Read carefully the articles listed below about the future of so-called "amateur photos" in the media. It looks as if the global media's concentration on photos from Iraq is having a very significant effect on public perception. According to an article by The Associated Press, which features on abcNews, recent amateur photos from Iraq combined with the ease and speed of the internet is changing the way the Iraq war is perceived in the US. "The iconic images coming out of this war may be the amateur photographs of Iraqi prisoners," said Peter Howe, the former director of photography for Life magazine.
Source: abcNews and Associated Press. See also the Washington Post and Salon.
"Staff at the offices of the Belfast Telegraph have gone out on a 48-hour strike over pay" writes the BBC. "The NUJ said nearly all the 100 editorial staff had agreed to the stoppage but the paper's editor said a third of journalists were working normally on Friday. The industrial action comes after NUJ members rejected a 3% pay offer."
Source: BBC
Mark Glasser has written a very interesting article about online news for the Online Journalism Review. In the article he writes that widespread news online results in a loss of branding, as consumers are unaware of which agency the news items have come from. In his article Glasser asks whether the original news brands are really that important to the consumer "Sites with no original reporting such as Yahoo News, AOL News and Google News remain popular destinations.
Today the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News, will launch its "bilingual, bicultural" weekly newspaper called Conexión, writes Mark Fitzgerald at Editor & Publisher. The newspaper, which will have a charge, will feature 60% of its articles in English, with the rest in Spanish. San Antonio is the largest US city where the majority of residents are Hispanic.
Source: Editor & Publisher
Last week we reported that The New York Times had launched a partnership with two European newspapers: Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany's leading daily broadsheets, and Italy's La Repubblica newspaper. The partnership sees the European newspapers incorporate an English language supplement called The New York Times International Weekly. It is interesting to hear from Reuters that Spanish newspaper El Pais will also begin publishing the New York Times supplement from tomorrow.
Source: Reuters
Roy Greenslade, former editor of The Daily Mirror, has shown his support for current Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan. In his article for The Guardian Roy Greenslade looks into the newspaper's decision to show what it claimed were British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners. Greenslade believes that if the photos were in fact faked "it would be the bloodiest error any newspaper has ever made." However he argues that "torture is the issue here and not these photos" and goes on to point out that it could be in the interests of the British government and British Army to negate the validity of the newspaper's story.
Source: The Guardian
According to an article written by Lee Keath, that features on Boston.com/The Boston Globe, the head of US-funded Iraqi newspaper Al-Sabah has quit. Editor-in-chief Ismail Zayer said yesterday that he "was taking almost his entire staff with him because of American interference in the publication." The article writes that the editor and his team will today begin publishing a new newspaper called Al-Sabah Al-Jedid ("The New Morning")
Source: Boston.com /The Boston Globe and Associated Press
Its definitely worth having a look at this article on Poynter Online as it features what ten news editors said when they presented their "Values Moments" at the recent America Society of Newspaper Convention. Milton Coleman, Deputy Managing Editor at The Washington Post identifies where he learnt some of his particular editorial values. Carolina Garcia, Executive Editor, Monterey (Calif.) County Herald identifies what good journalism is "the right stories, photos, and graphics and presenting it so that readers get it quickly and easily. It's also about supporting, promoting, and pushing journalists, fresh or seasoned, encouraging them to give their best for themselves, for their newspaper, and for their community." The article looks at editorial aspects such as "editing Without Fear or Favor" and "reporting and responsibility." Each aspect is covered by a different editor.
Source: Poynter Online
Take a look at this article by Patricia Nunan at Voice of America News. The article recognises that the annual results of the Reporters Without Borders report points to Bangladesh as being the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. According to the article "the study says not a day went by in 2003 without a Bangladeshi journalist being physically attacked or threatened with death." Its depressing to hear that according to Reporters without Borders "the Bangladeshi government does little to stop such violence because officials are very often involved." The report can be accessed through the Reporters Without Borders website.
Source: Voice of America News
According to the Budapest Business Journal, Hungarian national daily newspaper Magyar Hírlap "got into the spirit of EU accession celebrations by attempting a world record for the biggest newspaper ever produced." The newspaper has developed a six page publication made from PVC pages measuring 4x7 meters. The special newspaper "contains articles on EU accession and culture over a total surface area of 148 square meters" writes Budapest Business Journal.
Source: Budapest Business Journal
According to Agence France Presse, Jailed Cuban journalist Raul Rivero was awarded the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize on Monday. Rivero, a former employee of Cuba's state news agency, resigned in 1988 to start his own independent agency and a journalists' association. He was arrested in a March 2003 crackdown on dissidents and ordered imprisoned along with 25 other journalists for undermining "the independence or territorial integrity of the state." UNESCO director general Koichiro Matsuura said that the prize was "a tribute to Raul Rivero's brave and longstanding commitment to independent reporting" and called on Cuban authorities to release Rivero. The prize, started in 1997 in honour of murdered Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano, carries a purse of 25,000 dollars (19,800 euros) and is announced each year on May 3, designated World Press Freedom Day, writes AFP.
Source: AFP
This is an interesting article by Owen Gibson at The Guardian as it writes that media magnate Rupert Murdoch "keeps Times afloat as losses mount." According to this article "The extent to which News Corporation mogul Rupert Murdoch is prepared to subsidise the Times and the Sunday Times became clear today when the newspapers revealed that losses almost doubled last year to £28.65m. Although turnover rose slightly to £3.8bn at the division, which publishes the Times and the Sunday Times, the company lost more than £12m more than the previous year when losses after tax amounted to £16.3m."
Source: The Guardian
According to Claire Cozens at The Guardian "The Independent is hoping to axe its broadsheet edition by the end of next month after regional trials of selling only the tabloid edition proved a success." There is a different attitude at the Times newspaper, Owen Gibson at The Guardian writes that the newspaper wants to keep both a tabloid and broadsheet sized version. According to the article "Times editor Robert Thomson insisted today there was "no reason" why the newspaper could not go on producing dual broadsheet and tabloid editions indefinitely. Owen Gibson writes "while the tabloid Independent has been an unqualified success, reviving the paper's moribund circulation, the case for the cut-down version of the Times is less clear cut. Fewer of its readers have switched to the smaller size and while its decline in circulation has been halted, the rise has been nowhere near as dramatic as its rival."
Source: The Guardian (article by Claire Cozens)
The Guardian (article by Owen Gibson)
It seems to have been a bad year for circulation, for many US newspaper. According to Jacques Steinberg at The New York Times "while a majority of the nation's 10 largest newspapers reported circulation gains for the six months ended in March, most others lost readers during that period, continuing the industry's overall long-term decline, according to an analysis of reports released yesterday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations." According to an analysis by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), half of the largest newspapers in the US reported weekday circulation declines.
According to Prajjal Saha at agencyfaqs! Delhi-based newspaper Hindustan Times today launched Hindustan Times NEXT, a standalone daily newspaper targeted at readers in their mid-teens and early twenties. According to the article the paper, which starts with 14 to 16 pages, is divided into three subjects. The first section will "include current affairs, national and international news, city news and sports." The second will "feature the kind of information young, urban readers find interesting – news and articles on technology, gadgets, nature and wildlife, academics and careers." The third section will "be fun and entertainment-oriented, with news from the world of fashion, movies, television and music."
Source: agencyfaqs!
