In many countries, the news is vetted. The words of many journalists are censored. But even in countries where censorship is rife, music streaming platforms are freely accessible.
DDB Berlin and MediaMonks have helped Reporters Without Borders Germany to use this loophole to make information available in five countries with strict government censorship for World Day Against Cyber Censorship, March 15.
They have created the Uncensored Playlist.
The journalists, whose words were turned into songs, include exiled Chinese journalist, Chang Ping; Egyptian journalist, Basma Abdel Aziz; members of the Thai network for free journalism, Prachatai; Uzbekistan’s Galima Bukharbaeva and Vietnamese blogger, Ngưoi Buon Gio (The Wind Merchant).
The reporters worked with music director, Lucas Mayer, to turn 10 articles, that had previously been censored, into the lyrics of pop songs. These songs were then uploaded onto freely available music streaming sites Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer, under the hashtag #truthfindsaway.
The Uncensored Playlist is available in the five journalists’ home countries, with their names protected by aliases, neutral album artwork, and alternative song titles that can slip through pre-censorship, in case the original tracks get blocked.
https://youtu.be/xhqn78Pm5HU
Bianca Dordea, managing director of DDB Berlin, stated, “The Uncensored Playlist shows oppressive leaders all over the world that they can’t silence freedom of information. More than a fundraising or awareness effort, we’re happy to have landed on a unique way – music as a Trojan Horse, of sorts – to allow these censored stories to reach the world.”
Credits
Digital Production Company: MediaMonks
Agency: DDB Berlin
Chief Creative Officer: Dennis May
Executive Creative Director: Gabriel Mattar
Creative Director: Ricardo Wolff
Senior Art Director: Felipe Cury
Senior Copywriters: Patrik Lenhart & Jack Christensen
Senior Digital Art Director: Marco Lemcke
Junior Art Directors: Evandro Scudeler & Lis Ferreira
Chief Executive Officer: Bianca Dordea
Account management: Sarah Bensel
Audio Production Company: DaHouse Audio
Account Manager: Cassiano Derenji
Music Director: Lucas Mayer
Film Production Company: Le Tour Du Monde
Director: Iris Fuzaro
Editor: Sascha Gerlach
Communications Officer: Daniel Schmidthäussler
