Media News - Monday, February 06, 2012

Twitter launches Twitter for News

Twitter has launched a new account that is dedicated to spotlighting some of the best practices and innovative uses of Twitter by journalists and newsrooms. Twitter says the account will focus on “innovative Twitter use across all types of news & journalism – not just breaking”. One of the first things @TwitterForNews has highlighted is the new Reuters ‘Social Pulse’ section. There are so many innovative users of Twitter out there. Last year’s effort by the Boston Globe to create a Twitter “information radiator” springs to mind as does the Guardian’s Twitter-based search assistant. Twitter for News also highlights some of the resources that it offers for journalists. (Wallblog.co.uk)

Syria says pro-government TV’s news service hacked

Syria's state broadcaster said on Sunday that the text message news service of a separate, pro-government TV station had been hacked and was being used to disseminate "false messages." A headline displayed on state Syria tv said: "The administration of Addounia draws the attention of its subscribers to the fact that it has temporarily halted its SMS service, and calls citizens to be wary of the false messages being sent now." Separate headlines on Addounia cautioned against a text message asking people "to avoid public squares for security reasons," and advised that its subscribers ignore all SMS messages on its service until further notice. The station was the target of European Union sanctions imposed on Syria in September, in response to President Bashar al-Assad's bloody crackdown on mass protests - and, increasingly, an armed insurgency - against his rule. The station uses the SMS service to send messages to viewers who have signed up. (Reuters)

Introducing Social Pulse: Reuters’ new social media hub

Reuters has launched a social media hub with a special focus on the interaction between social media and business. Social Pulse contains a curated selection of news from across Reuters' social media networks. The top section, titled The Hit List, features the most popular stories shared by people followed by Reuters accounts and Reuters journalists on Twitter. The section is managed through the curation company Percolate. Curation is nothing new, but what makes Social Pulse stand out is the way it combines social media and business analysis. The second section on the new page, powered by "big data" sentiment-tracking company Wise Window, allows readers to compare the sentiment expressed about various firms on social media networks with those companies' stock prices. For the third section, Reuters has put together a list of 100 CEOs who are active on Twitter, and then ranked the top 50 by their Klout scores. The Klout scores, which represent measurements of the influence that individuals have across various social media networks, allow users to see a picture of "America's most social CEO's". Social Pulse also includes content selected by Reuters' social media editor Anthony de Rosa and and Tweets from Reuters' bloggers and reporters. To maximise user-friendliness, Reuters has also created a directory listing its reporters that are active on Twitter by topic. Social Pulse also features a selection of the most widely-discussed stories and the most viewed videos on Reuters, and a snapshot of Tweets from influential figures. (Sfnblog.com)

BRIC countries lead advertising growth

Russia and India will record the strongest growth in advertising spend over the coming year, according to the latest Warc international ad forecast. It predicts that Russia will increase expenditure by 16.5%, followed by India (14.0 percent), China (11.5 percent) and Brazil (8.5 percent). The picture is very different outside the BRIC quartet, especially in Europe, where three countries - Germany (1 percent), France (0.8 percent) and Italy (-0.2 percent) - are now expected to record the worst year-on-year performances. All three economies are facing the possibility of renewed recession due to the eurozone debt crisis. Taking into account the likelihood of inflation, all three countries are likely to see a decline in advertising spend in 2012. The forecast for the UK is more positive, with predicted growth of 4.2 percent. But Warc, the marketing intelligence service, points out that the figure will be boosted by two sporting events - the London Olympics and European football championships. As for the United States, which is forecast to see a 4.1 percent increase in ad spend, its TV broadcasters will undoubtedly benefit from the presidential election. Indeed, across all 12 countries covered by the survey, TV is predicted to increase its share of main media advertising, growing by 5.3 percent compared to the overall media total of 4.5 percent. As for online advertising, the pace of expansion is expected to slow to 12.6 percent this year, down from an estimated 16.6 percent in 2011. The internet is expected to account for 20 percent of all media spend by the end of 2012. (Warc via Media Guardian)

BBC says Iran targeting families of its journalists

Iranian authorities are increasingly arresting and threatening the families of British Broadcasting Corporation journalists to force them to quit its Persian news service, the BBC's head said on Sunday. Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, said he was speaking out to try and embarrass Tehran to end what he said was a campaign of intimidation against Iranian staff who worked outside Iran. "What we have decided to do is to be more public than we have been before in calling for the Iranian authorities to desist from this, to ask for other governments to try and put as much pressure as they can and to hope that the embarrassment of this will get those who are responsible for these actions to think again," Thompson told BBC TV. BBC Persian staff provide Farsi-language TV, radio and online services. Few Western journalists are permitted to work in Iran where the hardline Islamic government views much of the foreign media with suspicion. The BBC's TV service has often been jammed and is only available to owners of illegal satellite receivers. Thompson said the harassment was getting worse, citing the case of a sister of a London-based BBC journalist who he said was arrested in Tehran on unspecified charges, threatened and intimidated. (Reuters)

CPJ publishes report criticizing deterioration of press freedom in Ecuador

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has released a report criticizing pending Ecuadorian electoral reforms that will prohibit the press from covering political campaigns and elections. According to CPJ, the electoral reform will go into effect Saturday, Feb. 4. The Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, has been heavily criticized by defenders of free speech and freedom of the press, but he has discredited their allegations. The CPJ report explains, "This reform denies Ecuadorian citizens the right to stay informed over elections, and represents the most recent example of the deterioration of freedom of the press under Correa." According to the website Periodistas en Espanol, the Forum of Ecuadorian Journalists (FOPE) says that under the reforms, “almost all journalistic work that is broadcast or published during political campaigns could be considered illegal.” The newspaper La Hora reported that the non-governmental Ecuadorian organization Fundamedios has filed a complaint to the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court alleging that the reforms are unconstitutional. In the complaint, Fundamedios said that the reforms represented a long list of serious threats to Ecuadorian citizens. (Knight Center)

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• 03/02/12 - Huffington Post to launch streaming network
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• 01/02/12 - Will Facebook deliver an IPO surprise?
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• 01/02/12 - Iran launches Hispan TV for Hispanic audiences
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