labor issues and working conditions, censorship and citizen journalism
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has proposed new sweeping censorship rules for information going into and out of California prisons
Public comment remains open, years after the call. Use this tool to send a note with your objection to the vague and over-reaching regulations, which characterize all political materials as “oppositional to society and authority”.
Continue reading CA Corrections Department Proposes New Sweeping Prison Censorship Rules
The Speak Free Act is a federal anti-SLAPP bill introduced in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis by Reps Anna Eshoo and Texas Republican Blake Farenthold.
SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation and describe lawsuits filed primarily to discourage, harass and intimidate public participation and free speech.
Anti-SLAPP laws provide a way for those targeted via SLAPP suits get the suits dismissed fairly rapidly and avoid being drained by long and resource-consuming lawsuits designed not to prevail on the merits, but to exhaust the target into silencing themselves to get out from under the lawsuit.
MA commented on CDCR’s proposed lethal injection regulations, specifically on access for journalists and witnesses to executions. Continue reading New Lethal Injection Regulations from CDCR
The eloquent last words of the assassinated Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga.
U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) reintroduced the Private Prison Information Act (PPIA) in Congress. The bill, HR 5838, requires non-federal correctional and detention facilities that house federal prisoners to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), by making certain records available to the public.
Media Alliance is proud to join the Human Rights Defense Center and 54 other organizations to support PPIA, HR 5838, which requires private prisons and detention centers to comply with FOIA. Continue reading 55 Organizations Support The Re-Introduction of The Private Prison Information Act
The San Francisco Media Company suddenly and with no notice shut down the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the city by the Bay’s alternative newspaper for decades.
The decision was supposedly based on the failure of the Guardian to achieve financial viability in a difficult market for print media, but appeared to abruptly cut short a revitalization effort underway before it even had much of a chance to get going. Continue reading Bay Guardian Shut Down
A prisoner gag law in Philadelphia, apparently triggered by rage at a recent commencement speech at Goddard College by alumni, inmate and author Mumia Abu-Jamal, is being challenged in court as an unconstitutional abrogation of the right of speech. The legal challenge is being mounted by the Abolitionist Law Center and Prison Radio producer and former MA board member Noelle Hanrahan, who has been distributing Abu-Jamal’s commentaries for decades. Their press release below. Continue reading Muzzle Mumia Law Falls Outside the US Constitution
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is one of the most important tools for investigative journalism.
MA joined with over 50 civil liberties organizations to press Congress to reform and improve FOIA to facilitate government transparency and the informed consent of the American people to the actions taken in their name. Continue reading Improving FOIA
