to heart and went after the media members who they saw as responsible for Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
News organizations should soon expect to hear from federal law enforcement agencies. National Press Photographers Association General Counsel Mickey Osterreicher says he expects that they will ask or demand that news organizations and individual journalists who documented the siege of the U.S. Capitol turn over their unpublished images and videos.
Abul Kalam is most well-known for his photography centered on documenting the life of refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh. On December 29, he was arrested
Abul Kalam is most well-known for his photography centered on documenting the life of refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh. On December 29, he was arrested and allegedly beaten for photographing the controversial transfer of refugees to a remote island camp.
Protests have erupted across France over a proposed security law that would greatly limit the publication of images of police officers. The controversial
The controversial Article 24 in the new Global Security Bill pushed by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government and police unions would make it illegal to publish images of police officers with the intent to cause them harm. Offenders would face up to a year in jail and a fine of €45,000 (~$53,000).
Proscribing the photographing of people in public places, the depiction of the consequence of violent attacks, and the recording of abuse of power is dramatically limiting citizens’ access to information—the type of information needed to have a healthy democracy. If similar laws were considered in countries with an established fascist regime, it would not surprise anyone. They all start by suppressing access to information.
A video showing left-wing protesters attacking a right-wing activist spread across social media after the “Million MAGA March” in Washington DC. But did it tell the whole story?
While the daytime rally included several skirmishes, the number of violent incidents escalated significantly after sunset. There is ample evidence of violence from pro-Trump demonstrators. One assaulted freelance journalist Talia Jane, while a Proud Boy was filmed punching a French photographer in the face. At one point, a large group of Proud Boys and Trump supporters charged at counter-protesters en masse. To be clear, there was also evidence of assaults by left-wing demonstrators, as later highlighted by Trump. But the President’s framing of events erased the violence of his own supporters and painted a misleading, one-sided account.
A freelance photographer who has been working with the NBA for several years has been kicked out of the league’s Orlando “bubble” after he was called out
A freelance photographer who has been working with the NBA for several years has been kicked out of the league’s Orlando “bubble” after he was called out for re-sharing an offensive meme about Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris on his Facebook page.
Director Ramona Diaz and journalist Maria Ressa discuss their struggles to make A Thousand Cuts, a film about the autocratic president of the Philippines.
“It all goes back to Silicon Valley,” Ressa adds. A Thousand Cuts follows the Philippines 2019 legislative elections, when for the first time in 80 years, the opposition failed to secure even a single seat. It illuminates the Duterte government’s use of propaganda and social media to lie to their citizens, obscuring what many of them know to be the truth. This “post-truth” reality is one many people are now far too familiar with, even outside the Philippines. “When Facebook sells our most vulnerable data to the highest bidder, we no more have facts to hold each other accountable by. Accountability from the tech companies is a prerequisite to claim our democracies back. You do not have democracy if you don’t have facts,” Ressa asserts. In one scene, Duterte tells a Rappler journalist, “You will be allowed to criticize us. But you will go to jail for your crimes.” I was immediately reminded of the likes of Gauri Lankesh and Vikram Joshi, journalists back home in India who were murdered for speaking out against the country’s Hindu nationalist government.
Washington, D.C., August 4, 2020–The Libyan National Army should immediately release photojournalist Ismail Abuzreiba al-Zway, and stop prosecuting journalists in secret trials and in military courts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In a
Washington, D.C., August 4, 2020–The Libyan National Army should immediately release photojournalist Ismail Abuzreiba al-Zway, and stop prosecuting journalists in secret trials and in military courts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
NEW YORK – Aug. 3, 2020 – Freelance photojournalist Austin Tice, who went missing in 2012 while reporting on the civil war in Syria, tops the August ranking of the One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases. The “10 Most Urgent” list, issued today by a united group of pre-eminent editors and publishers, spotlights journalists whose press freedoms are being suppressed or whose cases are seeking justice.
One of photography’s most important problems is the power imbalance between someone operating a camera and someone finding her or himself in front of it. Unless there is an actual collaboration going on, it is the photographer whose decisions result in what the subject looks like in the picture(s). I used “actual” in front of “collaboration” on purpose: unlike many other people, I do not think that having some chit chat with a subject makes for a collaboration. A collaboration would be a joint making of the picture, in which photographer and subject talk about how the subject wants to be portrayed, what the photographers sees in her or him, etc.
