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Social Media Policy Town Hall. Photo from the Facebook page of the Presidential Communications Operations Office

The Philippine government may soongive media accreditation to bloggers and other social media publishers. Many have welcomed the initiative as a positive step towards citizen engagement but others worry that the proposed guidelines on how bloggers can join government-sponsored events could undermine the independence of accredited social media publishers.

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) organizeda Social Media Policy Town Hallevent to announce the creation of a Social Media Office, unveil the guidelines on how PCOO employees can use social media, and consult the public about the framework for social media accreditation.

Last month, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to the request of his online supporters to document his activities inside the presidential palace. It led to the discussion of whether the government can give media accreditation to bloggers. This was also proposed during the previous administration but it was refused after mainstream media groups cited the issue of accountability and professionalism involving bloggers and other netizens.

Accredited bloggers will have faster processing for on-site or access passes to PCOO events and activities. They will also be included in the agency's mailing list and media volunteer programs.

During the Social Media Policy Town Hall, the PCOO discussed the draft guidelines for media accreditation of bloggers. Bloggers or social media publishers with at least 1,000 followers can apply for accreditation. They must have editorial independence, they are barred from endorsing commercial products, and they have to follow the PCOOs code of conduct. In particular, they should refrain from using offensive, inflammatory, or provocative language. Further, accredited bloggers should post all press releases and statements of the PCOO.

An online poster announcing the Social Media Policy Town Hall. Image from the Facebook page of the Philippine Information Agency.

In a press statement, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar mentioned the reason why the government drafted the social media policy:

Were in interesting times wherein we are seeing bloggers with names become bigger than anyone Its a phenomenon that we have to embrace, at the same time we also have to control.

Danilo Arao, a journalism professor, highlighted this quote in his critique of the governments social media policy:

a supposedly harmless gesture of voluntary accreditation becomes a scheming attempt to control online content.

He described the 10-page draft memorandum as a self-serving document that seeks to make mouthpieces of accredited social media users.

He explained further how the draft disempowers bloggers as critical and independent reporters:

This essentially reduces the accredited ones to mere mouthpieces of the PCOO. And when analyzed in the context of one of the guidelines that they should not use language that is offensive, inflammatory, or provocative (PCOO, 2017, p. 7), it becomes clear that contrary views are unacceptable lest they be misinterpreted as provocative.

Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, a speaker during the town hall, reiterated that bloggers should not be required to publish everything what government officials are saying or doing:

it is not a matter of sharing press releases as part of our responsibility. Bloggers are independent minded and have the freedom of choice which press release to share or write about.

Antonio Contreras, another speaker in the town hall, reminded the government about the consequence of strictly regulating social media users:

The moment you begin regulating it (social media), you are constraining it.

Blogger Trixie Angeles warned that the proposed code of conduct can stifle the creativity and freedom of bloggers:

This code of conduct is very worrisome. Social media is like the wild, wild west. If traditional media is the very proper east coast, we're the wild west. The reason why we have such a wild reach is because we are a little free-er in our speech.

Tess Termulo, another blogger who participated in the event, echoed a similar point:

What would be considered as offensive? Does offending feelings considered offensive? With the arguments online, it is easy to be offended.

I think this also represents the freedom of bloggers to be more expressive with what they post as opposed to traditional journalists who follow a stricter code of ethics. Since this is an aspect of expression that traditional journalists must exercise utmost restraint, it is up to the bloggers to be able to express the pulse of ordinary citizens.

Among those who attended the town hall were pro-Duterte bloggers who were initially granted the privilege of interviewing the president inside the Malacanang Palace. They were also part of the group of bloggers who petitioned the government for media accreditation.

Below are some Twitter reactions about the event:

The town hall succeeded in gathering bloggers who are interested to join other journalists in covering the president's activities. It allowed the government to determine the views of bloggers about its proposed social media policy. There are several objections to the content of the memorandum, but fortunately the PCOO said it will consider the suggestions and views raised during the town hall. The office will release an updated memorandum this month.

Link:
Philippines Offers Media Credentials to Bloggers But Some ... - Global Voices Online

Despite the proliferation of media devices in North Korea as well as increased access to information, the North Korean government has been able to adapt in an attempt maintain tight control, according to a new report published on Wednesday.

The report, conducted by Intermedia, draws on a survey of 350 North Korean defectors and travelers as well as investigations into the technical makeup of North Korean devices and software.

In recent years North Korea has experienced a limited digital revolution with the proliferation of mobile phones and devices, coupled with government promoted intranet uses and applications.

While this provides the potential for further exposure to information and a challenge to North Korean authorities attempting to maintain total control, the DPRK government is using a combination of existing measures and newtechnology to implemented a system of pervasive surveillance and censorship.

More North Koreans have greater access to a larger variety of media content and communication devices. However, it is equally clear the North Korean state is determined to regain control of how and what information its citizens access, the reports conclusion reads.

Rather than attempting to recreate the information blockade and national sequestration of the Kim Il Sung era, the states recent technological innovations strongly suggest it is moving toward a new, but no less heavily controlled information environment, it added.

This extensive control of information, according to the report, occurs at the network, device specific and human levels.

Across these levels the North Korean government seeks to censor content, survey usage and maintain integrity over provided information, the report says.

The DPRKs network is a closed intranet system that is not connected to the external internet, ensuring that North Koreans are only accessing content allowed by the authorities.

According to the report, the network usage is monitored closely by North Korean authorities despite the growth of users.

The digital devices themselves provided by the North Korean government contain mandatory software that only permits approved content and software, which is able to delete unsanctioned files that do not have government code signature to prevent sharing.

Via software, the North Korean authorities are also able to log the device usage and export the data if it is obtained by security personnel.

The reports authors additionally found that in some instances unsanctioned content is not wholly deleted but is instead tracked, collecting personal device signatures that allow authorities to identify social networks and usersthat have shared or viewed prohibited content.

North Korean authorities have also implemented tamper-resistant software within their modern devices to ensure that citizens cannot circumvent software controls, the report says.

On the human level, North Koreas ability to control its people has persevered with the report citing an increase of crackdowns.

North Korean security forces have responded to the increased use of digital media and micro-storage devices with an increased number of crackdowns, the report reads.

This includes raids on homes, confiscation of devices, the use of informants and the technology to track the use of unsanctioned mobile devices.Security forces are now starting to be aided by the increased use of technology such as triangulation of domestic and Chinese cell phones to help them locate targets, the report reads.

While many of the technology adaptations by the North Korean government involve the use of technology and software on approved devices, maintaining information flow control mechanisms is also affecting the perceived security of users acquiring information via unsanctioned methods.

This includes via traditional modes of information consumption enjoyed by North Koreans through the use of radios, DVDs, CDs and other methods to consume foreign news broadcasts and entertainment.

The report states that 64 percent of those surveyed believe it has become more dangerous to watch foreign dramas since Kim Jong Un took power and zero percent saying it is less dangerous.

Punishments for listening to foreign radio under Kims tenure have also become more severe, according to 77 percent of respondents, again with zero percent saying it has waned.

According to the survey, however, corruption has been able to mitigate some of these impacts with 184 of the 350 surveyed respondents saying they have been able to bribe officials to avoid punishment.

INFORMATION TRENDS

Despite the proliferation of new technologies used in North Korea, the survey shows the top source of information for North Koreans is still word of mouth communication, with 71 percent of those surveyed choosing this option.

The use of foreign radio is second at 11 percent, with domestic TV and South Korean TV at 3 percent each, Chinese TV at 2 percent and Party Circulars at 1 percent.

But the survey also indicates that North Koreans use their devices for increasingly varied reasons.

The development and diversification of the media environment in North Korea is powerfully underscored by the wide range of media devices that a substantial proportion of North Koreans can now access, the report reads.

This includes DVD players, MP3 players, USB flash drives, SD cards, Micro-SD cards, tablets, computers, a variety of radios, television and for a very small minority, the internet. This has also resulted in an increase of media access since 2010.

Although the survey is non-representative and limited to defectors and travelers, it could indicate the proliferation of mobile devices is relatively widespread.

The range of uses of these mobile devices is also varied, with North Koreans using the phones to send and receive text messages, take, send and receive photos and videos as well as sending or receiving other files.

This has resulted in North Koreans being connected and able to communicate more often.

The country is transforming from an environment in which the state attempted to actively prevent horizontal person-to-person connection to one in which legal cell phones are greatly expanding the range and accelerating the speed of such connections, the report reads.

The emerging trends from those surveyed, while in the shadow of the state, may have larger impacts in the future, the report says.

While the state continues to maintain a huge power imbalance over its own people, these negotiations are likely to gradually make North Korea look less like an autarkic global outlier, the report read. It even suggests the possibility for the emergence of something resembling civil society.

Despite the proliferation of media devices in North Korea as well as increased access to information, the North Korean government has been able to adapt in an attempt maintain tight control, according to a new report published on Wednesday. The report, conducted by Intermedia, draws on a survey of 350 North Korean defectors and travelers

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As N. Koreans access more media, government adapts controls: Report - NK News

SAN DIEGOMedia Control Systems specializes in television automation products and systems for program recording, playback and ad insertion. Our master control automation products are targeted toward lower-priced systems used for program origination of cable access, internet TV and low-power broadcast applications. We manufacture our own brand of products, but we also resell and integrate other TV-automation-related products. The latter was the case with our client the Community Media Center of Marin (CMCM).

CMCM is a nonprofit organization providing residents of Marin County, Calif., with access to communication technologies, media training and the latest digital tools to create original content for cable TV and online media. CMCM operates Marin TV, Marin Countys own noncommercial community, educational and governmental cable channels. Marin TV is available on Comcast and AT&T U-Verse as well as online via live streams. CMCM also offers special organizational services and fee-for-service production assistance for schools, nonprofits and government agencies.

FITTING FORMATS IN HD & SD Like many public, education and government stations, CMCM plays back a mix of legacy SD programs and new HD video files on their television channels. CMCM also takes in many external satellite and regional program feeds in both standard and high definition. Many of the sources have previously been converted from HD to SD or SD to HD, with conversion black bars on the top, bottom or sides of the programs.

CMCM has 23 different sources of programming played out on four television channels. The challenge CMCM faced was getting all the various incoming programs to play out on both HD internet-streamed channels and SD cable channels while maintaining the correct picture formats. Specifically, that meant figuring out how to take the sources of mixed formats and files and play them out correctly on HD and SD channels without double-converting, that is, putting black pillars on the sides of the picture and black bars on the top and bottom. Also, correct conversion prevents stretching, squeezing, or cutting off part of the picture.

Media Control Systems proposed and implemented a solution that uses a Cobalt Digital BBG-1002-UDX standalone cross-converter on the output of each channel. Unlike most converters, which require three to four seconds to react, the BBG-1002-UDX can recognize the input format so quickly it can convert the input to the desired output in just a few frames worth of time. The BBG-1002-UDX reads the AFD codes on the input source programs, so it knows if the source has been previously converted, which in turn means it can apply the correct output conversion without double converting.

ONE SIZE FITS ALL The Cobalt solution minimizes the number of converters required. Instead of having to put a converter on each of the 23 input sources, CMCM only needed one converter for each of the output channels. In other words, CMCM only had to invest in eight convertersone for each of four HD internet channels and one for each of the four SD cable TV channels.

In addition to the BBG-1002-UDXs cross-conversion capabilities, it also provides audio-level management and digital frame synchronization, features that make the unit even more valuable.

All in all, the Cobalt BBG-1002-UDX was the perfect choice for CMCM because it gives the broadcaster a professional-grade, multifunctional conversion solution with exceptional performance at an affordable price. The Cobalt UDX is also available as a high-density openGear card module.

Thomas Walsh is the CEO of Media Control Systems. He can be contacted at twalsh@mediacontrolsys.com.

For more information, please visit http://www.cobaltdigital.com or call 217-344-1243.

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MCX Mixes HD and SD Playout Via Cobalt - TV Technology

Israels media has repeatedly accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting to control it. For example, his backtracking on the formation of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), which had been supposed to replace the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), was interpreted by his detractors as another attempt by Netanyahu to impose his will on the media. Since the IBC seemed to be filling up with anti-Netanyahu forces, the story was that Netanyahu had decided hed be better off with the old IBA, which would be forever thankful to him for preventing its dissolution. This perverted interpretation is but one of many fake news items to which the Israeli public has been subjected.

Who really controls Israels media? Is it the government, the politicians, the tycoons or, just perhaps, could it be those elements in the media that cry wolf loudest while doing all they can to assure the continuity of their influence and at the same time expand their own control.

Politicians can, at least in principle, exercise their influence mostly on the public media. This is why for years they would not close down the wasteful Educational TV network, or impose fiscal restraint on the IBA. Similarly, we suspect that Defense Minister Avigdor Libermans threat to shift control of the Galatz radio station to the Defense Ministry was just another political ploy aimed at assuring influence over the station.

In a similar vein, Israel has another public media station, the Knesset Channel, which costs the taxpayer only NIS 25 million a year.

The American system is simple. Congress televises its public proceedings and make them available to anyone who wants to use them, whether live or via the Internet.

C-span uses whichever proceedings it finds interesting and broadcasts it through the cable and satellite networks. The cost to the taxpayer is nothing. The consumer can, via the Internet, watch any congressional proceeding she or he desires. The American system is not predicated on many hours of studio broadcasting with panels, interviews and debates between politicians or public figures such as pundits, academics and social activists.

The Israeli system is very different. The Knesset provides a budget of NIS 25m. annually and contracts a company for a period of 10 years to take over Knesset broadcasting.

Although nowadays almost all Knesset proceedings are recorded by Knesset staff, the public can only access them through the filter of the Knesset Channel. In principle, the concessionaire has to be impartial, whereas in practice any broadcaster will always use some filter to provide what is perceived as interesting to the public.

This filter is very meaningful. Consider a typical Knesset committee debate. Does the Knesset Channel pick up all speakers? By no means only those considered acceptable by the concessionaire. Although many NGOs, companies, groups and private individuals exercise their democratic right and spend their precious time appearing in front of Knesset committees to testify and provide information, only a very small minority will ever be seen by the public since the Knesset Channel does not broadcast all the proceedings. Instead, it uses precious air time for useless, boring and repetitive debate, and biased commentary.

The concessionaire can choose, for example, to spend more time on someone from a company which advertises on the parent channel or whose goals benefit the parent channel by inviting the people involved to one of the talk shows. Owning a TV concession is about much more than just broadcasting. It is a source of power, influence and money.

It is not surprising then that the 10-year concession is highly valued. There are four finalists in the current bidding process. TV Channel 2, which operated the channel for the past 13 years, is one, as is TV Channel 10, which is under the aegis of the R.G.E. Group, a privately-held media operation whose main assets, besides Channel 10, are NOGA Communications and Sports Channel 5. The other two are smaller companies: on is TV Channel 20, the other is funded by Ami Giniger, owner of the Ulpanei Herzliya company.

The final decision will be made in the coming month, as the concession of Channel 2 runs out in May.

Logic would seem to have it that the concession should not be given to Channel 2 for, after all, government funding should be spread out and a chance given to other companies.

A monopoly is not healthy in general and certainly when it comes to the media. One would also have liked to think the concession would not be given to a company which has violated its previous fiduciary commitments to the state, in addition to bilking the public of over a billion shekels, which is the amount the company should have paid the government over the years but refused to. It did, however, provide outrageous salaries for its celebrity staff. In other words, TV Channel 10 should also not be in the running.

But thats not the way things are done in Israel. Both channels, that cry out that the government wants to control the media, actually not only control a sizable portion of the media market, but have an insatiable appetite for more. Any attempt by Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein to assure that the new concessionaire does not use its power to show the Knesset at its ugliest was nixed. In fact, politicians had very little influence over how the new concession would be formulated or awarded. Those who really influenced the process in the Knesset, thus far, were the TV stations themselves. They can afford to peddle their wares for the politicians fear of them is deathly.

So, what have we got? The public, as usual, is the loser.

It not only pays the concessionaire but in the process loses the ability to really know what is happening in the Knesset. The politicians have no say in the operation of the channel. It is the concessionaire who has the power, who can focus the spotlight on politician A or B and who can further any agenda political, economic, cultural.

Israels democracy would profit if the media exercised a wee bit of self-control. The ideal situation would be for the Knesset itself to provide live coverage, available to all, at no cost. A media company or NGO that wants then to cover Knesset proceedings could do so. The only legislation needed would be to increase the number of legal TV stations in Israel, which means, for all intents and purposes, operating under free market conditions. This is precisely what the present concessionaires do not want; they prefer self-control.

The authors are members of Israels Media Watch. http://www.imediaw.org.il

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Desperately needed: Self control - Jerusalem Post Israel News

The Online Citizen

Chee Soon Juan: The dumbing down of Singapore through media control The Online Citizen Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Secretary-General Dr Chee Soon Juan in his latest social media post, claims that the control on media has resulted in the dumbing down of Singapore. He said that this has resulted, for instance, in prime-time fare on ...

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Chee Soon Juan: The dumbing down of Singapore through media control - The Online Citizen