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31 October 2012 | AFP

France makes billion euro tax claim against Google: report

French tax authorities have made a billion-euro claim against Google to pressure it in a dispute over compensation to media websites, a French newspaper reported, a claim denied by the US Internet giant's local arm. The weekly Canard Enchaine said in its edition to hit news-stands on Wednesday that the tax claim concerns the transfer prices set between Google's Irish holding company and the French unit for four tax years, without disclosing its sources. French tax authorities told AFP they do not comment on specific cases due to taxpayer privacy. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Google France spokesman told AFP that the company had received no such notification. The weekly said the tax claim was brought up during Monday's meeting between President Francois Hollande and Google chief Eric Schmidt, and that it was a bargaining chip in the dispute with French media. Hollande said the French government would adopt a law if necessary to settle a dispute with French media websites, which want the search engine to hand over a percentage of the advertising revenue it earns from directing users to their content.

Original source

31 October 2012 | Financial Times

Crash story stirs Polish government anger

An erroneous newspaper story claiming traces of explosives had been found on the wreckage of a Polish airliner which killed the president and 95 others has plunged relations between the government and the opposition, headed by the dead president’s twin brother, to a new low. After the front page story in Tuesday’s Rzeczpospolita, one of the country’s leading newspapers, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the right-wing opposition Law and Justice party, accused the government of helping cover up what he called “an incredible crime” – the death of his brother, president Lech Kaczynski, and the others aboard the Polish government airliner, which crashed in April 2010 while trying to land in Smolensk, Russia. A core of Mr Kaczynski’s party has long held that the crash was no accident – despite the finding of Polish and Russian commissions that the bulk of the blame for the disaster rested with under-trained pilots, who should not have tried to approach the airport in a dense fog. Instead they have held that the crash was actually a Russian assassination aided by Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister. The newspaper report about traces of explosives was quickly called into question, however. Rzeczpospolita issued a statement saying: “We made a mistake writing today about TNT and nitroglycerine. They may have been these compounds but they did not have to be.”

Original source

31 October 2012 | The Guardian

Greek union brings TV stoppage after suspensions of ‘critical’ presenters

A work stoppage at Greek state television interrupted broadcasts on Tuesday morning as the conflict between the government and the press about the reporting of the economic crisis spilled on to the screen. Instead of a chat show at 6am, viewers saw only an announcement by the journalists' union about the action. The stoppage was called over the suspension of the show's two presenters for remarks seen as critical of a minister by the management at the state broadcaster, ERT. The union warned that if the suspension was not rescinded immediately "employees will proceed with continuous 24-hour strikes and other actions to preserve the prestige of ERT … which the management is undermining". The tension between government and journalists has been raised by the fast-track prosecution of a magazine editor for publishing a "rich-list" of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, whom the finance ministry has so far failed to investigate. The editor, Kostas Vaxevanis, was arrested on Sunday and put on trial on Monday, in a highly unusual course of events in Greece's normally slow moving judiciary.

Original source

31 October 2012 | Human Rights Watch via The Guardian

Qatari sheikh must not approve media law, says human rights group

The ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has been urged by a human rights organisation not to approve a media law that will compromise press freedom. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) argues that the draft law contains penalties for those who criticise Qatar and its neighbouring governments. It would create a double standard on free expression that is inconsistent with Qatar's claims to be a centre for media freedom in the region. In 1996, Sheikh Hamad was responsible for setting up Al-Jazeera, the news network that has been so prominent in reporting popular uprisings in the Middle East. But the draft law, which Qatar's legislative body approved in June 2012, would undermine press freedom, according to HRW. Even before the sheikh makes up his mind on whether to ratify the law, freedom of expression is already under pressure. HRW points to the case of Qatari poet Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami, who has been in prison for a year after five postponements to his trial on charges of "inciting the overthrow of the ruling regime," which carries the death penalty. It appears that the charges relate to the fact that al-Dheeb recited a poem that appeared on the internet in August 2010 and included passages that insulted the emir.

Original source

31 October 2012 | AP

Bolivia radio host attacked on air

A 70-year-old radio journalist was in stable condition Tuesday after masked men barged into his studio and set fire to it while he was on the air. Authorities said three men were arrested in Monday's attack on Fernando Vidal but were refusing to talk. Vidal was interviewing two women in Yacuiba, a city of 120,000 that borders Argentina, about alleged corruption among customs police when three masked men entered the studio of Radio Popular at midday, said his son-in-law, Esteban Farfan. One splashed around gasoline, another set it alight and a third fired shots in the air, police said. Vidal was burned as he tried to intervene. He was in intensive care Tuesday, in serious but stable condition with second-degree burns on his face and arms, at a hospital in the eastern city of Santa Cruz Tuesday, said his doctor, Javier Palenque. A station technician, Karen Arce, also suffered less serious burns in the attack. She was driven the six hours with Vidal to Santa Cruz on Monday evening. Vidal is a former Yacuiba mayor who uses his daily radio program to denounce corruption in a city that is along a cocaine smuggling route and where trade in contraband is rampant.

Original source

31 October 2012 | AP

Swiss magazine censured over Roma boy cover

Switzerland's press watchdog has upheld a complaint against a magazine that used a picture of a Roma boy waving a gun to illustrate a story about alleged threats from Gypsy gangs. The Swiss Press Council said Tuesday that Zurich weekly Weltwoche was guilty of "distortion" and "discrimination" for publishing the image on its cover above the headline "The Roma are coming: raids in Switzerland." The picture taken in 2008 by Italian photographer Livio Mancini actually depicted a boy playing with a toy gun on a Kosovo garbage dump. European Roma and Sinti groups condemned the cover as likely to fuel prejudice against members of the two ethnic minorities, also called Gypsies. The press watchdog's decision carries no penalty beyond public censure. The magazine did not respond to requests for comment.

Original source

30 October 2012 | The Guardian

Greek journalists warn over press freedom

Greek journalists have warned that press freedom was under unprecedented attack, with critics being suspended or put on trial by a precarious coalition government struggling to push through an economic austerity programme as a way of attracting foreign funds. The clash between the government and the press appeared to be nearing a crisis with a strike due to start on Tuesday on state television (ERT) over the suspension of two popular presenters for mild criticism of a minister. Meanwhile, the editor of an investigative magazine went on trial on Monday for publishing a list of some 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts who the government has yet to investigate for possible tax evasion. Dimitris Trimis, the head of the Athens Newspaper Editors Union said the current pressure on press freedom was the most intense of his career. "This is a matter of democracy," Trimis said. "The government feels insecure. The only way it feels it can convince society of its policies is to try to manipulate the media through coercion. "This is true of both state television and in the private sector of the media where there has been a large number of lost jobs and wage cuts and so it has become easier to manipulate in the interests of the government and the economic elite."

Original source

30 October 2012 | Knight Center

Minimum wage for Mexican journalists is $13 a day

Press workers in Mexico face poor wages, job insecurity and a high risk work environment. "The profession's standing has diminished because people know it's dangerous to be a journalist and, furthermore, it doesn't pay well," said Ariel Munoz, president of the University of Morelia, in an interview with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. According to a survey from the National Commission on Minimum Wage in 2012, the least a print journalist can be paid is 176 pesos or $13 dollars a day, $400 a month. But reporters in the interior of the country are paid as little as $11 for up to 12 hours of work a day, said journalist Elia Baltazar, founder of the organization Periodistas de a Pie (Journalists on Foot), in a recent radio interview with the Mexican broadcaster MVS. Baltazar also warned that more journalists are self-employed today. Before, 70 percent of journalists were employed by a media company. Now, the majority are independent and lack benefits like health and life insurance. The work conditions for the press in the country are so adverse that Munoz suggested journalism could be in "danger of extinction" in Mexico. Last August, the University of Morelia announced the end of its journalism degree program for the 2012-2013 school year due to a lack of students. The University of Morelia is located in the state of Michoacan, where 12 journalists have been killed since 2000 and another three disappeared. Another institution, the University of Veracruz, has also reported high desertion rates from journalism students and low numbers of incoming students after the killing of 11 reporters in Veracruz, according to a report from the magazine eme-equis.

Original source

30 October 2012 | BBC News

Baidu in 60% income rise as advertising revenues surge

Baidu, China's biggest search engine, has reported a 60% rise in quarterly net income to CNY 3.01bn yuan (USD 478m) compared to last year. Baidu said its income jumped in the three months ending 30 September, as the company continued to attract increasing amounts of advertising. The company said revenue from online marketing surged nearly 50%. Baidu has about 80% of the Chinese search market. Google exited China in 2010 over a censorship row. Analysts said there could be challenges on the horizon, however, as Baidu's fourth quarter revenue projection came in below expectations. Baidu, which is listed in New York, said Monday revenue in the October to December period will range from CNY 6.16-6.35bn. Economists had estimated about CNY 6.14bn for that period. Baidu itself acknowledged that it must manage its future mobile strategy as more users shift from personal computers to mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. The revenue generated from mobile search is far less than from PCs at the moment. In October, Credit Suisse downgraded the company's outlook over concerns about how it would make money from its mobile search traffic. On Tuesday, Baidu chief executive, Robin Li, said the firms mobile search traffic was growing at triple digit rates. Baidu also faces increased competition. In August this year Qihoo 360 Technology, an anti-virus software company, launched a competing search engine.

Original source

30 October 2012 | Knight Center

Hurricane Sandy coverage illustrates creative emergency reporting

Residents of the United States’ East Coast were hunkering down for Hurricane Sandy on Monday, Oct. 29, but they had plenty of online coverage to follow until it would pass, reported Poynter. Besides maps and online video coverage, the storm prompted newspapers along the eastern seaboard to pull down their paywalls and open access to storm coverage, the website reported. The Huffington Post and Google developed maps to track the storm, report power outages and other infrastructure issues. Google Crisis Map also has a New York City version with flood warnings and the location of evacuation centers. Other outlets used webcams and live chats to give context to the storm, estimated to deal $1 billion in damages, according to CBS News. The hurricane prompted newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Baltimore Sun to temporarily remove their paywalls to open access to their storm coverage, according to JimRomenesko.com. “The gateway has been removed from the entire site and all apps. The plan is to keep it that way until the weather emergency is over,” New York Times spokesperson Ellen Murphy told Poynter. The website noted that The Times previously removed its paywall during Hurricane Irene in 2011.

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30 October 2012 | The State Journal

Internet a growing source for campaign news, study finds

As technology becomes more widely available, the way voters gather information about candidates has changed, even since the last presidential election. According to Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, more people are watching campaigns more closely and on nearly every news platform compared with 2008, but the biggest gains have come on the Internet, including the websites of traditional news sources and those native to the web. Social media platforms, mainly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, have rapidly grown in popularity since the 2008 presidential election. The number of Americans who said they regularly go to these sites for campaign information has nearly doubled since January, according to Pew. However, only about 17 percent of Americans tune in to social media. The number of people who primarily depend on local and national newspapers as their source for campaign information has grown since January, Pew found. According to their numbers, about 20 percent of adults said they relied on local newspapers for information. That number is now 23 percent. A bigger jump occurred in those who look to national newspapers for information. According to Pew, 8 percent of adults said they relied on national newspapers in January. That number is now 13 percent.

Original source

30 October 2012 | RBR-TVBR

Internet sources increasingly affect buying decisions

A new study shows that digital destinations such as Facebook and Twitter are not determining factors in consumer buying decisions, but their influence is on the rise. The study of social media comes from Temkin Group, which looked at the influence of that medium on purchases for a variety of items. It discovered that consumers use social media at different levels for different things, and that it’s rising generally for all categories. Further information can be found in Temkin’s report “What Influences Consumer Purchases?” which can be downloaded from the Customer Experience Matters blog, at ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com as well as from the Temkin Group website.

Original source

29 October 2012 | Bloomberg

Greek journalist held over list of Swiss-account holders

Police in Greece arrested a Greek journalist who published the names of 2,000 Greeks with deposits in Swiss bank accounts. Kostas Vaxevanis, editor of the Greek magazine Hot Doc, was arrested in Athens on Sunday, according to a message posted on his Twitter account at 11 a.m. local time. An arrest warrant was issued on Saturday after the magazine published what’s been dubbed the “Lagarde list,” an electronic file given to Greece in 2010 by then-French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde of about 2,000 Greeks with Swiss accounts. Vaxevanis was arrested for publishing citizens’ private information, a breach of Greek privacy law, a police spokesman said. Private television station Mega TV reported that he was released and will appear in court on Monday. In a video message posted on the news website Pandora’s Box on Sunday, Vaxevanis said he published the list because of government inaction in following up on the names of potential tax evaders even as it prepares new austerity measures.

Original source

29 October 2012 | The Times of India

India among fastest growing internet markets: Study

India is among the top three fastest growing internet markets in the world, a study by industry body Assocham and ComScore has said. "Among the Bric nations, India has been the fastest growing market adding over 18 million Internet users and growing at an annual rate of 41 per cent," the study said. The internet user base in the country is approximately 125 million, the study added. "China added over 14 million users to reach 336 million internet users by the end of July 2012. Russia and India show similar trends in online usage patterns along with similarities in e-commerce and payment types," it said. India is also among the top three fastest growing markets worldwide in the last 12 months, the study said. "Interestingly, about 75 per cent of online audience between the age group of 15-34 years, India is one of the youngest online demographic globally," Assocham secretary general D S Rawat said. He said the trend is expected to continue in coming years given the age distribution in the country. Among the age segments, 15-24 years of age group has been the fastest growing age segment online with user growth being contributed by both male and female segments. The top five popular categories accessed online are social networking, portals, search, entertainment and news sites, the study said.

Original source

29 October 2012 | V3.co.uk

Online prices may depend on users’ browsing habits

It's long been known that who you appear to be on the web can influence what companies try to charge you. Most famously, travel agency Orbitz was found to be offering Mac users more costly hotels than their Windows-using counterparts. But how widespread is such price tinkering? A group of researchers from the mobile operator Telefonica and a colleague at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona set out to investigate, studying 200 online retailers, including the likes of Amazon, bestbuy.com and Gap.com. The researchers reasoned that retailers were likely to consider two forms of discrimination: search discrimination, where users were pointed to different ranges of products, depending on how they had been categorised; and price discrimination, where users were offered the same products at different prices. Their study of the 200 different vendors, conducted over a 20-day period in July 2012, showed that Orbitz was unusual – none of the retailers it studied segmented customers on the basis of their operating system or browser. But users in different locations, or apparently affluent ones were treated very differently. The team found numerous examples of both price and search discrimination. For example, a simple Google search for headphones resulted in suggestions for the affluent persona which were four times as costly as those presented to the budget persona. Similarly, a search for hotels on Cheaptickets.com produced more expensive options for the affluent buyer.

Original source

29 October 2012 | Radio Netherlands

Dutch officials: waging cyber war or fighting crime?

The Netherlands’ Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten asked the Dutch parliament earlier this month to pass a law that would allow the authorities to hack into computers both at home and abroad in an effort to fight crime. But those opposed to the new proposal are saying it’s the Dutch authorities themselves who will be waging cyber war on the rest of the world. “We are worried because these are very heavy measures,” says Tim Toornvliet, spokesperson for the NGO Bits of Freedom, a Dutch digital rights group. “In order for police to be able to hack into computers, they need to have back doors into them, and this makes the internet less safe.” In asking the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament for a “possible expansion of powers”, Opstelten said that police and prosecutors are out of date with the fast-moving digital world, where it is “relatively simple for criminals to cover [their] digital tracks.” They want the law updated to allow them to conduct remote searches on both local and foreign computers, render some data inaccessible and remotely install “technical resources”—what critics say is malware—on computers they are targeting. They also want to criminalise the purchase of stolen digital data. But Bits of Freedom says the Dutch initiative to investigate computers on foreign soil may violate European human rights law. The draft legislation is expected to be ready early next year.

Original source

29 October 2012 | Newspaper Innovation

Spanish free circulation drops below one million

In 2006 Spanish free circuation reached 5 million – more than 50% of the total Spanish daily newspaper circulation. At that time 36 different titles with more than 110 different editions were published. Six years later total free circulation dropped to less than one million (940,000 – data Introl) with only 13 titles and less than 40 editions remain. Three (Metro, ADN, Que!) of the four national papers have closed down, 20 Minutos (15 editions) remains with a circulation of 670,000 (more than 1 million in 2007). Sports papers El Crack10 (2003-2006) and Penalty (2006) are no more, two almost free financial papers (Cinco Dias and El Economista) remain. Negocio closed in the beginnig of this year. Local chains stopped altogether of closed down some operations. In the Basq countries, Madrid, Cadiz, Jerez, Jaen, Huelva. Lleida, A Coruna, Logrono, Segovia, Reus and Bilbao) local free papers are still published.

Original source

29 October 2012 | Journalism.co.uk

Al Jazeera creates interactive video transcripts of debates

The four US presidential debates maybe over but Al Jazeera English now offers a way for readers to view, explore and share sections of each debate through interactive video transcripts. Each word in the videos of the debates is linked to that word in the transcript, enabling the audience to search by keywords and find the exact point in the video where that word is spoken. Users can then choose to share that point in the footage via social media. The transcripts also allow users to search for a keyword and see a pie chart and graph showing how many times the word was used by each candidate and at what points of the debate. The interactive video transcripts were created by Mark Boas, one of five winners of a 2011 Knight-Mozilla OpenNews fellowship who is funded to work with Al Jazeera and "bridge the gap between technology and news", and Al Jazeera colleague Mohammed Haddad. Boas, who has been working with Al Jazeera remotely for the past 10 months, and Haddad "compressed about a month's work into two-weeks", Boas explains in a blog post in which he describes the process - and the limitations of the approach. The blog post was written after the first debate and Boas and Haddad have since been iterating and refining the process.

Original source

26 October 2012 | The Guardian

New York Times blocked in China over Wen Jiabao wealth revelations

Chinese authorities have blocked the Chinese website of the New York Times and most access to the main website after it revealed that the extended family of premier Wen Jiabao has controlled assets worth at least $2.7bn. Several of Wen's close relatives have become extremely wealthy since his ascent to the top leadership, the news organisation said. But in many cases their holdings were obscured by layers of partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends, colleagues or business partners. A single investment held on paper by Wen's 90-year-old mother Yang Zhiyun - a retired schoolteacher - was worth $120m five years ago, the Times said. It added it was unclear if Yang was aware of the holdings in her name. The report is embarrassing not only for Wen himself - who comes from a modest background and is widely seen as the sympathetic, populist face of the government - but for the party. It is the latest in a string of unwelcome revelations about the vast wealth amassed by those around senior leaders.

Original source

26 October 2012 | The Guardian

Penguin and Random House in merger talks

The owners of Penguin and Random House are in talks about merging their publishing arms to create the world's biggest books publisher. Pearson, which owns Penguin and the Financial Times, confirmed on Thursday that it has entered into merger discussions with Bertelsmann, the privately owned German company that owns Random House. A merger would bring together two of the world's "big six" publishers to create a new powerhouse that would publish 25% of all books sold in the UK. Analysts have long predicted a further round of consolidation in the book trade, which is dominated by HarperCollins, Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Penguin. The industry has changed rapidly in recent years following the introduction of ebook readers and mass-market selling via supermarkets.

Original source

26 October 2012 | The Guardian

New York Times reports sales rise

The New York Times has reported an 11% increase in paid-for digital subscriptions to almost 600,000 in the three months to the end of September. However, both print and digital advertising at the paper suffered year-on-year declines. The Times reported a small profit of $2.28m (£1.4m) in the third quarter. Digital subscriptions rose 11% between the second and third quarters to 592,000 with Arthur Sulzberger Jr, chairman and chief executive of the New York Times Company, saying that digital subscription trends have "remained robust". A breakdown shows that paid subscribers to the New York Times and its sister paper, the International Herald Tribune, amounted to 566,000, an increase of 57,000 or 11%, quarter on quarter. Paid subscribers to the NYT-owned Boston Globe were 26,000 at the end of the third quarter, up 3,000 or 13% compared with the previous three months. "While our results for the third quarter reflect continued pressure on advertising revenues, total circulation revenues rose led by the expansion of our digital subscription base," Sulzberger said. Total revenue fell 0.6% year on year to $449m as the tough advertising market continues to batter the publishing company. Total advertising revenues fell 8.9% year on year in the third quarter to $182m. Print advertising at the company's newspapers, slumped by 10.9% year on year in the third quarter.

Original source

26 October 2012 | The Guardian

UK: National newspaper websites suffer post-Olympics slide

A London 2012 Olympics hangover resulted in a decline in traffic for all UK national newspaper websites in September, with Independent.co.uk the worst hit. Independent.co.uk's daily unique browsers fell 15.95% month on month in September to 763,685. The Independent website's monthly unique browsers were down 15.7% to 16,306,316, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Thursday. In August Independent.co.uk enjoyed the biggest month-on-month traffic boost – with daily unique browsers up 22% – and year on year it was up 16%. No national newspaper website was immune from month-on-month decline after strong traffic performances in August. Market leader Mail Online's daily unique browsers fell by 2.91% to 6,366,625, with monthly web browsers down by 3.9% to 101,545,466. Telegraph.co.uk proved the most resilient, managing to hold its month-on-month decline in daily unique browsers to just 2.6%, at 2,679,920. Monthly unique browsers fell by 4.65% to 51,406,858. Mirror Group Digital, the website network that includes Mirror.co.uk, 3am.co.uk and MirrorFootball.co.uk, fell 12.1% month on month to 738,236 daily unique browsers. Monthly unique browsers fell by 7.1% to 15,741,023. Guardian News & Media's website network, guardian.co.uk, which includes MediaGuardian, fell by 4.8% month on month, reporting 3,633,337 daily unique browsers.

Original source

26 October 2012 | Financial Times

Financial Times considered UK’s most ethical newspaper, survey finds

According to research conducted by the Carnegie Trust and Demos, the Financial Times is considered to be the most ethical UK newspaper. The study, which surveyed a representative sample of 2000 adults across the UK, found that 57% of respondents thought the FT operates in an ethical manner, higher than any other title. Duncan O’Leary, lead author of the report and deputy director of Demos said: “Following the phone-hacking scandal, trust in newspapers is at an all time low. Despite that, our survey of the public found the FT to be the most trusted of all UK newspapers, with a clear majority agreeing that the paper operates ethically, with due regard to the public interest.” “Investigative journalism serves a vital democratic function in our society. The best journalists are already open and transparent about how stories have been obtained, so that readers decide whether they have overstepped the mark to get a story. Spreading this practice throughout the industry would go a long way to restoring trust.” The full report, which explores public attitudes towards free speech, privacy and investigative journalism, can be found here.

Original source

26 October 2012 | AFP

Iranian opposition channel launched in London

A businessman opposed to the Iranian regime launched a new television channel in London on Thursday aimed at “promoting democracy and freedom” in the Middle Eastern state. At a press conference in the British capital, the channel’s director and editor-in-chief Ali Asghar Ramezanpoor said “Raha” would be the “first independent channel that belongs to Iranian people.” “There are channels in Persian - like BBC or Voice of America - but they are from others countries, not Iranian people,” added Ramezanpoor, a former deputy minister in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. The channel is funded by Amir Hossein Jahashahi, founder of opposition movement Green Wave. He outlined how the channel would challenge the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The “free and independent” channel will begin its daily broadcast at 1630 GMT with a 30-minute news bulletin followed by three-and-a-half hours of arts, culture and sports. The transmissions will be available in Iran via satellite and online. Programs will be broadcast several times each day to make it more difficult for the regime to jam the signal. Raha, which means “to free” in Persian, will employ 40 people in London and will also rely on a network of around 20 freelancers in Iran, according to its founders.

Original source

25 October 2012 | AFP via EU Business

EU warns Microsoft over new Windows 8

The European Commission warned Microsoft on Wednesday that it risked an investigation into its new Windows 8 software if the company did not meet commitments on web browser choice. Microsoft had not provided clients a web browser choice on Windows 7 in 2011-12, as agreed, the Commission said, and it had now raised similar concerns over the US giant's next generation Windows 8 due to launch later this week. European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he had been in contact with Microsoft at the "highest levels" to make the point that they should not repeat the same mistake in the new software package. It was essential that Microsoft give customers a clear and simple web browser choice "if they don't want to take the risk of a new investigation," he told a press conference. If companies "enter into commitments they must do what they committed to do otherwise they must face the consequences," Almunia added. Microsoft will launch Windows 8 and its Surface tablet computer, designed to compete with Apple's popular iPad, in the United States and China on Friday.

Original source

25 October 2012 | Washington Post

Argentina’s new media regulator says he’s prepared to auction off Grupo Clarin’s licenses

Argentina’s new media regulator said Wednesday that he’s prepared to auction off the broadcast licenses of the government’s leading critic. President Cristina Fernandez has set a Dec. 7 deadline for the media company Grupo Clarin to show how it will comply with a law barring media monopolies. She appointed Martin Sabbatella to lead a new agency similar to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, with a mandate to ensure that no single company controls too much of Argentina’s broadcast spectrum. Sabbatella told foreign correspondents that he has no intention of expropriating stations, but will auction off the broadcast licenses of any company that owns more media properties than the law allows. He said he will move swiftly against Clarin or any other company that doesn’t present the government with a breakup plan by the deadline. Clarin spokesman Martin Etchevers said Sabbatella’s real objective is to “silence the few independent voices that remain in Argentina’s audiovisual industry.” He alleged that 90 percent of Argentina’s radio and television stations now depend in some way on government support. Both sides say they are defending freedom of expression.

Original source

25 October 2012 | The Guardian

Amazon to be stripped of tax advantage on sale of ebooks

Amazon is to be stripped of its huge tax advantage on the sales of electronic books after the European commission ordered Luxembourg to close a VAT loophole. Amazon is registered as a Luxembourg company and pays that country's VAT charge of 3% when it sells an ebook to a British reader, rather than the 20% it would have to charge if it were UK-based. The Guardian revealed this week that Amazon is forcing British publishers to cover the cost of a 20% VAT charge on ebook sales even though the true VAT cost to the online retailer is a fraction of that. The European commission – which oversees European Union law as the EU's executive arm – on Wednesday gave Luxembourg 30 days to increase its VAT rate on digital services from 3% to 15%. This will close a tax loophole that has encouraged companies such as Amazon, Skype and Netflix to be based in Luxembourg to benefit from the 3% rate when selling throughout the EU. Luxembourg must agree to change its VAT rate before the end of November, or face being referred to the European court of justice and risk fines. France has also been issued with a similar warning over its 7% rate for digital services. Amazon is expected to contest the commission ruling, so there will be no immediate impact on the cost of ebooks bought from its UK website. Luxembourg, with the lowest standard VAT rate in Europe, has been successful at attracting many global e-services providers. Under EU rules these companies are able to charge consumers across the EU the reduced Luxembourg VAT rate for these services. The home state of the consumer who makes the purchase receives no tax revenues.

Original source

25 October 2012 | AP

Azerbaijan, Gaza, Ethiopia women win media awards

A columnist imprisoned under Ethiopia's controversial anti-terrorism laws, an Azerbaijani investigative radio reporter who had surveillance cameras planted in her apartment and a Palestinian blogger who has been beaten and tortured for reporting on abuses and protests in Gaza each received Courage in Journalism awards Wednesday from a women's media group. The International Women's Media Foundation also honored 70-year-old Pakistani journalist Zubeida Mustafa with its annual lifetime achievement award during a lunch in New York on Wednesday. Honored as the first woman in Pakistani mainstream media, Mustafa worked to enact hiring policies favorable to women during her 30 years at Dawn, a widely circulated English-language newspaper. Khadija Ismayilova of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Azerbaijan, Asmaa al-Ghoul, a freelance journalist in the Gaza Strip, and Reeyot Alemu, who was a columnist for the independent Ethiopian newspaper Feteh until her arrest in June 2011, won the courage awards.

Original source

25 October 2012 | AP

Number of murdered Somali reporters grows to 16

The list of murdered Somali journalists keeps growing longer, and no one seems able to stop it. The death of Ahmed Saakin Farah brought the number to 16 Somali journalists killed this year, most in targeted attacks by gunmen who know there is little chance they will be caught or jailed. Assailants shot Farah, a 25-year- old reporter for the London-based Universal TV, three times in the head around 9 p.m. Tuesday in the northern region of Somaliland. Somalia has been one of the most dangerous places to operate as a journalist this year. The irony for journalists is that Mogadishu, on the whole, is far safer than it was when the Islamist extremists, al-Shabab, controlled most of the city from 2007-2011. African Union troops forced al-Shabab out in August 2011, leading to less violence and a general revival of business, the arts and sports. But a campaign targeting journalists has accelerated this year, and one sad fact seems likely to be fueling the murders: No suspects have been arrested for any of the crimes. Most of the killings have taken place in Mogadishu, but the latest murder, in the northern, semi-independent territory of Somaliland, could be a sign that the scourge of media deaths is spreading.

Original source

25 October 2012 | AP

US elections debates a hit for YouTube

The presidential and vice presidential debates were a hit for the video sharing website YouTube, which streamed the events live for the first time this year. YouTube officials say the three debates between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney and the single debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Paul Ryan had been viewed 24 million times, both live and in playback. Viewers watched the debates stream live in 215 countries, besting the April 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton which streamed live in 188 countries. The first debate between Obama and Romney on October 3 was the most watched of the four on YouTube. YouTube estimated that half the debate views had been in the U.S. and half from other countries.

Original source