Twitter blocks international journalists’ accounts

16 December 2022

Twitter blocks international journalists’ accounts

Social media platform Twitter has suspended the accounts of a range of journalists who report on the company.

Reporters including Steve Herman – a long time correspondent for Voice of America (pictured) who has covered the White House extensively – and others from CNN, the New York Times and Washington Post have all been locked out of their accounts.

In a statement, Voice of America said it “can confirm that at approximately 9:00 p.m. last evening [15 December 2022], Twitter suspended the account of Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman. Later in the evening he received additional notification of the permanent suspension of his account. Mr. Herman is a seasoned reporter who upholds the highest journalistic standards and uses the social media platform as a news gathering and networking tool. Mr. Herman has received no information from Twitter as to why his account was suspended.

“As Chief National Correspondent, Mr. Herman covers international and national news stories and this suspension impedes his ability to perform his duties as a journalist. We request that Mr. Herman’s account be reinstated along with an explanation from Twitter for the suspension.”

The response from across the globe to the suspensions has been swift. The UN Under Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, said she was “deeply disturbed” about reports that journalists’ accounts were being “arbitrarily” suspended by Twitter.

“Media freedom is not a toy,” she said. “A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight against harmful disinformation.”

In Brussels, EU Commissioner Vera Jourova suggested that sanctions could be applied against Twitter using the EU’s Digital Services Act.

AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick said: “The Association for International Broadcasting is appalled that Twitter is suspending the accounts of respected and highly experienced journalists, including some who work for AIB Member news organisations.

“This goes against the principles of freedom of speech and does an immense disservice to Twitter’s user base across the globe who use the platform to gain news and information from trusted sources. The AIB and its Members call on Twitter to immediately reverse the suspensions of journalists’ accounts.”

RFE/RL Condemns Taliban Move to Further Silence Independent Media

1 December 2022

RFE/RL Condemns Taliban Move to Further Silence Independent Media

The Taliban has removed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) award-winning programming from AM and FM radio transmission networks in Afghanistan.

“Azadi is a lifeline for tens of millions of Afghans, making the Taliban’s decision all the more tragic,” said RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly, speaking on 1 December. “RFE/RL will not change our editorial line to accommodate Taliban demands in order to stay on the air. We know from experience that our audiences make great efforts to find us. The truth cannot be completely suppressed.”

For decades, RFE/RL’s Afghan Service, known locally as Azadi, has been a staple of everyday life in Afghanistan, commonly heard in public settings, from marketplaces to taxis. In a recent survey commissioned by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, half of Afghan adults surveyed use Azadi content weekly. Despite significant pressure from the Taliban, RFE/RL continues to provide bold coverage of stories suppressed by state media. Azadi has given a platform for the most vulnerable — women and girls, victims of violent extremism, the LGBTQI+ community, and youth — to share their experiences. Azadi has also informed Afghans about public health, provided school lessons for girls, exposed corruption, and helped the powerless find community and hope.

In contrast to official Taliban claims, Afghans have again and again expressed their appreciation and gratitude to RFE/RL for providing a vital public service. RFE/RL will continue broadcasts from outside the country, and will expand options to reach its dedicated audience through other platforms.

RFE/RL’s Afghan Service is one of the most popular and trusted media outlets in Afghanistan, providing uncensored news in the Dari and Pashto languages. Following the Taliban takeover, RFE/RL closed its Kabul bureau, yet Azadi continues to cover events ignored by state media. In partnership with Learn Afghanistan, Azadi has also used innovative and accessible platforms to provide lessons for girls in grades 7-12 now barred from attending school. RFE/RL’s Afghan Service has a growing digital presence to reach younger audiences, with millions of video and page views on its websites, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, and RFE/RL journalists have paid the ultimate price for their commitment to a free press. In 2018, three Radio Azadi journalists — Maharram Durrani, Abadullah Hananzai, and Sabawoon Kakar — were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul. In 2020, Mohammad Ilyas Dayee was killed in a targeted bomb attack.

Deutsche Welle: Broadcasting Council protests against actions taken by Iranian authorities

28 November 2022

Deutsche Welle: Broadcasting Council protests against actions taken by Iranian authorities

At its meeting on 25 November, the DW Broadcasting Council discussed coverage of the war of aggression against Ukraine, improvement of DW programming accessibility and threats against journalists from DW’s Persian service.

In late October, the DW Persian service, along with other media and public figures in Europe, were placed on a list by the Iranian regime of supposed supporters of terrorism. In so doing, the regime is providing itself a flimsy legitimation of the action it is taking against critical voices outside of Iran.

The threats and attempts to intimidate employees of the DW Persian service have been going on for years. DW employees and their relatives have repeatedly been interrogated when entering or leaving the country for family visits. This is why employees actively working in the editorial service haven’t been back to Iran for some time. The threats are unmistakable. If the critical coverage were to continue, there could be no guarantees for the well-being of the relatives of DW employees located in Iran.

Since the protests began, Iran has been increasing the pressure on journalists living abroad. Agents working for the regime have contacted people in Iran who follow a DW employee on Instagram. The people were told both on the phone and during interrogations to unfollow the account if they want to avoid reprisals against themselves and against their relatives. Our employee was referred to as an enemy of the state during some of the interrogations. Enemies of the state receive the death penalty in Iran.

The Broadcasting Council condemned the actions taken by Iranian authorities. “We protest against this treatment of journalists,” says Prelate Karl Jüsten, chairman of the Broadcasting Council. “We very strongly condemn these blatant threats and attempts at intimidation as a reaction to our coverage of the peaceful protests. We would like to thank the DW Persian service. Despite these threats, the journalists are doing amazing work and showing the world what is happening in Iran.”

Deutsche Welle: Stable usage figures despite censorship in many countries

17 November 2022

Deutsche Welle: Stable usage figures despite censorship in many countries

With 291 million weekly user contacts worldwide, DW says that its programme offerings remain stable despite censorship affecting access to its services in several countries. DW’s video content accounts for 225 million user contacts, its audio content for 52 million and text offerings for 14 million.

Violations of press freedom

Technical blocking of DW services is by no means anything new for the German broadcaster, but it keeps affecting more and ever larger media markets. DW’s strategy of increasing its use of digital platforms in countries where press freedom is restricted makes it easier for users to continue accessing independent information. In some cases, this requires the use of tools to circumvent censorship, such as the DW App, the Tor browser or of trustworthy VPNs.

In Russia, following the forced closure of DW’s Moscow bureau in early February, all DW channels were blocked. This was briefly reflected in a dip in TV ratings. However, in the months that followed, increased use of online and social media platforms reversed the impact.

In late June, the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council RTÜK blocked access to DW’s websites. Again, a strategic shift to social media, particularly YouTube and Instagram, compensated for the temporary decrease in usage numbers.

In Iran, where all DW broadcast channels have been blocked for years, video views of DW Persian jumped sharply following the death of the young Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in September and the subsequent protests. DW is currently unable to make a longer-term forecast for Iran, as Instagram at present is of limited use to all news providers.

DW Director General Peter Limbourg has criticised the interference by authorities in many countries, describing it as “permanent attacks on press freedom.” Limbourg: “For years now and in more and more countries, governments have been obstructing or blocking access to independent information. The situation is truly alarming. Fortunately, however, we are often one step ahead with our innovative solutions. Our audience can rely on us to bring them news and information.”

Multilingual success especially on social media

The best-performing languages of DW’s 32 broadcast languages are English, Spanish and Arabic. Demand for video across all languages and regions – apart from sub-Saharan Africa – is the highest.

Video content is used primarily by TV partners (accounting for 93 million user contacts) and digital platforms (YouTube accounts for 32 million; Facebook 31 million; Instagram 11 million; TikTok 8 million). YouTube (+6 million) and TikTok (+7 million) have seen the strongest growth this year.

On Facebook, the best-performing pages are the Arabic-language channels JaafarTalk and DW Arabia. On YouTube, DW News (English) and DW Español (Spanish) as well as DW Documentary (English) and DW Documental (Spanish) stand out. On Instagram, the Albasheer Show (Arabic), +90 (Turkish) accounts and the currently blocked DW Persian are the most successful.

Acting Managing Director of Programming Nadja Scholz: “DW started tailoring its offerings to digital platforms a few years ago for the very heterogeneous media markets around the world in order to meet the usage behaviour of our predominantly young, educated target groups. This strategy is now paying off.”

In Latin America, DW reached 12 million more users compared to last year, primarily due to an increase in partial program acquisitions and TV switches by DW journalists with stations in Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only DW target region where audio use continues to dominate, with 46 million listeners. But here, too, demand for video content has been growing steadily over the years.

ABC and CBC extend collaboration and award-winning programme co-productions

16 November 2022

ABC and CBC extend collaboration and award-winning programme co-productions

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and CBC/Radio-Canada have announced that two projects from the Kindred ABC/CBC Animation Collaboration have been given co-production development deals with ABC Kids and CBC Kids:

My Shadow is Pink, a preschool series for kids ages 3 to 7, from Headspinner/Sticky Pictures and created by Scott Stuart and Ken Cuperus, based on Stuart’s best-selling book; and
The Eerie Chapters of Chhaya, a series for tweens ages 10 to 14, created by Suren Perera, Georgina Love and Thomas Duncan-Watt.

Both projects were chosen from among more than 180 submissions to the Kindred Animation initiative, which was launched earlier this year.

The national public broadcasters also announced the continuation of their successful creative and commercial collaboration. Originally signed in June 2019, the renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will allow the ABC and CBC/Radio-Canada to continue co-developing dramas, comedies, factual content, children’s programs, and podcasts, and to increase the reach and impact of this content.

Among the programming commissioned under the MOU is the compelling six-part TV series Stuff the British Stole, based on the hugely popular and multi-award-winning podcast of the same name. The radio programme/podcast won the top prize in the AIBs 2022 with presenter Marc Fennell joining the gala event in London via a link from Sydney.

It has also delivered the spectacular and unorthodox science documentary Carbon: The Unauthorized Biography, narrated by Golden Globe winner Sarah Snook.

“I am pleased to continue our successful partnership with the CBC/Radio-Canada, which has already delivered a range of valuable content to our audiences. In an increasingly crowded international content market, it is vital for public broadcasters to find new ways to deliver our national stories to audiences at home and abroad.” said David Anderson, Managing Director, ABC

“This is such a great partnership. CBC/Radio-Canada and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are leveraging their resources to support more Canadian and Australian creators so that their stories shine on the world stage. Building on the success of our past co-productions we will continue to show how essential public media is to arts and culture and democracy in both our countries.” — Catherine Tait, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada

The announcements were made in Tokyo at the Embassy of Canada to Japan, just ahead of the Public Broadcasters International conference (PBI Tokyo 2022), an annual international gathering of public media executives. Both Mr. Anderson and Ms. Tait will speak at PBI on November 17 (11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. JST) in a session addressing how public media are positioning themselves in a media ecosystem dominated by the so-called “digital giants.”

Mr. Anderson and Ms. Tait will also participate in the first in-person meeting of the Global Task Force for public media on November 16. The Global Task Force comprises the leaders of eight major public service media from around the world: ABC (Australia), BBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, France Télévisions, KBS (South Korea), RNZ (New Zealand), SVT (Sweden), and ZDF (Germany). Established in 2020 and chaired by Ms. Tait, the Global Task Force promotes and defends the values of public media—access, accuracy, accountability, creativity, impartiality, independence and high standards of journalism—all of which underpin informed and healthy democracies.

USAGM attracts record audience of 410 million

16 November 2022

USAGM attracts record audience of 410 million

The measured weekly audience for U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) programming grew to 410 million people in fiscal year 2022, according to the agency’s Performance and Accountability Report submitted on 15 November 2022 to the US Congress.

The audience grew by 16 million adults, in the face of a global environment where autocratic regimes are increasingly impeding access to independent media or criminalising its consumption.

“This audience growth, despite sometimes draconian crackdowns on free media, proves what we’ve long known — that people will go to great lengths to seek out the truth,” said USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett. “The increase in audience and improvements in other impact measures laid out in this report speak to a worldwide hunger for accurate and reliable reporting.”

In FY 2022, USAGM measured audiences grew in key countries and regions around the world. In Nigeria, the audience has nearly doubled since it was last measured in 2018, to more than 37 million adults weekly. In Latin America, new data revealed measured audience growth of 22 percent, adding more than 12 million new consumers to the number reported in FY 2021.

USAGM also continued to reach large audiences in countries of key national security interest, despite efforts to block independent reporting in markets including Afghanistan, Russia, and Iran.

USAGM’s web and mobile traffic continued strong growth in FY 2022, with an average of more than an 18% increase across the networks.

USAGM’s networks — the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks — deliver news and programming via radio, television, and internet in 63 languages.

A sixth USAGM entity, the Open Technology Fund, provides tools to help audiences overcome internet restrictions and surveillance. In FY 2022, visits to USAGM networks’ websites through OTF-supported anti-censorship technologies almost doubled to more than 13 million per week.

“On behalf of those seeking independent, fact-based reporting, I want to thank the many brave women and men at our networks working under difficult, at times even life-threatening conditions, to share free media with the world,” added CEO Bennett.

Research conducted to estimate the agency’s global audience adheres to standards developed by the Conference of International Broadcasters’ Audience Research Service and reports the number of unique individuals who access USAGM content, or what is referred to as the unduplicated audience. This global audience estimate is just one element in USAGM’s annual performance report. The agency also measures impact based on quantitative and qualitative data on a wide range of factors, including program quality and credibility, engagement with content, and audience understanding of current events.

Picture: Henry Ridgwell reporting for VoA News from the Medyka crossing between Ukraine and Poland, February 2022