Daily Archives: August 30, 2012

Freedom of the press is restricted in Ukraine. But the World Newspaper Conference begins there next weekend. Can Ukrainian media gain more rights through the event?

From Michael Golden, vice chairman of the New York Times Company, to Rainer Esser, managing director of German newspaper "Die Zeit," the list of speakers at this year's World Newspaper Congress and World Editor's Forum in Kiev, Ukraine is a who's who of global media players. But one name on the list, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has come under growing criticism for his government's restrictions on the media.

Growing pressure on journalists

Since taking office, Yanukovych has stated on a number of occasions that press freedom is something he cares for and protects. But the reality looks somewhat different. In 2010, Yanukovych declared Kiev's media union itself "the number one enemy of the press." ON these grounds, the president's bodyguards repeatedly hindered journalists' work. Further, television reports critcial of the president were prevented from being aired.

Ukrainian journalists protest in Kiev in June 2010

International rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB) has reported a dramatic decrease in press freedom in Ukraine. RWB's executive director Christian Mihr said pressure on journalists has been mounting in the lead up to October general elections in the country. In RWB's latest press freedom ranking, Ukraine came in at spot 116 out of 179 countries. That was much better than their 2010 spot, but significantly worse than 2009. Under former President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine was in spot 89 on the list.

Impetus to boycott Kiev

Against this backdrop, the question arises whether the World Newspaper Congress should even be hosted in a country like Ukraine. Wouldn't it make more sense to boycott the event? In spring 2012, a boycott by leaders including German President Joachim Gauck forced Ukrainian leaders to cancel a summit of central European countries in Yalta. The Euro 2012 soccer tournament in Ukraine in June also saw top European politicians refusing to attend in protest of Ukraine's dismantling of democracy.

Several days before the World Newspaper Congress, the general director of Ukrainian broadcaster TVi discussed a possible boycott. Mykola Knyaschyzki said holding the event in Ukraine gave the false appearance that the country has a free press.

"The Ukrainian regime is somewhat legitimized by participating in the form," he told DW.

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Ukrainian press freedom in the spotlight

August 30, 2012 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom NORMAL, IL - The Florence Freedom bats stayed hot again Wednesday night on the road against the Normal Cornbelters, as the Freedom won 10-6.

John Malloy helped led a balanced Freedom offensive attack by going 2-4 with his 14th home run of the season. He was aided by a big offensive from designated hitter Peter Fatse who went 3-5 with two RBI.

A see-saw battle was finally put away with a three run fourth inning that included Fatse's double to score two and an RBI single by Freedom catcher Jim Jacquot.

Brent Choban (2-1) got the win for the Freedom in relief of starter Brandon Mathes who lasted just three innings. Choban tossed two innings for the Freedom and was aided by the offense in the fourth.

The Cornbelters never got within four of the Freedom after the fourth inning thanks to relief efforts by Mike Hanley, Jose Velazquez and Matt Kline.

The win moved the Freedom's record to 53-39, most every since the Freedom moved to Florence in 2003, and allowed them to keep pace with the Schaumburg Boomers for the Frontier League's final wild card spot.

The Freedom go for the sweep Thursday night in Normal. Game time 7:30 as Andres Caceres (7-3) takes the ball for Florence. Listen to the game live Thursday night on Real Talk 1160 AM with Freedom voice Steve Jarnicki. Pregame show starts at 7:15 pm.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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Freedom Outslug CornBelters

The idea for the Oregon Freedom Festival was first scrawled out on napkins by a couple of friends.

Glenn (Colangelo) and I sat down three years ago in a Subway, said Kim Ullfers. We started mapping out a dream of what we want to do.

Ullfers and Colangelo formed Vision Corps and still pull out those napkins sometimes to make sure they are staying true to their original vision.

Our goal is to do things like this freedom festival, Ullfers said.

The two have known each other for 15 years. Both have military backgrounds and their events have been patriotic in theme. Vision Corps held Memorial Day ceremonies in Salem and Hillsboro in 2011 and 2012.

Sept. 1 will be the first Freedom Festival the group is putting on.

The flavor of the event is a family Fourth of July picnic, Colangelo said.

A watermelon seed spitting contest, bouncy houses, and a puppet show are among the kid-friendly activities.

Shelly Garrett, executive director of the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce, will emcee the evening activities, which include performances by the Victory Voices choir and a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

Pyrotechnician Norm Rose worked on synchronizing the Lights of Liberty fireworks display, which will finish off the night.

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Freedom Festival celebrates patriots

Freedom of speech is more important for Russians than rallies, a poll conducted by the Levada Center pollster showed.

Eighty-three percent of Russians need freedom of speech, 62 percent freedom of rallies and demonstrations, and 76 percent would like to go abroad unhindered, according to the poll whose results were published on Wednesday.

Seventy percent of those polled said individual freedom and personal interests are above all, and the state should guarantee that these are observed. Thirty percent said the interests of the state are above all other things.

A total of 42 percent of respondents - 5 percent more than 11 years ago - said they believe Russia should be a country closed to others to be successfully developing. Fifty-eight percent said Russia should become integrated in the international community not to lag behind other nations.

Seventy-eight percent said they want to see Russia as a country which is comfortable to live in, and which prioritizes its nationals needs, while 22 percent said they need their country to have military power and be respected worldwide.

The poll was conducted on August 17-21, 2012, among 1,601 urban and rural residents aged 18 and above in 130 localities of 45 Russian regions.

The statistical margin of error does not exceed 3.4 percent.

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Freedom of Speech ‘More Important’ for Russians than Rallies

GOP adopts Internet freedom plank: Part of the platform the Republican party adopted Tuesday night included language to protect Internet freedom, something that lawmakers and interest groups on both sides of the aisle have been calling for in recent months.

Several groups that lobbied against the online piracy bills known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP (Intellectual Property) Act have petitioned Republicans and Democrats to affirm a commitment to the open Internet as planks in their party platforms, and lawmakers such as Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) have made similar cases to party leadership.

The Republican plank is focused on removing regulation around technology businesses, as well as language that would protect personal data online from the government. The platform language also says that the party will resist any effort to move Internet governance away from its current multistakeholder model in favor of international or intergovernmental organizations.

The GOP also specifically criticized the Federal Communications Commission, saying that the agencys net neutrality rule and other regulations show the Obama administration is frozen in the past. The platform proposes that the federal government inventory its spectrum to discover how much of it could be auctioned to the public.

Cybersecurity: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has asked that President Obama put out an executive order of take other appropriate action to pass measures to enhance the cybersecurity of the countys critical infrastructure, the Hill reported.

On Tuesday, Feinstein sent a letter to the president asking him to take action because she believes that Congress will not be able to pass a strong cybersecurity law by the end of this session.

A broad cybersecurity bill failed in the Senate this month.

LulzSec arrest: The FBI has arrested a second man suspected of being a member of the hacking group LulzSec, which claimed responsibility for cyber attacks against Sony in late spring 2011.

According to Reuters, Raynaldo Rivera of Tempe, Ariz., faces up to 15 years in prison on charges that he aided hackers in posting personal information taken from Sony online.

Challenge to FTC, Google settlement: Consumer Watchdog has won the right to oppose the Federal Trade Commissions $22.5 billion challenge to a settlement with Google on privacy matters, the group said Wednesday.

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GOP adopts Internet freedom plank #thecircuit

By Doug Gross, CNN

President Barack Obama posted this photo of himself answering questions on social-sharing site Reddit on Monday afternoon.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- This week, Republicans made a free and open Internet part of their party's 2012 platform.

On Wednesday, during a visit with some of the most ardent open-Web supporters, President Barack Obama said Democrats will do the same.

"Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too," Obama wrote during an AMA ("ask me anything") on social-news site Reddit. "We will fight hard to make sure that the Internet remains the open forum for everybody -- from those who are expressing an idea to those to want to start a business."

Obama became the most high-profile person to host one of the site's live chats, during which well-known figures take questions live. The site's two most popular AMA's before Wednesday were astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and "Jeopardy" champ Ken Jennings.

As such, many users were having trouble following the conversation in real time, with the sheer amount of traffic causing the page to load slowly, or not at all, from time to time.

Obama was responding to a question, noting that Republicans had included an entire section promising protections for Internet freedom in their platform at the party convention being held in Tampa, Florida.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, has been a leading Web-freedom voice in the GOP and reportedly pushed hard for the language to be included. Obama promised similar action when Democrats convene next week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Obama: Web freedom will be part of Democratic platform