Our weekly round-up of public service media related stories and headlines from around the world.
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CAMEROON: Cameroon has restricted internet access for more than 150 days in 2017
Quartz: For almost two months now, Cameroon’s government has restricted access to social media and messaging apps in its Anglophone regions, adding to the already simmering tensions in the country.
GUINEA: Guinea cracks down on media as education strike grinds on
News24: Guinea suspended broadcasting by a radio station on Monday after it attempted to interview the leader of a teachers’ strike which has drawn thousands of pupils onto the streets in support.
GUINEA: “You don’t burn the savannah because there are weeds”
RSF: The secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Christophe Deloire, urged Guinea’s president, Alpha Condé, not to clash with his country’s media when President Condé received Deloire at the presidential palace in Conakry last weekend after threatening comments by Condé.
KENYA: Kenyan journalists censored themselves for peace (Research)
Journalism Research News: The prior elections, in 2007, resulted in a spate of violence lasting into the next year. Over a thousand Kenyans were killed, and the media was blamed for stoking the unrest. Thus, extensive efforts were made to avoid the repeating the disaster in 2013. Notably, this included “peace trainings” for journalists.
MOROCCO: Rif protests trial: concern about treatment of detainees
RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Moroccan authorities to respect the rights of the detainees currently on trial in Casablanca for their role in the “Hirak” protest movement in the Rif region. They include a journalist and five citizen-journalists and media workers.
NAMIBIA: NBC’s Afrikaans Service Gets New Name and Look
Namibia Economist (Via All Africa): The re-branding of the Afrikaans Service sets the scene for a complete roll-out to re-brand all the 9 other radio stations of the NBC.
NIGERIA: Four Journalists Killed in 8 months
MFWA: Within a period of eight months (April – November, 2017), four journalists have been shot dead by unidentified attackers in Nigeria.
NIGERIA: Putting Women’s Writing On the Map – the BBC Hausa Example
All Africa: Jimeh Saleh, who heads BBC’s Hausa Service, has lauded the achievements of Hausa language female writers in Nigeria.
SOUTH AFRICA: Here’s the new board’s ‘monumental’ plan to get the SABC back on track
City Press: The recently appointed SABC board has taken members of Parliament through the actions it has taken in a bid to take the financially troubled public broadcaster out of the red.
SOUTH AFRICA: SABC seeks to alter rules giving pay-TV stations free use of channels
Business Day: The SABC has asked the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to conduct an urgent public review of regulations that allow pay-TV operators to carry its television channels for free.
UGANDA: Journalists detained by Uganda charged with treason, police say
Reuters: Eight managers and editors of a daily newspaper arrested this week have been charged with treason, Ugandan police said on Thursday.
ZIMBABWE: Mugabe’s downfall: A new era for Zimbabwe’s media?
Aljazeera: The media story behind the downfall of Robert Mugabe after 37 years in power.
ZIMBABWE: President Mnangagwa should crack media reforms whip (Press Release)
MISA: As President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumes his presidency following his inauguration as Zimbabwe’s new leader, MISA Zimbabwe urges him to prioritise the implementation of long overdue media reforms critical to a new democratic dispensation.
GENERAL: Report: Media Monitoring Africa Newsroom Research
Media Monitoring Africa
AFGHANISTAN: Journalists Face the Sharp End of Growing Violence and Insecurity in Afghanistan
Global Voices
INDIA: Bengali film industry observes ‘blackout’ on ‘Padmavati’ issue
PTI: The Bengali film industry observed a 15-minute “blackout” today, in solidarity with the makers of Bollywood film “Padmavati” and to protest against the alleged attempts by certain groups to stall its release.
INDIA: Doordarshan calls off DD Kashir’s channel packaging
Indian Television: Over five months after bids were invited and three months since agencies were shortlisted, Doordarshan (DD) has cancelled the tender for the channel packaging work of DD Kashir.
INDIA: DD extends bid submission deadline for appointing agency to monitor ‘must carry’ channels
Television Post: Public broadcaster Doordarshan has extended the deadline for bid submission and the opening of technical bids for appointing an agency to monitor DD’s ‘must carry’ channels on cable TV headends and direct to home (DTH) platforms to 5 December.
INDIA: DD Sports, the sleeping giant of Indian sports broadcasting, is showing no signs of waking up (Opinion)
Scroll.in: The channel’s programming continues to be poor in original content, quality of production, and sporting knowledge.
INDIA: Reporting the Untold Stories of Rural India
Nieman Reports: How the People’s Archive of Rural India is documenting the lives and labors of some of the country’s poorest, most marginalized populations
MYANMAR: Myanmar accused of wiping out secret network of Rohingya reporters
The Guardian: Human rights groups fear military has disappeared or killed undercover journalists to starve the world of news about persecution in Rakhine state.
MYANMAR: Myanmar Journalists’ Views on Reporting and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
BNI: Over the course of two days, the 11th Asia-Europe Foundation Journalists’ Seminar was held in Nay Pyi Taw on 18th and 19th November 2017 mainly focused on how best to implement the UN’s 17 points of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through reporting effectively and efficiently.
PAKISTAN: A month of silence for journalists in Balochistan
RSF: A month after armed groups began silencing the press in the southwestern province of the Balochistan when their ultimatum expired on 24 October, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) appeals to the province’s separatist rebels and to the Pakistani intelligence agencies to leave journalists out of the conflict.
PAKISTAN: Increase in cases of violence against journalists in Pakistan
IFJ: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expresses serious concern over the increasing incidents of attacks on journalists and violations of journalists’ rights in Pakistan. The IFJ urges the Pakistan government to ensure a safe reporting environment for journalists.
PAKISTAN: News channels, social media blocked for a day in Pakistan
IFJ: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the decisions by the Pakistani authorities to take down all television news channels and block access to some social media platforms on November 25 following a political demonstration in Islamabad, Pakistan.
PHILIPPINES: The Media and the Duterte Presidency: Impunity acute and benign, fettered flow of information
Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism: The press in the Philippines has been described to be among the freest in Asia if not in the world, robust, almost rambunctious in its practice. But in the first 16 months of the Duterte administration, its status and practice have been diminished, shaken down by supporters and trolls of the President who would not tolerate critical coverage.
SOUTH KOREA: Prosecutors raid public broadcaster MBC over alleged labor irregularities
The Korea Herald: Prosecutors raided the headquarters of public broadcaster MBC on Wednesday as part of a probe into alleged irregular labor practices conducted by its former top officials, including its now sacked chief.
SOUTH KOREA: S Korea developing AI system to keep journalism alive
Malaysiakini: In gaining public trust in journalism and tackling the declining revenue in the media industry, South Korea is developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system using algorithms to help the industry in the country to get back on its feet.
THAILAND: Digital TV cries for help
Bangkok Post: The operator association continues efforts to have the government grant relief, bringing the plea count to three.
AUSTRALIA: Triple J moves Hottest 100 from Australia Day after protests
The Guardian: ABC radio station announces that after a review it will move its annual listeners’ poll, which has attracted criticism from Indigenous groups and supporters.
AUSTRALIA: Why Radio National’s fans fear death by a thousand cuts (Opinion)
The Guardian: The ABC’s flagship radio station is expensive, esoteric and – its supporters say – essential to Australian public life. Now it is facing more upheaval.
FIJI: Fiji Government selects Eutelsat 172B satellite
Advanced Television: Walesi, the Fijian Government’s Digital Television infrastructure management company, has signed a multi-year agreement with Eutelsat Communications that will for the first time expand free-to-air television throughout Fiji.
NEW ZEALAND: Kia ora from RNZ
RNZ: The spectre of te reo-bashing has raised its head – again. RNZ’s Te Manu Korihi editor has something to say.
NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand broadcasters refuse to stop using Māori words
The Guardian: Presenters defiant as hundreds of listeners say use of Te Reo on radio and television excludes those who don’t speak the language.
PACIFIC: Pacific journalists form climate specialist network
ABC News: A group of Pacific journalists who attended the COP23 climate talks in Germany have decided to form a new network dedicated to reporting on climate issues in their own countries and across the region.
SAMOA: Social media crackdown worries Samoan journalists
ABC News: Journalists in Samoa are concerned that proposed new laws to crack down on social media users defaming people may end up affecting them as well.
BELARUS: Harassment against freelance journalists on the rise
EJF: Around 40 journalists, including media lawyers, EFJ/IFJ affiliates and the EU Delegation to Belarus, discussed how to best put the desperate issue of freelance journalism at the heart of local and national authorities in Belarus and the European Union.
BULGARIA: Anatomy of Fake News: The Bulgarian Case
Media Power Monitor: As fake stories are flooding the Bulgarian internet, local journalists are responding by debunking lies and tracing the sources of misinformation. They are bracing up for a tough battle.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Coverage of the European migration crisis in Czech online news media
Journalism Research News: Polls suggest that the great majority of Czech society perceives irregular migrants as a threat to their country. It also seems that their attitude towards migrants has been influenced by some indirect sources of information, such as the news media, write Michal Tkaczyk, of Masaryk University.
FRANCE: Facebook has Paid Millions to French Media Companies: Are Some Now Addicted?
EJO: Facebook has won. French media organisations are now indeed addicts. They are, in fact, triply addicted – to expanding their audience for free, to using the social network’s production and distribution tools, and to earning additional revenue. Facebook’s publishing ecosystem has become something the media can’t do without.
FRANCE: France Télévisions CEO: “Unite against US OTT players”
Advanced Television: France Télévisions’ CEO Delphine Ernotte is calling for much greater cooperation between Europe’s public and private broadcasters in order to rival the influence – and potential domination – by the likes of Netflix and Amazon.
FRANCE: Watchdog marks France Télévisions report card
Digital TV Europe: French media regulator the CSA has given public broadcaster France Télévisions a broadly positive report on the first year of execution of its plan for the 2016-20 period, while highlighting areas that still need improvement.
GERMANY: German spy agency attacks Facebook and others for failing to tackle fake news
The Guardian: The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has accused US tech giants such as Facebook of failing to take enough responsibility for content on their sites, undermining democracy by not distinguishing between fact and opinion.
IRELAND: Revenue should collect TV licence fee, committee urges
RTÉ: The Oireachtas Communications Committee has urged the Government to widen the funding regime for public service broadcasting, to include homes which do not have a television set.
IRELAND: RTÉ refused a third of Freedom of Information requests
Irish Examiner: RTÉ refused a third of the Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to the national broadcaster in the first half of this year.
ITALY: Calenda: “Rai should be privatised”. But from the Government, Giacomelli says: “It’s his idea” (Italian)
La Repubblica: According to the minister, “the licence fee is given to anyone who makes projects of public value”. From the Leopolda, the Under Secretary’s reply: “I think there is still much more need for public service and the role that state television guarantees. Otherwise you have to use golden power to limit damage”
ITALY: From fake news to copy-and-paste, the Italian hoax network (Italian)
La Repubblica: A BuzzFeed survey reveals a galaxy of sites (about 60) and Facebook (now obscured) pages owned by the family-run Web365. Misinformation made in Italy with sensationalist content and copied and modified content. With one goal: catching clicks.
MOLDOVA: What the Media Think About the Media in Figures
SEENPM: The survey was conducted on a sample of 200 public and private media outlets (including online portals, television and radio stations, magazines, newspapers, and news agencies) in Chisinau and in the regions (excluding the Transnistrian region).
NETHERLANDS: Dutch NPO warns for higher TV prices
Telecompaper: A new round of cuts is looming for Dutch public broadcasters. This could result in higher subscriptions for households.
RUSSIA: Russia will now label the reporting of global news outlets as the work of “foreign agents”
Quartz: According to a new law signed by Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday (Nov. 26), the Russian government now has the power to label media outlets that receive funding from outside Russia as “foreign agents.”
RUSSIA: Q&A: Russian journalists facing ‘intolerable’ situation
IPI: Threats, attacks on independent voices growing as presidential election looms
SERBIA: Serbian Journalists Dismayed After Prosecutors Reject Assault Charges
Balkan Insight: Serbian media associations have requested an urgent meeting with the state prosecutor, after prosecutors rejected charges brought by journalists attacked at President Aleksandar Vucic’s inauguration.
SPAIN: Albiol: “We will propose to close TV3 and reopen a television with normal people” (Spanish)
El País: The candidate of the PP to the elections of December 21 has ensured that the public channel “is a machine to generate independence”
SPAIN: Catalonia crisis threatens independence of Spain’s public TV crews
ECPMF: “The situation in Spain is very polarised but it is a mistake to blame the media for that. The media is just reflecting what is happening in society,” says Ricardo Gutiérrez, secretary general of the European Federation of Journalists. An interview on the Catalonian crisis.
SPAIN: PEN International concerned about deteriorating climate for freedom of expression in Catalonia
PEN International (via Ifex): PEN International is extremely concerned about increasing restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and opinion in Catalonia during and following the referendum on independence of 1 October 2017.
SPAIN: The Central Electoral Board demands “neutrality” from TV3 and prohibits it from speaking of “Govern in exile” (Spanish)
RTVE: The Central Electoral Board (JEC) has demanded “information neutrality” from TV3 and has prohibited it from continuing to use expressions that may induce “confusion” and favor some of the candidatures of the Catalan elections on December 21, such as “government in the exile” or the “President’s list “.
SPAIN: UTECA: Spain Government ‘favours pay-TV’
Advanced Television: UTECA, the largest private TV Association in Spain, has accused the Administration of discrimination against FTA TV to the benefit of pay-TV and new OTT platforms.
UK: Digital-Born and Legacy News Media on Twitter during the UK General Election
Reuters Institute: Overall, the study shows legacy media generated almost four times as much activity and engagement as digital-born news media during the election. […] And broadcasters were responsible for the highest number of tweets related to the election and were the more frequently mentioned during that period.
UK: Former Ofcom CEO: BBC licence fee sustainable ‘for present purposes’
Digital TV Europe: Former Ofcom boss Ed Richards has said that the BBC licence fee is a sustainable model in the near term and that he has not been persuaded by any alternative funding models.
UK: Thomas questions broadcasting debate
Manx Radio: Minister says democracy needs public service broadcasting
UK: UK viewers watch over a billion minutes online each week
TVB Europe: New report by BARB looks at online viewing habits.
UKRAINE: Head of Ukraine’s Public Broadcaster: the government assassinates us gently
Euromaidan Press: The company started working full-scale in 2017 and already faces the pressure from the state – for the next year, the government plans to cut its funding by nearly a half.
GENERAL: Legal Affairs MEPs approve watered down broadcasting rules
Euractiv: MEPs in the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee have approved a watered down version of an EU proposal that will regulate how much content broadcasters must show online.
GENERAL: Wealthy European trust international channels more, says survey
Digital TV Europe: Wealthy European consumers trust international TV news channels more than national services to provide impartial news, according to a survey carried out by IPSOS for the inTV channels group.
BRAZIL: Brazil prepares fight against fake news ahead of national elections
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: The fight against fake news will likely be a priority for several Brazilian governmental entities as the country faces national elections in the coming year.
BRAZIL: Research: Hyperlocal news pages on Facebook cover areas of Rio de Janeiro traditionally ignored by media
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: In Brazil, where 66 percent of the population is connected to the Internet, social networks have allowed the creation of hyperlocal media – pages and groups that focus on a neighborhood, a place or even a street.
CARIBBEAN: Caribbean countries urged to make progress in switch to digital broadcasting
CTO: Shola Taylor, secretary-general of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), warned Caribbean countries they will miss out on the economic and social benefits of digital broadcasting if they fail to make progress on the transition from analogue.
ECUADOR: Creo filed a complaint for handling public and seized media (Spanish)
El Comercio: César Monge, from the Creo movement, filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the administration of public media.
HONDURAS: On election eve, what hope for media freedom in Honduras?
RSF: Eight years after a coup d’état in June 2009, the level of press freedom is still sinking in Honduras. Journalists continue to be the targets of judicial proceedings, violence and murder, reinforcing a climate of fear and self-censorship that has worsened under Juan Orlando Hernández, the president since January 2014.
MEXICO: FIP, FEP and FAPE convey to the Mexican ambassador their concern for the safety of journalists
IFJ: A representation of executives of organizations of international, European and Spanish journalists met on November 23 in Madrid with the Ambassador of Mexico in Spain, Ms. Dña. Roberta Lajous Varga, in order to express their utmost concern for the security of Mexican journalists.
MEXICO: U.N. rights team to visit Mexico after journalist murders
Reuters: The United Nations said on Thursday a group of experts on freedom of expression will visit Mexico at the end of November to assess the safety of journalists in the country, one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters.
VENEZUELA: Public media will promote all the candidates for mayors (Spanish)
El Universal: As it was done during the elections of the National Constituent Assembly on July 30, the candidates will be able to make themselves known, as well as their government proposals, through radio and television micro-chains.
GENERAL: Latin American professionals debate possibilities and challenges to consolidating collaboration among journalists in the region
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: In the second week of November, journalists from at least 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries crossed the Atlantic Ocean and met in Johannesburg, South Africa, to share investigative techniques with colleagues from around the world and seek strategies to consolidate collaboration among journalists in the region.
SYRIA: The Russian Offensive in Syria You Haven’t Heard About
Coda Story: The Kremlin smells military victory in Syria, but its media campaign could turn out to be a bigger triumph.
SYRIA: The struggle for survival – what’s next for Syrian journalism?
openDemocracy: Media outlets, whether state-sponsored or opposition, often seek to send a specific message to a party through their articles, without complying to any kind of journalistic standards.
TURKEY: How Turkey’s TRT World Wants to Win Over U.S. Online Video Viewers
Variety: American cable news networks are about to get some unlikely competition online. No, it’s not another news site pivoting to video. Instead, it’s Turkey’s public broadcaster TRT, which has quietly begun to target U.S. audiences with its English-language offshoot TRT World.
TURKEY: Journalists in Turkey facing more and more imprisonment
EFJ: November was a difficult month again for imprisoned and prosecuted journalists in Turkey. More and more professional journalists and media workers are facing imprisonment or threats for reporting information or simply for being affiliated to specific media outlets, wrongly considered by Turkish authorities as criminal acts.
UAE: Dubai official: ‘Al Jazeera should be bombed’
Advanced Television: The diplomatic row between Qatar and a group of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates escalated further on November 25th when a senior Dubai official called for Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera to be “bombed” out of existence.
CANADA: Calgary pop-up journalism The Sprawl is resurrected, showing holes in media landscape
CBC News: Jeremy Klaszus – creator, editor, writer – says gaps in media coverage reaching ‘crisis’ level.
CANADA: CBC/Radio-Canada releases 2016-2017 Environmental Performance Report Français
CISION: CBC/Radio-Canada shared its latest corporate Environmental Performance Report, which highlights the public broadcaster’s environmental performance from April 2016 to March 2017
Current: PBS announced Tuesday that it has dropped The Charlie Rose Show, a decision following reports of the longtime talk show host’s harassment of women.
US: FCC plans net neutrality bill repeal
Broadband TV News: The FCC has issued proposals that would set aside legislation designed to ensure equal access to the internet in favour of a rulebook allowing operators to charge more for access to selected areas of the internet and for individual websites.
US: It’s not just net neutrality: The FCC could also relax one of broadcast media’s biggest rules
The Washington Post: Even as the Federal Communications Commission released a proposal Tuesday that could give Internet providers more control over what their customers can see and use online, another equally major proposal by the agency could relax key rules for the media industry.
US: Much to Cheer About at NPR Music
WSJ: Celebrating 10 years of introducing the best in new rock and pop music.
US: Trump’s FCC continues to redefine the public interest as business interests
The Conversation: The U.S. Senate voted last week to allow internet service providers to sell data about their customers’ online activities to advertisers. The House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday; President Trump is expected to sign the measure into law.
US: Trump’s proposed budget would hit Coast Community Radio hard
The Daily Astorian: President proposes eliminating federal funding for KMUN and other public stations
10 key principles for data-driven storytelling
Journalism.co.uk: Don’t overwhelm your audience, make information relatable and digestible, and more advice for journalists working with data
15 open-source tools journalists can use to improve their reporting
Journalism.co.uk: The tools range from story gathering to data visualisation and digital storytelling. There’s no technical expertise required here, just a bit of playing around and getting to know each tool to master it.
Amnesty International and Truly.Media join forces in fight against ‘fake news’
Amnesty International: Amnesty International is pleased to be the first external client of Truly.Media, a ground-breaking new collaborative platform aimed at tackling “fake news” by using digital verification techniques to identify authentic and fraudulent posts on social media.
Anti-Muslim online surges driven by fake accounts
The Guardian: A global network of anti-Muslim activists is using Twitter bots, fake news and the manipulation of images to influence political discourse, new analysis reveals.
Drop the jargon and write like a human with the help of this tool
Poynter: A tool designed to help scientists analyze jargon in their writing. Just copy and paste your article over, click “start” and look for the red words. If striking them doesn’t sacrifice clarity or correctness, replace them with something that’s easier to understand.
Fast crisis reporting makes journalists cautious
Journalism Research News: Journalists express uncertainty more often when they are tasked with the fast-paced coverage of unfolding crises, Shelly Rom and Zvi Reich, both of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, write.
Fixing the Journalist-Fixer Relationship
GIJN: What we found is a dramatic divide between how each member of this critical relationship views their own and each other’s roles, responsibilities and contributions to the reporting on which people around the world rely.
How Muckrakers Use Crowdsourcing: Case Studies from ProPublica to The Guardian
GIJN: In a favorite old Doonesbury cartoon, reporter Rick Redfern is having a birthday. His girlfriend Joanie Caucus presents him a special surprise — a secret document!
Inside the first radio network made for, and by, refugees
Huck: Larry and the RRN are doing what they can to offer an alternative narrative to the one often associated with refugees in Europe. It’s political rather than charitable, encouraging people to reclaim agency, represent their community and – of course – play great music.
Journalism.co.uk: The project from the European Forest Institute and GEN will help 10 journalists over the next six months
RSF hails new UN resolution on journalists’ safety
RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes a new UN General Assembly resolution on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity for crimes of violence against them.
Sports broadcasting may see digital and traditional combine
The National: While TV companies still dominate when it comes to buying rights to show games, matches and competitions, online services are moving in
Tough lessons from the brave new world of data journalism
RTE: Eva Constantaras, data journalism advisor for Internews, on what Western media can learn from developing countries.
World Radio Day 2018 Radio Survey
UNESCO: World Radio Day 2018 will be held on 13 February 2018 under the theme of “Radio and Sports”!
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Header image | Cameraman shooting crowd. Credit: iStock/denizbayram
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