An article recently appeared in Iran’s Mardomsalari newspaper by a doctor challenging claims by the country’s Health Minister that the jamming of TV and radio broadcasts has no negative health impact on humans.
The Minister’s comment contradicted a statement by the head of Iran’s parliamentary health committee, who had previously noted such negative effects as fatigue, dizziness and nervous and mental health disorders. The comment also came after a university medical department head told a health conference that jamming had resulted in a rise in the number of patients suffering from infertility.
The Mardomsalari article’s author said “we cannot just ignore the effects of jamming waves on people.” He reported the number of patients coming to health clinics because of dizziness has increased. He noted many others simply don’t visit a doctor.
He then went on to say: “The city is full of dizzy people. I have seen people leaning against the wall to avoid falling.”
This doctor acknowledges “we have no right to say the epidemic of dizziness is related to radio frequency waves without proper proof. Maybe we are dealing with an unknown virus…”
But he argues that jamming needs to be considered as the source of the problem.
VOA signals to some places like Iran are jammed from time to time. We obviously don’t approve as jamming violates the notion of the free flow of information. Jamming is wrong. And if authorities anywhere knowingly endanger their citizens' health through jamming, that is clearly wrong, too.
One of VOA’s transmission experts tells me there are distinct similarities between exposure to the microwaves from microwave ovens and exposure to the frequencies like those used in jamming.
One link the expert gave me was to a Radio Frequency Safety guide from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. One quote: “Biological effects that result from heating of tissue by RF [radio frequency] energy are often referred to as "thermal" effects. It has been known for many years that exposure to very high levels of RF radiation can be harmful due to the ability of RF energy to heat biological tissue rapidly. This is the principle by which microwave ovens cook food. Exposure to very high RF intensities can result in heating of biological tissue and an increase in body temperature. Tissue damage in humans could occur during exposure to high RF levels because of the body's inability to cope with or dissipate the excessive heat that could be generated. Two areas of the body, the eyes and the testes, are particularly vulnerable to RF heating because of the relative lack of available blood flow to dissipate the excess heat load.”
But let me conclude by noting that as in Iran, this is a topic of debate elsewhere. For its part, the World Health Organization says, “there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF [radio frequency] signals from base stations... cause adverse health effects.”
19 February 2010
03 February 2010
Internet Freedom
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently gave a speech on Internet freedom in which she observed “information has never been so free. There are more ways to spread more ideas to more people than at any moment in history.”
Yet Mrs. Clinton also noted that there continue to be threats to the free flow of information. She mentioned several countries, including China, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Egypt, as well as Iran. She said restrictive practices in such countries mark the descent of what she called “a new information curtain” across parts of the world.
Predictably, some of these countries responded negatively to her remarks. A Chinese newspaper, “Global Times,” acknowledged that, in its words, “The free flow of information is a universal value treasured in all nations.” But it went on to accuse the United States of what it charged was “information imperialism.”
For their part, according to Iran’s "Press TV", Iranian officials charged “Washington… continues to meddle in the country's internal affairs.”
The Voice of America has long stood for the free flow of information worldwide. It is adapting to new technologies to make sure every avenue is used to disseminate accurate, objective and comprehensive news.
And VOA is counting on the continued assistance of brave individuals in countries like Iran who send out cell-phone and other video images of events the country’s government does not want the world and their own people to see. Such images, like the footage of a young woman’s murder in Tehran, represent what Mrs. Clinton called “a digital indictment of the government’s brutality.” She said the courage of those sending out such images “is redefining how technology is used to spread truth and expose injustice.”
Yet Mrs. Clinton also noted that there continue to be threats to the free flow of information. She mentioned several countries, including China, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Egypt, as well as Iran. She said restrictive practices in such countries mark the descent of what she called “a new information curtain” across parts of the world.
Predictably, some of these countries responded negatively to her remarks. A Chinese newspaper, “Global Times,” acknowledged that, in its words, “The free flow of information is a universal value treasured in all nations.” But it went on to accuse the United States of what it charged was “information imperialism.”
For their part, according to Iran’s "Press TV", Iranian officials charged “Washington… continues to meddle in the country's internal affairs.”
The Voice of America has long stood for the free flow of information worldwide. It is adapting to new technologies to make sure every avenue is used to disseminate accurate, objective and comprehensive news.
And VOA is counting on the continued assistance of brave individuals in countries like Iran who send out cell-phone and other video images of events the country’s government does not want the world and their own people to see. Such images, like the footage of a young woman’s murder in Tehran, represent what Mrs. Clinton called “a digital indictment of the government’s brutality.” She said the courage of those sending out such images “is redefining how technology is used to spread truth and expose injustice.”
09 January 2010
Checking the Facts: A Job That Never Ends
The NewsBlog recently received an email complaining about some of the background information in a story by reporter Robert Berger, who files for VOA from Israel. The item, headlined “Israel Says Iran Close to Nuclear Capability”, included a sentence intended to explain Israel’s concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. That sentence said: “Israel is alarmed by … previous threats by its [Iran's] president to wipe the Jewish state ‘off the map.’”
The email writer contends: “This phrase (from an October 2005 speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) is a proven propaganda hoax..” And he cites a couple of references to back up his claim. One is a column in the Guardian newspaper by Jonathan Steele:
“…The remarks are not out of context. They are wrong, pure and simple. Ahmadinejad never said them. Farsi speakers have pointed out that he was mistranslated. The Iranian president was quoting an ancient statement by Iran's first Islamist leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini, that "this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" just as the Shah's regime in Iran had vanished.”
I searched around and discovered an actual transcript of the speech. The text of the speech was posted online, in Persian, and the English version I found was translated by Nazila Fathi of The New York Times Tehran bureau.
Its says that Mr. Ahmadinejad was in fact quoting Ayatollah Khomeini. But it also makes clear the phrase “wiped off the map” was used:
“Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime [Israel] has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world.”
Our email writer asks for a correction of the original Berger report, stating: “Ahmadinejad is no friend of the Israeli government, but I'm sure you'll agree his comments have been dangerously misrepresented in your article.”
The Managing Editor of VOA’s Central News Division, which issued the item, has decided against a correction, saying the editors stand by the story. I concur with that decision. This is because the preponderance of evidence supports our emailer’s own acknowledgement that “Ahmadinejad is no friend of the Israeli government…”
Here is some evidence of that (and these excerpts are drawn from reliable translations of the original Farsi):
--From the text of address by Mr. Ahmadinejad at an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in Malaysia on 3 August, 2006:
“It is obvious that this regime is fake and lacks legal legitimacy…The existence of this regime is an ongoing humiliation of all the nations... The ultimate cure is the elimination of the Zionist regime… unrest, threats, and distrust will continue unless that regime is uprooted.”
-- From a speech by President Ahmadinejad at a meeting of foreign ministers of Iraq's neighboring countries, plus Egypt, in Tehran on July 8, 2006:
“…the accumulated energy of every single member [of the Islamic world], the pure hearts, the steady strides, the strong wills and the clenched fists of the people of the region are an immense support for getting rid of the Zionist [regime]… There is no logical reason for the continuation of the life of this regime [Israel].”
Eliminate Israel. Uproot Israel. Get rid of Israel. Seems consistent with saying it should be “wiped off the map.”
We stand by the story.
The email writer contends: “This phrase (from an October 2005 speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) is a proven propaganda hoax..” And he cites a couple of references to back up his claim. One is a column in the Guardian newspaper by Jonathan Steele:
“…The remarks are not out of context. They are wrong, pure and simple. Ahmadinejad never said them. Farsi speakers have pointed out that he was mistranslated. The Iranian president was quoting an ancient statement by Iran's first Islamist leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini, that "this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" just as the Shah's regime in Iran had vanished.”
I searched around and discovered an actual transcript of the speech. The text of the speech was posted online, in Persian, and the English version I found was translated by Nazila Fathi of The New York Times Tehran bureau.
Its says that Mr. Ahmadinejad was in fact quoting Ayatollah Khomeini. But it also makes clear the phrase “wiped off the map” was used:
“Our dear Imam said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime [Israel] has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world.”
Our email writer asks for a correction of the original Berger report, stating: “Ahmadinejad is no friend of the Israeli government, but I'm sure you'll agree his comments have been dangerously misrepresented in your article.”
The Managing Editor of VOA’s Central News Division, which issued the item, has decided against a correction, saying the editors stand by the story. I concur with that decision. This is because the preponderance of evidence supports our emailer’s own acknowledgement that “Ahmadinejad is no friend of the Israeli government…”
Here is some evidence of that (and these excerpts are drawn from reliable translations of the original Farsi):
--From the text of address by Mr. Ahmadinejad at an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in Malaysia on 3 August, 2006:
“It is obvious that this regime is fake and lacks legal legitimacy…The existence of this regime is an ongoing humiliation of all the nations... The ultimate cure is the elimination of the Zionist regime… unrest, threats, and distrust will continue unless that regime is uprooted.”
-- From a speech by President Ahmadinejad at a meeting of foreign ministers of Iraq's neighboring countries, plus Egypt, in Tehran on July 8, 2006:
“…the accumulated energy of every single member [of the Islamic world], the pure hearts, the steady strides, the strong wills and the clenched fists of the people of the region are an immense support for getting rid of the Zionist [regime]… There is no logical reason for the continuation of the life of this regime [Israel].”
Eliminate Israel. Uproot Israel. Get rid of Israel. Seems consistent with saying it should be “wiped off the map.”
We stand by the story.
31 December 2009
Mobile Progress: A New Year's Gift for Iranians
Voice of America has unveiled a new Web application that will allow users in Iran to download and send content to VOA’s Persian News Network with their iPhones.
"This new application gives Iranians a unique opportunity to get the latest news on their mobile devices and to share with the world the news as it happens in their country," said Acting PNN Director Alex Belida. "It is a groundbreaking way to expand our reach inside Iran and deepen our relationship with a key VOA audience."
The application will enable users of Apple iPhones and Android phones to get the latest news from PNN and, with a single click, to send links to VOA stories via Facebook and Twitter pages and email accounts. The application will be available shortly in Apple’s online store, PNN’s Web site (http://www1.voanews.com/persian/news/) and on PNN’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The application, designed by the Washington-based company Intridea, also gives Iran’s “citizen journalists” the opportunity to use their iPhones and Android phones to send video and still pictures taken on their devices to a secure Web site where VOA’s PNN editors can download the images and review them for possible broadcast use and Web posting.
“This Web application empowers Iranians at a time when the government is staging a crackdown against opposition protesters,” Belida said. “As with the disputed elections earlier this year, VOA’s Persian service continues to be a leading source of news and information for Iranians.”
VOA has the largest combined radio and television audience in Iran of all international broadcasters, with one in four adult Iranians tuning in to a VOA program once a week. PNN broadcasts seven hours of television daily, repeated in a 24 hour format, and five hours of radio. Programming is also available around the clock on the Internet.
16 December 2009
Going Mobile Faster: VOA Needs to Do More
It’s a fact that more and more people worldwide are using mobile devices to receive news and information. Going to work here in Washington on the subway, I see scores of fellow commuters glancing at mobile phone screens, surfing the web, reading email and even watching video. Sometimes it seems more people are using mobile devices than are reading newspapers.
A recent study here in the U.S. found nearly 90 percent of mobile device owners were interested in receiving live news and other programming on the go. Separately, 46 percent found the idea of watching live TV programming on their mobile devices appealing.
Voice of America is trying to meet the mobile challenge. It’s an urgent mission, especially since, as VOA’s Africa Division Director Gwen Dillard noted recently, “The growth of mobile technology is largely due to young, urban users of new technology. It’s important to reach this market and try to shape their news habits, since they will socialize the next generation of users.”
VOA is beefing up SMS delivery in places such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, Indonesia and China.
VOA’s Persian News Network is poised to launch an application for Android and iPhones, a VOA first. VOA English has a mobile-compatible site.
But is it enough? And is it coming quickly enough?
With more and more people worldwide embracing smart phones, Steve Buttry, a U.S.-based media trainer and former journalist, suggests too many news organizations are falling behind consumers, stuck on pursuing “web-first” strategies when they should instead be pursuing a “mobile-first” strategy.
Buttry, who has worked not only in the U.S. but also in several foreign countries, including Ireland, Venezuela, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Russia, writes about this in a column on his website.
Buttry says, “we need to make mobile innovation the top priority and the first thing we think of when we plan change in our organizations.”
Buttry notes, and I have heard the same argument from skeptics, that the percentage of people who actually own iPhones or other smart phones is relatively small. But he says, and I have to agree, “if we wait until nearly everyone has some sort of smart phone, someone else will be filling the roles that we can and should fill.”
A new research study indicates the smart phone market is growing dramatically --- with projected sales of nearly two billion devices over the next five years. A report by Pyramid Research says China will become the biggest smart phone market in 2010, and other key markets such as Brazil, India, Turkey and Nigeria will record annual growth rates above 30% through 2014. Pyramid says Latin America will be the fastest growing region overall followed by Africa and the Middle East.
What does a “mobile first” strategy mean in order to meet these market demands? News executives need to devote more resources to mobile device applications. Journalists need to think more about how to package and deliver news for mobile devices. And the information technology workers at news organizations need to pay more attention to the development of mobile applications.
As Buttry says, “This will either be our future or our next squandered opportunity.”
I think it’s a fair question for VOA managers to consider. The NewsBlog would like to hear from them…and from you.
A recent study here in the U.S. found nearly 90 percent of mobile device owners were interested in receiving live news and other programming on the go. Separately, 46 percent found the idea of watching live TV programming on their mobile devices appealing.
Voice of America is trying to meet the mobile challenge. It’s an urgent mission, especially since, as VOA’s Africa Division Director Gwen Dillard noted recently, “The growth of mobile technology is largely due to young, urban users of new technology. It’s important to reach this market and try to shape their news habits, since they will socialize the next generation of users.”
VOA is beefing up SMS delivery in places such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, Indonesia and China.
VOA’s Persian News Network is poised to launch an application for Android and iPhones, a VOA first. VOA English has a mobile-compatible site.
But is it enough? And is it coming quickly enough?
With more and more people worldwide embracing smart phones, Steve Buttry, a U.S.-based media trainer and former journalist, suggests too many news organizations are falling behind consumers, stuck on pursuing “web-first” strategies when they should instead be pursuing a “mobile-first” strategy.
Buttry, who has worked not only in the U.S. but also in several foreign countries, including Ireland, Venezuela, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Russia, writes about this in a column on his website.
Buttry says, “we need to make mobile innovation the top priority and the first thing we think of when we plan change in our organizations.”
Buttry notes, and I have heard the same argument from skeptics, that the percentage of people who actually own iPhones or other smart phones is relatively small. But he says, and I have to agree, “if we wait until nearly everyone has some sort of smart phone, someone else will be filling the roles that we can and should fill.”
A new research study indicates the smart phone market is growing dramatically --- with projected sales of nearly two billion devices over the next five years. A report by Pyramid Research says China will become the biggest smart phone market in 2010, and other key markets such as Brazil, India, Turkey and Nigeria will record annual growth rates above 30% through 2014. Pyramid says Latin America will be the fastest growing region overall followed by Africa and the Middle East.
What does a “mobile first” strategy mean in order to meet these market demands? News executives need to devote more resources to mobile device applications. Journalists need to think more about how to package and deliver news for mobile devices. And the information technology workers at news organizations need to pay more attention to the development of mobile applications.
As Buttry says, “This will either be our future or our next squandered opportunity.”
I think it’s a fair question for VOA managers to consider. The NewsBlog would like to hear from them…and from you.
14 December 2009
Give ‘Em Hell, VOA - Part 2
We recently quoted former U.S. President Harry “Give ‘em Hell” Truman as saying back in 1948 about his political rivals: "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them and they think it's Hell."
We used the quote to explain why it is that VOA has only to report the news accurately and objectively and some foreign officials, usually in repressive countries with no free press, quickly complain.
The latest case is Zimbabwe, where the state-controlled Herald newspaper now describes VOA as a “pirate radio station.”
Real “pirate radios” rose to fame in the 1950’s and 60’s in Europe, when several, mainly commercial, broadcasters took to the seas, sending out programs from vessels anchored in international waters to circumvent strict government regulation of the airwaves in various countries. These radios mainly broadcast popular music of the sort that couldn’t be heard on state-run stations.
(For the record, VOA did mount a sea-based broadcasting operation back in the 1950’s in an initiative approved by President Truman. The Coast Guard cutter Courier was designed to provide a ship-borne radio relay station to transmit VOA programs behind the "Iron Curtain." She was stationed in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean off the island of Rhodes, Greece.
But VOA is no “pirate radio station” by any stretch of the imagination. It is a legitimate international broadcaster and it has been since 1942.
Zimbabwe has also taken to criticizing neighboring Botswana for hosting one of VOA’s transmitter relay facilities -- or as Zimbabwe puts it, “hosting pirate radio stations.”
The government of Botswana has just responded, noting “there is nothing exceptional about Botswana hosting the radio relay broadcasting facilities for an international broadcaster such as VOA.”
As a Botswana government statement also noted, “the VOA relay station, located near Selebi-Phikwe, has been in open operation for three decades. Its frequencies are filed with the International Telecommunications Union. The VOA relay transmitter was not constructed to relay to Zimbabwe alone, but to the region as a whole, including of course Botswana. The Government of Botswana is unaware of any broadcasts being relayed by VOA from the facility could be considered as hostile to Zimbabwe.”
Botswana also made the point that hosting international relay stations like VOA’s is consistent with a protocol agreed to by all Southern African countries which provides for a diversity of opinion and free flow of information in the region.
So like a recent VOA editorial said: “If the Mugabe regime really wants foreign-based stations to stop broadcasting into Zimbabwe, let it release its grip on the media there, liberalize the press and broadcasting environment, and domestic radio stations will flourish.”
In the meantime, don’t call us pirates.
09 December 2009
Hunting Tiger Woods
Go to VOANews.com’s sports page and you will see several stories about Tiger Woods, the star golfer who had a mysterious auto accident outside his Florida home and subsequently admitted to unspecified "transgressions". The admission came amid published allegations that he had extramarital affairs.
The Woods story has dominated the news media. On Google’s new search yesterday, there were nearly 4,000 articles – and not all of them from American media outlets. There were items from India and Ireland, Australia, Canada and Britain, just to mention a few foreign news sources.
VOA editors have discussed the issue of global interest in Tiger Woods and their responsibilities in handling the story.
Like other organizations, there are various camps here: those who say that the golfer is entitled to some privacy, and others who say that as a public figure, anything he is involved in is open to coverage. Some say there is no interest in the story in certain foreign markets. Others say it’s an aspect of American life but needs to be treated as part of a bigger issue – like ‘why are people interested in celebrities’ or ‘why do public figures get involved in sex scandals’ or, simply, ‘what is it about the Tiger story that captivates audiences?’
Listening to the discussion, I had to think about something Time magazine’s James Poniewozik wrote in a blog post this week: about watching “the contortions the respectable media go through” to try to justify covering a hot topic “while appearing to be serious-minded, and not like all those other outlets just trying to pry into Tiger Woods’ personal life.”
He says such justifications are unlikely to help the mainstream media: “What these half-measures do, more than anything, is convey the sense that the mainstream media is phony, inauthentic, that it lacks the courage of its convictions either to go all in and give the public what it wants, or take a bullet and stick to its principles. Trying to please everyone, it pleases no one.”
Do you have an opinion? Do you even care? Would more stories about Tiger Woods cause you to visit our website more often? Let us know.
The Woods story has dominated the news media. On Google’s new search yesterday, there were nearly 4,000 articles – and not all of them from American media outlets. There were items from India and Ireland, Australia, Canada and Britain, just to mention a few foreign news sources.
VOA editors have discussed the issue of global interest in Tiger Woods and their responsibilities in handling the story.
Like other organizations, there are various camps here: those who say that the golfer is entitled to some privacy, and others who say that as a public figure, anything he is involved in is open to coverage. Some say there is no interest in the story in certain foreign markets. Others say it’s an aspect of American life but needs to be treated as part of a bigger issue – like ‘why are people interested in celebrities’ or ‘why do public figures get involved in sex scandals’ or, simply, ‘what is it about the Tiger story that captivates audiences?’
Listening to the discussion, I had to think about something Time magazine’s James Poniewozik wrote in a blog post this week: about watching “the contortions the respectable media go through” to try to justify covering a hot topic “while appearing to be serious-minded, and not like all those other outlets just trying to pry into Tiger Woods’ personal life.”
He says such justifications are unlikely to help the mainstream media: “What these half-measures do, more than anything, is convey the sense that the mainstream media is phony, inauthentic, that it lacks the courage of its convictions either to go all in and give the public what it wants, or take a bullet and stick to its principles. Trying to please everyone, it pleases no one.”
Do you have an opinion? Do you even care? Would more stories about Tiger Woods cause you to visit our website more often? Let us know.
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