New Science Journalism website adopts shared revenue model

Posted by Andrew Hodgson on 5 June 2009 at 15:45
Tags: Journalism, New Media, Online

The New Science Journalism project was launched today as a worldwide public-contributed journalism experiment.

Launched to coincide with World Environment Day 2009, the NSJ aims to present current world science issues on an international platform - integrating the latest online technological developments. It is based at the University of New South Wales in Sidney. (more…)

US journalists go on trial in North Korea

Posted by Andrew Hodgson on 4 June 2009 at 17:15
Tags: Journalism

The ruling is expected soon in the trial of two US journalists in North Korea.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling were arrested on 17 March when filming a report about refugees on the border of China and North Korea.

It is alleged they crossed the border which snakes along the frozen Yalu River, from China into North Korea.

Reports are disparate, some claiming Lee and Ling accidentally crossed the border and others claiming guards crossed the border and arrested them on Chinese soil, objecting to being filmed. They could face a year in a labour camp.

A press release earlier today from Pyongyang stated the trial would commence at 3pm local time, however no update has been received since.

Media freedom group Reporters Without Borders came to the reporters’ defence stating that even if they did mistake the borders “they did so solely for journalistic purposes and not for political reasons or for the purposes of espionage”.

Laura Ling’s sister, Lisa, who features as a correspondent on Oprah among other mainstream American television programmes, has been acting as spokesperson for the families in the wake of their capture.

Although giving little more than thanks for support, Lisa Ling has explained that while devastated the families must keep their silence due to political schisms between the US and North Korea of late - the fissure between the two countries being stressed to breaking point with the testing of nuclear missiles capable of reaching Alaska last week.

Writing on a Facebook group of 8,000 members in support of her sister and Euna, Lisa Ling said: “The families of Laura and Euna are inexplicably touched by your support of our girls.

“This has been an incredibly difficult time for us. Please understand that due to the extreme sensitivity of the case, it is vital for our families to stay quiet.”

Web archive recalls George Orwell’s time at the BBC

Posted by Andrew Hodgson on 4 June 2009 at 16:19
Tags: Broadcast, New Media, Online, Radio

The BBC is to unveil an online archive of documents next week to celebrate the work of George Orwell, 60 years after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The 19 documents relating to his time spent working at the corporation range from notes on his initial interview in 1941 to his notice of resignation two years later.

The writer was given a position employing the high regard he enjoyed in India in the BBC’s Eastern Service in order to counter Nazi propaganda intended to sever traditional ties between India and Britain during World War Two.

During his time at the BBC he produced 120 programmes and introduced 25 broadcasts. He also wrote for The Observer among other newspapers, literary and political periodicals.

The archive comprises of letters and memos, unfortunately no record of Orwell’s voice exists.

The BBC’s official historian Jane Seaton said: “There is absolutely nowhere any scrap of any sound that is Orwell’s. They didn’t keep things.”

This is the latest stage in the BBC’s archive project, which aims to open up the corporation’s vast stock of a million hours of TV and radio programming.

Security minister grilled on police treatment of journalists

Posted by Andrew Hodgson on 3 June 2009 at 13:10
Tags: Journalism

Policing minister Vernon Coaker was grilled yesterday by a parliamentary committee looking into the G20 protests and police relations with the media.

The joint committee on human rights raised concerns about how the police handled the demonstrations in London on 1 April.

They asked Coaker whether the Metropolitan Police press team had over-stated the potential for violence and disruption - thereby encouraging journalists to take that line.

In a protacted reply, Coaker said: “This does demonstrate the importance of context, we’re all politicians, we’ve all said things that if you actually put it in one way you get one thing and if you put it in the other you get the completely opposite.”

He added: “They was reporting about the police saying about storming, and then actually when the transcripts were checked, there was no use of the word storming at all.

“I don’t think the media people deliberately go out to stoke things up but I do think they have to be aware that sometimes a word out of place can cause an awful lot of problems.”

Coaker was also asked by the committee about the effect anti-terror law was having on the press. Some photographers have complained that Section 76 of the 2008 Counter-Terrorism Act prevents them taking pictures of police.

He replied: “You can take pictures of police officers, you can take pictures of uniformed personnel, there is nothing in law that says you can’t do that.

“Frankly you can see it everyday outside parliament, people stood next to police officers, posing for photographs. So, y’know, there is nothing in law that says that.

“There are occasions when people are prevented from taking a photograph, and you kind of think: why are you being prevented from taking a photograph in this way?

“We know the intent of the legislature was the prevention of taking photographs of military personnel or police officers in a way which was about how to prepare for terrorist acts and it certainly shouldn’t be used for routine prevention of the taking of photos.”

Amazon Kindle ‘great white hope of newspaper industry’

Posted by Andrew Hodgson on 2 June 2009 at 12:30
Tags: Journalism, Mobile, New Media, Newspapers, Online

Michael Bywater writing in The Independent today lauds the Amazon Kindle as “the saviour of publishing, and probably the great, literally white, hope of the newspaper industry.”

Bywater reports that the newspaper function does not work on the Kindle he tried out because it requires connection to Whispernet (an Amazon-sponsored wireless network for buying newspapers and books) in order to automatically update newspaper editions - and there is no Whispernet outside of America.

The Kindle is yet to launch in the UK. Bywater speculates that it will be in Europe by Christmas “and the paradigm of publishing will be changed forever”.

He suggests it will pose an alternative to pay-per-view newspaper websites becoming a “virtual paperboy”.