The Listening Post show

The Listening Post

Summary: A weekly programme that examines and dissects the world's media, how they operate and the stories they cover.

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  • Artist: Al Jazeera English
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Podcasts:

 Spinning, downplaying, ignoring: Lebanon protests and the media | The Listening Post (Lead) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 580

For a week and a half now, the streets of Lebanon have been jammed with protesters - the biggest anti-government demonstrations there for 15 years. The protests were triggered by talk of a new tax on instant messaging app WhatsApp and other internet call services like Facebook Messenger and FaceTime. They have grown into a nation-wide movement against government corruption and economic mismanagement. And while much of Lebanese politics is sectarian, the protesters are a non-sectarian coalition and the issues are economic. But unlike the movement they are supposed to cover, much of Lebanon's media are split along sectarian lines. Some of the more independent outlets have jumped on this story. "Channels like LBC and MTV and Al Jadeed, are just running constantly on the interviews of the crowd. They have been basically telling the crowd to just speak. And just getting one person's opinion after another," says Habib Battah, fellow, Reuters Institute Oxford. But outlets controlled by politicians have been spinning, downplaying or just ignoring the unrest. "The media landscape in Lebanon is monopolised by a handful of political dynasties. About 12 families own or control the entire mainstream media landscape," says Lara Bitar, media worker and organiser. "OTV, which is affiliated to the president's party, on the very first night of the demonstrations OTV was broadcasting a cooking show. Reporters on the ground have been forced to remove their logos from the microphones because protesters have simply refused to speak to them." But Salim Haddad, head of the media advisory board for the Free Patriotic Movement, shares a different view. "OTV is covering the demonstrations, is taking the pulse of the street. They are sending the reporters sometimes to hostile surroundings. And these reporters are being cursed at and harassed because they are thought to be from the government side, which is not the case. Some of these stations were being part of the demonstrations inciting people whereas usually the role of the media is to just take the pulse of the street and report what is happening," Haddad says. "Look at international TV stations. Have you seen a TV station in France inviting people to go on manifestations with the Gilet Jaunes [yellow vest movement]? No, but they cover it. And this is how it should be done.” The prevailing distrust Lebanese have in their mainstream media has led them to use social media to share information. But unlike the Arab Spring, this is no Facebook revolution. Millions of Lebanese - of all sects - are not just out to bring down a dictator or a mere government. They want to overthrow a system - sectarian to the core - right down to the TV channels that are supposed to be telling their story. Their basic message: regardless of what our politicians tell us, no matter how our media choose to report it, Lebanon doesn't have to be this way. Contributors: Habib Battah - Fellow, Reuters Institute Oxford Rania Masri - Writer and academic Lara Bitar - Media worker and organiser Salim Haddad - Head, Media Advisory Board, Free Patriotic Movement - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 The colonial-era laws that still govern African journalism | The Listening Post (Feature) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 558

Back in the late 19th century, European powers were setting sail for Africa, sweeping across the continent, colonising country after country. Once they took power, they wrote laws designed to ensure that the colonised would not rise up against the colonisers; laws that could also be used to silence, censor, jail or intimidate journalists who refused to toe the line. Much of that colonial legislation is still in place today, and there is now a growing list of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa falling afoul of those laws. In October 2018 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), newspaper editor Sylvanie Kiaku was jailed for publishing articles critical of a bank. She was prosecuted under a defamation law dating back to 1940, when the DRC was a Belgian colony. In November 2016, five Zambian radio journalists were arrested for allegedly calling a member of the ruling party a "useless person". They were charged under Section 179 of the Zambian penal code, which dates back to British colonial times. And in another former British colony, Botswana, Outsa Mokone, a newspaper editor at the Sunday Standard, published a report that a former president was involved in a late-night car crash. He was charged with sedition. "The irony ... is that the world looks at Botswana and sees it as a bastion of democracy and stable rule in sub-Saharan Africa. And yet, unfortunately, sedition still remains a crime in Botswana and it is used to close down the democratic space," says Angela Quintal, Africa Programme coordinator, CPJ. When the decolonisation process began in the late 1950s and African governments started coming into power, securing independence was the priority, not media freedom. According to Vuyisile Hlatshwayo, director at the Media Institute of Southern Africa, post-colonial leaders called for a free media at first, "but after that [independence], they changed. They decided to use the strategy that was used by their colonial masters and there was a reason for that ... Our leaders see the media as an opposition and they don't understand the role of the media." It's not just the legacy of colonialism that lingers on in Africa - but the legal residue of apartheid in South Africa. Next month marks 25 years of democracy in the country but journalists there still have to contend with laws that were designed to preserve white-minority rule. South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC)has made several attempts to replace the 1982 Protection of State Information Act with its own version, but the bill has remained on the president's desk for nearly six years now awaiting signature. Until then, the apartheid-era law remains in force. "It's important that people realise that if they want to live in a democratic society that there is no way that a government, a democratically-elected government or a post-colonial government, should be in a position to use colonial era-laws or apartheid laws to try and subjugate the population," says Quintal. Historical laws aside, there's an unwritten cultural code in the region. It's called 'ubuntu' - the idea in African culture that a shared sense of humanity builds and binds communities. The challenge for modern-day African societies and their leaders, who are no longer united by the common goal of ending colonial rule is how to reconcile the reverence of 'ubuntu' with the irreverence of critical journalism. "I am convinced that they want to keep those laws in the statute books because they have a vested interest," says Outsa Mokone, editor, Sunday Standard. "And there is no way these guys are going to voluntarily relinquish their power to the extent that journalists are able to criticise them freely." Contributors Outsa Mokone - editor, Sunday Standard Sethunya Tshepho Mosime - lecturer, University of Botswana Angela Quintal - Africa Programme coordinator, CPJ Vuyisile Hlatshwayo - director, Media Institute of Southern Africa - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Lebanon: The WhatsApp tax that launched a hundred protests | The Listening Post | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1471

On The Listening Post this week: An instant messaging app becomes a symbol in Lebanon's protests against taxes, austerity and corruption. Plus, sub-Saharan Africa's colonial-era media laws. Spinning, downplaying, ignoring: Lebanon protests and the media For a week and a half now, the streets of Lebanon have been jammed with protesters - the biggest anti-government demonstrations in 15 years. The protests were triggered by talk of a new tax on WhatsApp and other internet call services - like Facebook Messenger and FaceTime. The protesters are a non-sectarian coalition. Not that you would know that, watching some of the television channels coming out of Beirut. Some of the more independent outlets have jumped on this story, but those controlled by politicians have been spinning, downplaying, or just ignoring the unrest. Lead contributors: Habib Battah - Fellow, Reuters Institute Oxford Rania Masri - Writer and academic Lara Bitar - Media worker and organiser Salim Haddad - Head, Media Advisory Board, Free Patriotic Movement On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Tariq Nafi about the relationship between Ethiopia’s prime minister and one of the country’s most famous media owners that may have gone sour. The colonial-era laws that still govern African journalism Back in the late 19th century, European powers were setting sail for Africa, sweeping across the continent, colonising country after country. Once they took power, they wrote laws designed to ensure that the colonised would not rise up against the colonisers - laws that could also be used to silence, censor, and jail or intimidate journalists who refused to toe the line. Come the late 1950s, Africans began revolting and over the next decade or two, most countries would win their independence. However, much of the colonial legislation remained in place and there is now a growing list of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa falling afoul of those laws. The Listening Post's Nic Muirhead explores the colonial-era laws that still determine what can and cannot be reported in sub-Saharan Africa. Feature contributors: Outsa Mokone - Editor, Sunday Standard Sethunya Tshepho Mosime - Lecturer, University of Botswana Angela Quintal - Africa Programme coordinator, CPJ Vuyisile Hlatshwayo - Director, Media Institute of Southern Africa - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Turkey, Syria and the war that just gets tougher to report | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1550

On The Listening Post this week: The quagmire in Syria gets worse and the reporting gets much more confusing and difficult. Plus the long history of blackface in the Arab world. Turkey, Syria and the war that just gets tougher to report Ceasefire or no ceasefire, Turkey's decision to alter the military equation in Syria is a geopolitical game-changer. The talk in the western media has been of Americans double-crossing the Kurds, of possible ethnic cleansing, even a looming genocide. The narrative the Erdogan government in Ankara has tried to get out there - that Kurdish forces on its southern frontier pose a mortal threat - has been lost on the western commentariat. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's message is far better received at home, thanks to domestic media outlets that learned long ago that they criticise this government at their peril. Contributors: Gonul Tol - director of Turkey Program, Middle East Institute Borzou Daragahi - international correspondent, The Independent Mohammed Salih - doctoral student, Annenberg School for Communication Soner Cagaptay - director of Turkish Research Program, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Flo Phillips about the MSNBC host Chris Hayes taking his NBC bosses to task over reports that they suppressed the Harvey Weinstein story in order to protect an alleged predator of their own. Blackface: The ugliness of racism in Arab media Blackface - white or light-skinned people caricaturing those of African descent by darkening their faces with theatrical make-up - is a supposed entertainment device whose origins lie in a bygone era. Across much of the western world, it no longer features in mainstream art or show business, but in Middle Eastern media you do not have to go back in time to find people "blacking up". Blackface and caricatured depictions of black people still go out on the air, and in most cases, they are not even seen as offensive. The Listening Post's Tariq Nafi reports on the ugliness of racism in Arab media and the persisting legacy of blackface. Contributors: Maha Abdul Hamid - academic and activist Eve Troutt Powell - professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Pennsylvania Joseph Fahim - film critic Fatima Ali - activist, model and writer - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Iraq protests: Taking on the establishment, fighting to be heard | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1590

On The Listening Post this week: Even as they face gunfire on the streets, Iraqis have been fighting to put their story out. Plus, two brothers, two media outlets, one family feud in Poland. Iraqi protesters take on the establishment, fight to be heard Iraq's protests started small, but escalated quickly. Social media can have that effect. Then came the security crackdown across the country, including the use of live ammunition. More than 100 protesters have been killed, as many as 6,000 wounded and a number of news organisations attacked. Iraqi protesters are demanding an overhaul of the political system and, given the scale of the protests, it is little wonder that politicians, the security forces they control and the media outlets they own are closing ranks to protect the status quo. Contributors: Aida al-Kaisy - senior teaching fellow, SOAS Bilal Wahab - fellow, The Washington Institute Renad Mansour - research fellow, MENA Programme, Chatham House Azhar Rubaie - journalist On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about the American comedian who tried to justify her friendship with former US president George W Bush, only to see it backfire online. A Tale of Two Brothers: Poland, Politics and The Press The populist Law and Justice party of Poland is hoping for re-election, and among the tools at its disposal to secure victory is the public broadcaster, Telewizja Polska (TVP). The head of TVP, Jacek Kurski, is more than just loyal to the ruling party - he has made sweeping changes, turning the network into a propaganda machine that his political masters now rely on. But Jacek is not the only Kurski in the media business in Poland - his older brother, Jaroslaw, effectively runs the country's biggest opposition newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza. Think 'Family Feud', only one with political and media angles. The Listening Post's Flo Phillips reports on how the story of these two brothers and the media outlets they run reflects a deeply divided country. Contributors: Jarosław Kurski - first deputy editor-in-chief, Gazeta Wyborcza Agata Szczesniak - journalist, OKO.press Krzysztof Skowronski - host, TVP and president, Polish Journalists Association Rafal Kalukin - journalist, Polityka - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Trump: Is Fox News turning its back on US president? | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1590

On The Listening Post this week: Faced with an impeachment inquiry in Congress, is President Donald Trump losing friends at Fox News? Plus, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's global charm offensive. Is Fox News drawing the line on support of Trump? As the impeachment inquiry in Washington gathers steam, President Trump tweets about a coup, and talk of a looming civil war, there are signs of unrest at the biggest and most influential news network in the country, Fox News. The complaint at the centre of the impeachment story, filed by an anonymous whistle-blower, alleges Trump abused his powers by asking President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, a potential opponent in next year's presidential election. Although Fox has been a bedrock of support for this president, there have long been signs of dissent at the network as to where Fox should draw the line in its support of Trump. But this story has exposed those divisions like never before and on-air arguments between hosts reflect a deeper split among Fox executives and within the network's owners, the Murdoch family. As Fox's best-known viewer, Trump has certainly noticed that some of those angry tweets he used to reserve for CNN and the New York Times are now heading Fox's way. Contributors: David Folkenflik - media Correspondent, NPR News and author of Murdoch's World: The Last of the Old Media Empires Aaron Rupar - associate editor, Vox Alayna Treene - White House reporter, Axios Luke O'Neil - contributing writer, The Guardian US and author of Welcome to Hell World: Dispatches from the American Dystopia On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Tariq Nafi about Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)'s appearance on 60 Minutes, in which he was asked about slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi and imprisoned activist Loujain al-Hathloul. Modi's mega-rallies; political spectacle for the Indian diaspora India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has honed the art of the political spectacle - the rallies, the rousing speeches. One recent rally in Houston, Texas attracted 50,000 people, including US President Donald Trump. Although Modi supporters with foreign citizenship cannot vote in Indian elections, they do have money - Indians being among the wealthiest immigrant communities in the United States. It also reflects well on the prime minister when emigrants seen as successful support him, and it all feeds into a well-oiled Modi messaging machine. The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi discusses Modi's careful and clever use of overseas Indians to appeal to voters at home. Contributors: Rohit Chopra - associate professor, Santa Clara University Prerna Bhardwaj - CEO and founder, Vaahan Magazine Nikita Sud - associate professor, University of Oxford Radhika Iyer - reporter, NDTV - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Egypt: Mohamed Ali and the return of the protesters | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1555

On The Listening Post this week: Weeks of viral videos revealing rampant corruption within the army and the government trigger protests in Egypt. Plus, a Canadian far-right outlet and its power to radicalise via YouTube. Covering the return of Egypt's protesters Compared with the days of Tahrir Square, the numbers seem insignificant; a few hundred protesters scattered across Egypt calling for an end to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's rule. But those demonstrators were the first visible signs of political unrest there in six years. The protests were called for by a former military contractor, Mohamed Ali. He has been posting videos online telling tales of rampant corruption and implicating the president himself. Ali's videos have spurred other Egyptians to post their own stories of corruption, including military personnel, which has analysts theorising the real threat to the president may come from within. Despite this, Egyptian media outlets, known for doing the government's bidding, initially tried to ignore the story - now, they are trying to make it go away. Contributors: Amr Khalifa - analyst and political columnist Hussein Baoumi - Egypt researcher, Amnesty International Professor Dalia Fahmy - associate professor of Political Science, Long Island University Ibrahim Halawi - teaching fellow in International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Tariq Nafi about the hate directed at 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg in the news and online. The right perspective? YouTube, radicalisation and Rebel Media Muslim invaders; feminists out to destroy our way of life; a coming white genocide - these are among the online obsessions of the far-right. They have been weaponised and monetised by some skilful provocateurs on YouTube, producing viral content that is capable of not only radicalising the views of those who watch it, but of driving some to acts of violence. Among the best-known practitioners of the art are The Rebel Media, a small Canadian outlet whose contributors have included names like Hopkins, Robinson, and Gorka - people known for peddling some toxic tropes at home and happy to be granted an outlet offshore. The Listening Post's Flo Philips goes down the far-right rabbit hole and into the YouTube outlets radicalising their viewers. Contributors: Michael Coren - columnist and broadcaster Jonathan Goldsbie - editor, Canadaland Amira Elghawaby - board member, Canadian Anti-Hate Network Jared Holt - investigative reporter, Right Wing Watch Caleb Cain - former Rebel Media viewer Correction: Since the report was first published, we have updated the text to correct the following facts: In the video report we stated that the Ottawa Police had filed a criminal complaint against Rebel News. In fact, a complaint had been received by the Ottawa Police. In the description it was stated that the perpetrators of three violent attacks had all watched Rebel News. For strict factual accuracy, we have clarified that they watched Rebel News or the work of their regular contributors. Correction, November 15, 2019: Since our video report on Rebel News was first published, we have updated it to correct the following fact: We had stated that the Ottawa Police had filed a criminal complaint against Rebel News. In fact, a complaint had been received by the Ottawa Police. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Covering Climate Now: Will the media seize the moment? | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1590

On The Listening Post this week: A global network of more than 300 media outlets ramps up climate coverage ahead of next week's United Nations summit. Plus, the community-based journalistic collectives covering Rio de Janeiro's favelas. Climate crisis: How mainstream media are part of the problem Record heatwaves in Europe and Africa. Droughts in southern India on an unprecedented scale. Hurricanes - more frequent and violent than ever. And wildfires in, of all places, the Arctic. The global news media are, after decades of looking the other way, finally waking up to what scientists have long called an emergency - climate change. Take Covering Climate Now, an alliance across six continents of more than 300 media outlets, including Al Jazeera, currently running a week's worth of climate coverage in the lead up to a summit on the subject in New York. The shortfall in the coverage and the shortcomings expose the ugly, irresponsible side of modern journalism, particularly the corporate kind. The Listening Post looks at how the mainstream media are part of the problem. Lead contributors: Mark Hertsgaard - co-founder, Covering Climate Now and Environment Correspondent, The Nation Jayashree Nandi - environment reporter, Hindustan Times Sipho Kings - news editor, The Mail & Guardian and Author, 'South Africa's Survival Guide to Climate Change' George Monbiot - columnist, The Guardian On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about a high-profile Egyptian actor exposing cases of corruption by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his inner circle; and the man who brought about the Brexit referendum and is now cashing in on it. Document, mobilise, amplify: The media activists in Rio's favelas Consider what you know - or think you know - about the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Perhaps you see them as the Brazilian media - and many international outlets - have depicted them: Lawless communities, virtual no-go zones for police, where the only realistic solution is a security show of force. That prevailing picture works well for two politicians in particular: President Jair Bolsonaro and Rio's Governor Wilson Witzel. Both have given police more authority to use lethal force in the favelas. But The Listening Post's Tariq Nafi shows there is an alternative media narrative, emerging through community-based journalistic collectives like Papo Reto and Mare Vive. Contributors: Thaina de Medeiros - Papo Reto Media Collective Naldinho Lourenco - Mare Vive Media Collective - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Why we (still) need to talk about Chile's El Mercurio | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1455

Produced by: Marcela Pizarro and Flo Phillips Frequently on The Listening Post, we are warned about getting too close to the story. Like a lens that zooms in too close, there is always a danger that proximity blurs our vision. Yet, zoom-in we did, to a blurred image of fighter jets bombing La Moneda, Chile's presidential palace on September 11, 1973. That image may have made front pages around the world, but in Chile, media coverage of the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, was kept to a bare minimum. One of those papers was the country's conservative daily, El Mercurio, whose headline simply stated: "The military now controls the country." This was an outlet that did not just report on the story, but had become an integral part of it. Three years earlier, days after Salvador Allende became the first democratically-elected Marxist president, El Mercurio's owner, Agustin Edwards, flew to Washington, DC and sat down with the then-CIA Director Richard Helms - urging him for support in a military coup. It was the height of the Cold War and the United States had looked on nervously as socialist movements - and Soviet influence - gathered apace around the continent. Years later, declassified US CIA documents revealed how the CIA pumped millions of dollars into El Mercurio to spearhead a propaganda campaign against Allende's government. One might have imagined that nearly 50 years would have been enough time for the dust to settle - enough time to get a response from El Mercurio on charges of complicity in the coup, and of covering up the human rights violations committed during the brutal 17-year dictatorship that followed. Yet, despite our best endeavours, El Mercurio avoided our requests. We made the film nevertheless, because despite the paper's refusal to respond, or perhaps precisely because of it, we still need to talk about El Mercurio. Contributors: Victor Herrero - author, Agustin Edwards Eastman: una biografía desclasificada del dueno de El Mercurio Barbara Hayes - former reporter, Las Ultimas Noticias Pascale Bonnefoy - journalist and media scholar Ignacio Aguero - director, El Diario de Agustin Peter Kornbluh - director, National Security Archive's Chile Documentation Project Jack Devine - former CIA agent Gloria Elgueta - human rights campaigner Hermogenes Perez de Arce - former columnist, El Mercurio and former editor, La Segunda - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 How virtual detectives exposed China's 're-education camps' | The Listening Post (Part Three) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 634

Last year, alarming headlines began streaming into the global news cycle alleging that mass incarceration of Muslims was under way in China's Xinjiang province. Reports of large numbers of Uighurs and other Turkic minorities disappearing into "re-education camps" had been circulating for a year or so prior, but difficulties in substantiating those allegations on the ground had kept the story well below the radar. The source of long-running separatist sentiment and allegedly several incidents of violent "extremism", Xinjiang is a region under constant and extensive surveillance. Reporters are routinely harassed by the authorities, while Uighur sources have been known to simply disappear after talking to foreigners. As a result, much of the evidence reporters have relied on has come from outside Xinjiang, and outside the journalistic field altogether - specifically, it has come from a small handful of independent researchers using methods defined as "open-source". Used for investigating events such as drone attacks in Yemen and chemical weapons attacks in Syria, "open-source" is shorthand for the software and sources available to pretty much anyone with an internet connection. For those researching Xinjiang's camps, you can add the ability to read Mandarin. Adrian Zenz, a German academic, is at the forefront of that effort. Speaking to The Listening Post's Daniel Turi near his home in the suburbs of Stuttgart, Zenz explains how, using the Chinese search-engine Baidu, he was able to unearth government documents that proved the existence of China's "internment programme", which officials in Beijing were denying. "A key search term for this research was the Chinese word jiaoyu zhuanhua," says Zenz, "which literally means 'transformation through education'. When I put in the search term I found all kinds of government documents that very freely talked about transformation through education." Chinese bureaucrats had left the evidence in plain sight, with government departments uploading official documents - including the policy's legal basis - onto the internet, seemingly without realising their incriminating nature. The documents showed that China was indeed pursuing a policy of mass detention. But proving the camps were actually being built - enough of them to hold hundreds of thousands of people - required another "open-source" tool. Shawn Zhang, a Chinese law student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, was one of the first to realise the potential of satellite imagery to reveal the location and size of specific camps. "I found lots of information, including government tender notices inviting companies to build the camps, and those included the addresses of almost a hundred of them. So I searched them on Google Earth and found the satellite images." The next step, Zhang explains, was verification: "I needed to verify that these facilities were, in fact, re-education camps. On the satellite images, the re-education camp facilities look very different from civilian facilities. For example, their fences are much higher, and they contain structures used for detention, such as barbed wire and watchtowers. I was able to confirm that these facilities are indeed re-education camps, and so I published my findings on my blog." The research by Zhang, Zenz and other "open-source" researchers has been integral to major news outlets reporting on Xinjiang, supplying journalists with the hard evidence - not to mention images - they needed to disprove the denials coming out of Beijing. For Shawn Zhang, however, his status as a Chinese citizen means publishing his findings comes at a price. "During my research, I have felt a lot of pressure from the Chinese government," Zhang said. "For example, they have contacted my family in China. So in the near future, I think I will avoid travelling to China because the Chinese government is not really happy about people telling truths that they don't want us to tell." It is a price, however, that he insists is worth paying: "I think it is worth it because there are so many Uighur people held there. They just totally vanished, they disappear, like going into a black hole. They've lost contact with their families. At least my research can help international society to pressure the Chinese government so there can be a better chance of a peaceful solution." Contributors: Shawn Zhang - law student, University of British Columbia Adrian Zenz - independent researcher James Palmer - deputy editor, Foreign Policy Yuan Yang - Beijing correspondent, Financial Times - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 How China spins the Xinjiang story to the Chinese | The Listening Post | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 530

After months of outright silence and even denial on the subject of Xinjiang and the mass detention of ethnic Uighurs, China's state broadcaster CCTV aired a 15-minute documentary on October 16, 2018. Not only did it acknowledge the existence of internment camps but it vigorously defended them. The segment marked a major shift in the government's messaging on its policy in the region. "It told the story of what the Chinese government wanted to communicate about what was happening in Xinjiang," says Shelley Zhang, a writer for China Uncensored and observer of the country's media trends. "In Xinjiang, there was radical extremism, there was terrorism, there was ethnic separatism. And the government is fighting this as part of a 'worldwide battle against terrorism'. This was how the government framed it." The piece did not stop at defending the need for the camps as a proportionate response to a terrorist threat. CCTV's coverage also highlighted their role not in suppressing the Uighur population - as has been reported in the international press - but rather in promoting minority culture and providing valuable vocational training opportunities. "Western reports are fake news and misleading," Victor Gao, vice president of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing told The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi. "The Chinese government has all along been consistent in expressing that there are no concentration camps - there are facilities and these facilities are mostly meant for education and training purposes." "There was also the cultural aspect which is the idea that they are not you know 'stifling' Uighur culture, they are 'preserving' it," says Zhang. "People are allowed to do ethnic dances, make their traditional bread, make their traditional rugs." The CCTV piece set the tone for future coverage of Xinjiang in the Chinese media. As a senior research analyst at Freedom House with a focus on China, Sarah Cook has tracked the evolution of the Chinese narrative over time. "You had a number of pieces in nationalist publications like Global Times and Xinhua. So all of a sudden you see both this Chinese language media push, now not so much acknowledging that there are Uighurs who are in detention, but trying to spin it basically into a softer, more voluntary form of detention." The Chinese government has doubled down on its justification of the camps in recent months, leaving little room for deviation in Chinese media reporting of the story. For those that do stray too far from the official line, harsh punishment awaits. The latest numbers compiled by human rights campaigners show that 58 Uighur journalists have been locked up in Xinjiang alone. "The Chinese government has been very effective in its misinformation campaign. It is still ongoing as we speak," says Nury Turkel, a Uighur activist based in Washington, DC. "Xi Jinping's government has shown zero tolerance for political dissent. It would be difficult for anyone to come out and express sympathy for an issue as sensitive as the Uighur issue." Foreign reporting on this topic may have finally forced the Chinese authorities to acknowledge the existence of the camps. But just about everything else about this story - the extent of the camp system, the people held there, the truth of what is happening to them and the flow of information - remains under Beijing's control. Contributors: Victor Gao - vice president, Center for China and Globalization Sarah Cook - senior research analyst, Freedom House Nury Turkel - chairman & founder, Uyghur Human Rights Project Shelley Zhang - writer, China Uncensored - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Xinjiang: The story China wants the world to forget | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1565

In this special edition of The Listening Post, we focus on Xinjiang's detention camps and examine how Uighur journalists, Chinese state media, and "open-source" researchers have covered the story. How China spins the Xinjiang story to the Chinese It is not clear how many people are currently being held against their will by the state in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. Conservative estimates put the number of ethnic Uighurs - and other Muslim minorities held under some form of detention since 2017 - between one and 1.5 million. Beijing calls this practice their response to the threat of "three evils - extremism, terrorism and separatism". Along with word-of-mouth, informer-based surveillance, and the latest technologies - facial recognition, voice pattern sequencing and DNA profiling - a key tool being used by the state is good old-fashioned propaganda. The media outlets at its disposal do not call them internment camps or prisons. Istead, they are referred to as "centres for re-education" or even "thought transformation". The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi takes a look at the shifting narratives and the occasionally Orwellian language in Chinese media in defence of the state's policies and practices in Xinjiang. Contributors: Victor Gao - vice president, Center for China and Globalization Sarah Cook - senior research analyst, Freedom House Nury Turkel - chairman and founder, Uyghur Human Rights Project Shelley Zhang - writer, China Uncensored Interview with Alim Seytoff, director of Radio Free Asia's Uighur service While the Chinese media continue to take their orders from Beijing on this story, one outlet has been vital to international coverage of Xinjiang. Radio Free Asia's Uighur service has a track record of breaking news on Xinjiang. It was among the first to present facts and figures to back up rumours of the so-called "vocational training camps". And it has since unearthed dozens of stories on the crackdown, informing foreign reporters and the Uighur diaspora alike. For RFA Uighur's staff, the Xinjiang story hits uncomfortably and dangerously close to home. Alim Seytoff, director of RFA's Uighur service, speaks to The Listening Post about his organisation's important work. Contributor: Alim Seytoff - director, Radio Free Asia Uighur service Virtual detectives: How open-source researchers exposed China's 're-education' camps The Chinese news media refused to cover the Xinjiang story until the reporting produced by foreign outlets grew too detailed to ignore. However, much of that detail - the aerial shots of specific camps and documents proving their ultimate purpose - was not the work of foreign journalists; it was uncovered by a handful of independent researchers using "open-source" methods ranging from Chinese search engines to satellite imagery. The Listening Post's Daniel Turi reports on the role played by two open-source investigators in particular in helping journalists - and the rest of the world - understand the reality of Xinjiang's camps. Contributors: Shawn Zhang - law student, University of British Columbia Adrian Zenz - China scholar James Palmer - deputy editor, Foreign Policy Yuan Yang - China tech correspondent, Financial Times - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 'Normalcy' vs reality: Conflicting narratives about Kashmir | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1560

On The Listening Post this week: In Kashmir, the foreign press and Indian media see things very differently. Plus, the challenge of investigative journalism in Albania. Conflicting narratives about the Kashmir shutdown When Prime Minister Narendra Modi made good on his election promise to revoke Article 370 of the Indian constitution, he swept away what little remained of Kashmiri autonomy. The region - officially called Jammu and Kashmir in India - is now set to come under the complete control of New Delhi. More Indian troops have flooded in and communications have been cut off - a near-total shutdown of the internet, mobile phones and landlines that is now into its fourth week. Two distinct news narratives have since emerged. Most Indian news outlets describe the situation in Kashmir as one of "normalcy" and insist there has been little resistance. Then there is the handful of Indian outlets and numerous international news organisations that have discovered a very different reality on the ground. This report contains footage shot in Srinagar during the communications blockade. The crew on the ground included producer Fahad Shah and cameraman Muzamil Aftab. Contributors: Aditya Raj Kaul - strategic affairs editor, Business Television India Nirupama Subramanian - regional editor, The Indian Express Mirza Waheed - journalist and novelist Surabhi Tandon - special correspondent, France24 On our radar Richard Gizbert hears from producer Tariq Nafi and Ana Cristina Ruelas of the NGO Article 19 about the recent spate of journalist killings in Mexico, the world's deadliest country for media workers. Targeted: The journalists reporting politics and crime in Albania This past January, a story by two digital news outlets in Albania confirmed what many in the country had long suspected that the relationship between politicians, the judiciary and organised crime is far too close for comfort. The Balkans Investigative Reporting Network and Voice of America published a series of leaked phone calls between government officials - including Prime Minister Edi Rama - and crime bosses, who can be heard colluding to rig the 2016 and 2017 elections. However, none of the senior officials implicated has been arrested. Instead, the judiciary has gone after those who leaked and published the material. The Listening Post's Johanna Hoes reports from Tirana on politics, crime, journalism and the story the Albanian authorities are still trying to kill. Contributors: Klodiana Lala - reporter, News 24 Besar Likmeta - editor, BIRN Albania Alice Taylor - journalist, Exit.Al & The Shift News Flutura Kusari - media lawyer - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 #VazaJato: The dirty dealings of Brazil's Operation Car Wash | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1526

On The Listening Post this week: A news website feels the heat after alleging foul play in Brazil's biggest-ever anti-corruption probe. Plus, going incognito with VPNs. Notes on a scandal: Operation Car Wash Last month, a Brazilian online news outlet - The Intercept Brasil - began publishing a series of exposes about the wheeling and dealing of the minister of justice, Sergio Moro. His work on Operation Car Wash - an investigation into the biggest case of political corruption in the country's history - and his depiction in the Brazilian news media as an anti-corruption crusader - helped Moro get his current job. Now, the news outlets that helped create him are having some serious second thoughts. And the journalists at The Intercept are starting to feel the heat from the Brazilian authorities. Contributors: Alexandre de Santi - deputy editor, The Intercept Brasil Joao Feres Jr. - professor of political science, Rio de Janeiro State University Rodrigo Constantino - columnist, Gazeta do Povo Carolina Matos - media scholar, City University of London On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Flo Phillips about a piece of investigative journalism that led to the resignation of Puerto Rico's governor. Going incognito with VPNs Here at The Listening Post, we sometimes wonder: how many of our online viewers watch us over a VPN? How many of you are disguising your location - changing it from Beijing to Boston, from Riyadh to Reykjavik - to cover your tracks? As Meenakshi Ravi reports, VPNs are now getting increasingly downloaded not just in countries with authoritarian tendencies, but places like Sri Lanka, across the Gulf, as well the United States - as data theft, online tracking and web blocking grow more common. Contributors: Harold Li - vice president, ExpressVPN Melody Patry - advocacy director, Access Now Yaman Akdeniz - associate professor, Istanbul Bilgi University & Founder & Director, Cyber-Rights.Org Joseph Cox - cybersecurity journalist, Vice More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

 Trump's tweets: The racism is the point | The Listening Post (Full) | File Type: video/mp4 | Duration: 1530

On The Listening Post this week: It has been nearly three years into the Trump era and United States media finally use the "R" word to describe him: "Racist". Plus, the war criminals turned best-selling authors in Serbia. Trump's tweets and the 'racist' debate The coverage of the Trump White House is caught up over one word, "racist", and whether or not it should be used to describe the US president. After Donald Trump told four Congresswomen of colour to "go back" to the countries they came from - even though three of them are American born - some media outlets are still stopping short of using the "R" word. Ahead of the 2020 elections, the US is a nation of opposing political narratives, where Trump's white nativist message is facing push-back from a new progressive force on the political left. Contributors: Ryan Devereaux - immigration reporter, The Intercept Suketu Mehta - author, This Land is Our Land Mary Frances Berry - professor of American Social Thought, University of Pennsylvania Crystal Fleming - associate professor of sociology, Stony Brook University and author of How to Be Less Stupid About Race On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Tariq Nafi about the BBC's decision to accept Iran's demand not to broadcast its coverage on BBC Persian. Serbian war criminals turned authors rewriting Yugoslav history It hasb been roughly 20 years since the war finally came to an end in the region once known as Yugoslavia. The important narrative of Serbia's role in the decades-long conflict - Europe's deadliest war since World War II - is hotly contested. The evidence, as per the United Nations and multiple other investigative bodies tells a tale of disproportionate Serbian aggression, brutality and ethnic cleansing. The alternative version of that history is now being told in book form by men convicted of crimes including genocide, and whose rewriting of history serves the nationalistic narrative favoured by today's Serbian elites. The Listening Post's Johanna Hoes explores the historical revisionism in former Yugoslavia and the inmates who have gone from convicted war criminals to published authors. Contributors: Aleksandar Brezar - journalist Emir Suljagic - professor, International University of Sarajevo Vladimir Petrovic - historian Natasa Kandic - founder, Humanitarian Law Center More from The Listening Post on: YouTube - http://aje.io/listeningpostYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/AJListeningPost Twitter - http://twitter.com/AJListeningPost Website - http://aljazeera.com/listeningpost - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

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