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Muzzle awards

Richmond (U.S.): The Bush administration and the Department of Defence are among the winners of the 2007 Jefferson Muzzle awards, given on Tuesday by a free-speech group to those it considers the most egregious violators of free speech rights in the past year. The administration appears on the list compiled by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression for its efforts to discourage and sometimes censor government scientists' reports, notably on global warming, the centre said.

``The number of major scientists who have come forward and indicated they were constrained by the administration viewpoint is quite worrisome,'' centre director Robert M. O'Neil told AP. ``There have been similar concerns arising in other areas but we wanted to focus specifically on climate change as the most invaded or intruded area.'' The Defence Department won a Muzzle for its covert investigations of organisations that conducted peaceful anti-war protests, most of which were against military recruitment for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the centre said. Created in 2003, TALON (Threat and Local Observation Notice) also monitored E-mail messages among members of anti-war groups. — AP

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