DXPG

Total Pageviews

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Ukrainian Journalists Launch YanukovychLeaks

Security-camera footage broadcast on Ukrainian television on Saturday, said to show the entourage of the country’s deposed president fleeing his residence.

Viktor Yanukovych may have vanished early Saturday from Ukraine’s presidential palace outside Kiev, but not without a trace. His entourage left behind security-camera images of a hasty flight from the lavish compound, and something else â€" tens of thousands of apparently incriminating documents that were still floating near a dock at the waterfront residence when journalists and curious spectators arrived.

Since then, reporters from a dozen media organizations have been combing through the sodden papers at the Mezhyhirya compound along the Dnieper River, and on Tuesday they published high-quality images of hundreds of documents on a new website they call YanukovychLeaks. It quickly drew more than a million hits, according to Natalie Sedletska, a journalist for Radio Free Europe’s Ukrainian service.

In a report for Mashable, the Kiev-based journalist Christopher Miller explained that “nearly 200 folders filled with thousands of invoices, contracts, insurance policies, cash payment orders and other documents were recovered from the murky depths. The edges of some had been scorched, suggesting that before fleeing Yanukovych had first ordered them to be burned before they were tossed into the sea.”

As volunteer divers searched below the surface for more documents, and the president’s boathouse served as a drying room, one of the journalists, Katya Gorchinskaya of the English-language Kyiv Post, has been filing regular updates on the search through the contracts, receipts and invoices on her Twitter feed.

Follow Robert Mackey on Twitter @robertmackey.



Share Your Experience With Race on Campus

A hashtag for Joshua Lott for The New York Times A hashtag for “Being Black at the University of Michigan” was displayed as students and faculty members waited to attend a demonstration hosted by the United Coalition for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan in February.

For my article today on racism on college campuses, I spoke with students from around the country about how race is still very much an issue for young Americans despite openness to interracial dating, marriage and friendships. I also read dozens of posts on Twitter and other social media platforms and used Facebook to help find people to interview.

We would like to include your story here. Tell us about your experience with race at your college or university. You can share your comments below or on Twitter, using the hashtag #TellNYT.

In the article, some young people rejected the notion of a post-racial society, saying they had no interest in stripping away their identity. Others said they did not see a colorblind society, particularly as racial incidents on college campuses continued to mount.

Within the past few months, a noose was hung around the neck of a bronze statue of James Meredith, the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. Flyers filled with racist and sexist language against Asian-American women were posted on the campus at the University of California, Los Angeles. At Arizona State University, a fraternity held a party on Martin Luther King’s Birthday and posted photos of their members, who were mostly white, drinking out of watermelon cups and flashing gang signs.

And at the University of Michigan, a group of black students were initially offended by a party thrown by a fraternity whose members are mostly white and Asian, which invited students “back to da hood again.” The black students then began a social media campaign called “Being Black at the University if Michigan” with the hashtag #BBUM. They urged students of color to share how they experience race on campus.

In 140 characters or less, hundreds of students did, and it has become a national campaign and re-ignited student activism on campus.

In many of their posts, as we reported on The Lede, it was often what some might consider small gestures that left the biggest effect, or caused the most pain.

A few examples:

Please tell us your experience with race on your campus on Twitter, in 140 characters or less, with the hashtag #TellNYT. Or share your story in the comments below. Thank you.

Follow @tanzinavega on Twitter.



Day After Uganda’s Antigay Law Is Signed, a Tabloid Publishes Names

In October 2010, a tabloid newspaper in Uganda called Rolling Stone published a front-page headline: “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak. Hang Them.”

About three months later, Uganda’s most outspoken gay rights activist, David Kato, whose name was published, was beaten to death in his neighborhood, as my colleague Jeffrey Gettlemen reported at the time.

Now, gay activists, rights groups and others are once again remembering Mr. Kato as they fear the response to a new report, this time by a Ugandan tabloid called Red Pepper, published Tuesday, just a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed a sweeping antigay bill into law.

“Exposed!” the headline said. “Uganda’s 200 Top Homos Named.”

Jacqueline Kasha, a Ugandan activist, and others shared an image of the Red Pepper front page on Twitter, with a warning.

At the time Mr. Kato was killed, Parliament was considering the death penalty as punishment for gay sex in some cases. Under the bill Mr. Museveni signed,life in prison is the maximum penalty.

Reaction to the law has included a renewed focus on the work of American evangelicals in Uganda in support of the legislation, mostly that of Scott Lively, who visited in 2009 to speak to Parliament.

Mr. Lively said in a statement published Tuesday on his website that, in terms of “simple homosexuality,” “the focus of a government seeking to protect its people from the homosexual agenda should be on rehabilitation and prevention, not punishment.”

He is being sued in federal court in Massachusetts by a Uganda gay rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda, which accuses him of violating international law by inciting the persecution of gay men and lesbians in Uganda.

On Tuesday, the rights group posted on its Twitter account news of a fatal attack on a gay couple that it placed in context of the new law.

Pepe Onziema, a prominent gay rights activist in Uganda, said efforts were being made to confirm the reports.

On its Facebook page, Red Pepper, described as a private, independent tabloid daily that started publishing in 2001, links to news articles about events in South Africa, South Sudan and Nigeria. The page’s “Topic of the Day” on Tuesday focused on a man complaining that his girlfriend wore skimpy clothes.

On Tuesday, another Facebook page popped up to urge a boycott of the newspaper after it published its list, and called on people to post examples of its journalism inciting hatred.

Mark Schenkel, a journalist who covers East Africa, said the newspaper had listed fewer than 200 people, and he provided a quotation from the article, which did not appear to have been posted immediately online.

Frank Mugisha, a gay rights activist in Uganda, said on his Twitter account:

The Associated Press reported from Kampala that the news editor of Red Pepper, Ben Byarabaha, said the paper had published the full names of only well-known activists and had tried to use nicknames for those who had not made their sexual orientation public.

The A.P. reported that the list included prominent Ugandan gay activists such as Mr. Onziema, who has repeatedly warned that the new law could set off violence against gay and lesbian Ugandans; a Ugandan hip-hop star; and a Catholic priest.

Others, including a retired Anglican cleric who supports gay rights, are listed as sympathizers, the news agency said.

RFI recorded an interview with Mr. Byarabaha, who said he did not say they were “gay,” but “I say they are sympathizers.”

Asked whether he thought something would happen to those on the list, he said, “Nothing, nothing.” Asked if readers might take the law into their own hands, he responded, “No no no no.”

The interviewer, Daniel Finnan, also asked whether Mr. Kato “was not killed” after the publishing of the list in Rolling Stone, which is no longer exists and has no relation to the American magazine.

Mr. Byarabaha replied: “No, that is not true. He had a misunderstanding with someone.”



Day After Uganda’s Antigay Law Is Signed, a Tabloid Publishes Names

In October 2010, a tabloid newspaper in Uganda called Rolling Stone published a front-page headline: “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak. Hang Them.”

About three months later, Uganda’s most outspoken gay rights activist, David Kato, whose name was published, was beaten to death in his neighborhood, as my colleague Jeffrey Gettlemen reported at the time.

Now, gay activists, rights groups and others are once again remembering Mr. Kato as they fear the response to a new report, this time by a Ugandan tabloid called Red Pepper, published Tuesday, just a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed a sweeping antigay bill into law.

“Exposed!” the headline said. “Uganda’s 200 Top Homos Named.”

Jacqueline Kasha, a Ugandan activist, and others shared an image of the Red Pepper front page on Twitter, with a warning.

At the time Mr. Kato was killed, Parliament was considering the death penalty as punishment for gay sex in some cases. Under the bill Mr. Museveni signed,life in prison is the maximum penalty.

Reaction to the law has included a renewed focus on the work of American evangelicals in Uganda in support of the legislation, mostly that of Scott Lively, who visited in 2009 to speak to Parliament.

Mr. Lively said in a statement published Tuesday on his website that, in terms of “simple homosexuality,” “the focus of a government seeking to protect its people from the homosexual agenda should be on rehabilitation and prevention, not punishment.”

He is being sued in federal court in Massachusetts by a Uganda gay rights group, Sexual Minorities Uganda, which accuses him of violating international law by inciting the persecution of gay men and lesbians in Uganda.

On Tuesday, the rights group posted on its Twitter account news of a fatal attack on a gay couple that it placed in context of the new law.

Pepe Onziema, a prominent gay rights activist in Uganda, said efforts were being made to confirm the reports.

On its Facebook page, Red Pepper, described as a private, independent tabloid daily that started publishing in 2001, links to news articles about events in South Africa, South Sudan and Nigeria. The page’s “Topic of the Day” on Tuesday focused on a man complaining that his girlfriend wore skimpy clothes.

On Tuesday, another Facebook page popped up to urge a boycott of the newspaper after it published its list, and called on people to post examples of its journalism inciting hatred.

Mark Schenkel, a journalist who covers East Africa, said the newspaper had listed fewer than 200 people, and he provided a quotation from the article, which did not appear to have been posted immediately online.

Frank Mugisha, a gay rights activist in Uganda, said on his Twitter account:

The Associated Press reported from Kampala that the news editor of Red Pepper, Ben Byarabaha, said the paper had published the full names of only well-known activists and had tried to use nicknames for those who had not made their sexual orientation public.

The A.P. reported that the list included prominent Ugandan gay activists such as Mr. Onziema, who has repeatedly warned that the new law could set off violence against gay and lesbian Ugandans; a Ugandan hip-hop star; and a Catholic priest.

Others, including a retired Anglican cleric who supports gay rights, are listed as sympathizers, the news agency said.

RFI recorded an interview with Mr. Byarabaha, who said he did not say they were “gay,” but “I say they are sympathizers.”

Asked whether he thought something would happen to those on the list, he said, “Nothing, nothing.” Asked if readers might take the law into their own hands, he responded, “No no no no.”

The interviewer, Daniel Finnan, also asked whether Mr. Kato “was not killed” after the publishing of the list in Rolling Stone, which is no longer exists and has no relation to the American magazine.

Mr. Byarabaha replied: “No, that is not true. He had a misunderstanding with someone.”



Share Your Experience With Race on Campus

A hashtag for Joshua Lott for The New York Times A hashtag for “Being Black at the University of Michigan” was displayed as students and faculty members waited to attend a demonstration hosted by the United Coalition for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan in February.

For my article today on racism on college campuses, I spoke with students from around the country about how race is still very much an issue for young Americans despite openness to interracial dating, marriage and friendships. I also read dozens of posts on Twitter and other social media platforms and used Facebook to help find people to interview.

We would like to include your story here. Tell us about your experience with race at your college or university. You can share your comments below or on Twitter, using the hashtag #TellNYT.

In the article, some young people rejected the notion of a post-racial society, saying they had no interest in stripping away their identity. Others said they did not see a colorblind society, particularly as racial incidents on college campuses continued to mount.

Within the past few months, a noose was hung around the neck of a bronze statue of James Meredith, the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi. Flyers filled with racist and sexist language against Asian-American women were posted on the campus at the University of California, Los Angeles. At Arizona State University, a fraternity held a party on Martin Luther King’s Birthday and posted photos of their members, who were mostly white, drinking out of watermelon cups and flashing gang signs.

And at the University of Michigan, a group of black students were initially offended by a party thrown by a fraternity whose members are mostly white and Asian, which invited students “back to da hood again.” The black students then began a social media campaign called “Being Black at the University if Michigan” with the hashtag #BBUM. They urged students of color to share how they experience race on campus.

In 140 characters or less, hundreds of students did, and it has become a national campaign and re-ignited student activism on campus.

In many of their posts, as we reported on The Lede, it was often what some might consider small gestures that left the biggest effect, or caused the most pain.

A few examples:

Please tell us your experience with race on your campus on Twitter, in 140 characters or less, with the hashtag #TellNYT. Or share your story in the comments below. Thank you.

Follow @tanzinavega on Twitter.



Venezuela Residents Document Unrest With Dramatic Videos and Images

Video of clashes between Venezuelan protesters and the police at barricades in San Cristóbal.

The student protests that began just a few weeks ago in Venezuela have swept the country, as my colleague William Neuman reports, evolving into the biggest demonstrations seen since the death of the longtime leader Hugo Chávez last year.

While the government-controlled news media has sought to minimize the protests and portray the opposition as “fascists,” people across the country have been telling their own story, capturing images and video of the tumult. They also used Twitter and other social media platforms to urge people to build barricades across Venezuela and then share photos of them.

.

Just this month, nearly one million posts on Twitter have used the hashtag #24FGranBarricadaNacional to help organize the conversation about the unrest.

In this video, shot through a window and uploaded onto YouTube, armed members of the government can be seen assembling outside of a barricade amid gun shots fired. At one point, they encounter a female demonstrator.