Tag Archives: spokeswoman

Detainment of Reuters cameraman still unexplained – one year on

Over a year has passed since Ibrahim Jassam, cameraman for global news agency Reuters, was arrested without charge by the US military and still no one, not Jassam, his family nor Reuters knows exactly what he has been imprisoned for.

Jassam, who was cleared for release last November by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI), has only been told that the accusations have something to do with ‘activities with insurgents,’ a reference to the Sunni Islamist groups – one of which is Al Qaeda. Reuters states that Jassam is a Shi’ite Muslim.

Although cleared by the CCCI, a year on Jassam is still being detained by the US army, which under a special security agreement claims they are entitled to hold Jassam for as long as they need. The US military also claims that it is ‘not bound’ to provide evidence for Jassam’s detention and that the reason it has  kept him so long past his agreed release date is that he represents a ‘threat to Iraq security and stability’.

As also reported by the International Press Institute, David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief of Reuters said the situation was ‘unacceptable’. “In a year of trying to get specifics, we’ve heard only vague and undefined accusations.”

Lt. Col. Pat Johnson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military in Iraq said: “Though we appreciate the decision of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq in the Ibrahim Jassam case, their decision does not negate the intelligence information that currently lists him as a threat to Iraqi security and stability.”

The US Military claims that all high security threat detainees will go before an Iraqi judge in December 2009, where the evidence against Jassam will finally be aired.

Reuters and others argue that this treatment of a journalist within a war zone is exactly against the US’s advocacy of press freedom around the world, and see Jassam’s continued detention as going against the security pact, known as the Status of Forces Agreement, made between the US and Iraqi forces.

Opposition to BBC’s newspaper video-sharing plans grow (the links)

Journalism.co.uk feels like its gone back in time today – specifically to autumn last year when regional newspaper groups, unions and industry bodies were voicing unanimous opposition to the BBC’s plans to increase its local video news content.

Well, another year, another video plan – and more opposition.

Yesterday the corporation announced an agreement to share news video from four subject areas with the Guardian, Telegraph, Daily Mail and Independent websites. The clips will appear in a BBC-branded player and run alongside the papers’ own news coverage.

In the announcement, the corporation suggested it would extend the plans to other newspaper websites – and asked third parties to register their interest.

The reaction

Welcomed by its launch partners (The Telegraph described the deal as ‘a step in the right direction’) – the plans were quickly denounced by commercial rivals ITN:

“The BBC’s plans to offer free video content to newspaper websites risk undermining the demand for content from independent news providers, potentially undercutting a very important revenue stream,” said ITN CEO John Hardie in a release.

“The pressure on commercial news suppliers has never been greater which is why ITN has led the way in opening up valuable new lines of business, and the BBC’s latest move risks pulling the rug from under us.”

According to a MediaGuardian report, News International says the arrangement is far from a ‘free deal’ for the papers, but rather free marketing for the BBC, which will lead to less diffentiated content on newspaper websites in the UK.

Meanwhile the Press Association said it had spoken with the BBC Trust about the plans before they were announced and was hoping for a market impact assessment – a process it says cannot now be completed because of yesterday’s launch. In a statement given to both Press Gazette and MediaGuardian, a spokeswoman for the PA said there were other ways for the BBC to work with commercial rivals, such as by sharing facilities.

The PA launched its own video newswire for newspapers earlier this year and has said the BBC’s plans undermine investment in video by commercial players.

The questions

Arguably, providing a pool of news video for diary events/supplementary content could free up the titles’ staff to cover original content and produce more multimedia of their own. A similar argument to the PA’s recent announcement of a ‘public service reporting’ trial.

One question that should be asked – hinted at in Alick Mighall’s blog post on the matter – how will the commercial details be hammered out? Will the BBC add pre-roll ads for BBC programming to the clips; and what if a pay wall is erected in front of the video players?

Independent.co.uk: New York Times considering charging for content?

Towards the end of this article – which looks at the key players interested in backing/investing in the New York Times – is a comment from the company’s spokeswoman Catherine Mathis: the paper is considering charging for some of its internet site.

“Our goal is to add substantial new revenue from our users without materially affecting the growth of our industry-leading online display advertising business,” she said.

A new charging system for the WSJ was announced this week and tweets from the New York Times suggested a similar move could be made.

Full article at this link…

BJP: Guardian in alleged photography rights grab

The Guardian is going to demand increased usage rights for commissioned images, according to this report.

The paper will reportedly ask for full and future usage rights, but with no extra compensation.

A Guardian spokeswoman said the matter was still under discussion.

Full story at this link…

Update: Jacob Zuma still pursuing case against Guardian

Jacob Zuma is continuing his civil case against the Guardian newspaper, despite an apology run by the paper this week for an article about the South African presidential candidate.

The article by Simon Jenkins, which has been removed from the Guardian website, suggested he was guilty of rape.

The reference was the result of an editing error, the paper maintains – Zuma was acquitted of rape charges in 2006, it said in its apology.

After publication Zuma demanded an apology and legal proceedings against the paper for libel have commenced in the High Court, a release from Zuma’s legal firm Schillings said on Monday.

The paper’s statement on April 21 was ‘unacceptable to Mr Zuma’, a spokeswoman on behalf of Zuma told Journalism.co.uk.

“Mr Zuma’s civil claim for damages and an appropriate apology against The Guardian continues,” she said.

“Both legal teams for Mr Zuma and The Guardian are continuing their negotiations about the damages amount that will be payable and how an acceptable apology will be made.

“Should there not be an acceptable out of court resolution, the matter is likely to go to trial.”

A spokeswoman for the Guardian made no further comment beyond Tuesday’s published apology.

Financial round-up: FT Alphaville on Facebook; headlinemoney.co.uk expands

The Financial Times’ Alphaville blog is hosting a Q&A session on the world’s credit markets through it’s Facebook group.

Tomorrow between 3-4pm BST (10-11am EST and 7-8am PST) journalists Sam Jones and Stacy-Marie Ishmael issue will be answering questions from users live.

Meanwhile headlinemoney.co.uk, a financial news site, is expanding its free services to general news reporters as they are ‘increasingly covering money-related stories’, a press release from the site says.

Journalists can sign up for special guest passes to the site, which offers a case study request facility, a financial release news wire, background information on financial instutions, and a directory of financial journalists for editors looking to make commissions.

The offer is very much a way to meet the demands of the current economic situation, a spokeswoman for the site told us:

“With no obvious end in sight to the global financial crisis, we are happy to extend the offer for at least a month, or until the end of the year, if the demand for our resource remains high amongst non-financial journalists.

“On the duration front, again, it’s a case of regularly monitoring the situation. Once use of the headlinemoney site by a generalist reporter begins to fall away, then we will be inclined to think it’s a case of job done and will probably switch off access privileges. Those with guest passes can always reapply further down the line if the need should arise again.”

Online media consumption up by seven per cent, as a result of financial strife

Yesterday, Beet TV flagged up that a record number of users seeking online media information led to a seven per cent spike in traffic for Akamai, the delivery network which carries the internet flow for NBC, the BBC, Reuters and other news sites.

The current economic turmoil, hurricanes and the presidential campaign has helped boost the need for online information. At their peak, Akamai were registering 3.7 million requests per minute.

The spike follows a trend for online news sites doing well in times of financial strife: last month site traffic ‘exploded’ at the FT.com, as a result of the drop in share prices.

The need for information was felt on Wall Street, coinciding with a redesign of the Wall Street Journal Online. “Monday set an all time record of two million visitors”, a Wall Street Journal spokeswoman told Beet.TV.  Traffic on Tuesday was nearly as high.  “These are pretty big numbers, considering monthly unique visitors are 17 million,” she said.

The irony is that financial disaster, hurricanes and presidential elections seem to be a good thing for the world of online media.

Media Guardian: Anti-immigrant BNP member blogging on Telegraph

Richard Barnbrook, the British National Party’s London Assembly member, has used the paper’s MyTelegraph platform to publish an anti-immigrant blog post.

A spokeswoman for the Telegraph said the presence of the post on the site did not mean the paper endorsed Barnbrook’s arguments and that readers are relied upon to report offensive material.

“Our readers are entitled to their opinions and, within the law, they’re entitled to publish them on the My Telegraph blogging platform,” she said.