Media News - Monday, August 31, 2009

Tamil journalist sentenced to 20 years

Sri Lanka has sentenced a Tamil journalist to 20 years in jail after he was convicted on terrorism charges. After the court found he had received money from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to fund his Tamil website, J.S. Tassainayagam was found guilty of causing “racial hatred” and “supporting terrorism.” Tassainayagam ran the website Outreachsl.com, focusing on Tamil issues. He also contributed to the local Sunday Times. He is the first person to be convicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1982, which began as a temporary law in 1978. Local and international media rights groups have appealed for his release since he was taken into custody in March. In a letter sent to the government earlier this year to pressure them into dropping charges, Human Rights Watch said that "while international law permits some restrictions on freedom of expression for reasons of national security, such restrictions may not be used to justify far-reaching restrictions on critics of the government." (Radio Free Europe)

Berlusconi sues media for ‘libel’

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is launching legal action against media outlets across Europe for their coverage of his private life. Berlusconi has been at the centre of a number of alleged scandals in the past few months. His lawyers say he has been subjected to an intolerable campaign of slander and is now fighting back. Berlusconi has in his sights publications in Spain, France, Britain and here in Italy. His lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, says they are suing for libel over a series of stories that has involved teenage models and paid escorts. Ghedini said among those being targeted were the French weekly Nouvel Observateur for publishing a story called "Sex, Power and Lies", and the Spanish newspaper El Pais, for showing photos of naked guests at Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia. Ghedini said Berlusconi expects to come in for harsh criticism like any other politician, but he said some papers, including La Repubblica, had run an intolerable campaign - which also discredited Italy - against the prime minister. It is not clear if Berlusconi is willing to go to these countries to give evidence in person. That seems unlikely. And while it is not unprecedented for a head of government to mount libel cases while still in office, the scale and scope of Berlusconi's intended response is rare. (BBC)

Popular Vietnamese blogger fired by newspaper

One of Vietnam's most popular and boldest bloggers has been fired by his newspaper after the ruling Communist Party complained to editors about his writings. Huy Duc, who writes his blog under the pen name Osin, was dismissed because his postings did not reflect the editorial positions of Saigon Tiep Thi, said Tran Cong Khanh, an editor at the newspaper. Khanh cited a recent Osin posting that praised the fall of the Berlin Wall and criticized the former Soviet Union's Communist leaders, saying their rule had led to years of misery for the people of Eastern Europe. Duc referred to the wall as "the wall of shame." Khanh said the newspaper made the decision to dismiss Duc on its own, without direct pressure from the government, which strictly monitors Vietnam's state-controlled media. But he acknowledged that the Propaganda and Education Commission, the Communist Party's media watchdog, had complained about roughly 100 of Duc's blog postings and newspaper stories. Vietnam has about 700 news outlets, all of which are state-controlled. This year, the government tightened its rules for bloggers, who have proliferated in Vietnam. The new rules say bloggers must restrict themselves to writing about personal, not political, matters. (The Irrawaddy)

German court disciplines Google

A Hamburg court has ruled that Google must remove 10 offending clauses from out of it's terms of service agreements on its web services in Germany. The case against the international Internet giant had been brought by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV), a consumer rights organization, which said that Google had contravened German federal law by luring users into giving up their rights to certain kinds of data. Google, which provides online search facilities, e-mail and social networking among other things, would have been able to publish the material it had gathered without concerns about copyright, the VZBV argued. The offending clauses gave the California-based corporation the right to access users' private online accounts, read personal e-mails and delete contents. It also gave them the right to pass data onto partner companies and compare customers' details for marketing and advertising purposes. The court stated that users were often completely unaware of the rights that they were giving Google over their personal data. The result of the court's decision is that, from now on in Germany, Google will need to obtain users' explicit consent before using their data. In addition, the company must install an online complaint box for customer criticism, and it must provide confirmation of receipt for each complaint. (Spiegel )

Dutch royals win photo case against AP

Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander and his wife on Friday won a court case against the Associated Press (AP) news agency over the publication of holiday photos of the family in Argentina. An Amsterdam court ruled that the AP could no longer sell the four pictures because the family had a right to privacy in its free time. The court ruled that it would only be permissible to publish photos if they contributed to public debate. The prince and his wife Maxima are pleased with the court's decision, Radio Netherlands quoted the Dutch Government Information Service as saying. The photos were published in a number of regional and national newspapers in the Netherlands. The Government Information Service found that they contravened the Dutch media code, which stipulates that the royal family should only be photographed during official engagements and arranged photo shoots. (China View)

Free serialised story offered to newspapers for International Literacy Day

In celebration of International Literacy Day on 8 September, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers is offering newspapers a free serialised children's story. The story aims to teach children aged around 9 to 12 about newspaper journalism and is accompanied by lesson ideas. Some newspapers have already made plans for the story. The Hindustan Times of India, circ. 1.3 million, will arrange contests to encourage students to design and create their own school newspaper and to submit paintings and artwork about insects. El Bravo of Mexico, circ. 420. 000, will award prizes to children who complete all the activities for all eight chapters. The Daily News of the United States, circ. 20.000, will print the first chapter as part of its literacy supplement that focuses on pre-school through adult literacy. New Vision of Uganda, circ. 36.000, will run it in the form of a competition to encourage children to participate nationwide. They will also air the installments on its radio station every week. The teachers will also be encouraged to use the series to teach comprehension in class. (Editors Weblog)

More recent Media News:

• 28/08/09 - Anti- trust probe into Google Italy
• 28/08/09 - Turkey bans ‘Günlük’ newspaper over alleged ‘terrorist propaganda’
• 28/08/09 - Journalists as tutors - a new way for papers to make money and build audiences
• 28/08/09 - English police open 24-hour helpline for journalists
• 28/08/09 - Ukrainian experts say skull belongs to journalist murdered in 2000
• 28/08/09 - French official to talk iPhone troubles with Apple
• 27/08/09 - Sweden’s free speech tradition runs into Israeli ire
• 27/08/09 - Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters
• 27/08/09 - RTL posts loss, forecasts no ad recovery
• 27/08/09 - Investigative journalist’s car bombed in Corsica
• 27/08/09 - Freebie Metro planning up to 30 lifestyle layoffs
• 27/08/09 - BANGLADESH: HR violations against journos go unpunished
• 26/08/09 - Directing traffic in cyberspace
• 26/08/09 - Iran charges journalists with ‘lying’
• 26/08/09 - Yahoo! to reach millions of Arab net users with Maktoob buy
• 26/08/09 - US broadcaster launching sports video site in India; focus on fullscreen streaming
• 26/08/09 - Japan asked US to reclassify documents on secret nuclear deal
• 26/08/09 - Somaliland: Crackdown on independent media
• 25/08/09 - Internet cut-off threat for illegal downloaders
• 25/08/09 - Swiss privacy commissioner says “nein” to Google Street View
• 25/08/09 - Wikipedia to add editing safeguard for the living
• 25/08/09 - Pirate Bay closed after court decision
• 25/08/09 - Consortium tables bid for The Scotsman, claims report
• 25/08/09 - Kazakh opposition weekly faces closure after court ruling

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