· February, 2009

Stories about Media & Journalism from February, 2009

Azerbaijan: Popular website back — minus forum

After several days of closure, the popular semi-independent Azerbaijani news and discussion website, Day.az, is back. However, raising additional questions about its brief disappearance, the site's forum — known for its open and somewhat democratic discussion — is not.

28 February 2009

Japan: Bloggers on the Nakagawa affair

Over a week has passed since now-infamous footage of Japan's former finance minister Shōichi Nakagawa stumbling through a 20 minute speech at the G7 meeting in Rome made world headlines and hit the top of YouTube charts. In this post I feature a handful of responses to the speech by Japanese bloggers.

27 February 2009

Japan: Alpha Blogger Awards 2008 (Part 2)

Starting December 24th, the Alpha Blogger website called for people to nominate 1-3 blog entries written in 2008 that had affected them the most. Mid-term results were announced on January 16th, and voting was open until February 18th. The second half of this year's winners are featured in this post.

27 February 2009

Jamaica, Guyana: Action or Reaction?

Both Active Voice [Jamaica] and Guyanese blogger C.D. Valere (writing at Baiganchoka) continue the discussion about recent attempts by the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission to “clean up” the airwaves.

26 February 2009

Japan: Alpha Blogger Awards 2008 (Part 1)

On the 20th of February, the 2008 Alpha Blogger Awards were held in Tokyo. Sponsored by Pringles Chips, the event this year was attended by close to 80 people (including the team of GV Japan), awarding prizes to the twelve posts from the Japanese blogosphere in 2008 that received the most votes on the ABA site.

25 February 2009

Fiji: Samoan PM criticisizes Fiji's government

Bloggers in Fiji and around the Pacific are remarking on recent comments by Samoa’s Prime Minister harshly criticizing Fiji’s military government. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said in an interview that he believes Fiji’s self appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has no intention of relinquishing power. He also called on the people of Fiji to reclaim its government

25 February 2009

China: Control 2.0 Mastermind

David Bandurski from China Media Project gave more background about the propaganda event in the “eluding the cat” case, especially on the mastermind behind the control 2.0 strategy.

25 February 2009

Pakistan: Media Responsible

Thinking Out of the Box blames irresponsible journalism by a section of Pakistani media for the current state of affairs in Pakistan.

24 February 2009

Cuba: One Year Later

Blog for Cuba says that one year after Cuba signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Personal Rights, “human rights...

24 February 2009

Blog Plagiarism hits Egyptian Bloggers

Is there such a thing as blog plagiarism? Egyptian bloggers argue both sides of the fence on Facebook and on their blogs after a newspaper started quoting bloggers - without their permission, reports Marwa Rakha.

23 February 2009

Global: Convoy to Gaza Makes History

History was made yesterday in the Maghreb as a convoy headed from the UK to Gaza was allowed to pass through the border between Morocco and Algeria, which has been closed for nearly 15 years. The border closed in 1994 after Morocco suspected Algerian involvement in the attack of a Marrakesh hotel.

23 February 2009