MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

and editorial strategies with publishers and editors throughout the region. A team from theParis-based WAN is visiting potential partners in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia this week inthe first phase of the WAN Arab Newspaper Development Project (ANDP), which aims tosupport and promote the collective intelligence that editors, publishers and press managersrepresent when they act together. “Newspapers throughout the Arab region face a number ofobstacles, including repressive press laws, a lack of editorial independence and numerouscommercial challenges, such as attracting advertisers and increasing readership," saidTimothy Balding, Chief Executive Officer of WAN. "Although there have been some changesin recent years, most Arab media still principally act as part of the government process. Theabsence of cooperation between newspaper executives is one of the key reasons for thelack of 'press power' in Arab countries," he said. The ANDP project will support 12 selectednewspapers from the Arab region in the creation and execution of new commercial oreditorial strategies. Experiences generated through the project will be shared among otherArab media executives in an effort to strengthen the viability of independent newspapers inthe region. The Arab Press Network, a web-based electronic network for Arab newspapersmanaged by WAN, will play a central role in disseminating the experiences of eachnewspaper involved. APN, available in Arabic, English and French, can be found athttp://www.arabpressnetwork.org For more on what WAN does to help press development,consult http://www.wan-press.org/article37.html. WAN Press Release, May 2006 MEDIA LAWSOnline FreedomGlobalThe US government has set up a special operation to monitor the restriction of Internetfreedom by repressive regimes around the globe, with a particular focus on China. The GlobalInternet Freedom Task Force will focus on the "foreign policy aspects of Internet freedom,"the State Department department said. The force will study the technology used to restrictaccess to political content and to "track and repress dissidents", and the imposition of laws"to restrict the free flow of information," the department said. The task force will be run byUndersecretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs Josette Shiner, andUndersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky. The government movecomes as Internet giants Google and Yahoo face mounting criticism for complying withChina's censorship demands in return for being allowed to enter the giant China market. "Iwill say that we have very serious concerns about the protection of privacy and datathroughout the Internet globally and, in particular, some of the recent cases raised in China,"Shiner told reporters. She said Washington would "continue to press our concerns with thegovernment of China" but also work with US Internet companies that are in the China marketto take "steps that would help ensure privacy of data and protection of data on the internet."Shiner said Iran, which is involved in an international dispute over its nuclear programme,would also be a focus of the task force. "I will guarantee you we have not forgotten Iran andthe importance of access to information in Iran. We feel that access to the global debate,access to a full range of information is vital for Iranian citizens, for every citizen on earth inevery country," she said. Dobriansky said the US government hoped to bring together Internetcompanies, human rights organisations and pro-democracy groups and politicians to findways to protect open access to the Internet. But the US officials acknowledged that for themoment it had few weapons to force companies or governments to keep access to the worldwide web open to all. Yahoo quickly welcomed the US initiative. "We applaud the direction63