Media News - Monday, September 24, 2012

Study shows increasing dependence of UK journalists on social media

More than 25 percent of UK journalists say they cannot work without social media according to the 2012 social journalism study by Cision and Canterbury Christ Church University. Alongside this growing dependence on social media, the study also reveals concerns from journalists about the impact of social media on productivity and privacy with 16 percent of respondents claiming that social media will ‘kill journalism’. This year's survey found that, compared to last year, journalists are using a greater variety of social media tools and are more reliant on social media for many of their professional tasks. Sourcing information has overtaken self-promotion as the primary objective of social activity by journalists. The survey about journalists’ uses and perceptions of, and attitude toward, social media was conducted online, and received more than 769 responses from UK journalists during June and July 2012. (Egovmonitor)

Vietnam bloggers ‘anti-state propaganda’ trial opens

Hundreds of police surrounded a court in Vietnam on Monday for the opening of the trial of three bloggers, including one whose case has been raised by US President Barack Obama. Heavy security flanked the building in southern Ho Chi Minh City as the case began against Nguyen Van Hai, alias Dieu Cay, Phan Thanh Hai and policewoman-turned-dissident Ta Phong Tan, an AFP reporter saw. The trio face charges of conducting propaganda against the one-party communist state, which are routinely used to prosecute dissidents in a country that rights groups say is conducting a growing crackdown against freedom of expression. There were no sign of supporters outside the court, after a popular banned blog, Dan Lam Bao (the People Report), claimed they had been prevented from approaching the area by security forces. The blog ran photographs of people carrying large signs calling for the trio's release, and reported that at least seven supporters had been arrested early Monday. Police would not comment on any arrests. Mobile phone signals had apparently been blocked inside the court compound, the AFP reporter said. The bloggers are to be tried under Article 88 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail, a lawyer for Dieu Cay told AFP earlier. (AFP)

Israeli settler buys stricken newspaper

One of Israel's oldest daily newspapers has been sold to a settler businessman in the face of looming bankruptcy. Many of its employees face losing their jobs in the coming weeks. Maariv was founded in 1948, the same year as the state of Israel was declared, and was the country's largest circulation daily in the 1950s. Staff salaries have not been paid this month, and about 1,000 employees demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Thursday. A one-day strike is planned for early next week. The new owner, Shlomo Ben-Zvi, has said he will keep the paper going but with a much smaller workforce, pledging to retain only about 300 of the group's 1,500-plus employees. Ben-Zvi is also the publisher of Makor Rishon, a daily newspaper with a nationalist-religious outlook associated with the hardline settler movement, and there is speculation he could merge the two titles. The businessman, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, reportedly paid about USD 19m for a majority share in Maariv. Israel's newspaper industry has been hit by the migration of readers and advertising to the internet, and paid-for titles have had to contend with the success of the free newspaper Israel Hayom, which launched in 2007 and is now the country's most widely read paper, with a 38 percent market share. (The Guardian)

New free dailies in Latin America and Spain

Thanks to the ongoing research of Marv Carlson of ABYZNewslinks, some so-far unknown free dailies were discovered in Latin America. Near the Brazilian metropol Rio, free afternoon papers Ter Noticias andO Terminal are published since 2010 in Niteroi, Sao Goncalo, Macae and Petropolis (O Terminal) and Juiz de Fora (Ter Noticias). In Guarulhos (Sao Paulo) daily Guarulhos Hoje is published for free since 2010, it was launched in 2008 as a paid paper. Two papers from Ecuador were discovered. Diario Estacion was published from (at least) October 2010 to February 2011 in the capital Lima. A now defunct Twitter account still exists while there is also a YouTube movie on a sampling action of the paper. El Gratuito, also published in Lima, started just after Diario Estacion stopped and using a similar color design, suggesting it succeeded Diario Estacion. The website is not available anymore, the Twitter account stopped in April 2011. In Spain, Carlson discovered El Acueducto, a free paper published since April this year in Segovia (Castile and Leon). The paper is named after the famous aquaduct in the city. (Newspaper Innovation)

Argentina insists on Clarin media breakup ahead of court ruling

Argentina’s government and one its leading critics, Grupo Clarin SA (GCLA), clashed over President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s determination to break up the country’s biggest media conglomerate. The government, in advertisements broadcast nationwide during soccer matches over the weekend, said it will strip most of Clarin’s television licenses even as the Supreme Court considers a company-requested injunction to block the move. The Supreme Court ruled on May 22 that Clarin has until Dec. 7 to fall in line with an antitrust law approved by Congress in 2009 requiring the Buenos Aires-based company to sell dozens of television networks it operates across the country. Still, justices have yet to rule on a company lawsuit claiming its constitutional rights are being violated. The government, deflecting criticism by opposition politicians and advocacy groups that it’s trying to control news coverage, said that its actions seek to guarantee “diversity and democracy” in Argentina’s media. If Clarin doesn’t adhere to the law the government will be forced to auction its licenses so no jobs are lost, the video said. Clarin owns the country’s largest-circulation newspaper as well as its biggest cable-television operator, Cablevision SA, radio stations, Internet providers and Argentina’s biggest printing press. It has been feuding with the government since Fernandez’s late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, accused it of supporting farmers in a national strike over export taxes. (Business Week)

Dutch police detain 34 after riots over teen Facebook party

Dutch police detained 34 people when rioting broke out as thousands of party-goers invaded a small town for a teenager's birthday after her Facebook invite went viral, local officials said Saturday. The individuals will be charged with public disturbance and more arrests could be expected after police study pictures taken of the Friday night clashes in the sleepy northern town of Haren, police chief Oscar Drots told a press conference aired on public television. "An innocent call on Facebook to party led to riots, destruction, looting, fires and injuries in the centre of the town," Haren mayor Rob Bats said at the press conference, adding that 500 police officers had been called to the scene. Twenty-nine people, including three officers, sustained injuries but none were serious, according to Dutch media. The police had been on high alert after the schoolgirl posted a message inviting friends to her 16th birthday party on Friday, but forgot to mark it as a private event, prompting more than 20,000 replies. (AFP)

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