Latest news with #selfcensorship
Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Half of white men are self-censoring at work
Almost half of white men are self-censoring at work for fear of causing offence, a poll has found. Research by JL Partners also found almost a quarter of them (23 per cent) believe they experience discrimination because of their race and gender. Some 41 per cent said they worried they would be sacked if they said the wrong thing, while a third (34 per cent) believed white men were the least valued employees in their workplace. The survey of 823 white males, conducted for a five-part podcast and YouTube series White Men Can't Work!, also found one in three white men (31 per cent) believed their sons would lose out on opportunities because of their race or gender. More than a third (36 per cent) of those under 34 said they had lost out on a promotion or opportunity because they were white and male. 'Young men are despondent about their futures' Tim Samuels, former host of the BBC show Men's Hour and the host of White Men Can't Work!, said the trend was pushing white men towards populist political parties and misogynist influencers such as Andrew Tate. He told The Sunday Times: 'Millions of men are walking around on eggshells at work, too scared to speak freely, while knowing that being male can now be a disaster for your career. 'The scale of discrimination, self-censorship and anxiety is staggering. 'Younger men are very despondent about their futures. 'All this is pushing men towards populism and the likes of Andrew Tate.' He added: 'Jobs are so central to men's identity, status, daily purpose and mental health.' Mr Samuels also addressed diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programmes, which are still run by most UK companies, while public sector bodies such as the police and NHS are providing diversity training. He said: 'Of course racism and sexism have to be stamped out, but our biggest companies and institutions have implemented a very divisive and ideological form of DEI that demonises white men, disregards free speech and, when you look at the data, doesn't even help those it was meant to. 'We need smarter ways to tackle discrimination that actually work.' Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist who first appeared on Big Brother in 2016, regularly tells his followers that women belong in the kitchen and owe their male partners service.
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Hong Kong's Beleaguered Journalists Say Their Taxes Are Now Under Scrutiny
Journalists in Hong Kong have increasingly complained about having to self-censor and the fear of arrest since a national security crackdown began five years ago. Now, they say, they have another worry to add to the list: tax inspections. The Hong Kong Journalists Association said on Wednesday that the union itself and six independent news outlets — as well as their founders — are among those who have been subject to tax investigations, saying it added to the pressures being placed on journalists as press freedom dwindles in the Chinese territory. The investigations also extended to the personal taxes of the spouses or parents of some the journalists who are being investigated, the group said. Most of those being investigated by the department have been issued additional tax demands, and a few said they were asked to provide up to seven years of financial information. Selina Cheng, the chair of the association, said that there was not sufficient evidence to prompt most of the tax investigations, and that, in some cases, the authorities had overestimated income without taking into account business expenses. 'Journalists in Hong Kong do not have a very high income. Other than having to pay these claims of taxes, they also need to spend money, time and energy to prove in reverse that they were innocent,' Ms. Cheng said. The number of tax investigations in Hong Kong is relatively low: the Inland Revenue Department said it completed about 1,800 field audit and investigations between 2023 and 2024. The department said in a statement that the investigations followed standard procedures. 'The industry or background of a taxpayer has no bearing on such reviews,' it said. Some independent media outlets in Hong Kong, especially independent ones, have faced great scrutiny since a national security law was imposed by Beijing in 2020 and criminalized some forms of dissent. The authorities have sent police officers to raid newsrooms, arrested media executives and convicted news editors. The authorities have also used subtler ways to try and silence opposing voices of journalists, activists and even book store owners, political analysts say. Groups that are critical of the government have faced problems finding private venues for events, inspections of their premises and even inquiries into their pet licenses. Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said that administrative harassment can be an effective way to keep in line the remaining outlets that have managed not to cross red lines that could put them at risk for prosecution under national security or sedition laws. Such reviews 'serve as a reminder to media outlets that they have to watch what they say, and that the government has ways to hit back at them over reporting it doesn't like,' he said. Damon Wong, the director and editor in chief of InMedia, said that a tax investigation into the independent news outlet had caused it to use up significant time and resources. In 2024, he appeared in court and paid a fine of about $1,250 for failing to keep a physical copy of the company registry in its office. Tom Grundy, the founder of the Hong Kong Free Press, an English-language online outlet, also said that it has had to redirect time, resources and money away from covering the news as it faced scrutiny from the tax and other departments. Last year, the authorities investigated what the outlet described as 'false complaints,' including claims that a hot sauce it sold as a fund-raiser had come from an unlicensed food factory and that Mr. Grundy's pet dog lacked a license and rabies shot. Both cases were closed after he submitted evidence to the contrary, Mr. Grundy said. This year, Hong Kong's press freedom ranking fell to 140th out of 180 countries and territories, according to an index compiled by the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. About 20 independent outlets in Hong Kong have closed since 2020, according to a study published last year by the Georgetown Center of Asian Law. A press freedom survey conducted by the Foreign Correspondents Club in 2025 showed that more than half of the respondents were concerned about the risks of arrest or prosecution, and that 65 percent had self-censored in their coverage. Mr. Grundy said that his outlet has always paid its taxes on time and had cooperated fully with the review. But that approach also came at a cost. 'I'm having to act as a one-man compliance department instead of a journalist,' he said. 'It's just not what I expected from the world's freest economy when I chose to set up a business here a decade ago.'
The Independent
16-05-2025
- The Independent
Azeem Rafiq and Eni Aluko highlight impact of online abuse in new report
Sportspeople and pundits believe online hate is becoming normalised and say it is significantly impacting how they do their jobs, live their lives and express themselves, according to a new report. Contributors to a new Ofcom report say online abuse has had profound offline consequences on them – prompting one individual to barricade themselves indoors, while others reported suffering from disordered eating and feelings of helplessness. Others said they self-censored online or while broadcasting for fear of being targeted, while some shied away from moving into on-screen roles at all because they feared doing so would increase their risk of being targeted. Researchers for Ofcom spoke to seven individuals and conducted nine discussion groups with support from anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out. Participants included sportspeople, on-screen commentators, and professionals working in sport and broadcasting. The respondents felt online abuse was becoming more common, sophisticated and normalised. They also highlighted how they felt the problem was rapidly evolving, with abusers able to evade filters with different phrases, terms and emojis. One contributor to the report said: 'I didn't leave my house for a week because of the impact of online abuse, the sort of wave (of intensity) and the amount of people that are abusing you. 'And then the media writes about it and then it becomes this sort of overwhelming feeling of just dread that so many people are saying such horrible things about you, without you actually having done anything.' Respondents felt abusers were becoming bolder because of a perceived lack of consequences for accounts that post it, and were being incentivised to post hateful and abusive content by the business models of online services that monetise engagement. Among the named contributors to the report were former cricketer Azeem Rafiq, former footballer Eni Aluko and former rugby union referee Wayne Barnes. Rafiq said nothing could have prepared him for the volume of abuse he received when he spoke out about the racism he suffered while playing at Yorkshire. Rafiq, who moved from the UK to Dubai because of the abuse, said in the report: 'The impact of this experience on me as a human being and on my mental health has damaged my life to such an extent, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to quantify it.' Ofcom said the report was part of a broader programme of work to better understand the lived experience of groups and individuals who have been particularly impacted by online harm. In March, duties came into force under the Online Safety Act that mean platforms must assess the risk of UK users encountering illegal material and use appropriate measures to protect them from it. Ofcom is currently assessing platforms' compliance with these new duties, and will take action if they fail to comply with them. Some platforms will also be subject to additional duties under the Act, such as providing adult users with features that enable them to reduce the likelihood of encountering certain types of legal but harmful content. Participants in this report said they wanted platforms to enforce their terms of service and reduce online hate and abuse for all users, not just for those who choose to use specific tools. They said existing tools, such as blocking or muting, do not go far enough to help protect them and their families and friends against online hate and abuse. Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari said: 'The impact of online abuse is undeniable, and the rise in discriminatory social media reports to Kick It Out last season shows it's getting worse. 'Time and again, players and others across the game tell us about the mental toll this abuse takes, and we welcome this new report, which highlights just how deep that impact runs. 'This isn't about a few hateful comments. It's about a culture of abuse that has become normalised. It's about a social media ecosystem that too often enables and amplifies abuse. 'And it's about victims who feel imprisoned by that culture of abuse.' Jessica Zucker, Ofcom's online safety director, said: 'The UK's new online safety laws mean tech firms now have to start protecting people on their sites and apps from illegal forms of abuse. And when all the rules are fully in force, some of the largest social media platforms will have to give users more control over what they see online. ' People with lived experience of harm online are at the heart of the rules we make and the action we take. We'll be pushing companies hard to make their services safer by design, and holding them to account if they don't.'
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Artists ‘terrified to speak freely about Gaza and gender issues'
Artists are terrified to speak freely about Gaza and gender issues, a free speech study has found. The campaign group Freedom in Arts claims there has been a steep decline in artistic freedom over the past five years. A large majority of artists, 78 per cent, would not 'dare own up to Right-of-centre political opinions', according to a survey of British arts professionals. The study found that within the arts sector, the 'left' and 'woke' stance is considered good, while the 'Right' or 'anti-woke' stance is considered bad. Arts organisations are 'oppressively politicised' with a 'very one-sided view of social issues [that] stifles debate, humour and nuance in the arts', the survey respondents claimed. Artists prefer to self-censor rather than risk their livelihoods, stifling the expression of dissenting opinions on gender ideology, Palestine, racial politics, and immigration, the study found. 'Support for Brexit = instant leprosy' It cites the cases of Graham Linehan, creator of Father Ted, who was ostracised from the TV industry for his gender-critical views, and Helen Joyce, a gender-critical author who was shunned by literary festivals, as examples of those who have paid the price for speaking out. A majority 84 per cent of respondents said they never or rarely felt free to express their opinions openly in the arts sector. Opinions on transgender issues were identified by artists as the most risky, with many noting that disagreeing with comments like 'trans women are women' could be 'career-ending'. Being sceptical of 'anti-racism' practices, critical race theory, or diversity quotas was also raised as a career risk. Similarly, any support for tighter border controls or Brexit as a political project risked censure within the arts, with one respondent stating that 'Support for Brexit = instant leprosy in my field'. Surveyed artists said they preferred to stay silent rather than speak freely. The situation has worsened since 2020, when less than 20 per cent of served arts professionals feared voicing their opinions. 'Some beginning to resist ideological conformity' Now 80 per cent fear speaking freely, and 74 per cent say they felt pressure from their colleagues to conform ideologically. Instead, arts professionals 'keep their head down' to avoid any repercussions, the Freedom In Arts (FITA) survey found. Rosie Kay, co-founder of FITA. said: 'Artists are being forced into silence, not because they lack creativity, but because they fear professional repercussions. 'This report gives voice to those who have been marginalised, punished, and isolated for simply expressing their views.' While there is a culture of fear, some are beginning to resist ideological conformity in the sector, with 75 or respondents making concrete suggestions for reform to ensure free speech in the arts. Denise Fahmy, a co-founder of FITA, said: 'Change is possible, but it requires a concerted commitment to freedom of expression from artists, cultural leaders, and policymakers to create an environment where diverse viewpoints can thrive without fear of reprisal.'
