12 Nov 14 | Events
In the 1980s, Stewart Brand declared that “information wants to be free”. The phrase became a slogan for technology activists, who argued that tech can liberate information from expensive patents and help further the ever expanding limits of human knowledge. As a part of the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival, Rana Mitter tests the promises of the internet to spread ideas quickly and democratically. Catch up online with this event featuring:
- Dr Rufus Pollock (Founding President of the Open Knowledge, an international non-profit organisation that promotes making data and information accessible)
- Jodie Ginsberg (Chief Executive of Index on Censorship)
WHERE: BBC Radio 3
WHEN: Thursday 20 November 2014, 10:00pm (then on iPlayer)
TICKETS: Listen live here
10 Apr 13 | Brazil
One month has passed since a radio presenter was gunned down in the Brazilian town of Ipatinga, in the state of Minas Gerais, with no results from the police investigation. Both his colleagues and authorities believe the crime was caused by sensitive information the journalist presented on this radio crime show.
Rodrigo Neto was shot while leaving a restaurant on the evening of Friday 8 March. Two men on a motorcycle accosted him and opened fire. The presenter was hit on the head and on the chest. The gunmen escaped unidentified.
The case is still being investigated by the police.
State Deputy Durval Ângelo, who is president of the Human Rights Committee on Minas Gerais’s Legislative Assembly, claims the journalist had given him information about policemen involved in crimes on the Ipatinga area.
Workmates of Rodrigo from Vanguarda radio station are sure the murder is connected to his work as a crime show presenter.
Rodrigo was not the first radio presenter to be gunned down in Brazil this year. On 22nd February, journalist Mafaldo Góis was shot and killed in the town of Jaguaribe, in the northeastern state of Ceará. His death is believed to have been ordered by a local drug dealer, cited by Góis in this crime radio show.
Brazil had the 5th highest number of journalists killed in the world in 2012, with 5 cases, according to the International Press Institute .
10 Apr 13 | Brazil, Uncategorized
A judge from the Brazilian State of Goiás has ruled that a football club director allegedly linked to the killing of a sports journalist must remain in prison while he awaits trial.
Radio presenter Valério Luiz de Oliveira was gunned down at the front door of 820 AM radio station in the state capital Goiânia on 5 July 2012.
Businessman Maurício Borges Sampaio, who acted as Atlético Clube Goianiense’s vice-president up to 10 days before Oliveira’s murder, was arrested in February this year accused of having ordered the killing. He denies having any link to the crime.
Days before being killed, Oliveira went on air to strongly denounce Atlético’s management for the team, after poor results on the pitch led to the club’s relegation to the second tier of the Brazilian league later that year .
Among other statements, the presenter compared Atlético’s directors to “rats” that abandon a ship before it sinks .
In a testimony given to the Police, Sampaio admitted signing a document that barred Oliveira’s radio staff from the club’s premises. The former director also claimed the radio presenter had already being banned from Goiás and Vila Nova, two other football clubs in Goiânia.
Three other people accused of acting in the journalist’s killing are also being held in prison.
24 Jun 11 | Index Index, minipost
Members of the Sufi group, Ahlu Sunna Waljama (ASWJ), shut down Radio Dhusamareb of central Somalia on Wednesday evening. Seven masked intruders forced staff to evacuate the building and the station’s editor was arrested and taken into custody. He has now been released without charge. Less than 24 hours before the attack, Al Shabaab militants silenced the Voice of Hiran radio station in the town of Beletweyne.
