Today’s MediaWireWorld roundup of journalism news from outside the U.S. Send tips to Kristen Hare: khare@poynter.org
Ukraine
The Ukrainian website StopFake.org launched three months ago, Lydia Tomkiw reported Monday for Nieman Journalism Lab. The site debunks news from outside Ukraine about Ukraine, Tomkiw reported, as well as misinformation reported by media in Ukraine. It’s run by Ukrainian journalists, academics and volunteers. On Monday, Tomkiw reported, the site had 1.5 million unique monthly visitors.
A new generation of Ukrainian journalists has come of age since the Orange Revolution in 2004, including Margo Gontar, a recent master’s graduate of the Mohyla journalism program, who works as an executive producer at Espreso TV. On Sundays, Gontar volunteers her time along with Panin to produce a weekly video roundup of news StopFake has debunked during the week. One video was widely shared by Ukrainian media and received over 100,000 views.
Here’s a screenshot from the site’s English language page on Tuesday.
Egypt
On Monday, Patrick Kingsley reported in The Guardian that Egyptian police are working on ways to monitor social media for dissent. Kingsley reported that a leaked document showed the government was to monitor “Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Viber in real-time for usage that might ‘harm public security or incite terrorism’.”
Among many other specifications, the police’s preferred surveillance system would harbour the capacity to view allegedly problematic messages within 30 seconds of their publication; to recognise influential opinion-shapers within a certain geographic area; and to track how an individual’s opinions changed over time.
Malaysia
Today, The Sun, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, shows how to do an above the fold ad. (Front page courtesy the Newseum.)
