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By Michael Allen on June 18, 2009
An extra-ordinary session of Azerbaijan’s parliament convenes tomorrow to consider proposed legislation on non-governmental organizations and the media which critics believe will seriously undermine rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association. The debate takes place just 10 days after the proposed amendments were made public, giving critics little chance to mobilize or comment [read full story]
Posted in Azerbaijan, Democracy assistance, Eurasia, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, authoritarianism, democracy promotion, media, promoting democracy | Tagged azerbaijan, Civil Society Defense Committee, Council of Europe, freedom of association, freedom of expression, Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Leyla Yunus, media, Media Rights Institute, National Endowment for Democracy, non-governmental organizations, Peace and Democracy Institute, soft authoritarianism |
By Michael Allen on May 14, 2009
A former Communist Party leader called for parliamentary democracy for China and sought to avert the Tiananmen massacre, newly released audio recordings reveal.
Radio Free Asia reveals former premier Zhao Ziyang’s prescience in predicting that economic reform without democracy would generate a new set of social and political ills. China, he said, “will run into the [read full story]
Posted in Asia, China, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, authoritarianism, dissidents, media, promoting democracy | Tagged censorship, Chinese Communist Party, Chinese democracy, media, political reform, Tiananmen massacre, Zhao Ziyang |
By Michael Allen on March 24, 2009
Growing political intolerance and polarization have returned to Nicaragua as President Daniel Ortega’s Government of Reconciliation and National Unity proves to be anything but. Pro-government Sandinista gangs have physically attacked opposition groups criticizing last year’s allegedly fraudulent elections.
“Nicaragua has come a long way from the heady days of 1990, when Chamorro’s election win appeared to [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Elections, Latin America and the Carribean, media | Tagged Backlash, Elections, media, nicaragua |
By Michael Allen on March 23, 2009
The Internet has had a polarizing effect on democracies, argues Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, who is scheduled to join the Obama administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
He laments the decline of newspapers, magazines, television, and radio which play a vital role as “general-interest intermediaries”, and believes a healthy democracy requires not just free [read full story]
Posted in Global, Tools/technology, media | Tagged Global, media, Tools/technology |
By Michael Allen on February 13, 2009
Authoritarian regimes have become adept at creating government-organized NGOs as a “tool of choice for undemocratic governments to manage their domestic politics while appearing democratic.” Part of a concerted backlash against bona fide democratic actors, GONGOs also deflect attention and resources from genuine democratic actors, creating a misleading impression of a healthy civil society.
It [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Eurasia, Human rights, authoritarianism, media | Tagged authoritarianism, azerbaijan, Backlash, Eurasia, Human rights, media, obama |
By Michael Allen on February 4, 2009
The director of Somalia’s independent HornAfrik radio station, Said Tahlil Ahmed, has been murdered in Mogadishu.
Reports suggest that journalists were attacked en route a press conference called by the al-Shabab Islamist militia. Al-Shabab opposes Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a relatively moderate Islamist associated with the Union of Islamic Courts, who was recently elected as president.
Some [read full story]
Posted in Africa, Failed states, Islam/politics, National Endowment for Democracy, media | Tagged Africa, Failed states, hornafrik, Islam/politics, media, National Endowment for Democracy, somalia |
By Michael Allen on February 4, 2009
The Egyptian government is remarkably adept at simulating reform while consolidating authoritarian rule, notes Dina Guirguis, executive director of Voices for a Democratic Egypt, in the latest issue of the essential Arab Reform Bulletin. The latest instance is a new bill designed to regulate non-governmental organizations which will likely include a mechanism to stop foreign [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, Human rights, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, authoritarianism, media | Tagged authoritarianism, Democracy assistance, Egypt, Human rights, media, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society |
By Michael Allen on January 13, 2009
Authoritarian regimes have traditionally managed news media through direct censorship, assuming control over media outlets or by intimidating and arresting journalists and outlet owners. But “a more insidious form of censorship has emerged, according to Soft Censorship: How Governments Around the Globe Use Money to Manipulate the Media, a new report from the Center for [read full story]
Posted in Global, Tools/technology, authoritarianism, media | Tagged CIMA, media, Soft Censorship, Tools/technology |
By Michael Allen on January 8, 2009
Azerbaijan is trying to push foreign broadcasters off national frequencies, effectively banning Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America and the BBC from its airwaves. Earlier this week, RFE/RL rebuffed an attempt to seize equipment from its Baku office.
“There is a trend against free media,” said Jeffrey Gedmin, RFE-RL’s Prague-based president. “They see us as [read full story]
Posted in Eurasia, authoritarianism, media | Tagged independent media, media |
By Michael Allen on January 8, 2009
Debates over freedom of expression have been central to Indonesia’s democratic evolution. Global trends in freedom of expression illustrate “the bankruptcy of the notion of an Asian-Western divide,” analysts argue, writing in the Jakarta Post. Rather, there is clear convergence and debates over the acceptable limits of free speech are as profound within countries and [read full story]
Posted in Asia, Human rights, media | Tagged Asia, Human rights, media |
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