Month: December 2024

The first edition of the Global Media Peace Awards concluded with an online ceremony bringing together creators from across the globe on November 26.Organized by Executive Education HEC Montréal in partnership with the Pale Blue Dot Foundation, this initiative marked a significant step forward in using media as a vector for peace, resilience, and global understanding.This first edition aligns the school with an ambitious goal: mobilizing creative forces to address today’s challenges while integrating peace and tolerance at the heart of global discourse.It received 189 submissions across the Radio, Television, and Digital Media categories. The laureates were selected by a prestigious jury of internationally renowned experts.The radio jury was chaired by Dan Santa (Chairperson), Ph. D., director-International Relations, Radio Romania. Other members of the jury included Andrea Borgnino, Journalist, author, and radio host, Rai – Italy,  Irina Kornienko, Director of the Radio Culture Channel of the Ukrainian Public Broadcaster, Giedrius Masalskis, Head of Radio – The Lithuanian Public Broadcaster, Colleen Holder, Dir. Corp. Comms. & Productions, Parliament of Trinidad, and TobagoAde Irosadi, Head of LPP RRI- Indonesia and Flavia Voinea, Journalist, Manager of Bucharest FM Radio Romania Regional Network.The first prize in the radio category went to Azzura Meringolo Scarfoglio for “Help me! I am a little girl; they are shooting at me.” Hind’s last phone call from Gaza.Second prize went to Nguyen Vu Duy, Nguyen Thi Thu Hoa, Nguyen Pham Huan, Nguyen Quynh Hoa and Lai Thi Hoa for Coming Home.

Mohamad Chegeni won the third prize for Human Extinction. […]

The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) reports that Abdul Razzaq Seddiqi, the director of Radio Seday-e-Badghis (Voice of Badghis), has been released from Taliban custody after a month in detention.He was freed by order of the Second Zone Urban Court in the capital on Wednesday, December 4.Siddiqi was summoned to Kabul by the Taliban’s intelligence agency on October 31, where he was subsequently detained.The arrest followed accusations from the Taliban’s Directorate of Information and Culture in Badghis that he had reported on local issues, including the employment of women at a private company, which had been disseminated through international media channels. Local Taliban officials claimed that this reporting violated regulations set forth by the Taliban government.AFJC emphasized that Seddiqi’s arrest constituted a clear violation of Afghanistan’s media laws, and his freedom should never have been compromised.It pointed out that under Afghanistan’s mass media law, as enforced by the Taliban, journalists and media outlets are legally allowed to carry out their professional duties without interference. Article 4 of the law stipulates that “no individual or entity can prohibit, censor, or restrict the free operation of media or interfere with their publications.”Presently, at least six journalists remain imprisoned in the country, four of whom have been sentenced to two to five years in prison, according to AFJC.The United Nations, in a recent report on the state of media in Afghanistan, revealed that at least 334 journalists and media workers have been arrested by the Taliban over the past three years.

Photo: AFJC […]