| Center of Innovation: Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding Weekly News Roundup, November 1 - 7, 2012 Media and Journalism Internet and Social Media What's New from PeaceMedia **Click here to subscribe to USIP's Science, Technology and Peacebuilding News Roundup.**
Media and Journalism Sudan Seeks to Gag Critical Journalism: Watchdog
Sudan is trying to stifle critical reporting, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday after authorities seized copies of the independent daily newspaper Al-Wan. Hussein Khogli, editor in chief of Al-Wan, confirmed to AFP that a state security agent on Sunday night visited the printer and banned distribution of Monday's edition after it had already come off the presses. Confiscating newspapers after they roll off the presses is a common tactic of Sudan's security service.
See the full article (AFP, 11/7/12)
Click to read "Truth in Reporting: Media and Communications in Conflict," a USIP Olive Branch post by Anand Varghese.
[Return to top] Somali Journalist on Braving Mogadishu
Somalia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist - nearly 20 people who work in the media have been killed this year. They are usually targeted killings, not people caught in the crossfire between the UN-backed government forces and Islamist militias. Omar Faruk Osman, secretary general of the National Union of Somali Journalists, says life is actually getting worse, not better for journalists in the country.
See the full article (BBC, 11/5/12)
[Return to top] Mexican Journalists Question Truth of Murder Trial
It is very rare for anyone in Mexico to be arrested for murdering a journalist, let alone appear before a court. So the trial in Veracruz of a man charged with killing Regina Martínez Pérez should be a reason to celebrate. But it looks as if the state "is fabricating a murder case against the wrong people." If true, this would confirm the view of Martínez's former colleagues, the magazine she worked for, other local journalists - and even federal officials - that Hernández is a scapegoat.
See the full article (Guardian, Roy Greenslade, 11/5/12)
[Return to top] Photographers Amid Chaos
"Witness: Juarez," the first in a series of four HBO documentaries about contemporary war photographers, is a bracing, at times mesmerizing introduction to the "Witness" series. The subsequent films are each an hour long, and while all have powerful material, particularly the South Sudan chapter, they're also more diffuse and more prone to sentimentality about the violence and social disorder the photojournalists bear witness to.
See the full article (New York Times, Mike Hale, 11/4/12) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
[Return to top] Family Working for Journalist's Release Plans Visit to Lebanon
The family of an American journalist believed to be held in Syria is planning a trip to Lebanon to help get him home, hopefully by the Thanksgiving holiday. Debra Tice and her family are working for the release of her 31-year-old son, freelance journalist Austin Tice. He was in Syria on his way to Lebanon when the Tice family lost contact with him in August. In September, he showed up in a YouTube video blindfolded and held by gunpoint.
See the full article (CNN, 11/2/12)
[Return to top] Bolivian Radio Owner Set on Fire
Masked men made an horrific attack on the owner and editor of a Bolivian radio station by pouring petrol on him and setting him ablaze. Fernando Vidal, 78, was conducting an interview with two women on drug smuggling in the border region when the attack occurred. One of the station's journalists said Vidal had been critical of politicians in Gran Chaco province. He believed the attack was politically motivated.
See the full article (Guardian, Roy Greenslade, 11/2/12)
[Return to top] Internet and Social Media Iranian Facebook Activist Sattar Beheshti Feared Dead in Custody
The family of an Iranian blogger taken into custody accused of opposition activism on Facebook fears that he has died under torture. Iran is recently reported to have arrested a number of Facebook activists. Although Facebook is blocked in the country, millions of Iranians access it through proxy websites or virtual private networks.
See the full article (Guardian, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, 11/7/12)
[Return to top] | [Return to section] Human Rights Activists Taught Online Tactics
An international training institute to teach online tactics for human rights campaigners is being set up in the Italian city of Florence. The first students, starting in the new year, will be drawn from human rights activists around the world - with the aim of arming them with the latest tools for digital dissent. As the Arab spring showed, protests are as likely to be about individuals using social networking as much as public demonstrations.
See the full article (BBC, Sean Coughlan, 11/5/12)
[Return to top] | [Return to section] U.N. Says Execution Video From Syria Shows Apparent War Crime
The United Nations said on Friday that a new video from Syria circulating on the Internet that appears to show antigovernment fighters kicking and summarily executing a group of frightened captive soldiers or militiamen could, if verified, represent evidence of a war crime to prosecute the perpetrators. Videos are among the few ways to obtain information and assess the course of the conflict in a country where outside news media coverage is severely restricted and dangerous.
See the full article (New York Times, Nick Cumming-Bruce and Rick Gladstone, 11/2/12) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
[Return to top] | [Return to section] Russia's Internet 'Blacklist' Law Sparks Free-Speech Fears
Russian authorities have been given the green light to shut down websites carrying information deemed harmful to children. The legislation, formally intended to protect children from offensive Internet content, has prompted fears it could be co-opted to stifle the lively political debate taking place on the Russian Internet. Free-speech advocates say the creation of an Internet "blacklist" could lead to widespread censorship.
See the full article (RFE/RL, Claire Bigg, 11/1/12)
[Return to top] | [Return to section] What's New from PeaceMedia "PeaceTXT" - Poptech
PopTech is a unique innovation network - a global community of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, who come together to explore the social impact of new technologies, the forces of change shaping our future, and new approaches to solving the world's most significant challenges. PeaceTXT is a multidisciplinary project that explores the potential of mobile technology to amplify a proven approach to reducing violence.
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