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BEIRUT: Censorship has no place in the Lebanese cultural milieu, Culture Minister Raymond Areiji told The Daily Star Monday. I am against any censorship on cultural events, and I mean movies, songs or anything else. In a country where politicians can say everything they want, insulting each other and harming national unity, it is not logical or healthy to have censorship on cultural products.

Controversial scenes in Western movies should no longer be edited out for Lebanese audiences, he added. Its been done for 30 years. But today when you cut a scene, you can find it immediately on YouTube. And when you cut a scene, you make people want to watch it even more. You emphasize it in a way the director didnt intend.

Reassessing censorship in the cultural sphere is just one of many projects Areiji hopes to tackle before a new president is elected and his mandate expires.

The Zghorta native revealed that his ministry was working on an ambitious new website that would feature more than 1,000 works by Lebanese grand masters.

These works are all held in the three official palaces to which the public have little access, he said. In collaboration with ALBA [Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts] were creating a virtual museum where we can expose our collection.

Areiji is applying his 25-year career in law to his new post as minister. The cultural arena lacks a clear and modern legal framework, he said.

Im working on a new law for the protection of archaeological sites, he explained, and many other regulations that are lacking in this ministry.

As Lebanon has no dedicated Antiquities Ministry, questions of archaeology and preservation fall under Areijis mandate. Arbitrating between developers seeking to build glossy high-rises and conservationists hoping to protect ancient ruins has been one of the main issues his ministry faces, he said.

His predecessor, Gaby Layoun, sided with construction companies in a series of hotly disputed cases and drew particularly sharp criticism when he permitted the destruction of a Roman Hippodrome to make way for an exclusive new development.

We must find a balance between protecting our heritage and progress in the economy and real estate sectors, Areiji said.

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Culture minister tackles censorship, smuggling

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-04-28 18:22:39 UTC

China has long had one of the most pervasive online censorship systems in the world.

The country's infamous "Great Firewall" blocks access to numerous Western websites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and The New York Times. But China also has laws that force Chinese companies and social networks to apply censorship within their own services.

On Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like service that boasts almost 300 million users, hundreds of posts get censored every day. The social network has a sophisticated system that automatically censors certain keywords ("June 4 massacre," referring to the Tiananmen Square protests, is blocked), and a team of in-house censors manually monitors other accounts and messages to catch whatever escapes the automated system.

Censorship on Sina Weibo is not only effective, it's lightning quick. Researchers last year found that some posts, or "Weibos," would be deleted as quickly as five minutes after being posted.

A secretive group of online activists called GreatFire has been monitoring Chinese online censorship for three years. GreatFire's three collaborators track blocked websites and collect censored posts on Weibo, which they then publish on FreeWeibo.com.

Now, the GreatFire activists are launching an app that they believe will make the Great Firewall of China and its mighty censorship powers obsolete, thanks to a relatively new approach called "collateral freedom."

The Android app, also called FreeWeibo, allows users to read posts that are deleted from Sina Weibo, giving Chinese netizens a chance to see what their government censors, and what their fellow countrymen are really talking about.

The activists believe that the way they designed the app makes it impossible to be blocked which they hope will show others an effective way to circumvent Chinese Internet restrictions, furthering their goal of ending online censorship in China.

"Since the founding of our organization, I don't think we've come as close to achieving that goal as we are about to with the release of [the FreeWeibo] Android app. Because it's really changing the rules of the game," says a GreatFire founder who goes by the pseudonym Charlie Smith, in an interview via encrypted phone with Mashable.

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Can an Android App Defeat China's Internet Censors?

Bravo Media today unveiled five new unscripted series in development. Fempire follows female CEOs dominating their field, The Fit Club, tackles New York Citys hottest trainers, Why Not Minot? looks at the wealthy area of Minot, ND, Last Chance gives couples one last opportunity to salvage their relationship by putting them on television, and Crowd Control, in which social media decides participants life decisions, from what job they take to the food they eat.Bravo is constantly developing projects to find the next big hit that resonates with our pop culture enthusiasts, said Lara Spotts, SVP Development for Bravo Media.

In February, Bravo Media greenlit its first original scripted series, the hourlong Girlfriends Guide To Divorce starring House alumna Lisa Edelstein. The project, from writer-producer Marti Noxon and Universal Cable Prods, has received a 13-episode order for a 2015 premiere. Based on the best-selling Girlfriends Guide books by Vicki Iovine, the series follows Abby (Edelstein), a self-help book author who hides the fact that shes separated from her husband, as she starts to navigate her life as a single woman in her early 40s in Los Angeles. She finds herself seeking advice from her divorced friends instead of her married ones, which leads to some unexpected and life-changing experiences.From todays announcement:

Crowd Control (working title)

Produced by LOUD TV with Nick Rigg and Brent Montgomery serving as Executive Producers.

The ultimate choose-your-own-adventure that puts one persons fate into the hands of opinionated viewers. Having to rely on social media interactions alone, the day-to-day living of our host will be completely dictated by the audience. Every real life decision put before our host, from what they eat to who they date to the job they take will be decided entirely by Bravos highly engaged audience.

Fempire (working title)

Casting by Water Cooler Casting

These female CEOs know that making time for a cocktail and a date is sometimes their only salvation from the pressures and responsibility of growing a Fempire and commanding respect from the men who work beneath them. Business is personal for these women as they do whatever it takes to dominate their field and smash through the glass ceiling. Will they find happiness on the other side or have they compromised too much to get there?

The Fit Club (working title)

Produced by All3Media America and Lime Pictures with Stephen Lambert, Eli Holzman, Kate Little, Claire Poyser, Derek Mclean, Omid Kahangi and Jacob Cohen-Holmes serving as Executive Producers.

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Bravos Unscripted Slate Includes Female CEOs, NY Trainers, And North Dakota

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Advanced MVC Social Network: Making the posting system 17 - Video

The war hawks squawk; Cliven Bundy, cognitive dissonance, stupid dupes
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The war hawks squawk; Cliven Bundy, cognitive dissonance, stupid dupes - Video