Results matching “the right to reveal”

A cross party group of MPs has motioned the British Parliament to deliver a set of guidelines to the police forces, emphasising the importance of press freedom and the rights of journalists.  The move follows the ruling of a Northern Irish court, which concluded that the journalist Suzanne Breen was right to withhold the identity of her IRA sources from the Northern Ireland Police Service. The case was seen as a landmark for press freedom in the UK. 

We live in a world, not a village

The directors of international journalism courses talked about the importance of internationalisation and giving students a chance to interact with other students from around the world in a bid to understand the effects of global media in a local context.

According to Eric Scherer at AFP, the future of journalism will lie in enterprising journalists and their efforts to come up with journalistic solutions that will facilitate the communication process and continuously revise the business models in place. He also believes that a new mindset will eventually need to replace the typical journalist's attitude of today, as well as in the value of a broad general knowledge base - something that internationalisation makes possible.

The Daily Telegraph will publish uncensored details of each of the 646 MP's expenses in a free supplement along with its print edition on Sat., June 20.

The much-anticipated, 68-page magazine supplement, The Complete Expenses Files, arrives just two days after the House of Commons published its own heavily censored list of MPs' expenses on June 18. The list of the members of Parliament and their respective budget, allowances and expense can be seen at the UK Parliament website.

A 'landmark' in press freedom was heralded today as a Northern Ireland court ruled it legal for a journalist to protect the identity of her sources.

Judge, Mr Tom Burgess, at Belfast Laganside Court announced that Suzanne Breen's life would be in danger if she conceded to the Police Service of Northern Ireland's demands to reveal the identity of her sources.  Despite the possibility of a five year prison sentence, Breen refused to hand over her material to the police, claiming that her life and those of her family would be threatened. During the course of the case, it emerged that a source close to the Real IRA had warned she could be killed if she co-operated with the police investigation

Nine projects with a strong focus on crowdsourcing, mobile technology and digital investigative journalism have been named winners of the 2009 Knight News Challenge.

The winners (see below for details) will each win a share of a $2 million investment fund that is part of a 5-year $25 million global initiative set up by the Knight Foundation. The organisation is offering financial assistance to enterprising groups and individuals committed to developing and delivering "bold community news and social media experiments."

"It was brilliant, brilliant old fashioned journalism (...) at its finest".  Such was the sentiment of Telegraph's assistant editor, Andrew Pierce, expressed last night during the debate over the press handling of the MP's expenses scandal, 'A triumph for journalism?' at the Front Line club last night.

The Telegraph, basking in the success of its groundbreaking scoop, took the opportunity to reassert the conviction that the obtaining and management of the story represents the best in old school style  investigative journalism.  

Suzanne Breen, the journalist embroiled in the Real IRA source row, has declared "I'll go to jail rather than give up source".  The Sunday Tribune Northern Ireland editor was speaking at a press conference held by the National Union of Journalists on Tuesday to draw attention to the case, which the union argues places the future of press freedom in the UK in jeopardy.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland initiated the court proceedings against Breen, who is due to appear in a Belfast court again this Friday to face a production order under the Terrorism Act 2000.  

The British based newspaper The Guardian is being sued by the Iraqi national intelligence, the paper reported today.  The intelligence service (INIS) has accused the Guardian of defamation over a story published last April, which suggested that Nouri al-Maliki's government was becoming increasingly autocratic.

The article was written by correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, and was based upon interviews with three anonymous members of the INIS, who maintained that certain factors in Maliki's regime were akin to those of a dictatorship.

The Observer's James Robinson has revealed that the Daily Mail had previously considered a 49% stake in the Independent, along with an office-sharing policy.

Ever since Gavin O'Reilly - President of the World Association of Newspapers -  was confirmed as the new CEO of Independent News & Media (INM), talk about possibly selling the newspaper has been rife - something his predecessor and father had previously refused to consider, or so people believed.

One of the major differences between print journalism and digital journalism is the web's availability of detailed audience and traffic information: online publications know, at any time, how much total traffic they are getting, how much traffic each story is getting, how many unique visitors came to the site, how long they spent there, which sites they came from, how many pages they hit, and more. How does this information affect journalism?

While traffic figures can greatly benefit a publication by allowing it to satisfy readership, there is worry that the figures can have too much influence on the news site's content, driving editors to sacrifice quality journalism for popular stories. In a feature for the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, former WashingtonPost.com executive editor Jim Brady and Salon.com Washington Bureau Chief Walter Shapiro discuss the pros and cons of measuring web traffic.

The Fair Syndication Consortium, a partnership between Silicon Valley start-up Attributor and a group of publishers, held its first meeting since the project was announced on Thursday. The group aims to target online advertising networks and request a cut of the money made of ads alongside reproduced newspaper content, with Attributor acting as a middleman. Editor & Publisher associate editor Jennifer Saba asks 'now what?' and establishes what exactly the public knows about it so far. The answer, it seems, is not very much.

Attributor found that for every one visitor who reads content on the original site, five find it in full elsewhere: figures that should be enough to persuade publishers that this issue should be addressed. "We don't presume the top publishers are going to move entirely to this model," Pitkow said. "We are just here to unlock inventory for these rights holders." If ad networks do not cooperate, Pitkow said that "the copyright holders can request those ads be removed," as once a copyright owner alerts a source of illegal use, any "safe harbour" disappears.

Madiha Sattar, HuffingtonPost contributor, wrote a passionate opinion piece about how the media plays a crucial role in the fight against extremists. The writer said that Pakistan is unique in its region because it has a "news media that relentlessly pursues the country's failures, with journalists routinely speaking out against the government, extremists, and the notion of a theocratic state, among other things."

Online news publication the Atlantic has spoken to PaidContent about a change of content for the site. "We've moved away from the general nature of commentary on the site and have been looking to do more breaking news," explained Atlantic Consumer Media president Justin Smith.

Discussing the decision to break away from a more commentary based form of reporting, Smith says that the Atlantic has "been able to prove that long-form journalism can work on the web, as long as you have a blockbuster piece." He refers to an article the Atlantic ran on Hilary Clinton's campaign staff emails, the kind of longer investigative piece which is often the first victim of newsroom cutbacks.

Results from a recent Orange study reveal that mobile media and marketing are becoming mainstream for UK consumers. The study is the second part of an Orange research project aimed at understanding how new mobile technology affects consumer's media habits. The survey focused on consumer consumption of mobile media and their attitude towards mobile advertising, following over 2,000 users from various UK mobile networks. Research showed that more than four out of five mobile media users access mobile media once a week.

According to new data from Nielsen Online, American newspaper websites reported increased traffic this February. More than half of the top 30 newspaper websites achieved double-digit percentages of visitors.

The New York Times reports the most web traffic: 20,126,000 unique visitors this February, a 6% increase in visitors over February 2008. USAToday.com comes in second with 13, 430,000 and attributes its 25% increase over last February to the site's Tech sections and popular stories including the economic stimulus package, the Octuplet mom, and Rihanna.

Google News announced that it has struck a deal with eight European news agencies to host their content and to display advertisements around their stories. The ads will also run alongside content from the agencies whose content Google already hosts: AP, the AFP, the UK Press Association and Canada Press. Google started to display ads next to search results on Google News US in late February, but it was unclear if the move would spread to outside the US. The ads will be contextually relevant, as they are on Google news US.

News agencies EFE, which services Spain and Latin America, LUSA (Portugal and Brazil), Keystone (Switzerland), APA (Austria), PAP (Poland), MTI (Hungary), ANA (Greece) and Belga (Belgium) have all struck news content hosting deals with Google. They are all members of the European Press agency.

The decision on the fate of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has still not been made, but this week saw a series of meetings between P-I employees and vice president for digital media at parent company Hearst, Ken Riddick.  The meetings were all in order to explore reporter's ideas for the P-I moving forward as an online entity - although no definite decisions on whether or not this will happen have been taken.

Staffers reluctant to give their ideas away for free initially greeted the meetings with some hesitancy, but by the day the encounters were to take place all the available slots were filled by journalists seeking stability in an uncertain environment.  In his article for The Stranger, Eli Sanders spoke to P-I reporters after their meetings with Riddick.  One explained that the 20-minute session had felt somewhat like an audition, although at the moment no one knows exactly what they're trying out for.

Joining the swelling ranks of newspapers sharing content, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have revealed that they have been quietly swapping stories for nearly two weeks. "We exchange budgets and except for the most highly-competitive stories, we will be sharing," said Inquirer Editor William Marimow. "You will see more Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bylines and photos in the Inquirer."

The publications aren't worried about overlap or repetition as despite both being Pennsylvanian newspapers, they're situated nearly 300 miles apart.  The first example of content sharing between the two was in a shared obituary of artist Andrew Wyeth on January 17th although the collaboration has only been official since January 29th.  Other recent examples of content sharing newspapers include Tulsa World and the Oklahoman, and the Washington Post with the Baltimore Sun.

Source: Editor & Publisher

E-reader start-up Plastic Logic has announced that it has struck deals with the Financial Times, USA Today, and LibreDigital, which offers electronic versions of the The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications on the Internet.

Plastic Logic is planning to produce an electronic reader that will be about the size of an 8.5 x 11 inch pad of paper: larger than that of an Amazon Kindle or a Sony Reader, and therefore potentially more suited to reading newspaper content. The e-reader should go on the market in 2010, and the company is planning to create an online store for customers to purchase their newspapers and books, as other device makers have done. It is being marketed as an e-reader "for business," rather than pleasure.

The new look Saturday Times is set to reveal its new look this weekend.  The paper, which is edited by Eleanor Mills, has undergone a revamp and will now boast 'four new sections - sport, Saturday Review (a broadsheet for arts and books), Weekend (lifestyle) and Playlist (an A5-shaped what's on guide),' according to Roy Greenslade of the Guardian. 'The glossy magazine, also refreshed, remains. The main news section will now accommodate money.'

The Times editor James Harding said the redesign is in order 'to give people the best possible newspaper for the weekend... The Times will now offer the most enjoyable, the most illuminating and the most useful package of papers on a Saturday'.  The intention to redesign the publication was first reported in December.  Sister paper the Sunday Times was redesigned last summer.

Source: PressGazette.co.uk

There was a new face gracing the pages of yesterday's New York Times: that of Bono, a man known as much for fronting Irish rock group U2 as he is for his high profile campaigns against Aids and poverty in Africa.

It is thought that the singer will write six to ten columns for the NYT throughout the year, and will also be recording podcasts for the publication.  The columns will cover a broad range of subjects, moving away from Bono's usual focus on political issues - his debut column in yesterday's publication was about Frank Sinatra who, Bono describes 'had the talent to hear two opposing ideas in a single song, and the wisdom to know which side to reveal at which moment'.

Le Figaro and French mobile operator Orange, have launched a new daily show, Le Buzz, available on the Internet and mobile phones.  The show will cover the happenings in the media industry.

The show will air on Monday through Friday and will decipher the increasingly complex news concerning communication.  Each day, leaders from all different sectors of the media will reveal and react to the day's subjects.

The UK Government's Treasury Committee is planning to conduct an investigation into the banking crisis to examine, "the role of the media in financial stability and whether journalists should operate under any form of reporting restrictions during banking crises".

Financial journalists have responded negatively to the idea that financial journalism could be subject to reporting restrictions.

As outlined in the first entry of this series, consumers will start using mobile electronic reading devices routinely. But will these versatile tools also become the preferred display for news and current affairs? Publishers' ability to inhabit this uncharted territory will matter greatly, but even more important is the decision of media consumers that news offered in this way best fits today's lifestyle and nicely blends in with their expectations and routines.
 
The readers' view is currently being explored and tested in several prototyping and/or pilot initiatives, although this effort is modest compared to the involvement of hardware and software engineers. Nevertheless, first results reveal the contours of what in the eyes of the digital reader will be the ideal form of electronic information delivery. Based on four recent research actions, this contribution will sketch the preconditions for successful deployment of e-readers and services, seen from the users perspective.

The eNews project, set up by Ifra, explored the consumer readiness for e-readers. Via focus groups in European and Japanese locations it was found that the use setting is different: more lean backward compared to the lean forward use of PC and print. This finding will have consequences for the kind of content that can be offered. Surprisingly, the consulted test persons appreciated the daylight readability of the e-readers, but by no means hyped it as heavily as the manufacturers themselves always do. The love for the device stems much more from its environment-friendly image.

Microsoft, partner in the design of the New York Times News Reader, has evaluated the user appreciation of this application in a field study. A selected group of readers worked for weeks with the NYTReader, especially while commuting, and was interviewed afterwards. Overall assessment was very positive: two-thirds, especially the serious travellers, would stick to the service. The kind of use however depended much on personal reading style: the news junkies appreciated the amount of detail, the skimmers the quickness of updates while the fun-seekers enjoyed the sophisticated layout. The synchronisation feature for permanent updating was less popular: too time-consuming and difficult to understand.
Conclusion: newspapers will have to bear in mind all these different use categories, and with an improved product.

In the Dutch MePaper project, the five participating newspapers are exploring novel journalistic formats for two types of e-readers: the e-ink devices and the mini laptops (UMPCs). New content models for mobile reading are developed in a joint design studio and these prototypes are tested in lab-based proof reading sessions. Here, it shows that there is a difference between what journalists think is important, for instance the addition of time frames to story overviews, and what the public wants (don't bother us with release hours). Also in this R&D effort, the variety of user demands is apparent. Many want both local (often hyper local) news, without loosing the global perspective. The preference can change from day to day, depending on personal circumstances and the attraction of news on offer. A definite outcome is the demand for customisation of the e-paper, ideally composed of sections, even editors from a range of different media. This result is in fact a cry-out for joint ventures between titles and across newspaper groups. Thus, e-reading will provoke unconventional business practices.
If the newspaper world manages to respond to these user requirements, there certainly is scope for a quick roll-out of the e-reading technology. In a Swedish large scale online survey (part of the UbiMedia project), 42 percent of the 3600 readers indicated to be ready for it now, and another 19 percent in the next five years.  Would these people want to change their trusted print edition for an electronic version? Two-thirds said yes, only one-third would be faithful to newsprint. The e-service however is expected to be considerably cheaper (says 58 percent), with a meagre 8 percent willing to pay extra for premium content.

The conclusion is obvious, the adoption potential for mobile electronic reading is certainly high, but it is a medium in its own right, not just another print or online edition spin-off. It needs to be well designed, fully user-driven, with convincing personalisation options. Valuable lessons in this respect are being learned by a Dutch paper, NRC. The e-reader service it launched last year based itself on simple copy streaming, and it obviously doesn't work. Disappointed users created an open forum in wiki format to voice their concerns, criticism and improvement suggestions. The company hasn't been able to respond to it adequately yet. E-reading clearly asks for special content formats, a different type of navigation architecture and innovative forms of news organisation. In the next entry, first design principles will be reviewed.

Director of the Euorpean Centre for Digital Communications and long-time journalist, Jan Bierhoff is currently conducting studies on e-reader technology and the consumer trends that will define their use. 
 

Just as Australia and the Netherlands pass laws to protect sources, Rwandan journalists are protesting the upper parliament's proposal of a law that would force journalists to reveal their sources.  Some have argued that if the law is passed - it will be the end of investigative journalism in the country.

The law would also criminalize any story on cabinet proceedings, according to Journalism.co.uk.

Furthermore, anyone starting a newspaper is required to pay $20,000.  Those wanting to launch a TV or radio station would be looking into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to get started.

Source: Journalism.co.uk