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The French socialist party has accused current president Nicolas Sarkozy of trying to intimidate the media.

Last week Sarkozy condemned five media, including the international news agency Agence France-Presse, for showing bias against him by failing to sufficiently highlight a court ruling against his former rival in the presidential race, Ségolène Royal. The issue has since become more heated, with other members of Sarkozy's UMP party hurling accusations of bias.

The French left sees the latest polemic on the press as nothing but a "smokescreen aimed at obscuring the government's errors and Sarkozy's record low popularity," said Socialist spokesman Faouzi Lamdaoui in a statement.

UMP spokesman Frédéric Lefebvre maintained, however, all the ruling party wanted was a "neutral" press.

AFP, however, rejected claims that its neutrality was compromised, saying that nowhere was it written that the press must relay every governmental communication. According to the AFP, the last press release brought no new information to the case.

"Being a journalist requires you to make choices, and decide what's news and what isn't," said AFP president Pierre Louette.

Further fueling the fire, the controversy coincides with the agency's financial negotiations with the French state, which partially assures the continued solvency of AFP. Although constituted to be an independent agency, the reality is that the government's is AFP's biggest customer. The agency is currently asking for an additional 20 million euros in order to add multimedia offerings to its repertoire.

Sources: MediaChannel, Le Monde  
 

The "local focus" mantra that has spread to so many U.S. and U.K. newspapers is also alive and well at Latin American newspapers, albeit with a different game plan for success.

In the view of Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald, who attended a recent seminar for senior editors of leading Latin American dailies, the reasons for going hyperlocal are essentially the same across the board: to combat the pressures of the internet.

In the U.S., local news is seen as "the one franchise that differentiates newspapers from any other media pretenders." In this conception, in order to survive the digital era, newspapers can create multi-media hyperlocal ventures, tying together a social networking model with what they do best, print, to encourage "constant refreshment of the web site."    

The American local model, however, does not whole-heartedly encourage a two-way dialogue between residents and newspaper. Dialogue is important, yes, but not in the same way as in Latin America. There, it is the foundation of what makes local news successful; newspapers view "their local efforts as ways to imitate the Web's interactivity and its encouragement of self-expression."

"People want to narrate their stories," El Tiempo Editor in Chief Ernesto Cortes Fierro said. "People want to resolve their own problems. It is two-way content, and in a way it is a mutual rediscovery of the newspaper and the citizens."

Readers are an integral part of the Latin American local news model; efforts have ranged from including neighbor hood residents on the board (El Tiempo) to equipping citizen journalists with cameras to get footage during protests against President Hugo Chavez (Venezuelan daily El Nacional).

Source: Editor & Publisher 

Nearly half (46%) of internet users favor the creation of a voluntary code of conduct for bloggers and online commentators, shows a survey by legal firm DLA Piper.

Bloggers were fairly evenly split: 32% supported the application of a code reflecting laws on defamation, intellectual property and incitement, while 34% were opposed.   

According to Duncan Calow, a DLA Piper media law specialist, there is a "dangerous perception" among web users that user-generated content is "immune to the law." Three-quarters of users who had posted comments or blogged online were oblivious to libel law, while only 1 in 3 had actually read the terms and conditions of the sites they frequent.

"The combination of confusion and complacency about the relationship between the law and UGC puts users at risk as they come under increasing scrutiny online," Calow said.

Although some users will inevitably ignore the small print, online sites, newspapers included, should perhaps make the possible legal ramifications more visible. The other option is proactively fighting bad behavior by commentators.

Source: MediaGuardian 

Newly-elected London mayor Boris Johnson is halting publication of the The Londoner, the monthly promotional newspaper published by the Mayor's office.

Johnson described the decision as a move to cut "unnecessary funding," and has pledged to put the savings, up to  £1 million per year, towards planting trees in London's underprivileged areas, according to Press Gazette.

The paper is currently distributed to three million homes across Greater London.

Source: Press Gazette

It seems that pictures published by Le Monde on May 10 (left, click to enlarge), accompanying a story entitled "Hiroshima: what the world never saw," weren't authentic, the paper revealed yesterday.

The pictures were likely to have been taken after the 1923 earthquake that devastated the Kanto plains near Tokyo.

"Why did Le Monde give credit to these pictures,"  asks Sylvain Cypel, from Le Monde, in yesterday's article.

The pictures had been unveiled and validated, on May 5, by the prestigious Hoover Institution of Stanford University, in the US. However, the paper wasn't able to reach the Hoover archivist prior to the initial publication of the pictures.

Three of the pictures had been used by US historian Sean Malloy in a book published in March, seemingly further validating their authenticity in the eyes of the journalists, who spoke to Malloy. However, neither Malloy, Le monde nor the Hoover Institution contacted the referential Hiroshima Memorial to validate the pictures.

And since then, emails from Japan and expert opinions point to the fact that at least some of the pictures aren't authentic.

Should Le Monde have published the pictures based on the supposed reputation of other institutions? Did the journalists gather sufficient evidence prior to the article's publication? The Hoover Foundation was to soon issue its statement.

What do you think?

UPDATE: In its statement to Le Monde, the Hoover Institution rejected any responsibility in the validation of the pictures, claiming the pictures weren't present on their website and that it was Malloy who chose to use them as such in his book. 

Source: Le Monde (link in French) - picture on LeMonde.fr from the Hoover Institution Archives and Capp Collection

Another newspaper catches on to the new media and social networks bandwagon: the San Diego Union-Tribune has launched a social networking platform dubbed sdBackyard.com.

Users can perform all the basic functions, including creating profiles, sharing with friends, uploading multimedia content and creating blogs.

However, unlike many previous newspaper experiments with social networks, the site seems to have thought of two key aspects:
- how to use the user-generated content within editorial packages
- how to make advertising revenues from this venture

The community print publications, which will compile content submitted by users, will be distributed on Fridays by home delivery (along with the daily). They will also be available for free at some retail outlets starting in June.

Users of the social network are required to register according to geographic location, which helps to put them automatically in touch with locally relevant content - and to serve them with targeted advertising.

"The unique geographic targeting allows small businesses, nonprofit organizations, clubs, and other community groups opportunities to promote themselves in print and online," said George Bonaros, marketing director for the Union-Tribune.

Source: Editor & Publisher

Broadcaster Fox Chicago launched LiveNewsCameras, currently in beta version, a site that attempts to collect, organize and feature a maximum of live video streams from news sites in the US and abroad.

"LiveNewsCameras.com brings together the resources of journalists around the world and makes live streaming video easy to find and use on your computer," says the site in its 'About' section.

The site's sources are mostly US-based so far, but it aims to gain international reach, already including feeds from broadcasters such as BBC World and Al Jazeera.

The site's editors are currently seeking newspapers sites that stream live video to link back to them on LiveNewsCameras.

For more information, you can also view a video by G4 here.

If you would be interested in experimenting with this, feel free to get in touch with us or with them.

Source: LiveNewsCameras

Today, The Liverpool Daily Post is giving its online readers a unique chance to peek into the paper's editorial process.

The Post will be running a live blog throughout the whole day, until next morning's edition goes the presses.

Thanks to technology from Bambuser and Qik, the Post's journalists will stream video of themselves via their mobile phones, as they conduct interviews or work in the office.

The day's main editorial conference was also streamed online.

Readers of the live blog can submit ideas for stories and questions for journalists, about editorial decisions, design and more, both for the print and online editions.

"The success of the live blog during our local election coverage proved that our readers enjoy being a part of the newsgathering process, asking questions and sharing information," said Mark Thomas, Liverpool Daily Post editor.

"Now we want to take this a stage further and invite people to get involved in the production of their newspaper."

Congratulations to the Post for this innovative way of engaging the audience in the news process and behind the scenes.

Go take a look!

Source: journalism.co.uk

Bloomberg L.P., the financial data conglomerate, announced this week that Norman Pearlstine, former top editor of Time Inc. and The Wall Street Journal, will be joining Bloomberg in the new position of chief content officer.

Founded by New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg L.P.'s primary business is selling data terminals. Of the company's 2007 revenue of $5.4 billion, 87 percent came from selling financial data, according to Inside Market Data, a trade publication.

"They're not fundamentally a journalistic organization," said Paul Steiger, who previously served as managing editor of The Journal, where he was a colleague of Pearlstine. "It's about the machine. The journalism promotes the machine."

But as data terminal sales have leveled with the slowing economy, Bloomberg seems poised to grow its media ventures. Steiger predicts that Pearlstine would "harness" the journalistic talent already available azt Bloomberg.

The company's editorial staff has nearly doubled since 2001, from 1,200 employees to 2,300; Bloomberg TV recently updated its look to appeal to a greater audience; and Bloomberg Markets was honored this year for the first time as a finalist for the National Magazine Award, for their coverage of the subprime mortgage crisis.



Source: Posting written by Sarah Schewe - New York Times

Political newspaper and news site Politico has partnered Yahoo and will carry today the first-ever video interview of George W.Bush exclusively for an online audience.

Start political reporter Mike Allen, now at the Politico, will conduct the interview.

"It's the first time he (Bush) has granted an interview exclusively for an online audience," said Tony Fratto, deputy assistant to United States President George W. Bush and deputy press secretary.

"This interview is a natural progression in political news coverage, mirroring the change in the habits of Americans, who are increasingly turning online for their news," said Alan Warms, vice president and general manager, Yahoo! News.

Without a doubt, this interview is representative of a major shift in the habits of the audience and the credibility that is given to the Internet as a platform of distribution.

Last September, Yahoo! News had teamed with the Huffington Post to host the first-ever online presidential debate. In February, Yahoo and Politico had already partnered to conduct video interview with GOP candidates before Super Tuesday.

It seems both parties have benefited from this agreement: Yahoo! News is the most-visited overall online website, Politico can offer very in-depth and reactive political coverage.

Source: Politico.com - MediaChannel