Global Media News

Puerto Rico TV Network Brings More Entertainment To The Spanish Household

Dish Latino has gained a new tv channel on Choice Cable, Television Dominicana.

Latino families can enjoy the 24 hour programming, airing through the homes in Puerto Rico and the U.S.2.6 million U.S subscribers tune into Television Dominicana from its several major cable, satellite, and telco providers. According to the NY Times, Television Dominicana airs on Channel 844 of DishLATINO.  

There was a high demand for more spanish speaking Tv programs. The Dominican population 9,956,648 people, according to census beureau can share their programs internationally.
The demands have been met, now allowing for the spanish speaking household to view programs aired in Puerto Rico and the Domican Repulic. This bridges the cultural gap internationally between spanish speaking people. Television Dominicana is representing that is of multicultural native language and benefits the Spanish speaking subscriber. 

“This is exciting news for the hundreds of thousands of Dominicans living in Puerto Rico,” said Alan J. Sokol, president of Hemisphere Media Group, parent company of Televisión Dominicana. Great sport coverage is brought to the Dominican homes to keep sports lovers up to date. the National Dominican baseball has 80 games shown including Round Robim and Final Series.

There are several program packages available including, Basico,’ ‘Clasico,’ ‘Plus,’ ‘Dos,’ and ‘Max’ packages. This television network will air the most popular programs in Puerto Rico, including the best sports, news, comedy and entertainment. “At Choice we are committed to providing the best and highest-quality programming of interest to our clients,” said Jose Luis Mendoza, Choice Cable’s principal marketing executive. “We’re very happy to add Television Dominicana to our lineup for our viewers’ enjoyment, and we’re excited to be able to bring a bit of their native country to our Dominican brothers living in Puerto Rico.” Viewers can visit www.televisiondominicana.tv for more information.

References:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150330005838/en/Televisión-Dominicana-Launches-Choice-Cable-Puerto-Rico#.VVaz7NyJn1o

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/30/fl-television-dominicana-idUSnBw305838a+100+BSW20150330

Bahrain Buys Favorable Content From CNN

    According to BBC, Bahrain was one of the first states in the Gulf to discover oil and to build a refinery. This lead to the country benefiting from oil wealth before most of its neighbors. Despite the country gaining wealth in oil the media in the country is not free. They stated that,

"Bahraini journalists risk prosecution for offences which include "undermining" the government and religion. Self-censorship is widespread."

    The BBC country profile for media shows that all of the media outlets in Bahrain are state-run and the ones that are opposed to the governments views are blocked. TV remains the main source of news with all of the stations being pro government.

    There have been signs of CNN having business-like with the Bahrain government selling them material that is in favor of the governments views. A report for CNN named Amber Lyon came out about this controversy. According to The Guardian,

"In late March 2011, as the Arab Spring was spreading, CNN sent a four-person crew to Bahrain to produce a one-hour documentary on the use of internet technologies and social media by democracy activists in the region."

    Reportedly, the time the CNN crew arrived many sources who had agreed to speak  were in hiding or had disappeared. Those who were interviewed were threatened. An example of this is human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was charged with crimes shortly after speaking to the CNN team. The  crew was also violently detained by regime agents. The article by The Guardian states that,

"On 19 June 2011 at 8pm, CNN's domestic outlet in the US aired "iRevolution" for the first and only time."

    The documentary had been nominated for awards and so were the directors. This makes it strange to think that such a great documentary isn't being aired internationally to spread the word about whats going on in the country of Bahrain. CNN had responded to these claims saying,

"It was never intended to air on CNN International.  It was an hour-long program about the impact of social media on the Arab Spring that was commissioned for CNN US, where it ran in June of 2011.  The portion of it that concerned Bahrain lasted about 13 minutes."

    It is hard to decide who is telling the truth but with various CNN employees complaining that it wasn't aired internationally raises many questions.

 

 

Street Harrasment Map Emerges in Brazil

Since 2013, the feminist movement "#everydaysexism" has inspired woman all over the country to stand against woman injustices. One woman in Brazil has decided to take an even bigger approach by creating a street harassment map in hopes to keep the streets of Brazil safe for woman. Brazilian Juliana de Faria, a former victim of street harassment told herself that enough is enough and that her creation will hopefully end "this mindless sport that men play in their head for their own entertainment."

Juliana de Faria

De Faria told the Telegraph journalist Nisha Lilia Diu that she was taught at a very early age to accept sexual harassment and that it was just a common instance. Right after De Faria's experience of sexual harassment at the age of 11, a woman who noticed De Faria confused and distressed told her, "You should feel good about it. It's a compliment." So instead of reaching out to authorities, De Faria kept quiet. De Faria shares the same reaction with many other Brazilian woman who have been sexually harassed and didn't have the courage to speak up about it. This is the reason why she set out to create the map.

Chega de Fiu Fiu (Enough With The Catcalls) is a map that can pinpoint where a woman has been harassed, along with the description on the occurrence. Besides the "EverydaySexism" movement, a woman's public cry of frustration on Facebook was inspiration for De Faria's innovative creation.

De Faria's response to a friend's rant on Facebook (via Telegraph):

“I was blown away," she says. "It was the first time in my life that I'd seen someone speaking about this kind of thing publicly. And after five minutes, she had more than 100 comments from other women sharing similar stories.”

If it wasn't for movements like EverydaySexism and street harassment awareness movement "Hollaback", De Faria believes she would have not had the inspiration to make this map. These movements have given woman all around the world strength to speak up about issues regarding sexism and gender inequality.

De Faria isn't done with just the map. She has teamed up with the Public Attorney's Office of São Paulo to write a guide on street harassment. Her project has been featured in multiple media outlets, for good and bad reasons. Some media outlets praise and commend her for her work in the movement, while others bash her for allegedly over exaggerating about the sexual harassment issue. "Even renowned journalists trashed the campaign. They said street harassment was just a compliment and nothing to complain about.” It's hard to believe these thoughts when there are so many other women in Brazil and around the world who share similar stories to De Faria. She doesn't let the critics alter her progress. She understands that everyone's mindset will not change overnight. But she knows that her map, along with the other woman empowerment organizations are making people aware on what is happening, and that's a start that she is very much appreciative for.

The map with a comment on a harassment incident. (Via Telegraph)

 

Battle Erupts over Media Influence in Peru

Media influence has been a growing controversy in many Latin American countries. Many countries believe the media is trying to "undermine" their governments. Peru is no exception to this controversy. The Peruvian government, ran by President Ollanta Humala, is having difficulty agreeing with the media influence in the country. The President believes the media has too much influence and it is becoming dangerous. The media ownership is a huge issue in the country as well.

"The dispute erupted after Grupo El Comercio's purchase last year of a majority stake in Empresa Periodistica Nacional SA, known as Epensa. The $17 million acquisition increased El Comercio's share of Peru's newspaper market to more than 70% of sales from about 50%" stated in an article in the Wall Street Journal.

Media ownership is an issue because most of the time the media is owned by a group who doesn't agree with the government.

"It is an embarrassment that we have a group that practically owns all the media," Mr. Humala said. "It's dangerous."

These ownerships can be seen as a threat to the government. El Comercio, which is a Peruvian newspaper, bought a majority stake in Espensa. This led to El Comercio's biggest competitor, La Republica, filing a law suit against the newspaper due to "monopolistic practices."

"This conflict illustrates the fine line between protecting the freedom of press and working under a free market," said Dr. Jennifer McCoy

As a result of this conflict, both directors of each newspaper were brought together for a meeting to discuss this conflict.

"Despite the differences of opinion, the event was positive experience, according to Danilo Arbilla a panelist for the Carter Center. "It widened the knowledge and opened the debate for future contributions," he said.

http://www.cartercenter.org/news/features/p/americas/media-ownership-peru.html

http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-perus-president-ollanta-humala-sparks-controversy-with-comments-about-media-101842

 

A New Popular Sport Comes To Brazilian Television

     Since 1950, Television in Brazil is becoming one of the largest and most productive commercial television systems in this world. Brazil is also very popular in sports. Soccer is still one of the most popular sport in Brazil. Last year, Brazil hosted the biggest soccer tournament in history. The FIFA World Cup was held in Rio, Brazil. This popular event featured all star soccer athletes that represented for their country. Brazil and The United States were one of the 36 countries that participated in this event. Esporte Interactivo is an Interactive Sports Channel that gave the Brazilians updates on how their soccer team was doing in the tournament. And now another is also going to be very popular in Brazil during this year of 2015. 

    Since January of 2007, Brazilian Television got an Interactive Sports Channel. This Interactive Sports Channel is called Esporte Interativo. Esporte Interactivo has been broadcasting live soccer matches from the Premier League, and the UEFA Champions League since 2011. In 2013, the Turner Broadcasting Network became a business partner to this Interactive Sports Channel. Now in 2015, Turner is now controlling the whole entire Channel. In March of 2015, TNA Impact Wrestling have struck a deal to aired their channel on the Esporte Interactivo Channel in Brazil.

    For those of you that are not familiar with TNA Wrestling. TNA stands for Total Nonstop Action. This Nonstop Action is where these professional wrestlers take no for an answer.  This type of Wrestling was founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett. TNA Wrestling has been in The United States for over 13 years now. This type of Wrestling is an American Private Professional Wrestling Company. 

    TNA's president Dixie Charter was very excited after saying this statement " "To partner with Esporte Interactivo, a major Brazilian network with a reach of more than 100 million people, is another significant chapter in the incredible TNA international story and an important milestone as we look to expand across South America,"" to TNA News. 

    After saying this statement, many Brazilians are very excited that they will now watch a Wrestling Channel in their country. "TNA Superstars including Kurt Angle, Lashley, Bobby Roode, Jeff Hardy, MVP, EC3,". Said by Impact Wrestling.com.  These big Superstars are going to lead popularity and a fan club to the Brazilians. The Brazilians are now able to watch and enjoy their favorite TNA Superstars on their popular Interactive Sports Channel.  

        Also TNA will join with global brands including the NFL. 105 million people in Brazil are going to be able to watch this Wrestling Channel on their Interactive Sports Channel. Since MMA Fighting will be aired on this channel, "Brazilian fans are very passionate about wrestling/MMA," A quote from Wrestling Forum.com. 

    TNA Wrestling had already became a huge impact to the Brazilians. Many Brazilians can't stop watching this wrestling on their Interactive Sports Channel. Esporte Interactivo is now the channel that the Brazilians will be paying close attention to during this year. 

Mexico receives backlash for the firing of Famous Radio Personal

Recently Carmen Aristegui has been all over the news in Mexico but not how she would like to be.

Global Media News Webcast #11: April 23, 2015

 Listen to Global Media News for Thursday, April 23, 2015

This week on Global Media News:  Mexico & Costa Rica!

• Journalists Under Fire?  Violence against Reporters in Mexico
• Carmen Aristegui: Popular Radio Journalist Fired! Why?
• Narcocorridos:  The Controversy over the Soundtrack of the Drug War
• Social Media & the Cartels: New Media in the Drug War
• Costa Rican Media Reform: Is the New Reform Bill a Step Forward?

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How big of a role does Social Media play in Columbia and it's politics?

    According to Country Meters.com as of 2015 Colombia has a staggering population of 49,547,871 and of that population over 22 million have access to the internet and Facebook. Internet usage has increased over the past several years. A survey done by Internet World Stats showed that in 2011 about 53.4% but over time internet usage have increased by 9.5 % by 2013.  Social Media plays a major role in the Colombian government and what it does. 

    Colombia's Press status is partly free but that doesn't mean that the government is constantly watching what it citizens are posting. Even heads of states are under a watchful eye when it comes to social media. In recent news Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe  was under media scrutiny after he embarrassingly retweeted a pornographic picture of a nude young woman standing in front of a man. The mishap took place on March 20th when Uribe, the now-senator retweeted a link to a video from an account called @ChicasLindasVip. The tweet was immediately deleted and the conservative Uribe continued tweeting on political matters. 

    The picture was reported to be malware that seemed to get into the Senator's tweet but the issue was resolved quickly and didn't damage his reputation. Malware applications can send messages automatically from infected computers or mobile devices. Social media is an important factor and it sometimes can make or break a person's political career. 

Rising Censorship In Venezuela Forces the Rapid Use of Online Media for News

Internet and social media sites in Venezuela have added a greater number of users per capita than any other Latin American country in the last year.  The news sites have helped fill a gap since President Nicolás Maduro's leftist government has taken over three major independent news outlets and have retaliated against critical coverage. 

After the sale of Globovision, Venezuela's last major television station critical of the government, citizens fear that their freedom of expression will be seriously censored.  The new owners are businessmen who are believed to have ties to the government of Maduro.  Carlos Lauria, a senior program coordinator at New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, states:

"If the network changes its editorial line, tones down its criticism and aligns with the government, this will affect the freedom of expression landscape by undermining pluralism for all Venezuelans."

Venezuelan's are not following the global trend from traditional to online news media, but doing so in reaction to finding alternatives since newspapers and broadcasters are struggling to control coverage.  Ultimately, many of these newspapers are being forced to shut down.  Steep fines, pressure on advertisers, and control of printing paper has confined the mainstream press and forced many to use online media to report news.

The government hasn't been seen to be as aggressive online despite regulations against media content being extended to the internet.  Commentators and politicians have added followers on Twitter and opposition politician Maria Corina Machado has 2.1 million followers.  Alberto Ravell, the former news director Globovision, has remained defiant of the Maduro administration with his founded news website La Patilla.  Ravell said:

"The editorial line of La Patilla is to call it like it is.  We don't need paper. We don't need a broadcasting license. There's little they can do to squeeze us."

La Patilla ranks among the country's top 20 websites and reaches 1.3 million visitors monthly.  The website also attracts more traffic than websites for Globovision or Venezuela's three national newspapers.

With press freedom dying in Venezuela and the anonymity of newspaper publishers sparking accusations that the media is government controlled, online media is on the rise.  Online opposition of the government is very effective and the internet seems to be the only place Venezuelan's can speak openly while still having to be cautious of what they're saying.

Transgender Woman Alleged Assualt By Police Sparks Social Media Uproar

A Transgender woman in Brazil has been reported of being beaten by military police on April 10, causing major disfiguring to her face. Veronica Bolina's photos of her aftermath reached the internet and went viral not long after. The photo has spread around social networks and a movement has begun for the woman with the hashtag #somostodosVeronica, meaning "We are all Veronica."

Victoria Bolina Before and After Shots

After viewing before and after photos of Bolina, it is hard to imagine what she was put through. The woman face is so bad that she is almost unidentifiable by appearance. People in Brazil contributed to the movement with artwork of Bolina's face which has been posted on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. You can find the artwork on the "We are all Veronica" Facebook page. On the Facebook page you can witness the great amount of support behind Bolina and the LGBT community. So far the fan base of the page is around 20,000 and each post averages over 100 likes. Aside of the artwork, people have posted videos expressing their feelings about the act and reflecting on ways to help the cause.

"Those photos were shocking because of the violence, and [because] the police didn't respect her gender identity," said Alessandra Ramos, an LGBT activist in Brazil.

Due to Molina's transgender identification, she was not respected. Another motive for the attack may have been for a reason that was not released to the public. Looking to acquire more information about the story and Molina herself, I decided to google her name. What was found during the google search were adult videos of Molina. Molina has worked in the pornography business. It is not set in stone, but the man or men who assaulted her may have known about this, giving them more fuel for their actions.

 The Sao Paulo Police are under investigation, according to the Secretary of Public Safety. In 2012, Brazil was pronounced as being the social media capital of the world, according to stats from the Brazil Future in Focus report. Thanks to the social media boom that Brazil has experienced in the past few years, a serious incident that would remain in the dark in most areas of the world was brought to light and addressed.