PEN America

The holidays can easily turn into feast of opinions. But gathering for a meal with people whose news diets are world's apart from yours is also a great chance to challenge disinformation. Our trusted messenger conversation guide can help. Click here to get the trusted messenger guidebook. It just might help you build a bridge instead of burning one. https://lnkd.in/eN5CWFc3

Say hello to the Winter 2024 Emerging Voices Workshop Cohort! These 15 emerging writers will participate in the second annual week-long craft intensive, an outgrowth of the Emerging Voices Fellowship. Read the press release and get tickets to the Final Reading, here: https://lnkd.in/exB2RuxK #writers #writing #emergingvoices

Journalists and media outlets are facing mounting safety risks ahead of Inauguration Day. From incoming President Trump’s legal threats against news outlets and publishers to online harassment and disinformation campaigns targeting the media, journalists are under attack—especially those who identify as women, LGBTQ+, and/or POC. Online abuse, which can drive journalists out of the field, is a significant threat to a free and independent press. But we can all be allies. Join PEN America and Right To Be on 12/4 from 2-3 p.m. EST for a free Bystander Intervention training. We’ll provide tips for how to intervene safely and effectively when you witness online abuse against journalists, based on Right To Be’s 5 D’s of Bystander Intervention. Register here: https://lnkd.in/erfbWv3U

"Beyond legislative restrictions, lawmakers have also resorted to 'jawboning,' threatening presidents with funding cuts unless they 'voluntarily close their DEI offices or implement other restrictions. Jawboning transforms censorship from a public confrontation into an intimate interaction between lawmaker and president—one that avoids the democratic checks and balances that accompany formal legislation, which can be opposed at a hearing or challenged in court." It's Time for Public College Presidents to Stand Up to Educational Censorship, writes PEN America's Jeremy Young in Newsweek https://lnkd.in/gMgvY2wj #DEI #Censorship #Colleges #Universities #HigherEducation

For #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth, Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, a writer, scholar, and educator, shared book recommendations with PEN America and discussed why it is important to get it right in children’s literature. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/eEMuY-Qx

Incoming President Trump’s meritless legal threats against newsrooms and publishers demonstrate the mounting safety risks that journalists and media outlets are facing ahead of Inauguration Day. Amidst news that the U.S. has dropped 10 spots on the World Press Freedom Index, now ranking 55th, journalists are confronting escalating risks, including physical and legal threats, arrests, and online abuse. The Journalist Safety Urgent Care helpline is here to support the vital work of a free and independent press. If you’re a U.S.-based journalist or news outlet at risk for your work and need one-on-one safety support, email the helpline at [email protected] and include “SAFETY” in the subject line, and a safety expert will reach out to help. A collaboration between the Knight Election Hub, PEN America, leading safety advisors Jeje Mohamed, Yemile Bucay, Ramy Ghaly and a team of experienced safety organizations, the helpline provides one-on-one safety support for journalists, individualized needs and risk assessments, and safety consultations for news outlets on digital, physical, psychosocial, and legal concerns—from dealing with doxing, threats, and arrests to preparing for risky assignments.

Don't believe censorship is a curse? Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire — the book that inspired Wicked the musical and the movie — has been banned in 32 school districts. Help us break the spell at pen.org/action.

What are you reading right now? Are you looking for entertainment? Education? Escapism? Enlightenment? Tell us what you're reading, recommending or planning on giving this holiday season using the hashtag #WhatImReading Need some suggestions? Start here: https://lnkd.in/gvWgggNh

Congrats to PEN America grantee Conecta Arizona for being recognized as Community News Outlet of the Year by the Arizona Press Club!

This week marks 5 years since Vietnamese journalist and blogger Pham Chi Dung was imprisoned for advocating for human rights. Sentenced to 15 years in prison on the charge of “propaganda against the state,” Pham and his IJAVN colleagues, Le Huu Minh Tuan and Nguyen Tuong Thuy, remain behind bars for their commitment to independent journalism and exposing corruption. Pham and Le have made urgent medical requests in prison, which were denied. PEN America urges Vietnam to immediately release these journalists, provide urgent medical treatment, and release all others unjustly detained for their free expression. https://lnkd.in/gRywnEcH