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Making decisions about what people do and don’t read is the traditional role of an editor, no matter what Facebook claims.
EPA/Cornelius Poppe
The social media site must be free to make its own editorial decisions – right or wrong.
Chinese are starting to question government control of the terms of public debate, as conveyed by this propoganda banner in Hangzhou in 2010.
Philip Roeland
Hangzhou is hosting the G20 summit and China is anxious to present a positive picture of the country to the world, but the official attitude to non-compliant citizens isn’t helping.
Studiocanal
The film’s exchange of Titty for Tatty is very much in line with Victorian censorship of profanities for children.
A protest in Cape Town against the SABC’s decision not to broadcast violent protests.
Mike Hutchings/Reuters
South Africa’s public broadcaster is in a state of crisis, gripped by paranoia and facing accusations of censorship. Can it be saved?
A woman waits backstage during the recording of the dating show ‘Meet you on Saturday.’
Carlos Barria/Reuters
In only 30 years, a generations-old system of arranged marriages has been completely upended.
Paying respects in Mao’s home town.
EPA/How Hwee Young
Five decades ago, China began a decade of devastating crackdowns and purges – and the causes are still poorly understood.
How Hwee Young/EPA
New law is a sign of a more muscular Chinese internet protectionism.
Hero of the hour: BBC London talkback host, Simon Lederman.
BBC
Media should confront hate speech, not merely censor it.
Even talking to a colleague at an academic conference overseas could have harsh ramifications.
Shutterstock
Researchers face stiff fines or even jail time if they inadvertently communicate with foreign colleagues about matters deemed to have a military use.
Subbotina Anna/shutterstock.com
The debate around around children and online porn is more than just requiring sites ask their age.
Beware: free speech can be painful.
Tatiana Popova/Shutterstock
Academics must teach students how to think – not what to think.
Eagles of Death Metal members Jesse Hughes and guitarist Dave Catching pay their respects to the victims of the November 13 attacks.
Yoan Valat/EPA
Live music has been targeted by terrorism … but it also offers an antidote to it.
Big news for Myanmar.
Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun
Victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy does not necessarily mean free speech is a given.
Where should schools draw the line?
MTSOfan
Courts have left teachers and administrators without adequate guidance on schoolchildren’s free speech rights. Should schools exercise censorship?
Marilyn Monroe appeared on the cover of Playboy’s first issue in 1953.
Playboy
According to a pornography historian, Playboy was always able to stay above the fray because nudity was never central to its brand.
Banned Books Week highlights books that have been challenged or permanently removed from library shelves.
'Shelves' via www.shutterstock.com
While legal precedent makes banning books difficult, it still happens.
Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy is jailed for three years in Egypt.
EPA/Khaled Elfiqi
The news that two British journalists and their unnamed Iraqi colleague were arrested and charged by the Turkish authorities [though released following publication of this article] for “engaging in terror…
Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard get it on in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
a.heart.17/flickr
A gesture of desire, sexuality and the erotic, the screen kiss has often been subject to censorship and controversy. But for directors game to bend the rules, the kiss can be a subversive act.
China’s mourning over the Tianjin disaster has taken place both online and off.
Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters
Social media is rewriting patterns of communication in China.