Reporters cautiously optimistic as interim government takes over after years of intimation and censorship under outgoing prime minister
Bangladeshi journalists are hoping the resignation of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina will bring an era of censorship and fear to an end, as they prepare to hold a new interim government to account.
Arrests, abuse and forced disappearances at the hands of Bangladesh’s security forces have loomed over journalists for most of Hasina’s 15-year rule, preventing them from routine reporting for fear of writing anything that could be perceived as embarrassing for the government.
America’s Lawyer E109: The Defense Department has had to backtrack on their plea deal with the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks after massive public backlash – we’ll bring you the details. A new poll found that a majority of Americans believe that the country is sliding into chaos. And bookies, psychics, and all other sorts […]
ABC chair Kim Williams has attracted considerable attention with his criticism of the broadcaster’s online news choices. Williams has taken issue with what he sees as the ABC prioritising lifestyle stories over hard news.
In the process, he has raised an important issue of principle.
Is it right for the chair to insert himself into editorial decision-making, even at the level of broad direction, as here?
To see why, it is necessary only to look back to the chaotic period in 2018 when a former chair, Justin Milne, inserted himself into editorial decision-making because of concerns that the reporting of some ABC journalists was upsetting the government and thereby imperilling the ABC’s funding.
That debacle ended with the resignation not just of Milne but of the then managing director, Michelle Guthrie, leaving a sudden vacuum of leadership and a nervous newsroom.
It is therefore risky for Williams to take a step down this path.
However, the weakness of ABC news leadership requires that something be done.
This weakness has a moral as well as a professional-practice dimension.
A risky path to follow. Video: ABC News
The moral dimension is demonstrated by the treatment of high-profile staff such as Stan Grant and Laura Tingle, and of less well-known but still valued journalists such as ABC Radio Victoria’s Nicole Chvastek, and Sydney radio’s Antoinette Lattouf. All of these journalists, in various ways, have fallen victim to the ABC’s propensity to buckle under external pressure.
The professional-practice dimension is demonstrated not just by the online performance criticised by Williams but by the prioritising of police-rounds stories over far bigger issues on the evening television bulletin, and by occasional spectacular failures such as the attempt to link the late NSW Premier Neville Wran with Sydney’s Luna Park ghost train fire.
The standing of the ABC’s best journalism — programmes such as Four Corners and Radio National’s Background Briefing — is undermined by these systemic failures.
However, indicating his preference for hard news over lifestyle stories will get Williams only so far. It lies within his power and that of the board to do what ought to have been done long ago if the ABC is serious about strengthening its news service: separate the roles of managing director and editor-in-chief.
Having them in the one person creates an inherent conflict that has nothing to do with the integrity of the individual occupying the position, but everything to do with the core responsibilities of the two jobs.
The managing director, as a board member, is responsible for the overall fortunes of the ABC. This includes its financial fortunes and its relationship with its most important stakeholder, the federal government.
An editor-in-chief’s first responsibility is not to these considerations at all, but to the public interest. That requires above all the creation of a safe space in which ABC journalists can do good journalism without looking over their shoulders to see if they are going to be the next target of an attack from a politician (Chvastek), a lobby group (Antoinette Lattouf), or News Corporation (Grant and Tingle).
The Stan Grant controversy. Video: The Guardian
It also requires the imposition of rigorous editing processes to see that stories are properly verified, accurate and fair, regardless of the standing or wilfulness of the staff involved, and that the stories deal with issues of substance.
And in the case of Lattouf, the focus shifts to the public interest in the impact on money and morale of the prolonged legal proceedings over her sacking.
She was removed from a temporary role on ABC Sydney radio for posting on Instagram a report by Human Rights Watch, in which it was alleged that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
The ABC argued unsuccessfully in the Fair Work Commission that she had not been sacked. Subsequently Lattouf made an offer to settle for $85,000 in damages and her old role back. However, the ABC has not accepted this and instead is now involved in a further legal dispute, this time in the Federal Court, over whether due process was followed in sacking her.
Fair Work Commission finds Antoinette Lattouf was sacked by ABC. Video: ABC News
This is causing consternation in Canberra, where the Senate standing committee on environment and communications has asked the ABC how much this action is costing.
The ABC has supplied the committee with the amount but it has not been made public.
It is a textbook case of how a strong editor-in-chief who was not the managing director would act in this situation. A reporter would be assigned to find out the amount, since it is clearly a matter of public interest, and a well-connected press gallery journalist would get it without too much trouble.
ABC management would then be asked to comment, and a story containing the amount and any ABC comment would be broadcast on the ABC.
A managing director has a conflicting responsibility: to do all he or she can to protect the corporate interests of the ABC, so the amount remains secret.
Meanwhile, the ABC gives rival news organisations the chance to scoop the ABC on its own story, leaving its news service looking even weaker.
By Maxim Bock, Queensland University of Technology
Fiji journalist Felix Chaudhary recalls how the harassment began: “Initially, I was verbally warned to stop.”
“And not only warned but threatened as well. I think I was a bit ‘gung-ho’ at the time and I kind of took it lightly until the day I was taken to a particular site and beaten up.
“I was told that my mother would identify me at a mortuary. That’s when I knew that this was now serious, and that I couldn’t be so blasé and think that I’m immune.”
Pressing risks of Chaudhary’s early career
Felix Chaudhary, now director of news, current affairs and sports at Fiji TV, and former deputy chief-of-staff at The Fiji Times, was detained and threatened several times during the period of government led by former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama from 2007 to 2022.
Commodore Bainimarama, as he was known at the time, executed his military coup in December 2006 against Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and President Josefa IIoilo.
Although some media outlets were perceived as openly supporting the government then, not all relinquished their impartiality, Chaudhary explains.
“Some media organisations decided to follow suit. The one that I worked for, The Fiji Times, committed to remaining an objective and ethical media organisation.
“Everyone who worked there knew that at some point they would face challenges.”
Military impact on sugar industry
During the early days of the coup, Chaudhary was based in Viti Levu’s Western Division in the city of Lautoka, reporting about the impact of the military takeover of the sugar cane industry. It was there that he experienced some of his most severe harassment.
“It was just unfortunate that during the takeover, I was one of the first to face the challenges, simply because I was writing stories about how the sugar cane industry was being affected,” he says.
“I was reporting about how the military takeover was affecting the livelihoods of the people who depend on this industry. There are a lot of people who depend on sugar cane farming, and not necessarily just the farmers.
“I was writing from their perspective.”
A lot of countries, including Australia, in an effort to avoid appearing sympathetic to a government ruling through military dictatorship, turned their backs on Fiji, Chaudhary explains.
“These countries took a stand, and we respect them for that,” he says.
“However, a lot of aid that used to come in started to slow down, and assistance to the sugar industry, from the European Union, didn’t come through.
“The industry was struggling. But the Fijian government tried to maintain that everything was fine as they were in control.
‘Just not sustainable’
“It was just not sustainable. They didn’t have the resources to do it, and people were feeling the impact. This was around 2009. The military had been in power since 2006.”
Chaudhary chose to focus his writing on the difficulties faced by the locals: a view that was in direct contention with the military’s agenda.
He experienced a series of threats, including assurances of death if he continued to report on the takeover. His first encounter with the military saw him seized, driven to an unknown location, and physically assaulted.
Chaudhary soon realised this was not an isolated case and the threats on his life were far from empty.
“Other people, in addition to journalists, were taken into custody for many reasons. Some ended up dead after being beaten up. That’s when I knew that could happen to me,” he says.
“I figured I’d just continue to try and be as safe as possible.”
Chaudhary was later again abducted, threatened, and locked in a cell. No reason was given, no charges were laid, and he was repeatedly told that he might never leave.
Aware of military tactics
Having served in the Fiji military in 1987–1988, Chaudhary was aware of common military tactics, and knew what these personnel were capable of. Former army colleagues had also tried to warn him of the danger he was in.
“When I was taken in by the military, I was visited by two of my former colleagues. They told me if I didn’t stop, something was going to happen,” he says.
“That set the tone. It reminded me that I needed to be more careful.”
On another occasion, military personnel entered The Fiji Times offices and proceeded to forcefully arrest both Chaudhary, and his wife, the newspaper’s current chief-of-staff, Margaret Wise.
“The military entered the newsroom while we were both at work, demanded our phones and attacked [Margaret] physically. I came to her defence, and I was also attacked. These threats were not only to me, but to her as well.”
Chaudhary admires Margaret Wise’s incredible tenacity.
“She’s a very strong woman. Any other person might have wanted to run away from it all, but we both knew we had a responsibility to be the voice for those that didn’t have one,” he says.
Dictatorships have a ‘limited lifespan’
“She also knew that governments come and go, and that dictatorships only have a limited lifespan. On the other hand, media organisations have been here for decades, in our case, a century and a half. We knew we had to get through it.”
The pair supported each other and decided to restrict their social life in an effort to protect not only themselves, but their families as well.
Looking back, Chaudhary acknowledges the danger of that period, and questions whether he would have done the same thing again, if presented with a similar situation.
“I think I might have changed the way that I did things if I had thought about the livelihoods of the people working for The Fiji Times,” he says.
“I didn’t think about that at the time. Some people might say that was a bit reckless, and maybe it was.
“I kept thinking about my family, but then you have to think about the other families as well. Sometimes you have to make a stand for what is right, no matter what the consequences are.
“People think that’s bravery. It’s not really. It’s just doing what is right, and I’m glad I’m here today.
“I have a lot of respect for other people who went through what I went through and are still alive to tell the tale.”
Chaudhary maintains that anyone in a similar situation would do the same.
“What I do know is everybody, regardless of who they are, has the wanting to do what is right. And I think if presented with this sort of situation, people would take a stand,” he says.
Fiji TV dealing with harassment
Although journalists continue to experience incidents of harassment, the form of harassment has changed, with women often receiving the worst of it, Chaudhary explains.
“Harassment now is different. Back then, they had a licence to harass you, and your policies meant nothing, because they had the backing of the military,” he says.
“Nowadays, harassment is different in the sense that there is a lot of male leaders who feel like they have the right to speak to females however they want.”
Chaudhary, through his position at Fiji TV, has used his past experiences to shape the way he deals with cases of harassment, and especially when his female journalists are targeted.
“For us at Fiji TV, it’s about empowering the female journalists to be able to face these situations in a diplomatic way. They don’t take things personally, even if the attack is verbal and personal,” he says.
“Our journalists have to understand that these individuals are acting this way because the questions being asked are difficult ones.
“I’ve tried to make changes in the way they ask their questions. They are told not to lead with the difficult questions. You ask the more positive questions and set them in a good mood, and then move to the more difficult questions.
“The way you frame the questions has a lot to do with it as well.
“When the females ask, especially these sources get personal, they use gender as a way to not answer the question and just deflect it. So, now we have to be a bit more creative in how we ask.”
Things are improving
Nevertheless, Chaudhary maintains that things are improving, citing the professionalism of his female journalists.
“We are able to break a lot of stories, and it’s the female journalists doing it,” he says.
“They are facing this new era with this new government with the hope that things are more open and transparent.
The 2022 Fiji research report ‘Prevalence and Impact of Sexual Harassment on Female Journalists’. Image: Screenshot APR
“I’m really blessed to have four women who are very strong. They understand the need to be diplomatic, but they also understand the need to get answers to the questions that need to be asked.
“They are kind of on their own, with a little bit of guidance from me. We worked out how to handle harassment, and how to get the answers. They have kind of done it on their own.”
While asking the tough questions may be a daunting exercise, it is imperative if Fiji is to avoid making the same mistakes, Chaudhary explains.
“I think for me now, it’s just about sharing what happened in the past, and getting them to understand that if we don’t ask the right questions now, we could have a situation similar to that of the last 16 years.
“This could happen if we don’t hold the current government to account, and don’t ask the hard questions now.”
Fiji’s proposal to end sexual harassment
A 2022 research report, ‘Prevalence and Impact of Sexual Harassment on Female Journalists’, revealed that more than 80 per cent of Fijian female journalists have experienced physical, verbal and online sexual harassment during the course of their work.
The report by The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme and Fiji Women’s Rights Movement also proposes numerous solutions that prioritise the safety and wellbeing of female journalists.
Acknowledging the report’s good intentions, Chaudhary argues that it hasn’t created any substantial change due to long-standing Fijian culture and social norms.
“The report was, for many people, an eye opener. For me, it wasn’t,” he says.
“Unfortunately, I work alongside some people who hold the view that because they have been in the industry for some time, they can speak to females however they want.
“There wasn’t necessarily any physical harassment, but in Fiji, we have a lot of spoken sexual innuendo.
“We have a relationship among Fijians and the indigenous community where if I’m from a certain village, or part of the country and you are from another, we are allowed to engage in colourful conversation.
“It’s part of the tradition and culture. It’s just unfortunate that that culture and tradition has also found its way into workplaces, and the media industry. So that was often the excuse given in the newsroom.
Excuse that was used
“Many say, ‘I didn’t mean that. I said it because she’s from this village, and I’m from there, so I’m allowed to.’ The intent may have been deeper than that, but that was the excuse that was used,” he says.
Chaudhary believes that the report should have sparked palpable policy change in newsrooms.
“It should have translated into engagement with different heads of newsrooms to develop policies or regulations within the organisation, aimed at addressing those issues specifically. This would ensure that young women do not enter a workplace where that culture exists.
“So, we have a report, which is great, but it didn’t turn into anything tangible that would benefit organisations.
“This should have been taken on board by government and by the different organisations to develop those policies and systems in order to change the culture because the culture still exists,” he says.
Maxim Bockis a student journalist from the Queensland University of Technology who travelled to Fiji with the support of the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme. Published in partnership with QUT.
The Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency has provided a vital training opportunity for journalists at the Vanuatu Daily Post.
Last week, 12 reporters participated in a training session held at the Daily Post where AAP offered free access to its website and platforms, marking a significant step in enhancing global news reporting.
AAP’s international development lead Delia Obst outlined the importance of this initiative.
“AAP is Australia’s independent national newswire service that provides trusted reporting, images, and video to hundreds of media outlets in Australia and internationally,” she said.
“On this trip, we are also training newsrooms in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. We are in Vanuatu to train reporters from the Vanuatu Daily Post and Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC) on how to access and use AAP’s content, which we hope will support their work and be a great source of regional news.
“This is part of the AAP Pacific News Initiative, which is funded by the Australian government and implemented by AAP.
“We are excited to build a partnership with Vanuatu’s only daily newspaper.”
Wider global coverage
The new access to AAP’s platforms is expected to benefit Daily Post, enabling coverage of press releases and events they cannot attend, such as government official visits abroad and sports events.
AAP’s website features allow users to select their interest topics or stories, providing real-time updates via email notifications whenever relevant news is published, this ensures that Daily Post reporters can stay updated on important stories and coverage.
Filing a query on the platform usually results in a response within approximately 15 minutes, provided AAP is covering the event and time zone differences are considered.
This quick response time is especially valuable for Daily Post‘s newsroom, which places high importance on timely and accurate news delivery.
Sports reporter Vourie Molivakoro expressed her gratitude for joining the AAP platform.
She is eager to use this platform to bring in-depth coverage and insightful reporting to her audience, highlighting the performances and stories of athletes on the global stage.
“With limited resources for obtaining news abroad, the Daily Post sports team can now obtain news and share it with its audiences across the country and region as a whole,” she said.
Clifton Kisselis a Vanuatu Daily Post reporter. Republished with permission.
New York, August 6, 2024—The Afghan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) suspended 17 broadcast licenses for 14 media outlets on July 22 in eastern Nangarhar, one of Afghanistan’s most populous provinces.
“Taliban officials must immediately reverse their decision to suspend the broadcast licenses of 14 active media outlets in Nangarhar province that collectively reach millions of people,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “The Taliban continues to exert pressure on media outlets to control their programming and broadcasting operations in Afghanistan. They must cease these tactics and allow the independent media to operate freely.”
The order also stipulated that the outlets must renew their licenses and pay any outstanding fees or risk having all the outlet’s licenses revoked, according to CPJ’s review of the order, the exiled Afghanistan Journalists Center watchdog group, and a journalist who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity.
ATRA is a regulatory body that operates as part of the Taliban’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Democracy can be considered a commodity with multitude of varieties. Each elite ruling class claims theirs is the best suitable for its people, and thus imposes it on them. Mind you, not pure democracy — government of the people, by the people, for the people” — because that would amount to nothing less than socialism. The “democracy” that countries profess to practice is nothing but an interpretation of the ruling class in those countries with the aim to control its general populace.
India has Modi-cracy where one man, Narendra Modi, is running the show. A year ago, he boasted: “India is the mother of democracy.” If India is the mother of democracy, then Modi must be the illegitimate father of democracy who was till last month busy Hindu-izing the country. (He did not get a simple majority in the June 2024 elections, so his Hindu-ization project has slowed down, but it remains doubtful he’ll give up so easily. He could instigate a war with Pakistan, declare an emergency, and assume extraordinaire power. Never underestimate the power of elected fascists.)
England has monacracy and the taxpayers bear the burden of monarchy which can’t be called a true democracy.
The United States has oligacracy where a small group of extremely wealthy people decide the fate of more than 335 million common people in the name of democracy. Biden could fight the proxy war against Russia or support the genocide of Palestinians and nothing changes; but he loses a debate against Trump and the wealthy halt $90 million in donations.
Military Power
Then there is Pakistan’s militocracy. The military has ruled that country, directly or indirectly, for most of that nation’s existence. When the military favors a politician, that person becomes the prime minister but has to be subservient because the rein (important portfolios such as foreign policy, defense, etc.) is always determined by the military. When the premier tries to control the entire government machinery, that person is deposed and could be sent to prison. Politicians are at the army’s mercy.
The Pakistan military and governments constantly plead and beg the IMF, Saudi rulers, and UAE rulers for a billion dollars or more.
The 2018 election saw cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party become the Prime Minister, with the military’s blessing . But when Khan tried to do things his own way, a vote of no-confidence was engineered and Khan was ousted in 2022. At present, he’s in jail with over 100 cases registered against him. Even when a case is dismissed, police or some agency person issues another arrest warrant and he gets re-arrested. Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and some PTI members are entangled in this vicious cycle.
After more than a year in various prisons all over Pakistan, Sanam Javed of PTI was released on July 10, 2024 by the Lahore High Court (in Punjab province) but soon after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested her and took her to Islamabad. On July 14, she was let go but was re-arrested by the police of Balochistan. She was freed on July 15 by the Islamabad High Court which restrained police from arresting her till July 18. The IHC justice asked her to “avoid unnecessary rhetoric” or else the court would reverse its order. In other words, keep your mouth shut. Her lawyer guaranteed that she would refrain from such language. On June 18, the IHC considered her arrest to be illegal and she was set free. Immediately, the Punjab government challenged IHC verdict.
While in power, Khan had visited Russia the day it had launched the special military operation into Ukraine. Khan was also critical of the US. The US is never too busy not to interfere in other countries’ affairs. David Lu, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, asked Pakistan’s then ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, to get rid of Khan.
The army’s open hostility and its tactics to break up Khan’s party PTI by levying various charges and arresting and re-arresting PTI members, including Khan, saw Khan’s supporters out on the streets on May 9, 2023; they did some damage to military installations. The army in response, came up with an event called Youm-e-Takreem Shuhada-e-Pakistan or Martyrs’ Reverence Day to be celebrated on May 25 every year to remember the soldiers who lose their lives while serving.
Seven and a half months after Khan was ousted, in November 2022, the retiring army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa conceded the army’s meddling in politics.
“This is why in February last year [2021] the army, after great deliberation, decided that it would never interfere in any political matter. I assure you we are strictly adamant on this and will remain so.”
One wonders why leaders accept their lies and mistakes, or talk peace and the danger of military-industrial complex, etc only when they’re leaving or have left. Bajwa was lying.
Today, the army is still omnipresent. The current army Chief Asim Munir meets with the business community, invites winning athletes, issues regular statements, and so on. The current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took over power after military approval. His older brother and former three-incomplete-term prime minister Nawaz Sharif came back from exile with military’s approval.
Disappearing Critics
The intelligence agencies in Pakistan such as MI (Military Intelligence), IB (Intelligence Bureau), ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), etc. take care of the critics — journalists and common people — who write, speak, or protest against the military interference in government affairs.
Sometimes they are abducted, tortured, and then released. Other times they are killed with no clues left.
In 2011, the Islamabad Bureau Chief of Asia Times,Syed Saleem Shahzad was tortured and murdered. News anchor and journalist Arshad Sharif, a critic of military, was shot dead in 2022, by police in Nairobi, Kenya. In May 2024, four journalists were murdered. Since 1992, more than 60 journalists have lost their lives. Then there are those who have disappeared and never reappeared. In many instances, the victims are harassed and blackmailed, their phones are tapped, and they are detained illegally. The agencies never issue any kind of statement because that would be tantamount to accepting guilt.
Then there is the Pakistani province of Balochistan — a vast land mass with the smallest population that is underdeveloped and ignored by governments. This has caused resentment among the Balochis that has resulted in insurgency. The first six months of 2024 saw 197 persons missing — most of them Balochis. On July 28, three persons died and eight were injured during a clash between Balochistan Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and security forces. People from the province overcame roadblocks set up by the authorities and met at Gwader’s Marine Drive for the Baloch Rajee Muchi (Baloch National Gathering). BYC leader Dr Mahrang Baloch asked security officials to free the apprehended protestors. She proclaimed:
On the night of May 14, 2024, the Kashmiri poet, journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah was kidnapped by four men outside his home while returning from a dinner. A petition from his family was filed with Islamabad High Court (IHC) saying that Shah was abducted for his criticism of ISI. According to his wife, Syeda Urooj Zainab, the agencies felt that Shah was a PTI and Imran Khan supporter, so they were after him. Zainab refutes that impression and says he has also supported PML-N when it was under pressure by the Pakistan’s military. One of the judges at IHC, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, initiated an enquiry and ordered that Shah be found and produced before the court. Two weeks later, it was reported that he was in police custody. But then the federal government asked the IHC on June 1 to close the case. On June 4, his bail was rejected by an anti-terrorism court in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Critics are treated as terrorists! Since then, there has been no news on Shah, it is doubtful if they’ve found him.
Ahmed Farhad Shah is a poet whose poems are critical of the army. Here is the translation of one of his poems originally written in Hindi/Urdu.
he thinks of his own freewill
he thinks of his own freewill, pick him up
he’s somewhat different than our henchmen, pick him up
the arrogant ones we abducted before him, pick him up
he’s is enquiring about them, pick him up
he was clearly ordered what to speak and what not to, but he speaks his own mind, pick him up
the minions whom we honored with positions and rewards, he’s laughing at those clever souls, pick him up
he questions why there’s peace and security problem, he is the peace and security problem, pick him up*
he was told to see only what we show him, but he uses his own discretion, pick him up
this lunatic is questioning extent of our power, he has crossed the line, pick him up
* Farhad reminds his audience that just for raising the question of peace and security, fifty people were imprisoned.
People accused under Papua New Guinea’s Cybercrime Code Act may not always find free speech protection offered by the Constitution.
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that this law does not contravene the provisions of Section 46 which provides for freedom of expression.
The decision is a serious warning to offending users of social media and the internet that they might find themselves with fines of up to K1 million (NZ$430,000), or jail terms of between 15 and 25 years.
A Supreme Court panel comprising Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika and Justices Les Gavara-Nanu, David Cannings, Kingsley Allen David and Derek Hartshorn made this determination in Waigani on Friday.
The constitutional reference was made by National Court judge Teresa Berrigan during the trial of Kila Aoneka Wari, who was charged with criminal defamation under section 21 (2) of the Cybercrime Code Act 2016.
Judge Berrigan then referred for Supreme Court interpretation on whether Section 21 contravened the Freedom of Expression provision of the National Constitution.
Reading the judgment on behalf of his fellow judges, Sir Gibbs said: “We (Supreme Court) consider there is a clear and present danger to public safety, public order and public welfare if publication of defamatory material by use of electronic systems or devices were allowed to be made without restriction, including by criminal sanction.”
Sir Gibbs said the court had determined that the regulation and restriction of the exercises of the right to freedom of expression imposed by section 21 (2) of the Cybercrime Code is “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society having a proper respect for the rights and dignity of mankind.”
‘Necessary’ for public safety
Sir Gibbs said the court was satisfied that the first, second and third interveners had discharged the burden in showing that section 21 (2) of the Cybercrime Code complied with the three requirements of section 38 (1) of the Constitution in that:
FIRST, it has been made and certified in accordance with section 38 (2) of the Constitution.
SECONDLY, it restricts the exercise of the right to freedom and expression and publication that is “necessary” for the purpose of giving effect to the public interest in public safety, public order and public welfare; and
THIRDLY, it is a law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society having a proper respect to the rights and dignity of mankind.
“We conclude that no, section 21 (2) of the Cybercrime Code Act is not invalid. Although it (Cybercrime Code Act) restricts the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and publication in section 46 of the Constitution it is a law that complies with Section 38 of the Constitution and the restriction it imposes is permissible under section 46 (1) (C) of the Constitution.
The questions that Justice Berrigan referred to the Supreme Court were:
DOES section 21(2) of the cybercrime Code Act regulate or restrict the right of freedom of expression and publication under section 46 of the Constitution?
IF yes to question 1, does section 21 (2) of the Cybercrime Code Act comply with section 38 of the Constitution?
IS section 21(20 of the Cybercrime Code Act) invalid for being inconsistent with section 46 of the Constitution?
The court answered yes to questions and one and two and answered no to question three.
The court also ordered that each intervener will bear their own costs.
Wari is the fourth intervener in the proceedings.
Others are Attorney-General Pila Niningi (first intervener), acting public prosecutor Raphael Luman (second intervener), Public Solicitor Leslie Mamu (third intervener).
Section 21(2) of the Cybercrime Code Act is the law on defamatory publication.
It makes any defamatory publication using any electronic device as an offence with a penalty of K25,000 to K1 million fine, or imprisonment not exceeding 15 to 25 years.
Boura Goru Kila is a reporter for PNG’s The National. Republished with permission.
EDITORIAL:By Fred Wesley, editor-in-chief of The Fiji Times
Australian constitutional law expert Professor Anthony Regan believes Fiji’s Coalition government came into power “by the skin of its teeth”.
In the face of that, he believes it is not an option to leave the 2013 Constitution “as it is!”
Professor Regan spoke at the Fiji National University’s (FNU) Vice-Chancellor’s Leadership Seminar in Nasinu on Thursday, on “Constitutional Change in Fiji: Looking to the Future”.
He has voiced caution about the stability of the 2013 Constitution.
“Do you leave it as it is now and say it’s too difficult to change? That’s an option,” he said.
“And you might say that’s OK because the new regime is a fair and thoughtful regime and will act only fairly.
“That may be true, but every government is subject to temptations when there are pressures.”
He spoke about what he terms a pretty bad electoral system designed to keep people in power.
The Coalition government got in by the skin of its teeth in the face of that system.
The system, he argued, designed to favour certain parties, increased the risk of a less favourable government gaining power in the future.
And this, he warned, could cause problems in the future.
“There’s no guarantee that a good outcome will come in every future election and then, if a government that had far less good intent came to power, it’s got the authority to do all the things we have talked about.”
These included overriding human rights and stacking accountability institutions.
He believes the recent Parliamentary remuneration debacle has added a new layer of complexity to the challenges we face as a nation.
He believes, with the added majority in the House, it may be possible to get the 75 percent majority needed to amend the constitution.
He has also suggested possible ways to move on reforms.
He suggested amending electoral legislation, and factored in compulsory voting to raise voter turnout and possibly inch out support for constitutional reforms.
Change though, as the good professor notes, will definitely need support and a united front.
That will mean awareness campaigns designed to raise the level of understanding of any need for reforms and encourage participation.
That will mean taking the message out to the masses, and encouraging them to buy into any bid to make changes.
That isn’t going to be a walk in the park either.
Professor Regan’s opinions will no doubt stimulate discussions on this important topic and encourage people to consider whether it is important enough for them to participate.
So we have what he considers a constitution that is vulnerable to potential abuse by future governments if it is left like this.
And in the face of that sits the need for us all to carefully consider what we must do moving forward. We have layers of complexities as we mentioned above, and major challenges that will need careful consideration and discussions!
Republished from The Sunday Times on 4 August 2024 under the original headline “By the skin of its teeth” with permission.
To: The State of Israel, AIPAC and the International Zionist Movement
I write as an American citizen. You have stolen my country, and I want it back.
I did not ask for my country to be complicit in the ongoing genocide and attempted eradication of the people of Gaza and Palestine. I do not want to be complicit in the genocide of anyone. I do not want this crime to stain the name of the United States of America whenever it is spoken for the next century and for all eternity, and to bring shame upon me and my descendants, and to all others who hold American citizenship.
The American people are as yet only partially aware of this crime. This is because you have been very successful in exerting a powerful influence on the media, the government, and other pillars of American society. I’m not saying you have done anything illegal. You may have, but you clearly prefer to use legal means as much as possible. And it is possible. US law allows anyone with the necessary means to own media, and – within very broad limits – to control who gets elected to government office and who gets appointed to other public offices.
For better or worse, this is the American way, and it can be made better or worse than it is. But you have abused and corrupted it. You have strangled the political process so that any candidate who criticizes Israel and opposes aid to Israel cannot be elected, because you control the funding as well as the funders in a system which depends entirely on private campaign funds, and where corporations and other wealthy associations are permitted to participate.
You have also strangled academic freedom to debate or protest Israel on American campuses through control of funding, resulting in harassment and removal of faculty and punishment of students. You have hijacked American film, news organizations, and other media so that only the information and views that you permit are widely available to the public.
You use such influence to pass laws at all levels, requiring allegiance to Israel in order to obtain licenses and permits. You apply censorship to social media to prevent free expression of views, information and opinion that might reflect negatively on Israel. You mobilize posting of libel and slander against persons and businesses that criticize Israel and defend Palestinians and their allies.
Your job, and that of the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, and the global network of sayanim (collaborators) is to assure, by these and any other available means, that Israel dominates all narratives, all public policy and decision making, and that all actions in both the public and private sphere are to the benefit of Israel. You have been enormously successful in capturing almost unlimited military and financial support from the US government, in controlling U.S. government policy, and in shaping American minds to accept and support a massive civilian genocide, including starvation and infection of hundreds of thousands and ultimately probably millions of innocent people.
How can this happen? The American people have spoken and protested in many ways and in large numbers, and polls show that, in spite of your manipulations of US society, a majority of Americans do not support continued aid to Israel, and want an immediate ceasefire. Members of Congress have been deluged with letters, phone calls and email messages.
But part of the system of controlling our government includes your parallel organization of shadow “advisors” or “minders” whose job it is to remain in the face of our elected and appointed officials, and to “recommend” what to say and how to vote, and to provide draft legislation and public announcements that the official can introduce and promote on behalf of Israel. Otherwise, you will threaten to find someone to replace her/him in the next election cycle.
I feel helpless appealing to my members of Congress for anything that you oppose, no matter how many of my fellow citizens might join me. But I now realize that my members of Congress feel the same way. They really don’t have a choice any more than I do. In effect, therefore, they are mere avatars for you and your allies. You are our government.
What can I do about this? I’m not sure, but a start might be to require AIPAC and other actors on behalf of Israel to register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, like all other representatives of foreign governments. Israel is a foreign government, isn’t it? As I recall, that was last tried by Sen. J. William Fulbright’s committee in 1963, but when Lyndon B. Johnson came to the presidency by assassination that year, the option faded. But, of course, it’s never too late.
Second, we can overturn Citizens United, by whatever legal means necessary, if possible. Even better, we can prohibit or severely curtail private financing of elections, overturning Citizens United in the process, but going beyond, to eliminate some of the most obvious sources of public corruption. We can also legislate greater protection for free speech and the press, punish use of private donations to deny free speech and other civil rights, and enact similar measures.
The problem with all such remedies, of course, is how to get them passed by institutions that are already under your corrupt control. I’m not sure I have an answer for that, but someone else might. Because even genocide will not save Israel, which is not defeating – and cannot defeat – Hamas. Perhaps Hamas and its allies will liberate both Palestine and the United States.
The story, published in Tuesday, was referring to the fallout in 1974 from one of the French nuclear tests — 193 were carried out between 1966 and 1996 on the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa — that would have contaminated the main island of Tahiti where the surfing events of the Olympics are currently being held in Teahupo’o.
Reacting to the article, Tony Géros, President of Polynesia’s Territorial Assembly, told public broadcaster Polynésie La Première TV that “just because The New York Times brings up age-old subjects doesn’t mean that today we’re going to question the entire future of the country regarding this matter.
Several sites in the Marshall Islands and a few other sites in the Pacific Ocean were where the US conducted 105 atmospheric and underwater — not underground — nuclear tests between 1946 and 1962.
The US tested a nuclear weapon codenamed Able on Bikini Atoll on 1 July 1946. It was followed by Baker three weeks later on July 25.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ with additional reporting by Asia Pacific Report.
French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson . . . “What would bother me was if this story became a big deal.” Image: Polynésie la 1ère TV screenshot
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
No other world conflict has killed as many journalists in recent memory.
Israel has a long history of violently targeting journalists, so their Gaza kill total is not necessarily surprising.
In fact, a 2023 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report documented a “decades-long pattern” of Israel targeting and killing Palestinian journalists.
Targeted attacks
For example, a Human Rights Watch investigation found that Israel targeted “journalists and media facilities” on four separate occasions in 2012. During the attacks, two journalists were killed, and many others were injured.
In 2019, a United Nations commission found that Israel “intentionally shot” a pair of Palestinian journalists in 2018, killing both.
More recently, in 2022, Israel shot and killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank.
Israel attempted to deny responsibility, as it almost always does after it carries out an atrocity, but video evidence was overwhelming, and Israel was forced to admit guilt.
There have been no consequences for the soldier who fired at Abu Akleh, who had been wearing a press vest and a press helmet, or for the Israelis involved in the other incidents targeting journalists.
CPJ has suggested that Israeli security forces enjoy “almost blanket immunity” in incidents of attacks on journalists.
Given this broader context, Israel’s targeting of journalists during the current genocide is genuinely not surprising, or out of the ordinary.
Relative silence
However, what is truly surprising, and even shocking, is the relative silence of Western journalists.
While there has certainly been some reportage and sympathy in North America and Europe, particularly from watchdog organisations like the CPJ and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), there is little sense of journalistic solidarity, and certainly nothing approaching widespread outrage and uproar about the threat Israel’s actions pose to press freedoms.
Can we imagine for a moment what the Western journalistic reaction might be if Russian forces killed more than 100 journalists in Ukraine in under a year?
Even when Western news outlets have reported on Palestinian journalists killed since the start of the current war, coverage has tended to give Israel the benefit of the doubt, often framing the killings as “unintentional casualties” of modern warfare.
Also, Western journalism’s overwhelming reliance on pro-Israel sources has ensured the avoidance of colourful adjectives and condemnations.
Moreover, overreliance on pro-Israel sources has sometimes made it difficult to determine which party to the conflict was responsible for specific killings.
BREAKING: Al Jazeera “journalist” Ismail al-Ghoul has reportedly been killed in Gaza.
A unique case? One might assume here that Western news outlets have simply been maintaining their devotion to stated Western reporting principles of detachment and neutrality.
But, in other situations, Western journalists have shown that they are indeed capable of making quite a fuss, and also of demonstrating solidarity.
The 2015 killing of 12 Charlie Hebdo journalists and cartoonists provides a useful case in point.
Following that attack, a genuine media spectacle ensued, with seemingly the entire institution of Western journalism united to focus on the event.
Thousands of reports were generated within weeks, a solidarity hashtag (“Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie”) went viral, and statements and sentiments of solidarity poured in from Western journalists, news outlets and organisations dedicated to principles of free speech.
Freedom House issued a similarly harsh commendation, calling the attack “horrific,” and noting that it constituted a “direct threat to the right of freedom of expression”.
PEN America and the British National Secular Society presented awards to Charlie Hebdo and the Guardian Media Group donated a massive sum to the publication.
All journalists threatened
The relative silence and calm of Western journalists over the killing of at least 100 Palestinian journalists in Gaza is especially shocking when one considers the larger context of Israel’s war on journalism, which threatens all journalists.
In October, around the time the current war began, Israel told Western news agencies that it would not guarantee the safety of journalists entering Gaza.
Ever since, Israel has maintained a ban on international journalists, even working to prevent them from entering Gaza during a brief November 2023 pause in fighting.
More importantly, perhaps, Israel has used its sway in the West to direct and control Western news narratives about the war.
Western news outlets have often obediently complied with Israeli manipulation tactics.
For example, as global outrage was mounting against Israel in December 2023, Israel put out false reports of mass, systematic rape against Israeli women by Palestinian fighters on October 7.
Western news outlets, including The New York Times, were suckered in. They downplayed the growing outrage against Israel and began prominently highlighting the “systematic rape” story.
ICJ provisional measures
Later, in January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisional measures against Israel.
Israel responded almost immediately by issuing absurd terrorism accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
Western news outlets downplayed the provisional measures story, which was highly critical of Israel, and spotlighted the allegations against UNRWA, which painted Palestinians in a negative light.
These and other examples of Israeli manipulation of Western news narratives are part of a broader pattern of influence that predates the current war.
One empirical study found that Israel routinely times attacks, especially those likely to kill Palestinian civilians, in ways that ensure they will be ignored or downplayed by US news media.
During the current genocide, Western news organisations have also tended to ignore the broad pattern of censorship of pro-Palestine content on social media, a fact which should concern anyone interested in freedom of expression.
It’s easy to point to a handful of Western news reports and investigations which have been critical of some Israeli actions during the current genocide.
But these reports have been lost in a sea of acquiescence to Israeli narratives and overall pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian framing.
Several studies, including analyses by the Centre for Media Monitoring and the Intercept, demonstrated overwhelming evidence of pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian framing in Western news reportage of the current war.
Is Western journalism dead? Many journalists in the United States and Europe position themselves as truth-tellers, critical of power, and watchdogs.
While they acknowledge mistakes in reporting, journalists often see themselves and their news organisations as appropriately striving for fairness, accuracy, comprehensiveness, balance, neutrality and detachment.
But this is the great myth of Western journalism.
A large body of scholarly literature suggests that Western news outlets do not come close to living up to their stated principles.
Israel’s war on Gaza has further exposed news outlets as fraudulent.
With few exceptions, news outlets in North America and Europe have abandoned their stated principles and failed to support Palestinian colleagues being targeted and killed en masse.
Amid such spectacular failure and the extensive research indicating that Western news outlets fall well short of their ideals, we must ask whether it is useful to continue to maintain the myth of the Western journalistic ideal.
Is Western journalism, as envisioned, dead?
Mohamad Elmasry is professor in the Media Studies programme at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar. Republished from Al Jazeera.
President Biden — if you feel like pretending Biden is still serving as President and still making the decisions in the White House — has pledged to support Israel against any retaliations for its recent assassination spree in Iran and Lebanon which killed high-profile officials from Hamas and Hezbollah.
A White House statement asserts that Biden spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday and “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” and “discussed efforts to support Israel’s defence against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive US military deployments.”
Hilariously, the statement also claims that “the President stressed the importance of ongoing efforts to de-escalate broader tensions in the region.”
Yep, nothing emphasises the importance of de-escalating broader tensions in the region like pledging unconditional military support for the region’s single most belligerent actor no matter how reckless and insane its aggressions become.
This statement from the White House echoes comments from Secretary of “Defence” Lloyd Austin a day earlier, who said “We certainly will help defend Israel” should a wider war break out as a result of Israel’s assassination strikes.
Biden promises Netanyahu the U.S. will defend Israel from any reprisal attacks pic.twitter.com/9meq2hTBmq
All this babbling about “defending” the state of Israel is intended to convey the false impression that Israel has just been sitting there minding its own business, and is about to suffer unprovoked attacks from hostile aggressors for some unfathomable reason.
As though detonating military explosives in the capital cities of two nations to conduct political assassinations would not be seen as an extreme act of war in need of a violent response by literally all governments on this planet.
Helping Israeli attacks
In reality, the US isn’t vowing to defend the state of Israel, the US is vowing to help Israel attack other countries.
If you’re pledging unconditional support to an extremely belligerent aggressor while it commits the most demented acts of aggression imaginable, all you’re doing is condoning those acts of aggression and making sure it will suffer no consequences when it conducts more of them.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has reiterated its calls for Israeli forces “to minimize the impact of military operations on civilians in Gaza and to end the killing of journalists.”
Washington’s position is made even more absurd after all the hysterical shrieking and garment-rending from the Washington establishment following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Israel murdered the leader of the Hamas political bureau, not a military commander, and he was the primary negotiator in the mediated ceasefire talks with Israel.
This was a political assassination just like a successful attempt on Trump’s life would have been, but probably a lot more consequential. And yet the only response from Washington has been to announce that it will help Israel continue its incendiary brinkmanship throughout the Middle East.
Washington swamp monsters talk all the time about their desire to promote “peace and stability in the Middle East”, while simultaneously pledging loyalty and support for a Middle Eastern nation whose actions pose a greater obstacle to peace and stability in the region than any other.
These contradictions are becoming more and more glaring and apparent before the entire world.
Pacific Journalism Review (PJR) began life three decades ago in Papua New Guinea and recently celebrated a remarkable milestone in Fiji with its 30th anniversary edition and its 47th issue.
Remarkable because it is the longest surviving Antipodean media, journalism and development journal published in the Global South. It is also remarkable because at its birthday event held in early July at the Pacific International Media Conference, no fewer than two cabinet ministers were present — from Fiji and Papua New Guinea — in spite of the journal’s long track record of truth-to-power criticism.
Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad, a former economics professor at The University of the South Pacific (USP) and a champion of free media, singled out the journal for praise at the event, which was also the occasion of the launch of a landmark new book. As co-editor of Waves of Change: Media, Peace, and Development in the Pacific with Shailendra Singh and Amit Sarwal, Prasad says the book aimed to analyse recent developments in the Pacific because if sustainable peace and stability remain elusive in the region then long-term development is impeded.
Papua New Guinea’s Information and Communication Technologies Minister Timothy Masiu, who has faced criticism over a controversial draft media policy (now in its fifth version), joined the discussion, expressing concerns about geopolitical agendas impacting on the media and arguing in favour of “a way forward for a truly independent and authentic Pacific media”.
Since its establishment in 1994, the PJR has been far more than a research journal. As an independent publication, it has given strong support to Asia-Pacific investigative journalism, socio-political journalism, political-economy perspectives on the media, photojournalism and political cartooning in its three decades of publication. Its ethos declared:
While one objective of Pacific Journalism Review is research into Pacific journalism theory and practice, the journal has also expanding its interest into new areas of research and inquiry that reflect the broader impact of contemporary media practice and education.
A particular focus is on the cultural politics of the media, including the following issues: new media and social movements, indigenous cultures in the age of globalisation, the politics of tourism and development, the role of the media and the formation of national identity and the cultural influence of Aotearoa New Zealand as a branch of the global economy within the Pacific region.
It also has a special interest in climate change, environmental and development studies in the media and communication and vernacular media in the region.
PJR has also been an advocate of journalism practice-as-research methodologies and strategies, as demonstrated especially in its Frontline section, initiated by one of the mentoring co-editors, former University of Technology Sydney professor and investigative journalist Wendy Bacon, and also developed by retired Monash University Professor Chris Nash. Five of the current editorial board members were at the 30th birthday event: Griffith University’s Professor Mark Pearson; USP’s Associate Professor Shailendra Singh, the conference convenor; Auckland University of Technology’s Khairiah Abdul Rahman; designer Del Abcede; and current editor Dr Philip Cass.
The cover of the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review. Image: PJR
As the founding editor of PJR, I must acknowledge the Australian Journalism Review which is almost double the age of PJR, because this is where I first got the inspiration for establishing the journal. While I was head of journalism at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1993, I was really frustrated at the lack of quality Pacific-specific media and journalism literature and research to draw on as resources for both critical studies and practice-led education.
So I looked longingly at AJR, and also contributed to it. I turned to the London-based Index on Censorship as another publication to emulate. And I thought, why not? We can do that in the Pacific and so I persuaded the University of Papua New Guinea Press to come on board and published the first edition at the derelict campus printer in Waigani in 1994.
We published there until 1998 when PJR moved to USP for five years. Then it was published for 18 years at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), mostly through the Pacific Media Centre, which closed in 2020. Since then it has been published by the nonprofit NGO Asia Pacific Media Network.
When celebrating the 20th anniversary of the journal at AUT in 2014, then AJR editor professor Ian Richards noted the journal’s “dogged perseverance” and contribution to Oceania research declaring:
Today, PJR plays a vital role publishing research from and about this part of the world. This is important for a number of reasons, not least because most academics ground their work in situations with which they are most familiar, and this frequently produces articles which are extremely local. If “local” means London or Paris or New York, then it’s much easier to present your work as “international” than if you live in Port Vila of Pago Pago, Auckland or Adelaide.
Also in 2014, analyst Dr Lee Duffield highlighted the critical role of PJR during the years of military rule and “blatant military censorship” in Fiji, which has eased since the repeal of its draconian Media Industry Development Act in 2023. He remarked:
The same is true of PJR’s agenda-setting in regard to crises elsewhere: jailing of journalists in Tonga, threatened or actual media controls in Tahiti or PNG, bashing of an editor in Vanuatu by a senior government politician, threats also against the media in Solomon Islands, and reporting restrictions in Samoa.
Fiji’s Deputy PM Professor Biman Prasad (sixth from left) and PNG’s Communications Minister Timothy Masiu (third from right) at the launch of the 30th anniversary edition of PJR in Suva, Fiji. Image: Khairiah Rahman/APMN
At the 30th anniversary launch, USP’s Adjunct Professor in development studies and governance Dr Vijay Naidu complimented the journal on the wide range of topics covered by its more than 1,100 research articles. He said the journal had established itself as a critical conscience with respect to Asia-Pacific socio-political and development dilemmas, and looked forward to the journal meeting future challenges.
I outlined many of those future challenges in a recent interview with Global Voices correspondent Mong Palatino. Issues that have become more pressing for the journal include responding to the changing geopolitical realities in the Pacific and collaborating even more creatively and closely on development, the climate crisis, and unresolved decolonisation issues with the region’s journalists, educators and advocates. To address these challenges, the PJR team have been working on an innovative new publishing strategy over the past few months.
View the latest Pacific Journalism Review: Gaza, genocide and media – PJR 30 years on, special double edition. The journal is indexed by global research databases such as Informit and Ebsco, but it is also available via open access for a Pacific audience here.
This article is republished from ANU’s Devpolicy Blog. Dr David Robie is founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review, former director of the Pacific Media Centre, and previously a head of journalism at both the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of the South Pacific.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been spotted in state media leading flood relief efforts after heavy rains caused the Yalu River to swell, inundating sections of nearby towns, residents in North Korea and China told Radio Free Asia.
More than 5,000 people who were stranded by the floodwaters were saved by on-site instructions relayed by Kim, the state-run Korea Central News Agency reported, complete with photos showing him leading the rescue effort.
The South Korean government said that there was a high possibility of casualties given that North Korea was reporting about the rescue effort in such detail.
Some of the residents were trapped when they did not heed warnings to evacuate and stayed in their homes, residents said. Meanwhile, North Koreans who have been dispatched to work in China are being forced to donate to a flood relief fund from their pay.
A resident who requested for security reasons only to be identified as living near the Yalu, told RFA Korean that residents in and around Hyesan, in the northern province of Ryanggang, were facing “life threatening” moments since the river’s waters began to overflow.
A view of a flooded area near the country’s border with China, which has been hit by heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Gaemi, in North Pyongan Province, North Korea, July 28, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)
“The water level of the Yalu River fluctuated by up to two meters (more than 6 feet) within an hour,” he said, adding that a vehicle equipped with a loudspeaker went from village to village along the river, instructing people to urgently move to higher ground.
“Despite this, the residents just stood on the levee of the Yalu River, unsure of what to do, and did not evacuate,” the resident said.
Most did not want to evacuate because they did not want to leave their belongings behind for opportunistic thieves, he said.
“The area around the Yalu River has high property prices, and people with a higher standard of living in Hyesan City reside there,” he said. “Because they could not suddenly move their expensive belongings, such as refrigerators, televisions, and sewing machines, they were unable to evacuate despite knowing the danger.”
He said that most North Koreans cannot afford things like televisions and sewing machines even after working hard for decades.
“If the house was left empty, thieves would rush in and steal all the property in an instant, so the people felt they could not evacuate even when the water rose.”
The Yalu floods have also affected Dandong, China, which lies across the river from North Korea’s Sinuiju, a resident in Dandong told RFA, on condition of anonymity for personal safety.
“The Yalu River overflowed, causing water to rise up to sidewalks in Dandong,” she said. “On the other side of the river in Sinuiju, North Korean soldiers were stacking sandbags all day.”
An island in the river located 2 kms (1.24 miles) upstream from Sinuiju was submerged according to reports.
Relief payments
When the flooding began, the North Korean government began asking workers it dispatched to China to donate to relief efforts. But just one day later, the government stopped asking and ordered them to donate, residents in China said.
According to a report by the UN Expert Group on North Korea Sanctions published early this year, there are about 100,000 North Korean workers in over 40 countries, but mostly in China and Russia. Their presence is a violation of UN sanctions that required all dispatched workers to return to North Korea by the end of 2019 with no new worker visas issued.
North Korea has been known to get around sanctions by sending the workers on student or tourist visas.
“An order to raise funds for flood recovery was issued today at the Dandong Branch of the Consulate General in Shenyang,” a resident of Dandong told RFA on condition of anonymity for personal safety.
He said that news reports showing Kim Jong Un leading rescue efforts kept coming in to companies in Dandong, so they convened an emergency meeting for each work unit and ordered them to contribute to the relief effort personally.
“However, most of the workers dispatched to China were passive about providing financial support, even though they were saddened by the reality of their country suffering from heavy flood damage,” he said. “Through the meeting, some workers decided to donate 10 yuan (US$1.30) from their monthly salary, while others decided to donate up to 30 yuan ($4.15).”
The purpose of their being overseas is to raise foreign currency for the cash-strapped government, so they are already forced to donate the lion’s share, and are paid only a fraction. To have to donate even more increases their hardship, the Dandong resident said.
“The reason North Korean workers are reluctant to participate in support projects is because it is difficult to live on only 300 yuan ($41.50) each month,” he said. “They’re out here saying that flood recovery should be something that the government should take care of.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks up an embankment towards a train during a visit to a flood-affected area near the border with China, in North Pyongan Province, North Korea, in this undated photo released July 31, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)
A Chinese citizen of Korean descent in Dandong said that the North Korean consulate in Shenyang later required that each worker donate 200 yuan ($27).
“Workers were initially expected to contribute 10 yuan ($1.38) each, with officials donating 50 yuan ($6.92),” he said. “When this failed to raise the necessary amount, they upped it to 200 yuan.”
He said the workers are angered that they are being made to donate so much.
“It is unfortunate that three days of heavy rain led to flood damage, but the people are complaining, wondering if they will lose all of their already tiny salary.”
Translated by Leejin J. Chung and Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Moon Sung Hui, Jamin Anderson, Kim Jieun and Son Hyemin for RFA Korean.
Media publisher NZME has come under fire for admitting it used artificial intelligence to create editorials that ran in the Weekend Herald and other publications, with a media commentator saying it “can only damage trust”.
A statement from NZME editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness said AI was used in a way that fell short of its standards and “more journalistic rigour would have been beneficial”.
NZME’s standards don’t mandate disclosure but do say stories should be attributed to “the author and/or the creator/provider of the material” in accordance with the company’s Code of Ethics.
A co-author of the annual AUT Trust in News report, Dr Greg Treadwell, told Midday Report it was a poor experiment in AI use.
“I think New Zealanders have to be realistic about the fact AI is going to work its way into the production of news, but I think the Herald has kind of admitted this was a pretty poor experiment in it for a number of reasons, I think.”
Treadwell said the role of the editorial in any major news publication was to be an opinion leader.
‘Not world-shattering’
“I don’t know how many of your readers have actually gone back to have a look at the editorial that the Herald published, but it was sort of a generalist round-up of the arguments for and against Reiko Ioane at centre in the All Blacks back line — not a world-shattering issue, but a really good example of how AI doesn’t really, can’t really do what an editorial should do, which is to take a position on something.
“If you ask it to take a position, it will, and if you ask it to take another position, it will take that position.
“What is lacking here, even if you ask [AI] to take positions, is the original argument we would look to our senior journalists to put into the public domain for us about important issues.”
The editorial in the Weekend Herald on 20 July 2024. Image: Weekend Herald/NZME/RNZ
Public trust in the media was falling and media companies needed to reassure the public it could be trusted, he said.
“When the public hears that AI is being used in places — and perhaps most importantly here is that it wasn’t acknowledged that was being used to create this editorial — then that can only damage trust.
“I think there’s a lot of issues here including that AI can be incredibly useful for data analysis and other things in journalism, but we just have to be incredibly transparent about how we’re using it.”
‘Another world first’
Former Herald editor-in-chief and prominent media commentator Tim Murphy joked on social media the editorial may “have achieved another world first for NZ”.
On the upside, this has got to have achieved another world first for NZ https://t.co/e6UvHMRwXg
The revelation was also panned by some competitor publications, with the National Business Review’s official X account noting that “NBR journalists are intelligent. Not artificial.”
RNZ also approached New Zealand Rugby to ask their thoughts on NZME using AI to analyse the All Black team selection.
In a statement, NZR said it recognised the need for media organisations to have well-established editorial policies and standards.
“These ensure high quality sports journalism and play an important role in telling rugby’s stories.
“NZR is satisfied that the New Zealand Herald has made the appropriate steps to amend the story in question.”
“The Herald and other NZME publications use AI to improve our journalism. In some cases, we also create stories entirely using AI tools,” says an explanatory article headlined NZME, NZ Herald and our use of AI.
“We believe that smart use of AI allows us to publish better journalism. We remain committed to our Code of Ethics and to the integrity of our journalism, regardless of whether or not we use AI tools to help with the production or processing of articles.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi have been killed in an Israeli air attack on the Gaza Strip, reports Al Jazeera.
The reporters were killed when their car was hit on Wednesday in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, according to initial information.
They were in the area to report from near the Gaza house of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday in Iran’s capital, Tehran, in an attack the group has blamed on Israel.
Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, reporting from Gaza, was at the hospital where the bodies of his two colleagues were brought.
“Ismail was conveying the suffering of the displaced Palestinians and the suffering of the wounded and the massacres committed by the [Israeli] occupation against the innocent people in Gaza,” he said.
“The feeling — no words can describe what happened.”
Al Jazeera journalist and cameraman killed in Israeli attack on Gaza. Video: Al Jazeera
Ismail and Rami were wearing media vests and there were identifying signs on their car when they were attacked. They had last contacted their news desk 15 minutes before the strike.
During the call, they had reported a strike on a house near to where they were reporting and were told to leave immediately. They did, and were traveling to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital when they were killed.
There was no immediate comment by Israel, which has previously denied targeting journalists in its 10-month war on Gaza, which has killed at least 39,445 people, the vast majority of whom were children and women.
In a statement, Al Jazeera Media Network called the killings a “targeted assassination” by Israeli forces and pledged to “pursue all legal actions to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes”.
“This latest attack on Al Jazeera journalists is part of a systematic targeting campaign against the network’s journalists and their families since October 2023,” the network said.
According to preliminary figures by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 111 journalists and media workers are among those killed since the start of the war on October 7. The Gaza government media office has put the figure at 165 Palestinian journalists killed since the war began.
Mohamed Moawad, Al Jazeera Arabic managing editor, said the Qatar-based network’s journalists were killed on Wednesday as they were “courageously covering the events in northern Gaza”.
Ismail was renowned for his professionalism and dedication, bringing the world’s attention to the suffering and atrocities committed in Gaza, especially at al-Shifa Hospital and the northern neighbourhoods of the besieged enclave.
His wife has been living in a camp for internally displaced people in central Gaza and had not seen her husband for months. He is also survived by a young daughter.
Both Ismail and Rami were born in 1997.
“Without Ismail, the world would not have seen the devastating images of these massacres,” Moawad wrote on X, adding that al-Ghoul “relentlessly covered the events and delivered the reality of Gaza to the world through Al Jazeera”.
“His voice has now been silenced, and there is no longer a need to call out to the world Ismail fulfilled his mission to his people and his homeland,” Moawad said. “Shame on those who have failed the civilians, journalists, and humanity.”
String of journalist killings The killings on Wednesday bring the total number of Al Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war to four.
In December, Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abudaqa was killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis. Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, was also wounded in that attack.
Dadouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson had been killed in an Israeli air raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in October.
In January, Dahdouh’s son, Hamza, who was also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Khan Younis.
Prior to the war, Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli soldier as she covered an Israeli raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank in May 2022. While Israel has acknowledged its soldier likely fatally shot Abu Akleh, it has not pursued any criminal investigation into her death.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on Wednesday, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reflected on the daily dangers journalists face.
“We do everything [to stay safe]. We wear our press jackets. We wear our helmets. We try not to go anywhere that is not safe. We try to go to places where we can maintain our security,” she said.
“But we have been targeted in normal places where normal citizens are.”
She added: “We’re trying to do everything, but at the same time, we want to report, we want to tell the world what’s going on.”
Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the CPJ, said the killing of al-Ghoul and al-Refee is the latest example of the risks of documenting the war in Gaza, which is the deadliest conflict for journalists the organisation has documented in 30 years.
Ginsberg told Al Jazeera the organisation haD found at least three journalists had been directly targeted by Israeli forces in Gaza since the war began.
She said CPJ was investigating an additional 10 cases, while noting the difficulty of determining the full details without access to Gaza.
“That’s not just a pattern we’ve seen in this conflict, it appears to be part of a broader [Israeli] strategy that aims to stifle the information coming out of Gaza,” Ginsberg said, citing the ban on Al Jazeera from reporting in Israel as part of this trend.
Detention of reporters for covering sensitive news is having a ‘chilling’ effect on free media in Somalia, say rights groups
The arrest of a journalist for reporting on drug use in the Somali military is the latest incident in an apparent clampdown on critical reporting in the country, which is having a “chilling” effect on Somalia’s media, rights campaigners said.
AliNur Salaad was detained last week and accused of “immorality, false reporting and insulting the armed forces”, after publishing a now-deleted video suggesting that soldiers were vulnerable to attacks by al-Shabaab militants because of widespread use of the traditional narcotic khat.
Chinese social media users have been hitting out at the country’s elite athletes for failing to win enough gold medals, three days into the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
China stood third in the overall medals tables on Tuesday, behind Japan and France, according to the medals rankings at 1300 GMT on July 30.
But gold medal swimming hopeful Zhang Yufei failed to deliver in the women’s 100-meter butterfly, winding up with bronze, while swimming star Qin Haiyang came in seventh in his race.
“I’m pretty happy that I managed to get bronze, because I felt my time was pretty slow,” Zhang told state broadcaster CGTN after losing gold and silver to Tori Husk and Gretchen Walsh of the United States respectively.
“In the Olympics .. hard work doesn’t always guarantee you will get [gold].”
Her down-to-earth tone was unusual in a country that only wants to see its team win gold, typically dismissing silver or bronze medals as not worthy of praise or glory, according to commentators.
The online criticism could also be an outlet for public anger over the ongoing economic downturn and widespread unemployment, they said.
The early results sparked widespread criticism on social media, where some blamed an intensive drugs-testing program for interfering with swimmers’ focus and performance.
Doping tests
China’s swimmers have been subjected to dozens of random drug tests in the space of just 10 days, according to the team’s nutritionist.
Former diving gold medalist Gao Min posted to her Weibo account that Qin’s result was “the worst in any competition over the past two years.”
“There must be something wrong with the athletes’ pre-competition training,” Gao wrote. “I personally think that seven doping tests a day have successfully interfered with our Chinese swimming team’s performance.”
Her post was widely reposted on Weibo, and came after team nutritionist Yu Liang posted two weeks ago to report that 31 Chinese swimmers had been subjected to nearly 200 random doping tests over 10 days, prompting the Chinese team to complain.
Chinese swimmer Wang Xue’er speaks to RFA Mandarin in Paris, July 29, 2024. (RFA)
According to state-backed media The Paper, Zhang Yufei claimed that the frequent drug tests didn’t affect her too much, although she felt a little annoyed to be called in for a doping test at 5.00 a.m.
Swimmer Zhang Zhanshuo declined to comment when approached by RFA Mandarin in Paris on Monday, saying only “Don’t do this!”
Backstroke swimmer Wang Xue’er brushed off questions about the intensity of doping tests, saying only: “It’s OK” when asked by RFA Mandarin on Monday.
Meanwhile, gymnast Su Weide apologized after two falls from the high bar saw the Chinese men’s team lose the top spot to the Japanese team in Monday’s finals.
“Today was a very big lesson for me,” Su said. “I’m sorry, I apologize to my teammates and brothers, because they worked very hard this week and through many injuries, but because of my mistakes today, we didn’t get the gold medal.”
Su later turned off comments on his Weibo account.
Blogger Wanliu Chen Dasheng commented: “Do you think Su Weide even looks like a gymnast? Look at his arms? It’s not so much about the gold medals now … we don’t understand how an athlete of this caliber gets to be on the national team.”
The Chinese men’s gymnastics team on the podium at the Paris Olympics, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Team-mate and gold medalist Li Xiaopeng weighed in on Weibo, saying it was hard for Su, who had been brought in as a substitute at short notice, to step up.
Blogger Xu Dao Jie Xie said the loss of the gold medal was “too much,” but stood up for Su. “What’s more inappropriate is everyone’s hatred for Su Weide,” the blogger commented.
Gymnastics gold medalist Chen Yibing also drew ire on social media for predicting gold for the Chinese team, then deleted his post, before reposting it, calling on everyone to keep cheering the Chinese team on.
Measure of national glory
Chinese sports commentator Shi Mingjin said athletes are under huge pressure at the Olympics, where gold medals are typically seen as the only desirable outcome.
“China views Olympic medals as reflecting on the glory of the entire country, so they have pretty strong feelings about this,” he told RFA Mandarin in an interview on Monday.
“But if you win a silver medal for France, nobody will say you let the side down — it’s not the same kind of atmosphere.”
Political commentator Cai Shenkun said sports and politics are closely intertwined in China, where the ruling Chinese Communist Party sees gold medals as a form of political endorsement.
“Sports should be sports and politics should be politics, but China links the two very closely,” Cai said. “That’s why [its athletes] can’t afford to lose.”
Chinese gymnast Su Weide at the Paris Olympics, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Current affairs commentator Ji Feng said the attitude is a legacy of years of “patriotic education” in Chinese schools, and this Olympics comes at a time when the government is hoping for good news to distract people from the flagging economy and widespread unemployment.
“This is what the propaganda department wants, to divert people’s attention from domestic frictions,” Ji said. “The economy is in decline, with so many people unemployed, so many hotels shutting down, and now they want to delay retirement.”
Ji said people are being allowed to attack the country’s athletes as part of “public opinion management” by the ruling party’s propaganda arm.
“They need an outlet for these public grievances, and they can criticize athletes instead of the party Central Committee,” he said. “It doesn’t cost them anything to transfer that sense of public anger to an athlete.”
Chinese gymnast Su Weide competes on the high bar at the Paris Olympics, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Wang Yun and Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.
When exiled Russian news website Meduza was hit with a flood of internet traffic in mid-April, it set off alarm bells among the staff as the deluge blocked publishing for more than four hours and briefly rendered the site inaccessible for some readers. It was the largest denial of service attack (DDoS) attack in Meduza’s 10-year history.
“We were trying to spin up solutions…everything to continue to write news,” Pavel Manylov, the site’s lead software engineer, told CPJ. “Our colleagues said the website was giving an error message and the content management system was not working properly. It was because of the enormous traffic, something new for us.”
The scale wasn’t the only notable thing about the attack. In their cyber assault, the attackers deployed a suite of online tools increasingly used to targetmedia sites around the world, while keeping the perpetrators’ identities secret.
To source and direct online traffic en masse, attackers often use a combination of these tools, including:
Proxy providers offering access to IP addresses, which are unique numbers assigned to internet-connected devices;
Other marketplaces where IP addresses are leased or re-sold; and,
Data centers that host and route online traffic.
Experts told CPJ that such tools, offered openly by for-profit companies, can make cyberattacks particularly difficult to defend against. Their use appears to be part of an emerging censorship strategy that poses a serious transnational threat to press freedom and access to information.
“[Outlets] that try to do some hard-hitting independent journalism, but may not have the resources to defend themselves, are at great risk of being blotted out by a DDoS,” Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at the global network monitoring company Kentik, told CPJ.
Proxy service attacks: ‘You really need to think fast’
Amy Brouillette, advocacy director at the International Press Institute (IPI), a global press freedom group based in Vienna, told CPJ that she initially thought the group’s website was broken when a DDoS attack knocked it offline for three days in early September 2023. The timing was eerie: the group had recently published a report about similar cyberattacks targeting over 40 Hungarian news sites.
The attacker targeting IPI used the services of proxy providers, which aren’t by definition malicious; their services are used for online research, security, and privacy protection. But they have also been abused. In March, French telecom company Orange warned that proxy providers are part of a “financially motivated cybercrime ecosystem.”
Amy Brouillette, advocacy director at the International Press Institute, a global press freedom group, whose site was knocked offline for three days after a DDoS attack. (Screenshot: SHARE Foundation/YouTube)
“You really need to think fast,” KontraBit Development’s Žarko Jović, who IPI hired to defend its site, told CPJ. He described watching the attackers intensify their assault in response to his efforts to identify and block the malicious traffic: “When the attackers see that you are comfortable with protecting yourself…they start using proxy networks.”
Qurium, a Sweden-based non-profit that hosts websites of independent media and human rights groups, found that the attack on IPI, as well as several Hungarian news sites, “weaponized” services of a proxy provider called White Proxies, also known as White Solutions.
In the Meduza attack, Qurium also identified the use of at least two proxy providers: Vietnam-based MIN Proxy and Hong Kong-based RapidSeedBox.
Žarko Jović, who was hired to help the International Press Institute defend against cyberattacks, said the site was hit with an “incredible amount of IP addresses.” (Photo: KontraBit Development)
Qurium does not host IPI or Meduza, but collaborated with them to investigate the attacks.
CPJ emailed White Proxies questions about the use of its services in DDoS attacks, but received no response.
“[W]e immediately notified the client who was using our IP ranges…[and] worked with them mutually to immediately block the actual client who rented the IPs from which the attacks came,” RapidSeedBox product manager Yuri Meshalkin told CPJ by email, explaining the company’s reaction upon learning of the attack on Meduza, but declined to disclose any client information. “We have both automated and manual systems in place to monitor illicit activity, including DDoS attacks,” Meshalkin said, adding, “We do not intend to work with clients who abuse our IPs in attacks.”
CPJ sent emails to addresses listed on MIN Proxy’s websites but received error messages in reply. Questions sent via messaging app to a number listed on a Facebook page for the company were not answered directly; instead, the respondent accused CPJ of “planning to scam” them.
Other media sites have been similarly targeted: In October 2023, attackers used services of two proxy providers – U.S.-based RayoByte and FineProxy, founded in Russia – to flood Philippines news site Rappler, which is headed by Nobel laureate and CPJ board member Maria Ressa. CPJ previously reported that RayoByte’s services were used in DDoS attacks on at least six other media sites around the world.
RayoByte and its parent company Sprious confirmed receipt of CPJ’s emailed questions about the attack on Rappler, but did not respond further. In previous responses to questions about its services’ use in earlier DDoS attacks, RayoByte told CPJ it had “removed the abusive user” and opposed online harassment, including cyberattacks. FineProxy did not respond to CPJ’s emailed questions about its services being implicated in attacks on Rappler and websitesreporting on Azerbaijan.
Cyberattackers in October 2023 used the services of two proxy providers — one U.S.-based and one founded in Russia — to flood the Philippines news site Rappler, headed by Nobel laureate and CPJ board member Maria Ressa, seen here in New York in 2023. (Photo: Getty Images via AFP/Bennett Raglin)
Qurium said both companies responded to abuse reports by blacklisting the victimized websites, and “refusing to help identifying the customer behind the DDoS.”
“Proxy services are known for being vectors of DDoS attacks,” Madory told CPJ. “If you can large-scale anonymize many, many internet connections, there’s a lot of bad things you can do.”
Why it’s hard to fight proxy-enabled DDoS attacks
Experts told CPJ that standard strategies for defending against DDoS attacks involve analyzing incoming traffic to see which IPs are overwhelming the site, where they are coming from, and determining how to block them most efficiently without blocking legitimate site visitors.
“There’s a little bit of a science to that, rapidly figuring out that you’re getting overwhelmed with a particular type of traffic,” Madory said. “You may be able to define it by its source.”
That’s what Manylov did in response to the April attack on Meduza. “It’s cat and mouse,” he told CPJ, recalling how he briefly blocked all IPs from China, Japan, Brazil, and the U.S. at certain points during the attack. But this sorting process was made more difficult because the attackers used “residential proxies,” which give the appearance of standard traffic from real visitors.
“They’re addresses of real people or connected to real people,” Manylov said. “I wouldn’t say that residential proxies by themselves are a bad thing, but this kind of usage is, well, it’s obviously not good…they’re more threatening than the basic DDoS.”
Orange, the French telecom company, said that residential proxies are “an integral part of many malicious operations,” including DDoS. Microsoft has similarly identified them as a problem, noting in January that a “Russian-state sponsored actor” targeting its systems sought to hide using “residential proxy networks, routing their traffic through a vast number of IP addresses that are also used by legitimate users.” Residential proxies also played a role in cybercrime activities disrupted by an international law enforcement operation led by the U.S. Justice Department in late May.
Proxy providers often offer customers access to residential proxies that can be exchanged quickly for new ones, which creates variation in the traffic and reduces the likelihood they will be flagged and blocked. This “rotating” option can make defending websites from DDoS attacks even more complicated.
“The bad actor can go and get a whole bunch of new IP addresses to use to attack you,” Madory said of access to rotating proxies. “If you had profiled [the attack] based on the source IP address before, that information is of no use in the next attack.”
Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at the global network monitoring company Kentik, said it is difficult to stop DDoS attacks that involve numerous, rapidly changing IP addresses. (Photo: Courtesy of Doug Madory)
Malicious IPs can be more difficult to identify and block when they change locations every few months, as was the case with traffic used in attacks against various outlets in August and September, Qurium technical director Tord Lundström told CPJ. Defending websites from traffic that has moved in this way is more arduous because the IPs’ defining characteristics, like geolocation data, can vary widely and may not have been kept up to date, he said.
“You see [an] incredible amount of IP addresses on the website and it’s really hard for you to find something common to all of those addresses and to block them,” Jović said of his experience defending IPI. “That’s really the point when you cannot protect yourself with the usual tools.”
Low cost, bulk IP addresses make DDoS more dangerous
Qurium’s analysis of the attacks on Meduza and IPI highlighted an additional concern: the malicious traffic included IPs from the massively expanded set of cheaply available addresses known as IP version 6 (IPv6). This set of IPs became the latest standard for the internet in 2017 to service the world’s growing number of internet-connected devices, as the older set of addresses known as IP version 4 (IPv4) are nearly fully assigned to devices.
“IPv6 has a much bigger pool…and they’re much cheaper…they are less traceable than IPv4,” Jović said. “It is good for the regular people, but it is also good for the attackers.”
Manylov described IPv6 as “the future of the internet” because it will allow an exponentially greater number of internet addresses, but said that renting millions of IPv6 addresses would “cost you basically nothing” and can make it particularly difficult to block DDoS attacks without blocking real news readers. “It’s very threatening for the small media…[that] have zero tech and IT [people],” he added.
One cybersecurity expert noted to CPJ that DDoS attacks, made harder to defend against by the increased use of IPv6, could pose additional problems for online media trying to monetize journalism. As news outlets work to block potentially malicious traffic, they may prevent actual readers from coming to their sites, hindering their ability to make money from viewership and ads.
Attacks can give clues to who is responsible
Neither the staff of the targeted websites, nor the people defending them, have been able to confirm who is responsible for the attacks. But by analyzing the traffic, clues emerge.
As Jović defended IPI, he recognized what appeared to be a message from the attacker: “HanoHatesU.” The phrase was embedded in many of the URLs used as requests to visit the site and ironically allowed him to successfully identify and filter the malicious traffic. It was the same cryptic message seen in attacks on some of the Hungarian sites earlier that year, suggesting a link between the incidents.
Lundström has also detected patterns. Proxy providers often source and route IP addresses via other companies and Qurium reported that services from some of the same companies, including data centers operated by UK-based A1 Network Exchange, were used in the attacks against Meduza, IPI, and Hungarian media.
CPJ emailed Shakib Khan, A1 Network Exchange’s director, at addresses publicly listed for the firm and its parent company, HostCram, which Khan heads and is registered in the U.S., but received no response.
The attack on IPI similarly used services of several companies, including five specialized in IP address leasing and re-selling. Addresses leased from one of those companies – U.K.-based IPXO – appeared in DDoS attacks in August 2023 targeting media sites covering news in Somalia, Turkmenistan, and Kosovo. Lundström also noticed that IPs used to attack IPI were used the same day, September 8, 2023, in a DDoS attack against the Philippines-based Bulatlat news site.
IPXO did not respond to CPJ’s questions about the use of IPs sourced via its leasing service to attack IPI, but told Qurium that it would “inform their client so they can suspend the attacker.” Following CPJ’s reporting on the August attacks, IPXO said in an email that it expected lessees of its IP address to “take appropriate action to cease and prevent any abusive or unlawful activities” and may take further action depending on a lessee’s conduct. “We neither possess the resources, means, nor the authority to proactively monitor and prevent unlawful activities by IP address lessees or their customers,” IPXO said, adding it did evaluate lessees’ history for “likelihood of abuse.”
Lundström believes that companies should not protect the identities of their clients that use their services to launch such attacks. So far, none have cooperated in this way and some even hide using U.S.-based shell companies.
Though they don’t have confirming evidence, staff at Meduza believe the Russian government ordered the large-scale attack on their site. It came just days before Russian authorities initiated legal proceedings against Meduza’s head, Galina Timchenko, and two other reporters for the outlet. Cyberattacks often happen alongside other assaults on journalists’ freedom and safety.
Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, also known as Roskomnadzor, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment about the attacks on Meduza.
“The mission of journalism is to inform people and there are many forces that want to stop that,” Madory said. “They either want to threaten a journalist, or if they can just take a source of journalism offline. That works too.”
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on July 21 that he would not run for president in the 2024 election and expressed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee.
News of Biden’s withdrawal quickly spread across major Chinese social media platforms. However, AFCL identified several false or misleading claims within the public discourse.
Here is what AFCL found.
Has the Democratic Party officially endorsed Harris’ presidential candidacy?
Several social media newsoutlets claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Democratic Party had already “officially” endorsed Harris as the presidential nominee.
The rumors were shared alongside a screenshot of a form asking the Federal Election Commission, or FEC, to note that Harris would be conducting campaign activities as a presidential candidate, not as a vice presidential candidate.
Harris needs to obtain a majority vote from the nearly 4,000 Democratic Party representatives attending the DNC in order to secure the candidacy.
Biden’s withdrawal from the race was immediately followed by rumors that Vice President Harris had been officially nominated as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate. (Screenshots/X)
The screenshot shows an FEC statement, which was filed to change the name of the presidential candidate on the attached committee. This change was necessary to continue using the related campaign funds following Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race.
It is not proof that Harris has already been officially confirmed as the Democratic nominee.
The FEC told AFCL that the statement is not evidence of an official nomination as presidential candidate by the Democratic Party.
Does Obama oppose Harris as a nominee?
Chinese-speaking online users on Weibo claimed on July 22 that former U.S. President Barack Obama opposed Harris’s nomination since he didn’t officially endorse her after Biden’s announcement.
Obama issued a statement hours after Biden’s announcement, without mentioning or endorsing Harris or other potential candidates, while supporting an open Democratic primary process.
Netizens claim that Obama’s lack of official endorsement for Harris is an expression of opposition. (Screenshot/Weibo)
But this is false. Obama later endorsed Harris to be the Democratic nominee for president.
“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president told Harris during a phone call, a video of which was posted on social media on July 26.
Did Zelensky agree to talks with Putin immediately after Biden announced his withdrawal?
A Weibo influencer claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began to negotiate peace talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin immediately after hearing news of Biden’s withdrawal. A picture of a CNN article translated into Chinese was attached as evidence of the claim.
This is misleading.
Keyword searches found the CNN article cited by the Weibo user published on July 20, a day before Biden announced his withdrawal.
An influencer claimed that Zelensky agreed to negotiate with Russia as soon as Biden announced his withdrawal. (Screenshot/Weibo)
The article did not mention any impending negotiations between Zelensky and Putin. Instead, it analyzed a statement by Zelensky suggesting that Russia send a delegation to the next international peace summit regarding the war.
Experts interviewed by CNN noted that the comment could be read as a signal that Ukraine is willing to discuss a peace settlement.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Zhuang Jing and Alan Lu for Asia Fact Check Lab.
Laos’s state-run media outlets should regularly publish news items about human trafficking victims to better publicize the issue in a country where young people continue to fall victim to cyberscam operations in neighboring countries, several parents of trafficking victims told Radio Free Asia.
If government officials talked to newspapers and broadcast outlets about individual cases – or about the general issue of human trafficking – there would be more awareness among younger Lao people, the parents said.
“Up until now, everything has been silent and human traffickers are not charged with any law,” said one parent who asked for anonymity because of safety concerns.
“My daughter recently told me that human traffickers are still looking for young Lao people to work as scammers in Burma.”
The parents spoke to RFA ahead of Tuesday’s World Day Against Trafficking.
In recent years, secret sites have proliferated throughout Southeast Asia as the COVID-19 pandemic forced criminal networks to shift their strategies for making money. Vast networks of human trafficking claim over 150,000 victims a year in the region.
In one case, several dozen young Laotians were trafficked and held captive in a nondescript building on the Burmese-Thai border, isolated from the outside world, tortured and forced into a particular kind of labor: to work as a cyber-scammer.
“They are lured to work with promised high paid jobs in town,” a northern Laos government official told RFA. “It is because they are from countryside areas, and they lack awareness of anti-human trafficking.”
But even with a wider understanding of the risks, young people in Laos’ rural areas are still tempted by work outside the country because of high inflation and a lack of high-paying jobs at home, the official said.
“Even with regular publicity about anti-human trafficking, economic hardship makes people have no choice,” he said. “They have to take risks to get jobs.”
In May, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes set up an Emergency Response Network to help Laos and other countries in the region combat human trafficking and scamming activities.
In the past, Laos has relied on other forms of foreign aid to address human trafficking and scamming crimes.
But a Ministry of Public Security official told RFA that the government just doesn’t have enough money or personnel to investigate every case of human trafficking or to investigate the traffickers who visit rural areas to recruit young people under false pretenses.
The government’s anti-human trafficking committee reported in December there were 24 human trafficking cases last year, with 53 victims rescued and transferred to rehabilitation centers, according to Lao Deputy Minister of Public Security Khamking Phouilamanyvong, who is a vice chairman of the committee.
Translated by Phouvong. Edited by Matt Reed.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Lao.
By Paige Schouw, Queensland University of Technology
Kara Ravulo was halfway through her university studies when her father became sick, ultimately leading her to defer school to help support her family. After he died, Ravulo’s mother’s wise words encouraged her to go back and complete her studies.
But it was Ravulo’s perseverance and dedication that led her to where she is now.
With the rise of female athletes across Fiji, it has opened a door for not only women athletes to be in the media but also for women journalists reporting on sports media.
Almost every media outlet in Fiji boasts a woman sports journalist.
As the media and content officer at the Fijian Drua, Kara Ravulo is a trailblazer in the Fijian sports and communication sector. When she began her role, Fiji had never had a woman media officer for a male sporting team.
Ravulo, who has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of the South Pacific, found herself longing for something more, when she saw an advertisement for a position available at the Fiji Sun newspaper.
Ravulo expressed a gracious thanks to God after she was offered a position at the Fiji Sun, where she covered the news and business sectors before the sports editor approached her about becoming a sports journalist.
‘This is what I want’
“They tested me out. The sports editor was like, ‘Do you want to write sports stories?’ and I was like ‘I can try’.”
“Then they put me on sports and when I started doing it and started doing interviews I was like, ‘I think this is what I want to be’.”
After three years as the sports journalist at the Sun, Ravulo saw a new opportunity to level up her skills and applied for a position at the public broadcaster Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC).
She covered the sports news at FBC, but it was here that she learnt new forms of journalism.
Ravulo thanks FBC for introducing her to social media, which she explained is something that all journalists need to be well versed and multi-talented in that area of media.
Drua media officer Kara Ravulo . . . turning to the law as a way to help sportspeople. Image: Kara Ravulo/QUT
After the introduction of the Fijian Drua Super Rugby side in 2022, the search for the organisation’s first media and content officer began. Having been at FBC for nearly three years, Ravulo decided to take another leap of faith and apply for the role.
Taking a position within a male-dominated industry is no easy feat, and no one can prepare you for situations such as being the only woman who travels with the Fijian Drua team for the whole season.
Privileged opportunity
Ravulo expressed her gratitude for the organisation and the team for having faith in her to be their media officer, as she believes it is such a privilege.
Being treated as one of their own is great, but it means that she does still have to carry the heavy stuff, Ravulo said while laughing.
“It was challenging at first trying to earn the teams trust but something that we women need to know is that you need to take out that mentality that women cannot do what men can do,” she said.
“When standing at games with other super rugby clubs’ male content officers, I just think to myself, I am the same as all of you.
“And you should have that mentality that I can do what you can do.”
It is not only the team at the Drua organisation that Ravulo has won over, according to former Fiji Times finance editor Monika Singh, now teaching assistant at USP.
“She has the ability to win people over with her infectious smile and friendly demeanour,” Singh said.
“I have known her for some time now and I have never heard anyone complain about her work or her work ethic,” said Singh when reflecting on Ravulo’s character.
Writing wins respect
Ravulo strongly believes that some of the challenges junior journalists are faced with can be overcome through your writing.
“You write the way that people can actually respect you and see that you’re here to mean business, it changes the perspective of how people look at you.”
Working with the Drua has broadened Ravulo’s horizons not only in relation to the social media and content creation, but also in understanding sponsorships, marketing, and public relations.
As a result, she has opted to go back to university and study a Bachelor of Law to venture into sports law because player welfare, lack of agents and contract negotiations is a gap she has noticed within the Fijian market.
Ruvulo would encourage all women to work within the sports media industry across Fiji.
“Women need to be more out there.”
Paige Schouw is a student journalist from the Queensland University of Technology who travelled to Fiji with the support of the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme. Published in partnership with QUT.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s security detail has cut a media briefing short over protesters in Auckland.
He was holding a press conference yesterday after a walkabout with police to discuss concerns with businesses in the CBD.
Luxon was talking with media when one of his security officers could be seen coming into the business, actively looking around, before placing a hand on the Prime Minister’s shoulder and informing him they had to leave now.
Police beat teams He was also joined by Police Minister Mark Mitchell, and Associate Police Minister Casey Costello and Retail Crime Ministerial Advisory Group head Sunny Kaushal after police added another 21 officers to their CBD beat teams this month, bringing the team to 51.
It is part of a drive to expand the number of police visible on city streets, with the Auckland team expected to increase to 63, another 17 officers joining the Wellington team, and 18 more in Christchurch.
Luxon said the expanded teams was a “great start, and more than a great start … it’s a collaborative effort and what you’re seeing here is that there’s really good join-up.”
He said with cruise ships coming back to New Zealand, it was important to do better and it was important for people to feel safe.
Patrolling Auckland was a collaborative effort, which was seen yesterday with numerous council and Heart of the City security staff also on the beat.
“Police are obviously at the heart of the whole issue, but they are working really constructively with the security officers from the different retail complexes, with the city council . . . ”
Prime Minister Luxon’s press conference cut short. Video: RNZ News
Beat policing makes difference
Some business people Luxon had spoken to told him they had seen a difference when it came to on the beat policing.
Mitchell said it was also about having all the govenrment and community agencies working together. He said the briefing he had seen from police showed crime was starting to trend down.
“It’s only early signs, it’s green shoots . . . I don’t have the numbers that I can give to you today but it’s numbers that police have been working on.”
Coster said it was a long-term thing that needed to be seen having a continued effect.
He said the deployment in the CBD was significant.
“Not just our beat staff, but also our public safety units, our community policing staff, and we have a tactical crime unit focused on the central city as well.”
“That’s a very big deployment, on a regular basis.”
Luxon walked through town, stopping to chat with security officers.
“It’s been really good, an announcement and then quick implementation, and you guys joined up together and you’ve been acting more as a tighter eco-system, is even better,” he said to one Britomart security officer.
He also greeted pedestrians as he made his way up Queen Street, some shouting expletive expressions of shock at seeing him.
Murray from Queen’s Arcade on Queen Street said the situation had improved.
“It’s nice to see the police around the lower city CBD,” he said.
“We’re all working together, it’s going to be difficult. We kind of expect the council to do their part in this too with some of the projects, perhaps, homeless people that cause us a little bit of grief, and are a nuisance to themselves and the public,” he said.
He said rough sleepers were still an issue, and that pedestrians felt intimidated by them.
‘We expect churches to face up’
Earlier, speaking to reporters, the prime minister said churches behind the faith-based care institutions needed to be “fully responsible and accountable”, and destruction of records “doesn’t sound right”.
Yesterday’s standup followed the release of the Royal Commission’s report into abuse in care this week, a massive 16-volume report still being digested by the survivors and the public.
“We expect the churches to face up to their responsibility,” Luxon said.
Frazer Barton told RNZ Morning Report yesterday he had advised Gillian Bremner to “destroy them at an appropriate time — that’s not ‘go ahead and destroy them now’”. The files were destroyed in 2017 and 2018.
Luxon said he had not been briefed on that but the government wanted to ensure records were available – including being available to survivors.
“I haven’t seen what he’s particularly briefed or asked,” Luxon said. “All I’m focused on is actually responding to the recommendations, working with the survivors, making sure that churches are held responsible for the abuse that they’ve caused as well.”
Asked to comment on his reaction to hearing that records had been destroyed, he said “it doesn’t sound good, it doesn’t sound right, it doesn’t sound what we’re asking churches to do.”
He said the churches should front up and be held accountable.
“We’re asking for them to be fully responsible and accountable.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon.
Christina Assi of Agence France-Presse was among six journalists struck by Israeli shelling last October 13 while reporting on an exchange of fire along the border between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, reports The New Arab.
The same attack killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah.
Assi was severely wounded and had part of her right leg amputated.
AFP videographer Dylan Collins, also wounded in the Israeli attack, pushed Assi’s wheelchair as she carried the torch across the suburb of Vincennes last Sunday. Their colleagues from the press agency and hundreds of spectators cheered them on.
AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera have all accused Israel of targeting their journalists who maintained they were positioned far from where the clashes were raging, and with vehicles clearly marked as “press”.
International human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the October 13 attack was deliberate and should be investigated as a war crime.
The Israeli military at the time said that the incident was “under review”, claiming that it did not target journalists.
While Assi does not believe there will be retribution for the events of that fateful October day, she hopes her participation in the Olympic torch relay this week can bring attention to the importance of protecting journalists.
The torch relay, which started in May, is part of celebrations in which thousands of people from various walks of life are chosen to carry the flame across France before the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony later today (5.30am Saturday NZST).
A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon.
Christina Assi of Agence France-Presse was among six journalists struck by Israeli shelling last October 13 while reporting on an exchange of fire along the border between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, reports The New Arab.
The same attack killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah.
Assi was severely wounded and had part of her right leg amputated.
AFP videographer Dylan Collins, also wounded in the Israeli attack, pushed Assi’s wheelchair as she carried the torch across the suburb of Vincennes last Sunday. Their colleagues from the press agency and hundreds of spectators cheered them on.
AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera have all accused Israel of targeting their journalists who maintained they were positioned far from where the clashes were raging, and with vehicles clearly marked as “press”.
International human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the October 13 attack was deliberate and should be investigated as a war crime.
The Israeli military at the time said that the incident was “under review”, claiming that it did not target journalists.
While Assi does not believe there will be retribution for the events of that fateful October day, she hopes her participation in the Olympic torch relay this week can bring attention to the importance of protecting journalists.
The torch relay, which started in May, is part of celebrations in which thousands of people from various walks of life are chosen to carry the flame across France before the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony later today (5.30am Saturday NZST).
Kampala, July 26, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Somali authorities to immediately release journalist AliNur Salaad who was remanded in custody for 45 days on allegations of “immorality, false reporting, and insulting the armed forces.”
“Somali authorities must immediately free journalist AliNur Salaad, drop all legal proceedings against him, and allow journalists to report and comment freely on public affairs,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “Somalia must end its practice of harassing and arbitrarily detaining journalists.”
On July 22, police officers arrested Salaad, founder and CEO of the privately owned Dawan Media, and detained him at Waberi District police station in the capital Mogadishu, according to mediareports and the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) rights group.
Those sources linked Salaad’s detention to a social media video, which has since been deleted, in which the journalist allegedly suggested that Somali security forces were vulnerable to attacks by the militant group Al-Shabaab because of their consumption of the narcotic khat.
The Banadir Regional Police said Hassan had been arrested on allegations of “immorality, false reporting, and insulting the armed forces,” according to a statement published by the state-run Somali National Television.
On July 23, Salaad was charged without a lawyer present before the Banadir Regional Court, which has jurisdiction over Mogadishu, and remanded for 45 days in custody pending investigations, SJS said on X, formerly Twitter.
Attorney General Sulayman Mohamed Mohamoud and Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Omar Al Adala did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment via messaging app.
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