The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available at here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Universities must safeguard intellectual vitality
Andreas Hess, Irish Times, 2/10
Presidential duress: fears for Belarusian academic freedom
Colin Graham, Times Higher Education, 2/10
Travel Ban Extends to Family
Mihray Abdilim and Joshua Lipes, Radio Free Asia, 2/10
Faculty Group at U. of Puerto Rico Joins Students on Strike
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/10
The Beck-Piven Controversy
Peter Wood, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/10
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Category Archives: Journalism and Media
Egypt Decides! Let's Stand Back for a While
Saturday, 12 February 2011, Day 1 Freedom - Victory Tahrir Square, Photo by Darla Hueske, Creative Commons license, Some rights reserved
Fortunately, this wave has not caused the death and destruction tidal waves usually do, because it is the people themselves who are the wave, and it is the elite who are being swept away, not in a bloody coup, but through real people power. Final costs have yet to be assessed. People were jailed and others killed, but violence and destruction to property have been minimal. The police were brutal and ruthless and far too many were killed, but protests continued and the police disappeared quickly. After that, the one significant effort of Mubarak loyalist to crack heads, backfired terribly.
Most Americans are excited by this wave of democracy and have an innate tendency to support it. Others got very nervous when the wave hit Egypt. What happens if the Muslim brotherhood takes over? There are even voices who get far to much airplay in the media and too much ink in the press who say that people in the region are incapable of self governance and need strong arm leadership. The most looney voice has to be Glenn Beck who fears Mubarak’s fall will open the door to a Islamist Caliphate that will spread until it meets and joins forces with a Chinese-led “red” wave on a quest for world domination.
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TV News and Reporting from Egypt
Dear Media,
Please stop marveling at how anything is happening in Egypt even though the internet is shut down and people can’t get on Twitter or Facebook. You do realize that there were popular revolts before social media, don’t you? In the latter half of the 20th century we had the Prague Spring in 1968, the Soweto uprising in 1976, the Paris riots in 1968, and even Tiananmen Square in 89. How do you think people coordinated the labor demonstrations of the 30s, the anti-colonial revolts of the developing world in the decades following World War II. What about the French Revolution in 1789? OMG? How did they get anything done. They didn’t even have land lines!
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The President v. The Pundit
Daniel Hernandez, President Obama and First Lady Michele Obama at the memorial event, 'Together We Thrive: Tucson and America', at the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson, Arizona, on 12 January 2011. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Barack Obama in the President of the United States. He has to triangulate the demands of Congress and its opposing parties, the international obligations of the United States to its foreign allies, national security, and many more concerns. The decisions of the President have real consequences, and he has to make sure things happen.
Sarah Palin was, briefly, a governor. Now, however, she is a pundit and nominal leader of an ill-formed political movement. Furnaces and air conditioning already work under pressure depending on the temperature. buy viagra without rx The generic india levitra US government does not regulate the prices of medicines. And the historic such as the Grosvenor Museum and the Museum purchase cialis online purchasing here of Contemporary Art have quite a delightful surprise that are sure to enchant you and come back for more. Ayurveda recommends the consumption of urad dal contains 189 calories, 13 gm of protein, 12 gm cialis online of fibre and just 1gm of fat. It is easy to snipe and criticize, when you don’t have to provide solutions. It so happens that her videotaped speech was highly criticized and damaged her popularity rating, whereas the Presidents speech was well received, but who cares how they compare. If the President’s comments are to be compared to anyone’s, it ought to be to John Boehner, Mitch NcConnell, or a prominent Senator. Essentially any national figure from the Republican party in a policy making role would be more appropriate, not Sarah Palin, whose opinions have no real consequences.
Policy ≠ Politics
President Obama announces the compromise.
A couple days ago the White House and Congressional Republicans reached a compromise on issues that included extending the Bush tax cuts and unemployment benefits. It took a while. In the press conference announcing the agreement, President Obama commented that the agreement is not what he wanted, but said that Republicans were holding tax cuts for the Middle Class and an unemployment benefits extension “hostage.” Many in the Democratic base oppose the compromise, seeing it as capitulation rather than compromise, and are resistant to approval.
Mainstream media has been providing blow by blow coverage of this process. The tell us which side which wants what but not in a lot of detail and not why. For the most part they spend their time speculating about the impact that whatever compromise might be reached will have on the 2012 elections. Then they let party representatives and their surrogates in the punditry argue about what agreements might be better and for the nation and how.
It’s all very entertaining. There is drama, conflict, suspense. Who is winning the skirmish as the pundits argue? Who will win the battle when the legislation ultimately makes it out of Congress? Most importantly, who’s likely to win the war in 2012!
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Don't Take My Tax Cut! And Get a Job!
Petition: Tell Congress: Protect Workers, NOT Millionaires!
Senator Scott Brown made a fiery speech a couple of days ago as he blocked the Senate from considering an extension of unemployment benefits. He said that first we need to find a way to pay for those benefits without raising the deficit. At last report the unemployment rate in this country stands at 9.7% and Brown wants to put their ability to buy groceries, pay their bills, mortgage or rent payments in doubt while Congress turns its attention to the deficit.
I believe that Washington has finally turned its attention to the deficit in earnest, and that Brown’s theatrics are not necessary. The report that bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has just been released provides outstanding recommendations for debt reduction. Holding the unemployed hostage during the holiday season is little more than political theater. Brown needed an issue to distinguish himself on, and he chose this. Nice, Senator! Pick on the unemployed. They’re so busy job hunting they won’t be paying much attention!
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Academic Freedom Media Review-November 13-19, 2010
photo: Chris Hildreth
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Second Azerbaijani ‘Donkey Blogger’ Freed
Claire Bigg, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11/19
Azerbaijani Activist Detained On Georgian Border
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11/19
Nobel Winner’s Absence May Delay Awarding of Prize
Andrew Jacobs and Alan Cowell, The New York Times, 11/18
Law students march to support UP professors
ABS-CBN News, 11/18
SINGAPORE: Yale partnership to go ahead, NUS says
Stanislaus Jude Chan, University World News, 11/18
Law clinics that go beyond theory face attacks
Sarah Cunnane, Times Higher Education, 11/18
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Academic Freedom Media Review, October 30 – November 5, 2010
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Singapore suppresses dissident
Drew Anderson, Yale Daily News, 11/5
Scholars at Risk Expresses Concern Over Professor Denied Entry to India
Scholars at Risk, 11/4
Iran Sets New Conditions For Employing Teachers
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11/4
News of Government Guidelines on ‘Pluralism’ Alarms Israeli Academics
Matthew Kalman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/4
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Hey Candidates! Just Anwer the Questions and Check Your Facts: Mid-terms 2010
Every election year since 1992 Project Vote Smart, CNN and prominent national leaders from both across the political spectrum survey candidates for U.S. House & Senate, governor and state legislatures on key issues facing the nation. Called the National Political Courage Test, in fact what it revealed was an appalling lack of courage and a complete unwillingness to take a stand.
Only 17% of all 2010 candidates for U.S. House, Senate, governor and state legislatures are willing to tell voters their positions on key issues facing the nation. The rest are afraid of exposing themselves to their opponents.
I was kind of bowled over by that number. Perhaps one way of looking at it would be the way that Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President did in a piece he wrote today. In fact this number demonstrates that candidates for office have a great deal of courage. It takes guts to stand in front of a non-partisan public interest group, journalists, and voters themselves, and refuse to take a position, a fortitude that is new in politics, enabled by developments in media. He writes sarcastically:
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Academic Freedom Media Review, October 23-29, 2010
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Warning on Bologna
Hannah Fearn, Inside Higher Ed, 10/29
Iranian Scholar Accused of Acting against National Security
Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR), 10/28
Students say: new report recommending specialised universities would spell disaster for accessible education and academic choice
CNW, 10/27
Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of Svyatoslav Bobyshev and Yevgeny Afanasyev, Russian scholars held in pretrial detention since March
Scholars at Risk, 10/26
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