coolcat4

Managing Editor - Director RFA Online

Traveling down the Mekong River, with RFA

Nov 052009
 

Zachu, Tibetan for the Mekong River, is said to be sacred by nomads living on the Qinghai plateau. That’s where our team of reporters starts the journey. As they progress down the least developed of the world’s major rivers, they file video dairies, slideshows of amazing photos rarely seen before and regular blogs and tweets offering a window into an extraordinary trip.

Their goal is to give a voice to some of the millions of people who live off the river, and will see their lifestyles transformed by industrialisation, global warming and cheer political arogance.

http://www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject

A fisherman throws nets off his barge in the Mekong River in Chiang Khong, Thailand.

A fisherman throws nets off his barge in the Mekong River in Chiang Khong, Thailand.

Media law assistance website for journalists

May 272009
 

The  Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) has recently launched a Media Law Assistance Website to provide journalists around the world with legal assistance, information and resources.

The globally accessible site contains information and resources on media law and serves as a source of both information and analysis through seminal texts, legislation, and court decisions on media law.

Journalists around the world are invited to register on the site; registered members can participate in forum discussions with other members, create an online profile and network with media participants, communicate privately with other members, read and comment on the website’s regularly updated news blog and access the website’s library.

To visit the website, go to http://www.globalmedialaw.com/blog/.

Yahoo! pledge to be a good Netizen

May 062009
 

It’s about time: Yahoo! new chief executive Carol Bartz says that human rights trump doing business. Bartz’s remarks on May 5 opened a Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Summit at which she acknowledged that the US Internet pioneer made some mistakes in foreign markets. “It is really going to take all of us working together to learn better how to act as good world citizens,” Bartz said. “We don’t want to impinge on anybody’s rights. We don’t want to force our beliefs versus someone else’s beliefs but we do have a responsibility.” “It isn’t our Number One obligation,” she maintained. “Our Number One obligation is to be good world citizens.” Carol Bartz replaced Jerry Yang last January. Two years ago, Jerry Yang – as well as other Internet executives – were summoned to Washington to answer for their role in the arrests of Chinese journalist Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning. Yahoo agreed to settle with affected Chinese dissidents, paying them undisclosed compensation. Yang stated, “After meeting with the families, it was clear to me what we had to do to make this right for them, for Yahoo, and for the future.” In response, Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos, chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, stated, “It took a tongue-lashing from Congress before these high-tech titans did the right thing and coughed up some concrete assistance for the family of a journalist whom Yahoo had helped send to jail. What a disgrace.”

Is it culture or censorship?

May 042009
 

Great article today in the New York Times on the Chinese media and its resistance to foreign content and management. Time Warner, Viacom, News Corp are scaling down their hopes for the Chinese market. Murdoch – who has been successful in various anglo-saxon markets – tried to bring MySpace with the help of his Chinese born wife – but made no great impact on the booming Chinese social media scene.

Vietnam among the worst to be blogging in

May 012009
 

If you are a blogger, don’t go to Vietnam. Blogging was virtually unknown two years ago in Vietnam. But it caught up like wild fire once the generation of eager, Web savvy students discovered the fun of speaking your mind and connecting with friends online. Unfortunately for them, the censors caught up and, afraid as they always are of things they don’t understand, they went after the most articulate of them with a vengeance.

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a report on the state of freedom of the press to mark World Press Freedom Day, May 3. The report calls attention to online repression. CPJ considers bloggers whose work is reportorial or fact-based commentary to be journalists. In 2008, CPJ found, bloggers and other online journalists were the single largest professional group in prison, overtaking print and broadcast journalists for the first time.

METHODOLOGY

In consultation with Internet experts, CPJ developed eight questions to assess blogging conditions worldwide. The questions:

  • Does a country jail bloggers?
  • Do bloggers face harassment, cyber-attacks, threats, assaults, or other reprisals?
  • Do bloggers self-censor to protect themselves?
  • Does the government limit connectivity or restrict access to the Internet?
  • Are bloggers required to register with the government or an ISP and give a verifiable name and address before blogging?
  • Does a country have regulations or laws that can be used to censor bloggers?
  • Does the government monitor citizens who use the Internet?
  • Does the government use filtering technology to block or censor the Internet?

Based on these criteria, CPJ regional experts nominated countries for this list. The final ranking was determined by a poll of CPJ staff and outside experts.

Burma, Worst for Bloggers – CPJ

Apr 302009
 

According to the New York based Center to Protect Journalists, Burma is the worst country for bloggers. Vietnam comes number 6 on the list of difficult places for freedom of expression and China number 8.

“Bloggers are at the vanguard of the information revolution and their numbers are expanding rapidly,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “But governments are quickly learning how to turn technology against bloggers by censoring and filtering the Internet, restricting online access and mining personal data. When all else fails, the authorities simply jail a few bloggers to intimidate the rest of the online community into silence or self-censorship.”

“The governments on the list are trying to roll back the information revolution, and, for now, they are having success,” Simon added. “Freedom of expression groups, concerned governments, the online community, and technology companies need to come together to defend the rights of bloggers around the world.”

Popular social media tool blocked in China

Apr 272009
 

Plurk, a technology which is similar to twitter and is quite popular in China is blocked. Read about it tomorrow on the RFA Cantonese service.

As the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen events approaches the Chinese government may be taking action against social media tools during this sensitive period. Chinese people have recently been quite successful at organizing protests via instant messages or other tools available on their cellphones.

Anniversary Sparks Student Memories

Apr 152009
 

The June 4th, 1989 failed uprising remains one of the most tabou topic in the Chinese press and message boards. As the 20th anniversary of these events gets closer, Chinese students and others want to remember – no matter what.

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