Media UK

Radio Borders - news archive

This is an archive of news about Radio Borders. Some links may no longer work, due to the transient nature of the internet.

Angola: Radio station ordered to suspend broadcasts for six months
From Media Network Weblog. Posted July 14 2008, 11.16am
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the decision of the Angolan government on 8 July 2008 to suspend independent Radio Despertar’s broadcasts for 180 days on the grounds that their current range  is much more the 50 km stipulated in its licence. The suspension comes just one month before an election campaign is due to begin on 5 [...] (more)

Belarus government continues to hamper Radio Racyja
From Media Network Weblog. Posted May 31 2008, 10.36am
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Belarusian foreign ministry’s refusal on 28 May to issue accreditation to reporter Alyaksey Minchonak of Radio Racyja, a station based in the Polish city of Bialystok that broadcasts to Belarus. This latest obstacle for the station comes a month after the police raided its Minsk bureau and seized equipment. “The [...] (more)

My Life in Media: Mary Kalemkerian
From The Independent. Posted May 12 2008, 12.00am
Mary Kalemkerian is the head of programmes at BBC Radio 7, the digital station that revives drama and comedy favourites from the BBC archives. She is nominated as the Station Programmer of the Year at this evening's Sony Radio Academy Awards. Kalemkerian grew up in the Scottish Borders and trained as a teacher before beginning her radio career 30 years ago. She has worked for the BBC in Edinburgh, Manchester and London, and has run BBC7 since it started in 2002. She lives in north London and has a daughter aged 26. (more)

No press freedom in Chad under state of emergency - RSF
From Media Network Weblog. Posted February 23 2008, 11.58am
Chad is now one of the few African countries without an effective independent press since a state of emergency was declared a week ago, with journalists fleeing abroad to escape arrest or falling silent in protest against censorship and “very serious” official threats, says press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).                 “The authorities cannot force the [...] (more)

Reporters Without Borders comments on North Korean jamming
From Media Network Weblog. Posted February 22 2008, 10.56am
In its annual report on North Korea, press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders notes the resumption of jamming in 2007 of broadcasts beamed into North Korea. The organisation says: Several foreign-based radio stations have increased their airtime, while newspapers available online, in particular Daily NK, have stepped up their coverage. But the regime responded to the [...] (more)

Syria blocks more than 100 websites
From Media Network Weblog. Posted December 9 2007, 12.21pm
Reporters Without Borders says it is concerned that the number of websites to which access is blocked in Syria has been growing steadily for the past month. More than 100 websites, including the video-sharing site YouTube, the blog platform Blogspot and the email service Hotmail, are now inaccessible. “We call on the authorities to explain what is [...] (more)

Scottish borders next for digital TV switchover
From Media Guardian. Posted October 29 2007, 2.04pm
The Scottish borders will become the second region in the UK to have its analogue TV signal switched off on November 6 next year. By John Plunkett. (more)

Reporters Without Borders publishes annual report: Netherlands drops 12 places
From Media Network Weblog. Posted October 16 2007, 4.31pm
Press freedoms have deteriorated in Eritrea, Peru and Mexico but the situation has improved in the world’s most developed countries, a media rights group said in an annual report published today. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Russia was the only member of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations that failed to recover lost ground [...] (more)

New DAB transmitters go live
From Radio Today. Posted October 5 2007, 9.57am
New digital radio transmitters for Galashields in the Scottish Borders and Whitehaven in Cumbria have been switched on this week, extending the digital radio choice to an extra 100,000 people. The launch of DAB in Whitehaven comes at the same time as digital television switchover. (more)

Channel 4 chairman snaps up Borders bookshops for £20m deal
From The Times. Posted September 22 2007, 12.00am
Luke Johnson, the Channel 4 chairman, has moved into bookshops through the £20 million acquisition of the struggling Borders and Books etc business. (more)

Channel 4 chairman buys Borders for up to �20m
From Media Guardian. Posted September 21 2007, 1.00am
Luke Johnson has emerged as the surprise buyer of Borders, Britain's third-largest books retailer. By Fiona Walsh. (more)

Bangladesh news channel suspended for 7 days
From Media Network Weblog. Posted September 8 2007, 11.23am
Reporters Without Borders has called on the interim government to reverse its decision to suspend the country’s only privately-run 24-hour news channel CSB News for a period of seven days. The worldwide press freedom organisation said it appeared the decision could be linked to the channel’s broadcasts of footage from anti-government demonstrations. “The closure of [...] (more)

Reporters Without Borders dismayed at Russian decision to drop BBC from FM
From Media Network Weblog. Posted August 18 2007, 10.22am
Reporters Without Borders says it is dismayed by the Russian government’s decision to eliminate the BBC from the FM waveband in Russia. “There is absolutely no justification, either political or technical, for this censorship,” the press freedom organisation said. “Is Russia taking the lead from China or Zimbabwe, where the BBC is jammed? We hope [...] (more)

University students take the lead in broadcasting to North Korea
From Media Network Weblog. Posted May 3 2007, 9.59am
Fourteen university broadcasting groups in South Korea merged on 30 April to found a radio programme “Broadcasting without Borders.” The target audience of the program is North Korean citizens. Chief editor Lee In Gun of Dongguk University who was elected as the co-representative for Broadcasting without Borders said, “University students will take the lead in developing culture [...] (more)

RSF concerned at proposed amendments to Afghan media law
From Media Network Weblog. Posted February 21 2007, 3.20pm
International press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has written to Afghan information minister Karim Khuram today asking him to ensure that proposed amendments to the country’s media law do not violate freedom of expression. “The media law that was adopted in March 2004 was hailed as a major step forward for free expression and press freedom [...] (more)

Cuban Minister blames US embargo for low number of Cubans online
From Media Network Weblog. Posted February 14 2007, 1.31pm
Reporters Without Borders has taken issue with comments by Cuban communications minister Ramiro Valdes describing the Internet as a “tool for global extermination�? and as a “wild colt�? that needed to be tamed. Valdes also insisted that, if few Cubans were online, this was due to a US embargo that prevented Cuba from have decent Internet [...] (more)

RSF urges Venezuelan Government to drop idea of referendum on RCTV
From Media Network Weblog. Posted December 20 2006, 12.57pm
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has voiced concern about the threat hanging over the privately-owned Venezuelan broadcasting group Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) that its licence will not be renewed. Communication and information minister William Lara announced after the presidential election on 3 December that the network’s future will be put to a referendum. “If RCTV’s licence is withdrawn [...] (more)

Le Web 3: Free net opens borders for former Israeli PM
From Journalism.co.uk. Posted December 12 2006, 11.06am
Shimon Peres: newspapers may go, but online media knock down artificial boundaries (more)

Fiji: Coup leaders seize control of media
From Media Network Weblog. Posted December 6 2006, 10.30am
Fiji’s press is under siege following a military coup two days ago that toppled the government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, report the International Press Institute (IPI), Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists. The state-owned Fiji Broadcasting Corporation has suspended all news programmes. The country’s two privately-owned radio stations, Radio Fiji and Communications [...] (more)

Côte d?Ivoire: President seizes control of state media outlets
From Media Network Weblog. Posted December 1 2006, 9.58am
International press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has expressed outrage over President Laurent Gbagbo’s heavy-handed takeover of the state media following the 28 November 2006 announcement of the dismissal of Radiotélévision Ivoirienne (RTI) Director Kébé Yacouba. Yacouba was replaced by Brou Amessan, who served as a news anchor during the January takeover of the [...] (more)

The Netherlands comes joint top in latest RSF worldwide press freedom index - but US falls further
From Media Network Weblog. Posted October 24 2006, 10.06am
The United States has fallen further down the table in the annual press freedom index produced by international watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In the first index, published in 2002, the US was in a respectable 17th place. But it has declined since, and dropped a further nine places this year to 53rd.  RSF explains: “Relations between the [...] (more)

Reporters Without Borders calls on Azeri government not to ban foreign broadcasts
From Media Network Weblog. Posted October 17 2006, 3.41pm
Reporters Without Borders today called on the Azeri government not to implement a 13 October decision by the National Council for Television and Radio to stop local radio stations Antenn and ANS and the Azeri state radio from retransmitting BBC, Voice of America and Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe programmes from 1 January. The ban also [...] (more)

Radio 3: Where Bach and Bongo Man meet
From The Independent. Posted August 7 2006, 12.00am
It is 5.30am on the borders of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, the sun has just started to rise, and Roger Wright, this morning like every other morning, is already wide awake and sitting on a stool before his 1902 Bechstein concert grand piano. (more)

Reporters Without Borders outraged at Israeli strikes on Lebanese media
From Media Network Weblog. Posted July 24 2006, 12.52pm
eporters Without Borders has voiced outrage at the Israeli military’s decision to strike telecommunication installations in Lebanon, thereby depriving millions of Lebanese citizens of TV news and information, especially the broadcasts of the commercial Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC). An LBC technician was killed when installations in Satka, in East Beirut, were attacked. “We are outraged by [...] (more)

Reporters Without Borders condemns amendments to Serbia’s broadcasting law
From Media Network Weblog. Posted July 21 2006, 2.11pm
Reporters Without Borders today firmly condemned amendments to Serbia’s broadcasting law that were hastily adopted by parliament on 19 July without prior consultation. They give the Broadcasting Council the power to strip radio and TV stations of their licences without any right of appeal. Stations that lose their licence must stop broadcasting at once or [...] (more)

International Herald Tribune says Free North Korea Radio is broadcasting from Mongolia
From Media Network Weblog. Posted July 21 2006, 10.56am
The 20 July edition of the International Herald Tribune has a feature on Free North Korea Radio, which broadcasts a 30-minute daily programme into North Korea, produced in Seoul. The story says that “Within hours, beamed from a transmitter in Mongolia, Kim’s radio signals penetrate North Korea’s tightly sealed borders with news of the outside [...] (more)

Opposition militants raid Timor-Leste TV and radio
From Media Network Weblog. Posted July 1 2006, 2.46pm
Reporters Without Borders has urged the authorities and foreign forces in East Timor to secure the offices of the main media after nearly 40 opposition militants raided Timor-Leste TV and radio station, TVTL, on 29 June 2006. They ransacked the premises, manhandled employees and demanded that broadcasts should be suspended. The management has now drastically [...] (more)

100 football photos for press freedom
From Media Network Weblog. Posted June 8 2006, 12.00pm
After a book last year about the Tour de France cycling race, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published one about football on 1 June, with 100 colour photos - taken by Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists - aimed at photography and football fans and all those who passionately follow the World Cup matches. AFP joins Reporters Without Borders to show the dimensions of this worldwide fervour, (more)

China/USA: Media watchdog reports Google.com blocked in most of China
From Media Network Weblog. Posted June 7 2006, 10.34am
Text of press release by Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) on 6 June Reporters Without Borders today condemned the current unprecedented level of internet filtering in China, which means the Google.com search engine can no longer be accessed in most provinces - although the censored Chinese version, Google.cn, is still accessible - and software designed in the United (more)

Australian PM's office has spoof website closed down
From Media Network Weblog. Posted April 2 2006, 11.26am
Reporters Without Borders has voiced shock at the methods used by the office of Australian Prime Minister John Howard to censor parody website Johnhowardpm.org, on which political commentator Richard Neville posted a spoof speech by Howard about the presence of Australian troops in Iraq. The prime minister’s office had the website closed down on 14 March by going to Melbourne IT, the company that (more)

RFE journalists in Turkmenistan freed in exchange for stopping work
From Media Network Weblog. Posted March 21 2006, 11.02am
Reporters Without Borders has welcomed the release from prison of two correspondents in Turkmenistan of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Djumadurdy Ovezov and Meret Khommadov, but deplored the fact that this was conditional on their stopping work for the radio station. The two journalists, arrested on 7 March, were given 15-day prison sentences on 16 March for alleged "hooliganism". They were (more)

Nepal government cuts power to FM radio station
From Media Network Weblog. Posted March 10 2006, 10.22am
Reporters Without Borders has slated an "appalling attempt to militarise the media landscape" as the Nepali army began test broadcasts on six FM stations to "counter Maoist propaganda" while police cut off the power at an independent FM radio station. "King Gyanendra's decisions often clash in this way and show his reactionary and propagandist concept of the media," said the organisation. "Since (more)

Media watchdog condemns penalty for Thai radio operator
From Media Network Weblog. Posted February 9 2006, 10.57am
Media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders has condemned a suspended jail term handed down to a Thai community radio station operator and urged Thailand's courts to recognize media freedom. Sathien Chanthorn, a farmer who ran Angthong Community Radio Learning Station, received a four-month suspended sentence on Tuesday after a court in the central province of Ang Thong found him guilty of (more)

Cuban journalist on hunger strike to demand unrestricted Internet access
From Media Network Weblog. Posted February 4 2006, 11.50am
Reporters Without Borders has voiced its support for Guillermo Fariñas, the editor of the Cubanacán Press independent news agency, who has consumed no water or food since midday on 31 January and has told President Fidel Castro in an open letter he will pursue his hunger strike "to the death" if he and his fellow journalists are not allowed the Internet access they need for their work. Fariñas (more)

Reporters Without Borders accuses Google of "hypocrisy"
From Media Network Weblog. Posted January 25 2006, 10.46am
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) today accused the Internet’s biggest search-engine, Google, of "hypocrisy" for its plan to launch a censured version of its product in China, meaning that the country’s Internet users would only be able to look up material approved of by the government and nothing about Tibet or democracy and human rights in China. "The launch of Google.cn is a black day for (more)

RSF says siege of state broadcaster in Ivory Coast has ended
From Media Network Weblog. Posted January 22 2006, 12.01pm
Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says it has learned that the siege of the Ivory Coast's state broadcaster RadioTélévision Ivoirienne (RTI) by several hundred Young Patriots was lifted last night and normal programming has resumed. RSF says most employees were able to return to their posts and talks are under way to "identify the lessons to be drawn" from the events of the (more)

RSF calls for Nepal government rethink on Broadcasting Authority plan
From Media Network Weblog. Posted January 17 2006, 5.00pm
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) today called on the international community, especially the United Nations, to persuade the government to rethink its plans to create a Broadcasting Authority with broad powers over radio stations, cable TV and online media, and to increase the cost of a radio broadcasting licence by at least 10 or 20 times. The proposed ordinance could have "disastrous (more)