Index On Censorship magazine 250 issues later

Truth is in danger as reporters are threatened all over world and news is suppressed, argues the editor of Index on Censorship as it publishes its 250th issue.


censorshipWhere do we go for real news? Which channels can we trust? Does the brand of the news organisation matter any more? Where are the great, long-form writers? To whom do we fucking turn?

It’s not easy to work out what’s happening around the world. TV stations are self-focused on national events and home politics. Wars are chronicled by compromised imbeds, countries have policies of attacking journalists, not protecting them, and there are less windows than ever where one can view tumultuous and revolutionary events.

They still exist though. PBS in the US, the World Service, the Quartz daily newsletter, the ongoing work of brave men such as John Pilger and the Index on Censorship quartely magazine.

The current issue of the magazine examines how journalists have become high-profile targets… and is written by some of the world’s finest journalists and writers such as local reporters in Syria and Eritrea. It describes itself as ‘the only global free expression magazine’. They are probably right.

Other highlights include:

* Lindsey Hilsum asks if journalists should still cover war zones
* Stephen Grey looks at protecting sources amid mass surveillance.
* Kaya Genç interviews Turkey’s threatened investigative journalists
* Steven Borowiec lifts the lid on Japan’s press clubs
* Fred Searle on young UK journalists who fear speaking out against ‘churnalism’ in case they lose their jobs

“In many countries around the world, journalists have lost their status as observers and now come under direct attack. In the not-too-distant past journalists would be on front lines, able to report on what was happening, without being directly targeted,” Index on Censorship editor Rachael Jolley writes in the magazine.

The first issue of Index on Censorship magazine appeared in 1972. Since then, great writers such as Nadine Gordimer, Mario Vargas Llosa, Amartya Sen, Samuel Beckett, as well as Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter have written for the magazine. The magazine continues to attract great writers, passionate arguments, and exposes stories of censorship and violence.

Each quarterly magazine is filled with reports, analysis, photography and creative writing from around the world. Index on Censorship magazine is published four times a year by Sage, and is available for print subscription, online and in the Apple and Google Play stores.