Stories about Media & Journalism from April, 2011
Kazakhstan: Bloggers Keep an Eye on Floods as Official Media Keep Quiet
Two large cities in Kazakhstan are suffering from major floods, situated in the centers of two provinces – Uralsk in the western part of the country and Ust-Kamenogorsk in the east. Official media and many private publications have not provided a full picture of the disaster, and the real scope of damage is not being told. Bloggers have led the coverage of the situation, taking field trips with photo and video cameras, and providing assistance to the people.
Central Asia: Finalists of BarCamp Ideas Market
Global Voices has already provided an overview of BarCamp Central Asia, which took place on 15-17 April, 2011 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In this post we would like to give our readers a closer look at online projects, developed by young bloggers and IT specialists from Central Asia. BarCamp Ideas Market - a special section of the event was dedicated to new ideas and future Internet trends in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Cuba: Reaching the Limit
Cuban bloggers weigh in on Raul Castro's recent announcement of term limits for leadership of the country.
Philippines: Mosquito Press
The Mosquito Press is an online publication that satirizes Filipino public figures, government offices, mainstream press, commercial products, and media practitioners, among many others. Some of its victims include the Philippine President, a major broadsheet and a TV company.
Russia: Pullitzer prize for corruption coverage
Putin Watcher draws attention to two New York Times journalists winning the Pullitzer Prize for their coverage of Russian state corruption.
How China reports the Arab world
David Bandurski from China Media Project has translated al-Jazeera‘s chief correspondent, Ezzat Shahrour's excellent blog post raising questions on Chinese media's reports on the Arab world.
Central Asia: Ideas and Innovations of BarCamp Central Asia
The fourth educational non-commercial conference for professionals in social media (BarCamp Central Asia) took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, 15-17 April, 2011, bringing together journalists and bloggers, IT and media specialists, web-developers and everyone connected with the Internet and new media.
Ukraine: Kyiv Post Editorial Staff on Strike
Democratist writes about the situation with Kyiv Post, an English-language newspaper whose staff went on strike last week to protest the publisher's decision to fire the editor-in-chief over the publication of an interview with the Ukrainian minister of agriculture.
Uzbekistan: President's daughter sues French publication
Joshua Foust opines on the news that the daughter of Uzbekistan’s authoritarian ruler Islam Karimov filed suit against the French website Rue89.com over an article that identified her father as a dictator and characterized her charity work as an attempt to whitewash the Uzbek repressive regime.
India: The Pitiful State Of Indian Television
Sujoy at OneKnightStand.Net discusses about five issues that are responsible for the present pitiful state of Indian Television.
Ukraine: UkrTelecom's “Shady” Privatisation
Foreign Notes writes – here, here, and here – on last month's sale of “a 92.79 percent stake in Ukraine's telecom monopoly, Ukrtelecom” – apparently, Ukraine's yet “another shady privatisation” deal.
Egypt: Gene Sharp Taught Us How To Revolt!
Last February, The New York Times wrote an article about the political science professor, Gene Sharp, whose ideas were credited as being an inspiration for the Egyptian revolution, as well as many other uprisings in the region. Egyptian netizens respond to the claim with the hashtag on Twitter.
Sri Lanka: Threats Continue Against News Web Site
Freedom Of Expression In Sri Lanka informs via Net working for rights in Sri lanka (NfR), an exile network for media and human rights in Sri Lanka, that threats are still being made to staffs and well wishers of the news site Lanka e-news. Bennet Rupasinghe, the editor of Lanka...
Kenya: Citizen Journalism of the Kibera News Network
Young people in Kibera, Kenya, which is known to some as Africa's largest slum, are determined to show a different face of the place where they live. With video cameras in hand, they scout the streets for stories to show the world how Kibera sees itself.
Jamaica: Vampire Humour
With the help of Trinidadian artist Christopher Cozier, Active Voice reveals another dimension to the recent Vybz Kartel cartoon controversy.
Brazil: The Biggest Brazilian Newspaper Violates Labour Rights
The biggest Brazilian newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, violates labour rights for its journalists, says [pt] Altamiro Borges in his blog. Borges enumerates some of the “failures“: besides not having contracts, journalists are being underpaid or even not paid for working overtime.
Cuba: Targeting Bloggers?
“The personal freedoms of members of the alternative blogosphere are at risk after the official media publicly accused them of being mercenaries”: Laritza Diversent says that referring to bloggers in this way is “completely groundless”, adding: “It is very possible that, by using the State-controlled media, they are preparing an...
Russia: Regional FSB Tries to Prosecute Blogger for Anti-Putin Photo
Kasparov.ru writes [ru] about the case of Georgiy Sarkisyan, leader of Orel city United Civil Front. Sarkisyan had posted a photo [ru] with a slogan “Putin – pid…z” (an offensive word for homosexual male). After that Orel city Federal Security Service filed a complaint in order to start a criminal...
Malaysia: Cyber Attacks Shut Down Independent News Website
Malaysiakini, an independent news portal in Malaysia, has been inaccessible since Tuesday 12 April, 2011, after being targeted by cyber attacks. The attacks came a few days before an important state election in Sarawak.
Thailand: Censorship video
Jon Russell interviews ‘Madastro’, a young Thai student who made a video about censorship in Thailand. The video has already generated more than 100,000 hits on YouTube.
Brazil: The Wikicity of Porto Alegre
PortoAlegre.cc [pt] is a platform for “understanding, debating, inspiring and transforming [Porto Alegre]” based on the concept of Wikicity. The platform was designed in the Brazilian university Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos) as a way to ensure that everyone's “voices are heard to discuss concerns of the city.”
