Friday, November 19, 2004

REVIEW: Passport to World Band Radio 2005

Passport to World Band Radio 2005

Passport to World Band Radio is a deservedly popular publication. The 2005 edition, published in October 2004, marks its 21st anniversary. Its content and format have not changed much in the 21 years it has been published, but then why should they? PWBR is a labour of love for those who produce it, and it's aimed squarely at those who listen to shortwave for information and entertainment. This differentiates it from the World Radio TV Handbook, which is also a "trade directory" for the world's broadcasting industry.

Read our review at
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US government plans to smuggle radios into N Korea

US government plans to smuggle radios into N Korea

The US government has now officially decided in principle to smuggle small radios into North Korea as part of its to $2 million annual plan to boost radio broadcasts toward North Korea. The idea is not new - and has been attempted on a small scale by unofficial groups, to the irritation of South Korea. In March 2003, police in the South blocked a Korean-American pastor, Douglas E. Shin, as he and colleagues prepared to send 700 radios across the border slung from 22 helium-filled balloons. However, using balloons is apparently not an option being taken seriously in Washington. "I don't see radios in balloons as particularly tenable," said an aide on Capitol Hill involved in the planning of the North Korea project.

Another plan that worked in Cuba has also been ruled out. In 2001 and 2002, American diplomats in Havana delivered more than 1,000 shortwave radios so Cubans could tune in to Radio Marti. The radios were taken to Havana in diplomatic pouches, but that's not possible in North Korea because the two countries don't have diplomatic relations.
#posted by Andy @ 08:20 UTC

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Hate broadcasts continue in Ivory Coast or UN says Ivory Coast hate broadcasts have ended


Blog: Media Network Weblog Friday, November 19, 2004
Post: Hate broadcasts continues in Ivory Coast

Hate broadcasts continues in Ivory Coast

Despite efforts by the UN Security Council to bring and end to the Hate broadcasts in the Ivory Coast, hate material continues to be aired. The government of the Ivory Coast defends them. According to President Laurent Gbago, they are justified because the country is in a state of war. Ivorian Radio Television, RTI, has been urging supporters of the President onto the streets where mobs have ransacked foreign-owned businesses and homes and, according to some reports, raped European women. RTI has been broadcasting patriotic songs, pictures of bloodied demonstrators allegedly killed by French troops, and appeals by politicians, preachers and Gbagbo loyalists to defend the nation against "settlers" and "imperialists."

According to RTI's Director General, Jean Paul Dahily, "It is not the journalists who are saying these things, it is the people." He said that "Radio and television are a weapon of the state at a time of war." Dahily took control of RTI after Government soldiers occupied RTI's headquarters and locked out the station's previous director, who had been appointed by a rebel communications minister in a power-sharing Cabinet formed under the truce accord. The FM relay stations of the BBC, VOA and Radio France International have been taken off the air, so people in the capital cannot hear the other side of the story.
#posted by Andy @ 10:55 UT
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but on the other hand...  Wednesday, November 17, 2004
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UN says Ivory Coast hate broadcasts have ended

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The United Nations says it has intervened to stop Ivory Coast radio and television stations from broadcasting hate messages aimed at French nationals and other foreigners(see EJC media news 17/11/04). "Hate messages have given way to calls for return to work and the exercise of
restraint," UN chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said. "National radio and television have been airing peace messages significantly different in tone and content to the ones we have been hearing of late," Mr Eckhard told reporters. A UN expert on the prevention of genocide had called on the Ivory Coast authorities on Monday to condemn hate speech and put an immediate end to the messages broadcast on government-run stations, which were reminiscent of the virulent hate broadcasts that helped drive Rwanda's 1994 genocide of 800,000 people.

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Thursday, November 11, 2004
 RSF says media in Ivory Coast broadcasting hate messages
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International press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says that the state media in Ivory Coast have become the exclusive mouthpiece of the government and its allies, and are being used to promote street demonstrations. RSF says that with few exceptions, the reports carried on Radio Côte d'Ivoire (RCI) and RadioTélévision Ivoirienne (RTI) have strayed completely from journalism into propaganda. Interspersed with nationalistic songs, phone-in contributions and interviews, RCI presenters flatter the "patriotism" of their listeners.

RSF also notes that a significant part of the press was silenced after the ransacking of several opposition newspapers by pro-government militia, the sabotaging of the FM transmitters that relay the programming of Radio France Internationale (RFI), the BBC World Service and Africa N°1, and the abrupt removal of RTI's director-general and his replacement by a government supporter, Jean-Paul Dahily.

Full RSF report:

Abidjan state media mix propaganda, disinformation and incitement to riot
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RESURRECT LOCAL RADIO

RESURRECT LOCAL RADIO
[Commentary] Since the 1996 deregulation law unleashed an unparalleled wave of monopolization, the radio service many of us grew up with has vanished. Local newscasts are a memory. Homegrown musicians might as well play on the sidewalk for quarters. Emergency authorities sometimes can't get bulletins aired in small towns, whose stations are mere relays for robotic
music-feeds from half a continent away. A potential savior is low power radio (LPFM), tiny, nonprofit radio stations with limited (~3.5 miles) reach and low start-up costs (~$6,000). LPFM has enormous potential: To beam to underserved localities, to provide a forum for voices that existing broadcasters ignore, to rededicate a sliver of the spectrum to community service, to validate local realities and plans, to remind us all that the cornerstone of U.S. broadcasting has for 75 years been something called localism, the geographic counterpart to the federalism that is praised as rapturously as it is ignored. LPFM could become a reality for many more communities across the country, but Congress needs to act to make it happen. [SOURCE: Knight Ridder Newspapers, AUTHOR: Edward Wasserman, Washington and Lee University]
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AFRICA - Media and Freedom of Expression

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20. Media and Freedom of Expression

BURKINA FASO: JOURNALIST HELD WITHOUT CHARGE
After nearly a week since his arrest, N'Do Mathieu, chief editor of
the weekly San Finna, is still being held in solitary confinement at
the police barracks of the 'Compagnie Republicaine de Securitie
(CRS)' in Ouagadougou, the capital. N'Do was picked up by security
forces at the Ouagadougou International Airport on November 5, 2004
upon his return from an investigative trip to Cote d'Ivoire. The
government has not given any reason for the arbitrary arrest and
detention of the journalist but it is believed that his analysis on
Burkina Faso's relations with its neighbors in the sub-region may
have led to his ordeal. As chief editor of the San Finna, N'Do often
writes about politics and institutions in Burkina Faso.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=25651

IVORY COAST: JOURNALIST KILLED DURING CLASHES WITH FRENCH TROOPS
Antoine Massé, a local correspondent for "Le Courrier d'Abidjan", a
privately-owned daily that supports President Laurent Gbagbo, was
killed on the morning of 7 November 2004 during clashes between the
Ivorian army, demonstrators and members of the French peacekeeping
force (Force Licorne), Reporters sans frontières (RSF), has
confirmed. "Le Courrier d'Abidjan" reported that Massé, who was also
a literature professor, was fatally shot as he covered a
demonstration aimed at blocking the eastward advance of French troops
from Man towards Abidjan.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=25653

MOZAMBIQUE: RENAMO BANS TELEVISION FROM FILMING ELECTION CAMPAIGNS
On November 6 2004, local officials of Mozambique's former rebel
movement Resistencia Nacional de Mozambique (Renamo), banned a film
crew of the public television, TVM, from filming the Renamo election
campaign in two northern towns, Mozambique Island and Nacala, despite
the movement's consistent complaints that TVM does not give it
sufficient coverage. Both towns are regarded as Renamo strongholds.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=25652

NIGERIA: PHOTOJOURNALIST ASSAULTED BY SECURITY AGENTS
On 11 November 2004, a photojournalist with the Lagos-based daily
"Vanguard", Diran Oshe, was assaulted by security agents who also
smashed his camera as he attempted to take photographs of Major Hamza
Al-Mustapha, the former chief security officer to the late Nigerian
head of state, General Sani Abacha. The incident took place at the
premises of the High Court in Ikeja, Lagos, where Major Al-Mustapha
is standing trial along with four others for his alleged involved in
the attempted murder of Alex Ibru, publisher of the privately-owned
national daily "The Guardian".
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=25654

RWANDA: EDITOR OF INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER TRIED ON CRIMINAL CHARGES
The editor of Umuseso, a Rwandan language independent weekly, was
tried today on criminal charges of defamation and "divisionism" in
connection with an article that accused parliamentary Vice President
Denis Polisi of plotting to seize power. The Committee to Protect
Journalists condemned the trial, saying journalists should not be
criminally prosecuted for reporting critically about government
officials.
Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=25678


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Due to the nature of email & the WWW, check ALL sources.
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GEORGE LESSARD
Information & Media Specialist
Home E-mail mailto:media@web.net
MSN: MediaMentor (video cam & audio capable)
ICQ: 8501081
www.Skype.com P2PNetPhone: themediamentor
Home Pages / C.V. http://mediamentor.ca/
Blog: http://mediamentor.blogspot.com/
Online Activities: http://www.web.ca/~media/index.html
Images: http://members.tripod.com/media002/george-lessard-photographer.html
http://mediamentor.fotopages.com/
Member http://www.carcc.ca/ & http://www.caj.ca
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
(Gandhi)
"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are."
(Max Depree)
"Try? There is not try. There is only do or not do."
(Yoda)
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