17 July 2019
Two years since Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine confirmed they were holding Ukrainian blogger and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) contributor Stanislav Aseyev prisoner, RFE/RL is redoubling efforts to secure his release.
“Stanislav has been held virtually incommunicado for two years because of his unflinching reporting from his native Donetsk,” said RFE/RL Acting President Daisy Sindelar. “I know I speak on behalf of a growing number of rights advocates, government officials, lawmakers, and journalists in deploring his detention and demanding his freedom.”
Aseyev, who also wrote for the Ukrainian publications Mirror of the Week and The Ukrainian Week, began blogging for RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service in 2014 under the pen name Stanislav Vasin, contributing dozens of posts about the effects of the conflict on daily life, schooling, politics, and culture until his detention in the summer of 2017. Separatists have reportedly accused him of espionage and threatened him with up to 14 years in custody, although RFE/RL has no knowledge of him being formally charged by any recognized authority of any crime.
In August 2017, the Ukrainian government included his name among those officially listed for a possible prisoner exchange under the supervision of the Trilateral Contact Group, which oversees negotiations among the sides to the conflict. The bipartisan U.S. Congressional Freedom of the Press Caucus has condemned his detention, championing him as “one of the few independent journalists to remain in the region under separatist control to provide objective reporting.” In November 2018, the U.S. Mission to the OSCE urged “the Russian Federation to secure the release of Stanislav Aseyev.” In recent weeks, U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Marco Rubio and U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel have called for his freedom.
The One Free Press Coalition, a group of 33 prominent media organizations from around the world, recognized Aseyev this month among its “10 Most Urgent” cases of journalists under attack for pursuing the truth.
Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich has added her voice to efforts on Aseyev’s behalf, writing, “It goes without saying, I am with you in your struggle on behalf of Stanislav Aseyev.”
RFE/RL has also urged the release of Ukrainian Service contributor Oleh Halaziuk, who has been held by Russia-backed separatists in Donetsk since August 2017. Crimean contributor Mykola Semena was convicted of separatism by a Russian court in 2017 and is banned from practicing journalism and leaving the peninsula.
In Isolation: Posts From Donbas is a collection of English-language translations of Aseyev’s reports from the conflict zone for RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, known locally as Radio Svoboda, together with its subsidiary Donbas.Realities and Crimea.Realities regional units, averaged 5 million monthly visits to its website in 2018, and sets a standard in the Ukrainian media market for independence, innovation, and professionalism.
[Source: RFE/RL press release]
12 July 2019
- TRT World Citizen launched first international edition of “Journalism for Juniors – J4J” program to help empower Afghan high school students to tell their own stories. Basic journalism workshops were held in the Afghan capital Kabul, in cooperation with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) in the TİKA Education Center on July 8nd – 11th
- More than 100 students from various high schools in Kabul participated in introductory workshops to mobile journalism and story-telling, designed and run by TRT World staff.
- Launched two years ago, the J4J program has so far reached 1,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey as well as local students
Afghanistan has one of the youngest and fastest growing populations in the world – with approximately 63 percent of the population (27.5 million Afghans) below 25 years of age and 46 percent (11.7 million children) under 15 years of age according to the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA).
TRT World launched its “World Citizen” initiative — the first of its kind by a global media network whose employees are on the ground – alongside grassroots humanitarian-based groups.
TRT World has institutionalized its commitment to inspiring humanity’s collective conscience with the launch of “World Citizen” and under the World Citizen umbrella introduced “Journalism for Juniors – J4J” program in October 2017.
Journalism for Juniors workshop series have taken place in Gaziantep, Kilis, Istanbul, Ankara, Kahramanmaraş and many other cities across Turkey.
In partnership with TİKA Turkish Cooperate and Coordination Agency, TRT World Citizen launched its first international edition of “Journalism for Juniors – J4J” program to help empower Afghan high school students to tell their own stories.
TİKA Turkish Cooperate and Coordination Agency has implemented 1,056 projects including education accessibility for 100,000 children in Afghanistan. TİKA also carries out its activities in 59 countries with 61 offices. With TİKA’s offices in Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Herat, Afghanistan is the only country where TİKA has three offices.
With more than 100 participants, an intensive two-day introductory workshop to mobile journalism and story-telling, designed and run by TRT World staff, was provided to young students as an opportunity to learn the basics of journalism while empowering them to take control of their own narratives. After lessons in creative story-boarding, digital news-making, responsible social media usage, and verifying news credibility, the students were asked to write, film, and edit original stories of their own. Over time they will gain the confidence to tell their own stories and share their voice with the world.
Participant Bilal from Kabul, Afghanistan said: “I cannot express my feelings in a few words, but it was a great opportunity. Before the program, I thought journalists have to have a great expensive camera, and all those expensive equipments, but at J4J, I learned that I can be a great journalist by just using my phone.”
Tanya Goudsouzian, TRT World journalist and J4J mentor, said: “It is very important to give these kids the tools they need to tell their own stories and help broaden the media narrative about their country. The media landscape has changed and now allows anyone with a smart phone to share information online. But the basic values and rules of journalism have not changed. What we hoped to achieve is to instill in them a sense of responsibility: to be accurate and ethical in what they convey.”
[Source: TRT World]
12 July 2019
John F. Lansing, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), testified in front of the U.S. Congress that the Kremlin’s weaponization of information has led to what he calls “the fight of the 21st century.”
Lansing was one of three government witnesses called before the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies for its United States Efforts to Counter Russian Disinformation and Malign Influence hearing on July 10.
“Make no mistake,” said Lansing, in prepared remarks, “We are living through a global explosion of disinformation, state propaganda, and lies generated by multiple authoritarian regimes around the world. The weaponization of information we are seeing today is real.”
However, this threat does not remain unchallenged. Lansing laid out for the subcommittee how USAGM offers an alternative to Russian disinformation with accurate, independent news and information. Examples included the 24/7 Russian-language digital and television network, Current Time, and fact-checking websites Polygraph.info in English and Factograph.info in Russian–all initiatives led by the USAGM networks of the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
Current Time in particular aims to reach Russian speakers globally-not just within the boundaries of Russia-and to inform and engage savvy, younger audiences on social, economic and political issues that state media ignores. This model provides objective news that enables viewers to make informed opinions.
“Russia’s goal is to destroy the very idea of an objective, verifiable set of facts,” explained Lansing to the lawmakers in his oral testimony. “But our impact in Russia is clear.”
In Russia, a nationally-representative 2018 survey found that USAGM content on TV, radio and online was consumed by 7.7 percent of adults each week, or 7.9 million people. Also in 2018, more than half of Current Time’s 520 million video views on social media came from within the Russian Federation.
“Honest and truthful journalism as a catalyst for change represents our best weapon on the information battlefield,” Lansing concluded.
Lansing testified along with two representatives from the U.S. Department of State: Lea Gabrielle, Special Envoy and Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center, and Jim Kulikowski, Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia. A second panel featured Dr. Alina Polyakova Director, Global Democracy and Emerging Technology Fellow, Center on the United States and Europe Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution and Nina Jankowicz from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Kennan Institute.
[Source: USAGM press release]
20 June 2019
Two U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) networks-Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Radio Free Asia (RFA)-have been named winners of the prestigious 2019 National Murrow Awards. This is the first time the two networks have received this honor, presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) for excellence in electronic journalism.
“I am thrilled that the RTDNA’s Edward R. Murrow Awards have recognized the high-caliber reporting that RFE/RL and RFA produce,” said USAGM CEO John F. Lansing. “My heartfelt congratulations go to the skillful journalists and storytellers who offer our global audiences accurate and professional journalism-the bedrock of what we do at USAGM.”
CEO Lansing added, “Edward R. Murrow, who in the early 1960s led the U.S. Information Agency, a predecessor to USAGM, would be proud of our modern media organization’s wide-reaching impact.”
Daisy Sindelar, Acting President of RFE/RL, and Libby Liu, President of RFA, offered praise for their award-winning networks, which provide compelling, uncensored and locally-oriented news and information to audiences in some of the harshest media environments around the world.
“We are honored to receive this recognition for providing our audiences with unique stories, powerfully told, on the most influential formats in our coverage area,” said Sindelar.
RFE/RL received the National Murrow Awards’ top honor for Multimedia in the Television Network category. Judges reviewed eleven examples of RFE/RL’s impressive domestic news coverage ranging from Armenia to Uzbekistan.
RFA Mandarin’s “The Women Against the State” won in the juried contest’s Excellence in Video category. The piece focuses on the aftermath of China’s “709 crackdown”- a nationwide roundup of lawyers and legal activists that began in July 2015 – and the wives of those still held in custody today.
“RFA Mandarin’s digital team deserves full credit for this prestigious award. Their hard work to spotlight these brave individuals and share their stories speaks to Radio Free Asia’s critical journalistic mission,” said Liu.
Although this marks the first time that RFA has won a National Murrow Award, the network won several Regional Murrow Awards in years past.
(Source: USAGM press release)
18 June 2019
International news platform TRT Arabi is expanding its global distribution with Bosnia’s IPTV network of BH Telecom. TRT Arabi is now available to 200.000 BH Telecom’s subscribers, airing on channel 11 in the news channel category.
BH Telecom is the leading telecom operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has provided high quality and the most up-to-date services in the field of telecommunications. The uniqueness, tradition, comprehensive service offer, fast business development and social responsibility has made BH Telecom recognizable in the telecommunications market.
TRT Arabi HD, part of the Turkish Broadcasting Corporation (TRT), is an official organization broadcasting locally and internationally, from Turkey to the world, and includes several stations and channels covering all areas and interests.
Furkan Han, TRT World’s Head of Global Digital & Satellite Distribution & Partnership, stated that “TRT Arabi will be our second channel to be launched on BH Telecom after our first, TRT World. Our partnership with BH Telecom is an important step in growing our footprint, not only have we managed to increase the distribution of TRT Arabi but we are happy to have managed to add BH Telecom as one of our partners around the globe. Our distribution is still expanding and soon TRT Arabi will be available worldwide”
Elvedin Kanafija, BH Telecom’s Acting Executive Director of Business Development, stated: “We are pleased to have expanded our cooperation with TRT World and enriched our TV lineup with another quality news content offered by TRT Arabi.”
(Source: TRT World press release)
