Media News - Tuesday, January 31, 2012

US: Media innovation goes bicoastal

A USD 30m gift from legendary editor Helen Gurley Brown will fund a joint program between Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and Stanford University's School of Engineering. The donation, announced Monday, establishes the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation, a program with the purpose of bridging journalism and technology. Each school will receive USD 12m for the program to fund professorships and fellowships for students. In addition, Columbia will receive an additional USD 6m to fund a building renovation to create a high-tech newsroom for students at the journalism school's Morningside Heights campus. It is the largest gift in the history of the graduate school and represents a large step forward in efforts to advance digital journalism and marry technology and media, said Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. The gift is about two years in the making and represents an unusual collaboration between the two universities which was driven, specifically, by Ms. Brown's wishes. No other such bicoastal, cross-discipline institute exists, according to the university officials. (Wall Street Journal)

FM Radio in the Arab World 2012

A new report from the consultancy Arab Advisors Group (AAG) gives a detailed picture of the FM radio stations landscape in the Arab World. The 85-page report provides a detailed analysis of the FM Radio regulations and landscape in 19 Arab countries - Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine and Sudan. The report includes analysis and profiles of the main FM radio stations (private and state owned) in the region. The research reveals that 210 local government-owned FM radio stations broadcast in 14 Arab countries by December 2011, compared to 72 private radio stations. The report also analyses 7 regional radio stations that broadcast on FM frequencies in multiple countries. These regional stations raise the total number of FM radio stations to 289 in 14 Arab countries by end of 2011. Liberalization in several Arab countries was a key factor for the growth in private FM radio stations. Still, out of the 19 countries covered in the report, three do not allow private radio stations, namely: Qatar, UAE, and Yemen. Mauritania and Algeria allowed the licensing of private radio stations in 2011, however, by end of 2011, there were still no private radio stations broadcasting in these countries. In addition to the liberalization of the sector, the need to broadcast in multiple languages to cater for expatriates enhances the number of FM radio stations even in countries where private FM radio stations do not exist. (Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union)

Pirate Party to sue FBI for closing Megaupload file-sharing site

The Pirate Party is planning to launch legal proceedings against the FBI in retaliation for shutting down Megaupload, a popular file-sharing site that has been accused of being a haven for pirated content. Megaupload was closed by the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on 19 January and no content has been accessible since. A statement on Pirata.ca claims that closure of Megaupload has impeded the access to millions of archives of non-infringing content, and accuses the FBI of violating Articles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code by misappropriating personal data. "The widespread damage caused by the sudden closure of Megaupload is unjustified and completely disproportionate to the aim intended," the statement said. "For this reason Pirates of Catalonia, in collaboration with Pirate Parties International and other Pirate Parties (including the Pirate Party of the UK), have begun investigating these potential breaches of law and will facilitate submission of complaints against the US authorities in as many countries as possible, to ensure a positive and just result." The web site allows users to add their support to the complaint by providing their details, including what type of membership they had to Megaupload. (V3.co.uk)

Chinese dissident on trial after using Skype to send poem

Chinese prosecutors cited a poem and messages sent on Skype in the trial of a dissident, his son and his lawyer said, in the latest case highlighting the Communist party's drive to silence political challengers. Veteran activist Zhu Yufu faced trial on Tuesday in Hangzhou, where police arrested him in April and charged him with "inciting subversion of state power", according to his lawyer, Li Dunyong. The court did not deliver its verdict straight away. But Zhu, 60, appears likely to follow other Chinese dissidents who have received stiff prison terms from the party-run judiciary on subversion charges. In Zhu's case, the prosecutors cited his poem, It's Time, as well as text messages he sent using the Skype online chat service, said Li. There was no suggestion Skype helped police to collect evidence, he said. "They took his computer away from his home and went through it," he said. "His internet contacts and password were saved on it, with automatic access, and when the police accessed it they could open the records of text messages saved on Skype. He had not erased the records." Skype's online telephone and messaging service has become popular among Chinese activists as a cheap and relatively secure way to communicate. (The Guardian)

International writers condemn violence against journalists in Mexico

“Mexico is a magical country where there are murders, but no murderers,” said the Mexican poet Homero Aridjis, protesting the rampant impunity in crimes against journalists during an international delegation of writers - including several Nobel laureates - organized by the group PEN International, held Sunday, Jan. 29, in Mexico City. The group, including Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa and Toni Morrison of the United States, took out a full-page ad in the El Universal newspaper that was signed by 170 writers and celebrated the bravery of journalists in Mexico, according to the Associated Press. Aridjis was one of more than a hundred writers, reporters and freedom of expression defenders who condemned the killing of 77 journalists in Mexico since 2000. The PEN international delegation of writers, aimed at showing solidarity with Mexico's reporters, was received by the U.S. ambassador in Mexico Mexico, Anthony Wayne, as well as Canadian writer John Ralston Saul, president of PEN International, reported Voz de America and the Latin American Herald Tribune. (Knight Center)

Tunisian newspaper publishes photoshopped image of protests

Between 8,000 and 10,000 people protested in the streets of Tunis Saturday to denounce extremism and violence. But apparently that number wasn’t big enough for some. On its front page, the daily newspaper Le Maghreb published a photograph photoshopped to add more protesters to the crowd. Web-users proved the falsehood by pointing to sections of the crowd that were duplicated in other parts of the photograph. Le Maghreb, which has a reputation for being a serious left-leaning newspaper, is headed by Editor-in-Chief Zied Krichen, who was attacked by an extremist Islamist last week just outside a courthouse. Contacted by FRANCE 24, Krichen explained that the photographer digitally altered the image himself, and that Le Maghreb’s editors were unaware of this when the newspaper went to print. Krichen says a correction will run in the newspaper's Tuesday’s edition (it is not printed on Mondays). (Observers France 24)

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