Deadline:01/02/11
Religion Newswriters Association
Journalists who cover religion can compete for 19 awards in six media categories: newspapers, magazines, broadcast outlets, multimedia outlets, books and student publications. There is US$10,000 available in prize money.
For more information, click here: http://www.rna.org/news/55828/Call-for-entries-2011-Religion-Newswriters-Ass
http://www.rna.org/news/55828/Call-for-entries-2011-Religion-Newswriters-Ass
Deadline:04/04/11
McCormick Foundation
Funding is available for four women with original ideas for websites, mobile news services or other initiatives. The one-time prizes are US$12,000.
Projects must launch within 10 months, have journalistic value and have a plan for continuing after initial funding has ended. For more information, click here: http://www.newmediawomen.org/site/proposal_guidelines/
http://www.newmediawomen.org/site/proposal_guidelines/
DUSHANBE — The entire staff of the Russian-language weekly «Vecherny Dushanbe» has resigned to protest censorship and «harassment» by their owner, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.
Journalists at the newspaper issued a statement on January 18 announcing their resignations.
They also accused Akbar Sattor, head of the Charkhi Gardun Media Group that owns the paper, of censorship, harassment, and ignoring the country’s labor law.
Gulnora Amirshoeva told RFE/RL today that the paper’s staff had been under nonstop pressure for the past six months. She said Sattor repeatedly threatened to close the weekly because it is not profitable.
Amirshoeva said journalists at «Vecherny Dushanbe» asked Sattor to let them take over the paper, but he demanded a huge sum of money to do so.
Sattor rejected Amirshoeva’s charges. He told RFE/RL it was true that «Vecherny Dushanbe» is unprofitable, but denied he wanted to close it.
Sattor said he planned to launch another weekly in Tajik that would have the same content as «Vecherny Dushanbe» because there is an increasingly smaller demand in Tajikistan for Russian-language newspapers.
Sattor said that despite the journalists’ resignation he would try to publish the weekly as usual.
Media experts note that Sattor’s situation is delicate because he is also the head of Tajikistan’s Union of Journalists, and in that capacity is obliged to defend journalists’ rights.
Tajik lawyer Hamza Hakimzoda said that according to the law, in cases where a conflict of interest arises the official involved should put his/her union leadership ahead of commercial interests.
«Vecherny Dushanbe» was founded in 1968 as the daily newspaper of the Dushanbe Committee of Tajikistan’s Communist Party. It became independent in 1992 and, in 1996, Sattor’s media group acquired it and turned it into a weekly.
http://www.rferl.org/content/russian_tajik_weekly_staff_resigns/2281388.html
Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan still cannot settle the issues of joint broadcasting. According to the REGNUM news agency, Iran fails to supply the TV broadcasting equipment.
According to Asadullo Rakhmonov, chairman of the Tajik State Broadcasting Committee the premises in Dushanbe are ready; what is needed for the time being is the equipment. The official also said that representatives of Iran and Tajikistan have recently had a meeting in the Tajik capital where they intended to discuss the terms of broadcasting, but their Afghan counterparts ignored the consultation.
Earlier, the ambassador of Iran to Tajikistan Ali Asgari Sherdust told the media that the cause of constant postponing of launching of the Persian-language TV channel is the Afghan uncertain position. The Kabul authorities consider that most of the population in Afghanistan are Pashtu people who do not speak Persian.
Apart from that, the parties cannot agree upon the content of TV programs and the appearance of TV anchors. Iran and Afghanistan are Islamic states, whereas Tajikistan is a secular country. Iranian and Afghan TV channels prohibit appearance of women without hijab.
The decision about the creation of the Persian-language TV channel was reached between the Tajik and Iranian presidents in July 2006 in Tehran. In March 2008, in Dushanbe, during a tripartite meeting of foreign ministers the parties agreed to create a Persian-language TV channel. It was decided that the headquarters of the new TV company will be located in Dushanbe.
REGNUM
During 2010, RFE journalists suffered intimidation, physical attacks and arbitrary arrest in 12 of the 21 countries forming its broadcast region. The year presented additional challenges as authorities in Belarus, Turkmenistan and Iran broadened their efforts beyond individuals and conducted sustained campaigns to silence entire RFE language services. RFE’s experience is consistent wih the findings of other media watchdogs, suggesting that governments in its broadcast region are increasingly intolerant of independent media and that the tools traditionally available to safeguard it are increasingly inadequate.
The December sentencing of Ernest Vardanean, a contributor to RFE’s Moldovan service, epitomized the vulnerability of RFE journalists everywhere to lawless regimes. Vardanean, who was first detained in April and ultimately tried behind closed doors, received a 15-year prison sentence from a court in Moldova’s breakawayTransdniester region on charges of state treason.
Such risks were on display in mass proportions in Belarus as RFE journalists were beaten and detained in mass arrests that imprisoned hundreds following the December 19 presidential elections. Ten days later, RFE’s Minsk bureau was anticipating a raid on its premises as part of a crackdown on the independent media. The bureau was the target of a sustained campaign of official intimidation earlier in the year. Two freelancers resigned after receiving threats from security agents against family members. Authorities also used accreditation to intimidate RFE journalists, stripping one correspondent of her status and forcing another to quit. In September, authorities issued a warning that all employees risked losing accreditation, a threat, in effect, to shut the bureau down. The bureau chief was interrogated by the KGB in the summer and harassed during routine border crossings to neighboring states.
Intimidation of members of RFE’s Turkmen service began mid-year and continued unchecked at year’s end. In numerous instances relatives of the service’s Prague-based staff were interrogated, threatened, dismissed from long-held jobs, denied travel rights and in other ways blacklisted as a result of their association with RFE. A Prague-based correspondent was refused entry to the country and banned as an “inadmissible subject” in May after attempting a visit following 11 years of exile. During the year, RFE’s website and phone lines to its correspondents in the country were routinely monitored and blocked.
In Kyrgyzstan, several RFE correspondents were victims of interethnic violence that erupted in the country’s southern regions in June. Two correspondents for our Uzbek service fled their homes in Osh after attackers targeted them for their ethnicity and their reporting on atrocities.
RFE journalists covering events in Tajikistan’s remote northern provinces were vilified and threatened in a series of articles that were published in local newspapers and which appeared to be part of a coordinated campaign.
In the North Caucasus, where independent journalism is nearly extinct, two correspondents resigned from RFE’s small Chechen service this year after security agents threatened their families.
Efforts to thwart Radio Farda, RFE’s Persian language service, continued this year, and included routine blocking of its website and the publication of a 360-page book by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance deploring the radio’s purpose, programs and employees. Farda staff members in Prague received threats, as did their family members in Iran.
At year’s end, the Azerbaijani service marked the second year since the government banned its broadcasts from medium wave and FM.
RFE’s Russian service continued to suffer the loss of broadcast affiliates across the Federation from almost 30 in 2004 to fewer than three in 2010 as a result of political pressure. RFE journalists in Russia operate in the shadow of some 20 journalists who have been killed and countless others who were brutally attacked this decade and whose cases remain unsolved.
http://www.rferl.org/content/journalists_in_trouble_the_record_2010/2271786.html
Asadullo Rakhmonov, chairman of the Tajik State Broadcasting Committee told the media that ten applicants were denied TV broadcasting licenses in Tajikistan in 2010.
The official said that the reason for denial is “incompletion” of licensing documents. Besides that, most of the applicants do not have sources of funding and proper documents proving compliance of their equipment to modern standards of broadcasting.
Rakhmonov explained that issuance of licenses does not depend solely on the Broadcasting Committee. “The licensing commission comprises of representatives of six ministries and government agencies”, — he added.
www.asiaplus.tj
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Police in Almaty have confiscated the latest issue of the opposition weekly «Golos Respubliki» (Voice of the Republic), RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.
Newspaper spokesman Sergei Zelepukhin told journalists that police stopped the paper’s delivery vehicle late on January 13 with thousands of copies of this week’s issue.
He said the driver and accompanying staff members were taken to a police station, where they were told they had been detained on suspicion of spreading false information. The individuals were later released, but the newspapers were confiscated.
Zelepukhin said the issue contained articles criticizing the proposed national referendum on prolonging President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s term in office until 2020.
The upper and lower chambers of parliament voted today in favor of holding the referendum. A yes vote could allow Nazarbaev to bypass the presidential election due in 2012.
«Golos Respubliki» journalist Oksana Makushina told a press conference in Almaty that just 3,000 copies of the total print-run of 19,000 made their way to newsstands in Almaty.
http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakh_opposition_newspaper_confiscated/2276556.html
The chief editor of Kazakhstan’s leading opposition newspaper, «Svoboda Slova» (Freedom of Speech), has resigned.
Gulzhan Ergalieva told RFE/RL today her resignation was motivated by the current campaign for a referendum to prolong Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s term in office until 2020.
She said she has found a new chief editor, Almaty-based journalist Yevgeny Rakhimzhanov, and given up her ownership rights to the paper.
Ergalieva, 59, founded the newspaper in 2005 and has served as its chief editor since then.
«My resignation is the only way to save the newspaper and to ensure the safety of journalists working for ‘Svoboda Slova,'» said Ergalieva, one of Kazakhstan’s most prominent opposition journalists.
In 2001, a group of masked men broke into her Almaty apartment, beat and tied her up before torturing her husband in front of her for several hours, leaving him handicapped. The attackers were never found.
Ergalieva and her colleagues say the attack was organized by officials in retaliation for her critical articles about the country’s political, social, and economic situation.
http://www.rferl.org/content/prominent_kazakh_opposition_journalist_resigns/2275641.html
There is only one region in the world where political rights and civil liberties have been in continuous decline since 2001 — the wide swath of territory made up of countries of the former Soviet Union, with the exception of the Baltic states.
That’s according to Arch Puddington and Christopher Walker, the principal authors of the latest «Freedom in The World» report compiled annually by the U.S.-based rights watchdog Freedom House.
The authors say there is no general explanation for the region’s downward trend. But Puddington, Freedom House’s director of research, lists a handful of possible factors.
One is the legacy of the Soviet Union; the other is Russia’s undemocratic influence; and the third is the economic power attained by regimes in gas- and oil-rich countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.
«The former Soviet Union [excluding the Baltic states] over the past five years, over the past decade, basically has gone from one decline to another decline. And Russia has led the way,» Puddington says. «But you have one of the most repressive regions in the world in Central Asia, where Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are right at the bottom of our Freedom Index. And Tajikistan also has very low scores, as does Azerbaijan.»
‘Disappointing Declines’
The two major negative developments in the former Soviet space, according to the report, is the disputed presidential election in Belarus in December, which was followed by a violent crackdown on protesters, and the overall decline in freedom in Ukraine.
«Ukraine was the one country in the non-Baltic former Soviet Union that we had ranked as ‘free’ — as a free country — the only country in that region,» he says. «And after last year’s developments, we now rank Ukraine as ‘partly free.’ And we can say that this is for a single country one of the most important and disappointing declines for 2010.»
Walker, Freedom House’s director of studies, says the negative trends in Ukraine include curbs on press freedom, the intimidation of civil society, and greater government influence on the judiciary.
«Ironically, President [Viktor] Yanukovych’s election victory last year was, in many ways, an unexpected democratic inheritance of the Orange Revolution,» Walker says. «The areas that we saw improvements from the end of 2004 until [2010] were precisely the areas that have come under greatest stress during the last year. So this would be the election process, media openness, and civil society.»
Members of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, however, were quick to dispute the report’s findings.
“We in the Regions Party can only perplexed by this,» said the party’s deputy chairman in parliament, Vadym Kolesnichenko, who spoke to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
«For seven months we’ve been talking about this absurd topic under the heading of “freedom of speech” and “censorship of the media” but no one has been able to show one single concrete example. So this classification can only perceived with amazement — particularly when there are claims that we are enemies of the opposition. I don’t think any country has demonstrated a more loyal attitude towards the opposition, which does nothing and stops us from working,” Kolesnichenko said.
With Ukraine’s slide to the «partly free» category, there are now no countries ranked «free» in the former Soviet Union, with the notable exception of the three Baltic states.
‘Increased Brazenness’
But even in the Baltic states, Walker says, the picture is far from rosy, with Latvia deserving special attention. Controversy surrounds the ownership change in 2010 of «Diena,» Latvia’s main daily newspapers, which has raised serious concerns about the coverage of meaningful political events in the country. This media transparency issue negatively affects the overall democratic process in Latvia, according to the report.
Russia and Belarus were listed among the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes, along with Iran, China, and Venezuela. These countries, according to Freedom House, acted with «increased brazenness» in 2010.
In the former Soviet space, Walker says Russia, which was named «not free,» continued to set the tone.
«[The] cases of [laywer] Sergei Magnitsky and [jailed oil tycoon] Mikhail Khodorkovsky at the end of the year in many ways exemplified the depths of the corruption not only of the judicial system in Russia but of the wider systemic challenges that the country faces,» Walker says. «Because what you’ve seen in both of these cases is the intersection of interests that come together to prevent any sort of rule of law being exercised.»
The media sector in Russia, according to Freedom House, has been unable to examine important issues in a meaningful and ongoing basis; the judiciary is subjected to heavy interference and is unable to operate in an independent manner; and political activities are strictly sanctioned and devised in a way that there is no meaningful accountability across institutions.
Despite the grim overall picture, Paddington and Walker say there were bright spots in 2010, notably in Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Georgia.
«Kyrgyzstan showed some gains after all the commotion early in the year when [President Kurmanbek] Bakiev was forced out,» Puddington says. «You’ve had a new constitution, and you’ve had elections that were pretty good, and you’ve had a new government that seems superior to the old Bakiev government.»
Iran’s Slide
Iran was identified as being on a downward trend and received the «not free» label. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ rising economic and political clout was singled out as a reason for Iran’s slide, as was the «sentencing of the entire leadership of the Baha’i community to lengthy prison terms.»
Across the globe, a total of 25 countries showed significant declines in 2010, more than double the 11 countries exhibiting noteworthy gains. The number of countries designated as «free» fell from 89 to 87, and the number of electoral democracies dropped to 115, far below the 2005 figure of 123.
Other significant developments included the downgrade of Mexico from «free» to «partly free» due to incidents related to ongoing drug wars and resulting violence and intimidation. Another negative development regarding freedom was China’s vigorous campaign against the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo.
At the Washington release of the report, Michael Posner, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, pointed to its value in helping shape U.S. foreign policy:
«We start with a commitment to the fidelity of the truth and this report gives us a lot of information [and] a lot of detail about what’s actually happening in the world. That’s a basis for action,» he said.
However, Posner added that attempting to force change from outside is difficult, and while foreign governments can seek to cultivate the conditions for a freer society, its source is ultimately the people of the country themselves.
with contributions from RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service
Nikola Krastev, RFE/RL
Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/freedom_house_freedom_in_the_world_report/2275173.html
A partnership between the Poynter Institute and the International Center for Journalists has launched the multilingual News University International. This new online platform offers interactive, self-directed courses for journalists, journalism students, bloggers and anyone else interested in improving their media skills.
NewsU International customizes Poynter’s News University e-learning courses so that they are culturally and professionally relevant for international users. The partnership’s first offerings include Persian courses on effective multimedia storytelling and understanding the language of images. New courses in Russian will launch soon. For future courses, ICFJ and Poynter will continue to work with a variety of local partners and together seek funding for additional courses in languages such as Arabic, Chinese and Spanish.
The partnership builds on NewsU’s unparalleled online-learning expertise and ICFJ’s global reach and vast experience in training journalists around the world.
Begun in 2005 with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Poynter’s News University currently has more than 170,000 registered users, including 15 percent from outside North America.
For 26 years, ICFJ has worked directly with more than 65,000 journalists from 180 countries. ICFJ also runs the International Journalists’ Network, IJNet, the premier global website for journalists and media managers to learn about training and networking opportunities.
http://ijnet.org/stories/90617