MEDIA-U.S.: Giants Poised to Grow

Watchdogs are calling for the postponement of a watershed vote that they fear will permit U.S. media conglomerates to grow even larger at the cost of pluralism and minority views.

COMMUNICATION: Russia Cleans Up the E-Way

The Russian government is turning to the Internet in an attempt to make its bureaucracy more efficient and less corrupt.

AUSTRALIA: Attack on Broadcaster’s Iraq Coverage Raises Fears

The attack by an Australian minister on what he calls the anti-U.S. coverage of the Iraq war by the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) is raising concerns about independent reporting by the national broadcaster.

INDONESIA: In Aceh, Military Uses Lessons from U.S. War on Iraq

As the Indonesian television journalist faced the cameras from atop a military truck, the sound of gunfire interrupted his report, providing immediacy and reality to his real-time broadcast from Aceh province.

MEDIA-U.S.: Hollywood or Hearst – The Jessica Lynch Story

An attractive and spirited young woman, held captive by sadistic foreigners and saved by coolly efficient, red-blooded, all-American males - it is a story straight out of romance novels, not to mention the ''yellow journalism'' that propelled the United States into the Spanish-American War and global empire just over a century ago.

COSTA RICA: High Prices for Coffee, but Only on the Internet

While coffee prices hit rock bottom in the real world, an auction organised on the Internet by Costa Rican coffee-growers pushed prices sky-high. The recipe? Specialty coffee marketed without intermediaries.

VIETNAM: Local ‘Johnny English’ Has Copyright in His Sights

'Johnny English', the spy film spoof about a bumbling British secret service agent that has kept audiences rolling in the aisles, is no laughing matter for Le Van Nghia.

BRAZIL: To Ukraine, in Search of Technology Refused by Rich

A Brazilian cabinet minister is in the Ukraine as part of the government's mission to seek technology exchange with nations at a similar level of development that are more willing to cooperate than the industrialised North.

TRADE-AMERICAS: Culture is Not Negotiable

Many in Latin America argue that cultural products are not just another form of merchandise. But that premise is rarely applied when governments in the region negotiate free trade deals.

IRAQ: Librarian Left Out of Visit to Libraries

A UNESCO team had to leave a senior librarian out of a visit to Iraq this month because U.S. occupying forces denied him a visa.

MEDIA: What the Information Society Should Know

The Global Knowledge Partnership will be a key participant at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva this December.

IRAN: Book Fair Shows How Much, and How Little, Has Changed

An international book fair may be just another event in most countries, but in Iran it is an opportunity to look at the changes that have led to the variety of information and choices available in this Islamic society - as well as the limits to these changes.

TECHNOLOGY: UN Pledges to Set the African Virtual Library in Motion

Every computer equipped to play C-Roms or with access to the Internet is a "virtual library," where the world's knowledge can be downloaded for enquiring users.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Groups Using Access to Information Law to the Hilt

Tsunefuke Kurayama is a member of an unusual group in Japan - one that has taken 10 policemen to court for embezzling public funds to the tune of 4 million yen (about 35,000 U.S. dollars). It is not the first time either.

CARIBBEAN: Media Want Restrictions Removed

Caribbean journalists have called on a United Nations body to urge regional governments to review their libel and defamation laws because they restrict freedom of speech.

MEDIA: French Prepare their Answer to BBC and CNN

France is preparing to launch a state-owned international news channel to compete with the British, U.S. and Arab channels that dominate international television.

MALAYSIA: Debates Show Long Way to Go in Changing Media Scene

Despite louder calls for press freedom in recent years, there is a long way to go before Malaysian society and its much-controlled media get a taste of real freedom, recent debates among journalists and authorities show.

IRAQ: Latin American Media Provided Balanced Coverage, say Experts

Coverage of the war on Iraq in Latin America has been marked by efforts to send correspondents from the region despite the economic crisis, and by a largely successful attempt at balance, according to analysts.

IRAQ: Embedded or In-Bed-With?

Senator Hiram Johnson would be long forgotten by now, were it not for his one famous quote: ''The first casualty when war comes is truth," he said in 1917, and every armed conflict before or since has brought that phrase back to life.

IRAQ: U.S. Govt Accused of War Crimes against Journalists

International journalists' organisations are accusing the U.S. government of committing war crimes in Iraq by intentionally firing at war correspondents.

SPAIN: Reporters Boycott Aznar over Deaths of Colleagues in Iraq

Some 100 press workers boycotted Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar Wednesday to protest the deaths of two of their colleagues in Iraq and the government's strong support for the war.