tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86807587615440762932024-03-14T03:59:58.056-07:0020th Anniversary of the Windhoek DeclarationWPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-68727987831587899552011-07-26T23:57:00.000-07:002011-07-26T23:57:19.074-07:00Sudanese reporter jailed for rape story<div class="clr_left" style="text-align: justify;">Khartoum - A northern Sudanese court on Monday sentenced a second female journalist to one month in prison for writing an article about the alleged rape of an activist by security forces, her lawyer said.</div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Sudan's constitution guarantees press freedom, but several journalists have been detained without charge in recent months and papers are often subject to censorship.</div><div class="clr_left" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
The sentence imposed on Amal Habani is the second ruling since state prosecutors launched charges against several Sudanese journalists for writing about the alleged rape of a female activist after an anti-government protest earlier this year.<br />
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Another female colleague working for the same independent al-Jarida daily, Fatima Ghazali, was given the same verdict earlier this month.<br />
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Sudan's security forces have categorically denied the rape allegations.<br />
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"The judge handed out to her a verdict to pay a fine of $750 or go to prison for a month," laywer Nabil Abid told reporters after a Khartoum court session that was closed to the media.<br />
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"The judge said she had published an inaccurate report ... We'll appeal the ruling because we think it is wrong," the lawyer said.<br />
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"I will not pay the fine because the ruling is not fair," Habani told Reuters while waiting in court for police to escort her to prison.<br />
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In the same session, the court handed out a fine of $1 800 against the newspaper, which was paid by the editor-in-chief, Saad el-Din Ibrahim, the lawyer said.<br />
</div><div> </div><div id="DivAccreditationName" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/" id="lnkArticleAccreditationName" target="_blank">- Reuters</a></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-58568412867960327802011-07-22T01:10:00.000-07:002011-07-22T01:10:55.710-07:00Bingu’s govt cracks down on media covering protests<div style="text-align: justify;">The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns sweeping arrests and attacks on journalists, as well as censorship by the administration of Malawi President Bingu Wa Muthiraka against media outlets reporting on nationwide antigovernment protests that erupted on Wednesday.</div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Police arrested a contributor to Nyasa Times, a U.K.-based online news site critical of the government, journalist Collins Mtika, today as he covered protests in the northern city of Mzuzu, according to local journalists. Mtika remains held without charge on anti-government accusations. Vitima Ndovi, a freelance journalist in the capital, Lilongwe, was also arrested today and remains in custody. Police assaulted and briefly detained reporter Kingsely Jassi of private media group Blantyre Newspaper Limited after he took photos of officers beating a man, according to Independent Nation reporter Kondwani Munthali.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In response to the unrest, today the state-run Malawi Communications Regulations Authority (MACRA) switched off the signals private broadcasters Joy Radio, Capital Radio, and MIJ FM, for about four hours, Joy lawyer Ralph Kasambara told CPJ.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kasambara told CPJ that a letter to broadcasters from MACRA on Wednesday ordered stations to “desist” from live broadcasts of the protests “in the interest of the security of the nation.” It also said that such coverage “may incite violence which can lead to gross damages to property, and even loss of life.”<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anthony Kasunda, chairman of the Malawi chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, which monitors airwaves, told CPJ that the station’s live coverage was vital in informing the public about security conditions.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As many as 18 people are reported to have died in nationwide anti-government demonstrations since Wednesday as a defiant Mutharika accused the protesters of “being led by Satan.” The demonstrations, originally authorized by police but later banned by court injunction, are against fuel shortages, high unemployment, deteriorating economy, and growing authoritarianism by Mutharika, who was first elected in 2004, according to news reports.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The government must end this brutal crackdown and censorship immediately,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “Pulling the plug on radio stations at a time of civil unrest is not only an act of desperate censorship but deprives all citizens of access to necessary information. The authorities must rein in security forces and immediately release all jailed journalists.”<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Wednesday, Munthali told CPJ he saw a police officer attack freelance journalist George Thawe, hitting him with the butt of a gun six times despite Munthali’s efforts to identify Thawe as a journalist. Munthali was among a group of nine journalists who were later beaten by police in a church in Lilongwe, he said. Photojournalist Amos Gumulira from the Nation and reporter Isaac Kambwiri from Capital Radio received severe head injuries and were rushed to the central hospital, local journalists reported. Others assaulted included Emmanuel Simpokolowe of pro-government Guardian Publications, Nathan Majawa of 101 FM, George Mkandawire of Joy FM, photojournalist Jacob Nankhonya of Blantyre Newspapers Limited, Elijah Phimbi of online news site Malawi Voice, and freelancer Precious Msosa, according to local journalists.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also on Wednesday, police beat private Joy FM journalist Rebecca Chimjeka, causing internal bleeding in her ear, local journalists told CPJ. She was rushed to the hospital.<br />
</div>Nyasa Times was inaccessible in Malawi from July 18 until today, according to local journalists. Nyasa Times Managing Editor Edgar Chibaka told CPJ the website has experienced massive and repeated distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks since July 19, which brought down their servers several times and disrupted their coverage of the protests.<br />
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<a href="http://www.cpj.org/2011/07/malawi-cracks-down-on-media-covering-protests.php">http://www.cpj.org/2011/07/malawi-cracks-down-on-media-covering-protests.php</a>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-24470003978104955662011-07-22T01:07:00.000-07:002011-07-22T01:07:56.034-07:00Newspaper Prohibited From Writing About Chief Justice<div style="text-align: justify;">The Government of Swaziland has prohibited the privately-owned "Times of Swaziland" newspaper from continuing to write about Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi, who has caused an uproar by suspending Justice Thomas Masuku and levelling 12 charges against him that he will have to answer to before the end of July 2011.</div><div> </div><div class="google_ad float-left" id="google_inset_a" style="text-align: justify;"> <div id="google_ads_div_AllAfrica_Story_InsetA_ad_container"> <a name='more'></a>Security police stormed the "Times of Swaziland" office on 12 July 2011, serving the editor with a court order to stop publishing any articles about the chief justice. After scrutiny, the newspaper's editorial team found that the court order had no case number. <br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition, the "Times of Swaziland" was not given an opportunity to defend itself before the High Court. The editorial team decided to go ahead with the articles and risk annoying the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The attorney general, Majahenkaba Dlamini, is said to be angry with the "Times of Swaziland" for failing to respect court orders and has "declared war" against the newspaper.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">BACKGROUND:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chief Justice Ramodibedi suspended Justice Masuku for insubordination and insulting the king, among other charges, following a judgment Masuku delivered. The Chief Justice suspended Masuku as the head of the JSC, even though constitutionally only the king can suspend justices. This has caused an uproar in the judiciary and the Swaziland Law Society decided to suspend its services for three days.</div><br />
Source: AllAfricaWPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-10896053297428146042011-07-21T08:06:00.000-07:002011-07-21T08:06:48.358-07:00Unesco Offering Scholarships for Access to Information Meeting in Cape Town<div style="text-align: justify;">UNESCO is offering scholarships to attend the Windhoek +20 Pan-African Summit on Access to Information in Cape Town, South Africa, from 17 to 19 September 2011. A limited number of places are available so apply now - the closing date for scholarship applications is 3 August 2011.</div><div> </div><div class="google_ad float-left" id="google_inset_a" style="text-align: justify;"> <div id="google_ads_div_AllAfrica_Story_InsetA_ad_container"> <a name='more'></a>The summit will bring together hundreds of Africa's media leaders, journalists and civil society members to discuss the current and future status of press freedom and access to information in Africa, which will hopefully lead to UNESCO and the African Union adopting the African Platform on Access to Information. <br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Windhoek +20 Campaign is a continental initiative of African organisations - including IFEX members Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Media Rights Agenda, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Africa office, as well as ARTICLE 19 - lobbying for a pan-African declaration dedicated to access to info. The campaign derives its name from the Windhoek Declaration on Press Freedom, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly 20 years ago to promote press freedom in Africa.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other events will be taking place at the same time, including the Highway Africa Conference and the African Media Leaders Forum.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the scholarship, preference will be given to individuals with proven records of advocacy around access to information.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">To apply, send a cover letter outlining your motivation for going and your CV to karen (@) misa.org. Only successful applicants will be contacted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201107201422.html">allafrica.com </a></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-82293171780411272222011-06-21T01:51:00.000-07:002011-06-21T01:55:15.975-07:00Launch of the third Nelson Mandela Day<h2><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Karin Labuschagne </span></h2><h3>Minister Tokyo Sexwale says the world "needs to reconcile".</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIS8bbfkiI0I-TCCTyIm1GihQtVeNomHmd-d_OJAE4t-LisPiwzN83vvdvg84XbAvuDxR2FZbu5kL7ULTcIz728zzPYSCUAxFH84tY2AF0A2oOoFoNoBnj6whwoCLlrgCrIn4MnrZKUOc/s1600/Mandela.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIS8bbfkiI0I-TCCTyIm1GihQtVeNomHmd-d_OJAE4t-LisPiwzN83vvdvg84XbAvuDxR2FZbu5kL7ULTcIz728zzPYSCUAxFH84tY2AF0A2oOoFoNoBnj6whwoCLlrgCrIn4MnrZKUOc/s1600/Mandela.jpg" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Be kind to your neighbour and provide comfort", stated Nelson Mandela Trustee, Minister Tokyo Sexwale at the launch of the third Nelson Mandela Day in Houghton on Monday. Sexwale stated that "the world needed to reconcile as enemies and adversaries" before the true influence of former South African President, Nelson Mandela could be realized. <br />
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According to Sexwale, that would be the legacy of Belson Mandela and the work he had done. </span> </span></h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nelson Mandela Day has been commemorated since 2009 on Mandela's birthday, 18 July, to celebrate the impact that Mandela has had on the world.</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sexwale told a story of a secret meeting he had with Mandela, just after Mandela's release from Robben Island. According to Sexwale, Mandela declared defeat of the Apartheid system and he "put a white flag in the hands of his enemies and helped them to raise it. This is what the world has seen in him and this is what Nelson Mandela International Day is celebrating."<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Raymond Louw, founding member of the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), praised Mandela for his support of press freedom and that his support enabled "journalists to do their work in the field".<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sexwale quoted Mandela as saying that "quite often the media gets it wrong", due to inexperience or not doing proper research. Sexwale however explained that Mandela said that stories could rather be reported incorrectly, than not reported at all, and that he thus fully supports Freedom of the Press in South Africa and that "journalists should go out and fight". </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Picture courtesy of: navy.mil.za </span></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></h3><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></h2>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-38990660103064836242011-06-21T01:43:00.000-07:002011-06-21T01:43:57.611-07:00Govt failing Mandela's legacy on press freedom - Sanef<span style="font-size: x-small;">By: SABC News</span><br />
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The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) deputy chairperson of the media freedom committee, Raymond Louw, says the African National Congress-led government is failing former president Nelson Mandela's legacy on press freedom.<br />
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<div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking at a press briefing about Nelson Mandela Day in Johannesburg, Louw cited the proposed media tribunal and the legislation on the Protection of Information as a danger to media freedom.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are contending with a fair degree of hostility from government officials. There is the Protection of Information Bill which has restrictions on journalists – which means restrictions on the right of the public to be informed. We are totally opposed to this, we believe it should be withdrawn and restructured totally. I believe that the legacy that was initiated by Mandela is slipping badly," says Louw.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mandela Day, on July 18, is a call to action for people everywhere to take responsibility for making the world a better place, one small step at a time, just as Mandela did.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The former president spent more than 67 years serving his community, his country and the world at large. On Mandela Day people are called to devote just 67 minutes of their time to changing the world for the better, in a small gesture of solidarity with humanity, and in a small step towards a continuous, global movement for good.</div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-91431690771344654402011-06-21T01:31:00.000-07:002011-06-21T01:32:23.355-07:00Freedom of Expression is Not Unlimited Right - Media Minister<div style="text-align: justify;">Luanda — Angolan Mass Media minister, Carolina Cerqueira, Monday, in Luanda, said that freedom of expression, mainly when expressed through mass media, does not represent an absolute and unlimited right that can be put on the top of others rights and values.<br />
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</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Carolina Cerqueira made this information during the opening session of the mass media legislative package with the officials of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="google_ad float-left" id="google_inset_a" style="text-align: justify;"><div id="google_ads_div_AllAfrica_Story_InsetA_ad_container">According to the minister, freedom of expression press is under limitations, resulting from the collision with other fundamental rights, with the same normative values such as right to good name and reputation, the image, word, reserve to private life and familiar and the personality development. <br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The minister said that journalist as an opinion maker, plays an important civic role of bringing together, opening ways, clarifying, focusing the true and giving values for the facts.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Carolina Cerqueira appealed to the officials of the Angolan Armed Forces to do their best in discussing the legislative package.</div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-12907984315274168482011-05-05T01:25:00.000-07:002011-05-05T01:26:18.871-07:00So near yet so far: The quest for press freedom in Southern Africa<span style="font-size: xx-small;">By DUMISANI MOYO May 03 2011 15:00 </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">This year's Word Press Freedom Day provides a unique opportunity to take stock of the progress, or lack of it, made towards attaining press freedom across the world on one hand, while on the other allowing us to look into the future of press freedom in light of past developments and current experiences. <br />
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This is particularly important for Southern Africa, a region where serious change in terms of press freedom only started in earnest at the beginning of the 1990s with the passing of the Windhoek Declaration for the promotion of free and pluralistic media. <br />
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Although many countries have since made constitutional provisions for press freedom and/or freedom of expression, this has often not translated into the existence of these rights in reality. In some countries, journalists continue to operate in environments that can be likened to a legal battlefield, complete with mines and booby traps in their paths. Many countries in the region continue to have on their statute books laws on official secrecy, defamation, insult to the person of the president and several others, which limit the rights of the media to freely access and disseminate information. <br />
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Apart from marking the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, this year's Word Press Freedom Day also takes place against the backdrop of significant developments on the global media scene, which have direct implications for the future of press freedom in our region. The rise to prominence of WikiLeaks and social network forums, which are proving to be potent tools in the hands of citizens for purposes of mobilising and organising protests, heralds significant shifts in terms of power relations in our societies, with citizens increasingly reclaiming their power over individuals they vote into political office.<br />
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Stock-taking <br />
Since the passing of the Windhoek Declaration, significant strides have been made in Southern Africa in terms of the growing recognition of press freedom, as well as the development of plural media systems. For a region that had only known monopoly state media -- both in print and electronic sectors inherited from the colonial era -- the explosion of private newspapers and other periodicals, community and commercial radio (and, in some countries television) stations, and more recently cellphone and computer-mediated communications, has marked a clear break from the past. <br />
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These developments, however, have not been even across the region, despite the fact that all Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries are signatory to the Windhoek Declaration and other international protocols relating to press freedom and freedom of expression.<br />
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Reform, change, stasis and authoritarian backlash have been simultaneous processes characterising state responses to the Windhoek Declaration across the region -- with some countries immediately instituting media reform and change, others choosing to maintain the status quo, and some that had embraced change starting to grow cold feet and experiencing reversals. <br />
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Malawi today, for instance, fits within the latter description, with clear indications of authoritarian backlash. Journalists and civil society leaders face persistent threats and harassment from President Bingu wa Mutharika's increasingly autocratic government. The recent amendment of section 46 of the Penal Code to empower the minister of information to ban publications he/she sees as not in the public interest is clearly a blank cheque that is open to abuse, and erodes a climate of press freedom that had prevailed since the end of the Banda regime. Academic freedom, too, is under threat in Malawi, where a professor was recently arrested for drawing examples from Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings in a lecture, leading to protests from fellow academics and the subsequent closure of the University of Malawi for about a month.<br />
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Thus the 2011 celebrations take place in a context where citizens in some countries in the region have nothing to celebrate. The continued media freedom violations in countries such as Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Angola are an indication that the struggle for press freedom and access to information is far from over. <br />
CONTINUES BELOW <br />
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Some of the crude forms of media freedom violations we continue to see in these countries are a clear indication that a lot still needs to be done before real press freedom can be realised. The killing of two journalists in Angola in 2010; the continued arrests, harassment and torture of journalists and threats to media houses in Zimbabwe; and the arrest and torture of journalists in Swaziland during the April 2011 demonstrations are typical examples of brutal media freedom repression in parts of the region. <br />
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The reluctance among most governments in the region to introduce access-to-information legislation is also a clear indication that the values of press freedom and democracy are not yet fully appreciated. Yet access to information is at the heart of democracy, good governance and transparency, and can also serve as propellant for development. A number of countries, including Malawi and Zambia, have had draft access-to-information Bills sitting on shelves for more than a decade. <br />
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The continued state dominance in the broadcasting sector in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Angola and to some extent Botswana means there is yet unfinished business in the fight for plural media as a precondition for freedom of expression.<br />
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Media appeals tribunal<br />
Even in South Africa, where freedom of the press appears to have become an entrenched norm, its sustainability remains fragile and continues to demand spirited defence in the face of political interest in controlling the media through statute. The threat of introducing a statutory media appeals tribunal in 2010 by the ruling African National Congress, for instance, portends a serious danger to press freedom in South Africa. What is particularly worrying about this development is that the potential of such a tribunal being replicated across the region is huge, given the fact that South Africa has served as a role model for most countries in the region in terms of democratic media reform. Such a reversal in South Africa would quickly be embraced as justification for denying media self-regulation in other countries in the region. <br />
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In Zambia, for example, the government has already put forward arguments for state regulation citing the "findings" in South Africa about the ineffectiveness of self-regulation. Yet this clearly goes against Article 9 of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) Charter, which promotes media self-regulation as opposed to statutory regulation. <br />
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In Botswana, the 2008 media practitioners law was meant to stave off media self-regulation. It is a law that seeks registration of journalists and statutory control of the media, in complete contravention of Article 9 of the ACHPR Charter.<br />
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While a lot has been done to expose media freedom violations in Zimbabwe, owing to international media interest in unfolding events in that country, the challenge has been to draw similar global media attention to countries where Western media interest is marginal -- such as Swaziland. <br />
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A combination of traditional and modern systems of governance in Swaziland has created serious challenges for journalists, making the exercise of their work extremely difficult. The increasingly intolerant Swazi monarchy has become highly allergic to criticism, and has put in place measures that include pre-publication censorship to ensure that critical stories about it do not see the light of day. <br />
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The Swazi culture of not criticising elders, for example, is frequently invoked to silence journalists and the media from exposing the excesses of the monarchy, and journalists who refuse to toe the line are summarily dismissed. Banning of publications that are critical of the monarchy or that give voice to proscribed opposition political groupings and civil society organisations is also not uncommon in Swaziland. A culture of impunity has also pervaded the ruling elite, as evidenced by the brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrations in April this year, and the king's travel to the United Kingdom for the royal wedding in total disregard of the crises at home.<br />
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Looking forward<br />
This year's Word Press Freedom Day has been appropriately themed "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers" -- to capture both the promise brought by the new media and at the same time issue warning over challenges and pitfalls that these new frontiers of press freedom have to face. <br />
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The remarkable growth of new media in Africa, particularly the mobile phone, has generated a lot of excitement about the capacity to bridge the information divide between rural and urban, rich and poor, as well as the global North and South. The capacity for mobile internet has brought unprecedented growth in the numbers of users of social network forums. Their capacity to operate as tools for mass mobilisation has been tested in North Africa and the Middle East. Attempts have been made to use these platforms to coordinate demonstrations in Mozambique (over food prices in 2010); Angola; Swaziland and Zimbabwe (in attempt to carry out North African-style uprisings) -- with varying degrees of success/failure. <br />
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The release of thousands of leaked diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks at the end of 2010 has also illustrated the potential of new media as critical tools for whistle-blowers, with great possibilities for aiding investigative reporting, particularly in closed societies. <br />
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What is important to learn from these developments are the ways in which these new media are contributing to the shifts in the locus of power from political elites back to the citizens. <br />
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Zambian President Rupiah Banda acknowledged this recently, at a SADC troika meeting to discuss Zimbabwe and Madagascar, by saying that, "If there is anything that we must learn from the upheavals going on in the northern part of our continent it is that the legitimate expectations of the citizens of our countries cannot be taken for granted ... We must therefore continue at the SADC level to consolidate democracy through establishment of institutions that uphold the tenets of good governance for human rights and the rule of law." <br />
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Thus if the African had in reality remained a subject even after independence, to borrow from Mahmud Mamdani, there is a fair chance that s/he will soon become a full citizen whose opinions and interests cannot be taken for granted by ruling authorities.<br />
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These new frontiers of press freedom and freedom of expression are, however, not totally immune from repression or capture as some would like us to believe. <br />
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As the recent Freedom House study on internet freedom across the world illustrates, repressive regimes, sometimes in collusion with profit-seeking big business, continue to seek ways of filtering and impeding information flows. Internet users, including bloggers and social network users, have already fallen victim to harassment and torture in a number of countries. As such, while we celebrate the gains made in terms of press freedom, and the promise brought by the new media, media freedom proponents should start putting in place strategies for jealously guarding these new frontiers of freedom of expression from capture by political and business elites. <br />
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Dr Dumisani Moyo is media and ICTs programme manager, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa </div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-86525063273568514702011-05-03T05:22:00.000-07:002011-05-03T05:41:48.285-07:00Press Freedom: Then and Now<div style="text-align: justify;"><span rel="sioc:has_creator" style="font-size: x-small;">published by </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Georgetown University<br />
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Gwen Lister, founder of the newspaper The Namibian, threw down the gauntlet in the opening session of Monday’s WPFD events when she said, “Press freedom is non-negotiable.”<br />
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Each journalist addressed challenges specific to his or her experience during the talk. The following represents a sampling of the most interesting comments the speakers shared during the discussion.<br />
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<b>Karin Karlekar</b>, senior researcher and managing editor, Freedom House<br />
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“Only 15 percent or one in six people live in countries with a free press.”<br />
“Impact of the Internet in digital media gives us cause for hope.”<br />
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<b>Rosental C. Alves</b>, founder and director, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas:<br />
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“The enemy of the press in Mexico was government, now it’s organized crime.”<br />
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<b>Gwen Lister</b>, founder, The Namibian:<br />
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“Marginalized people must have access to the media and make their voices heard.”<br />
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“Computer access remains elusive to many on the African continent.”<br />
<b>Frank LaRue</b>, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression with the United Nations, Guatemala:<br />
<br />
“Access to the Internet is the biggest challenge.”<br />
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“Everyone should have access to a diversity of ideas and be able to draw their own conclusions.”<br />
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“We cannot allow new forms of censorship on the Internet.”<br />
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<b>Eric Newton</b>, senior adviser to the president, Knight Foundation:<br />
<br />
Of the Freedom House Press Freedom Map, it reflects, “The mess of humanity at its messiest.”<br />
<br />
“If the pen is mightier than the sword, just think of what a cell phone can do.”<br />
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- Georgetown University Press Team </div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-61872106518611810432011-05-03T04:52:00.000-07:002011-05-03T04:55:24.641-07:00World Press Freedom Day Statement: Media in Africa 20 Years On: Our Past, Present and Future – May 4-6, 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Government of the Republic of Namibia, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN/IFRA) are honored to host the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration, which culminated in 03 May 1991, being declared World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations General Assembly.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On 5 and 6 May 2011, the Windhoek +20 Conference, under the theme<i>: <b>Media in Africa 20 Years On: Our Past, Present and Future</b>,</i> will bring together media practitioners from across the continent to reflect on the past 20 years, but also discuss current developments and how to overcome envisaged future challenges.<br />
<br />
The Windhoek +20 Conference is a milestone to measure the role that the media plays as a conduit for information dissemination as well as whistleblowers for the evils of democracy that have continued to eat at the core of the continent’s social fabric. We therefore applaud those African governments that have in their developmental roles endeavored to value the media as agents of democracy and catalyst of developments in their own countries. <br />
<br />
Throughout the previous years and since the enactment of the Windhoek declaration, the media has proved to be a valuable entity that have sparked a platform of developmental debates, exposed corruption and advocated for the fundamental rights of citizen on basic needs such as access to health facilities, education, food and sanitation. <br />
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However, MISA cannot be provoked to dispel the fact that such roles can only be fully exercised once governments appreciates and pledges their support towards the work of the media in their respective countries. <br />
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MISA is therefore disturbed by the continuous repression and violations such as murder, harassment and detention that the media still continue to face in some African countries, 20 years after the Windhoek Declaration. <br />
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We therefore pay tribute to all African journalists and media workers who have being killed in the line of duty as well as those undergoing persecution on the hand of tyrant leaders in North, East and West Africa. <br />
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Having said this, we now take you through a brief journey into the media environment in Southern African countries, which though seems promising, has failed to achieve a purely shinning media freedom example in Africa. In the last 12 months, MISA issued 109 alerts. The alerts document media and freedom of expression violations and developments in Southern Africa. Zimbabwe for the sixth consecutive year had the highest number of alerts at 27, with Zambia and Swaziland in tow. <br />
<br />
However, it is also of much concern to note that fatal clouds darkened the media sphere in region in 2010 following killing incidents of journalists recorded in Angola. Just in 2010 alone, two journalists were killed in the line of duty in Angola and the killers are still at large. Alberto Graves Chakussanga, a Radio Journalist with Radio Despertar was gunned down by unknown assassin at his house in Luanda on 5 September 2010. Media reports also cited police sources saying, Chakusanga was killed after a long conversation with unknown assassins regarding his journalistic work. Few months before that, a Togolese Journalist was shot dead in Kabinda, Angola just upon the arrival of the Togolese Soccer Team to participate in the 2010 African Cup of Nations.<br />
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The killing of these journalists is a violent artillery on democracy. MISA therefore calls on the Angola government to investigate the murder of these journalists and arrest the killers as a sign that journalists cannot be killed like dogs while in the lines of duty.<br />
<br />
MISA also witnessed a number of repressive media legislations being proposed and enacted in Malawi, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, a sign of deteriorating democratic values in these countries. The Media practitioners Act in Botswana, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act in Zimbabwe, the proposed Media appeals Tribunal in South African, proposed Media Council Bill in Swaziland as well as the deadlock in the establishment of the Media Council of Zambia are major examples of how those governments are attempting to control the media by statutes. <br />
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We therefore calls on those government to respect the media’s call for self regulation in those country and stop asserting to such legislation which sends a slap in the face of media freedom. <br />
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The recent assertion to the amendment of Section 46 of the Penal Code in Malawi by President Bingu wa Mutharika sent a backlash to the prevailing media freedom in that country. The Bill, which gives the Minister of Information power to ban publications and publication materials he or she views as not in the public interest was signed into law by President Wa Mutharika without further stakeholder consultations. <br />
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We therefore, remind the Malawi government that the issues of what is public interest or not are matters that must be decided upon by the media self-regulative mechanism that exists in Malawi. MISA calls on the Malawi government to give a second thought to the act and consider repealing that law before it rapes the principles of media freedom in that country.<br />
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MISA has also witnessed a number of harassments and detention of several journalists in Zimbabwe during 2010. Zimbabwe still ranks the worst offender of Media Freedom in the region. Of the 27 alerts recorded in Zimbabwe in 2010 alone, 13 relates to arrests and detention of journalists in Zimbabwe, compared to 7 cases of detention in 2009, a sign that the coalition government has completely failed to protect media freedom in that country.<br />
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The government of Zimbabwe has gone further to establish a statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission to control the media by statute thereby violating principles of independent and free media that was supposed to exist in Zimbabwe.<br />
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Since its establishment in 2009, the commission has done nothing, than to illegally impose a fee for journalists who wants to operate in Zimbabwe as well as delaying issuing of broadcasting licenses to private players while at the sometime promoting state monopoly of the broadcasting industry.<br />
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In Zambia, we call upon the government to drop contempt of court charges against the The Post Editor, Fred M’membe as well as ensure that the government dispel its continuous position to stifle the ongoing process of establishing a self regulatory mechanism in that country. MISA acknowledges that the ongoing process to establish the Media Council of Zambia will be a milestone that will ensure that media disputes are resolved via a respected self-regulatory mechanism established by the media and other Zambians in the interest of democracy. <br />
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These cases and many others, speaks volume of why 20 years after Windhoek Declaration on Press Freedom the media in Africa are still far from free and independent. We however commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration commending the sacrifices of journalists, media organizations and communities in defending media and freedom of expression often under serious threats. MISA commends the few governments that continue to maintain a healthy, interactive and consultative relationship with the media and civic society. MISA further commends the donor community without whose financial support, much of our work will come to a stand still.<br />
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Also having noted the need for Access to Information legislations in furthering the free flow of information, MISA calls for legislation that guarantees citizens their right to information. Laws that restrict access to information such as Official Secret Acts and Zimbabwe’s AIPPA should have no place in democratic Africa. <br />
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MISA calls upon the AU and UNESCO to adopt an African Platform on Access to Information at the upcoming conference in September 2011. //End//<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Kaitira Kandjii, <br />
MISA Regional Director <br />
Windhoek, Namibia <br />
May 4-6, 2011<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-41172930829201822522011-05-03T02:47:00.000-07:002011-05-03T02:50:52.787-07:00MEDIA IN AFRICA 20 YEARS ON:Our Past, Present and FutureCelebrating the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an independent and Pluralistics African Press<br />
<br />
Download <a href="http://www.misa.org/researchandpublication/democracy/Overview%20-%20Media%20in%20Africa%2020%20Years%20On.pdf">MEDIA MEDIA IN AFRICA 20 YEARS ON</a>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-30602159222217847722011-04-29T07:50:00.000-07:002011-04-29T07:53:56.625-07:00A Tour into the Media Freedom Environment in Southern Africa: Brief Country Profile<div style="text-align: justify;">MISA’s Media Monitoring exercise in 2010 showed a skewed shift to legislative nature, where repressive laws seemed to take over the emblem of media freedom in the region. However, much worse to spark concern was the killing of two journalist in Angola, a violation, which one would view as strange to the region, especially 20 years after the enactment of the Windhoek Declaration. </div><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA also witnessed a number of repressive media legislations being proposed or even enacted in Malawi, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, a sign of deteriorating democratic values in these countries. Arrest, detention and prosecution of journalists cases were also witnessed in countries such as Zambia and Zimbabwe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, we would like to take you into a brief tour in examining the Media Freedom Profile for each of the 11 Southern African countries as monitored in 2010. Download a brief <a href="http://www.misa.org/researchandpublication/democracy/Brief%20SADC%20Country%20Profile.pdf">SADC country Profiles</a></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-7512058921356424872011-04-29T02:25:00.000-07:002011-04-29T02:31:45.674-07:00MISA celebrations in the rest of Southern Africa<div style="text-align: justify;">Annually, on World Press Freedom Day, May 3, MISA launches its state of media freedom report, So This Is Democracy? throughout southern Africa. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>BOTSWANA</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Botswana commenced their World Press Freedom Day programme with a symposium on Access to Information in April 2011.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The one-day symposium discussed the Draft Information Bill and particularly briefed Honourable Dumelang Saleshando who has been given the green light to present the Bill to Parliament at the July sitting. This activity formed the foundation of MISA Botswana’s access to information campaign, which continues into the World Press Freedom Day activities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">On May 3 MISA Botswana will publish the first of what is to become an annual publication, called “<i>People are Talking</i>”. The book captures views and opinion around the access to information debate in </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Botswana.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Botswana will also host the award ceremony, which is the last step in its essay competition, which was organised for primary, junior and senior secondary schools. Previous winners of the annual MISA Media Awards have been assigned to coordinate the project as part of their social responsibility.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The annual highlight of the World Press Freedom Day celebrations in Botswana are the annual marches, which are organised in the main towns, including Gaborone (capital), Francis Town, Maun and Ghanzi. Speeches by selected promoted members of the community ensure that press freedom issues reach a wider audience.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>LESOTHO </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Lesotho will commence its celebration with a public march to mark World Press Freedom Day. The day ends with a national seminar on the Media Policy in Lesotho which is expected to be adopted by the end of 2011. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>MALAWI</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Malawi has organised debates and freedom marches in all the three regions of the country with the main event slated for the North on May 7. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Local celebrations started in the Southern Region on April 23, 2011, with a freedom march and public debate on the <i>State of Freedom of Expression in Malawi</i>. Panellists were drawn from civil society, academia, media and government. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Malawi hosted the Central Region celebrations on April 30, with a focus on <i>Access to Information and New Media: Opportunities and Challenges for Malawi.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I thought we could launch both the African Media Barometer (AMB) and MISA’s annual state of media freedom, <i>So This Is Democracy?</i> reports during the main celebrations on May 7. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>MOZAMBIQUE </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Mozambique is hosting a two-day conference on Access to Information in Mozambique. A detailed programme is available.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>NAMIBIA </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Regional Secretariat and MISA Namibia are hosting the main World Press Freedom Day celebration in Windhoek, the seat of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press. <i>See announcement above.<br />
</i> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>SWAZILAND</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Swaziland has adopted the UNESCO theme: <b>'21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers'</b> for the WPFD next Tuesday. MISA Swaziland will host a panel discussion featuring five presentations by various speakers including one by MISA Swaziland who will be looking at Press Freedom in Swaziland: <i>How Far have we come since the Windhoek Declaration 20 Years Ago and where are we going?</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two lecturers from the University of Swaziland (Dr Mxwell Mthembu and Ms Thandi Khumalo) will deliver papers on the impact of the social media on media consumers in Swaziland (Dr Mthembu) as well as the Digital Media as a Gender Challenge (Ms Khumalo). The Minister for Information will deliver the keynote address and MISA Swaziland expects her to speak about media self-regulation in Swaziland. This half-day event will be held at Mountain Inn Hotel, Mbabane, Swaziland. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>TANZANIA </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Tanzania will host a full-day advocacy workshop on May 3, 2011, during which it will launch MISA’s annual state of media freedom, <i>So This Is Democracy?</i>. This publication summarises the media freedom and free expression situation in the Southern African region, monitored by MISA in the previous year. MISA Tanzania will also launch the African Media Barometer (AMB) report which is currently the most comprehensive report of media situation in Tanzania</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The workshop will include presentations to localize the overall World Press Freedom Day theme: 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers, by exploring issues on new frontiers of news media, a legal and regulatory perspectives, new barriers and new trend of journalism. MISA Tanzania will also circulate a special newsletter produced for World Press Freedom Day. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The celebrations will end with MISA Tanzania’s annual Media Awards, which recognizes excellence in journalism. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>ZAMBIA</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Zambia will be hosting a two-day conference on May 2 and 3, 2011, on the global Unesco theme. A sub-theme is <i>‘Ethical reporting for a free and peaceful electoral process’</i> since Zambia will be going to the polls in September/October 2011.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following this, Zambian media professionals will take to the streets in a march to mark World Press Freedom Day, 2011. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>ZIMBABWE </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MISA Zimbabwe will commemorate World Press Freedom under the theme: Broadcasting Reforms on the Agenda- Free the Airwaves Now! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5pNnm8l7A5lZJbQNHQRddGLAeC-mdnOKsGGXqnm_9AKGxH0472Oe9amz9HhUQsUKo8kW_Rud60jsiMga7M8-0xQt-PUFad5e6Kkd_XiniCjGVFl0PElRmenWaGkze9xq7ns5Dq56VjrU/s1600/WANIFRALOGO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5pNnm8l7A5lZJbQNHQRddGLAeC-mdnOKsGGXqnm_9AKGxH0472Oe9amz9HhUQsUKo8kW_Rud60jsiMga7M8-0xQt-PUFad5e6Kkd_XiniCjGVFl0PElRmenWaGkze9xq7ns5Dq56VjrU/s1600/WANIFRALOGO.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>The chapter is convening a breakfast meeting with its members and other key media stakeholders to discuss the state of broadcasting in Zimbabwe and push for reforms in that sector before the next elections. Beatrice Mtetwa will be the guest speaker for the Harare event on 3 May 2011. Other commemorative events will be held outside Harare on the 7th of May 2010. Members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Communications will be the guest speakers during the provincial events.<br />
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</a></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-69559187422051000312011-04-29T01:52:00.000-07:002011-04-29T02:06:50.990-07:00Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration<div style="text-align: justify;">The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Government of the Republic of Namibia, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN/IFRA) are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration, which culminated in 03 May 1991, being declared World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations General Assembly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a name='more'></a><br />
To assess the 1991 Windhoek Declaration in terms of African media history requires recognising that this seminal document came from the hearts of journalists. Generally around the world, but in Sub-Saharan Africa especially, journalism is bound up with idealism. This is notwithstanding the many persuasions and pressures that can lead its practitioners to fall short of the ideal. The desire to strive for the best applies to even the most constrained journalists, who – when they set aside any self-rationalisations – would invariably prefer to do the right thing journalistically. To this end, they hunger to be free of distorting controls by government officials, politician owners or unscrupulous bosses. <br />
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This idealistic motivation includes even the most underpaid reporter on a private outlet who persistently supplements his or her erratic income with bribes. It is also something which supercedes most other senses of identity that an African journalist may have, at least in terms of aspirations. It is central to the appeal of being a true journalist who works as a professional to serve the noble cause of circulating information in the public interest. It is this idealism that underpins the power of the Windhoek Declaration.<br />
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For this reason MISA will, along with its development partners, host the Windhoek +20 Conference, under the theme: Media in Africa 20 Years On: Our Past, Present and Future, in Windhoek on 5 and 6 May 2011. In doing so, MISA hopes to provide a platform to allow media practitioners from across the continent to reflect on the past 20 years, but also discuss current developments and how to overcome envisaged future challenges.<br />
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A highlight of our celebrations is the Inaugural Judge John Oliver Manyarara Memorial Lecture that honours the legacy of the late Judge Manyarara, who was a champion of media freedom and a founding member of the MISA Trust Fund Board.<br />
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The conference will be preceded by a consultation with African editors on the Declaration of Table Mountain campaign on May 4, also in Windhoek.<br />
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Today, World Press Freedom Day is celebrated in over 100 countries. Namibians should be proud of the role they played in the advancement of media freedom, independence and pluralism. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJASHTPZ8Lhy2Lap84Rm2hNxpfg7vVKSi-f91b5kWTGuk2R249-OH5uombx-ZkLP9aDw7yJoTDp1L_u5beRdNFe5dyb-Y8l-P3zcv0TrzDkL0RC7Ly4Tliv3FIkPfrMsmVLVpjc3JkUs/s1600/misa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj30ch5fb16Hcvn9z5I2gPGINO311b9JtYK-c7FtF7AnE2de96I-h4pKWHowkrAg0cFIm9Hy1Z7PlM90LNj4Ah-6izsEQj3qodEAR0DZJqVNBQoHGYhu1WIPwXQIHptWnO0FJekvUJUsz0/s1600/CoatofArms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HCZB80ZFEoBlLNevldKUBkNiUBXcDdMKOsvPiEWF8_3t5xQhyVo86EOa3sgyi3OP51azIFYd27ned6VovuKNiCq2kYdweNTlP3QTRMVw9HRGTefNUGJfRNgjHwuD5nNfs1zPvP5PZ3M/s1600/WANIFRALOGO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>We take this opportunity to call on all journalists, media workers and media houses in Namibia and around the world to celebrate this momentous achievement and recommit themselves to advancing the values and principles it promotes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjquCL1wXf1wHplRcOIZxNb1qZS2rDe-NoEsj1Gdq-AUfKw-Qn3aRnFH4OCvuoZUAgB3AG-8hG4aCo3c-7DBMRb0OxClbs6BtiN3_m0_OW-1iwrVtEU6CvyiuiuVMD5i_7o_AMed3VEGg/s1600/UNESCO+Logo+1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjquCL1wXf1wHplRcOIZxNb1qZS2rDe-NoEsj1Gdq-AUfKw-Qn3aRnFH4OCvuoZUAgB3AG-8hG4aCo3c-7DBMRb0OxClbs6BtiN3_m0_OW-1iwrVtEU6CvyiuiuVMD5i_7o_AMed3VEGg/s200/UNESCO+Logo+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJASHTPZ8Lhy2Lap84Rm2hNxpfg7vVKSi-f91b5kWTGuk2R249-OH5uombx-ZkLP9aDw7yJoTDp1L_u5beRdNFe5dyb-Y8l-P3zcv0TrzDkL0RC7Ly4Tliv3FIkPfrMsmVLVpjc3JkUs/s1600/misa.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJASHTPZ8Lhy2Lap84Rm2hNxpfg7vVKSi-f91b5kWTGuk2R249-OH5uombx-ZkLP9aDw7yJoTDp1L_u5beRdNFe5dyb-Y8l-P3zcv0TrzDkL0RC7Ly4Tliv3FIkPfrMsmVLVpjc3JkUs/s1600/misa.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj30ch5fb16Hcvn9z5I2gPGINO311b9JtYK-c7FtF7AnE2de96I-h4pKWHowkrAg0cFIm9Hy1Z7PlM90LNj4Ah-6izsEQj3qodEAR0DZJqVNBQoHGYhu1WIPwXQIHptWnO0FJekvUJUsz0/s1600/CoatofArms.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj30ch5fb16Hcvn9z5I2gPGINO311b9JtYK-c7FtF7AnE2de96I-h4pKWHowkrAg0cFIm9Hy1Z7PlM90LNj4Ah-6izsEQj3qodEAR0DZJqVNBQoHGYhu1WIPwXQIHptWnO0FJekvUJUsz0/s1600/CoatofArms.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HCZB80ZFEoBlLNevldKUBkNiUBXcDdMKOsvPiEWF8_3t5xQhyVo86EOa3sgyi3OP51azIFYd27ned6VovuKNiCq2kYdweNTlP3QTRMVw9HRGTefNUGJfRNgjHwuD5nNfs1zPvP5PZ3M/s1600/WANIFRALOGO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HCZB80ZFEoBlLNevldKUBkNiUBXcDdMKOsvPiEWF8_3t5xQhyVo86EOa3sgyi3OP51azIFYd27ned6VovuKNiCq2kYdweNTlP3QTRMVw9HRGTefNUGJfRNgjHwuD5nNfs1zPvP5PZ3M/s1600/WANIFRALOGO.jpg" /></a></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-37268433812976584822011-04-28T01:19:00.000-07:002011-04-28T01:25:13.725-07:00IFEX unveils special website for World Press Freedom Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8f8xLW0oo2DQfWb4YLMWokWWhr9MY04Dmf2l1IzSWG4UCcC3iAPvzOfzcoizqVL9EhigacUvPSZ0tPgPyKdYNUmpdDW_5LvswPqw5S9fZ5CEWgkzumwL4D-9swkXfrCH0B2kHdNxd4GM/s1600/ifex_wpd_screengrab_532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8f8xLW0oo2DQfWb4YLMWokWWhr9MY04Dmf2l1IzSWG4UCcC3iAPvzOfzcoizqVL9EhigacUvPSZ0tPgPyKdYNUmpdDW_5LvswPqw5S9fZ5CEWgkzumwL4D-9swkXfrCH0B2kHdNxd4GM/s1600/ifex_wpd_screengrab_532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8f8xLW0oo2DQfWb4YLMWokWWhr9MY04Dmf2l1IzSWG4UCcC3iAPvzOfzcoizqVL9EhigacUvPSZ0tPgPyKdYNUmpdDW_5LvswPqw5S9fZ5CEWgkzumwL4D-9swkXfrCH0B2kHdNxd4GM/s400/ifex_wpd_screengrab_532.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<a name='more'></a>Consider some of the past week's headlines: "Two photojournalists killed, two seriously injured in mortar fire in Libya; Journalists still being harassed as protests get stronger in the Middle East; Another Sri Lankan journalist arrested." Every day across the world, journalists, editors and publishers are murdered, assaulted, detained or harassed. Their publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">So on each year on World Press Freedom Day - 3 May - IFEX members pause to recognise the sacrifices made in the struggle for freedom of expression, to celebrate the fundamental principles of media freedom, and to put pressure on the numerous countries that continue to deny their citizens this basic human right. <br />
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A <a href="http://www.ifex.org/wpfd" target="blank">new IFEX website</a>, available in English (and French and Spanish from 29 April), showcases exactly what our 88 members are doing and thinking about on World Press Freedom Day. You'll find out how it is being commemorated around the world, and how you can get involved in your own community. <br />
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For instance, in New York, Index on Censorship has nabbed Julian Assange's attorney Mark Stephens to debate the fallout from WikiLeaks for free speech, national security and the media. <br />
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There will be much to discuss in Cairo as members run with UNESCO's official theme, "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers" and weigh the pros and cons of social media in the wake of their "Twitter revolution". <br />
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In Bangkok, members of the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) and Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA) wish to stick a press freedom pin on the shirt of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to remind him of the importance of media freedom, when they have an audience with him and his cabinet on 3 May. <br />
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"A new website devoted to World Press Freedom Day is a great way to highlight the important work of IFEX members," says IFEX executive director Annie Game. "Seeing all these efforts housed in one place is impressive and speaks not only to the importance of the day but to the ongoing dedication of the network." <br />
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This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the UN's Windhoek Declaration, which emphasises the importance of a free and diverse media to democracy and fundamental human rights. (The date of the declaration's adoption, 3 May, was subsequently declared World Press Freedom Day.) IFEX member the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) will be hosting a two-day conference in Windhoek, Namibia, to take a frank look at two decades of media freedom in Africa and what it means for the years to come. <br />
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Plus, the World Press Freedom Day site offers a full range of resources and materials by IFEX members, some of which you can download for free and republish yourself. Many members use the occasion to unveil their annual reports. Find out which countries are the most dangerous for journalists, who the enemies of press freedom are worldwide, and how your country ranks. <br />
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Be sure to take advantage of free posters, pictures and cartoons the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is offering around its own theme, "Silence kills democracy but a free press talks", all available in high resolution. As well, op-ed pieces are available in several languages by free expression heavyweights like renowned Tunisian writer Taoufik Ben Brik, the Elders, and David Drummond, Google's vice president. <br />
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In the count down to this year's events, please bookmark the site and visit it again in the run up to 3 May and beyond. </div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-57398385477398490852011-04-26T01:37:00.000-07:002011-04-26T01:38:55.474-07:00World Press Freedom Day: May 3, 2011<h3 align="center"><b>Media in Africa 20 Years On: </b> <b>Our Past, <br />
Present and Future.<br />
<br />
</b> </h3><div align="center" class="wpf">Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration on <br />
Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press</div><a name='more'></a><span id="goog_1709661910"></span><span id="goog_1709661911"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><br />
<h4 align="center">5 - 6 May 2011, Safari Court Hotel, Windhoek, Namibia<br />
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</h4><h4 align="center">Click here to download <a href="http://www.misa.org/WPFD2011%20-%20draft%20programme.pdf">WPFD May3, 2011 program</a> in PDF format</h4><div align="left"><span class="wpf"><i><br />
Hosted by MISA in collaboration with UNESCO, the Government of Namibia and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers</i></span> </div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-82255938246064172362011-04-19T01:43:00.000-07:002011-04-19T01:46:29.419-07:00World Bank links unrest to lack of accountability<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2IdaVND9Qwp-IeRKyYL8GX5xCqtl2WCHC1YQTt99bwctiAoD_kRcJesL8YB7w94BcuYc5ZTVn7rRekgabGCEsot45lGEhcqkNgJE_jKPDTbrdJmr_uxLqShoQjHs4scYz63tZQvng8w/s1600/zoellick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz2IdaVND9Qwp-IeRKyYL8GX5xCqtl2WCHC1YQTt99bwctiAoD_kRcJesL8YB7w94BcuYc5ZTVn7rRekgabGCEsot45lGEhcqkNgJE_jKPDTbrdJmr_uxLqShoQjHs4scYz63tZQvng8w/s1600/zoellick.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">April 11, 2011 - <span style="color: black;">WORLD Bank president Robert Zoellick says the crisis engulfing Middle East and North Africa shows that stability of any country can only be guaranteed if the government is more accountable to the people.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> Zoellick said that greater citizen participation and better governance were crucial for economic development.<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> He said World Bank had since been urging governments to publish information, enact Freedom of Information Acts, open up their budget and procurement processes, build independent audit functions, and sponsor reforms of justice systems.<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> Zoellick said the Bank would not only promote institutional reforms but also look into providing more support for civil society as a way of making government more accountable to people.<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> “Our message to our clients, whatever their political system, is that you cannot have successful development without good governance and without the participation of your citizens,” Zoellick said in a policy address before the World Bank’s Spring Meetings.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> “We will not lend directly to finance budgets in countries that do not publish their budgets or, in exceptional cases, at least commit to publish their budgets within twelve months.”<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> Zoellick said issues such as corruption, gender and transparency were in the past not mentioned at the World Bank because they were seen as too political.<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> “But over the last 20 years, each had become recognised as crucial for successful development and are now part of the Banks policy portfolio,” he said. “Likewise, citizen participation and good governance are recognised today as must haves for economic success. Some of that may be what we think of as politics, but most of it is also what we know is good economics; most of it is what we know is good for fighting corruption; most of it is what we know is good for inclusive and sustainable development.”<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> Zoellick said the World Bank was currently working with civil society and project beneficiaries in over ha lf of its new operations.<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: black;"> “But good governance will not happen without the active participation of citizens, especially in the Middle East and North Africa where modernisation had only been partially successful and institutions were sclerotic,” said Zoellick. “Institutions, however reformed, needed citizens to keep them accountable. An important role here should be played by civil society. But in much of the developing world, including the Middle East and North Africa, civil society was still in its infancy.”</span></span></div><div></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">Source: </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">The Post of Zambia - <a href="http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=19712"><span style="color: #c3390b;">http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=19712</span></a></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">//Ends</span></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-19067636921843860932011-03-03T22:53:00.000-08:002011-03-03T22:53:32.242-08:00Who is Muammar Gaddafi?<div style="text-align: justify;">How can you call someone a dictator leader who overthrew a corrupt monarchy, modernized the country, won the highest HDI in Africa, and applied a direct democracy system of government?</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Gaddafi has always supported revolutionary movements around the world. When the media – in the service of the U.S. – praised the apartheid regime South Africa, young Gaddafi in Libya trained and sent them back with the best weapons to win freedom in South<br />
Africa.</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Suddenly the press began a daily attack on the leader Muammar Gaddafi, to distill hatred, spreading lies, forging videos for what? What does it prove? The crimes of the Libyan government? Apparently this journalistic line was caused by popular uprisings in Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In fact, it is more a question of one more terrorist strategy of the government of the United States of America to recover influence in the Arab world. In Egypt, the government fell in U.S. confidence. Mubarak was merely an agent of U.S. and Israel interests in the region. With the fall of Mubarak, Iranian ships began to circulate in the vicinity of Israel, causing unease and anger in the diplomatic environments subservient to imperialism and Zionism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After losing Egypt, the U.S. government tries to divide and weaken Libya, and this effort receives support from the supporters of Bin Laden, and thousands of Egyptian refugees that over the years have taken refuge in eastern Libya, fleeing the repression in Egypt. After the Egyptians came Algerians, Tunisians and Somalis, followers of Al Qaeda. They enjoyed the hospitality of the Libyans and then the next thing they stabbed them in the back, triggering a revolt that has left tens of victims, through sabotage, terrorism and destruction of public property.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But who is this Qaddafi that the media suddenly started to attack in all forms, and even in a most cowardly form? Gaddafi led a revolution to overthrow King Idris, a puppet of Italian and American interests in the region. At the time, the largest U.S. military base abroad was in Libya, Qaddafi and his supporters surrounded the base and gave 24 hours for all invading foreigners to leave the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In power, Gaddafi did not like the Arab monarchs, did not build palaces with gold, not buy luxury yachts or collections of imported cars. He devoted himself to rebuilding the country, ensuring better living conditions for the people. Today Qaddafi is not president or prime minister of Libya, but the media wants him to resign a post which does not exist.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lies of the media cannot hide the fact that Gaddafi has supported the struggles of peoples for liberation in Nicaragua, Cuba, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and many other countries, specifically concretely helping the people who fought for liberation. In practice, Gaddafi has always been a benefactor of mankind, but for the mercenary media, a benefactor is one who creates wars in search of profits for the arms industry or to dominate the world, as were the wars created by the U.S. in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, El Salvador, Nicaragua and many other countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This utterly ridiculous gossip of wealth and strange customs have always been exploited by the media, it was with Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Fidel Castro, Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and etc. It is enough to be a serious ruler that does not seriously kneel down and cower in fear before the United States and is not intimidated to be demonised and disparaged by the mercenary media.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another fact that the media cannot falsify is the HDI (Human Development Index) measured by UN officials. These data indicate, for example, that Libya had in 1970, a situation a little worse than Brazil (HDI of 0.541, against 0.551 of Brazil.) The Libyan index surpassed the Brazilian years later, and in 2008 was well ahead: 0.810 (ranked 43rd), compared to 0.764 (ranking 59th). All three sub-indices that comprise the HDI is higher in the African country: income, longevity and education.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the HDI recast the difference remains. Libya is ranked the 53rd (0.755) and Brazil 73rd (.699). Libya is the country with the highest HDI in Africa. Therefore, the best distribution of income, and health and public education are free. And almost 10% of Libyan students receive scholarships to study in foreign countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So what kind of dictatorship is this? A dictatorship would never allow this kind of policy for the benefit of the people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gadhafi wrote the <i>Green Book</i>, the Third Universal Theory, which deals with controversial and real issues. He complains, for example, about the falsification of democracy through parliamentary assemblies. In most countries that consider themselves democratic, including the United States of America, political parties are organized criminal gangs to loot the people’s money in legislative assemblies, City Councils, House of Representatives, etc.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This observation – and a book in publication – certainly irritate and anger them? The defenders of parliamentary democracy? <i>The Green Book</i>, written by Gaddafi, says that workers should be involved and self-employed, and that the land must be of those who work it and those who live in the house. And power shall be exercised by the people directly, without intermediaries, without politicians, through popular congresses and committees, where the whole population decides the fundamental issues of the district, city and country. These words, which everyone knows are true, revolt and irritate those few who benefit from the falsification of democracy, especially the capitalist regimes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the press will keep on on forging the news, boiling hatred by spreading lies, because it is following orders from the U.S. government, very interested in the large oil reserves of Libya.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Major newspapers and television channels in the world use news agencies from the United States, all biased, misleading and deceptive. The lies that the news agencies sell buy public opinion, and most people? By naivete or misinformation they behave like puppets, repeating whatever the U.S. government determines and imposes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is not the first nor will it be the last, the Libyan Arab people face powerful foreign powers. Again the Libyan people will win, because they have the leadership of Muammar Qaddafi, an effective, strong and honorable guide.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a rare interview with Western journalists in January 1986, only months before the U.S. terrorist bombing of Libya, the Leader of the Revolution spoke frankly about his life and how he had been misunderstood by the West. Meeting the journalists in his tent he told of how he admired former US Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and of other world leaders he admires like “Egypt’s late Gamal Abdul Nasser, India’s Mahatma Gandhi, Sun Yat-Sen of China and Italy’s Garibaldi and Mazzini.” (Really, I’m a Nice Guy, Kate Dourian, Tripoli, Libya.)<sup><a class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" href="http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/03/who-is-muammar-gaddafi/#footnote_0_30083" id="identifier_0_30083" title="Mathaba.net">1<br />
</a></sup> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He spoke of his favourite book <i>The Outsider</i> by British author Colin Wilson and others he likes such as <i>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</i> and <i>Roots</i>. Throughout this interview the profound thinking and innate humanity of Muammar Qadhafi shone through.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also stated in another interview: “I see the press as being the messengers between me and the world to tell them the truth.”</div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-7526948005930332262011-02-28T00:49:00.000-08:002011-02-28T00:54:05.817-08:00World Press Freedom Day 2011: In Retrospect?<div style="text-align: justify;">Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian communications theorist Educator, Writer and Social Reformer, once said that the new media are not bridges between man and nature; they are nature.<br />
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New media, which is a broad term that refers to the incorporation of traditional media with the interactive power of computer technologies and most importantly the internet, has not only redefined the way we communicate but has become part and parcel of our day-to-day lives.<br />
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Owing to the tremendous impact that new media has on today?s society, this year?s World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), that will be officially commemorated in Washington D.C. with a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference from 1st ? <br />
3rd May, has adopted the theme ?21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers?.<br />
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This theme is important because new media, especially computer-enabled consumer devices, have not only empowered people around the world to voice their opinions on both their circumstances and world events, but has allowed for the exchange of information in environments that are sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals? right to freedom of expression.<br />
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The 18-day Tahir Square Revolution in Egypt which culminated in the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak on 11th February, is a clear example of the monumentous impact that new media has on today?s society. This is because social media sites were used to organize the early stages of this historic revolution that is otherwise known as the 18-day Facebook uprising.<br />
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Consequently, Facebook, Twitter, and the internet itself continue to mould the face of the revolution in the Middle East and North Africa. This is because, not only have these social networking sites been used to organize protests matches, but the internet itself is playing a huge role in disseminating the horrors and atrocities being committed in these countries through the eyes of ordinary citizens capturing these events as they unfold.<br />
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This is of even greater importance in Libya, a country in which the western media has been banned from reporting, thus essentially closing off the country from any other media coverage apart from the state owned media as security forces increase their presence on the streets of Tripoli, mere days after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi vowed to cling to power or die a "martyr."<br />
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However, before we commemorate this year?s WPFD?s important theme, it is vital to look back at last year?s theme, which was ?Freedom of Information?, because, and as stated by UNESCO?s Director General, even though the lack of this freedom that has exponentially propelled the usage of new media, Freedom of Information is central to upholding other basic rights for furthering transparency, justice and development.<br />
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Irina Bokova, UNESCO?s Director General, emphasized the importance of Freedom of Information by explaining that, together with Freedom of Expression, this freedom underpins democracy as an institution.<br />
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Watch Irina Bokova?s full interview below.<br />
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http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/media/page.cgi?g=Detailed/176.html;d=1</div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-27273660069026369222011-02-15T06:12:00.000-08:002011-02-15T06:13:34.930-08:0044 journalists killed in 2010, media watchdog says<span id="intelliTxt"><span id="intelliTxt">Feb 15, 2011</span> </span><br />
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Nairobi - Some 44 journalists were killed worldwide in 2010 as global institutions failed to protect the media, a report published Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said. </div></span></div><div></div><span id="intelliTxt"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan was the deadliest country, with eight killed, followed by Iraq with five, according to the report 'Attacks on the Press in 2010'. </div><span id="intelliTxt"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="intelliTxt">Of the 44 journalists, 27 were murdered while the rest were killed by crossfire in combat zones or died during other dangerous assignments. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> Including five journalist fatalities so far in 2011 - two of which came during the regime-changing protests in Tunisia and Egypt - 850 journalists have killed since 1992, the New York-based CPJ said. <br />
The publication said 145 journalist were also imprisoned in 2010 - a 14-year high. Iran and China topped the list of journalists serving jail terms, with 34 behind bars in both countries. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> International bodies such as the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the African Union (AU) also came under attack for failing to protect press freedom. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> 'We are noticing a deep failure by global institutions to defend the press,' Tom Rhodes of CPJ Africa said at the report's launch in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> Rhodes criticized the AU for appointing the strongman president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, to head up the body in 2011. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> Obiang seized control of the central African nation from his uncle in a 1979 coup and has long faced criticism for his authoritarian rule and stifling of the media. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> The leader was also at the centre of a controversy when UNESCO accepted a three-million-dollar donation from him to be given out in an annual life sciences prize. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> UNESCO, the UN body charged with protecting press freedom, in October backed down from the donation under pressure from the CPJ and human rights' bodies. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> 'This was a victory, but the battle should never have been fought,' the CPJ's executive director, Joel Simon, wrote in the report. 'The fact is that many international governmental organizations created to defend press freedom are consistently failing to fulfill their mission.' <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> Rhodes also blasted the AU for only having a part-time rapporteur on press freedom for a continent where journalists working in countries such as war-torn Somali face daily violence, and media freedom is under attack from governments across Africa. <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> 'They need to take it (press freedom) as a serious issue,' Rhodes said. 'There isn't a real genuine interest in press freedom in supranational institutions, they are too compromised.' <br />
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<span id="intelliTxt"> <img src="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/global/img/copyright_notice.gif" /></span></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-20494950012235666612011-02-15T06:03:00.000-08:002011-02-15T06:08:46.316-08:00Clinton pushes for internet freedomLachlan Carmichael | 15th February 2011<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_fe9pFyQ_IPE7nTSy8tlVzqRwyu_u6t3vt_GR44piDn33jeP1tx_QlZEytevfebZhAo1TwUsu4NRl2T9h8Fsx0rjO-DFh0HA0HRzPKfClYbjKndXPlue4BpX3bQUk6Znd6AyM2cKeAg/s1600/15feb_HillaryClinton_800x600_t325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_fe9pFyQ_IPE7nTSy8tlVzqRwyu_u6t3vt_GR44piDn33jeP1tx_QlZEytevfebZhAo1TwUsu4NRl2T9h8Fsx0rjO-DFh0HA0HRzPKfClYbjKndXPlue4BpX3bQUk6Znd6AyM2cKeAg/s200/15feb_HillaryClinton_800x600_t325.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton is renewing her push for the free and open use of the internet as protesters from Egypt to Iran have used it to demand political freedoms.</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a speech in Washington, the chief US diplomat said the question of what people do online and what principles they follow is one that "becomes more urgent every day".</div><br />
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The United States supports the "freedoms of expression, assembly, and association online" - what she calls the "freedom to connect" - and urges other nations to embrace those freedoms.<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Washington is also committed to protecting civil liberties and human rights in cyberspace and is "determined to track and stop terrorism and criminal activity online and offline", she continued.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are convinced that an open internet fosters long-term peace, progress and prosperity," Clinton said in her speech on Internet Rights and Wrongs.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But her prepared remarks warned that governments that block, censor or punish internet activity can "cut off opportunities for peace and progress and discourage innovation and entrepreneurship".<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"History has shown us that repression often sows the seeds for revolution down the road," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Those who clamp down on internet freedom may be able to hold back the full impact of their people's yearnings for a while but not forever."<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said leaders worldwide can open up to the internet and perhaps see its content increase the demand for political rights or they can block it and risk losing all the economic and social benefits that come with it.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The United States will continue to promote an internet where people's rights are protected and that is open to innovation, is interoperable all over the world, secure enough to hold people's trust and reliable enough to support their work," Clinton added.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">US diplomats and development experts now work daily to monitor and respond to threats to internet freedom.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A State Department official said Clinton's speech at George Washington University will tackle the role of 21st century communication technologies in recent events in the Middle East and efforts by some countries to curtail their "people's freedom to connect".<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">International and local Iranian media were banned from freely covering the massive wave of protest sparked by the disputed June 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Iranians overcame the reporting ban by using social-networking and image-sharing websites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr despite efforts by local officials to cut off mobile phones and the internet.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Relaying information and keeping the international spotlight on events, internet users played a key role in groundbreaking mass protests in Tunisia that forced president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee last month after 23 years in power.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Within days, Egyptians quickly mobilised pro-democracy protests through Facebook pages and Twitter messages. After 18 days of mass protests, Hosni Mubarak stepped down last week after three decades as president of Egypt.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a speech on internet freedoms in January 2010, Clinton urged China to conduct a thorough probe into cyberattacks on Google and other US companies, pressing technology firms to resist internet censorship.</div></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-19178160550971229582011-02-14T23:11:00.000-08:002011-02-14T23:14:09.673-08:00Facebook Officials Keep Quiet on Its Role in Revolts<h6 class="byline">By JENNIFER PRESTON </h6><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBP6gka3TuIcMpQJ7bUq0gK3yScEdP3CfsHatg5HHgi1FcFyAR1GGtj3EO3GM8hTvLM4SxJX30hYxspKilxUsGJ9ywG8wRfcC0hi11DiP0fdnfmjuqsZrNzZXrGoicWXTUFPVf4Zj6XiQ/s1600/FACEBOOK-1-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBP6gka3TuIcMpQJ7bUq0gK3yScEdP3CfsHatg5HHgi1FcFyAR1GGtj3EO3GM8hTvLM4SxJX30hYxspKilxUsGJ9ywG8wRfcC0hi11DiP0fdnfmjuqsZrNzZXrGoicWXTUFPVf4Zj6XiQ/s320/FACEBOOK-1-articleLarge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Facebook.">Facebook</a> playing a starring role in the revolts that toppled governments in Tunisia and <a class="meta-loc" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/egypt/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Egypt.">Egypt</a>, you might think the company’s top executives would use this historic moment to highlight its role as the platform for democratic change. <br />
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<div class="articleBody"><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, they really do not want to talk about it.<br />
The social media giant finds itself under countervailing pressures after the uprisings in the Middle East. While it has become one of the primary tools for activists to mobilize protests and share information, Facebook does not want to be seen as picking sides for fear that some countries — like Syria, where it just gained a foothold — would impose restrictions on its use or more closely monitor users, according to some company executives who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal business. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">And Facebook does not want to alter its firm policy requiring users to sign up with their real identities. The company says this requirement protects its users from fraud. However, human rights advocates like Susannah Vila, the director of content and outreach for <a href="http://www.movements.org/" title="The Web site">Movements.org</a>, which provides resources for digital activists, say it could put some people at risk from governments looking to ferret out dissent. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">“People are going to be using this platform for political mobilization, which only underscores the importance of ensuring their safety,” she said. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under those rules, Facebook shut down one of the most popular Egyptian Facebook protest pages in November because <a href="http://twitter.com/ghonim" title="His Twitter page">Wael Ghonim</a>, a <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/google_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More information about Google Inc">Google</a> executive who emerged as a symbol of the revolt, had used a pseudonym to create a profile as one of the administrators of the page, a violation of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/terms.php" title="The terms of service">Facebook’s terms of service</a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">With Egypt’s emergency law in place limiting freedom of speech, Mr. Ghonim might have put himself and the other organizers at risk if they were discovered at that time. Activists scrambled to find another administrator to get the page back up and running. And when Egyptian government authorities did figure out Mr. Ghonim’s role with the Facebook page that helped promote the Jan. 25 protest in Tahrir Square, he was imprisoned for 12 days. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last week, Senator <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/richard_j_durbin/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Richard J. Durbin.">Richard J. Durbin</a>, Democrat of Illinois, urged Facebook to take “<a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011/02/in_wake_of_tunisia_egypt_inter.html" title="Chicago Sun-Times blog post">immediate and tangible steps</a>” to help protect democracy and human rights activists who use its services, including addressing concerns about not being able to use pseudonyms. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a letter to <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/z/mark_e_zuckerberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Mark E. Zuckerberg.">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, Facebook’s chief executive, Mr. Durbin said the recent events in Egypt and Tunisia had highlighted the costs and benefits of social tools to democracy and human rights advocates. “I am concerned that the company does not have adequate safeguards in place to protect human rights and avoid being exploited by repressive governments,” he wrote. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Elliot Schrage, the vice president for global communications, public policy and marketing at Facebook, declined to discuss Facebook’s role in the recent tumult and what it might mean for the company’s services. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a short statement, he said: “We’ve witnessed brave people of all ages coming together to effect a profound change in their country. Certainly, technology was a vital tool in their efforts but we believe their bravery and determination mattered most.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other social media tools, like <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/youtube/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More news about YouTube.">YouTube</a> and <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Twitter.">Twitter</a>, also played major roles in Tunisia and Egypt, especially when the protests broke out. But Facebook was the primary tool used in Egypt, first to share reports about police abuse and then to build an online community that was mobilized to join the Jan. 25 protests. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">In recent weeks, Facebook pages and groups trying to mobilize protesters have sprung up in Algeria, Bahrain, Morocco and Syria. Hashtags on Twitter have also helped spread the protests, which extended to Algeria over the weekend and to Bahrain, Iran and Yemen on Monday. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">“This is an incredible challenge and an incredible opportunity for Facebook, Twitter and Google,” said <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/ezuckerman" title="More about Mr. Zuckerman">Ethan Zuckerman</a>, a senior researcher at the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/">Berkman Center for Internet and Society</a> at Harvard, where he works on projects about the use of technology and media in the developing world. “It might be tougher for Facebook than anyone else. Facebook has been ambivalent about the use of their platform by activists.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unlike <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/vodafone_group_plc/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More information about Vodafone Group Plc">Vodafone</a> and other telecommunications carriers, which often need contracts and licenses to operate within countries, Facebook and other social networks are widely available around the world (except in countries like China, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have restricted access) and encourage the free flow of information for anyone with access to the Internet. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a speech that Secretary of State <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/hillary_rodham_clinton/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Hillary Rodham Clinton.">Hillary Rodham Clinton</a> is scheduled to deliver Tuesday, she will once again emphasize that Internet freedom is an inalienable right. In recent weeks, the State Department has been sending out Twitter updates in Arabic and began sending updates in Persian over the weekend. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Twitter and YouTube, which is owned by Google, have been more willing to embrace their roles in activism and unrest, Mr. Zuckerman said. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the Internet was shut down in Egypt, Twitter and Google actively helped protesters by producing a new service, <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-weekend-work-that-will-hopefully.html" title="About the service">speak2tweet</a>, that allowed people to leave voice mail messages that would be filed as updates on Twitter. Biz Stone, one of Twitter’s founders, <a href="http://blog.twitter.com/2011/01/tweets-must-flow.html">used it as an opportunity</a> to emphasize the positive global impact that comes with the open exchange of information. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">When the Internet was back up, YouTube, working with <a href="http://blog.storyful.com/2010/10/06/welcome-to-storyful-2/" title="About Storyful">Storyful</a>, a social media news curation service, took the thousands of videos pouring in from the protests in Tahrir Square to help people retrieve and share the information as quickly as possible on <a href="http://www.citizentube.com/2011/02/egyptian-protest-footage-on-youtube.html" title="CitizenTube’s Web site">CitizenTube</a>, its news and politics channel. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Facebook has taken steps to help protesters in Tunisia after government officials used a virus to obtain local Facebook passwords this year. The company rerouted Facebook’s traffic from Tunisia and used the breach to upgrade security last month for all of its more than 550 million users worldwide; at the same time, it was careful to cast the response as a technical solution to a security problem. There are about two million Facebook users in Tunisia and five million in Egypt. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Debbie Frost, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said the company was not considering changing its policy requiring users to use their real identities, which she says leads to greater accountability and a safer environment. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The trust people place in us is the most important part of what makes Facebook work,” she said, adding that the company welcomed a discussion with Mr. Durbin and others who have an interest in this matter. “As demonstrated by our response to threats in Tunisia, we take this trust seriously and work aggressively every single day to protect people.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr. Durbin has urged Facebook to join the Global Network Initiative, a voluntary code of conduct for technology companies, created in 2008, that requires participating businesses to take reasonable steps to protect human rights. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.rasiej.com/" title="Mr. Rasiej’s Web site">Andrew Rasiej</a>, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, said that the people and companies behind the technology needed to be more transparent about what information they collect, and that they needed to develop consistent policies to allow people to opt in or out of their data collection systems. <br />
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“We must have a right to protect the privacy of information stored in the cloud as rigorously as if it were in our own home,” he said. </div><div class="articleCorrection"></div></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-11042929321592584912011-02-14T22:54:00.000-08:002011-02-14T22:56:02.781-08:00Clinton: US to back cyber dissent in repressive states, warns Internet curbs can't last<div style="text-align: justify;"><h3 class="byline"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">By MATTHEW LEE</span></h3>Restricting the Internet will not hold back surging popular demand for democratic reforms in the Middle East or elsewhere and the Obama administration is ready to help dissidents evade cyber curbs to promote human rights and democracy in repressive states, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says in a major policy address.</div><br />
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<div class="summary" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-top: 10px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">In remarks to be delivered Tuesday at George Washington University, Clinton challenges autocratic regimes in Iran, the broader Middle East and elsewhere to embrace online freedom and the demands of cyber dissidents or risk being toppled by tides of unrest. There is no "app" for ending online repression, Clinton says, but she also pledges U.S. support for ending curbs on Internet usage that have become common amid calls for change.<br />
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"There is no silver bullet in the struggle against Internet repression," she says in excerpts released Monday night by the State Department. "There's no 'app' for that. And accordingly, we are taking a comprehensive and innovative approach _ one that matches our diplomacy with technology, secure distribution networks for tools, and direct support for those on the front lines."<br />
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A major element of that, officials say, will be to assist civic leaders, students and rights activists in overcoming government controls on the Internet to get their messages out.<br />
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Clinton's remarks, her second major address on the topic of Internet freedom since becoming America's top diplomat, come amid a groundswell of protests around the Middle East that have been abetted by online agitators using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to organize anti-government demonstrations from Algeria to Yemen, Syria, Iran and Jordan. Two longtime autocratic Arab presidents, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, have been driven from power in the last month.<br />
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"History has shown us that repression often sows the seeds for revolution down the road," she says. "Those who clamp down on Internet freedom may be able to hold back the full impact of their people's yearnings for a while, but not forever."<br />
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To varying degrees, countries beset by calls for change have attempted to stifle dissent by shutting down specific social media websites or limiting or interrupting Internet service altogether. But, Clinton argues, governments that clamp down on opposition websites, activist bloggers and news outlets do so at their own risk.<br />
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"We are convinced that an open Internet fosters long-term peace, progress and prosperity," she says. "The reverse is also true."<br />
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The State Department has jumped into the fray over the course of the past week, launching Twitter feeds in both Arabic and Farsi to reach out to people throughout the Arab world and Iran, where anti-government protests were met with a severe police crackdown on Monday.<br />
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"Leaders worldwide have a choice to make," Clinton says. "They can let the Internet in their countries flourish, and take the risk that the freedoms it enables will lead to a greater demand for political rights. Or they can constrict the Internet, choke the freedoms it naturally sustains, and risk losing all the economic and social benefits that come from a networked society."<br />
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Despite the Obama administration's own problems with an unfettered Internet, most notably the release of hundreds of thousands of sensitive diplomatic documents by the WikiLeaks website, Clinton says that the U.S. is unwavering in its commitment to cyber freedom, even as it seeks to prosecute online criminals and terrorists.<br />
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"Our allegiance to the rule of law does not dissipate in cyberspace, neither does our commitment to protecting civil liberties and human rights," she says. "There are times when these principles will raise tensions and pose challenges, but we do not have to choose among them. And we shouldn't. Together they comprise the foundation of a free and open Internet."<br />
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Clinton argues that the Internet is neither good nor bad, a force for neither liberation nor repression. It is the sum of what its users make it, she says.<br />
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"What matters is what people who go online do there, and what principles should guide us as we come together in cyberspace," she says. "That question becomes more urgent every day."</div><div></div><h3 class="no_bold" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: justify;"><span class="storysource storyPageStoryAbout"><br />
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</div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-60876220256341504522011-02-14T06:29:00.000-08:002011-02-14T22:52:09.846-08:00UNESCO condemns murder of Egyptian journalist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYNqyIH8QbpS93SA1Jp_DkkpLs2n6dOJD3042FzwKf7RKuD4opMeVouDqZJLjRrRBNMHqGbPzR3VFQy9j8ebmENl2w8_OSkmq4Dg5k7o0wKabGHLBSan7tAHb_MnMKlY0-SzpOtNBtVI/s1600/66271.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYNqyIH8QbpS93SA1Jp_DkkpLs2n6dOJD3042FzwKf7RKuD4opMeVouDqZJLjRrRBNMHqGbPzR3VFQy9j8ebmENl2w8_OSkmq4Dg5k7o0wKabGHLBSan7tAHb_MnMKlY0-SzpOtNBtVI/s200/66271.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>PARIS: UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova on Friday, 11 February 2011, condemned the murder of Egyptian journalist Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, who died of his wounds on 4 February. He was shot in the head on 29 January while covering the protests that began on 25 January in Cairo<br />
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"I condemn the murder of journalist Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud," said the director-general. "Violence against journalists represents an attack on the basic right of freedom of expression and therefore a direct threat to democracy. Media professionals must be able to work in safety in order to nurture free and independent debate. I count on the Egyptian authorities to do all they can to shed light on this murder and bring the culprits to justice."<br />
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<b>Shot while taking photos</b><br />
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Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, 36, was covering the uprising that began in Cairo on 25 January for the newspaper <i>Al-Taawun</i>, put out by the Al-Ahram publishing house. He was shot in the head while taking photographs of the protesters from the balcony of his apartment, located not far from Tahrir Square, centre of the demonstrations. He died of his wounds six days later at a Cairo hospital.<br />
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Since the protests began in Egypt, the situation of the media covering events has continued to give cause for concern. Journalists have reportedly been assaulted and their equipment confiscated; others have been arrested. Numerous media have furthermore had their permits suspended and their satellite transmission blocked.<br />
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The director-general reiterated her call for Egypt to respect the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of information as laid down in Article 19 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8680758761544076293.post-21336991592272629352011-02-11T02:38:00.000-08:002011-02-11T02:38:36.572-08:00South Africa resumes debate on secrecy bill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUcN6hyXLIdpPqfZ_KOCEE82PusdbeYBBk7xBd8T3XiflYSfsHemacgkpgLLvQuC52gLbGfBlTGIFVI17r78VdyiBETTcsN888LxdXv2lKoJt8FDjAiSDZvtw6nsbgTwKUrtHhwumAzUA/s1600/SA.protesters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
By </a><a href="http://cpj.org/blog/author/shehnilla-mohamed">Shehnilla Mohamed/CPJ Africa Staff</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUcN6hyXLIdpPqfZ_KOCEE82PusdbeYBBk7xBd8T3XiflYSfsHemacgkpgLLvQuC52gLbGfBlTGIFVI17r78VdyiBETTcsN888LxdXv2lKoJt8FDjAiSDZvtw6nsbgTwKUrtHhwumAzUA/s1600/SA.protesters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUcN6hyXLIdpPqfZ_KOCEE82PusdbeYBBk7xBd8T3XiflYSfsHemacgkpgLLvQuC52gLbGfBlTGIFVI17r78VdyiBETTcsN888LxdXv2lKoJt8FDjAiSDZvtw6nsbgTwKUrtHhwumAzUA/s320/SA.protesters.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Parliamentary <span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.pmg.org.za/report/20110118-protection-information-bill-b6-2010-continuation-deliberations">hearings</a></span> on South Africa's Protection of Information Bill <span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/heated-debate-over-info-bill-1.1013960">resumed</a></span> last week with <span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/Politics/article863414.ece/MPs-clash-over-info-bill">heated debate</a></span> over <span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-01-21-secrets-bill-has-not-been-defanged">provisions</a></span> threatening to restrict press freedom and access to information. For journalists, much uncertainty remains over the final product and when it will be completed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="asset-more" id="more"><div> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-ZA">The <a href="http://cpj.org/2010/08/in-south-africa-legislation-would-restrict-press.php"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">bill</span></a>, introduced in March 2010, would supplant South Africa's 1982 Protection of Information Act and regulate the manner in which government guards information. The <a href="http://www.pmg.org.za/report/20080729-public-hearings-protection-information-bill-b28-2008"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">original draft</span></a> was drawn up by the Ministry of State Security in 2008 with the aim of regulating procedures for the classification of information and setting out penalties for the disclosure of secret state data. That same year, the draft legislation was <a href="http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-22-sanef-welcomes-withdrawal-of-information-bill"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">rejected</span></a> by a ministerial committee, which found the bill could lead to excessive government secrecy. <br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-ZA">The measure has since been amended, but <a href="http://cpj.org/blog/2010/09/south-africans-rally-against-secrecy-bill.php"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">critics</span></a> say many of their original concerns remain. They contest, for example, the inability of investigative journalists to raise public interest as a defense in disclosing confidential documents, the draconian prison sentences of three to 25 years, and the absence of independent oversight of classification.<br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/user/5133"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mondli Makhanye</span></a>, chairman of the <a href="http://www.sanef.org.za/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">South African National Editors' Forum</span></a>, told CPJ he doubted the hearings would be completed soon. He said parliament would sit for a short time only before adjourning for local government elections. Although a date for the elections has yet to be announced, they must be held 90 days after the terms of the present local councils expire on March 1. "I think it will be the end of the year before the hearings are completed and the final bill is presented to the National Assembly for approval," Makhanye said.<br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-ZA">This view was confirmed by <a href="http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=184&MemberID=544"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Cecil Burgess</span></a>, chairman of the special parliamentary committee dealing with the bill. Burgess told CPJ that the ruling African National Congress would not <a href="http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=131804"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">rush the bill</span></a> through parliament. However, he said, the term of the ad hoc committee on the Protection of Information Bill was due to end on January 28, leaving the committee with less than two weeks to address public opposition. Burgess said if the committee had not completed its work by the deadline, the National Assembly might extend the panel's term.<br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><a href="http://www.da.org.za/our_people.htm?action=view-page&category=members-of-parliament&person=650"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dene Smuts</span></a>, a spokeswoman for the opposition Democratic Alliance, told CPJ her party believes parliament should give the committee the rest of the year to finalize the legislation and should not apply unreasonable deadlines. "We believe that because of the importance of the legislation, it should be processed slowly and carefully and not hurried along," said Smuts.<span> <br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-ZA">The bill has drawn strong <a href="http://cpj.org/blog/2010/10/south-africans-end-week-of-secrecy-bill-protests.php"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">domestic and international opposition</span></a>. In a November 2010 <a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/94480"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">letter</span></a> to the parliamentary committee, Sipho Mthathi, South Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said the bill "threatens free speech, transparency, accountability and in fact South Africa's democracy." He urged the committee to adhere to the 1995 Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression, and Access to Information, which call for national security laws to be unambiguous and drawn narrowly to protect a legitimate security interests. </span></div></div>WPFDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07401080649450582307noreply@blogger.com0