Media News - Wednesday, July 09, 2008

China TV to scrap time gap for live Games broadcast

China's state television plans to scrap its usual slight delay for live broadcasts during the Olympic Games, allowing the audience to see everything 'as it happens,' the official Xinhua agency said on Tuesday. China Central Television (CCTV) has always built a 30-second delay into the transmission of live programs to ensure they aired 'smoothly and safely,' the report said. The time lag also gives the government-controlled broadcaster a brief window to stop images of protests or content critical of officials from reaching ordinary viewers. The decision to drop it will allow CCTV to synchronize with international TV and radio signals sent from the Games' media hub, Xinhua said. The broadcaster is dedicating 3,000 staff to the Games, with over 2,500 hours of programming going out on seven of the 17 channels it controls. As part of Beijing's bid to host the Games it promised temporary regulations to allow complete media freedoms, and around 25,000 foreign journalists are expected to cover the event. But human rights group said on Monday that the government was severely breaching that pledge, harassing and restricting foreign journalists in Tibet and elsewhere. And the country has not relaxed its grip over domestic reporters. (Reuters)

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Ecuador seizes TV stations, companies

Ecuador's government seized three television stations and 195 businesses on Tuesday to collect debts stemming from a bank failure in the 1990s. The economy minister resigned just hours before the takeover. In raids backed by dozens of police, Ecuador's state banking agency took over TC Television, TC Noticias and Gamavision stations, along with dozens of insurance, construction and real estate businesses owned outright or in part by Quito's Isaias family. Isaias brothers William and Roberto, both bankers, are now facing embezzlement charges linked to the 1998 collapse of Filanbanco, once one of Ecuador's biggest banks. Leftist President Rafael Correa said the seized media outlets and Isaias companies owe the government millions of dollars and will likely be auctioned off to repay depositors who lost money when Filanbanco failed. The three TV stations are operated by relatives of fugitives William and Roberto Isaias, who fled to the U.S. after the bank collapsed. Ecuador has asked the U.S. to extradite them. (AP via ABC News)

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Media watchdog warns of risks of centralised production

The print media's watchdog has sounded a warning about the industry's trend to cut costs by centralising production and sub-editing. The Press Council's latest annual report says reduced local oversight of newspapers 'would appear to inevitably bring an increased risk of simple factual errors being overlooked and of offending local sensitivities'. Last year APN New Zealand outsourced much of the sub-editing of its newspapers to a central hub in Auckland operated by Australian company Pagemasters. Last week New Zealand's other big print group, Fairfax Media, announced it was forming 'national centres of expertise' in Wellington and Christchurch to produce world, features and business pages on its nine daily newspapers. But editing and layout of local and sports pages would remain under the control of individual papers. 'The continuing trend for newspaper and magazine publishers to cut costs by reducing staff and centralising production seems certain to raise questions of editorial control,' the Press Council says. (NZPA via Media Guardian)

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Great photo on Flickr? Getty Images might pay you for it

If you are a photographer with high-quality images posted on Yahoo's Flickr service, you may soon get an e-mail inviting you to become a paid contributor to Getty Images, the world's largest distributor of pictures and video. Yahoo and Getty Images said Tuesday that they have entered into a partnership under which Getty editors will comb Flickr in search of interesting images. They will then invite photographers to participate in the program and ensure that their images have the proper releases to be licensed legally. Those who are included in the program will get paid at the same rates that Getty pays photographers who are under contract with the company. Jonathan Klein, co-founder and chief executive of Getty Images said Flickr photographers will increase the depth of Getty's catalog on certain subjects and certain regions of the world. And they will be bringing an element that professional photography often lacks, he said. 'Advertisers are looking for authenticity.' Getty will make payments to Flickr, but detailed terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The program will be rolled out in the coming months, and all Flickr photographers will be eligible to participate. (New York Times)

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Newspapers fight ‘luxury’ tax in Zimbabwe

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have called for the repeal of a punitive 'luxury' tax on newspapers that are imported into Zimbabwe, which is preventing independent newspapers from reaching their audience. The tax was imposed in early June in the run-up to the widely condemned presidential election won by Robert Mugabe after his opponent quit the race in the face of escalating violence against his supporters. It aims to reduce the influence of South African-based news sources, which have been extremely important to Zimbabweans. The two organisations called on Mugabe to remove the luxury tax on foreign publications and to end state intimidation of the independent media. All domestic independent newspapers and broadcasters in Zimbabwe are banned. (WAN)

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Google launches virtual experience web-site

Google Inc on Tuesday launched a three-dimensional virtual experience website to match popular virtual world Second Life. The service, called 'Lively,' (http://www.lively.com/html/landing.html) uses real-time virtual world characters known as avatars and three-dimensional graphics to congregate in virtual rooms. Linden Lab's Second Life, launched five years ago, was the first online community with its own currency and a growing economy and avatars. 'If you enter a Lively room embedded on your favourite blog or website, you can immediately get a sense of the room creator's interests, just by looking at the furniture and environment they chose,' Niniane Wang, engineering manager, who oversaw Lively's creation, said on Google's official blog. Lively also allows for playing YouTube videos in virtual TVs and showing photos in virtual picture frames inside the rooms, Wang said. Google worked closely with Arizona State University, while developing the website. (Reuters)

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