IFJ meeting on media reforms in the Arab world

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is organising a meeting in Morocco, from 12 to 14 April, for its affiliates, in order to discuss “an agenda for media reforms in the Arab world and the Middle East” following the recent uprisings in the region.

“This regional conference is as important as timely given the wind of change which is sweeping through region and its potential impact on the future of journalism,” said Jim Boumelha, IFJ President who is attending the meeting. “Press freedom has to be part of the reforms and journalists and their unions need to make their voice heard in the debate for change.”

The conference, Wind of Change: Setting the agenda for Media Reforms, will look at the safety of journalists, press freedom and political pressure on media and reforming media laws.

See the full IFJ report here…

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Mashable: The New Yorker puts story behind ‘like’ wall

Mashable is reporting on how the New Yorker has employed a music industry technique to engage with its readers by demanding that they ‘like’ a Facebook page before they can read a story.

The magazine has put an article by author Jonathan Franzen behind a ‘wall of likes’ by making it necessary for Facebook users to engage in order to gain access. Franzen’s piece, which is about coming to terms with the death of friend and fellow author David Foster Wallace, appeared in the print version of he magazine but not on the website.

To read the story online (it will appear in print, but not in full on the New Yorker‘s website), users have to go on the Conde Nast title’s Facebook Page and “Like” it. The title’s Facebook Page has about 200,000 fans. “Our goal with this isn’t just to increase our fans,” says Alexa Cassanos, a spokeswoman for the New Yorker. “We want to engage with people who want to engage on a deeper level.”

Mashable’s full article is at this link.

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News of the World on phone hacking: ‘What happened to them should not have happened’

Following News International’s admission of liability on Friday in relation to some of the cases of alleged phone hacking brought against it, the News of the World yesterday published the statement for its readers to see, acknowledging its previous inquiries “failed to uncover important evidence”.

The Sunday title then went further than Friday’s statement to say that since the jailing of royal correspondent Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007, for accessing voicemail messages between 2004 and 2006, “a number of individuals” have brought breach of privacy claims against the News of the World over wrongful voicemail interception during the same period, with others also threatening claims.

Evidence has recently come to light which supports some of these claims. We have written to relevant individuals to admit liability in these civil cases and to apologise unreservedly, and will do the same to any other individuals where evidence shows their claims to be justifiable.

We hope to be able to pay appropriate compensation to all these individuals, and have asked our lawyers to set up a compensation scheme to deal with genuine claims fairly and efficiently.

Here today, we publicly and unreservedly apologise to all such individuals. What happened to them should not have happened. It was and remains unacceptable.

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Mashable: Monday is the worst time to post and tweet

Mashable reports on research looking into when readers are most engaged and when is the best time to get traction on posts and tweets.

Thursdays and Fridays are the best days of the week to engage with users via Twitter and Facebook whereas Monday is the “noisiest” and therefore the worst time to engage, according to the study.

Analysing more than 200 of its clients’ Facebook pages over a 14-day period, Buddy Media found engagement on Thursdays and Fridays was 18 per cent higher than the rest of the week, and that engagement was actually even better on Thursday than on Friday. Meanwhile, Twitter chief revenue officer Adam Bain — speaking at the Ad Age Digital conference earlier this week — said that Twitter users are more engaged with tweets on Fridays.

The reason is fairly obvious, says Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at the Altimeter Group: “People are heading into the weekend so they’re thinking about things besides work. They’re mentally checking out and transitioning to the weekend.”

However, [Rick] Liebling [director of digital strategy at Coyne PR] adds that there might be another factor at work: There may be fewer posts overall on Fridays, which means a greater number of average click-throughs.

The above idea, of engaging when there are fewer people tweeting,  is reinforced by this article on the best times to tweet posted on Nieman Journalism Lab last month. It states mined data on retweets and blog posts suggests the optimum time to get traction is at 9pm at night when other traffic has died down.

Mashable’s full post is at this link.

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London protest planned in support of journalists imprisoned in Libya

A protest will take place on Thursday in support of three Al Jazeera journalists captured in Libya in March.

A video on Al Jazeera English’s YouTube channel says Ahmad val ould Eddin and cameramen Ammar Al-Hamdan and Kamel Al Tallou are being held illegally.

According to this article on Al Jazeera’s website, the three were held near Zintan in the northwest of the country and then imprisoned in Tripoli. The broadcaster says it has no information on why the trio are being held.

The National Union of Journalists is joining the protest, which will take place between noon and 4pm in front of the Libyan Embassy in Knightsbridge, London.

“We are demonstrating in support of our Al Jazeera colleagues because it is vital to their safety that attention is focused on their plight at a time when the enormity of events in Libya might cause them to be forgotten,” NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said in a statement.

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Guardian: Phone-hacking round-up from the papers

Roy Greenslade has written a thorough round-up on how the weekend newspapers covered the News of the World phone hacking apology. He also looks at the coverage – and non-coverage – in today’s papers.

But where will those headlines appear (and which papers will remain silent)? There is a clue in today’s papers.

The Guardian carries a page one story, Civil service blocked hacking probe. The Independent runs two pages under the headline Lawyer claims up to 7,000 may have had phones hacked, plus a leader – Saying sorry is not enough – and a column by Donald Trelford (the ex-editor who thinks hacking isn’t much of a story).

Elsewhere, silence. Well, not quite. Boris Johnson pops up in the Telegraph to argue the News of the World was not the only paper to have hacked.

In a piece which makes light of hacking while calling on “every editor and every proprietor to appear before an inquiry and confess” to having been involved in such activities.

This was just what the Times wanted to hear. It quickly drew on Johnson’s column to run a news story on page 4, Johnson calls on editors to tell the whole truth on hacking.

This is nothing more than the continuation of a News International strategy to deflect from its own paper’s misbehaviour – and its accompanying cover-up operation – by spreading the muck.

Greenslade’s full blog post is at this link.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – podcasting equipment

This detailed podcasting equipment post on Hivelogic is a great guide on radio kit for journalists working with audio. Tipster: Rachel McAthy.

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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#Followjourn: @meejalaw/online legal discussion

Who? Judith Townend, legal discussion and news for online publishers.

Where? Judith started the Meejalaw blog to share information and links while studying as an MPhil/PhD research student at City University London’s new centre for law, justice and journalism

Twitter? @meejalaw

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to sarah.booker at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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#jpod: The top news stories from Journalism.co.uk, 8 April 2011

Listen below for this week’s news round-up from Journalism.co.uk’s Sarah Marshall and sign up to our iTunes podcast feed for future audio.

This week’s jpod reports on the admission of liability by News International, owner of the News of the World, in a number of cases involving allegations of phone hacking, the Guardian winning Newspaper of the Year at the Press Awards and the introduction of a part-paywall at the UK’s biggest regional daily, the Express and Star. There is also more information on Journalism.co.uk’s fourth news:rewired event, noise to signal, which takes place on 27 May at Thomson Reuters, Canary Wharf, with just three days left to snap up earlybird discounted tickets.

Podcast: Download

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News International phone-hacking statement in full

News International has today admitted liability in a number cases brought against the News of the World for phone hacking between 2004 and 2006.

The company will apologise to certain victims and establish a compensation fund.

See Journalism.co.uk’s full report at this link.

Here is today’s News International statement in full:

Following an extensive internal investigation and disclosures through civil legal cases, News International has decided to approach some civil litigants with an unreserved apology and an admission of liability in cases meeting specific criteria.

We have also asked our lawyers to establish a compensation scheme with a view to dealing with justifiable claims fairly and efficiently.

This will begin the process of bringing these cases to a fair resolution with damages appropriate to the extent of the intrusion.

We will, however, continue to contest cases that we believe are without merit or where we are not responsible.

That said, past behaviour at the News of the World in relation to voicemail interception is a matter of genuine regret. It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust.

We continue to co-operate fully with the Metropolitan Police. It was our discovery and voluntary disclosure of this evidence in January that led to the re-opening of the police investigation.

With that investigation on going, we cannot comment further until its completion.

News International’s commitment to our readers and pride in our award-winning journalism remains undiminished.

We will continue to engage with and challenge those who attempt to restrict our industry’s freedom to undertake responsible investigative reporting in the public interest.

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