Does Egypt want a free press like ours?

Posted by Cleland Thom on 26 January 2012 at 09:34
Tags: International, Journalism, Newspapers, People, Photography, press freedom

I was chatting to an Egyptian journalist, George al Masry, recently. He works for Al gomhuria, the state-owned Egyptian daily newspaper and has been active in the Tahrir Square revolution.

He is now helping to establish a free press in a country where the media has been heavily controlled.

He had just read one of my law updates, where I mentioned that a new European Union directive on data retention enabled 795 public bodies to request journalists’ phone records going back a year.

(more…)

Police reject photographer’s ‘victimisation’ claims

Posted by Cleland Thom on 19 January 2012 at 14:19
Tags: Journalism, Law, Magazines, National Newspapers, Newspapers, People, Photography, press freedom

Greater Manchester Police today rejected suggestions its officers were targeting a magazine photographer who claims he has been assaulted by officers three times while doing his job.

Stuart Littleford, editor of the Government and Public Sector Journal, has filed three complaints against the force, including two in the last four weeks. (more…)

Photographer booked for obstruction makes police assault complaint

Posted by Cleland Thom on 18 January 2012 at 09:43
Tags: Journalism, Law, National Newspapers, Newspapers, Photography, Regional Newspapers, press freedom

A magazine photographer claims he has been threatened and prevented from doing his job by Greater Manchester Police officers in Oldham - for the third time.

Stuart Littleford, editor of the Government and Public Sector Journal, says an officer pushed his camera away and intimidated and abused him for over ten minutes.

The officer then booked his car for obstruction and started checking his tyres and tax disc.

The incident happened on the afternoon of Monday, 16 January, in Oldham. (more…)

London riots local press round-up: Trusted sites work round the clock to counter Twitter ‘lies’

Posted by Michelle Alexander on 9 August 2011 at 10:15
Tags: Journalism, New Media, Newspapers, Online, People, Photography, Regional Newspapers

Following three days and nights of rioting and looting which has spread from London to Birmingham, local and regional newspaper journalists have in many cases been working around the clock to cover events.  

Newquest’s Croydon Guardian, has a series of timelines, videos, and live coverage from Croydon on its website as events unfold, as have sister papers the Enfield Independent and Haringey Independent with a dedicated London Riots 2011 section. The Croydon Advertiser has also been providing live updates throughout the night and early this morning. (more…)

Sheffield College launches new look press photography course

Posted by Myriam Dijck on 29 June 2011 at 09:33
Tags: Journalism, Photography, Student Journalism

Sheffield College has launched a new look press photography course that has been scaled down from 36 to 24 weeks.

The college said it wanted to make the course more more compact and financially attractive for students.

The £2,400 pre-entry course covers photojournalism, media law, photographic knowledge and practice, news and caption writing, and includes trips to high-profile events.

(more…)

Egypt closes Al-Jazeera bureau as journalists come under increasing pressure

Posted by Press Gazette on 31 January 2011 at 09:20
Tags: BBC, Broadcast, International, National Union of Journalists, New Media, Newspapers, People, Photography, Television, press freedom

Egypt withdrawn the licence to broadcast of rolling news channel Al-Jazeera and shut down its Cairo bureau.

The state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that the order took effect from yesterday.

Transmission ended around an hour after that announcement and as troubles escalated the BBC World Service condemned “deliberate assaults” on its journalists. (more…)

Veteran Daily Mirror photographer Charlie Owens dies

Posted by Press Gazette on 17 January 2011 at 11:22
Tags: Newspapers, Photography

Daily Mirror photographer Charlie Owens has died aged 88.

The paper reported this morning that its veteran Merseyside photographer, who had covered the area for over 30 years, after a short illness.

Met pays G20 photographer £30,000 after injury by police

Posted by Press Gazette on 7 December 2010 at 12:36
Tags: People, Photography, press freedom

A photographer has received a £30,000 compensation payout and an apology from the Metropolitan Police after losing several teeth when he was hit in the face with a riot shield by a police officer.

David Hoffman was taking pictures of the G20 protests last year in London when a police inspector in full riot gear ran at him and hit his face with his shield.

Sixty-four-year-old Hoffman was standing near a group of protesters taking pictures with his press card clearly displayed when the incident occurred. (more…)

Website raises funds for injured photojournalist Joao Silva

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 12 November 2010 at 09:49
Tags: International, Journalism, People, Photography

Marie Colvin highlighted the terrible risks faced by journalists reporting from Afghanistan this week when she recounted the story of Joao Silva, the New York Times photojournalist who stepped on a mine whilst out on patrol with US soldiers on 23 October.

Friends of Joao have set up a website which showcases his work and enables people to buy prints or make a donation to help support him and his family through his rehabilitation. He lost both his legs in the explosion.

The site  notes that Silva made his name while covering the violent beginnings of a democratic South Africa. He was a member of the Bang-Bang Club, a group of photographers who documented the Hostel War during the last days of Apartheid.

It also quotes executive editor of the New York Times Bill Keller: “Those of you who know João will not be surprised to learn that throughout this ordeal he continued to shoot pictures.”

Colvin was speaking at the St Bride’s, Fleet Street, service for 49 journalists and media workers killed reporting on war for British news consumers in the last decade.

The story of Joao Silva highlights the fact that, as with the military casualties, there are many more journalists and media workers in addition to the 49 who have sustained terrible injuries because of land mines and IEDs.

Daily Mirror photographer Philip Coburn also lost both his legs below the knee after being injured in the explosion which killed his Mirror colleague Rupert Hamer while the pair were embedded with the US military in Afghanistan earlier this year.

Geoffrey Crawley: The trade mag editor who exposed the Cottingley Fairies hoax

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 9 November 2010 at 10:45
Tags: B2B Magazines, Magazines, National Newspapers, Newspapers, Photography

The Telegraph has carried an obit paying tribute to former editor of the British Journal of Photography Geoffrey Crawley who exposed the myth of the Cottingley Fairies in 1982.

For 60 years many had believed that photographs taken at the bottom of the garden by two little girls were of real fairies. But Crawley demonstrated in a series of articles that the pictures were faked prompting the two girls, by then elderly women, to admit their deception.

The Telegraph reveals how Crawley gently wrote to Elsie Wright, one of the perpetrators of the hoax, to tell her of his findings:

“Of course there are fairies – just as there is Father Christmas,” he wrote. “The trouble comes when you try to make them corporeal. They are fine poetic concepts, taking us out of this at times too ugly real world. Conan Doyle, after the horrors of the First World War in which his son died, wanted to suggest a realm where spirit forms just might exist.”

NCTJ Awards shortlist unveiled

Posted by Press Gazette on 19 October 2010 at 09:09
Tags: Newspapers, People, Photography, Regional Newspapers, Student Journalism

The National Council for the Training of Journalists has unveiled the shortlist for its annual awards.

The NCTJ Awards for Excellence recognise the best students completing NCTJ-accredited courses and journalists/photographers with less than two years’ experience on the job.

The awards are across five categories: news journalism; sports journalism; top scoop/exclusive; features of the year; and images of the year.

Two awards - one for students and one for trainees – are made in each category. A total of 14 students and 15 trainees have been shortlisted from more than 100 entrants.

The shortlist is available on the NCTJ’s website.

Daily UK journalism news email from midday Mon-Fri - sign up here

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 12 October 2010 at 10:40
Tags: Advertising, Agencies, B2B Magazines, BBC, Broadcast, Consumer Magazines, Customer publishing, Free Newspapers, Freedom of Information, International, Journalism, Journalism Jobs, Journalism Technology, Journalism education, Launch Pad, Law, Magazines, Media Business, Media Metrics, Mobile, National Newspapers, National Union of Journalists, New Media, Newspapers, Online, PR, People, Photography, Radio, Regional Newspapers, Student Journalism, Television, awards, press freedom

To receive a free daily email summarising the latest news in UK journalism simply send us your email address using this online form.

The Press Gazette daily email typically provides summaries of the top ten stories from www.pressgazette.co.uk and around the web. It also includes our daily summary of the latest journalism jobs advertised in the UK.

For busy journalists who are often on the move, it’s the perfect way to stay in touch with what is going on in your industry with an at-a-glance summary and links through to the full version of each story.

We’ve been providing a daily email for several years now, but have just introduced a new sign-up process and switched to a different delivery system - hence this blog post.

Egyptian daily doctors pic to put leader centre stage at Middle East peace talks

Posted by Alexandra Zeevalkink on 17 September 2010 at 12:26
Tags: International, Journalism, National Newspapers, Newspapers, Photography

Al-Ahram, Egypt’s state-run newspaper, has come under attack for altering a photo to place president Hosni Mubarak at the front of a group of world leaders at Middle East peace talks instead of US president Barack Obama.

The altered photograph ran last Tuesday alongside a feature called The Way to Sharm el-Sheikh, the BBC and others report. (more…)

Swindon Advertiser uses Subbuteo to beat Southampton pics ban

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 1 September 2010 at 17:08
Tags: Journalism, Photography, Regional Newspapers

The Swindon Advertiser has come up with a classic wheeze to get around the Southampton FC ban on independent press photography.

Chief sports writer Anthony Marshall recreated scenes from the Swindon Town clash with Southampton on a Subbuteo table football game, Holdthefrontpage reports.

Explaining how he beat the ban, Marshall writes: “As Swindon thumped the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy holders 3-0 on their own patch to progress to the second round of the competition, we were left unable to print images of the match unless we paid Southampton for their own copies.

“But, along with almost every paper - regional and national - across the country, we boycotted that idea and decided to come up with something original and innovative instead.

“That was where Subbuteo came in. Several members of the sports desk raided their parents’ attics and came up with quite a collection of items from the childhood game.

“And after a quick paint-job we were able to go back to our youths and recreate the key moments from Town’s drubbing of the Saints.”

Daily Echo sports ed to Saints boss: Press will not be held to ransom by you

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 11 August 2010 at 08:14
Tags: Journalism, Newspapers, People, Photography, Regional Newspapers

Bournemouth Daily Echo sports editor Neil Meldrum today gives it to Southampton FC chairman Nicola Cortese with both barrels over his decision to monopolise photography syndication from home games.

Meldrum, a passionate Saints fan himself, says in a brilliant editorial:

This once proud club has been turned into a laughing stock, both by the shambolic previous regime and the control freaks of the current one.

Mr Cortese clearly thinks his club will make a buck or two by syndicating pictures taken by their own man. I’ve got news for you, Nicola: You won’t.

If newspapers hate one thing, it is the greed of people like you and we press people tend to stick together in defiance of arrogance.

Yes, the Echo has let its readers down today by not printing pictures of last night’s match.

But we will not be held to ransom by the likes of Nicola Cortese.

Good luck with the promotion bid, because if you fail, there will be plenty of papers standing by with a chuckle and sharpened pencil.

Southampton FC pics ban earns it name ban in The Sun

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 11 August 2010 at 08:07
Tags: Journalism, Photography

The Sun continued to have fun today at the expense of Southampton Football Club over its zany plan to monopolise photography at its St Mary’s Stadium.

A match report (sadly, not available online) of last night’s Carling Cup game against Bournemouth was headlined: SOUTH COAST TEAM 2, BOURNEMOUTH 0.

The paper said: “Once again we are refusing to name a once-proud South Coast club in this match report from last night.

“This is solely down to the actions of club chief Nicola Clotese, a man who has decided to ban national and local newspapers from taking photographs of the game.”

So far it looks like all national and regional newspapers are refusing to work with Southampton and purchase photos from its own photographers.

They probably realise that if Southampton were to get away with this, other clubs would follow and it would be the end of the line for independent photojournalism at professional football matches in the UK.

The Bournemouth Echo has joined in the protest by using archive shots from the 1980s to illustrate its report of the match last night.

The Sun joins condemnation of Southampton FC’s ban on photographers

Posted by Oliver Luft on 9 August 2010 at 15:24
Tags: National Newspapers, Newspapers, Photography, press freedom

The Sun has joined mounting criticism of Southampton Football Club’s decision to ban press photographers from its St Mary’s Stadium.

The redtop responded to the decision today by “printing the most one-sided match report in the history of The Sun”. (more…)

Society of Editors to raise Hackney snapper incident with ACPO

Posted by Press Gazette on 5 August 2010 at 14:20
Tags: Newspapers, Photography, Regional Newspapers, press freedom

Executive director of the Society of Editors Bob Satchwell said today that he intends to raise the issue of the photographer who was threatened with arrest if she didn’t delete images with the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Freelance Carmen Valino was threatened with arrest at the scene of a shooting in Hackney, East London, on Saturday while on assignment for the Hackney Gazette.

The incident came despite ACPO having issued guidelines stressing that press photographers should not be made to delete photos by serving officers.

Satchwell said: “It is outrageous that the message from government ministers and the Association of Chief Police Officers itself is not getting through to officers on the streets.

“It’s not for them to tell the media what they can and cannot photograph and it must be stopped.

“I’m confident that Andy Trotter, chairman of the ACPO Media Advisory Group, will take this on board when I meet him next week.”

Girl Guides’ petition bid to tackle magazine airbrushing

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 4 August 2010 at 10:02
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Journalism, Magazines, Photography

Magazines could be forced to disclose when photographs have been airbrushed or otherwise enhanced if a petition launched by the Girl Guides is successfull.

The youth group launched the petition yesterday and is hoping to persuade at least 20,000 to sign it before handing it to Prime Minister David Cameron.

They might also considering dropping a copy off at the offices of the Press Complaints Commission.

Section 1 of clause 1 of the Editor’s Code of Practice, which all magazine editors sign up to, states:

“The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.”

Unfortunately, most consumer magazine editors choose to ignore this and the PCC, reliant as it is on following up individual complaints, does not choose to pro-actively enforce compliance with the rule.

The Guides fear that magazines and advertisement are harming young girls by making them feel they need to emulate images of misleadingly perfect bodies.

Standard snapper takes Miliband from Bananaman to porn-star

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 3 August 2010 at 09:07
Tags: National Newspapers, Newspapers, People, Photography, Regional Newspapers

The last time the Evening Standard’s Jeremy Selwyn photographed David Miliband, in 2008, he persuaded the then foreign secretary to hold up a banana - providing the perfect image to accompany Gordon Brown’s “no time for a novice” party conference speech, which was interpreted at the time as a double attack on Tory leader David Cameron and those in his own party who would unseat him.

Now Selwyn has Miliband looking a bit like a very unconvincing porn star in a photoshoot for last night’s Standard. According to deputy political editor Paul Waugh, Miliband spotted a banana protruding from the jacket of two-time British Press Awards photographer of the year Selwyn and politely declined to recreate the 2008 pose.