Quality, not quantity, will dictate new Google news
Google has filed patents for a new system of compiling the day’s news, reports New Scientist. Currently the search-engine giant selects news stories based solely on their date and relevance to search terms. Under the new system, Google will keep tabs on the track record and credibility of all news sources around the globe, including the number of stories filed by each source, their average story lengths and even how long they have been in business. Thus, reputable sources such as CNN or the BBC will normally be included on the first page of results, even if they have not posted the newest story on a topic.
Link
A front page story in Wednesday’s Tampa Tribune violated the principle journalists hold most dear: that readers can trust us to tell the truth, writes Executive director Janet S. Weaver:
The problem appeared in an article under the headline “Private Towing Largely Unregulated.” It tells the story of Tracey Sievertson, whose Jeep was towed from a lot on Platt Street in Tampa. It is true that Sievertson’s Jeep was towed. But reporter Brad Smith fabricated the opening paragraphs of the story, painting a picture of Sievertson’s shock when she emerged from a night of club-hopping to find her vehicle missing from the parking lot where she left it. Sievertson had not been out that evening. . . . Smith’s presence that night created another ethical breach. Journalists are obligated not to write stories about friends. They are not to write stories about events in which they were directly involved under the guise of covering the news. Smith did not disclose his involvement in these events to his editors. And he did not disclose them to you. Brad Smith is no longer a reporter at The Tampa Tribune. After we confronted him with our questions about the story Wednesday, he offered his resignation, and I accepted it. We will conduct a review of Smith’s work to ensure that no similar problems exist in other stories.
It is refreshing to see how american newspapers are resolut in handling ethic affairs. In Denmark, where I come from, journalist behaivour like this would not have lifted an eyebrow..
Actually me and some friends used to play a game of counter-researching frontpage stories at major danish newspapers. Surprisingly many top stories are non-stories, leaving out important sources of other opinions and better knowledge. -And these stories can be spotted every day.
Link
The Associated Press is planting the seeds of its own demise, writes Bob Benz and Mike Phillips in an article published in the Online Journalism Review:
AP’s most recent act of self-destruction was its April 18 announcement that it would start charging newspaper and broadcast clients an additional fee for using AP content on their web sites.
This move — sprung on its clients just as they are recognizing the urgent need to reinvent themselves in multi-media, web-driven modes — ignores powerful trends:
* All forms of content are migrating – each to its most appropriate medium. Readers and advertisers are following.
* As news media and other information providers jump into one media platform after another, the Web is emerging as their operational core.
* From blogs to open-source journalism to free newspapers, a wave of unpaid information is sweeping paid information off the media beach.
* As content loses value, expert editing and customer-driven bundling are becoming the tools for building audience. And audience — not content — is the news industry’s value proposition.
Contrast those trends with AP’s recent moves: Link to article at www.ojr.org
Read my last note on AP. Link
Read the discussion I had with the author Bob Benz about newspaper registration here on this blog
Come May 1, Hindustan Times‘ Delhi edition will have a completely new look, writes Agencyfaqs!
Hindustan Times has hired renowned designer Michael Keegan for redesigning the major indian newspaper. Keegan is a well-known design consultant, who has been responsible for the redesigning of Washington Post in 1998. Bipul Guha, art director of Hindustan Times, has also made a major contribution in the redesigning of the Delhi-based daily.
The publication is also ready to inaugurate a new press in Greater Noida on May 1. This indicates that HT’s Delhi office is a hotbed of activity these days.
Meanwhile, the industry is eagerly looking forward to the daily’s Mumbai launch, expected some time in August.
For the record, Hindustan Times is owned by HT Media, which is a K K Birla group company
Link
List of the most important indian newspapers.
Journalist David Isaac has been improsoned for 1313 days in Eritrea. Today is his 40th birthday.
The Swedish Journalists Federation are campaigning vigorously for the release of Dawit Isaac, a journalist and Swedish citizen, who along with 12 other independent journalists have been detained incommunicado, without charge or trial, since September 2001 when the government shut down independent newspapers. No charges are known to have been filed against any of them.
David Isaac, detained without trial for 1313 days in Eritrea.
“Eritrea has the worst record in Africa when it comes to attacks on press freedom and journalists rights,†said Arne Konig, Vice President of the Swedish Journalists’ Federation. “Today is the 40th birthday of our colleague Isaac who has been in jail for three years without trial already. We need to mark his anniversary with new efforts to set him free.â€
Since its independence from Ethiopia in 1991, Eritrean President Afwerki has purposively shelved the country’s constitution, delayed presidential elections, closed down independent media and jailed hundreds of journalists and other members of civil society.
“Eritrea is the victim of a systematic repression and censorship of all independent media,†said White. “There is no privately-owned press, the foreign press have been kicked out, and local journalists are harassed, detained without trial and subject to intolerable intimidation. This shameful situation cannot be ignored any longer.â€
Link
Most important newspapers in Eritrea
Dr. Abdul-Karim al-Eryani, President’s Political Advisor, Secretary General of People’s General Congress (Ruling Party) severely slammed a number of private, party-organ, and semi-official newspapers. He described them as inciting sect-based discrimination.
“What al-Shomoa writes, is as serious as al-Khaiwani used to write, if not more,†al-Eryani said in an interview with 26 September, organ of the military, in last Thursday’s issue.
“This is the same with al-Balagh, al-Ummah, and al-Shura.â€
He said that the people of these newspapers are trying to incite sectarian strife.
He denied that Sa’adah war is set aiming at the Zaidi sect, calling it a “satanic insurgency fueled from outside Yemeni heritage and history.â€
Concerning religious schools, al-Eryani said he is against shutting them but confirmed that they should be within Yemeni social, religious and historical fabric.
Link
Visit newspapers from Yemen here
The Gulf state of Qatar is considering privatising its satellite TV channel, al-Jazeera, because of pressure from the US and a de facto advertising boycott by Arab countries offended by its critical coverage. Reporters at the station fear that if the channel is privatised commercial pressures could force it to tone down its coverage. Al-Jazeera’s coverage of politics has embroiled Qatar in disputes with almost all of its neighbours, including Saudi Arabia and Iran. According to Wadah Khanfar, the station’s director, the consultancy firm Ernst and Young has been hired to look into possible privatisation models, though he said no final decision had yet been taken. Reporters fear that the power of advertisers and shareholders could lead to self-censorship if the channel is privatised. Because of its taboo-breaking coverage al-Jazeera has an audience of some 35-40 million but attracts few advertisers.
CNN?, BBC? Mossad? Bin Ladens gang? This deal will be controversial anyhow.
Link
See the most important newspapers from Qatar here
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the Associated Press will begin to require newspapers and other media to pay when posting its material online. Up until now, the more than 15,000 media organizations that buy AP’s content were allowed to place it on their Websites with no extra fees. But as of January 1, 2006, the AP will be the latest organization to increase their online revenue.
Link
Read about AFP and their online whereabouts.
Dear readers, again today nothing happened. The letters refused to be words and walked away…
- In Nepal this is a crime. Link
MediaBulletin writes that Guardian Newspapers are considering launch of a free edition in London. Others are having similar plans:
Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers has been working on a concept called London-I for around two years, and is widely predicted to be the first to launch. NewsGroup Newspapers, The Sun, is also believed to be interested in the opportunity, but would not comment.
However, the Guardian does have a track record in the free newspaper market. It co-publishes the Metro free newspaper in Manchester with Associated Newspapers and the Manchester Evening News last month launched a free afternoon version, Manchester Evening News Lite.
The latest publisher to go free is the Financial Times, which last week revealed plans to distribute a double-sided A4 briefing in the City and business hotels, also available as a free PDF on its FT.com website, from the end of this month.
The potential for free newspapers in the capital and other urban centres has been proved by Associated Newspapers, which brought out the morning Metro in 1999 and then launched a free edition of the London Evening Standard, called Standard Lite, in December 2004.
Link
More: Five rescue strategies for European newspapers
Here is how to gauge the popularity and reach of online newspapers. Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices has used the same methods that determine the popularity of blogs on online newspapers.
Here’s how you calculate this metric:
1. Search Technorati to determine the number of links that include the paper’s URL. For example, I just did a Technorati search for links to the Indianapolis Star site (search string: http://indystar.com). The result: 1305 links from 942 sources.
2. Get the paper’s peak daily circulation from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. (Figures for the 100 largest U.S. papers are online.) For the Star, estimated daily circulation is: 358,261.
3. Divide the circulation estimate by 1,000. For the Star, that yields 358.261.
4. To calculate LkpC, divide the numbers of inbound links (step 1) by 1/1000 of the daily circulation (step 3). For the Star, this means 1,305 / 358.261 = 3.64
The bloggiest newspapers Ethan Zuckerman found were:
Christian Science Monitor - 134.90
New York Times - 63.08
Washington Post - 58.44
San Francisco Chronicle - 38.32
Boston Globe - 29.80
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 18.56
New York Post - 12.48
LA Times - 11.21
Link
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) made two remarkable observations about newspapers. One is widely cited, including your “Thought of the day” item on April 13, the other almost totally neglected.
Your Jefferson quote, for years the theme of National Newspaper Week, goes like this:
“If it were left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Jefferson’s second observation about newspapers came after two years as president.
From The Arizona Republic . Link
Toronto - The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) today launches a new publication aimed at equipping human rights activists around the world with essential tools to campaign more effectively for freedom of expression and press freedom.
“Campaigning for Free Expression: A Handbook for Advocates” is a 120-page manual that provides a toolbox of tips, best practice case studies and resources for campaigning. The manual showcases a variety of campaign tools, including investigative missions, coalition-building, legal advocacy and Internet-based actions, such as blogging, e-mail protest letters and SMS text messaging. It also gives activists important tools for mounting campaign strategies and doing power analyses of their local situations.
“This handbook gives us vivid examples of how a variety of campaign techniques have been used to persuade governments to act in less repressive ways,” says Luckson Chipare, IFEX Convenor and Regional Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa. “By doing skilful, tactical and strategic campaigning, free expression advocates can maximise their resources to become even more powerful agents of change,” he adds.
Download the book here.
Madrid witnessed the launching of its first free ideological evening paper, Ahora, on Monday, according to Juan Varela at Periodistas 21. Opinionated columns are not the norm in Spain’s booming free paper market and Ahora will attempt to fill this niche with right-leaning editorial, echoing the sentiments of a population unsatisfied with its left-wing government. 200,000 copies were distributed in restaurants, universities, secondary schools, upscale hotels and office buildings for the new daily’s inauguration.
See the best newspapers in Spain here: Link
editorsweblog.org
Spain: first opinionated freebie launched
From IFEX newsletter: IFEX COMMUNIQUÉ VOL 14:
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has launched a partnership with the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF) to support independent newspapers in developing democracies.
The organisations have established a new fund that will provide low-interest loans to carefully selected independent newspapers, with the aim of turning them into financially viable businesses. WAN says securing the long-term future of independent newspapers will enable media to continue playing an important role in leading countries through the transition to democracy.
The new fund will provide capital, through repayable loans, to carefully selected press businesses; tools to help implement business plans and ensure repayment of loans through provision of expert advice; knowledge on how to leverage technologies to accelerate self-sustainability; and lobbying and campaigning support to help client newspapers resist threats to their press freedom.
Visit these links:
WAN: www.wan-press.org/article6897.html
How WAN Supports Press Freedom: www.wan-press.org/article37.html
- MDLF: http://www.mdlf.org/
- RAP 21 (Africa Press Network for the 21st Century): http://www.rap21.org
Sorry for the disorder in the index. I am building a Chinese and a German version of the site at the same time, right now, and it is a mess. One of the problems is that I do not read Chinese, not even the simplified (I am sure it can be made simpler). Another one is that I do not understand German (from school I remember that German also is far more complicated than it should be) - Hey! Thanks for doing the translation Helena!
The main problem though is that the system that keeps track of all the newspapers, countries and languages on the server can not sort new entries. When I have inserted all the names of countries in for instance Spanish, then they are sorted pr. default like the English index.
This is where my mouse enters. After all country names have been inserted in a certain language, I see a list, that has to be sorted alphabetically and the only tools is one button that says ‘up’ and another one that say ‘down’. I mark a country, press the button and wait for half a second – and the language move one step up or down the list.
It is not very bad with Spanish and German, since most countries are written the same way as in English. Some are not - like Austria that becomes Österreich in German. To place Österreich in the right position I have to press the ‘down’ button more than 200 times, and there is no auto fire function. Actually there is a small delay for every click because I am handling the server from another computer. This means that 200 clicks takes about 100 seconds. It is OK with a couple of countries.
-But then there is Chinese. I have managed to get a list of all country names in Chinese with an English translation next to each country. These signs are completely different sorted and the result is that each country is placed in an average of 107 places away from where they should be, since there is 214 countries in total in the index. I have done the math: 214 countries are each going to be clicked 107 times means 22.898 clicks on my mouse…
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See Newspaper Index in German and Chinese (in slow progress) here
-And see how you can save the planet by browsing solar powered websites!
Founder of USA Today Al Neuharth writes in his column about the steady decline in the total daily newspaper circulation in US:
‘Some of the most successful Internet providers are hiring newspaper journalists to help “harden up” their products for more prestige. Maybe newspaper leaders should hire Internet experts to help “soften up” their products for more general appeal.’
Founder of USA Today Al Neuharth
Link
A newspaper battle is brewing in the Korean community between two publishers who are trying to grab the attention of a growing segment of Boston’s population.
Myong Sool Chang recently left the paper he edited for six years, the New England Korean News, and last month began publishing The Boston Korean, a 20-page weekly newspaper. Some of his former paper’s advertisers now advertise in both papers.
The 32-page New England Korean News plans next month to go from biweekly to weekly in order to keep up. The paper also plans to launch a website, something The Boston Korean doesn’t have.
Both papers are printed almost exclusively in Korean — although Myong said he eventually also wants to print in English — and have the same distribution route, which includes about 100 locations in Massachusetts as well as some in Rhode Island and southern New Hampshire. Both are free, making their money from advertisements, and are distributed through Korean restaurants and supermarkets.
‘’So many Korean people read these newspapers; it’s the main way that they get information about Korea and what’s going on in this community,” said Min Young Han of Boston’s Korean Consulate, located in Newton.
Link
Ukraine has now become a safe-horbour for harrased Russian journalists.
One of Russia’s most well-known independent journalists has left the country because he says the Kremlin is gradually eliminating free speech among the Russian media.
Lithuanian-born and Canadian-raised Savik Shuster hosted the popular weekly political talk show Free Speech on the NTV network and, despite being praised as the last independent journalist on Russian television, he left Moscow last weekend and moved to Ukraine.
Shuster’s move was prompted when his employment contract was cancelled last fall after he criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s handling of the Beslan hostage crisis on air.
“Russia today is very much afraid of what happened in Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan,” he told CBC News. “Free TV is unthinkable in this political situation.”
Shuster, also a former Newsweek correspondent, is set to launch a new discussion program on Ukrainian television and he said that other Russian opposition journalists would likely follow his move.
Since Putin came to power five years ago, he and his advisors – primarily made up of other former KGB officers like himself – have chipped away at the active free press that flourished during former president Boris Yeltsin’s time in office, he said.
While there are still some independent newspapers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, most of the citizens in the vast country get their news from TV.
Link
See the list of the most influential russian newspapers here
editorsweblog.org: Rupert Murdoch insists on newspaper website development
Rupert Murdoch insists on newspaper website development
“I’m a digital immigrant. I wasn’t weaned on the web, nor coddled on a computer…My two young daughters, on the other hand, will be digital natives. They’ll never know a world without ubiquitous broadband internet access.”
Speaking at the American Society of Newspaper Editors, media baron Rupert Murdoch pushed delegates to get over their fears of the Internet and invest in their digital wings. Since Murdoch has been in the business quite a while and been, shall we say, successful, his words should not be taken lightly.
Chris Anderson has this interesting info on his blog “the long tail”.
Flat to Down to Way Down:
* Music: sales last year were down 21% from their peak in 1999
* Television: network TV’s audience share has fallen by a third since 1985
* Radio: listenership is at a 27-year low
* Newspapers: circulation peaked in 1987, and the decline is accelerating
* Magazines: total circulation peaked in 2000 and is now back to 1994 levels (but a few premier titles are bucking the trend!)
* Books: sales growth is lagging the economy as whole
Up:
* Movies: 2004 was another record year, both for theaters and DVDs
* Videogames: even in the last year of this generation of consoles, sales hit a new record
* Web: online ads will grow 30% this year, breaking $10 billion (5.4% of all advertising)
Link
More American newspapers are using registration systems. It is not a good idea. Newspaper Index explains why registration sites are bad links.
A couple of days ago I got an email from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one of the largest American newspapers. They asked me to include their online edition on Newspaper Index. After my review I found that all articles require registration and therefore I had to I had to refuse their kind request.
It seems to me that those newspapers that have chosen to build registration systems are getting more and more frustrated and in need of traffic.
They get no traffic anymore from search engines because crawlers can´t access and index their articles.
User are moving to other sites where they can get hassle free content.
Webmasters like me won’t link to their sites because registration sites simply are considered low quality links.
Mr. Eric Bates from The Atlanta Journal Constitution wrote me back:
Washington Post and NY Times (and many others) require registration. It’s free. Why should the AJC be singled out for exclusion?
NY Times and Washington Post have content that can be accessed without registration and some only for registrants. This is the reason that they still are listed on Newspaper Index.
I have deep respect for the few newspapers that can sell their content online. Registration policies are considered by all online newspapers and the downward newspaper market are forcing media organizations to try something new.
The problem is that most users find the registration experience annoying and the days are over when the regular Internet user just visited like 5-10 sites daily. Consumers of online news to day are seeking news from many more sources and that makes passwords and registration a no-go.
See the best american newspapers here
“Two former police officers have pleaded guilty to killing an investigative journalist five years ago, the notorious murder which began the mass opposition to former president Leonid Kuchma.
The two were arrested last month. Leaders of the old regime, including Mr Kuchma himself, are widely assumed to have sanctioned the murder.
When Viktor Yushchenko won last year’s presidential election he vowed to get to the bottom of the case.
But it is suspected that his government is reluctant to dig too deep into the case, for fear of opening Pandora’s box.
Georgy Gongadze’s body was found in a shallow grave in September 2000. Secret recordings later revealed that Mr Kuchma and his cronies had apparently discussed getting rid of him.
Witnesses were threatened, lost their jobs or fled the country. The “orange revolution” last year raised hope that the murderers would be brought to justice.
But a month ago a key witness, Yuri Kravchenko, formerly Mr Kuchma’s interior minister, who can be heard on the secret tapes promising to do away with Gongadze, killed himself. “
David Crouch in Kiev
Wednesday April 06 2005
The Guardian
Newspapers in Ukraine
Link
According to TV5, the monthly Le Monde Diplomatique announced the launch of a new edition in Egypt. The edition will be published in Arabic and distributed as a free supplement on the first Friday of every month in Al Akhbar, a governmental daily in Cairo. Al Akhbar has a circulation of 380,000.
Link
Newspapers in Egypt
Newspapers in France
Lyng-Hou RamÃrez Directora de Contenidos - from the leading South American newspapergroup GDA has sponsored the spanish translation of Newspaper Index. The result is now online:
Thanks, gracias from here to www.gda.com :-)
GDA is publishing the following newspapers:
La Nación (Argentina)
O Globo (Brasil)
El Mercurio (Chile)
El Tiempo (Colombia)
La Nación (Costa Rica)
El Comercio (Ecuador)
El Universal (México)
El Comercio (Perú)
El Nuevo DÃa (Puerto Rico)
El PaÃs (Uruguay)
El Nacional (Venezuela)
See Newspaper Index in spanish
English
Swedish
Danish
Norwegian
CitizenLab :: Version 4.0
China blocks Internet comments on the pope
Posted Apr 05, 2005 in Censorship by nart.
China’s web portals have blocked prayers, blessings and other comment on the death of Pope John Paul II from being posted on the Internet, officials said. While popular portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com’s on-line discussion forums were flooded with messages about the pope Saturday, no messages could be seen Monday.
From IFEX weekly newsletter
Freedom House has released its annual survey of the world’s most repressive regimes, highlighting human rights conditions in 18 countries worldwide.
“The Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2005″ provides detailed information on human rights abuses in Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Chechnya, Tibet, and Western Sahara are included as territories under Russian, Chinese, and Moroccan jurisdictions respectively.
The IFEX member points out that six of the countries - China, Cuba, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe - are members of the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) who work to undermine the body’s effectiveness as an international human rights watchdog.
“Rather than serving as the proper international forum for identifying and publicly censuring the world’s most egregious human rights violators, the CHR instead protects abusers, enabling them to sit in judgment of democratic states that honor and respect the rule of law,” says Freedom House.
Freedom House’s report has been submitted to the CHR in Geneva, where the body is holding its annual session this month.
The report is available here: Link
From IFEX weekly newsletter:
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) has expressed serious concern over the safety of senior members of Journaliste en danger (JED) following death threats directed against the press freedom organisation.
RSF is calling on President Joseph Kabila to take measures to protect JED, saying the organisation plays a crucial monitoring role in the run-up to the June 2005 elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
On 4 April, JED received an email addressed to its secretary general Tshivis Tshivuadi, which accused him and JED president Donat M’Baya Tshimanga of “betraying the nation with … campaigns of lies.”
Signed by “Commander Mbonge Munene” (meaning “Violent Wind”), the message said:
“We have been watching you for a long time in the hope that you were going to change but no, you continue to betray the fatherland. Be aware that the fatherland you are selling out will sooner or later overcome and the traitors will deserve nothing but death and the rotting of their bodies.” Tshivuadi and Tshimanga’s families were also threatened: “Your children and your grandchildren will pay for all the harm you have caused the nation.”
The death threat was sent from the address lapatrievaincra@yahoo.fr, the first part of which means “The Fatherland Will Overcome.”
Link
I guess you allready have noticed the nice design of newspaperindex.com with the stylish green/gray colorscheme. The reason why I use the Miami Lime green (or is it British Racing green?) is not just because it is cool (or was two years ago) . It it because newspaperindex is environment friendly.
Thats rigth. Everytime you use newspaperindex you are saving rainforests and the fragile arctic ecosystems by keeping the global CO2 emission down. -But how can that be? Well, newspaperindex is now solar powered!
Take a look at this picture. It is the roof of my house seen from south and notice the black area with the white spots. This is the solar panels. They should produce nearly 1.000 kWh/year - more than enough to run my server, computers and other stuff in my office.
Here you see my office. Notice the white box in the upper left corner, this is the inverter (Made by Fronius in Germany) that makes the electricity usable in a 230V environment. Below the desk are the server (this server you are accessing right now) and my computers.
As I am writing this the solar system is producing more than I can use and the counter is running backward. The rest is sold to the local electricity provider. At night or when it is cloudy I am bying it back.
If you care about the future, your kids, the planet - browse solar powered websites like newspaperindex.com!
Today I found the Brazilian newspaper Vossa Senhoria. The dimensions is 6,5cm x 5cm and the publisher says that it is a worldwide newspaper since they can deliver it by subscribtion to every country (Maybe not North Korea)
It was created in 1935 by the printing worker and self-teaching journalist Leônidas Schwindt, who saw the small size as a solution for creating a quality low-cost newspaper.
A one year subscribtion can be signed for 20 USD.
Link
