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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > Human rights > Freedom of information & freedom of speech
The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the
government from "abridging the freedom of speech," but does not
define what that freedom entails. Chapter 1 provides a broad
overview of the main categories of protected and unprotected speech
in First Amendment jurisprudence. Chapter 2 examines the scope of
protection extended to freedom of speech in thirteen selected
countries. In particular, the chapter focuses on the limits of
protection that may apply to the right to interrupt or affect in
any other way public speech. It also addresses the availability of
mechanisms to control foreign broadcasters working on behalf of
foreign governments. Chapter 3 highlights the First Amendment and
examines those places where the right to free speech is being
stifled and sometimes even silenced by government. Chapter 4 begins
by outlining the current legal framework governing social media
sites' treatment of users' content, focusing on the First Amendment
and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA).
When Breeze FM Radio, in the provincial Zambian town of Chipata,
hired an elderly retired school teacher in 2003, no one anticipated
the skyrocketing success that would follow. A self-styled
grandfather on air, Gogo Breeze seeks intimacy over the airwaves
and dispenses advice on a wide variety of grievances and
transgressions. Multiple voices are broadcast and juxtaposed
through call-ins and dialogue, but free speech finds its ally in
the radio elder who, by allowing people to be heard and supporting
their claims, reminds authorities of their obligations toward the
disaffected. Harri Englund provides a masterfully detailed study of
this popular radio personality that addresses broad questions of
free speech in Zambia and beyond. By drawing on ethnographic
insights into political communication, Englund presents multivocal
morality as an alternative to dominant Euro-American perspectives,
displacing the simplistic notion of voice as individual personal
property an idea common in both policy and activist rhetoric.
Instead, Englund focuses on the creativity and polyphony of Zambian
radio while raising important questions about hierarchy, elderhood,
and ethics in the public sphere. A lively, engaging portrait of an
extraordinary personality, Gogo Breeze will interest Africanists,
scholars of radio and mass media, and anyone interested in the
history and future of free speech.
As the world looked on in horror at the Paris terror attacks of
January and November 2015, France found itself at the centre of a
war that has split across nations and continents. The attacks set
in motion a steady creep towards ever more repressive state
surveillance, and have fuelled the resurgence of the far right
across Europe and beyond, while leaving the left dangerously
divided. These developments raise profound questions about a number
of issues central to contemporary debates, including the nature of
national identity, the limits to freedom of speech, and the role of
both traditional and social media. After Charlie Hebdo brings
together an international range of scholars to assess the social
and political impact of the Paris attacks in Europe and beyond.
Cutting through the hysteria that has characterised so much of the
initial commentary, it seeks to place these events in their wider
global context, untangling the complex symbolic web woven around
'Charlie Hebdo' to pose the fundamental question - how best to
combat racism in our supposedly 'post-racial' age?
Media power is a crucial, although often taken for granted,
concept. We assume, for example, that the media are 'powerful'; if
they were not, why would there be so many controversies over the
regulation, control and impact of communicative institutions and
processes? Further, we assume that this 'power' is somehow
problematic; audiences are often treated as highly susceptible to
media influence and too much 'power' in the hands of one
organization or individual is seen as risky and potentially
dangerous. These concerns have been at the heart of recent
controversies involving the relationships between media moguls and
political elites, the consequences of phone hacking in the UK, and
the emerging influence of social media as vital gatekeepers. Yet it
is still not clear what we mean by media power or how effective it
is. This book evaluates contrasting definitions of media power and
looks at the key sites in which power is negotiated, concentrated
and resisted - politically, technologically and economically.
Combining an evaluation of both previous literature and new
research, the book seeks to establish an understanding of media
power which does justice to the complexities and contradictions of
the contemporary social world. It will be important reading for
undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers and activists alike.
Strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP)
involves lawsuits brought by individuals, corporations, groups, or
politicians to curtail political activism and expression. An
increasingly large part of the political landscape in Canada, they
are often launched against those protesting, boycotting, or
participating in some form of political activism. A common feature
of SLAPPs is that their intention is rarely to win the case or
secure a remedy; rather, the suit is brought to create a chill on
political expression.
"Blocking Public Participation" examines the different types of
litigation and causes of action that frequently form the basis of
SLAPPs, and how these lawsuits transform political disputes into
legal cases, thereby blocking political engagement. The resource
imbalance between plaintiffs and defendants allows plaintiffs to
tie up defendants in complex and costly legal processes. The book
also examines the dangers SLAPPs pose to political expression and
to the quality and integrity of our democratic political
institutions. Finally, the book examines the need to regulate
SLAPPs in Canada and assesses various regulatory proposals.
In Canada, considerable attention has been paid to the
"legalization of politics" and the impact on the Charter in
diverting political activism into the judicial arena. SLAPPs,
however, are an under-studied element of this process, and in their
obstruction of political engagement through recourse to the courts
they have profound implications for democratic practice.
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