Results matching “facing governme”

The latest issue of Courrier International to hit French newsstands gathers translated newspaper articles themed on the uncertain future of the press. From Washington, in a lengthy set of extracts from the New Republic, Paul Starr makes three strong cases for why democracy will be endangered without a newspaper. He hints that American democracy may already have been slighted seeing that national, regional and local newspapers are dwindling in terms of content they can run since printing costs have caused them to scale back on the numbers of pages they print.

He opens his debate by lamenting the fact that Americans have taken [American] journalism (in the form of a printed newspaper) for granted as newspapers have been such an ''integral part of daily life in America, so central to politics and culture and business, and so powerful and profitable in their own right, that it is easy to forget what a remarkable historical invention they are.''

According to the Press Gazette, the Scottish government is set to back an initiative aimed at boosting newspaper readership among the young.

The proposed scheme was first suggested by the Menzies Group, a newspaper distributer, who contacted Scotland's enterprise minister, Jim Mather, with the idea. While the group is still waiting on a response, it is expected that the government is likely to react favourably.

Last Wednesday, May 6, the US Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing to review the plight of the newspaper industry, to better understand new media and the new model emerging, and to assess the role that government should play in the media as it evolves. The Future of Journalism hearing was presided over by Subcommittee chair Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who called the hearing in response to the threatened closure of his local paper, the Boston Globe, and the troubles facing newspapers across the country as advertising and circulation decline and the Internet replaces traditional media.

In his opening statement, Kerry says the committee has met to discuss not only the jolting condition of the newspaper, but also its implications for the future of journalism and the country. He believes it is important to "preserve the core society function served by independent and diverse media" and questions whether online journalism will "sustain the values of professional journalism the way the newspaper industry has." The committee invited five prominent representatives of various types of media to express their views about the Future of Journalism and offer their solutions.

"Why is the government interested?" asks Kerry. "We do have a responsibility for the licensing of broadcast. We have a responsibility for the regulatory oversight of ownership of cable, satellite, other issues with respect to communications; and needless to say, how the American people get their information--what the structure of ownership is--is of enormous interest to all of us because it is the foundation of our democracy." Is there even any government role at all, he wonders, or is this simply a normal transition in the marketplace?

Considering the nonprofit model

Before it heard from the media representatives, Maryland Senator Ben Cardin spoke to the committee about his Newspaper Revitalization Act, which proposes a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status for newspapers. Cardin stresses that online journalism does not supply the in-depth reporting and investigative journalism provided by traditional newsrooms that are essential to a free and democratic society. His bill would provide an opportunity for local supporters--whether individuals, foundations, or educational institutions--to come together to preserve their community newspaper.

The major criticism of Cardin's bill is that it could threaten a newspaper's freedom of speech: 501(c)(3) status allows editorializing but prohibits a paper from endorsing political candidates. The independence of journalism from government is crucial to its role as watchdog, and it is undesirable for a newspaper to have the government involved in judging its content. However, in their addresses to the Committee, both Steve Coll, former managing editor of the Washington Post, and former newspaperman David Simon, say that while they seriously oppose government interference in newspapers, they are intrigued by the nonprofit model.

Newsrooms provide an important public service, so why shouldn't the government give them the tax exempt benefit of becoming non-profits? After all, the danger of government interference in content could be exaggerated. Any single politician or political party attempting to manipulate a publication would be immediately exposed through other media outlets, and the threat is not much greater than private ownership where powerful investors might maneuver the paper to serve their own interests. Nonetheless, the greatest issue faced by nonprofit newspapers and their investors will be where to draw the line between endorsing and editorializing. If a newspaper's responsibility is to provide the public with unbiased information, then blatant political endorsements seem in violation of that role anyway, but nonprofit status could limit criticism and commentary on politicians and legislation that might reduce the media's role as watchdog.

As Coll and Alberto Ibargüen, President of the Knight Foundation, point out, nonprofit is not a universal remedy nor will it solve newspapers' profit problems. The initiative could be viewed less as a savior of the newspaper entity and more as a bridge to preserve local journalism during a transitional period. Ibarguen says that relieving profit pressures with nonprofit status might help newspapers "extend their useful life until we figure out what's next and what online model can afford professional journalism."

Relaxing antitrust could help publishers charge for online content

The other great appeal for government intervention in newspapers has been the request for changes to media ownership and antitrust policy. Last month the Justice Department rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's request to change the boundaries of media antitrust to include all media in a geographic area--including radio, TV, and newspapers--when deciding whether a sale is anticompetitive.

Pelosi's antitrust proposal raised obvious criticism about the independence of newspapers and consolidation of ownership. However, at the Senate hearing, Simon and James Moroney, publisher and CEO of the Dallas Morning News, approached antitrust from a different angle: they urged the Committee to give newspapers an antitrust exemption so that industry leaders could convene to discuss copyrighting from aggregators and charging for content online.

Unable to foresee the digital future, at the advent of the Internet newspaper publishers made the mistake of offering content free online. Now readers are accessing that content for free, not through the publisher's site, but through aggregators like Google News, which also does not pay publishers for content. Marissa Mayer, vice president of Search Products and User Experience at Google Inc., defends Google to the committee, calling it a "conduit" for journalism that provides a free service to online newspapers by driving traffic to their sites.

However, Simon and Moroney argue that aggregators do not provide adequate compensation for the revenue generated from publishers' original content. They contend that as of now, the profits publishers make from online advertising are not enough to sustain the quality journalism newsrooms have been providing. There must be an industry wide initiative to charge for content online, says Simon, as no individual can swim against the tide. According to Moroney, under the current antitrust laws, publishers cannot even begin to have a conversation about possibilities for pricing or charging aggregators.

If the government does relax antitrust to allow for this industry wide "conversation," it could possibly lead to major publications placing a pay wall around content, charging users and aggregators, but does such a pay wall threaten the free market? One of the virtues of the Internet is the accessibility of information, so where do pay walls and content hoarding fit in? A generation of Internet users already views information as a free commodity, and charging online users for content will significantly reduce traffic, which will in turn reduce advertising revenue. Even if industry leaders can convene and discuss, they still might find themselves at a loss for a viable solution.

Experimentation and innovation rather than government intervention

The hearing's last speaker, Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, opposed antitrust exemptions, paywalls, or really any government intervention. In fact, she countered some speaker's doom and gloom position with the opening statement, "Journalism will not only survive, it will thrive." Her main point is that the industry has changed and moved forward and there is no going back.

Huffington says, "The future is to be found elsewhere: it's a linked economy, it's search engines, it's online advertising, it's citizen journalism, and the foundations supporting investigative journalism. That's where the future is, and if you can't find your way to that, then you just can't find your way."

Ibargüen, Mayer, and Huffington all support embracing new media and encouraging experimentation and business models that promote digital possibilities. For Ibargüen that means providing universal, affordable digital action and adoption in the US and more inclusive public media that reaches every American. Neither he nor Huffington mourn the decline of investigative journalism, and both praise the efforts of nonprofits like ProPublica and the Knight Foundation supported Voices of San Diego for providing quality journalism outside the traditional newsroom.

According to Mayer, "The structure of the web has caused the basic unit--the atom of consumption--to migrate from the newspaper to the individual article," and because of the Web's ability to operate in real time, this allows for "living" instead of "static" stories that are constantly changed and updated like Wikipedia or the New York Times' "Times Topics." These changes to the way information is viewed, insist Mayer and Huffington, mean a different approach to monetization is necessary, which requires innovation and creativity. The solution for newspaper publishers is not to appeal to the government for a handout to preserve the old ways, but to adapt quickly and direct their time and resources into experimenting with the monetization of traffic through advertising.

What will the Senate decide?

Despite Kerry and Cardin's concern for the American newspaper, more than one of the subcommittee's senators held up a Blackberry during the hearing, proving themselves a part of the new digital audience. The general consensus of both the senators and media representatives seemed to be that their priority is not to save newspapers but to promote policies that sustain journalism.

How enlightening were the testimonies of the media representatives? Though certainly thorough in unveiling all the problems facing the media today, they failed to provide the government with a cure-all solution as to how it should proceed.

It seems fairly likely that the Senate could pursue the nonprofit solution as it seems basically harmless and might help some local newspapers stay on their feet at least long enough to find another answer. Relaxing antitrust could prove more risky, giving industry leaders the occasion to consolidate prices and possibly restrict information in a move that could prove more harmful than helpful to their own purpose.

The testimonies may have encouraged the Senate to do nothing at all for the newspaper but instead to accept that the audience and the market is evolving and no legislation can hold it back. If this is the case, then publishers will be faced with only one choice: innovate or fail. Instead of resisting change, they must get a grasp on technology and the new audience, paying attention to the success of others, then find ways to provide creative content and advertising solutions. As a few of the speakers said, this is still a transitional period for old media and new media, and there is still immense possibility for originality and advances. Though certain publications might lament their own fate, it is too early to be mourning the future of journalism.  

The BBC is to unveil proposals tomorrow for a deal with local news providers that would see the national broadcaster share resources with newspapers, TV and radio stations. The suggestions will be outlined at an industry summit hosted by UK culture secretary Andy Burnham on Tuesday, which had been arranged to discuss ways to assist local papers, which have been heavily hit by the fall in advertising revenue.

BBC proposals include giving local papers free access to video content for their websites, allowing them access to its college of journalism, sharing audio content with community and local radio reporters, and making its iPlayer technology available to rivals so that they can build their own video-rich websites, reported the Guardian.

Free Press founders John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney propose a solution to the demise of the American newspaper: give all Americans an annual tax credit for the first $200 they spend on daily newspapers. According to their plan, newspaper dailies would be required to publish at least five times per week and maintain a substantial length with less than 50 percent advertising. They maintain that this way the government pays for citizens to receive a free daily newspaper subscription, but the taxpayer is allowed to pick which paper.

In an article for the Nation, Nichols and McChesney outline the importance of the printed newspaper in maintaining democracy and examine the problems facing the newspaper industry. They believe the death of the newspaper would mean the loss of independent scrutiny of the government and politicians and also of public accountability for their policy and actions. Yet, Nichols and McChesney support government intervention as necessary for the preservation of its own watchdog.

"Democracy can't exist without newspapers" was the headline of former Scotsman editor Tim Luckhurst's article in the Independent on Monday. He was writing about the declining fortunes of two of Scotland's biggest national papers; the Herald and the Scotsman. Luckhurst charts the decline of the newspaper for which he "once hired foreign correspondents from Washington DC to Beijing", but "is now a parochial rag with meagre claim to influence in Edinburgh". He cites the 9.18% drop in the Scotsman's sales in the year ending January 2009, and a parallel figure of 9.7% for the Herald.

Many London based newspapers print Scottish editions, but "until recently Scottish newspapers were the only titles published outside London that could possibly claim national status." To survive, they had to cover Scotland better than their rivals, and cover world news to the same level as their London based competitors. However, recent spates of redundancies and a "brain drain" of talented journalists migrating from Scottish newspapers to their London counterparts has left the editorial quality of these two Scottish newspapers somewhat depleted.

The chief executive of media research firm Enders Analysis is calling on the UK government to relax the competition rules to allow media companies to diversify and survive, according to Press Gazette.

Claire Enders predicts "catastrophic" results if something is not done.  In five years, a third of the country's newspapers, two national newspapers and half the jobs of the regional media will be gone. 

"Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom"  is a conference organized by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and a coalition of leading press freedom groups, held on April 18-19 in Maison de la Chimie in Paris to raise the consciousness of the journalistic community, especially sports journalists, to the press freedom conditions they should expect to encounter in China.

A Chinese journalist jailed for her reporting told the conference today that press freedom and human rights have worsened in China and that conditions for journalists in the run-up to the Olympics are "considerably more catastrophic" than they were when she was arrested 15
years ago.

"Freedom of the press and human rights constitute the most serious problem currently facing China," said Gao Yu, who was arrested in 1993 and sentenced to six years in prison for sending two articles on current affairs to a Hong Kong review. She was charged with "divulging state secrets", a catch-all charge often used by Chinese authorities to stifle independent reporting and dissent.

Her arrest came weeks after China's failed bid to host the 2000 Olympics. It was her second jail term; she had previously served a 15-month sentence in 1989 for her coverage of the Beijing democracy movement.

She compared her case to that of Hu Jia, a human rights campaigner and citizen journalist who was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month. "As the Olympic Games approach, this case demonstrates in a terribly emblematic fashion the position of the Communist Party in confrontation with freedom of expression," she said. "It also shows the riposte of the Chinese authorities to the demands of the international community."

Despite promises of reform made ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities have not only failed to respect them, but they have intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression. Foreign journalists now reporting from China in the run up to the Olympics are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet. This violates the Organising Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games pledge that foreign media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China".

Ms Gao, the 1995 laureate of the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom and the first laureate, in 1997, of UNESCO's World Press Freedom Prize, said:  "At the approach of the Olympic Games, all Chinese who have suffered oppression hope to be able to utilise the occasion to seek justice; the international community hopes that the Chinese government will improve the situation of the press and human rights in line with the promise made in 2001.

"But the Chinese authorities see these internal and external pressures as 'politisation of the Olympic Games. Unhappily, counterattacking against these criticisms by repressing the freedom of the press only underlines this contradiction."

"The experience of China and the Olympics is, in fact, yet one more example of the terrible naivety and short-sightedness of those in leadership of our governments, our sports organisations and our businesses as they deal with repressive regimes like the one in place in Beijing," said Timothy Balding, CEO of WAN, who opened the session featuring Ms Gao.

"History, if nothing else, amply demonstrates that dictators do not voluntarily and spontaneously give up power, do not loosen the chains, do not remove the gags, after sudden illumination and conversion to belief in freedom and other human rights. They do so when they are forced to, generally through a combination of intense internal opposition and dissent," he said.

The full program can be found at here.

For more information on WAN's international campaign, in the run-up to the Olympics, to hold China to the promises it made in its successful Olympic bid to improve the press freedom and human rights conditions in the country, please go here.

Source: WAN

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee, to call on Chinese authorities to honour their Olympic pledges to respect press freedom and the right of journalists to cover events.

In a letter to Rogge, who will go to Beijing next week, WAN and WEF said: "The government crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression has intensified in recent months. At least 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are currently held in Chinese prisons for peacefully expressing their views.

The letter asked Rogge to help ensure that China honour the pledge it made in its successful Olympic bid to allow foreign media "complete freedom to report when they come to China."

Rogge said last week he was conducting "silent diplomacy" with the Chinese government, which is facing growing protests over its repressive policies in the run-up to the Olympics.
"We also ask that your 'silent diplomacy' becomes voluble and public if the Chinese government does not immediately release from jail all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression", said the letter from WAN and WEF.

WAN has also written directly to the CEOs of 12 major Olympic sponsors asking them "to express your strong moral opposition to the repression of basic human rights in China and, in particular, the daily violation of all acceptable standards for freedom of expression."
 
Full details of the WAN campaign for press freedom in China, including a conference in Paris on 18 and 19 April with a coalition of press freedom groups, an advertising campaign and a letter-writing initiative, can be found here.

Source: WAN

According to a poll conducted for the BBC World Service, 56% of the 11,344 people interviewed in 14 countries thought that freedom of the press was very important to ensure a free society. But 40% said it was more important to maintain social harmony and peace, even if it meant curbing the press's freedom to report news truthfully.

Cry havoc and let slip the blogs of war (or, sense and nonsense about citizen journalism).

Saturday Editor of The Times and World Editors Forum President George Brock writes about the burgeoning field of citizen journalism, deeming that the term is a "misnomer". Despite the potential of the phenomenon to change the media landscape, when it comes down to it, all publications will be judged on the level of trust the audience has in them.

News Dissector Danny Schechter and friends at MediaChannel.org are extending their scrutiny of the media to Europe. The media and democracy activists who watchdog American news outlets and government will join forces with US/Swiss journalist Mark Stenzler to launch a Geneva-based European initiative.

The example of the Minivan newspaper shows the difficulties independent newspapers are facing in countries where the situation of press freedom is critical.

In July 2005, after having waited for over one year, Minivan has been granted a license to print newspapers in the Maldives. A daily newspaper called Minivan and a weekly newspaper called Vagutu have been registered. The company already runs a radio station and web sites from abroad. Already then the website Minivannews.com was citing an industry insider saying, "The government may well allow lots of newspapers to register but those that do – and are critical of the government – will find themselves constantly in court with huge fines. It’s a subtle way to censor the press whilst projecting to the international community that you have press freedom because all these newspapers are granted licenses."  

Following the election of conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, times for Iran's press - that has been struggling with financial and political pressure since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 - seem even harder than before.

According to the BBC reformist papers that had just been launched were shut down after only a few editions and reformist journalists have been jailed. On the other hand the 30 daily newspapers (number according to official statistics) are also facing a decline in readership as more people move to the internet to get their news. The BBC reports: "Newspapers in Iran now face a number of major challenges. They are under pressure from their readers to be more open, while the government insists that they should not step out of line."

Source: BBC(through Mediachannel)

Here's some more news about what's happening at The First Middle East Publishing Conference in Dubai.

Here's some more news about what's happening at The First Middle East Publishing Conference in Dubai.

According to Afrol news, "Despite ten years of peace and stability, an economic boom and relatively consolidated democratic values, Mozambique's media are still struggling to gain a proper foothold. In particular the independent press, facing tough competition from subsidised state media, still suffer from lack of capital and management expertise. Mozambique's almost 19 million inhabitants have access to a total of ten publications, of which only two are published daily. None of these two are privately owned and the independent press only manages to distribute nation-wide through costly fax services. According to a recent report by the government-owned Sociedade de Noticias, the main daily newspaper in the country, 'Noticias', has a circulation of around 13,000 copies. The other daily in Mozambique, the 'Diario de Moçambique', which is published in the central city of Beira, has a print-run of 5,000. The Panafrican media network, 'RAP 21', spoke to Fernando Lima, chairman of the privately-owned MediaCoop Group in Mozambique. "In Mozambique, 'fax publications' are very popular. A couple of computers, some phone lines, a modem, and you are in business. Usually these dailies have four A4 format pages, including advertisement," says Mr Lima."

Press executives from across Central Asian came together in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Monday for a World Association of Newspapers' conference aimed to provide practical solutions to the many problems facing independent media in the region. Fifty publishers and journalists from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia were joined by speakers from Serbia, France, Denmark, Canada, Finland and the United States in an effort to find ways to combat the obstacles that are hindering independent media development in the region -- restrictive press laws, poor infrastructure and the absence of professional organisations among them. Participants in the event, called "Media in Danger/Media in Transition", said there was a greater need for solidarity in the region and common actions to aid media and journalists in danger. They also emphasized the need for international support to pressure their governments, citing the success of international pressure in preventing the approval of a new media law in Kazakhstan in March. In addition to combating the well-known problems, several speakers warned against an over-reliance on donations, which might be hindering the commercial success of newspapers in the region.

Source: World Association of Newspapers (see press releases section) or contact Larry Kilman, WAN director of communications

Dan Kennedy writes in the Boston Phoenix: "The question of whether reporters have a legal right to protect their confidential sources has been with us for at least a generation (in the US). By one estimate, some 18 reporters have spent time behind bars during the past dozen years for refusing to name sources or provide information they had obtained in confidence. Rarely, though, has the issue been as prominent as it is right now... Time magazine’s Matthew Cooper has refused to identify his confidential sources to Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor trying to find out who exposed undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. The upshot: Cooper faces jail, and his employer a hefty fine. The New York Times and the Washington Post have been dragged into this as well...

Maybe the first good news in Algeria since the Bouteflika re-election... According to Reuters, "The Algerian Government has held rare talks with dozens of independent newspaper editors to try to end a long-running feud, only a day after another editor was jailed for slandering an official. Relations between President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the north African country's leading national dailies hit new lows this month after the imprisonment of several journalists... Until now the Government has refused any discussions with the media but diplomats said Sunday's discussions suggest it may be feeling pressure from critics abroad as Algeria re-enters the international community after years of isolation."

Source: Reuters via ABC. See also our former posting.