AFP: European newspaper aggregation site launched by EC

The European Commission and a media consortium lead by France’s Courier International have launched presseurop.eu – a site that will aggregate and translate newspaper articles from the world’s leading titles and translate them into 10 languages.

Analyses, press reviews and news summaries will also be provided.

Full story at this link…

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Sir Christopher Meyer’s speech in full: plea to publishers to aid PCC

As reported on the main page, Sir Christopher Meyer will tonight urge publications to support the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in its role, which he emphasises is still relevant in light of online developments and recent privacy issues. Here is his speech in full, courtesy of the PCC’s website:

“It is always a pleasure to be in Manchester – a city with a vibrant media which I have visited more than any other in England during my time chairing the PCC. It was in this very room five years ago that I launched the first of our Open Days: public meetings in the towns and cities of the UK aimed at making the PCC as accessible as possible. Then, as now, we were given all possible support by the Manchester Evening News and Paul Horrocks. One of the most respected and innovative editors in Britain, Paul was also an outstanding member of the PCC for four years.

It has always been my ambition to hold a full meeting of the PCC outside London. It is vital to get over the message that we are not a body shut away inside a metropolitan bubble, dealing with the complaints of celebrities, royals (and near-royals), and politicians. The reality is far different. We exist for all the citizens of the United Kingdom; and of the thousands who come to us for help and advice, over 90 per cent lay no claim to celebrity whatsoever.

So, tomorrow’s meeting of the PCC is an historic moment in the 17-year life of our organisation. My colleagues from the board, all/most of whom are present tonight, are the people who take the decisions under the Code of Practice: about where the public interest meets the individual’s right to privacy; what constitutes a significant inaccuracy; when payments for information can be made – in short, on how the UK’s newspapers and magazines should gather and report news in print and online.

More »

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Vnunet: EU wants to lead the next internet generation with web 3.0

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Belgian newspaper group to take European Commission to court again after its first challenge over news aggregator fails

Belgian newspaper group Copiepresse – yes, the one that’s in that legal wrangle with Google – is about to re-enter a copyright battle with a second online publisher – this time it’s the European Commission.

Copiepresse will attempt to sue the EC for a second time after it had its copyright infringement case against the EC’s news aggregation services NewsBrief and NewsExplorer thrown out by a Belgian court.

The group took the case on the same grounds as its Google case, that the use of the material without newspapers’ permission was an infringement of their copyright.

According to Out-Law.com, Belgian press reports said the case was thrown out of the Court of Seizures in Belgium after a report produced for the court backed the Commission and because there was a jurisdictional problem with the case. Iy added that the group would not appeal against the throwing out of the case but would re-submit it to Belgium’s civil court.

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European Commission approves Reuters/Thomson merger

The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Reuters by Thomson – subject to certain conditions being fulfilled.

The Commission was concerned that range of information services – rather than the news side of the respective businesses – supplied by the companies would be reduced and that the creation of a sole provider of analytical market information would be detrimental to customers.

The companies therefore agreed to a range of measures to limit this impact.

“The merging parties have offered a remedies package that provides strong safeguards that users of financial data will not be harmed by this major consolidation,” Neelie Kroes, competition commissioner, said in a statement.

The Commission originally raised concern that markets for the distribution of certain reports and financial data would be ill served by the merger as it may reduce choice, encourage the ‘likelihood of price increases’ and a ‘severe risk of discontinuation of overlapping products.’

The statement from the Commission stated: “To remove the Commission’s competition concerns, the parties committed to divest the databases containing the content sets of such financial information products, together with relevant assets, personnel and customer base as appropriate to allow purchasers of the databases and assets to quickly establish themselves as a credible competitive force in the marketplace in competition with the merged entity, re-establishing the pre-merger rivalry in the respective fields.

“Therefore, customers of such financial information products would continue to have sufficient alternatives post-merger.”

The statement added that the US Department of Justice would propose a settlement agreement consistent with the remedies accepted by the Commission.

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NTY: Belgium papers could sue EU for linking to stories

A victory in a European court last year against Google has encouraged newspapers in Belgium to take action against the European Commission over links on two agency sites.

According to the Times, a Brussels court has been asked by a group of French- and German-language newspapers to examine its claim.

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