Results matching “iran blogging g”

Currently, blogging arrests are at a record high, the BBC reports. 64 bloggers have been detained from mostly China, Egypt and Iran since 2003 according to a University of Washington annual report. In 2006-2007, the number of arrested bloggers tripled to 36.

Blogging has a "political importance", since issues include exposure of corruption, human rights violations, "suppression of protests", criticism of public policies and questioning political entities. Arrests tend to multiply during times of "political uncertainty" such as during elections.

A World Information Access (WIA) report concluded that imprisonment usually follows arrest. The report says that 15 months is the average prison sentence, the longest being eight years.

The Committee to Protect Bloggers claims that 344 people were detained as a result of blogging in Burma, even though WIA cannot confirm.

Around 30 countries worldwide implement restrictions on online activities. According to the report, restrictions on blogging also take place in Canada, France, Britain and the US.

Elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the US make it more likely that the number of bloggers arrested will increase.

Source: BBC News though I Want Media

Conservative Islamic clerics in Iran are being trained in blogging techniques, reports the Guardian.  300 ayatollahs, seminary students, and theologians are taking classes in blogging at the brand-new office of religious weblog expansion, located in Qom, Iran’s religious nucleus.  Iranian blogs are still sweeping the nation despite extreme censorship on the part of the government.

Cry havoc and let slip the blogs of war (or, sense and nonsense about citizen journalism).

Saturday Editor of The Times and World Editors Forum President George Brock writes about the burgeoning field of citizen journalism, deeming that the term is a "misnomer". Despite the potential of the phenomenon to change the media landscape, when it comes down to it, all publications will be judged on the level of trust the audience has in them.

George Brock, the President of the World Editors Forum, says that we need to take a step back from all the hype of journalism, technology, and integration, and think about free expression, which is still a luxury to many.

Iranian dissidents who wish to have a public voice to criticise the current regime and make calls for democratic rule have been creating blogs (see previous posting) in a bid to fill the void left by the closure of most independent newspapers. (see previous posting)

Mark Glaser at Online Journalism Review has written an article describing the plight of bloggers in a Bahrain, a country whose government regularly censors the press. The government's Ministry of Information requires that all Websites and blogs register with the government, a decree to which Bahrain's most prominent blogger, Mahmood Al-Yousif, head of a tech company Computer Point, refuses to comply. He doubts that others will give in to government demands either, esteeming that they will simply post anonymously, possibly under multiple names in order to avoid censorship.

Mr. Al-Yousif's example helps promote the blogosphere as a tool for freedom of speech around the world. There is much speculation as to how repressive regimes will react once their populations start blogging, such as in Iran and in China. As blogs spread, it is highly likely that the joys of free expression of repressed populations will spur the proliferation of liberty and just democracy throughout the world.

Source: Online Journalism Review

Mark Glaser at Online Journalism Review has written an article describing the plight of bloggers in a Bahrain, a country whose government regularly censors the press. The government's Ministry of Information requires that all Websites and blogs register with the government, a decree to which Bahrain's most prominent blogger, Mahmood Al-Yousif, head of a tech company Computer Point, refuses to comply. He doubts that others will give in to government demands either, esteeming that they will simply post anonymously, possibly under multiple names in order to avoid censorship.

Mr. Al-Yousif's example helps promote the blogosphere as a tool for freedom of speech around the world. There is much speculation as to how repressive regimes will react once their populations start blogging, such as in Iran and in China. As blogs spread, it is highly likely that the joys of free expression of repressed populations will spur the proliferation of liberty and just democracy throughout the world.

Source: Online Journalism Review

On Reuters: Iran increases its status as the Middle East's most unfriendly country for journalists, recently jailing yet another editor/blogger. Arash Sigarchi, accused of espionage and insulting the country's leaders, was recently sentenced to 14 years in prison.. In the past five years, over 100 liberal publications have been forced to close their doors at the hands of Iran's judiciary and numerous journalists have been arrested. Reporters Without Borders said Sigarchi had been updating a weblog in which he had spoken out about the arrest of more than 20 Internet journalists, technicians and webbloggers late last year.

Source: Reuters:

The BBC reports that the month-old Committee to Protect Bloggers has asked the global weblog community to dedicate its sites on 22 February to support two imprisoned Iranian bloggers. The Committee has deemed Tuesday the 22nd as "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day," to support Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad, both currently in prison in Iran. Iranian authorities have continued their habit of clamping down on prominent blogging sites. The Committe created a list of pertinent actions bloggers can take, including writing to Iranian embassies and putting nothing but 'Free Mojtaba and Arash Day' on their weblogs on the 22nd. The Committee to Protect Bloggers was started by US bloggers Curt Hopkins and Ellen Simonetti whom have created a global petition to protect bloggers at work called the International Bloggers' Bill of Rights. The Committee hopes to be the focal point for similar issues affecting the fast growing bolgosphere in the future.

Source: BBC News

The BBC reports that the month-old Committee to Protect Bloggers has asked the global weblog community to dedicate its sites on 22 February to support two imprisoned Iranian bloggers. The Committee has deemed Tuesday the 22nd as "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day," to support Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad, both currently in prison in Iran. Iranian authorities have continued their habit of clamping down on prominent blogging sites. The Committe created a list of pertinent actions bloggers can take, including writing to Iranian embassies and putting nothing but 'Free Mojtaba and Arash Day' on their weblogs on the 22nd. The Committee to Protect Bloggers was started by US bloggers Curt Hopkins and Ellen Simonetti whom have created a global petition to protect bloggers at work called the International Bloggers' Bill of Rights. The Committee hopes to be the focal point for similar issues affecting the fast growing bolgosphere in the future.

Source: BBC News