Stories about Media & Journalism from March, 2011
Jamaica: The Sea & Radioactivity
“The news out of Japan gets grimmer by the day”: Labrish Jamaica is concerned.
Haiti: Monsanto's Agenda
Haiti Grassroots Watch takes “a closer look” at Monsanto's seed distribution in the wake of last year's devastating earthquake.
Cuba: Meeting Carter
The Cuban Triangle summarizes former President Jimmy Carter's visit to Cuba, while Generation Y blogs about their meeting and the symbolic gift she gave him “in the name of several bloggers and other Cubans.”
Macedonia, Bulgaria: Facing Hate Speech
Two NGOs, from Macedonia and from Bulgaria, have published an analysis of the Macedonian-Bulgarian hate speech in the traditional and new media.
Mexico: Drug Trafficking in Mexican Media vs. US Media
Gancho argues that “The contrast between the pessimism and obsessiveness of media coverage of drug trafficking in Mexico with the relative ignorance of the same in the US is striking. Especially with regard to American media–the Mexican outlets often seem to do a better job scanning the news wires for...
Colombia: The Lady of Colombian Television Dies
The blog Portal Vallenato reviews the death [es] of Gloria Valencia de Castaño [es] (1927 – 2011) from respiratory failure on March 24. Valencia pioneered radio and television projects in Colombia. She was known as “the lady of Colombian television” and as a major figure (as host, image and voice...
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Receives Press Freedom Award in Argentina
In response to the recent press freedom award given to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in Argentina, Greg Weeks at Two Weeks Notice writes: “I would like to propose that governments impose a moratorium on granting awards to people from other countries, particularly when those people show evidence of doing the...
Russia: Online Media 2010-2011 According to Yandex.ru
New Yandex.ru report "Media sphere of RuNet. September 2010 - January 2011" suggests that Russian online media are growing but still have a long way to go to become a truly developed reporting platform.
Russia: Blogger Translates Articles on Alexey Navalny
LJ user vadda translates from English into Russian two recent texts about Alexey Navalny, a prominent Russian anti-corruption activist: one text, by Andrew E. Kramer, appeared in the New York Times on March 27 (the Russian translation is here; 266 comments); the other, by Julia Ioffe, was published in the...
Azerbaijan: BBC Azeri & the potential of social media in the South Caucasus
whatwaswritten, Stealing news from Azerbaijan since 2011, translates and summarizes part of what was the last traditional radio broadcast from the Azerbaijani service of the BBC. As a result of cutbacks, BBC Azeri will now only be available online and its final program solicited various opinions on the potential of...
USA: Al Jazeera's Future
Sana of Arab-American blog KABOBfest remarks on a new academic paper that looks at Qatari channel Al Jazeera's future in the United States.
Philippines: TV Host Accused of Child Exploitation
Netizens from the Philippines want authorities to address what they believe was a case of child exploitation on prime time TV when a child was encouraged by a program host to present a sexy dance performance.
Haiti: Not Like Japan
Toussaint on Haiti has been avoiding news of the Japan earthquake for fear of “triggering sad memories”, noting that stories of recovery there “really b[ring] home…the dysfunction that exists in Haiti.”
Mexico: New (Dis)Agreement on Reporting Violence
On March 24, most of the biggest Mexican media outlets signed the "Agreement to Cover Violence in Mexico," an agreement that unifies the editorial criteria to cover and report news related to "the drug war." Many support and defend the document, but the text has also sparked strong disagreement and criticism.
Cuba: More on Carter
Cuban bloggers continue to comment on former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's visit.
Afghanistan: Leaked Photos Unveil “Repugnancies” Committed by US Army
On March 21, 2011, the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel released three horrific photos of Afghan civilians killed by a group of United States soldiers. Bloggers have reacted to the photos with shock and indignation.
Colombia: Controversy Over Photos of Minors Published by Adult Magazine
An article, titled "Let the children come to me" (referencing Mark 10:14), which includes photos from an exhibition by photographer Mauricio Vélez depicting staged scenes of nude underage boys (or models pretending to be minors) being watched by actors dressed as Catholic priests has caused controversy both offline and online.
Jamaica: Passing the Buck
“To date, the Enquiry has been fascinating and compelling TV”: Jamaica and the World reports on the latest developments in the Manatt Dudus Enquiry, which “involved politicians placing the blame on public servants/civil service employees.”
Swaziland: Anger at revolution snub
The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) has criticized the reporting of the proposed ‘uprising’ against the government on 12 April 2011 by the Times of Swaziland: “In particular, it takes issue with comments attributed to Dr Judy Smith Hohn of the Institute for Security Studies, in South Africa.”
Puerto Rico: Interview of La Acera's team
Listen to the interview of the team behind the collective blog La Acera [es] in which they talk about the Puerto Rican blogosphere, and the Internet as a potential space of media democratization, and the way they work in editorial terms.
An Interview with Andy Carvin
With 40,000 Twitter followers and a dedicated stream of local sources, Andy Carvin has become a first stop on Twitter for news throughout the Middle East and North Africa. In this interview with Carvin--an early Global Voices contributor and current NPR strategist--we find out how he uses Twitter to spread the news.
