pressfreedom – Page 2 – Citizen Reporter

Azeri Video Bloggers Update

A recent podcast on this site was dedicated to telling the story of the Azeri videobloggers/youth activists who were attacked, arrested and held on a hooliganism charge. At that time their sentence had still not been decided. In this past week the verdict was handed down, Emin 2.5 years, Adnan 2 years in prison.

In an analysis of this verdict and its impact on freedom of expression and the press, especially for bloggers and different types of citizen journalists, Ali asks the questions:

How do Azerbaijani youth activists and citizen journalists feel? Are they scared? Will this verdict cause them to be less outspoken and critical in the future?

According to Ali, when their sentence was handed down, Emin declared to the court that it was an honor for him to be imprisoned for his ideals.

Spied On, Arrested, and Deported

This month marks the beginning of a series in both text as well as podcasts, focusing on journalists of all kinds who have been stopped from doing their work. Whether they’ve been spied on, detained, deported or even murdered, the point of this series will be to shed more light on reporters and critical voices who have been targeted because of the work that they do.

The first case will come this week with the arrest of two Azeri video journalists in jail since July 8th when they were assaulted and arrested. Both Emin Milli and Adnan Hadji-zadeh are citizen journalists and were extremely active in organizing youth online before being taken in to custody. They’ve been charged with hooliganism, though it is not clear why or what that means in Azerbaijan. Their trial, which has generated international concern and criticism, has been repeatedly delayed.

Later this week my guest on the podcast will be Ali S. Novruzov, Azeri blogger and concerned citizen who has been following this issue since the beginning. Together we will talk about how this all happened, the situation for citizen journalists and journalists in general in Azerbaijan, and much more.

Argentine Media Law

The Argentine parliament passed a new media reform law last week that caused alot of controversy throughout the country and is also of interest for national media policy throughout the world.

The stated purpose and provisions of the law are not altogether unfamiliar ones, though in this era of dying newspapers and hyper consolidation of media companies, we don’t see them get put into effect very often. What am I talking about? Let me list the guts of the law, as I’ve understood it from both Argentine and international media channels, blogs, and tweets:

This new media law is meant to replace the existing one adopted during the military dictatorship of the 70’s and 80’s.
Two-Thirds of the Radio and TV spectrum will be reserved for non-commercial stations.
Establishes 7 member commission to oversee licensing, made up of 2 designated by the executive branch, three by congress, and 2 by a Federal body representing provincial governments.
Requires TV companies to carry channels operated by universities, union, indigenous groups and other non-governmental organizations.
Requires more frequent licensing approvals
70 percent of radio and 60 percent of tv content must be produced in Argentina.

This list is what I’ve compiled and understood as a non-native Spanish speaker who has never set foot in Argentina, though I have observed the political and social situation via the internet for the past decade. No doubt Argentines and critical observers on both sides will have different interpretations and details about the situation.

That said, putting aside the surrounding debate, the stated purpose and many of the provisions of the media law are interesting for anyone concerned about issues such as media consolidation, diversity, representation, non-profit journalism and culture. Such issues have long been debated within institutions like the European Parliament as well as national governments throughout the world. Many of the details within the text of this law were no doubt inspired by several European provisions that seek to nurture a diverse and dynamic public media sector.

On the other side there is concern about how this will be carried out in Argentina. The fear that this will empower the government in a dangerous manner and benefit only those with money who happen to be close to the executive branch. Others simply believe that the market should determine what happens to Argentine media, where for example the media corporation Clarin owns 44% of the media market share (more than 250 newspapers, radio stations, tv channels, cable stations). In their eyes this law is not only dangerous but it would severely damage their very successful and prestigious communication business.

While continuing to read and follow this issue, I will get in touch with some interesting people on the ground in Argentina who could join me for a podcast in an effort to learn more about what is happening with the world of media in that country.

bmtv101 Journalists Held in North Korea

cross posted on the Metroblogs Global Conspiracy

It has been more than a month since CurrentTV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained by North Korean authorities on the China-North Korea border. Yet relatively little has been made public about what their status is as well as what the US government or their media corporation is doing to ensure their fast and safe release. If convicted of the crime of entering the country illegally, they face something between 5 and 10 years in a North Korean prison. The following video entry explains the situation.

(click play on the viewer or the link below)

References in this video include:

Huffington Post on Laura Ling and Euna Lee’s arrest.

Reporters Without Borders

bm298 Imprisoned, Persecuted, and On the Air

Tucked away somewhere in the labyrinth of streets on the Asia side of Istanbul, you’d think you were walking into someone’s house until you notice that each room in this apartment is part of this modest radio station. Sitting in a sun room with windows overlooking this section of the city, sipping tea, I asked this producer from ?zg?r Radyo about how this radio station is alternative.? “Alternative to the government..” she began..

This interview is the 3rd in a series of podcasts focusing on alternative media in Turkey, this time focusing on radio and the struggle to bring forward minority voices.

Music

The Clash – Remote Control
The Roots – Rising Up

Please Note – Once again I’m experimenting with translation, this time I’ve left all the original audio in the recording, this means lots of Turkish – enjoy!

PRess Freedom Index 08

Hard to believe another year has gone by and it is time once again for the Reporters Without Borders PRess Freedom Index.

The list itself doesn’t contain anything too shocking compared to last year, but I went looking for countries that had experienced the most change in ranking. Lebanon, having had a relatively less violent year than last, jumped several spots to 67, which it shares with nations like East Timor which has also experienced slightly more stability this year. Meanwhile nations like Ivory Coast and Indonesia dropped down several spots to around 110, reasons for which I can only speculate stem from internal strife along political and ethnic lines.
RSF points out that economic prosperity does not equal a freer press, with the United States coming in at 36th tied with nations like South Africa and Bosnia. Or everyone’s favorite economic powerhouse, China, which comes in at 167.. a number one can only hope will be influenced somewhat this coming year as the government is said to be implementing more press freedom in the wake of the Olympics. Venezuela also continues to have a poor showing towards the bottom of the list, though its no surprise as the president there often gets involved in media politics.

The index features, with the exceptions of New Zealand and Canada, only European nations in the top 20. Immediately following in 21 and 22 there are the Caribbean/Central American nations of Jamaica and Costa Rica.

One final point on this year’s press freedom rankings, the list separates some nations by within territory and extra-territory or beyond its borders. This is very interesting to observe, for example Israel itself comes in at 46, whereas extra-terroritorial Israel, which includes Palestine where indeed a journalist was killed in the last year, they rank 149th. Along the same lines, the extra-territorial US is ranked 119. Which reminds me, Iraq is once again almost at the bottom of the list as, despite claims by many US politicians that things are going great, it is still extremely difficult to be a journalist in that country.
Those are my observations regarding the report, read the rest for yourself.