News Roundup Archive

Friday, June 22, 2012

USIP's Media, Conflict & Peacebuilding Roundup

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, June 14 - 20, 2012

Media and Journalism

Internet and Social Media

What's New from PeaceMedia

Media and Journalism

Sudan Crackdown on Independent Newspapers
Three Sudanese newspapers were ordered by the government not to distribute their Sunday issues the weekend after they had printed them. The move is seen as an escalation of the government's campaign against press freedom ahead of plans by the authorities to end fuel subsidies. Newspapers are under strict instructions by the NISS to refrain from reporting statements by South Sudanese officials or Sudanese rebel groups from the western region of Darfur or the border regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
See the full article (Guardian, Roy Greenslade, 6/19/12)
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Jordanian Journalist Missing in Southern Philippines
The authorities in the Philippines are hoping that a prominent Jordanian journalist and his crew, who disappeared on a southern island plagued by kidnapping, will re-emerge safely after he has completed his reporting. Officials suspect that [Baker Atyani] was attempting to interview hostages and members of the Abu Sayyaf militant group. In the past decade, Abu Sayyaf has routinely kidnapped journalists whom it invited into the jungle for interviews.
See the full article (New York Times, Floyd Whaley, 6/19/12) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
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Burmese Journalists Brace for Uncertain New World
These are heady days in Myanmar's newsrooms, many of them staffed by young women like those at Kumudra newspaper--nicknamed after "Charlie's Angels" for their tenacity in holding the military-dominated government to account. Reporters and editors are suddenly enjoying remarkable press freedom, as the country's new, nominally civilian government launches a rapid succession of reforms, but they also fear they may be inadequately prepared as they enter uncharted, potentially hazardous territory.
See the full article (AP, Denis D. Gray, 6/19/12)
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Coverage of Scandal Dents Credibility of Pakistani TV News
Television coverage has made politicians more responsive to public opinion, opened new debates on previously taboo topics and introduced a new level of accountability - even among the all-powerful military. But the television revolution has also, in some respects, been bad news for Pakistan. Some shows have given an unchallenged platform to extremists like Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, for whom the United States has offered a $10 million bounty.
See the full article (New York Times, Declan Walsh, 6/18/12) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
Click to read "Pakistani Journalists, at USIP, Examine Role of Media," a USIP News Brief.
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Associated Press Video Journalist Wounded in Syria, Evacuated to London for Treatment
A video journalist covering the Syrian uprising for The Associated Press was wounded while filming clashes between rebels and the Syrian army. [Ahmed] Bahaddou's injury highlights the dangers to reporters seeking to cover Syria's uprising. The Syrian government rarely grants visas to foreign reporters and strictly limits the movements of those allowed to enter. This has left most reporters relying on contacts with activists and amateur videos shot inside the country to cover the story.
See the full article (AP, 6/17/12)
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The Evolving Propaganda War in Syria
When the conflict in Syria began it was relatively simple - a tyrant versus his people. After more than a year, it's become much more complicated. [On the Media] speaks with BBC Middle East Bureau Chief Paul Danahar who recently returned from Syria about the propaganda both sides of the conflict are putting out and the usefulness of having more journalists on the ground in Syria.
See the full article (NPR, 6/15/12)
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Portraits of Conflict: Can an Image Stop the Bloodshed?
Photojournalist Robert King risked his life to document the human toll in the besieged Syrian city of Al Qusayr. King tells me in the 20 years he's been covering conflict, he has never photographed so many wounded children. He wants his footage to tell the story of the Syrian people to the wider public. The unaltered image is the ultimate portrayal of reality. It depicts the terror on the ground and the urgent need for help. But can it stop the bloodshed?
See the full article (CNN, Kristie Lu Stout, 6/15/12)
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Internet and Social Media

UN Free Speech Expert Criticizes Censorship by Israel, Palestinians
he government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza are all unduly limiting free speech through restrictive laws, intimidation and censorship, a U.N. human rights expert said Tuesday. The global body's independent investigator on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, said the measures have had a chilling effect on the work of journalists and peaceful activists, and urged Israel and the Palestinians to uphold international standards on free speech.
See the full article (AP, 6/19/12)
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The "Whack-a-Mole" Strategy of Pulling Terrorist Videos Offline
From the new head of al Qaeda core, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to terror propagandist Ayman al-Awlaki, using the Internet to spread the jihadist message is a tool of the trade for terrorists. In the last six months of 2011, Google agreed to remove some 640 terrorist videos from YouTube at the request of law enforcement officials in the United Kingdom, because the videos violated the company's guidelines.
See the full article (CNN, Suzanne Kelly and Pam Benson, 6/19/12)
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From Russia with Likes: Kremlin to Launch Facebook-style Social Network
Social networks have been the tool of choice for opposition activists since street demonstrations broke out in December, but the popularity of the internet in Russia means any Chinese-style attempt to assert control from above would be doomed. So the authorities appear to have been forced to play the socially networked activists at their own game.
See the full article (Guardian, Howard Amos, 6/19/12)
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'Taliban Twit-fight' Questioned
The NATO International Security Assistance Force Twitter account recently engaged pro-Taliban user @ABalkhi in a social media tête-à-tête in response to tweets reporting alleged deaths in Afghanistan's Helmand province. @ABalkhi tweeted the report, to which @StewartUpton, spokesperson for the US Marine Corps, retorted. Bloggers label [the] exchange as #PAOfail - or public affairs failure - and raise questions about who's Taliban and who's not.
See the full article (Al Jazeera, 6/19/12)
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Egypt: People and Technology Change a Nation
[Hosni Mubarak's] reported death brings renewed global attention to the ever-changing narrative of Egypt's revolution. The Internet and social media played a key role in the Egyptian uprising - many Egyptians turned to services such as Twitter to organize protests. This was undoubtedly a people's revolution, albeit assisted in new and profound ways by technology. Check out Mashable's interactive timeline to learn how an atmosphere of discontent, a willingness to act and technology combined to create change resulting in the overthrow of a tyrant.
See the full article (Mashable, Alex Fitzpatrick, 6/19/12)
Click to read "Egypt's Elections," a USIP On the Issues by Daniel Brumberg.
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Internet Unshackled, Burmese Aim Venom at Ethnic Minority
Over the past year, Myanmar's government has ended its heavy censorship, allowing citizens unfettered access to a wide variety of Web sites that had been banned during military rule. But as the poverty-stricken country of 55 million makes a delicate transition to democracy, hateful comments are also flourishing online about a Muslim ethnic group, the Rohingya, that is embroiled in sectarian clashes in western Myanmar that have left more than two dozen people dead.
See the full article (New York Times, Thomas Fuller, 6/15/12) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
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What's New from PeaceMedia

"Breaking the Cycle of Poverty in Kenya" - UK Aid
UK Aid's Hunger Safety Net Programme is helping 60,000 of Kenya's most vulnerable households to lift themselves out of poverty by giving small cash transfers of around £8 a month. This small amount of money can make a real difference to the lives of Kenya's poorest people by allowing them to start a small business and provide for themselves and their families.
See the full video
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USIP's Science, Technology & Peacebuilding Roundup

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Science, Technology and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, June 14 - 20, 2012

Table of Contents


An Embassy Asks, Drones or Diplomacy?
As America's relationship with Pakistan has unraveled over the past 18 months, an important debate has been going on within the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad over the proper scope of CIA covert actions and their effect on diplomatic interests. The larger issue is the intersection of drone warfare and diplomacy. It's a crucial question for the Obama administration, which has sharply increased the CIA's use of these unmanned aircraft to strike at al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
See the full article (Washington Post, David Ignatius, 6/20/12)
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Mobile Data Could Predict How Populations Will Move After Disasters
The team at Sweden's Karolinska Institute studied data supplied by Digicel, Haiti's largest mobile network provider, from before and after the 2010 earthquake. The movements of 1.9 million mobile phone users revealed regular patterns of behaviour, including the fleeing of Port-au-Prince citizens away from the city and towards loved ones. This indicates population displacement after a natural disaster could be predicted in the future.
See the full article (Wired, Liat Clark, 6/19/12)
Click to read "Crowdsourcing Crisis Information in Disaster- Affected Haiti," a USIP Special Report by Jessica Heinzelman and Carol Waters.
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US, Israel Developed Flame Computer Virus to Slow Iranian Nuclear Efforts, Officials Say
The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort. Flame came to light last month after Iran detected a series of cyberattacks on its oil industry. The disruption was directed by Israel in a unilateral operation that apparently caught its American partners off guard.
See the full article (Washington Post, Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller and Julie Tate, 6/19/12)
Click to read about USIP's upcoming event "Change and Continuity in the Islamic Republic of Iran" on June 27 at 9:30am.
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Back to the Future: On National Geographic and Crisis Mapping
I've been tagged as the "Crisis Mapper" of the Emerging Explorers Class of 2012. So imagine my astonishment when I began discovering that National Geographic had a long history of covering and mapping natural disasters, humanitarian crises and wars starting from the very first issue of the magazine in 1888. Today, "new technologies--remote sensing, lasers, computer graphics, x-rays and CT scans--allow National Geographic to picture the world in new ways."
See the full article (National Geographic, Patrick Meier, 6/19/12)
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The Stuxnet Leak Was a Valuable Warning Shot
Congress may be throwing a fit over intelligence leaks that implicate the United States in an elaborate cyberattack against Iran's nuclear program, but to some of the world's leading cybersecurity experts, the revelations, far from doing harm, may actually do the world a favor. Stuxnet and Flame-should not be seen as fiendish pieces of technology that the military let loose and then lost through careless coding and opportunistic leaking, but something that hackers were doing long before the military muscled in.
See the full article (Newsweek, Trevor Butterworth, 6/18/12)
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US Shadow Wars Rely on Drones, Computers
After a decade of costly conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American way of war is evolving toward less brawn, more guile. Drone aircraft spy on and attack terrorists with no pilot in harm's way. Small teams of special operations troops quietly train and advise foreign forces. Viruses sent from computers to foreign networks strike silently, with no American fingerprint. It's war in the shadows, with the U.S. public largely in the dark.
See the full article (AP, Kimberly Dozier, 6/18/12)
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Africa: 'Alliance-Building' Approach Can Stop Rampant Conflict Over Land and Water
An unconventional approach that involves building alliances between groups competing for limited land and water resources has the potential to dramatically increase food production, boost rural incomes, improve human health and restore degraded land, rivers and habitats. Scientific advances in remote sensing and resource monitoring tools have also made it possible to assess resource use and availability across a landscape and to design win-win management strategies.
See the full article (All Africa, 6/14/12)
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Belarus May be Providing Syria with Deadly Military Technology
Western officials and outside analysts say that Belarus is providing Damascus with technology that would improve the capabilities of Assad's surface-to-surface missiles, one of the Syrian military's primary weapons during its brutal ongoing crackdown on rebels throughout the country. The growing concern about Belarus comes as senior American officials ratchet up criticism of Russia and Iran, Assad's primary international allies.
See the full article (Atlantic, Yochi J. Dreazen, 6/14/12)
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