The French senator Simon Loueckhote has condemned a caricature by cartoonist Zak on the death of French soldiers in Afghanistan which was published in the daily De Morgen and has called on President Sarkozy to sue the newspaper. De Morgen defends itself pointing to its right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press: "Even if it had been Zak's intention to ridicule the soldiers in question - which is not the case - he still has the right to do so, particularly in the midst of the debate that has broken out about the point or pointlessness of military intervention in Afghanistan. This right falls under the simple principles of freedom of the press and freedom of expression - terms that not only have a long and rich tradition in France but which were actually born in that country. By guaranteeing the freedom of expression of others we guarantee that the opinions of the majority are not threatened. True freedom of expression exists only when not just our own opinions but above all the opinions of others are protected." (04/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Yves Desmet

In the Dutch daily De Volkskrant, columnist Michael Zeeman sharply criticises the state broadcaster NPS's coverage of the Democrats' convention in Denver. "Is this the state we're in when we leave school? A combination of memory loss and undiscriminating admiration? ... I'm not too keen on perfectly orchestrated and filmed party conferences held in stadiums - and anyway, semantically speaking there is not such a great difference between 'yes, we can' and the 'Triumph of the Will'. If you ask me, the organisers of the convention have been watching a bit too much Leni Riefenstahl. The same cannot, however, be said of the two panting psychopaths NPS sent as 'reporters' to cover the event. They were 'in favour of it' and made this abundantly clear. Is it any wonder that trust in the established media is diminishing?" (04/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Michaël Zeeman

The well-established Czech literary magazine Literární noviny is for sale. Founded in 1927, the publication was particularly popular at the end of the 1960s during Prague Spring. After the fall of communism it became the literary supplement of the conservative newspaper Lidové noviny, which has no illusions about the upcoming sale: "After 1990 the magazine depended too much on its legend and lost contact with the present. It became boring. Editor in chief Jakub Patočka wanted to situate it somewhere between culture and politics. But people read it for the literature and soon grew weary, and no new readers came to take their place. Today the significance of the magazine has dropped to around zero. And so it pays the price. But perhaps someone will turn up who is willing to put his money into this venerable publication a give it a good dusting off." (04/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Ondřej Horák

The American Internet company Google has attacked Microsoft's market supremacy with its new browser Chrome. But the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita doubts that this means the end of the monopolies: "The short history of the development of the computer sector shows that big companies rise over the ashes of other giants. IBM emerged when it showed that the endproduct is more important than the technology inside the computer, and left CBM, Atari and Texas instruments vanquished behind it. Later Microsoft showed that it is not the computer, but what we use it for, the programmes, that are key. ... Now Google has launched a massive attack on what Microsoft has been successfully selling for years: office packages. Almost anyone who has ever come in contact with a computer knows Word and Excel. This next revolution will only have advantages for customers, but it will mean the next set of headaches for Microsoft. And many people will be happy with this change of the guard, for Microsoft has in general met with little sympathy on the part of consumers. But we should not forget that the bottom line is that one monopoly is replacing another." (03/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Hubert Salik

Nyhedsavisen, Denmark's largest free newspaper, was forced for economic reasons to cease publishing on Monday, just two years after it was founded. Der Nordschleswiger, the newspaper of the German minority in Denmark, sees the closure merely as a passing reprieve for the newspapers. "Yesterday a load was taken off the minds of the large print media. Experts anticipate that only two of Denmark's three free newspapers will survive. But without Nyhedsavisen there is now considerably less pressure on the newspapers. There is once more the prospect of new subscriptions, and the price of advertisements will not continue to drop according to the first reactions by media analysts. One man's poison is another man's meat. Nevertheless we do not yet have the all-clear. The Internet poses greater challenges than Nyhedsavisen did. One battle is over, but the newspaper war continues!" (02/09/2008)

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A court ruling in Turkey that has now been rescinded banned access to the YouTube video portal because it showed a video containing offensive material about Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish state. Ioannis Grigoriadis, a lecturer for Turkish Studies at the University of Athens, comments in the Greek daily I Kathimerini: "Citizens are not seen as autonomous and individual beings but as little children. ... The state has assigned itself the task of protecting the 'endangered citizen' and thus become its father. ... But the 'loving father' soon changes into a not so loving master. The state decides what the citizen sees, ... what he reads ... and sometimes it censors the Internet, the greatest success of modern times regarding individual freedom." (27/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Ioannis Grigoriadis

Robert Ménard, secretary-general of the non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders, criticises in the weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur the way the press was treated during the Olympic Games and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to China: "Journalists were indeed free to go about their work to a much greater extent than they have been in the past in China. But this does not alter the fact that around twenty journalists were maltreated, beaten and arrested. ... For a year now we have no longer been able to talk of a political opening in China. A year ago ... we could talk to the Chinese authorities. Now this is impossible. ... There will be no more cameras [on location]. The 20,000 journalists who were responsible for coverage of the games will leave. ... The diplomats will try to do their work effectively. But Nicolas Sarkozy changed his mind, and I can no longer rely on him. ... By agreeing to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games our president stabbed us in the back. He let us down." (25/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Sibylle Laurent

The Italian Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana recently criticised Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's domestic policy and warned of the danger of a new wave of fascism in Italy. The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung does not share these fears. "Famiglia Cristiana, Italy's major Catholic weekly, has provoked an uproar by warning in a commentary about the danger of a new wave of fascism in Rome. ... But this fascist alarm is clouding the issue rather than clarifying it. ... Berlusconi is no militarist, no imperialist and no nationalist. He is preoccupied with assets rather than 'national values'. Rather than megalomania he is driven only by vanity. ... This permanent spectacle keeps us entertained and diverts our attention from the country's problems. It blunts the citizens' critical awareness. This alone, without the threat of fascism, is sufficient cause for concern. But vital counteracting forces are at work in Italy in politics, society, the media and the Church. Among them are magazines like Famiglia Cristiana and critical members of the clergy in the diocese and at the Vatican." (19/08/2008)

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Göran Greider, chief editor of the daily Dala-Demokraten, disparages media coverage of the Caucasus conflict: "The coverage ... is one-sided and it looks like an old-fashioned Russian bogeyman is being dragged out to scare people. Georgia is practically a satellite of the US. ... I listened to an interview with [Swedish Foreign Minister] Carl Bildt on the radio today in which he was basically given the role of an independent expert. When at the end of the interview he was asked whether the Georgian leadership bears responsibility for the dramatic escalation of the conflict, his reply - after several attempts at evasion - basically boiled down to a no. And this pattern is repeated everywhere. A self-appointed Russia expert claimed that Russia has distanced itself from European values. Excuse me? Why were the UK and the majority of European countries not accused of distancing themselves from these values when they participated in the illegal war in Iraq? ... It is completely unreasonable that Carl Bildt's analysis appears to be setting the standard for the media's view on the situation." (14/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Göran Greider

While the Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana took an extremely critical tone toward the Italian government last week, the US news magazine Newsweek celebrated Berlusconi's "Miracle In 100 Days". Those differing views come under the loupe of the daily paper La Repubblica: "The administration should concern itself with the content of the criticism, not spout off a psalm about ideological prejudices and socialist infiltration." Many citizens share the opinion of the Christian paper, La Repubblica writes, but not the "superficial and generously triumphal proclamations of the American magazine Newsweek." It has to do with "a controlled operation of image-building, conducive to transatlantic export of the smoke and mirrors of the 'made in Italy' label, but it fails to address the removal of trash and the fight against criminality." Italy's government is based "officially on the power of the media, particularly television. Anyone who does not accept Berlusconi's proclaimed values or non-values of Communism driven to an extreme will be excommunicated – like Famiglia Cristiana." (13/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Giovanni Valentini