Day: September 13, 2018

Female journalists are facing a “relentless” barrage of attacks and harassment, with nearly a third considering leaving the profession as a result, media support organizations have warned.

More than half of women in media have suffered work-related abuse, threats or physical attacks in the past year, found a survey by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and TrollBusters, which supports reporters being harassed.

“Female journalists are dealing with harassment on a daily basis,” said Elisa Lees Munoz, executive director of the US-based IWMF, which promotes women journalists. “It is almost generally accepted as part of their everyday work environment.”

The majority of women said their gender was a key reason they had been targeted, in a survey of nearly 600 female journalists in the United States and around the world.

More than half reported they had been threatened or abused in a face-to-face encounter in the course of their work, with over a quarter saying they had been physically attacked.

Nearly two-thirds said they had suffered online harassment or threats, with more than one in ten reporting it happened often or daily.

“We believe this is a concerted effort to discredit women’s voices in the media and to intimidate them into leaving the profession,” TrollBusters founder Michelle Ferrier, a former journalist, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

She added that women’s “tenuous position” in male-dominated newsrooms meant they were often wary of complaining due to a fear they might suffer professionally as a result.

Online harassment was particularly concerning, said the report’s authors, with female journalists now facing an endless stream of abuse in real time, which in some cases was deliberately co-ordinated by hate groups.

One former female journalist in the United States quoted in the report said she left her job after receiving a stream of online abuse, including a message with a racial slur saying “I will rape you and throw you in the gutter.”

Female journalists also said they felt abuse was increasing, with nine in ten saying they had seen a rise in both physical and online threats over the past five years.

Most said they feared for their safety, with more than a third saying they avoided covering certain stories as a result and a similar percentage saying they were considering leaving the profession altogether.

“Such on and offline attacks against women journalists are an attempt to silence women working in the media and deter others from doing their jobs,” said Michelle Stanistreet, head of Britain’s National Union of Journalists.

“Inaction risks further undermining press freedom and much-needed diversity in journalism.”
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Actress Olivia Munn is thanking an outpouring of support online for keeping up her morale following “The Predator” controversy.

Munn blew the whistle on a fellow actor after she learned he was a registered sex offender. Her intervention prompted 20th Century Fox to cut the sex offender’s single scene.

Then came what Munn considered a frosty reception from her fellow actors. Munn described feeling lonely and isolated. But online, Munn was praised and she made her case on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

On the arrivals line at a screening Wednesday in Los Angeles, most of the actors from “The Predator” were now singing Munn’s praises.

Munn thanked bloggers and social media, saying “Without the support from online, I would have just still been one voice.”

 
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Country singer Gretchen Wilson has agreed to donate $500 to charity to settle a criminal charge related to a disturbance at a Connecticut airport last month.

The Grammy-winning “Redneck Woman” singer appeared Thursday in court in Enfield. A misdemeanor breach of peace charge will be dismissed based on the donation to a fund for injured crime victims.

Wilson was arrested August 21 at Bradley International Airport near Hartford en route to a private show at the Mohegan Sun casino. State police said Wilson was in a minor disturbance on the plane involving another passenger and a bathroom, and was arrested after becoming “belligerent” with troopers.

Wilson said Thursday everyone has bad days, but celebrities are targeted when they have one. She was to return home to Tennessee on Thursday.
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Tel Aviv will host the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time next year, beating out bids by Jerusalem and Eilat, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said Thursday.

Israel earned the right to host next year’s Eurovision in May when Israeli singer Netta Barzilai won the 2018 contest in Lisbon with a song inspired by the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

EBU said the decision to chose Tel Aviv was taken by the contest board, which had asked Israeli public broadcaster KAN to present at least two potential candidate cities for the annual competition.

“All the bids were exemplary but in the end we decided that Tel Aviv provides the best overall setup for the world’s largest live music event,” EBU chief Jon Ola Sand said in a statement.

“We are excited to bring the Contest to a brand new city and are looking forward to working together with KAN to make 2019’s Eurovision Song Contest the most spectacular one yet.”

Barzilai’s win was Israel’s fourth victory.

The country previously hosted the contest in Jerusalem in 1979 and 1999, but this time, EBU said Tel Aviv won out after presenting “a very creative and compelling bid”.

EBU said the competition would be held at Expo Tel Aviv, with the semi-finals set to be held on May 14 and 16 and the grand finale on May 18.

A financial dispute between KAN and the Israeli government had threatened to derail the plans to hold next year’s event in Israel at all, but that issue was resolved last month.

Another possible obstacle to the show could meanwhile come in the form of pressure on participants from the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territory.

There have also been concerns that ultra-Orthodox Jews may protest against violations of the Jewish Sabbath, preventing the event taking place on Saturday.

 
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Turkey has fined a television channel for showing a music video by Pink that featured “erotic dance figures of a homosexual nature”, a ruling made by its television watchdog showed.

Broadcaster AS TV was fined by the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) over the video for “Secrets”, which it said “featured erotic dance figures of a homosexual nature” and was shown during hours when children and young people could watch and be negatively influenced.

The video features some same sex couples dancing, sometimes suggestively, against a graffiti wall. Grammy-award winning singer Pink has scored hits like “What About Us” and “Raise Your Glass” over a 20-year career.

The television channel was fined 17,000 Turkish liras for the clip. AS TV is a local television channel broadcasting in the industrial western city of Bursa.

The watchdog has in the past fined broadcasters over an array of issues, including kissing scenes and adult language in television shows, and in March was granted the authority to also supervise and manage online content in the country.

In January, RTUK fined a TV station nearly 1 million lira ($155,000) over footage of young girls, aged from seven to 11, dancing in shorts in a talent competition after viewers complained of “child abuse”.

It has also previously fined several television channels for showing a music video featuring intimate scenes between the singer and her male co-star, saying the video was “one tick below an erotic film”.

($1 = 6.4690 liras)
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Cuba’s street vendors are bringing back the pregon, the art of singing humorous, rhyming ditties with double entendres about the goods they are selling, with some modernizing the tradition by setting their tunes to reggaeton.

The pregon is a centuries-old tradition that has inspired famous songs like “El Manisero” (the peanut vendor), composed in the late 1920s by Cuban musician Moises Simons on son music, the backbone of salsa.

It faded out in Cuba after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution did away with most free enterprise. With the tentative liberalization of the centralized economy over the last few decades, however, it has made a comeback.

Cubans can now get a permit to make and sell their own goods on the street, from coconut ice cream to juices. Vendors often opting for that option, rather than opening a shop, which remains an onerous venture given ongoing restrictions on private business.

Others just illegally sell wares from stores at a mark-up, hoping to avoid authorities and a fine.

Not all street vendors bother with the pregon. Some just shout out what they are selling and their prices in a blunt manner on a loop, often using loudspeakers that they strap to rickety carts or bicycles, adding to the urban cacophony.

Cuba’s pregoneros however, like Lyssett Perez, who hawks paper cones of roasted peanuts to tourists in Old Havana, believe their ditties help them stand out.

“Firstly, it’s so people listen to me. Secondly, so they love me,” said Perez. “For me the pregon means joy.”

Perez has opted for more traditional pregons. She dresses up in colonial-style dresses with voluminous skirts and white aprons in order to catch the eye of potential clients.

“If you want to have fun by the mouth, buy yourself a peanut cornet,” she sings in a deep, melodious voice as she meanders up and down Old Havana’s pebbled and picturesque streets.

Other pregoneros are updating the genre. Gilberto Gonzalez raps about his wares to the beat of reggeaton that blends reggae, Latin and electronic rhythms.

“Toilet paper, so the chorus goes, buy me my people, to clean your bottom, hands in the air!” he raps in a video captured by a passer-by that subsequently drew tens of thousands of views on YouTube.

The video appeared just months after shortages of toilet paper in Havana, adding to its humorous appeal. Cubans are notorious for dealing with constant shortages of basic goods by making fun of them.

Such was its success that one of Cuba’s top DJs, DJ Unic, did a remix that further spread Gonzalez’s peculiar renown. Sporting a cap that reads “Money on my Mind,” Gonzalez said he was just trying to “make ends meet.”
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Girls’ soccer in the U.S. is widely seen as a white, suburban sport that often requires athletes to join costly clubs to advance their skills. But a nonprofit organization in St. Paul, Minnesota, called Like a Girl, wants to open the doors for more racially diverse girls’ soccer by embracing daughters of immigrant, refugee and low-income families. In this report narrated by Carol Pearson, VOA’s June Soh introduces us to Like a Girl’s founder, Kyle Johnson.
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Dozens of colorful pianos are available for the public to play and enjoy this month in several parks in Atlanta, Georgia, during the second annual festival of Pianos for Peace festival, which runs through Sept. 22.

Founded by Syrian-American composer and pianist Malek Jandali, the festival aims to celebrate diversity and help engage people in civil dialogue. 

“It is a true symphony for peace that celebrates our diversity. When we get to know our neighbors, we realize how much we have in common, and that leads to strength, peace and unity in our communities,” Jandali told VOA.

The festival is part of the Pianos for Peace charity, which Jandali founded in 2015 with the goal of building peace and harmony through music and education.

According to the festival’s volunteers — over 1,000 artists, educators, musicians, filmmakers and piano technicians — the community has responded positively to their initiative. Organizers hope to receive similar feedback this year as well.

The Pianos for Peace charity collaborates with the Fulton County Arts and Culture Center, the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta public school system, among others, and relies on funds raised by the community.

The organization plans to expand its peace-building work to art projects and support different art programs in the city.

“It’s about beauty, truth and preserving our shared American and human values,” Jandali said.

Color and sound

The coloring of pianos represents the diversity of the communities in Atlanta. Artists and other members of the community participated in coloring the pianos.

“Not only does the instrument itself become a beautiful, unique work of art, it helps to start a conversation, a dialogue that unites people and encourages them to sit at the bench and listen to each other while playing or singing together,” Jandali told VOA.

The campaign also has its own application that will help locals and visitors see pictures of the colored pianos and learn about the artists.

Once the festival ends, all pianos will be donated to schools, community centers, nursing homes, rehab centers and other organizations of underserved communities.

The organizers hope to distribute about 100 pianos by the end of the year.

“Last year, thousands of Atlantans and visitors were able to enjoy the pianos, and we hear from so many people who say that stumbling across a beautifully painted piano in a park or train station or community center reignited their passion for music, and also encouraged them to become more active in their local communities,” Jandali told VOA.

Syrian children

Jandali said he advocates for building a better future for children and embraces young talent. He has personal reasons for helping children.

“When I was a child in my hometown [in Syria], I did not have access to a piano for lessons, and had to travel several hours every week just to practice with my professor. It broke my heart to see students across metro Atlanta who did not have access to music,” Jandali said.

Jandali wrote a number of symphonies supporting Syrian children’s plea for a better life and future during the past seven years of violence in the country. Syria’s civil war has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including children, and has forced millions of others to leave the country.

“Everyone deserves to live in peace, and I am blessed to be able to use my music as a platform to share that message around the world. The Syrian children deserve to live in peace rather than rest in peace, and it’s my duty to serve and give back to that community as well,” Jandali said.

Jandali is a well-known musician in Atlanta and in his hometown of Homs. He has produced several symphonies in an attempt to preserve the culture and history of Syria and promote diversity in the country.

In 2009, he produced Echoes from Ugarit, the first arrangement of the oldest music notation in the world. The musical notation was inscribed on clay tablets found in Ugarit, a historical site in western Syria.
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