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28 September 2012 | Washington Post

Arrest of Google’s top Brazil executive stirs debate on laws governing Internet content

The arrest of a top Google executive is reviving a debate about Brazilian laws that hold services such as YouTube responsible for the videos posted on them, making the country a hotbed of attempts to stifle digital content. Legal experts said Thursday that Google violated a judge’s order to take down videos on its YouTube subsidiary that target Brazilian political candidates — and that the judge was completely within the law in issuing the arrest warrant. But they said the arrest of Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, the head of Google Inc.’s Brazil operations, underscores the need to modernize laws that treat offensive material on the Internet like material that is carried by newspapers, television and radio, holding platforms such as Google responsible for user-provided content. Coelho was released shortly after his arrest Wednesday and agreed to appear before a court at an as-yet undetermined time. Brazil’s strict electoral laws limit what critics can say on television, radio and the Internet about candidates for office. On several occasions in recent years, media outlets have faced stiff fines for breaking the laws, but few if any officials were arrested. Google’s alleged infractions, however, are more widespread, simply because of its omnipresence. Ahead of municipal elections in Brazil next month, Google has received requests in more than 20 states to remove videos that allegedly violate those restrictions.

Original source

28 September 2012 | Computer World

Yahoo partners with Media.net for publisher ad network

Yahoo has partnered with Media.net to launch an ad network for Web publishers that will compete against Google's AdSense and similar services. The service, called Yahoo Bing Network Contextual Ads, will place ads on the websites of participating publishers, choosing the ads based on the context of the Web pages. Media.net will be in charge of the technology, business operations and relationships with publishers, while Yahoo will do the same for advertisers, the companies said Thursday. The service is aimed at websites that publish premium content and, for now, that get most of their traffic from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. According to the companies, publishers can start running ads "in minutes" via the self-serve platform, which gives them options about the size and "skin" of the ads. Through the use of keywords, publishers can influence the ads the service picks for any particular Web page, and they can also block certain ads and topics from appearing on their websites. The ads from the Yahoo-Media.net network can be run alongside ads from other providers, and they can also be optimized for iOS, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices. Participation in the service also includes service support for publishers.

Original source

28 September 2012 | Reuters

Kuwait Internet firm blasts price cuts, infrastructure

Ageing fixed-line infrastructure is to blame for Kuwait's low broadband penetration, and price cuts ordered by the government this week will do little to boost subscription numbers, an executive at a top Internet provider told Reuters. The Ministry of Communications is the de facto regulator in the absence of an independent watchdog, and also ultimately owns and operates the country's fixed-line infrastructure, with the four major Internet service providers (ISPs) paying the government to use this. But the largely copper-based network cannot carry sufficient bandwidth to satisfy consumer demand, according to Essa Al-Kooheji, general manager at Qualitynet, which is 44 percent owned by Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco) and has an estimated 45 percent market share for fixed Internet. On Tuesday, the Ministry ordered the ISPs to cut prices by at least 40 percent, slashing the price of an annual subscription for a 1 megabyte per second (mbp) connection to KWD 48 (USD 170), while 8 mbps will now cost KWD 200. That means Kuwait is considerably cheaper than other Gulf countries; in Bahrain, for example, Batelco charges BWD 120 dinars (USD 320) annually for a 1 mbp line and 360 dinars for 8 mbps. But that will do little to improve fixed broadband take-up, said Qualitynet's Kooheji, with Kuwait's penetration of about 5.5 percent half that of the United Arab Emirates. Many businessmen and analysts in Kuwait believe the country's political environment is partly to blame for weak state investment in infrastructure. Friction between the cabinet and parliament over the last several years has prompted frequent changes of government and slowed or blocked the passage of economic development plans.

Original source

28 September 2012 | AFP

Iran media chief close to Ahmadinejad jailed: reports

A top aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who heads Iran's official IRNA news agency, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, was arrested and jailed on Wednesday, IRNA reported. Authorities also closed Iran's leading moderate newspaper, Shargh, after it published a satirical cartoon seen as insulting war veterans, according to the website of state broadcaster IRIB. Javanfekr was detained as Ahmadinejad was delivering a speech at the annual UN General Assembly in New York, IRNA said. It said Javanfekr was taken to Tehran's Evin prison, apparently to serve a six-month sentence on charges of publishing material offensive to Islamic codes and public morality that were upheld by an appeals court in February this year. His lawyer at the time said the charges stemmed from an article in a state-run magazine under Javanfekr's control that was critical of Iranian women being compelled to wear an Islamic headscarf. Javanfekr also fought separate charges of allegedly insulting Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on his personal website in April 2011. Javanfekr, who runs a state press group that prints several newspapers and magazines, is a media adviser to Ahmadinejad. He has long been targeted by hardline judges and ultra-conservative figures who see him and the president as trying to undermine religious principles they uphold.

Original source

28 September 2012 | SFN Blog

Le Huffington Post becomes No. 1 in France

From France comes the mildly surprising news that Le Huffington Post has become the country’s premier online-only news source. Figures released this morning by Mediametrique/Netratings show that the site received 1.916 million unique visitors in July 2012, beating Rue 89 (1.476m unique users), one of France’s most popular websites, into second place. The rest of the rankings see Le Nouvel Observateur’s site Le Plus in third place (1.262m), Atlantico (1.258m) in fourth, fifth place taken by Slate France (966,000) and paying site Mediapart comes sixth with 578,000 unique visitors. Since its French debut the site has generated a healthy flow of traffic. By February, a month after it went online, Le Huffington Post recorded 4.2 million unique users, 5.6 million visits in total and 11.2 million page views. At barely four weeks old, the youngest member of the French pure-player family was ranked 12th out of the Hexagon’s 50 most-visited news sites. The impressive stats were not however solely attributable to the efforts of Le HuffPost. In France, the site works in partnership with Le Monde and the agreement between the two publications saw Le Huffington Post take over the French newspaper’s pre-existing news site, Lepoint.fr. Visitors to Le Point were redirected to Le HuffPo’s homepage, which undoubtedly made a significant contribution to the new website’s traffic levels.

Original source

28 September 2012 | Reuters

Real gifts sold on Facebook as site taps commerce potential

Facebook is taking a small step toward becoming an e-commerce platform by launching a feature for users to buy and send real gifts worth as much as hundreds of dollars. As of Thursday, users can purchase and ship products from more than a hundred "Facebook Gifts" vendors with a few clicks on the company's website. The products include eyeglasses by Warby Parker, Starbucks coffee, and pastries from New York-based Magnolia Bakery. Coming four months after Facebook's troubled initial public offering, the feature marks the company's attempt to unlock a potentially significant new revenue stream. Although it has sought to diversify its income sources, Facebook still relies heavily on display advertising. During the second quarter, more than 80 percent of its revenue of USD 1.18bn came from ads while roughly 15 percent came from game-maker Zynga Inc. Facebook, which can store credit card data for users, will make money by taking a cut of each gift transaction. The amount varies based on the individual deals it has struck with vendor partners, the company said without disclosing specifics. The world's No. 1 social network, boasting nearly 1 billion user accounts, has long viewed commercial transactions as a massive opportunity for the platform. But marketing researchers have found that consumers have been slow to make purchases on the website because many treat it as a place to chat and post messages rather than go shopping. Facebook hopes to change that by getting users used to the idea of giving small gifts as part of their social routine.

Original source

28 September 2012 | BBC News

Facebook deleting fake ‘likes’, independent data suggests

Facebook has begun deleting fake page "likes", independent data suggests. According to Pagedata, many of the site's most "liked" pages suffered large drops in numbers on Wednesday. The move follows the social network's admission that 8.7 percent of its users are not "real", many having been set up by spammers who use them to artificially make pages appear more popular. The issue poses a problem for Facebook as it seeks to expand its targeted advertising service. Facebook's shares have slumped from their initial public offering of USD 38 in May to USD 20.62 on Thursday. Technology news site The Verge, citing Pagedata's statistics, noted that some of the most popular pages on Facebook had suddenly shed significant numbers of users. The page for Texas HoldEm Poker, one of the site's most popular, shed 96,317 "likes" on Wednesday - compared with net gains of about 20,000 each day for the previous month. Other prominent pages also saw a drop in numbers, including those of pop singers Rihanna (-28,275), Eminem (-15,420) and Lady Gaga (-34,326). Facebook would not confirm to the BBC that the purge was happening, but could not provide an alternative explanation for the drop in numbers.

Original source

27 September 2012 | Journalism.co.uk

HuffPo launches Italian edition with La Repubblica publisher

US news and blog site the Huffington Post Wednesday announced the latest in a line of new editions in countries which has already included the UK, France and Spain, with the launch of L'Huffington Post in Italy. Huffington Post is working in partnership with the publisher of La Repubblica, Gruppo Espresso, to produce the new site, edited by Italian journalist Lucia Annunziata. The Huffington Post's UK edition celebrated its first birthday in July, and other recent launches include a Spanish edition in partnership with El Pais in June this year, and a French edition in October last year, in partnership with Le Monde and Les Nouvelles Editions Independantes. According to the Post its UK edition recorded more than four million unique visitors for the first time in August this year, said to be based on figures from comScore. In a post announcing the launch of the Italian version of the site, president and editor-in-chief of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, Arianna Huffington said "we'll be using all the tools at our disposal to tell the most important - and most entertaining - stories of our time". "And, just as important, help Italians tell their stories themselves. And since Italy's 35.8 million Internet users make up nearly 59 per cent of the population, it's our hope that L'HuffPost will help expand the conversation at a time when Italians are looking to each other and their communities - both online and offline - for the empathy, ingenuity and creativity that will lead to the real solutions the country needs."

Original source

27 September 2012 | AFP

Europe’s TV diet still resolutely national: EU

Europe's couch potatoes are being offered an increasing diet of EU-made television, yet TV culture remains a strictly national matter, the European Union executive said Wednesday. In an annual report, the EU executive said most of the bloc's 27 states were complying with rules to offer at least 50 percent EU-made production, with almost 65 percent of shows of EU origin, according to statistics for 2009-2010. Exceptions were Britain, Ireland and Slovenia, the European Commission said. "However the majority of these European works are domestic works," it said in a statement, with only 8.1 percent of programmes on average made across a country's border.

Original source

27 September 2012 | Washington Post

Turkey moves to block Internet access to anti-Islam film

A Turkish court issued an order on Wednesday allowing authorities in the country to block Internet access to the anti-Islam movie that has sparked violent protests across the Muslim world, an official said. Binali Yildirim, the minister in charge of transportation and communications, told state-run TRT television that the injunction allows government telecommunications and information technology authorities to prevent access from Turkey to URL links to the film. The move came a day after another government minister said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who heads an Islam-based party, ordered officials to find ways of preventing access to videos of “Innocence of Muslims” movie. Dozens of people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, have been killed in violence linked to protests over the film. “Henceforth, it will not be shown in our country,” said Yildirim, calling the film “disgusting.” Yildirim said the court order is limited to links to the film and that access to websites that carry the links would not be blocked. Turkey banned access to the video sharing site YouTube from 2008 and 2010 because of videos deemed insulting to the country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Thousands of other websites, most of them pornographic, have also been banned in the country. The government says it is fighting child pornography, illegal gambling and other cybercrimes.

Original source

27 September 2012 | Journalism.co.uk

UK: Cardiff University and the Guardian to launch Masters degree

Cardiff University plans on launching a new Masters degree in journalism with digital media next year, as part of a new partnership with Guardian News & Media. In a release Wednesday the news outlet said the Masters course will be "taught by a mix of guest lecturers and a permanent director of studies appointed by the university", and will be based in London. It is hoped that the course will take on its first cohort of students in September next year. The content of the course will see students "taught the core fundamentals of journalism with a focus on digital, as well as reporting, writing, publishing and technical skills". Editor-in-chief of Guardian News & media Alan Rusbridger said the aim is that the degree will "produce a generation of students who are completely up to date with the skills needed to succeed in journalism today". "Everything about the media is there to be re-imagined and reshaped. Our new masters degree in journalism with digital media will be applicable to a wide range of careers, from news to website content management and social media." Head of the school of journalism, media and cultural studies at Cardiff University Justin Lewis added that this is the first time the university has worked "in as closer partnership" as this with a UK news outlet. While the university has taken "the lead" in terms of curriculum development, he said, the Guardian's editorial team has also looked over the content and been involved.

Original source

27 September 2012 | Financial Times

Phone hacking trial set for 2013

The trial of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International – parent company of the News of the World newspaper – and Andy Coulson, the prime minister’s one-time communications director, is expected to take place next year. The two, who face allegations relating to phone hacking, appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, alongside other former executives from the defunct News of the World. Mrs Brooks and six others, including her husband Charlie Brooks, face charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. All were in court. Mrs Brooks is also charged with three counts of conspiracy to intercept the communications of well-known people between 2000 and 2006 and two charges of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages of Andrew Gilchrist, the former head of the Fire Brigades Union, and Milly Dowler, a murdered schoolgirl from Surrey. Mrs Brooks appeared in the dock alongside other former News of the World journalists, all facing charges of conspiracy to hack phones under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The six former News of the World staff face one general accusation of conspiracy to access voicemails, along with other charges related to specific people. Andy Coulson, the ex-editor of the News of the World, Ian Edmondson, the head of news, Greg Miskiw, news editor, Neville Thurlbeck, an ex-chief reporter, and James Weatherup, a former reporter, also face charges. Stuart Kuttner, a former News of the World executive was excused from attending the hearing. Glenn Mulcaire, a private detective, is accused of four counts related to particular individuals. The proposed trial date is September 9 next year. All defendants were bailed.

Original source

27 September 2012 | Ukraine Foreign Affairs via PR Newswire

Internet is free in Ukraine, says global study

A United States advocacy group has rated the Internet in Ukraine as "free" in a new report, grouping the country in the same category as Germany and the United Kingdom. The global survey 'Freedom on the Net 2012', released this week, ranked Ukraine 12th in the world in Internet freedom. "As we are approaching parliamentary elections in late October, this survey reaffirms Ukraine's position as a hub of online freedom in the region, with our citizens able to access an Internet that is as free as countries in Western Europe," said Oleg Voloshyn, the spokesperson of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry. The study covers 47 countries in six geographical regions, and was conducted by Washington-based Freedom House between January 2011 and May 2012. This is the organisation's third report in a series that began in 2009. By creating a numerical index that ranks each country, Freedom House has provided a comprehensive study of Internet freedom around the globe. According to Freedom House, "The index does not rate governments or government performance per se, but rather the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals within each country." The report measured each country's level of Internet and digital media freedom, with every country receiving a numerical score from 0 (the most free) to 100 (the least free). Ukraine achieved a score of 27 points, close to the UK's 25 points. In fact, Ukraine has been found to have the same limits on online content as the UK (8 points) and, more importantly, less violation of user rights than the UK (12 points compared to the UK's 16). Ukraine's Internet has also been ranked as the freest in Eurasia, far ahead of countries such as Georgia (30 points), Turkey (46 points) and Russia (52 points).

Original source

26 September 2012 | RFI

Charlie Hebdo publishes ‘responsible’ and ‘irresponsible’ versions after Mohammed cartoons row

The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which caused a furore by publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed last week, announced on Monday that it plans to publish two separate issues on Wednesday. According to Charlie Hebdo’s publisher, Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, one will feature “responsible” content while the other will be “irresponsible”. Several politicians, including Green Euro-MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit, called the paper irresponsible for publishing the cartoons at a time when violent demonstrations against the Innocence of Muslim film had cost about 30 lives. Former housing minister Christine Boutin, who leads the small Christian Democrat party, said that she would sue the paper for putting people’s lives in danger. The two issues will cost the same and the same authors will contribute to it but will be “100 per cent different”, according to Charbonnier. One will be “responsible as the Boutins and Cohn-Bendits want it to be”, the other will be “irresponsible … a normal Charlie Hebdo”, he said. Last week's issue of the paper sold out within hours, leading to a second print-run on Friday, but Innocence of Muslims has continued to be the focus of protests around the world, while a French government ban on demonstrations succeeded in preventing them last Saturday.

Original source

26 September 2012 | Digital Journal

Egypt newspaper launches campaign against Charlie Hebdo cartoons

Secular Daily Egyptian newspaper al-Watan has launched a 13 cartoon campaign devoted against offensive and obscene cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published last week by French magazine Charlie Hebdo. On Monday, the paper published 13 cartoons under the slogan "Fight Cartoons With Cartoons," BBC News reports. One cartoon shows a pair glasses with the burning World Trade Center burning through the lenses. The captions reads: "Western glasses for the Islamic world." The newspaper published a 12 page section dedicated to the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. The section included a 2-page cartoon spread, and articles by well know writers such as Amr Hamzawi, the former researcher director at the Carnegie Middle East Center. Egyptian Islamic scholars and preachers, such as the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, also contributed. The Al-Watan newspaper is known for being critical of President Muhammad Mursi's Islamic Brotherhood. Readers of the paper have reacted positively to the campaign against Charlie Hebdo.

Original source

26 September 2012 | The Guardian

Google executive in Brazil faces arrest over video

A judge in Brazil has ordered the arrest of Google's most senior executive in the country after the company failed to take down YouTube videos attacking a local mayoral candidate. Google is appealing the order to arrest Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, which follows a similar decision taken earlier another Brazilian election judge. In that case, a judge found a senior executive responsible for violating local election law. That decision was overturned last week. The legal challenges underline broader questions about Google's responsibility for content uploaded by third parties to its websites, such as an anti-Islam video that sparked a wave of protests and violence in the Muslim world. A spokesman for the regional elections court in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state said on Tuesday that a judge had ordered the arrest of Coelho, Google's top executive in Brazil, unless the videos attacking a mayoral candidate were removed. Google faces frequent legal scrutiny over the limits of users' expression in Brazil, where it opened an office in 2005. Over the years, the company has received repeated requests from Brazilian authorities to reveal the identity of bloggers and users of its social networking site Orkut, whose posts violated local libel and anti-racism laws. In the second half of last year, Google removed four Orkut profiles after an electoral court order, the company said on a portion of its website called the Transparency Report.

Original source

26 September 2012 | The Guardian

Google Maps’ virtual diving brings the Great Barrier Reef into view

Millions of people will be able to take a virtual dive on the Great Barrier Reef via Google Maps on Wednesday as part of a pioneering underwater scientific expedition. The Catlin Seaview Survey will allow internet users to share the discoveries of scientists who are using new technology to study the composition and health of the Great Barrier Reef. Up to 50,000 high-definition panoramic images of the reef will be taken by the world's first tablet-operated underwater camera and geolocated. When the rapid-fire images are linked together, users will be able to choose a location along the reef, dip underwater and go for a viewer-controlled virtual dive using the street view feature of Google Maps. Dives already completed at three islands on the Great Barrier Reef, as well as sites in Hawaii and the Philippines, will be available today, with more images virtual dive sites added as the scientists map 20 separate reefs along the 2,300km system to a depth of 100m. The imagery will be available to more than 1 billion monthly users of Google Maps around the world, as well as through a dedicated YouTube channel, Google+ and Panoramio, a geolocation photo-sharing website. The survey was launched with a live night dive via a Google+ Hangout at the Blue Ocean film festival in Monterey, California. The three-month survey of the Australian reef system is the first in a series of Catlin Seaview surveys to explore and record the world's coral reefs. Next year, the expedition will move on to Hawaii, the Philippines and Bermuda.

Original source

26 September 2012 | Knight Center

Closure of Chilean newspaper after 95 years leaves 117 without work

During a shareholders' meeting for the Chilean newspaper La Nacion, government representatives, who control 69 percent of the company's shares, voted to close and liquidate the storied newspaper on Monday, Sept. 24, reported the EFE news agency. The decision puts an end to the 95-year-old newspaper and leaves 117 people without work. Unions and minority shareholders opposed the decision. EFE reported that the private company Colliguay, owner of 31 percent of the newspaper's shares, plans to sue the State because "there are no economic reasons to justify the decision to close the company." A representative for the unions said they would appear in court to block the move. The Chilean Union of Journalists said that President Sebastian Pinera, of the center-right Renovacion Nacional, demonstrated his intentions to close the newspaper before assuming the presidency in 2010. Pinera accused the newspaper of operating like a "propaganda factory" for the center-left coalition that governed the country between 1990 and 2010, reported EFE. The leader of the newspaper's workers, Nancy Arancibia, told the Associated Press that the decision will further increase media consolidation in the country, currently dominated by two companies. The newspaper La Nacion was founded in 1917 and is located in front of the Palacio de la Moneda, the seat of government. Since 2010, La Nacion has operated as an exclusively online publication after the president canceled its print version, citing economic problems.

Original source

26 September 2012 | The Guardian

Cuban journalist arrested for his investigative reporting

The Paris-based press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), is concerned that the detention of Cuban reporter Calixto Ramon Martinez Arias is a return to darker days. Martinez, who works for the independent Hablemos Press agency, was arrested on 16 September on a charge of insulting the president, which carries a three-year prison sentence. But RSF says: "It is hard to see how the investigation into a spoiled consignment of medicines that Martinez was carrying out at the time of his arrest, or his earlier revelations about cholera and dengue, which the authorities confirmed, could result in a charge of insulting the president. This charge is totally absurd." The editor of Hablemos Press, Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez, tried without success on 21 September to obtain permission to visit Martinez. He is the third Hablemos journalist to be detained this month. Two Cuban journalists have recently defected. Mairelys Cuevas Gomez, an editor with the communist party newspaper Granma, took advantage of a working visit to Mexico to go the US border and request asylum. And Luis Lopez Viera, sports editor of Juventud Rebelde, another official newspaper, requested asylum in Britain during the London Olympics.

Original source

25 September 2012 | Knight Center

Projects on U.S.-Mexico border, development in Brazil win Online Journalism Awards

A student project that explored the migratory effects caused by drug violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and a comprehensive reportingpackage on the ongoing development of Parana' state in Brazil won the Online News Association’s 2012 awards for non-English projects during the ONA’s latest conference in San Francisco. “Mexodus,” published by Borderzine, a bilingual student publication of the University of Texas in El Paso, aimed to document the flight of families and businesses from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to its sister city of El Paso, Texas. The mass migration followed a surge in drug violence and petty crime in the Mexican border city. Students from four universities in Mexico and the U.S. contributed to the nine-month project and published around 20 stories in both Spanish and English. “Retratos Parana',” published by the Curitiba-based daily Gazeta de Povo was a four-month project in which a team of journalists traveled across more than 6,200 miles in the Brazilian southern state of Parana' to paint a detailed picture of the developing region. The series, which included several features and interactive maps, examined the state through the lenses of economics, health, education, urban mobilization and culture to show the different faces of progress and poverty in Parana'. A third non-English award, for General Excellence, was received by Rue89, an innovative web-only publication from France.

Original source

25 September 2012 | IJNet

Sao Paulo newspaper reimagines elections data in animated video

In the past, old elections data might languish on microfiche or in boxes, dusted off occasionally by a political scientist or presidential historian. But in the run-up to the Sao Paulo's Oct. 7 municipal elections, one newsroom has reimagined data from nearly two decades as an animated video that engages the public and draws people to its website and YouTube channel. The daily newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo took voting data from every municipal, regional and national election since 1994 and mapped the locations of votes throughout Sao Paulo. The result is an innovative animated video — and a model for how newsrooms can bring data to life. The three-minute clip depicts a helicopter — the “Folhacoptero” — whose pilot flies above the city, explaining the often-polarized political landscape below. Folha art department editor Mario Kanno coordinated the efforts of three journalists, a video editor, a graphic designer and a programmer to create the animation in just three weeks. They obtained, cleaned and analyzed the data, added income information for context, mapped it with Quantum GIS, then used Cinema 4D software to animate it. The Folha crew won’t stop there: Faleiros says the Folhacoptero will take off on three more “data flight routes” during election season.

Original source

25 September 2012 | Knight Center

Survey finds 24 percent of online media in Argentina have no print version

The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish) released the results of a study on digital journalism in the South American country on Sept. 14, reported the organization. The survey found that 24 percent of digital media do not have a print version, 94 percent of editors believed that social networks support their work, 23 percent have an employee dedicated exclusively to answer questions on social media, and 80 percent do not have a style manual. FOPEA asked the consultancy CIO to conduct a survey of 74 editors of the largest online publications in Argentina during the month of May 2012. Groups surveyed had to generate their own content and update their information daily. The survey focused on the work routines of journalists working online, how they use and verify information found on social networks, and their circulation locally or internationally. Click here to see the official presentation of the survey or the full report.

Original source

25 September 2012 | AP

Vietnam convicts 3 bloggers for anti-gov’t posts

A Vietnamese court issued jail sentences ranging from four to 12 years on Monday to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses, corruption and foreign policy, intensifying a crackdown on citizens' use of the Internet to criticize the government. The cases are particularly high-profile examples of the Communist government's attempts to stifle challenges to its authority on the Internet, which has emerged as a major avenue for dissent in the country of 87 million people. President Barack Obama has mentioned one of the defendants, and the mother of another died after setting herself on fire to protest her daughter's arrest. The defendants, two men and one woman, are founding members of the "Free Journalists' Club," a group of citizen journalists who posted their work on the Internet. They were found guilty of spreading "propaganda against the state." Nguyen Van Hai, who has written under the pen name Dieu Cay or "Tobacco Pipe," got 12 years, Ta Phong Tan received 10 years and Phan Thanh Hai got four years, according to defense lawyer Ha Huy Son. The trial in Ho Chi Minh City lasted less than six hours. The country regularly convicts dissidents, but sentences have generally been around five years.

Original source

25 September 2012 | AFP

Greek journalists strike against austerity measures

Greece was hit with radio silence Monday, as broadcast and print media embarked on a 24-hour strike to protest against wage cuts and layoffs amid the debt-ridden country's new austerity drive. Hundreds of journalists, technicians and other press employees turned out at a demonstration in central Athens, carrying banners and decrying the "mediaeval conditions" in the news sector. "We were asked to sign contracts with a 25-percent salary reduction, which nullifies the collective agreement," said technician Fotini Karagoussi, who has been working for the private radio channel Alpha for 13 years. "Alpha staffing now stands at 30 people, compared to 130 five years ago," she added. Dimitri Trimis, the head of the union of Athens daily newspaper staff (Esiea), said the sector had been struck by "a new attack against journalists' rights, which threatens democracy." The demonstration follows a wave of strikes this month by professionals of all stripes - doctors, judges, professors, police officers, firemen, soldiers - ahead of a 24-hour general strike planned for Wednesday by the country's two main labour unions. Greece and its international creditors are currently in talks to identify EUR 11.5bn in savings and a further EUR 2.0bn in increased revenue that are necessary to unlock a new EU-IMF loan instalment of EUR 31bn.

Original source

25 September 2012 | Reuters

More countries restrict Internet to stifle critics: report

Government restrictions on the Internet have risen over the past year around the world as regimes use violence against bloggers and turn to censorship and arrest to squelch calls for reform, a new report from a U.S. advocacy group has found. Pakistan, Bahrain and Ethiopia saw the biggest rollbacks in Internet freedom since January 2011 and were among the 20 countries out of 47 assessed by Freedom House that declined in their rankings. In contrast Tunisia, Libya and Burma, all countries that have seen dramatic political opening or regime changes, improved over previous years along with 14 other countries, the U.S. group, which advocates democracy and open societies, said. The report was released the day that Vietnam handed out stiff jail terms to three high-profile bloggers for their bold criticism of government handling of land rights issues and corruption. Estonia topped the list of countries for freedom of the Internet with the United States in second place, according to the Freedom House report. The rankings were based on obstacles to Internet access, limits on content and violations of user rights. The report covered the period from January 2011 to May 2012 and is its third on Internet freedom, based on information from researchers mostly based in the 47 countries.

Original source

24 September 2012 | Egovmonitor

Study shows increasing dependence of UK journalists on social media

More than 25 percent of UK journalists say they cannot work without social media according to the 2012 social journalism study by Cision and Canterbury Christ Church University. Alongside this growing dependence on social media, the study also reveals concerns from journalists about the impact of social media on productivity and privacy with 16 percent of respondents claiming that social media will ‘kill journalism’. This year's survey found that, compared to last year, journalists are using a greater variety of social media tools and are more reliant on social media for many of their professional tasks. Sourcing information has overtaken self-promotion as the primary objective of social activity by journalists. The survey about journalists’ uses and perceptions of, and attitude toward, social media was conducted online, and received more than 769 responses from UK journalists during June and July 2012.

Original source

24 September 2012 | AFP

Vietnam bloggers ‘anti-state propaganda’ trial opens

Hundreds of police surrounded a court in Vietnam on Monday for the opening of the trial of three bloggers, including one whose case has been raised by US President Barack Obama. Heavy security flanked the building in southern Ho Chi Minh City as the case began against Nguyen Van Hai, alias Dieu Cay, Phan Thanh Hai and policewoman-turned-dissident Ta Phong Tan, an AFP reporter saw. The trio face charges of conducting propaganda against the one-party communist state, which are routinely used to prosecute dissidents in a country that rights groups say is conducting a growing crackdown against freedom of expression. There were no sign of supporters outside the court, after a popular banned blog, Dan Lam Bao (the People Report), claimed they had been prevented from approaching the area by security forces. The blog ran photographs of people carrying large signs calling for the trio's release, and reported that at least seven supporters had been arrested early Monday. Police would not comment on any arrests. Mobile phone signals had apparently been blocked inside the court compound, the AFP reporter said. The bloggers are to be tried under Article 88 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail, a lawyer for Dieu Cay told AFP earlier.

Original source

24 September 2012 | The Guardian

Israeli settler buys stricken newspaper

One of Israel's oldest daily newspapers has been sold to a settler businessman in the face of looming bankruptcy. Many of its employees face losing their jobs in the coming weeks. Maariv was founded in 1948, the same year as the state of Israel was declared, and was the country's largest circulation daily in the 1950s. Staff salaries have not been paid this month, and about 1,000 employees demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Thursday. A one-day strike is planned for early next week. The new owner, Shlomo Ben-Zvi, has said he will keep the paper going but with a much smaller workforce, pledging to retain only about 300 of the group's 1,500-plus employees. Ben-Zvi is also the publisher of Makor Rishon, a daily newspaper with a nationalist-religious outlook associated with the hardline settler movement, and there is speculation he could merge the two titles. The businessman, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, reportedly paid about USD 19m for a majority share in Maariv. Israel's newspaper industry has been hit by the migration of readers and advertising to the internet, and paid-for titles have had to contend with the success of the free newspaper Israel Hayom, which launched in 2007 and is now the country's most widely read paper, with a 38 percent market share.

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24 September 2012 | Newspaper Innovation

New free dailies in Latin America and Spain

Thanks to the ongoing research of Marv Carlson of ABYZNewslinks, some so-far unknown free dailies were discovered in Latin America. Near the Brazilian metropol Rio, free afternoon papers Ter Noticias andO Terminal are published since 2010 in Niteroi, Sao Goncalo, Macae and Petropolis (O Terminal) and Juiz de Fora (Ter Noticias). In Guarulhos (Sao Paulo) daily Guarulhos Hoje is published for free since 2010, it was launched in 2008 as a paid paper. Two papers from Ecuador were discovered. Diario Estacion was published from (at least) October 2010 to February 2011 in the capital Lima. A now defunct Twitter account still exists while there is also a YouTube movie on a sampling action of the paper. El Gratuito, also published in Lima, started just after Diario Estacion stopped and using a similar color design, suggesting it succeeded Diario Estacion. The website is not available anymore, the Twitter account stopped in April 2011. In Spain, Carlson discovered El Acueducto, a free paper published since April this year in Segovia (Castile and Leon). The paper is named after the famous aquaduct in the city.

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24 September 2012 | Business Week

Argentina insists on Clarin media breakup ahead of court ruling

Argentina’s government and one its leading critics, Grupo Clarin SA (GCLA), clashed over President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s determination to break up the country’s biggest media conglomerate. The government, in advertisements broadcast nationwide during soccer matches over the weekend, said it will strip most of Clarin’s television licenses even as the Supreme Court considers a company-requested injunction to block the move. The Supreme Court ruled on May 22 that Clarin has until Dec. 7 to fall in line with an antitrust law approved by Congress in 2009 requiring the Buenos Aires-based company to sell dozens of television networks it operates across the country. Still, justices have yet to rule on a company lawsuit claiming its constitutional rights are being violated. The government, deflecting criticism by opposition politicians and advocacy groups that it’s trying to control news coverage, said that its actions seek to guarantee “diversity and democracy” in Argentina’s media. If Clarin doesn’t adhere to the law the government will be forced to auction its licenses so no jobs are lost, the video said. Clarin owns the country’s largest-circulation newspaper as well as its biggest cable-television operator, Cablevision SA, radio stations, Internet providers and Argentina’s biggest printing press. It has been feuding with the government since Fernandez’s late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, accused it of supporting farmers in a national strike over export taxes.

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