MEDIA BUZZ
A roundup of recent news and happenings
by Danielle Demetriou

PERFECT FAMILY?
Next time you post a family snapshot on the Internet, spare a thought as to where it might end up. Chances are there is one place unlikely to spring to mind as a possible destination: a billboard advertising a grocery store in the Czech Republic. This, however, is where a fetching photograph of the Smith family from Missouri recently found itself. A family friend of the Smiths was traveling in Prague when he was stopped in his tracks by the oversized smiling faces of Jeff Smith, his wife Danielle and their two children. While the photograph had been taken for the family’s Christmas cards, here it was being used to advertise the local grocer’s delivery service, emblazoned with the words: “We will prepare and deliver your requests in two business days.” The company’s defense? Stumbling across it online (the Smiths had posted it on a family blog) the company believed it was a computer-generated image – perhaps understandably, judging by their achingly wide smiles, sparkling white teeth and color-coordinated outfits. The Smiths have fortunately taken the transcontinental travels of the family portrait with admirable bemusement. Or in the words of Danielle Smith: “Interesting. Bizarre. Flattering, I suppose. But quite creepy.”

DAM THE FLOW
Forget the Great Wall of China. Another barrier on an equally epic scale is currently being painstakingly erected: the Great Firewall of China. China boasts the world’s fastest-growing population of Internet users, and it’s increasingly difficult for the government to filter out pornography and politically sensitive content. The virtual wall of China reached cloud-brushing new heights in June with the announcement that all new computers must be preinstalled with Internet-filtering software. While the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology defended the obligatory installation of the “Green Dam” software as a means of eliminating access to pornography sites, the move unleashed a tsunami of protests from human-rights activists. Among them was Beijing lawyer Li Fangping, who demanded a public hearing amid claims that the demand “lacks a legal basis.” The right to surf the Internet is becoming an increasingly hot topic in China: From Facebook and YouTube to Twitter and Wordpress, many sites have been censored for limited periods in recent months. We hope the efforts of Fangping and other activists succeed in helping to puncture the virtual barrier that divides China from the outside world.

REPORTER BEATEN
Poddala Jayantha was walking out of a pharmacy in Colombo when a white van pulled up and half a dozen men jumped out. Their arrival marked the start of a violent attack on the respected Sri Lankan journalist and human-rights activist. After being bundled into the back of the van, Jayantha’s hair and beard were reportedly shaved off before he was beaten with iron rods and wooden poles as he was accused of being a “traitor to his country.” Meanwhile, his hands were smashed with wooden blocks as his attackers proclaimed he would never again write, according to reports. The incident is not isolated. The Tamil Tiger rebels may have been finally and definitively defeated by the Sri Lankan Army. But the end of a devastating 26-year civil war that claimed an estimated 80,000 lives does not mean a wave-a-magic-wand end to the teardrop-shaped island’s woes. And independent media remain a target, with systematic infringement of media rights continuing to escalate despite the LTTE defeat – as demonstrated by the attack on Jayantha, who works for the Sinhalese-language newspaper Silumina. Commented Bob Dietz of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists: “These attacks are a chilling reminder that journalists remain under attack in Sri Lanka even after the end of the government’s battle with Tamil separatists.”

12-YEAR SENTENCE
Twelve years. The draconian sentence passed on two American journalists in North Korea in June was the confirmation of the most dreaded of worst-case scenarios for the reporters and their families. Laura Ling and Euna Lee of American network Current TV were each given 12 years hard labor after being found guilty of a “grave crime” and “illegal border crossing” following their arrest in March while investigating a story. The sentence was greeted with dismay around the world, with tens of thousands expressing outrage and support in equal measure via the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook. A resolution in support of the detained journalists was also passed by the FCCJ. But the trickiest aspect of the case is its timing. The announcement of the verdict and the harsh sentences coincide with nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula reaching fever pitch. Only days after the sentencing, the U.N. Security Council tightened its economic and military sanctions on North Korea following Pyongyang’s May 25 nuclear test. For the two journalists, the escalating clashes over nuclear weapons in the region emphasize the tenuous line between political pawn and prisoner. Only time will tell whether their status as the former will eventually lead to an early release.