ejc

18 June 2012 | Politico

Washington Post to emphasize enterprise reporting

The Washington Post is putting a new emphasis on enterprise reporting as it seeks to recast its mission in the digital age. In an email to staff, executive editor Marcus Brauchli and managing editors Liz Spayd and John Temple announced the creation of "a new enterprise editing structure" to "lift the ambition, quality and impact of our journalism." "We want to elevate the framing, the writing, the multimedia dimensions, the vitality and the essentiality of our enterprise journalism," Brauchli, Spayd, and Temple wrote. The Post will now look to hire an Enterprise Editor who will report to Spayd and Temple. Per the memo: On some occasions, the Enterprise Editor will collaborate with section editors who already have launched projects and work with them to be sure we’re hitting the right notes. At other times, this editor will bring together people from around the room to brainstorm and conceive large efforts. Almost always, this person will become a critical second read on ambitious work to sharpen the thinking, the writing and the reporting–and then move it across the finish line. This is a high-level position and we are seeking a proven talent, someone with intellectual firepower, creative instincts and a collaborative demeanor. The Post also announced that it is looking for a new A1 Editor to handle daily enterprise stories and to oversee the paper's front page.

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18 June 2012 | Dutch News

Netherlands: Journalists spied on China for security service

Dutch security service AIVD persuaded journalists attending the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 to spy on China, the Telegraaf reports. Seven journalists were approached and promised payment if they would collect information and photos. Just one of them refused, according to the paper. Those who agreed were asked to collect information and take photos of Chinese officials who approached representatives of Dutch industry. The AIVD would not comment on the revelation, except to say the security service is allowed by law to approach anyone it thinks may have relevant information. Journalists' union NVJ said it is 'shocked' by the revelation, especially because journalists were paid for information. 'It damages the credibility and independence of journalism,' the union said.

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18 June 2012 | Knight Center

In Brazil, Internet surpasses newspapers to become second-most preferred medium for ad investors

A report published by the Interacting Advertising Bureau, an association that brings together the main web sites and Internet portals in Brazil, said that the Internet has surpassed newspapers and has become the second-most preferred medium for advertising investments in Brazil during the first quarter of the 2012 year, reported iG. The research was based on advertising investments in news sites, search engines, and price comparison websites, which together amounted to 11.98 percent of the total revenues, while newspapers remained at 11.06 percent of the advertising dollars, estimated at more than $3 billion. According to the website Olhar Digital, in 2011 print held second place with 11.1 percent and the web followed after with 11 percent. Television came in first in the ranking with 58.4 percent. This year, TV remained in first place with an even larger share of 60.63 percent of the market. The new advertising trend follows the growth of online content consumption, with the cheapening of internet access. In Brazil, however, readers' transition from print to online has not been significant enough to impact newspaper circulation, which continues to grow. That growth is driven by popular newspapers, the opposite of what is happening in the U.S. and in Europe.

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18 June 2012 | AP

Australia: Fairfax Media to shed 1,900 jobs over 3 years

Australian publisher Fairfax Media Ltd. said Monday it will shed 1,900 jobs over three years and erect pay walls for two flagship newspapers as readers increasingly move online. The company said it's giving itself the flexibility to ditch its print operations entirely at some point in the future if that's what consumers demand. The job cuts at the Sydney-based media empire represent almost one fifth of its 10,000 staff, spokesman Brad Hatch said. Fairfax said that its The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age broadsheet newspapers will become tabloids and their websites will introduce pay walls from early next year. Fairfax owns more than 300 newspapers, 50 websites and 15 radio stations in Australia and New Zealand. Australian staff were told in a memo that 300 jobs would be shed within three months in the cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth. Half of these jobs would be editorial. But the company's New Zealand CEO said the changes won't affect Fairfax's 2,500 employees there. Nor were there any plans to introduce pay walls for New Zealand newspaper websites. Australia's largest newspaper publisher after News Corp. also said it would close two printing plants in Sydney and Melbourne by June 2014. Both sites have printing presses with significant surplus capacity which is no longer required, Fairfax said.

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18 June 2012 | CNET

Google sees ‘alarming’ level of government censorship

Google reports it has seen an "alarming" incidence in government requests to censor Internet content in the past six months. The Web giant said it received more than 1,000 requests from governments around the world to remove items such as YouTube videos and search listings. The company, which said it complied with more than half the requests, released a catalog of those requests as part of its bi-annualGlobal Transparency Report. Google said it had received 461 court orders for the removal of 6,989 items, consenting to 68 percent of those orders. It also received 546 informal requests, complying with 46 percent of those requests. The study doesn't reflect censorship activity from countries such as China and Iran, which block content without notifying Google. Among the take-down requests was a Polish demand for removal of an article critical of a development agency, a Spanish request for removal of 270 blogs and links to articles critical of the public figures, and a Canadian official's request for removal of a YouTube video of a man urinating on his passport and flushing it down a toilet. All were denied. However, the company said it complied with the majority of requests from Thai authorities for the removal of 149 YouTube videos that allegedly insulted the monarchy, a violation of Thailand law. The Web giant said it also granted U.K. police requests for removal of five YouTube accounts that allegedly promoted terrorism. Google also said it complied with 42 percent of U.S. requests for the removal of 187 pieces of content, most of which were related to harassment.

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18 June 2012 | EJC

EJC’s new book Revolution: Share! explores the democratic heart of social media

Recent political upheavals in the former Soviet States and the uprisings in the Middle East and North African region have been celebrated as the triumph of new media over authoritarian and repressive regimes. Like the printing press and the telegraph that came before it, social media is considered by many to be a liberating technology, inherently democratic and democratising, and the key to positive political change. EJC’s new book, Revolution: Share!, takes a fresh look at the role social media play in pro-democratic movements. Tackling a number of assumptions and generally held opinions, the author, Moran Barkai, examines these developments in order to get a closer look at the real influence that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like have on political change. Revolution: Share! is an exploration into social media’s potential in opposing repressive regimes, but also a critical look at how this potential is limited or even neutralised by some of the media’s own characteristics, its use by non-democratic actors, and the very nature of democratic processes. For further information and book orders, contact Head of Maastricht Operations, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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