Sudan: Crackdown on the protests, clampdown on the media | The Listening Post (Full)

Summary: On this week's The Listening Post: Events in Sudan take a turn - security forces rampage through protest sites and a media blackout is enforced. Plus, the toxicity of British poverty porn media. Cracking down on demonstrators, controlling the message Nearly two months after mass anti-government demonstrations led to the overthrow of Sudan's long-time president, Omar al-Bashir, a mostly peaceful political transition has turned violent. This past week, soldiers taking orders from the military regime that now rules Sudan opened fire on protesters, killing more than 100 people. The junta imposed a communications blackout - blocking access to social media, disrupting phone traffic, severely restricting the news and information flow. Over the past few weeks, many foreign journalists, including those from Al Jazeera, have had their licenses revoked and their offices raided, meaning stories of alleged mass murder and rape at the hands of the security services do not make it beyond Sudan's borders. When the generals took power, they promised new media freedoms, space for independent reporting. However, their tolerance for those telling the stories of this revolution has run out, and they are using tactics straight out of Omar al-Bashir's playbook. Contributors: Khalid Albaih - Sudanese political cartoonist Eric Reeves - Senior fellow, Harvard University Isma'il Kushkush - Journalist Yassmin Abdel-Magied - Writer and broadcaster On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about police raids on two news outlets in Australia that have put media on high alert; and a BBC report on army abuses in north west Pakistan which the military has claimed is "a pack of lies." Myths and money in Britain's poverty porn industry "Poverty porn" is a British TV genre that follows a simple formula: take what Brits call a benefits scrounger - someone who's milking the state's welfare system for all it's worth - throw in a dash of stereotyping, a little demonisation, add a pinch of reality TV and presto: you have a television show. British TV channels and tabloid papers have long been hooked on stories about people claiming money from the state. But it's a dependency that comes at a cost. Among the problems associated with poverty porn output: it might entertain audiences, but it also often misleads them about the reality of the welfare system - and that can have implications for the people who depend on it. Contributors: Rossalyn Warren - Freelance journalist Rachel Broady - Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores Univ. Bob Jefford - Co-executive producer, Benefits Britain Barry Tomes - PR agent Ruth Patrick - Lecturer, York University 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/