February 2008 Archives

The Editors Weblog obtained an exclusive interview with Philippe Karsenty, who is currently appealing a 2006 verdict that found him guilty of libel, in a trial opposing him to French public broadcaster France 2 and journalist protégé Charles Enderlin. The hearing on Wednesday Feb. 27 lasted over six hours, but the court adjourned its decision to May 21.

According to Karsenty, France 2's Al Dura "coverage is the media's biggest masquerade to have had such impact." But he doesn't believe that the allegedly fraudulent report is representative of more widespread manipulations in media coverage.

Quick recap of the story: in 2000, France 2 diffused coverage obtained from a local camera man, and voiced over by Enderlin, of the death of a Palestinian boy, allegedly killed by Israeli fire, an iconic image which was widely reproduced thereafter and used as a symbol by pro-Palestinian propaganda.

In 2004, Karsenty's Media-ratings company accused France 2's coverage of being a hoax - for a plethora of reasons. Karsenty was subsequently taken to court and found guilty in October 2006 of defaming journalist Enderlin and his outlet, public broadcaster France 2. He appealed the decision and during the new hearings on Feb. 27, a lot of time was spent reviewing and discussing the video footage and images. And as a Weblog exclusive, you can read the ballistic report, which was commissioned by Karsenty.

Without going too deep into the details about the new trial, Karsenty argues that a lot of coverage produced at the time was staged with the help of the local population, and this seems to be confirmed by footage viewable on Honest Reporting, as well as footage shown in court. "On that day in Gaza, it was a film set," he says. Other major news organizations, including Reuters and the Associated Press, were present.



Are these kinds of manipulative or staged media practices widespread?

"I'm not generalizing," says Karsenty, who insists his only claims are about this specific report in those circumstances. But this event should bring attention to international news organizations' use of local correspondents and camera staffers, whose content the outlets must often trust at face-value, he said.

In fact, the France 2 camera man's footage was offered to CNN, which refused to initially air the report because it didn't obtain the guarantees of authenticity it was asking for.

Whether these media practices are widespread internationally Karsenty didn't say, but he argues they correspond to the media's situation in Palestine, "a situation where the media bends over to the rules of Palestinian authorities," he says (see here about the monitoring of coverage of the Oct. 12, 2000 lynch).

There is another intriguing issue in this affair: in the years since this controversy has started, few French traditional media have openly taken Karsenty's defense or been willing to place it high in the news agenda.

Blogs and independent media have increasingly covered the story, many of them outside of France though. According to Karsenty, a similar affair would have never dragged on as long in the US, because bloggers and truly independent media would have long dug out the truth (evoking Dan Rather and the Killian documents controversy).

What the Al Dura affair also shows is that France is (still) a "system with dominating media that don't recognize their mistakes," says Karsenty. He points out that of the few established blogs and 'independent' news outlets in France, those that are considered legitimate by traditional media, all are held by professional journalists and former journalists who have worked within traditional media.

But Karsenty refuses to see the Al Dura affair as the symbol of commonplace manipulative practices in the media. Nor was France 2's report symptomatic of showbiz-news and news agendas increasingly led by eyeballs and sensationalism. For him, this is simply the story of a local camera man who submitted a faulty report, which was picked up by a mainstream media organization and its well-respected journalist, both of whom didn't recognize their mistake.

According to Karsenty, a US website will shortly be publishing the 18 minutes of raw footage that France 2 showed in court (out of 27 minutes filmed by the camera man).

Karsenty says he is confident about the outcome of the appeal. The court will make its decision public on May 21.

Source: Philippe Karsenty - Metro - Le Monde - Tribune de Genève - Honest Reporting

UK broadcast and online media ran stories yesterday about Prince Harry's military deployment with the British Army in Afghanistan, after the US Drudge Report broke the blackout that UK media had agreed on with the Ministry of Defence.

A deal had been made between British media and the Ministry of Defence not to report on Prince Harry's frontline position, for fear that he may become a privileged target for Talibans, in return for access to the prince during his deployment.

According to the Guardian, the story had already been broken by Australian women's magazine New Idea on Jan. 7. In fact, many insiders are surprised the blackout lasted two months.

Significantly though, UK media only decided to run the story after it was broken by US news blogger Drudge, showing how much influence he has acquired. Yesterday, nearly all of the national newspapers, except for The Independent, ran the story on their front page.

"I am very disappointed that foreign websites have decided to run this story without consulting us," said Sir General Dannatt, head of the British Army.

"This is in stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude that the whole of the UK print and broadcast media, along with a small number of overseas outlets, who have entered into an understanding with us over the coverage of Prince Harry on operations."

Should Drudge have broken the news? Should UK media have agreed to the blackout for so long? In any case, this story illustrates the powerful effects of Web 2.0: one influential blogger's scoop can lead to a massive reaction for all traditional media.

Prince Harry is expected to be taken off the front now that the news has been broken.

Source: Brand Republic - Guardian

Gannett Co., publisher of highest circulating US paper USA Today, has named Robert J. Dickey to become president of its newspaper division.

He will succeed Sue Clark-Johnson, who is retiring. Dickey will be in charge of 83 daily newspapers and their websites, and most of Gannett's non-daily publications.

Source: Bloomberg.com through I Want Media

Eye on the Asian Media was launched in January, in order to generate discussion about and survey ethical issues confronting journalism in Asia.

The Eye on the Asian Media blog was jointly launched by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the Asia Media Forum.

The blog produces stories and analyses and encourages readers to comment and contribute content. It also features various journalism codes of ethics from across Asia and links to online resources.

Source: European Journalism Centre - ijnet

Recently appointed Times editor James Harding is reshaping the paper's senior editorial team.

Times2 editor Sandra Parsons was promoted to head of features and Times' arts and entertainment  editor Alex O'Connell was promoted to the role of executive editor.

Assistant features editor Emma Tucker will become editor of Times2.

Source: Guardian

The Washington Post's site is to get a major facelift, as announced previously.

"This is a reflection of what the Web site is all about: change. We have done a half-dozen redesigns in-house, but during the past five or six years it has been different parts of the site," said executive editor Jim Brady (see his interview about the Future of Journalism).

Last September, the Post hired the Wonderfactory of New York, which has led redesigns for Newsweek and Martha Stewart. The main focuses of the redesign will revolve around reader participation and friendlier searches.

"They wanted theirs to be a site where you understand immediately it is a place to get the news and participate in the news," said Joe McCambley, Wonderfactory's co-founder and creative director. "The biggest change will be that it will be dramatically easier for people to find what they are looking for."

"We are trying to fill it with the strategies we've emphasized the past few years -- reader engagement, multi- media, and providing useful databases for our readers," said Brady.

Another symbolic issue for the redesign was whether to keep the differentiate logo of washingtonpost.com or adopt one similar to that of the print edition.

Back in '96, the argument for having a washingtonpost.com logo was strong," Brady explains. "Now, most readers don't differentiate the Post from washingtonpost.com, so there is an argument not to differentiate. That is why we are testing this."

This would be a good sign that the different platforms of the paper are no longer considered as competing, but instead as two channels for the same brand name. Brady hoped the redesign would be up before Election Day in November.

Source: Editor & Publisher

A daily that is published once every four years? That's La Bougie du Sapeur, a humoristic paper launched in 1980, which is only published on the 29th of February.

The paper started out as a joke amongst friends but its circulation now tops 200,000 copies. Its name was inspired by a comic book character draw by the artist Christophe, who was born on a 29th of February.

The paper draws its content from real news items that it patches and twists comically. Big novelty of the year: the supplement La Bougie du Sapeur madame.

"The only daily without an interview of Nicolas Sarkozy," announces the front page of the eight edition of La Bougie du Sapeur.

The editorial team of La Bougie du Sapeur is composed of volunteers. There is no advertising so the paper counts entirely on its circulation ."The goal is to save enough to publish the next issue," said Jean d'Indy, its editor.

Source: Yahoo France - Presse News

A few days after publishing a viral video of French President Sarkozy insulting someone, Le Parisien's editors are justifying the modifications they made to the transcript of an interview with Sarkozy.

Following the event, a panel of eight readers of the paper had a conversation with the President. As is the norm in France, Le Parisien's article about the exchange was submitted to the Elysée prior to publication. In the version that was returned to Le Parisien, a new sentence was added to the transcript: "It would have been better had I not answered."

The correction came in too late and Le Parisien published the original interview, without that sentence, on Feb. 26. On Feb. 27, Le Parisien published a corrected version of the original interview, with the new sentence in the headline.

"Instead of hypocritically inserting that phrase, we chose to put it in the headline because it has punch in the journalistic sense," wrote Dominique de Montvalon, deputy newsroom director, and Henri Vernet, editor of the politics section, in the Feb. 27 edition.

To have excluded that phrase, "which is representative in a few hours of the evolution of the presidential view, would have meant depriving everybody of a late, but essential, clarification."

However, to even include that sentence entirely changes the angle of the story, portraying Sarkozy as regretful of his conduct. In contrast, Sarkozy "hadn't expressed the least bit of regret" during the interview, said Montvalon. "The tone was: me, Sarkozy, if you provoke me, you find me."

One may wonder what Le Parisien's course of action would have been had this happened during a private interview with one of its journalists, or if the amended version had been submitted earlier.

In this specific situation though, it seems Le Parisien's editors adopted a wise strategy, by publishing the amended interview and giving an explanation about it: "I am frank and prefer to modesly say how things are. I choose the lesser harm. That way I avoid to be interrogated by readers or by the newsroom's journalists," said Montvalon.

This should reignite discussions about the widespread practice of newspaper articles being reviewed by the interviewees, an issue that has yet to be solved in France.

Source: Le Monde

Publishing group Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey is infuriated by "dinosaur-like media commentators" who predict the death of newspapers. At the same time, Trinity Mirror is developing its digital operations and reported strong online revenue growth in 2007.

Bailey said there is still "a market for well-targeted print launches" and that the company is "better positioned than ever."

However, it's on the digital side that Trinity Mirror seems to be faring most healthily. The company is set to hire 100 digital staffers this year - mostly in sales though.

Last year, Trinity Mirror launched a flurry of companion websites to several regional print titles, as well as microsites for local communities. Regional digital revenues rose 33.3% compared to 2006.

"We've devised what we believe is an attractive low cost digital publishing model," she said. "Our goal is to substantially increase digital revenues in the next two years."

The company has also led a multimedia newsroom pilot in Wales, which could be rolled out at other titles. "Our journalists are working for the first time not by title but by content subject matter."

Digital revenues now represent 3.7% of total revenues of Trinity Mirror, and 6.7% of ad revenues for retained businesses.

"If you listen to the industry's armchair critics and dinosaur-like media commentators, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's all over for newspapers," said Bailey. "But it's been an encouraging year which demonstrates the power and possibilities of print."

And online.

Source: Press Gazette - Brand Republic

According to the Biving Report's Todd Zeigler, newspaper websites are increasingly, and efficiently, using interactive features to complement their storytelling.

Zeigler examines an interactive piece in Flash by The New York Times that shows box office receipts by month and movie for the last twenty years (click here to see it).

The Flash project also promotes other content produced by the newspaper, by linking back to reviews about movies, summaries and more.

Following Super Tuesday in the US, the NYT had announced that its interactive graphic about the elections had drawn the most page views on the site.

Yet another proof that online and multimedia content can improve the quality of journalistic coverage.

Source: Bivings Report

The New York Times has launched a new Baghdad-based blog, entitled "Baghdad Bureau: Iraq from the Inside." The blog will aim to complement the Time’s coverage of the situation in Iraq.

“We are excited to launch Baghdad Bureau and hope it will give readers a more vivid, intimate sense of ordinary life in Iraq, as well as the military and political themes we will continue to explore in our coverage," Foreign Editor Susan Chira said in a statement.

Contributors to the blog will include many of the Times’ staffers, writers and photographers who cover Baghdad. The blog will address daily changes from the perspective of inhabitants, and will also invite Iraqis to contribute their views and personal journeys. It will also feature a forum to answer questions on issues about Iraq.

The blog contains entries that date back to January, as it was in the works until now.

The Times now counts 54 blogs.

Source: Editor & Publisher – journalism.co.uk - Picture from NY Times Baghdad blog

The Wall Street Journal Online is to offer new investor tools and investment funds data on it website, following an agreement with research and global data firm Morningstar Inc.

All tools provided by Morningstar are available in WSJ.com’s Markets Data Center. They include the Morningstar International Fund Screener, which is designed to help investors narrow down a fund universe, and Morningstar Quicktake Reports, which provides facts sheets on funds.

Source: BtoB through I Want Media