CUBA: Skilful Surfing by Digital Culture Project

Buoyant in the storm and sailing for new horizons, the Cuban cultural project Esquife (Skiff) has spent over a decade navigating the rough waters of thought-provoking digital journalism, stirring up opinions rather than wallowing in complacency.

CUBA: Old Havana Reaches Out to Hearing Impaired

An innovative programme in Old Havana has given the hearing impaired greater access to the historical and cultural wealth of the restored historic city centre.

MIDEAST: Israel Gags News on Extra-Judicial Killings

An Israeli journalist remains under house arrest and another lives abroad, after they broke news on Israeli undercover units carrying out assassinations or "targeted killings" of non-combatant Palestinian political opponents.

MEXICO: Soundtrack to Violence

"What a sad childhood Juanito had/ when shooting started in his barrio/ he was left lying on the ground/ so young/ he went to his grave".

PHILIPPINES: Party-list Legislators Often Forgotten in Poll

Second-class legislators. A different political species in the Philippines' rough- and-tumble - and very personalistic - brand of electoral politics.

DEVELOPMENT: No Room for Complacency in Avian Flu – Experts

Government and international non-government organisations need to put as much effort in fighting the spread of complacency in the battle against the H5N1 virus as they do in curbing avian flu itself, experts say.

HONDURAS: Deadliest Month Ever for Reporters

Reporters in Honduras have long complained about gag laws, threats, exile and attacks. But never before have so many journalists been killed in one month.

SOUTH AFRICA: Teaching Girls to Report on the World Cup

For the nearly 50 million people of South Africa, the 2010 World Cup represents an opportunity to show the world its progress through sports. But for a new nonprofit organisation, soccer's biggest stage also offers an opportunity to publicise young women who tend to go unheard.

CHILE: A Newspaper Of and For ‘the Voiceless’

Diario Uno, a newspaper with an innovative business model put out by a group of journalists and academics, went on sale Sunday in Chile, promising to provide a voice for those who do not feel represented by the country's economic model nor by the mainstream media.

PHILIPPINES: Presidential Bets Perform To Woo Voters

Often described as too square and boring, Philippine presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III reaches out to the music-television generation as a smiling, hip-hop rapper in his television advertisement.

US-CHINA: Google Puts Ball in Beijing’s Court

Internet users in China are reporting varying degrees of censorship on Google search results after the company moved its Chinese operation out of mainland China.

SRI LANKA: Attack Over ‘Offensive’ Music Video Revives Old Fears

Anger against the popular rap and hip-hop singer Akon, whose music video has footage of bikini-clad women dancing near a Buddha statue, may have been just a ruse used in this week's attack on a private media house in Sri Lanka, media advocates fear.

MEDIA-MALAYSIA: Censorship Taking A Religious Turn, Critics Say

For many Malaysian journalists these days, it has become very tricky to draw a clear line between commenting critically on an issue and offending a particular community and thus threatening social order.

CHINA: State Media Pushing for a Global Voice

Expanded overseas bureaus, more Chinese and foreign-language editorial products reaching global audiences and now, a reformatting of the country’s most widely read English-language newspaper. These are signs of the expansion of China’s state media, one that President Hu Jintao has described as an "increasingly fierce struggle in the domain of news and opinion".

MEDIA-ASIA: Exiled Radio Plays A Cat-and Mouse Game

For exiled journalists working on shortwave radio programming aimed at Burmese and Tibetan listeners, dodging the ‘enemy’ in the name of freer speech is often a cat-and-mouse game.

BURMA: Despite Loss at Oscars, Film A Testament to Courage

It may have not won an Oscar, but its having been a final contender for the prestigious statue at the U.S. Academy Awards on Mar. 7 has taken ‘Burma VJ’ to heights never achieved by previous films depicting the oppression and courage in military-ruled Burma.

THAILAND: Media Caught in Red-or-Yellow Divide Too

Anyone who is still trying to look for neutrality or balance in the Thai media in these days of political ferment, ahead of large anti-government protests expected in the capital, has a pretty tough job.

ASIA: Religious Advocates Heed the Call of New Media

Not even religious advocates and leaders and can say no to the power of online media, whose call they are heeding in order to spread various messages of spirituality.

POLITICS: U.S. Lifts Restrictions on Web Services

After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's January address on the role of internet freedom in U.S. foreign policy, the Barack Obama administration appears to be taking the first steps to introduce specific legislation and policies to exploit the role of the internet in opening up those countries ruled by oppressive or authoritarian governments.

MEDIA-NEPAL: Self-Censorship Creeping Up After Killings

The climate of fear that has been growing in this Himalayan country since the murder of two media entrepreneurs and other attacks on journalists may well push them to turn to more self-censorship.

Q&A: More Women Journalists Doesn’t Mean More Gender Awareness

Young Indian women are taking to journalism in droves, but Ammu Joseph, author of several authoritative books on women in media, believes that these numbers do not necessarily translate into gender awareness.