Stories about Media & Journalism from November, 2008
Trinidad & Tobago, U.K.: McDonald Signs Off
Discover TnT Blog pays tribute to Trinidad-born journalism icon Sir Trevor McDonald, who “has stepped down from ITN's main nightly news programme.”
Jamaica, Barbados, T&T: Bolt is Athlete of the Year
Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has been chosen as the International Athletic Foundation's ‘Athlete of the Year'; regional bloggers congratulate him.
France Antilles news website launched
le blog de [moi] writes about the launch of a new, daily news website for the French Antilles[fr], featuring the latest from Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyane: “What joy! Yes, pure and simple joy, because it was really ridiculous not to use [the internet] at a time when everything is going...
Afghanistan: Meeting Sayed Pervez Kambakhsh
Nasim Fekrat, an independent Afghan journalist, met with imprisoned journalism student Sayed Pervez Kambakhsh in Pul-e Charkhi prison. He seemed disappointed and desperately waved at me. Only for a few seconds I got closer to him, closer to hear him, which was difficult because of the noise. Suddenly my left...
DRC: Didace Namujimbo Radio Okapi Journalist Murdered
Cedric Kalonji writes about the tragic shooting death of Didace Namujimbo [Fr], the second Radio Okapi journalist to be murdered in Bukavu: “After learning this news, I was torn between pain, sadness and anger. I asked myself how a democracy can last in a country so visibly allergic to independent, professional journalists....
Russia: The Plight of Journalism
As the West continues to turn attention to the Politkovskaya case, Foreign Policy Association's Russia Blog gives focus to the plight of Mikhail Beketov, editor of the obscure Khimki Pravda.
Trinidad & Tobago: Belt-Tightening
About seven months after the global food crisis was showing up on people's radar and two months after the global financial crisis made headlines, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister decided that the time was right to address the nation regarding the state of the economy. The money quote of the speech was "Tighten your belts" - and bloggers have had a lot to say about the subject.
Egypt: First Human Rights Film Festival
Seven films about human rights are being showcased at the first Cairo Human Rights Film Festival, which continues until Thursday (November 27). Marwa Rakha previews blogger reactions on the event.
Cuba: Hurricane Aftermath
Generation Y takes a road trip to Cuba's Pinar del Rio and is even more convinced that “we have to avoid letting our tendency to forget cover up the situation…we have to go to the affected areas, deliver aid directly, and record the testimonies there. The hurricane-force winds are still...
Haiti, U.S.A.: Changing Times
jmc strategies, on learning that Haitian-American Patrick Gaspard is pegged to become Obama's White House Political Director, says: “Congratulations are in order for a young man who has achieved much and deserves much. Times have indeed changed in America.”
Japan: Bloggers debate prohibition of cannabis
Starting with the case of two sumo wrestlers who tested positive for marijuana at the beginning of September and continuing with the announcement last week by Waseda University that three students were arrested over suspicions of growing cannabis, scandals related to the use of cannabis have topped the headlines in the media over the last few weeks in Japan.
Lithuania: Flaws of foreign media election coverage
Lituanica criticises an article in the German Times for misrepresenting results of the recent parliamentary elections in Lithuania, in portraying parties as Eurosceptic.
Iran:”No blog action for Gaza”
Iranian FarsNews, a conservative and semi official site, reports[fa] that Iranian bloggers including Islamist ones, did not cover news about humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip.
Egypt: Uproar as Lawyer Suggests Raping Israeli Women
Voice of Egypt is ashamed of Egyptian Lawyer Nagla Al Imam, the same lawyer who made Egyptians angry, for encouraging Arab men to sexually harass Israeli women during her interview on Al Arabia TV (Ar). Marwa Rakha translates from Arabic.
Armenia/Azerbaijan: Journalists Under Attack
Beaten in Armenia and imprisoned in Azerbaijan, journalists in the ex-Soviet South Caucasus know the price of freedom. Some of them are even fighting from prison cells, wrestling state persecution and challenging societal intolerance for dissent. Bloggers tell the story of free speech in the South Caucasus.
Russia: Newspaper Warned off for Extremism
Finrosforum draws attention to Russian authorities warning mainstream newspaper Vedomosti against publishing extremist content.
Denmark: “Deep Linking” Under Fire by Newspaper Publishers
Blogging journalists in Denmark are up in arms over a renewed effort by Danish newspaper publishers to stop websites like Google News from linking to individual articles rather than a newspaper's homepage. They call this “deep linking”, and it is precisely what bloggers usually do. Regardless of what is considered normal practice around the world, the Danish Association of Newspaper Publishers insist they only want homepage links.
China: Baidu's new scandal.
CCTV reported that Baidu, referred to as China's Google, had accepted money from illegal medical companies and placed their Web links on top of search results. Baidu’s marketing employees were also reported to have the knowledge of these.The service is called page-rank bid and accounts for more than 80% of...
Hungary, Slovakia: Tense Relationship
On Nov. 15, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart, Ferenc Gyurcsány, met in the border town of Komárno, Slovakia, in an attempt to ease nationalist tensions that have escalated due to Nov. 1 football game violence in Dunajská Streda, Slovakia. Eva S. Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum has been blogging a lot recently about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, and here are some of the highlights.
Anguilla, The Cayman Islands: Children's Rights
“Child abuse and neglect is no less a serious and widespread problem in Anguilla than it is in the Cayman Islands”: Corruption-free Anguilla praises the efforts of a Caymanian woman who is asking that the government implement the recommendations of a report linked to the UN's Convention on the Rights...
Cuba: “Black Spring” Prisoners
Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense focuses the spotlight on two of the “Black Spring” political prisoners, here and here.
