Category: China

June 4, 2014 media notes: China erases Tienanmen record; Hungary tax threatens press; Thailand and press freedom

6/4/2014

For Wednesday, June 4, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

Julian Girault, writing for Agence France Presse, notes how China is trying to erase the record of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Media don't mention it 25 years later and censors have scrubbed much of the record from any source. One-third of China's population has been born since.
***
A proposed tax on advertising revenue has drawn deep concern from Hungarian media as a backdoor attack on the press. The tax escalates to 40 per cent on revenues of more than 50 million pounds, writes Roy Greenslade of The Guardian. Even pro-government media have criticized the tax as a threat to press freedom.
***
This should be a time of media celebration in Thailand with the arrival of digital TV. But the recent coup and crackdown on the media have chilled the climate for press freedom, particularly among the new outlets, writes Marwaan Macan-Markar for the Nikkei Asian Review.

June 3, 2014 media notes: China's freer student journalists; CJR on media managers; HuffPost comments and Facebook

6/3/2014

For Tuesday, June 3, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

Joseph Weber, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor, writes for the Washington Post that journalists in China are gradually starting to stand up to their country's censors. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, there is greater student journalist effort toward a free press. Weber led a survey on this matter with several Chinese journalism schools.
***
Ryan Chittum, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, has put his finger on interesting traits of newsroom management: that it is not easy in an age of cuts and that those doing it were good reporters but not necessarily cut out for the responsibility. Chittum concludes journalism could spend more on training, but that in the end it is just plain hard.
***
When Huffington Post announced earlier this year that it wanted to end anonymous comments and provide a better platform for civil discourse online, it didn't reveal it would use Facebook's sign-on system to identify users. The move is imminent and HuffPo is getting an earful, Poynter reports. The question is whether it will depress traffic.

April 11, 2014 media notes: China host replaced mid-program, UK press regulation looms, The New Yorker's digital strategy

4/11/2014

For Friday, April 11, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

The host of an online news show in China found himself rather quickly replaced Thursday when he digressed from his script and began to decry government corruption in the construction of a luxury building in an area eligible for state poverty relief. The South China Morning Post chronicles the unceremonious dispatch.
***
In Britain, the struggle remains to determine the shape of press regulation, either through a royal charter or a self-regulatory body (its launch has been delayed to June 1). Roy Greenslade of The Guardian says media should avoid both. A third option is fledgling: a crowdfunded drive to create a regulator (or, at least, an oversight mechanism). The IMPRESS Project is led by free speech campaigner Jonathan Heawood, with a target of 25,000 pounds.
***
Among traditional publishers that have moved into the digital space, none has done quite what The New Yorker has. It has taken its strong literary journalism into between-edition reporting and commentary, almost exclusively as online-only content. Digiday examines the strategy for what remains consciously a print-first operation.

March 20, 2014 media notes: Bloomberg chair on China, Pakistan PM promises change, Rwanda harasses journalists

3/20/2014

For Thursday, March 20, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

The chairman of Bloomberg LP has suggested that the company's journalists should have thought more about digressing from its core business coverage in China. Peter Grauer did not mention particular articles, but it appeared to be in reference to recent coverage of the family fortunes of a Chinese political official. When the article appeared, China ordered state enterprises not to subscribe to the Bloomberg terminal services. Grauer said China is a market Bloomberg must absolutely be in. The Grauer speech suggests business pursuits, and not investigative journalism, serves as the priority.
***
The Committee to Protect Journalists notes that Pakistan's prime minister has promised greater protection and safety for the country's journalists. The New York Times says Nawaz Sharif, in a speech Wednesday, indicated his government will investigate targeted violence, ease travel restrictions and review the blacklisting of The New York Times' bureau chief there.
***
The Guardian reports on harassment of journalists in Rwanda through a Twitter account linked to the president's office. It notes that Reporters Without Borders has been chronicling the organized campaign. Last week an American journalist who revealed the scheme was deported. The Twitter account has been directing hostile messages and blocking the accounts of several journalists.

February 13, 2014 media notes: journalists urged to lead Internet debate, news replaces literature, China's news needs

2/13/2014

Here are some media stories of note for Thursday, February 13, 2014:

Michael Copps, a former Federal Communications Commission commissioner, says journalism needs to lead the debate over the future of the Internet. Copps says the Internet, still in its early days, will produce several more revolutionary changes in the news, but "not by continuing down the road it is presently on." He writes an open letter to journalists in the Columbia Journalism Review. Copps argues regulatory moves to widen broadband access and guaranteeing an open Internet are vital to the future of news, and he writes that journalists need to be involved in these decisions. Otherwise, the axiom will hold that decisions without you are usually decisions against you .
***
Lee Siegel, writing for The New Yorker, poses the question: Is the news replacing literature? He cites the recent reprised dispute between Dylan Farrow and Woody Allen over sexual abuse allegations as an example. "Instantaneous news of what happened, or might have happened, has become our art, and, like the chorus in ancient Greek tragedy, we are all part of the swelling roar."
***
Hu Shuli, editor-in-chief of Caixin Media, writes of the challenge of building independent, sustainable journalism in her native China. She notes in the latest Nieman Reports the lack of business acumen and the need for "better company structures and digital know-how" to meet the challenge of developing press that can stand strong. An important priority is for Chinese media to collectively protect intellectual property rights.

January 31, 2014 media notes: The New Yorker on Facebook, Hong Kong editor ousted, Egypt tries to reassure media

1/31/2014

Here are some media stories of interest Friday, January 31, 2014:

Vauhini Vara, writing for The New Yorker, offers an insightful piece on Facebook's effort to deliver relevant advertising to users. Vara examines the methods Facebook employs and questions the concerns raised recently that it has lost its grip on teenagers. The better area of study, Vara asserts, is how Facebook has figured out what people are interested in and what it does about it.

---

The New York Times reports on the concerns following the recent ouster of the editor of Ming Pao in Hong Kong and the suspicion that the paper was vulnerable to political influence. The traditionally independent news source might be susceptible to an advance by the government in its affairs.

Meanwhile, Agence France Presse reports on how China is responding to U.S. criticism about its treatment of foreign journalists following the departure of a Times correspondent from the country. China says journalists are not being expelled and that the matter is a domestic issue.

---

The situation remains blurry for the Al Jazeera journalists detained and facing trial in Egypt. The government has tried to quell accusations that it does not welcome foreign journalists and coverage of its political situation. It asserts that its laws permit contact with the Muslim Brotherhood but not if it assists or incites them. Further, its laws do not protect "thought and opinion" if it threatens national security.

January 30, 2014 media notes: Facebook Paper released, China expels NYT reporter, FOX most and least trusted media

1/30/2014

Here are some media notes for Thursday, January 30, 2014:

Facebook's new story curation application for the iPhone is called Paper. It pulls in stories, photos and other content and delivers it in a photo-emphasized format, somewhat like the popular Flipboard app. The company has created partnerships with several journalism firms for content and will soon hire editors to curate particular categories. Lance Ulanoff of Mashable notes that, even though Paper is a content application, Facebook does not want to be known as a media company. Josh Constine from TechCrunch says the app permits Facebook to act a little more like a startup than a legacy firm. The Daily Mail thinks paper will cannabalize Facebook itself, while The Verge says at the very least the Facebook app has been bested by the company.

---

The United States has expressed deep concern about press freedom in China after the country forced a New York Times reporter to leave. Reporter Austin Ramzay indicated he has been asked to leave the country. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the move is inconsistent with principles of press freedom and incongruent with American treatment of Chinese journalists.

---

The results are in, and FOX News is the most trusted media source in America. And the least trusted. The Public Policy Polling firm found that 35% of Americans trusted FOX News more than any other source and 33% said it was the least trusted source. Among Republicans, FOX polled a 69-per-cent approval. Among Democrats, PBS had a slight edge (21%) over CNN and ABC (18% each). Overall, though, of the eight sources studied, only one was consistently trusted among Republicans and Democrats: PBS, with a 57-per-cent trust level.

January 23, 2014 media notes: AP severs ties with photographer, Sochi challenges, covering China

1/23/2014

Here are some media stories of note for Thursday, January 23, 2014:

The Associated Press has severed ties with a freelance photographer who used software to remove the image of a colleague's video camera in a photo of protests in Syria. The AP said he breached its requirements for truth and accuracy. It has also removed all images from him in its archive.
Gawker's Adam Weinstein wonders if it went too far.

Alice Speri, writing for Al Jazeera America, looks at the intimidation of and violence against journalists in advance of the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. The self-censorship and threats have created a "timid press" rarely willing to venture into independent territory.

---

William Wan, the Beijing-based correspondent for the Washington Post, tackles the subject of journalist challenges there in a post for Poynter. He argues that, while visas can be denied and websites put out of reach for difficult reporting, self-censorship is the most insidious of the threats.

January 22, 2014 media notes: Guardian blocked in China, Rosen on Grantland, what makes a story go viral

1/22/2014

Here are some media stories of note for Wednesday, January 22, 2014:

The Guardian is the latest media organization to find itself in collision with the Chinese government. The Guardian's site has been blocked following its story on the offshore wealth of the government leadership.

---
Jay Rosen, the NYU scholar recently hired by the new Pierre Omidyar news organization, offers some thoughts on the controversy this week involving the Grantland site. It published an investigative story on a golf club inventor; in the process of its research, it revealed the inventor's trans history, and she killed herself.

Rosen says the episode is the best argument for diversity in a newsroom. More than a dozen employees saw the story before it was published, but none had an understanding of the transgender community.

---

Maria Konnikova, writing for The New Yorker, looks at a book that identifies the six elements that contribute to the viral nature of a story.

Not surprisingly, emotion and arousal top the list. But social currency is also a key (it makes people feel they're smart). A memory-inducing trigger helps, as do lists, as does the quality of the story itself.

January 15, 2014 media notes: U.S. ruling on net neutrality, China explains blocking sites, Russia bars journalist

1/15/2014

Here are some media stories of note for January 15, 2014:

The U.S. Federal Appeals Court ruling Tuesday on so-called "net neutrality" could see various tiers of service emerge for users: a lower tier for email and light use, one for social media, and a higher one for streaming video, or various charges to companies like Google or Netflix or Spotify.

The ruling has thrown open the business practices of the Internet. One thing is certain: the net neutrality discussion is far from over. Apart from an appeal of the ruling, which largely keeps the Internet from being treated as a utility, all sorts of new legislation and regulation could emerge to work through the concept and preserve the principles of access. Mathew Ingram of Gigaom and Brent Kendall of the Wall Street Journal analyze the ruling.

---

China's ambassador to the United Kingdom, in an interview with Sky News, defends his country's decision to block several western-based websites and platforms, including The New York Times, Bloomberg Facebook and Twitter. They spread rumours, he notes, and China is looking for truth to serve its people.

The U.S. is expressing diplomatic disappointment following Russia's decision not to permit entry to journalist David Satter, who has written three books on the country. Satter is a distinguished correspondent, but Russia says his presence is unwelcome.

<<Previous