Global Media News

Indonesian Media Refuses To Acknowledge LGBT Community

Throughout the 21st century the LGBT movement has been on the rise. From same- sex marriages to television appearances LGBT citizens have become an integral part of Western culture. For non-Western nations though this is the opposite, particularly in Indonesia.

In Indonesia the government states the LGBT movement threatens Indonesian culture. As stated by members of the Indonesian Broadcasting Cooperation "... anything besides heterosexuality is against the country’s values and norms" (Ramadhani, Jakarta). 

To decrease LGBT influence the Indonesian Broadcasting Cooperation declared no LGBT content to be aired on television. This LGBT content included

"exposed LGBT characteristics, such as boys cross-dressing or adopting feminine characteristics, and promoted or starred members of the LGBT community" (Ramadhani, Jakarta).

Reasons for this ban were the following: The Indonesian Broadcasting Cooperation stated the youth needed to be protected from learning inappropriate behaviors. By doing this they hope to discourage the youth from living a LGBT lifestyle. 

The Communications and Information Ministry also contacted social media apps to remove LGBT content. The Communications and Information Ministry told "messaging app LINE to remove stickers featuring same-sex couples" (Hermawan, Jakarta). Whatsapp and Facebook were required to do the same as well.

Funding's raised by the United Nations Development Program for LGBT programs were cut off as well due to the Vice President of the Indonesian Broadcasting Cooperation.   

Headlines have stated the LGBT topic has become an "emergency". To address this "emergency" LGBT supporters (Liberals) have attempted to elaborate to the public what they are about and to clarify misunderstandings about LGBT's. However, a Protestant named Jakarta Governor Ahok stated LGBT was neither a movement nor a community. This claim almost denies the LGBT's existence. 

Though LGBT supporters have pushed to have this issue addressed the Indonesian government has not had enough support. The Indonesian Liberals have been pushing for a more inclusive Indonesian society. The members of this party though do not have enough support within their party to push for LGBT reform. Rather, the Conservative Indonesians have the upper hand in government. With this, the chance of LGBT becoming a part of Indonesian media currently is slim to none. 

Hopefully in the future the LGBT community will be embraced by all Indonesian Media Platforms. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romanian Journalists under Pressure for Speaking out Against Government

 

Many nations around the world have been known to secure their image in a positive light so other countries won't speculate how they run their government. Places like Serbia, Russia and Turkey are some of the few that have been known to punish journalists who speak out against the government. This week Romania has made headlines as members of one of their notorious newspapers, Romania Libera has been under heat while many others have been involved with legal crimes for speaking out on régime affairs.

“There’s been a series of high- profile arrest and hasty prosecutions of the country’s largest media owners… there are very few independent media owners who have not been dragged before court” as mentioned in Forbes.  

As Romania Libera await hearing, rumors of bankruptcy are suspected to shut down the newspaper for good for the debt owed to insurance company Astra. However, they stand by what their principles as Forbes quoted editor-in-chief Sabin Orcan, “We are a thorn in the side of the Romanian state because we relentlessly expose graft, despotism and incompetence across the political spectrum.”  

In an article on Euraia Review written by Sabin Orcan he describes that “observers described the process initiated by the government to intervene and take over Astra as a politically motivated campaign aimed at jailing businessman Dan Adamescu and silencing Romania Libera.” Nevertheless, he believes some voices will never be silenced.

Ocran explains that due to newspapers like the Romania Libera, unjust leaders like former Prime Minister Victor Ponta have been exposed for being involved in affairs like “suspicious emergency decrees and has called into question the Government’s commitment to respect the rule of law.”

“Romania is and always has been a complicated political environment where public and private agenda are difficult to discern” says Simon Wolfe of Forbes magazine. “Given what we have seen happen in Russia, Hungary and numerous other countries in the region, this is a pattern that should not be ignored.”

 

 

Family Using Twitter to Make International Headlines During Attacks in Aleppo

    A seven year old girl and her mother are using the Twitter platform to keep contact with the rest of the world during the bombings and attacks in Aleppo, Syria. Thousands of people are using this source in order to gain insights into Assad’s bombardment of Aleppo. Bashar al-Assad is the current president of Syria. The young girl named Bana Alabed and her mother, Fatemah, have been continuously tweeting live updates from their area which also happens to be “the epicenter of Syria’s brutal civil war” as stated in an article by Sonar Sheth on Business insider. Fatemah, 26, created the account in order for her daughter to share their life.

 The account seems to have been first created in September of this year and continues to show the troubling images of the attacks on the civilians in Aleppo. “The account has already racked up a substantial 145,000 followers on the social media platform.”

This past Sunday, November 27th 2016, Bana tweeted that the house in which she was staying had been bombed. The  exact tweet read: 

“Tonight we have no house, it's bombed & I got in rubble. I saw deaths and I almost died. - Bana #Aleppo”

The mother daughter duo continued to use Twitter to keep up with anyone following their story on twitter. They post videos of bombs in the distance and tell readers when things are getting rough. On Friday Bana tweeted:

“Allow in food. Just allow, just.... Please allow it for the thousands starving here. Why is it a problem?. - Fatemah #Aleppo”

    Today, November 29th 2016, A CNN article by Eliza Mackintosh has reported that the Mother and Daughter has used their Twitter account in order to say goodbye. They reported to their twitter telling readers that their building had been bombed and they didn’t want to die, but they were struggling. With hundreds of thousands of readers on edge waiting for an update from the young girl, the account grew in followers who were anxious for an update on the duos (hopeful) escape. Bana and her mother tweeted out:

"Last message -- under heavy bombardments now, can't be alive anymore. When we die, keep talking for 200,000 still inside. BYE," Fatemah tweeted on Sunday night before posting a picture of her daughter Bana, covered in dust and rubble.

    These instances really show how powerful of a role social media can play in global affairs. Without twitter, this family would not be able to show the world what they are experiencing first hand. Without twitter this mother and daughter could become lost in the rubble with no warning, signs of life, or ways to be found. They now have thousands of people following their story and rooting for them and joining in on the war through social media.

    CNN was later able to get in touch with Fatemah via Twitter direct messages who confirmed that herself, and her children were able to escape the attacks for now later that same Sunday evening. 

The latest tweet from Bana included the statement “Still with you.” 

 

China Plays Defense With The Foreign Media

    Instead of trying to get their business fully into the Chinese market, they're going to license content to local companies. It wont get anything big of profit but it will do the job for now. CNN mentions "But content is heavily censored by Beijing, and many websites, including Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB, Tech30), are blocked". China is so overbearing with blocking everything, common things like google and Facebook aren't allowed in. The Chinese are very cut off from the rest of the world.

    Netflix has been working on getting into every country except some countries including China, North Korea and Syria have not been allowing. CNN says "In January, Netflix launched in 130 more countries, including many that are tricky for international media companies. It started using the hashtag #netflixeverywhere".

    China's lock down on most things on the internet blocks Apple's Chinese App store. This is because of the laws that make the media go through the government with all of these hoops that the companies have to jump through. Fortune.com adds "any foreign-owned media cannot publish online in China without approval from the government, and that all content—”text, maps, games, cartoons and audio files”—must be hosted on servers located inside China". Anything that is on the Chinese internet, basically has to be from inside the country.

    Netflix has given up on China besides the licensing content they sell. Facebook is still trying to keep their leg in the door. Chinadigitaltimes quoted Emily Parker saying "Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has signaled to Beijing that he’s willing to do what it takes to get into the country. People who know the company well think it will happen. “It’s not an if, it’s a when,” says Tim Sparapani, who was Facebook’s first director of public policy and is now principal at SPQR Strategies, a consulting firm". Marc Zuckerberg really want to get into China because he thinks its worth it but some say its hopeless. Facebook is allowed to be in China but China would make Facebook totally different. To top it off, it wouldn't be connected to any other country but China itself.

European Scientists Discover Medical Miracles Using Video Games

For years citizens lashed against long time usage of video games. They stated it increased laziness and made citizens anti-social. European scientists/researchers also noticed an "increase of about 4% in gamers' levels of aggression after playing violent games" (BBC). Other European scientists/researchers though have found otherwise.

Some European scientists/researchers have found video games to be beneficial in detecting early signs of diseases. This was first seen in the United Kingdom. U.K. scientists/researchers have created a video game to detect early signs of dementia. The video game is called Hero Quest. The goal of Hero Quest is to assist a sailor in recovering memories he lost. While attempting to accomplish this goal

    "The game anonymously records the player's sense of direction and navigational ability as they work their way through the levels. Some require them to weave through waterways and fire a flare back home, while others challenge them to memorise a sequence of buoys and then sail round them". (Gallagher, BBC). 

U.K scientists/researchers stated loss of direction is an early sign of dementia. To pick up this early sign U.K scientists/researchers examined players when they fired "[a ] flare back home [at the target]" (Gallagher, BBC) in Hero Quest.  As a result of tracking this U.K scientists/researchers found teenagers as young as 19 years of age were able to hit the target with 74% accuracy. After age 19  "accuracy fell year by year until it reached 46% at age 75" (Gallagher, BBC). 

From this data a U.K scientist, Dr. Hugo Spiers made the following conclusion: loss of direction does dramatically decrease as humans get older. U.K scientists/researchers have even discovered a difference in sensing direction abilities among genders. According to the data "men have a slight better sense of direction than women" (Gallagher, BBC). 

Other scientists/researchers outside the U.K. have also discovered ways in which video games can be of benefit to one's cognitive and psychological growth . 

In Berlin a Professor named Simone Kuhn discovered how video games can increase brain growth. To test this hypothesis she had players play Super Mario 64 DS. The experiment was conducted for two months. When the two months ended Kuhn made a shocking discovery. Three areas of each players brain increased. These areas were "the prefrontal cortex, [the] right hippocampus and cerebellum" (BBC). These areas of the brain are responsible for regulating fine motor skills and sense of direction. 

At the University of Geneva scientists/researchers have found video games to increase one's visual abilities. One scientist in particular conducted this research. The scientists name was Professor Daphne Bavelier. The video game used consisted of small smiley faces in a big gray circle. Some of the smiley faces were yellow and some were blue. The goal was for players to keep track of the smiley faces movements. They also had to remember how many smiley faces were blue.  

From this Professor Daphne Bavelier noticed players were " switch [ing] their attention from one part of the screen to another while also staying vigilant for other events in the environment" (BBC). As a result of players keeping track and remaining focused throughout the game, Professor Daphne Bavelier concluded players who frequently play video games increased in visual abilities compared to those who did not. 

For more viable information about video game benefits on cognitive/psychological growth refer to "Horizon: How video games change your brain" on the BBC. 

 

 

 

 Brain growth was detected as a result of conducting a Super Mario 64 experiment in Geneva. (BBC)

 

 

 

Global Media News Webcast #10: Thursday, November 17, 2016

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• Why Is Dubai Becoming a Tech & Media Hub?
• Russian Film in the Putin Era:  Renewed Investment?
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Can Netflix, HBO And Warner Brothers, Strike A Deal With China?

  Los Angeles Times mentioned, "Netflix, which has more than 80 million subscribers globally". Netflix finally came to the conclusion that its efforts trying to get into China is almost futile because of the censorship that is in the country. They aren't letting foreign digital streaming services in because of the security that China has from the governments rules.

  Yang Zheng, of SARFT, explains "the size of China’s TV audience numbers 1.28 billion viewers, making it the world’s largest TV audience". You can see why the Netflix, Warner Brothers, and HBO are trying to get into this country with their business. Warner Brothers inked a deal with China to co-produce the upcoming film "The Great Wall". That is showing that the U.S. is gaining some kind of ground in China's Cinema department. For television, the U.S. isn't getting that much production with China. Television show are the problem that isn't getting any headway. Most of the movies that are getting co-produced are Asian films but most TV shows is a whole different ballgame. The governments strict regulations has something to do with it. The CEO Reed Hastings of Netflix was asked if they see Netflix in China anytime soon, “No … we are continuing to work on it. Same (problem) it has always been—government permissions, we got to get a specific license in China.” There are so many rules and regulations within China's government that they don't know if the struggle is worth it. 

    HBO and Warner Brothers have made it into China with limited flexibility with mostly Kung Fu movies but Netflix is still on the outside looking in. 

    

Why is Dubai a Leading Media Hub?

Is there anything Dubai cant do?

The Dubai Media City was established in 2001. Sixteen years later, it is known as a prosperious centre for communication in the Middle East. The city is home to over 1,400 media agencies and employs over 20,000 people.

What makes the city so successful?

For starters, it's home to some of the most influential media giants such as CNN, Reuters, and Sony. Smaller agencies in the city have the ability to promote their ideas and products.

A key factor to the city's success is that it is considered a "free zone." A free zone promotes economic growth within the region. According to All Dubai, "Free zones generally offer a wide range of business solutions, including tax exemptions." Yup, you heard that right. Here's a list of some of the benefits the Dubai Media City has to offer:

• No income tax
• %100 business ownership
• No capital tax
• Excellent infrastructure
•  No currency restrictions 

And if that's not enough, individual companies are doing the most to ensure high quality performance. Omnicom Media Group Mena built a gym in it's office for employees. The gym hosts daily fitness classes, "staff said they worked in such a busy industry they hardly had any time for their personal lives."

Dubai Media City for the win.

China Tries to Discuss New Tv Shows With Netflix And HBO

    Netflix has been trying to get into China and set up camp for sometime now. China is being difficult though to make a deal with a lot of companies in their television market, including Netflix and HBO. "Yang Zheng of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (known as SARFT), "said he had met with with representatives of Netflix, HBO, Warner Bros. and the Producers Guild of America to discuss the idea of teaming up on TV shows. The government agency supervises state-owned outlets and censors content in media". HBO are one of the few that are making progress in those terms. They call it "HBO Asia" and their movie channel has agreed to discuss making movies together.

    The big issue is that China is super censored when it comes to things like this. They don't allow a lot of violence or bad language on TV and the media so the U.S. is having a difficult time agreeing. The U.S. is one of the countries that have very open censorship. An article in the LAtimes explains,  "Trans-Pacific TV collaborations could be difficult for companies like Netflix, given that the Chinese government has been restrictive about what American content its population can see through broadcasts and online. U.S. shows like Fox’s “Empire” were pulled from Chinese video streaming services two years ago, and online portals owned by Disney and Apple were shut down this spring". China gets rid of the violent or inappropriate shows so quickly, by the time they agree on another show to stream, they have a thing group of content. 

Turkey Reclaimed as World’s Leading Jailer of Journalists; Why Are Hundreds of Media Outlets Being Shut Down?

Turkey has been receiving much attention after closing more than 130 media outlets back in July of 2016. According to Reuters, “A state of emergency was declared following a failed military coup, stirring concern among Western allies and rights groups about deteriorating press freedoms.”

Now members of newspapers like pro-Kurdish ‘Ozgur Gundem’ and the ‘Zaman’ newspaper, are awaiting long term or life sentencing for having relations with terrorist organizations and posing threat to national unity. Reuters also states that “In the indictment...life imprisonment and jail sentences of up to 17-1/2 years were sought for the nine suspects recently arrested".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that Fethullah Gulen who works for the Zaman newspaper, is suspected to be one of the organizers of the coup against the government. Since his arrest, the government has taken over the Zaman newspaper which is now strongly pro- Erdogan.

NPR confirms that One of Turkey's oldest and most-respected newspapers, the ‘Cumhuriyet’ have also been targeted by prosecutors. “In May, the paper's former editor-in-chief was sentenced to five years in jail for espionage after he published evidence of Turkish intelligence trucks delivering weapons into Syria.”

Prize winning novelist Asli Erdogan who is reportedly not related to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was one of the many accused of spreading propaganda of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), as reported in Reuters.

The Guardian also mentions, “The Turkish government has used a state of emergency law to order the closure of at least 131 newspapers, television and radio stations, publishers and news agencies.

The BBC reports “Three news agencies, 16 TV channels, 23 radio stations, 45 papers, 15 magazines and 29 publishers will be shut”. With down of these media outlets and multiple arrest made, Turkey has now reclaimed its place as the world’s leading jailer of journalists.