NRB Concerned About New Media Speech Policies

Says it needs dialogue with media companies about potential religious censorship

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable

National Religious Broadcasters says it needs to have a dialogue with new media companies about the potential for censorship of religious speech, but suggests it is not looking for a religious version of network neutrality rules.

According to an analysis released at a press conference in Washington Thursday and conducted by Craig Parshall, SVP and general counsel of NRB, "Christian ideas and other religious content face a clear and present danger of censorship on web-based communication platforms."

That was the conclusion of a study of iTunes App Store; Facebook; MySpace; Google; Twitter; and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon. Of those, only Twitter would pass First Amendment muster if judged by traditional Supreme Court free speech principle, said the group. "All of the other new media platforms and service providers have written policies in place that violate fundamental rules of free expression, particularly as applied to religious free speech," it said.

NRB cites various policies against "undesirable content" and "hate speech," the latter which NRB calls "a dangerously undefined and politically correct term that is often applied in the culture to stifle Christian communicators."

The report says key issues are what it sees as: "(1) the past practices of anti-Christian censorship among some of these platforms; (2) free speech-inhibiting policies that facilitate censorship and which are already in place among almost all of the web-based communications companies reviewed here; (3) both market-driven and self-interest motivations for these companies to impose viewpoint censorship; and (4) the trend toward technological convergence of these platforms, which will further entrench their discriminatory practices and/or policies."

NRB said it is not looking for litigation, legislation or regulation, at least not at the outset. "The best course of action is for new media platforms to recognize that with the enormous economic benefits that they have realized with their innovations in communications technology, also comes a great responsibility to the American people to facilitate their freedom of expression."

NRB did not try to talk with the companies before releasing its report's concerns and allegations.

"After unveiling our report, we will be contacting each of the media entities mentioned in our report," said Parshall. "With the exception of Twitter -- we hope to dialogue with each of them (including the telecom Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Comcast, AT&T and Verizon) regarding the problems in their practices and/or policies that we identify in our report and encourage them to voluntarily take a position much more conducive to religious free speech."

NRB says it represents Christian radio and TV and networks; Christian webcasters, book publishers, churches, Christian relief and social service organizations and charities, public policy groups, public relations firms and marketers.

'First Jewish global 24 hour news channel set to launch'

Jewish News One unaffiliated with political movements, will be broadcast in Europe, America and Middle East, according to EJP report.

BRUSSELS - Jewish News One (JN1), the world’s first Jewish global 24hr news channel "that offers a new vision of current affairs," will be launched next week.

JN1 presents itself as a fully independent worldwide news channel "which is not tied to any nation, government or political party."

Its slogan is "informing opinion, expanding horizons."

It will broadcast in 8 languages.

"The arrival of JN1 on the global media landscape reflects the 21st century trend towards international news broadcasting diversification towards an ever-wider range of perspectives and points of view," the channel explained.

It seeks "to provide objective and balanced coverage of events while offering a fresh and unique perspective on contemporary affairs, filling a gap which existing channels are currently unable to provide."

The channel owners are Igor Kolomoisky and Vadim Rabinovich, respectively President and Vice President of the European Jewish Union (EJU), a body dedicated to promote Jewish life in Europe.

Jewish News One will have news bureaus in Tel Aviv, Brussels and Kiev. In the coming months the channel is planning to open further bureaus in Washington, Paris and London

The arrival of JN1 on the global media landscape reflects the 21st century trend towards international news broadcasting diversification.

JN1 will begin broadcasting on September 21 via satellite and will be available in Europe, America and the Middle East.

A launch and presentation event will take place in Brussels on the same day.

Canary Islands Government Puzzled By El Hierro Earthquake Swarm

By Mark Dunphy

The Canary Islands Government says it has commenced an in-depth geological survey of El Hierro, the smallest of the islands, in an effort to determine the source of an earthquake swarm.

The unprecedented seismic activity commenced on 19 July. In excess of 6,000 earthquakes have been recorded up to 14 September 2011. More than two dozen tremors were recorded during Wednesday (14 Sept.) alone.

The vast majority of the tremors have been recorded in the northwest of the 278.5-square-kilometre island at El Golfo, the location of a massive landslide that created a 100-metre high tsunami almost 50,000 years ago. The earth tremors have ranged between 1 and 3 magnitude, the National Geographic Institute (IGN) reported.

However, the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands and Actualidad Volcánica de Canarias have both reported a sizeable decrease in the number of tremors recorded during the first two weeks of September, compared to the latter half of August.

Full story click here

Report: Internet giants shun ads of faiths

Religious group claims censoring

By Jordan E. Otero / The Washington Times

New Internet media giants such as Facebook, Apple and Google are not giving Christian and other faith-based groups a fair shake on the Web, according to a new report released Thursday by a religious broadcasters group.

The report, released Thursday by the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), stated that many of the biggest new Internet sites blocked Christian content and refused to accept faith-based advertisements. In particular, religious content taking a stand against homosexuality was blocked for fear of offending other users.

“Our conclusion is that Christian ideas and other religious content face a clear and present danger of censorship on Web-based communication platforms,” the 43-page report concluded.

Out of several major Internet-interactive “new media” platforms and service providers, only one - Twitter - did not exhibit a strong anti-Christian bias, according to the study.

Apple and its iTunes App Store, Facebook, MySpace (prior to its recent change in ownership), Google, Twitter, Comcast, AT&T and Verizon were reviewed for the NRB’s John Milton Project for Religious Free Speech, spearheaded by Craig Parshall, senior vice president and general counsel of the NRB.

“Our concern is not just anti-Christian censorship, although we will give examples that seem to indicate that that’s a particular concern,” Mr. Parshall said at a National Press Club briefing. “The current paradigm that we’re seeing with censorship seems to be oriented towards people of faith and ideas that are religious based.”

NRB officials said they did not inform any of the organizations that they would be compiling the report and based their findings solely on what has been published and made available to the public.

Several companies singled out in the report, including Apple, Face and Google, did not return calls seeking comment at deadline.

As an example for their concerns, the NRB researchers noted that in March Apple removed the app for Exodus International, a Christian ministry that works with “individuals and families impacted by homosexuality,” according to the ministry’s website. The organization takes the position that homosexual acts do not correlate with biblical teachings.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told FoxNews.com that the app “had indeed been deemed offensive and removed … [and] it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people.”

Apple officials acted only after a gay rights groups organized a petition protesting the app that attracted 146,000 signatures.

But the NRB report said that Apple’s policies were “dangerously overboard and vague … and are, in some instances, viewpoint-censorious on the subject of religion.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill “need to know our concerns,” Mr. Parshall said. “… We don’t want legislation or regulation, we want voluntary compliance. But sometimes, you need to take actions to get the attention of the people that you want to be attentive to your issues.”

GSDF holds emergency evacuation drill near stricken Fukushima nuclear plant

FUKUSHIMA -- The Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) and residents of the zone between 20 and 30 kilometers from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant held an emergency evacuation drill on Sept. 12.

The drill, held in preparation for any further large-scale emission of radioactive materials from the plant, was the first involving local residents. The GSDF held a similar drill without civilian participation in July.

The scenario for the drill presupposed further meltdown of the Fukushima plant's No. 3 reactor core, and a local accumulation of radioactive materials emitting 20 millisieverts of radiation within the next four days. A total of some 400 GSDF personnel were deployed for the drill held in the municipalities of Minamisoma, Tamura, Kawauchi, Hirono, Tomioka and Naraha. Thirty-two municipal workers and firefighters along with 18 local residents also joined the drill.

According to the GSDF, its personnel were divided into teams to evacuate the 384 people in areas 20-30 kilometers from the plant who would have extreme difficulty fleeing any further disaster on their own, including some confined to bed. The operation involved 120 GSDF ground vehicles and six helicopters. GSDF personnel went to assigned homes to drive elderly residents to evacuation points, as well as hospitals to drive and fly patients to medical facilities in the city of Fukushima.