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Journalists, Entrepreneurs, Scholars Discuss Freedom of Expression in Cyberspace
With the age-old struggle for freedom of expression moving to a new medium -- cyberspace -- a wide-ranging panel discusses the issue in an event sponsored by SIPA and the United Nations Department of Public Information. The panelists agree that access to Internet and literacy are significant hurdles to freedom in cyberspace.
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Sreenath Sreenivasan
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| Sreenath Sreenivasan |
Journalism's Sree Sreenivasan Introduces the Panel
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Akwe Amosu
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| Akwe Amosu |
The Internet Allows Africa to Speak for Itself, Says Akwe Amosu
The Internet allows Africans in Africa and in Diaspora to share one set of news sources at the same time, says Akwe Amosu, executive editor and producer of All Africa Global Media and All Africa.com. The Internet allows Africa to speak for itself and offer more complex, more diverse, more layered information than you find in "mainstream Western press," she says. The biggest censorship in the African context is how few people are online.
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Danny Schechter
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| Danny Schechter |
Merger of 'News Biz' and 'Show Biz' Infiltrated Media and Cyberspace, Says Danny Schechter
Media systems have changed so that journalism itself is integrated into a system dominated by other values, not public service values, not democratic values, but in terms of bottom line concerns which led to mergers at the top, says Danny Schechter, executive editor of mediachannel.org. The merger of 'news biz" and "show biz" have infiltrated media and cyberspace, he says.
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Eben Moglen
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| Eben Moglen |
We Need Infrastructure that Resists Bottlenecks from Promotion and Power, Says Eben Moglen
In the 21st century we need to increase the ease of communications, says Eben Moglen, Columbia Law professor and general counsel for the Free Software Foundation. We need infrastructure that resists bottlenecks that result from control, promotion and power. There are enough computers in the world for everyone, he says, and his organization, Free Software Movement, is enabling people to legally share and improve software.
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Ramu Damodaran
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| Ramu Damodaran |
Governments May Withhold Electricity and Primary Education to Control Internet Access, Says Ramu Damodaran
The tremendous dilemma of the century will be when governments who want to control their people will control access to the Internet by denying infrastructure (electricity to rural areas) and primary education, says Ramu Damodaran, chief of the Civil Society Service, UN Department of Public Information. Damodaran anticipates that some rulers may resort to these measures, since the methods of censuring radio, television and press are not applicable to the Internet.
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Shot: May 1, 2003
Published: Jul 21, 2003
Last modified:Jul 18, 2003
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