Media News - Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Minister: Internet industry to stimulate China economy

The Chinese government is banking on developing Internet-related busineses to help boost its weakening econonmy, through efforts such as the investing in supporting infrastructure. This will include the construction of fiber-optic communications networks and public Wi-Fi hotspots, said Miao Wei, head of the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in a China Daily report Wednesday. "The making and consumption of Web content will help to stimulate domestic demand and lift the economy," he said in the article. Miao pointed out that China has already been spending "several hundred billion yuan" upgrading the country's Internet infrastructure every year. He added that Chinese companies should strive to find ways to integrate the Internet industry with others, including tourism, hospitality, and financial services. Under the country's latest five-year economic blueprint which runs from 2011 to 2015, one of its focus areas is to make cloud computing a key driver for the IT industry, and help local companies leverage its benefits. (ZDnet News)

Cambodian journalist found murdered: police

A Cambodian journalist who reported on rampant illegal logging in the country has been found murdered in the boot of his car, police said. Hang Serei Oudom, a reporter at local-language Vorakchun Khmer Daily, was discovered on Tuesday, said senior police officer Song Bunthanorm. The vehicle was abandoned in a cashew nut plantation in northern Ratanakiri province. "He wrote stories about forest crimes involving business people and powerful officials in the province," said Vorakchun Khmer Daily editor-in-chief Rin Ratanak. "Most of his stories were about illegal logging of luxury wood," he added. Rampant illegal logging contributed to a sharp drop in Cambodia's forest cover from 73 percent in 1990 to 57 percent in 2010, according to the United Nations. In late April, prominent environmentalist Chhut Vuthy was shot dead by a military policeman after he refused to hand over pictures showing logging in southwestern Koh Kong province. Following the outcry over Vuthy's death, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a freeze on new land grants, a move cautiously welcomed by environmental groups, who nevertheless argue it will not save the forests already under threat. (AFP)

Iran jails women journalists

Two Iranian journalists, Shiva Nazar Ahari and Jila Bani Yaghoob, have been arrested in order to serve previously imposed jail sentences. Their detention brings to five the number of women journalists in jail in Iran. Ahari, 27, a human rights activist and editor of the Azad Zan (Freed Women) website, is serving a four-year sentence for plotting against national security and transmitting anti-government propaganda. She was also sentenced to 74 lashes. Yaghoob, who has been a journalist since 1994, wrote for many reformist newspapers (now closed) about Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq. Her "We are journalists" blog was awarded a press freedom prize in the 2010, and the year before she won the International Women's Media Foundation's courage-in-journalism award. She was arrested in June 2009 along with her husband, fellow journalist Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee. Yaghoob was released on bail two months later, but her husband was given a five-year jail sentence for articles critical of the Ahmadinejad administration. In October 2010, she received a one-year jail sentence and was banned from working as a journalist for 30 years. (Reporters Without Borders via The Guardian)

Exorcism boom in Poland sees magazine launch

With exorcism booming in Poland, Roman Catholic priests here have joined forces with a publisher to launch what they claim is the world’s first monthly magazine focused exclusively on chasing out the devil. “The rise in the number or exorcists from four to more than 120 over the course of 15 years in Poland is telling,” Father Aleksander Posacki, a professor of philosophy, theology and leading demonologist and exorcist told reporters in Warsaw at the Monday launch of the Egzorcysta monthly. Ironically, he attributed the rise in demonic possessions in what remains one of Europe’s most devoutly Catholic nations partly to the switch from atheist communism to free market capitalism in 1989. With its 62-page first issue including articles titled “New Age — the spiritual vacuum cleaner” and “Satan is real”, the Egzorcysta monthly with a print-run of 15,000 by the Polwen publishers is selling for 10 zloty (EUR 2.34) per copy. (AFP)

Tunisian journalists begin strike

Journalists and technicians have gone on strike at Tunisia's oldest newspaper publisher, claiming the new director is compromising the independence of its French-and Arabic-language publications. The strike on Tuesday was the first such action since January 2011, when Tunisia freed itself of autocratic ruler President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. On Wednesday, a strike at two state-run TV channels gets under way to protest against controversial nominations. The Dar Assabah group, which publishes Le Temps and Assabah, was once run by Sakher Materi, a son-in-law of Ben Ali, now living in exile. Its new director, Lotfi Touati, is a former director in the security services. A spokesperson for the Tunisian branch of the International Exchange for Freedom of Expression said “the fight for the freedom of the press starts at Dar Assabah”. (AFP)

Sweden: Backlash over income-based ‘TV tax’ plan

Sweden's plan to replace licence fees with an income-based tax to fund public broadcasters has drawn criticism from public radio and television officials. “Being financed through the state budget would be hitting our independence, what is often referred to as the ‘arm’s length distance’ between public service and politics, very hard,” wrote newly appointed head of Sveriges Television (SVT) Cecilia Benko" and retiring head Mats Svegfors in a joint statement. Currently, households in Sweden pay an annual fee of SEK 2,076 (USD 313), which is collected on behalf of the three public broadcasters (SVT, Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Utbildningsradio) by Radiotjanst i Kiruna AB, jointly owned by the three broadcasters. In return viewers receive five TV channels, 45 radio channels as well as TV and radio on the Internet. However, members of the government-appointed public service committee have written an opinion piece in daily Dagens Nyheter (DN), outlining a new system whereby an income based TV-tax should be paid by everyone over 18 years of age. At the same time as proposing the changes, the committee stressed the importance of Sweden having an independent public service. They also suggest that the national radio, Sveriges Radio (SR), change from FM to digital. (The Local)

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