Media News - Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Journalist union accuses EU over press subsidy secrecy

The Swedish union of journalists has accused the EU Commission of colluding with media firm Bonniers against the system of press subsidies. Margot Wallström is also criticized for proposals that would further classify the EU Commission's routines. In a debate article in Dagens Nyheter on Monday, Agneta Lindblom Hulthén and Arne König of the Swedish Union of Journalists (Journalistförbundet), together with freelance journalist Staffan Dahlöf, accuse the EU Commission of colluding with media giant Bonniers against the current Swedish system of press subsidies. The commission is accused of withholding documents that are in the public interest. The trio also accuse EU commissioner Margot Wallström for working to stifle public debate of commission business in general with new proposals that would increase the secrecy around commission procedures and routines. The Swedish government had proposed that two major newspapers, Svenska Dagbladet and Skånska Dagbladet, are set to lose almost all of the subsidies they currently receive from the state. According to the proposal, press subsidies to newspapers in large cities will be reduced incrementally from the current level of 65 million kronor ($10.7 million) to 17 million kronor. The reduction will start next year and be phased in over a five-year period. It became public knowledge in May 2007 that it was Bonniers who had reported the Swedish system of press subsidies to the EU Commission. Bonniers' complaint became a public document as it was submitted to the Swedish ministry of culture. Bonniers is a privately-owned Swedish media group of 150 companies operating in 21 countries. The group controls titles such as Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Dagens Industri as well as TV4 and SF. (The Local)

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OK, computer: Automated news to grow

Financial news and data produced by computers to be read by computers looks set to become an increasing part of agency journalism, judging by a new study released by Thomson Reuters. The survey has found that financial firms using advanced algorithmic trading techniques expect IT-driven news analysis tools to substantially shorten the time it takes them to take advantage of new information. Ventanta Research spoke to 113 specialist financial professionals and found that two-thirds expect increased automation in the analysis of news. Prior their merger, both Thomson and Reuters have been working on several products which deliver data and other news to its financial services customers in a format that can be read and acted on automatically by computers. To aid the creation of these news feeds, Reuters has been developing tools to automate the process of extracting machine-readable data from standard narrative text and to embed semantic metadata. These include services that automatically extract key figures from releases of economic information, such as official statistics and company earnings releases, and to rapidly provide that data in a format that can be included in client firms' trading algorithms. This year, Reuters started adding machine-interpretable semantic data to otherwise conventional, human-readable news stories. Thomson Reuters expects machine-readable news to become an increasingly important part increasingly important part of the company's business and has said that the automated extraction and delivery of data used by these tools will free journalists to do other, less mechanical work. (UK Press Gazette)

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New law protects journalists

Reporters investigating corruption in Russia are to be protected by a new law. Under new legistlation, they'll be able to apply for special protection like court witnesses. The law will come into effect by the beginning of next year. The law should help reporters like experienced journalist Natalya Novozhilova, who published an article exposing corruption in Russia's central Vladimir region. She accused the local forestry administration of stealing money equivalent to the entire region's budget. The article changed her life. It won journalism awards, but it also earned her threats against her life. A new national plan to fight corruption, which president Dmitry Medvedev is about to release, includes providing state protection for reporters investigating corruption. The head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee, Kirill Kabanov, says a range of measures needs to be put in place for the new law to work. Last year the Committee to Protect Journalists claimed Russia is the third deadliest country in the world for journalists over the past 15 years, behind only Iraq and Algeria. About 50 journalists have been murdered in the country since 1992, with the majority of the cases remaining unsolved. (Russia Today)

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Esquire unveils e-magazine with flashing cover

American readers of Esquire are soon to be exposed to the publishing industry's latest attempt at re-inventing itself: a magazine with a flashing cover. The September issue of the magazine will have a tiny built-in battery, which will power a display on the cover that flashes the words 'the 21st Century Begins Now.' It would appear that readers will not to be able to interact with the magazine, however, and after 90 days the battery will run out. David Granger, Esquire’s editor in cheif, said the idea for putting electronic components in a magazine was borne out of a frustration with the industry's lack of progress. Publishing experts dismissed the idea as a gimmick, however. The flashing cover was produced by Esquire in conjunction with E Ink, a Massachusetts company whose technology was used in the Kindle, the "e-reader" device made by Amazon. Esquire first had to hire an engineer in China who could build a battery small enough to be inserted in the cover. The batteries and display case are manufactured in China, then shipped to Mexico, where they are inserted into each copy of the magazine by hand. The empowered magazines are then transported to the distributor in Kentucky via refrigerated truck - to preserve the life of the battery. The new cover will only be inserted in 100,000 magazines, despite Esquire having a circulation circulation of 720,000. An ad on the inside front cover for Ford, the motor company, will also take advantage of the display. (The Times Online)

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The picture that shames Italy

It's another balmy weekend on the beach in Naples. By the rocks, a couple soak up the southern Italian sun. A few metres away, their feet poking from under beach towels that cover their faces and bodies, lie two drowned Roma children. The girls, Cristina, aged 16, and Violetta, 14, were buried as the fallout from the circumstances of their death reverberated throughout Italy. It is an image that has crystallised the mounting disquiet in the country over the treatment of Roma, coming after camps have been burnt and the government has embarked on a bid to fingerprint every member of the minority. Two young Roma sisters had drowned at Torregaveta beach after taking a dip in treacherous waters. Their corpses were recovered from the sea - then left on the beach for hours while holidaymakers continued to sunbathe and picnic around them. As the bodies of the two girls were laid on the sand, their sister and cousin were taken away by the police to identify and contact the parents. Some pious soul donated a couple of towels to preserve the most basic decencies. Then beach life resumed. The indifference was taken as shocking proof that many Italians no longer have human feelings for the Roma, even though the communities have lived side by side for generations. (The Independent)

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Photographers, cameras dunked in photo op capsize

Camera equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars was destroyed and photographers were left clinging to an upturned boat Tuesday during a photo opportunity for New Zealand's Olympic rowing team. Cameramen from New Zealand's three major television networks and agency and newspaper photographers were using a launch to photograph the rowers on Lake Karapiro, south of Auckland, before their departure for Beijing. But the launch began taking on water, rapidly filled and capsized. The launch driver and six passengers were wearing life jackets and were able to cling to the hull of the capsized boat until they could be ferried to safety. Television cameras and photographic equipment, however, sank to the bottom of the lake. No one was injured. Rowing New Zealand communications manager Richard Gee said the reason for the sinking was not known as the launch was not overcrowded and the lake was calm. (AP)

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