Media News - Friday, August 08, 2008

China Media Watch: What protesters?

On the eve of the opening ceremony, Xinhua News Agency waxes philosophical about the torch's journey tomorrow to the Bird's Nest, its home for the next three weeks. It hasn't been an easy road, and Xinhua refers to the "obstacles" the torch encountered in foreign cities, as well as the Sichuan earthquake in May that diverted its path. But official Chinese-language news makes no obvious mentions of the last couple of days' protests within Beijing. CPJ Asia program coordinator Bob Dietz notes the enterprising foreign media coverage of  protesters who managed to thwart the Olympic security behemoth. But even in the informal media, word of the protests is not so easy to find in Chinese. Hong Kong blogger Roland Soong found it on Duowei News, a Chinese language Web site based in the United States. He argues that the reason news of protests isn't crawling around the Chinese Web is not entirely due to censorship, but because in his opinion it's a non-story. The Chinese-language commentators on the US site seem to have little sympathy for the protesters. Soong translates one commentator: " The Chinese people, the Beijing people are too soft. When these monkeys climb up the electricity pole, why don't they shoot them down with slingshots? Why wait for the police to come? The people of Beijing are disgraceful. No guts." Which raises the question of why the censors would want to keep this news quiet. Is it because the protests are seen as an embarrassment to China? Or does the government fear an anti-foreigner reaction in China?

(CPJ)

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Radio commentator slain in the Philippines

Motorcycle-riding gunmen killed radio commentator Martin Roxas today in the second brutal shooting of a broadcaster in the Philippines this week, according to local and international news reports. Two men shot Roxas in the back as he drove his motorcycle from DYVR station in Roxas City, on the country’s central Panay island, where he worked as a program director and had just concluded his midday show, according to news reports. Agence France-Presse quoted a manager at the station’s parent network as saying that Roxas had reported recently on a dispute between two local politicians, but did not elaborate. Dennis Cuesta, a General Santos City radio commentator on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines, remained hospitalized today in a coma after suffering serious head injuries when gunmen on motorcycles shot him Monday. Both Cuesta and Roxas’ stations are affiliates of the national broadcasting corporation Radio Mindanao Network. There is no apparent connection between the two shootings. Police told reporters they are questioning two suspects in Thursday's shooting, local news reports said. Roxas told his colleagues that a group of men attacked him last week, news reports said, but it was not clear if the attack was related to his work or to his murder. (CPJ)

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New ‘NielsenWire’ blog provides info, research on timely subjects

Interested in a business-insider, by-the-numbers analysis? The Nielsen Co. has launched a new blog with timely information from its dozens of magazines and big research units. The new NielsenWire blog, accessed via the nielsen.com homepage, currently features, among other offerings, a special section devoted to the Games - from historical ratings data on the most-watched opening ceremonies of all time to a feature on Chinese Olympians becoming product endorsers. NielsenWire's content is supplemented by information culled from major newspapers, websites, and blogs.

(Editor and Publisher)

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Sky to integrate news production operations

Sky News is to integrate its online, television and radio news production operations to form a single multimedia unit. From September 29, more than 130 producers behind Sky News TV, Sky News.com, Sky News Radio and Sky News Active, will become part of one multimedia team, a press release said. As part of the changes a new department tasked with developing new technology for use across the platforms will be set up, led by current Sky News editor Steve Bennedik. Chris Birkett, executive editor, who will take control of news output across TV, online and radio under the changes, told Journalism.co.uk the move would bring new opportunities for Sky's journalists. “It's not about changing the way a journalist works on a given day; it's about changing a journalist's perception of their career,” he said. The New Technology Department will involve editorial, engineering and web staff and will not have 'strict parameters', he said.

(Journalism.co.uk)

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Mobile broadband sales soar

Sales of mobile broadband kits have skyrocketed in Sweden over the last year. The second quarter of 2008 saw sales of 156,680 mobile broadband kits, an increase of 77 percent compared to the same period last year, according to figures from analyst company IT Research. USB modems are continuing to dominate the market. IT Research expect sales for the year to reach 600,000, representing a projected 40 percent increase on sales for 2007. (The Local)

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Freelances threatened with data protection fine

Freelance journalists in Britain have been warned they are breaking the law and could be fined thousands of pounds unless they register with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a “data controller”. The UK Press Gazette has learned that the ICO has begun approaching freelances, urging them to register – because the personal information they collect in their day-to-day work is covered by the Data Protection Act. Under the law, anyone electronically processing data such as contact details is required to hand over any information about a named person if that person requests it – but lawyers have said most of the information gathered by journalists is exempt. The National Union of Journalists has reminded its freelance members of the need to register – and has said the fine for failing to do so could be as high as £5,000 (6,355.36 EUR). Staff journalists are not required to sign up, because the company that employs them should already be on the ICO’s database.

(UK Press Gazette)

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