· May, 2008

Stories about Media & Journalism from May, 2008

Brazil: Visible and Invisible Indians and Scoops

  31 May 2008

Brazilian Indians were in the spotlight of world media this week. From the images of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, to the enraged protest caught on camera against the building of dams along the Xingu River in the Amazon basin where an official of Brazil’s national electric company got slashed by traditional machetes and clubs.

Ukraine, Russia: Personae Non Gratae

On May 12, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was declared persona non grata in Ukraine, following his calls for Russia to take ownership of Sevastopol, a Ukrainian Black Sea naval port. On May 15, Russia denied entry to Vladyslav Kaskiv, one of the leaders of the 2004 protests in Kyiv and member of the Our Ukraine/People's Self-Defense faction in the Ukrainian parliament. LJ user varfolomeev66, a Russian journalist, compares the two cases.

China: Sharon Stone on Earthquake

  31 May 2008

Lam Kay pointed out that the mainstream media had mistranslated[zh] Sharon Stone's comment on Sichuan earthquake and caused a lot of misunderstandings in the Chinese world.

Brazil: Struggling to deliver the deeper messages

  30 May 2008

“It's incredibly interesting to see how differently the same event can be reported. That was certainly the case last week when the Indians gathered to protest the building of dams along the Xingu River in the Amazon basin”. Lou Gold takes a look at the Brazilian mainstream media and compares...

Bangladesh: Compromised Media

  30 May 2008

Ever since Bangladesh was put under a state of emergency by an interim government supported by the military it was a testing time for Bangladesh media. The credibility of Bangladesh’s Bangla and English-language press is in question as their recent role seems biased and appeasing. This post discusses the degrading situation of the Bangladeshi media.

Armenia: Bigoted Journalism

Blogian comments on the misrepresentation of the words of a journalist partly of Turkish descent speaking in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, by the local pro-opposition A1 Plus news agency. The blog says that a combination of factors such as anti-Turkish sentiment and sexism might have something to do with what...

Hong Kong: School Girl Punished for Mean Earthquake Comment

  29 May 2008

A school girl wrote down her lack of feelings on the Sichuan earthquake in her blog. Netizens found out her identity and she was force to make public apology. Her school also decided give her a demerit. The incident is recorded at evchk [zh]. Yeung Sir (a teacher) wrote at...

Japan: NHK on Youtube

  29 May 2008

Serkan Toto from Asiajin reported that Japan’s public broadcaster NHK started putting contents online on a NHK channel on Youtube.

Guyana: We the Bloggers

  29 May 2008

“You know that feeling you get when somebody compliment you but they slip in a few digs, so you end up puzzled?” A newspaper editorial compares news-blogs and traditional media, leaving Guyana-Gyal to comment: “Go on, you bloggahs you…give yourself a pat…for sharing your stories, histories, thoughts…and for bringing world-citizens...

Romania: Corruption

Transatlantic Politics writes about corruption in Eastern and Central Europe: “A survey made amongst Romanian judges showed that most of them don’t consider corruption as being a serious crime.”

Russia: “Medialogia”

Scraps of Moscow writes about Russian politics and the media: “Sometimes, though, mediologists, not meteorologists, are the best way of trying to figure out which way the political winds are blowing on a given week.”

Georgia: Election Dissent

Steady State is critical of the outcome of last week’s parliamentary election in Georgia. The blog also criticizes the Western media and international observers for being more concerned with foreign rather than domestic policy issues.

Cuba: Free Speech?

  28 May 2008

Child of the Revolution sees the irony of the editor of Granma calling for a further restriction on freedom of speech laws in Cuba: “Instead of demanding greater freedom of speech – as any half-decent editor would – Barredo is demanding that the existing laws be tightened further so the...