Media Highlights – September 5, 2012
Media Highlights – September 5, 2012
About Our Broadcasters
What you need to know about Syria today – CNN, September 5, 2012
He also said he had no new information on two journalists working for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Al-Hurra. Turkish cameraman Cuneyt Unal, who was reportedly taken captive in Syria, appeared bruised and exhausted in a video aired August 28. He’s been missing since August 20. Unal’s co-worker Bashar Fahmi, a Palestinian reporter, is also missing.
Corruptistan – Foreign Policy, September 4, 2012
Azerbaijani law prohibits government officials, including the president, from owning businesses, but there are no such restrictions on family members. A recent investigative series by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty uncovered a long list of offshore companies and luxury properties registered in the names of Ilham Aliyev’s children.
North Koreans flee in search of freedom – Deutsche Welle, September 4, 2012
All his family, except for his father who died while in North Korean custody, made it to South Korea and are reunited. Ji now studies law at a university in Seoul. He also began his own human rights group called Now Action and Unity for Human Rights. He also records a radio program carried by US-funded Radio Free Asia – it is broadcast into North Korea. On his Radio Free Asia program, Ji talks about life in South Korea and that what he learned about history at school back home in the North was untrue.
Henry N. Krieger, VOA employee – Washington Post, September 4, 2012
Henry N. Krieger, 91, who retired from Voice of America in 1991 as chief of the French-to-Africa Branch, died Aug. 11 at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington.
Media Citations of BBG Broadcasters
North Korea May Be Preparing Economic Reforms – New York Times, September 5, 2012
Within collective farms, four to six workers will be allowed to work as a unit to encourage competition, said the Seoul bureau of Washington-based Radio Free Asia, as well as Web sites in Seoul, which use sources within the North to collect news. Meanwhile, Jang Song-thaek, Mr. Kim’s uncle and key policy adviser, visited China last month and won Beijing’s commitment to help North Korea build two free economic zones on its border.
Report: Chinese police raid Tibetan monastery – AP, September 5, 2012
Radio Free Asia said Wednesday that security forces took away five monks during Saturday’s raid at the Zilkar monastery in Yushu prefecture in Qinghai province.
High Tide: From Foreign FCPA Targets to the Next Era of AML Enforcement – Wall Street Journal, September 4, 2012
An adoptions official in Kyrgyzstan was arrested on bribery charges. She didn’t appear to be contacted for comment. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Clinton notes maturity in U.S.-China ties – UPI, September 5, 2012
In other developments, Voice of America quoted a senior U.S. State Department official as saying Xi Jinping, tipped to become China’s next president succeeding Hu Jintao, had canceled a meeting with Clinton “for unexpected scheduling reasons.”
South Sudan risks backslide, U.N. says – UPI, September 4, 2012
A military spokesman told Voice of America last week that the rebel leader was recruiting children into his militia’s ranks. He was a member of the military but broke away in April.
Christians face systematic discrimination in Chin state – Democratic Voice of Burma, September 5, 2012
“It was very sad to see such kind of actions taken by the monks who have been heavily oppressed and killed in many cases in 2007 during Saffron Revolution,” Soe Aung, a spokesman for Forum for Democracy in Burma, told the Voice of America.
Of Interest
Photoshopping Dissent: Circumventing China’s Censors With Internet Memes – The Atlantic, September 4, 2012
A burly man, Bo unwittingly became the subject of a series of Internet memes (sounds like “cream”): Viral, visual remixes integral to China’s digital conversation. Fat Police Officer, as he’s now known on the Chinese Web, has appeared in remixed photos chasing Mark Wahlberg, jumping hurdles and practicing Tai chi with Jackie Chan in Tiananmen Square.
Democrats Call for Internet Freedom in Party Platform – Mashable, September 4, 2012
This year’s official Democratic Party Platform, released late Monday night, includes a section on Internet freedom — making 2012 the first year that both major political parties have done so.