Short Takes from Internews

As a journalist, how would you cover a story if you were not permitted to drive, or travel alone, or be out after dark? As a citizen hungry for news, how would you find information if you were not permitted to attend school and learn to read or to listen to radio or television broadcasts?
   
Photo: woman and man at mics in the studio
DAVID TRILLING/INTERNEWS AFGHANISTAN
   
In Qarabagh, Afghanistan, Amana Qakar, center, and Yusif Qarabaghi, right, of Radio Shura-e Qarabagh, report the news together. A report by Internews Afghanistan analyzes the role of women in the Afghan media.
   

These issues and others are examined by Internews Afghanistan in Media Monitor 4: Women and the Media, the fourth in its series of Media Monitor reports. This issue examines the role of women in Afghan media as journalists, as consumers of media, and as subjects for media coverage.

With surveys, interviews and commentary on the state of the media in Afghanistan, Women and the Media is a valuable resource for journalists and anyone interested in freedom of the press and women’s issues.

Funded by a German Foreign Office grant to Internews Europe, the report is printed in Dari, Pashto, and English. Internews has distributed over 600 copies. The report is available on Internews’ web site.

In the Middle East, it is estimated that less than 5% of the population uses the Internet. Broadening access to the global information revolution depends partly on policies that lower prices and promote the free flow of information. Many business and political leaders in the region are eager to liberalize the telecommunications market, but regional and international cooperation are critical to their efforts.

At a ground-breaking summit hosted by Jordan in March on the banks of the Dead Sea, business leaders and regional policymakers from across the Middle East joined efforts, determined to jumpstart regional cooperation for setting policy changes that will improve the information and communications technology in their region.

Participants from nine nations met in workshops to tackle urgent telecom topics, including interconnection, ethics and enforcement issues, dispute resolution, and capacity building.

Their efforts aim to increase market competition and enhance access to affordable information and communications technology throughout the Middle East.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Jordan hosted the event, which was made possible with USAID and private-sector funding.

The event was coordinated by Internews’ dot-GOV project which provided consultants and technical assistance.

  Photo: horse and cart on dirt road in rural Romania
JERKER TORNGREN/INTERNEWS ROMANIA
Many of Romania’s rural villages lack telephones, fax machines, and computers. New telecenters established by Internews’ dot- GOV project connect these remote regions to the outside world.

Calling a fire brigade, summoning medical help for a woman giving premature birth, and faxing critical medical documents for a seriously ill mayor— until recently, none of these essential communications were possible in some of the most rural villages of Romania. But new telecenters in four remote communes of Romania have enabled these communications and many others.

The telecenters provide computers, printers, fax machines and telephones for the communes, as part of an effort to ensure universal telecommunications service in Romania. The telecenters were designed by the Romania Information Technology Initiative, which is part of Internews’ dot-GOV project, funded by USAID.

Internews Armenia celebrated World Press Freedom Day May 3 by producing and distributing a public service announcement that ended with the message, “Your voice will not be heard without a free press.” The PSA aired repeatedly on about 25 TV stations all over Armenia. It was also shown on the Republic Square electronic billboard and on a screen located on the roof of a downtown trade center.

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