The start of criminal proceedings against two Zambian journalists and two political figures on charges of defaming President Frederick Chiluba has triggered off a heated debate on the role of the media in societies undergoing transition.

We stare at TV screens and try to comprehend the suffering in the aftermath of terrorism. Much of what we see is ghastly and all too real; terrible anguish and sorrow. At the same time, we're witnessing an onslaught of media deception.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) says that the
Zimbabwean government needs to ensure that the new Bill does not serve the interests of the executive arm of government only.

CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and SmarterOrg announced the launch this week of their new nonprofit e-learning course, “Budgeting For Programs and Proposals”. The course, a collaboration between the nonprofit management support organization and the for-profit application service provider, is designed to provide nonprofit-focused financial management training to nonprofit organizations and grantmakers across the country.

Reporters without Borders (RSF-reporters sans Frontieres) has expressed concern about threats which, it said, were made by Guinea-Bissau's Attorney General, Caetano Intchama, against journalists from a private radio station. In a letter sent on 11 September to Intchama, who was appointed last week, RSF asked him to apologise to the newsroom of Radio Pidjiquiti and publicly declare his commitment to press freedom.

As the streets south of MediaChannel's Times Square offices are full of dust and debris, with silence broken by sirens, we present a special edition focused on the media's response to yesterday's attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

I get to talk with a lot of you at conferences, in email, and on the phone, and something many of you have in common is: Information overload. Here's a tip from socialecology.org that can help you remain informed, yet sane.

A three-day symposium on "Promoting Community Radios in the Horn of Africa" will take place in Addis Ababa from December 11 - 13, 2001. It aims at introducing and discussing the concepts and practices of community radios and their relevance to the Horn of Africa. The intent is to build on what is happening in areas of social development in the Horn and to reflect on the relevance of community radios in advancing social development initiatives. This will be accompanied by relevant experiences elsewhere in Africa that could provide learning opportunities to the Horn.

The public affairs section of the US embassy in Kigali will officially launch 24-hour broadcasting in Kinyarwanda, Swahili, French, and English on station 104.3 FM in Kigali on Friday, Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported on Tuesday. Kigali becomes the second capital city in Africa to receive continuous FM broadcasts.

Fair Election Monitoring Alliance call on the media to provide voters with balanced and accurate reports in order to help them make an informed choice on October 1st. In the current atmosphere of violence and conflict, the media can play a key role in providing information and analysis.

Journalists, newspaper executives and free press advocates from 22 countries have met in Bilbao, Spain to discuss and condemn violence against media in the Basque region. Participants in the "Terrorism Against the Media" conference also heard testimony from journalists working in violent conditions in several other countries around the world.

These submissions are based on an analysis of the existing laws in Zimbabwe and the wide consultations done with journalists in Zimbabwe. MISA-Zimbabwe is a member-driven organisation and our membership, made up of mostly media people and organisations, have made known their concerns on the Public Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill.

This practical handbook has been written to enhance the capacity of scientists involved with HIV vaccine trials to develop useful collaborations with the media, and through them, other relevant groups and members of the public." From the back cover... "Vaccine trials are a vital component in the continuing development of scientific responses to the HIV epidemic. Successful vaccine trials require the support, understanding and goodwill of many different organisations and individuals.

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is once again offering the Betinho Communications Prize. The closing date for the $7,500 USD prize, which recognizes the use of the Internet for social justice, is September 24 2001.

The Computer Society of South Africa, in association with the Meta Group and ITWeb, is searching for candidates who have made significant contributions to the growth and development of the local IT industry over the past year. If you know of someone who deserves the prestigious IT Personality of the Year accolade, please submit your nomination today. Nominations must be submitted by Wednesday, 12 September.

Wireless networking seems to be the new way forward in developing countries. This technology is being used innovatively and excitingly to solve communication and information needs all over the world. This story provides more encouragement to those seeking to become part of a global digital network, yet lacking resources. A technology company in India has provided a cheap Internet and telecom network which could revolutionise communication penetration in rural areas.

Say hello to Daypop, a search engine which scours and indexes over 1000 news web sites and weblogs for current events - just for today. From the home page, enter a query. You can specify whether you want to search news sites, weblogs, or both. Search results include the title of a site, brief excerpt, and a cache link with the cache date. (Cache refers to a copy of the page being kept on the daypop server.)

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held a meeting in Montevideo, Uraguay this week. The behaviour and comments of some participants and of ICANN has sparked this interesting article.

The Electronic Journal for Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC) aims to link studies and research around applying the use of technology to solve problems in developing countries. The Journal can be downloaded for free and each article can be viewed separately. This month sees the publication of volume 5 which focuses on using ICTs to assist in health care.

At the heart of your PC is the processor. It is often referred to as the brain of the machine. Computer programs send machine instructions to the processor where they are stored and executed. For example, when you save a file the processor executes those instructions and makes it happen. This short guide will explain what all the numbers and terms are which are used when processors are discussed and where to find more information - including a definition for "processor". It will also give you some information about the latest, fastest processor.