On August 4th a campaign concerned with the protection of journalists has been launched by the international organization Reporters without Borders. According to the European Federation of Journalists´ (EFJ) blog, the EFJ has joined an international alliance of human-rights organizations, journalist associations and media representatives to protect foreign journalists from surveillance by the German Federal Intelligence Agency (Bundesnachrichtendienst – BND).

The campaign aims to include a clause in the revised BND law to protect journalists. The EFJ blog post states that the signatories of the appeal consider the global mass surveillance by the BND to be a violation of human rights. Furthermore, the signatories of the appeal regard the surveillance of foreign journalists in particular as a serious encroachment on press freedom worldwide.

More information about the petition [here]  

Slow News, the newest trend in the journalism industry, aims to help the public understand past events. According to the European Journalism Observation (EJO) the aim of this new trend is to revisit stories, analyse and evaluate the facts in a non-partisan way. Slow News tells the public how the story ended and supports them to understand the issue. Susann Eberlein describes in her article in the EFO platform that the first Slow News concept magazine was published by the British journalist Rob Orchard, the Delayed Gratification. Susann Eberlein argues that breaking news from across the world are available twenty four seven, as a live stream of information; however, not all of the displayed and transmitted content is accurate, nor is most of it put into a context that the public can understand the implications. The new journalism trend makes slowness and accuracy a virtue. According to the article Slow News focuses on being the last reporter on the scene and telling the story with the benefit of hindsight.

More information:
EJO: Is slow news better news?

According to a recent study by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a well-funded and strong public-service media (PSM) goes hand in hand with sighs of a healthy democracy. The research study highlights that in country with a strong PSM there is a high degree of press freedom, better control of corruption, higher voter turnouts and last but not leas lower levels of right-wing extremism. According to Roberto Suárez Candel, who conducted the research study, this research is particularly interesting since current public debates focus on the issue of low participation in elections, corruption and rise of far right politics across Europe. The research study shows how string public TV and radio is connected to a greater democracy.

More information:
EBU: EBU research shows strong Public Service Media contributes to a healthy democracy

Schweiz: Neue Studie zeigt: Starke Service-public-Medien stärken die Demokratie

In course of its charter review, the BBC is introducing a TV licence for the BBC iPlayer. The BBC is not the first public-service broadcaster who charges or is planning to charge their audience for using online catch-up services. Public-service broadcasters in Germany and Switzerland have already introduced this concept a while ago. According to a recent article in the Guardian, the BBC has lost over a 150m pounds annually by not charging for their online service. In the article Jasper Jackson, a Guardian journalist, mentions that nowadays a significant percentage of the BBC audience don’t use the broadcasters` services on the traditional channels (TV and radio), hence do not pay for the BBC´s services. “How will the BBC detect people watching iPlayer without a licence?”, is the question Jasper Jackson tries to answer in his article. In Germany citizens don’t pay a TV licence anymore, instead all citizens are charged a household excise tax. The difference between household excise tax and traditional TV licence is that the fee is instead of being linked to a certain public-service channel (TV or radio), the household excise tax is linked to the possibility of a household accessing PSB content and services.

More information:

The Guardian: How woll the BBC detect people watching iPlayer without licence 
The Guardien: BBC iPlayer users will have to pay TV licence fee from 1 September

Jon Bernsteins article “Facebook’s dominance in journalism could be bad news for us all!” in the Guardian discusses the benefits and disadvantages of social platforms hosting journalistic content. The article claims that the move from social sharing to social distribution tethers readers to gated, algorithmically defined content that chimes with the publics own world view. According to the article, in order to fight the tech giants like Facebook and Google, all media organisations have to form a network. Jon Bernstein claims that this current trend of social media publishing journalistic content could lead to loss of control and financial damage. Furthermore, publisher obsession with algorithm changes and a willingness to give away control of content are evidence of this trend.

More information

Über eine neuerliche Auszeichnung für den »Public-Value-Bericht« können sich der ORF und sein Public-Value-Kompetenzzentrum freuen: Nachdem der »Public-Value-Bericht« des ORF 2014 beim ARC in New York, dem weltweiten Wettbewerb der Jahresberichte, sowie den Fox Awards insgesamt dreimal mit Gold ausgezeichnet worden war, und für die Ausgabe 2015 eine goldene Ehrung bei ICMA (International Creative Media Award) folgte, gab es heuer für die Ausgabe »AUFMACHEN – Public Value Report 2015/16« in der Kategorie der nichtenglischsprachigen CSR-Berichte Silber beim weltweiten Wettbewerb der Jahresberichte, den ARC-Award in New York.
Grundlage der Auszeichnung im Rahmen der sogenannten ARC-Awards sind Leistungen in Bewertungskategorien wie Klarheit und Nachvollziehbarkeit der Information, Kreativität des Layouts oder Vermittlung der Unternehmensphilosophie und -kultur. Insgesamt waren mehrere hundert Berichte aus drei Kontinenten eingereicht worden; die Würdigung des von der österreichischen Agentur Rosebud, Inc. gemeinsam mit dem Public-Value-Kompetenzzentrum des ORF gestalteten Reports erfolgte in der Kategorie „Non-English Annual Reports: CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility“.
Klaus Unterberger: »Der ‚Public-Value-Report‘ macht die Leistungen des ORF für die Gesellschaft, für die einzelnen Mediennutzer, für Österreich nachvollziehbar. Es freut mich, dass diese Arbeit der ORF-Qualitätssicherung auch international Anerkennung findet.«

ARC-Award bereits zum 30. Mal vergeben

Der International ARC-Award wird heuer zum 30. Mal vergeben. Er wird von der in New York ansässigen unabhängigen Award-Organisation MerComm ausgeschrieben, im Rahmen einer Gala am 20. Oktober in New York verliehen und gilt als der weltweit größte und bedeutendste Wettbewerb für Geschäftsberichte. Eine internationale Experten- und Expertinnen-Jury aus den Bereichen Investor Relations, Text/Redaktion, Agentur, Design und Fotografie bewertet dort die eingereichten Geschäftsberichte in insgesamt 26 Kategorien.

(APA OTS 19.08.2016)

[Zum »Public-Value-Bericht«]

According to the Guardian, the UK media industry continues to struggle with gender equality. In the article “Five strategies for creating gender equality in the media”, highlights crucial strategies to make the media sector more inclusive. According to the article a research by non-profit organisation Catalyst found that companies with a high number of women in senior leadership roles outperform those with lower rates of women; in other words, gender equality benefits the business. According to the Guardian, including news about and for women, assuring strong commitment from the management department and assuring women occupy roles in the senior position, contributes to make the industry more inclusive.

On the other hand in Austria, according to the annual gender equality report, ORF reports a static increase of female employees. The gender equality report highlights that in 2015 43,3% of the ORF employees were female, which demonstrates the great importance ORF lays on gender equality. With company internal formulated strategies and tactics ORF attempts to overcome the issue of gender inequality.

[See full story in The Guardian]
 
[ORF Gleichstellungsplan 2016]

Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, indicates that the mass cancellation of broadcasting licenses, criminal investigations of hundreds of journalists and blocked websites are severe challenges to freedom of expression and media in Turkey. According to the press release of the OSCE, Dunja Mijatović mentions that democratically elected governments must be safeguarded however in turn have to protect media freedom and additionally support the role journalists play in ensuring and strengthening democracies. The representative emphasizes on the fact that due to the difficult times in Turkey, the authorities need to ensure media freedom offline and online in line with their international commitments.

[Full Story here]

Marty Rudoy, Blogger from the Huffingtonpost, claims that media encourages terrorists by taking their words without question. In the blog post Marty Rudoy mentions that terrorists use the media to communicate with their followers, recruits and potential targets. According to the blog post terrorist actions have limited consequences if they cannot get their message out. Marty Rudoy mentions that terrorism is a communication strategy of choice. According to the blog article in the Huffingtonpost Western media encourages terrorists through its choice of coverage and the used language. The blog article discusses the language Western media uses to cover terrorist attacks.

[Full story here] 

In einem aktuellen Artikel vergleicht Heise Online die Berichterstattung in den Sozialen Medien mit jener im Fernsehen und kommt dabei zu dem Schluss, dass Fernsehsender im Bereich der Schnelligkeit kaum mit den sozialen Medien konkurrieren können. "Die sozialen Medien sind natürlicher schneller. Auch CNN kann nicht mit Facebook Live mithalten", bestätigt etwa der Kommunikationswissenschaftler Julius Reimer vom Hans-Bredow-Institut für Medienforschung in Hamburg. Dennoch sieht Kai Gniffke, Erster Chefredakteur von ARD-aktuell, in einem Interview mit der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung keine Kapitulation der traditionellen Medien vor den sozialen Netzwerken - denn „Schnelligkeit ist eben nicht alles“.

Im Konkurrenzkampf mit den sozialen Medien stellt für Gniffke die Beschleunigung der Informationen nicht die größte Bedrohung für die traditionellen Medien dar. „Die Herausforderung liegt eher in der Masse von Informationen, die mit Handy-Videos von Internetnutzern dazugekommen sei“, glaubt er. Medienforscher Reimer sieht hier ebenfalls ein Problem: In sozialen Netzwerken verbreiteten sich Gerüchte genauso schnell wie Fakten, das gilt auch für falsche Videobilder. Im Gegensatz dazu müssen die Redaktionen Informationen und Videomaterial erst sichten, verifizieren und einordnen, sagte Reimer. Sein Credo: Mehr zu bringen als nur die Bilder braucht etwas Zeit, schafft dafür aber mehr Authentizität.

[Zum Artikel]

The BBC Media Action has published a new research report regarding refugees and their communication requirements. According to the report, since 2015 more than a million women, men and children have undertaken journey to reach European countries, using unofficial migration routes across the Mediterranean Sea and south-east Europe. The report highlights that these people show diversity in the aspects of nationalities, languages, social status, levels of literary and access to technology. According to the report these people have one common aspect- they require information to make decisions about their next step, in order to remain safe and meet their minimum needs. The study shows a snapshot of refugees’ experiences about communication and information at different points on their journey. The BBC Media Action study found that refugees need to know: whether borders were open, what was going to happen next, and what is the asylum process? The report highlights that refugees need to have a focal point in camps, where someone, who can speak their language, can give them legal advice and provide them information about the current situation.

[See full story here]

Check out [TEXTE 16] for more interesting stories on this topic.

 

The surveillance amendments in a new law present a threat to media freedom. OSCE representative on freedom of the media Dunja Mijatović asks Bundestag to reconsider the bill. “Increasing surveillance capabilities of journalists is a clear threat to media freedom,” Mijatović said. “This draft law runs counter to the very core of fundamental freedoms such as media freedom and freedom of expression.”

[See full story here]

The Public Accounts Committee publishes reports which evaluate BBC’s critical projects. The report highlights that the government has a key role in oversight on behalf of license fee payers. According to the Parliament.org.uk since the Digital Media Initiative project got cancelled in 2013, and led to a cost of nearly 100 million pounds from the fee payers, the BBC has strengthened its oversight of and reporting on critical projects. “The BBC is subjecting its critical projects to more effective scrutiny, underpinned by more frequent and timely reporting to the Executive and the BBC Trust”, mentions the Parliament.org.uk.
Additionally, the report highlights that the BBC has to ensure a robust process, which means has to be clear at an early stage about what projects will contribute to improve services for the audience, in order to encourage openness and transparency when problems arise, and to guarantee there is not scope for confusion over who is accountable for delivering each project.

[See full story here]

The European Commission is launching a Call for Proposals in the field of data-driven news production. The European Commission invites applicants to submit proposals to increase reporting on European issues, either from a pan-European point a view or by comparing different viewpoints from within Europe. The multimedia actions by the European Commission aim to engage EU citizens with the policy-making process by providing information about European issues from a pan-European viewpoint, rather than only reporting national perspective.

According to the European Commission big data may be of assistance to increase reporting on European issues by making it easier for media companies and journalist to produce innovate and attractive content, which allows citizens to be better informed and have a better understanding about the EU. By using data-driven news reporting journalists are able to visualize data to compare viewpoints across Europe, help audiences understand complex issues, contextualize story timelines and create interactions with the target audience. The European Commission states that the Call is open to both news reporting and more in-depth background reporting on current affairs. The Call is open to all types of media. Additionally the applicants have to indicate what value they could add to existing EU affairs reporting.

[See full story here]

In the course of an EU project an international team of researchers, amongst representative of the MODUL University Vienna, have been developing an open source dashboard for the newsroom called Pheme. According to the Pheme’s official website, Pheme is a set of innovative tools which will make users able to reveal hidden "modalities" such as reputation, influence or credibility of information in two different fields: journalism and enterprise (2016).
The online magazine Journalism mentions that the open source tool Pheme aims to assist the newsroom to instantly detect, track and verify facts and content spreading on social media platforms (2016). According to the magazine Journalism the EU project, which began January 2014, is aiming to have a completed prototype available to the public early next year (2016).

[See full story here]

The Irish Times mentions that social media networks publish and share news stories, hence act as a publisher. Elieen Culloty’s article “Is it time to treat Facebook as a traditional news publishers?”, discusses the value of journalism and editorial responsibilities.
According to Elieen Culloty, social media platforms are not subjected to the same responsibilities as press and broadcast media.
Furthermore the article in the Irish Times seeks to shed light on the issue that there is no simple solution to save the news industry and to safeguard journalism.

[See full story here]

The EBU and the Berlin-based production company EuroArts have partnered to produce a unique documentary series called “Soundtrack Europe”. The series, blending travel, culture and musical performances, will see German soul singer-songwriter Joy Denalane travel to different regions of Europe in search of the continent’s musical essence as expressed through its folk music.

Europe comprises 60 countries, about 120 languages, 742 million inhabitants and uncountable variations of folk music. According to the EBU and EuroArts music in Europe has shaped the identities of generations, has offered young people an open space for experimentation, and is the safe keeper of the heritage as well as reflects the voices of the present. According to the EBU by travelling through musical regions that are, like the continent itself, unified through diversity, the series promises to get to the heard of the complex issue of European identity.

[See full story here]

 New research from the EBU’s Media Intelligence Service demonstrates that subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) subscribers in Europe grew 56% between 2014 and 2015, and are expected to reach 50 million homes by 2020. The research shows that 97% of EBU Members, including the ORF, offer free catch-up video service. MIS’s research highlights that free catch-up services like BBC iPlayer remain the preferred way to access demand content.

In Austria, TVThek, ORF’s free catch-up service, offers the audience 7 days free catch-up of ORF produced TV series and news content. Additionally, in 2015 ORF partnered with Flimmit, the Austrian video-on-demand channel to offer Austrians 6000 movies from 60 different countries, with a focus on European film productions.

 [See full story here]