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BEIJING The government is intensifying efforts to control foreign media coverage of China, blocking websites, harassing reporters trying to cover trials of activists in Beijing and thwarting efforts by The New York Times to station new journalists on the mainland.

The government under President Xi Jinping has taken an increasingly hard line on controlling information within the country as its traditional means of doing so come under threat from social media and mobile Internet messaging services.

Although foreign media reports are aimed mostly at audiences outside China, the moves against international journalists reflect both wariness of their reports seeping into the domestic audience and sensitivity about the country's reputation abroad. This is especially so following reports in recent years about the wealth accumulated by relatives of top Communist Party leaders.

"International coverage is no longer simply damaging to China's international image," said David Bandurski, a researcher with the University of Hong Kong's China Media Project. "It's also damaging to China's domestic image of the ruling party."

China last week blocked access on the mainland to the websites of several European and North American news outlets that participated in or carried reports of an investigation that showed the relatives of China's president and other business and political leaders were linked to offshore tax havens.

In the past week, police and plainclothes security officers harassed reporters in Beijing who staked out courthouses where grassroots activists of the New Citizens movement were on trial, pushing them away from the buildings and confiscating press cards.

In addition to such rough treatment, foreign reporters working in China also generally deal with official intimidation of interviewees as well as bars on going to Tibet or troubled parts of ethnic minority regions.

In recent years, however, the government has added a new form of pressure, press freedom groups say, by delaying or denying journalism visas for organizations whose coverage it dislikes. China says it handles the foreign media according to its laws.

Austin Ramzy, a reporter who left Time magazine to work for the Times last April, is set to leave China on Thursday because authorities have not approved his application for a resident journalist visa.

Ramzy will be the second Times reporter in 13 months to leave the mainland over visa issues after Chris Buckley, a reporter who joined the Times' China team in 2012, similarly departed for Hong Kong at the end of that year. The Times' designated China bureau chief Philip Pan has been waiting for a journalist visa since early 2012.

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Foreign reporters harassed, NY Times faces visa woes as China ups efforts to control media

Washington, DC (PRWEB) January 28, 2014

With the help of award-winning DC web design and development firm, Blue Water Media, the American Lung Association has launched an updated microsite that grades state and federal tobacco control policies. Built in the Convio content management system, http://www.stateoftobaccocontrol.org/ is a comprehensive review of smoke-free air laws, cigarette taxes, tobacco prevention funding and smoking cessation coverage in each state. The report also grades the federal government on FDA regulation of tobacco products, federal cessation coverage, federal cigarette taxes and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control providing detailed analysis of tobacco regulations and controls at state and federal levels.

The new site boasts an engaging and user-focused visitor experience. An interactive U.S. map on the homepage allows users to track and review tobacco control policies in their own states. Iconography featuring strong calls-to-action lead visitors to view federal and state tobacco control grades, learn more about U.S. tobacco use, and Spread the Word about tobacco-related news and health concerns. Additionally, a featured State of Tobacco Control report clarifies whether or not tobacco control laws adequately protect citizens from the health toll of tobacco use.

To enable the American Lung Association to easily update the site as needed, Blue Water Media deployed a customized solution to their existing content management system, Convio. This allows them to maintain the site on an ongoing basis, ensuring the most relevant and up-to-date tobacco control information is always available to users.

About the American Lung Association Now in its second century, the American Lung Association is the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. With your generous support, the American Lung Association is Fighting for Air through research, education and advocacy. For more information about the American Lung Association, a holder of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Guide Seal, or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or visit http://www.lung.org.

About Blue Water Media Blue Water Media, is an award-winning information technology, web design, and interactive marketing agency based in Washington, D.C., with offices in New York and San Francisco. The firm provides Government, business, and non-profit clients with full lifecycle support for digital initiatives including custom web & software development, commercial and government website design, digital marketing, hosting, 508 compliance and ongoing site maintenance. Leveraging cutting edge web design techniques, flexible open source software applications, emerging technologies, and integrated marketing campaigns, Blue Water Media offers a turnkey approach to attaining online success. For more information, please visit: http://www.bluewatermedia.com/

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Blue Water Media Creates New American Lung Association Microsite to Grade the State of Tobacco Control Nationwide

Though the 33.5 million viewers Obama drew last year is half the number Bill Clinton had 20 years earlier, the address remains a major TV event, topping both the Emmy Awards and World Series in viewership.

President Barack Obama is deploying just about every trendy social media tool to promote a century-old ritual -- the annual State of the Union address to Congress.

From a kickoff web video by his chief of staff to a presidential virtual road trip, the White House is mounting its largest digital drive of the year to heighten the impact of tomorrows event amid a declining television audience.

Though the 33.5 million viewers Obama drew last year is half the number Bill Clinton had 20 years earlier, the address remains a major TV event, topping both the Emmy Awards and World Series in viewership. Yet with his job-approval rating down 10 points from last year, Obama will also need the new media to engage his partys base, whose enthusiasm is vital if Democrats are to keep control of the Senate in the 2014 election.

There are a lot of reasons to dismiss the State of the Union, said Jon Favreau, Obamas former chief speechwriter. But aside from championship sporting events and a few awards shows, it is the one annual event that much of the country watches together.

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Rooted in a quill-and-parchment constitutional clause, the address functions as a high-tech organizing tool for the White House to engage past and present supporters.

The Internet loves moments, said Nicco Mele, a lecturer at Harvards Kennedy School of Government and former webmaster for Democrat Howard Deans 2004 presidential campaign. What is powerful about the State of the Union for the White House is it is a moment that they create and control.

The speech, usually about an hour long, is the biggest engagement of the year for the White Houses digital media operation, said its acting director, Nathaniel Lubin.

The campaign includes Google Hangouts and Facebook chats by cabinet members and senior administration officials, a flood of advance Twitter messages under the hashtag #InsideSOTU, and an enhanced web live stream of the speech with graphics and data amplifying Obamas themes. As part of the build-up, speechwriter Cody Keenan did a one-day takeover of the White Houses Instagram Account featuring photos of preparations.

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Obama Expands State of Union on Social Media as TV Fades

CNJ staff photo: Emily Crowe Animal Control Officer Carrina Hungerford tends to a dog found outside Clovis High School.

By Emily Crowe CNJ staff writer ecrowe@cnjonline.com

Thanks to the power of social media, more animals than ever in Clovis are being saved from certain death.

According to Animal Control Supervisor Marty Martinez, the Clovis shelter allows local animal rescue groups to snap and post photos of the shelters dogs and cats and post them on Facebook.

While adoption numbers ebb and flow through the years, the shelter saw an increase in the number of dogs and cats adopted in the past few years, with 488 total in 2011; 656 in 2012; and 691 last year.

Martinez said social media is the driving force behind the increased number of adoptions at the shelter.

Social media is completely new, its a whole new ball game, he said. Its just using it properly, and thats going to help.

Tami Hamilton, foster director for Hope Defined Animal Rescue, said the organization also sends photos of the animals to its partners in Colorado.

They then come back and say I want that dog, she said. At that point, I come in, I pull the dog and I put it into foster care. We get it fully vetted, minus the spay and neuter, which the other rescue does. Then we do transports every two weeks to Colorado.

Animals taken in and adopted out by Hope Defined are counted in the shelters adoption tally each year.

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Animal control official: Social media helping save animals

Appearing at the RNC's winter meeting, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and talk show host, lit up social media with his remarks about women's libidos and birth control.

Possible 2016 GOP presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee said in a speech Thursday that Republicans should fight harder to win women's votes. In particular, Huckabee said his party should stress that it doesnt believe women are helpless and hopeless creatures whose only desire is for government-provided birth control.

Washington Editor

Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.

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The former Arkansas governor added that many of the women he knows are intelligent and educated and capable of doing anything a man can do. Then he delivered a shot at Democrats which is lighting up social media like fireworks on July 4th.

Heres the full quote: And if the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it, lets take that discussion all across America, because women are far more than Democrats have made them out to be.

Many on the left took umbrage at the charge that Democrats tell women they should be dependent on big government because they cant control their urges.

It sounds offensive to me, and to women, said White House spokesman Jay Carney when asked about the remarks, which Huckabee made during a luncheon appearance at the Republican National Committees winter meeting.

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Huckabee says Democrats believe women can't control their libidos. Huh?