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August 2008

Censorship: It's not just for the Chinese

Advocacy group GetUp! had booked advertising space on Channel Seven before and after the opening ceremony on Friday night to show a thirty-second appeal to Kevin Rudd to speak out for the human rights of Tibetans whilst in China this week.

The ad didn't go to air. Channel Seven said that they didn't receive a booking for the ad, no, wait, they later said they had a booking but it was for a GetUp! Fuelwatch ad, no, wait, they couldn't show it because the opening ceremony ran overtime, no, wait...

Go World Bank!

I have to laugh. A press release from the World Bank hit my inbox in the last couple of hours bearing the opening paragraph:

EMBARGOED: Not for news wire transmission, posting on websites, or any other media use until August 4, 2008 at 7pm in Washington DC (EDT), which is 23:00 UTC/GMT.

Just to recap, this was received at 5pm Washington time on August 1, 2008 (2100 UTC), 74 hours prior. I'll respect the embargo on the email, which is nothing earth-shattering anyway, but sheesh...

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