Daily Media Digest

Europe

Belgium: 250 days without government
Portugal under euro-zone pressure
The crackdown on the Belarusian opposition continues. OSCE expresses strong concerns.


Middle East and the Arab World

Bahrain is mourning the victims of the latest protests
Dozens reported killed in Libya
Unrest in Yemen
What's going on with Ben Ali? (Actually, I will be extremely careful with this kind of "news": recently, Mubarak also was assumed being in coma. What's the conclusion: the lost of undemocratic power leads to cerebral commotion?)
The Egyptian assets in Switzerland
Egypt: former ministers arrested
Incredible Syria: lecturing EU on democracy

Africa

Uganda votes
Nigeria adopted its first anti-terrorist act
Clashes in South Sudan: 20,000 persons forced to flee

Asia


China, ready to block UN report on North Korea
The Japan-Russia debate over Kurile: to be continued

Latin America

Brazil: War on drug-trafficking
US: Chavez' influence, in decline

Global Markets

G20 Meeting
Robert Zoellick: A monetary regime for a multipolar world 
Gazprom: ready for deliveries to the US

The last 23 years of terror

Hamas is receiving a lot of publicity these days. A movement far of being united or acting unitary, given various foreign influences, up to the funding offered, but with a clear focus on terror and intolerance, including against its own Palestinian/Muslim fellows. The opposition to peace process is understandable, as the direct path to their political death. Voices in the Israeli media are pretending that the blockade contributed significantly to the current radicalization and the solution would be to "open" Gaza. Maybe, but what are the risks at stake for the state of Israel, once you don't have the control over the area? A typical Middle Eastern deadlocked situation, when you have to look more broadly and read the smallest details in the overall geopolitical context.

From the journalistic point of view, I have a small observation. Every time there is a conflict where the Israeli Army (IDF) is involved, the foreign media is abounding in critical and moving-to-tears articles about the victims. I didn't see too many - or not at all - critical articles about what this organization represents, about the fact that it is holding hostage since 2006 a soldier, Gilad Shalit, without allowing the international organizations or other third party to offer the normal assistance, about the terrorist threat and the intolerance towards normal standards of human rights. A blindness having its price.

The prisons of Iran

The account of the foreign journalist who was imprisoned during the last year's events in Iran.

About media, with Israeli journalists

I just attended a couple of minutes ago a very interesting conversation on ShalomLife about media in and about Israel. Part of the conversation: David Horowitz, editor-in-chief Jerusalem Post, Arad Nir, from Channel 2 News and Marcus Sheff, executive director, The Israeli Project. Moderator: Leah Stern, IDC Herzliya faculty member.

The focus was more on the way in which the foreign media is reflecting - very often in a biased and stereotypical way - the situation from Israel, preponderently interested in the conflictual aspects, with a black (Israel)-and-white (Palestinians) perspective. But, as well aspects related of the challenges of the Israli journalists, the local answer from the authorities from the point of view of the "hasbara"/efforts of public diplomacy or the influence of social media on traditional ways of reporting, with a special emphasis on the current evolution. A moderate discussion with moderate accents, but with lots of contextual information.

One is related to the problems the Israeli journalists (Arad Nir): restricted access to events from the Arab world (meetings of the Arab League, for example), ignored questions addressed to various officials (as the Iranian ones), ignored requests for interviews (he mentioned the case of El-Baradei). How can you report accurately when the other side is refusing any kind of dialogue? And, in addition, without a personal contact with other journalists, including from the Arab world, it is very hard to advance in creating professional bridges , as a first step to a better understanding.

Another issue related to the lack of knowledge of the local context, given equally the lack of access to the local sources, because of the language. What Jerusalem Post did was to offer a window to a wider audience getting various hints about the context. It is a step ahead, needed to be supported by other media tools as well. From the point of view of the current state-of-arts of the Israeli authorities, the participants outlined the failure to give the appropriate soundsbytes to change an ovewhelming negative image. Lack of resources, interest, other priorities. Hence, the predominant focus on the conflict, as a "good" versus "bad guys" positioning.

More is to be said, more is to be done.

Journalists by name

An Iranian journalist working for the state public TV channel, Hamoud Masoumi Nejad, based in Italy for 15 years, was recently arrested in the recent case of arms and explosive smuggling.

In totalitarian states, where freedom of the media is non-existent, journalists are usually used as double agents of propaganda. Now Iran, before it was the case for the journalists working for the communist states. Your "luxury" of living and travelling outside the "prison" is paid by renouncing to the basic ethical journalistic standards, mainly to say the truth and to inform correctly the public opinion.

The media situation in Iran is worsening from a day to another, with more media outlets closed following the last year events. The most recent evaluation of the Committe to Protect Journalists outlines the case of almost 47 journalists in jail. Many others are in danger to be arrested any time. The freedom of the media means nothing for the Tehran authorities.

The consequences of this extended media crackdown are to be seen in the next future. If, one day, the media in Iran will be able to learn speaking the truth, and nothing but the truth, many of the journalists will discover how difficult it is. How hard is to be able to discern information, to tell the truth to the power and to learn again that beyond any interests should stay your desire to inform. Not to make-up the reality, according to the wishes of any power. For sure, Hamid Masoumi Nejad is not the only one fake journalist. When you are living in fear, assuming you are free is a risk. Managing your own freedom and refusing any kind of pressures - financial, political, of any other kind - is very difficult. Once you have up your principles, you are like a ship in the middle of the wind. Today, it was the "national interest", tomorrow, your desire to get more money and advantages. Noone is safe. We need simply to believe in our capacity, as journalists, to think with our own minds. But, what it is in our own minds?

Iraq Releases First Official Count of War Dead

Slate

October 14

More than 85,000 Iraqis were killed during the country's violent upheaval between 2004 and 2008, according to the Iraqi government's first official count. The Human Rights Ministry based its numbers on death certificates issued once the country regained a functioning government in 2004, according to the Associated Press. (For this reason, there are no reliable statistics for 2003, the year the U.S. invasion began.) The casualties include 1,279 children and 2,334 women, as well as 263 university professors, 21 judges, 95 lawyers, and 269 journalists—"some of the professions which were specifically targeted as the country descended into chaos," the AP notes.

OSCE media freedom representative calls on Azerbaijan to improve media freedom, hopes detained bloggers may be released soon

BAKU, 10 September 2009 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, criticized the continued imprisonment of media workers in Azerbaijan on "trumped-up charges" and called for the repeal of recently imposed restrictive media regulations, but added that he hoped statements made by the authorities in meetings signal that these trends will be reversed. "The case of the two bloggers, Emin Abdullayev (Milli) and Adnan Hajizade, charged with hooliganism, demonstrates that law enforcement has not yet given up producing undue accusations against critically-minded media workers," said Haraszti following meetings in Baku. He also referred to the cases of Eynulla Fatullayev and Ganimat Zahidov, whom he visited in prison. The two are Azerbaijan's best known independent newspaper editors who are serving long prison terms on charges such as terrorism, tax evasion and hooliganism.During his visit Haraszti, together with Ambassador Bilge Cankorel, the Head of OSCE Office in Baku, met Ali Hasanov, the head of the Public and Political Issues Department of the Presidential Administration, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyevand and Commissioner for Human Rights Elmira Suleymanova."In my meetings with officials, I was assured that defamation will soon be decriminalized. I was also encouraged to hear that the presidential administration shares my concerns about the bloggers' case. I welcome these statements, and hope that Abdullayev and Hajizade may be released soon," Haraszti said.

"For Azerbaijan to improve its media freedom record, law enforcement should be firmly instructed to protect journalists instead of endangering them through harassment and trumped-up charges."Haraszti stressed that urgent improvement was also needed regarding the ban imposed earlier this year on the BBC, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America from accessible FM waves, which gravely diminishes pluralism, and to new media law amendments which gave the government extended rights to interfere with the press.Haraszti also urged authorities to release imprisoned journalists and publicly disclose information on the state of the investigation into the 2005 murder of investigative journalist Elmar Huseynov.

During his visit to Baku, Haraszti and Ambassador Cankorel also presented the Azerbaijani edition of the Media Self-regulation Guidebook, published by the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

For PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit: http://www.osce.org/item/39507.html

How to cover a paranoid regime from your laptop

About journalism and Iran.

OSCE media freedom representative welcomes release of imprisoned journalists, urges legal reform in Azerbaijan

OSCE Press Release
April 21

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, welcomed today the pardoning by Azerbaijan's Parliament of two imprisoned journalists and the release of a third by a court, and expressed hope that the country will soon bring its handling of defamation cases into line with European standards, as suggested recently by President Ilham Aliyev.

On 9 April, Mirza Sakit Zahidov, a prominent satirical poet and a journalist with the oppositional newspaper Azadliq was released, and the libel conviction of the Tezadlar weekly editor Asif Marzili was annulled. On 11 April, Ali Hasanov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Ideal was also released. The three had been serving prison terms on different charges.

In a letter sent yesterday to President Aliyev, Haraszti noted with satisfaction the president's statement that described the new libel conviction as not in line with European standards and urged avoiding imprisonment of journalists in the future.

"Your positive intentions could only bear fruit if they are transformed into a legal reform," Haraszti continued. He proposed that Azerbaijan undertake a renewed effort to decriminalize defamation.

In the letter, Haraszti also expressed his concern regarding two recently passed laws, on the mass media and on television and radio broadcasting. He asked President Aliyev to send the still unsigned Broadcasting Law back to Parliament for a review so it could be adapted to international standards and commitments.

"I hope that the recent positive trend of releasing journalists would soon affect also the fate of the remaining imprisoned journalists - Eynulla Fatullayev, Ganimat Zahidov and Mushfiq Huseynov," Haraszti said.



For PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit: http://www.osce.org/item/37290.html

For further information contact:

Wallnerstrasse 6
1010 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43 1 514 36 6800 (office)
Fax: +43 1 514 36 6802
E-mail: pm-fom@osce.org

RSF: Moldovan authorities urged to stop violence against journalists

Reporters Without Borders
Press Release
April 10

Reporters Without Borders is very disturbed that the Moldovan authorities have been arresting journalists and even using violence against them amid angry protests and rioting about the results of last weekend’s parliamentary elections. Both Moldovan and Romanian journalists have been affected.

“We appeal to the authorities to act with care and restraint,” Reporters Without Borders said. “They have a duty to ensure that the detained journalists are released without delay and that media are able to work freely and safely. Moreover, the stigmatisation of Romania and Romanian journalists is a dangerous strategy. Both the Moldovan authorities and foreign governments must refrain from stirring up violence, especially ethnic violence.”

The press freedom organisation added : “We appeal to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to take a firm position. The protection of journalists and civil rights is an essential part of the OSCE mandate.”

Oleg Brega, a journalist with the Internet TV station Jurnaltv.md and free speech activist involved in organising peaceful demonstrations, was attacked by five men, some wearing uniforms, while filming on 8 April in Chisinau. Brega and another journalist, Vasile Costiuc, were arrested yesterday. Costiuc was released but Brega is still being held. His apartment was searched today.

The editor of the Jurnal de Chisinau newspaper, Rodica Mahu, was arrested this morning by four men in plain clothes from the Department of Special Missions who claimed she was “gathering and evaluating information in order to attack a government building.” She was freed this afternoon. Cameraman Constantin Rogodantev of the ProTV Chisinau television station was attacked last night by masked policemen who smashed his camera.

Among the many Romanian journalists to be targeted was Doru Dendiu of the Romanian public television channel TvR, who was arrested today as he was about to introduce a report live for the 1pm news programme. A crew with the Romanian TV station Realitatae was detained for several hours last night.

Interior ministry officials threatened to jail or shoot Romanian journalists Evgenia Kironaki, Mihai Valentin Buzduga and Gabriel Colac. In the end, they were deported. Peru Terguta, a journalist who is the Romanian correspondent for Romania’s Antena 3 TV station and who also works for Moldova’s TV 7, was forced to leave the country under OSCE escort after receiving phone calls announcing his imminent arrest.

Meanwhile, the protests in the Republic of Moldova are continuing, as the harassment of journalists and the surrender of people suspected of being against the regime. A huge gathering of the opposition is scheduled for Sunday.

See also:

09.04.09/ Declaration of media NGOs from Moldova on the situation of the press, violations of the right to access to information and attacks on journalists.

Media NGOs are expressing serious concern about the recent deterioration of the media situation in Moldova, violations against the public right to access information and recent incidences of journalists' harassment by law enforcement officials.

Several reporters from the investigative newspaper "Ziarul de Garda," were harassed by police officers on the evening of April 8, 2009. The journalists' arms were physically assaulted and were told that their cameras would be destroyed. On the same day, while doing his job, Oleg Brega, a cameraman for the Internet news channel Jurnal TV, was beaten by several individuals wearing plain clothes who then seized two of his video cameras. Ziarul de Garda and Jurnal TV have gathered evidence from both incidents which could identify the perpetrators, and are willing to provide this evidence to law enforcement officials.

On Thursday, April 9, the social networking websites, Facebook.com and Odnoklassniki. ru were blocked for users in Moldova. The day before, administrators discovered that the server of the information portal Unimedia.md had been attacked several times. A number of online resources have been blocked for Moldovan users over the past 3 days. TV stations Realitatea TV and TVR 1 have been taken off the list of cable operators in Moldova. These stations disappeared on Tuesday night, at around 21.00. Cable operators have cited technical difficulties as the cause, but the rebroadcasting have yet to be restored. Consequently, Moldovans are being denied access to vital international sources of information.

The signatory organizations contributing to this statement vehemently protest the attacks made on working journalists by Moldovan law enforcement officials and demand an immediate end to these abusive and illegal practices. The victims' cases should be thoroughly investigated and those responsible for the attacks must be brought to justice.

In support of the constitutional right to access to information for all citizens through media, the signatory organizations call upon Moldovan authorities to ensure media freedom under the obligations incumbent to a member of the Council of Europe and to facilitate the public's access to information.

Independent Journalism Center

Association of Independent Press

Investigative Journalism Center

Young Journalist Center of Moldova

Union of Journalists of Moldova

Broadcast Media Association

"Acees-info" Center

‘Libel Tourism’: When Freedom of Speech Takes a Holiday

Adam Cohen

The New York Times

September 15, 2008

When Rachel Ehrenfeld wrote “Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It,” she assumed she would be protected by the First Amendment. She was, in the United States. But a wealthy Saudi businessman she accused in the book of being a funder of terrorism, Khalid bin Mahfouz, sued in Britain, where the libel laws are heavily weighted against journalists, and won a sizable amount of money.

The lawsuit is a case of what legal experts are calling “libel tourism.” Ms. Ehrenfeld is an American, and “Funding Evil” was never published in Britain. But at least 23 copies of the book were sold online, opening the door for the lawsuit. When Ms. Ehrenfeld decided not to defend the suit in Britain, Mr. bin Mahfouz won a default judgment and is now free to sue to collect in the United States.

The upshot is a First Amendment loophole. In the Internet age, almost every American book can be bought in Britain. That means American authors are subject to being sued under British libel law, which in some cases puts the initial burden on the defendant to prove the truth of what she has written. British libel law is so tilted against writers that the United Nations Human Rights Committee criticized it last month for discouraging discussion of important matters of public interest.

Mr. bin Mahfouz, who has denied financing terrorism, said Ms. Ehrenfeld’s book contained inaccuracies and demanded a retraction. He also demanded a significant contribution to a charity of his choice — a charity Ms. Ehrenfeld said she feared would be one with ties to terrorism. Ms. Ehrenfeld, who describes herself as being “in the business of stopping people who fund terrorism,” refused to back down. “I said,” she later recalled, “he’s found the wrong victim.”

Ms. Ehrenfeld rallied prominent champions of free speech to her cause, including the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers and the PEN American Center. She also set to work trying to change American law. The New York State Legislature passed a bill that some are calling “Rachel’s law,” which blocks enforcement of libel judgments from countries that provide less free-speech protection than the United States. Gov. David Paterson signed it on May 1.

A similar, bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress. The federal bill would extend protection to the entire country. It would also allow American authors and publishers to countersue, and if a jury found that the foreign suit was an attempt to suppress protected speech, it could award treble damages. There is little opposition to it — and Congress should pass it before it adjourns later this month.

“Libel tourism” is a threat to America’s robust free-speech traditions, which protect authors here. If foreign libel judgments can be enforced in American courts, there will be a “race to the bottom”; writers will only have as much protection as the least pro-free-speech nations allow.

Most writers, particularly those who concern themselves with arcane subjects like terrorism financing, are not wealthy. The prospect of a deep-pocketed plaintiff coming after them in court can be frightening. Even if the lawsuit fails, the cost and effort involved in defending against it can be considerable.

The result is what lawyers call a “chilling effect” — authors and publishers may avoid taking on some subjects, or challenging powerful interests. That has already been happening in Britain. Craig Unger’s “House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties” was a best seller in the United States. But its British publisher canceled plans to publish the book, reportedly out of fear of being sued. (A smaller publisher later released it.)

Ms. Ehrenfeld says that even in the United States, writers and publishers have been backing away from books about terrorism financing — particularly about the Saudi connection — out of fear of being sued. It is hard to know if other books are not being written out of fear of lawsuits — that is the essence of the chilling effect.

Britain should rethink its libel laws, as the U.N. committee urged, for the sake of its citizens. But until it does, the United States should ensure that other countries’ pro-plaintiff libel laws do not infect this country and diminish our proud tradition of freedom of expression.

See also


US House introduces Bill to stop "Libel Tourism"

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1304:

Russian reporter's son reflects on her killing

Megan K. Stack
Los Angeles Times
March 12

Reporting from Moscow -- The two-year hunt for the killers of acclaimed Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya hit a dead end last month when three men accused as accessories were found not guilty and set free. With the gunman still at large and no indication of who might have ordered or paid for Politkovskaya's October 2006 slaying, the jury's verdict was held up by government critics as proof of the fruitless pursuit of justice in the case. Prosecutors have appealed the verdict, and the investigation continues. On Wednesday, The Times interviewed Ilya Politkovsky, the journalist's 30-year-old son, in Moscow. He maintains that the police and prosecutors failed to prove their case to the jury.

Since the acquittal, there has been little news about the case. What's happening?

• 

  World A-Z: Anna Politkovskaya

• Jury acquits defendants in Politkovskaya murder

There's an appeal from the general prosecutor's office; they are saying that the verdict should be overturned. We are not supporting the appeal. We fully agree with the jury verdict. The problem was the investigation, not the jury. If my mother had been on this jury, she would have done the same thing.

Were you in Moscow when your mother was killed?

I was going to my mother's house to help her to bring up the bags. You know, she was shopping. I couldn't reach her on the phone, but I was going there anyway. It was usual for my mother to drive very slowly and not answer the phone. When I got there, there were lots of police and the entrance was completely blocked already. The police didn't let me in because they didn't know who I was. So after they looked at my passport, they told me what happened.

How has your family coped since her death?

I had to represent her memory, talking to journalists as well as traveling around, because most of the events happen outside of Russia. Most of the people in Russia don't understand what happened. People who every day watch government channels, read government newspapers, they are in a kind of warm bath. This is the biggest part of the Russian population. For many years they've been seeing propaganda and they're getting their salaries every month, and that's enough for them. For them, my mother's work was like something from another planet. And I'm not blaming them. This is the current Russian situation. Now we can speak about the small part of the Russian population that was really interested in the case. . . . These people read Novaya Gazeta, listen to Echo of Moscow, a quite different kind of people. . . . For many people, my mother was a soldier. I don't really like that, but I understand it's true. . . . I lost my mother, not a soldier or a journalist.

How much contact did you have with investigators, and what was your impression of their work?

I think they were doing their jobs professionally, but then they dumped all their evidence in a big pile. They had 48 big files and it was 70% garbage. Two, three, four files of interrogations of neighbors, people who were walking past on the street. It's got nothing to do with the people on trial. The jury heard a lot of things in the courtroom that had nothing to do with the defendants. I don't believe these 48 files were done by mistake, but I still have no idea of the motivation. That's why we're not supporting the appeal -- because it's stupid to go back to court again with the same case. For example, in the indictment they say those two brothers were following my mother for two days before the murder. But they weren't. They were there only on the [day of the killing]. One of the brothers was in his university, with plenty of witnesses around.

People close to the case have said there was official tampering, that somebody was blocking the investigation. Do you have that sense as well?

Yes, we have this sense but we still don't have the reason.

Other prominent Russians have also been killed in similarly mysterious executions. Do you believe there is a link among the cases?

I don't have proof of that. The situation in Russia, with such people as [human rights lawyer Stanislav] Markelov, [journalist Anastasia] Baburova, my mother, they are thought of as annoying flies. The attitude toward the victim is, "OK, he's dead, who cares?"

What does your experience with investigators and courts indicate to you about the status of justice in Russia?

The problem was the pretrial investigation. I think they've been doing the same job for many years without juries and they still don't know how to do it for juries. They're used to preparing cases for judges. Now some people are saying this will be the last high-profile case for a jury. Already I saw on the Internet lots of former officials saying the Politkovskaya case proves that the jury is not capable of trying such high-profile cases.

Did you ever get any condolences from the Russian government?

None. Nothing. Not a word.

Pentagon lifts media ban on photos of war dead

Julian E. Barnes
LA Times
February 27, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- The Pentagon has decided to rescind a long-standing prohibition against press coverage of returning war dead, allowing families to say whether news organizations may photograph the arrivals, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday.

The remains of all U.S. service members killed overseas are flown to Delaware's Dover Air Force Base. But photographic images have been prohibited since 1991. The administration of President George W. Bush rigorously enforced the ban, preventing pictures of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan from appearing in news coverage.

• 

The new policy will leave it up to the families of slain service members to decide whether to allow the media to photograph the arrival of the remains in Dover.

"My conclusion was, we should not presume to make the decision for the families. We should actually let them make it," Gates said.

The question of media access has deeply divided the military as well as veterans and family groups.

Some favored keeping the ban, and others wanted to give families the option of allowing the media in, said Joyce Raezer, the executive director of the National Military Family Assn.

"We are hoping whatever comes out of this new policy accommodates a variety of wishes," she said.

Gates has assigned a group of Pentagon officials to work out details. Concerns include: what to do if a flight is carrying remains of several service members and families are divided over access, or what services will be provided for families who want to be present for the return.

Many Pentagon officials have worried that opening up Dover will result in pressure on families to go to the base to meet the arriving flights. If they do, Raezer said, the military needs to be prepared with chaplains, counselors and lodging.

"If they are going to open it up to families, do they have the capability of assisting those families?" she said. "There are lots of unanswered questions."

One organization, Military Families United, said a survey of military families found that 84% opposed changing the policy.

"We are pretty disappointed in the president's decision to overturn the ban," said John Ellsworth, the group's president, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004. "This is a complete disregard for the will of America's military families and their need for privacy during this solemn moment."

Ellsworth said he would not have wanted to choose whether to leave his grieving family and go to Dover to receive the body of his son, Justin.

"I don't believe my family would have been best served for me to go to Dover," he said. "But I would have felt torn if I had to make the decision."

Gates said he had been opposed to the media ban and first considered dropping it a year ago. At that time, he asked officials to review the prohibition. Those reviewing the policy recommended keeping it unchanged, and Gates decided to accept the recommendation. The Bush White House was not involved in that review, he said.

But the day after President Obama said this month that he wanted to revisit the issue, Gates launched a new, wider review.

"I talked directly with the senior leadership of the services and solicited their views," Gates said. "I'll be perfectly honest about it. There was a division in the building."

Gates said everyone in the military -- on both sides of the issue -- was motivated by trying to help the families of fallen service members.

"People were all trying to do what was right by the families," Gates said. "It just seemed to me that we ought to let the families make that decision."

julian.barnes@latimes.com

Obama reassures Canada on open trade

Ross Colvin and Jeff Mason

Reuters

February 19

OTTAWA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday assured Canada, his country's biggest trading partner, that he would not pursue protectionist policies, and the two neighbors agreed to cooperate on cleaner energy technology.

Obama, on his first trip abroad as president, sought in talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to allay Canadian concerns raised by a "Buy American" clause in a $787 billion U.S. economic recovery plan he signed this week.

"Now is a time where we have to be very careful about any signals of protectionism," Obama told a joint news conference after several hours of talks with Harper on his one-day visit to Ottawa.

"And as obviously one of the largest economies in the world, it's important for us to make sure that we are showing leadership in the belief that trade ultimately is beneficial to all countries," he said.

He stressed the United States would meet its international trade obligations and told Harper he wanted to "grow trade not contract it."

"I'm quite confident that the United States will respect those obligations and continue to be a leader on the need for globalized trade," Harper said afterward.

Harper said he was willing to look at strengthening the environmental and labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, something Obama has said he wants. But the Canadian leader said he did not support renegotiating the agreement, which has boosted trade between the two countries.

The two sides announced they would collaborate on environmentally friendly technologies that would help them develop an electricity grid fueled by clean, renewable energy and to tap their vast fossil fuel resources with less pollution. The technology is not cost-effective now.

"How we produce and use energy is fundamental to our economic recovery, but also our security and our planet. And we know that we can't afford to tackle these issues in isolation," Obama said, adding there was "no silver bullet" solution.

Going further on climate

Environmentalists want Obama to go further and pressure Canada to clean up its oil sands in the western province of Alberta, from which oil is extracted in a process that spews out large amounts of greenhouse gases.

"Tar sands create three times the global warming pollution as conventional oil and are not a viable alternative, no matter how the Canadian government and oil industry portray it," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the International Program Natural Resources Defense Council.

But with his country facing its worst economic crisis in decades, Obama stressed the importance of Canada as the United States' largest energy provider. Most of the output of the oil sands is destined for U.S. markets.

Despite the agreement to stimulate the development of green energy, Harper said it was too early for the countries to talk about a shared strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama, who took office last month, campaigned on a pledge to reduce U.S. emissions by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.

In contrast to a passive approach by his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama is committed to tackling global warming, but he said climate change initiatives must be balanced against economic considerations in the midst of a worldwide recession.

A White House official said the joint U.S.-Canadian green energy initiative would work on "elements like carbon capture and sequestration and the smart grid."

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas blamed by scientists for warming the Earth. Carbon sequestration, which is not yet commercially viable, involves capturing the gas and storing it underground before it enters the atmosphere.

On Afghanistan, where Canada has 2,700 troops as part of a NATO-led force fighting a growing insurgency, Obama said he had not asked for more military help. Obama ordered 17,000 new U.S. troops there this week to battle the insurgency.

Harper said Ottawa, which plans to withdraw its troops in 2011, would expand economic aid to Afghanistan, already Canada's biggest foreign recipient of aid.

See more:

The terrible intellectual challenges faceed by the journalists covering the visit

and here as well

"Good news is no news"

Charles Krauthhammer is making a very good point here, addressing something I dare to consider the tabloid-type behavior of the media. Almost daily you read information, already brought further by the national media everywhere, about attacks, conflicts, details about the death toll, or "brave" journalists throwing shoes. But, when you have something like happened in Iraq recently - free elections, when - another change - the population gave its vote mostly to secular leaders, it's almost nothing. It's like saying "so what, we have elections too, it is normal".

EFJ and API Blast ‘Spies’ Smear As European Commission Targets Journalists

By International Federation of Journalists.
Media Channel

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Press Association (API) representing foreign press correspondents in Brussels, today condemned a recent statement by the European Commission’s security services which hints that journalists and lobbyists can provide cover for potential spies to search for sensitive and classified information.

“This sort of loose talk ends up smearing everyone working in journalism by casting a cloud of suspicion over them,” said EFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “Security concerns are one thing, but this sort of comment puts journalists at risk and makes their job of scrutinising public officials and the work of the Commission more difficult. European Union officials should do their jobs without raising scares about the honesty and integrity of correspondents working in Brussels”.

The European Commission fears that its confidential documents are increasingly at risk from spies. “We are not only pointing the finger at journalists. It could be the pretty trainee with the long legs and the blonde hair” Commission spokeswoman Valerie Rampi said yesterday after a report in the German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted from a confidential letter from the director of the commission’s security services to its Director of human resources. ‘Recent cases show that the threat of espionage is increasing day by day. A number of countries, information seekers, lobbyists, journalists, private agencies and other third parties are continuing to seek sensitive and classified information’, said the Commission memo, which dates back to December.

“We need to remind the Commission that investigative journalism is in the public interest. Journalists have to look also for ‘sensitive and classified’ documents in order to inform the public and to place information in a truthful context. It is a legitimate and essential part of a democracy to allow reporters to ask searching questions and get access to documents some politicians and officials would prefer for their own vested interests to keep out of sight,” said Lorenzo Consoli, the President of API.

“The Commission has a poor record of its treatment of investigative journalists. For instance, we are still waiting for an official response from them to take responsibility and apologise over their bogus complaint against German Stern reporter Hans-Martin Tillack who was cleared last month of wrong-doing in his work to expose corruption in the European Union”, said White.

The EFJ has called on the Commission to investigate how its officials came to make the false accusation of bribery against Tillack and to carry out an independent inquiry into the case that for years cast a shadow over relations between Brussels journalists and the Commission. “Now the suggestion is that every journalist is a potential spy — it’s the worst kind of scaremongering,” said White.

The EFJ represents over 260,000 journalists in 30 countries.

EU Observer

February 11

The European Commission fears that its confidential documents are increasingly at risk from spies who use a number of covers while working in the EU capital.

"We are not only pointing the finger at journalists. It could be the pretty trainee with the long legs and the blonde hair," commission spokeswoman Valerie Rampi said on Wednesday (11 February).

The remarks come after the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the same day published parts of a confidential letter from the director of the commission's security services to its head of resources.

"The threat of espionage is increasing day by day. A number of countries, information seekers, lobbyists, journalists, private agencies and other third parties are continuing to seek sensitive and classified information," the commission memo, dating back to December, said.

The work is done by "intelligence officers, or persons directly linked to the intelligence services who adopt a range of covers."

Ms Rampi noted that the head of Belgium's security services, Alain Winants, in January told Flemish magazine Mo that the location of the European Commission and NATO headquarters make Brussels a target for Russian spies.

"This is something that 'in globo' has been noticed by all Western intelligence services - that the activity of the Russian services abroad has risen exponentially. That it displays a certain aggressiveness, self-consciousness," Mr Winants said.

Some of the European Commission's most sensitive documents relate to competition law or trade decisions that could give a financial advantage to individual corporations.

Last September, an EU trade official allegedly offered to sell secrets on upcoming import tariff rulings to reporters from the UK's Sunday Times posing as Chinese businessmen.

The European Commission also has access to texts from the EU's "Situation Centre," a Brussels-based office run by EU member state secret service personnel, which drafts reports on, for example, terrorism risks or war crimes fugitives, for EU foreign relations chief Javier Solana.

The commission on Wednesday said that mention of journalists in the security memo in no way has an impact on freedom of press in the EU capital.

Brussels' respect for freedom of press was in recent years put in doubt by the case of German reporter Hans-Martin Tillack.

The Belgian police, allegedly acting on an informal tip from commission officials about bribery, in 2002 seized several boxes of Mr Tillack's documents, computers and mobile phones.

He was later cleared, but the police held the materials until 2008, potentially exposing his sources to scrutiny and making other EU officials think twice about informal contact with the press.

"The commissioner [anti-fraud chief Siim Kallas] has the utmost respect for your profession, press freedom and the need to protect sources," Ms Rampi told journalists on Wednesday.

See also:

FAZ, on the Report about security threats at the EU

Is no reason to do not believe such statements as no reason to believe it. Perhaps they are journalists, everywhere, which play at least a "double emploi". As are any others doing their job. Probably people from the EU itself are not immune to such temptations. When you deal with such a level of intelligence, what is the point to create a whole scandal ? Don't you intend, in fact, to know your "enemy" of whatever kind he is? If it was aimed to launch such declaration as a warning, it was at least clumsy and the results are not likely to be the decrease the activity of various spies from unnamed countries.

Attacks on the Press in 2008

The yearly report of the Committee to Protect Journalists

BBC assailed for refusing to carry Gaza appeal

By John F. Burns
January 27
International Herald Tribune


LONDON: In more than 80 years as a publicly financed broadcaster with an audience of millions at home and around the world, the BBC has rarely been buffeted as severely as it has in recent days over its decision not to broadcast a television appeal by aid agencies for victims of Israel's recent military actions in Gaza.

BBC executives made the decision late last week and defiantly reaffirmed it on Monday, citing their concern with protecting the corporation's impartiality in the Arab-Israeli dispute.

The dispute stirs high passions here, and the BBC, like other news organizations, has struggled uneasily for years to strike a balance, even as some critics claim it has tilted heavily toward Israel and others claim it has favored the Palestinians.

The three-week Israeli campaign in Gaza that ended nine days ago had already elicited a fresh barrage of complaints about BBC bias, for and against Israel. But the decision to block the aid appeal had the effect of magnifying the protests, and their virulence.

The decision has met with angry criticism from Church of England archbishops, editorial writers and senior British government ministers, as well as sit-ins at the BBC's London headquarters and its broadcast center in Glasgow.

News planning sessions at the BBC have featured heated exchanges among editors and reporters, and BBC officials said Monday that they had received more than 11,000 complaints in the past three days.

A strong undercurrent in many of the protests has been that the BBC gave in to pressure from Israel or Jewish lobbying groups, which the BBC has vehemently denied.

A more common view has been that BBC executives, already wary because of a recent series of embarrassments unrelated to Middle East coverage, became so averse to controversy that they made an awkward extension of the concept of impartiality to a purely humanitarian issue.

But the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson, denied Monday to reporters that he had been subjected to "arm-twisting" by pro-Israeli groups and said that the corporation had a duty to cover the Gaza dispute in a "balanced, objective way."

"Of course, everyone is struck by the human consequence of what has happened," he said. "And we will, I promise you, continue to report that as fully and compassionately as we can. But we are going to do that in a way where we can hold it up to scrutiny. It's our job as journalists."

The three-minute video, which was shown on several other channels in Britain on Monday night, was prepared by the Disasters Emergency Committee, an organization representing 11 relief agencies. Among them are many of Britain's best-known charities, including the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children, Help the Aged, Christian Aid and World Vision.

The committee has said the money it raises will buy food, medical supplies, tents, blankets and other necessities for those suffering in Gaza in the wake of the Israeli offensive and the military actions of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that governs Gaza.

It asked broadcasters to show the appeal as a public service.

The BBC does not accept advertising but has shown humanitarian appeals on other issues in the past, including the conflicts in Rwanda, the Congo and Darfur.

Some of the sharpest criticism of the BBC's decision on the Gaza appeal came from within its own ranks, from unions representing its newsroom staff and from retired editors and reporters.

Sir John Tusa, a former head of the BBC World Service, said the scenes of distressed children and families in Gaza captured in the video appeal were a matter of "common humanity."

"Nobody, surely, in their right mind, can say that is being partial towards the victims, as if somehow they deserved the fate they got," he said in a BBC radio interview.

"The thing that worries me," he added, "is that there is now an overcomplication of regulation and compliance and policy, and that in the course of that, common sense, and, I regret to say, humanity, seem to have been left behind."

The BBC was joined in its refusal to carry the appeal, and its contention that to do so would compromise the impartiality of its Middle East coverage, by Sky News, a broadcaster whose majority shareholder is Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

But three other broadcasters the publicly owned Channel 4 and two private broadcasters, ITV and Channel 5 accepted the appeal. After the BBC, ITV has the largest number of viewers for its main nightly newscast.

As shown on Monday night, the video focused heavily on the plight of Palestinian children — small boys and girls wounded and sobbing, being rushed into hospital emergency wards and, at one point, a parent clutching a tiny white shroud. Other scenes were of homes and apartment blocks collapsed into piles of twisted steel and rubble, and of a woman in black clasping her hands to her head as she surveys a bombed-out wasteland.

"The children of Gaza are suffering," the narrator said. "Many are struggling to survive, homeless or in need of food and water."

Then, as if answering the view that the video amounted to anti-Israeli propaganda, he said: "Today, this is not about the rights and wrongs of the conflict. These people simply need your help."

Tech Warfare in Gaza Spreads

Politics OnLine

The centuries-old conflict in the ancient Middle East is being influenced by a young generation of citizens, soldiers and militants who have grown up using new media.

Cellphones are being used as a form of psychological warfare to send threatening text messages. Here are a few examples of the use of new media in the Gaza war:

• Israeli government officials have also been using technology such as text messaging, social networking sites on Facebook and MySpace and the microblogging site Twitter to communicate Israel's point of view to the western world and to a younger demographic.
• Relief efforts and various organizations are finding a strong donor base in young people online who are using the internet to form grassroots movements and to co-ordinate fundraising events in support of Palestine.
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has its own YouTube Channel and according to an ISF spokesman, contains "exclusive footage showing the IDF's operation success".

Stay tuned as the high tech new world continues to collide with centuries-old conflicts.

(Times) Facebook Users Go to War Over Gaza
(FT) Websites And TV Spur Flood of Donations For Political Causes In Arab World
(USAToday) Cellphones Put to 'Unnerving' Use in Gaza
(BBC) Gaza Crisis Spills onto the Web
(Time) Fighting the Media War in Gaza

Journalist killed in Sri Lanka

Parliamentary protests in Sri Lanka after the killing of an outspoken journalist who covered topics of high-level corruption. Sri Lanka is fighting a 25 years war with the Tamil Tigers, which left at least 70,000 victims.


See also: Transparency International on Sri Lanka

TIME on Lasantha Wickramatunga