Media News - Friday, August 01, 2008

China lifts Internet curbs at Games centre

The International Olympic Committee says China has agreed to lift its censorship of Internet usage for reporters covering next month's Beijing Games. At the Games‘ media centre access will be free. But, correspondents say elsewhere in China an array of websites remain blocked to the public. The row escalated this week when the IOC conceeded that China was in breach of a previous IOC promise of no censorship during the games. China regularly blocks access within China to websites, including those run by Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and international broadcasters such as Deutsche Welle. Also blocked are sites linked to Chinese dissidents and the outlawed cult Falun Gong. (Deutsche Welle)

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Journalist held incommunicado in Niger

A newspaper editor in Niger, Moussa Aksar, is being held incommunicado following his arrest and detention by the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), a sub-regional media freedom body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), disclosed on 31 July. According to MFWA, the editor of Niamey-based independent weekly newspaper, "L'Evenement" was picked up on 30 July and has been denied visitors in accordance with the country's Criminal Code that permits citizens to be held incommunicado for a period not exceeding 24 hours. Although the police did not give any reasons for the journalist's arrest and subsequent detention, it is believed to have been prompted by the publication of a story by the L'Evenement. The newspaper recently ran a story on an arms cache that was found in a suburb of Niamey, which the paper claimed belonged to an officer of the country's army. (Africa en Ligne)

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Afghan journalists complain of government pressure

Afghan television journalist Nasir Fayaz was freed on 30 July after spending three days in detention for allegedly insulting two government ministers on his weekly show "Haqiqat" (Truth). Fayaz's arrest was criticised by other Afghan journalists, media rights groups, and many parliament deputies as an attempt by Afghan authorities to restrict press freedom. The government accused Ariana television and its journalist of "targeting national figures -- including ministers and famous persons -- through baseless accusations and insults." The explosion in the number of independent media outlets is often cited as one of Afghanistan's greatest achievements since the fall of the hard-line Taliban regime in 2001. Hundreds of newspapers, television stations, and radio stations have sprung up in the last seven years. But some Afghan journalists say that in recent years, government officials have begun putting pressure on the media and are intimidating journalists in an effort to prevent them from exposing government corruption or alleged links to drug traffickers. Meanwhile, conservative officials and influential religious leaders have attacked the media for producing "anti-Islamic and immoral" programs. Faiz ul-Rahman Orya, the chief editor of the weekly "Iroda," says Afghan journalists have less freedom than they had six or seven years ago. Orya says his colleagues often choose to self-censor their reports because they fear retaliation, reprisals, and possible arrest from upset government officials. On top of what Afghan journalists refer to as "government pressure," they also have to deal with the war-torn country's other harsh realities, such as pressure from powerful former warlords, drug dealers, as well as hard-line officials. (Radio Free Europe)

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DHS stays mum on new ‘Cyber Security’ center

The Bush administration's newly created National Cyber Security Center remains shrouded in secrecy, with officials refusing to release information about its budget, what contractors will run it, and how its mission relates to Internet surveillance. In correspondence with the US Senate posted on Thursday, the Bush administration said it would not provide that information publicly. An 18-page, partially redacted letter from the Department of Homeland Security said that disclosure could affect "the conduct of federal programs, or other programs or operations essential to the interests of our nation." The censored letter came in response to queries from the top Democratic and Republican members of the Senate's Homeland Security committee. The DHS has requested an additional $83 million for National Cyber Security Center for fiscal year 2009 (which begins in October 2009); including the $115 million awarded for the initiative in 2008, that would increase its budget by $200 million, tripling the amount the DHS has spent on cyber security since 2007. In the letter made public on Thursday, DHS described the center as a way to "coordinate and integrate information necessary to help secure U.S. cyber networks and systems and help foster collaboration among federal cyber groups," and serve as a "single location for all-source situational awareness about cyber activity and security status of the U.S. networks and systems." (CNET)

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Broadband offers bright future to Welsh monks

Cistercian monks, who live on Caldey Island, off the coast of Wales, organised the upgrade after becoming frustrated by their slow Internet connection. They hope the faster Internet access will enable them to expand their mail order business, selling perfume and chocolate online to support their community. Over the last five years, the monks’ Internet shop has increased its turnover by 100 percent, but the slow Internet speed was hampering further growth of their business. With the help of a local telecommunications firm, the monastery now picks up a signal from a communications tower on the mainland to transmit wireless broadband. Caldey Island has been inhabited by monks since the 6th century, and the present order moved to the monastery from Scourmont Abbey in Belgium in 1929. (The Telegraph)

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Japan’s Playboy magazine to be cancelled

Publishing house Shueisha, Inc. said today that the monthly Japanese edition of Playboy magazine will be cancelled following its January 2009 issue, to be released in November. Monthly Playboy was first published in Japan in 1975. The circulation of the magazine reached about 900,000 after the first issue, but has declined following the spread of the Internet and mobile phones. The magazine's average circulation over the last six months had plunged to 55,000. (Mainichi Daily News)

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