大象传媒

Hi this is Ruth not Paul, I鈥檓 working at WHYS for three weeks starting today, so all the mistakes that follow are mine not his! I鈥檓 doing an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism at the in London and I blog .

So, with all formal introductions over with, let鈥檚 get on with the show!

Moroccan Press Freedom

Driss Ksikes was in court today: 鈥淥n one hand I feel it was a straight affair in the beginning now it鈥檚 a court affair. The sentence makes me quite embarrassed because of the question of imprisonment that can push you to self-censorship. Two months ban means psychological and economic stress for the journalists for the company. We only published a story like this once because we understand our society, it鈥檚 not a leitmotif鈥�

Moustapha said 鈥渏ustice has been done but we need more freedom of press. I think the decision of the judge undermines the freedom of expression. But on the other hand this decision will stabilise the morals within our society. In some way this article humiliated Islamic ideology. But the apology was enough.鈥�

Driss 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 humiliate Islam, many people perceive things differently from each other. If somebody thinks it will make morals more present, ok, but I think we should use this affair to further freedom of press in Morocco. The apology of the newspaper was taken into consideration. The decision of the judge was very soft compared to what the prosecution asked for."

Hajar Smouni from Morocco鈥� I鈥檓 deeply disappointed and appalled by this medieval and regressive sentence and by the political system. I want to express my solidarity with Driss who lost his job, albeit temporarily. 鈥�

Hicham鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 satisfied with the verdict. I hope the writers will think of something else to write about."

Driss 鈥漈hese are all points of view. What should happen now is there should be a large debate to talk openly about divergences on what we consider sacred and we respect each others point of view. We should avoid the courts."

Mallaca 鈥� Making jokes to a religion is a serious matter. So the verdict can be highly appreaciated. This would be a good lesson for public media鈥�

Neema says 鈥淧ress freedom is no excuse for this madness. 鈥�

Obed from Ghana 鈥淭here's no way press freedom cant be enhanced when journalists & their institutions are intimidated. Shame on the Morrocan gov't. 鈥�

Richard, Nairobi. 鈥淭HE SENTENCING IS WRONG. JUST AS CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS SHOULD LET THEIR GOD FIGHT 4 HIMSELF!-鈥�

Mansour from Monrovia. 鈥淭HE TWO JOURNALIST GOT WHAT THEY DESERVE THIS WILL SERVE AS A WARNING TO ALL JOURNALIST. 鈥�

Mothers of soldiers

Deneen Borelli project 21. 鈥滻 would say that Boxer鈥檚 comments were inexcusable the senate hearing should鈥檝e been about the war, not a platform for Sen. Boxer to launch an attach against Dr. Rice. I think that is her personal opinion however a war is something that noone wants."

Nancy Lessin is a co-founder of 鈥淭he fact is that in our administration we have very few that are directly effected by the war. If they had a more personal connection we wouldn鈥檛 been having a war right now. 鈥�

Tom was a former soldier in Bosnia 鈥淚 think what all soldiers are interested in is that the right decisions are being made, it doesn鈥檛 matter whether this is a parent or whatever. It鈥檚 misleading to say a parent is more qualified. 鈥�

Steve says 鈥淚 agree with Boxer, you cannot understand the risk until you have a loss鈥�

Skip in Ohio says 鈥渋t鈥檚 hogwash. I think the Democrat party enflame me, I have a son in Iraq. They were screaming for more troops in Iraq now we have that they want to bring troops back. I believe Bush and Rice do care about our kids.鈥�

Michael says 鈥渙ne thing that no one is mentioning is the fact that "cost of war" doesn't necessarily mean in loss of life of immediate family members. I haven't had children yet, but the damage that is being done now to the world is a cost that my children will eventually be paying well down the line鈥�.

Jaydra says 鈥淚 don't have children, but I have friends, neighbors and co-workers in the military who have left on tours in the middle east and not come back. I cried with their mothers and feel the same loss in my daily life. Only ignorance spawns this type of comment and it gives me no hope for the future of my country鈥�

Max in Singapore says 鈥淣ancy is right, just look at Michael Moore and went he went up and asked congressmen to send their kids to Iraq, you have the answer right there. There鈥檚 a military industrial complex in American, when the veterans come back who takes care of them?鈥�

Phyllis says 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think those of us who don鈥檛 have a family member in Iraq can understand.鈥�

Nancy says 鈥淏oxer鈥檚 point was the issue that all of those who don鈥檛 have a stake in Iraq can鈥檛 really say what鈥檚 going on. If we all had loved ones, we would not be having this conversation.鈥�

Denine 鈥淭he role of President Bush and Dr. Rice is to protect the military, she is well qualified. Keep in mind we were attached in New York and Washington. We can expect more attacks if we don鈥檛 act鈥�.

Phyllis 鈥淚t was highly appropriate to go to Afghanistan.鈥�

Robert in Washington: 鈥淚 think that it does and I say that as a single man. Neither the president or many of the administration have any children involved in the war. 鈥�

The emails are coming in thick and fast now鈥�

Jon says 鈥淜ids or no kids, your personally and economically defined "place" in the world disconnects you from others and the effect your decisions have on the lives and deaths of others.鈥�

Eamonn Rooney, Folkestone, Kent 鈥淚nteresting! I hadn't thought about it 'till now - neither Bush nor Blair have children in the theatre of war. One can't but wonder if their decisions would perhaps have been different if they had.鈥�

Wayne Saewyc 鈥淵es, someone with no children can sympathize, but can they empathize?鈥�

Jon says 鈥淲ould she ever say that to a single man? I doubt it!鈥�

usaka, zambia in an email 鈥滻 agree with sen. boxer however we don't hav robots who cn fight our wars yet. And going to war is never an emotional taunt. Its about good and right and i'm sure if bush or condy had sons they wud be in the theatre of battle just like prince harry who is soon off to afghanistan, am i making sense?鈥�

Wright says he lost a son in law in 911. 鈥淧resident Bush stood on the ashes of the World Trade Centre and argued for war in Iraq. I thought this was exploiting my son in law鈥檚 death 鈥�.

Debbie in Cleveland says "I don't totally agree with the Senator but what do you say about the real reason we are there in Iraq? We do not need more soldiers there, they need to come home. It really is time to ask Iraq what we can do to help clean up the mess we started.鈥�

An anonymous texter says 鈥渉i Ros,if you're affected by a crisis,you would know the stakes,emotional loss.鈥�

Mark says in another text 鈥渋f Congress was full of soldiers' parents, no actn wld've have bin taken afta 9/11.鈥�

Laura Knight-Jadczyk blogs . She called to say 鈥� the fact it doesn鈥檛 matter to some politicians because maybe these people aren鈥檛 nomal human beings. It would be very sensible for politicians to do the things they ask their constitutants to do. If they ask people to send their children to war they should do it too."

Charities

Martin Tisne is Associate Programme Director of Tiri 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e saying is that a fair amount of what is sent isn鈥檛 accountable to the beneficiaries. The point of our report is corruption is a huge concern in these countries. I would recommended that people should give to aid organisations but careful where they give it to. More aid needs to go to the state to boost the accountability of the state. There鈥檚 a vicious circle where donors fear the capacity of the state then they channel the aid to parallel structures which further weakens the governments. Afghanistan is even weaker now because money goes to aid agencies in parallel to the government. The organisation that knows what鈥檚 best for the people is the state and that鈥檚 the one you should boost. Charities need to be more accountable to the donors鈥�

Marcy says 鈥渨e need true volunteers. With these you鈥檙e able to do a lot more without the expenditure of a big office. With some organisations they take a lot of pride in trying to save the world. But you cannot be bigger than your volunteer base. Hope Worldwide, my organisation, does projects all over the world鈥�.

Max Lawson from Oxfam. 鈥淲e send out accountants to make sure money is spoken for.鈥�

Martin says 鈥渋f you have volunteers you have no overheads. Some companies charge 40% overheads鈥�.

Vic says 鈥渉e hates paying for administration costs that he doesn鈥檛 know where are going鈥�.

Max says 鈥�2 pence in every pound is spent on administration costs. All these accountants have to be paid for. We try and keep them low but we need a good team to make the most of our money鈥�.

Martin says 鈥渁 lot of the NGOs like Oxfam are very transparent but it鈥檚 hard to see how the governments are spending it, we need more openness. What organisations should change is to implement participatory approaches to develop. In post war countries it hardly ever happens.鈥�

Vic says 鈥渉e鈥檚 satisfied with Max鈥檚 response but what he鈥檚 concerned about is corruption. There are many more organisations that sometimes you wonder who鈥檚 really getting the money. 鈥�

Max says 鈥渋t鈥檚 important not to be too simplistic. We always blame third world governemtns. Ultimately it鈥檚 about money going to governements in poor countries and about citizens demanding accountability. It鈥檚 about us supporting local people in holding their governements to account. Transparency is the future.鈥�

Obed call in on +44 20 70 83 72 72 to say 鈥測ou can make a good living in a charity.鈥�

Anonymous text: 鈥淎 glaring illustration of how ineffective aids money can be is sierra leone. There is virtually nothing to show for the billions of dollars of postwar aids!鈥�