Media News - Friday, June 29, 2012

European rights court condemns France for press freedom violations

France acted unconstitutionally when authorities searched the offices of two publications and homes of five journalists over coverage of a doping scandal, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday. Judges in Strasbourg found that the actions of the French government were were disproportionate and violated article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights which deals with press freedom. In 2004 French daily L'Equipe and weekly news magazine Le Point printed a series of articles containing tapped transcripts of telephone conservations linked to a judicial investigation launched into allegations of doping among members of the Cofidis cycling team. French authorities subsequently searched the media offices plus the homes of the five journalists who covered the story to establish how it had been leaked, seizing computer hard drives and documents. The journalists were released due to a lack of evidence. They later lodged a complaint with the European court in 2007. (AFP)

Spanish free daily shuts as crisis hits advertising

Spanish loss-making free daily newspaper Que! will shut down, owner Vocento said on Thursday, making it the third free paper to fall victim to the country's economic crisis. Media companies in Spain are struggling in face of tumbling advertising revenues as the country battles through a painful recession where one in four are unemployed. Vocento said recently that advertising revenues at Que! fell by 30 percent in the first quarter of 2012. The company bought the newspaper in 2007 for EUR 132m, two years after its launch. The closure of Que!, which offered a colourful mixture of local news, politics and celebrity gossip, leaves Spain with just one free newspaper, 20 Minutos, owned by Norwegian media group Schibsted, following the closures of Metro in 2009 and ADN in December. As in many European countries, a number of free newspapers sprang up in Spain in the middle of the last decade, but the format has struggled to survive. Regional newspapers are also disappearing in Spain and left-leaning national newspaper Publico suspended its print edition this year and only operates online. Advertising in Spanish newspapers halved between 2007 and 2011 to EUR 967m, according to consultancy Infoadex. (Reuters)

Kosovo: New law puts media freedom at risk

The Kosovo government should take urgent steps to address the threat to media freedom posed by provisions that, despite extensive protest, have survived in the new criminal code, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. On June 22, 2012, the Kosovo National Assembly failed for a second time to remove provisions from the new criminal code that criminalize defamation and force journalists to reveal their sources, despite calls to remove them by the government, president, and journalists. The current criminal code has similar provisions. The Kosovo Assembly originally passed the disputed articles 37 and 38 of the Criminal Code on April 20. On May 8, after protests from journalists and media watchdogs, President Atifete Jahjaga sent the law back to Assembly for reconsideration. Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, and the deputy prime minister and justice minister, Hajredin Kuqi, publicly supported removing the two provisions. But only 59 members voted to remove the contested articles, two short of a majority. Media reports say that the president has said that the new code is unconstitutional. But the president has no authority to send the law back to the Assembly for a second time, and the government cannot make further amendments to the law until it comes into force on January 1, 2013. The code could be challenged in the Constitutional Court. Article 113 of the Kosovo Constitution allows the president, the Assembly, the government, or the Ombudsperson to refer a question of constitutional compatibility of laws to the Constitutional Court. (Human Rights Watch )

The Huffington Post partners with Ustream to beef up its live news coverage

The Huffington Post has closed an exclusive agreement with Ustream, the live streaming service announced Wednesday. Following the announcement, the HuffPo will get access to videos from Ustream’s citizen journalists, which it will be able to embed on its breaking news pages. Citizen journalism is the key word here; with this partnership, the HuffPo will obtain breaking content from Ustream’s community, many of whom are reporting live from news scenes. According to the site, 1 out of 8 broadcasts are live from mobile devices, and Ustream’s users have already witnessed and reported on major events over the last couple years, from Japan’s 2011 earthquake to Occupy Wall Street. For the HuffPo, this partnership is a way to get a similar tool to CNN’s, without having to build a community or a tool from scratch. As for Ustream, it hopes to amplify the impact of these videos and benefit from the large audience of its media partner, which boasts 36.9 million monthly readers and viewers. (The Next Web)

Most Brazilian journalists use Twitter to spread news, new study shows

In 2011, 68 percent of Brazilian journalists used Twitter as their main tool for spreading news, according to a new digital journalism study from Oriella PR Network. The study, which aimed at understanding how the press worldwide is using digital technologies, interviewed about 500 journalists from 15 countries - 84 of those interviewed were Brazilian. Blogs were listed as the second-most used tool among Brazilian journalists, 59 percent of whom used blogs for disseminating news, the study showed. However, the main source for journalists in search of news continues to be press releases, mentioned 32 percent of the time. Among social media, which are a challenge for journalists, Twitter was most used by the press (67 percent), followed by Facebook and blogs, which were tied at 57 percent. About 24 percent of Brazilian journalists said they only publish content online. (Knight Center)

Hong Kong journalists warn of self censorship

As the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to mainland China on July 1 approaches, local journalists say that press freedoms have eroded in recent years and self-censorship is on the rise. According to a survey by the Hong Kong Journalist’s Association, 87 percent of journalists say that access to information has been limited and obstruction of news coverage has risen in the past five years under Chief Executive Donald Tsang, who steps down from office on June 30. That figure is 29 percent higher than the results of a similar survey the association conducted in 2007. The survey comes amid a mini firestorm over what some critics viewed as a self-censorship incident at the territory’s leading English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post. Local journalists say that the government has restricted the number of news events accessible to reporters in recent years, while the number of off-the-record briefings have risen. Hong Kong operates independent political, legal and economic systems from mainland China that include freedom of speech and of the press. According to HKJA’s survey, local journalists say that they aren’t immune to pressures from the mainland. Among 663 respondents, 79 percent believed that self-censorship has risen since 2005, and 36 percent said that they personally or their supervisors practice self-censorship, mostly by downplaying reports that might displease the central government, their advertisers or company owners. (Wall Street Journal)

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