When to be silent is to speak
Stephen Meili examines the contrasting UK and US treatment of people who refuse to declare a political allegiance.
When does hate speech become dangerous speech? Consider Kenya and Rwanda
The forthcoming trial of Kenyan broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang poses vital questions about the connections between words and violence, argues Katherine Bruce-Lockhart.
“If you rattle a snake…” The Kenyan government bites its media
In 2006 the Kenyan police violently raided the offices and printing press of the Standard Group media organisation. What was the government afraid of seeing reported? Dominic Burbidge explores a revealing case.
The Future of Free Speech
Aryeh Neier, human rights lawyer and president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations speaks about the future of free speech.
Why Rwanda and Libya need free speech – and media regulation.
Jerry Timmins describes a new report on media in two post-conflict societies, and argues that countries like Britain should do more to support them.
Free but not able?
Literacy is the fundamental building block for any society of free speech, evidenced not just in grand statistics but in the lives of those most in need. Dominic Burbidge reports.
How Ushahidi maps the voices of those in need
Dominic Burbidge discusses how Ushahidi’s transformative crowdsourcing techniques have alleviated crises in Kenya and beyond.
Zambia’s secret Freedom of Information bill
If a decade of stalled attempts to enact Zambia's Freedom of Information bill seems comical, there is underlying tragedy in how politicians have fallen short of their free speech rhetoric, writes Dominic Burbidge.
How ‘brown envelope journalism’ holds back sub-Saharan Africa
Dominic Burbidge explores the corrupt links between political elites and mainstream media that suffocate genuine democratic debate in Africa.
Africa: media and free speech
"People in Africa don't have the freedom to speak freely and hold governments accountable," says Nqobile Sibisi of Highway Africa's Future Journalists Programme.
Is China actually helping free media in Africa?
China may provide censorship tools to autocratic regimes in Africa, but western companies still dominate this market, writes Iginio Gagliardone, a post-doctoral fellow at Oxford University.
