ISLAMABAD, 28 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Pakistan was hit by the worst earthquake in its history earlier this month where so far over 54,000 are known to have died in Pakistan and 1,300 in Indian-administered Kashmir. Some aid workers say the donor response to the massive disaster had been muted compared to other big disasters because the crisis has been less effectively covered by the media, in particular...
NADA SELAMEH doesn't hold back her opinions on the American media. "I don't like the way they represent us," she said. They make the American public attack us. What upsets me is the way they portray Muslim women as being oppressed by their men." Before 9/11, Selameh never wore a hijab, the head scarf some Muslim women wear as an expression of modesty. But when dusty burkas became the defining...
A new NGO plans to provide its experienced journalism trainers to projects in emerging democracies around the world. Based in Canada, the Media and Democracy Group is inviting other organizations to submit proposals for cooperation. The group’s plan is to tap its network of trainers for programs that can help foster better, more reliable journalism in places where it is needed most. According to a...
NEW DELHI, September 4: Wildlife photos do not always make for good posters. Especially, when they are politically incorrect when they are insensitive to wildlife in general, and when they violate exisiting wildlife laws. A few days back, a collection of three photographs in Rajasthan Patrika did just that. Wilfelife conservationists woke up on the morning of August 30 to see close-up pictures...
The Independent: As Good As It Gets? The Independent - like the Guardian, a newspaper with supposed progressive credentials - noted blandly in a recent editorial that "Global warming is given little coverage by the US media." (Leader, 'The American consensus of denial is crumbling,' August 19, 2005). True enough. But look at our own doorstep; at the wholly inadequate coverage of climate change in...
A Raging Debate in Nowhere Land Earlier this month, New Scientist reported the astonishing news that the world's largest frozen peat bog, comprising an area the size of France and Germany combined, was melting. According to researchers who have been studying the permafrost of western Serbia, the bog could unleash billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas twenty times as potent as carbon...
NEW DELHI, August 26: The fifth OURMedia conference will be held from December 5 to 9, 2005 in Bangalore. The conference will cover a range of topics related to fostering more democracy and participation though the media. The OURMedia 5 Conference "Democracy and the Media" is aimed at building strategies and collaborations among researchers, non-governmental organisations, practitioners, artists...
Yes, we are facing a challenge – Media and volunteerism have become antithetical words. It has happened so fast, in just a decade or so. But then, is this true? Are the two words now two divergent worlds? And has it all happened now, over the past 15 years or so? The answer to this is a parodoxical yes-and-no. If we take media in its broadest sense, then this sense of frustration – this cynical...
An international meeting of environmental journalists will take place this November in India. Several of the scheduled sessions are relevant to environmental coverage anywhere, while others will focus on issues facing the host country in particular the disappearance of tigers. The International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) has scheduled its annual congress for November 21 to 24...
AS part of efforts to create a massive network of information kiosks in 6 lakh villages in India by August 2007, the National Alliance on Mission 2007, aimed at ushering in ICT-led development in rural India, has outlined its plans to connect 2.4 lakh panchayats in the first phase. "Village Knowledge Centre (VKCs) is one of the essential components for realising our goal of graduating into a...
