RFE/RL journalists targeted as Kazakhstan protests spiral

5 January 2022

RFE/RL journalists targeted as Kazakhstan protests spiral

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly criticized the targeting of Kazakh journalists covering fuel price protests that have spiraled beyond the government’s control.

Said Fly, “Reports of gunfire and other violence directed at those reporting on these protests, are deeply concerning—as are attempts to limit the flow of information within and out of the country, by targeting the internet and social media and blocking media websites, including that of our Kazakh Service. At such an unstable time, journalists must be allowed to report the facts as they unfold.”

Today, while covering protests in the central square of Almaty, individuals in a security forces vehicle opened fire indiscriminately at protesters and journalists who were wearing their legally-mandated “Press” vests—including those reporting for RFE/RL. Yesterday, two RFE/RL journalists were detained by police while reporting on the protests in Almaty and Nur-Sultan—Darkhan Umirbekov, an editor in Nur-Sultan who was detained and held for 4.5 hours for questioning, and acting Almaty bureau chief Kasym Amanzhol, who was held for 2 hours of questioning after being picked up as he filmed protests earlier in the day.

RFE/RL journalists have been providing on-the-ground coverage of the recent wave of nationwide protests sparked by a sharp, unexpected doubling of retail prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used in vehicles, which amplified worries among Kazakhs of knock-on effects to the prices of other daily commodities such as food. The protests, which started in Kazakhstan’s long-restive western Mangystau region, quickly expanded to urban centers throughout the country, including the capital, Nur-Sultan and commercial hub of Almaty, where protesters stormed city hall, set fire to a presidential residence, and seized control of the airport. A nationwide state of emergency has been declared.

Access to the website of RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service was blocked within Kazakhstan today, along with those of several other independent media outlets including Orda.kz and KazTAG. Mobile Internet communications were down for much of the day; access remains blocked to popular social media platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype.

RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, known locally as Radio Azattyq, reports accurate news and informed analysis in both the Kazakh and Russian languages that state-controlled media is often unable or unwilling to provide, while serving as a platform for the free exchange of ideas. In FY 2021, the service’s azattyq.org website logged 50 million visits and 69.7 million page views. More than 1.23 million people subscribe to its YouTube feed, and 612,000 follow its Instagram page.

Current Time is a 24/7 Russian-language digital and TV network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. In addition to reporting uncensored news, it is the largest provider of independent, Russian-language films to its audiences. Despite rising pressure on Current Time from the Russian government, which has designated the network a media “foreign agent,” Current Time videos were viewed over 1.3 billion times on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021.

About RFE/RL
RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

[Source: RFE/RL press release]

NHK WORLD January programme highlights

1 January 2022

NHK WORLD January programme highlights

Viewers around the world now can see one of Japan’s most popular TV dramas. NHK Drama Showcase debuts on NHK WORLD-JAPAN with How to be Likable in a Crisis. The dark comedy involves a public relations specialist for a prestigious university. As he tries to escape a slew of crises, he confronts social contradictions and individual sorrows. Aya Watanabe, the writer behind many hit shows, wrote the screenplay. Tori Matsuzaka plays the main character. Matsuzaka won a Japan Academy Film Prize for The Blood of Wolves (2018) and The Journalist (2019). Tune in and enjoy his likability across all five episodes of the series.

This is a story of a 15-year hunt for one Japanese man named Satoshi. In 2005, an interactive treasure hunt game was launched in England, and quickly became popular across the globe. Tens of thousands of passionate players were solving 256 puzzles in search for the prized treasure of 100 thousand pounds. But one puzzle out of the 256, was never solved. The legendary “Billion to One” card. The goal was to find a man named Satoshi. People from all over the world kept looking for him. On Christmas 2020, 15 years after the game started, a persistent Satoshi hunter, helped by new internet technology, found him at last. Who is Satoshi? Why did it take so long to find him in a world where everyone seems so connected? This is the bizarre story of the longest hide and seek game.

Somewhere Street

Sundays 4:10 / 11:10 / 16:10 / 23:10

A unique walking-eye view of cities around the globe! Chat to the locals and enjoy encounters that only strolling the streets can bring.

Wild Hokkaido!

Sundays 1:45 / 7:45 / 13:45 / 19:45

Be immersed in nature’s beauty. Discover Hokkaido at its wildest and best as our presenter guides you through its amazing experiences.

[Source: NHK press release]

VOA appoints Myroslava Gongadze as first Eastern Europe Chief

20 December 2021

VOA appoints Myroslava Gongadze as first Eastern Europe Chief

The Voice of America has named Myroslava Gongadze as the network’s first ever Eastern Europe Chief. Gongadze moves into the new position after serving as the Chief of the VOA Ukrainian language service in Washington, D.C. She will move to Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2022. In this new role, she will lead expanded coverage of a region threatened by hybrid war and disinformation. As a Russian troop buildup intensifies along the Ukrainian border and in Russian-occupied Crimea, Gongadze will be covering for a global audience the Kremlin’s aggressive posture in Eastern Europe as well as the impact of Russia’s and China’s influence throughout the region.

A veteran award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Gongadze joined VOA in 2004. Recognized for her reporting on the eve of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, she also covered developments during the Euromaidan revolution and ensuing crisis period. She moderated Ukraine’s first nationally televised post-Maidan general election debates in 2014. Acknowledged by numerous media outlets for her expertise on U.S.-Ukraine relations, Gongadze appeared multiple times in Focus Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential women in Ukraine. She recently completed a yearlong Nieman Foundation for Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University where she focused on strategies for covering Russia’s information warfare.

“I am thrilled that Myroslava will be taking on this pivotal role at such a crucial time in the country and in the region she knows – and has covered – so well for so many years,” said Acting VOA Director, Yolanda Lόpez. “This appointment of such a seasoned reporter into Ukraine’s capital city directly aligns with VOA’s audience-first approach, as we continue to move our journalists swiftly into places where they can provide firsthand coverage of critical regions and produce stories that our audience needs most,” López added.

“I am honored to build on my seventeen-year career at Voice of America in my new role as Eastern Europe Chief,” said Gongadze. “VOA already plays a crucial role in Ukraine as a trusted news source and example of impartial fact-based journalism. I am looking forward to bringing coverage of Ukraine, a key battlefield in the global fight for democracy, and the wider region to global audiences,” Gongadze remarked.

The appointment is effective immediately.

[Source: VOA press release]

VOA names new Africa Division Director

11 December 2021

VOA names new Africa Division Director

Voice of America has selected Salwa Jaafari as the new Director of Voice of America’s Africa Division. Jaafari, a VOA news executive since 2015, will oversee all VOA television, radio, and web content and coverage for Africa and the Africa Division’s staff of more than 500 journalists in the U.S. and around the world. Jaafari has been executive producer for the VOA French-to-Africa news team, in charge of television programming to French-speaking Africa.

Before moving to the U.S. in 2011, Jaafari managed newsrooms in her native Morocco and reported from around Africa and the Middle East. In 2006, she received CNN’s African Journalist of the Year award. In the U.S. prior to joining VOA, she worked for Agence France-Presse and Sky News Arabia.

In addition to English, Jaafari speaks French and Arabic. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English linguistics and a master’s degree in English.

“We are delighted to welcome Salwa Jaafari to the ranks of VOA senior management and are excited about the energy and focus on excellence she will bring to the Africa division leadership,” said Acting VOA Director Yolanda Lόpez.

The VOA Africa Division is one of VOA’s most impactful. Serving sub-Saharan Africa on radio, television and digital media, it reaches a weekly audience of nearly 70 million.

The appointment is effective December 19, 2021.

[Source: VOA press release]

To mark Human Rights Day, the BBC calls on Iran to end harassment of BBC News Persian staff

10 December 2021

To mark Human Rights Day, the BBC calls on Iran to end harassment of BBC News Persian staff

The BBC has today (10 December) marked International Human Rights Day by calling upon Iran to end the escalating cross-border harassment and threats towards BBC News Persian journalists and staff. The call to end the harassment of BBC News Persian journalists comes as the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to journalists at risk, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”

For over a decade, Iran has conducted a campaign of harassment and intimidation towards BBC News Persian journalists and their families in Iran. This has included death threats towards BBC journalists and their families in London, an asset freeze, as well as online harassment and gendered attacks on women journalists. Their family members in Iran have been arbitrarily detained, held in degrading conditions, interrogated and ordered to tell their relatives to stop working for the BBC, and faced other forms of discrimination because their relatives work for the BBC.

In the past year, threats against BBC News Persian staff and Persian-speaking journalists outside Iran have escalated. Death threats and threats of extra-territorial harm have been made towards BBC News Persian staff in London, leading to police involvement and protection. Journalists working for other organisations, and others perceived to be critics of the Iranian authorities have been abducted from other countries and returned to Iran, to be imprisoned and (in at least one case) to face the death penalty.

Liliane Landor, Senior Controller of BBC News International Services and Director of BBC World Service, said:

“It was after the escalation of persecution in 2017, when the Iranian judiciary imposed a freeze on all assets of BBC News Persian staff in Iran, that the BBC initiated its first ever UN complaint in relation to the protection of BBC journalists, and has continued to engage with UN Special Mechanisms since. This asset freeze has served to deprive BBC News Persian staff and their families of property, including their ability to sell or rent assets. The asset freeze serves as a financial sanction and penalty on BBC News Persian staff for doing their journalistic work, and it also sanctions their families.”

Concern has been raised about Iran’s treatment of BBC News Persian by the UN Secretary-General and successive UN Special Rapporteurs. For example, in March 2020, a group of UN experts made a joint statement condemning Iran’s harassment of BBC, raising concern of indications that:

“… the Iranian authorities are prepared to use force extra-territorially, in violation of international law. Harassment, surveillance, death threats against journalists, within and outside domestic boundaries violate international human right law, including the right to physical integrity, the right to life and the right to freedom of expression.”

Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Jennifer Robinson (Doughty Street Chambers), Counsel for BBC World Service, said:

“Today marks a historic moment, with the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to journalists for their work. Our clients from BBC News Persian receive threats of death and violence simply for doing their jobs, and we know from Iran’s past actions that it is willing to take cross-border and deadly action to silence journalists. Many more BBC News Persian journalists are enduring other forms of systematic harassment, including their families being targeted, their assets frozen, and abuse online. We call on the international community to take immediate, robust action to ensure Iran is held accountable, and BBC News Persian journalists can report without fear.”

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said:

“The continuing campaign of harassment against journalists at BBC News Persian and their families by the Iranian authorities is despicable and must stop. It is not only completely unacceptable for them to face such vicious personal intimidation, it is also a direct attack on press freedom. Journalism is not a crime, and journalists must be free to do their jobs. This year the Nobel Prize committee singled out Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their courage, adding that they were representatives of all journalists, such as those working for BBC News Persian, who stand up for freedom and democracy.”

BBC News Persian reaches a weekly global audience of nearly 22 million people, including around 13 million in Iran. It is part of BBC World Service which delivers news content in English and 41 other language services, on radio, TV and digital. The BBC attracts a weekly global audience of 489 million people to its services available internationally, including BBC World Service, BBC World News television channel, bbc.com/news, BBC Studios and the international charity, BBC Media Action.

VOA launches ’52 Documentary’ series

9 December 2021

VOA launches ’52 Documentary’ series

The Voice of America launches a new documentary series on its OTT (over-the-top) streaming platform, VOA+. Titled “52 Documentary,” the series includes 52 short and long-form documentaries released once a week for an entire year, offering VOA’s global audience visually compelling human-interest stories only available on VOA+.

The short-form films will be VOA-original productions with total running times of 10 to 15 minutes. The long-form films will be acquired content ranging from 60 to 90 minutes. Captions will be provided in several languages including Russian, Persian, Mandarin, Urdu and English. After 30 days on VOA+, the films will be available through a special “52 Documentary” YouTube channel.

One of the initial offerings, a 13 and-a-half-minute short documentary titled “Breaking a Taboo,” relays the story of Shukria Bahmani, a Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) fighter from Afghanistan. Her career and life are now in jeopardy as women battle new gender expectations in Afghanistan. In addition to English, this film is available in Burmese, Farsi, Indonesian, Korean, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, and Urdu.

“VOA is always looking for new and engaging ways to bring thought-provoking stories to its global audience,” said Acting VOA Director Yolanda Lόpez. “This documentary series on VOA+, our OTT platform, will allow us to reach new audiences that are looking to consume compelling content on demand.”

VOA+ is Voice of America’s streaming application, currently available on Apple TV and Apple handheld devices, Android TV and Android handheld devices, Samsung TV, LG TV, and Amazon Fire. VOA+ allows viewers to watch VOA’s TV shows, documentaries, English lessons, and special live-streamed events at any time and from anywhere. The app is commercial-free and does not require a subscription. OTT is a means of providing television and film content over the internet upon request and to suit the requirements of an individual consumer.

[Source: VOA press release]