Media Network

Ai Weiwei. Photo: ANP

For nearly two hours on Sunday, dissident artist Ai Weiwei was able to maintain a Twitter-like microblog account, briefly raising hopes the Chinese government had relaxed some of its tight control over online expression. Ai’s first microblog post said: “Testing. Ai Weiwei. March 18, 2012.”

Ai’s account on Sina, the operator of China’s most popular microblogging platform, drew 10,680 followers in that brief period, he told Reuters today, including the jubliant-sounding comment: “The moment has come. The skies have changed in China.” Shortly afterwards, however, the account was inaccessible, apparently deleted by government censors.

Ai is a prominent social critic who was detained without charge last year for 81 days until his conditional release in late June. He said he used his social security number to register the microblog account after discovering that his name was unexpectedly no longer blocked. “The controls are very strong,” Ai told Reuters by telephone. “They (the government) are very insecure, they are not ready for any kind of change.”

It was unclear what caused the crack in China’s “Great Firewall” as microblog operators such as Sina comply with government orders and monitor content, blocking and removing comments deemed unacceptable or too sensitive. Repeated calls to Sina went unanswered. China heavily filters the Internet and blocks foreign social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, fearing that unfettered access would lead to instability.

The deletion of Ai’s microblog, or weibo in Chinese, came after new regulations went into effect on Friday requiring Beijing-based microbloggers to register using their real identities. Officials said the new rules are meant to curb rumours, vulgarities and pornography, but many users say the restrictions are aimed at muzzling the often scathing and raucous microblog chatter in a country where the Internet offers a rare opportunity for open discussion.

Ai said his account was deleted just past midnight this morning, replaced with a message that read: “Error. Invalid Weibo user”. He said this was the first time he had succeeded in creating a weibo account. Ai is active on Twitter and has over 131,000 followers.

Even after Ai’s weibo account was deleted, some supporters held out hope. “Ai Weiwei, when can you speak up on Weibo?” a user called Arizona_Hal wrote on Sina’s microblogging website, where users could still search for the artist’s name today.

(Source: Reuters)

Two British journalists working for the Iranian satellite broadcaster Press TV who were detained by a Libyan militia last month have been freed, the interior ministry said on Sunday. “The interior ministry granted their release when it became obvious that no crime had been committed,” deputy interior minister Omar al-Khadrawi told reporters in Tripoli. “They have expressed a desire to leave Libya,” he added.

The two journalists, Nicholas Davies and Gareth Montgomery-Johnson, were seated beside the official during the press conference, looking tired but healthy. Afterwards, they left the ministry building in a British embassy car. Khadrawi said two Libyans had been arrested along with the Britons, but made no comment on what had become of them.

The Swehli militia from the western city of Misrata, which also operates in Tripoli, seized the pair last month while they were reportedly filming in a sensitive area of Tripoli late at night. The commander of the militia, Faraj Swehli, charged last month that the two Britons were being held for illegal entry and possible espionage.

Swehli said suspicious conduct by the journalists led his men to track them as they moved around Tripoli and conducted interviews at various ministries of the interim government. As evidence he laid in front of journalists a “Made in Israel” army field dressing and photographs of men - who Swehli identified as the journalists in question - carrying weapons.

On Wednesday, after extensive negotiations with interim authorities which had declared the detention illegal and after pressure from rights groups, the militia handed the journalists over to the interior ministry. Government spokesman Mohammed al-Harizi had told AFP on Saturday that the two were still under investigation because there was “too much information (suggesting) they were in Libya for purposes other than journalism.” He said that they had been found in possession of a letter from Seif al-Islam, son of slain leader Moamer Kadhafi, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

On Sunday however, the deputy interior minister acknowledged that while there had been suspicions about their activities but told reporters their “innocence has been proven.”

“What happened could not be considered as a kidnapping by revolutionaries,” Khadrawi said, adding that former rebels had been acting in the interest of state security.

The two journalists were not given an opportunity to speak to the press.When asked if he had been treated well, Montgomery-Johnson simply nodded. In London, a spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office said: “We welcome the release of the two British journalists who have recently been detained in Libya. She added: “The men are in the care of consular staff, they are well and look forward to being reunited with their families soon.”

(Source: AFP)

Related story:

• Iran’s Press TV says journalists held in Libya

Text of report by privately-owned weekly newspaper The Zimbabwe Independent website on 16 March

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has deferred the issuing of commercial radio licences in a move some applicants believe is meant to ensure the airwaves remain under the grip of people aligned to Zanu PF.

BAZ had flighted applications for 14 commercial radio licences to operate from the country’s major urban centres in November last year, but is yet to approve a single one. It is considering further extending the deadline for applicants. Initially, the deadline was 31 January but it was moved to 29 February and they are yet to set another date.

BAZ announced it would allocate a single frequency in 14 urban centres - Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo, Chinhoyi, Bindura, Gwanda, Marondera, Lupane, Plumtree, Kariba, Victoria Falls and Beitbridge.

The commercial radio licences were in addition to the two national commercial broadcasting licences that were awarded to AB Communications headed by broadcaster Supa Mandiwanzira and Talk Radio run by the state-owned Zimpapers.

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, widely accused of operating as a Zanu PF [Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front Party] propaganda mouthpiece, has monopolized the airwaves since independence in 1980.

According to sources, BAZ’s legal committee met last week and recommended postponement of issuing licences, saying there have only been a few applications. BAZ officials revealed they had only received applications for licences in Harare, Bulawayo and Lupane. There was low interest in most areas because of little advertising revenue investors expect.

However, some of the applicants believe the postponement was meant to ensure that Zimpapers’ Talk Radio and Mandiwanzira’s ZiFM consolidate their operations in Bulawayo and Harare without competition, while giving people with links to Zanu PF time to apply for licences in certain targeted areas.

BAZ chairman Tafataona Mahoso referred questions to Chief Executive Officer Obert Muganyura who could not be reached for comment.

(Source: The Zimbabwe Independent website, Harare, in English 16 Mar 12 via BBC Monitoring)

The Zambian Government’s intention to free the airwaves and allow private radio and TV stations to expand their general coverage has been strongly lauded by Radio Phoenix chairman Errol Hickey. Mr Hickey, a pioneer of private radio broadcasting in Zambia, said in an interview that for some time now it had been the desire of Radio Phoenix to gain more coverage within Zambia and reach as many people as possible. “It’s very, very promising and the government has been very consistent. I think they want the media to get to the people, which is important,” he said.

The absence of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has for a long time served as a limitation to radio stations wishing to expand their coverage in Zambia. Mr Hickey said Radio Phoenix, among other media players, was now looking forward to the government putting in place the IBA later this year as recently announced by Information, Broadcasting and Labour Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga.

According to Mr Hickey, Radio Phoenix had earlier applied for additional radio frequencies, particularly in Livingstone in Southern Province and Lumwana in North-Western Province, through the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Labour. “We have been asking for more frequencies even during the Rupiah Banda regime but the problem has always been the absence of the IBA,” Mr Hickey said.

He said that companies such as Lumwana Mining Company Limited had approached Radio Phoenix on the possibility of re-broadcasting a local FM radio station from its Lumwana site. Last month, Lumwana Mining Company technical services manager Wayne Schiller explained through correspondence to Radio Phoenix that with the expansion of mining operations and development of Lumwana township, a local radio station would help accelerate improved standards of living in Lumwana.

Mr Hickey said the correspondence from Lumwana was an indication of the desire of different people across Zambia to be kept constantly informed and educated through the Zambian media. “The media play a big role in informing, educating and entertaining the public and freeing up the airwaves will help guarantee that the media gain greater access to information,” Mr Hickey said.

Presently, Radio Phoenix is operating in five out of Zambia’s 10 provinces and was the first independent commercial station in Zambia when it launched its first signal on 89.5 FM from Lusaka on 22 March, 1996.

(Source: Zambia Daily Mail)

Related story:

• Private Zambian radio stations to go national

A Hungarian court ruled on Wednesday that the media regulator NMHH acted unlawfully in awarding the rights to the FM 95.3 frequency used by the opposition radio station Klubrádió to a bidder with no track record in the industry. The bid submitted by the unknown Autorádió contained formal errors and was invalid, the court ruled. The NMHH’s executive Media Council must re-examine the procurement documentation and announce a new winner, Budapest Court of Appeals ruled.

The decision is the second blow in as many weeks for the Media Council, which is staffed solely by government appointees. Last week a court of first instance ordered the Media Council to sign over the rights to broadcast on another frequency, which Klubrádió had secured through a separate tender shortly before the change of government in 2010.

Coming a year after a restrictive new media law that sparked some of the biggest anti-government demonstrations yet seen, the Media Council’s decision in December not to renew Klubrádió’s broadcasting rights was seen as an attempt to gag the media. Klubrádió is one of the few broadcast media whose programming is often openly critical of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s right-wing Fidesz government.

After forcing the government to amend the most contentious parts of its media law, the European Commission had recently been voicing concern over the Klubrádió case, and Commissioner Neelie Kroes met the station’s owners in Brussels.

The Wednesday ruling came a week after the Media Council was found to have acted illegally in refusing to sign a contract with Klubrádió over the 92.7 FM frequency. With its rights to the 95.3 frequency soon to come up for renewal, Klubrádió had applied for and secured the rights to a new wavelength through the former regulator ORTT soon before Fidesz came to power in 2010.

Unlike that ruling, the verdict of the appeals court on Wednesday is not open to appeal. Klubrádió lost out to Autorádió by just one point: its bid scored 65 out of a maximum 71 compared to Autorádió’s 66 in the Media Council’s procurement process.

It is difficult to see how the media authority’s executive can now refuse to award the contract to the opposition station without appearing blatantly discriminative and sparking an even greater outcry.

(Source: Budapest Times)

• Related stories

What do we do with a radio when we have nothing to eat? This is the refrain of many of the poor Mahadalits in the Indian state of Bihar who are selling off free radios given by the state government to buy meat and country liquor. More than 1,500 Mahadalits, the poorest of the poor in Bihar, in Dhanarua block in Patna district are reported to have sold their radios for just Rs.150 to Rs.200 in the last few days.

“What will we do with a radio when we have nothing to eat? Where is the money for its battery? That is why we have sold the radios,” Brahamdeo Manjhi of Anjani village, a beneficiary of the Mahadalit radio scheme said. He said the money he got was used for a small party with his friends. “We enjoyed country (locally brewed) liquor,” he said.

• Read the whole story from the Deccan Chronicle

The Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) in France will this year launch terrestrial digital radio, by issuing permits for the stations that were selected in 2008, in the areas of Paris, Marseille and Nice. Three years ago, the CSA had 55 selected radio stations in Paris, 41 in Marseille and 40 in Nice, but no action had been taken. A call for nominations for twenty major cities will also be launched this year.

According to rapidtvnews.com the large private radio stations are opposed to the plan, as they say the costs will be too high. The CSA would also adopt a new standard for terrestrial digital radio, DAB +, used especially in Germany. It would be in addition to the standard already adopted, T-DMB.

Eventually, the digital stations will replace the analogue radio and TV services, but it will require the purchase of new receivers.

(Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)

Iran has completed the project for the changeover from analog to digital radio and television broadcast for all of its 31 provincial capitals. The five provinces of Mazandaran, Golestan, and North Khorasan, as well as the two exclusive centres of Abadan and the Kish Island, were the last centres to join the project.

On hand for the launching ceremony was President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Ezzatollah Zarghami, who told reporters that the project is yet to be finalized and IRIB has a lot to do until all the cities and villages across the country gradually go digital. Mr Zarghami said that considering the vast geographical expansion of the country, it is a huge achievement and still the primary appeal of IRIB will be to widen the digital service to broader spreads.

According to the IRIB chief, currently 60 percent of Iran’s radio and TV transmissions have been converted into digital signals.

(Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)

Jonathan Marks, who over the past few years has digitized hundreds of Media Network radio shows, has just put three landmark editions of the show online:

1. The 1000th edition of Media Network was broadcast at the start of March 2000. We used the programme to share some of the behind the scene stories and celebrate anecdotes with our contributors. I (Andy) took part in this edition, explaining how I got involved with the programme. And there are plenty of memories from the loyal audience too. Enjoy!
2. The penultimate edition of Media Network contained extracts from WRUL/WNYW with Lou Josephs, and the Prague story 1945/1968. We were celebrating the strength of the documentaries.
3. The final Media Network audio show of all was broadcast in October 2000 just before we went back to winter time. It was really a thank you to the audience for sharing so much time with us over two decades. We certainly had worked out the pace of the programme by that time - and we believe its strength was that it was a true listener participation show. This final programme contains a rather comprehensive survey of the media events surrounding the Falklands Malvinas conflict of April 1982. Remember Radio Atlantico del Sur? We also looked at black propaganda stations in Asia, notably those along the Soviet-Chinese border.

Also just added is the very first edition of DX Jukebox that was presented by Jonathan on 7 August 1980 - just 48 hours after he arrived in the Netherlands. As Jonathan puts it, the programme morphed into Media Network.

To hear/download these shows again in studio quality MP3 visit the Media Network Vintage Vault.

Out-going Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Director General Joe Chilaizya has urged the government to recapitalize the national broadcaster. Mr Chilaizya says workers at ZNBC are creative but that old equipment limits them. He was speaking in Lusaka when he bid farewell to employees.

Mr Chilaizya says it is amazing how workers at the corporation manage to make the impossible happen with the old and obsolete equipment. He also says political interference played a big role prior to the September 2011 general elections.

ZNBC’s new Director General, Chibamba Kanyama, has called for team work among workers if the institution is to perform well. Mr Kanyama who spoke highly of Mr Chilaizya says he appreciates the role he played at ZNBC.

(Source: ZNBC)

Even in the competitive media environment, Zanzibar state radio and television are still mouthpieces of the government, a study by Samwilu Mwaffisi [former Managing Director, Tanzania Broadcasting Services] has said.

“Research shows that to-date, Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) is not a public broadcaster per se, even with the coming of competition, it remains the mouthpiece of the government,” said Mwaffisi. He was briefing media stakeholders at Zanzibar Ocean View Hotel, on his research finding about the performance of public broadcasting in Zanzibar in the age of stiff competition.

In 2010 Zanzibar government decided to merge its Zanzibar Television (TVZ) and Sauti ya Tanzania- Zanzibar (STZ), forming ZBC aiming at improving media coverage. Mr Mwaffisi, a veteran journalism trainer, said ZBC has to generate more development news and local programmes for TV and Radio by retaining consistency of programme schedule and reduce political coverage.

The research said that the study indicates that although both ZBC and TBC on the mainland are state media outlets, TBC is better off in terms of impartiality, editorial independence on political coverage and criticism over the establishment. Mr Mwaffisi’s research supported by the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), says that overall, ZBC’s performance has improved with competition from mushrooming FM radios in the country and International radios mainly BBC and DW.

Officiating at a brief function to unveil the research findings, Dr Omar Sharjak, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the office of Vice-President, said the government’s media was meant to be public media to serve the people. “The perception that public media is for the government should change.

Public media should wage war against corruption, drugs abuse, and promoting human rights,” Dr Sharjak said. Meanwhile, President Ali Mohamed Shein said midweek that journalists should abide by their ethics to avoid unnecessary conflicts. The president was speaking at a meeting with Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) officials, who paid a courtesy call to the State House.

(Source: Tanazania Daily News)

Britain launched a website and Facebook page for Iranians on Wednesday, harnessing the power of social media to try to evade Iranian censorship and take its message directly to the people. Britain is at loggerheads with Iran over its nuclear energy programme, which Tehran says is peaceful but which Britain and other Western powers suspect is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.

Relations between Britain and Iran, always tense, hit new lows last November when Britain closed its embassy in Tehran after it was stormed by protesters and expelled all Iranian diplomats from London.

With the BBC complaining of frequent jamming of its services to Iran, Britain is seeking new ways to communicate with Iranians. “We are relaunching now our Iran website and social media presence for you and for you to use it,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a video message on the “UK for Iranians” website in English and  Farsi.

Britain’s Foreign Office says the website as well as new Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts will provide information about Britain and its policies towards Iran as well as allowing Iranians to have discussions and ask questions. BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said on Wednesday that the broadcaster had suffered a sophisticated cyber-attack following a campaign by Iranian authorities against its Persian service, although he stopped short of explicitly accusing the Iranian government of being responsible. Mr Thompson also reported attempts to jam satellite feeds of BBC services into Iran and to swamp its London phone lines with automated calls.

(Source: Reuters)

hen newscasters on Georgia’s three main TV channels read out almost identical reports on a controversial death in custody case this month, critics alleged the government was dictating their scripts. The incident renewed speculation that the authorities influence reporting on sensitive topics by the state broadcaster and the top two private nationwide stations which are the main sources of news in the small ex-Soviet republic.

“The coordinated news coverage is a strong indication for a lack of editorial independence of the country’s major broadcasters,” watchdog group Transparency International Georgia said on its website. There were furious reactions when videos of all three newscasts about the death of Solomon Kimeridze - who police said died after falling downstairs while in custody in the provincial town of Khashuri - were juxtaposed on YouTube.

“A democratic state cannot be built with such media,” said one comment posted on YouTube, while others condemned the journalists involved as “prostitutes” and “zombies”. The interior ministry insisted however that it was “absolutely impossible” for it to dictate coverage and the authorities say media freedom is guaranteed by law.

Georgia was lauded by its Western backers for its democratic progress after the 2003 “Rose Revolution” which swept reformist President Mikheil Saakashvili to power, but analysts say media remains a problematic issue. “It is definitely worse than before the Rose Revolution as far as television is concerned because there is much more government control,” said Shorena Shaverdashvili, editor of Georgian news magazine Liberali.

Television scandals are not uncommon in Georgia, the most notorious being an imitation news report two years ago about an alleged Russian invasion that was shown by a station run by a Saakashvili ally and caused panic among viewers who vividly recalled the country’s real war with Russia in 2008. The leading private channels, Rustavi-2 and Imedi, are both owned by people with links to the administration and their news coverage is completely dominated by lavish coverage of Saakashvili’s speeches and PR campaigns. “Social problems are shown on national television but it always ends happily with government programmes solving them,” said Maia Tsiklauri, editor of the media.ge website and a former Rustavi-2 journalist.

Imedi, which screened the faked invasion report, was once an anti-Saakashvili station owned by an opposition tycoon but was shut down when police crushed protests in 2007 and ended up in the hands of government loyalists.

Analyst and former minister in Saakashvili’s cabinet Gia Nodia said that although the authorities have “levers of influence” through friendly station owners, it was uncertain if officials actually issue instructions about which stories to cover and how they should be reported, as some critics claim. Georgian media are freer and livelier than in neighbouring ex-Soviet states Armenia and Azerbaijan, and a state-funded politics channel giving airtime to all parties was launched in 2010.

“There is no censorship in Georgia,” Nodia said. Saakashvili two years ago described media freedom complaints as “total bullshit” because channels that “hate the government” are allowed to operate. Two pro-opposition stations which only broadcast to the capital, Maestro and Kavkasia, give substantial airtime to critics who are free to castigate senior officials. “There are either pro-government or pro-opposition media outlets in Georgia and none of them tries to ensure balanced coverage of events,” Nodia said.

In Georgia’s passionately polarised political environment, impartial news coverage and investigative reporting is mainly provided by low-circulation print publications and websites which are often reliant on Western grants for financial survival. “What we need is not more propaganda or anti-propaganda but genuinely objective news,” Shaverdashvili said.

But with Georgia awaiting crucial parliamentary elections later this year and a presidential vote in 2013, the media will remain a political battleground and allegations that TV stations broadcast propaganda are unlikely to go away.

(Source: AFP)

The HFCC website has now published the A12 high frequency schedules of its members, effective from 25 March to 28 October 2012. The complete schedule (Zipped) is available via the link at the top of this page.

The RNW schedule includes extra frequencies which will be operating on 10/11 May for the 24-hour marathon broadcast that will mark the closure of our Dutch service. The full RNW technical schedule including transmissions of other broadcasters is also available.

As there may be some last-minute changes before the A12 schedules go in to operation, I strongly advise against cutting and pasting tentative schedules on to websites and mailing lists. A much better method is to include a link direct to the HFCC site, so the latest version is always displayed.

It took a little longer than expected to get up and running after installing a new digital cable system with HDTV and a new PC with a new (to me) version of Windows at home. I’m still busy installing and configuring software. Tomorrow (Saturday 17 March) I plan to catch up with media stories from the past couple of days.