Headline April 29, 2017/ ''' MEDIA & MERCY '''

''' MEDIA & MERCY '''

THE WORLD STUDENTS SOCIETY MOURNS : It was just after 11 am. yesterday, Thursday, that the devastating news was conveyed to me.

FIVE of them were students. 1 Student brother and 4 Student sisters, a total of five, and then the father too, took his life with poison. 

Nothing more, am I willing to say : Please, join the World Students Society, in praying for the departed Angels.

How did all this happen? What brought the star-crossed family to this tipping point of utter madness, tragedy and darkness?

Merium? Rabo? Haleema? Eman? Dee? Faraz Majeed? Umer Khan? Zara?, Hussain? Shahzaib? Ayaan? Ali Hassan?  Saima?  Sarah? 

Ambassador Malala [Nobel Prize]?  Haider? Paras? Sorat?  Salar? Jordan? Vishnu? Toby? Reza?  Waseem Khan/Canada? Bilal Malik/US?

O''Captain Imran Khan?  Engineer Shahid Shakoor? Engineer Imran Basit? Mr Sultan Abbasi?  Engineer Saleem Khan Kasuria? Engineer Munawer? 

Technologist Amin Malik/US, Engineer Technolgist Ahmar Bari Khan/Apple/US,  Dr. M. Jawad Khan/US, , Rumi Shumyial/AKD? Haider Naqvi? Dr Pitaffi?  Dr. Masud Reza? Dr. Imran Bukhari? Dr and Engineer. Auon Mohammad Akhtar/Canada? Nusrat Hussain?.  

In the world at large Press Freedom  ''never under so much threat''. Media rights watchdog  *Reporters Without Borders*   world rankings.

.-  Norway tops for Good and Great.

.-  Sweden honors 2nd position.

.-  Finland honors a bronze   

.-  France 39

..- US 43

,-  Russia 148

.-  Turkey 155.

.-  China 176

.-  Syria 177.

.-  Eritrea 179

.-  North Korea 180.

PARIS : Press freedom has never been threatened as it is now, in the ''new post-truth era of fake news'' after the election of US President Donald Trump, Reporters Without Borders warned last Wednesday.

Its annual  World Press Freedom Index warned of the  ''highly toxic''  media bashing of Trump's election campaign and Britain's Brexit referendum.

The situation is at  ''a tipping point''  it said bluntly. Media freedom is being undermined by the rise in surveillance and of authoritarian strongmen across the globe, the watchdog said.

The US and Britain both slipped  two places in the index to 43rd and  40th, according to the  Paris-based  monitoring group. known by its French initials RSF.

''Nothing seems to be checking'' the erosion of liberty of the press in leading democracies. it said. ''Media freedom has never been so threatened.''

Liberty of the press is in peril or in a   ''very serious situation''  in 72 countries including Russia, India and China, it found.

''Attacks on the media have become commonplace and strongmen are on the rise. We have reached the age of  post-truth, propaganda, and suppression of freedoms   -especially in democracies,'' the report said.     

''Donald Trump's rise to power......and the Brexit campaign were marked by high-profile media pushing, a highly toxic anti-media discourse that drove the world into a new era of post-truth, disinformation and fake news,'' it added.

Poland and Hungary came in for withering criticism in the report. The nationalist government in Warsaw was accused of  ''turning public radio and TV stations into propaganda tools''  and of trying to throttle independent newspapers.

''Media Freedom has retreated wherever the authoritarian strongman model has triumphed,'' it warned. Turkey ''swung over into the authoritarian regime camp'' after the failed coup against  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July, it said-

Adding bitterly that it now  ''distinguishes itself into the world's biggest prison for media professionals.''

Seven places of ahead of Turkey, ''President Vladmir Putin's Russia remains firmly entrenched in the bottom fifth of the index,'' in 148th place, it added.

''The rate at which democracies are approaching the  tipping point  is alarming for those who understand that if freedom is not secure, then none of the other freedom can be guaranteed. RSF Secretary general Christophe Deloire said. 

''Where will this downward spiral takes us?'' he asked.

The RSF index found that in the past year nearly two thirds of the countries had registered a deterioration in their situation, while the number of countries where the media freedom situation was  ''good''  or  ''fairly good'' fell by more than two percent.

*North Korea Least Free*

Norway came out top of the Index with the world's freest media. It took over from neighbouring  Finland which had  held the title for six years.

At the other end of the scale, North Korea took bottom place from another repressive closed state, Eritrea, which has propped up the table for a decade.

North Korea continues to keep  ''it's population in ignorance and terror,'' RSF said. ''Even listening to a foreign radio broadcast can lead to a spell in the concentration camp.''

China, war torn Syria   -the deadliest country for journalists   -and Turkmenistan complete the bottom five.

Italy showed the biggest improvement, rising 25 places to 52nd place thanks to the acquittal of journalists tried in Vatileaks II case, which exposed scandal at the top of the  Catholic Church. 

In mourning, and  in tears, and  with prayers, and most respectful dedication to all the  Fallen Angel Students. See Ya all in Heaven, and then to the Leaders, Parents, Students, Professors, and Teachers of the world.

See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Grieving & !WOW! '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless