Our weekly round-up of public service media related stories and headlines from around the world.
Click on the drop-down menus below to reveal the latest regional stories.
CAMEROON & NIGERIA: Journalists in Central and West Africa call on media to address hate speech and reaffirm ethical standards
EJN: Journalists at two regional meetings organised by the Federation of African Journalists and Ethical Journalism Network have called on media to take steps to address the issue of hate speech in media ahead of key elections in the Central and West Africa.
COTE D’IVOIRE: Minister says it will be ready for digital transition well before its June 2020 deadline and liberalization leads to more channels
Balancing Act: It will also liberalize its airwaves to allow private broadcasters to compete in the market.
EGYPT: Censorship tightens in Egypt as el-Sisi prepares for re-election bid
CPJ: Ahead of elections in Egypt later this month, in which President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is seeking a second term, the authoritarian leader’s government has further clamped down on press freedom, issuing warnings to the media and arresting critical journalists on “false news” charges.
EGYPT: Egyptian prosecutors seek death sentence for photographer
RSF: Prosecutors have requested a death sentence for Mahmoud Abou Zeid, an Egyptian photojournalist known as Shawkan who has been held for four and a half years.
GHANA: MFWA Welcomes Ghanaian President’s Pledge on Passage of RTI
MFWA: The Media Foundation for West Africa welcomes the pledge by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ensure the passage of the Right to Information RTI bill this year, and takes him at his word.
LIBERIA: UN expert urges new Weah Administration to advance freedom of expression
Relief Web: Liberia needs to lock in and expand the gains made in the years since the civil war, in particular in the areas of freedom of expression, media independence and government transparency, a UN expert said after visiting the country.
NAMIBIA: NBC Otjiherero Radio Rebrands
Via All Africa: The manager of Omurari, Marina Matundu, said the first step in the rebranding was to get rid of the name which divided them into tribal groups.
NIGERIA: Hate Speech… Experts Insist On Review of Nigerian Media Code of Election
The Guardian: Media practitioners have canvassed the review of Nigerian Media Code of Election to guide against hate speech. They made the appeal in Lagos at a two-day meeting of International Press Centre (IPC), organised with the support of European Union (EU).
SENEGAL: The 77 percent: Young women in film in Senegal (Watch)
DW: Female filmmakers in Africa abound, but are often not heard about. This year’s film festival ‘Films Femmes Afrique’ held in Dakar in February paid tribute to them on and off the screen: more than 50 films on African women were showcased over 7 days and dozens of young female filmmakers came to represent their films.
IFJ: Held under the theme “Human Rights Violations and Abuses in Somalia: the fight against impunity goes on”, the panelists at the side event highlighted the scourge of impunity for violence targeting journalists in Somalia, describing it as the biggest hindrance to freedom of expression and other fundamental human rights.
SOUTH AFRICA: SABC owed R25 billion in unpaid TV licence fees
IOL: The SABC is owed a staggering R25 billion in unpaid licence fees that have steadily accumulated over three years and are sinking the public broadcaster into deep financial trouble.
SOUTH SUDAN: South Sudan suspends broadcast of UN-backed radio station
CPJ: The South Sudanese Media Regulatory Authority ordered Radio Miraya to suspend operations because the station had not acquired a broadcasting license.
TANZANIA: Media Law Case to Be Heard This Week
Via All Africa: The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) will start the hearing of a landmark case tomorrow filed by media stakeholders challenging the Media Services Act (MSA) of 2016.
IFEX: From Eskinder Nega’s release, a landmark ECOWAS judgment and a legal challenge in support of LGBTQI+ rights, to internet shutdowns and the harassment of journalists, it was a month of emotional highs and lows in the region – we feature news from Ethiopia, The Gambia, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, DRC and Republic of Congo.
AFGHANISTAN: More than #MeToo in Afghanistan
Internews: Women leaders blaze a difficult path for gender equity in media.
CHINA: Chinese media is obsessed with portraying China as Africa’s savior
Quartz: These skits reproduce a narrative that is representative of China’s general approach to Africa. Both official and popular Chinese narratives about Africa consistently try to construct an image of the continent as China’s ‘damsel in distress’.
CHINA: ‘Every place you go, you are being watched’: reporting from Xi’s China (Opinion)
The Guardian: The Guardian’s outgoing Beijing correspondent reflects on six years of increasing repression
INDIA: Government brushes aside proposal to expand DD’s news broadcast to 100 countries
Brand Equity: The public service broadcaster, Doordarshan’s programming is focused on issues of public interest instead of popularising the network to compete with private channels
INDIA: I&B Ministry order is serious bid to disrupt autonomy: Prasar Bharati chairman
The Indian Express: The order was issued on July 6, 2017, within a week of N K Sinha taking over as I&B Secretary on June 30 — and nearly two weeks before Smriti Irani was named I&B Minister on July 18, replacing M Venkaiah Naidu who became Vice President.
INDIA: India urged to put press freedom at centre of democratic debate
RSF: “The press freedom situation is worsening on many fronts in India, with unpunished murders of journalists, arbitrary detention, obstruction of reporters, and hostility from the authorities towards their critics,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.
INDIA: The Better India will show you all the positive news, on all the channels you might want it
NiemanLab: “It was a huge revelation: If these kinds of stories, read by just a few thousand back then, could drive this kind of response, then imagine what we could achieve if we got to hundreds of thousands, then millions, of readers.”
INDIA: There is no autonomy for Doordarshan and All India Radio (and the Opposition must take the blame) (Opinion)
Scroll.in: The law mandates that a 22-member parliamentary committee should supervise the public broadcaster. Why is there no demand for it?
MALAYSIA: ‘Majority of Malaysians cannot tell rumours from journalism’ – claims Edelman
Mumbrella Asia: Nearly two-thirds of Malaysia’s population are struggling to distinguish between rumours and legitimate journalism as many turn away from national news outlets, a report by Edelman has said.
MYANMAR: Facebook: UN blames social media giant for spreading hatred of Rohingya in Myanmar
ABC News: Facebook has played a role in spreading hate speech in Myanmar, UN human rights experts investigating a possible genocide against Rohingya Muslims said.
PAKISTAN: Life as a Woman Journalist in Pakistan: Threats, Harassment And Rejection (Book)
Freedom Network: This is a book of testimonies from women journalists from across on the threats, harassment and rejection they face.
PHILIPPINES: The woman taking on Duterte in a press freedom fight in the Philippines
The Guardian: Maria Ressa is in a highly politicised battle with president Rodrigo Duterte, a battle for the survival of her news website Rappler.
SRI LANKA: Free Media Movement urges government to control ethnic violence without hindering democracy
Free Media Movement via IFEX
SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka blocks social media networks to stop sectarian violence
Reuters: Sri Lanka’s Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) will block social media networks such as Facebook Inc. Viber and Whatsapp across the country for three days to prevent the spread of communal violence, officials said on Wednesday.
TAIWAN: Ministry to set up fund to boost global presence of public broadcasting firms
Taipei Times: As a countermeasure to the 31 incentives for Taiwanese unveiled by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Feb. 28, the Ministry of Culture is this year to submit a draft public broadcasting act to set up a fund to be used by public broadcasting companies and state-owned media outlets that air Taiwanese programs internationally, Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said.
THAILAND: Improving women experts’ visibility in media
SciDevNet: Over half of Thai scientists are women but are barely visible in the media.
AUSTRALIA: ABC Celebrates International Women’s Day
ABC: The ABC has announced a new cadetship scheme encouraging women to enter the film and television industry as part of its support for International Women’s Day and the #PressforProgress campaign.
AUSTRALIA: ACT chief minister says he ‘hates’ journalists and ‘is over’ mainstream media
The Guardian: Andrew Barr’s attack comes after years of deteriorating relations with the Canberra Times
AUSTRALIA: Is journalism important for your health? (Audio)
ABC: What role does journalism play in shaping health policy in Australia? And what will happen as we lose journalism jobs and see fewer specialist health reporters? Melissa Sweet, editor of Croakey.com says it’s an issue we should all be concerned about.
NEW ZEALAND: RNZ and The Spinoff announce content partnership
Scoop: Glen Scanlon, RNZ’s head of digital, said The Spinoff team had blazed a path for independent websites and the partnership extended RNZ’s proactive approach to make news and information available to more New Zealanders.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Extent of PNG disaster likely under-reported, says NZ Minister
RNZ: New Zealand’s Defence Minister says the damage from Papua New Guinea’s earthquake disaster appears to be under-reported.
GENERAL: Pacific islands governments move to curtail free press as local media figure issues call to arms
ABC: A high-profile media figure in the Pacific has issued a call to arms to journalists around the region to defend themselves against government onslaught on press freedom.
RSF: Audience and market concentration distorts the Albanian media market. The resulting lack of plurality can be detected in television and radio but also with the printed press. This is one of the results of the three-months-long investigative research that the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania (BIRN Albania) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have jointly carried out.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: Without freedom of expression and freedom of media there is no democratic state
Safe Journalists: There are numerous of attacks with which media in BiH are facing with: threats and attacks, lack of media ownership transparency, media advertising and funding, hate speech, as stated at the thematic session “Freedom of expression and freedom of the media”, which was held today in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Czech President Milos Zeman verbally attacks journalists during inauguration speech
EFJ: Mr Zeman, recently re-elected leader, accused the Czech media of bias and trying to manipulate the public. He specifically stated journalists from Economica, a Czech newspaper publisher, would not deserve any respect and Czech citizens should not take them seriously.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Filmmakers come to defense of public broadcaster Czech TV
Czech Radio: Politics repeatedly came to the fore at the Czech Lions on Saturday with some of the country’s best-known filmmakers, including academy award winner Jan Svěrák, coming to the defense of public broadcaster Czech TV – targeted last week by President Miloš Zeman in his inaugural address.
CZECH REPUBLIC: The Projects Trying to Bring Balance to Czech’s Media Landscape
EJO: The Czech media landscape has significantly changed over the last five years. A wealth of new and independent journalistic projects – fact checkers, independent outlets and charities – has shot up, adding to the existing media landscape. Yet, while the development is certainly a welcome one, the factors that sparked it are somewhat less glorious.
FRANCE: Eight out of 10 in France say media ‘indispensable’ to democracy
France 24: More than eight out of 10, or 84 percent, of French citizens feel that the media is “indispensable” to a working democracy, according to a survey conducted for France Médias Monde and other French news organisations released on Sunday.
FRANCE: Françoise Nyssen: “The judge will intervene against the fake news” (French)
France Inter: Nicolas Demorand receives the Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen, who will soon unveil a bill to fight fake news. She answers his questions about the conflict between TF1 and Canal +, the introduction of the Culture Pass and the public broadcasting reform.
GERMANY: Germany rolls out TV broadcasting via 5G trial
Broadband TV News: A test site for TV broadcasting over 5G networks is being set up in the Bavarian Oberland region as part of research project 5G Today.
IRELAND: Broadcast guidelines updated ahead of the Eighth Amendment referendum
Journalists.ie: The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland said that the “adversarial” debate around the Eighth will be a challenge for broadcasters.
ITALY: Journalists are risking all to expose the Italian mafia. They must be protected (Opinion)
The Guardian: Ján Kuciak was shot dead while investigating the mafia in Slovakia. We need to shield brave writers like him
LITHUANIA: Increasing political pressures on LRT
EBU: The Lithuanian Parliament has established an ad hoc investigative commission looking at the management, financial and economic activities of LRT. This has created an excessive burden for LRT which is preventing them from carrying out their normal day-to-day activities.
MALTA: “There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate”
Nieman Reports: Maltese journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia on the assassination of his investigative journalist mother, threats to the free press, and a new investigative outlet in Malta
MALTA: Women in the media: Malta well below EU average in decision-making roles, study finds
Malta Independent: The number of women who take up decision-making positions in the media is well below the EU average, at 16 percent and 30 per cent respectively.
MONTENEGRO: Montenegro Ruling Party Accused of Subverting Broadcaster’s Independence
Balkan Insight: NGOs say the replacement of two independent members of the RTCG board with government supporters is a blatant move by the ruling party to regain political control.
MONTENEGRO: Two landmark judgments from Montenegro seeking to end impunity for crimes against journalists
Global Freedom of Expression: From as far back as when Montenegro gained independence in 2006, the country has had a reputation for being a place where family and other ties were stronger than the requirements of the law, and where nepotism and corruption were the natural state of affairs. Nevertheless, in the last couple of years, there have been some signs of improvement. The latest coming from an otherwise unimaginable direction – the courts made findings against the government, and in favor of an investigative journalist.
POLAND: The English Face of Polish News
EJO: Poland has long had a group of English-language media outlets which have been playing a unique role in shaping the perception of the country abroad.
RUSSIA: Russian broadcaster RT hits back at threat to UK licence
The Guardian: RT says using it as political pawn after Skripal attack would undermine press freedom
RUSSIA: When a Reporter Crossed the Kremlin’s Borderline
Coda Story: To understand the tempest of Russia’s information wars, is the past prologue? An inside story from the conflict in Ukraine
SPAIN: 40% of Spaniards believe that regional public TVs contribute to creating wealth and the development of the sector (Spanish)
Europa Press: 40% of Spaniards believe that public regional media contribute to creating wealth and the development of the local and regional audiovisual sector, according to a study carried out by Gfk, for the Federation of Autonomous Radio and Television Organizations or Entities (FORTA), with reason for the 35th anniversary of the start of the first broadcasts of regional public television.
SPAIN: RTVE violates its own norms in the treatment of gender violence (Spanish)
InfoLibre: The treatment of gender violence in TVE too often incurs errors by failing to consider the internal regulations , since the Editorial Statute establishes the obligation to “pay special attention to information related to gender violence, avoiding the transmission of messages that may contribute to creating in society a sense of impunity in the face of these crimes.
SWEDEN: Proposed law change threatens to erode Sweden’s press freedom (Opinion)
The Local: Sweden’s press freedom rests on very thin ice, and a proposed espionage law may make it even thinner.
UK: Another record month for BBC iPlayer
Broadband TV News: BBC iPlayer has recorded a record start to 2018 as the first episode of crime drama McMafia was streamed 3.4 million times. Three other episodes of the drama that aired later in the month also feature in the top ten most-popular BBC iPlayer programmes in January.
UK: BBC: British ‘sense of identity’ under threat as programming spend declines
Digital TV Europe: British content is under threat as budgets get cut, with global players highly unlikely to make up the shortfall, according to BBC deputy director-general Anne Bulford.
UK: BBC’s new Education Strategy to encourage social mobility in the UK
BBC: James Purnell, Director, BBC Radio and Education has announced his intention to focus the BBC’s education mission around improving social mobility across the UK.
UK: Ofcom calls on UK PSBs to ‘collaborate to compete’ in digital age
Digital TV Europe: The UK’s public service broadcasters (PSBs) will increasingly need to collaborate in order to compete in an age of changing viewing habits ad large digital rivals like Netflix and Amazon, according to Ofcom.
UK: UK broadcasters combine to push power of TV
IBC: The UK’s leading commercial broadcasters have joined forces to extol the virtues of television to media planners in a bid to challenge the digital newcomers.
GENERAL: Council of Europe: new guidelines on media pluralism and transparency of media ownership
EFJ: The Council of Europe has issued guidelines to its 47 member states in order to promote media pluralism, transparency of media ownership and media literacy.
GENERAL: Tackling disinformation online: Expert Group advocates for more transparency among online platforms
European Commission: In a report handed over today to Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel, the High-Level Expert Group on Fake News and Disinformation spread online suggests a definition of the phenomenon and makes a series of recommendations.
GENERAL: New EU regulations will have serious implications for newsrooms worldwide
CJR: In just over two shorts months, a significant shift in EU regulation will begin to have ripple effects on digital publishing and dissemination across the globe.
GENERAL: The media today: The inexorable rise of press threats in Europe
CJR: In recent months, mild media climates in several other European countries have been rocked with the force of a bomb cyclone.
ECUADOR: Committee to Protect Journalists visits Ecuador to monitor press freedom (Spanish)
El Universo: A delegation of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is in Ecuador to evaluate press freedom and investigate restrictions and threats to media and professionals nine months after Rafael Correa handed over the government to Lenín Moreno.
CHILE: Chilean police accused of spying on journalists
CPJ: Chilean police intercepted calls, as well as WhatsApp and Telegram messages, between five journalists and their sources during the operation, which lasted from September 25, 2017 to January 20, 2018, and allegedly targeted leaders of the Mapuches, an indigenous group in the region.
CHILE: Journalists seek to raise awareness about sexism in Chilean media (Spanish)
Radio Nuevo Mundo: The campaign #MediosNoSexistas aims to be a contribution to the discussion on sexism in national and regional media and also to the construction of various political alliances to strengthen the gender focus within the professional order.
COLOMBIA: Albalá delivers for Colombian public broadcaster
Rapid TV News: RTVC Sistema de Medios Públicos de Colombia has updated Canal Capital’s IP-based digital video and audio delivery system with technology from Spain’s Albalá Ingenieros.
COLOMBIA: Colombia eyes full digitalisation ahead of analogue switch-off
Rapid TV News: With DTT already covering 85% of homes, Colombia is aiming for full digitalisation by the end of 2018, a year ahead of the scheduled analogue switch-off.
COLOMBIA: Colombian Supreme Court defends confidentiality of journalistic sources
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: The Supreme Court of Justice ruled that source confidentiality is based on the ability that the journalist has to refrain from revealing the origin, content and/or form of how he accessed the information in order to make matters of public interest known to the community, the institution reported on its website.
MEXICO: Journalists and tech companies are teaming up to fight fake news about the Mexican election
Poynter: A new verification project in Mexico is uniting 60 publishers, universities and civil society organizations to tackle fake news going into this summer’s election.
GENERAL: Fact-checking in Latin America: features and challenges
LSE: According to the 2018 Duke Reporters’ Lab annual fact-checking census, there are 149 active fact-checkers worldwide. Latin American organisations account for 17 of the fact-checkers identified by the Lab and they share some attributes that reflect some of the peculiarities of the Latin American media landscape.
GENERAL: Risk and security in journalism in Latin America: new free course in Spanish.
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: For five weeks starting on Feb. 26, participants can learn about the concepts of risk and threat, and assess their own risk. They will also know the risks they may face in the digital world and strategies to protect not only themselves, but their sources. The course will also offer tools for journalists to develop a self-protection plan, and will offer advice for the management of stress and trauma through the analysis of experiences of resilience in journalists who are victims of these events.
IRAN: BBC UN appeal: Stop Iran harassing Persian service staff
BBC: The BBC is making an unprecedented appeal to the UN to stop Iran from harassing its Persian service staff in London and their families in Iran.
ISRAEL: Israeli security forces posing as journalists endanger press
Al-Monitor: An Israeli commando accused of impersonating Israeli journalists to arrest a student on a university campus could make reporters’ jobs harder and more dangerous on both sides of the conflict.
PALESTINE: Women Journalists in Gaza Share Their Experiences and Challenges
IMEMC: Women journalists in Gaza are stressing the urgent need to ensure protection for Palestinian women journalists, and to take further measures to seek redress and rehabilitation for those who face psychological and social assaults.
TURKEY: Kurdish women journalists pioneering a new way of reporting
Index on Censorship: Kurdish women at Turkey’s only feminist news website, Jin News, and elsewhere are taking a new approach to journalism. This being Turkey, they haven’t escaped pressure: Many have been detained, put on trial or threatened.
TURKEY: Istanbul trial ends with jail sentences for 25 Turkish journalists
RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the sentences ranging from two to seven years in prison that 25 Turkish journalists received on 8 March in a political mass trial in Istanbul targeting opposition journalists. Only one of the 26 journalists on trial was acquitted.
TURKEY: Turkish court sentences 25 journalists to long prison terms over alleged links to Gülen movement
Stockholm Center for Freedom: The İstanbul court, which has tried 29 journalists, including 19 in prison, who were charged with “membership in a terrorist organisation,” has ruled to sentence 25 journalists to long prison terms on Thursday.
SYRIA: Journalists in Eastern Ghouta: ‘No one likes to die silently’
Al Jazeera: Al Jazeera spoke to two journalists living in Eastern Ghouta about their experiences covering the air attacks.
YEMEN: Armed attackers set fire to Yemen media foundation printing press
CPJ: Armed men raided the offices of al-Shomou Foundation on March 1 and set fire to the presses it uses to print the weekly Al-Shomou and daily Akhbar al-Youm, according to the local human rights group Rights Radar and news reports.
GENERAL: 5 social media trends for journalists to watch in the Middle East
IJNet: The use, and adoption, of social media continues to rapidly evolve in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). A recent white paper from Damian Radcliffe and Amanda Lam (the authors of this post) at the University of Oregon provides an up-to-date analysis of the latest research, industry announcements and news related to the MENA region’s youth bulge and digital growth.
CANADA: 2018 Canadian Screen Awards honour national media
CTV News: CBC was the big winner on the first of several gala nights for this year’s Canadian Screen Awards. The public broadcaster won 18 awards at Tuesday’s Toronto gala, which honoured winners in 50 categories for non-fiction programming.
CANADA: Is Canada’s democracy ready for a dire new age of weaponized news?
CBC News: Experts say Canada may be taking steps to protect its elections from foreign interference, but it may not be prepared for the effect of weaponized ‘fake news’.
US: CPB to require anti-harassment training for stations to get funding
Current: Starting March 31, CPB will require annual harassment prevention training for employees of all stations receiving a Community Service Grant.
US: Minnesota Public Radio reaches out in Somali, and community listens
Poynter: It’s the third most common language spoken in Minnesota, after Spanish and English. But it also opened up doors for the station beyond Minnesota: Somali-speakers across the world can now read some of MPR’s regional content, which is translated and then put on their website. In short, MPR is not only serving its local population — but their friends and family across the globe.
US: New report shows lack of progress for women of color in the media
Poynter: Fifty years after the Kerner Commission criticized the news media for not sufficiently covering race issues, a new special report shows that women of color continue to be underrepresented in U.S. newsrooms and face multiple challenges in achieving equality in hiring and promotions.
US: NPR’s Digital News and Visuals Teams To Merge
NPR: In an email to staff, NPR Managing Editor Sara Goo recently outlined new structural changes in the newsroom to further reflect and bolster our goal to bring a strong digital audience to our most important journalism and storytelling.
US: PBS initiative will encourage intergenerational reading, determine America’s ‘Best Loved’ book
Current: PBS is gearing up to start an intergenerational conversation about favorite books with The Great American Read, a miniseries and digital campaign. By the time it concludes next fall, participants will have narrowed those answers down to America’s “Best-Loved” book.
US: Threat tracker
CJR: At the beginning of last year, the US Press Freedom Tracker started cataloguing every violation of press freedom that took place on American soil, be it through violence, arrest, denial of access, or other threats. This is a selection of those incidents from 2017.
US: With Knight grant, Cronkite School seeks to boost innovation in TV news
Current: A $1.9 million grant to Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication will be used to help TV stations experiment with new ideas for presenting journalism.
Nieman Lab: For those invested in making news organizations more diverse, inclusive places, particularly for women, the past few years haven’t offered much in the way of good news.
7 resources to make your stories more inclusive
IJNet: Recognizing the importance of redressing any unintended bias, the following is a short list of available resources to help journalists and newsrooms easily access more diverse and inclusive sources, images and language.
Apply for the ILO-EJN labour migration journalism fellowship 2018
EJN: ILO opens applications for journalism fellowship to improve reporting on labour migration in the Arab States.
Internews: Apply now for EJN media fellowships to the Latin America and Caribbean Congress for Conservation Biology (LACCCB 2018). Journalists are invited to apply for the biodiversity and conservation fellowship program at the LACCCB 2018 in Trinidad & Tobago in July.
Can Fact-Checking Be Automated?
EJO: Journalists and computer scientists are working to develop automated fact-checking (AFC) to enable large-scale responses to online misinformation, according to a new Factsheet by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ). The study identifies a number of new automated tools, but finds their application remains limited by the complexity and nuances of most misinformation online.
How journalists are overcoming the challenges of global health reporting
European Journalism Centre via Medium: Lessons learned from supporting 19 journalism projects on global health
IFJ survey: One in two women journalists suffer gender-based violence at work
SEENPM: A massive 85% say no or inadequate action has been taken against perpetrators and most workplaces do not even have a written policy to counter such abuses or provide a mechanism for reporting them.
It’s True: False News Spreads Faster and Wider. And Humans Are to Blame.
New York Times: What if the scourge of false news on the internet is not the result of Russian operatives or partisan zealots or computer-controlled bots? What if the main problem is us?
NiemanLab: BuzzFeed’s fake-news reporter outlines some of the dangers ahead: “We have a human problem on our hands. Our cognitive abilities are in some ways overmatched by what we have created.”
Business Insider: Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner explains how the rise of autocratic states around the globe has made commitment to freedom and protection of the press more important that ever.
EFJ
On International Women’s Day, CPJ looks at threats women journalists face
CPJ: From imprisonment, sexual violence, cyber harassment, and even death, CPJ has documented threats faced by women journalists across the globe.
RSF shines light on “forbidden coverage” of women’s rights
RSF: To mark International Women’s Day (March 8), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is publishing a report entitled “Women’s rights: Forbidden subject” which sheds light on the difficulties that journalists – both men and women – can encounter when they cover women’s rights.
Self-regulation and ‘hate speech’ on social media platforms: Briefing Paper
SEENPM: ARTICLE 19 proposes how models of independent media self-regulation could be adapted to address ‘hate speech’ on social media. In this briefing paper, ARTICLE 19 explores issues that would need to be considered, and reinforces recommendations on freedom of expression-compliant approaches to regulating social media.
The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News
The Atlantic: Falsehoods almost always beat out the truth on Twitter, penetrating further, faster, and deeper into the social network than accurate information.
Tim Berners-Lee: we must regulate tech firms to prevent ‘weaponised’ web
The Guardian: The inventor of the world wide web warns over concentration of power among a few companies ‘controlling which ideas are shared’
Virtual reality creates ethical challenges for journalists
IJNet: Can you trust VR journalists to be honest with audiences and follow journalistic ethics?
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