Results matching “italy one in th”

The date has been set for the release of Apple's iPad in the US: the first Wi-Fi only version will be shipped on 3 April, slightly later than the time period that was initially specified, possibly due to manufacturing difficulties. The 3G-enabled product will launch at the end of April, and both will become available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that Sony is planning to take on Apple with a new line of handheld products. One of these is a portable device that "shares characteristics of netbooks, electronic-book readers and handheld-game machines." It sounds just like the iPad, and the WSJ reported that unnamed sources said that it is intended as a competitor. 

A Facebook group in Italy entitled "the dignity of journalists and the respect of citizens" and created on the evening of Saturday 27 February to protest an incorrect statement made by a journalist on the TG1 news programme the previous day has attracted almost 140,000 members in a few days.

The journalist's "false information" was that David Mills, the British lawyer involved in a legal battle for allegedly accepting a bribe from Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, had been acquitted. In fact, the case had been thrown out of a Milan court under Italy's statute of limitations because too much time had elapsed since the alleged crime. Mills was ordered to pay €250,000 to the Italian state for damaging its image, the Times reported.  A related corruption case against Berlusconi himself is likely to be thrown out also. 

Carlo de Benedetti, president of Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso, whose publications include the daily newspaper La Repubblica and weekly magazine L'espresso, spoke in Paris about his support for paid content online and his belief that both Google and Internet providers should be pushed to share income with content producers.

De Benedetti gave a speech at SciencesPo university entitled "Internet and newspapers: the voice of democracy against populism," in which he outlined his belief that the Internet is crucial for spreading information more widely and is a force to be reckoned with, but that this does come with definite risks to democracy.

In terms of democracy, the fact that the Internet gives a clear platform to public opinion and allows any citizen to contribute to this, constitutes "extraordinary progress," De Benedetti said. However, there are serious dangers that accompany such a transformation, said De Benedetti, as such a system also gives a voice to the uninformed and the demagogues.

The importance of newspapers over other media

The vast abundance of information available online (although in many ways welcome) also leads to a complete lack of hierarchy of information. The fundamental role of newspapers, to organize and analyse the public debate, is threatened by this 'open-source' landscape.

Expanding on the importance of newspapers to a democracy, De Benedetti explained how unlike Internet or television, newspapers are capable of offering their readers not only information but the structure and context to allow them to come to their own conclusions on issues and events.

De Benedetti expressed concern and criticism about the state of television in Italy: as prime minister Silvio Berlusconi owns or controls a significant number of channels, and "commercial television imposes a kind of cultural hegemony." A citizen who stays informed only via television is weaker, he maintained, However, as De Benedetti noted, "television is already last century. It will continue to exist, but as a part of the Internet."

He does not believe that the Internet will soon replace newspapers, but suggests that newspapers can retain their traditional role as the "sherpas of information" on the Internet. "The presence of islands of quality news in the ocean of fragments of information... is absolutely necessary," he said.

Paid online content

De Benedetti is a strong supporter of paid online content. Consumers need to pay for news, he argued. Without the readers who were paying €1 each day for the print copy of La Repubblica, the paper would not have been able to carry out its ten questions to Berlusconi campaign, to which the prime minister eventually responded in November, hence proving its validity, De Benedetti said. "News that is free is worth nothing," he said: if you want your content to be valued you have to charge for it.

He admitted that what people require from a newspaper is changing, and that newspapers must embrace these changes and adapt their offering. "Now news is a commodity. You don't buy a paper to learnt what has happened: rather to understand why it has happened."

 "The news that goes deeper, that explains clearly, that verifies sources and adds context, is news that costs and as such, must be protected... whether on paper or on the web, on television or on the radio," De Benedetti said. Although the web has allowed newspapers to reach a large number of readers, continuing to offer news free of charge will soon "annihilate" daily newspapers and all quality news, he maintains. "Anybody can understand that paying for a good product is reasonable, even if it is online."

However, to make online content work, payment must be simple, De Benedetti stressed, something like Apple's iTunes. "Simplicity and 'automisation' of payment is absolutely key," he said. Journalism Online's Press+ has potential, he believes, as "it is difficult to imagine that consumers will willingly purchase content from multiple publishers who all use different platforms," and Journalism Online is offering a single payment system.

Charging online might have to be a gradual process, he explained, first involving making users pay for content that is not currently available online, and for content that is specially created for this aim, "if possible exclusive and elite."

Contributions from search engines...

Publishers should take a strong stance against search engines, De Benedetti suggested. "Google cannot exploit the content created by others without giving anything in return," he argued. "Aggregators do not respect the rules which protect intellectual property rights."

He pointed to the UK's Newspaper Licensing Agency's scheme as something which could serve as a model for the industry regarding obtaining proper compensation for copyrighted content. The NLA works on behalf of the UK's newspapers and licenses businesses organisations to make paper and digital copies of newspaper content, its website explains. The collected fees are distributed to the publishers.

... and internet service providers

It's not just Google who should have to share revenue with publishers, believes De Benedetti, but also internet service providers, who he said "continue to exploit - just like the search engines - the traffic generated by quality news content." Paradoxically, he added, "the more content that is free, the more the revenue of internet operators increases, and the more that of the publishers who created this content decreases." Publishers must seek to persuade telecom companies to share some of their revenue linked to Internet access.

De Benedetti's views on the necessity for paid online content seem clearly in line with those of several other publishers as charging consumers online seems to be becoming an increasingly more attractive and feasible option, as the New York Times and other smaller newspapers jump on board.. L'Espresso group's star newspaper, La Repubblica, currently offers free online access, however, charging only for e-editions and archives. The paper just started to charge for its iPhone application, offering subscriptions for €4.99 per month or €44.99 per year.

His interest in coming to some kind of revenue sharing agreement with search engines and aggregators is also something which is shared by other publishers, some of whom are demanding more control over their content. As De Benedetti noted, Google has recently been presenting a more conciliatory face to publishers, by making its 'First Click Free' scheme more flexible, for example. The Internet giant also offers newspapers a revenue-sharing opportunity on Google News in the form of Fast Flip, and more user-friendly ways to display news, such as Living Stories or Timeline. But it seems unlikely that the company is planning to offer any direct cut of its main ad revenue to publishers in the near future.

Suggesting that ISPs also have an obligation to pay content providers appears more controversial, but it is an idea that has arisen before. Last year in France Laurent Joffrin, editor of Libération, suggested a kind of tax on ISPs which would then be distributed to content producers. The UK National Union of Journalists proposed a similar measure to support public service broadcasting in April 2009. Such legislation would be likely to face significant opposition, however.

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The future of Twitter is mobile phone applications, says Jean-Sébastien Cruz, CEO of Netco Sports, France, speaking at the WAN-IFRA conference 'Using sports news to optimise your revenues'.

He points to some important trends in the areas of social networking and mobile applications. Newspapers that create pages on Twitter find themselves on the same level as any user, he says. The iPhone has the fastest penetration we've seen, and is rapidly changing the way we use the web, pressing buttons rather than using URLs. The Apple tablet is coming soon. Apple makes payment easy through the centralised App store, and provides a robust software development kit. And sports apps make up a substantial part of the massive growth in app downloads.

So what is NetCo Sports' strategy? Their objective is to have 2500 apps in 15 sports worldwide by 2012. They have created 200 iPhone apps in the field of sport so far, and their first was launched in 2008. Each one is available in five languages, and recognises the language of the phone automatically. A search for football in the Apple store brings up their Football 10 app. He calls this an encouragement to arrive quickly and be present early. His company has a 25% market share in France, with 30 million pages read through their mobile apps. Canal+ is their advertising partner, and receives traffic and visibility from the arrangement.

Sports betting is a very fashionable topic, says Christian Kalb, the founder of CK Consulting, France, speaking at the WAN-IFRA conference 'Using sports news to optimise your revenues'. Sports have always hoped to benefit from new sources of revenue and sports betting is one opportunity to do so, he adds.

He points out that gaming revenue, the total amount of money that people have bet, is not all profit. Gaming operators have to pay taxes, and these vary widely between countries. When this is taken into account, total sports gaming revenue is around €400-500 million globally.

Today, thanks to the internet, there are no borders, he says. People can gamble in a more interactive way with more forms of betting, including live betting, which enables bets to be placed even after the game starts. The number one target is young urban active males, a little more affluent than others and more likely to bet. Even in the most evolved markets, though, gaming operators can reach no more than 13-14% of the population. Only one country is higher - Finland at 20-30%.

Sales of the Amazon Kindle e-reader will double again this year, and again in 2012, after already doubling last year, if predictions by the Consumer Electronics Association prove to be true.

E-readers have been in the spotlight lately. Hearst Corp. unveiled their new e-reader, the Skiff Reader, this week. Other companies are expected to launch e-readers during the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And Apple is expected to launch a tablet computer, which would also function as an e-reader, in the near future.

On Tuesday social networking site Facebook announced that it is to monitor all content regarding Silvio Berlusconi posted to its site, in light of the attack on the Italian Prime Minister earlier this week, the New York Times reported. 20 percent of the population in Italy have Facebook accounts. 

France's Le Figaro is to launch the New York Times supplement the Times International Weekly, taking over from national daily Le Monde, which recently cut the liftout in order to save costs.

Le Monde intitated the agreement with the Times out of a desire to have more international information following the September 11 attacks and has published the supplement every Saturday in English since April 2002.

A new study carried out by the Boston Consulting Group has found that 48 percent of regular internet users in the United States would be prepared to pay for their online news; a considerably lower figure than many other Western countries, the New York Times has reported.  In several European countries, more than 60 percent said they would pay for online content, although the American result tied with Britain for the lowest figure among nine countries where Boston Consulting conducted their surveys.

The question as to how much they would be prepared to pay was also met with disparate results. Readers of online news in America and Australia claimed to be prepared to spend just $3 a month, whereas those in Italy averaged $7. The study also found that in every country, those willing to pay the most for news online were also those who already spend the most on staying up to date - regular newspaper readers.

A law passed in Argentina earlier this month placing limits on media ownership, has raised eyebrows over the motivations of the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, with many arguing she is attempting to restrict press freedom.

The legislation, which at its core prevents ownership of more than 35 per cent of cable and broadcast operations in a single market and requires the renewal of a license every two years, was declared a victory by Fernández for the 'democratization' of media. She said the measure would free up the airwaves and offer a platform for non- profit groups, universities and the government to express themselves.

The European Parliament narrowly dismissed a resolution to rebuke Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi over media freedom in Italy, just as a Reporters Without Borders report noted that press freedom in several European countries, including Italy, has suffered dramatically in the past year.

The issue of press freedom in Italy was debated at the European Parliament plenary session in Brussels on 7-8 October, after some MEPs expressed concern over what they see as a climate of media intimidation due to the prime minister's control over large sections of the media. The resolution that was brought before the parliament yesterday aimed to get the EU's executive commission and fundamental rights agency to launch probes into media ownership and control, according to the Associated Press. It was backed by Liberals, Socialists, Greens and Communists, but opposed by conservatives in the assembly's largest group, the European People's Party. Many viewed it as an attempt to interfere in national politics. The final vote was 338 for, 338 against. 

Italian tourism minister Michela Vittoria Brambilla has announced a plan to improve Italy's image worldwide, which will include establishing a task force that will monitor the foreign press and then "bombard" it with positive news, she told Corriere della Sera. Stories of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's legal problems and sex life have dominated foreign coverage of Italy in recent months.

The new task force, which will be ready by the end of the month, will consist of "young journalists and communication experts, with an average maximum age of thirty." They will be charged with "monitoring all the foreign press, dailies, periodicals and TV, in every part of the world, from Japan to Peru." Then they will be required to "bombard these newsrooms with truthful and positive communications," that will teach them about the "real, generous, brave Italy," as well as highlighting government initiatives when relevant. 

The European Parliament debated the issue of freedom of information in Italy at the 7-8 October plenary session in Brussels, agreeing to vote on a resolution on the freedom of information at its session in Strasbourg on 19-22 October. Some MEPs had expressed concern over what they see as a climate of media intimidation due to the prime minister's control over large sections of the media, according to EUobserver.

Many MEPs expressed their belief that the issue was an Italian national issue and therefore not one for the European Parliament to deal with, according to a press release from the EP. Others believed that some kind of intervention was necessary. Belgian ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt said that act that three EU countries (the other two being Bulgaria and Romania) had been categorised by the organisation Freedom House as having only "partially free" media worried him and prompted him to call on the Commission to guarantee media pluralism. Patrick Le Hyaric (EUL/NGL) called for the creation of a European body to monitor press freedom. 

Ezio Mauro, the Italian editor whose newspaper is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi likens the situation to attacks on the American press during the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.
 
"Like the American journalists, our journalists were doing their work and were publishing information that had to be published," said Mr Mauro, Editor-in-chief of La Repubblica, speaking at a World Editors Forum conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
 
 "We are a democratic country, where citizens have the right to be informed, and it is the obligation and role of media to provide information," he said.
 
La Repubblica is being sued for defamation by Mr Berlusconi for repeatedly publishing 10 questions asking the Prime Minister to explain his extra-marital relationships and behaviour, the subjects of widely reported public scandals this year.  Several other newspapers and journalists have also come under attack by Mr Berlusconi and his supporters.
 
 "It is not only an attack on La Repubblica but on freedom of the press", said Mr Mauro.
 
"Is it right that, in Italy, you're a journalist and you criticise Mr Berlusconi even a little bit and you actually have to worry about your position and your future? That is a big problem in our every day life as journalists because that can make you self-censor information that you're going to write about."
 
Mr Mauro said repeatedly publishing the 10 questions was a legitimate journalistic action because Mr Berlusconi refused to answer them.
 
He also said Mr Berlusconi's private life was a legitimate subject of journalistic investigation because of its political implications, because Mr Berlusconi raised the subject himself, and because of questions that have been raised - by Mr Belusconi's wife among others - about his behaviour and his health.
 
"It could be said that Mr Berlusconi has an enormous talent for dismantling the wall between private and public life," said Mr Mauro. "Mr Berlusconi published a book with private photos and public photos included. He has turned attention to his private life corresponding with his public life, and its basis for the success of his career."
 
"But this has turned against him," Mr Mauro said. Mr Berlusconi has "become a prisoner of the macho personality he has built with his own hands."
 
Mr Mauro was the keynote speaker at the World Editor Forum's 2015 Newsroom Conference. Xavier Vidal-Folch, President of WEF and Deputy Director of El Pais in Spain, said: "It is not often that press freedom is under threat in the heart of Europe, where a government has forbidden the publication of information of public interest, even if it relates to the private life of a prime minister. This is the case of Italy."
 
La Repubblica has posted the 10 questions on its website, along with a petition in support of a free press.

More comments from Mr Mauro can be found here.
 

Italian newspaper La Repubblica has been sued by the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, for asking questions about his conduct which, the premier's lawyers claim, implicitly defame Berlusconi. The left-leaning daily started its campaign for answers to ten questions from the prime minister in May, when discrepancies started to emerge over his account of his relations with the now well-known 18 year-old Noemi Letizia, and the questions have evolved as rumours of scandals surrounding Berlusconi have developed.

La Repubblica editor Ezio Mauro declared in an editorial that "This is the first time that, in the memory of a free country, a politician takes a lawsuit because of questions that were asked of him." The paper is promoting a petition to protest the lawsuit, which it believes "can only be interpreted as an attempt to silence the free press." It has been signed by the FT's Lionel Barber, the Guardian's Alan Rusbridger, the Sunday Times' John Witherow and the Independent's Roger Alton, as well as Liberation's Laurent Joffrin, Javier Moreno at El Pais and Sueddeutsche Zeitung's Hans Werner Kilz. It has been reported, however, that no Italian editor is on the list.

In advance of his appearance at the WEF conference The 2015 Newsroom in Prague next week where he will be giving the keynote speech, Mauro gave the Editors Weblog an insight into his thoughts on the situation.

Editors Weblog: Berlusconi's well-known dominance of the broadcast sector of the media could undoubtedly be seen as a threat to press freedom. But until recent events, have newspapers managed to stay relatively free of his influence?

Ezio Mauro: The real anomaly is the control of the entire television universe, which is completely in the hands of the leader of a party and of the government, who controls three channels by ownership, and three by his political position. This allows for a continual adaption of the editorial landscape - eliminating inconvenient topics, or rendering them incomprehensible. For newspapers it is different, though the influence of the power of the government on the economic and financial establishment (which owns the newspapers) is very still strong. Whoever criticises the government is by definition isolated. Television channels do not launch investigations or questions. In this context, it is difficult for a type of true public opinion to form and grow that is both informed and aware.

EW: Do you think that there are more fundamental press freedom problems than Berlusconi himself in Italy?

EM: I am not talking about press freedom. I am talking about the right of citizens to know and understand, therefore to be informed: and of the duty of newspapers to inform. It is regarding this right and this duty that there are problems today.

EW: To a foreigner, Italian newspapers appear more ostensibly partisan than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. Do you think that is true, and if so do you think this could be one of the reasons they become vulnerable to political attack?

EM: Was the Washington Post partisan during the Watergate investigation? I believe that the lies and contradictions of those in power open a space that journalism must fill. My objectives are not political, but journalistic, even if we are a newspaper with a clear centre-left leaning. As there is now also a right-wing press, the pluralism of newspapers is wide. Then there are dailies and weeklies that by ownership are part of the Berlusconi world, that is, a system that puts together government, party, agenda and media. Again, something that is unheard of elsewhere in the Western world.

EW: With regards to the Feltri/Fini case: do you think the stance that Il Giornale is taking with regards to house speaker Fini's actions is appropriate for a newspaper?

EM: It is a case of character assassination, as everybody has said... This attack is a punishment and a warning, making us understand the risks we should not take. Journalism, as is evident, is nothing to do with it.

EW: Is there a fear that a type of self-censorship amongst journalists could arise as a result of the threat of prosecution?

The threat of multi-million euro lawsuits brought by the richest, most powerful man in the country certainly is a form of intimidation. But attention: much more intimidating is blackmail and threats of the political-journalistic 'kombinat' using 'dossiers', invented on anonymous pieces of paper (the Boffo case) maybe even the use of secret service bombs. A frightened power wants to spread the fear, and for this he uses his newspapers. But a question arises: can you govern a democracy in the heart of Europe in 2009 by substituting policy with 'dossiers', authoritativeness with intimidation, leadership with threats and blackmail?

EW: As well as the petition on your paper's website, what action does La Repubblica intend to take in the coming weeks to raise awareness of the situation?

EM: We will inform. Report the news. Ask questions. What journalists in 'normal' countries do.

EW: Have you come across or do you expect expressions of solidarity from other Italian or European newspapers?

EM: I have read expressions of solidarity and awareness of the Italian case on the part of editors of European newspapers, all the most important, even if I have not spoken with any of them (except the editors of El Pais and Liberation during a forum in Lyon last week). Nothing else.

EW: How has the conflict with the prime minister affected La Repubblica's readership?

EM: The number of readers has grown considerably in the last three or four months. Emails and letters have also been flooding in.

EW: Assuming that there is a press freedom problem in Italy, what steps do you think must be taken to resolve it?

EM: It is necessary to resolve the conflict of interest of the head of state, to free the television system from the influence of all parties, and to ask the government to respond to public opinion. He might be able to get away with not replying to a single newspaper, but to the problems that he raises, and to the questions, he must answer.

EW: Your paper is being sued by the prime minister. Do you think he will be successful?

EM: No, I don't believe so.  

Fabio Capello received private apologies from The News of the World and the Daily Mail, after both newspapers ran a series of photographs of the England football manager and his wife relaxing on a beach in Italy, the Guardian reported.

The photographs, which were clearly an invasion of privacy, also went against the manager's specific request for privacy via the Press Complaints Commission documented on 17 September. Three days later, the images appeared in The News of the World and the Daily Mail published similar photographs only one day thereafter.