How they created Tehran Bureau

The information flows from Iran have triggered a lot of attention (and euphoria) on the power of alternative communications channels, like Facebook or Twitter.
The founder of Tehran Bureau, a virtual press bureau on Iran, explains in this Foreign Policy article why and how he set up an office which relayed tons of information on Iran protests, based on the idea of producing a politically independent coverage of the country.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/14/how_to_cover_a_paranoid_regime_from_your_laptop?page=full

Social media: Egypt's double standards

Gamal Mubarak is determined to follow on his father's steps and win the 2011 presidential election. He has moved to the Internet campaign trail and organized an interview with 12000 users.
Egyptians are free to connect to listen to the President's son but at the same time, ironically, as this Los Angeles Times report suggests, dissenting bloggers are in jail.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/08/egypt-gamal-mubarak-reaches-out-for-internet-users.html

China drops its plans for an Internet filter

That is a small step but China has finally decided to drop its plan to install a compulsory filter on all computers. Officially presented as anti-porn it had serious consequences for free speech and privacy.
Human rights and press freedom organizations protested loudly but the Beijing government seems to have been more impressed by the outcries of multinational corporations.
Read the story on CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/13/china.internet.filter/index.html

Madagascar: how political conflict and social media transformed the "me generation" into "we the people"

Interesting BBC story on the rise of social media activism in Madagascar.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8196062.stm

Lydia Cacho's testimony of being a crusading journalist in Mexico

Lydia Cacho has collected international Prizes, been invited to scores of world events. But she has to fight for her life. Her investigations into criminal groups in Mexico and their links to corrupt officials has transformed her into a target.
In this blog posted on the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) website she gives a powerful testimony on her plight and beyond her case the plight of most journalists living in countries where the lines between the state and crime are blurred.

http://cpj.org/blog/2009/08/cacho-a-top-mexican-reporter-describes-a-life-unde.php

How media "pundits" reinforce hate crimes

The U.S. based Antidefamation League's 2009 report on The State of Hate has a very direct message for the media.
"The increasing number of shrill anti-Immigration reform commentaries from high profile national media personalities, including CNN's Lou Dobbs and Talk Show Network's The Savage Nation host Michael Savage, correlates closely with the increase in hate crimes against Hispanics, writes the antiracist association. There is a direct connection between the tenor of this rhetoric and the daily lives of immigrants, and many fear that the unintended consequence of media celebrities vilifying immigrants will be an atmosphere in which some people will act on these demonizing screeds, violently targeting immigrants and those perceived to be immigrants.

If you want to have more on this media-racism link, please read the report
http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/escalating-violence.html