Results matching “of expression of dan”

Colin Myler, editor of the UK Sunday tabloid newspaper News of The World, says that "back door" privacy laws are restricting Britain's media. Myler put forward that smaller publishers  are placed under undue pressure by the legislation, since they frequently do not have the budget to take legal action.

He added that the lack of parliamentary discussion about these issues was worrying. According to Myler, the edicts from High Courts in London are prompted by Human Rights judges from the European Union, who are "unfriendly" to freedom of expression, while the MPs remain silent. 

Although the media may be partly responsible for the privacy situation, instructions imposed by Justice Eady, senior libel judge, and other prominent legal figures have left the UK media in an "unrecognisable" state.

Myler's paper was ordered to pay £60,000 in damages to world motorsport figure Max Mosley in July, AFP reported. Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre previously said that the "public shaming" of high-profile figures may be meaningful in "defending the parameters of what are considered acceptable standards of social behaviour."

"Some [newspapers] will struggle to survive, but, as an industry, we really do have to be more positive and not allow those so-called media experts and commentators to tell us how badly we are doing," Myler said.

Source: Journalism.co.uk, AFP

French newspapers are struggling under a system that is no longer working.  Le Figaro and Le Monde have recently made cuts to their staff, while two other papers, Les Echoes and La Tribune were recently sold.  Most others are struggling to make money.

Problems in the French newspaper industry have been largely attributed to distribution issues.  For example, French newspaper vendors have no choice over their selection under a law created in 1947. Loi Bichet was created to ensure freedom of expression after the heavy distribution of Nazi propaganda during World War II.  The problem with the law today is that vendors are unable to adapt their stock to market demand.  

The second part of Technorati's report, "State of the Blogosphere 2008" was released today.  The first part, Who Are the Bloggers?, was released yesterday.  

The report explores the Active Blogosphere and the trends, stories and behaviors that influence not only other Blogs, but the mainstream media as well.  It also seeks to answer the following questions; "Why have blogs become a significant part of the media landscape so quickly? Just what is it that makes the medium of blogging so compelling? What are bloggers blogging about and why?"

In Part II of the survey, The What And Why of Blogging, 1000 bloggers were interviewed about the content of their blogging.  Most cover both personal and professional topics and half consider their style to be sincere, conversational, humorous, and expert in nature. 

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have called for the repeal of a punitive "luxury" tax on newspapers that are imported into Zimbabwe, which is preventing independent newspapers from reaching their audience.

The tax was imposed in early June in the run-up to the widely condemned presidential election won by Robert Mugabe after his opponent quit the race in the face of escalating violence against his supporters. It aims to reduce the influence of South African-based news sources, which have been extremely important to Zimbabweans.

"Restricting access to information by punitive taxation constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," the Paris-based WAN and WEF, which represent 18,000 newspapers world-wide, said in a letter to President Mugabe.

The two organisations called on Mugabe to remove the luxury tax on foreign publications and to end state intimidation of the independent media. All domestic independent newspapers and broadcasters in Zimbabwe are banned.

UK journalists and photographers may be subject to police monitoring and restriction from covering public events, HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk reports.

According to Home Secretary Jaqui Smith, the Home Office has no guidelines on photography in public places, but "decisions may be made locally to restrict or monitor photography in reasonable circumstances."

"It is for the local Chief Constable to decide how his or her officers and employees should best balance the rights to freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and the need for public protection," Smith said.

National Union of Journalists General Secretary Jeremy Dear says the Home Office is not doing enough to clearly define the limits of monitoring and restriction.

"Whilst the government can say these are operational issues for the police," Dear said, "It should be made clear that the routine surveillance of journalists is unacceptable and an infringement of media freedom."

Source: HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk

The Russian government continued its repressive oversight of the press Thursday, raiding the Moscow offices of the Exile, an English-language newspaper, accusing the paper of violating a media law prohibiting the publication of extremist articles.

The Exile was reputed for its strident criticism of the government, and infamous for its bold, occasionally lewd content, but it has lost several investors as a result of the investigation and now lacks sufficient publishing funds.

"It's like we've got polonium on us," said Mark Ames, the Exile's American editor. "Who will want to touch us now?"

The Exile has never been afraid to stir a little controversy; Ames' frequent articles about his late-night encounters bordered on misogynistic. And though the paper was well respected for its sharp, critical news coverage of the Kremlin, critics claimed its coarse style was out of place in Russia's maturing society.

"I find it really offensive," said Ames. "They resent the fact that we did something that wasn't supposed to be done. I'm sorry that a lot of people seem to want to dance on our grave."

Under new president Dmitry Medvedev, many Russians hoped for a more open news climate than had existed under Vladimir Putin, Medvedev's more conservative predecessor. This, however, has not been the case. During Medvedev's first month in office, the Kremlin has increased its raids on independent media organizations.

The Exile's future looks grim: the paper is struggling to keep its website alive and Ames says its print version is extinct.

"The paper's gone," he said. "It's dust and there's now way to get it going again."

Note: Russia is not alone in limiting press expression. Some of its neighbors - Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan - have introduced measures designed to restrict criticism of the government. Though the details of the measures vary in each country, all of them blur the line between the press and the government. Click here for specifics.

Also watch of video of Garry Kasparov, leader of the political party The Other Russia, speaking at the 15th World Editors Forum.

Source: Telegraph, Follow the Media

South Africa's Media Institute has launched a web site devoted to press freedom in East Africa.

EastAfricaPress.com reports the latest news on free expression violations, hosts a journalist forum, and provides information about the East African Editors Forum and other top stories in media news.

The site is edited by Ugandan and Rwandan journalists, Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda and Eleneus Akanga.

Source: European Journalism Centre

Although the Chinese government has promised journalists the unrestricted right of expression, avoid any preconceptions, warns the Guardian's Phil Harding. This past month, news about the earthquake in China and angry protesters have tended to overshadow the issue of press coverage during the upcoming Beijing Summer Olympics.

In an article Monday Harding speculates whether the government can keep its word.

"In a country that keeps such a tight grip on its own media and which severely restricts access to its markets by foreign media companies...it is a guarantee that has been hotly disputed," Harding writes.

Harding quotes several journalists who echo this skepticism, including BBC Sport's Head of Major Events, Dave Gordon, whose network plans to film certain events with its own unilateral cameras in preparation for any media suppression.

"We don't want any editorial decisions made for us," Gordon says.

Harding is most curious about how the media will cover events off the field, and how the Chinese government will respond to any such scrutiny.

"If the Olympics are portrayed as a well-organized success, the media will be accused of falling for a Chinese propaganda exercise. On the other hand, if there are protests and they are properly covered, there will be accusations from the Chinese that the actions of an unrepresentative minority have been magnified out of proportion."

During the earthquake, many journalists in China reportedly enjoyed increased press freedom. It remains to be seen whether the Chinese government will keep its word for the Olympics.

In April, the World Association of Newspapers organized a conference entitled "Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom," which featured Gao Yu, a Chinese journalist jailed twice for her reporting. Unfortunately, she had reported that, in the run-up to the Olympics, the conditions for journalists were "considerably more catastrophic" than they were 15 years ago.

Source: The Guardian

The "local focus" mantra that has spread to so many U.S. and U.K. newspapers is also alive and well at Latin American newspapers, albeit with a different game plan for success.

In the view of Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald, who attended a recent seminar for senior editors of leading Latin American dailies, the reasons for going hyperlocal are essentially the same across the board: to combat the pressures of the internet.

In the U.S., local news is seen as "the one franchise that differentiates newspapers from any other media pretenders." In this conception, in order to survive the digital era, newspapers can create multi-media hyperlocal ventures, tying together a social networking model with what they do best, print, to encourage "constant refreshment of the web site."    

The American local model, however, does not whole-heartedly encourage a two-way dialogue between residents and newspaper. Dialogue is important, yes, but not in the same way as in Latin America. There, it is the foundation of what makes local news successful; newspapers view "their local efforts as ways to imitate the Web's interactivity and its encouragement of self-expression."

"People want to narrate their stories," El Tiempo Editor in Chief Ernesto Cortes Fierro said. "People want to resolve their own problems. It is two-way content, and in a way it is a mutual rediscovery of the newspaper and the citizens."

Readers are an integral part of the Latin American local news model; efforts have ranged from including neighbor hood residents on the board (El Tiempo) to equipping citizen journalists with cameras to get footage during protests against President Hugo Chavez (Venezuelan daily El Nacional).

Source: Editor & Publisher 

To mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3, the Council of Europe is launching an online discussion forum on media freedom in times of crisis, reports the European Journalism Centre.

The forum, intended for both journalists and anyone else concerned about freedom of expression, will center on how journalists do their job in the face of government restrictions during wars, terrorist threats and political instability.

This year's World Press Freedom Day comes days after a report by lobby group Freedom House concluded that global press freedom declined in 2007. According to the survey, Iraq and Somalia remain the most dangerous countries for journalists.

Sources: EJC, AFP

While the Olympic athletes race around the track to cheering crowds, policemen outside the stadium race after a man carrying a placard that reads, "Freedom of the Press."

The animated cartoon, like the still image above, can be downloaded here. It is just one of the cartoons and other editorial materials being offered for publication in newspapers, on websites and for broadcast on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May.

The cartoons, both the animated and print versions, were created by noted French cartoonist Michel Cambon exclusively for the World Association of Newspapers, which is making them available for world-wide publication.

The theme of the World Press Freedom Day initiative is "The Olympic Challenge: Free the Press in China!" and the campaign is dedicated to holding Chinese authorities to the pledges they made in their successful Olympic bid to allow greater press freedom.

Despite the promises of reform made ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities have intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression. With at least 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents in prison, China is the world's largest jailer of journalists.

Chinese journalists continue to face censorship and repression and authoritarian laws, including subversion, disseminating state secrets and spying, are used by the government to control and restrict newsgathering and information and to jail journalists.

Foreign journalists now reporting from China are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet. This violates the Organising Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games pledge that foreign media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China".

In addition to the cartoons, the materials available for publication on 3 May include advertisements, essays, infographics, photos, and materials for young people. The materials are available in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese here.

Source: WAN

An international conference on press freedom in China has called on Chinese authorities to honour their Olympic pledge to respect freedom of expression and to release all jailed journalists.

More than 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are being held in prisons in China, the world's largest jailer of journalists. The call for their release was made by the "Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom" conference, which was co-organised by the World Association of Newspapers, the World Press Freedom Committee, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights in China, Asia Presse and the Knight Foundation.

More than 10,000 athletes will be going to Beijing for the Summer Olympics in August. Thirty thousand  foreign journalists will be covering it all - three journalists for every athlete.

Chinese authorities promised in their successful Olympic bid that media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China." They haven't lived up to that promise, notably is their harassment and expulsion of journalists trying to cover the Tibetan events in March.

Chinese journalists have it even worse:  31 have been jailed since the successful Olympic bid in 2001, and 16 of those remain in prison - half of all Chinese journalists currently in prison.

The two-day conference, which ended Saturday, called on Chinese authorities to respect their pledges to improve human rights and press freedom conditions, and for the International Olympic Committee and others in the international community to press them to do so.

More conference details can be found here.

The view of award-winning Chinese journalist Gao Yu can be found here.

Source: World Association of Newspapers

"Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom"  is a conference organized by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and a coalition of leading press freedom groups, held on April 18-19 in Maison de la Chimie in Paris to raise the consciousness of the journalistic community, especially sports journalists, to the press freedom conditions they should expect to encounter in China.

A Chinese journalist jailed for her reporting told the conference today that press freedom and human rights have worsened in China and that conditions for journalists in the run-up to the Olympics are "considerably more catastrophic" than they were when she was arrested 15
years ago.

"Freedom of the press and human rights constitute the most serious problem currently facing China," said Gao Yu, who was arrested in 1993 and sentenced to six years in prison for sending two articles on current affairs to a Hong Kong review. She was charged with "divulging state secrets", a catch-all charge often used by Chinese authorities to stifle independent reporting and dissent.

Her arrest came weeks after China's failed bid to host the 2000 Olympics. It was her second jail term; she had previously served a 15-month sentence in 1989 for her coverage of the Beijing democracy movement.

She compared her case to that of Hu Jia, a human rights campaigner and citizen journalist who was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month. "As the Olympic Games approach, this case demonstrates in a terribly emblematic fashion the position of the Communist Party in confrontation with freedom of expression," she said. "It also shows the riposte of the Chinese authorities to the demands of the international community."

Despite promises of reform made ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities have not only failed to respect them, but they have intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression. Foreign journalists now reporting from China in the run up to the Olympics are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet. This violates the Organising Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games pledge that foreign media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China".

Ms Gao, the 1995 laureate of the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom and the first laureate, in 1997, of UNESCO's World Press Freedom Prize, said:  "At the approach of the Olympic Games, all Chinese who have suffered oppression hope to be able to utilise the occasion to seek justice; the international community hopes that the Chinese government will improve the situation of the press and human rights in line with the promise made in 2001.

"But the Chinese authorities see these internal and external pressures as 'politisation of the Olympic Games. Unhappily, counterattacking against these criticisms by repressing the freedom of the press only underlines this contradiction."

"The experience of China and the Olympics is, in fact, yet one more example of the terrible naivety and short-sightedness of those in leadership of our governments, our sports organisations and our businesses as they deal with repressive regimes like the one in place in Beijing," said Timothy Balding, CEO of WAN, who opened the session featuring Ms Gao.

"History, if nothing else, amply demonstrates that dictators do not voluntarily and spontaneously give up power, do not loosen the chains, do not remove the gags, after sudden illumination and conversion to belief in freedom and other human rights. They do so when they are forced to, generally through a combination of intense internal opposition and dissent," he said.

The full program can be found at here.

For more information on WAN's international campaign, in the run-up to the Olympics, to hold China to the promises it made in its successful Olympic bid to improve the press freedom and human rights conditions in the country, please go here.

Source: WAN