When it comes to determining what is appropriate for a free press to report and publish, government regulation by any name is censorship. And censorship, especially in a democracy, is a slippery slope indeed. This would appear to be the path the Pakistani government is tracing with its efforts to ban reporting of terrorist incidents and their consequences. Read more...

Jim Michaels came to the OPC to discuss his latest book, A Chance in Hell: The Men Who Triumphed Over Iraq’s Deadliest City and Turned the Tide of War. Michaels said that Colonel Sean MacFarland even at West Point where he “didn’t fit in and didn’t impress superiors.” Given his background, just “keeping a lid” on Ramadi was not his style. “He wanted to defeat the enemy,” Michaels said. Read more...

Tokyo correspondents held a reunion at the OPC in March at which I was a speaker, and, as the Number 1 Shimbun has reported, I was less than flattering about recent coverage of Japan. On the principle that it is as well to be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, I offer more detail and debunk six myths about the Japanese economy. Read more...

A band of media veterans of the Vietnam War returned to old Saigon for their fourth reunion since the conflict ended 35 years ago, mixing nostalgia and war stories with sightseeing in the fast-modernizing city that now boasts a host of top designer boutiques like Cartier and Armani. Read more...

On the 21st year of the Human Rights Watch film festival, the OPC, through board member Minky Worden, will co-sponsor two films "Camp Victory, Afghanistan" and "Restrepo" both about the war in Afghanistan. There will be three screening dates for both movies, beginning on June 12 to 21. Read more...

The Freedom of the Press Committee of the OPC applauds the Daniel Pearl Act on Freedom of the Media which President Obama signed yesterday, authorizing the Department of State to compile a public list of all nations and states violating that freedom. Read more...