Reply #99: Press freedom in eastern Libya sparks media boom

[pinboy3niner]

Source: AP

Press freedom in eastern Libya sparks media boom

(AP) – 22 minutes ago


BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — The rules for Libyan media were absolute: Don't print, broadcast or post anything bad about leader Moammar Gadhafi. Libyan journalists who crossed the line risked prison or death.

"It was as if Gadhafi was a prophet sent by Allah," editor Fatah Khashmi said. "He was free from blame and never made mistakes."

Less than two months after the anti-Gadhafi uprising broke out, journalists in the rebel-held east are happily shaking off the old rules and creating a media boomlet. At least half a dozen new publications have appeared in the de facto rebel capital of Benghazi, and a former state-run radio station now broadcasts the rebel cause.

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A cartoon in one paper, Libya Freedom, shows an eagle with the pre-Gadhafi flag on it catching rats with the faces of Gadhafi and his sons, then dropping them in a can marked "the dustbin of history."

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"It was like you had been prevented from drinking water for a year and suddenly you could drink again," Ali said of getting back on the air.


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