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After this weekend’s massacre in Uzbekistan, the government has sealed off the roads into Andijan. Journalists were forcibly removed from the city and unable to return. Along with the news. The government is blocking Web sites and broadcasts into the country by foreign news channels including BBC World, CNN and Russian network NTV. The state run television has replaced domestic news broadcasts in the region with art movies, music clips, and nature photos.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen the arts used as a deliberate means of stifling political engagement.

It won’t be the last.

From the New York Times, May 15:

“Executives at National Public Radio are increasingly at odds with the Bush appointees who lead the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In one of several points of conflict in recent months, the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates federal funds for public radio and television, is considering a plan to monitor Middle East coverage on NPR news programs for evidence of bias, a corporation spokesman said on Friday.

The corporation’s board has told its staff that it should consider redirecting money away from national newscasts and toward music programs produced by NPR stations.”