Posts Tagged ‘Media’
May 20th, 2009
Utne offers digests of independent ideas and alternative culture. Utne functions as a guide to the alternative and independent press.
May 20th, 2009
Standpoint’s core mission is to celebrate our civilization, its arts and its values – in particular democracy, debate and freedom of speech – at a time when they are under threat. Standpoint aims to be an antidote to the parochialism of British political magazines.
May 20th, 2009
The Pacific Islands News Association is the premier regional organisation representing the interests of media professionals in the Pacific region.
May 20th, 2009
The Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation in Tunisia was set up as a monitoring body with the goal of tracking all forms of media and literary censorship, as well as censorship of other forms of artistic expression. Its aim is to identify, document and make public censorship of these various forms of expression.
May 20th, 2009
New Statesman is a British current affairs magazine. The magazine is committed to development, human rights and the environment, global issues the mainstream press often ignores.
May 20th, 2009
The Journalists’ Trade Union’s main goals are the protection of the social, economic and labour rights of people working in mass media and the development of the freedom of expression and press in Azerbaijan.
May 20th, 2009
International Media Support is committed to freedom of expression and supports local media in countries affected by armed conflict, human insecurity and political transition. IMS activities cover three thematic areas of engagement. In addition to media and conflict, IMS is engaged in media and democracy activities in countries in transition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and in media and dialogue activities mainly covering the Arab world and Iran.
May 20th, 2009
The Internet and Democracy Project is an initiative that examines how the Internet influences democratic norms and modes, including its impact on civil society, citizen media, government transparency, and the rule of law, with a focus on the Middle East. Its goal is to support the rights of citizens to access, develop and share independent sources of information, to advocate responsibly, to strengthen online networks, and to debate ideas freely with both civil society and government.
May 20th, 2009
Instituto Prensa y Sociedad is an association that promotes access to information and independent press and debate about the role of the media in Latin America.
May 20th, 2009
The Institute of Mass Information is an organisation that researches mass information in modern society. IMI’s objectives include defending freedom of speech, supporting Ukrainian mass media, training Ukrainian journalists, and monitoring the rights of journalists and media.
May 20th, 2009
The Independent Media Center is a network of collectively run media outlets for "the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth".
May 20th, 2009
Greek Helsinki Monitor monitors, publishes and lobbies on human rights issues in Greece and, occasionally, in the Balkans. GHM has participated in and often coordinated the monitoring of Greek and Balkan media for stereotypes and hate speech.
May 20th, 2009
Globe International is a non-profit organisation that aims to sustain Moorganisationlian democracy and civil society, and to spread the power of information and knowledge. Globe International is the only group in Moorganisationlia working on freedom of expression, information and the media.
May 20th, 2009
The Free Media Movement is a collective enterprise of journalists and media personnel in Sri Lanka active in all areas relating to media freedom, defending the rights of journalists and media people, calling for reform of repressive legislation, agitating against censorship and intimidation of media personnel and standing for broad principles of democratic and human rights. The FMM has become the watchdog of media freedom in Sri Lanka.
May 20th, 2009
The Centre for International Media Ethics strives for the spread of conscientious reporting and ethical journalism throughout the world. It brings together media professionals with the common goal of capitalizing on what each individual journalist can do to enhance press freedom. CIME identifies and brings to the forefront key ethical questions that are often left unaddressed in the newsroom.
May 20th, 2009
The aim of Centre Algérien pour la défense et la promotion de la liberté de la presse
is to inform the international media about press freedom conditions in Algeria, provide support and orientation for foreign journalists in the country, training for journalists and media, and to monitor the state of press freedom in Algeria.
[No link is currently available.]
May 20th, 2009
The primary goal of the Center For Media Studies and Peace Building is to consolidate peace, democracy and development and increase the space for participatory governance of the media in holistic peace building and development at all levels of society through the provision of training and research for the media in peace building and development
May 20th, 2009
The Association of Independent Electronic Media comprises 28 radio stations and 16 television companies which strive to broadcast news programmes of the highest professional standards throughout Serbia and Montenegro. ANEM aims to establish a politically independent legal framework and to develop electronic media, and provide help and support to media outlets.
May 14th, 2009
The goals of Asociación de Periodistas de Guatemala—Comisión de Libertad de Prensa are to defend freedom of expression, information, thought, and press in Guatemala. APG also protects the right to inform and to be informed, and defends the practice of journalism and the interests and rights of its members.
May 14th, 2009
The Arab Archive Institute is a research centre which collects and carries out research on human rights in the Arab countries. The AAI’s objective is to enhance media freedom, and human rights in Arab society by carrying out studies on these themes and holding local regional and international conferences about the issues raised.
May 14th, 2009
Aliansi Jurnalis Independen is a professional journalist trade union in Indonesia. It campaigns for the independence to express ideas, for access to information, and for the right to assemble. The organisation also defends journalists and Indonesian press workers.
April 2nd, 2009
Rafael Munguina Ortiz, a 52-year-old radio journalist from Radio Candena Voces, was shot and killed on Monday 30 March.
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February 3rd, 2009
Iraq began a year of elections with regional council votes in 14 governorates on Saturday. Yet more work has still to be done to guarantee a fair national dialogue on the issues – in the press, through the national media, the public broadcaster and by the independent election authority itself. Rohan Jayasekera reports
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January 9th, 2009
Coverage of events in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli media has rarely transcended propaganda, writes Dimi Reider
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January 8th, 2009
Frustration is growing over Israel’s refusal to allow journalists into the Gaza Strip. Padraig Reidy reports
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November 14th, 2008
Vietnam’s journalists suffer when they dig too deep, writes Nick Caistor
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November 10th, 2008
Further restrictions on reporting of security issues would be disastrous and misguided, writes David Davis
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September 12th, 2008
French satirist Maurice Sinet has launched a new magazine he claims will champion free speech. Ruth Michaelson looks back at the very French circumstances surrounding this move
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September 3rd, 2008
Hassan Al-Fahs, Tehran bureau chief of the Dubai-based satellite TV station Al-Arabiya, has been ordered to leave the country by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. There was widespread astonishment amongst the management of Al-Arabiya as they continued to emphasise Al-Fahs’s professionalism as a journalist. The station also stated that it had never reported a story on Iran without incorporating the government’s viewpoint. There has not yet been any explanation from the authorities.
Read more
here
August 28th, 2008
Canadian activists are the subject of a lawsuit from one of the country’s largest media organisations, writes Mordecai Briemberg
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June 10th, 2008
Abdul Karim al Khaiwani, former editor of now blocked website al-Shora.net, has been sentenced to six years in jail for distributing publications allegedly calling for solidarity with Houthi rebels in the south of the country. Mr al Khaiwani had been due to travel to London next week to attend the Amnesty Media awards, in which he was shortlisted for the Special Award For Human Rights Journalism Under Threat.
Read more
here
June 9th, 2008
A recent French court decision leaves us no closer to the truth about footage that shook the Middle East, writes Natasha Lehrer
A seven-year debate over the authenticity of the footage of the death of Mohammed al Dura in the arms of his father Jamal reached a new stage on 21 May when the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a defamation verdict against blogger Philippe Karsenty.
In 2004 Karsenty joined the chorus voicing scepticism about the al Dura footage. He accused the veteran France 2 Middle East correspondent Charles Enderlin, who provided the voiceover for the report from Gaza, which was filmed by freelance cameraman Talal Abu Ramah, of knowingly having broadcast faked footage of the shooting at the Netzarim Junction on 30 September 2000. Enderlin and France 2 have consistently rebutted this accusation and have so far taken four bloggers, including Karsenty, to court. In the original court case, in 2006, the court did not demand that France 2 hand over the rushes. Karsenty was found guilty of defamation.
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June 5th, 2008
Gay sex, moral crusades and Desperate Dan: the Mayo Echo row has it all, writes Joseph Sexton
A popular community-based website in the west of Ireland was forced to cease operating last week in the fallout that followed the publication of an inflammatory article in a local newpaper attacking alleged gay ‘perverts’.
The article, penned by Tony Geraghty, editor and proprietor of local freesheet, the Mayo Echo, provoked widespread debate on Irish web forums. This quite startling front-page article, which reads like a bad Onion spoof, told the story of a recreational area in Castlebar, Co Mayo being transformed into a latter day Sodom, with hundreds of men visiting on a weekly basis to have anonymous sex with strangers, propositioning young boys, and getting their rocks off whilst thumbing through children’s magazines. Perhaps most horrifying, the article described ‘drooling perverts getting off whilst watching children’ playing at an adjacent playground.
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May 29th, 2008
Mary Whitehouse was a shrill provocateur on a relentless crusade to stifle, oppress and scare, writes
Padraig Reidy
Mary Whitehouse has always been a peripheral idea in my life — one of those puppets on Spitting Image I never really recognised as a child, but laughed at anyway, because if I didn’t seem to be paying attention, my parents might revoke the ‘being allowed up late to watch Spitting Image’ licence they had so generously granted.
Later, in my smart-arsed adolescence, came the Mary Whitehouse Experience, the apotheosis of smart-arsed comedy. I don’t think I really knew where the name came from, save from the notion of some batty old woman.
That batty old woman turned up again last night, in the BBC’s Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story. Whitehouse herself was played by Julie Walters, which, to me at least, immediately makes her a sympathetic character: everyone likes Julie Walters, not least because she generally plays likeable people. The casting directors might claim they merely picked a great actor (and Walters is a great actor) but I can’t help being reminded of the casting of Brad Pitt as an IRA volunteer in The Devil’s Own: back then, the producers furiously rebuffed notions that they were “glamorising” the IRA, but, being honest, the very fact of casting Pitt had to imply glamour. Pitt is intrinsically glamorous, and Walters is intrinsically likeable.
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May 27th, 2008
A truck carrying thousands of copies of Zimbabwe’s leading independent newspaper was burned out last weekend, writes Wilf Mbanga
A 14-tonne truck containing 60,000 copies of last weekend’s edition of the Zimbabwean on Sunday was burned out as it attempted to deliver the newspapers.
The driver, Christmas Ramabulana, a South African national, and distribution assistant Tapfumaneyi Kancheta, a Zimbabwean, were stopped 67km from Masvingo and forced to drive along the Chivi-Mandamabwe road for 16km before they turned off into the Mandamabwe road, where the truck and its contents were set alight. The two men were badly beaten by their kidnappers and abandoned in the bush. They made their way to Masvingo, from where they contacted the Zimbabwean’s Harare office.
Kancheta said his head was badly swollen from the savage beating, and the driver was reported to be having problems breathing.
The Zimbabwean on Sunday was launched in February this year as a sister paper to the popular weekly the Zimbabwean, which since last year has become the largest selling newspaper in Zimbabwe — selling 230,000 copies a week at its peak during the run-up to the landmark 2008 elections.
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May 22nd, 2008
Lawyers representing journalist Shiv Malik and Greater Manchester Police were today told to draft new production orders as judges adjourned to consider their decision in Malik’s attempt to quash an order relating to materials for his book
Leaving Al Qaeda.
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May 22nd, 2008
Journalist Shiv Malik’s attempt to have a production order served on him by police resumes at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning. Malik, 27, was ordered to hand over notes, tapes and other materials relating to his book
Leaving Al Qaeda, co-authored with former Al Muhajiroun member Hassan Butt.
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May 15th, 2008
The Crown Prosecution Service and West Midlands Police will today formally apologise to the makers of Undercover Mosque, a Channel 4 documentary highlighting inflammatory speech in UK mosques.
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May 7th, 2008
The estimated 30,000 journalists expected to converge on Beijing for the 2008 Olympiad need to prepare themselves well in advance before they blunder across one of the world’s least understood and most volatile domestic political stages, writes Rohan Jayasekera
The XXIX Olympiad in Beijing will be covered by an expected 20,000 accredited sports media workers — and another 10,000 unaccredited. That’s more than three journalists for every athlete. How will China react to this influx of independent opinion if the focus comes off sport and on to politics?
January 2008 rules introduced for the Games theoretically allow foreign journalists to report freely on Chinese ‘politics, economy, society, and culture’ until next October.
This promised liberalisation came to a sharp halt following the outbreak of violent protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on 10 March. Beijing responded with a news blackout, expelling foreign reporters from Beijing, Tibet and its neighbouring provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan.
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China has recorded more than 230 abuses of the new rules. Until March things were getting better, BBC World News Editor Jon Williams told a conclave of Chinese and Western journalists and media rights activists in Paris in April. ‘Now they’re as difficult as they’ve been for a long time.’
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May 2nd, 2008
The Russian authorities are taking a heavy-handed approach to web monitoring, writes Maria Eismont
‘Error. The website you’ve requested either doesn’t exist, or is overloaded.’ This announcement greeted visitors to the electronic version of Russian independent regional weekly Vyatskiy Nablyudatel, a Kirov newspaper well known for its editorial independence and investigative enterprise, after its website was closed by its Internet provider on April 22. Khostingoviye telesistemi, the Moscow-based ISP, claimed it received an official letter from the Kirov regional police department saying the website contained ‘extremist’ opinion in the readers’ forum, insulting the vice-governor and the government of the region. ‘If you are the owner of this site and think this is a mistake please contact the technical support service,’ continued the announcement on the website.
The law on ‘counteracting extremist activity’ has broadened the definition of extremism to include media criticism of public officials, and carries a custodial sentence of up to three years for journalists, along with the suspension or closure of their publication. It was passed by parliament despite protests from human rights groups, who claimed that the vague language of the law would allow public officials to interpret it widely and use it to target their critics. The Russian prosecutor’s office is currently calling for the Internet to be placed under the same rules as print media.
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April 16th, 2008
London local paper the
Hackney Gazette has decided not to allow the British National Party to advertise in its pages.
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April 14th, 2008
On 11 April, seven leading Slovakian dailies -
SME,
Pravda,
Hospodarske,
Noviny,
Novy Cas,
Plus 1 Den and
Uj Szo published issues with nothing on the front page apart from a black-bordered editorial criticising the country’s new media law.
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April 14th, 2008
Should publications only run ads that match their principles, asks Peter Wilby
Many readers and some journalists believe editors should apply the same principles to advertising as they do to editorial copy. If an ad is violently at variance with the publication’s philosophy, they think, it should be spiked. So when I was editor of the New Statesman (1998-2005), I received frequent complaints about our accepting ads from, for example, arms manufacturers, tobacco companies, nuclear power firms, and fast, child-maiming, planet-polluting cars.
In reply, I would make several points. First, if we didn’t accept what little advertising was available to a magazine of 25,000 circulation, the impoverished New Statesman wouldn’t exist at all. Our right-wing rival, the Spectator, which appeared to think smoking, nuclear power and driving at 120mph guaranteed long life and eternal health, would be strengthened. Second, if an arms company wanted to help finance a magazine that was vehemently opposed to arms sales, why should I object? Third, it was in editorial’s interests to maintain a wall between itself and advertising. I would never trim an editorial line, or pull an article, to please an advertiser, nor would the advertising department ask me to. Equally, I wouldn’t interfere in advertising’s affairs. Fourth, providing advertisers’ activities were legal and their copy was not indecent, offensive or libellous, they were entitled to their say. To refuse an advertisement because I disliked what it was selling or the opinions it represented would be an act of censorship.
So what would I have done about an ad from the far-right British National Party, with its history of racism and anti-Semitism? This dilemma faced Geoff Martin, editor of the Hampstead & Highgate Express — which serves an area with a large Jewish population — in the run-up to the London mayoral elections. Despite protests from journalists, readers and local councillors, one of whom denounced him for the ‘shameless pursuit of profit over principle’, Martin accepted a BNP ad. However, the editor of the Hackney Gazette, part of the same group, Archant, and serving an area with a large black population, had apparently refused it. ‘The BNP,’ Martin wrote in a column in the same issue, ‘is a legally constituted political party. . . to tolerate those we vehemently disagree with is the hallmark of a truly open, egalitarian and democratic society.’
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April 9th, 2008
Motor racing supremo Max Mosley has failed in his attempt to stop the
News of the World from publishing an extract from a video of him with several prostitutes on its website.
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April 4th, 2008
Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin are trying to stifle debate in Belfast’s media, writes Anthony McIntyre
Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin is the current Westminster MP for West Belfast. For decades he rightly campaigned against censorship policies crafted by successive British and Irish governments for the purposes of undermining his party. British readers may recall him as the only member of the House of Commons they could see but not hear. On each occasion that he appeared on TV over a six-year period from 1988, an actor’s voice was used to dub his words. On radio he was neither seen nor heard, the dubbing procedure again in play. It was only one of a range of draconian measures applied to silence him and his party. Former Irish Journalist of the Year Ed Moloney has repeatedly asserted that such censorship prohibited dialogue and consequently prolonged Northern Ireland’s violent conflict.
Although a victim of harsh political censorship, Adams’ disinclination to use this invidious tool of political repression has been less than salutary. Never a figure at ease with even the mildest form of political criticism, he has persistently sought to undermine those who do not see the world through his eyes and who are prepared to voice their misgivings publicly. Virtually everyone who has left Sinn Féin since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement a decade ago has highlighted the suppression of debate among their reasons for quitting. Adams has no record of speaking out against those murdered, kidnapped or beaten by his party’s military wing simply because they chose to dissent from his political project. On occasion Adams has hit out at those daring enough to have a public ‘poke’ at his leadership. Elsewhere he has been on record saying that people should not be allowed to even think that there is any alternative to the Good Friday Agreement. There is no concession to the idea that without audacious thinking, West Belfast intellectual life would be even more restricted than it currently is.
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March 11th, 2008
On 4 March, to mark the publication of its latest issue, ‘How Free is the Russian Media?’, Index on Censorship hosted a discussion in London and Moscow on the future of the Russian media under President Medvedev. The discussion featured John Kampfner, Arkady Babchenko (author of One Soldier’s War in Chechnya), Maria Eismont (New Eurasia Foundation, Moscow), Alexander Verkhovsky (Sova Centre, Moscow), Natalia Rostova (Novaya Gazeta), Oleg Panfilov (Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations), Maria Yulikova (Carnegie Centre) and Sergei Bachinin (Vyatsky Nablyudatel’) and Anna Sevortian (Centre for Development of Democracy).
The event was supported by the Open Society Foundation and the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway.
February 25th, 2008
Journalists at Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) have been warned by management not to cover criticism of constitutional change.
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February 19th, 2008
Publication of magazine weekly Myanmar Nation has been suspended following the arrest of the paper’s chief editor, Thet Zin and manager, Sein Win Maung on 15 February.
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February 8th, 2008
On 8 February Yu Huafeng, former head of Guangzhou-based newspaper
Nanfang Dushi Bao, was released after four years in jail. Convicted in May 2004 on charges of corruption, he was released following pressure and campaigns led by both international organisations and those based within China. In 2005 by more than 2,300 Chinese journalists signed a petition for his release.
Read more here
February 6th, 2008
The Kenyan government has lifted its month-long ban on live broadcasting one day prior to the hearing of a lawsuit that challenged its legal basis. The ban had been imposed to curb live political reporting after the hotly contested election of President Mwai Kibaki prompted violent riots and demonstrations that took over one thousand lives.
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