Open Media Watch

Independent Media

Following are articles from other sources related to independent media and press freedom. The opinions and views expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Internews.

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Media Freedom Around the World, World Public Opinion, May 1, 2008
A new poll of nations around the world finds worldwide support for the principle of media freedom and broad opposition to government having the right to limit access to the Internet. In many countries people want more media freedom than they have now, but in many Muslim countries and in Russia, there is substantial support for regulation of news or ideas that the government thinks could be politically destabilizing.

Radio To Stay Tuned To, Washington Post, April 22, 2008
"Radio Free Europe? Does that still exist?" That was the question; the speaker was an Important Public Broadcaster, visiting Europe for a few days last week. It wasn't a surprising query, as these things go, or an ignorant one. Not many other Americans know that Radio Free Europe still exists, so why should he?

Zimbabwe opposition offices ransacked, Associated Press, April 3, 2008
Intruders ransacked offices of the main opposition party and police detained foreign journalists Thursday in an ominous sign that President Robert Mugabe might turn to intimidation and violence in trying to stave off an electoral threat to his 28-year rule.

State of the News Media 2008, Pew Research Center, March 17, 2008
The state of the American news media in 2008 is more troubled than it was a year ago. And the problems, increasingly, appear to be different than many experts have predicted.

The Quality & Independence of British Journalism, Media Wise, February 1, 2008
The quality and independence of British journalism has been severely damaged since the Wapping Dispute in 1986, when Rupert Murdoch challenged the power of the print unions. Over the last 20 years, the research shows, profits have doubled and pagination has trebled, across the industry, while the number of jobs is about the same and productivity, in terms of the number of stories produced by journalists, has trebled.

Media Being Silenced as Political Crisis Intensifies, IFEX, January 31, 2008
A continuing ban on live broadcasts and new death threats to journalists in Kenya are silencing media reports on the country's escalating political crisis, says IFEX member the Media Institute.

Environment: Global roundup of Enviroblogs, Global Voices Online, January 24, 2008
Environmental blogs around the world are addressing a myriad issues specific to their region, but of global concern.

Pakistan: Five key problems for media coverage of February’s legislative elections, Reporters Without Borders, January 9, 2008
Despite President Pervez Musharraf’s reassuring statements, Pakistan’s media are not free to provide proper coverage of the legislative elections scheduled for 18 February because of a climate of censorship that is sustained by the permanent threat of fines, closures of news media and arrests of journalists, Reporters Without Borders said today.

Radio Realidad: The Popular Voice in Honduras, NaclaNews, January 3, 2008
In Honduras, campesinos are working with grassroots solidarity organizations to take the media into their own hands. Radio Realidad is one of a growing number of small FM stations that are popping up throughout Latin America to address communities’ needs for information.

Guatemala: The Media's Shortcomings, Global Voices Online, December 27, 2007
In Guatemala, coverage outside of the capital city is said to be not as important for national newspapers, and because of that many stories are left uncovered. In spite of its national circulation, some newspapers choose to devote more coverage to other countries in the region.

Rural Radio Promotes Democracy in Nepal Amid Continuing Uncertainty Over Elections, The Advocacy Project, November 7, 2007
While Nepal’s political parties continue to bicker over elections, tens of thousands of minority and indigenous people in Baglung, central Nepal are being encouraged to participate in the electoral process through a pioneering new radio program.

GEORGIA GRAPPLES WITH RESTRICTED NEWS COVERAGE, Eurasianet, November 8, 2007
One day after the worst political upheaval since Georgia’s 2003 Rose Revolution, a national news brownout has left most Georgians struggling to make sense of the events that shook Tbilisi on November 7, and to predict what lies ahead.

Senate committee says yes to Low-Power FM, Reclaim the Media, October 30, 2007
The United States Senate Commerce Committee voted on Oct. 30 to substantially expand the number of community media outlets in the United States. In a consensus vote, the Committee moved to report Senate Bill 1675, the Local Community Radio Act of 2007, to the full Senate -- and opened the door for thousands of new community radio stations to be built in America's largest cities, and smaller communities across the nation.

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007, Reporters Without Borders, October 15, 2007
Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running.

Russia: Anna Politkovskaya's Memorial Rally, Global Voices, October 8, 2007
On the first anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's death, a few hundred people gathered in Moscow to pay tribute to her - and to talk politics.

Laugh till you protest: how satire is at the forefront of TV revolution, The Guardian, September 14, 2007
In Pakistan voters are mobilised by new channels with 24-hour coverage of political dramas. As Gen Musharraf clings to power and the country swings from one crisis to another, stations offering 24-hour coverage have done more than just report the news, analysts say - they are indirectly making it.

News from Paradise, TOL NewEurasia, September 6, 2007
To be a tourist in Uzbekistan is to ride the silk highway from one historical wonder to the next, from the architectural oohs of Samarkand to the archaeological aahs of Bukhara. ...The authorities are doing such a good job at keeping reality hidden from visitors, you could be forgiven for not realizing that Uzbekistan is one of the world’s most repressive regimes.

Toward a Global Anti-Censorship Network, Media Channel, August 28, 2007
During the last six months, since the launch of Global Voices Advocacy, we have been trying to cover the increasingly serious threats to online speech occurring around the globe and the efforts to combat them.

Justice for Anna?, Index for Free Expression, August 27, 2007
After the weekend's arrests, Novaya Gazeta, newspaper of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, responds to the news, and outlines how it sees the investigation in to the killing of its reporter continuing

Journalists in Exile, Committee to Protect Journalists, June 19, 2007
Nearly six years ago, Eritrean authorities raided the offices of the country’s private newspapers, shut them down, and detained at least 10 journalists. Tipped off by friends, Milkias Mihreteab, then editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Keste Debena, went into hiding, narrowly escaping arrest.

Journalists hounded by ‘forest mafiosi’, Index for Free Expression, June 25, 2007
Journalists and environmental activists investigating deforestation in Cambodia are facing harassment, death threats and censorship after a report accused senior officials within the country's government of involvement in illegal logging, kidnapping and attempted murder.

ARMENIA: RADIO LIBERTY TO REMAIN ON AIR, Eurasianet, August 6, 2007
A new agreement signed between the US Broadcasting Board of Governors and an Armenian private radio company will allow Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to continue broadcasting in Armenia.

Government Moves to End RFE/RL Broadcasts in Armenia, Armenia Liberty, June 27, 2007
The National Assembly is due debate on Thursday government bills that could end the Armenian-language broadcasts of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a key source of information for a considerable part of Armenia’s population.

Pakistan: Journalists observe black day, South Asian Media Network, June 8, 2007
Journalists across the country observed a ‘black day’ on June 8 in protest against the government decision of restricting the electronic media from airing the ongoing judicial crisis and termed the move ‘unjustified’ and ‘black law’.

Information War in the Jungle, NaclaNews, June 1, 2007
This is a war of information. And it is the oil company itself that has taught us to fight it," said Heriberto Gualinga, who is a kind of ‘communications boss’ of the indigenous Kichwa community of Sarayaku in the Ecuadoran jungle.

Pulling the Plug, NPR's On the Media, May 18, 2007
At midnight on Sunday, May 27, President Hugo Chavez is yanking the license of Venezuela’s most watched TV network, Radio Caracas Television. Chavez says the station is pornographic, that it’s a mouthpiece of the US Empire and an instrument of the Venezuelan bourgeoisie.

In India, newspapers are likely to be a long story, Los Angeles Times (free registration required), May 18, 2007
NEW DELHI — Extra! Extra! Researchers have discovered a place where the newspaper, a threatened species in some parts of the world, is still thriving. That would be India, home to 1.1 billion people. And not only is the press in robust health, it's breeding at an astonishing rate.

Media Under Attack, UNESCO, May 3, 2007
Control of the media has always been a temptation. Repressive regimes without a free press go to extreme lengths to silence journalists. New media are harder to control than traditional media, but so is the quality of the information they put out.

Killing the messenger – the deadly cost of news, the UNESCO Courier, May 2007
In the past decade, over 1,000 journalists have been murdered. According to Rodney Pinder, Director International News Safety Institute, as long the issue of impunity is not addressed, the number of deaths will remain high.

Please Copy This Film: Video and the People's Movement in Oaxaca, MediaRights, March 20, 2007, by Nicole Betancourt
After I left my job as Executive Director of MediaRights, I moved to the city of Oaxaca, Mexico with my husband and daughter for 12 months to study, consult and make art.

World Press Freedom Day: let our voices be heard, World Association of Newspapers, April 6, 2007
(WAN) has launched a website and campaign dedicated to World Press Freedom and the upcoming World Press Freedom Day, May 3.

Background Reports on East Timor Available, Freedom House, April 5, 2007
In preparation for the upcoming presidential election in East Timor, Freedom House is providing background information on the state of political rights and civil liberties in the country.

UNESCO posthumously honours slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, UN News Centre, 30 March 2007 –
Anna Politkovskaya, the esteemed Russian journalist and outspoken human rights campaigner who was killed last October, will be awarded the prestigious 2007 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the first time the honour has been bestowed posthumously in its 10-year history.

State of the American News Media, 2007: Mainstream Media Go Niche: Project for Excellence in Journalism Report Finds Every TV News Component Losing Audience, March 12, 2007
For the first time in years, every sector of television news lost audience in 2006. And newspapers, despite garnering a larger audience than ever for their content via online platforms, faced more downbeat financial assessments. The shifting economic fundamentals are spurring mainstream news organizations to try to build audience around "franchise" areas of coverage, specialties and even crusades, according to "The State of the American News Media, 2007," the fourth annual report on the state of U.S. journalism by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Debunking false preconceptions: Newspapers live and multiply, Editors Weblog, February 6, 2007
Contrary to the widespread belief in Western Europe and Northern America, global newspaper circulation is on the rise and new newspapers are being launched at a remarkable rate. The latest figures from the World Association of Newspapers.

Attacks on the Press in 2006, Committee to Protect Journalists, February 2007
Silence. When a journalist is killed, more often than not, there is silence. In Russia, someone followed Anna Politkovskaya home and quietly shot her to death in her apartment building. The killer muffled the sound of the gun with a silencer. Her murder made headlines around the world in October, but from the Kremlin there was nothing. No statement. No condolences. Silence.

A Sharp Eye On Ethiopia – N.Va. Network to Provide Outlet for Views Suppressed in Homeland, Washington Post, February 6, 2007
After three decades as a prominent reporter in Ethiopia, the arrests and jailings -- punishment for articles deemed critical of the government -- became too much for Mulugeta Lule. He fled his country and now works for a District parking company.

Reporters Without Borders issues its 2007 annual press freedom survey, RSF, February 1, 2007
The survey, published on 1 February, reports on press freedom in 98 countries and includes the main violations of journalists’ rights in 2006 and regional aspects of media and Internet freedom.

Another media is possible, The Panos Institute West Africa, January 22, 2007
Media practitioners in Africa have been challenged to help African governments in formulating a regulatory environment that is conducive to the establishment of indigenous media.