Journalism Issues

http://www.freepress.net/news/13354
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=86495&WT.svl=news1_2

BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher says that his company isn.t interested
in being the content police or trying to limit what people can do on the
Net. Rather, he says, they.re trying to provide a service in the video
world that.s analogous to what companies get when they buy a 1-800
telephone number.

// posted by newshare @ 11:22 PM 0 comments

ORIGINAL URL:
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/13541732.htm

Posted on Wed, Jan. 04, 2006
St. Paul Pioneer Press | 01/04/2006 | KATHLEEN PARKER

Lord of the blogs

By KATHLEEN PARKER
Tribune Features Columnist

Of all the stories leading America's annual greatest-hits list, the one that subsumes the rest is the continuing evolution of information in the Age of Blogging.

Not since the birth of the printing press have our lives been so dramatically affected by the way we create and consume information -- both to our enormous benefit and, perhaps, to our growing peril. What is wonderful and miraculous about the Internet needs little elaboration. We all marvel at the ease with which we can access information -- whether reading government documents previously available only to a few, or tracking down old friends and new enemies.

It is this latter -- our new enemies -- that interests me most. I don't mean al-Qaida or Osama bin Laden, but the less visible, insidious enemies of decency, humanity and civility ÿÿ the angry offspring of narcissism's quickie marriage to instant gratification. There's something frankly creepy about the explosion we now call the Blogosphere -- the big-bang "electroniverse" where recently wired squatters set up new camps each day. As I write, the number of "blogs" (Web logs) and "bloggers" (those who blog) is estimated in the tens of millions worldwide.

Although I've been a blog fan since the beginning, and have written favorably about the value added to journalism and public knowledge thanks to the new "citizen journalist," I'm also wary of power untempered by restraint and accountability.

Say what you will about the so-called mainstream media, but no industry agonizes more about how to improve its product, police its own members and better serve its communities. Newspapers are filled with carpal-tunneled wretches, overworked and underpaid, who suffer near-pathological allegiance to getting it right. That a Jayson Blair of the New York Times or a Jack Kelley of USA Today surfaces now and then as a plagiarist or a fabricator ultimately is testament to the high standards tens of thousands of others strive to uphold each day without recognition. Blair and Kelley are infamous, but they're also gone.

Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality, though most would have little to occupy their time were the mainstream media to disappear tomorrow. Some bloggers do their own reporting, but most rely on mainstream reporters to do the heavy lifting. Some bloggers also offer superb commentary, but most babble, buzz and blurt like caffeinated adolescents competing for the Ritalin generation's inevitable senior superlative: Most Obsessive-Compulsive. Even so, they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups.

These effete and often clever baby "bloggies" are rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision. Spoiled and undisciplined, they have grabbed the mike and seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug and the miracle of WiFi.

They play tag team with hyperlinks ("I'll say you're important if you'll say I'm important) and shriek "Gotcha!" when they catch some weary wage earner in a mistake or oversight. Plenty smart but lacking in wisdom, they possess the power of a forum, but neither the maturity nor humility that years of experience impose. Each time I wander into blogdom, I'm reminded of the savage children stranded on an island in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies." Without adult supervision, they organize themselves into rival tribes, learn to hunt and kill, and eventually become murderous barbarians in the absence of a civilizing structure.

What Golding demonstrated -- and what we're witnessing as the Blogosphere's offspring multiply -- is that people tend to abuse power when it is unearned and will bring down others to enhance themselves. Likewise, many bloggers seek the destruction of others for their own self-aggrandizement. When a mainstream journalist stumbles, they pile on like so many savages, hoisting his or her head on a bloody stick as Golding's children did the fly-covered head of a butchered sow. Schadenfreude -- pleasure in others' misfortunes -- has become the new barbarity on an island called Blog. When someone trips, whether Dan Rather or Eason Jordan or Judith Miller, bloggers are the bloodthirsty masses slavering for a public flogging. Incivility is their weapon and humanity their victim.

mean no disrespect to the many brilliant people out there -- professors, lawyers, doctors, philosophers, scientists and other journalists who also happen to blog. Again, they know who they are. But we should beware and resist the rest of the ego-gratifying rabble who contribute only snark, sass and destruction. We can't silence them, but for civilization's sake -- and the integrity of information by which we all live or die -- we can and should ignore them.

Parker is a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. E-mail her at kparker@kparker.com.

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This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

// posted by newshare @ 3:17 PM 0 comments

Excerpts from the 'Can freedom of the press survive media consolidation?'
conference run in June, 2005, on the campus of the University of Illinois.
This segment features presentations by John Nichols, Len Hill and Orville
Schell. The audio is from WILL-AM's "Media Matters" radio program with
host Robert McChesney.
http://www.will.uiuc.edu/willmp3/mediamatters050731.mp3

June 26, 2005 This week we bring you a program featuring excerpts from the
'Can freedom of the press survive media consolidation?' conference run
last month on the campus of the University of Illinois. This show includes
speeches by Phil Donohue, Naomi Klein and Seymour Hersh.
http://www.will.uiuc.edu/willmp3/mediamatters050626.mp3

June 19, 2005 Featuring excerpts from the 'Can freedom of the press
survive media consolidation?' conference run last month on the campus of
the University of Illinois. This show includes speeches by Rep. Bernie
Sanders and Linda Foley, president of the Newspaper Guild.
http://www.will.uiuc.edu/willmp3/mediamatters050619.mp3

// posted by newshare @ 11:08 PM 0 comments

Excerpts from the 'Can freedom of the press survive media consolidation?'
conference run in June, 2005, on the campus of the University of Illinois.
This segment features presentations by John Nichols, Len Hill and Orville
Schell. The audio is from WILL-AM's "Media Matters" radio program with
host Robert McChesney.

http://www.will.uiuc.edu/willmp3/mediamatters050731.mp3

// posted by newshare @ 10:38 PM 0 comments

ORIGINAL POST:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16110

6 January 2006

HEADLINE:
Do Internet companies need to be regulated to ensure they respect free expression ?

Reporters Without Borders. proposals

The recent case of Microsoft closing down a journalist.s blog under
pressure from the Chinese authorities once again shows that some Internet
sector companies do not respect freedom of expression when operating in
repressive countries. Reporters Without Borders proposes six concrete ways
to make these companies behave ethically. These recommendations are
addressed to the US government and US legislators because all the
companies named in this document are based in the United States.
Nonetheless, they concern all democratic countries and have therefore been
sent to European Union officials and to the Secretary General of the OECD
as well.

Background

Reporters Without Borders has repeatedly condemned the ethical lapses
displayed by certain Internet sector companies when operating in
repressive countries. Here are some examples that have caused us
particular concern :

Since 2002, Yahoo ! has agreed to censor the results of the Chinese
version of its search engine in accordance with a blacklist provide by the
Chinese government. Reporters Without Borders also recently proved that
Yahoo ! helped the Chinese police identify and then convict a journalist
who was criticising human rights abuses in China. The e-mail servers of
Yahoo !.s Chinese division are located inside China.

Microsoft censors the Chinese version of its MSN Spaces blog tool. You
cannot enter search strings such as .democracy. or .human rights in China.
or .capitalism. as they are automatically rejected by the system.
Microsoft also closed down a Chinese journalist.s blog following pressure
from the government in Beijing. This blog was hosted on servers located in
the United States.

All sources of news and information that are censored in China have been
withdrawn by Google from the Chinese version of its news search engine,
Google News.

Secure Computing has sold Tunisia technology that allows it to censor
independent news and information websites such as the Reporters Without
Borders one.

Fortinet has sold the same kind of software to Burma.

Cisco Systems has marketed equipment specifically designed to make it
easier for the Chinese police to carry out surveillance of electronic
communications. Cisco is also suspected of giving Chinese engineers
training in how to use its products to censor the Internet.

We believe these practices violate the right to freedom of expression as
defined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
was proclaimed by the United Nations when it was founded and which is
supposed to apply to everyone, including business corporations.
Furthermore, such ethical failings on the part of American companies
damage the image of the Unites States abroad.

Our previous initiatives

Reporters Without Borders has written to the chief executives of several
corporations since 2002 proposing an exchange of ideas on this issue. None
of our letters have been answered. We have also tried to alert the
shareholders of these companies through investment funds. We presented a
joint statement on 7 November in New York in which 25 investment firms
managing some 21 billion dollars in assets undertook to monitor the
activities of Internet companies operating in repressive countries.

Aside from Google, all the companies we approached refused to enter into a
dialogue on this subject. We would therefore now like the American
people.s elected representatives and the Department of State to formally
take up this issue.

The initiative

Reporters Without Borders is convinced that a law regulating the
activities of Internet companies should only be drafted as a last resort,
and we therefore recommend a two-step approach. Initially, a group of
congressmen should formally ask Internet corporations to reach an
agreement among themselves on a code of conduct that includes the
recommendations we make at the end of this document. The companies would
be urged to use the help of organisations specialised in freedom of
expression in drafting the document. The request would include a deadline
for the companies to submit their draft code of conduct to the congressmen
concerned.

In the event that no satisfactory code of conduct has been drawn up when
the deadline expires, or the proposed code has not been accepted by a
sufficient number of representative companies, the congressmen would set
about drafting a law that would aim to ensure that US companies respect
freedom of expression when they are operating in repressive countries and
elsewhere.

Reporters Without Borders. proposals

We have listed our recommendations according to the type of service or
equipment marketed by Internet companies :

E-mail services :

No US company would be allowed to host e-mail servers within a repressive
country*. So, if the authorities of a repressive country want personal
information about the user of a US company.s e-mail service, they would
have to request it under a procedure supervised by US.

Search engines :

Search engines would not be allowed to incorporate automatic filters that
censor .protected. words. The list of .protected. keywords such as
.democracy. or .human rights. should be appended to the law or code of
conduct.

Content hosts (websites, blogs, discussion forums etc)

US companies would not be allowed to locate their host servers within
repressive countries. If the authorities of a repressive country desire
the closure of a publication hosted by a US company, they would have to
request it under a procedure supervised by the US judicial authorities.
Like search engines, content hosts would not be allowed to incorporate
automatic filters that censor .protected. key-words.

Internet censorship technologies

Reporters Without Borders proposes two options :

Option a : US companies would no longer be permitted to sell Internet
censorship software to repressive states.

Option b : They would still be able to market this type of software but it
will have to incorporate a list of .protected. keywords that are rendered
technically impossible to censor.

Internet surveillance technology and equipment

US companies would have to obtain the express permission of the Department
of Commerce in order to sell to a repressive country any technology or
equipment which can be used to intercept electronic communications or
which is specifically designed to assist the authorities in monitoring
Internet users.

Training

US companies would have to obtain the express permission of the Department
of Commerce before providing any programme of training in Internet
surveillance and censorship techniques in a repressive country.

* A list of countries that repress freedom of expression would be drawn up
on the basis of documents provided by the US State Department and would be
appended to the code of conduct or law that is adopted. This list would be
regularly updated.

Note : The purpose of these recommendations is to protect freedom of
expression. They in no way aim to restrict the necessary cooperation
between governments in their efforts to combat terrorism, paedophilia and
cyber-crime.

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This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

// posted by newshare @ 11:21 PM 0 comments

ORIGINAL URL:
http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/members/issue.tmpl?articleid=01090620291893

Company says it is obligated to follow laws of nations in which it operates; critics say Microsoft is undermining free speech in return for share of Chinese market

BEIJING
Microsoft Corp. has shut down a popular Chinese language blog that criticized the government and carried news of events that authorities wanted censored.

According to reports from the Associated Press and the London Telegraph, the action came amid criticism by free-speech groups, which have accused Microsoft and other major technology companies of helping China suppress free speech in exchange for entrée into that nation's enormous Internet market.

Microsoft confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that it shut down the blog at the request of the Chinese government. The Internet publication was posted on a Microsoft blogging and website service and was written by Chinese journalist Zhao Jing, who most recently put himself at odds with party leaders by criticizing the government's firing of editors at an outspoken Beijing newspaper.

A statement from Microsoft executive Brook Richardson said, in part, that Microsoft is "committed to ensuring that products and services comply with global and local laws, norms, and industry practices in China," according to a report from the Agence France-Presse. "Most countries have laws and practices that require companies providing online services to make the Internet safe for local users. Occasionally, as in China, local laws and practices require consideration of unique elements."

China imposes strict controls on Internet communications, with police monitoring the content of sites and the surfing habits of users.

Microsoft faced criticism last year when its Chinese blogging service restricted the use of terms such as "demonstration," "democratic movement," and "Taiwan independence," according to a report from the Perth, Australia, Sunday Times.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright © 1995-2001 the Institute for Global Ethics, Camden, Maine 04843
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This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

// posted by newshare @ 11:53 AM 0 comments

ORIGINAL URL:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3381544

By Jennifer Brown
The Denver Post

DENVER, Colo. -- Meg Spohn says she was fired from DeVry University because of comments she posted on her Web blog. Since she blogged about her firing, her site has drawn much more interest, she says. The professor at DeVry University in Westminster who says she was fired for criticizing the school on her blog is stirring up an academic freedom debate in the blogosphere.

Thousands of academics are bloggers, keeping online journals on everything from their strides in research to travel escapades and political rants. Many say what happened at DeVry, a private, for-profit university, wouldn't happen at traditional public universities that foster critical thinking and robust debate protected by the First Amendment.

Still, some professors have been asked to tone down their blogs and others - especially those without tenure - say they censure themselves to protect their students or employment. "The self-censorship, the chilling effect - I know it exists because people talk about it online," said Sam Smith, a blogger who taught journalism last year at St. Bonaventure University in New York. "There may be things that they could say that would cost them tenure," he said. "In the academic world, this shouldn't ever be an issue. In reality, that's not always the case."

Since Spohn blogged about her firing from DeVry on www.megspohn.com, the story has become fodder for bloggers across the world. The number of hits on her site went from a couple dozen to thousands, she said. "It's kind of a freight train," Spohn said. "And I was expecting a little red wagon."

Spohn's blog recounted her travels across the United States and her thoughts on n chaos theory. She mentioned DeVry occasionally, complained about online training she thought was unnecessary and wrote that administrators were telling her not to inflate grades. "The university environment is more permissive about free speech than most corporations," Spohn said. "Do I think it's cool for professors to get on their blog and say, 'Don't come to this university. Everything about it sucks?' No. I did nothing like that."

24.5 million blogs

The popularity of blogging has exploded in the past year. San Francisco-based Technorati is tracking 24.5 million blogs, and the number doubled every five months in 2005, marketing director Derek Gordon said. "It's very seductive to think of the Internet as a private space," said Lynn Schofield Clark, a University of Colorado journalism professor who teaches her students to blog. "It feels that way when you're writing it. It's easy to forget that it's a public fora." It's impossible to tell how many bloggers are academics, but it's safe to say there are thousands testing the blogosphere as the latest frontier for academic freedom.

A blogging controversy at Indiana University in Bloomington two years ago grabbed some attention in cyberspace among academics. An economics professor removed his blog from university servers after being accused of posting anti-gay comments that offended administrators. That case is one of a handful "where blogs have had an impact on the professional careers of academics," said Henry Farrell, a political science professor at George Washington University and part of the academic group blog Crooked Timber.

Smith said he "raised mortal hell" on his blog when he worked at St. Bonaventure, a Catholic university. He once toned down "naughty" words on his blog after an administrator noted some discomfort, and he expects that similar conversations between faculty and administrators happen across the country. "I was a pretty aggressive commentator on social issues, politics, culture, religion," he said. "I did not criticize the institution. I haven't done that since I left."

DeVry administrators aren't talking about why they fired Spohn, saying they respect her right to confidentiality.

Spohn, who has a master's degree from Harvard and is a doctoral student at the University of Denver, said she was popular among faculty and was promoted last fall to chairwoman of the communications department. Then last month, the dean and a human resources staffer told her they "had become aware of her blog," she said, and that she wrote "disparaging things about DeVry and the students. They escorted me to my office and shoved me right out of the building," she said.

Protected speech

The American Association of University Professors has no specific guidelines on blogging, but says it falls into the same category as all protected speech, including op-ed pieces for newspapers and online essays, said Jonathan Knight, director of the academic freedom and tenure program. "Faculty have the right to express themselves vigorously and freely," he said, including about the university's policies and leadership.

Many blogging professors censure themselves so they don't hurt students or attack administrators unfairly, said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who operates one of the larger academic group blogs, the Volokh Conspiracy. But when faculty see wrongs, they shouldn't hold back, he said. "I wouldn't be afraid to post critical things about UCLA for fear of rretaliation, but I feel something of a duty of loyalty to the university," he said. "If UCLA tried to restrict the speech of my colleagues or my students, I would take it to task."

Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.

All contents Copyright 2006 The Denver Post or other copyright holders.
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This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

// posted by newshare @ 6:28 PM 0 comments