The Free Speech Blog: Binyam Mohamed revelations ‘a victory for free speech’

The UK Court of Appeal’s decision to release material detailing the torture of Binyam Mohamed in secret jails is “undoubtedly an embarrassment for David Miliband, the Foreign Office and the government,” says Index on Censorship news editor, Padraig Reidy.

The redacted evidence, itself a mere seven paragraphs, revealed reports that Mohamed, who has never been charged with any terror offence, was shackled during interrogation, subjected to sleep deprivation and suffered severe mental stress.

Full post at this link…

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CPJ: Provisional journalist death toll rising in Haiti

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports: “A month after the January 12 earthquake, the death toll for journalists has risen to 26, with two others injured, according to a new provisional tally released by media groups in Haiti.”

Full post at this link…

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Buzz links for journalists

We’ll be back with a fuller report on Buzz for journalists once we’ve played with it a bit more and had some of our questions answered by Google. In the meantime, here’s a small selection of the good and not-so good buzz around Google’s latest launch.

[You can follow Journalism.co.uk on Buzz here: http://www.google.com/profiles/journalism.co.uk]

On the positive side:

• Matthew Buckland has the code for embedding a buzz icon on your WordPress blog.
• Will Sullivan on Poynter Online with ‘What journalists need to know about Google Buzz’.
• Jeff Jarvis on its potential for the ‘hyperpersonal newsstream.’

And on the negative:

• BusinessInsider warns of some privacy concerns over automatic follows and contact sharing… (with an updated response from Google)
• As does Molly Wood on Cnet.
• Reddit.com says “hello spam” with the introduction of the vanity URL.

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• Sidewiki: some journalistic questions for Google

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – video on a digital SLR

Thinking about shooting video on a digital SLR? Adam Westbrook showcases three films which have done just that – view them at this link. Tipster: Judith Townend.

To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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How much is an article worth? ‘Dead tree’ thinking could hinder digital content economy

Could you spare 10p for a news report? Maybe 5p for the sports results? Many in the news industry would like us to pay to see news articles that we’ve previously enjoyed for free, whether it’s via websites or hand-held devices.

But one of the problems of this brave, new paid-content world is that the news publishing industry has yet to move on from long-held assumptions about the value of content, inspired by centuries of physical, print distribution.

For example, just look at the sheer size of national newspapers: they are huge products, especially on weekends. Big is better, goes the saying – and mass reach gives you more circulation and advertising revenue.

But in the global, decentralised, just-Google-it content economy, it doesn’t work like that: the publishers that will win through will have the most relevant, findable, highest quality content – not just lots of it.

To illustrate the mismatch between offline and online economics, I’ve gone through Wednesday’s edition of the Times to find out just how much is in it…

• News: there are 42 separate substantial news items in today’s Times, not including some of the smaller NIBs, and at least seven separate analysis pieces;
• Comment: including the three leaders, 13 comment pieces make their way into the main book;
• Sport: 21 news stories and two features;
• Then there’s the diary section: five lengthy and well-written obituaries, crosswords, weather, travel and the Register pages of interesting factoids;
• The Times2 centre pullout has 10 features, some short, some long, as well as four reviews.

So our grand total for today’s Times is more than 100 articles. The quality of writing, pictures and editing is, as you would expect, consistently high.

But if these articles were available via a pay-per-view offer, how much would you pay? If they were priced 10p each, that means to buy everything in today’s paper, you would have to pay £10; at 5p per article, that’s £5 per issue. But my copy of the paper only cost £1.

News International boss Rupert Murdoch will more likely opt for a subscription model for the Times and Sunday Times websites – just as he’s succeeded in selling long-term pay TV packages around the the world.

But to reach a competitive pricepoint, he and other publishers will have to massively realign the value of each piece of news and comment from its current-day, paper value of one or two pence to fractions of pence.

In reality, the real market value of news is what people will pay and the danger is that for an entire generation of readers weaned on the free-to-air internet, that price is nothing at all…

[See also: What's the average cost of a news article?]

Patrick Smith is a freelance journalist and event organiser, and formerly a correspondent for paidContent:UK and Press Gazette. He blogs at psmithjournalist.com and is @psmith on twitter.

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Round-up: Reaction to GMG Regionals sale to Trinity Mirror

Trinity Mirror’s acquisition of Guardian Media Group’s regional businesses, including Manchester Evening News publisher MEN Media, and plans to relocate MEN Media staff to Oldham has stirred mass discussion amongst media commentators online. Below are links breaking down the fundamental aspects of the story:

The Guardian’s Steve Busfield covers the imminent MEN move, reporting claims by Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of Guardian Media Groups, that the £44.8m sale of GMG is in the best interests of GMG Regional Media.

Holdthefrontpage.co.uk has a statement from Bethan Dorsett, organiser of the NUJ chapel at MEN Media Weeklies, and Judith Gordon, director of the MEN chapel, describing their concerns for MEN staff.

The Drum covers the various reactions produced by the deal, questioning whether Trinity got a good deal or gained a dying media group, including comments from analyst Jim Chisholm, who told the Drum it was “a great deal for Trinity Mirror” though “not such a great reflection of the way the regional print industry is today viewed”.

On Press Gazette, the financial benefits of the deal to GMG and Trinity Mirror – pointing towards the FT’s analysis of the sale, which considers the issue of consolidation, but comes down in favour of TM saying it was a bargain for the group.

Crain’s Manchester business takes notice of the exclusion of Channel M in the GMG sale to Trinity Mirror. Channel M lost GMG a significant amount of money since it’s launch and its segregation has left questions being asked about the channels future.

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More names in Guardian voluntary redundancies

Following yesterday’s report that four staff from Guardian News & Media’s (GNM) business team are  leaving the group under the the publisher’s voluntary redundancy scheme, more names have been added to the list of departures.

Long-serving staff members Stuart Jeffries and Hannah Pool are leaving the features department. Head of sport Ben Clissit has stepped down, while tennis correspondent Steve Bierley, Jerusalem correspondent Rory McCarthy and Los Angeles correspondent Dan Glaister are also departing.

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Digits Blog: AP stories come back to Google News

Stories from the Associated Press (AP) are once more appearing on Google’s News search engine, ending a near seven-week absence from the site.

The two parties have been negotiating a licensing agreement and talks were stalled by the AP’s monitoring of its articles to and through Google News, the Wall Street Journal’s Digits blog reports.

Google and AP said negotiations on an agreement were ongoing despite the return of AP stories.

Full post at this link…

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Lens Blog: Photojournalist on assignment – Michael Kamber in Yemen

Fascinating and beautifully written piece by New York Times photojournalist Michael Kamber about a recent assignment to Yemen. Worth reading for Kamber’s description of the restrictions he faces and the difficulty of completing the assignment because of Yemen’s authorities.

Early one morning, a convoy of journalists drives out to a military camp. By the time the training takes place, there are more than a hundred journalists photographing a dozen or so Yemeni soldiers as they simulate a hostage rescue. The scene takes on a false, carnival-like air. My only honest option is to photograph the press photographing the soldiers. Anything else would feel like a set-up.

Full post at this link…

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HTFP: Kent County Council to scrap controversial TV channel

Kent TV, the TV channel run by Kent County Council and the subject of a long-running battle with local newspaper the Kent Messenger, will be axed, the local authority confirmed yesterday.

The cost to the taxpayer of the channel, which was launched in September 2007 as a pilot project, is estimated by Holdthefrontpage.co.uk as in the region of £1.8 million.

The pilot period was due to come to an end next month and council leader Paul Carter said further spending on the channel could not be justified in the current economic climate.

Full story at this link…

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