Our weekly round-up of public service media related stories and headlines from around the world.
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DRC: Police raid Congolese radio station for report on new tax
CPJ: Police raided the community radio station in the town of Kananga roughly an hour after it broadcast a report on a new tax on motorcycles, according to RTC’s director and media reports.
EGYPT: Egypt censors Al-Mesryoon newspaper, harasses editors
CPJ: Employees of the state-owned Al-Ahram printing house on August 5 told an Al-Mesryoon employee that “a security apparatus” ordered them not to print this week’s edition of the newspaper, Gamal Sultan told CPJ.
ETHIOPIA: TV Channels – Growing in Number, Less in Content
Via All Africa: The number of satellite TV broadcasters has seen dramatic increase in just few years but scholars question whether their local news and program contents are designed in a way to promote the social, political and economic aspects of the country beyond entertaining the public and making profits.
KENYA: Kenyans accuse local media of biased reporting
The Standard: Kenyans have come up on various platforms to accuse local media and journalists of [biases] in their roles in informing the public.
KENYA: How the media covered Kenya’s general election
The Star (Kenya): The media has been a critical part of the Kenyan election process. But did they do a good job?
LIBERIA: Liberia’s State Broadcasters Threaten Cut in Broadcast Hours
Front Page Africa: Workers of the state Radio (LBS) have threatened to cut broadcast coverage during these elections due to low budgetary allotment by lawmakers for that entity.
MALAWI: Sense of Ownership Vital in Sustaining Community Radios – Unesco
Via All Africa: The Malawi National Commission for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has advised communities where community radios operate to exercise great sense of ownership and accountability if the radio stations are to be sustained.
NIGERIA: China’s Startimes Launches Digital Satellite TV Services Into Rural Africa
Broadcast Media Africa: Following from the commitment made by the Chinese government to support the provision of digital satellite services to rural Africa, Startimes (the Chinese owned digital pay TV company) [have launched] a satellite-based digital TV service deep in rural Nigeria.
SOUTH AFRICA: Set-top box report must be made public
Screen Africa: Communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo must release the report arising from the investigation into the procurement process for the state-sponsored set-top box procurement process in the light of the publication in the Sunday Times about attempts by Jacob Zuma’s son Mxolisi to influence the tender process in favour of Altech UEC.
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa govt reiterates plan for analogue switch-off by end-2018
Telecompaper: South Africa’s Minister of Communications, Ayanda Dlodlo has reiterated the government’s commitment to completing the switch to digital broadcasting by December 2018, as agreed with the ITU.
UGANDA: Police vs the press in Uganda
Al Jazeera: How some controversial laws have made the lives of journalists in Uganda increasingly difficult and reporting risky.
AZERBAIJAN: Persecution of Azerbaijan’s last independent media outlet
RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the Azerbaijani government’s use of tax evasion allegations to harass the Baku-based Turan news agency, the last independent media outlet still operating within the country.
CHINA & TAIWAN: Chinese streaming service cancels Taiwanese TV series that portrays Sunflower Movement
Taiwan News: The second episode of the series, which discusses freedom of the press and one of the most important social mobilizations in Taiwan’s recent history, is said to be too sensitive.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong charges reporter with contempt for covering 2014 protest
CPJ: Authorities in Hong Kong should immediately drop all charges against reporter Mak Ying-sheung, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong media sees trouble as China tightens grip
IPI: Journalists concerned over indirect pressure, censorship and attacks
HONG KONG: RTHK to formally pull plug on digital radio broadcasting after Hong Kong axes service
HKFP: Public broadcaster RTHK will formally pull the plug on Hong Kong’s final digital radio services next month, after the government decided in March to completely shut down the service.
HONG KONG: RTHK to replace BBC World Service broadcast with Chinese state programming
Marketing: Public broadcaster RTHK is set to drop its 24-hour BBC World Service broadcast and replace it with programming from China’s state radio channel after BBC’s nearly four decades of continuous broadcast in Hong Kong.
INDIA: Six Transmitters Added to AIR-India DRM Project
ABU: The project has the goal of bringing digital radio to nearly a billion residents of the country. The new transmitters will be installed at All India Radio (AIR) facilities in Hyderabad, Jagdalpur, Vishakhapatnam, Bhawanipatna, Jeypore and Sambalpur.
INDIA: Prasar Bharati may soon launch its own digital platform
Financial Express: Following in the footsteps of private broadcasters such as Star India which runs video over-the-top (OTT) platform Hotstar and Viacom18’s Voot, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati which runs Doordarshan is planning to foray into the digital medium.
JAPAN: Analyzing the Digital Media Industry in Japan 2017-2020 – Research and Markets
Business Wire: The Japanese digital media market crossed the value of USD 2 billion in 2015 itself and it is expected that by the end of 2020, the market will reach revenues of USD 3 billion.
JAPAN: Objections raised over NHK streaming plan
The Japan Times: Commercial broadcasters concerned that funding model gives NHK an unfair advantage.
PAKISTAN: Gt Road Rally: Except four channels all others including state-run TV shut
The News: Several cable operators on Saturday shut all news channels, including the state-run TV and showed broadcast of only four TV channels on the occasion of rally of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
PAKISTAN: Has Pakistan’s media ever been free? (Opinion)
GEO: For Pakistan to stay on the road to becoming a truly democratic state, the media must play its part, responsibly.
PAKISTAN: PEMRA issues warning to ARY Digital TV for airing prohibited advertisement
Associated Press of Pakistan: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority on Thursday issued a warning to ARY Digital not to air any advertisement prohibited by PEMRA and to ensure strict compliance.
PHILIPPINES: Duterte adds even more volatility to an already dangerous media environment in the Philippines
CIMA: The Philippines has been one of the most dangerous places outside of a war zone to be a journalist – over the past decade, 41 journalists have been killed without the assailants being brought to justice, according the Committee to Protect Journalists.
THAILAND: Universities tackle media slump
Bangkok Post: Journalism schools need to adapt and undergo fundamental shifts in how courses are taught in order to survive in the age of social media platforms and technology or they will face steadily declining enrolments, experts say.
AUSTRALIA: Australian Media Organisations Sign Diversity Charter
ABU: The Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network (SDIN), which includes many of Australia’s leading media organisations as well as screen agencies, has launched a Charter to promote diversity in the sector.
AUSTRALIA: Australian senate rejects bill to restore ABC shortwave
RNZ: Australia’s senate has rejected proposed legislation to restore the international radio service of the country’s public broadcaster.
AUSTRALIA: Australians streaming 1.5bn mins of TV each month
Advanced Television: Flexible TV viewing is on the rise, with 6.9 million Australians streaming more than 1.5 billion minutes of catch-up and live streaming content in the past month, according to the latest OzTAM VPM 28 Day Rolling and Live Streaming reports.
AUSTRALIA: Pauline Hanson announces ‘conditional support’ for Government’s media law shake-up
ABC: One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has announced “conditional support” for the Federal Government’s shake-up of media ownership and regulation.
News.com.au: The ABC has reminded its journalists to restrain themselves from campaigning in favour of same-sex marriage on social media and in their news coverage.
AUSTRALIA: Sky’s no limit in Murdoch empire’s war on ABC (Opinion)
The Guardian: Angelos Frangopoulos wants commercial media to be able to pitch for public broadcaster’s $1.4bn pie. Plus, the NT News spreads the love with a strong marriage equality message.
WEST PAPUA: Human Rights Watch calls for more international scrutiny of West Papua
RNZ: Human Rights Watch in Indonesia is calling for more international scrutiny of the country’s Papuan provinces.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Pacific Media Partnership Conference 2017 | 15-17 August
ABU: PMPC-2017 conference in Solomon Islands will focus on how broadcasters continue to offer broadcast services by augmenting public free-to-air broadcasting.
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: Bosnia and Herzegovina must protect journalist safety amid death threats
IPI: IPI welcomes arrest of suspect after Bosnian columnist in hiding receives new threats over social media
CZECH REPUBLIC: TV dominates in the Czech Republic
Broadband TV News: TV remains the most popular form of video consumption in Czech homes despite the growing use of digital devices.
DENMARK: Privatisation of TV2 would be harmful to media, warns Socialdemokrakiet
CPH Post: TV2 is a peculiar channel. Although it’s commercial – it runs adverts and subscribers have paid a small fee to view it since January 2012 – it is still publicly owned and receives state support.
GERMANY: German newsrooms do not embrace transparency
Journalism Research News: The norm of transparency finds only “limited purchase” among German journalists, write Michael Koliska, of Georgetown University, and Kalyani Chadha, of University of Maryland. The authors interviewed 17 German journalists from 15 leading news outlets.
GERMANY: Inside Spiegel’s 70-person fact-checking team
Digiday: Unlike other media organizations that are launching their own fact-checking sub-brands in a complicated political climate, Spiegel-Gruppe’s 70-person fact-checking team has integrated the process into its editorial workflow.
GERMANY: “Lying press“: prosecutors to probe attacks researched by ECPMF
ECPMF: The Green Party of Saxony, Germany, urges judiciary and police to do more to protect journalists. The Interior Ministry of the State will order the investigation of more cases of attacks on journalists.
GERMANY: Truly Media tackles fake news ahead of German elections
DW Innovation: German Press Agency dpa and BR (Bayerischer Rundfunk), which is part of the ARD network of public service broadcasters, will use Truly Media to aggregate and verify UGC for their coverage about German federal elections in September.
GREECE: Vassilis Costopoulos to head ERT
Broadband TV News: Vassilis Costopoulos has been appointed the CEO of the Greek public broadcaster ERT.
IRELAND: Ireland’s media ownership concentration breeds pessimism
INDEX: There’s considerable disagreement about how to tackle Ireland’s lack of plurality of media ownership. At the same time, there’s a growing pessimism that anything will change in the short term.
ITALY: RAI: the licence fee in utility bills exposes 5,6 million tax evaders (Italian)
Corriere della Sera: Thanks to the new mechanism, the number of Italians who pay the tax rises from 16.5 to 22.2 million, with a 34% increase.
MACEDONIA: Macedonian TV Revenues Down
FilmNewEurope: Macedonian TV revenues reached in 2016 their lowest point in the last five years. Commercial and public broadcasters generated total revenues of approximately 25 m EUR / 1,540,190,000 MKD, representing a drop of 50% compared to 2015.
MOLDOVA: Moldova’s Media at Crossroads 2017
ECPMF: Researchers and scholars based in Moldova, in the Baltic or the Eastern Partnership regions are invited to submit brief proposals on media pluralism, media literacy and information resilience in Moldova by August 31st.
NORWAY: With a quiz to comment, readers test their article comprehension
NRKbeta: Since February our readers must pass a mandatory quiz to comment on our articles. But the world famous quiz has found another use too.
POLAND: TVP secures €190m loan
Broadband TV News: The Polish public broadcaster TVP has received a loan of PLN800 million (€190m) from the country’s National Treasury.
PORTUGAL: Third of Portuguese households use DTT
Telecompaper: Digital terrestrial TV is used by 32.7 percent of households in Portugal, according to Marktest’s June Telecommunications Barometer.
SLOVAKIA: Rezník takes over at Slovak public TV
Broadband TV News: Jaroslav Rezník has been appointed DG of Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS).
UK: Anger over ‘untrue’ climate change claims
BBC News: Scientists have responded furiously to claims about climate change made in a live BBC radio interview.
UKRAINE: Journalists union attacked by Government MP
IFJ: The IFJ has strongly condemned accusations by a Ukrainian MP that the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) was guilty of implementing “Russian media projects” and supporting anti-Ukrainian media. The astonishing claims came after the union opposed government raids on a prominent Ukrainian news website.
GENERAL: Europe’s Public Service Media: No Common Strategy
EJO: A study of Europe’s Public Service Media (PSM) has revealed the 2008 global financial crisis forced some public broadcasters to make significant strategic changes to policy, funding and content while others were barely affected. It found that PSM budgets vary enormously across Europe and organisations do not share a common financial or organisational strategy.
BRAZIL: Brazilian journalists create site featuring award opportunities to help colleagues and improve profession
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: Brazilian journalists create site featuring award opportunities to help colleagues and improve profession.
COLOMBIA: Case of stigmatization demonstrates new dangers facing Colombian journalists
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: The recent case of stigmatization against Semana columnist Daniel Samper Ospina is just one example of the new types of threats facing journalists in Colombia as the deadly violence of decades past plummets.
COLOMBIA: The silencing of journalists and the blistering impunity in Colombia (Spanish)
IFJ: The perpetrators of murders, beatings, torture, forced disappearance and threats against journalists have been guaranteed impunity in Colombia. Of the total number of attacks on reporters investigated between September 1986 and April 2017, only 2 out of every 10 cases reached trial or were convicted.
COSTA RICA: Costa Rica moves forward to tax OTT providers
Rapid TV News: In the middle of a wave of levies on OTT firms in Latin America, Costa Rica has announced a plan to land a 15% tax on video-on-demand (VOD) and online video-based services.
GUYANA: PSC chides Govt on Broadcasting Bill
iNewsGuyana: The Private Sector Commission (PSC) said it has noted with increasing concern, the passing last Friday, August 4, 2017, of the Broadcast (Amendment) Bill 2017, now before the President for his ascent.
GUYANA: PM seeks to alleviate concerns about Broadcast Amendment Bill
Kaieteur News: Says it serves national interest.
GUYANA: RSF urges President Granger not to adopt new broadcasting legislation
RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges President David A. Granger not to assent to the Broadcasting Bill that was adopted by Guyana’s National Assembly last Friday, and calls for consultations with broadcasters in order to take into account their recommendations. The current Bill, which was adopted without such consultation, raises multiple press freedom concerns.
MEXICO: Mexico’s DTT bubble bursts
Rapid TV News: Mexico may have launched a public tender to license 148 DTT, free-to-air (FTA) frequency slots, but only 31 offers have so far been submitted.
MEXICO: “The uncertainty is what kills”
Nieman Reports: Mexican journalists displaced from their homes and jobs due to threats of violence find their lives in limbo
MEXICO: “We need union on public television” (Spanish)
El Universal: Director Lorenzo Hagerman affirms that a television with leadership is needed in Mexico
GENERAL: Why English-language newspapers in Latin America are struggling
The Economist: The Buenos Aires Herald, a brave newspaper, publishes its last edition.
IRAQ: Iraqi regulator threatens TV satirist with legal action
CPJ
ISRAEL: Al Jazeera gains from Israel’s attempts to close it (Opinion)
Al Monitor: Despite Israel’s public statements about closing down Al Jazeera’s offices in Jerusalem, it appears that the execution of such a decision will require a great deal of legal work on the part of the Israeli government.
ISRAEL: Israel targets Al Jazeera
Vice News: Israel’s communications minister declared war on Al Jazeera Sunday, pledging to shut down its local broadcasts, revoke its press credentials, and close its Jerusalem office, a brazen broadside aimed at the popular Arab media outlet.
PALESTINE: Court extends detention of Palestinian journalists
Al Jazeera: Six journalists arrested for “leaking information to hostile parties”, but rights group say it’s curb on free speech.
TURKEY: Journalists in new wave of arrests in Turkey
RSF: The Turkish police carried out a new wave of arrests this morning under a combined warrant issued today for 35 journalists and media workers suspected of installing the encrypted messaging app ByLock on their smartphones.
TURKEY: The money for Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT (Opinion)
Hurriyet Daily News: The tax stamp on electronic devices production and imports was recently hiked, for allocation to the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), the state broadcaster. Upon a decision by the cabinet, 4 percent has been added to the existing 6 percent tax stamp.
TURKEY: Turkey issues detention warrants for 35 media employees
Associated Press: Turkish authorities on Thursday issued detention warrants for 35 journalists and media workers as part of the country’s ongoing crackdown on people suspected of ties to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, the state-run news agency reported.
CANADA: Canada government orders broadcast regulator to reconsider TV license terms
Reuters: The Canadian government on Monday ordered the country’s broadcast regulator to reconsider the terms for renewals of television broadcast licenses that it implemented earlier this year, saying they did not do enough to support the funding of independent, domestic content
CANADA: Canada funds citizen journalism program to promote peace in Middle East and North Africa
RCI: The federal government is contributing over $168,000 for an innovative program to promote peace by training Israeli, Palestinian and other Middle Eastern and North African young leaders to tell their own stories.
CANADA: Pace of TV cord-cutting slowed 22% in first half of 2017
CBC: Canada’s biggest TV providers lost almost a quarter fewer customers in the first half of 2017 as they did the same time last year, a new report shows.
US: At 50, WQLN explores what’s next for Erie’s public television, radio station
GOErie: The birth of WQLN in 1967 will be formally celebrated on Oct. 12.
US: Less than half of Americans choose live TV as main viewing method
Digital TV Europe: Just 45% of Americans say they watch live TV when the show airs as their primary method of watching television, according to new research.
US: How public radio is using Amazon’s smart speakers
Current: As more consumers buy smart speakers, stations are beginning to explore how they might reach new audiences with the technology.
21 Journalists Killed in 2017/Motive Confirmed
CPJ: Data and charts detailing journalists deaths since the start of 2017.
App aims to help journalists translate speech into any language
IJNET: A British company called Speechmatics is working to build more accurate technology to turn spoken words into text across a wide range of different languages.
Poynter: For a lot of news organizations, the comment section is an afterthought or something to be avoided altogether. The Coral Project wants to change that.
Freedom Of The Press Is A Fundamental Human Need
Huffington Post: While the SDGs are seemingly comprehensive and straightforward, the goals neglect to include one of the most important, and most undervalued, prerequisites for a healthy society — freedom of the press.
How journalists can detect electronic surveillance
IJNET: Journalists who work in authoritarian environments tend to be under electronic surveillance. Sometimes the surveillance is being conducted at a mass scale, rather than directed at a specific target, and is intended to track what journalists in general are doing and what stories they are investigating.
How people spend time on social platforms globally, in 5 charts
Digiday: Facebook and Google may suck up the majority of audience and digital advertising share, but they’re not the only social platforms showing growth. Here’s a look at how and where people spend their time, across a range of countries.
Joining Forces for Honest Environmental Journalism (Opinion)
Truthdig
Journalism.co.uk: The project will document the learnings from each Pop-Up Newsroom to allow anyone in the industry to build on the findings
The evolving conversation around fake news and potential solutions
LSE: Blog editor Emma Goodman attended last month’s Westminster Media Forum, which provided an opportunity to reflect on the progress made in discussions about what exactly fake news is, and what can and should be done about it.
Synchronising Media in the Browser
BBC Research & Development: In our recent project, the Single Operator Mixing Application, we’ve been building a vision mixer for live event production in a web browser. However, this has thrown up challenges around synchronising multiple video streams using current web technologies.
Ten Tips for Journalist and Coder Collaborations
GIJN: Collaboration with newsroom developers and journalists is key to improving journalism. Hackastory did some research and interviewed 19 newsroom developers and journalists around the world for their best advice — and even added some personal (embarrassing) experiences.
Who Said What tool brings artificial intelligence to fact-checking audio and video
Journalism.co.uk: With a grant from the Knight Foundation, the tool aims to help fact-checkers and journalists deal with the volume of content they have to get through daily to verify claims
Freedom House: Populist forces are expected to suffer another defeat in next month’s German elections, but the factors that fueled populism’s rise have not disappeared.
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All PSM Weekly stories are provided for interest and their relevance to public service media issues, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Public Media Alliance.
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Header image: ABC South Brisbane. Credits: Ash Kyd/Creative Commons
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