The Buzz 12.29.22

FREE SPEECH

Every year, the Committee to Protect Journalists conducts a prison census to track how many journalists are incarcerated simply for doing their jobs. The 2022 census shows that as of Dec. 1, 363 reporters around the world are jailed, a 20-percent increase over last year. The worst offender is Iran, where as the regime has cracked down on protesters, 62 journalists are in jail as of Dec. 1. Next is China, where 43 journalists are jailed. After that is Myanmar, where at least 42 reporters are incarcerated, many detained under a broad “false news” provision. The fourth-worst offender is Turkey (40 journalists are imprisoned) and fifth is Belarus (26). Meanwhile an unknown number of journalists from Russia are living in exile, and at least 19 are in jail; some face sentences of up to 10 years based on “fake news” charges, a provision expanded in Russia in 2022 to prohibit sharing information deemed “unreliable.” According to CPJ, “A key driver behind authoritarian governments’ increasingly oppressive efforts to stifle the media: trying to keep the lid on broiling discontent in a world disrupted by Covid-19 and the economic fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Vibrancy is definitely required in downtown Pacific Grove.” - P.G. City Councilmember Chaps Poduri speaking in support of restaurant parklets on Dec. 21. Council opted for a plan to keep parklets but improve regulations for safety and accessibility (see story, mcweekly.com)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

It’s good news when government agencies find efficiencies, and one example is the pilot program between the city of Salinas and Monterey County to share animal control services. It’s been working so well that on Dec. 13, both the Salinas City Council and Monterey County Board of Supervisors agreed to make it official and create a joint powers authority to form a new, shared agency: the Hitchcock Road Animal Services Agency. The idea of combining forces sprang from a feasibility study in 2015 that began with a temporary shared services agreement in 2017; a one-year pilot program followed. The city will pay $700,093 to the county ($190,000 more than previously budgeted) for the next six months of services from the JPA, but costs to both the county and city are expected to decrease substantially by merging staff and administrative resources. The new entity takes effect on Jan. 1.

GREAT:

In May, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro wrote in the U.S. Navy’s Climate Action 2030 plan that he’s chosen climate change as a focus of his tenure. “Climate change is one of the most destabilizing forces of our time, exacerbating other national security concerns and posing serious readiness challenges,” he said. On Dec. 15, Del Toro – a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey – was on hand for the signing of an agreement between NPS and the newly formed Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability for an educational partnership agreement focused on climate research and solutions. The goal is to allow collaboration between both schools in finding data-driven solutions. Arun Majumdar, inaugural dean of the Doerr School, said during the ceremony that bringing the two together “will advance research, education and impact to benefit all people.”