Media Highlights – September 12, 2012
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Ian Burrell: The world’s most isolated people could do with London calling – The Independent, September 10, 2012
Members of the social elite and those living close to borders are most likely to be able to access foreign television and radio from South Korea or obtain DVDs smuggled from China. Among the broadcasters based in South Korea is the US government-run Voice of America, and Radio Free Asia, which is funded by grants from Washington and transmits to North Korea for five hours a day from a studio in Seoul.
Iranian people believe government will go to war to stay in power – Fox News, September 11, 2012
For those who can afford it, there are satellites and foreign news services such as the BBC and Voice of America, designed to inform Iranians inside Iran.
Psychologist Laments Lackluster 9/11 Memorials - ABC News, September 11, 2012
On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, while I stood on the balcony of the World Financial Center being interviewed by the Arabic television network Alhurra-TV, I was surrounded by media outlets from around the world, clearly proving that the world was watching and united.
Can China’s Social Media Break the Chains of Censorship? – Heritage Foundation, September 11, 2012
The creation of Sina Weibo is clearly having unintended consequences for the Chinese government. At the same time, Chinese citizens continue to need the link to the outside world—through Internet circumvention of the Great Firewall and through international broadcasting (such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America) in order to breach walls of censorship.
Prayer Breakfast first of several local 9/11 memorials – Utica Observer Dispatch, September 11, 2012
Keynote speaker Steve Redisch, executive editor for Voice of America, focused his remarks on how Sept. 11, 2001, changed the news media – including CNN, where he worked at the time – and how the question more than a decade later has become how to best mark the anniversary moving forward.
Also mentioned in WIBX, Rome Observer
Media Citations of BBG Broadcasters
Labour groups booted out of China’s tech boom town – The Register, September 12, 2012
In one incident, a group of hammer-wielding people ransacked the premises of Xiaoxiaocao Workers’ Home at the end of August, according to Radio Free Asia.
Syrian troops and rebels clash in Aleppo – UPI, September 12, 2012
Over the past several weeks, rebels have been attacking military airfields in an attempt to prevent them from being used for launching airstrikes, Voice of America reported.
Uzbekistan: We Don’t Use Child Labor and No You Can’t Have a Look – EurasiaNet, September 12, 2012
Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced in August that it is forbidden to use children to harvest cotton and that schoolchildren shouldn’t even be near the fields during harvest season. However, UzNews and Radio Free Europe’s Uzbek Service note that Mirziyoyev’s decree is a yearly song and dance, and that as early as September 5, students from Jizzakh, a town in Uzbekistan’s northeast, were rounded up into buses and sent off to pick cotton in fields about 70 kilometers away.
Breakfast Briefing: Twitter faces fine, GoDaddy “not hacked”, iPhones running on fuel cells – PC Pro, September 12, 2012
According to a report from Radio Free Asia, there are mounting concerns that hired heavies are being employed to “persuade” rights groups to move away from areas in Shenzhen, where many high tech gadgets are produced. The concerns come in the wake of criticism of Apple and Samsung over conditions in factories producing their wares.
Of Interest
Statement on the Death of American Personnel in Benghazi, Libya – U.S. Department of State, September 12, 2012
It is with profound sadness that I share the news of the death of four American personnel in Benghazi, Libya yesterday. Among them were United States Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and Foreign Service Information Management Officer, Sean Smith. We are still making next of kin notifications for the other two individuals. Our hearts go out to all their families and colleagues.
Burma Liberalizes Internet Access, But Connectivity Remains out of Reach for the Vast Majority – TechPresident, September 11, 2012
Burma (Myanmar) is cautiously liberalizing although Human Rights Watch reports that the situation there is still “dire,” despite the release of some political prisoners and the abolishment of state censorship of the local media. Access to the Internet and mobile phones is extremely limited in Burma, but there have been some recent changes in government policy, according to a Freedom House report written by a Sam duPont, a researcher who recently spent 10 days in Rangoon, working with human rights activists.
Photographer captures attack in Syria, lives – CNN, September 12, 2012
Journalist Tracey Shelton wrote about her recent week in Syria: “I’ve been shot at, bombed at, witnessed some horrific/tragic/insane/inspiring things, escaped through a minefield into Turkish military custody, arrested, detained, sat through a 3-hour bus ride covered in a week’s worth of dust, blood, debris and sweat, (still feel sorry for the girl who sat next to me) and I’m about to be deported.”
@Fault: Besieged U.S. Embassy #Fails Its Twitter Defense – Wired, September 11, 2012
When Egyptians stormed the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the diplomats took to their computers and mobile devices — and blamed an American video for stirring up the locals. But the Embassy’s tweets against the movie and “religious incitement” instantly came in for more criticism, from Americans who thought the diplomats had conceded far, far too much — like basic principles of free speech.
