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Entries now open for 2012 Online Media Awards

Paul McNally — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:30:54 +0000

Entries are now open for this year’s Online Media Awards, which set out to recognise the best digital news work from online operators big and small.

There are 17 categories covering everything from writing and editing to photography, design and use of social media. The entry deadline for the awards, now in their second year, is 23 March. The finalists will be announced mid-April and the winners at the awards ceremony in London in June.

Last year’s big winner was the Sunday Times website, which won six awards including best video journalism, best campaigning or investigative journalism, best use of photography, plus the grand prix. The site’s editor, Gordon Thomson, was named online editor of the year.

To find out more, see http://www.onlinemediaawards.net/Similar Posts:

2012 World Press Photo winners announced

Paul McNally — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:47:14 +0000

A Spanish freelance photographer’s image of a woman in Yemen, holding her wounded son in her arms, has been named the World Press Photo of the Year at the annual awards.

The picture, taken by Samuel Aranda for the New York Times, was among more than 100,000 photographs from the world over that were considered by this year’s judges.

Images of protestors in Cairo’s Tahrir Square celebrating Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, rebels holding out against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami, also received top prizes.

The full gallery can be seen on the World Press Photo website.Similar Posts:

Scotland on Sunday: Rangers bans BBC from press conference

Paul McNally — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:41:10 +0000

Rangers football club, which filed for administration this afternoon, has banned the BBC from its press conferences as part of an ongoing row between the club and the broadcaster.

Scotland on Sunday reported yesterday that the BBC was banned from recording a post-match conference because of what the club described as “repeated difficulties” over its treatment by the broadcaster.

The paper said: “After the club’s 4-1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic, listeners to Radio Scotland’s Sportsound programme heard BBC reporter Chris McLaughlin state that a Rangers press officer had stopped him recording. A witness said: ‘He was asked to remove his microphone and the conference carried on.’”Similar Posts:

Sun associate editor: ‘There are people who will stop at nothing to destroy News International’

Paul McNally — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:08:55 +0000

The Sun’s associate editor, Trevor Kavanagh, has spoken further about the “unease” at the Sun following the arrest of five senior journalists at the weekend – and he said he would be “delighted” to talk to Rupert Murdoch about the issue when he visits this week.

Speaking on Radio 4′s The World at One, Kavanagh said there was “no justification” for calling for the paper to be closed – and he reiterated that no one had been charged. He said:

There are people who will stop at nothing to destroy News International. The News of the World has already closed and they will not be satisfied until the Sun is closed too. That is not going to happen.

There is no justification on the base of what you and I know so far. I think it would be a catastrophe for the British media, the newspaper world and even possibly the BBC if action which at this stage suggests no actual guilt should be regarded as grounds for closing newspapers.

Asked if there was unease at the Sun with the way News International’s independent committee had handled the affair, Kavanagh replied:

I think it’s fair to say that there is unease about the way that some of the best journalists in Fleet Street have ended up being arrested on evidence that the MSC has handed to the police. I think there is unease on that.

And asked if he would discuss the issue with Rupert Murdoch when he visits later this week, Kavanagh replied:

If he wants me to talk to him about it, I would be delighted.

Similar Posts:

Times web app brings tablet newspaper experience to browser

Paul McNally — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:17:23 +0000

The Times has unveiled an experimental new web application that aims to bring the “newspaper-like” tablet reading experience to ordinary web browsers.

The app, which currently works on Google Chrome and Safari, will be available for a two-week trial from today. Described as “like reading the newspaper, but with all the interactivity of the web”, it features enhanced graphics, picture galleries and videos.

Times web development editor Lucia Adams said on Twitter: “Readers told us they loved the linear reading of our tablet app, so we made it for the web too.”

Existing Times subscribers can test it out here.Similar Posts:

Google to help Tunisian journalists pick up new skills

Paul McNally — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:11:21 +0000

Google is to sponsor six Tunisian journalists to spend three months at a leading French newspaper, picking up digital news-gathering skills.

The internet giant has teamed up with liberal daily Le Monde, which will offer a newsroom placement to each of the journalists, covering daily news and the French presidential elections taking place in May.

Google’s William Echikson wrote on the company’s European public policy blog:

Our hope is that they then will return home with new skills that will serve to construct a new, free but responsible professional press in Tunisia.

At Google, we are aware of the need to work with publishers to smooth the transition not only from oppression to freedom, but from analogue to digital distribution. We are sponsoring a series of digital journalism prizes with Institut de Sciences Politiques, the International Press Institute in Vienna and the Global Editors Network in Paris.

Meanwhile, journalism academics at City University in London are heading to Tunisia next week to lead a series of workshops for Tunisian journalists on “reporting a democracy”.

The project is the first of its kind being organised by the Journalism Foundation, which was founded last December and is led by former Independent editor Simon Kelner.

City lecturer Roy Greenslade writes on his Guardian blog:

The courses are the first to be held in Tunisia since last January’s overthrow of Ben Ali’s authoritarian regime.

They will provide practical advice to journalists on coping with the realities of reporting in a free society. But the classes will be held amid an ongoing battle for media freedom.

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NUJ: More newspaper bosses should take pay cuts

Paul McNally — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:19:48 +0000

The National Union of Journalists has welcomed news that Guardian News and Media editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger has offered to take a pay cut – and the union has called on other newspaper bosses to do the same.

The Guardian reported that Rusbridger would take a 10 per cent voluntary cut in the 2012-13 financial year, from £438,900 to £395,010. His pension contribution will also be reduced.

NUJ deputy general secretary Barry Fitzpatrick said in a release:

“I welcome Alan’s response to the NUJ’s suggestion that he should take a pay cut and show a lead to executives within the industry at a time when many journalists face redundancy and pay freezes. I hope that others including Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, and Richard Desmond owner of the Express newspapers, will now be following suit.”

Trinity Mirror investors have expressed concern about Bailey’s pay package, almost £1.7 million in 2010. The company’s share price has fallen by 87 per cent in the past decade.Similar Posts:

Italian newspaper joins Times safer cycling campaign

Paul McNally — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:29:59 +0000

The Times’s widely praised safer cycling campaign has been picked up by an Italian newspaper.

The Gazzetta dello Sport is taking part after one of its journalists, Pier Luigi Todisco, died while he was cycling to work last October.

The title is urging professional sportspeople to join the roll call, and for ordinary readers to support the campaign as well. A Twitter hashtag, #salvaciclisti is being used to spread the word.

According to the paper, 2,556 cyclists have died on Italian roads in the past ten years – double the number of bike deaths in the UK (1,275).

The Times launched its campaign earlier this month, three months after Times journalist Mary Bowers was knocked down by a lorry while cycling to work. She is still not conscious and remains in a trauma unit.

Some 33 MPs have signed an early day motion in parliament praising the cycling campaign.Similar Posts:

Former BBC journalist Suzanne Franks joins City University

Paul McNally — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:24:40 +0000

Former BBC senior producer Suzanne Franks is to join the journalism department at City University in London as its new head of undergraduate journalism.

Professor Franks joins from the University of Kent, where she was director of research.

She previously had a long broadcast journalism career at the BBC, including work on Newsnight, Watchdog and Panorama. She went on to set up an independent production company specialising in political coverage.

Franks said in a release: “I was attracted to City University London because of its outstanding reputation in journalism. I’m looking forward to working closely with the next generation of journalists as they embark on their professional and academic careers.”Similar Posts:

BBC Editors’ Blog: Guidance on breaking news and Twitter

Paul McNally — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:23:47 +0000

After Sky News’s crackdown on Twitter use – and specifically retweeting non-Sky journalists – was revealed last night, it’s the BBC’s turn to clarify its position.

In a post on the BBC editors’ blog today, social media editor Chris Hamilton says the corporation has distributed some revised breaking news guidance to correspondents, reporters and producers.

It says that, when they have some breaking news, an exclusive or any kind of urgent update on a story, they must get written copy into our newsroom system as quickly as possible, so that it can be seen and shared by everyone – both the news desks which deploy our staff and resources (like TV trucks) as well as television, radio and online production teams.

We’ve been clear that our first priority remains ensuring that important information reaches BBC colleagues, and thus all our audiences, as quickly as possible – and certainly not after it reaches Twitter.

Similar Posts:

Guido Fawkes: Lobby briefings should be televised

Paul McNally — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:59:44 +0000

Political blogger Paul Staines has called for parliamentary lobby briefings to be televised – and called the current system “a cartel”.

Giving evidence at the Leveson inquiry this afternoon, Staines, who runs the Guido Fawkes blog, said the current system of accreditation and access for parliamentary journalists was antiquated and “unhealthy” for transparency.

“It’s a cartel,” he told the inquiry.

The authorities in parliament won’t give you access to the parliamentary estate unless you’re on the lobby list. I have to go into parliament as a visitor. It makes it difficult for me to get access to the main players.

I don’t think it’s a very healthy system. Former chairmen of the lobby have said its antiquated.

Staines said the Westminster “lobby terms” – where journalists are briefed anonymously – meant reporters became “complicit in politicians’ lies”.

He added:

Downing Street sources normally means the journalist is in a briefing room, being fed the line. Just put it on TV.

The lobby functions like an obedience school for journalists – play the game and we’ll reward you. If you rock the boat you won’t get access.

During his appearance at at the Leveson inquiry, Staines also repeated a claim he made on his blog that Tina Weaver, editor of the Sunday Mirror, knew about and authorised phone hacking and blagging.Similar Posts:

Riots and phone hacking coverage shortlisted for RTS awards

Paul McNally — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:53:48 +0000

Al Jazeera English, the BBC News Channel and Sky News will do battle for the title of news channel of the year at this year’s RTS journalism awards later this month.

BBC News at Ten, Newsnight and Channel 4 News are shortlisted for news programme of the year at the awards, which celebrate excellence in UK television news and current affairs.

Two rival channels’ coverage of last summer’s riots are nominated for home news story of the year – Sky and Channel 4 – alongside Newsnight’s reporting of the phone hacking story.

The nominees for TV journalist of the year are Sky’s Alex Crawford, Channel 4′s Alex Thomson and Newsnight’s Richard Watson.

The full shortlist is not yet on the RTS website, but can be found below. The awards ceremony will be hosted by ITV newsreader Mark Austin, in London on 22 February.

Camera Operator of the Year
- Darren ‘DC’ Conway, BBC News
- Raul Gallego Abellan, AP Television News, APTN Global Video Wire
- Stuart Webb, Channel 4 News, ITN for Channel 4 News

Current Affairs – Home
- Dispatches: Lessons in Hate and Violence, Hardcash Productions for Channel 4
- Panorama: Undercover Care, BBC Current Affairs for BBC One
- Dispatches: How to Buy a Football Club, Vera Productions for Channel 4

Current Affairs – International
- Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, ITN for Channel 4
- Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark, Al Jazeera English
- This World: Spain’s Stolen Babies, BBC Current Affairs for BBC Two

Innovative News
- Confronting The Looters, Sky News
- Sky News for iPad, Sky News
- The Stream: Bahrain, Al Jazeera English

Nations and Regions Current Affairs and News Event
- Inside Out South West: Multiple Sclerosis – CCSVI, BBC South West
- Week In Week Out: Cash for Qualifications, BBC Wales
- Insight: The Resurrection of Brendan Smyth, UTV Insight

Nations and Regions News Programme
- Calendar, ITV Yorkshire
- ITV London Tonight, ITN for ITV London
- Granada Reports, ITV Granada

News Channel of the Year
- Al Jazeera English
- BBC News Channel
- Sky News

News Coverage – Home
- UK Riots, Sky News
- Phone Hacking, Newsnight BBC Two
- The Summer Riots, ITN for Channel 4 News

News Coverage – International
- Disaster in Japan, ITN for Channel 4 News
- Libya, Sky News
- Misrata, ITN for ITV News

News Programme of the Year
- BBC News at Ten, BBC News for BBC One
- Channel 4 News, ITN for Channel 4 News
- Newsnight, BBC Two

Presenter of the Year
- Mark Austin, ITV News, ITN for ITV News
- Anna Botting, Sky News
- Jon Snow, Channel 4 News, ITN for Channel 4 News

Scoop of the Year
- Panorama: FIFA’s Dirty Secrets, BBC Current Affairs for BBC One
- The Fall of Tripoli, Sky News
- Panorama: Undercover Care, BBC Current Affairs for BBC One

Specialist Journalist of the Year
- Jeremy Bowen, Middle East Editor, BBC News
- Faisal Islam, Channel 4 News, ITN for Channel 4 News
- Paul Mason, Newsnight, BBC Two

Television Journalist of the Year
- Alex Crawford, Sky News
- Alex Thomson, Channel 4 News, ITN for Channel 4 News
- Richard Watson, Newsnight, BBC Two

The Independent Award
- Somali Olympic Dreams, Jamal Osman for ITN/Channel 4 News
- People and Power: Seeds of Change, Elizabeth C Jones and Caroline Pare for Al Jazeera English
- FIFA’s Dirty Secrets, Andrew Jennings for BBC One

Young Journalist of the Year
- Joe Casey, BBC Panorama, BBC Current Affairs for BBC One
- Rohit Kachroo, ITV News, ITN for ITV News
- Tim Lawton, Channel 4 News/True Vision, ITN/True Vision for Channel 4 NewsSimilar Posts:

Sky News Twitter restrictions – where do you stand?

Paul McNally — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:33:11 +0000

It started with a tweet from BBC News channel controller Kevin Bakhurst

I’m told #SkyNews have stopped their journos retweeting information/tweets from journalists or people not working for Sky. Must be wrong??

The guidelines, seen by the Guardian, state:

Do not retweet information posted by other journalists or people on Twitter. Such information could be wrong and has not been through the Sky News editorial process.

Don’t tweet when it’s someone else’s story. Stick to your own beat. Always pass breaking news lines to the news desk before posting them on social media networks.

Guardian reporter Josh Halliday said last night:

Sky News battening down hatches on this one. Told new guidelines are non-negotiable – how long will they last??

A hashtag campaign soon got under way to #savefieldproducer – Sky’s popular digital news editor Neal Mann, who has more than 40,000 followers on Twitter.

He replied:

Been a busy day, for those asking me questions about social media policy,I can’t really answer because I didn’t take part in the discussions

In a Reuters piece headlined “Sky News longs for Victorian internet, applies dark age social policy”, Anthony de Rosa writes:

These new rules will hamstring Neal and make it difficult, if not impossible, for him to continue to do what he did to garner so much appreciation from people like me. I suspect Sky will come to their senses and realize the error of their ways. If not, they’re going to lose one of their best ambassadors in Neal, and I would suspect many people working at Sky may wonder if they’re working for an organization that is writing policies that will drive them into obsolescence.

The FT’s Ben Fenton says competitors are likely to benefit:

Just as you never get good search-engine optimisation if you don’t link to outside sites, so anyone who steadfastly refuses to be anything but a puff factory for their own brand will gradually loses friends.

This step will also be likely to offer a competitive advantage to other news sources, such as ITV News or the BBC, enlightened enough to see beyond the blinkers of brand identity.

The move, does, however have some supporters. Sunny Hundal, on the Liberal Conspiracy blog, writes:

The ban on RTs makes sense if you acknowledge their worry that disputed links or info by their journalists could reflect on Sky News itself.

Is it any surprise editors at Sky News feel that a RT not meant as an endorsement could be interpreted in that way anyway? After all, people still attack me for publishing editorials on LC even if I disagree with those views. Once a Twitter mob gets going it’s very difficult to calm it down.

Of course this also implies Sky News editors don’t want to give their own journalists too much leeway in using their judgement. But all the broadcasters have hefty rule books for journalists (I expect the BBC will follow Sky), so this isn’t that surprising.

And Fleet Street Blues says the new policy has some logic to it:

It makes no sense for Sky News to pay journalists to break stories through another medium. It makes no sense for them to pay journalists to amass personal social media followings by promoting rival news outlets. And it makes no sense for them to pay journalists to report through a medium outside its own editorial controls.

Sky News said in a statement last night:

Sky News has the same editorial procedures across all their platforms including social media to ensure the news we report is accurate.

Rupert Murdoch replied this morning:

I have nothing to do with Sky NewsWhat do you make of the new policy? Is it enforceable? What effect might it have on Sky’s reputation?

Gabrielle Laine Peters has put together an excellent Storify of tweets and opinion around the Sky directive. Here is her collated selection called Sky News new social media guidelines get Twitter buzzing.

Elana Zak has also used Storify to collage reactions.Similar Posts:

Met to apologise for failing to warn phone-hack victims

Paul McNally — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:39:52 +0000

The Metropolitan police is to apologise to some of the victims of phone hacking for failing to inform them during its initial investigation in 2006 and 2007.

The high court ruled today that the force had “breached a legal obligation” to the claimants, including John Prescott and MP Chris Bryant.

The Metropolitan police said in a statement today that it “accepts more should have been done by police in relation to those identified as victims and potential victims of phone hacking several years ago”.

The force said it would be apologising personally to each claimant.

The statement reads:

It is a matter of public record that the unprecedented increase in anti-terrorist investigations resulted in the parameters of the original inquiry being tightly drawn, and officers considered the prosecution and conviction of Clive Goodman and Glen Mulcaire as a successful outcome of their investigation.

There are now more than 130 officers involved in the current phone-hacking inquiry (Weeting) and the two operations being run in conjunction with it and this in part reflects the lessons that have been learned about how police should deal with the victims of such crimes.

Today’s settlement does not entail damages being paid by the MPS and as the court has made clear, sets no precedent for the future. How the MPS treats victims goes to the very heart of what we do. It was important that this case did not result in such a wide duty being placed on police officers that it could direct them away from their core purpose of preventing and detecting crime.

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Newspapers and PCC deny Baroness Buscombe claims

Paul McNally — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:39:39 +0000

Three newspaper publishers have denied a claim by Baroness Buscombe (pictured) that they threatened to quit the organisation because of negative adjudication recently.

Responding to Robert Jay QC at the Leveson inquiry today, who said: “I think a number of editors threatened to leave the PCC”, Buscombe replied: “Yes, the FT, the Guardian, the Mirror.”

Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger tweeted:

Buscombe says Guardian theatened to leave PCC because of critical adjudication. Not true #Leveson

— alan rusbridger (@arusbridger) February 7, 2012

The Mirror said:

Mirror statement: “The Mirror has not threatened to leave the PCC in recent years.” #leveson

— Henry Clarke Price (@HenryCP) February 7, 2012

The Financial Times added:

“The FT has never complained to the PCC about adverse adjudications nor threatened to quit the PCC because of rulings against the newspaper”

— Ben Fenton (@benfenton) February 7, 2012

The PCC said: “Baroness Buscombe was giving a personal recollection of her conversations and experiences whilst at the PCC, during her evidence at the Leveson Inquiry this morning. The PCC has not received any formal proposals from these publishers to withdraw from the system in recent years.”Similar Posts: