MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST
December 9th 2007 20:03
CONSERVATIVE ANTI-GREEN NEWSPAPER SEES RED OVER BEING LOCKED OUT OF UN BALI CONFERENCE
A group of reporters representing the conservative newspaper Environment & Climate News were refused press credentials to attend the UN's climate change meeting in Bali, according to Newsbbusters.org
Environment & Climate News is published by the Heartland Institute, which released a statement saying the UN’s Conference of the Parties in Bali “lost any claim of impartiality when organisers rejected attempts by representatives of Environment & Climate News to receive press accreditation for the conference.
“Environment & Climate News has been in continual publication for 10 years; is sent to more than 75,000 elected officials, opinion leaders, and environmental professionals in the US and is one of five newspapers published the by 23-year-old Heartland Institute.”
ExxonSecrets.org maintains that the Heartland Institute has received annual donations from Exxon-Mobil raging from $US100,000 to $200,000.
ExxonSecrets.org is a Green Peace project, and has this to say about Heartland: “Founded in the early 1990s, Heartland Institute claims to apply cutting-edge research to state and local public policy issues.’ Additionally, Heartland bills itself as ‘the marketing arm of the free-market movement.’
The Heartland Institute created a website in the spring of 2007, Really Long Link which asserts there is no scientific consensus on global warming and features a list of experts and a list of like-minded think tanks, many of whom have received funding from ExxonMobil and other polluters.
“Heartland also co-sponsored a New York state Conference on Property Rights, hosted by the Property Rights Foundation of America.
“The institute puts out several publications, including Environment & Climate News which frequently features anti-environmentalist and climate sceptic writing. They also published Earth Day '96, a compilation of articles on environmental topics, which denied the serious nature of ozone depletion and global warming.
Walter F. Buchholtz, an ExxonMobil executive, serves as Heartland's government relations advisor, according to Heartland's 2005 IRS form.”
GOVERNMENT PRESS CONFERENCE, MYANMAR STYLE
Transcript: Press conference of the Information Committee of the State Peace and Development Council was held at the Ministry of Information on Theinbyu Road, here.
Present were information officials, U Sein Win of Kyodo News Agency, Patron of Myanmar Foreign Correspondents Club U Hla Htway, President U Sao Kai Hpa, Secretary U Thitsa Hla Htway, correspondents, and editorial staff of local journals and magazines.
Local and foreign journalists raised queries in connection with the clarification made by Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan and director-general of Myanmar Police Force, Brig-Gen Khin Yi.
Q: U (Mr) Win Kyaw Oo: Myanmar Times ...the last question is that the government newspapers say that the support for NLD is on the decrease as evidenced by resignation of its party members. In this connection, I would like to ask how the government studies the public opinion. I would also like to know whether the government assumes that the political development of Myanmar would be possible only when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners are held in detention.
Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan:
I would like to ask you Ko (Brother) Win Kyaw Oo. The policies practised today by NLD are: defiance of all orders; confrontation; and the four moves to stop or halt certain works. Those four demands for stopping foreign investments; for stopping the inflow of loans, aids and grants; for stopping the tourists from coming to Myanmar; and for stopping trading with the country and boycotting the products manufactured in the country. They are following the same policy even today.
Do you like them, Ko Win Kyaw Oo? Please try to answer.
(U Win Kyaw Oo answered he did not like them.)
If you don't like them, will the public like them? Will the majority of the public like them? Due to such pressure and closures, our quota of garments ceased or was reduced. As a consequence, about 160 factories had to shut down. About 40 factories had to lay off workers. More than 80,000 workers lost their jobs and over 400,000 dependants were affected. Will those people like them? Please answer my question.
(U Win Kyaw Oo answered he did not like them.)
Well, I do not like them either. I don't think Ko Win Kyaw Oo will like them. If so, the attitude of the people is clear.
Another thing is that due to suffered their mistakes, the people have adversely suffered much. And so has the nation. I simply believe that if there were no such hindrances the nation today will have developed doubled or almost doubled. In the agriculture sector, there are irrigation networks, in the road transport there are roads and bridges and in the communications sector there are telephones and satellite phones and cellular phones. Regarding education and health, there are rich opportunities. In the past in the border areas, schools were nonexistent. No learning. No roads and no towns. No health care.
Please Ko Win Kyaw Oo, go to those border areas and see for yourself.
There are roads, bridges, electricity, dams and reservoirs as well as schools and dispensaries for the national races in the border areas. If there were no blockages just stated but due assistance and cooperation, the progress will be doubled or nearly doubled, I believe. This is in the interest of the nation and the people. No one will refuse something that serves his interest. But who are blocking them? Who are creating problems? It is clear. What will be the public opinion towards such persons? I believe you will see reason. So, concerning the public opinion towards NLD this is the answer.
Another question is if the political development of Myanmar and national unity would be possible only when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners are held in detention.
My answer is that the persons held in the prisons today are there mainly because they have violated law. In dealing with political matters, the acts that will undermine stability, peace and the rule of law and that will incite violence and riots will not be tolerated.
It is because in the country, political affairs and economic undertakings cannot be managed nor national unity built in the absence of stability, peace and the rule of law. Hence, preventive measures will have to be taken if there are acts that will undermine stability, peace and the rule of law and that will incite violence and riots.
Without stability, peace and the rule of law, we cannot manage political, economic, social and education affairs. There are certain countries that are in no position to manage such affairs due to lack of stability, peace and the rule of law.
Iraq may be cited. No political results can be produced; no unity can be forged; and no economy can be built due to lack of stability, peace and the rule of law.
In Myanmar, we are in need of stability, peace and the rule of law to be able to introduce democracy desired by the people, economic progress and market economy. We will have to prevent the elements, the groups and the acts that will undermine stability, peace and the rule of law. Action will have to be taken against them if necessary.
M2M WRANGLE WITH HI-TECH GROUP WON’T AFFECT ASIAN EXPANSION
m2m Corporation Ltd said a dispute has arisen regarding the provision of financial and other information by the Hi-Tech Group which is required
under the binding heads of agreement.
The parties to the heads of agreement agreed late on December 6, 2007 to go to mediation over this matter. A court case, initiated by m2m, has been held over while the mediation takes place.
In view of the delay in the provision of the required financial and other information the settlement date, should this acquisition proceed, has been deferred until February 15, 2008.
m2m said its expansion plans into Vietnam and Hong Kong and China are not affected by this dispute as Hi-Tech has no equipment in Vietnam.
Whizfone Australia Pty Ltd, the owner of Sipme Broadband, has already purchased one piece of equipment necessary for the Vietnam and the Hong Kong-China joint ventures and it is about to order additional equipment and systems which will be installed in late December-early January.
Sipme Broadband is a fully integrated, operational part of the m2m group and is already sending traffic via Profit Way Technology Ltd to Hong Kong and Vietnam.
In addition, the programmers at the recently acquired Xigital have commenced work on converting websites and other systems to Chinese ready for the launch early in the New Year.
m2m is an ASX listed technology investment company with active investments in telecommunications and broadband telephony, digital video and online learning.
Its major investments in telecommunications through its subsidiary Whizfone group of companies has significant infrastructure across the restrictive and high growth Pan Asian region.
Other investments include Bluefish which is the professional’s choice, market leader in the development and supply of high definition and standard definition video cards to film and broadcasting specialists worldwide. Its products are used by major film studios and broadcasters like Sony PCL and
Channel 7.
INDIAN BROADCASTER SENDS UP ‘WEEPY’ AUSSIE CRICKETERS
It’s just not cricket and surely those pesky Indians have gone too far and overstepped the mark by not respecting the innate superiority of white western cricket players, or to be more precise, white western AUSSIE cricket players.
Indian TV broadcaster ESPN STAR has launched a promotion for its coverage of the forthcoming Australian-Indian cricket test, and obviously it thinks its promotion is funny. Even witty!
The online promotion ad features sexist, racist and every other ist, caricatures of noble Aussie hero cricketers Brett Lee and Andrew Symons actually weeping tears into a cup accompanied by the headline, ‘Play The Weepy Aussies Game’ followed by strange India-speak with the words Australia Mein and Australia Mangta Hai, whatever the bloody hell that might mean, but it’s a dead cert to be a sub continental insult.
Click the play button on the ESPN STAR’S promotional site and this text appears:
“The Indian team is gonna leave the Aussies teary-eyed. Have some fun in the meantime: Use the cup to catch the Aussie tears as they fall. You have 30 secs.
Good luck &
turn on the speaker.”
It’s enough to make a decent Aussie pop a pappadum.
DISCLAIMER: Actually Aussie-based MediaBlab applauds ESPN STAR’S promotion and the broadcaster has certainly entered into the spirit of the game.
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE AND ASIA SENTINEL TO SHARE ONLINE CONTENT
The International Herald Tribune and Asia Sentinel are now sharing news content on each other's websites, broadening their Asian news and features services.
The two sites feature each other's headlines, and Asia Sentinel’s editor John Berthelsen told Marketing that, "Affiliating with an internationally respected publication like the International Herald Tribune not only gives us the potential to reach new readers, but it demonstrates that we are to be taken seriously as a news organisation that publishes news, analysis and opinion on national and regional issues."
The recently expanded its presence in Asia by opening a news bureau in Hong Kong.
Asia Sentinel, based in Hong Kong, was founded in August 2006, and is an internet-based regional newsmagazine that has correspondents in 23 Asian countries.
Its editor, John Berthelsen was most recently managing editor of The Standard newspaper in Hong Kong, and has been a corespondent for Newsweek, Asian Wall Street Journal and the Sacramento Bee.
Consultant editor Philip Bowring is Asia commentator for the International Herald Tribune, and a former editor of the far Eastern Economic Review.
LATVIAN OUTRAGE OVER RESCHEDULING OF PUTIN TV DOCUMENTARY TO FIT IN WITH RUSSIAN ELECTIONS
Latvian Television general director Janis Holsteins resigned after accepting responsibility for postponing the showing of the documentary, Putin’s System, according to Followthemedia.
Putin’s System is a documentary by French producer Jean-Michel Carre, which debuted in mid November at the Rencontre Internationales Du Documentaires De Montreal.
The documentary has been reviewed as less than complimentary to President Putin
Instead of showing the film on the scheduled day of December 1, it was shown on LTV7 on December 4. And bye bye Holsteins.
The significance of the rescheduling is that the Russian general elections were held on December 2. Latvia, like Lithuania and Estonia, has a substantial population of Russin citizens who vote in the Russian elections, and there were feelings that LTV7 may have postponed the airing of the commentary as a sop to the Russian government.
The day after Holstein quit, so too did Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis and his entire cabinet – but not over the Putin docco debate. Instead the government as such resigned amidst corruption scandals.
LE MONDE TO EMBARK ON A $US16.5 MILLION COST CUTTING EXERCISE IN 2008
Hot on the heels of news of budgets cuts at the New York Times comes word that prestigious French national daily newspaper, Le Monde may be short a baguette or two in the bank.
It needs to save about $16.5 million in 2008 and will announce a cost-saving plan on December 19, just in time to aid employees digestion over Christmas.
Staff cuts are rumoured to be on the agenda.
It’s the usual story with Le Monde: it’s been hit hard by a downturn in advertising which is attributed to bleeding of revenue to the internet and the rise of the dreaded free newspapers, a phenomenon particularly in Europe.
But, according to Followthemedia, this comes at a time when Le Monde’s ceo and its editorial director have their hands out for increased pay.
AL JAZEERA SPEARHEADS INTO ASIA WITH BROADCAST RIGHTS IN SINGAPORE AND KIDS PROGRAM IN MALAYSIA
Al Jazeera, recently granted broadcasting rights in Singapore, will being airing its programs there some time this month.
The broadcaster's application through SingTel, which owns the Optus telco in Australia, was approved by the Media Development Authority of Singapore in early-December and is part of its plans to expand in Asia.
"We look forward to bringing our brand of ground-breaking news to the country. This is yet another positive step in our global expansion efforts, one that should offer us interesting new opportunities in Singapore," Phil Lawrie, Al Jazeera English's head of global distribution told Brand Republic’s Media Asia.
In another move, Al Jazeera Children's Channel has opened a representative office at Cyberjaya, Malaysia, to help extend its reach into the Asia-Pacific.
The Children’s Channel executive general manager, Mahmoud Bouneb, said that the move was part of a strategy to increase the channel's portfolio and offer world class animation and multimedia content for Arabic speaking children around the world.
Our aim is to be the bridge between Muslim kids around the world, as well as offer a supplement to the school curriculum, which includes Arabic language classes every week," he added
The Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union said that explained that the Malaysian bureau would coordinate content exchange initiatives in the region, knowledge and skills exchanges, and other collaborative initiatives.
This month the Al Jazeera Children’s Channel will commence the production of a 26-episode 3D animation series, aimed at 10-12 year olds, in partnership with Malaysia's Multimedia Development Corporation.
This alliance also hopes to eventually cover digital content for new technology platforms in the future.
AUSTRALIAN TV EXECS FACILITATE ASIAN DIGITAL TV CONFERENCE IN KUALA LUMPUR
Two Australian television executives facilitated a three-day meeting of several Asian broadcasting heads in Kuala Lumpur to review progress in adopting digital television technology and preparing for analogue transmission switch-off in their countries.
The meeting's facilitators are Roger Barrett of Seven Network Australia, Australian digital television consultant Ian McGarrity, and Istvan Bozsoki of the International Telecommunications Union.
The project, jointly organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and the International Telecommunications Union, ended yesterday and involves the ceos of RTM and TV3 of Malaysia, VTV-Vietnam, DDI-India, PTV-Pakistan, RTB-Brunei, PTNI-Philippines, BTV-Bangladesh and Metro TV-Indonesia.
"The most important element of the meeting is the one-to-one discussions participants will have with the experts," Sharad Sadhu, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union technical director said.
TVGUIDE BUSINESS SELLS FOR US$2.8 BILLION
TV Newser reports that Macrovision, a California-based distributor of digital content, is buying TVGuide magazine in the US in a US$2.8 billion deal.
The Gemstar-TVGuide businesses have expanded in recent years, moving beyond the signature weekly TVGuide (which in 2005 was transformed into a larger magazine that follows TV trends) into television programming, new media properties and interactive program guides. It operates the websites jumptheshark.com and fansofrealitytv.com.
COURT LIFTS FREEZE ON MURDOCH’S GEORGIAN TV CHANNEL
A Georgian court has lifted broadcastings freeze on Rupert Murdoch’s part-owned independent TV station Imeda, a month after it was ordered off air.
But that doesn’t mean it will be on air in a hurry.
The masked men who stormed into Imedi's offices on November 7 destroyed its equipment when the newscast was pulled off the air mid-broadcast (see previous MediaBlab reports in Factiva archive.)
According to AP, Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp bought Imedi earlier this year, and station officials said at the time that it could take three months to repair the equipment and get back on air.
Imedi's radio broadcasts also resumed Thursday, though the programming was limited to music
WANDERING JEWISH JOURNALISTS TO BE CHARGED BY POLICE FOR VISITING ‘ENEMY STATES’ OF LEBANON AND SYRIA
The Middle East Times reports that Israeli police plan to charge three journalists who traveled without state permission to ‘enemy states,’ Lebanon and Syria.
“We intend to ask prosecutors to indict the three journalists as with their illegal acts they not only put their lives in danger, but also the security of Israel,” the officer in charge of the case, Alon Sharabani, told public radio.
He named the reporters as Ron Ben Yishai of the mass-market Yediot Aharonot daily who in September traveled to Syria, and two journalists who traveled to Lebanon - Lisa Goldman of the private Channel 10 television, and Tzur Shizaf from a geographic magazine.
The three reporters hold both Israeli and foreign passports, on which they entered the ‘enemy states,’ countries with which Israel is technically at war.
Israeli legislation prohibits the citizens of the Jewish state, even those who hold multiple nationalities, from traveling to ‘enemy states’ without permission from the interior ministry, an offence that can be punishable with up to four years in prison.
SPANISH STATE TV DROPS BULLFIGHTING FROM ITS PROGRAMMING FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
Spanish state radio and television network Radiotelevision Espanola has for the first time ever excluded bullfighting or la corrida from its proposed programming schedule for the next nine year.
The schedule will be debated in the Spanish parliament next week.
The Independent reported that Spaniards, who deride their television by calling it ‘telebasura’ or rubbish TV, are to be treated instead to sport, magazine shows, talk shows, reality shows and competitions. There will also be more programming about women and more programs in other languages spoken in Spain such as Basque, Catalan and Galician.
But there is no mention of bullfighting, which was first program that Radiotelevision Espanola aired when it started in 1948.
Regional state broadcasters can show bullfighting and transmit programs from other channels – and private channels are still free to show la corrida – but animal rights campaigners hailed the development as the beginning of the end for this controversial national pastime.
In August, Radiotelevision Espanola dropped afternoon broadcasts of bullfighting after it was judged too violent for an audience of children.
NEW ZEALAND SETS UP BROADCASTING UNIT FOR DIGITAL TRANSITION
New Zealand's Ministry for Culture and Heritage has established a broadcasting unit to more effectively serve the interests of public broadcasting and the country's transition to digital broadcasting.
Until now, three separate teams worked on broadcasting policy, digital broadcasting, and monitoring broadcasting agencies which receive public funding which include TVNZ, Radio NZ, the National Pacific Radio Trust, NZ On Air, and the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
Culture and Heritage chief executive Martin Matthews said it was an appropriate time to strengthen effectiveness by creating a focused unit, and, according to The New Zealand Herald, he said a distinct unit would provide a more visible, identifiable presence for the ministry's broadcasting work.
SINGAPORE’S FREE MY PAPER TO DOUBLE IN SIZE AND BECOME BI-CULTURAL, NOT JUST BI-LINGUAL
Singapore’s free Chinese-language newspaper My Paper will double in size from a 24-page paper to 48 pages next month to incorporate an English language section.
The print run will also be increased from 180,000 to 250,000 copies daily, Mondays to Fridays.
But the paper will be more than just bi-lingual – it will be bi-cultural.
That is to say Chinese minds often view things differently to a western mind set and the paper will attempt to capture the essence of these different cultural viewpoints, not just language differences.
Singapore’s Electric Newpaper says, “It will be one newspaper with two heartbeats.”
The Elecrtric Newpaper gave the example of the Chinese erotic thriller movie Lust. It bombed when viewed through western eyes which couldn't quite figure out just where, in the long-drawn out plot, the much-anticipated lust was.
It hit home, though, with Chinese audiences who understood the movie's many subtleties.
Deputy editor of The Straits Times' Life section Yeow Kai Chai pointed this out yesterday as an example of the gulf in viewpoints that exists today, even in a globalised world.
It's a mind gap he's hoping to bridge next month when he starts as editor of the English- language editorial section at My Paper.
He said, 'My Paper will take a unique approach to news ‘We will combine the worldviews of the English-speaking audience and the Chinese-speaking audience.
Goh Sin Teck, editor of the Chinese section said, “Each story will be played to the strength of each language, in deciding which section it will end up in.'
Targeted at working adults aged 20 to 40, My Paper was launched about a year ago to satisfy a new generation of Singaporeans educated in both English and Chinese.
The change is made in response to strong market demand.
My Paper is available at MRT stations, bus interchanges, offices and selected homes.
AMERICAN MEDIA STRANGELY QUIET OVER A GROUND-BREAKING DEFAMATION CASE FEATURING A SAUDI BILLIONAIRE VS A NEW YORK ACADEMIC AND AUTHOR
US media interest in the ground-breaking defamation case of Ehrenfeld v Mahfouz that’s been playing out in American courts has been minimal to say the least, but interest is slowly increasing, particularly now that Middle Eastern interest are beginning to buy America.
Several weeks ago the New York State Court of Appeals began hearing arguments in a defamation case with far-reaching implications, especially for freedom of the press and publishing.
Essentially the decision of the Court of Appeals will affect whether foreign defamation judgments rendered against US citizens may be enforced in the US if the judgments are at odds with the US constitution and American public policy.
Tne case revolves around the differences in libel or defamation legislation in the UK and the US.
It is easier to gain an advantageous libel ruling in the UK and, according to Elizabeth Samson of the Jewish Week in the US this inequality has resulted in an onslaught of defamation litigation brought in courts in England,.
She describes England as ‘a country infamous for its libel tourism and notoriously known as the libel capital of the Western world. The personally aggrieved of the globe bring their cases to England to sue foreigners, including many Americans, and win. Consequently, the libel tourist easily silences his critics and suppresses the free flow of ideas.”
One of the most frequent tourists litigants on the UK libel circuit is Saudi Arabia’s Sheikh Khalid Salim bin Mahfouz, a former president and ceo of the National Commerce Bank of Saudi Arabia.
He has sued or threatened to sue in the UK approximately 36 writers and publishers for libel – and of course can afford it.
But the sheikh has now taken on Rachel Ehrenfeld, a dual Israeli and American citizen and the author of the book, Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed – and How to Stop It.’
Mahfouz sued Ehrenfeld for libel in the UK over allegations in “the book, but Ehrenfeld, whose book was neither published nor distributed in the UK, refused to participate in the trial.
The British court judged against her, awarding Mahfouz US$225,900 in damages and expenses and ordering her to publicly apologise and destroy her book.
Ehrenfeld then took brought her case before an American court seeking a declaration that Mahfouz could not prevail on a libel claim against Ehrenfeld under the laws of New York and the US, and arguing that the judgment in the English case is not enforceable in the US.
She has guided her case through the court system, and now it is about to be
determined in New York State Court of Appeals.
Elizabeth Samson sums up the situation writing, “The consequence of such litigation now threatens to cast a permanent grey cloud over the US, and our proud history of investigative journalism, as well as future undertakings. If the Court of Appeals rejects Ehrenfeld’s claim, the loss will set a very dangerous precedent. It will send the message to writers that the constitution cannot safeguard against a foreign judgment that is deeply at odds with the traditional American values that guarantee the right of free expression.”
The saga is now taking on a conspiratorial air with the Saudis deemed to be carrying out “financial jihad” against the US.
But American mainstream media has shied away from giving much publicity to Dr Rachel Ehrenfeld’s stand.
Ehrenfeld, who is a director of the American Center for Democracy, was asked by Frontpage Interview, “Why do you think your case has not reached the mainstream media?”
Ehrenfeld replied, “There is no logical explanation. Except that maybe they are afraid of offending the Saudis, in which case, it would further evidence my point…
“Apparently, Saudi influence on the media, politics and business interests is so pervasive that only the most courageous and honourable professionals, colleagues and friends have stood by me. Others keep a silent distance, and some even try to harm me.”
Ehrenfeld finished the interview by saying, “One of the most important foundations of American Democracy is freedom of the press. Bin Mahfouz's libel suits are an important part of an enormous campaign to severely curtail press and media willingness and ability to freely investigate and report the great financial powers diligently working to destroy our nation and indeed the entire Western civilisation.”
AUSTRALIA’S NEW HD TV CHANNEL LAUNCHES 50 HOURS OF EXCLUSIVE WEEKLY PROGRAMMING TODAY
Australia’s Seven Network’s new channel, 7HD, will launch 50 hours of exclusive weekly programming from today.
This is the next step in Seven’s migration to multiple channel television on its digital platform, and 7HD is the first commercial multiple channel to launch in Australia and the first channel to move to a broader schedule.
Seven today also released the signing of major advertising agreements for the new channel, welcoming its first advertisers to 7HD with an exclusive arrangement with Harvey Norman that will drive the awareness and take-up of high definition television and 7HD.
Seven also confirmed Universal Music as an advertiser.
The new channel will have as its foundation a commitment to the creation of original television productions and a number of new international series that will be exclusive to 7HD.
Seven today confirmed two new projects: one which features Andrew O’Keefe, the other, a new primetime series created by Adam Boland, Seven’s director of morning television and strategic initiatives. Both programs will launch in early 2008.
7HD was launched on October 15, and was the first commercial multi-channel in Australia.
From Monday, December 10, 7HD increases its programming commitment to more than eight hours a day of unique content.
GOVERNMENT PRESS CONFERENCE, MYANMAR STYLE
Transcript: Press conference of the Information Committee of the State Peace and Development Council was held at the Ministry of Information on Theinbyu Road, here.
Present were information officials, U Sein Win of Kyodo News Agency, Patron of Myanmar Foreign Correspondents Club U Hla Htway, President U Sao Kai Hpa, Secretary U Thitsa Hla Htway, correspondents, and editorial staff of local journals and magazines.
Local and foreign journalists raised queries in connection with the clarification made by Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan and director-general of Myanmar Police Force, Brig-Gen Khin Yi.
Q: U (Mr) Win Kyaw Oo: Myanmar Times ...the last question is that the government newspapers say that the support for NLD is on the decrease as evidenced by resignation of its party members. In this connection, I would like to ask how the government studies the public opinion. I would also like to know whether the government assumes that the political development of Myanmar would be possible only when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners are held in detention.
Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan:
I would like to ask you Ko (Brother) Win Kyaw Oo. The policies practised today by NLD are: defiance of all orders; confrontation; and the four moves to stop or halt certain works. Those four demands for stopping foreign investments; for stopping the inflow of loans, aids and grants; for stopping the tourists from coming to Myanmar; and for stopping trading with the country and boycotting the products manufactured in the country. They are following the same policy even today.
Do you like them, Ko Win Kyaw Oo? Please try to answer.
(U Win Kyaw Oo answered he did not like them.)
If you don't like them, will the public like them? Will the majority of the public like them? Due to such pressure and closures, our quota of garments ceased or was reduced. As a consequence, about 160 factories had to shut down. About 40 factories had to lay off workers. More than 80,000 workers lost their jobs and over 400,000 dependants were affected. Will those people like them? Please answer my question.
(U Win Kyaw Oo answered he did not like them.)
Well, I do not like them either. I don't think Ko Win Kyaw Oo will like them. If so, the attitude of the people is clear.
Another thing is that due to suffered their mistakes, the people have adversely suffered much. And so has the nation. I simply believe that if there were no such hindrances the nation today will have developed doubled or almost doubled. In the agriculture sector, there are irrigation networks, in the road transport there are roads and bridges and in the communications sector there are telephones and satellite phones and cellular phones. Regarding education and health, there are rich opportunities. In the past in the border areas, schools were nonexistent. No learning. No roads and no towns. No health care.
Please Ko Win Kyaw Oo, go to those border areas and see for yourself.
There are roads, bridges, electricity, dams and reservoirs as well as schools and dispensaries for the national races in the border areas. If there were no blockages just stated but due assistance and cooperation, the progress will be doubled or nearly doubled, I believe. This is in the interest of the nation and the people. No one will refuse something that serves his interest. But who are blocking them? Who are creating problems? It is clear. What will be the public opinion towards such persons? I believe you will see reason. So, concerning the public opinion towards NLD this is the answer.
Another question is if the political development of Myanmar and national unity would be possible only when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners are held in detention.
My answer is that the persons held in the prisons today are there mainly because they have violated law. In dealing with political matters, the acts that will undermine stability, peace and the rule of law and that will incite violence and riots will not be tolerated.
It is because in the country, political affairs and economic undertakings cannot be managed nor national unity built in the absence of stability, peace and the rule of law. Hence, preventive measures will have to be taken if there are acts that will undermine stability, peace and the rule of law and that will incite violence and riots.
Without stability, peace and the rule of law, we cannot manage political, economic, social and education affairs. There are certain countries that are in no position to manage such affairs due to lack of stability, peace and the rule of law.
Iraq may be cited. No political results can be produced; no unity can be forged; and no economy can be built due to lack of stability, peace and the rule of law.
In Myanmar, we are in need of stability, peace and the rule of law to be able to introduce democracy desired by the people, economic progress and market economy. We will have to prevent the elements, the groups and the acts that will undermine stability, peace and the rule of law. Action will have to be taken against them if necessary.
MEDIA WRESTLES WITH US INTELLIGENCE REPORT THAT IRAN FROZE ITS NUCLEAR WEAPON PROGRAM IN 2003
The US government's latest National Intelligence Estimate conclusion that Iran froze its active efforts to manufacture nuclear weapons in 2003, and will not have such a capability until at least 2012, has certainly stirred up a media hornet’s nest internationally.
Left-oriented media has been quick to use this news to revisit the US intelligence bumbling over Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction, a western intelligence fiasco devastatingly documented in Bob Drogin’s brilliant book, Curveball.
More conservative media is however taking a more cautious line and examining the fine print of the National Intelligence Estimate’s announcement.
The Jerusalem Issue Brief, published by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs founded jointly at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs with the Wechsler Family Foundation, states, “Clearly, the National Intelligence Estimate conclusions now appearing in the press are not the end of the story.”
It said, “While the National Intelligence Estimate states that the US intelligence community has ‘high confidence’ that the Iranians halted their nuclear weapons program in 2003, it also states that it has only ‘moderate confidence’ that Tehran has not restarted the program…
“To its credit, the National Intelligence Estimate report admits the limitations of the US intelligence community with respect to its ability to determine that the 2003 halt in the Iranian weapons program is permanent: ‘We do not have sufficient intelligence to judge whether Tehran is willing to maintain the halt of its nuclear weapons program indefinitely.’”
The extremely authoritative and scrupulously objective Power and Interest News Report said that while the National Intelligence Estimate confirmed its own 2003 analyses that Iran was likely seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, it said the report, “however, also provided information that somewhat contrasted with PINR's 2003 analyses” that it had “assessed that the US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan would hasten Iran's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons.”
Power And Interest News report said, “Instead, if the intelligence of the National Intelligence Estimate is correct, it demonstrates that Iran halted its program in 2003, likely because it perceived a US attack highly probable and did not want to provide Washington with evidence of a nuclear weapon gambit.
“Furthermore, in 2003 and early 2004, the situation in Iraq was still relatively stable, and Tehran probably perceived a US attack on its nuclear facilities or government a possibility.”
Power And Interest News concluded that that Iran has not shelved its goal of acquiring nuclear weapons, and may be waiting to see what happens in Iraq and Afghanistan before deciding whether to continue its program.
MediaBlab note: The Power and Interest News Report is an independent organisation that uses open source intelligence to provide conflict analysis services in the context of international relations. It claims that it “approaches a subject based upon the powers and interests involved, leaving the moral judgments to the reader.”
STIGLITZ’S GLOBAL MEDIA WARNING ON THE PERILS OF PREMATURE CAPITAL MARKET LIBERALISATION
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics, has written an article about financial hypocrisy which has been distributed by Prague-based Project Syndicate to over 332 newspapers in 133 countries, with a total circulation of 43.8 million copies.
He wrote the piece because this year marks the tenth anniversary of the East Asia crisis, which began in Thailand on July 2, 1997, and spread to Indonesia in October and to Korea in December. Eventually, it became a global financial crisis, embroiling Russia and Latin American countries, such as Brazil, and unleashing forces that played out over the ensuing years: Argentina in 2001 may be counted as among its victims.
He said that as the World Bank's chief economist and senior vice president, he was in the middle of the conflagration and the debates about its causes and the appropriate policy responses.
He wrote, “This summer and fall, I revisited many of the affected countries, including Malaysia, Laos, Thailand, and Indonesia. It is heartwarming to see their recovery. These countries are now growing at 5 percent or 6 percent or more – not quite as fast as in the days of the East Asia miracle, but far more rapidly than many thought possible in the aftermath of the crisis.”
He points out that back then many countries changed their policies, but in directions markedly different from the reforms that the IMF had urged.
“The poor were among those who bore the biggest burden of the crisis, as wages plummeted and unemployment soared. As countries emerged, many placed a new emphasis on harmony, in an effort to redress the growing divide between rich and poor, urban and rural,” he said.
“They gave greater weight to investments in people, launching innovative initiatives to bring health care and access to finance to more of their citizens, and creating social funds to help develop local communities.
“Looking back at the crisis a decade later, we can see more clearly how wrong the diagnosis, prescription, and prognosis of the IMF and US Treasury were. The fundamental problem was premature capital market liberalisation. It is therefore ironic to see the US Treasury Secretary once again pushing for capital market liberalisation in India – one of the two major developing countries (along with China) to emerge unscathed from the 1997 crisis.
“It is no accident that these countries that had not fully liberalised their capital markets have done so well. Subsequent research by the IMF has confirmed what every serious study had shown: capital market liberalization brings instability, but not necessarily growth. (India and China have, by the same token, been the fastest-growing economies.)”
Stiglitz concluded his argument saying, “Following the 1997 crisis, there was a consensus that fundamental reform of the global financial architecture was needed.
“But, while the current system may lead to unnecessary instability, and impose huge costs on developing countries, it serves some interests well (eg Wall Street). It is not surprising, then, that ten years later, there has been no fundamental reform. Nor, therefore, is it surprising that the world is once again facing a period of global financial instability, with uncertain outcomes for the world's economies.
AUSTRALIA’S MCM ENTERTAINMENT IPO CLOSES OVERSUBSCRIBED
Australian media company mcm Entertainment Group Ltd’s initial public offering of 15 million 20c shares to raise $3 million has closed oversubscribed.
Funds will be used mainly to increase mcm entertainment’s online and mobile entertainment divisions in the digital media sector, and to expand the company’s television production and distribution businesses..
A listing date of Wednesday December 19 has been confirmed by the ASX. Based on the offer price, mcm entertainment’s market capitalisation at listing will be approximately $13.58 million.
mcm entertainment has three divisions, radio, television and digital media (online and mobile). It operates Australia’s leading radio production and syndication business and is expanding its television programme production and distribution activities. To complement these traditional media businesses over recent years, the company has made a strong commitment to building its new digital media business.
MUSICAL CHAIRS AT MURDOCH’S NEW CORP IN PREPAREDNESS FOR NEXT WEEK’S DOW JONES TAKEOVER
Furniture at the Murdoch empire is rapidly being re-arranged as News Corp’s official take-over of Dow Jones draws close.
On Friday afternoon, News Corp’s Australian business, News Ltd, announced in the online site of its flagship national newspaper, The Australian, that James Murdoch, chief executive of News Corps UK satellite pay-TV business BSkyB, will take control of the parent group's European and Asian operations as part of a major management shake-up.
Rupert Murdoch's second eldest son oversee the group's print, broadcasting and online businesses across the two continent, while at BskyB itself, he will assume the role of executive chairman from his famous father.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that, Les Hinton executive chairman of News Corp's UK group News International, will become chief executive of Dow Jones, and the editor of The Times in Britain, Robert Thomson, will become publisher of the paper.
SYNOVATE INDIA APPOINTS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Synovate India has promoted its director, Paru Minocha, to executive director, according to Exchange4media.
She will be responsible for overall management for India, effective immediately.
She will be based in Delhi, and report to Tim Balbirnie, Synovate’s ceo for South Asia.
Synovate is the market research arm of Aegis Group Plc, and generates consumer insights with cohesive global support and a comprehensive suite of research solutions that drive competitive marketing solutions.
A compendium of all MediaBlab items by Peter Olszewski posted since noon, Friday December 7 and published this morning via Dow Jones' Factiva
| 47 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
