Media News - Friday, May 09, 2008
Britain’s ITV fined GBP 5.67m over phone-in fiasco
British broadcaster ITV was fined a record GBP 5.67m (EUR 7.2m) Thursday
for misleading viewers over premium rate TV phone-in services, industry
regulator Ofcom said. Britain’s biggest commercial television network
temporarily suspended all premium-rate interactive services last year
after it emerged that more than a million viewers were unfairly charged
for entering phone-in competitions. Ofcom, unveiling its report into the
fiasco, said ITV had been guilty of ‘some of the most serious breaches’
of the watchdog’s code and ordered it to broadcast on-air apologies to
viewers. In a separate statement, ITV accepted the findings, apologised
again for its actions and said the group had since overhauled its
telephone systems. Last year, programmes screened by a string of British
television channels were probed amid claims that they had breached
guidelines on premium-rate phone lines. ITV’s fine, meanwhile, was
almost triple the previous record punishment of GBP 2m that was handed
to British breakfast television broadcaster GMTV last year over a
similar phone-in scandal. ITV has already offered to pay GBP 7.8m in
compensation to viewers affected by the rigged phone-ins.
(AFP via Media Network Weblog)
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More journalists detained in Zimbabwe
The editor of a Zimbabwean independent weekly newspaper has been arrested for publishing an opinion piece written by an opposition leader. Davison Maruziva, editor of the Sunday paper The Standard, is being held over an article written by Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a splinter faction of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change. In the article, which was published on 20 April, Mr Mutambara delivered a withering critique of Robert Mugabe's rule of Zimbabwe, accusing the veteran president of running down the economy and his security forces of abuses. A Reuters photographer has also been detained in Zimbabwe for allegedly using a satellite phone to file pictures while covering the aftermath of recent elections, Reuters said Thursday. Howard Burditt, a Zimbabwean national, has been in police custody since Monday. Mr Burditt has not been charged. A number of local and foreign journalists have been detained in Zimbabwe since the country held elections on 29 March, including a New York Times correspondent who was later released. (RTE)
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Entertainment industry wins a round on piracy
In what was seen as a victory for entertainment companies, a federal judge in Los Angeles issued damages totaling USD 111m (EUR 72m) against an Internet company that helped users find copyright material free. The defendant, Valence Media LLC's TorrentSpy, was one of the Web's largest ‘torrent trackers,’ meaning it helped people find movies and other material they might want to download. TorrentSpy closed in March, telling users on its site the legal climate was ‘simply too hostile.’ It didn't store the video files on its own site but directed users to other locations. The dollar value of the award - which Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said she calculated by assigning a value of USD 30,000 (EUR 19,500) to each of the 3,699 infringements shown - should get the attention of people running similar sites. But they are largely based overseas and out of reach of U.S. law. It is unlikely the movie companies that sued will get nearly the total damages. Valence Media's principals have declared bankruptcy. Valence is based in Nevis, a Caribbean island, and has filed for bankruptcy protection. The defendants plan to appeal, their lawyer, Ira Rothken, said. The strategy of continuing to fight such sites in court seems to be having little measurable impact on piracy. However, it does make it more difficult for the sites to attract legitimate advertisers or funding from venture capitalists, although for many sites that isn't a primary goal. (Wall Street Journal)
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Sri Lanka rescinds move to bar foreign media for elections
The Sri Lankan government said Thursday it was barring foreign journalists from covering weekend elections in the Eastern Province, but backed off hours later following a wave of protests by journalists and rights groups. On Thursday, an Associated Press reporter and a photographer were stopped at a checkpoint in the eastern town of Valaichchenai and ordered to leave the province and head straight back to the capital, Colombo. Their license plate was then distributed to checkpoints in the area to ensure they complied. Maj. Gen. Palitha Fernando, a senior official in the Defense Ministry, said any foreigner not registered as an election observer was barred from the volatile province during the polls. Fernando said the barring of journalists and other foreigners was for their own protection. Media rights organizations protested the ban. Fernando later said there was a misunderstanding, journalists would be allowed to cover the election, and the reporters were allowed to return to the east. Saturday's first-ever elections for the Eastern Provincial Council are seen as a referendum on the government's performance since it drove the Tamil Tigers out of the region, which they had ruled for 13 years. (AP via ABC News)
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Facebook, 49 U.S. states, agree on Web safety steps
Social networking site Facebook announced an agreement on Thursday with 49 U.S. state attorneys general and the District of Columbia to increase efforts to protect its youngest members from sexual predators. The additional safety measures follow a similar agreement in January with larger rival MySpace. Facebook said it would focus on improving the technology it employs to weed out inappropriate online behaviour, and to make it tougher for adults to make friends with minors. Both the Facebook and MySpace agreements came in response to calls last year from the attorneys general to improve online safeguards. The millions of youngsters who share everything from music tastes to intimate details of their lives online have turned social networks into veritable hunting grounds for sexual predators. Without checks, an adult can pose as a minor and lure a child into parting with information. The website is now taking several steps to ensure safety, including ‘age-locking’ of profiles of under-18 members, Facebook said. Another safety feature sends automatic warning messages when a child is at risk of revealing personal information to an unknown adult. Facebook also said it would immediately remove user groups dedicated to incest, paedophilia and cyber-bullying, and remove links to pornographic materials from its website. (Reuters)
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China won’t guarantee Web freedom over Olympics
China will not guarantee it won't censor the Internet over this summer's Beijing Olympics, nor can it guarantee to stamp out piracy of Olympic-branded goods, officials said on Thursday. Wang Wei, executive vice president of the Beijing Olympic organizers, had promised media would have ‘complete freedom’ to report over the event, but rights groups have regularly criticized China's commitment to that pledge. ‘We will guarantee as much as possible’ that sites will not be blocked over the Olympics, Technology Minister Wan Gang told a news conference as the Olympic torch was being paraded atop Mount Everest. ‘Every country limits access to some websites. Even in developed countries not every site can be accessed.’ As part of China's plan to hold a ‘high-tech Olympics’, broadband wireless Internet services will be widely available, according to a handbook issued at the same news conference, to ensure ‘convenience for journalists (and) promptness of news’. Last week, the United States said again it was concerned about Internet controls in China. (Reuters)
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