The current president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has long had a tumultuous relationship with the media in the country. According to the New York Times, Kirchner has been at war with the country's largest media conglomerate, the Clarín Group, since 2008. It seems that she chooses to fight with the media because, "With no credible opposition to speak of, the press makes for a convenient enemy." Kirchner's government has fought against the Clarín Group in many ways. Not only has the government pushed through legislation to reduce the size of the so-called monopoly, they have also attacked the... Continue reading

The Argentinian government has been waging a war on one specific media company: Grupo Clarin. According to an ABC News article, the battle between Argentina's president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and the media conglomerate has been ongoing for years. Just a few days ago, a federal appeals court declared a 2009 media law unconstitutional (a ruling which favors the media group Grupo Clarin) and "now Fernández is aiming for a Supreme Court showdown with the media conglomerate." According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, "Mrs. Kirchner has put an enormous amount of political capital into trying to undo... Continue reading

In March 2013, according to the Washington Post, people from the Syrian Electronic Army - a group which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - hacked the Human Rights Watch (HRW) website and Twitter feed. The hackers did not take over the entire site, but made posts announcing they were there and condemning the HRW: "'All Your reports are FALSE !! Stop lying!!!' one message read. The messages on the HRW site redirect to the homepage of the Syrian Electronic Army." The HRW "has conducted a number of searing investigations into the human rights abuses of Assad’s regime since fighting began... Continue reading

According to The Telegraph, a Syrian businessman, Fahim Saqr, has issued threats against Al Jazeera reporters working in Syria and offered a bounty of 10 million liras (about $95,000) to any citizen who brought those journalists to the Syrian authorities. Saqr was quoted as saying, "These people mislead Syrian citizens inside and outside the country, mislead the Arab world and mislead the whole world with their false reporting, which aims to fragment the country and Syria's social fabric." The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned these threats and Sherif Mansour, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said, "Our... Continue reading

As discussed in my previous post, YouTube is currently banned in Pakistan. This ban has angered many Pakistanis and resulted in the creation of their "Access Is My Right" campaign. The campaign has created many infographics in order to spread the message that the government should not be allowed to ban things without the consent of the governed. According to Global Voices Online, "The campaign has mustered significant traction on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. image credit: Anny Zafar Infographics like the above are both eye-catching and informative. They are intended to outrage the reader and entice... Continue reading

The video-sharing site YouTube has been banned in Pakistan since September 2012. The ban came about because an anti-Islam video was posted on the site and YouTube's owners refused to remove it. According to the Express Tribune, "A statement from the Prime Minister’s office read: 'The direction has been given after YouTube refused to heed to the advice of the government of Pakistan to remove blasphemous film from its site.'" An editorial posted last Sunday on the Express Tribune states that the problem lies in "the government’s inability to recognise that it cannot police the internet and any plans to... Continue reading

The market for luxury goods in China has been growing for years and the government has enacted multiple bans on advertising for those goods in an effort to reduce corruption and promote a certain kind of values for its people. The recent ban on radio and television advertisements for luxury goods has had an interesting result. Instead of reducing their sales, as was the goal of the campaign, the ban has simply caused a shift in advertising from radio and television to the internet. According to Jing Daily, the shift to the internet has happened more quickly because of the... Continue reading

In early February 2013, Chinese lawmakers placed a ban on television and radio advertising for luxury goods. According to Reuters (via Business Insider), the ban is "part of a push by the government to crack down on extravagance and waste." According to Xinhua, the official press agency of China, a spokesman for the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said: "As important cultural and ideological strongholds, radio and television channels should fully exert their role of educating the people, carrying forward good Chinese traditions and civilized lifestyles, and taking the lead to implement the requirements of central authorities."... Continue reading

Drivers in Russia have long been aware of police corruption - the BBC News covered the issue as early as 2009. According to the BBC, an "officer from southern Russia accuse[d] his superiors of forcing policemen to arrest innocent people to ensure monthly quotas are met." The roads in Russia are often quite dangerous: treacherous snow and ice, along with highways with fast-moving traffic in two directions which are separated only by painted lines. Car crashes are frequent, according to Business Insider, "200,000 traffic accidents killed 28,000 people" in 2011. Faced with the problem of proving their innocence, many Russian... Continue reading

Being a judge is no easy task. Long and sometimes boring proceedings must be endured day in and day out. One judge in the town of Blagoveshchensk in Russia entertained himself with his cell phone and then simply fell asleep during the proceedings. While the judge, Yevgeny Makhno, denies sleeping, a viral video was posted on YouTube which clearly shows him doing just that: eyes closed and his head lolling to one side. The BBC reported that "The videos were posted in January by Vladislav Nikitenko, a local activist and the legal aid of Andrey Nalyotov - whom Mr Makhno... Continue reading

After the violence during the country's 2008 election, Kenyan tech company Ushahidi formed and developed a platform for mapping the violence. With the upcoming 2013 election in Kenya, the company has again mobilized with the program Uchaguzi - a mapping tool which allows both local citizens and "global helpers" to visually present data about the election in real time. Uchaguzi is a citizen initiative which utilizes tools like Facebook and Twitter to get the word out. There are various Wikis for the project which allow users to share information and work together. The stated goals of the project are to:... Continue reading

Last year's viral video sensation, "Kony 2012," has begun to have some of its hoped-for impact. According to a New York Times article, elite American forces were in the Central African Republic last spring, aiding the local African forces in their hunt for Joseph Kony - a rebel commander and fugitive. An American official was quoted in the article as saying: “Let’s be honest, there was some constituent pressure here. Did ‘Kony 2012’ have something to do with this? Absolutely.” The video, posted last March by Invisible Children, a group dedicated to finding Kony, was a YouTube smash with over... Continue reading