Stories about Media & Journalism from February, 2010
China: Red snippet campaign
The Chinese government encourages people to send positive message through SMS after banning dirty joke. DANWEI translated Southern Weekly's story on “Red snippets”.
Kazakhstan: About children and president's speech
The bloggers of Kazakhstan were talking about children and the President Nazarbayev's annual address to the nation. The kids topic, probably, aroused from the news about the death of Casey Johnson, heiress of the multi-national pharmaceuticals empire Johnson&Johnson, whose daughter Ava Monroe was adopted from Kazakhstan in 2007. Thousand-pa says...
Uzbekistan: President Karimov's thoughts about media
Recently President Karimov again mentioned about leading role of mass-media in Uzbekistan. Considering sensitivity of this issue and increasing cases of pressure on independent journalists (i.e. thos who don’t work in the official media), Uzbek leader called local media toothless, reports Vesti.uz [RU]. According to Islam Karimov, today’s conditions have...
Two Vietnam websites blocked
The Vietnam government is accused of blocking two popular websites. The authors of the two websites, bauxitevietnam.info and blogosin.org, are opposed to several government policies.
Russia: Another Newspaper Web Site Attacked
One of the most influential Russian business newspapers Vedomosti has been experiencing DoS-attacks [EN] for at least four days, Lenta.ru reported [RUS]. This is the second DoS-attack on the major newspaper's Web site in 2010. A Web site of an oppositional weekly Novaya Gazeta has also been attacked earlier [ENG].
Last chance to nominate blogs for BoBs Award
Deutsche Welle's Best of the Blogs Awards is accepting nominations until February 14th! Nominate blogs in any country. There are special topics for climate change and freedom of expression.
Haiti: On Orphans
“There are a small handful of beautiful programs working in Haiti to raise orphans to adulthood and teaching them to give back to their country. It takes a lot to pull that off. It takes strong and committed Haitian leadership”: The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog calls for a balanced perspective on...
Belize: Borderline
Belizean reports that the country's Prime Minister “has urged caution on the part of Belize Defense Force army activities on the southern border with Guatemala” in the context of an ongoing border dispute.
China: Statistic on 2009 Internet events
ESWN translated a statistical report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on the most popular 2009 Internet events in China.
Egypt: Blogger loses job for uncovering fake virginity story
Egyptian blogger and journalist Amira Al Tahawi got fired for blowing the whistle over a fabricated story on the Chinese artificial hymen kit in a post she wrote on her blog, claim bloggers. Here are reactions from the Egyptian blogosphere on the incident.
Lebanon: Bloggers push for Daily Star revamp
Lebanese bloggers are waging an online campaign to push the country's only English online newspaper to revamp its website. One blogger even takes the effort to redesign a mock - which his colleagues hope will prompt a change at The Daily Star, turning the "1920's Russian steam boat" into a 21st century cruise liner.
Haiti: Why All The Stories About Orphans?
A month after a seven-point earthquake destroyed much of southern Haiti, the fate of children, and particularly orphans, has become the main story in many corners. But Haitian voices on the topic have been few...
Trinidad & Tobago: “The Garden Want Water”
This Beach Called Life and kid5rivers comment on the fact that while the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago are on water rations, the Prime Minister's lawn was being liberally watered.
China: The end of 32-year-long football “Korea-phobia”?
China’s football (soccer) team beat South Korea by 3-0 in the East Asian Men’s Football Championship in Tokyo on Wednesday. The victory created a storm of euphoria among China’s sports fans and netizens, as South Korea stood at the heart of Chinese football’s decades of embarrassment, corruption and failures. For...
Ukraine: Media Reactions to Election Outcome
Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog reviews the response to the outcome of the Ukrainian election in the Western media – and by one Russian columnist.
Pakistan: PTA Blocks President's ‘Shut-Up’ Video
YouTube.com recently faced intermittent reports of irregular inaccessibility across various ISP's in Pakistan. It turned out that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had placed an URL-specific ban on one particular video of the President's speech in a rally.
Taiwan: Presidential Office curbs foreign press
The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato writes that the Presidential Office has excluded foreign reporters from monthly briefings on ECFA. The post includes a letter of protest from the President of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club to the Presidential Office.
Trinidad & Tobago: Parenting & Carnival
“Yes carnival is here, the greatest show on earth. The music, the [mas], the freedom and…babies at fetes”: Media Callaloo is appalled at the irresponsibility of some of the parents in Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad & Tobago: Working for the Tourist Dollar?
The Liming House is incensed by a campaign from Virgin Atlantic designed to “help the Caribbean”: “Both Virgin and the Travel Foundation appear to think that the only opportunities for ‘disadvantaged youth’ in the Caribbean are in ‘craft making, beekeeping and fishing.’ Gosh, development has just passed those backward-but-smiling natives...
Arab World: Should the New York Times Reassign Ethan Bronner?
Over the past couple of weeks, a much-discussed topic in the broader Arab blogosphere has been a news story that broken by a member of the blogosphere itself. On January 25, the Electronic Intifada (EI) reported that the son of Ethan Bronner, New York Times' Jerusalem bureau chief, had recently been inducted into the Israeli Defense Forces. Arab bloggers discuss the case.
Trinidad & Tobago: Radio Face-Off
Underground Trini Artiste thinks that Facebook is the new radio.
