Five media stories of note for Wednesday, March 13, 2013:
The chairman of the India Press Council has proposed there be minimum qualifications for journalists. The Hindu reports that Justice Markandey Katju has established a committee of two other council members and a professor in order to make recommendations for legislation. He says that untrained people enter journalism and do not hold high standards. It is time for there to be professional qualifications enacted in law, he says. Industry reaction, not surprisingly, has been critical of the proposal.
In Australia, meanwhile, there is political and industry opposition to the government's new package of media reforms. Among them is the establishment of a public interest advocate to oversee the self-regulatory press council and to review such industry transactions as mergers. The government defends the reforms as integral to public trust of media, while industry suggests the reforms are intrusive. News Corp., the largest media company in Australia, has called the moves Stalinism.
A two-part post in theMediaBriefing features a presentation by German academics who argue that a rethinking of editorial models is necessary in the time ahead to invest in high-quality, unique content. But they argue that the fear of crisis inhibits innovation.
Could a print-on-demand model help publishers in the digital age? theMediaBriefing writes of the success Scientific American enjoyed in creating a print version of a digital application. While it wouldn't replace print revenues, it might augment digital-centric operations.
A new study for the U.S. National Newspaper Network has good news for the print media: It's the choice of sports fans. A survey conducted for the network found sports fans preferred newspapers over television, radio or other print outlets for coverage and analysis of sports. Poynter Online, in summarizing the study, also noted newspaper websites were preferred over their digital counterparts.
The chairman of the India Press Council has proposed there be minimum qualifications for journalists. The Hindu reports that Justice Markandey Katju has established a committee of two other council members and a professor in order to make recommendations for legislation. He says that untrained people enter journalism and do not hold high standards. It is time for there to be professional qualifications enacted in law, he says. Industry reaction, not surprisingly, has been critical of the proposal.
In Australia, meanwhile, there is political and industry opposition to the government's new package of media reforms. Among them is the establishment of a public interest advocate to oversee the self-regulatory press council and to review such industry transactions as mergers. The government defends the reforms as integral to public trust of media, while industry suggests the reforms are intrusive. News Corp., the largest media company in Australia, has called the moves Stalinism.
A two-part post in theMediaBriefing features a presentation by German academics who argue that a rethinking of editorial models is necessary in the time ahead to invest in high-quality, unique content. But they argue that the fear of crisis inhibits innovation.
Could a print-on-demand model help publishers in the digital age? theMediaBriefing writes of the success Scientific American enjoyed in creating a print version of a digital application. While it wouldn't replace print revenues, it might augment digital-centric operations.
A new study for the U.S. National Newspaper Network has good news for the print media: It's the choice of sports fans. A survey conducted for the network found sports fans preferred newspapers over television, radio or other print outlets for coverage and analysis of sports. Poynter Online, in summarizing the study, also noted newspaper websites were preferred over their digital counterparts.
