Google’s Security blog has revealed that a number of malicious malware attacks on Vietnamese computers have been specifically designed to spy on and target “blogs containing messages of political dissent”. Google described this example of internet hacktivism as a direct attempt to “squelch opposition” to a Chinese-backed bauxite mining project in Vietnam which has divided public opinion.
The Chinese government has reportedly invested £4bn to expanding the nation’s news networks and media channels. Newspapers such as the China Daily are to be remodelled to resemble British broadsheets, and China Central Television (CCTV), the country’s largest state television network, is to increase their service to include broadcasts in Russian and Arabic in addition to its English, French and Spanish transmissions. The move comes after President Hu Jintao’s remark on the “increasingly fierce struggle in the domain of news and opinion” in the global media circuit. Click here for an in-depth look at China’s conflicting approaches to international and national news.
On Tuesday, after a High Court hearing, a ban was lifted on an exhibition by photographer Dr. Shahidul Alam. The exhibition, named “Crossfire”, contained a collection of photographs and displays regarding extrajudicial executions by the Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The show at the Drik Gallery in Dakha was closed by police on 22 March, 2010.
On 25 March, Alfredo Zamora Nolly, a journalist from Radio LEGT and host of the programme Poder Popular, was warned by a phone call that someone was hiring assasins to kill him, in the province of Padre Abad, Ucayali region. Zamora Nolly received a call from the Pucallpa prison warning him about the threat. Zamora had recently denounced irregularities in the execution of a special project on the control of coca farming in the Ucayali region. “They won’t shut me up. I am going to continue this type of objective and impartial reporting. This is the theme of my programme. They aren’t going to intimidate me”, Zamora Nolly said.