Media News - Thursday, May 24, 2012

Seven media foundations launch European Press Prize

Seven European media foundations are joining forces today to launch the European Press Prize, rewarding excellence in journalism across all 47 countries of Europe. They believe that saluting serious writing and reporting - in print or on newspaper websites - can help raise journalism's role as a vital defender of democracy's freedoms. Four awards In the first year of the Prize, awards will be given in four separate categories. Each award consists of EUR 10,000. 1. The Editing Award - For the editor who the judges believe has contributed most to public debate and public understanding; 2. The Commentator Award - For the feature writer, columnist or commentator who has done most to illuminate vital issues for readers; 3. The News Reporting Award – For the reporter or specialist expert whose work has made a decisive impact; 4. The Innovation Award – For the outstanding innovation of the year - in print or via digital: anything that makes a significant contribution to journalism's future. Entries for year one of the awards open on July 1 and close on October 26, 2012. (European Press Prize)

Yahoo seeks to shake up search, Web browsing

Joining the battle to redefine Internet search, Yahoo is taking aim with a new browser enhancement it calls "Axis." It alters browsers made by other companies to display search results in a more convenient and visual format. The troubled Internet company Yahoo Inc. released Axis in Apple's appstore late Wednesday. That version will work only on Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The software also can be installed as a plug-in on most major browsers used on desktop computers and laptops. Apps for other mobile devices are in the works. A device running Axis can display search results in a panorama of visual thumbnails that can be scrolled through above a Web page. It's a departure from search engines' traditional presentation of a list of staid Web links that require more navigation and guesswork. Its greatest appeal figures to be on mobile devices because users with the app installed can see their search results at the top of the screen just by flicking on whatever page is displayed. The relevant results appear in a ribbon of Web page snapshots, making it easier for users to find the right information. Much like Google's Knowledge Graph, Axis draws its results from a custom-built index. Most of the data in the Axis index resides on Yahoo's own services. If Axis can't find answers there, it presents links from Bing's search index. (AP)

1000s of students protest media in Mexico

Thousands of university students marched through central Mexico City on Wednesday to protest media coverage that they say favors the candidate of the former ruling party in upcoming presidential elections. The students say newspapers and television stations are tilting their coverage toward Enrique Pena Nieto, who is leading polls by double digits ahead of the July 1 vote. Many of the students were from the elite Iberoamerican University, where a May 11 appearance by Pena Nieto set off a rare wave of protests by young people against a return to the presidency of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 70 years before it was voted out in 2000. The students say Mexico's largest television channel, Televisa, was particularly biased in its coverage of the rally and the campaign in general. Many finished the march at Televisa's studios, where Pena Nieto was appearing on a live interview show. Local media reported smaller, simultaneous marches in at least a half-dozen other cities around Mexico. Pena Nieto's backers have labeled the students as supporters of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, but many at the rally said they supported none of three main presidential candidates. (AP)

Mexico captures suspect in death of US journalist

Prosecutors in southern Mexico announced Wednesday that they have captured a man suspected in the killing of independent U.S. journalist Bradley Will during protests against the Oaxaca state government in 2006. Suspect Lenin Osorio is a former state government employee who allegedly shot Will as he videotaped a clash between protesters and government supporters. Osorio had worked in the state education department, but it was unclear whether he was working there at the time of the killing of the New York man. Osorio was apparently angered by the acts of an alliance of protest groups that blocked streets and paralyzed Oaxaca's state capital for several months in 2006, said Samuel Castellanos, a special prosecutor for the Attorney General's Office. Will was covering the conflict for Indymedia.org. He sympathized with the protesters, one of whom was arrested in 2008 for the killing but was later released. Osorio was captured early Wednesday. Castellanos said he apparently acted alone, and had no known ties to political or union groups. (AP)

The Poynter Institute and Craig Newmark to host journalism ethics symposium

The one-year-old initiative launched by craigslist founder Craig Newmark, craigconnects, is teaming up with The Poynter Institute to host an ethics symposium in New York City in the Fall of 2012. The symposium will lead to creation of a new set of guiding principles for journalists and other content creators concerned with democratic standards of truth in the digital age. The symposium will convene up to 16 invited journalism thought leaders, who will prepare by drafting essays and case studies that tackle the thorniest ethical topics journalists confront, including issues of diversity in the digital space, intellectual honesty and financial profit, as well as the traditional values of truth and accuracy, independence and minimizing harm. Participants will test their ideas in the symposium, which will be open to observers, then refine their essays for publication by CQ Press in a book edited by Poynter Senior Faculty for Ethics, Kelly McBride. (The Sacramento Bee)

“Citizen journalism” focuses on Israeli occupation

Amateur video of Israeli soldiers appearing to watch idly as settlers opened fire on Palestinians throwing stones has emphasized the growing power of "citizen journalism" in the occupied West Bank. Shaky footage, captured on Saturday from two angles by residents of Aseera al-Qibliya village, shows bearded residents from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar aiming a hand gun and assault rifle at the crowd, followed by sounds of gunfire. A bloodied youth shot in the face was shown being carried away on the shoulders of fellow villagers. The video was soon posted on the Internet. Teacher Ibrahim Makhlouf, who filmed the incident, lives by the brush scorched in the clashes on the village's edge, beneath the gaze of the prefabricated suburbs of Yitzhar, which lie outside the official settlement boundary. The Israeli Defence Force has ordered an investigation and confirmed that live fire was used during the confrontation. B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, provided the cameras used to document the event, as part of a program started in 2007 whereby it has distributed around 150 camcorders to "citizen journalists" throughout the West Bank. The group aims to use social media to bring alleged violations by settlers and the military into public view. (Reuters)

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