Over the last decade, the U.S. government has turned its attention from hostile foreign actors to ordinary American citizens. It’s the assault on our constitutional rights that threatens to turn a beacon of democracy into a third-world security regime. And in the middle of this “whole of society” approach to censorship, surveillance, and propaganda is…

Over the last decade, the U.S. government has turned its attention from hostile foreign actors to ordinary American citizens. It’s the assault on our constitutional rights that threatens to turn a beacon of democracy into a third-world security regime. And in the middle of this “whole of society” approach to censorship, surveillance, and propaganda is…

University of Ottawa President Jacques Frémont apologized Nov. 30 for the university’s decision to limit press freedoms during a talk by Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu. Cong requested that university staff stop journalists from recording his talk on Nov. 28. A Radio-Canada cameraman was asked to leave. “We made the wrong decision at the last moment….

During World War II, there were wartime leaders in many countries, and many of them left their names in the Hall of Fame. In Hong Kong, where freedom of the press is deteriorating, it is also not easy at all to be a “wartime chairman” and cope with various pressures to protect freedom of speech….

When James Madison of Virginia, later the fourth president of the United States, wrote that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”—God-given rights ultimately enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution—there is little doubt that one thing on his mind was the trial of John Peter…

Commentary  On June 17, the United Kingdom Home Secretary Priti Patel confirmed that she had approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States. The extradition decision has unleashed demands by protestors that Assange be freed from Belmarsh prison, where he has been kept since April 2019. The protestors maintain that Assange is a…

Under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s censorship and tight control, the number of China’s licensed journalists is dwindling. Between mid-January and late April, the State Administration of Press and Publications organized the annual press card verification. Chinese reporters were required to take a test as part of the renewal process. State-run Xinhua News Agency recently reported…

May 8 was polling day for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive. Lee Ka-chiu, the only candidate on the ballot, was elected as Chief Executive. For the first time, Hong Kong’s 1,500-member Election Committee lacks a pro-democracy voice after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “improved” Hong Kong’s electoral system. Media Barred From Briefing On April 29, after days…

On March 1, Paul Harris, a well-known international human rights expert and former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, left Hong Kong with his family the day after being interviewed by the Nation Security Department of the Hong Kong Police for a “cautionary statement.” At 11 a.m. on March 1, Harris was accompanied by…

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) implemented the Hong Kong National Security Law in June 2020, the situation in Hong Kong has become increasingly restrictive. Faced with pressure, elites from all walks of life have chosen to leave Hong Kong. Human rights organizations point out that the freedom of the press in Hong Kong is…