New Media and Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom

New Media and New Challenges

Sanjana Ha2otuwa Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Alterna>ves

Context

• IGP believes mobiles can capture rape

• Mobile phones can host porn • Protec>ng children from pornography on the web can be best

addressed by crea>ng paid accounts for parents

• Mobile phone sharing prohibited • CDMA phones limited to fixed loca>ons

• Environment can be saved by taxing mobile phone usage • No GPS in Sri Lanka • An Execu>ve that does not understand, use or has any

experience with new media

Four points

• Ci>zen journalists need protec>on

• Mainstream media ethics needs to recognise User Generated Content (USG) in the same manner as tradi>onal sources

• ISPs are the new gatekeepers and censors

• The rise of the Nanny State must be resisted

Protec>on of Ci>zen Journalists


• The dis>nc>on between new and old media will disappear

• The prac>ce of journalism will con>nue to be dis>nct from casual blogging

• Ci>zens already bear witness to process and events

• They will increasingly record,transmitandtalkaboutsuch processes and events amongst themselves

• They will be increasingly at risk



• “Accordingtotheviewsofademocra3csocietyallthoseinprintandelectronicmediaaswellasthosewhoareprofessionallyengagedincollec3nginforma3onanddistribu3ngittothepublicareconsideredjournalists.Eventhosewhomaintainpoli3calandsocialblogsareconsideredjournalists.”

• Statement by 5 media organisa>ons, 22 December 2007 http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2007/12/22/key-media-organisations-and-trade-unions-in-sri-lanka-recognise-bloggers-as-journalists/


• “…ïnsayingthattheonlyjournaliststheMinisterrecognisesarethosewithIDcardsissuedbytheMediaMinistry,theGovernmentofSriLankaconvenientlyignoresthevitalsocialandpoli3calcritquesofbloggersinSriLanka.FromMyanmartoChinatoIraq,theworldtodaygetsnewsandinforma3onthroughbloggers.”

• Sunanda Deshapriya, Free Media Movement (FMM), December 2007 http://www.vikalpa.org/archives/350

Mainstream media ethics and UGC

Mainstream media ethics and UGC: TheIsland

• June 13: My ar>cle was sent by email to groundviews.org and to The Island Newspaper.

• June 13: Groundviews publishes my ar>cle in the original form.

• June 16: The Island publishes my ar>cle in a form that is dras>cally changed from the original.

• June 16: I write by email complaining to the Editor of the Island and ask for remedy.

• June 19: I write by email to the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka and ask if they can entertain this sort of complaint.

• June 30: No reply yet from the editor of the Island, nor the Press Complaints Commission.

• Full case study with all documenta>on at h2p://www.groundviews.org/2007/07/01/the‐pretense‐of‐professionalism‐the‐flipside‐of‐media‐freedom‐in‐sri‐lanka/


1st July 2007

Dear Sir,

I wish to bring to your attention an article titled The pretense of professionalism - the flipside of media freedom in Sri Lanka (http://www.groundviews.org/2007/07/01/the-pretense-of-professionalism-the-flipside-of-media-freedom-in-sri-lanka/) regarding an article submitted by Nishan de Mel published in The Island on 16th June 2007.

The facts of the case as they are presented in the article strongly suggest a gross and indefensible misuse of Editorial freedom.

I would welcome your response that can be sent in via email to me or entered on the website directly.

Best,

Sanjana Hattotuwa


• TheIslandof 5 July 2007 reproduced ar>cle in full with the following note from the Editor:

“AneditedversionofthisleLerfirstappearedinTheIslandonJune16.TheoriginalleLerispublishedinfulltodayasthewriterhastakenissuewithusoverthechangeseffectedtoitforclarityandbrevity.However,ourdecisiontoreproduceithasnothingtodowiththecomplainthehasmadetothePressComplaintsCommission,whichwecametoknowonlyattheeleventhhour.Wereproduceitonourownaswepreviouslymadethemistakeofedi3ngandpublishingitwithoutreturningittothesender.”

Mainstream media ethics and UGC: Lakbima

• “PerhapsthepaperthinkIoughttobeflaLered.Fortheirinforma3on(FTI),I’mnot.Yetoddly,I’mnotangryaboutthis(itsreallynotworththe3meandeffort).Itjustdoesn’tfeel“right”.Hasthebadsmellofsomethingunethical.”

• Cerno, h2p://cerno.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/lakbima‐prints‐cernos‐post‐without‐asking

• “Assomeonewhoalwaysbeenaheavycri3cizerofSanjanaandGroundviews,thisisapointwhereIwholeheartedlyreadytoalignwithSanjana.”

• A Voice in Colombo, h2p://www.groundviews.org/2007/07/12/rajpal‐abeynaike‐editor‐of‐lakbima‐offers‐excep>onal‐responses‐to‐story‐on‐groundviews/#comment‐1780

Mainstream media ethics and UGC: DailyMirror

• Regularly republishes ar>cles from Groundviews

• Arbitrary and exceedingly bad edits. En>re paragraphs are deleted, paragraphs are shuffled around and mysteriously put into text boxes

• Ar>cles truncated and published as Le2ers to the Editor

• Repeatedly published with no a2ribu>on to Groundviews. Only once has URL been given.Renown authors have chosen publica>on on Groundviewsover Daily Mirror

• “IampleasedthatGroundviewsprovidesDMwithmaterialforpublica3onandperhaps,inspira3on.Theleastyoucoulddoistoacknowledgeit.”


• Ineffec>veness and lethargy of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) as it is currently cons>tuted. Uninterested in engaging bloggers, though bloggers are deeply interested in dialogue

• Mainstream media does not treat UGC in the same manner as other sources. UGC is of lesser value – good enough for publica>on, but not for a2ribu>on.

• Editors do not understand new media or blogging, much less how to a2ribute UGC content (URL? Trackback? Pseudonym? Blog name?)

• The mainstream media's refusal to acknowledge its symbio>c rela>onship with blogs is not only irresponsible, it's unethical.


• Need to formalise the interface between tradi>onal forms of news and the flurry of growth in e‐news and e‐discussions on current affairs

• The media overlap that such development ins>gates, requires debate towards establishing some type of consensus of the interac>on

• Common understanding and respect between tradi>onal forms of media and the possibili>es UGC offers

ISPs: New gatekeepers and censors


• In Sri Lanka, telcos do not ques>on the Rajapakse regime and are supinely subservient to the MoD

• Phones shut off to swathes of people without any warning

• Phones are tapped

• Emails are intercepted

• VoIP (e.g. Skype) thro2led on some networks

Limits of free speech online?


• En>re product lines have been discon>nued unofficially (Blackberry’s with GPS and in‐dash naviga>on)

• Some telcos say that content interroga>ng governance, war and peace need to be approved by them and the MoD before they can be part of an ini>a>ve that encourages ci>zens to create such content

• Now disallowing teleconferencing!

• Websites are blocked by all ISPs

• There is no paper trail, no wri2en record of instruc>ons given to ISPs to block, monitor and restrict access and communica>ons


• Bloggers and ci>zen journalists are hunted down, tortured and imprisoned by repressive regimes

• Undermine the work of media and Human Rights advocates

• Help repressive regimes accurately target individuals and organisa>ons, esp. NGOs

• For greater market share and ROI, will turn a blind eye towards issues such as human rights

• May take a page from the UK, Australia or US


• FOE on the web and internet as important as FOE in electronic and print media

• ISPs and telcos need to be accountable and open to their customers on how they manage network traffic

• ISPS must catalog and record efforts by governments to censor or monitor the produc>on, dissemina>on or archival of informa>on

• A well defined legal process for Government to ask for user informa>on from ISPs

• Public Interest Li>ga>on that flags egregious cases of ISPs undermining human rights

• Crea>on of a watch dog, on the lines of Electronic Fron>er Founda>on (EFF)


• Companies will express support for human rights but also ask the public to basically trust them to do the right thing

• A fundamental problem is that companies will be very resistant to the idea of independent monitoring, in par>cular to a system that would allow for an independent third party to assess: 1. whether companies have put policies into place that demonstrate a

respect for freedom of expression and user privacy;

2. that those polices are diligently implemented; and

3. that their implementa>on is effec>ve in curtailing these human rights problems.


• Naming and shaming such ISPs and telcos that encourage policies and prac>ces inimical to human rights, privacy and the freedom of expression

• Promising (and delivering!) the future today may be hugely problema>c if we are heading towards an Orwellian State

Rise of the nanny state. Or worse.

Rise of the nanny state. Or worse.

• Child pornography on mobiles and pornography on the web. What is the technology used to block it?

• Porn today. Democra>c dissent, human rights concerns tomorrow?

• Transparency needed. The Execu>ve’s paternalism covers a mul>tude of sins.

Slight technicali>es…

Slight technicali>es…

RSF and OSCE recommenda>ons

1. Any law about the flow of informa>on online must be anchored in the righttofreedomofexpressionas defined in Ar>cle 19 of the Universal Declara>on of Human Rights.

2. Inademocra3candopensocietyitisuptotheci3zenstodecidewhattheywishtoaccessandviewontheInternet.Filtering or ra>ng of online content by governments is unacceptable. Filters should only be installed by Internet users themselves. Any policy of filtering, be it at a na>onal or local level, conflicts with the principle of free flow of informa>on.


3. Any requirement to registerwebsiteswithgovernmentalauthori9esisnotacceptable.

4. … Adecisiononwhetherawebsiteislegalorillegalcanonlybetakenbyajudge,notbyaserviceprovider.Such proceedings should guarantee transparency, accountability and the right to appeal.

5. All Internetcontentshouldbesubjecttothelegisla9onofthecountryofitsorigin("upload rule") and not to the legisla>on of the country where it is downloaded.


6. The Internet combines various types of media, and new publishing tools such as blogging are developing. Internetwritersandonlinejournalistsshouldbelegallyprotectedunderthebasicprincipleoftherighttofreedomofexpressionandthecomplementaryrightsofprivacyandprotec9onofsources.

• See h2p://www.rsf.org/ar>cle.php3?id_ar>cle=14136

Thank you

Education

New Media and Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom