PAST EVENT: 6-7 Oct: Launch of the latest issue of Index, ‘Censors on Campus’, at Rethinking small media

Date: Saturday and Sunday, 6-7 October
Venue: School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) map here, nearest tube Russell Square
Tickets: £30 (includes conference materials, breakfasts, lunches and drinks reception) Book here
Provisional programme

In partnership with Index on Censorship, the Centre for Media and Film Studies, School of Arts at the School of Oriental and African Studies invites you to join the Small Media Initiative for its second conference, Rethinking Small Media on 6-7 October.

As part of the conference, Index will be launching the latest issue of its magazine, Censors on Campus, after the Saturday afternoon panel with a short speech by Kirsty Hughes, Index’s CEO, and a drinks reception kindly sponsored by our publishers SAGE.  Click here for subscription options and more.

The conference will bring together journalists and activists to discuss the terrain of media and political change, namely the potential for digital connectivity and new media to alter politics. In exploring these issues and the debates surrounding them, we will ask:

  •  How/when can new media politics and face-to-face politics complement each other?
  • What are the characteristics of old social movements and new? What might each learn from the other and which are most successful at achieving their aims?
  • How can relationships between smaller and mainstream media be fostered?

Confirmed panelists include:

Jérémie Bédard-Wien (Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante, Québec)
Gus Hosein (Privacy International)
Sameer Padania (Open Society Foundation-London)
Annabelle Sreberny (SOAS, University of London)

For more information about the Small Media Initiative and this event, please visit www.smallmediainitiative.com

Azerbaijan: Index calls on President to investigate brutal attack on journalist

ADVOCACY LETTER
Dear President Aliyev,

Re: The brutal attack on Idrak Abbasov and assault of four other journalists on 18 April 2012

The Azerbaijani authorities must launch an immediate, independent and transparent investigation into the brutal attack on investigative journalist Idrak Abbasov and the assault of journalist Gunay Musayeva on Wednesday 18 April 2012 in a village on the outskirts of Baku. The subsequent assaults on three other journalists, Esmira Javadova, Elnur Mammadov and Qalib Hasanov, who tried to report on the attacks against their colleagues, should also be part of this investigation.

(more…)

Bosnia considers face veil ban

The Bosnian Central Parliament is to discuss new legislation on 1 September that would ban the wearing of a face veil, or niqab. The new law would impose a 24-hour curfew on veiled women, and those violating the ban could be fined 50 euros. Muslim women held a protest outside the Central Parliament in Sarajevo after the proposal was made by the Bosnian Serb Party of  Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). France and Syria have already banned the veil, and the Netherlands and Belgium are considering similar legislation.

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