Child Labor increases every year in Southwestern China

There is nothing else that bothers me more than adults taking advantage of children, whether it’s theirs or not. In southwestern China, child labor rings are removing children from their schools to make them work 12-hour shifts in factories. Instead of being educated in their classrooms, Chinese kids are preoccupied producing much of the world’s toys, clothes, and electronics. Teachers such as Jin Ke Xiaoming are complaining that since the past year their student count has declined by 50 percent.

Southern Metropolis, a state-run newspaper, reported that as many as 1,000 school-age workers from the area were employed in manufacturing zones near Hong Kong. Still, Chinese officials deny this or downplay this scandal saying that there is little evidence of widespread violations of child labor laws. Is the government in this country twitching the news media and tricking their own citizens by saying child labor does not existent in China? Probably. This makes us, as Americans, appreciate the education provided to us, students.

If this news topic interested you, check out the New York Times article named “Chinese Factories, Flouting Labor Laws, Hire Children from Poor, Distant Villages.”

Media System in Cuba

Cuba is a communist country who has a very strict media system that prohibits any news publications that talk on government or social issues and especially any information that goes against any public officials. Despite the Cuban government having a strict ruling hand on the news coverage that permeates the island, the Cuban population has a very high literacy rate, which is suprising when it comes to Communist countries. Over the past couple of years there has been more freedom in the media although the government still dictates what is said about the government and what is not said about the government. Cuba is also ranked by Reporters without Borders as the second highest country behind China for having the most journalists being imprisoned. Although technology in Cuba is highly advanced the media and news coverage on the island is impaired because of the Communist government that rules the country and dictates the media.

Blackwater: Trying to be Aquitted of All Charges

Blackwater, which is an indivitual security contractor, that works for the United States government is being accused of killing 17 innocent Iraqi civilians a couple of months ago. In September of 2007 a number of Blackwater militants open fired on a number of unnarmed Iraqi civilians, killing 17 and injuring several others. The case is being investigated because after the incident occured the FBI was not able to investigate the crime scene until two weeks after and both the FBI and Blackwater gave two seperate reports on the incident. There are at least 40 witnesses that testified before the Grand Jury in the United States against Blackwater. Despite if the Blackwater officials are not proved guilty of this crime the coorporation is still going to experience trouble and problems after the case is closed.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1739014,00.html

Curruption of the Former Zambian Government

The former president of Zambia, Frederick Chiluba, is currently facing charges of curruption for embezzeling over 60 million dollars in funds that were suppose to be used for upgrading local hospitals. The curruption was discovered because the money was being deposited and passed through bank accounts in London. The former president's fellow government officials were the ones who recovered the money that was being embezzeled by President Chiluba. BBC.com covered this story very breifly with not alot of information about particulars on the situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7392911.stm

Berlusconi owns most of Italy’s media!!!

Most of the print and broadcast media in Italy is owned by its former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He, indeed, is the richest man of the country because he collects revenues from each and every medium. Berlusconi is the owner of three national TV networks, an advertising company, Italy’s largest media-buying firm, the country’s largest publishing house and second-biggest news magazine, a major newspaper, a film studio, a movie-distribution company and a host of Internet-related ventures. It is amazing how a single person can create such a monopoly in the country’s media system.

In addition, to all the power he is receiving because of his wealth and ex-political authority, he is winning over the Italian population. According to an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, his three T.V. networks and three state channels are brain-washing Italian citizens to believe he was the greatest leader to ever exist. It was studied that people who watched his television channels were more inclined to vote for him during Italy’s elections. This means that by Berlusconi mastering the media, he is shaping political affairs.

But do NOT get discouraged Italians! The present Prime Minister Romano Prodi is fighting to end Berlusconi’s hegemony over the country’s media with the help of famous industrialist, Rupert Murdoch. Prodi wants to bring more competition in diverse mediums to destabilize Berlusconi’s profits and heavy influence over Italian people.

An interesting article that I found related to Berlusconi’s media power is cjrarchives.org/issues/2006/5/Stille.asp
Also if you want to check out an example of a newspaper owned by Berlusconi, go to http://lastampa.it/redazione/default.asp

Disappearing Foreign Correspondents

James Rainey makes a great point in his article about the cyclone that devastated Myanmar. He wrote:

“Nearly a week after a cyclone ravaged Myanmar, food, medicine and fresh drinking water are not the only necessities in short supply. So are independent news accounts from the isolated and politically repressive nation.”

Most news sources have been left to rely on secondhand accounts and reports from correspondents who are only based in neighboring nations for information about the tragedy. The cyclone is said the have killed more than 20,000 now, yet there are so few journalists there to actually witness these accounts. The Los Angeles Times and New York Times are two of the few who have successfully dispatched correspondents and are producing firsthand accounts “from a nation whose military leaders disdain scrutiny.”

A former Washington Post foreign editor who is now a book publisher smartly stated, “There is no substitute for the correspondent on the ground.” <--I thought this was a great quote from the article and couldn't be truer.

The article was very interesting and reminded me of the discussions we had in many of our classes about how foreign correspondents are disappearing. Since media outlets feel it is too expensive and have booted foreign correspondents from their jobs, we are only getting second hand accounts from a small amount of journalists. This limits the diversity of the writing and a whole lot of “copy and pasting” journalism. There will be very little original reporting in our future because the number of correspondents actually traveling to the countries they report on only seems to be getting worse. I’m sure the dangers of the area and the threats from the government are other factors many journalists want to steer clear.

You can read the full article at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cyclone9-2008may09,0,2214617.story

By Rachel Poloski

Peruvian Media Systems

Although Peru has a relatively advanced media system that can be compared to that of the United States--monopolies included--it still manages to keep certain traditions alive that are unique to media of Latin America.

These traditions include political undertones in almost every newspaper printed. These provide multiple angles to the government and issues in the country depending on a specific political party.

Most publications of print media originate in the capital, Lima (see right). Among them is the official daily newspaper, el Diario Oficial Peruano, which is required to publish any laws recently passed.



Diario El Comercio, also published in Lima, has the largest circulation of any paper and is the oldest privately owned paper.



SOLAR (Sociedad Latioamerica de Rediodifusion) and SUR (Sistema Unido de Retransmision), both privately owned, are the main regional television and radio networks.

Also, the country has a large news agency, Andina, Agencia Peruana de Noticias, which is also based in Lima.






Intrigued? Give these a click:
http://www.pressreference.com/No-Sa/Peru.html
http://www.andina.com.pe/Espanol/

Government admits fault without widespread U.S. press coverage

The news media has produced little on the status of the United States occupation of Iraq lately. Aside from stipulations that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, head of al Qaeda in Iraq, might be captured and the traditional grim statistics of dead soldiers and civilians, the media doesn’t seem to be digging deep in to the country’s largest foreign human and fiscal expenditure.

Robert Baer, a former CIA officer assigned to the Middle East and current journalist for TIME magazine brought the first piece of investigative journalism on Iraq that I have seen in quite sometime. In his May 9^th story, “Playing the Oil Card,” Baer comments on the U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker’s appearance before Congress. According to Baer’s account, Crocker agreed that U.S. occupation of the Gulf was necessary to obtain stabilize oil prices.

In testifying to Congress, Crocker stated that progress was made in the region earlier in the week after the U.S. took control of the port of Basra. He assured Congress that U.S. presence in the region would stabilize oil prices. However, as Baer points out, is the occupation about oil? As he states: “And $10 a gallon is his [Bush’s] equivalent of an economic WMD.”

Crocker’s consent that U.S. involvement in the region would be necessary for stabilized oil indeed goes against the statements of the Bush administration. I personally wonder why other news outlets did not highly publicize his comments and the danger they pose. After all, U.S. involvement in Iraq might blaze on if the American press does not continuously alert the public about the damage and deception the war has created.

Here's the article:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1738883,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-world

Nigeria Media Systems

Nigerian media system has been labeled as partly free by freedomhouse.org and ranked at 131 for media freedom by reporterswitoutborders.org.

Journalist in Nigeria face alot of opposition when it comes to investigative journalism because their media is government owned. However their are many privately owned media outlets that try to give balanced and objective coverage of the news.

Even thought many of the journalist face consequences for what they cover in the media , journalist continue to go against the corrupt government powers and try to be objective in their coverage. Many journalist have been killed arrested and beaten throughout country because of their opposition toward the government. Still they do not give up the fight to have their media eventually be free

what YOU didn't know about the United Arab Emirates

Although the United Arab Emirates or the UAE as it is commonly referred to is one of the more liberal countries in the Arab region, it still faces heavy governmental influence.

All of the country's media is either owned or influenced by the government and the laws of the land strictly prohibit criticism against the government or any of the ruling parties.

Domestic and foreign news are censored before they are printed or broadcast and the government reserves the right to alter any story to fit its needs.

Almost all of the television networks, there are 15 of them, are owned by either the government or media conglomerates who are heavily influenced by the government.

Internet use in the country has become widespread with over 37 percent of the population online. However, the ONLY internet service provider is Etisalat (a government-operated telecommunications conglomerate). Online sites are heavily regulated and unauthorized sites tell the user that the contents of these sites are against the cultural and moral values of the country.

Newspapers are also a huge tool of the government and often provided fluff PR pieces instead of hard-hitting investigative news.

Reporters Without Borders ranked the country #65 on its press freedom list and Freedom House labeled the media not free.

I hope that you take a moment to visit the following links because they take you to two of the major newspapers in the country. Read a few of the stories and you can immediately tell that criticism of the government is non-existent and that most of the stories about the country are very positive.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Index00.asp

http://www.gulfnews.com/home/

Media of England

England is home to one of the freest media systems in the world. Though the United Kingdom (of which England is a part) ranked 24th on the annual list according to Reporters Without Borders, this was largely due to a six year old murder that has gone unsolved, and death threats received against reporters, both in Northern Ireland rather than in England.

One of the most interesting aspects of the English media system is that the BBC and its channels (BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, etc.) are funded by a license fee that individual television owners must pay when they buy a t.v. if they want to receive the channels. This method of public funding is meant to keep the television networks neutral and free from commercial interests. No advertising can be found on the BBC website, and the network is publicly run. Furthermore, even the corporate-owned television networks in the United Kingdom are required to abide by a certain level of legally mandated neutrality. This latter fact is likely much to the chagrin of Rupert Murdoch (of News Corp. ownership fame), who owns the Sky Network in the country, and wishes to, sometime in the future, model that network to operate more like its American counterpart, Fox News.

North Korea gives key nuclear documents to U.S.

North Korea turned over key nuclear weapons documents to a visiting U.S. diplomat on Thursday. The North handed over the documents at the capital of Pyongyang and the diplomat is to carry them to South Korea later this week.

The senior State Department official who leaked the story asked for anonymity so he could describe the outcome of the confidential meetings between U.S. envoy Sung Kim and the government of Kim Jong II.

The documents are supposedly detailed technological logs from North Korea's shuttered plutonium reactor.

The State Department official said, "They are an important element in the verification of a declaration which will include figures for the amount of plutonium they have produced."

What I could not believe when reading this story was that the Associated Press would let this official remain anonymous. This is a huge piece of information and I think that the AP should have searched harder for a source that they could actually name. What if this information is incorrect? What are the sources intentions in leaking this information? These are the questions that should have ran through the AP reporter's head when writing it.

Furthermore, why did CBS News run this story on their website? Stories that run with anonymous sources usually cause skepticism and CBS should have waited until a credible source could be identified before running it. We all saw what happened when Dan Rather ran a story about President George W. Bush's military service that turned out to be untrue, so CBS should have the common sense to be extra careful.

For more information and to read the full article, go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/08/world/main4080396.shtml

Indian Media: Has to speak the language

While English and Hindi are the official national languages of India, they are only spoken by 30% of the population. Interestingly, the majority of government documents, newspapers, and other information are published in the two official languages. Additionally, the majority of English and Hindi speakers usually live in the major cities of Bombay, New Delhi, Calcutta, and Madras.

So, one might wonder: what about the other 70% of the population? The majority of the population lives in rural areas of India, where one of the fifteen official vernacular, or regional languages are spoken. Traditionally excluded from mainstream media (written in English and Hindi), Indians living in rural India have recently responded to regional editions of English and Hindi national papers such as the Indian Express and The Times of India by buying subscriptions en masse. Since deciding to publish multiple vernacular editions in 2001 and 2002, publications have at least doubled their circulation.

If media outlets want to access the Indian population, they have to start with fundamentals: publishing or broadcasting in multiple vernacular languages will inevitably boost profits.

- Theodora Stringham

SRI LANKA Bombing

I was impressed with the BBC's coverage of the bombing in Sri Lanka they presented very detailed information on where the bombing occurred (Ampara) how many casualties (11 dead, 36 wounded) and had an idea of who was responsible for the blast.

They tied it to a rebel group called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as they had been in civil war for 20 years because they want an independent state for minority Tamils in the north and east. The Sri Lanka military seemed convinced that this group was responsible for the bombing because of upcoming election on Saterday.

The main question I raise is why bomb civilian in a public are. My only problem with the article is that the motives of the bombing aren't made clear enough nor is the reason for choosing that location made clear.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7392571.stm

Death of 2 police official in Mexico

CNN's Harris Whitebeck recently contributed a story about the recent deaths of 2 police officials in Mexico. Esteban Robles Espinosa and Edgar Eusebio Millan Gomez had been gunned down in the streets of Mexico this week, Espinosa at 8:30 this morning leaving his house and Gomez around dawn Thursday in Mexico City.

Whitebeck's though mentioning the tragedy of these deaths did not make it the main focus of his story but used it as a way to transition to the bigger picture in the situation which was that the Mexican government has recently been facing much opposition from the drug cartels in Mexico after president Felipe Calderon announced a crackdown on the drug cartels in Mexico.

These conflict against the drug cartels are incredible because pf the fire power that the cartels posses as Whitbeck described them to being close to small military conflicts. It has been made apparent that as the U.S. has fought a war on terror. Mexico is fight a war on drugs and crime.

Shiite Militia backlash in Lebanon

Western Beirut was seized this Friday by the Shiite Militia in an attempt to demonstrate its power and influence to the American-backed Lebanese government.

The conflict arose after the Lebanese government denounced the private telecommunications network of the Shiites and took measures against it.

Aside from parading in the streets in military tanks and firing shots in the air to intimidate onlookers, militiamen forced a government-allied satellite television off the air.

They also burned the offices of the station's newspaper affiliate.

The Lebanese government is calling the sieze an "armed coup" and is requesting the aid of other nations. Although most of the fighting has occurred in Beirut, there have been sporadic gunfights in the Bekaa Valley, northern Lebanon and the Chouf mountains. The fighting has left 11 dead and 20 wounded.

Bombing on eve of Sri Lanka polls

The BBC reported that Tamil Tiger rebels have been blamed for a bombing in eastern Sri Lanka towen Ampara that left at least 11 civilians dead and more than 20 wounded.

The bomb went off in a packed cafe a day before the region's first provincial elections in 20 years. Military spokesperson Brig Nanayakkara said the blast was clearly the work of the rebels because "they have done similar explosions in Colombo and its suburbs."

What I found interesting is how the BBC just naturally assumed that the Tamil Tigers were responsible for the bombing. The only source that they had was the military spokesperson, and it seems as though they did not really do any outside research. I think that the BBC should have taken more time and tried to get substantial proof that the rebels were responsible for the bombing before printing the story.

For more information on this BBC report, you can visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7392571.stm

Aftermath of Cyclone in Myanmar

Cyclone Nargis has devastated 1.9 million in Myanmar, and yet Red Cross has reported that only 220,000 have received aid. The United Nations has repeatedly offered help, so what's the hold up?

The military regime has been stalling the approvals of visas for foreign aid workers, and using its own nationals to deliver the supplies instead. In order to enter the country, relief workers have been waiting for the green light in Thailand. This includes ten members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team and Air Force aircraft, which are carrying more supplies.

Due to the delays there has been an extreme shortage of food, and the monks of the Irrawaddy delta are forgoing meals in order to feed the children and elderly first.

Aside from political differences, lack of transportation and physical barriers are keeping relief workers from other countries from responding immediately, so the hope now lies with the military aircraft of the United States.

President Bush's National Security Spokesman has stated that they are continuing to work on visas and permission to enter the country, but because of politics these people continue to suffer.


For more news coverage check out these links:

( I highly recommend the slide shows... just make sure you're not eating when you skim through them.)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24514879/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24543907/

Also:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LXAF8AjgiWM
(Coverage by Al Jezeera)

AFP adds video to its 2008 Beijing Olympics coverage

Apparantly, due to high demand the Agence France Presse has decided to add multimedia packages which are available for purchase to their audience. This is particularly interesting, that France, of all places in such high demand of Olympics coverage. Since the protests of the Olympic torch in Paris, France has been considered one of the larger oppositions towards the Olympic games being held in China. However, apparently large protests and disagreement of the games does not have a direct correlation of viewership of them.

"“ Our customers have been asking for video . By adding it, we have assembled an attractive package by integrating new media content with our traditional products. We believe that this is the ideal combination to draw in more sports fans to our clients’ websites,” said Eric Axelson, AFP’s Marketing Manager for sports." states AFP.

Large disagreement with the morality of China apparently has nothing to do with the stop of the French people wanting extensive coverage of the Olympic games, which may in turn, support them.

the full article can be found here : http://www.afp.com/english/afp/?pid=news&release=euro_jo

Lacking Coverage on the War

In an article entitled "We're in War -- Where are the media?" from Common Dreams.org (a non-commercial website), journalist Joan Vennochi delves into how U.S. journalism has failed to portray how important the war in Iraq is. Her research is interesting and informative. She starts out by stating, “The real news of April played second fiddle to the presidential campaign, the pope’s visit to America, and the Texas polygamy case.” Vennochi’s statement reminded me of our News From Abroad readings, which lectured how our news has become entertainment and quite sensationalized since it is not only cheaper, but no one is complaining about it. It would be great to see an article like this smack in the middle of The Washington Post or NYT’s to show people that what they are reading is essentially cheap journalism.
Some of the interesting statistics Vennochi touched upon were:
• The death toll for the US military in Iraq hit 49 in April, making it the deadliest month since September, according to the Associated Press.
• “Around Iraq, at least 1,080 Iraqi civilians and security personnel were killed last month, an average of 36 a day, according to the AP tallies. While that’s down from March’s total of 1,269, or an average of 41 per day, those casualties certainly don’t add up to a stable Iraq.”
• “The latest statistics from the Project for Excellence in Journalism back up the conclusion that coverage of the Iraq war is on the decline.”
• “The Washington-based research organization studied roughly 1,300 stories from 48 news outlets during the month of April. The group’s analysis found that during that time frame, the top news story was the presidential campaign, which accounted for 33 percent of news coverage. The economy came in second, accounting for 6 percent. The pope’s visit accounted for 4 percent of the coverage, and the Texas polygamy case garnered another 4 percent.”
The article continues to go more in depth and give more examples of research done by Project for Excellence in Journalism. In order to see the article go to: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/04/8708/

It just makes one wonder…are journalist not interested in writing about the war anymore or are they just following what these huge corporate machines are telling them? Would we rather hear about Miley Cyrus posing disturbingly with her father or about how truly violent this war has become? Commercially run news outlets can’t handle the truth, which is why viewer as so misinformed.
The article also mirrors the research we looked at in class where Professor Keith showed us other statistics and lectured how there were so few images of injuries and death in the coverage of the Iraq war.

By Rachel Poloski

Sweden Goes Green

Anne Thompson, chief environmental affairs correspondent for NBC News, reports on Sweden and the actions they have taken to become an environmentally friendly nation. Some innovative steps Sweden has taken in becoming environmentally friendly include using woodchips as a synthetic fuel to replace fossil fuel.
In fact, Sweden’s goal is to become fossil fuel free by 2020. Another attempt to reduce carbon emissions is the fee the Swedish have to pay if they choose to drive in its business districts. Also alternative transportation to the car is made to be a more economical choice, in hopes to convince people to use public transportation. It is quite possible that other countries will try to emulate Sweden’s environmental policies because they are economically lucrative and seem to, so far, be working.
This video clip was pretty interesting, and made me wonder what the U.S. is doing to become more environmentally friendly?

Here is the link to the clip. Thompson uses a lot of good sources in her reporting:

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=d4ddafbf-4304-4fff-94db-c9defcbecff4&fg=rss&from=34

some stats:
http://www.scb.se/templates/Amnesomrade____12460.asp

Russian's go Soviet-style for Celebration

Russia celebrated Victory Day today, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany. They celebrated by having more than 100 tanks, missile units, and armored vehicles go thorugh Moscow.

The celebration was full of the color red as well as the hammer and sickle that was traditional of the U.S.S.R. But the Russian government reassured the world by saying that it was purely for the celebration and that Russia was not heading back to Communism in any way.

I think it's nice to see a country go back and use whatever good meaning they had about their past, regardless of how controversial it could potentilly be.

Portugal has had a long history of cycles of governmental control of the media and media freedom. They have come a long way, and now the media is completely free from any government interference. Reporters without Borders ranked Portugal as the 10th freest media in the world.

With this new freedom, Portugal has had much advancement in their media. However, being isolated on the tip of Western Europe, it has been hard for the country to stay up to speed with the rest of Europe. The future is looking promising though, and I expect them to keep making strides in their media development.

Train Quarentined in Canada

A passenger train holding 230 passengers and 30 crew members was placed under quarantine today after a passenger died and 10 more became ill. The train was en route from Vancouver to Toronto. A local director of ambulance services, Steve Trinier, said that the illness could be in the nature of SARS, but might also be something as simple good poisoning or environmental toxin. One person was air-lifted to the hospital and seems to be in stable condition. They have now contained the illness to two cars of the train. For more on this story, click here.

Media System of Chile

Chile is ranked as having the 39^th freest press by Reporters without Borders and considered to have a free press by Freedom House. After years of oppressive laws prohibiting the press from reporting negatively on the government and its officials, Chilean law now has laws providing freedom of speech and the press.

Today’s Chilean government does respect the press’s right to freedom but police and military still have some harsh tendencies left after the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. During a student strike several reporters were injured or detained by the police. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet denounced the assaults.

Chilean’s constitution permitting freedom of expression has completely wiped out the media restrictions held by the Pinochet regime.

Is Lech Kacynski Changing Poland's Press Freedom?

In Poland’s annual report given by Reporters Without Borders, it begins by stating, “The year (2008) began with the threat of imprisonment for journalist Andrzej Marek for supposed libel in a 2001 article about corruption.” This reporter did end up getting out of his jail terms, but this did not mean change for the legal restraints on press freedom. The criminal law allows prison terms for journalist in article 212.2 of their constitution. In October of 2006 the government refused to repeal the article that penalizes “public humiliation” with up to two years in prison, according to Reporters Without Borders. They also stated, “The constitutional court said a person’s dignity and honour were more important than freedom of expression.”
Another reporter, from the Gazeta Wyborcza, Jacek Brzuszkiewicz received a six-month suspended prison sentence in July 2007 and was fined for libel for a series of articles criticizing a Lubin administrative court judge. The document stated, “The journalist said he hoped his disproportionate punishment would make people aware of the need to bring the country’s press law up to European standards.”
The change that came about with the new President (Lech Kacynski) becomes more obvious when comparing the rankings of Poland’s media freedom done by Reporters Without Borders annually. Between 2002 and 2004, Poland was ranked in the low 30’s, but in 2005 it jumped to 55, and then from 2006-2007 it went down into the 65th position. Since Kaczynski was elected in 2005, the pattern shows that his ruling has caused fewer medium freedoms.

Reporters Without Borders, “Poland-Annual Report 2008.” Available online at http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=25473. Accessed May 4, 2008.

By: Rachel Poloski

Journalists United in Panamá

Doing research for my country report on Panamá, I read about numerous instances where government and law officials raided newspapers’ offices and incarcerated editors and journalists for publishing anything that threatened the government’s image. One of these stories caught my attention.

In 1998, Panamanian police went into La Prensa’s (one of the top daily newspapers in Panamá) offices looking to arrest investigative reporter Herasto Reyes for “defaming” President Balladares. Reyes quoted an ex-government official saying that Balladares tried to force the man to cover up a financial mess.

However, a group of journalists from all around Panama City went to the offices and blocked the entrance from the police, preventing them from gaining entry. I thought it was pretty cool that journalists have each others backs, and are fighting back, in a country where the government seems to be the biggest obstacle for journalists who want to bring the truth to the people.

famine scare for North Korea

Food shortages in rural North Korea have caused many deaths and a vast famine is expected. The food shortage is very similar to the famine North Korea faced in the 1990s; which caused 2 million deaths.

An unidentified North Korean official has said that, “so far, mass deaths have not occurred as people have become more used to starvation than in the 1990s, but famine is a matter of time.”

The food shortage is a result of major floods that occurred last year that ruined many crops.

North Korea has been receiving food aid since the 1990s but it refusing help from South Korea because of its criticisms.

for the full story visit http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/09/nkorea.famine.ap/index.html

Liechtenstein: There IS news media there!

Liechtenstein is a small country, but they dob't always have to rely on neighbors Switzerland and Austria as well as Germany. They do have a small amount of news media that is based out of the small country.

They have 4 newspapers: publically-owned Liechtensteiner Vaterland and Liechtensteiner Volksblatt, the sunday newspaper Liewo, and the monthly paper Der Monat. They even have their own TV station, Landeskanal. The people are able to show whatever they want to, as long as the government authorizes it as something that has relevance to the country. And they even have a few radio stations.

Naturally, if they were to lose all the support of their neighbors it would be hard for Liechtenstein, but they would still have something to keep them alive in terms of news media.

Betcha Didn't Know that Greece...

1. ranks 30th on the Reporters Without Borders, Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2007.

(18 places above the U.S.)

2. received a score of one in the political rights score and a two in the civil liberties score from Freedom House. ( the U.S. received a one in both, yet it still ranks higher)

3. has public debt, inflation, and unemployment rates above the euro-zone average.

(weird, huh?)

4. it's slightly smaller than Alabama in size.

5. it's largest revenue is from tourism, not agriculture.

It is also interesting to note that though the media freedom rankings stand firm, many have been recently accusing Greece of having unbalanced free media, since just a few months ago, when Greece lit the Olympic Torch in Athens, many journalists were blocked from entering the Acropolis. Reporters were outraged and accused Greece of "aligning with totalitarian China." Since the lighting on March 24, a petition has been started and already has been signed by at least fifty members of the Greek leftist group and plans to rally against media censorship are also in the works.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gr.html

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=26387

http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2007&country=7184

By: Lauren Ricca

South Africa comes in 44th Place

In a country that has a lot of fighting and reporting on certain issues are dangerous for journalist, Reporters without Borders has ranked this country number 44 on the freest media list. South Africa is one of the few countries n Africa that has such a high number on the Reporters with out Borders list. Journalist in South Africa constantly challenge the government through their articles showing that the countries has come a long way since the days of apartheid. While doing my country report I found that South Africa is pretty advanced in television broadcasting, although, television was introduced to the country in the mid 1970's.

For more information visit. http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=20

Tension builds over Myanmar aid refusal

In my last post, I said that Myanmar had begun accepting international aid following a cyclone that left over 20,000 dead. "Letting in aid programs is an important step for a nation like Myanmar. (Just think, what would happen if North Korea were hit with a disaster like this; would they allow foreign aid?)" But perhaps I was a bit too quick to assume they were all that different.

The New York Times reports, "Almost a week after Cyclone Nargis inundated Myanmar’s densely settled coast, wiped out villages and left untold tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, the first two United Nations flights carrying relief supplies arrived in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, on Thursday. One carried seven tons of high-energy biscuits, while the other contained a larger load of humanitarian supplies.

"Yet emergency supplies on that scale seemed woefully disproportionate to the needs of the survivors, if the scope of the disaster is as extensive as the United Nations and most international aid groups believe.

"And because of logistical delays heightened by the storm damage, even the trickle of aid that has arrived is not expected to reach victims until Friday at the earliest.

"Aid officials and health experts warned that the slow response could lead to outbreaks of diseases like cholera and malaria, adding substantially to the death toll. And a prolonged delay could spread malnutrition and starvation across the vast area affected."

From Al Jazeera, "Myanmar's refusal to grant visas to foreign aid teams is 'unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts,' a UN official has said, underscoring mounting frustration over the military governments' response to the cyclone crisis.

“'Currently Myanmar has prioritized receiving emergency relief provisions and is making strenuous efforts to transport those provisions without delay by its own labors to the affected areas,' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 'As such, Myanmar is not ready to receive search-and-rescue teams as well as media teams from foreign countries.'”

The death count could rise to 100,000 soon, according to reports, if the government doesn't accept relief soon. What Myanmar is doing is deplorable -- putting petty governmental differences over the lives of the 1.5 million citizens affected by Cyclone Nargis. They don't have the manpower to spread aid across the entire nation, but they're living in denial. In an effort to prove the power of their military junta, and their desire to keep media out, they've done more harm than they could have imagined. They are effectively responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths in the coming weeks.

Terrorist Group Blamed for Bomb in Spain

The ETA, a terrorist group in the Basque region of Spain, was blamed by police for a bombing a little over a week ago. The story is written by Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman, working for CNN. Goodman does a great job of giving the facts. A story like this shouldn't be too difficult to tell considering that it is pretty obvious who the good and bad guys are in this story.

The best thing the journalist did was give a very detailed history of the violence the ETA has done. Sometimes I feel as though journalists assume we should know everything about a topic when there is just so much to know.

Spain has internal problems it really needs to work on. This terrorist group is fighting for independance in the northern region of Spain. This is just not safe for the people of Spain, though no one was hurt in this bombing.

Beauty and the Beast

Usually the first man in a young girl's life is her Father. According to Sigmund Freud children develop the Oedipus complex. Young boys and girls develop an innocent liking for the opposite sex parent and want to eliminate the same sex parent that poses a threat. In Austria, a man admitted to raping his daughter and fathering seven of her children. Josef Fritzl kept his daughter lock in a vault in his house and repeatedly abused her but does not want to admit to the media that he was a' beast'. In the article, written in the New York Times, the journalist, Mark Landler quotes Mr. Fritzl saying, "I constantly knew, during the entire 24 years, that what I did was not right, that I must have been crazy to do something like this." After 24 years of consciously knowing that he was torching his daughter Josef Fritzl wants to plead insanity. I think, with no pun intended, that that statement is crazy and outrageous. How could someone treat their own flesh and blood like and animal and create children that are essential his children and grandchildren. Parents are suppose to set examples for their children and protect them for harm. Fritzl rationalizes his actions by saying his daughter began drinking, smoking, and staying out late and he needed to control the actions of his daughter. The father also admitted to having fantasies about his late mother and his daughter Elisabeth reminded him of her. The article does not include quotes from the daughter that suffered the abuse and it fails to mention how his wife, if Fritzl was married,played a role in the whole ordeal.

To Find more information visit. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/world/europe/09dungeon.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

U.S Agrees to EU's Iran Nuclear Plan

Iran claims that it is using its' nuclear program for peaceful purposes. Although nothing seems to be peaceful about nuclear programs. "The United States, along with the other nations, has been following a "dual track strategy" with Iran, which includes tightening sanctions on the regime while offering incentives if Iran suspends its enrichment activities." Other countries along with the United States are trying to get Iran to suspend its' uranium enrichment program. With everything going on in Iraq, it does not seem that anyone needs to worry about possible nuclear weapons or war. "President Bush said it is "naive" to think Iran would not be able to transfer nuclear enrichment into a weapons program." Information provided by CNN.com/world

Iraqis report capture of al Qaeda in Iraq leader

According to Iraqi officials, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was captured early Thursday in the northern city of Mosul. Intelligence officials said they were skeptical of the capture of Abu Ayyub al-Masri , even though Iraqi officials said al-Masri was already in U.S. military custody.

Leader of the Iraqi al Queda offshoot since June 2006 Iraqi officials have reported Al-Masri's , also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, death three times, his capture twice and a mortal wounding once.

The most recent report claims al-Masri's capture occurred during a late-night operation in Mosul.

Nineveh Gov. Duraid Kashmoula assures that Iraqi security forces are 100 percent certain of proper identification.

Information provided by: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/08/iraq.alqaeda/index.html

World Bank urges U.S. to pass Colombia trade deal

According to the World Bank, the United States Congress intends to pass the Colombian free trade agreement which will help the country strengthen and reform its economy. Passage of the agreement has been difficult because U.S. Democrats feel that Colombian President Uribe has not put forth ample force in deterring right-wing militias.

Current World Bank President, Robert Zoellick first began negotiating the trade deal in 2004 when he was U.S. Trade Representative and has released the following statement during a recent trip to Bogota:

"It's an agreement that would benefit both Colombia and the United States. It is important beyond trade because it is part of a series of reforms that support the overall agenda of Colombia, whether it be security, human rights issues and anti-narcotics efforts. It is part of a package supporting the success of Colombia."

Information provided by: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080509/pl_nm/colombia_usa_worldbank_trade_dc_1;_ylt=Avbn6EGpBEE3zRvX5XeSrxywv7kA

Following Ukraine's independence in 1991, the country did not adopt an official constitution until 1996. Despite this constitutions alleged protection of free speech, that has often not been the case in Ukraine.

According to the organization Freedom House, the Ukraine was considered to be a free country in regards to media in 2007, yet came in ranked as only the 113th freest country out of 195.

This low ranking in the freedom of their news media is due Ukraine's presidential administration subsequent to the nations independence. According to this BBC country profile of Ukraine, "Under former President Leonid Kuchma, a number of opposition papers were closed and several journalists investigating high-profile crimes died in mysterious circumstances."

The first two presidential administration after the nations independence faced charges such as these. However, these charges seem to be substantiated by the specific incidents of journalists being attacked or threatened for their coverage and.or criticism of Ukrainian politicians.

One such example is that of Irina Ovsy, editor of the newspaper Sotsialisticheskaya Kharkovshchina, who was attacked by unidentified men who told her to stop publishing her stories. Three other journalists also were physically attacked including one who was kidnapped and then taken to a forest where he was beaten.

Also, according to Freedom house, a fire attack was used to intimidate a correspondent for the newspaper Kievskiye Vedomosti named Sergei Yanovsky, after he had reported on local politicians and corruption within the local government.

However, the most notorious story of a journalist being intimidates is that of Gregory Gongadze. Gongadze developed a website entitled, Ukrayinska Pravda, which is translated as Ukrainian Truth. The site was a way of getting around the government's control on the media.

Gongadze's site focused primarily on political news about former president Kuchma. Gongadze wrote letters to the top prosecutor in Ukraine about being harassed by the Ukrainian special police. He mysteriously disappeared and his body was found two months later, decapitated and doused in acid, in a forest some 75 miles outside of the nation's capital of Kiev.

Gongadze

According to Reporters Without Borders, Kuchma's former body guard secretly taped the former president in recordings dubbed the "Melnichenko tapes." The Ukranian parliament's investigation of the murder showed that the decision to have Gongadze murdered came from the “highest levels of government.”

These types of intimidation towards journalists have recently become less prominent in the Ukrainian media as a new presidential administration came into power in 2004. However, the governments control of the media has not. According to the same Freedom House profile, in 2006, the administration was capable of monitoring all e-mails and websites visited by the 11.5% of the population that was online.

Hopefully as this recently independent nation's age increases, so will its politician's attitudes towards the freedom of media.

Leonid Kuchma

Pakistan's not so free media

The media system in Pakistan is not a particularly free one as reflects the characteristics that are most identifiable with the authoritarian media model. Pakistan has to overcome several media barriers. According to freedomhouse.org, Pakistan is ranked as a “non-free” nation. One of the barriers that contribute to this non-free ranking is an economical one. As previously stated, the APP was adopted by the Pakistan’s information ministry due to poor financial status. The APP may have been able to remain free and unbiased if it had been forced to rely on the government for money.

more info on Pakistani media can be found at freedom house's section on Pakistan: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2007

Al Jazeera's take on Israeli anniversary

Al Jazeera published an article with a headline "Accident mars Israel anniversary"
It was just interesting to see the Al Jazeera take on the events of yesterday's 60th anniversary of Israel's existence. This was the one of the front page stories of the online edition of the paper and did not really include a feature like story which is more common, to give a broad general statement about the state of Israel over the past years. While the focus on a parachute accident was not particularly scarring to the image of Israel, the article quickly turned negative by the end of the short story. The article quickly turns to Palestinian perspective by stating "In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians were also marking the six decades since what they call the "Naqba" or catastrophe." the full article can be read here : http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F55E745C-A2AC-4F78-90BB-675439E2A12F.htm

Journalists arrested in Zimbabwe

A recent government crack down in Zimbabwe has lead to the arrest of two journalists. A spokesman for the Zimbabwe government said that the two journalists have been arrested because they were not respecting the country’s laws.

Davison Maruziva, editor of the Zimbabwe newspaper The Standard, was arrested for printing an article written by the leader of the governments opposing party. The government found the piece to be false and prejudice against them.

Howard Burditt, a Reuters photographer has also been arrest by the Zimbabwe government. Burditt has been accused of using a satellite phone to transmit pictures; a task Reuters says he has permission to do.

Reuters says it has long had a legitimate bureau in Zimbabwe and Burditt should be released immediately.

Human Right Watch has voiced its disapproval of Zimbabwe for arresting those opposing the government.

Bright Matonga, Zimbabwe’s Deputy of Information, says those arrested took advantage of the post election chaos and had no respect for the laws which were made very clear to them.

For the full story.. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/08/zimbabwe.election/index.html

Berlusconi again?!

Silvio Berlusconi, the media conglomerate of Italy, has been sworn into office as Italian Prime Minister. People hope the Berlusconi can create a new life for the poeple of Italy in a time when their economy is struggling and that he could also hopefully find a solution to the untreated rubbish mountains in Naples.

This article fails to mention Berlusconi's past, which would not make him the ideal Italian Prime Minister. Italy made this mistake once, why again?

Berlusconi is a conglomerate that owns a large part of 75% of Italy's broadcast media, and now has control over 100%, since the only network left was government run. Now he is the government. To put such power in one man's hands is insane. Silvio Berlusconi cannot be stopped now, he has control over anything the public hears or reads. He also owns publishing companies, a sports team, and many other businesses. Italy is putting too much power in Berlusconi and it will hurt them in the end.

Does no one remember his involvement with the mafia that was kept quiet because he had so much power in the government; or how about how he abused his power as prime minister to chang laws so that people involved in the mafia could not respond to questions on the stand and were eventually freed. I guess illegal crime involvement doesn't matter to the Italians.

Silvio Berlusconi was known for his promotion of women in barely any clothing in ads, commercials, and on television. He has just named former television showgirl Mara Carfagna as the minister for equal opportunities. Come on, are we serious?

Freedom rings in Belgium

In regards to my country report, I chose to do my research on the media in Belgium. As we learned in class, the U.S. is ranked No. 48 in terms of press freedom; however, Belgium is ranked No. 5. Prior to learning about how lowly-ranked our country was, I had assumed that the U.S. would be closer to the top of the list on Reporters Without Borders’ index of press freedom across the globe. I was curious to find out what censorship barriers existed in the American press, which is why I chose a country that had one of the freest press systems.

Media outlets in Belgium are not controlled by the government; nor do they have an organization that is equivalent to the U.S. government’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that censors certain information that is broadcast. While the U.S. and Belgium maintain that they have strong press freedom, the U.S. lags behind in terms of self-censorship. In researching media in Belgium, I found that journalists do not censor themselves when printing a pro-oppositional piece against the government. In the U.S., many newspaper journalists censor their opinions on political agendas (i.e. the War in Iraq) as well as defamation of politicians. This skewing of information has most likely led to Reporters Without Borders’ U.S. ranking of No. 48 in terms of press freedom.

Recently, foreign journalists have been the ones who have been threatened or endangered by the Belgian government. Within the last few years, there were a couple of incidences in which foreign journalists were arrested for covering certain events in Belgium. These circumstances, however, were influenced by the government. In September 2006, three Moroccan journalists were banned from a political conference. Furthermore, “a Mongolian journalist and her son were jailed in a holding center for foreigners without papers after they fled Mongolia following a number of attacks resulting from a series of articles she had written outlining corruption within the Mongolia government.”[1] The blatant crack-down on foreign journalists in Belgium, however, has not severely impacted the ways in which Belgian journalist continue to gather their information. Belgian journalists and bloggers have continued to voice their opinions. Throughout my research, I have found relatively no evidence claiming that Belgian journalists are exercising self-censorship in term of news coverage. In America, however, news stories go through a filtering process similar to self-censorship.

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[1] Freedom House. http://www.freedomhouse.org/inc/content/pubs/pfs/inc_country_detail.cfm?country=6695&pf

Hezbollah Holdup

Iranian-backed, Shiite militant group, Hezbollah, along with labor unions, rioted in the streets of Lebanon, on Wednesday, in order to push for higher salaries for public workers. The protesting blocked traffic all the way through the city of Beirut, and made it nearly impossible to travel.

The groups felt that the nearly one hundred-fifty dollar raise given to many normally underpaid city workers was not enough considering the continually rising prices of food and other necessities.

Sand pits and flaming tires barricaded the streets in order to cause a stir and prove a point that a civil protest was not something they had planned on.

The road to the main airport was blocked off and several flights needed to be canceled due to the intense commotion. Many children stayed home from school and adults avoided work, as they saw it worthless to get caught up in a dangerous situation, or deal with such a long commute to their destination.

The strike was called off by the General Labor Confederation, a few short hours after it had begun, yet not early enough to cause a huge stir between the ever fighting Sunnis and Shiites.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/07/beirut.strike/index.html

By: Lauren Ricca

Farmer Debt Leads to Rise in Suicide

In the article No let up in India farm suicides BBC News reports on the increase of suicides among farmers of Maharashtra, India. This increase is attributed to debts that farmers are unable to pay. There is little hope in government relief programs, as they do not adequately respond to farmers’ debt. Another source of criticism on governmental policy for aid for farmers is that the government does not utilize funds to educate farmers about their rights.

The article reports that an estimated 10,000 farmers commit suicide in India every year. Farmers’ debt makes them vulnerable to high interest rates from loaners, only worsening farmers’ financial situations. The article offers some statistics to put into perspective the severity of the problem of debt and suicide amongst farmers in India. I thought this story was particularly interesting because I had not known of this problem prior to reading the article. A lot of times the articles I read contain recycled information presented in new ways, but this was news to me!

Check out the article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7383662.stm

If you are interested in rights for farmers and fair trade policies check out this site:
http://www.transfairusa.org/
You can check out Fair Trade criticism too: http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj27n1/cj27n1-9.pdf

Torch reaches Top of Everest

I think this is the greatest story of the year.

Even in times of war, and when we see the ugliest in mankind, the Olympics brings the world together.

Every couple of years, the world of sports brings the world together if only for a few weeks.

What really made this story special was the fact that 22 Tibetans made the trek up to the top of Mount Everest with a 21-year-old Tibetan girl carrying the torch.

In the past countries have boycotted the Olympics to protest human rights. In 1956 a few countries became the first to boycott after the Hungarian Uprising. I really hope that doesn't happen this year. I do agree that even though human rights are far more important than sports, the unity of the Olympics and the opening ceremony is one of the greatest highlights in life.

The writer of this story does a great job of giving every detail. I honestly feel like I know almost everything I need to. This story kept the politics at a distance and told of the great accomp-lishment that happened.

Singapore's Constraint of the Press

Photo courtesy of http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1246/527136126_23f2f83751.jpg?v=0

One major factor hindering Singapore’s media development is a governmental barrier (Parsons 56). According to Freedom House, Singapore is classified as “not free” (Freedom House); supporting this conclusion is Singapore’s rank as 141st free out of 169 in Reporters Without Borders’ “Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007” (Reporters Without Borders). The company MediaCorp, which has state ties, holds a monopoly over the media (McDaniel 167). Media strives to “support government policies for nation building” (Goonasekera 232).

In 1988, Goh Chok Tong, the then First Deputy Prime Minister, set “Five Shared Values” in order to establish unity as a state in everyday life; these values, which are upheld by the media, are “nation before community and society before self; family as the basic unit of society; community support and respect for the individual; consensus, not conflict; and racial harmony and religious harmony” (Moeran 84). These values imply to the media that dissent is not acceptable and that media that is dispersed should agree with governmental policies. People have taken to these values; 51.8% of internet users in Singapore are concerned about the internet’s political content being uncensored and 42.1% of non-internet users agreed (Kuo 55). The government justifies this media control by saying “Freedom is relative, not absolute, not universal and not ‘inherent’. There is no freedom without responsibility” and that “It is the government, elected with the mandate of the people, which defines the responsibility of the press and limits of its freedom” (Goonasekera 223).

These stats make the country seem much like a small China. As the Chinese speaker Jing Ning spoke about in our Global News class, people are so ingrained with this ideology that they feel it is normal and do not speak out against it. In addition, Singapore even secures its ideologies by giving its supporters 200 times the managerial power in news rooms through licensing under the Printing Presses Act of 1974 (Goonasekera 234).

One can see, for example, that in the May 7 Singapore headlines for Channel News Asia, all stories present Singapore in a positive, nation-building light:

• Singapore sends off first batch of relief supplies to Myanmar
• Witness says Myanmarese were simply not prepared for cyclone
• Disruptions to Myanmar networks leave S'poreans anxious about loved ones
• Interpreters now have new certification that sets industry standards
• Ministry says no Singaporean hurt or killed in Myanmar
• Singapore companies in Myanmar working to resume operations
• COEs drop sharply across the board, except for motorcycles
• Radio presenter's death comes as a shock
• SSC launches campaign to get more people involved in sports
• Jamu, turtle eggs seized from ship
• 18th European Film Festival opens

I wonder how and when Singapore will be able to break this cycle and open their public sphere.

By: Brittany Behrman

Sources:
Goonasekera, A., Ito, Y. (1999). "Mass Media and Cultural Identity: Ethnic Reporting
in Asia". London: Pluto Press.
Kuo, E.C.Y., Choi, A., Mahizhnan, A., Peng, L. W., Soh, C. (2002). "Internet in
Singapore: A Study on Usage and Impact". Singapore: Time Academic Press.
Moeran, B. (2001). "Asian Media Productions". Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Parsons, P. (2004). "Barriers to Media Development". In Merrill, John C. and de Beer, Arnold S. (Eds.), "Global Journalism: Topical Issues and Media Systems" (4th ed.) (50-65). Boston: Pearson Education Inc.