Media Issues

Analysis by Milind Kokje*

The media seem to have lost their way. They not only have forgotten their social agenda but have also lost their very purpose due to the rampant commercialisation of the media 'business'. With this 'poverty of purpose', how can anyone expect this profession to help in eradicating poverty worldwide?

By Milind Kokje*

Mention 'independent media' and we immediately think of monarchs, political dictators, uniformed heads of state, military junta and similar entities as the main obstacles for media independence. There may be some honourable exceptions, but in general, our past experiences tell us how these types of political systems are anathema to independence in general, and independent media in particular.

By Mel Frykberg

GAZA CITY, Jul 3 (IPS) - The assault of IPS Gaza correspondent Mohammed Omer has left Israeli security personnel with a lot of explaining to do. And they are not doing a very good job of it.

By Sanjay Suri

GLASGOW, Jun 27 (IPS) - Parents call it the strawberry coloured nightmare. In the suburbs of Cape Town in South Africa they call it 'tik'. Something that mimics the effect of adrenalin. The news feature on 'tik' explores its dangerous spread, interviewing parents and others who talk about the devastation this addiction is bringing to homes and lives. 'Tik' is coloured pink, we learn, to make it more attractive to teenagers.

By Ilnur Cevik [*The New Anatolian]

The Turkish constitution specifies in very clear terms that citizens will enjoy freedom of travel and communications. However, in practice this article of the constitution has been violated systematically in Turkey both by state institutions and even by private persons.

Journalists need to carefully consider when the risk of following a story outweighs the benefit of securing a story, writes Alan Davis, special projects director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in his blog at the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project site.

Heart from Voh, New Caledonia by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

By Bruce Lim

BANGKOK, Jun 9 (Asia Media Forum) - Surrounded by greenery, a dense mangrove swamp in New Caledonia in the Pacific, an overseas territory of France, has the shape of a heart. This was perhaps the most popular photo that drew visitors’ attention at an exhibit here, called ‘The Earth from Above', by photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

The exhibit features photographs from around the world that taken by Arthus-Bertrand, who shoots them from above – usually from helicopters.

By Lin Quan Zhong

SINGAPORE, Jun 6 (Asia Media Forum) – When Lee Hsien Loong became Singapore’s prime minister after his father, Lee Kwan Yew, four years ago, he encouraged citizens to “feel free to express diverse views, pursue unconventional ideas or simply be different”. Today, these hopes for a city-state that can be more relaxed about criticism and more open to frank debate appear to have been too high.

Are Rupert Murdoch and his fellow media moguls' happy days numbered? In May, the 'mere mortals' on Capitol Hill gave Murdoch and company the sort of slap that masters of the universe don't expect.

By Nitin Jugran

TONK, Rajasthan, Jun 4 (IPS) - Children should be seen, not heard -- an adage that remains in practice in most parts of rural India even today where the orthodox patriarchal traditions continue to hold sway in tightly-knit local communities.