Tag Archives: Censorship
Digital Media Mash Up Highlights
Weekly highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for the full version of CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up for a comprehensive list of resources on digital media.
This week, Open Society Foundations released two reports in its Mapping Digital Media Series:
Mapping Digital Media: Digital Media, Conflict and Diasporas in the Horn of Africa
and
Mapping Digital Media: Albania
The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs.
About Mapping Digital Media: Digital Media, Conflict, and Diasporas in the Horn of Africa, OSF writes:
The Horn of Africa is one of the least connected regions in the world. Nevertheless, digital media play an important social and political role in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia (including South-Central Somalia and the northern self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland). This paper shows how the development of the internet, mobile phones, and other new communication technologies have been shaped by conflict and power struggles in these countries.
It addresses some of the puzzles that characterize the media in the region: for example, how similar rates of penetration of media such as the internet and mobile phones have emerged in Somalia, a state which has not had a functioning government for two decades, and in Ethiopia, one of the countries with the most pervasive and centralized political apparatus in Africa.
The paper also gives particular attention to the role played by diasporas, which have been highly influential in starting the first websites, blogs and forums covering the politics of the Horn and facilitating debates among Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis living at home or abroad. The paper concludes by discussing the often-innovative, but little acknowledged, ways in which digital media have blended with their predecessors to fashion unique hybrid media and communications systems.
About Mapping Digital Media: Albania, OSF writes:
In Albania, digital terrestrial broadcasting has so far affected mainly the capital and other cities, while the rest of the country and especially the rural areas have hardly been affected due to insuffi cient coverage and lower economic capacity. Economic reasons, as well as delayed legislation, have contributed to the slow speed of digitization, and official allocation of the digital spectrum has yet to start.
In general, the dynamics of the digitization process as well as of the media market as a whole are difficult to assess due to the continuing lack of publicly available systematic and credible audience research. The explosive growth in internet access is, however, beyond doubt. According to the ITU, the percentage of the population with internet access rose from 0.1 in 2000 to over 43 in 2010. The number doubled between 2008 and 2010.
The report calls for the Digital Strategy to be finalized without further delay, and then implemented. Broadcasting regulation should be amended to bring it into full compliance with the AVMSD. The report also focuses attention on the need for government support to help the public broadcaster to catch up with the digitization process. Last but not least, the report stresses the need for improved working conditions in journalism, in order to discourage self-censorship, and for implementation of a code of ethics in the new media, in order to minimize slander and violations of copyright.
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Research
Juniper Mobile Security Report 2011 – Unprecedented Mobile Threat Growth
Today, the Juniper Networks Mobile Threat Center (MTC) released its 2011 Mobile Threats Report, which shows evidence of a new level of maturity in security threats targeting mobile devices. This past year saw a significant increase the amount of mobile malware, its sophistication, as well as new nimble social-engineering based attacks. As mobile users download more applications than ever before, they are turning out to be the “killer app” for hackers. (Juniper, 2/14)
Video Streaming Held 42% Share of Global Mobile Bandwidth in H2 ‘11
Video streaming traffic continues to dominate mobile broadband, holding a 42% share of all global bandwidth in H2 2011, up from 35% in H1, according to a February 2012 report from Allot Communications. (Marketing Charts, 2/22)
Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality
Building upon a process- and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality — primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies — reveals patterns in youth’s information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure. (Berkman Center for Internet and Society, February 2012)
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Global Censorship Update
View Global Censorship Update – February 2012 in a larger map
Digital Media Mash Up Highlights
Weekly highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for the full version of CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up for a comprehensive list of resources on digital media.
The Open Society Foundations’ Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs. The report on Serbia came out in December 2011. Here are some highlights:
Over the past five years, digitization has impacted significantly on the range and consumption of media content in Serbia. An increasing number of Serbians go online, and most media outlets invest in their online presence. Serbia has a strategy for switching over from analog to digital broadcasting, prepared with broad public consultation. Broadband internet has had by far the most significant growth among the available distribution platforms over the past five years. All that said, Serbia remains a television nation, with almost all households owning a TV set and three quarters of the population still using television as their main source of information. But the internet is catching up.
- Internet penetration: 23% of households (2009)
- Broadband: 82% of households with internet (2009)
- Television consumption: (2010) Terrestrial: 50%, Cable: 41%, Satellite: 9%
- Digital broadcasting: (2010) Terrestrial: <1%, Cable: <1%, Satellite: 7.7%
- Social media usage: Facebook: 2.02 accounts (2009)
- Mobile phones: 132% of the population (2010), 3G: 11.5% (2009)
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Journalism in the Digital Age
Should Social Media Be Taught in Journalism or Business School?
Over the last couple years there has been a surge in the number of universities and colleges offering some form of social media marketing classes and/or certificate programs as part of their curriculum. (10,000 Words, 2/6)
Blair Jenkins: Better Journalism in a Digital Age
Journalism is a profession based on trust. The quality of our national debate and discourse is directly related to the integrity and reliability of our news media. Vigilant journalism helps to prevent the erosion of civil liberties and provides significant benefits for wider society. (The Journalism Foundation, 2/8)
The Vital Role of Global Journalism in the Digital Age
A new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists shows the new challenges they face around the world. (The Atlantic, 2/7)
The Role of the Journalist in a Globalized World
VIDEO: Interview with Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University at the PICNIC conference in Amsterdam. (European Journalism Center, January 2012)
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Research
ITU StatShot - Who Can Afford Broadband?
VIDEO: In October 2011, the Broadband Commission for Digital Development set the target that basic broadband service should cost less than 5% of average monthly income in all countries worldwide by 2015. How many countries already make the grade? And what are prices like in the poorest parts of the world, where broadband could be the critical catalyst for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in areas like education and health? (International Telecomms Union, January 2012)
Researchers Reveal What Goes into a Good Tweet
An analysis of 43,738 tweets from 1,443 users offers some valuable insights into emerging communication norms on Twitter. The study (PDF) by researchers Paul André of Carnegie Mellon, Michael Bernstein of MIT, and Kurt Luther of Georgia Tech aimed to uncover what makes for a good message on Twitter. (Reportr.net, 2/6)
The Pulse of News in Social Media: Forecasting Popularity
A new study claims it can predict the popularity of a news story on Twitter with an 84 percent accuracy rate by looking solely at four factors that affect content. The study, led by Bernardo Huberman of the Social Computing Lab Group at the Palo Alto-based HP Labs, examined the content of an article before it was published in determining how popular it would be on Twitter. (Social Computing Lab Group, February 2012)
Mobile Phones Central to Developing Countries’ Economic Success, Quality of Life: Global Poll
BBC World Service, January 2012
CHINA: Internet Companies in China: Dancing between the Party Line and the Bottom Line
The paper starts with an overview of the landscape of the Chinese Internet industry, followed by a review of the developmental trajectories of three important search companies in China – Baidu, Google, and Jike (the national search engine), whose stories are illustrative of the experiences of domestic, foreign and state Internet firms operating in China. The paper then outlines the Chinese government’s regulatory policies towards the Internet industry, which it is argued have undergone three stages: liberalization, regulation, and state capitalism. (IFRI, January 2012)
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Global Censorship Update
View Global Censorship Update – February 2012 in a larger map
CIMA Weekly Digital Roundup
Highlights from the world of digital media. Sign up here for CIMA’s weekly Digital Media Mash Up.
Open Society Foundations’ Mapping Digital Media Project
A free press and access to information are inherent traits of democratic societies. As technological changes have had a tremendous impact on the way citizens consume news and information, traditional media outlets have been forced to rethink the way they gather and present news.
Digital technology presents an opportunity for a golden age for information, but with it comes risks. The democratic values of media pluralism, transparency and accountability, editorial independence, and freedom of expression and information can be threatened by a lack of understanding about new technologies. Policymakers across the globe often struggle to grasp new technological concepts, which can lead them to draft laws that run contrary to the values of freedom of information and expression.
The Open Society Foundations’ Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering up to 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs. The project aims to build bridges between researchers and policymakers, activists, academics and standard-setters across the world. It also builds policy capacity in countries where this is less developed, encouraging stakeholders to participate and influence change. At the same time, this research creates a knowledge base, laying foundations for advocacy work, building capacity and enhancing debate.
Currently, reports are available for Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Others will be released as they are completed.
In addition to the country reports, the Open Society Media Program has commissioned research papers on a range of topics related to digital media. These papers are published as the MDM Reference Series.
———————————————————————————————————————————————-Digital Media and the Elections in Russia
Russian Court Fines Election Monitor $1,000
A Moscow court on Friday ruled that the country’s sole independent election watchdog had broken Russian law by publishing citizens’ complaints of campaign abuses during the run-up to parliamentary elections this weekend. Friday’s court ruling related to Golos’s “Map of Violations,” which has attracted more than 4,500 reports alleging illegal campaign tactics, including stories of employers threatening workers with pay cuts and local officials ordering business leaders to pressure subordinates. (New York Times, 12/3)
Critical Websites Hacked, Down on Election Day
Popular Russian media websites, the major LiveJournal social network and the website of the country’s biggest independent election watchdog, were inaccessible in hacking attacks for several hours on Sunday in what their employees said was an attempt to jam information on parliamentary elections. (Ria Novosti, 12/4)
Massive DDOS Attack on Independent Media during Russian Duma Election
I’m just waking up to discover that, coinciding with today’s Russian Duma elections, there has been a series of major DDOS attacks that have at times brought down a number of leading independent media outlets, the LiveJournal blogging platform, and the online ‘map of [election] violations’ by election watchdog group Golos. (Internet and Democracy Blog, 12/4)
The Internet’s Watching
Past Sunday’s Duma Elections Were the First Russian Elections to Come Under So Much Scrutiny in RuNet, Social Networks and the Russian Blogosphere. (Ria Novosti, 12/5)
Journalists and Bloggers Arrested during Moscow Demonstration
Reporters Without Borders condemns yesterday’s arrests of reporters, photographers and bloggers while covering a street protest in Moscow against the results of the previous day’s parliamentary elections and the irregularities that accompanied the polling. (Reporters Without Borders, 12/6)
A Blogger Could Start Russia’s Arab Spring
The new face of the Russian opposition is a young whistle-blowing, shareholder activist, muckraking blogger by the name of Alexei Navalny. At 2:15 p.m. on Monday, he called his huge internet following to a 7 p.m. demonstration at the Chistye Prudy park to protest “the rotten total fabrication of Moscow election results.” He wondered why some Moscow districts reported 20 percent while identical districts next door reported 70 percent votes for United Russia. (Forbes, 12/6)
Social Media Makes Anti-Putin Protests “Snowball”
Artyom Kolpakov used to shrug when he came across occasional appeals on social media sites to protest against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his government. “I didn’t see the point really,” he said. But something changed when, clicking through amateur videos and online testimonies documenting cases of ballot-stuffing and repeat voting, he saw others shared his outrage at Putin’s party’s victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election. (Reuters, 12/7)
The Internet, the Ballot Box and the Russian Presidency
VIDEO: In Moscow today, protesters took to the streets for a second day of demonstrations over Russian elections on Sunday that were marred by widespread reports of fraud and attempts to suppress election monitoring — the climax of a conflict over political power in that country that has been playing out on the Internet for months. (Tech President, 12/7)
Due West: Russia’s Internet Generation Finally Finds Itself
“You know what I did on election day? I started checking where my friends were via Foursquare”. Noticing the slightly bemused look of an Internet illiterate, Anton Nosik, Russia’s number one Internet guru explained it to me: “It is an application which allows you to see in real time where people you follow on Twitter were. And you know what I saw? Page after page of “I am at a polling station number so and so” tweets. Most of them are thirtysomethings and the majority were voting for the first time.” (Ria Novosti, 12/7)
Russian Social Network: FSB Asked It To Block Kremlin Protesters
A Russian social-networking website part-owned by London-listed Mail.Ru Group said Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, has asked it to block the online activities of political protest groups during a tense period following parliamentary elections. (Wall Street Journal, 12/8)
Russians Fight Twitter and Facebook Battles over Putin Election
Protests against president’s party escalate across social media with flood of automated counterattacks and alleged hacking. (The Guardian, 12/9)
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CENTRAL ASIA: Censorship and Control of the Internet and Other New Media
Briefing paper by International Partnership for Human Rights, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights and the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan. (November 2011)
ENGLAND: Reading the Riots: Investigating England’s Summer of Disorder
A study of the causes of the English riots. (The Guardian, 12/7)
IRAQ: Audience Analysis The Role of Journalism and Social Media in the Consumption of News in Iraq
Newly released IREX audience research shows that while Iraqis continue to rely on television as their primary source for news and information, social media and mobile devices play an important role in the consumption and distribution of news and information in Iraq. (IREX, December 2011)
LATVIA: Mapping Digital Media: Latvia
The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs. (Open Society Foundations, December 2011)
MIDDLE EAST NORTH AFRICA: Media As Key Witnesses and Political Pawns: Upheaval in the Arab World
A year after the start of democratic uprisings in the Arab world, Reporters Without Borders takes stock of censorship and violations of free speech during the “Arab Spring.” (Reporters Without Borders, November 2011)
RUSSIA: Russian Digital Dualism: Changing Society, Manipulative State
The article studies the effect of the Internet on Russian society in the 2000s, as well as the complex relations between the Internet, groups of digital activists and the manipulative state. The Internet creates new spaces for politicians and proto-politicians to practice digital activism, develop relationships of trust and new identities. At the same time, it becomes an object for increasing neo-Nazi and Islamist mobilization, and subject to greater control by a government worried by the inability to dominate this sphere. (Russia/NIS Center, December 2011)
UNITED STATES: Exploring the Digital Nation
Report by the Economics and Statistics Administration, the National Telecoms and Information Administration, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. (November 2011)
VENEZUELA: Law on Social Responsibility of Radio, Television and Electronic Media
ARTICLE 19 analysed the Law on Social Responsibilities on Radio, Television and Electronic Media of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for its compliance with international standards on freedom of expression. The Law, published on 22 December 2010 is an amendment to the 2004 Law on Social Responsibility on Radio and Television. While proponents had applauded the 2004 Law as modernising the country’s communication structure, critics had seen it as a naked attempt to gain control over private broadcast media. (Article 19, November 2011)
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Global Censorship Update
View Global Censorship Update – December 2011 in a larger map
