Watch this, funkateers!
Last week, we returned to Tahrir Square, where the world watched Egyptians rise up for the second time since Mubarak's fall. This week we have stayed put - to make sure we chronicle media coverage of the country's first parliamentary elections in the post-Mubarak era - and to keep up with the changing landscape of the media itself, including: a state owned broadcasting powerhouse losing credibility fast; an explosion of new private channels with their own agendas; the activists still driving the revolution online; and the warnings to women reporters to stay out of Egypt that were politely ignored. Our Newsdivide this week keeps its focus on Egypt, as the country and its media undergoes transition.
In our Newsbytes this week: A cable TV operator in Pakistan threatens to drop foreign news channels airing "anti- Pakistani content" - the first in the firing line: the BBC; Julian Assange is awarded Australia's version of the Pulitzer and a DC journalist is temporarily suspended from a press club after asking a member of the Saudi royal family some uncomfortable questions.
Our feature this week: Should the state control what society wants to see? These days it seems hardly a week goes by without the authorities in Beijing issuing some new rule dealing with the media. The latest is a ban on advertising during TV dramas - the idea being to keep viewers from hitting the remote during the programme. Before that, the government announced the end of a wildly successful talent show. Among the other changes to what the government calls its 'Cultural Development Guidelines': internet companies being told to keep a closer eye on online content and journalists told they cannot report news stories found online or via phone networks without first getting official verification. Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi reports on China's new media campaign and how the party is tightening its control over television and the web.
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