Media News - Thursday, April 03, 2008

Staff at Berlin newspaper call for probe into Stasi past

Staff at a Berlin newspaper, rattled by admissions by two editors they once worked for the feared Communist East German secret police, have called for a probe into their Stasi files. Employees at the left-leaning Berliner Zeitung, once the mouthpiece for East Germany's communist regime, have agreed to allow their Stasi files to be scrutinized following admissions by two editors that they worked for the dreaded East German secret police. Privacy laws prohibit the publisher from carrying out an investigation. But 85 of the 89 journalists working for the paper voted in favor of asking the administrators of the Stasi archive to carry out an investigation. Editor Thomas Leinkauf admitted on Saturday that he had been a Stasi informant for two years in the 1970s while he was a university student. At a staff meeting on Monday, a second editor, Ingo Preissler, announced he had been a Stasi informant for 10 years from when he was 18 until the peaceful revolution that toppled the Communist East German regime in 1989. Josef Depenbrock, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, said that the paper's ‘credibility and independence have been harmed’ by the revelations. (Deutsche Welle)

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Tibet exile radio says China jamming it

China has intensified its jamming of a Tibetan exile radio network's news broadcasts into Tibet during a crackdown on anti-government protests there, the network charged Wednesday. The Chinese use radio stations inside Tibet to block the shortwave frequency used by the Voice of Tibet, said Oystein Alme, a Norwegian who runs the nonprofit foundation's business office in Oslo. The jamming signals contain music, drumming and noise. Most of the Voice of Tibet's 13 staff members work at its main editorial office in Dharamsala, India, with Alme handling administration and funding in Oslo. The network started broadcasting in 1996, and has daily evening newscasts about Tibet in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese. Alme said the Chinese government started jamming its broadcasts almost as soon as they began but now is using two or three signals instead of one to make sure that the signal can't be heard. ‘They have been stepping it up in connection with the demonstrations,’ Alme told The Associated Press. Tibetans have been protesting and rioting in Tibet and nearby provinces in the longest challenge to China's rule in the Himalayan region since 1989. The jamming also affects those trying to listen in India, Nepal and Europe, Alme said. (AP via ABC News)

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Thales denies selling radio jamming equipment to China

French defence electronics firm Thales has denied accusations by human rights campaigners that it sold equipment to China that has helped Beijing jam radio broadcasts. French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy said in articles published in the past week that equipment sold by Thales was used to block foreign radio broadcasts into China, ‘particularly into areas such as Tibet’. Media rights campaign group Reporters Without Borders has also said antennae manufactured by Thales is allowing China to interfere with radio broadcasts. Thales said a former subsidiary had indeed sold ‘standard shortwave radio broadcasting equipment to China’ in 2002 but the equipment was designed for legal civil purposes. ‘The equipment has been exclusively designed for general public radio broadcasting, and is identical with equipment installed in numerous countries worldwide,’ Thales said in a statement. No other similar equipment was sold to China, it said. (Reuters via Media Network Weblog)

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US Senate panel delays vote on media cross-ownership ban

A U.S. Senate committee plans to vote April 24 on a measure to reverse federal rules that let companies such as Tribune Co. own a broadcast station and daily newspaper in the 20 largest markets. The Federal Communications Commission voted in December to allow such combinations. The Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday delayed a vote to nullify the action, according to an e-mail from the panel. The measure would need the approval of both houses of Congress and the president. Prior to the FCC vote, Tribune, Gannett Co. and Media General Inc. had been allowed to own TV stations and daily newspapers in the same markets under regulatory waivers. Those could be endangered if the resolution succeeds, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the public-interest group Media Access Project, said Tuesday. President George W. Bush's advisers will recommend that he veto the resolution if it passes Congress, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in a letter released by his department. (Bloomberg)

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U.S. edition of Wall Street Journal to be printed in London

The Dow Jones publishing business, recently acquired by Rupert Murdoch, will start printing the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal in London this month, raising the competition for rivals like The Financial Times. The U.S. edition of the business daily will be sold from April 16 by 250 newsagents in the financial heart of London, namely in areas like the City, the West End and Canary Wharf, where many global investment banks have European headquarters. It will also be sold at Heathrow and London City airports. The Journal, with an initial print run of around 3,500 copies, will cost GBP 2.50, or about USD 5, well above the GBP 1.50 that The Financial Times charges, but not out of line with the price of other non-British papers sold in the country. Given that many bankers and high-flying financiers subscribe to the online version of The Wall Street Journal, it remains to be seen how many will stop to pick up a printed copy, particularly as The Wall Street Journal Europe is also on London newsstands. The Wall Street Journal has a print and online circulation of nearly 2.1 million, with online.wsj.com ranked as the largest news service with paid subscriptions on the Web. (International Herald Tribune)

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Latvijas Radio – the world’s first ISAS-certified radio

The European Broadcasting Union reports that Latvijas Radio will on 3 April become the first radio company, and the first broadcaster in Europe, to receive an ISAS BC 9001:2003 certificate for media quality management systems. EBU writes in a press release: ‘ISAS BC is a quality management standard based on ISO 9001 and specially tailored for electronic media. An ISAS BC- compliant quality management system is the most efficient way to improve the performance of a company. It is the most refined mechanism for identification of the requirements of audience and general public, and assists in focusing on corporate strategic goals and implementation of public broadcasting mission. The standard is a synthesis of best practices adopted by media organizations, and has been developed by the Media and Society Foundation in Switzerland. The Foundation is an organization set up by prominent international media professionals.’ (European Broadcasting Union)

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