Centre for Free Expression

Upcoming Event: Journalists, Free Expression & Mexico’s War on Drugs

Journalism Ethics 101 in China

By ANNE MCNEILLY Reprinted with permission from the Centre for Free Expression Teaching a news “ethics” course in the fledgling journalism program at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China, proved to be a challenge, given the restraints on freedom of expression now occurring under the regime of President Xi Jinping. It was only April, but I could feel the sweat trickling…

Canada’s criminal libel laws threaten free speech, says Ryerson journalism professor

By MAIJA KAPPLER Special to the RJRC An archaic Canadian law against criminal libel is being used with increasing frequency to shut down political dissent and criticism of police officers, judges and powerful institutions, new research by Ryerson University journalism professor Lisa Taylor suggests. Convictions for criminal libel averaged 18 cases per year between 2005 and 2008, Taylor found. She…

Journalists should not be neutral, says Centre for Free Expression director

By ROBERT LIWANAG Special to the Ryerson Journalism Research Centre February 29, 2016 Neutrality in journalism limits the civil liberties of reporters and should be abandoned, said the director of Ryerson University’s Centre for Free Expression during a recent panel discussion. Citing CNN’s two-week suspension of global affairs correspondent Elise Labott over a tweet last November, James Turk said neutrality…

Should I put up that candidate sign? A debate about journalism and the need for neutrality on Feb. 8