Media News - Thursday, June 14, 2012

South Africa’s ‘secrecy bill’ attracts international condemnation

South Africa has received widespread international condemnation of its "secrecy bill" during a UN review of the country's human rights record. The United States, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland all expressed concerns that the proposed laws could threaten media freedom. The intervention – the biggest collective stand yet taken by foreign governments on the issue – was welcomed by activists who oppose the bill, which could make journalists and whistleblowers vulnerable to prison sentences of up to 25 years. South Africa's human rights record was scrutinised by a working group of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva recently. In response, South Africa's delegation insisted the bill was not aimed at the media. Editors, lawyers, writers and leading public figures such as archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu have previously spoken out against the bill. Some warn that it could lead to similar crackdowns in other African states. South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said views expressed at the UN would boost efforts to amend the legislation. (The Guardian)

Huffington Post to showcase longform journalism with launch of iPad magazine

On Thursday, June 14, the Huffington Post is set to launch a digital magazine for the iPad, reported the New York Times. Called Huffington, the weekly digital newsmagazine will be available from the Apple Store Friday mornings for USD .99 cents an issue, USD 1.99 a month, or USD 19.99 a year, according to App Advice. Rather than including content from the Huffington Post website, the Huffington magazine will feature exclusive content, said Tab Times, such as longform features resembling those found in Newsweek magazine, according to Mashable. The premiere issue, sponsored entirely by Toyota, features a cover story about President Barack Obama's deteriorating relationship with young voters. Huffington magazine is produced by a full-time, in-house staff of 24 experienced designers, editors, and reporters, in order to offer users a rich, print-like reading experience, reported the Capital New York blog. The Huffington Post's venture into the online magazine realm comes just as the once gossipy blog was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in April for a 10-part series on wounded veterans. Longform journalism, such as that to be available in Huffington, has seen a resurgence recently in part because of online and mobile technologies. (Knight Center)

Russian official made death threats to journalist in forest, claims newspaper

A top Russian official summoned a journalist to a one-on-one meeting in a forest and threatened to personally arrange his killing, according to one of the country's leading newspapers. Without providing any explanation, aides working for Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's investigative committee, which has powers similar to those of the FBI in America, drove Novaya Gazeta's deputy editor, Sergei Sokolov, to a forest outside Moscow after a organised press trip and told security guards to leave them alone, it is claimed. Bastrykin, in an "extremely emotional condition", then expressed his opinions about Novaya Gazeta's journalism and made threats against Sokolov's life, suggesting he would himself oversee such an assassination. The allegations were made by the editor of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, in an open letter to Bastrykin published on Wednesday. As a result of the alleged threats to his life, Sokolov has decided to leave Russia and is now outside the country, an editorial colleague of Sokolov's at Novaya Gazeta told the Guardian. It is claimed the incident in the forest took place immediately after Sokolov's return from a trip to the Caucasian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria that he made with other journalists at Bastrykin's invitation on 4 June. During the trip, it is said, there had been a confrontation between the two men over an article written by Sokolov that sharply criticised the investigative committee's handling of an apparent mafia-linked case when 12 people, including four children, were killed in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia in 2010. Sokolov, who is head of Novaya Gazeta's investigative reporting department, offered his apologies for some of his writing on the subject – but it is alleged they were not accepted by Bastrykin. (The Guardian)

ProPublica outlines ‘frictionless sharing’ feature on Facebook

ProPublica has introduced a new "frictionless sharing" feature which mean articles will be automatically shared on Facebook when readers spend more than 10 seconds on a ProPublica report. In an announcement detailing the new feature ProPublica said it will only be activated if automatic sharing is turned on via the "Social Reading" button. If activated and readers spend 10 seconds or more on an article, it will automatically be added to the user's Facebook profile. ProPublica adds that the feature will not require users to sign up before they can read an article, as some other Facebook apps require. The feature also gives users control over how much information they share with their network, ProPublica adds. "You’re in complete control here. Toggle it on or off, share one story, but not another. We get that not everyone wants to share everything they’ve read on Facebook, so we’ve made it easy to customize. "The most recent thing you’ve read will show up under “Added to your activity feed.” To un-share it, just click the red x. "And if you click on “Your Shared Items,” you’ll see a list of everything you’ve read and shared. You can also un-share articles from this list." (Journalism.co.uk)

Australian newspaper outsourcing plan to go ahead

Production work on two regional Australian newspapers will be done in New Zealand despite a strike and a counter proposal by a media union. Fairfax has confirmed that its outsourcing plan for the Newcastle Herald and the Illawarra Mercury will go ahead despite some public opposition and condemnation by Australia's leading media union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). An MEAA proposal, aimed at maintaining jobs in Australia, has been rejected. A union official, Paul Murphy, said: "Fairfax has ignored its readers and instead has taken the axe to two great newspapers with proud histories of more than 150 years of service to their communities." He said the union's proposal would have enabled sub-editors to remain in the community while achieving cost savings. But Fairfax Regional Media chief executive Allan Browne said the decision to relocate the work was the best one. About 40 staff will be made redundant. (Sydney Morning Herald via the Guardian)

Russian opposition to launch online TV - paper

The Russian opposition intends to set up an online television channel with political content as an alternative to the state-controlled federal channels, the Izvestia daily said on Thursday. Well-established reporters from federal channels have already shown interest in the project, which is expected to go on the air in the fall. “Our stake will be on good content quality and the picture – this is the way to win people’s sympathies, which will determine the funding of the project,” said opposition leader and Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov. “They will be able to identify the topics and vote for anchors.” Gudkov said the channel would cost RUB 100m a month to run. “I think there will be a million people in our country who are ready to chip in 100 rubles each a month for independent and unbiased television,” he said. Although the programs will be available only online, they will be covered by free copyright, which means any federal or regional channel will be able to use the programs. “There is a group of professionals who have either been fired or they cannot stand what is happening on the federal channels,” Gudkov said. The project has attracted the interest of celebrated television personalities such as journalist Andrei Loshak, celebrity and party animal Ksenia Sobchak, who is the daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s late St. Petersburg boss, and opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny. (Ria Novosti)

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