Our weekly round-up of public service media related stories and headlines from around the world.
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CAPE VERDE: Cape Verde completes first phase of DTT project
Advanced Television: Cape Verde has completed the first phase of the implementation of the DTT project.
GHANA: Rate of women participation in media activities in Ghana, low
News Ghana
KENYA: Social media sites to delete hate mongers’ accounts in a day
Daily Nation: Social media sites will be required to pull down accounts propagating hate speech within a day of being notified by the government, according to newly published guidelines.
RWANDA: Police-Media Collaboration Needed During Elections, Says Busingye
Via All Africa: Presidential elections will be free, peaceful and fair if the media and Police join forces and ensure high level of professionalism in their respective capacities, Justice minister Johnston Busingye has said.
SENEGAL: Senegal’s New Press Code: A Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards
MFWA: After years of back-and-forth over the process of media law reforms in Senegal, the country’s Parliament on June 20, 2017, passed a new press code to regulate the practice of journalism and operations of media organisations.
SOMALIA: IFJ warns new media bill risks damaging free expression
IFJ: The Somali Council of Ministers yesterday adopted a new media Bill but journalists have criticised a number of its provisions considered as repressive on press freedom.
SOUTH AFRICA: Hlaudi takes broadcaster to CCMA
Sowetan Live: Axed SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has gone to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in an attempt to overturn his dismissal.
SOUTH AFRICA: Mahumapelo restores ties with North West SABC
The Citizen: He suspended relations with the SABC in June, following allegations that he had encroached on the public broadcaster’s editorial policy.
SOUTH AFRICA: SABC to review policies‚ calls for public participation
Times Lives: The South African Broadcasting Cooperation has called on the public to participate in reviewing six policies which have been implemented since 2004.
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa: Suspended SABC CEO James Aguma’s Disciplinary Hearing Set to Start
Via AllAfrica: Disciplinary proceedings against suspended SABC acting group CEO James Aguma are set to start on Tuesday.
ZIMBABWE: ZBC Bosses Nabbed Over $20,000 Fraud
via All Africa: ZBC’S chief executive officer and the company’s head of finance have been arrested on allegations of illegally procuring vehicles prejudicing the public broadcaster of $20,000.
WEST AFRICA: Journalism in West Africa: Persistent Challenges & the Way Forward
MFWA: The future of mainstream journalism in West Africa is at a crossroads. With draconian laws that criminalise speech still in the law books of some countries and persistent attacks, harassment and threats meted out to journalists on a daily basis, it is not too clear what the future holds for journalism in the region.
GENERAL: The Future of Public Broadcasting in Africa
Digicast Magazine: A sub-Saharan Africa public service broadcast (PSB) network is taking root and George Twumasi is the visionary behind it.
AFGHANISTAN: RSF’s recommendations on Afghan journalists and demonstrations
RSF: In response to an increase in the frequency of anti-government protests in the past year in Afghanistan, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is today issuing recommendations on the safety of Afghan journalists at demonstrations.
AZERBAIJAN: Abduction, torture and intimidation: Azerbaijan’s endless crackdown on independent journalism
Index: Media outlets in Azerbaijan routinely deal with torture, assault, raids, imprisonment and endless intimidation, as verified reports submitted to Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project show.
AZERBAIJAN: What does an Azerbaijani journalist need the most: a free flat or a free environment?
OC Media: An initiative from Azerbaijan’s government to grant free flats to journalists has sparked debate in local media circles. Journalists in favour hail it as a form of wealth redistribution, while others see it as yet another attempt to smother media freedom in the country.
CHINA: China’s ban on foreign content on Bilibili, AcFun is not about piracy
South China Morning Post: Intensifying censorship by Beijing puts future of some popular video-sharing sites in doubt.
CHINA: China’s Newest Censorship Methods on Display
Freedom House: A month riddled with perilous anniversaries offers a showcase for the Communist Party’s upgraded internet controls.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong Broadcaster Under Fire For “Anti-China” Sentiment on Handover Anniversary
RADIO FREE ASIA: A flagship political discussion show run for decades by government broadcaster RTHK has been accused of peddling an anti-Beijing agenda in Hong Kong amid reports the city’s government is planning a political campaign against “hostile overseas forces” feared by Beijing.
INDIA: After DTT, TRAI now launches exercise on digital radio broadcasting
RMBiz: Even as it noted that All India Radio is active in implementation of digital radio in MW and SW bands, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today noted that there appears to be no initiative in FM radio space either by public or private FM radio broadcasters.
INDIA: Indian government considers corporatising Prasar Bharati
ABU: India’s Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry is reportedly thinking of corporatising public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharati.
INDIA: Prasar Bharati Patronage May Be Latest Sarkari Boost to RSS-Backed News Agency
The Wire: The public broadcaster – which runs Doordarshan and AIR – has apparently been asked to give up its PTI and UNI subscriptions and rely instead on Hindustan Samachar.
INDIA: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati to distribute free set-top boxes in naxal-hit areas
Financial Express: Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is likely to distribute around 10 lakh free of cost direct- to-home (DTH) set-top boxes in Naxal-hit areas of the country.
MYANMAR: Myanmar’s Challenging Media Landscape, in Cartoons
Advox: Despite having abolished the decades-long practice of literary censorship in 2012, Myanmar has gone the reverse direction of media freedom, particularly since 2014. Here is a series of cartoons published by The Irrawaddy over the course of four years— from 2014 to 2017—reflecting the media milestones and hardships experienced in the country.
MYANMAR: Proposed changes to Burmese Telecommunications Law fail to protect free expression
Via IFEX: ARTICLE 19 finds that the recently proposed revisions to the Myanmar Telecommunications Law, which is regularly used against those expressing their views or reporting online, fail to address some of the fundamental problems of the law.
MYANMAR: Why Suu Kyi should reach out to Myanmar’s media
Asia Times: Media freedom is not a priority for Myanmar’s paradoxically named ruling party – the National League for Democracy (NLD).
PAKISTAN: Pakistan dismisses civil society concerns regarding freedom of expression before UN Committee
IFEX: During the first examination of Pakistan, the UN Human Rights Committee has taken up various freedom of expression issues raised by civil society organizations. However, the State delegation denies complicity and points to terrorism as the cause of limitations on this fundamental right.
PHILIPPINES: Online Harassment: Lessons from the Philippines
GIJN: The nature of threats against journalists are changing as the virtual world spills into the physical. The experiences of Filipino journalist Maria Ressa show how reporters now face targeted online harassment campaigns designed to discredit and silence them.
THAILAND: Thailand’s NBTC Plans to Issue an OTT Notification to Regulate OTT Services
LEXOLOGY: In recent months, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has made considerable efforts to regulate Over-The-Top or OTT service in Thailand.
AUSTRALIA: Australian government assault on encryption deeply concerning
Via IFEX: The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union and industry advocate for Australia’s journalists, is alarmed by the government push to force tech companies to break encrypted communications.
AUSTRALIA: SBS On Demand is the streaming platform we all overlook
News.com.au: With all the hype around subscription streaming services Netflix, Stan and Foxtel Now, you’d be forgiven for overlooking the free ones.
FIJI: USP students, France24 team up in smart-phone climate story
Pacific Media Centre: Broadcast student journalists from the University of the South Pacific have contributed on France 24 as part of the ePOP multinational network of broadcasters, NGOs and researchers who are telling frontline stories of climate change.
NEW ZEALAND: RNZ: We’ll never be a ‘one-note’ service again
Newsroom: RNZ executives say its strong survey results validate its new direction, though it hasn’t been smooth sailing for staff getting used to the new way of doing things.
GENERAL: Public interest journalism and regional interests: implications for the Pacific and Australian aid
DEV Policy: The Senate Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism is currently inquiring into ‘the state of journalism in Australia and around the world’, which seems like a rather wide mandate.
ALBANIA: Albania judge’s suit highlights defamation law abuse
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso: Controversial jurist seeks €83k in “moral damages” from media outlets, journalists.
BELARUS: New wave of fines for Belarusian journalists
RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns a campaign of intimidation of independent journalists in Belarus, in which the victims are being fined for working for media outlets based outside the country, and calls on the government to put a stop to this judicial harassment.
BULGARIA: ‘Significant risks’ to media pluralism in Bulgaria, European Parliament committee told
The Sofia Globe: There are significant risks to media pluralism in Bulgaria, according to an independent report presented to the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee.
GEORGIA: Changes to Law of Georgia on Public Broadcaster. Overview of the Process of Initiating and Hearing the Changes
Transparency International Georgia: On 19 December 2016, certain employees of the Public Broadcaster proposed a bill to the Parliament requesting an amendment to Article 30 of the Law of Georgia on Public Broadcaster. The amendment restricts the powers of the Board of Trustees of the Broadcaster.
GERMANY: Germany’s anti-fake news lab yields mixed results
POLITICO: Berlin is going further than others in pressuring tech companies to better police their networks.
GERMANY: Older women rare on German TV, says study
Deutsche Welle: A German study finds that women, in particular women over 30, are woefully underrepresented on German TV and film screens. When they do appear, they’re often cast in stereotypical roles.
GERMANY: Right-wing populist AfD may sue to get on talk shows
Deutsche Welle: The co-spokesman for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) says that the party may take public broadcasters to the courts to get more air time. It’s the latest salvo in the AfD’s war of words against the mainstream media.
ITALY: Sky Italia leads Italy TV market
Advanced Television: Sky Italia continues to lead Italy’s TV market, with a 32 per cent share (down by 1.5 per cent), ahead of RAI (30 per cent), Mediaset (28 per cent), Discovery Italia (2.4 per cent) and Cairo Communication-La7 (1.7 per cent).
RUSSIA: Q&A: Russia’s ‘repressive tolerance’ for media
IPI: System of media control shields corrupt officials, Swedish former Moscow correspondent says.
SAN MARINO: San Marino set to become first country upgraded to 5G nationwide
The Financial Times: Telecom Italia to use micro-state as a test bed for the new technology.
SPAIN: 5G forces reorganisation of Spain’s DTT
Rapid TV News: European plans to deploy and develop 5G technology on the 700Mhz band is to push Spain’s DTT to other frequency slots.
SPAIN: CMM says it allocates more than 6% to European audiovisual production (Spanish)
CLM 24: Castilla-La Mancha Media (CMMedia) has assured that it allocates more than 6 percent of its revenues to European audiovisual production, according to the report issued by the National Market Commission on 4 May.
SPAIN: RTVE to invest 4 million euros in Big Data solutions (Spanish)
Dircomfidencial: Despite years of talking about Big Data, many sectors are still waiting to be able to make sense of this sea of data in their activity. Television is one of them, and that is why the main operators of the industry have begun to invest resources in this system of management and analysis.
SWEDEN: 33 Swedish Media Groups Call On Erdoğan To Free Jailed Journalists
Stockholm Center for Freedom: The editors-chief of 33 media organizations in Sweden sent an open letter to Turkey’s autocratic President Tayyip Erdoğan on the anniversary of a failed coup attempt on July, 15, 2016, asking him to free jailed journalists.
RUSSIA: Russia: Assault on Freedom of Expression
Human Rights Watch: Repressive Laws and Policies Restrict Online Speech, Stifle Critical Voices.
UK: CBS News and BBC News join forces around the globe
CBS: CBS News and BBC News announced a new editorial and news gathering relationship Thursday that will significantly enhance the global reporting capabilities of both organizations.
UK: Explain and connect: Insights into the BBC World Service expansion
Journalism.co.uk: BBC World Service is adding 12 new languages teams and undertaking a digital refresh.
UK: Channel 4 revenues near £1bn
Advanced Television: UK advertising-funded public service broadcaster Channel 4 says it is well positioned for the future after delivering a second successive year of growing revenues to record levels as the 2016 Annual Report shows.
UKRAINE: Reporting from Ukraine’s separatist areas is becoming more difficult
INDEX
UKRAINE: Verkhovna Rada refused to allocate additional funds to a public broadcasting service
Human Rights Information Centre: The Verkhovna Rada rejected the amendment of Deputy Viktoriya Syumar on allocating additional funds in the amount of 428,297.4 thousand UAH for ensuring the activity and full functioning of the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (NPBCU).
GENERAL: Former French minister Harlem Désir is the OSCE’s new representative on freedom of the media
EFJ: The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the deal reached on Tuesday by Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz to ensure the appointment of the new Representative for Freedom of the Media in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The position, vacant since March 10, will be assumed by the former French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Harlem Désir. His appointment should be formalized on 18 July.
GENERAL: Media coverage of elections: the legal framework in Europe (Report)
European Audiovisual Observatory: In times of elections and referenda, the media zoom in on the candidates, analysing their every word, move and minute gesture. In today’s 24/7 digital universe, the mass media have an unprecedented power to pick apart, comment and scrutinise our future leaders as never before. But who is making sure that coverage is equitable, professional, and complying with some minimum standards of “decent” journalism?
ARGENTINA: Argentina’s Community Radio Stations Offer an Alternative Look at News
LENS The New York Times: In an age when people communicate instantly by text or watch the latest news broadcasts on their computer, some in Argentina have embraced a decidedly less high-tech means of communication: radio.
ECUADOR: Andrés Michelena is the new general manager of the public media (Spanish)
El Telégrafo: Andrés Michelena was appointed as the new general manager of the public media, replacing Munir Massuh.
MEXICO: ConvergenciaShow.MX highlights role and challenges of public television (Spanish)
TV Latina: During the second day of the event, different spaces of discussion focused on public television, covering technological changes, audiovisual production and the fragmentation of audiences, among others.
MEXICO: Local news sites can find crowdfunding success: a lesson from Mexico
IJNET: This is the second article in a multi-part series by SembraMedia on how independent news sites can achieve financial stability.
MEXICO: Tally of journalists killed in Mexico continues to rise
IPI: The killing of a Honduran journalist in Mexico – the ninth journalist slain there so far this year – again highlights an ongoing failure by authorities in that country to do enough to end violent attacks on journalists, the International Press Institute (IPI) said today.
PANAMA: Media executive says press freedom at stake as U.S. refuses to renew commercial operations license to Panamanian newspapers
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: Estrella de Panamá and El Siglo will not be able to conduct business transactions with U.S. citizens and companies starting July 13, 2017 following the recent decision of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department to not review their operating license, according to La Estrella de Panamá.
BAHRAIN: Authorities muse rescind decision to close only independent newspaper Al-Wasat and cease all-out campaign to end independent reporting (Research)
Amnesty International: This call comes over a month after the Ministry of Information indefinitely suspended the newspaper and as the authorities’ crackdown on all forms of peaceful criticism intensifies.
Pulitzer Center
TURKEY: Dire year for journalists under state of emergency in Turkey
RSF: A year after an attempted coup, the level of media freedom in Turkey is abysmal, as the following assessment by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shows.
TURKEY: Former public broadcaster staff detained on FETÖ links
Daily Sabah: Authorities Wednesday issued detention warrants for 34 former employees of public broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) in the latest crackdown on infiltrators of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in state-run organizations.
GENERAL: The roadblocks, and the dangers, for investigative journalists in the Arab world
ARIJ: As the Arab Spring ushered in less openness rather than more, a Jordan-based group supports reporters taking chances in this fledgling movement
CANADA: Why licensing journalists won’t end the scourge of ‘fake news’ (Opinion)
The Conversation: A good place to start when considering a proposed solution is to ask what problem that solution is aiming to fix.
US: CPB director accuses public broadcasting of ‘identity politics’ in latest op-ed
Current: CPB board member Howard Husock is once again attacking public broadcasting, this time for its approach to diversity in programming.
US: Environmental Justice? Unjust Coverage of the Flint Water Crisis
Harvard Shorenstein Center: A new paper by Derrick Z. Jackson, Joan Shorenstein Fellow (fall 2016), Boston Globe essayist, and a climate and energy writer for the Union of Concerned Scientists, examines the failure of national media outlets to respond to the Flint water crisis in an urgent manner, as well as biases in coverage.
US: Microsoft to plug rural broadband gap with TV white space
BBC: Microsoft has laid out an ambitious plan to improve broadband services in rural America, using TV white space.
US: Public Television and Live Streaming: Can Online Streaming Save PBS?
VC Daily: Rather than seeking out every individual in the U.S., or asking its stars to rough it each night in a garbage can, PBS, and other public media could instead look to the internet for cost savings and alternate funding.
US: NPR and SAG/AFTRA reach tentative agreement
Poynter: National Public Radio and the SAG/AFTRA union that represents more than 400 on-air and off-air workers said early Sunday that they had reached a tentative three-year agreement.
US: School Inc. Under Attack: The ‘Balance’ In Public Broadcasting
Giving Compass
US: Why a divided America has united against the media
Financial Times: ‘Today’s cacophony of competing voices is more akin to 19th-century pamphleteering than the media of 50 years ago’
11 questions to ask before sharing graphic photos, video
Poynter: Images and videos can be powerful tools to describe extremely difficult subjects. And digital cameras, smartphones and emerging storytelling tools make it easier than ever to share a dizzying array of news images. Yet many of these can be graphic or gruesome. Here are some questions to help you decide what, where or whether to broadcast, publish or share visually explicit photos and video.
Citizen Journalism: A Phenomenon That is Here to Stay
Euro Scientist: Is the citizen journalist a threat to the professional?
Collaboration across newsrooms can be a royal pain — but this tool wants to make it easier
Nieman Lab: “Most places are using email, maybe there’s a calendar they share, they’re trying to make Trello boards, they’re trying to get everybody into Slack…the pain caused by tools is not insignificant.”
Do Mobile Journalists Get More Interviews? (Research)
EJO: New research suggests that mobile journalism can be a more efficient method of interviewing people than traditional TV journalism. In a recent field experiment, a mobile journalist was able to persuade many more people to take part in vox pop interviews than a two-person TV crew.
Do we still believe in free speech? Only until we disagree
Miami Herald: After a century of building free speech rights into our laws and culture, Americans are backing away from one of the country’s defining principles.
Here’s a list of initiatives that hope to fix trust in journalism and tackle “fake news”
Medium: There’s lots.
How newsrooms can protect female reporters on social
First Draft: Attacks levied at men, while hurtful, are generally less personal and threatening of their personal safety than the attacks women receive.
How to begin to monitor social media for misinformation
First Draft: Here are tactics and tools to help make the task of monitoring social media more manageable for journalists.
How to be heard above the noise: a guide for journalists launching a podcast
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
Original journalism: Finding stories
BBC Academy: Original journalism can conflict with the demands of daily news output. BBC Belfast journalists show you how to spot stories in the most unlikely places.
Spreading fake news becomes standard practice for governments across the world
The Washington Post: Campaigns to manipulate public opinion through false or misleading social media postings have become standard political practice across much of the world, with information ministries, specialized military units and political operatives shaping the flow of information in dozens of countries, a British research group reported Monday.
Survey: Most Britons say broadsheets are most trustworthy news source, but print is least read news medium
PressGazette: A new survey has suggested that print is the least popular medium when Britons are asked to give one answer to the question “how to you stay up to date with news”.
Tips for combatting gender-based harassment in the newsroom
IJNET: Challenges for female media professionals tend to have a familiar ring the world over.
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Header image: Cameraman shooting crowd. Credits: iStock
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