As reported by the Guardian yesterday: “Guardian Media Group is set to report an operating loss for the financial year to the end of March, the company said today.”
Guardian News & Media will reports a loss of about £35m in the year to the end of March 2009.
Tags: GBP, guardian, Guardian Media Group, The Guardian
The Guardian has had its four-year campaign for the release of information about misbehaving members of the judiciary rejected by a Freedom of Information (FOI) tribunal.
The paper had been working on the request since 2005, reporter Rob Evans told Journalism.co.uk in March, and was challenging ‘secret justice’ and asking for a more accountable judiciary.
“We are trying to create a precedent for this kind of information to be released. In the past the government has always kept it as a kind of secret. They have always been very reluctant to release information about naughty judges,” said Evans as the case went to tribunal.
But today the tribunal, led by David Marks QC, ruled in favour of Justice Secretary Jack Straw and suggested that releasing information on when judges, magistrates and coroners had been disciplined could be disruptive to courts and the legal process.
The tribunal was ‘”impressed” by the Ministry of Justice’s argument that judges were entitled to a “reasonable expectation of privacy”‘, according to a report in the Guardian.
“This is an outrageous decision. Judges are highly paid public servants whose conduct in court and, to an extent, out of court must be above reproach,” Evans told Journalism.co.uk today.
“It is fundamental that the public should know how complaints against judges are resolved and the reasons why particular judges have been reprimanded or sacked. Why is Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, covering this information up? He seems to have learnt nothing from the MPs expenses’ debacle.”
The ministry has said it will be more open about the sacking of judges in the future as a result of the Guardian’s campaign. However, taking the full FOI request any further would entail high court action – an expensive procedure.
Tags: covering this information up, David Marks, FOI campaigner, Freedom of Information, guardian, Jack Straw, Journalism.co.uk, Justice Secretary, ministry of justice, Rob Evans, The Guardian
Do you want it to make it more easy for other journalists to find you on Facebook? Personalise your URL with the username feature: http://www.facebook.com/username/. Tipster: Judith Townend.
To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.
Tags: Facebook, Journalism.co.uk
FeedMingle lets you takes different content feeds and merge them into one: for RSS, Atom or Json. You can also create a little HTML widget for your site. Tipster: Judith Townend.
To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.
Tags: html, Journalism.co.uk
Last week Global Voices Advocacy won first prize in a ‘Blogging for a cause’ competition run by Zemanta, a platform which aims to ‘accelerate on-line content production for any web user’. More than 60 different websites were nominated; the top 5 to receive the most votes from bloggers won US $1200.
Solana Larsen, managing editor of the GV site, sums the project up like this:
“A project of Global Voices to build a global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists. Its director is Sami ben Gharbia, a Tunisian free speech advocate and blogger.”
Larsen shared a few more thoughts with Journalism.co.uk: “The Zemanta win was fun because it was an opportunity for bloggers in our community to work collectively to raise some funds for Global Voices Advocacy in a simple way. So much of the time, we’re writing posts to draw attention to censorship, arrested bloggers, or different injustices around the world, that it’s nice with a little positive reinforcement.
“Global Voices Advocacy is working on developing more tools and resources for free speech activists online. A lot of the bloggers in this community are individuals who are working on their own or in small networks in different parts of the world, and we are connecting them with others and trying to develop a sense of unity across borders.
“When somebody discovers that their blog is blocked, or receives threats from authorities, it’s good to have someone to talk to about the risks and possibilities. Internet censorship is extremely common, but there are also many brave people who insist on making their voices heard. Sami ben Gharbia is one of them.”
Tags: anti-censorship network, director, free speech advocate, global voices advocacy, GV, Internet censorship, Journalism.co.uk, Managing Editor, online activists, Sami ben Gharbia, Solana Larsen, USD, web user, Zemanta
According to figures for last month from Columbia University’s Graduate School of journalism, 197 or 64 per cent of graduates already had journalism jobs (or equivalent internships/further study plans) lined up.
The stat is better than the situation this time last year for the school’s graduates and is backed up by similarly positive figures for the most recent crop of City University of New York graduates, the report states.
Journalism students and tutors – what’s the picture where you are? Are you seeing new areas of employment open up?
Speaking to a recent journalism graduate at a leading school in the UK, Journalism.co.uk was told that only 3 from a year of 75 had received job offers – two of which were in PR.
Tags: City University of New York, Columbia University, Columbia University Graduate School, Columbia University's Graduate School, CUNY, Journalism.co.uk, United Kingdom
Politico, the ad-supported political news site founded in 2006, will become profitable this year, according to co-founder John Harris.
In the video below, Harris tells Beet.tv about Politico’s ‘new’ syndication model involving regional and national newspapers:
Tags: ad-supported political news site, co-founder, John Harris, politico
The Associated Press has signed a deal to distribute the work of of four non-profit journalism groups.
Work by the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and ProPublica will be free for publication by the agency’s 1,500 newspaper members.
Tags: American University, and ProPublica, AP, center for investigative reporting, center for public integrity, New York Times, non-profit journalism, propublica, The Associated Press, the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, work by the Center for Public Integrity
(From last week via Adrian Monck’s blog) Russia’s leading news organisations are proposing draft legislation that would change the legal status of news reports to goods, with fines imposed for publication out of copyright.
“The main goal of the proposed amendments to a number of laws is to turn news into goods which must be paid for,” RIA Novosti editor-in-chief Svetlana Mironyuk said in the report.
Russia’s media landscape is beginning to address the issue of copyright breaches online – but will the country learn from the attempts of other states to tackle this problem?
Tags: Adrian Monck, Copyright, editor-in-chief, law opposing illegal content sharing, media landscape, RIA Novosti, Russia, Svetlana Mironyuk
Last week the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) sent an eight-point plan to new culture secretary Ben Bradshaw as an economic stimulus package for the UK’s local media.
In summary:
The proposals come ahead of the long-awaited Digital Britain report, part of which will make new suggestions for local media ownership models and provision.
Both, of course, come on top of a select committee inquiry into local media, countless pontifications from media commentators (ourselves included) and lobbying by industry groups of Bradshaw’s predecessor Andy Burnham.
Reactions to the NUJ’s suggestions from a range of industry representatives are featured below – Journalism.co.uk wanted to gauge the feeling on the ground, so to speak (feel free to leave more comments below or email laura at journalism.co.uk).
Having spoken to Society of Editors executive director Bob Satchwell as part of this process, one thing is clear: new ideas are needed to support newsgathering at a local level, whatever shape or platform it takes.
But with the current level of pressure on existing local news providers, it is short-term answers that are needed, says Satchwell:
“While we’re waiting to create new models to deal with new media landscape the existing reality may be so seriously damaged that it may be too late to apply those complex solutions.”
Here are some reactions to the NUJ’s proposals – what’s the next step?
Firstly starting with a comment left on our original post by James Goffin on levies for aggregators:
Presumably ‘A levy introduced on commercial operators who benefit from quality public service content – including local news – but do not contribute to its production’ is aimed at people like Google, but why leave it there – and why only in one direction?
If this is genuinely aimed at supporting local media (and not just shoring up the BBC, which tends to be the NUJ line nationally) then why shouldn’t the corporation be charged when it ‘benefits’ from stories it has followed up from the local press? (Or blogs for that matter).
And much as I enjoy the idea of claiming back my Private Eye subs against tax, I can see it being as effective in stimulating the economy as the VAT cut.
Give them some credit for at least trying; pity most of it is nonsense.
Tom Calver, a communications officer for Blackburn with Darwen County Council, on defining ‘quality’ and a plan for mutually owned local newspapers:
Point 7 calls for us to consider ‘quality journalism’ when we place ads, which puts those of us in council comms in the unenviable position of having to decide what constitutes ‘quality’. Does the NUJ really think we should be doing that? In any case, there is only one local paper here, so I don’t have any choice in which title to use anyway.
What guarantee is there that ad spend would really support quality journalism, rather than just boosting profits while the newsroom is still run down?
I’m also slightly confused as to what’s meant by “identifying appropriate targets”. Generally speaking, my targets are groups of local people. If a local paper is a good way to reach them, I’ll use it. If it’s not, then I’d be wasting taxpayers money, and failing to get the message to the right people. So is the suggestion that only people who read the local paper are appropriate targets for any campaign?
Or is the suggestion that ‘appropriate targets’ are ‘deserving’ newspapers which should be supported in some sort of charitable way? I’d understand that if local papers were not-for-profit with a clear commitment to good journalism and informing local people, but they’re owned by large groups who will look after the bottom line long before they look after quality journalism.
The NUJ just has not gone far enough. It is asking for more money to be chucked at the same failing model, albeit with some loose guarantees about quality from the same groups that have cut back in newsrooms. That might slow the decline, but it won’t turn things around.
How about mutual ownership for local papers? Newspaper staff, local people and those who support quality journalism could all be members. A constitution could guarantee day to day editorial independence, but the editor would answer to a board elected from the membership, which would set parameters for coverage, monitor quality and ensure investment in training.
That sort of organisation could then benefit from tax breaks and have access to funds supporting community development. With a clear duty to improve local coverage, it would probably get back some of the lost readers (and so make itself a more appealing advertising channel for public services!).
Rick Waghorn, ex-regional newspaper journalist and founder of MyFootballWriter.com on practical problems:
I think it’s all very well intentioned, but as ever the devil will be in the detail and the ‘how’ any of this is likely to work…
Or, indeed, who is going to have the political will/leverage to ensure any of this is adhered to.
Tax credits? Who adjudicates on the ‘quality’ assessment panel?
Direct support for ‘genuinely’ local media organisations? How? When? Via whom? Ofcom?
Strategic use of local and central government advertising is spot on – but that can start happening now. But again who is charged with making the ‘assessment’ that it is ‘quality’ journalism?
With Tom Watson out of government, Ben Bradshaw presumably given 10 days to master his new ‘brief’ before the publication of Digital Britain, I don’t see anyone with the drive or the will to oversee this – not whilst the Brown government is so fatally weakened.
Alas, I fear it’s going to be every man, woman and under-fire journalist for themselves for the foreseeable future – and the only people that are ever going to come to our rescue are ourselves.
Former editorial director for a UK regional newspaper group on media ownership problems:
My own concerns would be about possible loss of independence that could come with subsidy.
The cut backs in the industry are already leaving gaps. It might be better to see who and what steps in to fill the vacuum. [More emphasis on new media models - Ed]
On cross media ownership, take a look at Guardian Media in Manchester where it has already happened with TV, radio, web and newspapers under one roof. It has not been a success.
Comment from Dan Mason, director of Dan Mason Associates and former newspaper group managing editor, on journalism enterprise:
Full marks to the NUJ for keeping the ball rolling after the departure of Andy Burnham. I’m delighted to see the appalling lack of support for media innovation and enterprise included (this would top my list), as well as the need to focus on better media training.
My big concern is that trying to define something as subjective as ‘quality journalism’ as a cornerstone of any plan renders it impotent from the start, especially when the suggested criteria includes demands on media companies that are impossible to regulate, like maintaining paginations.
If this keeps the dialogue going and pressure on this government to act, great. But, if Lord Sugar has anything to say about it, ministers will need to focus on what can be achieved, by when, for what cost.
Tags: advertising channel, Andy Burnham, BBC, Ben Bradshaw, Bob Satchwell, Brown government, cross-media ownership, cross-media ownership rules, culture secretary, dan mason, Dan Mason Associates, Darwen County Council, director, editor, editorial director for a UK regional newspaper group, ex-regional newspaper journalist and founder, executive director, google, James Goffin, Journalism.co.uk, local and central government advertising, local government advertising, Local media, local media organisations, local media ownership models, Managing Editor, Manchester, media, media commentators, media innovation, media models, media ownership problems, media training, Myfootballwriter.com, National Union, newspaper, newspaper journalist and founder, nuj, Private, Private Eye, public services, quality media, Rick Waghorn, Society of Editors, Tom Calver, Tom Watson, United Kingdom, woman and under-fire journalist
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