Another posting from Butler Cain on broadcasting in Germany.

I was introduced to the German broadcasting industry through the RIAS exchange program. It’s for American and German journalists who are interested in learning how the broadcasting industry works in each country.  RIAS – which stands for Radio in the American Sector – began broadcasting in 1946 to counteract the rise of Communism in Eastern Europe. After the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunified, the RIAS Berlin Kommission changed its mission to one of exchange. It’s based in Berlin and is online at http://www.riasberlin.de.

In Germany, private agencies are the ones who wield authority over programming decisions. There are 14 licensing agencies there (compared to one – the FCC – in America). The idea has historic ties. After Hitler concentrated governmental power (and we know what happened as a result), Germany is very careful to avoid giving significant authority to any one organization.

All households in Germany (with some exceptions) are required to pay approximately 17 Euro per month to support public broadcasting, which gave public broadcasting a roughly 7 Billion Euro budget during the past fiscal year. This mandatory support is a typical funding model in Europe. But, it’s very different from the American model, where public broadcasting is supported primarily by voluntary contributions.

This has created lots of consternation among members of Germany’s private broadcasting industry, which has only been around since 1984. Commercial broadcasters complain that they have difficulty competing with public broadcasters because of the massive budget disparity. Unlike in America, Germany’s public broadcasting system has the financial advantage over the commercial industry.

And here’s a quick note about the king of Germany’s TV programs. “Tagesschau” is a nightly news program that airs between 8 and 8:15 PM. The public broadcaster is located in Hamburg. It has such a dominant hold on that country’s TV viewers that other channels program their schedules around “Tagesschau.” I’m not kidding.

If you’re interested, here’s a short narrated video of a few of my trip highlights. It’s at http://streams.ua.edu/aprnews/RIAS_Project.mp4.

Next time, I’ll share what I’ve learned about broadcasting during a visit to the Czech and Slovak Republics.

Butler Cain

What I find amazing is that people are surprised this happened. As a friend of mine in Asia said when we were discussing this, “This ought to come as zero surprise to anyone.”

Anyone — and I mean ANYONE — who has ever dealt with the Chinese government on the issue of press freedom knows that he/she is walking into an “Alice in Wonderland” experience. Words mean what the cadres in Beijing say they mean.

• Access to the Internet means access to what the Beijing authorities determine what is Olympic related.
• Access to the Chinese people is limited to what Beijing decides is Olympic related.

And look at the wording of the original agreement. Beijing said clearly that access would be unfettered for the purpose of covering the Games. In the view of the leadership at Zhnongnanhai there is no reason to see a Falun Gong website or interview a farmer about weather or crop conditions.

And certainly no reason want to question ANYTHING issued by the government.

When China was awarded the Olympics a handful of people, mostly those who understood the Alice In Wonderland/Orwellian way the leaders in Beijing think, predicted that this exact problem would occur. Access means what the leaders says it means. Nothing more. Nothing less.

These folks predicted (and, yes, I was part of that group) that Beijing would look at coverage of the games in the most narrow sense.

The fact that so few media outlets (around the globe) failed to even discuss the possibility that unfettered access might mean something different to the censorship crazed Chinese government than what it means to a free and independent media is appalling.

I can’t think what the non-US media were thinking, but with U.S. editors and publishers hooked on “Hyper-local” reporting, I guess the issue is just too foreign and too complicated. And as for our electronic breathern, there just isn’t enough airtime to discuss this issue when it is much more important to get that report on about Britney’s latest meltdown.

The growing free press movement in the former soviet republic of Georgia has put lawyers and journalists together.

Next week the group will celebrate Freedom of Information Week.

Here is a link to the Media Project in Georgia: http://www.media.ge/eng/page.php?m=news_detailed&id_numb=3372

IFJ News Release

30 July 2008

IFJ Calls on China to Grant Journalists Free Internet Access: “Censorship Has No Place at the Olympics”

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the Chinese authorities to unblock certain Internet sites that have become unavailable for foreign journalists arriving in Beijing to cover the Olympic Games which begin in nine days.

“We learn with dismay from the Chinese government that some Internet sites are blocked”, said Aidan White, General Secretary of the IFJ. “This is a serious breach of the promise given that all journalists, particularly those in the Main Press Centre for the Games, would have unfettered access to the Internet. We demand that all restrictions are lifted so that our colleagues can work freely and search access to the information they need.”

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman who admitted the Internet restrictions said they concerned the Falun Gong spiritual movement, but reporters working already in that country are also unable to seek information from sites such as those related to Tibet or Amnesty International.

Several  thousand  journalists are already in Beijing and they are complaining about the way certain sites are censored, either because they are unavailable or they prompt suspiciously slow download rates when attempting access.

“This is a bad start for journalism,” said White. “We call on the All China Journalists Association and the Chinese authorities to keep their promise and open the Internet to access by all journalists. Censorship has no place at the Olympic Games.”

At the same time, the IFJ has called on the International Olympic Committee to put pressure on China to ensure that it keeps the Internet open to all by reminding the Chinese government about their undertakings to grant unrestricted access for the period of the Games.

For more information contact the IFJ at +32 2 235 2200/07

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide.

Read what journalists covering the Olympics are complaining about: China Blocks Internet Sites

The Rand Corp. just issued a report on winning the war against terrorism.  (How Terrorist Groups End)

And guess what?

Good old fashioned police work and politics ended terrorists groups in more than 80% of the cases studied.

I tried to put the Rand chart onto this site but couldn’t  figure out how, so click here to see the chart.

What does this mean for the current war on terrorism?

That’s what journalists are supposed to look into.

Many thanks to Boing Boing for bringing this to my attention. I sure didn’t see reports on this study in the MSM.

CNN put together a nice package on how China seeks to control all Internet access in and out of the country. The click-through story also discusses how some Chinese work around the Great Chinese Firewall.

Click here for China and the Internet

And the worst part is the news guys weren’t doing a story about the druggies. They were following a mayoral candidate around Rio. The candidate visited one of Rio’s slums as part of his campaign. The photographers got residents of the slum in the shots.

And that is what set off the gang.

Brazil news photographers threatened by drug gangs in Rio, forced to erase images

A Statement from the Free Media Movement forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: Unknown gangs stalk the head of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI)

Previously threatened journalist stalked

SOURCE: Free Media Movement (FMM), Colombo

(FMM/IFEX) – The following is a 22 July 2008 FMM press release

22 July 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka’s five largest media organizations, including the Free Media Movement (FMM), are deeply disturbed to note that suspicious, unidentified groups of individuals have repeatedly followed Mr. Ranga Kalansuriya, the Director General of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI).

SLPI is a very well-known and highly respected media institution in Sri Lanka, collectively run by the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka, the Newspaper Owners Society, the FMM and the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association. SLPI runs the Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ) and manages the Press Council of Sri Lanka.

It has been reported to the FMM that two unknown groups have been loitering around Kalansuriya ‘s residence over the past couple of days. One of these groups was there as early as 5:45 in the morning. The group wanted to know the whereabouts of Kalansuriya on the pretext that there was a parcel to hand over to him. The previous week, an anonymous caller, noting that he had ventured into the SLPI office, threatened to kill all the staff. A complaint was made to the police regarding this incident.

The FMM notes that this intimidation occurs in the context of a regime and an Army Commander that directly and indirectly justify attacks on journalists, as was done with the vicious attacks on Keith Noyahr, Iqbal Athas and Namal Perera. It is worth recalling that Noyahr was in charge of the English section at the SLCJ and Perera was the acting head of SLPI’s advocacy section.

In a recent interview with a Sinhala-language weekly, the Army Commander said that these attacks against journalists were the consequence of their “misdeeds”. This same mentality was evident in press reports in government-controlled Sinhala media that accused SLPI of supporting terrorists. It is damningly clear that the regime, and high-ranking officials of the police as well as the military, are aiding and abetting those who engage in violence against journalists.

The FMM strongly suspects, but does not know for certain, the identity of those behind the threats made against Kalansuriya. The FMM emphasizes that it is the government’s responsibility to investigate these threats, if it is serious about media freedom. The appointment of pliant investigative committees, hastily convened press briefings after a journalist is killed or attacked, and hypocritical public statements that “all is well” with freedom of expression in Sri Lanka are utterly useless as means by which Sri Lanka’s rotting democracy might be strengthened and media freedom restored.

If the government fails to take appropriate action in the face of violations of press freedom, it will be egregiously culpable supporting dastardly acts of violence against journalists in Sri Lanka.

For more alerts and reports on media freedom in Sri Lanka, visit our blog:
http://freemediasrilanka.wordpress.com

Updates the Kalansuriya case:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/95541

For further information on the Noyahr case, see:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/94093

For further information on the Athas case, see:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/94271

For further information on the Perera case, see:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/94944

For further information, contact the Free Media Movement, 237/22, Wijeya Kumaratunga Road, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka, tel: +94 777 312 457, +94 11 257 3439, fax: +94 11 471 4460, e-mail: fmm@sltnet.lk, Internet: http://www.freemediasrilanka.org

The information contained in this update is the sole responsibility of FMM.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit FMM.

DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
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tel: +1 416 515 9622, fax: +1 416 515 7879 alerts e-mail: alerts@ifex.org
general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/

A couple of hard-working journalists in the Dominican Republic have taken a close look at the drug trade in Santo Domingo. What they found was not surprising — police on the take from drug dealers. What was revealing was the extent of the corruption. (Even in a country seen by most independent observers as one of the most corrupt in the Western Hemisphere.)

The following summary is from DR1.com, an English-language news sumamry service. At the end of the summary is a link to the original story.

Narcs pay “tolls” to operate

Investigative reporters Minerva Isa and Eladio Pichardo continue their in-depth look at the drug business in some of Santo Domingo’s poorest barrios. Their most recent report looks at how small-time narcotics dealers – ‘narcos’- pay local law enforcement personnel a fee to operate in a given area. According to the article in today’s Hoy, Isa and Pichardo say that although many citizens do not know for certain, they suspect that it is impossible for the “micro-traffic” of drugs to expand in such spectacular way without assistance from someone watching over the business. In the barrios, everyone knows about the collusion that goes on between police and drug enforcement agents who get their ‘cuts’ in return for enabling business to continue.

Community representatives and religious leaders are also aware of this and have complained about the situation on many occasions. Low salaries are a major contributing factor, they say.

According to the reporters, the collusion is possible thanks to the existence to criminals that are ‘hooked up’ to police or police turned criminals. This is in evidence when someone complains about one of the “micro-traffickers” to the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) and the criminal gets tipped off, because when there is a dragnet for such criminals they are never anywhere to be seen. The complicity is also reflected in the amount of drugs that is said to be confiscated, always less than the real amount, and the excess is sent back into the system. For the complete story go to:
www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2008/7/23/240846/Los-narcos-pagan-peajes-para-facilitar-microtrafico