Stories about Freedom of Speech from June, 2007
Syria: Blogspot Unblocked
Sasa from the The Syria News Wire reports that the .blogspot domain has been unblocked in Syria, after many months of blocking all blogs on Blogger.com from being accessible from Syrian ISPs. It comes as good news to the blogsphere that has suffered immensely from the ban.
Korea: Media and Business
Last June, a reporter at a magazine, Sisa Journal, wrote an article related to Samsung. It was not a good story for the image of Samsung. Through friendship with Samsung and pressure from it, the magazine’s vice-president, who had a position as the president of a Samsung branch newspaper, asked...
Serbia: Bad TV
Time to do something about the state Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS): Anegdote is considering the options.
Eastern & Central Europe: Feral's Back; Czech Lustration
Illyrian Gazette posts an update on the fate of Feral Tribune (it's back and financially secure), and writes about lustration and music in the Czech Republic.
Russia: Rewriting History
Kosmopolit blogs about Putin's attempts to re-write Russian history.
Poland: BBC on Lustration
Dr. Sean's Diary links to a BBC program on “on lustration and decommunization issues in Poland.”
China: Western movies insulting Chinese?
Chong translated Lu qui lu wei's commentary on the censorship of Pirates of the Caribbean . The censorship department argued that Chow Yun Fat’s character (a Singaporean Pirate) in movies smears Chinese people’s image.
Japan: Distance between NHK and Government
The recent appointment of Komori Shigetaka, who is a close acquaintance of PM Abe Shinzo, as an NHK's management committee member has raised a controversy over the possibility of the government's intervention in public broadcast. Blogger Miepong draws on and analyzes discussions in the Japanese blogosphere as well as mainstream...
Arabeyes: The Moment of Truth for a Jordanian Father
Today's Arabeyes makes five stops - two in Kuwait and Saudi each and a last stop in Jordan, where a blogger and journalist is forced to face himself and take a stance on the Palestinian infighting between Fatah and Hamas.
Syrian Blogsphere: Reform, Arab Nationalism and Travel
Why was a Syrian student blogger sued in the US? What should the Syrians do in Lebanon? Where is Arab Nationalism leading us to and what do you feel when you pack five cities into 11 days? These are some of the issues Syrian bloggers were talking about in this week's review by Yazan Badran.
Egypt: Freedom of Worship, Blogs to the Press, Anti-torture Campaigns Continue and More
In this week’s round-up from the Egyptian blogosphere, I am highlighting freedom of worship from two blog posts by Big Pharaoh and Baha’i Faith in Egypt, how an Egyptian blogger has started covering blogs for a weekly newspaper in Egypt, how anti-torture campaigns by bloggers extend to one of Egypt’s coastal cities and finally a technological tip by Greendata blog for Facebook users.
RFE/RL under attack in Armenia
The Armenian branch of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, one of the few independent broadcasters in the country, is under increasing pressure from the government, report Oneworld and The Armenian Observer.
Poland, Germany: “Stepmother of Europe”
Publius Pundit quotes from a BBC piece on the Polish-German relations and reproduces the controversial cover of the Polish weekly Wprost, featuring a computer-generated image of German Chancellor Angela Merkel breastfeeding Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and President Lech Kaczynski.
Hong Kong: Media's sense of responsibility is growing?
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated the Beijing News’ interview with Zhang Guoliang, head of Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po (文汇报), about the changes to Hong Kong's press environment. In the interview, Zhang claimed that “Hong Kong media's sense of responsibility is growing”. However, earlier this year, a survey by Hong...
Paraguay: Upcoming Panel on Media, Power and Freedom of Speech
Elyacare [ES] writes about an upcoming panel about “Media, Power and Freedom of Speech” and their relation to each. The event scheduled to take place in Asuncion.
Russia: CNN International's “Eye on Russia”
Sean's Russia Blog is disappointed that it's CNN International – not CNN in the United States – that's broadcasting a whole week of daily half-hour series called “Eye on Russia: The New Dawn.”
Croatia: “Feral Tribune” May Return
East Ethnia reports that the Croatian weekly Feral Tribune may be “returning through the good graces of, of all corporations, the prodigal monopolist WAZ. That would be half-good news, I suppose.”
Serbia, Russia: “What About the Russians?”
Jasmina Tešanović guest-blogs at Boing Boing about what may appear as Serbia's misguided trust in Russia: “Back in 1999, Russians didn’t veto the bombing of Serbia. The Russians are using the Kosovo issue in order to reclaim ex-Soviet territories with Russian populations. Serbs know that the Russians have their own...
Morocco: 72-year-old Activist Jailed for Supporting Prisoners
Moroccan authorities just jailed 72-year-old activist Mohamed Bougrine for supporting prisoners who had been jailed for “attacking values in the Islamic kingdom”, according to this Middle East Online article. The Morocco Report writes: “So wait a minute. This guy, Bougrine, who had been to jail before during the days of...
Tunisia: Freedom of Speech Campaign
Tunisian blogger Samsoum has launched a new campaign on the theme “Freedom of Speech” for the 1st of July, writes Tunisian blogger Nadia.
China: Revised draft of emergency response law
The revised draft of emergency response law has dropped the ban and fine of unapproval report on natural disasters, public health incidents or industrial accidents. David Bandurski from China Media Project has summarized the responses from the Chinese media on the new draft.
