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28 June 2012 | Knight Center

U.S. war on information leaks continues with new rules implementing polygraph tests

Outcry over leaked national security information published in The New York Times and other news media outlets has prompted U.S. national intelligence to implement new rules aimed at curbing - and punishing - information leaks, the NY Times reported. The new rules, announced Monday, June 25, call for lie detector tests to question officials about whether they revealed secret information to journalists, and allow the newly established inspector general for the intelligence community to investigate leaks, even if the Justice Department, which normally conducts such investigations, decides not to bring criminal charges, explained the Los Angeles Times and the WallStreet Journal. "The leaking of classified national security information is intolerable at any level, but the parade of recent leaks requires action. We must break this culture of unauthorized disclosures," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, as quoted by Yahoo News. The Obama administration has a track record of aggressively going after anyone who leaks information to the press. During Obama's three-and-a-half years as president, six whistleblowers have been charged under the Espionage Act for leaking classified information -- that's more people prosecuted than under all previous administrations combined.

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28 June 2012 | The Guardian

Mexican media scandal: Televisa condemns Guardian reports

Mexico's television network Televisa has accused the Guardian of intimidation after fresh revelations about the company's links with the presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto caused an online furore in the runup to Sunday's election. The world's biggest Spanish-language broadcaster said that the Guardian's report that it had set up a secretive unit to campaign for Pena Nieto were part of a defamation campaign. Televisa's response came as renewed student-led protests against the network led to scuffles with rival demonstrators who supported Pen~a Nieto, who is the rightwing PRI party's candidate. Separately, the Mexican magazine Proceso published new claims that a company linked to the network had backed the frontrunner's campaign with TV adverts. The Guardian first reported on 7 June that documents from 2005 appeared to detail Televisa's sale of favourable coverage to several politicians, including Pena Nieto. On Tuesday it published documents that said a secretive unit codenamed "team Handcock" commissioned videos to promote the candidate and his PRI party, and rubbish rivals, in 2009. Within hours, the report was trending on Twitter and being picked up by blogs, radio stations and several Mexican newspapers. A spokesman for the PRI denied the allegations and the network issued a swift rebuttal. CNN's Spanish-language news service and influential news sites such as animalpolitico.com carried the story prominently but Televisa's news bulletins did not report the controversy – an example followed by several leading media organisations, which ignored or downplayed it.

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28 June 2012 | New York Times

The New York Times is introducing a Chinese-language news site

The New York Times is introducing a Chinese-language Web site, part of a continuing effort to expand its reach to international readers. The site, which is called cn.nytimes.com and went live Thursday morning China time, is intended to draw readers from the country’s growing middle class, what The Times in its news release called “educated, affluent, global citizens.’’ The site will feature about 30 articles a day on national, foreign and arts topics, as well as editorials. Joseph Kahn, the paper’s foreign editor, said that about two-thirds of the content would be translated from Times articles and one-third would be written by Chinese editors and local freelance journalists. The Times Company, which is well aware of the censorship issues that can come up in China, stressed that it would not become an official Chinese media company. The Times has set up its server outside China and the site will follow the paper’s journalistic standards. Mr. Kahn said that while the Chinese government occasionally blocked certain articles from nytimes.com, he was hopeful that the Chinese government would be receptive to the Chinese-language project. The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times already have Chinese-language sites.

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28 June 2012 | Reuters

Ethiopian blogger convicted of plotting with rebels

Twenty-four Ethiopians, including a prominent journalist and blogger, were convicted on Wednesday of conspiring with rebels to overthrow the government, the third case in six months involving a member of the media. Prosecutors said they would not demand the death penalty and called for jail sentences from five years to life for the group. Media rights groups have accused Addis Ababa of using national security concerns as an excuse to clamp down on opposition figures and journalists, a charge dismissed by the government. Both the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Amnesty International criticised the convictions. Journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega was arrested last year and accused of trying to incite violence with a series of online articles, alongside other charges. Along with the 23 other named individuals, he was also accused of belonging to Ginbot 7, a group branded a "terrorist" organisation by the Ethiopian government. The trial resumes on July 13, when sentences are expected.

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28 June 2012 | Reuters

Google’s digital glasses move out of lab and closer to reality

Google Inc expects to roll out a consumer version of its electronic eyewear that can live-stream images and audio and perform computing tasks in less than two years, though it stopped short of putting a price tag on the "smart" glasses. Google Glass, as the technology is known, will be sold to consumers at a price "significantly" lower than the USD 1,500 that the company is selling it to U.S.-based software developers from early next year, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said. Brin showed off the glasses at Google's annual developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, providing the most in-depth public look at the futuristic technology since Google first announced the project in April. Google also unveiled its first tablet which it will start selling from mid-July for USD 199, hoping to replicate its smartphone success in a hotly contested market now dominated by Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire and Apple Inc's iPad. Google Glass is a stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on the left side of a pair of eyeglass frames which can record video, access email and messages, and retrieve information from the Web. Google is still experimenting with various aspects of the glasses, including potentially providing directions on the screen and the ability to have the glasses speak out text messages, Brin said.

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28 June 2012 | AFP

Algerian blogger gets suspended jail term

An Algerian court on Wednesday slapped an eight-month suspended prison sentence and a USD 1,250 fine on a blogger who had called for a boycott of the 10 May 10 legislative election. The Algiers court found Tarek Mameri, 23, guilty of destroying property, setting administrative documents on fire and inciting public gatherings. The young blogger was initially detained on 2 May for posting videos on his blog calling for a boycott of last month's parliamentary election. State prosecution had sought a three-year prison sentence earlier this month.

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