In The News

Al Jazeera to Take on CNN, BBC in English

November 3, 2002
Though details are not yet cemented, the Al Jazeera satellite television network hopes to offer an English-language channel in late 2003 that will compete with top international news such as CNN and BBC. Already a leading force in Arab-language television, Al Jazeera is globalizing its audience by entering the English language market and publicizing the pro-Arab and pro-Muslim perspective that...

China Says Sect Broadcasting From Taiwan

Joseph Kahn September 25, 2002
The group Beijing views as the greatest threat to Chinese communism has developed new methods to spread its message throughout the country. The Falun Gong spiritual sect has cracked the code to China’s satellite system, allowing it to hijack television signals received by tens of millions of Chinese citizens and spread its teachings. In a new development, the Chinese government now believes...

A Place to Find Out for Yourself About War

Eric Umansky September 22, 2002
Freedom of information, the internet, international law, and free markets all converge on the issue of satellite imagery and its use – especially when the images are of military bases. Commercial satellite firms can now produce images that pinpoint a car on the ground – photo quality that only governments used to possess. And these firms are not only in the U.S., but are also cropping up in...

Net Users Try to Elude the Google Grasp

Jennifer Lee July 25, 2002
The stories about two people ‘meeting’ over the internet (and later falling in love) are countless and even old. Scandals and tragedies over personal information being disclosed without one’s approval, however, are beginning to alarm people. Search engines like Google and Altavista, portals through which over 3 billion pages can be accessed, yield thousands of results upon typing in a person’s...

Falungong’s Signals of Defiance of China

Jason Leow July 10, 2002
Using relatively cheap technology, followers of Falungong were able to interrupt the World Cup Finals and the anniversary of the Hong Kong handover broadcast on Chinese state television. Their purpose was to counteract state propaganda that has branded Falungong as an evil cult. While most of the interruptions were in rural China, which often receives TV programs celebrating China’s modernization...

The Satellite Subversives

Michael Lewis February 24, 2002
Iranians may watch now TV station that bypasses government-controlled media regulations. Farsi-speakers living outside Iran, especially those living in the US and Western Europe, could not tune in to a Farsi-only channel until the Iranian-American Zia Atabay established one in 2000. The voices of artists and intellectuals living in exile are now heard all over the world, especially in Iran. The...