Arnaldo
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:41:51 -0800
U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar introduced legislation that would promote the free
dissemination of information in East Asia through the permanent authorization
of Radio Free Asia (S.3104).
Sens. Kaufman (D-DE), Franken (D-MN), and Inouye (D-HI) are original cosponsors
of the bill.
Congress created Radio Free Asia (RFA) in 1996 to broadcast news into Burma,
Cambodia, China, Laos, North Korea, Tibet and Vietnam in local languages and
dialects. The hope at the time was that the nations served by RFA would loosen
their grip on censorship as their economies modernized and living standards
improved; however, these reforms never materialized.
The human rights non-governmental organization Freedom House, which monitors
press freedom throughout the world, has noted that censorship and intimidation
of the media have worsened in the areas served by RFA, particularly in the last
five years as documented in its annual Freedom of the Press Index. RFA still
can only reach most of its audiences through short-wave radio and via the
internet using proxy servers. Governments routinely jam AM transmissions and
hack into RFA's websites and servers.
RFA has been funded by Congressional appropriations each year since it began
broadcasting but it has never been permanently authorized. Rather, its
continued existence is dependent on annual legislation extending its life by
another fiscal year.
"Recent high-profile cyber attacks underscore the reality that certain
governments still believe in blocking uncensored news from their citizens,"
Sen. Lugar said. "Permanent legal authority for Radio Free Asia would send a
strong signal that the U.S. supports freedom of the press across the globe."
(BIG News)
CPJ denuncia interferência de emissões da VOA em amarico
Addis Abeba - O Comité para a Protecção de Jornalistas (CPJ, baseado em Nova
Iorque) denunciou hoje, sexta-feira, a interferência das emissões em amarico
(língua oficial etíope) da rádio pública americana, Voz de América (VOA) na
Etiópia.
"VOA indica que tem havido um controlo electrónico das suas emissões
internacionais em ondas curtas, e há queixas dos ouvintes na Etiópia, desde 22
de Fevereiro de 2010", informou o CPJ num comunicado, afirmando igualmente
registar-se uma colecta de informações", sustenta.
A VOA diz ainda que "há testemunhos locais, relatando interferências que
afectam unicamente o serviço em amarico".
"A meia-hora de programas diários noutras duas línguas locais, o oromifa e o
tigrigna, são emitidos normalmente", segundo as fontes citadas pelo CPJ.
O governo etíope mantem desde longa data uma relação hostil com a VOA e é por
isso que se considera a sua declaração de não responsabilidade com cepticismo.
"Nós notamos que o governo etíope não propos um inquérito, nem resolveu o
problema", estimou Tom Rhodes, responsável para África do CPJ.
Interrogado pela AFP, o secretário etíope para as Comunicações, Shimeles Kemal,
indicou que "essas acusações são infundadas".(Portal Angop)
---[Start Commercial]---------------------
Order your WRTH 2009:
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2009
---[End Commercial]-----------------------
________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________
THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html