Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders recently ranked Italy at the bottom of the list for countries in the European Union on its press freedom index. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is not only Italy’s richest man, but also the unrivaled owner of a vast media empire. This combination of political power and personal ownership of a large sector of the private media in Italy has provoked questio
In August 1988, the people of Burma defied decades of military oppression with one of the most remarkable popular uprisings of recent times. The demonstrators carried pictures of…General Aung San, the country’s greatest hero, led Burma to independence from Britain and founded the army that rules today. The demonstrators believed that if they carried pictures of Aung San that no soldier would har
Director Robert Kane Pappas’ ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE is the consummate critical examination of the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Asking whether America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth, Pappas explores what the media doesn’t like to talk about: itself.Meticulously tracing the process by which media has distorted a
It is not clear that the great leader of the Cuban Revolution - Fidel Castro - is still alive. One this is certain...his time of influence on the world stage has drawn to an end. Having been the subject of so much anti-Castro propoganda, many an still not aware of the true facts of this man's life. Fidel - the Untold Story is a documentary that dispells many of the myths associated with this iconi
How free are the Chinese people? How free to worship as they please? To learn the truth from the media? To hear the truth from the Communist Party and the government? How can people with a grievance negotiate with the state?Tibetan Buddhism has long been feared as a rallying point and cover for Tibetan independence. Worship is permitted on the Party's strict terms -- neither government employees
China is trying to feed 20 percent of the world's population on 7 percent of the world's arable land. A third of the world uses water from China's rivers. But rapid industrialization and climate change have led to bad air, polluted rivers and drought. Environmental activists, Party officials, academics and scientists are in a daily struggle over the damage to nature in China.Environmental campai
China's women have always been under pressure: from men, from family, from work. Now more and more are under new pressure -- from themselves -- to take control of their lives; to get an education; to have a career; to marry for love. It's a slow, difficult process, and it is changing China.Mass migration from the countryside to the cities is increasing prosperity, but fracturing families. It als
It isn't easy, running China, with its 1.3 billion people and 56 officially recognized ethnic nationalities. It's a vast mix of languages, living standards, beliefs and customs. Run it successfully, and you have a prosperous, innovative, powerful empire to rival any the world has seen. Make mistakes, and the chaos will be vast and terrible.China is run by the Communist Party, which bases its leg
Before there was Osama bin Laden there was Ayatollah Khomeini, a radical Muslim leader who challenged the world’s “infidels” in the name of Allah. After his father was killed by bandits, the young Khomeini was brought up by his mother and aunt. However, when he was only fifteen he suffered further loss as his aunt died and then shortly afterwards his mother also passed away. Under the guidance of