Stories about Media & Journalism from July, 2009
Cuba: Political Prisoners
Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense reports that while one former political prisoner has started a blog, another Cuban human rights activist “faces up to 8 years in prison if convicted of trumped-up charges of assault and receiving stolen property.”
Barbados: Corruption Legislation Needed
“It doesn’t matter how many tens of millions of dollars are missing at the end of a major project, no one ever goes to jail”: Barbados Free Press suggests that part of the problem is that “Barbados lacks the laws and the codified standards necessary to prosecute public officials for...
Trinidad & Tobago: Media Meekness
B.C. Pires recalls a radio show he used to host in the context of falling journalistic standards in Trinidad and Tobago: “From that thin end of the wedge we have reached this stage, where the Prime Minister can make the most foolish statements completely unchallenged – and the Media Association...
Egypt: Fox News Creative Chaos
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia reacts to a mistake on Fox News, where Egypt is placed on a map instead of Iraq. Our Morocco author Jillian C York makes a similar observation here.
Pakistan: Citizen Media Vs. Print Media
Hina Safdar at Chowrangi informs of a recent dispute between a blog vs. some journalists. The pkpolitics.com blog exposed some journalists on various corruption issues and some of them responded by publishing articles in a Pakistan daily.
Trinidad & Tobago: PM vs. the Media
As the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago declares that the media is against him, KnowProSE.com says: “My olive branch for the Prime Minister would be, ‘You fix the government, we'll fix the media.’ But the point is that he isn't fixing the government…”, while This Beach Called Life sums...
Jamaica: Doping Athletes?
Girl With a Purpose reports on five Jamaican track and field athletes “who have been found with traces of a banned substance in their urine.”
Belarus, Russia: Bloggers React to Graphic Chechen War Video
On July 3, Belarusian blogger Tatsiana Elavaya posted a provocative video showing the assassination of captive Russian soldiers by Chechen guerrillas during the 1999 war in Chechnya. The video had been available elsewhere before, but when Tatsiana posted it on her blog, the reaction of the Cyrillic blogosphere was unprecedented.
Africa: New dates for African Bloggers Conference announced
New dates for African Bloggers Conference, Kelele ‘09, have been announced. Kelele ‘09 was scheduled for August 13th-16th, 2009. The conference, which will bring together African bloggers for the first time, will now take place from 29th October - 1st November 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Trinidad & Tobago: Thoughts on Alleged Plot
Of the alleged plot to assassinate the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, This Beach Called Life says: “Strangely, no one has been arrested even though the Papa claims he knows which group likes him the least.”
Ecuador: Woman Attempts to Auction Virginity Online in Spain
An Ecuadorian immigrant living in Valencia, Spain decided to put her virginity up for an online auction to help pay for medical care for her ailing mother. The ads were eventually taken down, not without attracting strong reactions in blogs and in mainstream media from those criticizing her actions and also brought focus on the plight of immigrants in Spain.
Trinidad & Tobago: Mother Earth
“It’s not how many tractors you have or how much oil you drill or how many smelters you build. But the humanity and the humility of what you do with your knowledge and your resources”: Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer fears that we will pay for the “gross and sloppy mishandling...
Trinidad & Tobago: Assassination Attempt?
The Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister has revealed an alleged plot to assassinate him a few years ago, prompting diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch to call the claim “a serious piece of dotishness.”
Cuba, U.S.A.: Cabot Journalism Prize
Generation Y has been awarded the Cabot Prize by Columbia University and pledges to use its “prestige and protection…to continue to grow the Cuban blogosphere.”
Lebanon: Saudi Spills Beans on Show
A Lebanese television show is in danger of being taken off the air “after a Saudi man participated in the show and spilled out all his romantic escapades, which are all out of wedlock,” reports Waleg. The Saudi man is also being threatened with jail.
Caribbean: On Henry Gates Jr.
Caribbean bloggers are still abuzz about the Henry Gates arrest: Jamaican diaspora blogger Pamela Mordecai, 21 Square and Catch a fire from Bermuda and Weblog Bahamas.
Jamaica: Gladys Bustamante Passes On
Repeating Islands acknowledges the passing of 97-year-old Gladys Bustamante, “the widow of Jamaica’s first prime minister and a fierce supporter of women’s and workers’ rights.”
Trinidad & Tobago: LGBT Rights
As Emancipation Day approaches, Trinidad and Tobago blog gspottt focuses on human rights, observing that “in the Anglophone Caribbean, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender often intersect with other socio-economic conditions.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Anti-People?
“The Prime Minister is on record for saying that despite what the people think he will proceed with the [aluminium smelter]. Despite what people think. And the environmentalists, those crazy people who want to sustain the environment longer so that we can sustain ourselves…are ‘anti-people'?” Trinidadian blogger Taran Rampersad takes...
Barbados, Guyana: Immigration Debate
As reactions to the government's clampdown on illegal immigrants goes “off the boil”, Barbados Underground “condemns…the holier than thou attitude which President Jagdeo of Guyana and his cronies have directed at Barbados.”
China: The New York Times Enrages Netizens
C. Custer from China Geeks reported on anti-CNN's criticism on the New York Times’ misleading photo captions concerning the Urumqi riot.
