France: confidential sources protected by law
French Minister for Justice Pascal Clément has announced that the right of journalists to protect their confidential sources will be written into the press freedom act of 29, July 1881. He said: "confidentiality of sources will be compromised only in cases where the gravity of the situation justifies such measures."
Clément also asserted that "journalists' sources will benefit from the same protection as journalists themselves." Additionally, "laws applying to official searches of press offices will be extended to apply to searches of journalists' homes and a judge may be called to intervene if a journalist esteems that any information seized undermines the protection of the confidentiality of their source."
The fact that the French government has seen the need to formally protect the confidentiality of journalists' sources reveals the international ripple effect that the Judith Miller saga has had. (see previous postings here and here)
Source: AFP (registration required)
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Mon ami,
You compare the new Daily Telegraph newsroom with the Panoptikon designed by Jeremy Bentham for an 18th century prison.
Well, my first reaction was the opposite: it looks like the old and lovely Library of the British Museum, also a solar system, with a central desk and people like, you know, Karl Marx being inspired to write, yes, The Capital.
Relax, please, relax.
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Interesting but somewhat unfortunate advice about how to design a modern newsroom by putting journalists off in their separate little areas.
As for comparing the Telegraph layout to an English prison (the design of which, by the way, derived from a Paris school as conceived by Bentham's brother for simplifying the complexities of a large workgroup), I suppose it depends on what one image you want to select on which to base your argument. You might just as easily compare it to the French National Assembly, the European Parliament and the U.S. Congress. All are circular, one might say spider-web, in nature and all have stood the tests of time in terms of supporting and encouraging productive debate, effective distribution of information and managed cooperation, just like is needed in a modern cross-media news environment.
Fractals are indeed a good model in some cases, depending on the needs of the news organisation. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, in my experience.
But a nuclear power plant control room that concentrates all the information for just a few people who run everything by remote control and that keeps everyone else out of the decision making on the other side of locked doors? Hardly.
"24-hour rhythm instead of a daily deadline" its reale dead line for some newsrooms, and make for some people a newsroom is prison.
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