|
Draconian Secrecy Law Threatens Japan’s Media ...
Thousands of people took to the streets in Japan’s major cities last week to protest against a controversial new secrecy law that took effect on December 10th, one year after its passage in the Diet. The law, formally called the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets (SDS), has be... |
|
Youth in Media Development
Whether ‘youth’ is defined in more concrete terms according to age, or more fluidly according to life stage, the voices of this demographic are often overlooked in conversations about the global digital divide and media literacy. While youth are some of the most vulnerable and marginalized peo... |
|
Linguistic Diversity in Online Media
When we think of the digital divide, we usually think of the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ However, this is just one component of the problem. Closing the digital divide also requires us to think about the content of the Internet. According to a July 2014 article from the Internet Society, ... |
|
Freedom on the Net Declines for Fourth Straight ...
Global internet freedom is in its fourth straight year of decline, according to the annual Freedom on the Net index released by Freedom House. The 2014 index, released early yesterday morning, looks at three levels of internet use: obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user right... |
|
Investigative Journalism in the Philippines
On November 23, 2009, a convoy of 58 men and women, 32 of them journalists, were slaughtered by gunmen outside of Ampatuan, a town in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao. The victims were headed to the provincial office of the Commission on Elections to watch the wife of Esmael Manguda... |
|
It’s time for a special rapporteur for freedom...
“Every person has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information, whether orally, in writing or through any other medium of that person’s choice.” – ASEAN Human Rights Declaration As ... |
|
Community Radio for Development in Somalia
Media development can be tricky in a place like Somalia. Arbitrary arrests of journalists, raids and closures of radio stations, and threats of violence against journalists, including from al-Shabaab militants, are commonplace. The lack of a legal environment in which a free press and free expr... |
|
Information becoming toughest commodity to get i...
With their country’s economy in crisis, Venezuelans are facing shortages of just about everything – milk, flour, toilet paper, cooking oil–and information. The Venezuelan government’s “communications hegemony is silencing the media and journalists,” said Sergio Dahbar, the former editor ... |
|
Political support key for media in Myanmar
Over the past two years, the euphoria surrounding the rebirth of independent media in Myanmar has given way to increasing concern in light of high profile setbacks, including the arrest and harsh sentencing of prominent journalists and the passage of controversial new media laws. It is unclear if th... |
|
MDIF’s Impact Dashboard: A Case Study in Measu...
When it comes to measuring success or failure, media developers face many of the same challenges as the rest of the international development community. Do you measure inputs, such as the amount of money that is invested in media development initiatives? Or do you track outcomes from projects—the ... |