A high official of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party is expected to take a top editorial position at the Izvestia newspaper, the chief editor said Thursday, denying it was a political nomination. "All the commentaries that claim it is a nomination ordered by United Russia are ridiculous," said Izvestia's editor-in-chief Vladimir Mamontov. He confirmed the expected nomination soon of United Russia's press
spokesman, Ilia Kissiliov, as deputy editor-in-chief.
Izvestia was taken over in June last year by the state-run gas giant Gazprom, reviving concerns about press freedom. Its subsidiary Gazprom Media has become the biggest media group in Russia in the past few years.
If you missed our
last posting, we argued that true amateurs will never be able to perform true journalism. Still, newspaper websites nowadays are doing everything in their power to integrate the interactive capabilities inherent to amateur blogging they once dismissed. But should they?
Murdoch’s group, NewsCorp is attacking British Broadcasting Corporation’s recent moves to gain younger audiences and revamp its website. Murdoch is accusing the BBC of building a “digital empire,” which would be paid for by taxpayer’s money and compete directly with commercial rivals.
Citizen journalism, a concept at which mainstream news organizations used to turn up their nose, has been documented and praised enough that they are now paying attention. But do professional journalists and news organizations really have anything to be worried about?
George Brock, the President of the World Editors Forum, says that we need to take a step back from all the hype of journalism, technology, and integration, and think about free expression, which is still a luxury to many.
As fewer young people are picking up newspapers, fewer of them are reading cartoons in newspapers. Cartoonists believe that newspapers, who aren’t adopting to younger audiences in print, need to change to reach a print-averse younger generation.
Two reporters at the Berlingske Tidene could face jail time for publishing classified intelligence reports about Iraq’s weapons program. Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen were recently charged with publishing confidential government documents, which in Denmark is punishable by fines or up to two years in prison.
According to Mohommed Jasem Al Saqr, an acclaimed Arab journalist and editor of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas, very few newspapers in the Arab world are perceived as credible sources. Because most media establishments are owned directly or indirectly by the government, there is little breathing room.
In China, The New York Times and porn reign free on the internet but blog sites like Technocrati are off limits. Blog search engine Technocrati has recently been blocked to users in China.
As the degree in lack of press freedom in China becomes more apparent, American journalist and CBS correspondent Barry Petersen has some interesting insights into what its like to be a foreign correspondent in China.
Spending $1 billion in cash, MediaNews Group Inc., bought four McClatchy papers, with backing from Hearst Corp. The four papers: the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times, the Monterey County Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press are currently owned by Knight Ridder Inc., which McClatchy recently purchased.
There’s a lot of chatter about the blogosphere this week. Here are some of the best quotes and ideas laid by the mainstream press about the medium some consider threatens its own business:
A recent study by the Newspaper Marketing Agency found that advertising in national newspapers as well as with TV commercials helps cultivate more brand loyalty. The two-year study found that advertising in national newspapers is an effective and “underused” medium for brands.
As part of a plan to reduce costs, Dutch publisher Wegener is cutting 327 jobs along with converting its seven daily newspapers to tabloid format with a standardized formula. The company said it expected the restructuring to lead to annual cost savings of 25 million euros ($31 million).
The newspapers serve the eastern and southern parts of the Netherlands with a daily circulation of more than 800,000 copies.
Source: Reuters [Through the Ifra Executive News Service]
The local news and citizen journalism network Out2 Media has begun offering 500 free franchises of its online community newspaper business as well as payments to citizen journalists for its numerous websites.
Spain's 2 largest top-shelf papers,
El Pais and
El Mundo, are showing their tech savvy to their readers with initiatives meant to enhance the reading experience and claim a stake for the role of newspapers in the digital age.
Sacbee.com, the web site of The Sacramento Bee, has launched a revamped site that features customizable news content, sleek navigation and enhanced search capabilities.
The award winning website will undergo changes to make it’s design more modern, lively and put more emphasis on exclusive features, said Jonathan Dube, CBC.ca editorial director. "It will give us a lot more flexibility," Dube says, "and the navigation will be a lot more useful."CBC continues to cater to its online audience as the internet increasingly becomes people’s preferred way to consume daily news.
According to a report released by ComScore Media Matrix, CBC.ca was the most popular media site in February 2006, with over five million visitors at home and work. CTV.ca came in second place with three million visitors.
Source: Ryerson Review of Journalism
