Film ‘waltzes’ inside a censored Belarus
On Tuesday, CPJ reported that Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko had signed a new media law allowing authorities to further restrict press freedom by controlling what is published on the Internet. Belarus is on CPJ’s list of the world’s Most Censored Countries. Journalists are not the only ones denied freedom of expression. “Belarusian Waltz,” an upcoming…
Olympics-China Media Watch: What protesters?
On the eve of the opening ceremony, Xinhua News Agency waxes philosophical about the torch’s journey tomorrow to the Bird’s Nest, its home for the next three weeks. It hasn’t been an easy road, and Xinhua refers to the “obstacles” the torch encountered in foreign cities, as well as the Sichuan earthquake in May that…
News Wrap for 8/7/08
The Bangkok Post has coverage of our alert from last night that called for a full government investigation into the killing of Thai journalist Athiwat Chaiyanurat. Also out of Thailand, reaction to President Bush’s speech in Bangkok takes center stage across the news media today. CNN.com outlines Bush’s comments and China’s response. The New York…
Olympics: Qik! Get me my camera!
Despite all the security around the Games, two protesting groups did manage to get their messages out yesterday. Students for a Free Tibet managed to climb two light standards near the heavily guarded, iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium and display pro-Tibet banners for more than an hour. Later in the day, three Americans protesting China’s birth…
UPDATED: In Manneh case, Gambia silent as questions mount
Considerable international press coverage arose from U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin’s statements on the Senate floor last week, calling on the Gambian government to release imprisoned journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh. But Durbin’s request has not drawn a response from the Gambian Embassy in Washington. Ambassador Abdul R. Cole told CPJ today that his government would not…
Olympics: CPJ urges Bush to highlight jailed journalists
CPJ wrote an open letter to President Bush today, calling on him to raise the issue of China’s jailed journalists when he gets to Beijing. We put the current number of journalists behind bars at 26, which makes China the largest jailer of journalists in the world, the dubious distinction it has held since 1999.…
Olympics-China Media Watch: Nationalist fervor and the Olympics
Basketball star Yao Ming carried the Olympic torch through Tiananmen Square today in the triumphant final leg of a relay fraught with protest. His long-legged saunter under the gaze of Mao’s portrait captured headlines in today’s Web news outlets, along with speculation about who will light the torch at the opening ceremony of the Games on Friday. Also…
News Wrap for 8/6/08
Yesterday’s shooting of Philippine journalist Dennis Cuesta is still the focal point of a series of stories this morning. GMA News is running a follow-up piece, the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s site, Inqurier.net, has a story outlining the international media’s response to the incident, and The Macau Daily Times also has a news brief about the violent…
Olympics: Dark skies for Games? Maybe ‘Sunshine Government’ can clear them
Yesterday, I posted two pieces that showed how China’s good intentions toward the media can go wrong, or never get under way in the first place. The first item described a Reuters report on new guidelines that had been handed down to the police about how to handle the media if an embarrassing demonstration should…
Olympics: An Olympian Challenge? Getting There
Visas into China have been hard to get since early this year, when new policies were instituted. The tighter restrictions had already hit me in late February, when I tried to get a tourist visa to visit my wife’s family in Beijing. I was in Hong Kong to launch the 2007 edition of CPJ’s annual…