|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UN NAMES 10 MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORIES FOR 2006 Every year, the United Nations publishes a list of the 10 most serious stories most overlooked by global press. Developing nations, whose situations are often misunderstood or dismissed by news media, as too complicated, intractable, or of marginal relevance, take the spotlight this year. [Full Story] PRESS FREEDOM IS EVERYONE'S FREEDOM The freedom of the press is the freedom of the American people. Not its guarantor, not a metaphorical representation of freedom as an idea, not even merely a mainstay of a free system. A free and independent press is American liberty at work, building and defending itself against the slide toward secret or arbitrary exercise of power, as conceived within or beyond the legal process. [Full Story] CHINA PLANS "SMOKELESS WAR" AGAINST PRESS, DISSIDENTS China's president Hu Jintao has reportedly called for an intensive crackdown on media liberties. While China's government has sought to project an image of a more market-oriented, open system, it continues to forbid basic press freedoms and still persecutes journalists at an alarming rate. [Full Story]
|
IN PART, USER PRIVACY WILL HAVE TO BECOME PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS 24 January 2008 The potential for broad-scope "electronic agents" —preprogrammed service aggregators and self-organizing databases with proactive marketing capability—, aiding in everyday information-related activities, will require a new security standard to prevent identity theft, which could become one of the gravest threats to economic performance and individual liberty. [Full Story] AT&T ANNOUNCES PLANS TO INSPECT & FILTER INTERNET TRAFFIC & CONTENT AT&T is proposing the implementation of new filtering technologies "at the network level" that would essentially interrupt in a definitive way the public's freedom to access online content. The concept known as 'net neutrality' refers to consumers and netizens' ability to freely gain access to any site, paid or unpaid, without major telecommunications companies programming access as they do with cable television. [Full Story] JOURNALISM STUDENT TASERED BY POLICE AFTER ASKING HARD QUESTIONS OF SEN. KERRY Last week, a journalism student attending a speech by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), at the University of Florida, was cuffed, electrocuted and detained by police while posing a series of hard questions to the senator. He asked the 2004 presidential candidate why he conceded the 2004 election "on the day" when there were reports from several states of voter suppression. He went on to ask why Kerry does not push to impeach Bush for the Iraq war, and to prevent war with Iran, then finishes with a third question about whether Sen. Kerry was "a member of the same secret society as the president". [Full Story] POLITKOVSKAYA INVESTIGATION IN DISARRAY, SUPPORTERS SAY RUSSIAN GOV'T SABOTAGED CASE In late August, prosecutors announced the arrest of 10 individuals in connection with an alleged conspiracy to murder investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in her apartment-building's lobby last year. A judge in Russia has ruled against the detention of an FSB agent, who was released, then re-arrested on unrelated charges of abduction, murder and abuse of power. Now the Russian government has replaced the lead investigator, provoking "disappointment and bewilderment" at Novaya Gazeta, where Politkovskaya worked. [Full Story] CLEAR CHANNEL PLAN TO SWITCH AIR AMERICA RADIO TO ALL-SPORTS FORMAT PROVOKES PUBLIC OUTCRY In San Diego, California, the sixth largest city in the United States, Clear Channel is planning to shut down the city's only progressive radio station, Air America, a nationally-syndicated talk radio format that often voices criticism of the national conservative social agenda, Republican party activities and big business interests. All of these have traditionally held strong sway over the military-centered mainstream of San Diego society. [Full Story] SENTIDO LAUNCHES SPECIAL REPORT SECTION ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS Sentido.tv is devoted to a free and independent press, and upholds the right of all people to live in societies where the presses and modern news media are open, and enjoy the freedom to deliver news that is inconvenient to those in positions of influence. Without this freedom, democracy and the business of information are in constant peril of being extinguished. Our special report on press freedom will allow readers to see what stories we publish that relate to the state of that vital freedom in today's world. [Go to Press Freedom] AT&T CENSORS PEARL JAM LYRICS IN WEBCAST, APOLOGIZES When Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder asked Pres. Bush to "leave this world alone" in song, online viewers watching Lollapalooza via AT&T's 'Blue Room' webcast were not able to hear it. The company cut the political lyrics from the webcast in what band-members, fans and net-neutrality advocates have called blatant censorship. AT&T blamed an outside contractor and apologized for the 'mistake'. [Full Story] CHINA DETAINING, INTIMIDATING JOURNALISTS IN EFFORT TO CONTROL PUBLIC IMAGE ABROAD As China officially began the countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games, various groups report foreign journalists have been intimidated, harassed and even detained, while trying to do their work in China. There is an apparent campaign from the highest levels to limit the ability of Chinese citizens to speak out about corruption, state violence, ecological crisis and authoritarianism; the state is apparently not embarrassed by being seen as a closed totalitarian system. [Full Story] NET NEUTRALITY: A NECESSARY PRINCIPLE FOR MAINTAINING GLOBAL DEMOCRATIC STANDARDS The concept of 'net neutrality' refers to the current state of affairs in the free democracies of the world, where those who control the physical infrastructure of the Internet are not allowed to police its content or to charge for provider-user access. It is a vital ingredient in the make-up of the Internet, because it guarantees the freedom of information that makes the web so useful to free society and so valuable to those who do well what works in that open environment. [Full Story] BILL MOYERS RELAYS THE GOOD NEWS OF NET NEUTRALITY 'VICTORIES' Journalist Bill Moyers explains how Net Neutrality is really about stipulating for all media regulations an 'Equality of Access provision' like that imposed on AT&T after "Free Press and SavetheInternet.com orchestrated 800 organizations, a million and a half petitions... a top-shelf communications campaign. Who would have imagined that sitting together in the same democratic broadband pew would be the Christian Coalition, Gun-owners of America, Common Cause and MoveOn.org?" [Go to video] RUPERT MURDOCH WINS BID TO BUY DOW JONES Controversial media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, through his company Newscorp, has reportedly persuaded the Bancroft family, which holds a controlling interest in the financial company Dow Jones, to sell the firm for $5.6 billion, giving him control of the Wall Street Journal newspaper. Until now, there had been opposition from within the Bancroft family, based on concerns Murdoch would distort the editorial culture and diminish the Journal's reputation for journalistic independence. [Full Story] ECONOMY STRONG OR REPORTING WEAK? It was amazing to see an article entitled "Strong U.S. economy helps slow drop in world markets" in a major international newspaper, knowing that the dollar is falling, people are struggling to make ends meet, we're constantly hearing about bankruptcies on the rise, and the housing market is, well, contributing to a potential global credit crisis, with major mortgage lenders under investigation for lending-to-loot. The story was based on figures reported by the US Commerce Department, which had just reported (Friday) that the "US economy" (ostensibly, GDP) had grown by 3.4 % in the 2nd quarter of 2007. [Full Story] SENTIDO VIDEO NOW SHOWING REUTERS SYNDICATED VIDEO PLAYER Sentido video is going "live" with regularly updated video news feeds from Reuters. The player is available on the front page of Sentido's video section, and allows users to browse a number of headlines, selecting video clips as they become available, or to view the entire series of the moment as one continuous stream. [Go to Video] GOOGLE LAUNCHES SPECIAL HEALTH ADVISORY GROUP, TO HELP USERS TARGET NEEDED HEALTH INFO Google has launched a new special advisory group for health issues. The aim is to improve its overall search technology so that the end-user's experience is not a confusion of mis-matched or possibly dangerous flawed information regarding health issues. The hope is that Google's ability to provide relevent content will be honed and new search refining techniques will be discovered through the effort to ensure that health-related information is more relevant, more reliable, and more easily accessible. [Full Story] BBC REPORTER JOHNSTON, HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA, FREED UNHARMED Alan Johnston's ordeal became a global concern, when the BBC and his family organized a campaign to urge his immediate release. The release is a propaganda coup for the Hamas leadership, which after ousting Fatah from Gaza, has been stripped of its role in the Palestinian government. Former PM Ismail Haniyeh appeared with Johnston in a press conference at Haniyeh's Gaza residence and sought to project a new image of Hamas as keeper of law and order and responsible political leadership. [Full Story] HOWARD ATTACK SIGN OF RADICAL SHIFT AWAY FROM DEMOCRATIC VALUES Australia's prime minister John Howard, has launched a rhetorical attack against US presidential candidate and US senator Barack Obama (D-IL). Howard took the unusual step of attacking not only an individual candidate for a foreign head of state, but also suggested that if a Democrat wins, it would be a victory for terrorists. The comment is controversial enough because Obama is not the first US politician to propose a phased withdrawal of troops, but also because it appears to reveal allegiance to a specific party in a foreign state. [Full Story]
RUSSIAN STATE-OWNED MEDIA LAUNCH SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST LITVINENKO After Russia launched an official criminal investigation into the radiation poisoning of ex-spy Alexandr Litvinenko, it also announced it would no longer be permitting foreign agents to interview suspects on Russian soil, and there would be no extradition to Britain for Russian suspects. Now, state-run media are reportedly feeding stories into the international media to make accusations against Litvinenko and against the credibility of those who would support him. [Full Story] LITVINENKO POISONING NOW MARRED BY ALLEGATIONS CONVENIENT TO SOME SUSPECTS In the wake of the poisoning of former KGB spy Alexandr Litvinenko, by exposure to intensely radioactive polonium-210, allegations have turned from state terrorism to corrupt oligarchs, to questions of a blackmailing scheme. What now looks to be a major issue is whether there is an effort to discern the credibility of hearsay allegations being spread by powerful figures involved in the case. [Full Story] 'OBJECTIVELY VERIFIABLE TRUTH NOW SUSPECT' The foundation of a free society is a press with the freedom to criticize instruments of power and influence and to reveal wrongdoing as it actually takes place. War is not a sufficient reason to institute a system of broad censorship criteria or to rein in the news media, as if they posed a direct threat to the wellbeing of the nation. But increasingly, it appears that American news media are intolerant of facts as such, waiting for members of the government themselves to come forward with complaints. [Full Story] ABC TO AIR 'DOCU-DRAMA' USING FABRICATIONS AS EVIDENCE ABC plans to air a "docu-drama" entitled Path to 9/11, a 6-hour TV movie detailing in fictional re-enactment events its writers allege occurred in the US counterterrorism community in the years before the attacks of 11 September 2001. It clearly assigns blame to members of the Clinton administration for thwarting efforts to kill Bin Laden, and many now say the film directly misrepresents the truth, fabricating scenes, words and events either for dramatic or for political effect. [Full Story] 'CROCODILE HUNTER' STEVE IRWIN KILLED BY STINGRAY Steve Irwin, world-renowned conservationist and television personality, has died in a rare accident involving a puncture wound from a large stingray's barbed tail. Stingrays are not generally aggressive animals and use their barbs only in self-defense, meaning Irwin should not have been in any immediate peril. The incident occurred while filming documentary footage for an episode of his 8-year-old daughter's new program, off Port Douglas, in northern Queensland. [Full Story] FEAR ENDANGERS BY DECEIVING The fear and uneasiness that provokes human beings to conflict is never what it seems to be; that is its nature and its method: to take hold by way of complex deceptions. Fear wages a coup d'esprit by deceiving the mind into thinking it promises clarity and intellectual comfort, peace of mind, justice and the healing of wounds, that it may actually generate the only feasible path to physical or political safety. [Full Story] 'AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH' BRINGS SCIENCE TO THE FORE IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS For a long time, conventional wisdom dictated that environmental issues were political in nature, and a matter of preference or opinion. The landmark documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' demonstrates conscientiously that the issue is beyond politics. The film takes pains to show that while priorities —and opinions about them— are at issue, not making ecological sustainability a top priority is not only foolish, but morally unjustifiable. [Full Story] JOURNALIST HOSPITALIZED AFTER FOUR MONTHS ON HUNGER STRIKE Independent Cuban journalist, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, is now hospitalized in critical condition, after 4 months on hunger strike, which led to his needing emergency surgery. Fariñas has said he would follow through with the hunger strike until the last, facing possibly deadly consequences in hopes of spurring reform that would allow reporters to gather information and to report on and criticize government activities. [Full Story] THE HIDDEN ALLURE OF 'THE DA VINCI CODE' Dan Brown's bestselling novel is not, contrary to popular opinion, primarily about conspiracy theories. Conspiracies do figure in the plot, as they have in his other books, but they are too simplistic an explanation for the popularity of the book, too much a device to explain what in the substance of the book attracts special attention among readers. [Full Story] THE NET WIDENS: WHAT ELSE ARE THEY MONITORING? Historian and expert NSA researcher Matthew Aid has told Salon.com that he believes it will be revealed in time that Internet service providers and cellphone companies also cooperated with the NSA spying and data mining programs. He offered no proof, but cited past examples of NSA overreaching and the key fact that the article exposing the collaboration of 3 major telecoms failed to explore the complicity or innocence of cable, cellular and Internet companies. [Full Story]
NSA BUILDING DATABASE OF ALL PHONE CALLS MADE IN U.S. The National Security Agency, which has been the center of a major legal controversy over its eavesdropping on law-abiding American citizens without judicial approval, has now been revealed to be collecting phone records of tens of millions of people. The effort is reportedly part of a strategy to amass a record of all phone traffic in the US, no matter its purpose. [Full Story] SCIENCE ABOVE TECHNOCRACY, FOR A FULLER FUTURE Science is in many ways an artform, but it is specifically and most importantly, the art of knowledge. It is not philosophy, not a study of how knowledge comes about, what it is, whether it can be trusted or whether we need to adjust our thinking; it is, instead, a direct study of the natural world, its tendencies, its evidence, and its capacity to work with us, for us and around us. [Full Story] CLIMATE OF SECRECY PUTS DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES IN BACK SEAT An insistence on near absolute secrecy threatens to undermine two vital elements of the security of the United States: 1) the democratic process itself, without which there can be no system to secure; 2) the intellectual dissent which is necessary to enforce truly reasoned thinking in planning of operations and information analysis. [Full Story] GOVERNMENT POLICY UNLAWFULLY CRIMINALIZES COMMENT ON SCIENTIFIC FACT The global environment is, of course, a global issue, one that touches every life on the planet, and the science about it should be open and available to all. Past government policy and existing federal law mean that such scientific evidence should be readily available to the public. But now, it appears that several agencies are laboring to silence scientists who are researching climate trends and alterations. [Full Story] AT&T SUED FOR VIOLATING LAW IN NSA DOMESTIC SPY PROGRAM AT&T was once the nation's telecommunications monopoly, and abuses there led to the break-up of the Bell monopoly and the regulation of telecoms, with the intent of encouraging competition and achieving the goal of forcing providers to serve the customers first. Now, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit alleging that the telecommunications giant has violated federal law by assisting the government in spying on innocent Americans without any court authorization. [Full Story] OUR COLLECTIVE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSE People want to believe what their friends, neighbors, teachers, political representatives tell them. They will express skepticism, and they will be brash and indignant about public scandals or about dubious claims, but ultimately, they err on the side of credulity. The human being in society, is able to suspend disbelief and participate in sometimes elaborate fantasies, in the interests of sustaining the feeling of belonging to the ongoing project to understand the universe we inhabit... [Full Essay] OFFICIAL SECRECY POWER UNDERMINES FREE ENTERPRISE In American society, it's worth asking whether secrecy in the hands of the powerful is compatible with representative democracy. There is no secrecy power in the US Constitution, and no law enacted by Congress provides such power. In the case of the Crater Coupler, the government's assertion of a right to conceal all activities related to a covert operation, under official secrecy claims, actively allowed a major company to usurp the intellectual property rights of an inventor, by stripping that individual and his partners of the constitutional right to seek redress in court. [Full Story] CBS NEWS REPORT DISTORTS POLL RESULTS, SAYS BUSH "LIKELY NOT" OBLIGED TO FOLLOW LAW In a report from the White House regarding the president's response to criticism from the public, from Congress and from legal and national security experts that his warrantless wiretaps are illegal, CBS White House correspondent John Roberts falsely cites a recent poll to claim Bush has broad support from the public for warrantless wiretaps. [Full Story] GOOGLE TO COLLABORATE IN CENSORING INFORMATION DELIVERED TO CHINESE USERS The premier internet search engine Google has launched a new Chinese service, under the domain Google.cn, which it will voluntarily censor in keeping with the mandates of Chinese authorities. The announcement came earlier this week, as the Davos trade talks opened and on the same day as China's government announced it was ordering the closing of a weekly newspaper known for publishing articles on topics the Chinese Communist party's propaganda office had banned or which included criticism of government policy. [Full Story] OXFORD'S LORD MAY SAYS SCIENCE ENTERING 'DANGEROUS TIMES' The BBC reports "Fundamentalism is hampering global efforts to tackle climate change, according to Britain's top scientist." Lord May used his departing speech as president of the Royal Society to warn researchers, policy-makers and the public that science is under attack from fundamentalist tendencies and organizations, even as it faces "non-linear" biological and environmental threats. [Full Story] JENNINGS DEATH IS LOSS TO JOURNALISM Peter Jennings, top news anchor at ABC News in the US, died on Sunday after delivering TV news in five separate decades. Jennings, a long-time smoker, had been suffering from lung cancer, having only announced four months ago he would seek treatment. His death may mark the true end of an era of broadcast news... [Full Story] US BROADCASTERS BRUSH DARFUR ASIDE, FAVOR JACKSON TRIAL A new study shows major US broadcasters have brushed genocide in Darfur aside, while giving widespread coverage to the trial of popstar Michael Jackson. Glolablinfo.org writes that "U.S. broadcast media are failing to provide even minimal coverage of the ongoing crisis". [Full Story] JUDGE IMPRISONS REPORTER FOR REFUSING TO BREAK CONFIDENTIALITY, REVEAL SOURCE New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed by a Special Prosecutor investigating the leak by White House officials of the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press. Many believe it signals an assault on the First Amendment's vital "freedom of the press", moreso because many details of the case make it unclear what value Miller's testimony would have and whether other reporters (such as Robert Novak, who published the name itself) have faced similar prosecutorial rigors. [Full Story]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Original, Graphic Content © 2000-08 Sentido
