AIB media industry briefing | February 2021
{a few of several stories linked}
Myanmar coup demonstrates information challenge in social platform age
As the military coup unfolded in Myanmar at the start of February 2021, telecommunication connections were disrupted from around 0300 local time in the country. By 0800, according to Netblocks, national connectivity fell to around 50% of usual levels.
The use of the Internet "off switch" by the military posed immediate challenges for news organisations covering the situation and for the citizens of Myanmar who were suddenly deprived of the platforms they use to communicate with one another and access information from across the country.
The AIB has been looking at the challenges and some of the responses.
Read the full story here
https://aib.org.uk/myanmar-coup-demonstrates-fragility-of-reliance-on-the-internet/
Media freedom briefs
Mahmoud Hussein gains freedom after four years' detention
After more than four years in detention without trial, Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein has been released by Egypt.
According to Al Jazeera, Hussein, an Egyptian national held under preventive detention since December 2016, was released from jail on 6 February 2021.
In a statement, Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of the Al Jazeera Media Network, said the release of Hussein was “a moment of truth and an inspiring milestone towards press freedom”.
“Al Jazeera Media Network welcomes the news of Mahmoud’s freedom and believes that no journalist should ever be subjected to what Mahmoud has suffered for the past four years for merely carrying out his profession."
The AIB has supported the long-running campaign pressing the Egyptian authorities to release Mahmoud Hussein. Hundreds of people across the media industry and beyond joined the calls for Mahmoud Hussein's release: see them in this mosaic.
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/free-mahmoud-hussein/index.html
More on this story here https://aib.org.uk/al-jazeeras-mahmoud-hussein-released-from-jail-in-egypt/
Media Freedom Coalition concerned by Belarus situation
The Media Freedom Coalition has issued a statement expressing concern over the situation of media freedom in Belarus.
The statement says that since the contested presidential election was held on August 9, authorities in Belarus have restricted access to information and have led a brutal and sustained campaign to persecute and harass independent journalists and those from foreign media organisations and prevent them from performing the vital role of objectively reporting on events and holding authorities to account. Access to unfettered information is vital for citizens during protest. Independent journalists play a key role in informing citizens on the causes of unrest and state responses.
Some 400 journalists and media workers in Belarus have faced various forms of repression in the course of the election and its aftermath.
Read the full statement here https://aib.org.uk/media-freedom-coalition-expresses-concern-over-belarus-situation/
RFE/RL hit by double fines
Russian courts have fined Radio Liberty – the Russian-language service of Prague-based RFE/RL – twice in two weeks over the organisation’s alleged failure to ensure that its output is marked as being produced by a “foreign agent”.
In late January, a court in Moscow fined RFE/RL and its head in Russia a total of 1.1m roubles (around $14,500). Then at the beginning of February, RFE/RL was fined a further 2m roubles ($26,500). Andrei Shary, RFE/RL’s head in Russia, was fined 200,000 roubles in the February ruling.
Fines were also levied against websites Krym.Realii and Factograph that carried the RFE/RL output, according to Interfax News Agency, reported by BBC Monitoring.
RFE/RL announced on 5 February that it is appealing the fines.
Full story here https://aib.org.uk/radio-liberty-fined-in-russia-again/
(via WOR io group)