Public Acceptance of Internet Censorship in Indonesia

The rapid uptake of digital technologies promises great benefits for citizens to transact and communicate in a free and open space. Yet this freedom may also lead governments to impose regulation and to attempt to filter content that may be considered offensive or politicised in nature. We empirically study public perceptions of internet censorship, perceived personal consequences of internet filtering and the use of tools to circumvent censorship through a survey of 112 residents of Indonesia, analysing our results with PLS structural equation modelling. Our findings show that perceived need for filtering, as well as social norms strongly influence public attitudes. We also find that uncertainty avoidance – a cultural trait - also influences these attitudes. However, the use of circumvention tools is determined by perceived personal consequences rather than attitude. Our findings address the lack of research in this space while addressing implications for government and policymakers

Satellite Televisions in Lebanon: Agents of Change or Reinforcing the Status Quo?

There has been a noted interest in the new technologies of the nineties, those that have expanded the realm of traditional mass media and the traditional means of communication that people were previously used to. With the start of globalization and the world becoming what some have called “global village,” the act of distributing information to the four comers of the world has become less complicated than it used to be, and boundaries are seen as constantly being eroded by the new pressures of modernization and liberalization. The internet and satellite televisions increased in importance in this realm, and so did the study of the impact of these means of communication on civil society and governments. The purpose of this study is to observe and analyze the impact of the new media, this new public sphere, on civil society and its politics, particularly in the case of Lebanon. My objective is to understand how the dynamics of the New Media and those of local politics interact and affect each other, and consequently to what extent this interaction is encouraging or permitting democratization and freedom of speech. In other words, is the New Media affecting the Lebanese political discourse? Or is it reinforcing the power of traditional politicians

Political Advertisements in the Era of Fleeting Indecent Images and Utterances

Political Advertisements in the Era of Fleeting Indecent Images and Utterances by LaVonda N. Reed-Huff This article is both timely and beneficial to the legal profession in its analysis of the Federal Communications Commission’s (the “FCC”) efforts to craft regulations regarding broadcast indecency and to address the prevalence of increasingly sexually suggestive material in political broadcast advertisements. This five-part article explores the statutory dilemma facing broadcasters who are presented political broadcast advertisements that contain indecent material. This dilemma is presented by the intersection of three federal statutes. One federal statute, 47 U.S.C. § 312, grants candidates for federal elective office reasonable access to broadcast stations in furtherance of their political campaigns. Another statute, 47 U.S.C. § 315, provides legally qualified candidates for federal, state, and local office equal opportunities to use broadcast stations as are afforded their opponents. This section also prohibits broadcast licensees from censoring political broadcast material. Finally, 18 U.S.C. § 1464 prohibits the broadcast of obscene, indecent, and profane material over the public airwaves. The racy and sexually suggestive political broadcast advertisements sponsored by some candidates in recent years suggest that the possibility of a broadcaster having to determine whether to air a candidate-sponsored political advertisement that actually could be defined as indecent is not so far-fetched. This article highlights several recent political advertisements and suggests that the dilemma created by this loophole in the statutes must be addressed. One such sexually suggestive television advertisement appeared in 2006 in Tennessee endorsing Republican Bob Corker in his race against Democrat Harold Ford, Jr. for a U.S. Senate seat. The Corker advertisement used sexually suggestive visual images to suggest that Ford frequented wild sex parties and had wild sexual liaisons. In the advertisement, the bare shoulders and face of an otherwise seemingly unclothed young blonde woman appeared on the screen as the young blonde winked and purred into the camera that she had previously met Ford at a Playboy party. The advertisement closed with another shot of the still questionably clothed young blonde teasing Ford to call her. Ford lost the election. Another television advertisement broadcast in New York in the same year endorsed Republican Raymond Meier in his U.S. congressional campaign against Democrat Michael Arcuri. The advertisement opened with superimposed images of a woman who appeared to be an exotic dancer straddling a chair and seductively dancing while purring “Hi, sexy…” Meanwhile, the target of the advertisement, Arcuri stared in the dancer’s direction while lasciviously and seductively licking his lips. The advertisement accused Arcuri of using Oneida County, New York taxpayer dollars to satisfy his sexual desires while on official business by calling an adult fantasy telephone hotline and then charging the call to his hotel room. Despite this advertisement, which ran in the days leading up to the election, Arcuri defeated his opponent to win the congressional seat. In an era where the media appears to take great fascination in the sex lives of elected officials and more so in actually catching and embarrassing them for these exploits, we are certain to see more of this type of material emerge in political campaign advertisements. In fact, it is possible that in the 2010 Louisiana U.S. Senate race, voters will have to choose between an adult film star and an incumbent senator who has been implicated in a Washington prostitution scandal. The possibilities for campaign advertisements containing indecent material are endless. This article does not assert that either the anti-Ford or the anti-Arcuri advertisements squarely falls within the subject matter scope of the FCC’s current definition of indecency, but that they do signal a gradual yet significant shift toward the willingness of political candidates and their supporters to pay for campaign advertisements with a sexual tinge. This article asks a question that has been asked by other scholars—what is a broadcaster to do in the event it is presented with political material that might fall within the subject matter scope of the FCC’s definition of indecency. It offers a number of new judicial, congressional, and agency resolutions to this conflict taking into consideration recent court cases dealing with the issue of broadcast indecency and fleeting expletives and images. Part I of the article describes the statutory conflict. Part II addresses recent broadcast indecency actions including the indecency cases recently decided by the Second and Third Circuits and one currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court addressing the FCC’s authority to sanction licensees for the broadcast of isolated or fleeting indecent material. Part III specifically evaluates recent political advertisements containing sexually suggestive material. Part IV addresses how courts have handled earlier claims of offensive political speech offering insight and how they might handle future claims. Part V of this article revisits some of the earlier proposals for resolution of the dilemma facing broadcast licensees and will suggest others. This article reiterates the call for immunity for broadcasters that air political advertisements containing indecent material. In addition to evaluating these earlier proposals, this part offers additional resolutions of the issue that have yet to be considered. This article addresses the recent struggle of the FCC and the courts to define indecency and to defend the continued relevance of current indecency rules in light of a converging and ever-changing technological environment. The FCC has on more than one occasion sidestepped ruling on the issue where the material was determined not to have passed the threshold satisfying the definition of indecency. None of these prior cases clearly answers the question of a broadcaster’s liability in the event a broadcaster airs or chooses not to air a political advertisement that actually is determined to be indecent, profane, or obscene as those terms have come to be defined

History of Tibetan and Exile Radio

Radio has long served as an important source of information and means of communication in Tibet. I discuss the history of wireless communication and broadcasting as it developed in the years before the 1950 invasion and summarize the dismantling of the Tibetan’s communication network after the 17 Point Agreement. Next, foreign broadcasting aimed at Tibetans living in China is discussed. American broadcasting is overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Radio Free Asia and Voice of America carry out broadcasting directed at Tibetans. U.S. government funded broadcasting is particularly controversial; I compare a number of viewpoints on the subject. Voice of Tibet was founded in Norway and focuses only on Tibetan issues in lieu of world news. Finally, I address the question of the efficacy and ethicality of foreign programming in China

Impact of New Digital Media on Conventional Media and Visual Communication in Jordan

The purpose of the present research was to assess the impact of new digital media on conventional media and visual communication has been significant. Digital media has transformed how information is created, distributed, and consumed, and has profoundly affected traditional forms of media such as print newspapers, magazines, and television. One of the main ways that new digital media has affected traditional media is through the emergence of online platforms and social media. These platforms have allowed individuals and organizations to publish and share content with a global audience, often bypassing traditional gatekeepers such as editors and broadcasters. This has led to the democratization of media, as anyone with an internet connection can now potentially reach a large audience. Digital media has also led to the rise of new forms of visual communication, such as digital graphics, video, and animation. These forms of media allow for more interactive and immersive experiences and have become increasingly popular with audiences. In addition, digital media has also had an impact on the business models of traditional media organizations. Many have struggled to adapt to the shift towards digital advertising and subscriptions, leading to a decline in revenues and layoffs in some cases. It may be the case that the impact of new digital media on conventional media and visual communication has been significant and wide-reaching and will likely continue to shape the media landscape for years to come

Censorship by Proxy: The First Amendment, Internet Intermediaries, and the Problem of the Weakest Link

The rise of the Internet has changed the First Amendment drama, for governments confront technical and political obstacles to sanctioning either speakers or listeners in cyberspace. Faced with these challenges, regulators have fallen back on alternatives, predicated on the fact that, in contrast to the usual free expression scenario, the Internet is not dyadic. The Internet\u27s resistance to direct regulation of speakers and listeners rests on a complex chain of connections, and emerging regulatory mechanisms have begun to focus on the weak links in that chain. Rather than attacking speakers or listeners directly, governments have sought to enlist private actors within the chain as proxy censors to control the flow of information. Some commentators have celebrated such indirect methods of governmental control as salutary responses to threatening cyberanarchy. This Article takes a more jaundiced view of these developments: I begin by mapping the ubiquity of efforts to enlist Internet intermediaries as proxy censors. I emphasize the dangers to free expression that are likely to arise from attempts to target weak links in the chain of Internet communications and cast doubt on the claim that mar-ket mechanisms can be relied upon to dispel them. I then proceed to explore the doctrinal resources that can meet those dangers. The gambit of enlisting the private sector to establish a system to control ex-pression is not new in the United States. I argue that the First Amendment doctrines developed in response to the last such focused effort, during the McCarthy era, provide a series of useful starting points for a First Amendment doctrine to protect the weak links of the Internet

The public sphere and network democracy: Social movements and political change?

The article critically examines the democratic possibilities of technological innovations associated with Web 2.0 tools and in this context it address the first and second ‘waves’ of academic debates concerning the social media and the public sphere in the networked society. It argues that the initial optimism associated with a virtual public sphere has been replaced by doubts about whether this model was appropriate for the development of democratic values. It assesses whether the information communications networks have constructed a more personalised form of politics and it is concerned with the application of the networked power relations with reference to grassroots or social revolutionary movements. New communications environments were seen to be instrumental in forging the conditions for the ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions and the Turkish protests within Istanbul’s Taksim square during the summer of 2013. These Middle Eastern case examples are discussed along with the calls for political and economic change in Southern Europe within financially constrained countries of Spain and Greece. Based on such studies the article theorizes on the key question concerning whether the social media can contribute to democracy, revolution and expansion of the public sphere, or whether they remain instruments of control and power