Winds of “WikiLeaks’ War‎” in the EuroMed press – Part III

Front page of Italian daily La Repubblica @repubblica.it

The WikiLeaks’ affair still hits the front page of international daily majors. The New York publisher Alfred A. Knopf recently confirmed that his publishing house had reached a deal with the 39-year-old WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange, who is expected to deliver a manuscript in 2011.

After an overview in France, Turkey, Sweden and Egypt, as well as Spain and Romania, EMAJ Magazine offers you to read the reactions in Italy. 

Winds of “WikiLeaks’ War‎” in the EuroMed press – Part II

Demonstration supporting Wikileaks in Malaga @elmundo.es

The buzz around WikiLeaks’ cables and the website’s founder Julian Assange keep on feeding our media all over the globe. Recently, Facebook 26-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2010, beating the popular favourite, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, which lead to a global controversy about the “political” choice of the magazine. Last week Assange, who is still under house arrest and faces an extradition hearing in Janurary, walked out of the London court as a free man.

Last week EMAJ Magazine proposed a first overview of reactions in the EuroMed press with France, Turkey, Sweden and Egypt. Read now the reactions in Romania and Spain.

Winds of “WikiLeaks’ War‎” in the EuroMed press – Part I

Map of WikiLeaks mirror websites @liberation.fr

Four European media were chosen by the website WikiLeaks to receive the 251.287 diplomatic documents of the US-American State Department, written between 2004 and March 2010 for 90% of them: The british daily The Guardian, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, the Spanish daily El Pais and the French daily Le Monde. The Guardian transmitted the information to the New York Times.

Some journalists have labeled the website attacks surrounding the WikiLeaks controversy to be the first global cyberwar. But no matter how we define it and the outburst around it, the buzz generated by WikiLeaks in the international media, that has already lasted for weeks, seems far from being over yet.

How did the media react to the WikiLeaks publication in their home countries? Here is an overview of reactions in France, Turkey, Sweden and Egypt, gathered by the correspondents of EMAJ Magazine.

Roma in Turkey integrating through music

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By Adi Halfon

TURKEY. Wednesday morning’s sun shines on the old crowded buildings of Bostan, a poor neighborhood in the city of Istanbul. Many Romas live in the area. The tea house “Nazlitas” is located in one of the narrow streets. Inside it there are about a dozen of Romas, sitting around plain tables, playing backgammon, drinking tea and watching television. The atmosphere in the place is very masculine and a bit rough. They don’t have normal jobs. Some of them are unemployed, some sell flowers or shine shoes for a living. Others are musicians. That occupation, it appears, is very popular in this community.

Elections in Egypt: Free, fair and peaceful?

By Marina Ferhatovic and Assaad Thebian

EGYPT. A parliament with no opposition to speak of, media crackdown, fraud allegations and violence. 2010 parliamentary elections gave a landslide victory with 83 percent of the vote to president Mubarak’s National Democratic party (NDP). And set Egypt 15 years back.

Racism behind attacks on immigrants in Sweden

By Krisztian Gal

SWEDEN. A person hunting immigrants has been caught by the police in Sweden, further fueling the debates on the liberal immigration policy.