Stories about Media & Journalism from May, 2010
Russia: RT's Gay Pride Coverage
Julia Ioffe writes at True/Slant about RT's coverage of the upcoming gay pride parade in Moscow.
Puerto Rico: Second national strike in less than a year
The student movement and the strike they have sustained for almost a month at the main campus of the state-run University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and in 10 of the 11 campuses has catalyzed a massive social movement that has convened a national strike for today, May 18, 2010. As...
Taiwan: Expecting Youth Power of New Generation
Aboutfish, former senior journalist and now the founder of TaiwanGoodLife(online aggregator of citizen media), talks about the moments of democratic enlightenment in her youth life(zht). Like most Taiwanese born before 1980, she did not know any democratic movements and protests ever happened in Taiwan due to media and ideological control...
China: Blogger interrogated after criticizing Shanghai EXPO 2010
A blogger, A Bad Friend, was summoned by security police for interrogation over tea upon writing an article, 10 sins of EXPO 2010, on his blog. After the tea session, he wrote another article, “La Dernière Classe”, recording the conversation between the security police and himself. The exchange reflects the ideological conflict between a party-state nation represented by the security police and a people-orientated nation represented by the student blogger.
Russia: Pictures of Forest Fire
Photoblogger Igor Podgorny posts convincing pictures of the aftermath of the forest fire that is denied by Russian authorities.
Russia: “Novaya Gazeta” Down
The Web site of Russia's independent newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” seems to be down. As the newspaper's blog states, it's not a DDOS-attack but a hosting provider's issue due to the yesterday's rainstorm. However, the sudden blackout might be connected with the events in Kemerovo region.
Puerto Rico: In Solidarity
Repeating Islands reports that “public figures including musicians, singers, and sports personalities from Latin America and Spain” have sent messages of support to the students who are on strike at the University of Puerto Rico.
Trinidad & Tobago: Social Media Interaction
“This general election has seen the most social media usage in the history of Trinidad and Tobago”: KnowTnT.com says that while this is a positive development, “something is missing. Interaction.”
Barbados: PM Unwell
Bajan Global Report links to a report on the ill-health of the nation's Prime Minister, while Barbados Free Press blogs about an upcoming national day of prayer in his name.
Jamaica: Feeling It
Active Voice empathizes with her Prime Minister, “because this turn of events has nothing to do with him personally, or the Jamaica Labour Party for that matter. It's just the way the cookie crumbles in countries that are well on their way to being narco-democracies.”
China: Do Officials Really Fear the Internet?
Chinageeks picks up a local media debate on whether or not Chinese officials are afraid of Internet public opinion.
Russia: The Andrei Kolesnikov Mystery
Poemless discovers that the English-language Wikipedia article on Russian journalist Andrey Kolesnikov is misleading, and that there are actually two Russian journalists named Andrey/Andrei Kolesnikov, and both “cover high profile politicos and contribute to widely-read newspapers and other media outlets” – and “[t]hese Andrei Kolesnikovs are like good/evil twins or...
Russia: Pictures of Zombie Mob
Tons of fake blood, zombies, undead and other scary creatures invaded the main street of Moscow. Photos from the event called “Zombie Mob” can be found here, here and here.
Qatar: NYT's article draws fire from locals and residents alike
Shabina Khatri reports on rising tensions between locals and expats as Doha residents extol, protest New York Times depiction of Qataris as coddled, self-indulgent creatures, hated by the foreigners who live amongst them.
Zambia: Meet the founder of Media 365
Emeka writes about Mary Tembo of Media 365: “Mary and her sisters founded Youth Media that published the TrendSetters a magazine that won numerous international awards for encouraging honest discussion on matters lifestyle and health among the youth.”
Armenia: Banned TV station online
Following its removal from the airwaves by the authorities in April 2002 despite international outcry, and after already experimenting with short broadcasts via mobile, The Armenian Observer reports that A1 Plus has begun testing broadcasting online via Livestream.
Thailand: Protest blockade ends in violence
The attempt of the Thailand military to blockade the Red Shirt protest camp in Bangkok ended in violence with 16 people dead and hundreds injured. Here are liveblog and twitter reports from Bangkok.
Russia: First Cyrillic Domains Go Online
First Cyrillic domains officially went online on May 13 and caused different reactions among Russian Internet users. Many people still wonder what will be the consequences of this initiative.
Liberia: Founder and blog manage meet for first time
Ceasefire Liberia blog has its most exciting moment recently: “The most exciting moment in the history of Ceasefire Liberia took place as the founder of the Project, Ruthie Ackerman, and the Liberian blog manager, Nat Bayjay met for the first time ever at the Global Voices Summit in the Chilean...
Netherlands: Twitter campaign against violation of privacy
Dutch internet users have started a campaign on Twitter (@telegraafboycot) to boycott the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf [nl] after it violated the privacy of the sole survivor of the plane crash in Tripoli by interviewing the little boy by phone. The hashtag is #telegraafboycot.
Bermuda: Media Council
“I believe the Media Council bill is badly written, steeped in political motive, and an affront to freedom of the speech in Bermuda”: Vexed Bermoothes thinks the implementation of the proposed bill “is flawed for many reasons.”
