http://www.ejc.net/media_news/ EJC daily media news en European Journalism Centre Copyright 2012 2012-05-22T10:24:22+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/eu_gives_google_weeks_to_satisfy_competition_concerns/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/eu_gives_google_weeks_to_satisfy_competition_concerns/#When:10:24:22Z European Union anti-trust chiefs asked Google Monday to quickly offer "remedies" to satisfy Brussels' concerns the Internet search king has abused its dominant market position - or else face heavy penalties. "If Google comes up with remedies" within "a matter of weeks," Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a news conference, the EU will negotiate "instead of having to pursue proceedings and fines." Almunia said he had written to Google's Eric Schmidt with this timetable for action after an 18-month probe, and hinted that the case could be closed early if Google made the right noises by way of reply. The alternative would be legal action that, depending on the severity and duration of infractions claimed, could result in fines worth up to 10 percent of Google's turnover - meaning record EU penalties. Google's Brussels-based spokesman Al Verney indicated that the company would resist some of the EU's demands. The European Commission launched its antitrust investigation in November 2010, looking into allegations that Google had abused a dominant market position following complaints from rivals. 2012-05-22T10:24:22+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iapa_criticizes_venezuelan_authorities_campaign_against_newspaper/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iapa_criticizes_venezuelan_authorities_campaign_against_newspaper/#When:10:23:41Z The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has called on the Venezuelan government to end its defamation campaign against the newspaper Notitarde, IAPA announced on its website on Friday, May 18. According to IAPA, the campaign is a "a malicious discrediting maneuver" initiated by federal and state legislators of the ruling party. The newspaper La Verdad reported that in the streets of Valencia, in Carabobo, posters and placards appeared accusing the newspaper of being financed by drug traffickers. The conflict started with the accusation by the president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, of the incumbent United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), that the newspaper was linked to members of the Makled family, which is on trial for drug trafficking charges, explained El Informador. Tensions between the press and the government in Venezuela are nothing new, and have increased in recent months as the October presidential elections approach. 2012-05-22T10:23:41+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/microsoft_launches_social_search/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/microsoft_launches_social_search/#When:10:22:22Z With Facebook hogging the spotlight last week and Google working to stay in the game with Google+, Microsoft has quietly launched So.cl, which it describes as a social-search tool to share information and meet people with common interests. What it's not, Microsoft says, is a rival to Facebook. "So.cl is an experimental research project focused on the future of social experiences and learning, especially among younger people," Microsoft said Monday in an e-mail. The tool was launched late last year for students at a handful of colleges and universities. Last week, the company quietly made it available to anyone for a public beta test period. Among the features of So.cl (pronounced, of course, "social") is a "bookmarklet" feature similar to Facebook's "Like" button. That lets users share sites or pages they find interesting with other users. You can share, comment on or tag other people's posts. So.cl also has a "video party" feature that lets users chat with others and incorporate videos into those chats. The tool comes from Microsoft's FUSE Labs, which works with product research and development teams on new Web and social tools. 2012-05-22T10:22:22+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iran_starts_legal_case_against_reuters/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iran_starts_legal_case_against_reuters/#When:10:21:57Z Iranian authorities said on Monday they have formally started legal proceedings against the international news agency Reuters, after suspending its Tehran bureau over a report about female ninjas. Sources close to the case told AFP the charges being considered were threatening Iran's national security, propaganda against the regime, or others yet to be declared. No charges have been made public. Reuters employees in Tehran and elsewhere declined to comment, saying they had instructions from their management not to do so. A Reuters statement said the news agency has apologised for the ninja story and retracted it. It protested a travel ban placed on the Reuters bureau chief in Tehran, Parisa Hafezi, who had been forced to hand in her Iranian passport as part of bail conditions imposed by an investigating magistrate pending the court case. The case stems from a February 16 video report Reuters did on a group of female ninjas training in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran. The women and the head of the ninjutsu club featured in the report objected that they were mischaracterised as killers in the story's original headline, which read "Thousands of female Ninjas train as Iran?s assassins", and said they would sue for defamation. Reuters subsequently changed the headline to read "Three thousand women Ninjas train in Iran". It later retracted the report. 2012-05-22T10:21:57+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/nascar_twitter_turn_hashtags_into_pit_stops/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/nascar_twitter_turn_hashtags_into_pit_stops/#When:10:20:24Z The hashtag’s basic function is to serve as a content filter on Twitter. While useful, hashtags can also be uninspired. So Twitter is converting the hashtag into a content destination in its own right through a unique partnership with Nascar announced Friday. Starting with the Pocono 400 the weekend of June 10, consumers who click on the #Nascar hashtag will be directed to a not-yet-live Twitter page that will aggregate tweets and photos related to the race to create what Nascar svp and CMO Steve Phelps called in a statement a “complementary live race experience.” Up until now when users click on a hashtag, they are shown a page littered with tweets which have included that particular hashtag. But in Nascar’s case, Twitter will curate those tweets through an algorithm, and by hand to give users a behind-the-scenes look at the race. The partnership appears to be part of a broader initiative by Twitter to take channel sports fans heavy usage of the platform during live games. Earlier this week Twitter announced a partnership with ESPN to launch during the NBA Finals that will have users tweeting their game faces with the #gameface hashtag. 2012-05-22T10:20:24+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/un_action_plan_offers_strategy_for_protecting_journalists/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/un_action_plan_offers_strategy_for_protecting_journalists/#When:10:19:34Z Highlighting the need to celebrate journalists' work as way of creating a country- and world-wide atmosphere respecting freedom of expression, Guy Berger, director of UNESCO's Division of Freedom of Expression and media development, briefly outlined the UN Plan of Action on the Safetyof Journalists and the Issue of Impunity during the first day of the 10th annual Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas. The plan — which would strengthen the authority of the Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression, encourage widening the scope of UN Security Council resolution 1738 (condemning attacks against journalists in areas of conflict) to include protecting journalists in non-conflict areas, help member nations pass laws to prosecute suspects in journalists' killings, develop a guide outlining emergency responses and safety provisions for journalists in the field, and establish a U.N. inter-agency mechanism to evaluate journalists' safety — is necessary, Berger said, because violence against the press is occurring in a "climate where journalists are not seen as offering a critical service to society." What's more, criminal defamation laws send the message that critical journalists are criminals, thus making their killing seemingly less of a big issue, Berger said. Interestingly, Berger pointed out that the plan does not limit the protection of journalists to those working for professional media outlets. Rather, the definition of "journalist" was extended to include community journalists, citizen journalists, and those working with new media to inform the public. 2012-05-22T10:19:34+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/yahoo_will_sell_a_stake_in_alibaba/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/yahoo_will_sell_a_stake_in_alibaba/#When:09:37:08Z Yahoo’s directors unanimously approved a deal on Sunday to sell about half of its 40 percent stake in the Alibaba Group back to the Chinese Internet company, concluding years of efforts by the two to reach an agreement. Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Alibaba will buy back the stake, valued at about USD 7.1bn. Yahoo will divest an additional 10 percent of the Chinese company when Alibaba files for an initial public offering, which could come in the next few years. Yahoo expects to sell the remainder of its stake at a later date. While the deal is valued at USD 7.1bn, based on a USD 35bn valuation of Alibaba, it could rise significantly. Alibaba is financing the transaction through a combination of debt and equity, and may pay Yahoo shareholders more if it raises the money at a higher valuation. Yahoo, a troubled Internet media company, plans to use the proceeds to increase shareholder value, principally by buying back a large number of shares. That would have the effect of shoring up Yahoo’s sagging stock price. The company, which has churned through three chief executives over three years, has been trying to improve on slow growth in advertising revenue. 2012-05-21T09:37:08+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/facebook_faces_usd_15bn_suit_over_privacy_violations/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/facebook_faces_usd_15bn_suit_over_privacy_violations/#When:09:34:54Z Facebook was hit with a USD 15bn privacy lawsuit hours before its initial public offering (IPO), which valued the firm at more than USD 100bn. The suit, filed in the Northern California District Court, alleged that the company knowingly infringed on user privacy when it used browser cookies to track activity. The suit included more than 20 complainants. The privacy issue first came to light in September of last year when researcher Nic Cubrilovic discovered that the site was tracking browser activity even after users had logged out of the social networking site. Shortly after the report surfaced, Facebook issued an update to correct the issue and prevent the site from tracking activity when users log out of their accounts. Facebook told Bloomberg that the claims were without merit and the social network would be contesting the case in court. The suit arrives as Facebook looks to begin life as a publicly-traded company. The social networking giant on Friday kicked off its IPO in New York on the Nasdaq stock exchange. While the offering set records for trade volume, Facebook stock failed to live up to early expectations as the day progressed and the company's financial backers were forced to step in and prevent the stock from falling below its starting price. Analysts have suggested that the company set its sights too high with its asking price and left the company open to a disappointing public debut. 2012-05-21T09:34:54+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/pakistan_briefly_bans_twitter_access_for_blasphemy/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/pakistan_briefly_bans_twitter_access_for_blasphemy/#When:09:33:52Z Pakistan banned access to Twitter on Sunday because of "blasphemous" material, a Pakistani official said, but normal service was resumed after 12 hours. The government did not specify which users or messages had prompted the ban on the microblogging site or why it was allowed to operate again so quickly. Any representation of the Prophet Mohammad is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous by many Muslims, who make up the overwhelming majority in Pakistan. Pakistan blocked access to Facebook in May 2010 for nearly two weeks because of users conducting a competition on drawing Mohammad. Twitter, YouTube and about 1,000 other websites were also blocked for carrying blasphemous content. The Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan said its members had been asked to block Twitter indefinitely, but no reason was provided by the government. Interior Minister Rehman Malik, an active Twitter user, said on the website Sunday night that he had intervened and asked the prime minister to order an end to the ban. 2012-05-21T09:33:52+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/hybrid_tv_sets_boom_in_germany/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/hybrid_tv_sets_boom_in_germany/#When:09:33:18Z TV sets which can be connected to the Internet are set to become standard in Germany, with almost every second TV set sold in Germany this year (46 percent) having the capability to be hooked up to the net, according to a new study compiled by German industry association BITKOM. In 2011, the share of hybrid TV sets only amounted to 35 percent. Every sixth household in Germany now has a connected TV set. BITKOM expects 22 percent of households to have such a TV set by the end of 2012. 30 percent of households owning Internet-capable TV sets make use of the online features – for example movies on demand – more than once per month, according to a current BITKOM study. However, every second owner doesn't use the Internet function yet. The association expects the access figures to rise with the growing number of Internet features customised for usage on the TV screen, for example through made-for-TV apps. 2012-05-21T09:33:18+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/us_video_ad_delivery_hits_new_heights_as_online_video_soars/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/us_video_ad_delivery_hits_new_heights_as_online_video_soars/#When:09:32:00Z US video ad delivery nearly reached the 10 billion mark in April 2012, beating the previous record set a month earlier according to the latest comScore online video rankings. The comScore Video Metrix service revealed that in all, and just as in the previous month more or less, 181 million US Internet users watched nearly 37 billion online content videos. Google Sites, as ever by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in April with 157.7 million unique viewers, grabbing share from rivals compared with the previous month. Viewers for Yahoo! Sites dipped by 10 percent to 53.6 million, VEVO slipped 2 million to 49.5 million, Facebook.com down slightly to 44.3 million and Microsoft Sites climbing to 42.8 million. Of the near 37 billion video views, Google Sites generated 17 billion, followed by Hulu with 901 million and Yahoo! Sites with 742 million. The average viewer watched 21.8 hours of online video content—with Google Sites (7.2 hours) and the Hulu over the top (OTT) the top service with 3.8 hours—earning the highest average engagement among the top ten properties. The OTT provider was again the most prominent in the monetisation stakes as Americans viewed 9.5 billion video ads in April, representing another month of record video ad views. 2012-05-21T09:32:00+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iranian_director_farhadi_claims_eu_prize_at_cannes/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iranian_director_farhadi_claims_eu_prize_at_cannes/#When:09:31:25Z Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, who won this year's foreign-language picture Academy Award, claimed a prize at Cannes Sunday to help fund his next film, with fellow Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard. Farhadi, who made the wrenching family drama "A Separation", accepted the European Union's Prix Media with a EUR 60,000 cash award. He said he would start filming the as-yet untitled picture starring Cotillard and fellow French actor Tahar Rahim later this year in France. 2012-05-21T09:31:25+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/twitter_to_use_do_not_track/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/twitter_to_use_do_not_track/#When:10:02:40Z Twitter says it will honour requests from users who do not want their online behaviour tracked, the company said on Thursday, in contrast with web companies such Google and Facebook whose business models rely heavily on collecting user data. Twitter announced that it will officially support "Do Not Track," a standardised privacy initiative that has been heavily promoted by the US Federal Trade Commission, online privacy advocates and Mozilla, the non-profit developer of the Firefox web browser. But some commentators have pointed out that the support also indicates that the company presently does track where users go on the web through data collected from sites that have integrated Twitter "follow" buttons or widgets. Some browsers, including Firefox, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Apple's Safari, include a Do Not Track option that sends a line of code to websites indicating the user does not want to be tracked. But under current regulations, it is up to the website to honour the requests. Google has said it will implement a Do Not Track feature in its Chrome browser later this year. 2012-05-18T10:02:40+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/brazils_new_information_access_law_goes_into_effect/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/brazils_new_information_access_law_goes_into_effect/#When:10:00:13Z Brazilians can now count on an Information Access Law to obtain data and non-secret government documents without having to provide justification for their information requests. The information access law went into effect on Wednesday, May 16, making Brazil one of 91 countries with freedom of information laws, reported ABC News and the newspaper Zero Hora. Also, the decree that regulates this law was signed by President Dilma Rousseff. The long struggle for this law to be approved was supported by organizations, such as the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji in Portuguese), the NGO Article 19, and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, as well as journalists, such as Fernando Rodrigues, who is the leader of the campaign for the right to information access in Brazil. The Brazilian law guarantees access to financial expenditures and contracts, as well as general data on programs, actions, projects and other public works, and is applied to all levels of the government (city, state, and national) and the three powers (legislative, executive, and judicial). Compared with other information access laws, such as those in Chile and the U.S., this law is a step forward. To better understand the law, the portal G1 and Povo Online highlighted the main points. The full text of the law can be found here. 2012-05-18T10:00:13+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/bolivian_senate_proposes_law_to_regulate_social_networks/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/bolivian_senate_proposes_law_to_regulate_social_networks/#When:09:59:47Z The Bolivian Senate has proposed a bill that would regulate social networks, and would be attached to the Law to Fight Against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination, reported the news site Eju TV. The anti-racism law was heavily criticized by journalists when it was approved in October 2010. Journalists say the law violates freedom of expression and instills self-censorship. The idea to regulate social networks, presented by a lawmaker from the Movement Towards Socialism, Galo Bonifaz, and by the president of the Senate, Gabriela Montano, caused much criticism among opposition who claim that this law would violate freedom of expression in the country, reported the newspaper La Opinion. According to the newspaper La Razon, lawmakers say the law is “necessary because it is about restraining discrimination and racism” that occurs on the Internet. But mostly, as Montano said, this law would avoid "discriminatory and offensive acts" against President Evo Morales, reported La Opinion. 2012-05-18T09:59:47+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/us_los_angeles_times_receives_usd_1m_grant_from_ford_foundation/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/us_los_angeles_times_receives_usd_1m_grant_from_ford_foundation/#When:09:58:09Z The Los Angeles Times will use a USD 1m grant from the Ford Foundation to expand its coverage of key beats, including immigration and ethnic communities in Southern California, the southwest U.S. border and the emerging economic powerhouse of Brazil. The Times plans to use the two-year grant to hire journalists who will focus on the Vietnamese, Korean and other immigrant communities, the California prison system, the border region and Brazil. As the Internet has triggered massive shifts in audience and advertising, many media have looked to partnerships and new sources of funding. Substantial investigative projects that appear in many American newspapers are now researched, written and edited by nonprofits like ProPublica and California Watch. The New York Times national edition has bolstered local coverage in several states by contracting with digital nonprofits. The California Endowment pays for 15 reporters to cover healthcare at media outlets around the state. The hire in Brazil represents the return of a Times correspondent to South America, where a network of stringers has provided the bulk of coverage in the last several years. 2012-05-18T09:58:09+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/us_buffetts_berkshire_to_buy_media_general_papers/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/us_buffetts_berkshire_to_buy_media_general_papers/#When:09:57:38Z Billionaire Warren Buffett's company is making another foray into newspapers, agreeing to buy 63 newspapers from Media General Inc. for USD 142m. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is also extending a loan to Media General and taking a 19.9 percent stake in the company, which will still own 18 TV stations. Media General also owns some websites, such as coupon provider DealTaker.com. Media General on Thursday said the deal includes all of its newspapers except the Tampa Tribune of Florida and smaller newspapers in that market. It's in talks to sell those newspapers to other buyers. Berkshire Hathaway is buying the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia, the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina and the Morning News of Florence, S.C., among others. Berkshire Hathaway has owned the Buffalo News of New York for decades and bought its hometown paper, the Omaha World-Herald, in December. The company is also the largest shareholder of Washington Post Co., with a 23 percent stake. Buffett has defended newspapers, saying that they will have a decent future if they continue delivering information that can't be found elsewhere. They also need to stop offering news free online, he has said. 2012-05-18T09:57:38+00:00 http://www.ejc.net/media_news/google_makes_search_more_human_with_knowledge_graph/ http://www.ejc.net/media_news/google_makes_search_more_human_with_knowledge_graph/#When:09:56:50Z Google has revamped its search engine in an attempt to offer instant answers to search questions. A new function, the Knowledge Graph, will make the site's algorithms act "more human", the site said in a blog post. The feature will at first be available to US-based users, but will be rolled out globally in due course. It follows similar efforts by rival Bing to provide added search content beyond the typical list of links. Google's senior vice-president of engineering, Amit Singhal, explained that, until now, the search engine had been able only to match keywords, rather than understand context. Google said the Knowledge Graph has been programmed to use around 3.5 billion different attributes to organise results, meaning it could now group results according to those various alternative interpretations. For some searches, such as on prominent people, Google will automatically pull up a summary box with key information on that topic. The next step, Mr Singhal said, is to look at how the site can answer more complex questions, such as "What are the 10 deepest lakes in Africa?" In doing so the search engine would need to draw on multiple sources and factor in many different criteria. This kind of computational, intelligent search is currently pioneered by the likes of Wolfram Alpha - a site that gathers verified data, such as from the World Health Organization, to provide statistical results. 2012-05-18T09:56:50+00:00