The 2011 Salzburg Academy

The 2011 Academy will take place in Salzburg from July 24 to August 13.  Watch this space leading up to and during the Academy for more discussions on media, citizenship, and free expression worldwide.

At the core of the programming of the 2010 Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change is the issue of Freedom of the Press.

The students, faculty and deans who attended the Academy in Salzburg, Austria come from countries with differing forms of government, but as this video demonstrates, people from around the world are united in believing in the overriding importance of a free press.

At the 2010  Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change, students produced PSAs on issues that they cared about.  The students who attended the Academy came from five continents, and all thought that one topic that demanded attention was that youth their age needed not just to use social media, but needed to use social media to do “good.”

One group of students at the Academy–students from Lebanon, Uganda, Chile, Argentina and the USA–created this video that called on their peers around the world to “Get Connected.”

Students at the 2010 Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change produced PSAs (Public Service Announcement) video and uploaded them to YouTube.

Each PSA emphasized a different topic, and called for citizens around the world to think critically and act responsibly.  The students who directed this video asked their viewers to be proactive in their consumption of the news:  to seek out news and information from a broad range of media outlets.

Media matter in today’s world.  But how to get students to understand media’s impact and importance?

Global Media Literacy offers people around the world the chance to better understand media’s role in civil society.

The video linked above, produced by students, faculty and journalists at the Salzburg Academy, shows how lesson plans on Global Media Literacy can help students not only gain the critical analysis skills needed to effectively read the media, but understand the necessity of a free press for civil society.

How essential is the human right to freedom of expression?

How does my community uphold my rights to express myself as a journalist and a citizen?

Should there be limits to the right to free speech and a free press?

Hear faculty and students from the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change talk about the importance of Freedom of Expression for the continued preservation of civil society.

Every year at the Salzburg Academy students and faculty and journalists engage with these core questions.  In 2008, the discussions of the 59 students and dozen faculty who gathered from around the world for three weeks in Salzburg, Austria were captured in this video.

U.S: What is the impact of financial crisis in Europe on the U.S economy? 

Fears that the fragile economic recovery in the United States might be threatened by the financial and political crisis in Europe gripped Wall Street on Thursday, sending the stock market into a sharp decline and leaving anxious traders wondering where the pain might stop.

• New York Times May 21

U.S:Can Google TV be the future of television?
Saying it will “change the future of television,” Google on Thursday rolled out Google TV — the internet giant’s venture into web-TV integration.The application, run by Google’s Android operating system, lets users search for content from their television, DVR and the web.

• CNN May 21

U.S : How do school programs fight ‘droptout factories’?
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  For years, educators have tried — often in vain — to get more students to graduate from high school on time and boost college-going rates. But few approaches have had much success: Dropout rates in many cities approach 50%, and a few cities.

• USA  Today  May 20

China : How will China deal with Tough economic challenge ahead?

Premier Wen Jiabao has warned that the country faces tough challenges in balancing economic growth and tightening policies.

• China Daily  May 17

Thailand :  What is the role of United Nations in mediating the current political conflict  In Thailand? 

There is no need for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to call in the United Nations to mediate the current political conflict as he himself is still capable of doing the job, at least to end the protest, if he really wants to.

• Bangkok post Times May 17

Korea : Why dose UN urge Korea to improve freedom of expression?
A U.N. official yesterday expressed concern that there has been a regression in freedom of expression in South Korea.

• Korea Herald May 17

Greece: Can the economic crisis unite two historically enemy nations?

Turkey’ s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan flies into Athens tomorrow for a “revolutionary” visit aimed at soothing the often tense ties between the historic enemies – and helping Greece out of its worst debt crisis in decades. For most Greeks, the prospect of their longstanding eastern rival extending a helping hand, even a few years back, would have been inconceivable.

• The Guardian, May 13

Spain:  How do we know if a judge is politically motivated?

High-profile Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has been suspended from his post by the country’s judicial body. The decision was unanimously adopted by the General Council of the Judiciary. Mr Garzon, 54, is highly popular among the Spanish political left and international human rights campaigners. But some on the right accuse Mr Garzon of launching cases that are politically motivated.

• BBC, May 14

Russia: What is the future projected to Russia?

Russia’s past and future seemed to come together last Sunday, as President Medvedev’s delivered a speech addressed to young people at a concert marking the 65th anniversary of victory in the Second World War. Standing alone, relaxed in open-necked shirt and suit, Mr Medvedev fired what looked like the opening shot in his re-election campaign for 2012 with a speech that presented him as the candidate of youth and modernity. Mr Medvedev, 44, told the crowd of teenagers and 20-somethings filling Moscow’s Luzhniki football stadium that victory in the war had shown that they could overcome the most serious challenges.

• Times (London), May 10

U.S:Can Many of the jobs lost during the recession come back?

For the last two years, the weak economy has provided an opportunity for employers to do what they would have done anyway: dismiss millions of people — like file clerks, ticket agents and autoworkers — who were displaced by technological advances and international trade.

• New York Times May 13

U.S: What is the problem with American flag shirts ?
Tensions rise after high school students were ordered to remove American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo

• CNN May 13

U.S : What is the effect of oil on sea life?
Marine scientists warn that submerged oil and chemical dispersants in the widening Gulf of Mexico oil disaster could have long-lasting effects on the region’s sea life, from tiny plankton to giant squids.

• USA  Today  May  12