ejc

20 January 2012 | EJC

Data Journalism Awards now accepting submissions

The Global Editors Network (GEN) on Thursday announced the launch of the first annual Data Journalism Awards (DJA), an international competition recognising outstanding work in the growing field of data journalism. The GEN initiative is supported by Google and is organised in collaboration with the European Journalism Centre. An international jury of data journalism and media experts will select six winning submissions. Jury members have been selected from international media companies including the New York Times, Reuters, and Les Echos and the president of the Jury is Paul Steiger, founder of ProPublica. A total prize amount of EUR 45,000 (around USD 57,000) will be awarded to the six winning projects. The competition is open to media companies, non-profit organisations, freelancers and individuals until 10 April 2012. The six winning projects will be announced by jury members at the annual News World Summit (NEWS!) being held in Paris, France, from 30 May to 01 June 2012 and hosted by the Global Editors Network.

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20 January 2012 | LA Times

US: MegaUpload file sharing site shut down for piracy

The US Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has conducted a major action to shut down MegaUpload, a popular file-sharing site widely used for free downloads of movies and television shows. Justice Department indictment of MegaUpload After receiving indictments from a grand jury in Virginia for racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and other charges on Jan. 5, federal authorities on Thursday arrested four people and executed more than 20 search warrants in the U.S. and eight foreign countries, seizing 18 domain names and an estimated USD 50m in assets, including servers run in Virginia and Washington, D.C. MegaUpload is a "digital locker" that allows users to store files that can then be streamed or downloaded by others. Its subsidiary site MegaVideo became very popular for the unauthorized downloads of movies and TV shows. Users whose uploaded content proved particularly popular were paid for their participation. According to the indictment, the operators of MegaUpload earned more than USD 175m in illegal profits and caused an estimated USD 500m in harm to copyright holders. The site is advertised as having more than 50 million daily visitors, according to federal authorities. Four of MegaUpload's operators have been arrested in New Zealand, while three more remain at large. The seven each face a maximum of 55 years in prison.

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20 January 2012 | AP

Journalist group says Maldives government intimidates free media covering political crisis

The Maldives government is threatening and harassing the media over their reporting of a political crisis and the military’s arrest of the nation’s top criminal court judge, a journalists’ group in the Indian Ocean archipelago said Thursday. The Maldives Journalists’ Association said in a statement that television stations are being penalized for airing opposition politicians’ comments that authorities perceive to be lies. An independent regulator, the Maldives Broadcasting Commission, accused Communication Minister Adil Saleem of threatening to withdraw frequencies of television and radio stations after he accused the commission of failing to monitor media. Though he denied allegations of harassment, Saleem said he told the commission that he may have to withdraw media frequencies until the commission works out a method for proper monitoring. Ahmed Zahir, president of the journalists’ association, said the government has been unhappy over reporting on alleged corruption, mismanagement and the arrest, and live telecasts of opposition protests.

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20 January 2012 | Rapidtvnews

Eutelsat pulls plug on Roj TV

Satellite operator Eutelsat has asked distributors uplinking Roj TV to its satellites to suspend broadcasts of the channel in order to avoid incurring criminal liability as an accomplice to terrorist activities. Based in Denmark, the international satellite TV network is financed and controlled by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), labelled a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. On 10 January the Danish public prosecutor, the Court of Copenhagen delivered a verdict that the channel was an instrument of the political with respect to their financial, structural and operational ties. The Court consequently condemned Roj TV, declaring it guilty of facilitating and inciting participation in a terrorist organisation. The court found that between February 2008 and September 2010 the TV channel had "one-sidedly and uncritically disseminated (PKK) messages, including incitement to revolt and to join the organisation". The court, however, did not revoke Roj TV's broadcasting licence on 10 January and instead imposed fines of 65,000 Danish crowns (US$11,100) each on the two companies which run it, a decision that infuriated, among other, the Turkish government. Under these circumstances, Eutelsat has decided to suspend the presence of Roj TV on its satellites.

Original source

20 January 2012 | RTE News via Media Network

New Irish broadcasting charge may replace TV licence

Ireland’s Minister for Communications has confirmed that he is considering a new household broadcasting charge to replace the television licence fee. Pat Rabbitte told the Dail that this would not be an additional charge, and would not affect anyone who was already paying their television licence. He agreed with Fianna Fail’s Eamon O Cuiv that the current funding model was not sustainable in the long run. This was partly because of technological change which meant fewer people were watching on traditional television sets, and partly because of evasion. He said evasion was costing public broadcaster RTE' EUR 25m a year, with around 15 percent of consumers not paying. Minister Rabbitte said a working group in his department had concluded that a household broadcasting charge “is a viable model”, and that discussions had taken place with the Department of the Environment about accessing a database of households. He said it was mainly younger people who were using other devices to access broadcasting.

Original source

20 January 2012 | Kontax

Distribution service Kontax launches in 160 countries and 60 languages

Kontax is a new press release service specialising in the distribution of multilingual news and information. Available in more than 160 countries and over 60 languages, Kontax allows companies and organisations to publish – free of charge – an unlimited number of multimedia press releases in the language of their choice, and to obtain professional translations of their press releases in any other language. Users have direct contact with Kontax partner translation companies appointed in each country. Kontax says it has been specifically designed to meet the needs of the publishers of press releases and of the professional journalists who read them, with a complete range of free media services.

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