:: LNR Journalism ::

YouTube restricts video access to controversial video over Libyan violence

CNN :: The video, a film trailer mocking the Muslim faith, will (temporarily) not be accessible via YouTube in Libya and Egypt, the company said in a statement issued to CNN.

Read John D. Sutter, edition.cnn.com

YouTube's Community Rules

Further reactions: Miriam Arghandiwal, Reuters: Afghanistan banned YouTube

Connecting through the Libyan revolution: The people behind Feb17voices

On The Media :: One year ago this week, Libyan rebels took control of the capital city Tripoli, ending the 42-year rule of Muammar al-Qaddafi. When the Libyan uprising began in February of 2011, OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman told us about Feb17voices, a project she was involved in to get information out of Libya during a media blackout. Last month, Sarah went to Tripoli to witness Libya's election and to meet the people behind the voices.

Listen to the audio by Sarah Abdurrahman, www.onthemedia.org

Jeff Jarvis, here:

V. nice @onthemedia story by Sarah Abdurrahman on love & loss & a little media in the Libya revolution: onthemedia.org/2012/aug/24/co…

— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) August 25, 2012

New radio station brings fun and freedom to Libya

DOHA Centre for Media Freedom :: Music and laughter spill out of the grey building in the Libyan capital which is home to Radio Zone, one of the hippest channels to hit the north African nation's airwaves after the ouster of Moamer Gaddafi. "The people haven't been heard for a while so we wanted to have a radio station where everybody can call in, speak their minds and not be afraid that they will be hung up on or made fun of," says presenter Fuad Gritli, 25.

A report by www.dc4mf.org

Anchor Free: Web anonymizers and the Arab Spring

Fast Company :: Fast Company recently had the opportunity to speak with David Gorodyansky, CEO of AnchorFree, on the use of his company's popular Hotspot Shield software during the Arab Spring. Although Hotspot Shield is best known as a product used to access services such as Hulu and the BBC iPlayer across national borders, it also played a crucial role in organizing uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. Users put a series of web anonymizers to work to access Facebook, Twitter, and other services during uprisings throughout the Middle East.

Continue to read Neal Ungerleider, www.fastcompany.com

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid: Reflections on listening to Gaddafi's private conversations

Al Jazeera :: Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, who uncovered the recordings, reflects on listening to Gaddafi's private conversations. How do you feel about listening to phone conversations?" This was not the first time I heard about wiretaps in Libya. Gaddafi's state television had aired phone conversations between Mustafa Abdel Jalil and Western officials. The opposition, too, published a few dozen of them just after the fall of Tripoli - a way to keep the momentum going, since Gaddafi was still on the run. So I confidently said that I'd already heard them. "No, no," my contact said. "This is different."

Continue to read Hoda Abdel-Hamid, www.aljazeera.com

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decries growing killings of journalists

DOHA :: "We have to protect journalists in democratic countries first of all. There are tens of countries which are democratic and do not respect the law as they should do," Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at a UN event on press freedom organized by France and Greece. Reporters Without Borders said that more than 280 journalists and bloggers have been imprisoned this year, including 32 in Eritrea, 30 in China and 27 in Iran and 14 in Syria. But five have been detained in Azerbaijan, which is the UN Security Council president for May. Ban and press freedom groups have sought to stress the role of the media, and particularly the new social media, in covering the uprisings in Libya, Egypt and Syria over the past 18 months.

Continue to read www.dc4mf.org

Social media puts us all on the front line: The trauma suffered by in-country journalists covering wars

Social Grindr :: In the early stages of the uprisings in the Middle East, Storyful was a subset of a small group worldwide scanning social media intensely for actionable content. We joined Libyan Facebook groups, ran persistent searches in Arabic on YouTube and scoured Twitter for links. We searched intently for video that gave us clues as to movements on the ground, but in the process we found much of the ‘collateral damage’ – the human cost of war. The process meant watching hundreds of hours of video so gruesome that most of it would never make it to television. We saw horrendous things from what would otherwise have been hidden wars.

[Storyful:] ... we are, after all, humans first. Journalists second.

Continue to read blog.socialgrindr.com

.@JohnPollock - People Power 2.0: How civilians helped win the Libyan information war

Technology Review :: Civilians have "rushed the field," says David Kilcullen, author of The Accidental Guerrilla, a renowned expert on counterinsurgency and a former special advisor to General David Petraeus during the Iraq War. Their communications can now directly affect a military operation's dynamics. "Information networks," he says, "will define the future of conflicts." That future started unfurling when Libyan networks—and a long list of global activists—began an information war against Qaddafi. Thousands of civilians took part, but one of the most important was a man who, to paraphrase Woodrow Wilson, used not only all the brains he had but all the brains he could borrow.

HT: Stephanie Lamy, also mentioned in the article by John Pollock

Continue to read John Pollock, www.technologyreview.com

Traditional and citizen journalism are not adversaries

GigaOM :: As we have described a number of times at GigaOM, journalism has become something virtually anyone can practice now, thanks to social tools and digital media. This democratization of distribution has had a profound effect on the coverage of uprisings in Egypt and Libya and more recently in Syria. Thanks to YouTube, Twitter and other networks, more information is available about what is happening in those countries. But is it reliable?

Continue to read Mathew Ingram, gigaom.com

Sebastian Junger launches medical training program for freelance journalists in war zones

Huffington Post :: Tim Hetherington didn't have to die in Libya. It's that belief that has led Sebastian Junger, a close friend and colleague of the award-winning photojournalist, to launch Reporters Instructed In Saving Colleagues (RISC), an organization providing freelance journalists with emergency medical training.

Continue to read Michael Calderone, www.huffingtonpost.com