Aljazeera puts the record straight on this situation.
This week on The Listening Post, we cast a critical eye on the six-day conflict between Georgia and Russia over the disputed territory of South Ossetia.
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When a Hong Kong paper said earlier this week that it had gotten its hands on a 21-point memo from the Chinese government’s propaganda unit telling the national media how it must cover the Olympics, the head of the Beijing Olympic committee scoffed, “There is no such 21-point document. Chinese media, according to the Chinese constitution, are free to report on the games.” But then the Sydney Morning Herald got the same document, and published it in full. Witness the worldwide free press in action, propagandists! Highlights of the edicts to the proud nation’s “journalists”:
1. The telecast of sports events will be live [but] in case of emergencies, no print is allowed to report on it.
4. Don’t make fuss about foreign leaders at the opening ceremony, especially in relation to seat arrangements or their private lives.
5. We have to put special emphasis on ethnic equality. Any perceived racist terms as “black athlete” or “white athlete” is not allowed. During the official telecast, we can refer to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei”. In ordinary times, refer to Taiwanese athletes as “those from the precious island Taiwan…..” In case of any pro Taiwan-independence related incident inside the venue, you shall follow restrictions listed in item 1.
8. All food saftey issues, such as cancer-causing mineral water, is off-limits.
9. In regard to the three protest parks, no interviews and coverage is allowed.
10. No fuss about the rehearsals on August 2,5. No negative comments about the opening ceremony.
13.On international matters, follow the official line. For instance, follow the official propaganda line on the North Korean nuclear issue; be objective when it comes to the Middle East issue and play it down as much as possible; no fuss about the Darfur question; No fuss about UN reform; be careful with Cuba. If any emergency occurs, please report to the foreign ministry.
And the last half of this directive really sums up the entire government’s attitude towards reporting:
17. In case of an emergency involving foreign tourists, please follow the official line. If there’s no official line, stay away from it.
[Gawker]
Blogged with the Flock Browser
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I found this arresting chart on Swivel. It plots the number of bloggers who have been incarcerated over the past few years, based on data collected by the World Information Access project. The number of incidents it tracks went from five arrests in 2003 to 35 last year. As blogging expands internationally, so do the risk of speaking one’s mind. (Something many of us take for granted).
Most of those arrests are in countries with oppressive regimes, such as Egypt, China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. But bloggers have been arrested in Canada, France, Greece, and even the U.S. (with Josh Wolf being one of the most famous incidents—he spent the better part of a year in jail for refusing to turn over journalistic video footage to a grand jury).
A few involve cases of alleged terrorism or pedophilia, but the majority involve some form of political speech. Some typical examples:
Reza Valizadeh (Iran; November, 2007). “For revealing Iranian president’s overpriced dogs that his security team uses.”
Charles Leblanc (Canada; June, 2006): “For taking pictures at a conference for his blog.”
Josh Wolf (USA; August, 2006): “For videotaping a burning police car.”
Hu Jia (China; December, 2007): “For posting his vocal critiques of human rights abuses and environmental degradation in China and calling the Olympics a ‘human rights disaster.’”
Reza Valizadeh (Iran; November, 2007): “For revealing Iranian president’s overpriced dogs that his security team uses.”
Nay Phone Latt (Burma; January, 2008): “For posting pictures of monks and people demonstrating on the streets.”
I’ve uploaded a spreadsheet with the names of all 64 arrested bloggers tracked by the WIA that includes their country, date of arrest, and reason for arrest. These do not include people arrested for impersonating someone else on Facebook or unfortunate enough to be beaten to death during an arrest.
From TechCruch
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This week, we have put together a special broadcast focusing on what’s possibly one of the most debated news trends and one of the most well-known, citizen journalism. Critics call it journalism on the cheap, unskilled hacks putting out stories that are heavy on opinion and light on fact. According to those championing amateur reporters, it is a way to keep mainstream media honest and in some cases, it’s just about the only way to get a story out.
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