State Department Cartoon Highlights Online Censorship

Apr 102012
 

The US State Department has launched a cartoon,  Iran Connect, primarily aimed at highlighting online censorship in Iran but it is also alerting netizens in China and the middle east to its existence via Twitter.

It is not entirely clear why the cartoon has been produced. It aims to be dramatic and with the overtones of deep ominous music and stylized figures in monotones. The question is why? The information it provides could have been put as half a dozen bullet points and would have more chance of reaching an audience.

It is also a mystery why Iranians, Chinese or any other citizen in a repressive regime needs to be told the internet is censored, monitored and otherwise interfered with by the authorities. Anyone capable of viewing the cartoon will already know what is happening. It could well be the first in a series of informative cartoons the next being “Fire: extremely hot” followed by “Water, powerfully wet”.

The money would have been better spent on providing resources to groups who work to provide practical solutions to getting round the likes of the great fire wall rather than trying to knock out a 90 second epic with pretensions of Citizen Cane.

China Tops Tops List Of Countries Jailing Journalists – Burma Comes In Fourth

Jul 202011
 

A just released report on media and the law has found non democratic regimes are increasingly resorting to jailing journalists with China and Iran topping the list each having 34 members of the media behind bars.

 The report, Media And The Law, was published by the Center For International Media Assistance, its focus is on the use of legislation including libel, national security and licensing laws to put limits on a free press in the developing world.

Burma, also known as Myanmar makes a significant showing coming in at number four.

However it is worth noting that many of these laws were inherited from westen nations during colonial periods. A good example of this are some of Malaysia’s more repressive laws which have been defended by politicians there as a reflection of “Asian values”. In truth they were copies of the colonial British administration’s legal framework aimed at keeping the Malaysians subservient to their colonial masters.

This heritage and certain changes in western media laws broadens the reports interest and relevance and is recommended to anyone interested in the increasing use of legislative avenues to kill off dissent or criticism.