Results matching “more editorial interference about”

In recent weeks Turkey's government and the country's largest independent media group, Dogan Holding, have been in the midst of a fierce battle over media coverage of a high-profile corruption case taking place in a German court.

Dogan Holding operates in TV, radio broadcasting, print and online media.  Dogan publishes seven newspapers including Hurriyet, Milliyet, Radikal, Posta, Fanatik, Referans and Turkish Daily News.     

The Dogan family holds the presidency of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, Tusaid.  For the last six years Tusaid has provided much needed support, international and domestic legitimacy Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).  However, over the past few months, their relationship has begun to sour.

Trouble began when Erdogan, criticized Dogan's ongoing coverage of corruption allegations surrounding him and his party, the AKP.  A German court is currently investigating the corruption charges and according to Newsweek, "alleges that an AKP-appointed bureaucrat, whose job is to monitor the Turkish media, illegally transferred money collected by a German-based Turkish Islamist charity (Lighthouse) to Turkey, and used it for private gain and political activity."  

Erdogan has accused Dogan of "media terror" for covering the case.

On Thursday, September 18, Erdogan urged AKP party members to boycott newspapers owned by Dogan Media Group.

The Editors Weblog spoke to Sabah ombudsman, columnist, and vice president of the ONO (Organization of News Ombudsmen), Yavuz Baydar, about the current crisis and what his opinions are on the future of the Turkish media.

Marcus Brauchli, top editor of the Wall Street Journal is stepping down after less than five months since Rupert Murdoch took control of the paper.

Brauchli had been in the job for a year, Last month, he said in an interview that Murdoch was "very engaged" but "set broad objectives" to maintain the paper's independence.

Part of the agreement that allowed Murdoch to buy the WSJ stated that Murdoch could not remove three top-ranking editors, including Brauchli. With Brauchli's resignation, Murdoch can now choose a successor, but a special committee must approve of that person first, according to the agreement.

Some Journal staffers say that "Brauchli felt overshadowed by the paper's new publisher, Robert Thomson, a former editor of another Murdoch property, the Times of London."

Thomson said Murdoch is "clearly interested in challenging the journalistic establishment" by broadening the Journal's coverage. Washingtonpost.com's Howard Kurtz wonders if "the sense of anxiety [of Murdoch's political interference] could return if Murdoch names an editor, whether Thomson or someone else, from outside the Journal culture."

Source: WashingtonPost.com

UPDATE:
Brauchli wrote a memo to his staff that stated his reason as "now that the ownership transition has taken place, I have come to believe the new owners should have a managing editor of their choosing."

He acknowledges that "change was necessary" in the newspaper industry, but also when News Corp. bought Dow Jones, an editorial agreement was made to "block commercial or political interference in our journalism," read the memo.

Though Brauchli concedes that the new management has adhered to the agreement and that the "journalistic integrity remains intact," WSJ.com reports that Brauchli had difficulties being a mediator between the paper's traditions and News Corp's new vision. He had complained that "he wasn't always in the loop about new ideas" in the past few weeks, according to WSJ.com.

Reuters reports that the resignation could "reignite worries about editorial independence that were voiced during Murdoch's takeover bid when some staffers feared the Journal's reputation as the top U.S. business newspaper would be threatened if Murdoch became proprietor."

With Brauchli's resignation, current WSJ publisher Robert Thomson may take on a more active role in the newsroom, but isn't expected to be the interim managing editor, according to WSJ.com. There already is a search for the next managing editor. Brauchli, however, is likely to stay in the company, possibly as a consultant, says WSJ.com, guiding senior management, including "whether News Corp.'s Star-TV service in Asia should launch a business-news channel."

Murdoch said he believed Brauchli's experience "will be a great asset, especially in Asia -- a region where we see significant growth potential and where he has particular expertise."

Dean Starkman of CJR writes that "with Brauchli gone, the Journal newsroom loses not just a topflight editor and bureau chief, a great Asia hand, and someone who was a real, live reporter, [but also] loses a surprisingly savvy internal diplomat who, I thought, might just have been adroit enough to manage the inevitable tensions that would arise from the takeover, at least enough to preserve some of the Journal's great journalistic heritage."

Sources: Poynter Online, Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, Reuters
through Poynter Romenesko

Slovakian papers SME, Pravda, Hospodarske noviny, Novy Cas, Plus 1 Den and
Uj Szo, issued blank front pages with just an editorial in a black frame to protest a new media law that they say is a "serious interference in press freedom and editorial independence."

The new media law was passed on Wednesday is criticized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as well as the political opposition.

"Just the fact that the law exists is already a serious limitation of editorial freedom, because it will make it mandatory to publish unsolicited material ... It is not difficult to imagine where this will lead - newspapers getting flooded with replies from individuals or political forces unable to accept criticism," OSCE representative on freedom of the media Miklos Haraszti said.

Culture Minister Marek Madaric, who pushed the law, said the law "should guarantee plurality and accuracy of information."

Prime Minister Robert Fico reportedly has had strained relations with local media since 2006, when he came into power. He has accused the media of "acting as the political opposition and failing to report objectively on government activities."

This is the fourth protest of this kind since 1993.  Other blank pages were published during the autocratic regime of Vladimir Meciar.

Source: AFP, Javno (Photo)

The Washington Times appointed John Solomon, a reporter from its rival publication, the Washington Post, to be its new executive editor.

Will Lewis, the editor in chief of the Telegraph has talked with Guardian about criticism, the hundreds of staffers who have left, and the changes for the future.

British publishers are experimenting with new pop-up ads provided by Vibrand Media, that come to the screen when the user’s mouse cursor goes over sponsored words within editorial content.

A media survey conducted by LH2 for the daily Libération draws a grim view of public’s opinion towards French media: 62% of respondents thought news media were “dependent on political power” and only 7% thought they were “totally independent.” There’s at least some evidence to reinforce this perception.

Once again, it seems that a story about French president Nicolas Sarkozy, destined to be published in the gossip magazine Choc, owned by Sarkozy’s friend Arnaud Lagardère, was pulled down prior to publication.

“Much of the wording is vague, leaving operations to mutual agreement between the two parties,” reports a Wall Street Journal article about the agreement on editorial independence reached by Dow Jones & Co. and News Corp. last week.

The World Association of Newspapers and a coalition of the world's leading news agencies today protested against severe restrictions placed on press coverage of this year's Rugby World Cup in France, and said the restrictions imposed by the International Rugby Board "are a serious breach of freedom of the press."

The World Association of Newspapers and a coalition of the world's leading news agencies today expressed their 'dismay' and 'deep regret' about the decision of FIFA, the international,soccer federation, to abandon talks about the severe restrictions the organization has placed on press coverage of this summer's World Cup, despite the continuing disagreement between the two sides.

The World Association of Newspapers and the European Newspaper Publishers Association have jointly objected to an International Labour Organisation examination of editorial quality in a meeting that began Monday in Geneva. The week-long ILO meeting on "The Future of Work and Quality in the Information Society" seeks to determine how modern information and communication technologies affect employment and impact working conditions and quality in the media, culture and graphical industries. The consideration of editorial quality by the intergovernmental ILO -- a United Nations organisation -- interferes with freedom of the press, said WAN and ENPA in a statement submitted to the meeting. "Any interference in the editorial content of newspapers constitutes a dangerous and unacceptable breach of freedom of the press and the independence of publishers and journalists," the statement said. "We therefore call on the ILO to avoid including editorial content in its analysis on the quality of media."

The World Association of Newspapers and the European Newspaper Publishers Association have jointly objected to an International Labour Organisation examination of editorial quality in a meeting that began Monday in Geneva. The week-long ILO meeting on "The Future of Work and Quality in the Information Society" seeks to determine how modern information and communication technologies affect employment and impact working conditions and quality in the media, culture and graphical industries. The consideration of editorial quality by the intergovernmental ILO -- a United Nations organisation -- interferes with freedom of the press, said WAN and ENPA in a statement submitted to the meeting. "Any interference in the editorial content of newspapers constitutes a dangerous and unacceptable breach of freedom of the press and the independence of publishers and journalists," the statement said. "We therefore call on the ILO to avoid including editorial content in its analysis on the quality of media."