Media News - Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Google News search introduces expandable results, multimedia

It's been more than a year since Google introduced expandable results into Google News, clustering related articles under a single headline and letting users expand the link to see more. On Monday Google said it will roll out expandable results, along with a handful of other user interface improvements, into its search results over the next few days. Among the changes: Searches will now reveal a multimedia bar showing related photos and videos. The changes will be evident to anyone searching within Google itself or within the Google News site. Google is also updating the layout slightly to put the article image on the left and the source information underneath the article links. (CNET News)

Sweden scraps income-based ‘TV tax’ scheme

Sweden's plan to replace licence fees with an income-based tax to fund public broadcasters has been put on ice, according to the ministry of culture, which says that a more thorough analysis into the scheme needs to be carried out. The government-appointed public service committee has been working for about a year on a large number of questions regarding the operation of national public broadcasters Sveriges Radio, Sveriges Television and Sveriges Utbildningsradio. In September, the committee presented their findings with some new suggestions ahead of the next licensing period starting on January 1st 2014. Among their suggestions was a new fee system whereby an income based TV tax should be paid by everyone over 18 years of age. But the ministry announced on Monday that when the proposals were sent out for comment, the suggestion for a new TV tax was not among them. The proposal needs a closer look, according to the ministry, which does not rule out that an income-based TV tax could become a reality in the future. (The Local)

Bertelsmann eyes Springer Science

Bertelsmann, the German media group, is sizing up a bid for Springer Science and Business, the world’s second largest publisher of scientific journals, which could go up for sale in the first quarter of next year for anywhere between EUR 3bn and EUR 4bn. A move would represent Bertelsmann’s biggest merger or acquisition since 2006, when the it bought back a 25 per cent stake from Belgian investor Albert Frere for EUR 4.5bn. It would also test Thomas Rabe, Bertelsmann’s chief executive of 10 months, who has said the group is ready to shoulder big deals again. Springer Science’s owners – EQT, the Swedish private equity group, and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund – are hiring advisers for what people briefed on the matter expect to become a “triple-track” sale in the first quarter of 2013. EQT and GIC, which bought Springer Science from Candover and Cinven in 2009, are considering a sale to other funds or an initial public offering, most likely in Frankfurt. But they are also aware of interest from strategic buyers, with Bertelsmann said to have signalled firm intent earlier this year. (Financial Times)

Voters in Iceland back new constitution, more resource control

Residents of Iceland have voted for their constitution to be rewritten in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis, electing to take greater control of natural resources such as fish and geothermal energy, results of a referendum showed on Sunday. The collapse of the island's heavily indebted banks led to demands for change after accusations of cronyism between the political elite and business. The referendum is non-binding but backers of change hope that politicians will find it hard to ignore even though parliament is responsible for adopting a new constitution and the main opposition party has said it opposes proposed changes. Saturday's referendum asked voters six questions, including whether people wanted a new constitution which has been drawn up by a specially-appointed panel of 25 citizens to be the basis for a review of the basic law. With two-thirds of votes counted on Sunday, 66 percent had answered "yes" to that question. Turnout was 49 percent of the island's more than 235,000 eligible voters, broadcaster RUV said. The draft constitution includes provisions to allow 10 percent of voters to call their own referendums. It also sets a limit on the terms a president can serve to three from the current unlimited terms. The draft constitution was drawn up after deliberations by the 25 members of the council and after about 3,600 comments and 370 suggestions were made to the council's website. The council also used Facebook and Twitter to communicate with the public (Reuters)

Datajournalism on Austria’s Heute

Heute-publisher Eva Dichand tried to silence Austrian website Dossier when they anounced a investigation into the advertising revenue of the free daily. Dossier was intimidated and published three stories on Heute. They also showed some visualisations of the advertising revenues. The city of Vienna is one of the largest sponsors of the paper. In total Heute receives around 30 percent of its income from public sources. Der Standard used the data for visualisations of their own. (Newspaper Innovation)

Artists from around the world to report for new site

A new website, Creative Time Reports, gives artists from around the world a platform for commentary and analysis on current affairs. The site, which launched on October 11, is the latest initative by CreativeTime, a 40-year-old nonprofit that commissions and presents socially conscious art projects. Creative Time Reports premiered with an article on the Spanish economic crisis by the photographer Liam Gillick, who interviewed locals in the Basque region and compared their struggles with his upbringing in Thatcherite Britain. Haitian writer Jean-Euphe`le Milce' contributed a dispatch from the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, writing in his native French with an English translation and audio reading alongside it. An exiled Syrian photographer, Jaber Al Azmeh, wrote an op-ed railing against the portrayal of the Syrian conflict as a civil war rather than the revolution he believes it to be. Many of the artists contributing to Creative Time Reports face great personal risk for doing so, said site editor Marisa Mazria Katz. Creative Time Reports plans to publish two large features a month with smaller dispatches in between. All of the content is available for other sites to republish. Creative Time Reports hopes to establish publishing partnerships with larger outlets that can regularly syndicate their work in a ProPublica model. (Columbia Journalism Review)

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