US/DEALS:
ABC, CBS In Talks To Share News Resources
"ABC News and CBS News, which each held separate talks with CNN over the summer about possible ways to combine some newsgathering operations to save money, are now also talking to each other."
November 16, 2001
Source: Los Angeles Times

US/FREEDOM OF INFORMATION:
US Government Increases Secrecy
"The Bush administration, tightlipped before the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings, has clammed up even more as it goes about hunting down those who would do America more harm. In the process, advocates of government openness and civil liberties say the public's right to information and the freedoms of innocent people are being jeopardized."
November 16, 2001
Source: Editor And Publisher (via Journalism.org)

UK/CONFLICT COVERAGE:
Confusion Surrounds Tape Implicating Bin Laden
Confusion continues over videotape that Prime Minister Tony Blair referred to as providing further evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 US attacks. No news organization has obtained a copy of the tape and Mr. Blair himself, admits to have only seen its transcript. When questioned on the matter, the White House referred reporters to Downing Street.
November 16, 2001
Source: The New York Times (free registration req'd) (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

UK/CONFLICT COVERAGE:
BBC Refrains From Using Word "Terrorism"
"The BBC World Service has taken a policy decision not to describe the attacks on the US as "terrorism." Mark Damazer, the BBC's deputy director of news, said the service would lose its reputation for impartiality around the world if it were seen to use such a subjective term."
November 16, 2001
Source: Guardian Unlimited (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

AFGANISTAN/CONFLICT COVERAGE:
Taliban Leader Defiant In BBC Interview
"Defiant in the face of stunning setbacks, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar said in a radio interview today that he'd rather die than join 'an evil government' with Afghanistan's former leaders. And in chilling remarks he also predicted the 'extinction of America' in 'a short period of time.'"
November 15, 2001
Source: The Star (via European Journalism Centre)

COLOMBIA/ATTACKS ON THRE PRESS:
Reporter Shot Dead In Colombia
"Hooded gunmen killed a Colombian journalist while he watched a football game on television with his family at home, officials say."
Source: CNN Europe

AFGHANISTAN/ATTACKS ON THRE PRESS :
Reporter Speaks Of Anti-Arab Attack
Tayseer Allouni, an Arab reporter with Al-Jazeera, who was himself shot at and beaten as the Northern Alliance took control of Kabul, said yesterday: "What I saw is indescribable. I confess I am psychologically shocked." A number of Arabs in Afghanistan have been have been targeted by anti-Taliban forces.
November 15, 2001
Source: News.telegraph.co.uk (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

IRAN/PRESS FREEDOM:
Canadian Reporter Arrested, Footage Erased
"CBC-TV reporter Neil Macdonald and his camera crew were arrested in Iran and detained for four hours yesterday after shooting footage of a protest."
November 16, 2001
Source: Toronto Star

BANGLADESH/ATTACKS ON THRE PRESS:
Bagerhat Journalists Protest Attack
"Journalists of Bagerhat brought out a silent procession on Tuesday to protest attack on them on Sunday night in the Amlapara residence of Awami League leader Fakir Mohammod Mansur. Later, they submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner demanding an impartial inquiry into the incident and legal action against real culprits."
November 15, 2001
Source: The Daily Star via Asia Pacific Media Network

US/LAYOFFS:
Yahoo Cutting 300 Jobs
The announcement that the dot-com is cutting 10 percent of its workforce "comes just 24 hours after Yahoo announced a deal with SBC Communications, the Western US phone giant, to develop a co-branded high-speed Internet service."
November 15, 2001
Source: BBC
Also see:
• Yahoo Announces Major Restructuring, from The New York Times (free registration req'd)
• "Yahoo Decides To Grow Up", from Reuters via Wired News

US/LAW:
Lawmakers Discuss Civil Liberties Issues (REAL AUDIO)
"The Bush administration is making dramatic changes in the legal system, citing the threat of terrorism. But civil liberties advocates are beginning to voice their objections. NPR's Barbara Bradley reports for All Things Considered."
November 15, 2001
Source: National Public Radio

SOMALIA/TELECOMMUNICATIONS:
Telephone Services Cut Due To Bin Laden Connection
Somalia's telephone contact with the rest of the world has been greatly limited after the countries largest operator the Barakaat Telecommunications Company closed down its international services. The move came when British Telecom and AT&T terminated their agreement with Barakaat after its parent company the Al-Barakaat group was linked to Osama bin Laden by British officials and US.
November 15, 2001
Source: IRIN via allAfrica.com

UK/JOURNALISM:
Labour Minister Attacks News Media
"The Labour minister, Clare Short, has launched a stinging attack on the news media, branding TV and the press 'junky' and 'self-obsessed'."
November 16, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

INDONESIA/HUMAN RIGHTS:
Roll Call Of Dead Points To Hidden Holocaust
A new unverified report from civilians and church groups in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya lists 614 people who all died violent deaths between 1969 and 1998, allegedly at the hands of the Indonesian military. "Aloy Renwarin, vice-director of the Papuan human rights lobby Els-Ham, says there are strong suggestions that the number of victims of Indonesian rule in Irian Jaya may equal or exceed that in East Timor."
November 16, 2001
Source: South China Morning Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

UK/E-GOVERNMENT:
UK Government Trying To Push Its Online Services
"The UK Government is stepping up its campaign to put more of its services online. . But the government has a long way to go in its aim to reach more people as a survey shows that barely 11% of people have used the net to get at government services or to send information to government departments."
November 16, 2001
Source: BBC

HONG KONG/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:
PR Chiefs Reject Licensing System For Photocopying Newspapers
"Photocopying newspaper stories for non-commercial use should not require licensing, a public relations guild has argued after a survey of senior managers in the trade... The news came as 12 newspapers formed the Copyright Licensing Association as a one-stop shop to license photocopying and to grant exemption to primary and secondary schools."
November 16, 2001
Source: South China Morning Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

THAILAND/COPYRIGHT:
Thailand's Karaoke Clubs Feel Heat Over Copyright
"Two big music companies in Thailand want 200,000 karaoke clubs, which for years have gotten away with playing Thai pop songs and traditional north-eastern numbers for free, to pay copyright dues."
November 14, 2001
Source: The Bangkok Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

NAMIBIA/RADIO:
PM Angered Over Termination of Radio Show
Prime Minister Hage Geingob has reacted angrily to the termination of the popular radio program Prime Minister's Question Time by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) saying the move is political and promising to take the matter up with the Politburo.
November 16, 2001
Source: The Namibian via allAfrica.com

US/LAYOFFS:
Unemployed Will Draw For Food
"Todd Rosenberg has made over a thousand dollars in two weeks just for being odd, unemployed and clever. He launched a two-minute, flash-animated chronicle called 'Laid Off: A Day In The Life' that is quickly reaching Internet cult status à la Mahir. His tale ... has hit home among the throngs of dot-com casualties and others who see pink slips flapping in the not-too-distant future."
November 16, 2001
Source: Wired News

US/MEDIA AWARDS:
The Fourth Annual Inertia Awards
"The Inertia Awards ... honor companies and individuals who are dragging the feet of the worldwide Internet Economy with product delays, professional incompetence, been-there-done-that technology, monopolistic practices, and/or other dilatory acts or omissions."
November 12, 2001
Source: Webreview.com (via Wired News)

US/BUSINESS:
Ad Crunch Forces Tribune Cuts
"Tribune Co. moved Wednesday to cut the pay of its top executives by 5% and freeze the salaries of all nonunion employees for a year to cope with 'the worst advertising environment since the Depression.'"
November 15, 2001
Source: The Hollywood Reporter via Yahoo News

US/INTERNET:
Congress Extends Internet Tax Ban
"President Bush will sign legislation that extends a moratorium on Internet-related taxes for two years, although he preferred a longer period of tax relief. A voice vote in the Senate on Thursday renewed the tax ban that was enacted three years ago but expired Oct. 21."
November 16, 2001
Source: The Christian Science Monitor

THE NETHERLANDS/BUSINESS:
Self-Syndication Brings Benefits To Publishers
"Content syndication involving brokers is becoming less common, but self-syndication by publishers has a bright future, according to Willem-Jan Schutte, CEO of BackStream, a content management and syndication software company."
November 16, 2001
Source: Ifra Trend Report (via European Journalism Centre)

US/INTELLIGENCE:
Study Finds Sheep Have Advanced Memory Systems (REAL AUDIO)
"In a new study about sheep memory published in Wednesday's issue of Nature, neurobiologist Keith Kendrick says these woolly creatures can remember up to 50 sheep faces. All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer reports."
November 7, 2001
Source: National Public Radio

US/JOURNALISM:
Report Finds Local TV News Beset By Advertiser Pressures, Cutbacks
"Local television news directors are being pressed to produce more news for less money at the same time advertisers are increasingly trying to dictate the content of their shows," according to a survey of 118 news directors by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
November 15, 2001
Source: AP via Yahoo

CHINA/BUSINESS:
Compass Leads AOL Deeper Into China
"AOL Time Warner has made further inroads into China's heavily protected media sector following last month's ground-breaking deal to broadcast cable-television channels in southern China. (AOL's) partner is Shanghai Industrial Holdings, an SAR-listed vehicle controlled by the Shanghai municipal government."
November 15, 2001
Source: South China Morning Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

UK/POLITICS:
BBC Used MI5 To Vet Pacifist Staff
"BBC officials asked for help from the intelligence services to carry out political vetting of all journalistic and engineering staff from as early as the 1930s, according to an MI5 file on relations with the corporation. Employees with communist or fascist sympathies were initially targeted but from the onset of the second world war BBC management tried to terminate the jobs of those with "pacifist or defeatist views'."
November 14, 2001
Source: Guardian Unlimited (via European Journalism Centre)

US/NETWORK TELEVISION:
Networks Discuss Cost Sharing Deal
ABC News and CBS News are discussing a possible cost-sharing arrangement that could forestall their need to ally with CNN, the cable news network that has held talks with both.
November 15, 2001
Source: The New York Times (free registration req'd) (via Benton Foundation

AUSTRALIA/OWNERSHIP:
Publisher Urges Reform Of Media Ownership Laws
"John Fairfax Holdings Ltd chief executive Fred Hilmer urged the Federal Government yesterday to introduce revamped media ownership laws to Parliament now that it had won a third term."
November 14, 2001
Source: The Canberra Times (via Moreover.com)

GLOBAL/MARKETING:
Coca-Cola Marketing Deal With Harry Potter Film Breaks Records
"As millions enjoy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer's Stone in US), Coca-Cola is assuming the role of exclusive global marketing partner. Never has so much been poured into one movie by one company." A broad international coalition of health, educational and science organizations and individuals has been fighting this marketing deal under the campaign Save Harry.
November 15, 2001
Source: Financial Times, SaveHarry.com

US/CONFLICT COVERAGE:
Japanese Media In US Take Pacifist Stance
"Japanese journalists and newspapers on the US West Coast are taking a more pacifist stance to the ongoing war in Afghanistan than their mainstream peers."
November 14, 2001
Source: The Japan Times via Asia Pacific Media Network

CANADA/OWNERSHIP:
CanWest Media Has Global Aspirations
"In just the last two years, a spree of acquisitions has transformed what was once the smallest of the three national television networks into a sprawling empire of 16 television stations, 7 specialty channels, 26 daily newspapers and 120 community papers."
November 15, 2001
Source: The New York Times (free registration req'd)

NETHERLANDS/LAW:
The Netherlands begins Europe's first online court hearings
"The Dutch Ministry of Justice has started to use video, audio and Internet links to hold court hearings for two prisons and 15 tribunals, instead of bringing trial participants into an actual courthouse."
November 14, 2001
Source: europemedia.net (via onlinejournalism.com)

KOREA/BROADCASTING:
Ministry To Aid Broadcasters' Digital Conversion
"The Ministry of Information and Communication said yesterday it will inject an initial 40 billion won ($31.03 million) into the broadcasting industry next year to help it switch to digital broadcasting infrastructure."
November 13, 2001
Source: The Korea Herald via Asia Pacific Media Network

US/INTERNET:
Private Sector Better Able To Manage Internet Security, Says US Official
John Tritak, an official who works in the nation's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (CIAO) has rejected calls for increased government regulation of the Internet and argued that the private sector should be left to deal with security threats on the web. Mr. Tritak made the opening remarks at the annual meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
November 15, 2001
Source: Washington Post (via Benton Foundation)

QATAR/BIAS:
Al-Jazeera Editor Defends Station's Reputation
Ibrahim Helal, chief editor at Al Jazeera Television, says his organization has been broadcasting reports of arrests of Christians since 2000 and was used by Al-Qaeda because it provided the only working satellite up-link from Kabul. Mr. Helal who was reacting to criticisms from US and British officials, claims that his organization was only following western media practices and has a reputation as a source of independent news in Arabic.
November 14, 2001
Source: The Irish Times via allAfrica.com

US/INTERNET:
E-Mail Virus Slams Muslim Group
"Last Friday, on the Muslim Sabbath and on the cusp of the holy month of Ramadan, the (American Muslim) council's e-mail list was infected with the malicious 'Snow White' virus. The council, in a press release, described the infection as a 'criminal invasion' by 'hackers' in 'a deliberate attempt to discredit and to disable e-mail communications to our members.'"
November 15, 2001
Source: Wired News

UK/BALANCE:
Unbalanced Western Media Affects Tourism
Representatives from Africa and the Middle East accused the American and European media of unfair representation and depicting their countries as insecure. The panelists, attending World Travel Market Exhibition in London, were discussing the impact of western media on tourism to the region.
November 15, 2001
Source: The East African Standard via allAfrica.com

US/MILITARY:
Army Intranet: World's Largest
"The network will have at its disposal 70 terabytes of storage. According to figures compiled by the Internet Archive, that's three times the size of the Library of Congress, the world's largest library."
November 15, 2001
Source: Wired News

HONG KONG/MEDIA STUDY:
Faith In Media Rising, Study Finds
"Public confidence in Hong Kong's media and freedom of the press has risen significantly in the past three years, a survey released yesterday showed... (Surveys show that) a calmer political situation had boosted confidence in the media."
November 15, 2001
Source: South China Morning Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

GLOBAL/CULTURE-JAMMING:
Software Enables Easy Web Site Parodies
After their WTO-satire site was challenged by the World Trade Organization for trademark violation, culture-jamming activists The Yes Men have created free software to enable anyone to easily copy and distort Web sites, potentially opening up many more trademark-violation legal challenges.
November 15, 2001
Source: The Yes Men Web Site

BELARUSSIA/PRESS FREEDOM:
Belarussian Court Closes Opposition Paper
"The Supreme Economic Court on 13 November shut down the opposition Belarussian- language weekly 'Pahonya' based in Hrodna, a regional center in northwestern Belarus, Belarussian media reported." (scroll down for story)
November 15, 2001
Source: RFE/RL Newsline (via European Journalism Centre)

US/BROADBAND:
Administration Invites Comments On Broadband Deployment
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has invited interested parties to comment on supply and demand for broadband services; and the technical, economic, or regulatory barriers to broadband deployment in the United States.
November 15, 2001
Source: NTIA (via Benton Foundation

GLOBAL/INTERNET:
Survey Finds Few Pay For Once Free Web Sites
"Most online users are unwilling to pay for content on Web sites that use to be free, a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed Wednesday."
November 14, 2001
Source: Reuters (via onlinejournalism.com)

AFGHANISTAN/COVERING CONFLICT:
Unpopular With Northern Alliance, Al-Jazeera May Leave The Country
"Arab TV news channel al-Jazeera, which for the first weeks of the Afghan war had a virtual monopoly on live footage from the country, may soon be forced to pull all of its staff out of the country."
November 14, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

US/PROPAGANDA:
Bush Praises US Media's "Discretion"
"President Bush said American news media outlets would not air a "piece of propaganda" from him, and likewise should not broadcast propaganda from Osama bin Laden."
November 14, 2001
Source: AP via SF Gate

CHINA/DEALS:
AOL Time Warner Makes Deal With State-Sponsored Conglomerate
"After sealing a landmark deal to make itself China's first foreign television broadcaster, AOL Time Warner Inc. has formed an alliance with a China-backed conglomerate to invest in media-related projects."
November 14, 2001
Source: AP via SF Gate

ZIMBABWE/PRESS FREEDOM:
Judge Backs Press Freedom In Landmark Ruling
"A Zimbabwean High Court judge has defended the right of the press to expose corruption, dishonesty and graft wherever they occur and to name the perpetrators of the malpractices."
November 8, 2001
Source: The Financial Gazette (South Africa) (via Morevover.com)

AFGHANISTAN/TELEVISION:
Television Broadcasts To Resume In Kabul
Northern Alliance forces occupying Kabul said they planned to resume television broadcasts in the capital as soon as possible. The Taliban had banned photographs and television for five years. The Northern Alliance has begun radio broadcasts from a mobile vehicle unit in the Afghani capital.
November 14, 2001
Source: Reuters (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

BULGARIA/PUBLIC BROADCASTING:
IFJ Ask Bulgaria For Public Broadcasting Reforms
"Bulgaria's leaders ''must move quickly'' to create a genuine public broadcasting system, urges the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in a press release published on 7 November. IFJ recently sent a delegation to the country to meet with local journalist unions and assess the current state of broadcasting."
November 14, 2001
Source: IFEX (via European Journalism Centre

ARGENTINA/PRIVACY:
Argentina Peeks Into E-Mail Laws
"The first proposed bill would give e-mail the same privacy status as regular post mail, and it would be protected by the Argentine constitution. Without a court order, regular post mail can't be opened or examined by anyone except its owner. Jail would await those who read e-mail without consent, and a fine of up to $90,000 would be assessed if its contents were published."
November 14, 2001
Source: Wired News

US/NEWS COVERAGE:
Authorities Shut Down Crash Coverage At Logan Airport
"Massachusetts Port Authority officials almost immediately turned off the overhead monitors broadcasting CNN's Airport Network at Logan International Airport Monday when news spread that an American Airlines jet had crashed in New York."
November 14, 2001
Source: The Boston Globe (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

US/INTERNET:
US Web Usage Hits All-Time High
"A record number of U.S. residents went online last month, Web measurement companies reported Tuesday, driven partly by a large increase in Web access at home and the rise of online use by underrepresented groups."
November 13, 2001
Source: CNET (via Project for Excellence in Journalism)

LATIN AMERICA/OWNERSHIP:
Media Mogul's Cross-Border Formula Proves A Success
"Gustavo Cisneros has built a privately owned media empire in Latin America by ignoring national boundaries. His approach is likely to work even better in the future."
November 26, 2001 Edition
Source: Forbes Global (via Moreover.com)

THAILAND/POLITICS:
Military To Clarify Frequency Stance
"The military was told to explain why it wants to retain its broadcast frequencies and prevent them being redistributed... Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh ordered the military to set out its reasons and submit them to the National Broadcast Committee and the National Telecommunications Committee."
November 10, 2001
Source: The Bangkok Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

HONG KONG/CENSORSHIP:
RTHK Producer Claims Interference
"A producer of an RTHK radio programme (Radio 3's Letter to Hong Kong) has resigned over what he claimed was editorial interference by the Chief Secretary's office and station managers."
November 14, 2001
Source: South China Morning Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

CHINA/INTERNET:
Net Surfers Help Rescue Teenagers
"Two Shanghai teenagers were rescued from their kidnappers after Internet surfers helped police find them. The Shanghai Daily quoted a police spokesman as saying: 'The girls were abducted and forced to perform pornographic services.' Lycos said that tens of thousands of Chinese Web surfers across the country had joined the cyber-manhunt."
November 14, 2001
Source: South China Morning Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

SOUTH AFRICA/I.T.:
President Mbeki Appoints High Profile IT Team
Fulfilling an earlier promise, President Thabo Mbeki has appointed a team of leading industry experts to advise the government on its information technology strategy. Although the team's mandate has not been finalized, the country's largest corporate transaction — the scheduled privatization of the state's telecommunications body, Telkom, in 2002 — will be one of the group's largest challenges.
November 13, 2001
Source: Moneyweb via allAfrica.com

US/INTERNET:
Community Institutions Permitted To Use .EDU Domain Name
EDUCAUSE, an association of 1,800 colleges, universities and corporate partners will manage the Internet domain name .edu and extend the name's application to include community colleges and institutions that grant two-year degrees.
November 14, 2001
Source: NTIA (via Benton Foundation)

AFGHANISTAN/MEDIA ON THE FRONTLINES:
Al-Jazeera Kabul Office Destroyed
"The Kabul office of the Arab satellite TV channel al-Jazeera was destroyed this morning by what it claims was a US missile."
November 13, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

AFGHANISTAN/MEDIA ON THE FRONTLINES:
BBC Reporter Claims Role In "Liberating" Kabul
"The BBC's John Simpson . told Sue MacGregor on the BBC's Today program: 'It was only BBC people who liberated this city. We got in ahead of Northern Alliance troops.'"
November 13, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

EUROPE/CYBERCRIME:
Europe Aims To Ban Hate Content From Web
"The Council of Europe is trying to ban racist and other hate-based content from the Internet by adding a protocol to its convention on cybercrime that is scheduled to be ratified at a meeting Nov. 23 in Budapest."
November 12, 2001
Source: International Herald Tribune

US/POLITICS:
Bush Prevails In Media Recount Of Florida Vote (REAL AUDIO)
"A media recount of Florida presidential ballots showed that different scenarios produced varied election results. But George Bush would have won if Al Gore had gotten the recount he sought. NPR's Mara Liasson reports for All Things Considered."
November 12, 2001
Source: National Public Radio

US/TERRORISM:
Sept. 11 Terrorist Targeted Radio Free Europe
"Suspected terrorist Mohammed Atta contacted an Iraqi agent with plans to blow up the Radio Free Europe building in Prague several months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman said."
November 10, 2001
Source: The Associated Press via The Nando Times
Also see: "Czechs Learned of Terrorist Plot to Bomb Radio Free Europe", from Reuters via The New York Times (free registration req'd)

AFGHANISTAN/CONFLICT COVERAGE:
Interviewer Notices Many Changes In Bin Laden's Behavior
Hamid Mir, a 36-year-old Pakistani newspaperman, who was granted an interview with Osama bin Ladin has explained how he found the Al-Qaeda leader noticeably more aggressive than in a previous interview. Mir states that Bin Ladin was selective in choosing which questions to answer, spoke better English and "that the people around him were treating him like their spiritual leader."
November 13, 2001
Source: The New York Times (free registration req'd) (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

PAKISTAN/PRESS FREEDOM:
Reporter Links Deportation To Discovery Of Pakistani Collusion
Sunday Telegraph reporter Christina Lamb, who was deported from Pakistan together with photographer Justin Sutcliffe, says it was due to her reported discovery of links between Pakistan army officials and the Taliban.
November 12, 2001
Source: BBC (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

GLOBAL/DEALS:
Sony And AOL Time Warner Make Broadband Deal
"Sony and AOL Time Warner are to join forces on a deal to provide online entertainment via home networks, using games consoles, TVs and hi-fi stereos."
November 13, 2001
Source: BBC

US/POLITICS:
ICANN: To Serve And Protect
The deadly attacks of September 11 have "prompted the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to toss out its customary agenda and replace it with a three-day special meeting, which begins Tuesday, on how to guard the Net's most vulnerable portions from terrorist attacks."
November 13, 2001
Source: Wired News

NIGERIA/PRIVATIZATION:
Labor Congress Threatens Legal Action Over Telcom Privatization
The Nigerian Labor Congress is threatening to take the Bureau of Public Enterprises to Court to stop the privatization of the state run telephone enterprise, Nigerian Telecommunications (Nitel) for failing to issue guidelines on labor interests, government shares and core investors. The Congress's head, Usman Aliyu described the sale "a daylight robbery of the nation's telecommunications industry."
November 12, 2001
Business Day via allAfrica.com

US/OWNERSHIP:
Ms. Magazine Sold To Feminist Group
"Ms. magazine will adopt an activist tone when it appears early next year under new ownership."
November 13, 2001
Source: AP via Yahoo News

TAIWAN/POLITICS:
Political Attack Advertising
"Six opposition lawmakers yesterday lashed out at the ruling DPP for launching a "smear" campaign in Taipei, Ilan and Taoyuan Counties. The candidates said that the DPP's TV election commercial groundlessly accuses them of killing the government's budget — which allocated approximately NT$600 million for child welfare — in the legislature."
November 9, 2001
Source: The Taipei Times via Asia Pacific Media Network

US/INTERNET:
Free Speech Triumphs Over French Internet Order
"In a decision that is being applauded by Internet companies and civil liberties groups, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the United States Constitution's protections of free speech trumped a French order requiring Yahoo to remove Nazi materials from its Web site."
November 11, 2001
Source: The New York Times (via Benton Foundation)

EUROPE/ONLINE JOURNALISM:
European Award For BBC News Online
"BBC News Online has been named the best European news site on the Internet. The award — described as Europe's most prestigious — was made in Zurich at an Internet content conference on Wednesday."
November 8, 2001
Source: BBC News Online (via European Journalism Centre)

US/TECHNOLOGY:
Corporations Ruin The Net
Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University Law School professor and a cyberlaw pioneer ... in 'The Future of Ideas,' "warns that the Net is in danger of being controlled by special interests who will not only take our dollars but limit our speech and our ability to produce creative works. We'll build a surveillance society beyond Orwell's imagination."
November 19, 2001 issue
Source: MSNBC via Wired News

AFRICA/TELECOMMUNICATIONS:
Teledensity Figures Positive For Development
Teledensity in Sub-Saharan Africa passed the 1% mark with 1.2 landline phones per 100 people and the number of mobile phones in use increased by 15 times the figure in 1998 according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
November 12, 2001
Source: ITWeb via allAfrica.com
Also see: "Telecoms Report Highlights South Africa's Dark Year"

UK/TECHNOLOGY:
UK IT Journalists Skeptical About Digital Plans
"70 per cent of UK IT journalists do not think that the UK is at the forefront of the digital age, according to Mori's latest survey of UK IT journalists. Two-thirds also said that they did believe that Tony Blair's government would meet the 2010 deadline for the final switch from analogue to digital TV (DTV)."
November 12, 2001
Source: Europemedia.net (via European Journalism Centre)

US/INTERNET:
English No Longer Rules The Web
"According to a recent report, the percentage of Web surfers who consider English their mother tongue has slipped below 50%, making non-English speakers the majority demographic on the Internet for the first time in history."
November 12, 2001
Newsbytes (via Online Journalism Review)

US/INTERNET:
Rise In Internet Use Shows Strength Of Medium
"Internet use in the US grew 15% in October to a record 115.2 million people, in what analysts said was a welcome sign of the new medium's growth despite harsh economic times."
November 13, 2001
Source: The Wall Street Journal (via Benton Foundation)

US/INTERNET:
News Sites Flooded After US Plane Crash
"News Web sites buckled under the weight of traffic after the New York plane crash."
November 13, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

AFGHANISTAN/COVERING CONFLICT:
Three Journalists Killed In Afghanistan
"Three journalists — two French and one German — have been killed in northern Afghanistan in a Taliban ambush on an opposition convoy."
November 12, 2001
Source: BBC (via European Journalism Centre)
Also see: After Three Killed In Afghanistan, Journalists' Group Says Reporters Should Be Pulled Out Of War Zones, from Media Guardian

US/MEDIA RECOUNT:
Media Outlets Release Recount Results: Bush Might Have Still Won, Unless Full State Recount
"In all likelihood, George W. Bush still would have won Florida and the presidency last year if either of two limited recounts — one requested by Al Gore, the other ordered by the Florida Supreme Court — had been completed, according to a study commissioned by The Washington Post and other news organizations. But if Gore had found a way to trigger a statewide recount of all disputed ballots, or if the courts had required it, the result likely would have been different."
November 12, 2001
Source: Washington Post
Also see: Full Florida Recount Would Have Favored Gore (REAL AUDIO), from NPR

EUROPE/INTERNET:
Cybercrime Treaty Gets Green Light
"A controversial treaty that tries to tackle cybercrime has been adopted by the 43-nation Council of Europe."
November 12, 2001
Source: BBC

US/LAYOFFS:
CBS News Asks "60 Minutes" To Cut Staff
"In what many CBS News staff members described as the first time in memory that television's pre-eminent newsmagazine has been asked to reduce its production staff, '60 Minutes' is cutting back its corps of producers as part of a plan by CBS News to pare its budget in reaction to the rising costs of covering the war in Afghanistan."
November 12, 2001
Source: The New York Times (free registration req'd)

KENYA/POLICY:
New Media Bill Limits Free Press
The chairman of the National Council of NGOs, Mr. Oduor Ong'wen, has criticized the proposed Media Bill, arguing that it will curtail investigative journalism, deny citizens the means to develop their own media and is contrary to the calls for a Freedom of Information Act.
November 10, 2001
Source: The East African Standard via allAfrica.com

US/PUBLIC RELATIONS:
Hollywood Promises To Help War Campaign
". Bush administration senior adviser Karl Rove outlined a seven-point White House message that he'd like Hollywood to broadcast worldwide, and Jack Valenti, president of the MPAA, promised 'to contribute Hollywood's creative imagination and personal skills to the war effort.'"
November 12, 2001
Source: Hollywood Reporter via Yahoo News
Also see: This radio brief from NPR (REAL AUDIO)

US/ACTIVISM:
Three Arrested At CNN Protest
"Three men, two with scarves wrapped around their heads, were arrested Saturday during a protest that drew almost 200 people to CNN Center over the network's coverage of the war in Afghanistan."
November 11, 2001
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

MIDDLE EAST/CONFLICT COVERAGE:
Arabic Media Coverage Focuses On Civilian Casualties And US Aggression
Pictures of civilian casualties in Afghanistan have tended to dominate coverage and Osama bin Laden is not being portrayed as a heroic figure, according to a New York Times analysis of the current media in the Arab world. "Instead, the main message delivered by most Arab newspapers and television has been that the United States has moved arrogantly, blindly, even callously into conflict in a country that it does not understand."
November 11, 2001
Source: The New York Times (via Yahoo Full Coverage)

IRELAND/ACTIVISM:
Irish Activists Plan Net "Blackout" To Demand Better Telecom
"Ireland is at a serious competitive disadvantage in Europe and worldwide because of the problems in our telecommunications."
Protest date: November 16, 2001
Source: Ireland Offline Blackout — Campaign Web site

US/PROPAGANDA:
Voice Of America Pulled Between Journalism And Propaganda
"At 9:30 each morning, 35 of America's top propagandists gather around a long table at the Voice of America radio headquarters on Independence Avenue and decide how to brainwash 91 million people worldwide; i.e., how best to cloak American agitprop in the noble guise of objective news."
November 10, 2001
Source: Washington Post

US/BALANCE:
Opponents Of War Are Scarce On Television
TV executives justify the absence of on-air antiwar views with claims that there is not enough dissent to warrant coverage, and that "credible" antiwar voices are hard to find.
November 9, 2001
Source: The New York Times (free registration req'd)

UK/ADVERTISING:
BBC To Go Ahead With Commercial Site
The BBC will go ahead with contentious plans for a new high profile news web site involving the government funded World Service and the commercially operated BBC World. The proposal has caused uproar amongst potential rivals, worried over suggestions that advertising would fund the site.
November 7, 2001
Source: Guardian Unlimited (via I Want Media)

CHINA/COPYRIGHT LAW:
Copyright Revisions To Increase WTO Compliance
"Just days before China is expected to complete the process of its long-awaited entry into the World Trade Organization, authorities have revised two laws to help smooth that transition. The Copyright Law and the Trademark Law are being given more punch to increase the protection China gives, or is expected to give, intellectual property rights."
November 10, 2001
Source: South China Morning Post via Asia Pacific Media Network

UK/CONTENT CONTROL:
ITN Censured Over "Tasteless" News Special
"The news broadcaster ITN has been censured for broadcasting a 'sick and tasteless' sequence in which the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York was set to music."
November 12, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

UK/NEWSPAPERS:
War Isn't Helping Newspaper Sales
"After the soaring circulations that greeted their post-September 11 coverage, newspapers are finding that readers are deserting them in higher numbers than ever."
November 12, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

UK/TELEVISION:
The Crisis In Children's Television
"As TV advertising revenues plummet, program budgets are being slashed — and kids' television is being hit harder than most."
November 12, 2001
Source: Media Guardian

PAKISTAN/POLITICS:
Musharraf Tames His Fundamentalist Critics
"Their blood curdling cries of "Death to America" dominate the headlines, but Pakistan's Muslim fundamentalists are fighting another, more lethal foe — the specter of irrelevance. ... Among the many ironies is the role of the Western media in inflating the role of religious parties described as "an empire of soft-voiced, sandal-wearing followers that makes generals and bureaucrats quake in their boots."
November 10, 2001
Source: The Age via Asia Pacific Media Network

US/SECURITY:
Privacy Expert To Focus On Security
Richard M. Smith, one of the nation's foremost authorities on data privacy, who headed the non-profit Privacy Foundation, resigned his post earlier this month to turn his attention to studying homeland security. In his first big case in his new role, he worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to test facial scanning technology that many of the nation's airports are now considering deploying.
November 12, 2001
Source: The New York Times (free registration req'd)

MIDDLE EAST/ONLINE JOURNALISM:
A New Era Of Global Communication
"As chief executive of Arabic and English portal site Ajeeb.com, Al Sharekh believes that the error-prone technology known as machine translation has played a key part in speeding the exchange of information between the English-speaking world and the Middle East."
November 12, 2001
Source: Wired News

US/VIOLENCE:
City Abandons Violent Video Game Ban, After Losing In Court
"Stung by unsympathetic appeals court justices and rejected by the US Supreme Court, Indianapolis is giving up on its bid to become the first city in the country to prevent kids from playing violent coin-operated video games."
November 8, 2001
Source: Health Scout News via Yahoo News

US/CULTURE:
'Cuckoo's Nest' Author Kesey Dead At 66 (REAL AUDIO)
"Novelist and 60s icon Ken Kesey dies of liver cancer at age 66. Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and was immortalized by fellow writer Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test."
November 10, 2001
Source: NPR

JAPAN/TELEVISION:
Japan Agog Over TV Parody Of Its Top Politicians
"A prime-time TV drama is breaking new ground by parodying real-life politicians in petty fights and poking fun at the lengths they go to make themselves look good in public."
November 9, 2001
Source: The Straits Times via Asia Pacific Media Network

US/BUSINESS:
Where The Dot-Dead Wind Up
"While bankrupt Internet retailers shrivel up and die, the stuff they once sold is showing a surprising knack for sticking around online. Increasingly, it's turning up in other corners of the Web, where former rivals and bargain shops hawk the excess toys, computers and sports gear of the dot-com departed. Their ambition: to survive yet another holiday season."
November 12, 2001
Source: Wired News