· June, 2013

Stories about Media & Journalism from June, 2013

‘Code For Japan’ in the Works

Among others, Haruyuki Seki, a software developer at Georepublic Japan[ja] and social media consultant Hiroyasu Ichikawa are currently working toward the launch of Code For Japan [ja], an organization that aims to...

30 June 2013

China's People's Daily Bashes American Political System

Fresh off its “Dishonest Americans" series, which claimed to offer an “objective picture of what real Americans are like”, the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece newspaper, the People's Daily, has shocked again with another attempt to bash the American political system.

28 June 2013

Father of China's Great Firewall to Quit His Job as University President

Fang Binxing, an information security expert nicknamed the “father of China’s Great Fire Wall”, has resigned as president of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. His abrupt decision to step down--made during a university commencement speech --has ignited uproar online and touched a nerve with China’s Internet-savvy community.

28 June 2013

Japanese Official Suspended Over Twitter Comment

A Japanese reconstruction official in charge of helping victims of the 2011 post-tsunami meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant has been taken off duty after sharp-eyed journalists unearthed tweets he wrote insulting area activists.

26 June 2013

Russian NGOs Learn to Invest in Paper Shredders

RuNet Echo

At 3AM, last Saturday, Russian riot police and private security raided the offices of one of the country's oldest human rights organizations. Those inside, including the group's leader, Lev Ponomarev, were forcibly evicted from the premises. Later, allegations arose that the group was involved in certain "unpatriotic" activities.

26 June 2013

Are Chinese Netizens a Bunch of Losers?

According to the 2013 China New Media Development Report released by China's News and Communications Research Center under China’s Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the majority of Weibo users are a group of “low...

26 June 2013

Podcast: Chinese Dissident's NYU Departure

Sinica Podcast hosts New Yorker correspondent Evan Osnos who talks about Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's departure from NYU, how the Snowden affair may or may not affect Sino-American diplomacy, and...

26 June 2013

Hacker Attacks on South and North Korea

Hacker collective Anonymous previously announced they will attack North Korean sites on June 25. But it took an unexpected turn as several major South Korean sites, including the website of...

25 June 2013

UFO Sighting in Kerala, India reported

Sans Serif reports that two south Indian newspapers carried out a story that an unidentified flying object (UFO) was sighted in Kannur district in Kerala, India. A commenter on the...

22 June 2013

One Dead as Massive Wave of Protests Sweeps Across Brazil

A young man was killed after he was hit by a car in Ribeirao Preto and dozens were hurt in confrontations with the police in Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador as more than a million people took to the streets of large and small cities throughout Brazil in the biggest protests seen in the country in two decades.

21 June 2013

The Kremlin's Kitchen Serves Up Russia's Free Press

RuNet Echo

Novaya Gazeta has implicated Vladimir Putin’s favorite restaurant owner in a bizarre scheme to defame several of the country’s most prominent news publications, involving a conspiracy to plant false information in different newspapers, in order to convince Russians that the news is for hire.

21 June 2013

Interview: “How Are Things in Bamako, Mali?”

At the time of writing, June 2013, France is still fighting Islamists in Mali. Paris-based Anne Morin and Awa Traoré, her friend in Bamako decided to share a video journal of their conversations on Skype on YouTube. Anne wanted to stay up to date with the region's news, and also with her friends. She told Global Voices' Anna Gueye more about this journal as well as her links with Mali.

19 June 2013

Ecuador Passes Controversial Communications Law

After almost four years of debate, the Ecuadorian National Assembly passed a controversial Law of Communications propelled by President Rafael Correa. While government authorities have celebrated the passage of the law, journalistic organizations and the opposition consider it a "gag" on freedom of expression in the country.

19 June 2013