MAKE NOISE
Visionaries Online Series
The Visionaries online series features conversations with changemakers who, often at great personal risk, defend free-expression rights in today's increasingly complicated digital world. All events are free, with suggested donations.
Chapters
Chapter 5: Music against Vietnamese censorship
Julie Trébault, director of PEN America's Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) program, spoke with Vietnamese pop-star-turned-dissident Mai Khoi, 2022 Four Freedoms Award laureate for Freedom of Speech, in this installment of Visionaries.
They discuss Mai Khoi's use of her fame for free-expression advocacy, her difficulty in moving into exile during the pandemic, and the pressure to continue her advocacy, given how far she has come.
Mai Khoi was honored with the 2022 Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech on April 21, 2022. Read our celebration of her honor.
Chapter 4: Defining the African media landscape
The two speakers in this discussion were Zoe Titus, fierce advocate for media freedom in Africa, and Wallace Chuma, associate professor of media studies at the University of South Africa.
They discuss her career from rookie journalist to director of Namibia Media Trust; the codification of laws protecting free speech and media freedoms across the African continent; and the incredible impact a single, diligent person can make in the world.
Do you have any lingering questions after watching the discussion? Read our follow-up blog post about the competition between traditional media houses and nonprofit, advocacy newspapers; and the need to vigilantly fight for free expression rights to protect them.
Chapter 3: Justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia
Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist renowned for her relentless investigative reporting on government corruption, money laundering and other types of government malfeasance and criminal activity.
On October 16, 2017, she was murdered by a car bomb, and four years later the public inquiry into the murder found the government of Malta legally responsible.
Join International Free Expression Project Founder and CEO Greg Victor in conversation with Corinne Vella, who advocates for free expression and justice in her sister's death as Head of Media Relations at the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.
In this episode of Visionaries, learn about the discreditation campaign waged against Daphne both before and after her death, the level of impunity in Malta leading to–and continuing after– her death, and how the Foundation advocates for Daphne and the safety of all investigative journalists internationally.
Chapter 2: Free speech and gender rights in Uganda
This discussion featured Dr. Stella Nyanzi, Ugandan human- and queer-rights advocate, poet, medical anthropologist, feminist, and public health scholar, and Karamagi Rujumba, a longtime journalist and now the director of development & communications for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
They discuss free speech, gender rights and the times she has been jailed for her outspoken advocacy.
Content warning: this video contains swearing, discussion of genitalia, miscarriage and physical assault.
Chapter 1: There's Nothing Fake About Real News
IFEP organized a conversation between two of America’s most accomplished journalists, David Shribman and Martin Baron, about press freedom, “fake news,” bias, disinformation, ethics, the watchdog role of the press and the future of journalism. Martin Baron retired in February as executive editor of The Washington Post after a 45-year career leading some of the most consequential newspapers in the United States. During his eight-year tenure at the Post, the paper won 10 Pulitzer Prizes. He was played by Liev Schriber in the 2015 movie “Spotlight,” which recounted how the Boston Globe uncovered the sexual-abuse scandal in the Boston Catholic Diocese.
David Shribman, a nationally syndicated columnist, teaches at Carnegie Mellon University and McGill University. He has been awarded two Pulitzer Prizes — one in 1995 for national reporting when he was with the Boston Globe, and one as executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for staff coverage of the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
