Stories about Freedom of Speech from February, 2010
Ukraine: Presidential Election Roundup
Tetyana Vysotska of What's Up, Ukraine? and Leigh Turner, UK Ambassador to Ukraine, post their “guesstimations” for the outcome of the Feb. 7 presidential election; Tammy Lynch of Jamestown Foundation Blog writes about a raider attack on the printing company “responsible for producing ballots” and the Feb. 1 TV debate...
Ukraine: Crimean Tatar Newspapers Going Offline
Window on Eurasia writes about the gradual disappearance of the online editions of Crimean Tatar newspapers.
Russia: Another Video Blogger Arrested
Grigoriy Chekalin, a former deputy prosecutor of Uhta region, who published [RUS] a YouTube video where he accused local official in falsification of investigation materials regarding a fire in a local mall, has been arrested [RUS] by the Russian police. Chekalin is being accused of providing false information to investigators.
Georgia, Russia, France: First Caucasian
Media Network blog of Radio Netherlands Worldwide writes about the Georgian-owned, Russian-language First Caucasian TV channel, whose satellite broadcasts have recently been interrupted – here and here. And here's Eternal Remont‘s take on the situation.
Russia: Rallies and Arrests
Opposition activist Oleg Kozlovsky writes about the protests that took place in Russia last week. Photographer Oleg Klimov reports (RUS) on the detention of a photography student Natalya Yeryomina at the Jan. 31 rally in Moscow.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Twitter Diplomacy
With a peaceful resolution to the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh as elusive as ever, Armenians and Azerbaijanis are unable to visit each other’s country or communicate through traditional means such as telephone or mail. Can new and social media step in to fill the gap to break the information blockade?
Global Voices and Google announce freedom of expression award jury
The Breaking Borders Award is a new prize created by Google and Global Voices and supported by Thomson Reuters to honor outstanding web projects initiated by individuals or groups that demonstrate courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression. We are proud to announce our...
Morocco: Where Independent Media is No More
Le Journal Hebdomadaire, an irreverent Moroccan independent weekly news magazine has ceased to exist, crippled by debt and heavy libel fines. Magazine founders say they have been victims of an orchestrated government attack aimed at financially asphyxiating the publication. Bloggers and media freedom watchdogs have been commenting the development.
Russia: Anti-Government Protest Covered By Bloggers, Ignored By Media
While the largest anti-government protest in Russia of the past decade is being largely ignored by the country's mainstream media, the blogosphere is boiling with numerous posts on the rally and its possible implications.
Russia: Blogger Warns Of Possible Dam Destruction
The Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant [EN] in Siberia might not survive the spring, blogger Dmitri Verkhoturov writes [RUS]. He provides pictures of an ice crust spread over the dam barrier. In August 2009, one of the turbines at the plant, the sixth-largest in the world, broke apart [EN], which led...
China: Survey on Chinese Twitter users
Kenengba conducted a Chinese Twitter user survey on Jan 27 2010. Apart from mapping out the background of Chinese twitterers, the blogger wants to find out why Chinese netizens take all the trouble to get around the Great Fire Wall for getting access to Twitter. He received around 1,000 responses...
Cuba: Trudging On
“I feel a terror that almost doesn’t let me type, but I want to tell those who today threatened me and my family, that when one reaches a certain level of panic, higher doses don’t make any difference. I will not stop writing, or Twittering; I have no plans to...
China: Anti-peaceful evolution and information freedom
Geremie R. Barmé from China Beat contextualizes the recent debate between China and U.S on Internet freedom around Google incident under the CCP's struggle against the peaceful evolution of its political system back in 1959 and 1989.
