Media News - Monday, August 06, 2012

Spanish government accused of purging critics from national radio and TV

A government making a raft of public spending cuts might not be expected to win many friends. But critics of Mariano Rajoy's rightwing Partido Popular (PP) claim that a series of departures from Spain's leading state broadcasting organisations are a sign that it will not tolerate any criticism. A number of journalists who have presumed to question the administration's austerity policy have been purged from the national RTVE radio and TV channel. And this weekend the most high-profile exit in recent months – that of Ana Pastor, the presenter of Los Desayunos de TVE, a popular breakfast news magazine programme – was announced. Since 1980 RTVE staff have been public appointees. In 2006 the law was changed so that appointments had to be approved by a two-thirds majority of parliament. This year the PP used its overall majority to scrap the 2006 amendment and has begun staffing the channel with veterans of the last PP government, which lost power in 2004 in the wake of the Madrid bombings. Pastor is one of the country's best-known journalists. (The Guardian)

Billionaire Lebedev willing to cede opposition paper, Ekho says

Russian billionaire newspaper owner Alexander Lebedev , who backs the opposition movement, is ready to cede his stake in Novaya Gazeta, the investigative newspaper he co-owns with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev , Ekho Moskvy radio reported. Lebedev, who told the Interfax news service earlier today that he’ll completely quit business after pressure from Russian authorities, said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy that he may hand his share in Novaya Gazeta to the newspaper’s editors. Lebedev controls National Reserve Bank and owns 15 percent of state airline OAO Aeroflot. He also owns stakes in construction, property and agriculture companies as well as a budget airline, Red Wings. The billionaire also controls the London Evening Standard newspaper and the Independent in the U.K. (Bloomberg)

Bomb strikes state TV building in central Damascus

A bomb blast rocked Syrian state television headquarters in the heart of Damascus wounding several people on Monday just two days after the army said it had seized the last rebel-held area of the capital. Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said there were no deaths in the morning bombing of the state television buildings in the heavily protected Omayyad district of Damascus. The broadcaster said that the blast hit the third floor of its headquarters. It remained on the air despite the bombing. Monday's was not the first attack on the pro-government media in Syria. On June 27, gunmen armed with explosives attacked the offices outside Damascus of the Al-Ikhbariya satellite channel, killing three journalists and four security guards. (AFP)

Dutch far-right opens new, anti-EU website

In a replay of events earlier this year when it launched an anti-immigrant website, the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) has set up a new protest portal - this time against the EU. The website decries the high pay of EU officials and MEPs and asks visitors to click on a button if they agree. It also promises to present its findings to EU Council President Herman van Rompuy before a meeting of EU leaders in October. Its chief, Geert Wilders, on Friday tweeted that the site gor over 10,000 clicks in the first few hours after it came online. Wilders already attracted attention in Brussels when, in February, he launched a website asking visitors to report problems caused by eastern European immigrants. The European Parliament at the time adopted a resolution denouncing the initiative. The new website - the third of its kind, after a second one against unruly immigrant youths, or "street terrorists" - comes amid falling support for the PVV a little over a month before elections in the Netherlands. The party looks set to lose up to a quarter of its 24 seats (in a chamber of 150). Traditionally anti-Islam, its new anti-EU pitch calls for the Netherlands to quit the EU - a hardening of its earlier eurosceptic line, which called for Brussels to limit itself to a mere economic union. (EU Observer)

Five years of Israel Today

Free Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom (Israel Today) celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 30. Special guest for the event was its owner, American casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, one of the richest jews in the world according to the Jerusalem Post. Adelson told Israel Today’s employees that they “have led a revolution” and asked them “to continue the good work” according to Globes. The good work mainly consists of giving unconditional support to the right-wing politics of Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu. This free daily paper is now the most succesful newspaper in Israel in readership and circulation. On weekdays 275,000 copies are distirubuted, the weekend edition has a circultion of 325,000. The page count is between 64 and 140. Israel Today has an impact on other papers as well. Paid paper Yediot Ahronot will sack dozens of journalist because of the competition from Israel Today, which is “destroying journalism” according to Globes. (Newspaper Innovation)

LinkedIn reaches 175 million members to post USD 228m revenues

Business networking firm LinkedIn has revealed it now has 175 million members as it posted USD 228m in revenues for its second quarter of 2012. However, although the revenues were strong and up 89 per cent year-on-year profits were only USD 2.8m, and this was down from USD 4.5m in the same period last year. Revenues in the firm were split among its Hiring Solution and Marketing Solutions tools and subscription services, with premium subscribers adding USD 43.5m to the bottom line, marketing offerings around USD 63m and hiring adding USD 121m. The firm added that it expects revenues for the next quarter to rise again to around USD 235m to $240 million with full year revenues totalling USD 925m. Despite not posting huge profits LinkedIn's share price rose a whopping 11 per cent in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, sending it to as high as USD 104 per share, more than double its launch price of USD 45 a share. This comes in stark contrast to the plummeting share price of Facebook which has dipped below USD 20 since launching at USD 38 a share. (V3.co.uk)

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