62 Gag Orders in 2009

Hard on the heels of a major communications crackdown in strife-torn Xinjiang, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports that China’s powerful Central Propaganda Department issued at least 62 gag orders on state-controlled media in 2009.

New Website Tracks Oppression Of Online Writers

As more and more people are being threatened or imprisoned for what they write on the internet a new website has been launched to keep track of the oppression.

The websites creator Global Voices Avocacty say many governments have  increased surveillance, filtering, legal actions and harassment. The harshest consequence for many has been the politically motivated arrest of bloggers and online writers for their online and/or offline activities, in some tragic cases even leading to death. Online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide.

Vietnam Denies US Censorship Allegations

Vietnam’s Deputy Information Minister this week hit back at United State’s charges it censors internet content and spies on IT users.

The US condemnation came in a House Resolution sponsored by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in late October.

Rep Sanchez told the House the Vietnamese Government had created an agency to “restrict Internet freedom, censor private blogs” and compel IT companies to help the government spy on users.

But the Do Quy Doan, vice minister of information and communications has denied the allegations saying the agency referred to was set up to ensure orderly development of the IT sector in the country not as a censorship or control mechanism.

He pointed to the UN’s International Telecommunications Union findings that Vietnam was in the top 10 countries in the world for the rate of internet development as a sign of its openness and progress.

http://www.itu.int/net/about/index.aspx

He also quoted a Voice of America reporter who had commented on a recent visit to Vietnam that he observed huge amount of internet usage. The vice-minister said this would not have been possible in a country that repressed users.

Media law assistance website for journalists

The  Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) has recently launched a Media Law Assistance Website to provide journalists around the world with legal assistance, information and resources.

The globally accessible site contains information and resources on media law and serves as a source of both information and analysis through seminal texts, legislation, and court decisions on media law.

Journalists around the world are invited to register on the site; registered members can participate in forum discussions with other members, create an online profile and network with media participants, communicate privately with other members, read and comment on the website’s regularly updated news blog and access the website’s library.

To visit the website, go to http://www.globalmedialaw.com/blog/.

US lawmakers urge web services to confront Vietnam, AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Twelve US lawmakers have urged Internet giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to resist what they called communist Vietnam’s “worsening” efforts to restrict online political speech.

“We strongly urge you to advocate for the freedoms of speech and expression for the citizens of Vietnam by continuing to provide your technologies to the people of Vietnam in a manner that respects their rights and privacy,” they wrote on Tuesday in a letter to top executives at each of the three firms.

A growing diversity of threats to Internet freedom, a Freedom House report.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/FreedomOnTheNet.pdf

The Tibetans you’ve never heard of

Who hasn’t heard of Tibet? And who outside of Asia can even pronounce “Uyghur”?

Millions of Uyghurs (pronounced “WEE-ger”) live in China’s northwesternmost province, Xinjiang. They, like the Tibetans, are a religious as well as an ethnic minority; they have chafed under Beijing’s heavy-handed rule for the last six decades; and Chinese authorities have faced persistent accusations of repression and abuse against them. But the latest news is that Chinese authorities have closed a Web site aimed at promoting understanding between Han Chinese and ethnic Uyghurs following allegations that the site was linked to foreign “extremists,” the site’s owner said.

One more detention in Burma

You read it here less than two weeks ago: Burma’s military government detained a noted comedian, Zargana, after he went on a private mission to aid millions of victims of Cyclone Nargis. Now they have detained a prominent journalist who was working with Zargana, Zaw Thet Htwe.

Lyric and lament from North Korea

Jang Jin-sung is most accurately described as a former “court poet,” since North Korea’s secretive leader, Kim Jong Il, runs his government rather the same way European royalty hundreds of years ago ran theirs. Early Modern literati won grand favors for depicting the leader of the day as, say, anointed by God, worshipped by all, and blessed with a divine capacity for miracle-making. (Think Gloriana and The Faerie Queen. Think cherubim and seraphim continually crying “Holy, holy, holy.” That’s the idea.) Such was life in 1568 England. Fast-forward to 2008 North Korea, where government myth-makers use thoroughly modern media to achieve the same effect—and where Jang Jin-sung worked for years writing tributes in verse to the Dear Leader. Until, that is, he finally met the man in person.

China: Interview with released journalist Ching Cheong

From RFA Mandarin reporter Xin Yu:

Q: Mr. Ching, we learned that after you returned to Hong Kong, you are still working as a journalist for the Strait Times of Singapore. What do you feel about it?

A: I feel happy and am in high mood because I have been a journalist for my whole life.  Now I’ve got the opportunity to resume my old profession, I am happy.