Mediaboss Marketing

WASHINGTON A freshman congressman, troubled by allegations of climate censorship by the President Trump administration, is attempting to make it harder for political appointees to scrub scientific information from government reports.

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) introduced legislation this month dubbed the Stop Climate Censorship Act. If enacted, it would require political appointees at federal agencies to provide data to back up any decisions to remove climate change content from scientific studies or press releases.

Theres any number of examples of controversies surrounding climate censorship under the Trump administration, Neguse said. He pointed to one of the highest-profile examples in his own congressional district.

Maria Caffrey, a former University of Colorado research assistant and a paid partner of the National Park Service, said her research on how climate change would impact national parks was sidelined by Trump administration officials.

Shetestifiedat a hearing before the U.S. House earlier this year that National Park Service officials made explicit attempts to get me to remove references to anthropogenic or human-caused climate change from my report.

Flint, PFAS raised in D.C. hearing on Trump admin.s scientific research clampdown

Agency management gradually cut off her access to research funding, Caffrey testified: I had become an outcast for standing up.

In July, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Rochester Hills) led a hearing of the U.S. House Science Subcommittee on Research & Technology looking into scientistic research being stifled by the Trump administration. The Flint water crisis, PFAS contamination and climate change were key issues raised.

This is not a Democratic or Republican issue, Stevens said during the hearing. Its not about one administration or another. It is about ensuring public trust in the conduct dissemination and use of scientific research in the federal government.

The hearing featured several experts, including Joel Clement, Arctic Initiative senior fellow for the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Clement was a top U.S. Interior Department adviser who said he was reassigned by then-Director Ryan Zinke in a purge after raising climate change concerns. He became a whistleblower against the Trump administrations anti-science and pro-fossil fuels agenda.

Another controversy surrounding scientific censorship occurred earlier this year when officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationreportedlybacked President Donald Trump over the agencys own researchers.

After Trump asserted without evidence that Alabama would most likely be hit much harder than anticipated by the approaching Hurricane Dorian, National Weather Service staff was told to only stick with official National Hurricane Center forecasts if questions arose about Trumps assertions and to refrain from providing any opinions, the Washington Post reported.

Trump famouslyuseda black Sharpie marker to add an extra loop onto a map of Dorians predicted path to encompass Alabama.

In light of recent attempts by this administration to censor science, includingthreatsin September to fire NOAA officials who failed to back President Trumps inaccurate statements on Hurricane Dorian, legislation to prevent the political interference of federal science is critically needed, Neguse said in a statement.

A January 2018 reportby the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, which analyzed websites across the federal government, found substantial shifts under the Trump administration in whether and how the topic of climate change and efforts to mitigate and adapt to its consequences are discussed across a range of federal agencies websites.

U.S. House passes climate bill in a rebuke to Trump

The report also found a significant loss of public access to information about climate change.

Taking action to curb the impacts of climate change is critical for Colorado, Neguse said.

Afact sheet published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the former President Obama administration in August 2016 and archived online outlines some of the ways that climate change caused by humans will impact Colorado.

The expected consequences include more common heat waves, decreased water availability and agricultural yields, and increased risk of wildfires.

Neguse introduced the bill with two of his Democratic colleagues, U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon and Sean Casten of Illinois.

The congressman said hes optimistic that itll get a vote in the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee, where Bonamici is a senior member. Neguse is also hoping to include the legislation in a package of bills that will be considered by the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Neguse, a member of that committee, has made climate change one of his key focuses. He was a strong and early supporter of the Green New Deal.

Pelosi contradicts Trump at U.N. climate conference: Were still in the Paris agreement

Along with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), he traveled to Spain this month for the U.N. Climate Change Summit as part of a delegation led by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

He said hes optimistic that companion legislation will be introduced in the Senate, but recognizes that the bill is unlikely to see movement in that chamber.

Neguse acknowledged the realities of the Senate under its current GOP leadership and the fact that many bills continue to languish under U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

That scenario makes the road much more difficult in the upper chamber, but were going to continue to push, Neguse said.

To become law, the legislation would also need to win Trumps signature or win enough votes to override a White House veto both of those scenarios are highly unlikely.

Dingell, Democrats roll out ambitious climate bill

Max Boykoff, director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research and an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, welcomed Neguses legislation.

Irrespective of anyones political party affiliation, this is important legislation for those seeking improved accountability among political appointees and ongoing access to important information about climate change for decision-making, Boykoff said in a statement.

In order to implement bold policies to tackle climate change, Bonamici said, those policies must be informed by the best available science. At a time when the Trump Administration regularly dismisses and denies climate science, it is our responsibility to protect the work of federal science agencies and to make sure that scientists are heard and supported rather than censored.

Advance Editor Susan J. Demas contributed to this story.

Continue reading here:
Dems have a plan to fight Trump on climate censorship - Michigan Advance

2019 has been a good year for creative music-marketing campaigns, as youll know if you read our end-of-year Sandbox report earlier this month. If you havent, you can find it here: its our pick of the best campaigns of the year.

Anyone looking for more inspiration for their music marketing in 2020 would do well to check out the winners of the 2019 Clio Music awards. The event aims to spotlight content and campaigns that push boundaries, permeate pop culture and establish a new precedent for artist self-promotion, music marketing, brand collaborations and the use of music in advertising.

There were two Grand winners this year. The first was a project called The Uncensored Playlist, entered for Reporters Without Borders by agency DDB Group Germany. It won its Grand award in the Innovation medium, while also bagging Gold awards for Social Good and Use of Music.

It was launched as the worlds first playlist that fights censorship, turning articles from five journalists in countries with repressive censorship into songs uploaded to streaming services, and gathered in a playlist that launched on World Day Against Cyber Censorship.

The second Grand winner was Share Your Gifts, entered by Kobalt Music Group. It was the Christmas advertisement for Apple in 2018: an animated commercial using Billie Eilishs track Come Out And Play for which Kobalt is the publisher. The ad won its Grand award in the Use of Music medium.

The Clio Music awards also gave out 29 Gold awards, including the two for The Uncensored Playlist. The directory of winners (which also includes Silver and Bronze gongs) is well worth a browse.

Some of Music Allys favourites within the Gold winners include: another project involving Billie Eilish, Spotifys pop-up Billie Eilish Experience, entered by the streaming service and getting its Gold award in the Design medium.

Theres also BMGs 30th anniversary deluxe box-set of Keith Richards Talk Is Cheap album, which won a Gold in Design; Microsofts Muse Simulation Theory VR Experience (Digital/Mobile); YouTubes artist spotlight story for Burna Boy (Film/Video); and RocNations A New Set Of Rights, a film for the New York Times featuring Meek Mill which focused on the problems of the US criminal justice system.

You can see the full list of winnersat the Clio Music site. Entries for the 2020 edition of the awards will open in the first quarter of next year.

Music Ally

Processing...

You might have left one of the fields blank, or be posting too quickly

Thanks for your comment. We appreciate your response.

Please wait a while before posting your next comment

View original post here:
Read More Clio Music awards winners offer music-marketing inspiration 2019 has been a good year - Music Ally

Today is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, an annual observation supported by and dedicated to those that participate in the sex trade. Its also nearly the end of 2019the first full calendar year since Congress passed the Internet censorship law SESTA/FOSTA. EFF fought the bill in Congress, concerned that its vague, ambiguous language and stiff criminal and civil penalties would drive constitutionally protected content off the Internet. And we represent organizations and individuals that are challenging the law in federal court. Activists and organizers from within the sex working community made it clear from the beginning as well: though this bill was intended to curb violence that occurs in the sex trade, its result would be just the opposite because it deprived a community of many of the online tools they used to stay safe and to organize. 2019 has brought us the unfortunate statistics to prove that they were right.

In a recent study of sex workers completed by the grassroots sex worker advocacy organization Hacking//Hustling, in collaboration with Whose Corner Is It Anyway, 40% of participants reported experiencing increased violence after FOSTA became law. Additionally, an overwhelming 99% of participants said they do not feel safer because of FOSTA. The details of this study were recently reviewed at a conference hosted by Harvards Berkman Klein Law Center, and the full results will soon be available. But these grim statistics arent an outlier: last year the San Francisco Police Department reported that human trafficking and street-based sex work offenses had spiked 170% since FOSTAs passage.

These numbers affirm what those who participate in the sex industry warned would happen. FOSTA has ensnared a wide array of platforms and online marketplaces whose operators, fearing that comments, posts, or ads that are sexual in nature will result in new liability, have censored users speech or shut down entirely. The absence of these sites have prevented sex workers from organizing and utilizing tools that have kept them safe. Taking away client-screening capabilities, bad date lists, and other intra-community safety tips leads to putting more workers on the street, which leads to increased violence and trafficking. The consequences of this censorship are most devastating for trans women of color, who are disproportionately affected by this violence. In NYC, the unfair targeting of trans women by local ordinances are so prevalent, loitering laws are colloquially known as "Walking While Trans" laws.

After SESTA/FOSTAs passage, plaintiffs Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Alex Andrews, the Internet Archive, and Eric Koszyk filed suit to invalidate the law. EFF is part of the legal team representing the plaintiffs, who are asking a court to declare the law unconstitutional and prevent it from being enforced. On this International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, it's clear that the first step to actually ending such violence is to repeal SESTA/FOSTA, and to listen more closely to the communities affected by such laws. Destigmatization and full decriminalization is the battle cry of many sex work advocacy groups;but under FOSTA, this advocacy may be illegal. Its time for us to start taking these risks, and the real-world implications of FOSTA's censorship, seriously.

Excerpt from:
On International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, We Must Look Closely at the Results of FOSTA - EFF

Facebook has blocked independent journalist and Filmmaker Ford Fischer of News2Share from posting links for 60 hours after he attempted to share a Reclaim The Net article about YouTube censorship. Fischer wasnt given any warning and was automatically and instantly blocked as soon as he attempted to share the link.

The article that Fischer attempted to share, 2019 was a low point for YouTube and demoralizing for creators, documents YouTube censorship, leaks that have exposed YouTube bias, and the controversial policies YouTube has introduced in 2019. Fischer's News2Share channel being demonetized on YouTube after it introduced its controversial hate speech rules is one of the stories featured in the article.

Fischer added that this is the first time Facebook has ever suspended any feature for him.

Facebook hasnt explained why the link was automatically blocked or why attempting to share it is punished with a 60 hour suspension. However, the company has increasingly restricted what users are allowed to share on the platform in 2019.

Here is the original post:
Facebook bans journalist Ford Fischer from posting links as he attempted to share YouTube censorship article - Reclaim The Net

Iraqis have been protesting since early October against the dysfunctional and corrupt political system installed by the United States after the 2003 occupation. Unlike previous waves of protests that began in 2011, this protest was spontaneous and not organized by any party.

The most common and passionate slogan throughout these protests has been, We want a homeland. It reflected the anger and alienation Iraqis felt toward a political class beholden to external influence (Iran and the United States) and oblivious to its peoples demands.

The regimes brutal suppression and killing of peaceful protesters fueled Iraqis anger, widening and intensifying the protests and strikes across Iraq. It also radicalized the tone and demands of protesters who have been calling for an overhaul of the entire system, rather than cosmetic change. The resignation of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi on Nov. 29 did nothing to quiet the protesters. And the regimes violence continues unabated.

More than 500 protesters have been killed. I try to find out their names and catch a glimpse of their faces. I cant keep up. Death seizes them in a flash and delivers their bodies to the darkness of the grave. But it also illuminates their names, faces and life stories, making them ever more familiar to those of us who are viscerally connected to Iraq, whether we live there or in a distant country.

I did know Safa al-Sarray, a 26-year-old aspiring poet and amateur artist, very well. He wrote to me nine years ago on social media about one of my novels. We kept corresponding. I loved his wit and sense of humor, and his insightful posts about life and politics in Iraq.

Safa was a precocious, passionate young man and a voracious reader, particularly of poetry. He grew up in a large working-class family in Baghdad. His father had died when he was quite young. He worked hard three days a week as a construction worker and porter while studying at the University of Technology in Baghdad to make ends meet and to support his family.

In 2011, a wave of protests against the corruption and sectarianism of the Iraqi regime swept through the country. Safa, who was 18 at the time, joined his compatriots seeking change. He was at the forefront of every single wave of protests in the years that followed. Despite being harassed and detained several times, he would be back on the street for the next protest.

I worried about him and would check on him every time protests broke out to make sure he was safe. We are staying here in Tahrir, he would write, referring to Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, where the protesters have been gathering. He knew the dangers he faced. He once wrote to me wondering when he might meet the gratuitous death waiting for me in my homeland. He loved Iraq and would go to sleep at night thinking of what he could do to change it.

I met Safa for the first time in February at the Baghdad Book Fair. He came to my book signing and was as charming and charismatic in person. We met again for breakfast on my last day in Baghdad. Safa had an undergraduate degree in computer networking, but like hundreds of thousands of young Iraqis, he couldnt find employment in his field.

Over breakfast he told me that hed recently started working as an ardhahalchi, or a scribe, writing letters and filling out forms for citizens going before courts. He would set up his chair and table every morning outside a courthouse in Baghdad. Were there any interesting stories that you came across? I asked. It is just a traffic court, he said with a smile. The letters he had to write were quite prosaic, mostly about mundane accidents or transfer of ownership.

Safa was 26, but he was using a cane and grimaced with pain when he moved. He spoke of the pain killers he was taking and the costly physical therapy. During the protests in the summer of 2018 he had received messages on social media from regime thugs warning him to stay away. He ignored them at first. A few days later plainclothes security personnel detained him and tortured him to extract information on other protesters. He said that the memory of his mother, Thanwa, and her strength helped him withstand the pain and remain steadfast in moments of weakness.

He was very close to Thanwa, who died of cancer in 2017, and wrote about her suffering and resilience. He called himself Thanwas Son. Shifting the emphasis away from the patrilineal to the matrilineal was an act of poetic resistance against social norms.

Safa was fiercely independent and critical of the intellectual elite and the media personalities who had betrayed the protesters, hijacked previous protests and made back-room deals with political parties.

He was an aspiring poet, an artist. He donated the money from his art to an orphanage. His heart was a garden for all. I have been thinking of some verses he wrote: Peoples sadness is my sadness/Their feasts are mine/Let the wellspring of my life flow onto their deserts/These flowers in my soul are gardens of people.

When the Iraqi uprising began in October, Safa was at the forefront once again. He recited poetry and urged protesters to remain peaceful but never give up.

On Oct. 28 I messaged Safa: I heard you were injured. Let me know youre O.K. There was no response. A tear-gas canister fired intentionally and directly at the crowds by the riot police had pierced his head while he was protesting peacefully in Tahrir Square. He was taken to the hospital. He died a few hours later. I cried when I saw the footage of his coffin circling the square, surrounded by fellow protesters bidding farewell to a hero.

Some years ago, I wrote a poem about those who die for freedom and justice. I never thought that I was writing it prematurely for my friend.

Martyrs do not go to paradiseThey leaf through the heavenly bookeach in their own wayas a birda staror a cloudThey appear to us every dayand cryfor uswe, who are stillin this hell they tried to extinguishwith their blood.

A few weeks ago, I saw a photograph of a white dove perched on the coffin of one of those murdered by the regime near Tahrir Square. Was that you, Safa?

I will visit your grave when I go to Iraq, but I know that you are not only there. Your face is on so many walls, banners, T-shirts, and your spirit is everywhere. Your brothers and sisters, Thanwas children, are still fighting for the new Iraq you dreamed of and loved.

Sinan Antoon (@sinanantoon) is the author, most recently, of the novel The Book of Collateral Damage.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

The rest is here:
I Will Visit Your Grave When I Go to Iraq - The New York Times