Media News - Friday, March 19, 2010

The EJC offers a daily updated selection of the latest developments in European and international media. The news flashes are stored in our Media News Archive which is searchable on keyword. If you would like to receive our Media News selection every day by email, register now for a free subscription!

Brussels press corps shaken by declining numbers

From a high point of 1,031 journalists in 2005, making it the biggest foreign press corps in the world, the number of reporters has steadily dropped down to between 860 and 935 today. While the ongoing malaise within the media sector and the wider economic crisis are held up as the principle causes, the European institutions themselves were on Thursday attacked for a communications strategy that the president of the International Press Association (API, from its French acronym) accused of sidelining journalists in favour of uncritical "propaganda." The "flood" of freely available video and audio content, press releases and photographs from the institutions makes having correspondents appear to cash-strapped editors in their home countries as an unnecessary luxury, Lorenzo Consoli, the president of the association warned at a packed special meeting of API dedicated to the question. Reporters repeatedly used the terms "propaganda" and "anti-competitive" to describe the institution's activities. In response, the meeting passed a resolution calling for video content from the EU institutions to always be labelled that it was produced by them, and demanded access to all events for independent cameramen and photographers, not just those in the employ of the institutions. More controversially, the reporters considered calling on the institutions to make press releases available only to accredited Brussels journalists. Some in the room objected to the restrictions on access to information this would entail and the association ultimately voted to just request a wider use of the 'embargo' system, in which information is delivered to a journalist with enough time to prepare a story ahead of a document's full public release. (EU Observer)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

New York Times Co. papers hooking up with hyperlocal aggregator Fwix

Fwix, the aggregator of hyperlocal content, will be partnering with the newspapers of The New York Times Co. in an agreement announced Thursday. Under the agreement, Fwix will distribute its technology and content through any of the Times Co. papers, including its Regional Media Group and the online properties of its flagship New York Times and Boston Globe. Fwix' business model is to aggregate blog posts and news articles that are likely to be relevant to a particular city or region. A small staff of editors, working from an algorithm, filters content and drives traffic back to the content originator. Fwix also recently launched an initiative to split advertising revenue with bloggers or local content originators. The two-year-old company distributes local news in 175 markets in the United States and other English-speaking nations. (Editor and Publisher)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

Viacom courted YouTube before launching USD 1bn piracy lawsuit

American media conglomerate Viacom considered buying YouTube just months before it launched a USD 1bn piracy lawsuit against the video sharing site, according to court documents. Files released Thursday by a US court suggest that the television giant - which owns channels including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central - had considered purchasing YouTube in 2006 in what executives said could prove a "transformative acquisition". That deal was scotched when YouTube was bought later that year by internet leviathan Google for USD 1.65bn - shortly before Viacom launched its billion-dollar lawsuit accusing YouTube of "massive intentional copyright infringement". The claims have come to light after the US court hearing the case unsealed hundreds of documents as it prepares to make a ruling on Viacom's claims. Lawyers have been arguing the case, which experts say could redefine the relationship between media and internet companies, behind closed doors since 2007 - but the court's move has made the astonishing revelations from both sides public for the first time. (The Guardian)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

US imposes sanctions on Hamas bank and TV station

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions against two companies it says are closely linked to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. The US says it will freeze any assets held by the Gaza-based Islamic National Bank and broadcaster al-Aqsa Television in places under their jurisdiction. INB provides banking to Hamas's military wing, and the broadcaster is financed by Hamas, the US say. The US government has listed Hamas as a "terrorist organisation". Al-Aqsa television has been accused of broadcasting programmes aimed at indoctrinating children to become armed fighters and suicide bombers. Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, following elections in 2006, and chased out their rival for control of the Palestinian Territories - the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in control of the West Bank. Although designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU, it is seen by its supporters as a legitimate fighting force defending Palestinians from a brutal military occupation. (BBC News)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

Seattlepi.com celebrates 1 year of Web-only news

Seattlepi.com, the online successor to the print version of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, celebrates its first birthday Thursday with music, free cupcakes and cheap beer. For a Web-only publication that launched in the depths of the Great Recession, just sticking around 12 months may be reason enough to party. Seattlepi.com formally launched March 18, 2009, a day after the nearly 146-year-old P-I published its last edition on newsprint, leaving The Seattle Times as the city's only newspaper printed daily. The P-I's owner, New York-based Hearst Corp., had been losing money on the newspaper for years and hopes the online version will change that. "The site is doing really well," said Seattlepi.com's executive producer, Michelle Nicolosi. She said about 4 million people are visiting the Web site each month, about the same as were visiting the Post-Intelligencer's site before the print version ceased publication. When it made the switch, the P-I let go most of its 181 employees. About two dozen now report the news and run the Web site. With the smaller crew, Nicolosi said, the Web site has focused on "core news," such as important local issues, politics, sports and major stories, while rounding out coverage with stories from wire services and through the relationships it has forged with other news outlets and local bloggers. (AP)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

Estonia newpapers protest with blank pages

In Estonia the newspaper presses of the country’s six major dailies Thursday rolled out a surprise for their readers, blank pages. Their action is in protest against proposed legislation which would compel journalists to reveal their sources. The draft bill is seen as a curb on press freedom that could lead to imprisonment especially in the field of investigative journalism. Merit Kopli, Editor-in-Chief of Postimees explained the reasoning behind their protest. “Estonia’s six major newspapers believe there is no alternative way to make politicians understand the draft ligislation is not good. It significantly inhibits the freedon of the press,” she said. The Minister of Justice is the man behind the draft legislation. Rein Lang laughed off the protest believing it was pointless. “Free newspapers are doing what they want. If they don’t have advertising they publish white pages. I would have covered the space with some information even the same story,” he said. It is a story journalists in Estonia will naturally be following closely. The bill is expected to reach the full assembly at the start of April. (Euronews)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

More recent Media News:

• 18/03/10 - Google working with Intel, Sony on TV project: report
• 18/03/10 - France’s historic national daily, France-Soir, is back
• 18/03/10 - Japanese scientists build world’s fastest scanner
• 18/03/10 - Germany, France, Britain want EU action against Iran broadcast bans
• 18/03/10 - Google moves browser translation out of beta
• 18/03/10 - French polemic over fake game show electrocutions
• 17/03/10 - Europe’s public broadcasters ask lawmakers to make it easier to offer programs online
• 17/03/10 - AOL plants Seed for Internet age news operation
• 17/03/10 - Google partners call for clarity on China plans
• 17/03/10 - Kyrgyz activists call for Europe’s help over websites
• 17/03/10 - More than half Australian newspaper content is PR-led, says six-month study
• 17/03/10 - IslamOnline website in crisis as employees in Egypt stage sit-in
• 16/03/10 - Silvio Berlusconi faces inquiry over bid to block ‘hostile’ TV show
• 16/03/10 - Twitter CEO unveils ‘@Anywhere’ platform
• 16/03/10 - Facebook to open office in southern India
• 16/03/10 - Honduras: Killing of TV journalist spawns protest
• 16/03/10 - Voting begins for Deutsche Welle’s Weblog awards
• 16/03/10 - Cuba criticizes US ruling on Internet access
• 15/03/10 - US: Most online news readers use 5 sites or fewer, study says
• 15/03/10 - Global campaign seeks to crush web censorship
• 15/03/10 - Outrage in Georgia over fake Russian invasion report
• 15/03/10 - Australia defends mandatory internet filter
• 15/03/10 - U.S. to roll out major broadband policy
• 15/03/10 - Russia: Kommersant to open FM radio station

• Home |
• Seminars  |
• Events |
• Media Landscape |
• Newsroom|
• Media News|
• Resources

Terms of service and Privacy policy.

Copyright © 1992- 2009 European Journalism Centre. All rights reserved.

Valid XHTML and CSS.

European Journalism Centre

Sonneville-lunet 10
6221KT Maastricht
The Netherlands

Tel. : +31 43 325 40 30
Fax : +32 2 400 42 20

E-mail: info[at]ejc.net