Media Highlights – September 26, 2012
Media Highlights – September 26, 2012
About Our Broadcasters
Who to follow on Twitter during UNGA week – Foreign Policy, September 25, 2012
@NabilabiSaab: Nabil Abi Saab, the U.N. correspondent for Al Hurra, the U.S. funded Arabic language satellite television broadcaster, reports in Arabic, but he uses his twitter feed to post internal Security Council and General Assembly documents in English. His posts have been indispensable during closed door negotiations on Syria.
The 50 most-followed agencies on Twitter – Federal Computer Week, September 24, 2012
Twitter has quickly evolved from social media novelty to critical communications channel. This list shows which federal agencies have built the biggest audiences, and where the growth has been fastest over the past year. [#39: Voice of America, with 57,137 followers at @voa_news]
2012 Online Journalism Award winners announced – Online News Association, September 24, 2012
Launched in 2000, the OJAs are administered by the Online News Association, now in partnership with the University of Miami’s School of Communication, and are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism, focusing on independent, community, nonprofit, major media and international news sites. [Voice of America’s Middle East Voices won in the category of “Topical Reporting, Large”]
Another ‘Innocence of Muslims’ Casualty: The Media’s Reliability – Huffington Post, September 25, 2012
Nakoula’s anti-Semitic cover story was eventually questioned by the Voice of America, CNN, Fox News and yes, the AP. But Islamic extremists had already pounced on the unexpected “Jewish/American” PR boost for their annual anti-American 9/11 protests. Cairo protests were quickly followed by the terror onslaught in Libya and soon violent mobs as far away as Bangladesh were railing against “Zionists” along with their anti- American animus.
From the archive, 26 September 1970: ‘Konflikto’ for the Esperantists – The Guardian, September 26, 2012
Esperanto speakers are fairly used to a flow of blatant, self-confessed propaganda: for example the Chinese publish a superb, 50-page glossy magazine in the language every month, and even the United States used the “Voice of America” for Esperanto broadcasts just after the war.
Media Citations of BBG Broadcasters
Must-Reads from Around the World – Time, September 26, 2012
Vietnamese Bloggers – Human rights groups and the U.S. State Department are criticizing the Vietnamese government for handing jail terms to three bloggers who spoke out on corruption in the Southeast Asian country, notes Radio Free Asia. A Ho Chih Minh city court sentenced Nguyen Van Hai, a founding member of the banned ‘Free Journalists Club’ website, to 12 years in prison, while fellow bloggers Ta Phong Tan and Phanh Thanh Hai received jail terms of ten and four years, respectively. The trio was convicted under Article 88 of the country’s penal code, which Vietnamese authorities have used to silence dissent and maintain harsh control over the media, said RFA.
In Nigeria, Military Victories Against Boko Haram Only A Short-Term Fix – International Business Times, September 25, 2012
The Nigerian government also says it detained at least 150 Boko Haram militants in parallel offensives across two northern states, according to Voice of America. And military forces killed Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qaqa last week.
Chinese Writer Locked Up Again After Brief Release – Epoch Times, September 25, 2012
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that a friend visited Jiao’s home in Beijing, and found that no one was there, and that according to this individual, Jiao was put under “residential surveillance.” The term is a technical description for what is in effect arbitrary detention at an undisclosed location, applied regularly to dissidents.
In the foreign-language press:
NK resident in granary Hwanghae provinces suffer from lack of food – Joongang Ilbo (South Korean newspaper, 9/22/12)
In Hwanghae provinces which are breadbasket of NK, many residents have been reported to die of hunger due to floods, typhoons and government exploitation, Radio Free Asia reported on 9/22/12.
Of Interest
Call for Release of Independent Journalist Accused of Insulting President – Reporters Without Borders, September 24, 2012
Harassment of dissidents has never really stopped since Raúl Castro became president in 2006 but, if they are detained, it is usually for short spells. The arrest of Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, a reporter for the independent Hablemos Press agency, could prove to be the exception and could hark back to an era when dissidents were detained for longer periods.
The New World – New York Times, September 22, 2012
Now, though, we appear on the brink of yet another nation-state baby boom. This time, the new countries will not be the product of a single political change or conflict, as was the post-Soviet proliferation, nor will they be confined to a specific region. If anything, they are linked by a single, undeniable fact: history chews up borders with the same purposeless determination that geology does, as seaside villas slide off eroding coastal cliffs. Here is a map of what could possibly be the world’s newest international borders.