Index on Censorship
 |
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| Motto | the voice of free expression |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1972 |
| Type | Non-profit |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Region served
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Worldwide |
|
Chief Executive
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Jodie Ginsberg |
|
Parent organization
|
Writers and Scholars International |
|
Staff
|
12 |
| Website | indexoncensorship.org |
| Freedom of Expression Awards | |
|---|---|
| "Celebrating the courage and creativity of some of the world's greatest journalists, artists, campaigners and digital activists" | |
| Awarded for | courage, creativity and resilience in tackling censorship |
| Sponsored by | The Guardian, Google, SAGE Publications, Doughty Street Chambers. |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Presented by | Index on Censorship |
| First awarded | 2001 |
| Last awarded | 2016 |
| Official website | https://www.indexoncensorship.org/awards/ |
Index on Censorship is a campaigning publishing organisation for freedom of expression, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. The present Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, since May 2014, is Jodie Ginsberg.
It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd. (WSI) in association with the UK-registered charity Index on Censorship (founded as the Writers and Scholars Educational Trust), which are both chaired by the British writer and author David Aaronovitch. WSI was created by poet Stephen Spender, Oxford philosopher Stuart Hampshire, the then editor of The Observer David Astor, writer and Soviet Union expert Edward Crankshaw. The founding editor of Index on Censorship was the critic and translator Michael Scammell (1972–81), who still serves as a patron of the organisation.
The operation is based at 292 Vauxhall Bridge Road in central London.
Index on Censorship magazine was founded by Michael Scammel in 1972. It supports free expression, publishing distinguished writers from around the world, exposing suppressed stories, initiating debate, and providing an international record of censorship. The quarterly editions of the magazine usually focus on a country or region or a recurring theme in the global free expression debate. Index on Censorship also publishes short works of fiction and poetry by notable new writers. Index Index, a round-up of abuses of freedom of expression worldwide, was published in the magazine until December 2008.
The original inspiration to create Index came from prominent Soviet dissidents (see Founding History, below), but from its outset, the magazine covered censorship in right-wing dictatorships then ruling Greece and Portugal, the former military regimes of Latin America, and the former Soviet Union and its satellites. The magazine has covered other challenges facing free expression, including religious extremism, the rise of nationalism, and Internet censorship.
In the first issue of May 1972 Stephen Spender wrote:
"Obviously there is the risk of a magazine of this kind becoming a bulletin of frustration. However, the material by writers which is censored in Eastern Europe, Greece, South Africa and other countries is among the most exciting that is being written today. Moreover, the question of censorship has become a matter of impassioned debate; and it is one which does not only concern totalitarian societies."
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Wikipedia