Media News - Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Projects on U.S.-Mexico border, development in Brazil win Online Journalism Awards

A student project that explored the migratory effects caused by drug violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and a comprehensive reportingpackage on the ongoing development of Parana' state in Brazil won the Online News Association’s 2012 awards for non-English projects during the ONA’s latest conference in San Francisco. “Mexodus,” published by Borderzine, a bilingual student publication of the University of Texas in El Paso, aimed to document the flight of families and businesses from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to its sister city of El Paso, Texas. The mass migration followed a surge in drug violence and petty crime in the Mexican border city. Students from four universities in Mexico and the U.S. contributed to the nine-month project and published around 20 stories in both Spanish and English. “Retratos Parana',” published by the Curitiba-based daily Gazeta de Povo was a four-month project in which a team of journalists traveled across more than 6,200 miles in the Brazilian southern state of Parana' to paint a detailed picture of the developing region. The series, which included several features and interactive maps, examined the state through the lenses of economics, health, education, urban mobilization and culture to show the different faces of progress and poverty in Parana'. A third non-English award, for General Excellence, was received by Rue89, an innovative web-only publication from France. (Knight Center)

Sao Paulo newspaper reimagines elections data in animated video

In the past, old elections data might languish on microfiche or in boxes, dusted off occasionally by a political scientist or presidential historian. But in the run-up to the Sao Paulo's Oct. 7 municipal elections, one newsroom has reimagined data from nearly two decades as an animated video that engages the public and draws people to its website and YouTube channel. The daily newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo took voting data from every municipal, regional and national election since 1994 and mapped the locations of votes throughout Sao Paulo. The result is an innovative animated video — and a model for how newsrooms can bring data to life. The three-minute clip depicts a helicopter — the “Folhacoptero” — whose pilot flies above the city, explaining the often-polarized political landscape below. Folha art department editor Mario Kanno coordinated the efforts of three journalists, a video editor, a graphic designer and a programmer to create the animation in just three weeks. They obtained, cleaned and analyzed the data, added income information for context, mapped it with Quantum GIS, then used Cinema 4D software to animate it. The Folha crew won’t stop there: Faleiros says the Folhacoptero will take off on three more “data flight routes” during election season. (IJNet)

Survey finds 24 percent of online media in Argentina have no print version

The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish) released the results of a study on digital journalism in the South American country on Sept. 14, reported the organization. The survey found that 24 percent of digital media do not have a print version, 94 percent of editors believed that social networks support their work, 23 percent have an employee dedicated exclusively to answer questions on social media, and 80 percent do not have a style manual. FOPEA asked the consultancy CIO to conduct a survey of 74 editors of the largest online publications in Argentina during the month of May 2012. Groups surveyed had to generate their own content and update their information daily. The survey focused on the work routines of journalists working online, how they use and verify information found on social networks, and their circulation locally or internationally. Click here to see the official presentation of the survey or the full report. (Knight Center)

Vietnam convicts 3 bloggers for anti-gov’t posts

A Vietnamese court issued jail sentences ranging from four to 12 years on Monday to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses, corruption and foreign policy, intensifying a crackdown on citizens' use of the Internet to criticize the government. The cases are particularly high-profile examples of the Communist government's attempts to stifle challenges to its authority on the Internet, which has emerged as a major avenue for dissent in the country of 87 million people. President Barack Obama has mentioned one of the defendants, and the mother of another died after setting herself on fire to protest her daughter's arrest. The defendants, two men and one woman, are founding members of the "Free Journalists' Club," a group of citizen journalists who posted their work on the Internet. They were found guilty of spreading "propaganda against the state." Nguyen Van Hai, who has written under the pen name Dieu Cay or "Tobacco Pipe," got 12 years, Ta Phong Tan received 10 years and Phan Thanh Hai got four years, according to defense lawyer Ha Huy Son. The trial in Ho Chi Minh City lasted less than six hours. The country regularly convicts dissidents, but sentences have generally been around five years. (AP)

Greek journalists strike against austerity measures

Greece was hit with radio silence Monday, as broadcast and print media embarked on a 24-hour strike to protest against wage cuts and layoffs amid the debt-ridden country's new austerity drive. Hundreds of journalists, technicians and other press employees turned out at a demonstration in central Athens, carrying banners and decrying the "mediaeval conditions" in the news sector. "We were asked to sign contracts with a 25-percent salary reduction, which nullifies the collective agreement," said technician Fotini Karagoussi, who has been working for the private radio channel Alpha for 13 years. "Alpha staffing now stands at 30 people, compared to 130 five years ago," she added. Dimitri Trimis, the head of the union of Athens daily newspaper staff (Esiea), said the sector had been struck by "a new attack against journalists' rights, which threatens democracy." The demonstration follows a wave of strikes this month by professionals of all stripes - doctors, judges, professors, police officers, firemen, soldiers - ahead of a 24-hour general strike planned for Wednesday by the country's two main labour unions. Greece and its international creditors are currently in talks to identify EUR 11.5bn in savings and a further EUR 2.0bn in increased revenue that are necessary to unlock a new EU-IMF loan instalment of EUR 31bn. (AFP)

More countries restrict Internet to stifle critics: report

Government restrictions on the Internet have risen over the past year around the world as regimes use violence against bloggers and turn to censorship and arrest to squelch calls for reform, a new report from a U.S. advocacy group has found. Pakistan, Bahrain and Ethiopia saw the biggest rollbacks in Internet freedom since January 2011 and were among the 20 countries out of 47 assessed by Freedom House that declined in their rankings. In contrast Tunisia, Libya and Burma, all countries that have seen dramatic political opening or regime changes, improved over previous years along with 14 other countries, the U.S. group, which advocates democracy and open societies, said. The report was released the day that Vietnam handed out stiff jail terms to three high-profile bloggers for their bold criticism of government handling of land rights issues and corruption. Estonia topped the list of countries for freedom of the Internet with the United States in second place, according to the Freedom House report. The rankings were based on obstacles to Internet access, limits on content and violations of user rights. The report covered the period from January 2011 to May 2012 and is its third on Internet freedom, based on information from researchers mostly based in the 47 countries. (Reuters)

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