MEDIA NEWS FOR COMMUNICATIONS WORLD MAY 27, 2000 BY GLENN HAUSER


COLOMBIAN NEWS DIRECTORS FACE DEATH THREATS

A survey published by Sabana University in Bogotá reports that 20 per 
cent of all news media directors in Colombia have received death 
threats. The survey’s results showed that the guerrillas, 
paramilitary and drug traffickers pose very severe threats to freedom 
of the press in Colombia. So reported the Radio Cadena Nacional 
website via BBC Monitoring.


RADIO STATIONS TAKEN OVER IN PARAGUAY

In Paraguay, three radio stations were seized temporarily by 
Oviedistas, who are supporters of a general who had previously 
attempted a coup d’etat. The Spanish news agency EFE via BBC 
Monitoring reports that commandos made up of retired military 
personnel took over Radio Cardinal, Radio Ñandutí, and 970-AM.


BURMA PRESS ARTICLE

Thunderbird, the online journalism review of the University of 
British Columbia, has published a four-part series on freedom of the 
press in Malaysia, the Philippines, and now Burma, detailing the 
difficulties faced by Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and the 
Democratic Voice of Burma, in newsgathering and broadcasting into 
Myanmar. The link to the latest article, called `Radio Free Burma` is 
in the script for this report: 
http://www.journalism.ubc.ca/thunderbird/2000/march/burma.html


MORE FREE SERBIAN WEB RADIO

To counter increasing media controls in Yugoslavia, another station, 
Pancevo Radio, has started broadcasting on the internet, with news 
every hour, and the main bulletins at 0600 and 1421 GMT. BBC 
Monitoring, quoting B2-92, says Pancevo Radio is available via 
http://www.freeserbia.org Yugoslav authorities have taken B2-92 off 
the air.


SOUTH LEBANON MEDIA CHANGES

The Voice of Hope has closed down and crated up its short- and 
mediumwave transmitters which had been under Israeli protection in 
southern Lebanon. Hans Johnson of Cumbre DX reports that High 
Adventure Ministries, the American Protestants who own the station, 
have moved their shortwave service to transmitters of Deutsche 
Telekom, in Germany.

BBC Monitoring also says the South Lebanon Army`s  mouthpiece, the 
Voice of the South, which used to broadcast in Arabic from Kfar Killa 
on 756 kHz, was no longer heard on May 24th following the withdrawal 
of Israeli troops and the surrender or flight of SLA personnel.


MSNBC COMES TO TURKEY

The American-based Cable News Network had major problems trying to 
set up a branch in Turkey, but now its rival MSNBC has set up a joint 
news website with NTV, the Turkish news channel. The joint website is 
called, and this is a mouthful, NTVMSNBC. Turkish news will be 
disseminated to the world, via http://www.ntvmsnbc.com That was 
reported by `Birlik` in Nicosia, Cyprus, via BBC Monitoring.


RADIO JAPAN`S 65TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

NHK Radio Japan commemorates its 65th anniversary June 1st. From May 
29th to June 9th, NHK will be offering a special website with some 
English programming on demand, along with special interactive radio 
programs and news scripts. There might also be special shortwave 
programming. In the swprograms newsgroup, Richard Cuff refers us to 
http://www.nhk.or.jp/dream/ 


MAYAK SPECIAL BROADCAST AND MAKEOVER

During Soviet times, the Mayak service was to be heard all over the 
shortwave bands, but it has been cut back and back until now there 
are no regular shortwave broadcasts except some lower frequency SSB 
relays via Belarus. But for three days only, Friday, Saturday and 
Sunday, May 26th, 27th and 28th, there is a one hour daily special 
shortwave test for the sake of nostalgia, and to give DX listeners 
one last chance to hear and verify Mayak on shortwave. Listen at 1500 
UT on 15410, which is a 200 kilowatt transmitter in Novosibirsk 
beamed 291 degrees toward Moscow, the Riviera and Buenos Aires. 
Reception reports are actively solicited, preferably with brief 
soundfiles, to radiotest@mail.ru Full data verifications will be made 
by E-mail, or if requested, by P-mail. Thanks to Sergei Sossedkin in 
Michigan for this news.

Mayak`s manager Irina Gerasimova is also making drastic changes in 
personnel and style; forty new people have been hired and forty 
previous Mayak staffers are to be made redundant. First Deputy 
Chairman of the radio station Oleg Kupriyanov told `Nezavisimaya 
Gazeta` that in its new form Mayak is a helpless and pitiable parody 
of Ekho of Moskow radio rather than a serious news station... 

And that`s the media news on Communications World. For VOA News Now, 
I`m Glenn Hauser.