Media News - Friday, July 11, 2008

In an Iranian image, a missile too many

As news spread across the world of Iran's provocative missile tests, so did an image of four missiles heading skyward in unison. Unfortunately, it appeared to contain one too many missiles, a point that had not emerged before the photo was used on the front pages of The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers as well as on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites. Agence France-Presse said that it obtained the image from the website of Sepah News, the media arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, on Wednesday. But there was no sign of it there later in the day. Today, The Associated Press distributed what appeared to be a nearly identical photo from the same source, but without the fourth missile. It can't be said with any certainty whether there is any official Iranian involvement in this instance. But Agence France-Presse retracted its four-missile version, saying that the image was “apparently digitally altered” by Iranian state media. Throughout the day, several news sites took steps to disown the photograph that they ran on Wednesday, including LATimes.com and MSNBC.com. (NYT)

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BBC chiefs cash in after year of turmoil

Senior executives at the BBC have been given pay rises of more than EUR 125,718 each after a year in which the corporation was dogged by phone-in scandals, job cuts, and revelations about editorial “fakery”. The director general, Mark Thompson, and nine other corporation bosses earned EUR 6,235,621 in 2007-08, a rise of 17 percent on the previous year. Most BBC employees received pay increases of 4 percent over the same period, broadly in line with inflation. Thompson's salary rose from EUR 990,659 last year to EUR 1,025,860, while that of Mark Byford, his deputy, rose from EUR 549,388 to EUR 644,934. The corporation's annual report also revealed that for the fourth successive year Thompson waived a bonus of EUR 75,430 close to the maximum awarded by the corporation. In October, Thompson announced that the BBC would lose up to 1,800 jobs, after receiving a smaller than expected licence fee settlement from the Government. That figure has since risen to 2,500. Jana Bennett, the director of BBC Vision, saw her salary rise by EUR 129,490, to EUR 673,849 . She was criticised for her role in the "Crowngate" affair, after a trailer for a documentary wrongly suggested that the Queen had stormed out of a photoshoot at Buckingham Palace. Jenny Abramsky, the outgoing director of audio and radio, who is leaving the BBC with a pension of EUR 5,028,727 - thought to be a record for the British public sector - was paid EUR 526,759, a 27 percent increase from EUR 413,613. Her bonus was EUR 23,886. Ashley Highfield, who has since left his post as future media executive director, saw his overall pay rise by EUR 134,518 to EUR 585,847. This came after the corporation went more than EUR 45m over budget on its website. (The Independent)

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NYT launches blog on caring for elderly parents

The New York Times has launched a new blog The New Old Age, to discuss a growing crisis - caring for elderly parents who are living longer than ever before, in a healthcare system that has never before dealt with this level of demand. “Adults over age 80 are the fastest growing segment of the population, and most will spend years dependent on others for the most basic needs”, explains blogger Jane Gross. “That burden falls to their baby boomer children... who are flummoxed by the technicalities of eldercare, turned upside down by the changed architecture of their families, struggling to balance work and caregiving, and depleting their own retirement savings in the process.” Boomers in the United States - some 77 million strong - are responding. One of Gross’ early posts already has 673 comments. (Editors Weblog)

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Iran: Artists and athletes banned from commercials

Iranian artists and athletes have been banned from appearing in commercials because they are said to promote a culture of consumerism, according to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. The measure was announced on Monday and reported by Iran's official news agency Irna. Ali Reza Karimi, director of the ministry's press and information department, said anyone working in cultural activities - athletes, actors and artists - are sources of national pride and should not be leveraged to promote consumerism. Karimi said based on current laws, making use of any form of national, sports and cultural figures' image in commercials is forbidden. Moreover, Karimi said the ban included the use of Iranian athletes, actors and artists with overseas Farsi language satellite networks. He urged Iran's sport federations and artists to respect the ruling to safeguard what he calls national dignity. (Adnkronos International)

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French pro-am news website gets million euro investment

Rue89, an online-only, pro-am news site launched last year by a team of former Libération journalists, has received a EUR 1.1 m development fund from investors. The site, founded by four former journalists and bloggers from the French leftist daily Libération, sprang to the immediate national attention at launch last May by breaking news that a French newspaper had suppressed a story on the president Nicolas Sarkozy's then wife Cecilia. Its alternative approach to presenting the news online, including taking up to a third of its content from non-journalists, now regularly attracts 650,000 monthly visitors domestically. The site has also spun off into local news by launching a sister site for the Marseille region last month with further local launches in France also expected. (Journalism.co.uk)

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American subscriber sues his newspaper for cutting staff

A subscriber of the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper is suing the newspaper for cutting staff and the size of the paper. The lawyer who filed the suit says he renewed his subscription in May just before the paper announced on June 16 the layoffs of 70 staff members and cuts in news pages. The paper, he says, is now not worth what he signed up for and therefore the cuts breached the paper's contract with him. In a phone interview, Hempstead, 42, said he wants to keep the paper from reducing news coverage and wants the newspaper industry to revisit its business model. His suit asks for an unspecified amount of damages and attorney's fees. (Raleigh News & Observer)

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