Blue Libelula

The Ukraine without a seatbelt

2010-10-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

He suddenly stopped when I flagged him down in front of the tobacco kiosk at 38 Shevchenko Avenue, just a few meters from the hotel where I had stayed, a fully renovated yet imposing building casting you back to Soviet times. I priced the trip to the airport at 150 drivnas and hopped into the taxi.

Blond, stocky and with a typical 80’s brown “bomber" jacket. In his mid-30’s, the taxi driver certainly reacted to the perception one has of the citizens of this Eastern country. Astonishingly, he contemplated me as I tried unsuccessfully to wear a seat belt in the back seat of the car. My jaw must have dropped as he mockingly said, "you're the first person to try and put that on! In Ukraine we do not need the seat belt," he jeered. The remaining 40 minutes that would take for the trip to Borispol International Airport appeared to me endless . His promise of careful driving did not add any comfort.

Although I am not one to talk to strangers, conversations with taxi drivers are frequently inevitable in almost all parts of the world. Most of them choose to liven up the trip with comments on the state of traffic, the weather, the latest outrageous comment made by a local politician or even mundane life stories.

Vasily was his name. He sparked interest in me when confessing he had been a well to do lawyer by profession. For over 10 years he had worked at an oil company whose name he would not reveal. I admitted my failure after trying several times to persuade him to drop the name with no success. In spite of having a good position, the economic crisis crippling his country cost him his job and thus forced him to spend his days behind the wheel. Instantly I recalled the nervous waiter that served me some Ukrainian dim sum the night before; the young hippie-looking lady making earrings and bracelets at the market of Andreessky passageway; the boy from whom I bought 2 boxes of cigarettes, and pondered what sort of lives they could have previously led.

In the last decade Ukraine has gone through serious political and economic chaos, the most serious since the breakup of the USSR. The citizens of this former Russian colony are fully aware that in order to overcome the crisis, the country needs to achieve political stability.

Former President Viktor Yushchenko’s victory in 2004 brought a glimmer of hope to the Ukraine and with it great expectations. Nevertheless, his Orange Revolution failed to place him not only in Ukrainian but also European history. Vassily could only express his disappointment for the broken orange promises on democracy, prosperity and stability of the pro-Western government that found itself entangled with internal bickering and disorder.

With cautious disbelief he told me about the new scenario introduced by current President Yanukovych, a leader much friendlier to Moscow and who has strengthened Ukraine’s relations with the Kremlin. In the middle of their ride he waved his arms about and complained that some of the measures the new government has taken are not seen as particularly democratic. He explicitly referred to the agreement they signed with Russia in April 2010. It extends the presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean city of Sebastopol in exchange of cheaper gas for a further 25 years.

The same disapproval was conveyed to me on this matter by several energy experts I met in Kiev during my visit. They could not help but be concerned by the political implications of this economic deal. It gives way for Russia to continue influencing the Ukraine and other EU countries, given that 80% of Russian gas to the EU is transited via Ukraine. “Let Russia join in Ukraine and the EU to reform the Ukrainian gas pipe lines” Vasily added, invading my thoughts, but “have them play the new rules of the game”. As if that would be enough to prevent Russia from wanting to seize regulation of European energy streams.

On my way to the airport I felt as though I were being chaperoned by the imposing billboards of the Ukrainian President. The constant presence of the stocky and arrogant President (a former director of USSR automotive factories) was being used to brand the campaign of the ruling Party of Regions for the upcoming local elections on October 31. I recalled the symbols of the past Soviet aesthetic, a taste for the glorification of their leader. This was not such a farfetched idea. The previous day the Ukraine's Constitutional Court decided to cancel reforms made in the 2004 Constitution, thus allowing the political system to relapse into a presidential system of power. Under this new law, it is the president, not the prime minister, who would control the executive branch of power.

As if my companion was clairvoyant, or perhaps also struck by the numerous giant placards of his President, Vasily commented that the idea of having a strong and functioning state was welcome to ordinary citizens like himself, “at least we do not foresee elections on the horizon” he giggled, indicating what he perceived as some kind of long-awaited stability. Curiously, only a few hours earlier the new amendments to the Constitution had been strongly criticised by civil associations for not seeking to balance the interest of the Ukrainian society, but rather preserving the established power.

I wandered through Kiev and observed in great detail the locals, the activity on the streets and the great contrast between luxurious Humvees and unreliable East German Trabants. It appeared clearer that civil society did not have a big impact on policy making or public opinion. Authorities seemed to be much more concentrated on their own activities, like reforming the Constitution, reinforcing the secret services or the head of state. Since some of the necessary reforms are not in line with the oligarchs’ interest, they are not expected to take place. “Given such circumstances, corruption, one of Ukraine´s largest problems, has total freedom” I said to myself.

Ukraine stood before me as a country in need of greater exterior support and signals that the old times were gone and authoritarianism was no longer accepted. Although EU officials believe it is too early to judge whether Ukraine should join the EU or not, they do praise the country’s domestic reforms, which are indeed at the core of the EU’s agenda. On the other hand, some Ukrainian diplomats admit that had Ukraine witnessed more signs of commitment towards a potential EU membership, it would have been easier to trigger its citizen’s mobilisation for the needed reforms.

The Ukraine had amazed me from the very first time I set foot on its soil. Though determined to continue its good economic relations with Russia, the authorities no longer want to perceive the dilemma as east vs west. They claim the Ukraine has a European identity and argue that the EU is unwilling to acknowledge this.

Europeans, yes. But how informed is the Ukrainian society on the EU? I was eager to find out. It did not take me long to notice what I had already suspected and Vasily would later corroborate: the Ukraine’s public perception of the EU is not very strong. According to official sources in Kiev, 2 out of 3 Ukrainians would like their country to take steps forward towards EU integration. But does this imply a good understanding of what the EU entails? Not necessarily, as I could see for myself.

Two hours from Kiev and accompanied by a group of colleagues from different European countries, I had been greeted by local residents in the rural communities of Zhovtneve. A choir of children lined up at the entrance of the school, dressed in what appeared to be outfits they reserve for special occasions or traditional celebrations. They were singing and waving hand-made European Union flags. Amongst what the visiting journalists considered to be an unnecessary fuss ornamented with well-rehearsed speeches was a big loaf of bread offered to us as a present. I witnessed how the EU funding had helped this community to install double glazed windows in its school, thus protecting the young pupils from the outside elements during winter. However, when asked what they knew about the EU, the school children responded very vaguely under the watchful eye of their teacher, ever determined to give the politically correct answer on their behalf.

I was given a similar impression by youths amongst dazzling lights adorning the night in central Kiev. Their awareness of the EU did not go beyond the concept of it simply becoming an economic protector, which they hoped to be much closer to one day. Vasily went straight to the point when he stated “for us the EU is seen as an attractive and rich entity”. The EU has invested some 20 billion dollars in the Ukraine to promote the much needed political and economic reforms. But in the opinion of some of the Ukraine’s experts and representatives of the European Business Association in Kiev, a large part of this money has been wasted and has not reached the goals it aimed. Whereas in rural communities the outcome of the EU help is quite visible, the large scale changes remain to be accomplished.

The lack of a deep knowledge on the EU came to me as no surprise, as only 14% of the Ukrainian population has travelled to any of the EU27, hence having a very low exposure to it. Several factors explain this low figure, amongst the most important is the geographical distance, the low and poor availability of transport and last, but not least, the VISA regime. The VISA liberalisation remains a huge demand from the Ukrainian government. If there is one matter Ukrainian NGO’s and officials could agree on, it is their criticism of the humiliating procedures citizens have to go through in order to obtain a VISA. “Where are the European principles of the old Europe when it comes to this issue?” Vasily asked me begrudgingly. I failed to find the proper answer.

He was of the opinion that the Ukraine’s public perception on the EU would increase if the free VISA liberalisation took place. “We would need a sign from the EU that you want us”, he roundly affirmed. Both Vasily and EU officials in Kiev acknowledge that his country would have to meet certain criteria and solve some issues, such as the total control of its own borders, issues concerning data protection and human trafficking. These are crucial factors that could jeopardise any attempt of moving forward in this matter. This will be one of the focal points of the EU-Ukraine summit on November 22nd.

Before I realised it they had arrived at their destination. By this point I was already convinced of the priceless value this lawyer cum taxi driver’s outlook had demonstrated. Because of this I would be able to grasp a more realistic image of the country I was about to leave. I gladly gave Vasily 200 drivnas regardless of the 150 we had agreed upon when setting off.

Although short, on the way to the terminal I had to make great efforts to dodge through dozens of people who cluttered the entrance with all kinds of makeshift suitcases. In the midst of this crowd a curious thought penetrated my mind: if many decades ago time dragged on as a witness, nowadays planes rob from us the time we would need to better comprehend the new reality we are about to embark upon.

La voz en segundo plano

2010-08-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Desprende entusiasmo y optimismo. Durante más de una
década, el público le oía hablar a ella y veía a Javier Solana.
Así rememora Cristina Gallach su trabajo como portavoz
del entonces jefe de la diplomacia europea y cómo este
tándem logró una buena visibilidad para divulgar la UE.
Hoy en día, la voz de la Presidencia española de turno en
Bruselas continúa siendo solicitada por colegas, diplomáticos
y periodistas que desean entender mejor el día a día de la
compleja política exterior europea.

En su despacho de la sede del Consejo destaca un mapamundi
editado en la antigua URSS, recuerdo de su estancia como
corresponsal de EFE en Moscú. Gallach dirige la mirada en
varias ocasiones a las fronteras de este atlas mientras habla de
cómo el factor estabilizador de la UE ha contribuido a la paz
y al acercamiento entre distintos pueblos.

Lo expresivo de sus manos y el entusiasmo de su conversación
me descubren a una divulgadora nata, a una periodista entregada,
locuaz y apasionada. «Su fascinación por entender lo que pasa
en el mundo y por interactuar con la gente hacen que adore su
trabajo», me comenta el ex corresponsal de AP Paul Ames.

Su convicción en la tarea de comunicar algunas de las crisis
que la UE ha gestionado le llevan a relatarme con emoción
viajes y experiencias vividas. Especial recuerdo guarda de
un comunicado de prensa que escribió mientras era portavoz
de Solana y que fue leído públicamente entre los aplausos
de una multitud congregada en una plaza del Este de
Europa. Todo ello fue el resultado de «la fuerza del trabajo
colectivo de la UE», apunta.

Una continua curiosidad y el deseo de contribuir a cambiar
las cosas son los principios que la han conducido desde
que comenzara a escribir en el periódico regional El 9 Nou
hasta su actual trabajo desde el despacho de Justus Lipsius.
Una carrera periodística de la que la Asociación de
Periodistas Europeos de Cataluña, con su vocación
formativa, también se siente partícipe.

Dos décadas tras su llegada a Bruselas se acuerda con
emoción del ambiente periodístico y de «generosidad
competitiva» que había entre los colegas y que aún hoy
percibe. Favorece el relato de estas vivencias la presencia
de su colega Maria Laura Franciosi, corresponsal de ANSA
en aquel entonces, con la que tiene una gran complicidad.

No sabe con certeza lo que hará cuando finalicen estos
seis meses. Desea, sin embargo, una transición serena y
pausada que le permita pasar más tiempo con sus dos hijos,
quienes cuando suena el móvil de trabajo de su madre una
tarde de domingo suelen preguntarle «¿Otra vez, mamá?».

At 20minutos.es, portadistas play central role in merged newsroom

2010-08-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

As editors in chiefs across Europe work to establish and maintain coexistence of digital and printing media staff, many are moving toward an ‘integrated newsroom’, a label fast approaching buzzword status.

The modus operandi of newspaper newsrooms of decades past has overturned.

Deadline structures, strict patterns of editorial oversight and the primary medium of delivery have been supplanted with continuous news creation, shifted in editorial revision processes and multimedia distribution.

This is old news; media outlets across the European Union are absorbed in making these changes. As they should be. The survival of newspaper newsrooms hangs on how they manage to evolve now.

Change management
Newspapers have opened themselves to broader audiences by way of embedding blogs and publishing online video. As such content delivery strategies have been adopted and the rhythm of information accelerated, newsrooms have had to acclimatise. One of the paths taken is the integration of online and paper newsrooms.

To establish presence and credibility among readers (and cost-conscious publishers), online newsrooms may have over the past decade operated autonomously. In the past three or four years, though, recognition that staff for online and paper platforms can and should operate together is prompting separated teams to become one unified news organisation.

Such a merger must not be labelled as “integration,” though, seen as simple architectural rearrangement of two different stories into one. This concept goes further and refers to the new dynamics of work and cooperation between journalists sharing a common space.

en Español
English-language dailies like The Guardian or The New York Times may have gone first, but major Spanish journals both in Latin America and Spain have followed suit.

The importance of this shift was cleverly spotted by the Argentinian journalist Alvaro Liuzzi. His interest in the subject triggered his Documental Multimedia de Redacciones online (Multimedia Documentary about Online Newsrooms). Alvaro collects interviews conducted in various digital newsrooms of Spanish and Argentinian papers in order to show what such merger entails. He concludes that each media outlet has to find its own logic and its own way of working. He suggests that “the most intelligent decision is to look inwards and evaluate internally the consequences that a process of that magnitude will have for each newspaper newsroom.”

20minutos, success story
In Spain the pioneer in making this shift was the free daily 20minutos (20 Minutes).

Three years after initiating the print and online integration process “it has successfully managed to find an optimum point that allows them to have two quality products without duplicating efforts,” Virginia Alonso, deputy editor-in-chief at 20minutos.es., told the EJC.

Although paper and web editors at 20minutes share the same physical space and are constantly aware of the work their peers do, each writes for their own platform. The major task of coordination “is shared by the editors-in-chief of both print and online media, who also decide in case of overlapping,” Alonso said.

And while the paper and web teams work to different rhythms, planning of major issues “is also made jointly by both newsrooms.”

New newsrooms new roles
The digital information boom is not only changing the way newsrooms operate but also ushering in new roles for journalists in news organisations.

At 20minutos.es, the “portadista” (Portada is Spanish for homepage) is a journalist who permanently controls and monitors the long home page of the site and to track the most popular stories.

“Our cover is enormously complex,” Alonso said. Not only for its length, but because it combines political and economic information with entertainment. Striking a balance without falling into frivolity or bad taste requires much expertise.

“That is why it has become one of the most important figures of 20minutos.es,” she said. Because the task of a portadista is an exhausting one, editors change out the people in charge every 15 days.

All willing for the change?
The perils of bringing together print and online newsrooms relate to how the integration itself is handled. Liuzzi gets it right when he states that “we should not fall into the typical differentiation of the journalist by the carrier they use.”
The aim is sort out how to do good news coverage and storytelling regardless of support level given. By the same token, Alonso remarked, it is of utmost importance for paper and online journalists “to know the needs and the rhythms of both media.”
This promotes empathy and mutual understanding. On the other hand, she also believes that the editors “should be experts on the media they work for.”
Achieving these tenets might have been the key to success in the internal merging at 20minutos.

Never finished
Deadlines have taken a new meaning in merged newsrooms.

They have ceased to be the final moment in which a piece can be submitted, to become the final point at which a piece can be changed, thanks to the capability to constantly put information online.

The end result here can be an increased workload for journalists. It is hard to imagine a traditional, high-profile journalist accepting this reality in willing fashion.

This breed of traditional journalist is less likely to dive into Internet publishing, because online information is still deemed in some cases to be of lower importance or quality. It is more difficult to move these classical reporters to an area where they work mainly for the Internet, as such a jump also requires willingness to change and the adoption of new knowledge.

This knowledge is difficult to internalise and apply without initial acceptance of and appreciation for information flow online. 

EU presidency no help to image of Spanish Prime Minister

2010-02-18T01:04:00.000-08:00

Recent weeks could be deemed as the most difficult for the Spanish Prime Minister since he began his second term nearly two years ago. With internal public support waning as the economic recession deepens and the Spanish EU presidency withering, the socialist premier is in an unprecedented time of crisis.

On 20 January, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appeared confident and at ease at his debut presentation at the European Parliament. With a broad social pact to boost the economic growth and an enthusiastic call for the electric car, his speech was well-received by his European peers. Further, Commission president José Manuel Barroso strongly endorsed his policy guidelines.

Back in Spain, the knives seemed to remain sheathed. The ruling opposition party, PP, following the agreement on the Spanish EU rotating presidency signed with the governing party PSOE, did not criticise the main points of the Spanish premier´s six-month agenda.

But Davos became a turning point for what Spanish and international deemed as unprecedented crisis for Zapatero.

“The World Economic Forum (WEF) has come to show that when it comes to institutional communication, the Spanish EU´s rotating presidency is still very green,” a Spanish journalist based in Brussels said.

In these kinds of summits, special guests, among them the Spanish prime minister at the helm of the EU, are typically treated in an extremely distinguished manner. So, picture this if you will: Zapatero seated during a panel discussion between the Latvian President and the Greek Prime Minister, (the weakest European players at the moment) and the Central Bank President, Jean-Claude Trichet.

Some Spanish voices, like the centre-right newspaper El Mundo, seized the opportunity to portray Zapatero as one of three failing students called upon to explain himself to the headmaster. The Spanish EU presidency should have presented Zapatero in a more attractive way.

Troubled time at home

At his return from the Swiss resort, Zapatero announced an increase in the retirement age from 65 to 67. This new measure prompted strong opposition among the public, counterparts in Zapatero’s own socialist party and the Spanish trade unions. The latter group planned demonstrations for the last week of February against this proposal.

So far the Spanish government has avoided clashes with trade unionists, so reforms of the rigid Spanish labour market have not taken place. Despite recent polls situating Zapatero for the first time beneath Mariano Rajoy, the leader of PP, it is time for the Spanish Prime Minister to present a reshape of pensions and labour law. It may not be an instantly popular move, but well explained, it would be understood in the long term.

Mistrust in Europe

After a week of downward trends in the Spanish stock market and remarks made by Spain’s outgoing commissioner for economic affairs, Joaquín Almunia, who compared Spain to Greece, a great consternation has spread around Europe.

Therefore the Spanish government has begun a crusade in London to clean Spain’s image and rekindle investments in Spain.

Confronted with this scenario there is no wonder that several European voices were raised arguing Zapatero might not be in the best position to set binding economic goals and call for corrective measures in those countries not compelling them. But let’s not be too unfair.

By the same token, would the United Kingdom’s premier be more entitled than Zapatero to talk about financial services when practically the whole of its banking system has been nationalised? Not to mention the fact that the Spanish entity Santander is fast to become the leading bank in the UK.

Since the ideological and methodological fundamentals of European policy are designed by the European Commission, let Zapatero be judged on his role at the helm of the EU and not just on his performance as the prime minister of a country in economic disarray.

Bad time to hold a rotatory presidency

The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the decision of President Barack Obama not to travel to Spain for a summit with EU heads of state pencilled for May has created a juncture where “one positive economic figure is followed by two or three negatives ones,” according to a high-profile member of the European Commission. Everything seems to have come together in an unfortunate way for Zapatero, as if to test the success of the six-month rotating presidency.

Another deciding factor in Zapatero´s role in the European arena are the UK general elections next spring. The British Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, will not make it any easier for the Spanish premier if, as it is likely to be, he becomes the next British Prime Minister. Zapatero is aware that some of the policies toward an integrated Europe, such as the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European citizen´s initiative or the reform of the financial supervision, should be in place before Cameron takes office.

At the end of the day….is it really worth it?

The so far non-outstanding EU rotating presidency with only but a few minutes of glory for Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero may no longer compensate the risk of a crash, both at an internal and at an European level.

The Spanish government is conscious that its EU presidency won’t bring any benefits to Zapatero’s popularity on the national sphere. The semester has just begun and the Spanish public seems only to receive an echo of criticism from the international and home media.

According to a poll published by the Spanish left-wing daily El País , 77 percent of Spaniards call themselves sceptical about the benefits of Spain’s EU presidency.

If this lack of sparkle repeats itself and future EU rotating presidencies go unnoticed, it may not take too long for European members to dispel them.

In Haiti, social networking ecosystem links victims, reporters and aid agencies

2010-02-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

Even as an earthquake shook the Caribbean nation of Haiti and levelled its capital, bridges were being built.

Social networks enabled by the Internet connected on-the-ground reporting efforts and authentic voices of the Haitian people with an active local and international audience, enabling people around the world to contribute to rescue, relief and recovery efforts in a horizontal fashion.

This ecosystem proves that the use of social networking tools, added to the traditional toolbox utilised by reporters, can facilitate a bridge between news media audiences and people impacted by tragic circumstances like earthquake, war or tsunami.

For people on the ground, social media networks provide a way to connect with emergency workers who are trying to provide aid and resources where most needed. Online social networks can also lead impacted citizens to news reporters or bloggers with established audiences looking to add authentic voices to their coverage (and vice versa).

Giving the inhabitants of Haiti access to social network communication utilities cannot but help them to help themselves. Further, participative citizens at a time of deep public concern and trouble.

Thanks to both SMS and the Internet, platforms like Twitter, Facebook and the crisis-mapping group Ushahidi (“testimony” in Swahili) have been flooded with practical information about logistics and requests for help. Ushahidi in particular is transforming the way aid agencies conceive sharing and responding to information about urgent needs in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake, defends Ms Waugaman.

Providing people with a public voice is also a good example of how established media outlets can indeed bridge the gap between the public and news-gathering — as long as principles of truth and accuracy always remain present.

Social media background

Social networking has spent recent years migrating outside high-tech business arenas like Silicon Valley to reach the mainstream. The 2010 World Economic Forum in Davos included a discussion on the growth of social networks, among a number of other technology focused panels.

Social networks are two-way communication channels that enable us to do what we have always done: communicating, connecting and building relationships. The growing influence of these web tools, though, has raised numerous discussions about its leveraged implications for individuals and society.

The role played by the new social networking in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti brings to the table another major issue: the importance of SMS and social networks in crisis coverage.

A new way for eyewitness reporting

Some of the first footage illustrating the wake of the earthquake in Haiti did not come from big news organisations or TV broadcasters, but from civilians on the ground capturing video with mobile phones.

With the collapse of the traditional channels and the landlines of the country badly damaged, social networks accessible via SMS soon became the primary means for reporters and aid workers trying to keep the information flowing between Haitians and the rest of the world.

A few years ago this new way of keeping citizens informed about natural disasters would have been unthinkable. Development of technology has made it possible, as has fast adaptation by people in the less developed areas of the world.

The same platforms are valuable tools for tools for reporters to describe what they witness instantly and in real time. Nevertheless some media professionals had not even embraced them before getting to Haiti.

“I had a hunch that it could be a powerful reporting tool but I’d never really tested it out,” said Guardian correspondent Ed Pilkington, who was reporting from Port-au-Prince in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Facebook and Twitter appear to be custom-made for journalists reporting live during a rescue operation or a drive around the scene of a disaster in the back of a pick-up truck. In comparison to traditional reporting, in which most of the information does not see the light of day and ends up confined to a journalist’s notepad.

“Twitter unleashed all and put it out there as I was seeing it,” Pilkington said.

“It allows you to do the immediate description, the instant thought, the undigested gut reaction to awful sights that were in front of me.”

Social networking sites can work side-by-side with traditional storytelling methods, the British journalist said, saying he would “vote for them as a tandem” and not as competitors.

Aid agencies: New role

Aid agencies cannot fail to take advantage of the power of these new tools.

Adele Waugaman, head of the UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, believes “aid agencies should also participate with a different approach and help to redefine what could be the use of technology in a disaster.”

Instances in which crowd-sourced information has become an excellent means of organising a good response to a humanitarian emergency have already been identified in the report, New Technologies in Emergencies & Conflicts compiled by the UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership.

Use of innovative tools for one-to-many communications are crucial for response and delivery of practical and useful information during a crisis.

“It used to be that information-sharing in disasters was largely looked at as a one-way information transfer from relief groups to affected communities,” says Waugaman said.

“Increasingly, through, technologies that allow for crowd-sourced information, affected communities themselves are becoming a critical source of information in disaster response.”

However providing people with these tools and co-ordinating their use in effected areas should lead to a change in the structure and the way relief and aid organisations have traditionally operated and.

“The World Food Programme’s Global Partnership for Emergency Communications with the Vodafone Foundation and the United Nations Foundation is providing specialised training that specifically addresses the unique needs of information and communication technologies ‘first responders,’” Waugaman said.

Trust in social networking

Information is valuable only if it can be trusted.

For Adele Waugaman, verification of crowd-sourced data “remains a challenge to bringing this kind of innovation to scale.”

What needs to be clarified in the future is how to overcome the risks that accompany amplification of real time, unfiltered information. As a proof of what this challenge represents CNN, which seems to be the media organisation with the most material on the disaster, published a mashup of crowd-sourced of information making clear that CNN has not been able to verify it.

Ushahidi could be a good example to follow. Its founders are working to develop a service called SwiftRiverthat validates crowded-source information surrounding a crisis, be it press releases from aid agencies or tweets of ordinary people.

Social networking spaces are so powerful when it comes to sharing immediate information that journalists may become part of the story they are telling. This fact definitely triggers a riveting debate in which the interests of news organisations could clash with moral issues: Should journalists deployed to the scenario follow their human ethics or pursue their media objectives in search of the most impacting story?

During the Haiti aftermath it was quite amazing to witness media professionals had been acting as an intermediary for aid workers and impacted locals pleading for help through Twitter or SMS.

For as much as the chroniclers would have liked to have grabbed hold of their notebooks or cameras they could not avoid being active participants helping among all the debris. Nothing short of a natural human instinct.

Not to be forgotten

While the earthquake’s impact in Haiti is one of the most widely told stories in the world at the moment, it is just a matter of time until interest wanes and disaster footage is shelved in the archives section.

The number of journalists and reporters deployed to the damaged country is already scaling down. Soon only major news agencies will provide the day-to-day information from the struggling Caribbean state.

As repeatedly announced by world leaders and international organizations, what really matters are long-term consequences. Its is not an exaggeration to state that Haiti will have to wait at least 10 years to announce its recovery. Who will talk in the future about the reconstruction of Haitian public institutions? How about the needs of hundred of thousands of people expected to be relocated to rural areas?

As it all unfolds, social media led by SMS and Internet can play a crucial role

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: AN EXAMPLE OF MEDIA DIPLOMACY IN A BROADCASTING 2.0 ERA

2010-01-22T02:06:00.000-08:00

International broadcasting and new media technologies have always played a key role in the public democracy and the development of events around the globe. Thus, the Cold War led to an increasing international broadcasting system, as both communist and non-communist states attempted to influence each other's domestic population.

More recently, the standards set by CNN in 1991 for the Gulf War television reporting with its global news-flow and its live coverage triggered a booming “fight” between major broadcasting companies to take over the flow of worldwide events, furthermore during times of conflict.

This prevailing one-way (North to South) model of information and the exposure to the main English-language TV channels dominating the international broadcasting system has resulted not only in a poor cross-cultural communication, but also in the creation of hard-line cultural and social stereotypes about the commonly referred to “the others”.

At the same time, how to bridge the existing gap between news-gathering and the audience has also become a main issue in the era of the so called “citizen journalism”. If this breakthrough happens to provide a new direction in the global discourse through the new media platforms, we will be in front of a riveting test case.

Al Jazeera English (AJE) represents this challenge.

“Giving voice to the voiceless” through media diplomacy
“Giving voice to the voiceless” reflects AJE's news agenda. This motto is also part of a large criticism aimed towards western news organizations and the North to South direction they have approached the news-gathering in the 20th century.

AJE´s reporting follows the principle that it is time for there to be a media fostering the cross-culture dialogue, for Africans to speak in Asia, for Arabs to talk to the west and for Asians to communicate with Africans. This represents a new dimension of global media and a challenge to the way news worldwide organizations have been addressing their information.

AJE has filled a gap becoming a vehicle for public and cultural diplomacy, offering other nations-states to project their voice, their policies and their representations of events in the global sphere, or shall we say “Anglo-sphere”.

Since the broadcast language is English, AJE has also allowed migrants, who find it hard to maintain the mother tongue after a few generations, to create a sense of nationhood in the distance.

At the same time, there is also a diplomatic aspect in it. The launch of Al Jazeera Arabic (AJA) in 1996, funded by a Qatari emir, put this small country on the map and part of the credibility it has as a regional diplomatic leader comes from the visibility AJA provides it with. In the same way, AJE could be argued as trying to reach the same objective on a global scale. Let's take as an example its apply for an Olympic bid in 2020 or to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

This demonstrates a more ambitious international agenda portraying the image of a country can come alongside a big investment in the news sector.

Bridging the gap between audience and news-gathering
Reporting is getting tougher and more dangerous, especially during a conflict or in a war zone. However it has been in the last decade when the media attention on this issue has seriously increased.

Coming up with a good story does not only depend on the professional skills of the reporter. It should not be very surprising to see how the traditional journalists are embracing potential citizen journalists to avoid censorship, intimidation or the restrictions imposed by the authorities of the country they are reporting from.

Hence when the pressure on professional reporters becomes so hard to deal with, there is an important role for public participation. Although difficult and complicated in many cases, relying on normal citizens has become the only way of getting around the lack of sources. As long as the broadcaster is completely transparent about where the material comes from we should not see any problem with it.

To make the audience participate actively in the communication process made its first appearance on AJA´s stage early on in 1996. At that time they launched the first political newsroom allowing an audience from the Arab world to call and present the Prime Minister of an Arabian country with questions.

This mentality has been in AJA programming since then and has also been featured in AJE. The embracement of this new trend should be deemed as a great chance to foster public interactivity between the audience and its politicians. However we are dealing with societies whose sense of political government is not exactly shared by the west and that have indeed turned democracy into a dynastic or monarchic regime, which in most of cases is handed down. Therefore this new trend of telling the news might not be a genuine attempt to get citizens to contribute to the news as much as it could be a way to make their “popularity” grow.

The Gaza conflict: The beginning of Broadcasting 2.0
The Gaza conflict was a turning point for AJE since they felt it could be their “cold war”. This is an analogy used to explain how CNN capitalized in 1991 the Golf War to become a global network among the eyes of everyone else.

During the Gaza squabble AJE has come to show how empowering a channel´s participatory culture will become a big challenge for news organizations in the future and how crucial is the role of multimedia.

AJE was one of the very few western English news speaking organizations to have their journalists and cameras rolling round the clock inside Gaza. In terms of credibility, it was also the moment when the American audience tuned into this channel, with an audience increase of over 600%. Whether this big jump will result in a consistent and loyal audience in the future, it is yet to be revealed.

Never before have citizens in Palestine and Gaza been so involved in the communication process like they have been in this conflict. AJE actively asked them to contribute to the news-gathering using their mobile phones, their Flip cameras, internet or twitter to integrate them into the mainstream reporting on the issue.

Events in Gaza were also the starting point for AJ Network to make some of its Arabic and English quality video footage freely available online for sharing and reuse by viewers and TV stations across the world.
The film clips were licensed under Creative Commons, the non-profit sharing system designed to protect creators' work online, and posted for use on the Al Jazeera Creative Commons Repository site.
It was the very first time a broadcaster news network had ever released quality video under a very permissive licence. Since AJE was one of the few news channel in Gaza with English speaking journalists capturing all that was going on, they could have made some profit of it selling it to other news organizations. However, they made a profound statement where the market rules took a second place and the importance of information prevailed.

AJE´s new blogging network is another step that demonstrates this news channel has come further. Written by an extensive network of correspondents The Al Jazeera Blogs provide real information also licensed under one of Creative Common´s licences. This strong emphasis on field journalism cannot but provide the reader with a real sense of insight and in depth coverage.
These are only but a few pushes to make their content more accessible and to get it out there through all existing channels. Without any kind of doubt, these are important steps that could be drawn by future broadcasting networks.

Leaps and Bounds
AJE has come on leaps and bounds since it first started.
Thanks to an ambitious online strategy, it has won over new audiences in America and elsewhere. Despite the post-9/11 criticism AJA received for showing al Qaeda videos and the Bush administration’s calling in the early days of the “War On Terror”, the use of multimedia is convincing more people, although slowly, that it is a credible news organization.
The Gaza conflict showed how new technology can be deployed to inform with the participation of the public, but why were they not so interactive during the elections in Iran or in Egypt? These questions should be better answered before we can celebrate completely the organization news media effort.
For this reason, this author considers too risky to make the statement that AJE is all about distribution, although it cannot be argued whoever wants to reach them can do it indeed.
Whether it will beat in the future consolidated international TV channels like CNN or BBC World is yet to be seen. Nevertheless their statement that news matters everywhere, not only in the Anglo-sphere, it could not have been a better way to kick off.

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Google searches for balance in China

2010-01-21T01:49:00.000-08:00

Google was never able to overcome Baidu to take the lead in the search engine realm in China. The American giant has been unable to significantly increase its profit margins as a result of expanding into the People’s Republic of China. But its likely retreat from China

may help the Internet giant regain some credibility lost among Western users unhappy about Google’s compliance with Chinese censorship. Does this withdrawal, though, leave Chinese human rights activists in the lurch?

Isaac Mao was proud when he created his first blog post six years ago. “From tonight I am stepping out into the blogosphere,” announced China’s first blogger in August, 2002. Certainly it must have been a real challenge for a Chinese citizen to swim against mainstream local sentiment and start to blog.

It was not long until Chinese authorities censored Mao’s blog. He posted an article explaining the Chinese censorship system, also know as “Great Firewall.” Concerned about a lack of freedom of speech, Isaac wrote an open letter on his blog to the founders of Google. He argued that the giant search engine was making compromises to censorship by filtering content considered sensitive or immoral from search results. In some cases, Google removed some people’s names from its index database.

Mao saw it coming. Nearly three years after his imploring missive, Google has threatened to pull out of China in protest of government censorship. On 12 January, Google announced that it will stop censoring search results on its Chinese site, Google.cn, thus violating Chinese law in response to what the company calls “highly sophisticated” hacking of its website from within China and compromised access of the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and other nationalities.

No longer, it says, will Google censor web pages deemed by the Chinese authorities to be injurious to the Chinese state.

... the Chinese market is only 1 percent of Google’s $4.8bn annual net profit. ...

By departing from China, Google may have gained integrity and honour as an international brand. But, at the end of the day, is there so much to lose in China?

Figures say it all

Google launched google.cn in 2006. As required by the Chinese government, it agreed to censor some search results - such as information about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests or Tibetan independence, among other topics.

China has more Internet users than any other country in the world. For an international and rapidly growing Internet company like Google, China is a perfect market. At the end of 2009, China’s Internet users totalled 384 million, equivalent to one third of its population of 1.3 billion people. At that time, other Western search companies were already operating there, a sign China was a market no multinational company could afford to miss.

But does moving into China betray Google’s company motto: “Don’t be evil.”? Google described its decision to enter China as a way to improve the access to information, although censored. Google said it sought to provide a fast search engine to the Chinese people, and to promote civil liberties. But four years of self-censorship is a long time for any kind of justification.

Before it declaring “game over” in the Chinese online search battle it is worth noting the US company is only second to Baidu, its largest rival in China, and shares a third of the Chinese

market. An amusing example illustrating Baidu´s popularity is the fact the term “Baidu” is the most searched word among Google users in mainland China.

With very little recognition outside its borders, the Chinese brand has a great presence in its own country; its market share is almost 60 percent. If Google pulls out from the Chinese search space, Baidu’s share will increase substantially.

Figures don’t lie; it’s important to note that the Chinese market is only 1 percent of Google’s $4.8bn annual net profit. Most financial analysts agree that Google’s decision will only have little short-term impact on the company’s financial condition.

Google might not be withdrawing if it wasn’t losing ground. Just a few foreign companies could dream of having 30 percent of any Chinese market. Yahoo! has less than 10 percent; Microsoft owns only a tiny market share. Google used to taking a much higher portion of local markets. Nevertheless, Google’s decision to leave China may reveal a realisation that Google can’t beat Baidu, which has close ties with the government.

Google is not a charity. A for-profit company, it is in China to make money. If the international search engine had only stood for ethical and humanitarians values, it would not have entered the Chinese market in the first place. Google’s “no evil” policy is one to respect and admire. However, why did it not stick to this mantra from the beginning?

Too naïve…

When considering the politics of the largest public company in the US, which operates on a massive scale online, it must be noted that sometimes Google must put its principles aside to please the governments with which it does business. Nevertheless, did Google really think it could stay away from Chinese censorship and still do business? Was it not clear to Google that few, if any, companies can successfully challenge the Chinese government?

Google may have thought it could do good while making a profit in China without having to battle with Chinese authorities. Didn’t they foresee entering the Chinese market as a venture that involves compromising on specific political and economic conditions?

These problems are endemic to doing business in China; companies should be wary. Google´s management team is surely aware of China’s supreme geopolitical importance. Recent events paint Google as an organisation that does not handle politics as well as it develops technology.

Will China be provoked by Google’s retreat?

Google fans have applauded its threats to leave China. Many see this attempt as a way to engage in a constructive defence of human rights. Nevertheless, China does not seem to be fazed despite the hacking accusations.

It is very unlikely Google can provoke China by refusing to censor its search results.

Google has already stated that it will hold talks with the government in the following weeks to renegotiate their agreement and to examine the possibility of operating an uncensored search engine within the Chinese law. Even if China was willing to accept Google’s terms, which does not seem to be the case, it is very uncertain as to whether the Chinese government will allows a Western company to change their policies. Chinese authority was already echoed last summer when it decided to block citizens from accessing foreign web services like Facebook and Twitter after riots in its western province of Xinjiang.

Still, Google’s gesture does not give many options to the Chinese authorities beyond shutting down its operations.

At the end of the day…..a clever decision

With this gesture Google has drawn a line in the sand. It is difficult to foresee a different ending than Google retiring from China. If it does not pull out now and stick to its principles, Google now risks humiliation. If a company cannot prevent its customers from falling victim to hackers, pulling out might be the only way to restore consumer confidence.

So far, Google’s presence in China has not motivated openness or raised any kind of pressure on the Chinese government to reduce the degree of control and censorship. Furthermore, Google’s “stand” for human rights could in fact give it more credibility.

Google’s gesture has shown, unlike most blue-chip companies, it does business in a different way. Until now, no other multinationals have waged war against the giant Asian power. However one cannot help but wonder whether Google’s management team would still agree to leave China if it had taken 70 or 80 percent of China’s search market.

Most unsettling is not Google or the effects that its retreat from the Chinese market will have on its future expanding business. The big debate here is China’s imposing manners and its unilateral policy and conditions towards other countries. That is the real concern.

The EU journalist’s guide to the Spanish presidency

2010-01-10T05:56:00.000-08:00

The first six months of 2010 will show whether the affable and modern 49-year-old Spanish socialist and non-nationalist President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero can hold his own in a wresting match with the serene and very religious 63-year-old Belgian conservative and nationalist Herman Van Rompuy within a new European architecture in which the chain of command seems quite obscure.

Although the presence of a fulltime president of the European Council will diminish the stature of the rotating Council of the European Union presidency, the Spanish EU’s chairmanship will certainly set precedents when it comes to the Lisbon Treaty implementation.

The priorities for the Spanish EU chairmanship, rather than trying to set up too many undefined goals, should initially focus on the specific task of bringing into operation the new EU political architecture and fostering a new political system. The kickoff of the Lisbon Treaty will be a challenging objective in light of the period of institutional instability the EU has just left behind. If the Spanish presidency manages to do that, it will have already taken a big step forward.

Peers, not rivals

A main uncertainty about the Lisbon Treaty is how the six-month rotating presidencies, in this case the Spanish one, will work alongside the permanent president of the European Council.

The EU has an undefined hierarchy, which will only lead to domain confrontations. Therefore the Spanish transition presidency will have to face the challenge of setting up the terms for how successive countries manage the relationship between national leaders and the permanent EU president.

Some skeptical voices suggest plenty of hustle will be needed to determine the role and relation between Zapatero and the Belgian Van Rompuy. Could they be wrong?

The new EU president, Herman Van Rompuy, is not the celebrity politician many would have wanted. In fact, his nomination has been seen as a reflection of limited EU ambitions. Prime Minister of Belgium by coincidence, Van Rompuy, a

master used to making consensus, will not have a personal or a political interest in having President Zapatero as a rival. The Spanish president himself is known for his open-mindedness, fairness and tolerance. President Zapatero is aware political ideology does not play a crucial role at a European level, (he was one of the first European leaders to support Barroso´s candidacy to chair the European Commission). Hence Zapatero’s belief in European integration will prevail over his political manner of thinking, as a Spanish correspondent in Brussels has commented. For all these reasons, these political figures should fit together well.

Economic challenges: national and EU interest to clash?

Another challenge for the Spanish presidency will be to fight the financial and economic crisis. Recovering from the crisis and the creation of jobs remains at the top of the Spanish agenda.

Recently published figures reveal the cost of the Spanish EU presidency will be around 55m euro, a third of what was spent on the French chairmanship. Certainly good news for the Spanish public.

Spain had one of the fastest-growing economies of the past few years, which made the impact of the economic crisis much more significant than in any other country in the EU. The latest official figures reveal that Spain’s unemployment rate has reached 19.3 percent, which translates into 3.9 million people in between work. This is second only to Latvia, where unemployment stands at 20.9 percent. However, taking into consideration Latvia’s population of about 2.3 million inhabitants, Spain is by far the European country with the highest amount of unemployed people. These figures represent more than double the 9.2 percent rate for the EU as a whole.

Bearing that in mind, Zapatero will have to be able to act on an EU and a national level at the same time — without causing any distortion in the European sphere. In times of economic turmoil, European integration has been threatened by protectionism and nationalism. The principle of free movement of goods and workers was challenged a few months ago by British workers striking against Italian staff hired at the Lindey refinery. In Spain itself, the minister for industry, Miguel Sebastian, urged people last January to buy Spanish products to avoid the loss of some 120,000 jobs.

In addition, during the Spanish presidency the European Council will have to make a decision on the successor of the so-called Lisbon Strategy. Launched in 2000, it aimed at making the EU the most competitive economy in the world and achieving full employment by 2010. It can be now stated without any fear the Lisbon Strategy has not fulfilled its goals. For that reason the Spanish presidency’s efforts to foster and encourage a post-Lisbon agenda are essential.

President Zapatero will have to work toward the new EU 2020 deal expected to be adopted in March, 2010. This new strategy should trigger a full EU recovery from the current economic crisis and boost a smarter and greener economy based on innovation. The new agreement would probably be in tune with the new Spanish Sustainable Economy Law, one mainly pointed to the promotion of renewable energy, quality education, reform of the financial system, investment in research and development in both the public and private sectors.

Empowering the European citizenship, right to decide

EU institutions are still deemed very faraway entities.

Europeans citizens feel somehow alienated from the EU institutions. In addition, the EU has not had the ability to make itself appear clear and concise, which reinforces the lack of interest.

Among its benefits for citizens, the newly ratified Lisbon Treaty includes the application of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). It will enable 1 million Europeans to come up with a legislative proposal to the Commission in any of the EU areas of responsibility. At the moment it is not possible to present the ECI on a legal basis, but the mechanism to make it function is already on its way. Within its efforts to bridge the gap between Europe and its citizenship, Spain should try its best for to implement this transnational tool of democracy to be passed on during its presidency.

It is about time EU institutions were under pressure toward a more motivated citizenry.

Trying to speak with a single voice

Development of a real external European policy is among the top priorities of the Spanish EU presidency. The Spanish agenda will have to give the Council president and the High Representative maximum visibility so that the EU can speak as one in the international scene. Europe’s credibility and efficiency will only come after it implements a strong and solid foreign affairs policy.

Having a president of the Council, representing the EU abroad; the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, who stands for the EU as a real foreign minister; and the European External Action Service (EEAA), is likely to cause confusion not only in the public opinion but with international counterparts.

Focused on relations with Latin American countries and the first ever held EU-Morocco summit, the EU foreign policy lead by Spain will reflect its geographical location and its colonial past. Spain will not necessarily seek the interests of most European countries, which may lead into harsh critics from its compeers.

A chance to shine in Spain?

True, Zapatero might be elbowed out of the political scenario by the president of the Council. Nevertheless: has anyone wondered if he would mind? Spain has made clear it will not get in Van Rompuy’s way. What opinion would the public perceive if the first rotatory presidency under the Lisbon Treaty was to twist it?

On the other hand, Spanish public opinion should not be affected if Zapatero does not shine at a European level. According to a Spanish journalist, the Spanish government has already foreseen that its EU presidency wont necessarily benefit Zapatero in terms of neither winning nor losing popularity in the national domain. Spaniards are very pro European, per se.

Spanish colour after all

Spanish priorities have been described as ambitious, but also as unfocused. For those who know president Zapatero, that should not be surprising.

Zapatero, just like other Western leaders (Barack Obama in the US) has been able to master a discourse lavished with beautiful-sounding words that capture many of his listeners. But in the final analysis, he does not say as many things as he means, thanks to to his imprecise rhetoric. Let’s take as an example the so-called “alliance of civilizations” proposed by the Spanish president in 2004 to inspire international, intercultural and inter-religious cooperation between the Western and the Islamic world. Five years after its creation, this initiative, except for delivering a kind and harmonious speech about peace, it has not intervened to avoid the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Iran.

Having said that, there are a number of matters that will bring along a bit of color to the Spanish agenda. Although the Lisbon Treaty obliges Spain to chair its EU’s presidency, it will still have a bit of its national colour mainly because of the specific Spanish reality and its geographical priorities. With a new debate on social policy, including gender equality and the fight against domestic violence, and EU relations with Latin America and south of the Mediterranean Sea as some of its top priorities, the Spanish chairmanship should make an outstanding and different performance from the ones made by previous EU’s presidencies.

Despite the fact the Lisbon Treaty attempts to avoid blunt changes in the priorities, which has in the past resulted ina discontinuous political performance, the incoming Spanish EU presidency suggests the next six-month European agenda will follow the trend of bringing a national taste to the European arena.

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Flickr images from users Chesi - Fotos, infomatique

China’s official media: Will the West ever want to watch?

2010-01-10T05:48:00.000-08:00

A performance with more than 60 traditional drummers and an eye-catching float parade featuring Beijing’s famous scenic spots guided the opening of the Beijing International Tourism Festival. Held at the city’s Olympic Park, the 2009 event featured artists from 71 countries and 18 districts around the Chinese capital.

Amid international financial turmoil, Beijing’s tourism is believed to be an emerging pillar. Beijing aims to build itself into an international brand, akin to Brazilian Carnival or the Oktoberfest in Munich.

And with an annual revenue of 186.2bn Yuan (18.08bn euro) from tourism in Beijing alone, China’s capacity to attract foreign visitors is without question.

But it fails to attract the same interest in its media, be they products foreign or domestic.

World Media Summit: Professional exchange or business platform?

That Western media companies have included the Chinese market in their strategies is not a secret. Rupert Murdoch has long-standing ambitions in China. Indeed, to face the challenges of the digital and multimedia era in China’s media market will require exchange and co-operation among biggest media outlets in the world.

Li Congjun, the president of Xinhua News Agency, is very aware of that. He held a series of talks during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with the chairman’s and CEOs of major Western news organisations. Those meetings led into the consensus for sponsoring the World Media Summit,WMS, celebrated in Beijing in early October, 2009.

Like any other event of its kind, the WMS included many generous words accompanied by the requisite speech of the Chinese president, Hu Hintao, on the importance of the role of foreign journalists in his country. That sounded pretty ironic considering the communist government still limits and restricts foreign coverage of issues like human rights.

The bottom line for Western media moguls: China must fight against its backdrop of rampant piracy and a sheltered and protected market if it aims to compete in the international sphere.

With very little to do with press freedom or professional journalism, the forum resulted in an international platform for business and trade on which all the attending organisations perpetrated a hypocritical performance ignoring the constrained reality of the Chinese media.

Chinese media in the spotlight

In order to gain insight into the news information space in China, this author has interviewed two reporters based in Beijing: David Bartram, a freelance British journalist, and George Sun Xiaoji, a Chinese reporter who writes for several Chinese websites and newspapers.

EJC: Why has the development of the media in China been so protracted?

Bartram: You have to remember that it has only been relatively recently that China has opened up to the rest of the world. For a long time the Chinese press was only writing for a Chinese audience. It has only really been in, say, the last decade that it has considered a foreign audience at all, and even now that is still only a comparatively minor concern. The Chinese media can only develop fully when it starts to take a truly global approach.

EJC: What makes journalists in the West be more pervasive than their Chinese colleagues?

Bartram: Well I think in the West there has always been a tradition of the media having a duty to hold politicians, business leaders, etc., accountable for their actions. This doesn’t really exist in China. In fact most state-run media is there for just the opposite reasons. That said, there are some local Chinese newspapers who do some good work uncovering local government corruption. Still, in China there far greater a sense of deference and respect shown by journalists towards public figures – whether they be politicians, businessmen or celebrities.

EJC: Despite the appearance of more media outlets in English, Chinese media seem to be failing to attract a Western audience. Why?

Sun Xiaoji: I don’t think the word ‘failing’ can quite exactly describe the effort the Chinese media have recently made to attract Western audiences, though it is not very successful. Here’s the reason:

I don’t work for the official media but I had heard some gossip going around earlier this year that there’s a very big project the Chinese official media is going to launch. And, of course, it is supported by the government. In a nutshell, this great project is about the establishment of a 24-hour TV channel reporting English news to the rest of the world. For example, last month, CCTV (China Centre Television) established a series of foreign language channels ranging from Russian to Slavic focused on audiences outside China. This, which seems to be huge enough, is only a small part of the whole project for the government to establish the Chinese counterpart of CNN or BBC.

I got access to some clips of the TV programmes produced and broadcast on CCTV foreign language channels and, ironically, found they are just the same as what we got on the Chinese channels. The only difference is the language. But, to the audiences who have limited knowledge about China, it is very likely they take the content in those TV programmes for granted.

EJC: What kind of approach would be necessary to attract Western readers?

Bartram: At the moment I think China’s primary concern is to create a global voice for their political opinions. This will always be a niche area in terms of the world media. Beyond that I think a simple approach is key: produce swift, accurate and entertaining news and people will read it – wherever it has come from.

EJC: China seems to be targeting the West not just with economic and political news, but also with celebrity news…

Sun Xiaoji: Absolutely true. More and more Chinese audiences need to know news outside political and economic circles. The markets of celebrity, fashion, avant-garden arts, and sports news are increasing. For example, in October the Chinese edition of GQ magazine was launched.

EJC: Is China ready to embrace the digital era? Will we be able to see in the near future potentially influential media companies in China – without the influence of any major Western company?

Bartram: China’s online population is growing extremely quickly, but it is still lagging behind in terms of digital innovation. Western digital media companies (Google and Yahoo! in particular, Facebook and Youtube to a lesser extent) are keen to secure a share of this new market but they do face local competition. Chinese censorship of certain sites (I’m thinking of Facebook, Youtube and Twitter here, all of which are currently blocked in China) could well be seen as an attempt to allow Chinese equivalents of these sites to grow without having to face established Western competition.

EJC: Do Chinese people normally trust their own media? How often do they use blogging and other social networks to keep informed?
Sun Xiaoji: I think the Chinese people don’t normally trust their own media but they don’t totally trust Western media either. Now that China has the largest blogger population around the globe, we can describe the current development of blogosphere in China as booming. Most bloggers, as far as I know, update their entries every day. This has become the most popular and easiest way for Chinese netizens to gain information and communicate with each other since a lot of them can read and write fluent foreign languages.

EJC: Are the majority of Chinese consumers ready to demand a change into the digital challenge and the transformation of their media in order for China to exercise a leadership in the world?

Bartram: Although China’s online population is growing, it is still a relatively minor section of society. That said, there is a very vocal – and strongly nationalistic – group of netizens who want China to exercise a firmer type of leadership globally. This group occasionally pulls stunts and protests. For example, I recall a few months ago when Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama, there was an online campaign to boycott French imports. The “anti-CNN” campaign was another example of this.

EJC: The Wenchuan earthquake is the perfect example that shows how Chinese media focus more on heroic stories and touching incidents rather than death toll and the collapse of buildings. Is that seen as a way of censorship and propaganda?

Sun Xiaoji: We cannot deny that there exists propaganda and censorship when we look at how the Chinese media cover the Wenchuan earthquake last year. It’s also absolutely true that the coverage made by Chinese media is not impartial. However, the Wenchuan earthquake got full and instant coverage, which was incredible compared with the Tangshan earthquake in 1976. Although journalism freedom in China is still only a piece of slogan, I think we should see the bright side of the progress Chinese media have made.

EJC: Are Chinese media as critical of Western policies in the same way as the West is critical of Chinese policies?
Bartram: The Chinese media are generally more critical of Western attitudes than Western policies. I think the overarching desire of the Chinese government is to be left to its own devices, and this is reflective in the media. The Chinese media will rarely come out and say “What the US is doing is wrong.” It is far more likely to come out and say “Hey! Stop criticising us. It’s none of your business, and it’s hypocritical anyway.”

EJC: Is China’s image in the Western media really distorted?

Sun Xiaoji: Generally speaking, I don’t think the image of China is completely distorted by the Western media. The rub is when they talk about China, it is quite often for us to see the key words like dictatorship, inhumanity, censorship and things like that. But the Chinese audiences have known these problems very well. What they care about is how to solve those problems instead of yelling to the world that they got them, which will make the Chinese embarrassed.

EJC: Are Chinese media obsessed with Western coverage of China?

Bartram: I think it only becomes an important issue when they feel they are being misrepresented. I remember during the whole Tibet issue last year, the Chinese were very angry that Western journalists were getting facts about the issue incorrect. But then at the same time, they banned basically all Western journalists from entering Tibet. How can a country which provides no access to a story expect journalists to get all their facts right?

EJC: Would a complete political change (just like in the former communist governments in Eastern Europe) be necessary in order for China to improve its image overseas through the media?

Sun Xiaoji: In my perspective, the opening of media is one of the premises of political revolution in China.

Beyond the barriers

China’s state-run media exerts an influence beyond the borders of China, challenging digital and multimedia technologies. China has a history of censoring domestic media and sometimes setting up barriers for foreign journalists not to report inside their own country. As such, the concern should not be when or how China opens to the new broadcasting 2.0 era. Rather when and how will it give the green light to freedom of expression?

The last example of censorship took place when US president Obama visited the People´s Republic of China only to have his prodigious public speaking talents stifled by his hosts. Any chance of delivering his message via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter would have been futile, as these sites are also heavily censored.

After such displays, it is not likely the rest of the world is willing to take Chinese media seriously. Only with an ideological and political shift of their content will information developed by the Asian giant be openly consumed by Western readers.

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Flickr images from worldcitizen, xiaming, never original, xiaming

Reporting the financial crisis: A media failure?

2010-01-10T05:47:00.000-08:00

The financial crisis exploded this year, but the media industry has published its business sections, websites, TV programmes and magazines for eons. Did the press fail to shine a bright enough spotlight on the dismal economic outlook? Were financial journalists too dazzled by the glittering market to predict the coming storm?

“We were all greedy and everyone is to blame,” said Jason Schenker, the president of Prestige Economics.

The first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, 15 September, has come and gone. The failure of this financial services firm is widely viewed as the largest bankruptcy in the financial history of the United States.

Policymakers, bankers, journalists and ordinary people watched, read, discussed and Tweeted their surprise about the collapse of one of the most well-known worldwide banking institutions – whether they understood the implications or not. The collapse triggered dramatic turmoil in global finance. For the first time in 60 years the economy’s growth ceased; the world’s accounts consequently find themselves looking far different.

For the past 15 months, financial coverage has dominated the information spectrum. It has consumed broadcast, print and online media arenas that attempt to aggregate the voices of the most respected business end economics editors.

But what was happening in this media space before the economic breakup? What was the focus of financial journalists? Did a glittering market blind them all? Above all, has financial journalism played the role it was expected to?

These topics were up for intense scrutiny at Covering the Crisis, an EJC Interface conference on the role of media in the financial crisis. Bankers, top financial journalists, politicians, social scientists and financial regulators from both sides of the Atlantic gathered on 9 and 10 November in Brussels to search for answers to all these questions. The result was a long-awaited and riveting debate. It was captured live here and here.

“At the end of the day we must remember the importance of journalism and the importance of making it right,” said Eithne Treanor, the moderator of the conference.

Indeed, it is an unquestionable principle; this article does not aim to question Treanor’s assertion but instead to describe the complex context in which financial journalists work and to analyse the main challenges to good financial journalism.

The role of financial journalists should not differ from that of journalists covering politics, culture or sports. We all must write well. We must analyse information in a clear, fast, concise and accurate manner.

Financial journalists in particular must try to see the turmoil coming. Their task is not necessarily reactionary. They must track and advise their audiences about coming events and trends. Then, in the aftermath, they must follow events and make sure longterm implications are covered.

Challenges everywhere

The connection between coverage of the financial world and events impacting the economy don’t seem to have run on parallel tracks. One of the best metrics of the economy is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total value of all the goods produced in a country in a given period of time. According to The Changing Narrative, How the News Media Have Covered the Slowing Economy, media outlets tended in recent years to be slow to track GDP figures and inform the public about the declining economy. If reporting about the GDP was erratic, coverage of other related key economic indicators was even more unpredictable.

That said, the complexity of economic issues appears to be one of the most crucial problems for journalists covering the crisis. It can especially confuse the audience.

But are financial journalists at equal risk when they try to simplify a complicated subject? Could that also be dangerous?

Sources are another major challenge for financial reporters. It is essential to dig into and examine important data before making it public. Some questions asked in Brussels: Have journalists been too condescending with their sources? Have they accepted market logic as the only logic?

Journalists might have become too close to their sources. In some cases, the interests of their newspaper might have manipulated reporters. However, many journalists are currently working under the pressure of a 24-hour news cycle. They have to compete with one another. Timing has become so crucial that journalists might not have time to distance themselves from their own sources.

With regard to sourcing, most speakers at Covering the Crisis accepted that business journalists are stuck in an unfair competition. Journalists all normally stumble upon the barriers set up by public relations staff. PR staff aim to protect the interests of the companies they represent. The growing distance between the journalism industry, which is insufficiently funded, and public relations teams, often sophisticated and powerful lobby machines, is worsening the confrontation between the interests of the two. Who win will this battle? Only the future will tell.

We must all agree that responsibility and professionalism are principles any journalist has to keep in mind when doing her job. Any information requires a detailed verification procedure before it is published. Damian Tambini, a senior lecturer at the London School of Economics, states in his report, What is Financial Journalism for? Ethics and Responsibility in a Time of Crisis and Change, “financial journalists have particularly difficulty reporting rumours.”

Tambini is of the opinion that mainstream and political journalists could take a more relaxed approach to their stories because the effects on the political scene “are not so immediate and measurable as the impacts on financial markets.”

Could it be the amount of responsibility for financial markets that separates financial journalists from the others?

The case of British bank Northern Rock is an example of how a particular institution can collapse following a news report, in this case one crafted by the prestigious BBC reporter Robert Peston. Never-ending queues of customers waiting desperately to be able to withdraw their savings from the bank stood as a testament to how much mass hysteria can be triggered and exacerbated by a financial report. Since the media are often referred to as the “fourth estate,” journalism must be aware of its powerful and social responsibility.

As such, financial journalists have to avoid panicking markets for petty reasons. But they should never have scruples about telling the truth.

To this respect the audience at Covering the Crisis acknowledged that financial journalism requires a high level of training. Specific knowledge is needed to analyse data in depth and to accurately convey that data correctly to the public. At this point, journalists have to find the balanced way — unfortunately not very specifically addressed in this conference — to make the financial information appealing to a layman audience as well as to highbrow readers and academics.

Steve Schifferes, former BBC News Online economics correspondent, observed that academics have been “quite absent from this debate” and ultimately “journalists have defined the parameters and have raised the questions more than the academics.”

Had academics, bloggers and other social networks been more present in financial coverage prior to and early on in the crisis, the subject would have been addressed from all perspectives, all walks of life. If this crisis has brought any tests for the future, they would include: how to make the readers care and how to shrink the gap between audiences and newsrooms.

On the other hand, had individual citizens understood the complexity of the crisis, they would have felt empathy for the difficulty of the journalist’s role.

Who is to blame?

In times of turbulence there is always an attempt to assign blame, to look for victims and villains. These terms may be too simplistic, though, as we are going through a profound reshaping of how capitalism and markets work. This shift has its roots in globalisation and the world economy.

“We are all greedy and everyone is to blame, on ‘Main Street’ to Wall Street,” said Jason Schenker, the president and chief economist of Prestige Economics. From financial institutions to construction companies to policymakers and consumers, some have profited from the crisis. Media companies receiving advertising revenues from troubled lenders.

And in regards to the banking system, could it function if it was not based on greed? This subject could trigger a very interesting discussion.

True, financial journalists might have been too close to the subjects they covered. Perhaps the interests of their papers manipulated them. Danny Schechter, executive director of Mediachannel.org, got it right in Brussels when he said that the media industry has gone “from telling to selling.”

It must be understood journalists are people, with investments. They take a major interest on seeing the market be optimistic, seeing their salary go up and not loosing their job. “When doing financial journalism, you really have to think financial,” said Christopher Hughes, Assistant Editor for BreakingViews.

Journalists with their own investments know that what they cover will impact their own lives. Does that make them loath to sound alarms?

The public did not sound the alarm. Individuals normally take information in their own way. Some did take it in and reacted one way, but most ignored any warning signs. The reason might be because it is in our nature to believe prosperous times will last forever.

Or, in the words of Mark Gilbert, London bureau chief for Bloomberg, “people were not watching what was coming because the crime until it has been committed” is not a crime.

Bottom line

Will this financial crash and the attempts to counteract it lead to real changes? Or will potential solutions simply skim the surface of the problem and fail to repair the flawed system? Is the crash destined to happen again, years after the memories of all that happened have been erased?

In ancient Greek, “Krisis” referred to the point on which a plot turns toward either death or triumph. Let’s hope this pivotal moment is not wasted; that future generations do not repeat our mistakes of the greed, fear, passivity and ignorance.

The lesson journalists must learn is one that cannot necessarily be implemented right now. A bedrock of investigative reporting must be formed. Sadly, it has little chance to form while the market and, consequently, resources in the newsrooms, are dwindling.

Advances in technology have made journalism more efficient than ever before. But many an editorial management team, concerned about timing and competition, has prioritised productivity over quality.

Financial journalists have to be better trained. They need to be free from the pressure of their sources. They need to be given more time to dig into stories. They need to have time to develop deeper connections with editors, academics and social networks.

For all that to happen, it may be the time to think about a different business model on which our profession can rely, one that provides it a better sustainable funding system.

An economic model not for media companies but for individual journalists could also be very interesting. Would it be possible a new funding system supporting individual reporters who could train themselves, have access to all multiple media and reach a wide audience? If mainstream media companies have so far been unable of creating such a scheme, it may be not the right time to pursue further more centralisation.

We live in a global world where practically all events can somehow be covered in real time. Since everything is interlinked, our stories can generate threads that connect all the world. If we are given the chance to report financial stories well, it would make our job much more worthwhile and in the public interest.

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Flickr images from users chrisjohnbeckett, tais, dominicspics and hitthatswitch

World Press Photo: Smile, it is an order

2009-11-29T08:41:00.000-08:00

At the site of a Second World War concentration camp, a tourist wears a T-shirt that says, Smile, it is an order!.

A scene of such juxtaposition provokes a repelling reaction. Its observer, gifted with creative skills, crafts his quasi-instantaneous reflection into an award-winning series of captivating pictures.

History of a picture
Dutch photographer Roger Cremers is driven to capture emotions. He translated his impressions of the surrealist scenes at Auchwitz-Birkenau into Preserving Memory: Visitors at the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, a series of images for which he was awarded the 2009 World Press Photo first prize in the category for Arts and Entertainments Stories.

Cremers and I discussed one of his many journeys to Poland in 2002 so I could begin to understand the origin of his award-winning pictures. From the moment he saw that tourist in the Smile…! T-shirt, the vision was embedded in his memory.

When he returned to Auschwitz in 2007, he was astonished to find people acting as if “they were in a museum.” That was the moment when “everything came together” for him, he expressed to me.

In the artistic world, a good masterpiece may be conceived long before it becomes reality. It is fascinating how humans can traverse back in time to embrace again a feeling they’ve left in the past. An example of this capacity that comes to my mind is the Spanish cinema director Pedro Almodovar´s last film: Los Abrazos Rotos (in English, Broken Embraces). Although filmed only recently, it started to take shape in his mind as he was contemplating a picture of a beach in Lanzarote, taken from his window some years ago.

Cremers, a Dutchman, decided in 2008 to revisit the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum to immortalise with his camera lens what he perceived to be inappropriate in a place that lives as a testimony to the atrocities once committed there.

Although Auschwitz is in the background, Preserving Memory’s subject is not the camp but the visitors’ behaviour. It is a commentary about people who wonder around the old and rusty facilities with a lack of respect and consideration.

After spending a whole week there, Rogers described to me his feeling of “shame for people’s attitude,” particularly those who acted as if they were just “having the day off” in a tourist attraction.

What could have been a roll of emotional and dramatic scenes turned out to be a series of pictures taken in an ironic fashion.

“It is like this magic surrealism of reality and the kind of different world we have created,” said Micaela Pereira, manager of Exhibitions
Planning and Logistics at World Press Photo, before the opening of the 2009 World Press Photo exhibition held at the Centre Ceramique in Maastricht between 6 and 29 November.

A walk through the snapshots
Images depicting the ravages of war, like shots of Palestinian protesters taking cover behind an olive tree from tear gas fired by Israeli troops, and photographs of natural catastrophes, like the devastating earthquake that killed 70,000 people in central China, are extensively represented in this year’s World Press Photo exhibition.

In addition to shocking and frightening scenes, though, there are also light-hearted scenes that enlighten, delight, amaze and exhilarate. Solitary snow leopards frolic in the Indian Himalayan; senator Barack Obama does chin-ups before giving a speech during his electoral campaign. Material wealth of Moldovan and Romanian families is demonstrated in one wing of the exhibit while the comical expressions of athletes in the diving competition of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games amuse around the corner.

This combination of displayed realities is part of a travelling exhibition that visits around 100 cities around the world to be seen by over 2 million visitors. The main objective of the exhibit is to stimulate press photography while supporting press freedom. The World Press Photo competition manages to achieve this while dazzling both the general and the photo-journalistic audience. The secret is that all photos can evoke an emotion whether or not the viewer belongs to the field of photography.

Prize-winning photographs are the result of a complex selection process that kicks off with judges looking at, in the case of the last edition, 96,268 submitted photographs. The 2009 edition has nearly had a 20 percent increase over last year, representing the work of 5,508 photographers from 124 countries.

Photographers becoming editors
It is essential for photographers to have done editing work before sending their pictures to the contest. Since the jury members have only one second to look at every single photo, a winning image must make an instant deep and powerful impact on the jury members. For that reason, photographers “must make sure their first image is really strong,” Pereira said.

Traditionally, shooting and the editing were two separate processes. These have now become one thanks, to advanced technology development. Today, chairman of 2010 Word Press Photo contest, Ayperi Karabuda Ecer asserts “a new generation should totally embrace editing as an integrated element of the photographic process,” because it can “turn unnoticed pictures into key elements.”

It is for this reason that professional photographers are also bound to be the editors of their work.

Photojournalism in good form?
Quality, strength and power of the exhibited images contrast with the fragile state in which photojournalism lives at this very moment.

On one hand, there have never been more photographs on display around the world, thanks partly to the wide access on-line. On the other hand, the profession is losing its printed outlets and according to Ecer, is “struggling in between economic models where there is a big lack of assignments” from big publications like the National Geographic or Time Magazine.

As a consequence of that, stories seem to be getting shorter. As Pereira said, now is a time when “it is easier to make a snapshot than send someone to make a long story.”

The economic crisis facing the whole world did not go unnoticed by the 2009 World Press Photo jury.

“It’s link to reality, or, better said, realities, is crucial,” Ecer said. Therefore the black-and-white image awarded as World Press Photo of the Year 2008, by US photographer Anthony Suau, depicts an armed officer entering a home in Cleveland, Ohio, to enforce an eviction order following mortgage foreclosure. I, for one, was confused when I saw in this photograph war and conflict in their classic sense. I did not see right away the aftermath of a housing problem.

Despite the financial crisis and proliferation of current technology, being able to “create” nearly any real situation without the work of the photographer, this author believes photojournalism will prevail. It will do so because the human touch and the journalistic content cannot be replaced by any cutting-edge computer software or an amateur´s stroke of luck.
To this respect, Cremers said “everybody can take pictures, but a good photojournalist has something to say. He thinks about his work and he has a message.” Consequently it should be emphasised that reality does not unfold itself, but it needs the help of these professionals.

The medium is not the message
At the conclusion of her visit to this exhibition, this author is not sure whether a picture is really worth a thousand words. But she leaves the venue with the feeling of having read dozens of last year’s newspapers and having watched a 10-hour news programme. She concludes by asking herself: Does an article complement a photographer’s image or is it is the picture itself that accompanies the information?

I would rather leave it in the words of Roger Cremers: “You are a journalist with a pen and I am a journalist with a camera.”

European journalists: Comrades in Arms?

2009-11-29T08:39:00.000-08:00

Grim announcements catch our attention daily as we peruse the pages of the mainstream daily press. Standard reading may include bits like:

The Dutch newspaper group Telegraaf Media Group (TMG) announced the closure at the end of the year of its Sunday edition, De Telegraaf, due to drop of advertising revenue….
The guardian.co.uk is looking for a handful of paid bloggers with journalistic qualifications to launch a local news project in a small number of locations to help cover community news…

The New York Times announced on Monday, 19 October, plans to cut 100 jobs from its newsroom, about 8 percent of its news staff, by the end of the year.

An assistant editor is gearing up for a new life as a driving instructor, bringing to a halt a 32-year career in regional newspapers.

But more disheartening than dwindling newspaper circulations and hundreds of job losses is watching colleagues voluntarily hanging up their notebooks to try their luck in other sectors.

Building camaraderie
The harsh situation journalists face today has prompted attempts to build a sense of solidarity among colleagues. Members of the media sector, both in print and audiovisual, are organising campaigns and unions to debate strategies in the face of redundancies, declining salaries and bad work conditions. Perhaps this climate may not have resulted without such upheaval.

A study launched by journalism researchers at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) in Preston, England, unites academics with the staff at Journalism.co.uk in the pursuit of compiling data from former UK newspaper journalists. The study examines what happens with in their professional lives after leaving the newsroom.

The questionnaire, designed at UCLAN, wants to “to know their experiences of being laid off , how they have adapted in their personal and professional lives since leaving the newspaper, and also look at the gaps that the layoffs leave in the industry: gaps in experience, perspective and professional memory,” said Judith Townend, news reporter at Journalism.co.uk.

The survey is being carried out with the assumption that “journalists are under severe strain.” As such, Journalism.co.uk considers “the loss of manpower and its impact on journalism in the public interest an issue that has to be addressed.”

To portray the struggle British journalists face it would be appropriate here to report that on the same day my interview with Judith Townend was conducted, 40 redundancies were announced at Trinity Mirror’s Birmingham division.

Research will certainly not enable laid-off journalists to return to their jobs. But it will be a tool for building a sense of self-interested behaviour among remaining reporters. This group will need to pool knowledge to deal with cuts collectively.

Townend said the study will “ help the wider industry and also UCLAN’s work with newsroom managers and the curriculum on offer to would-be journalists at UCLAN.”

Online social networks have also become a meeting point for some media professionals seeking to share their experiences and deliver their messages. Such is the case of the Spanish group Por la Dignidad de los Periodistas y los Trabajadores de los Medios (For the Dignity of Journalists and Media Professionals), created on Facebook in December, 2008, as a direct response to the loss of 1,500 journalism jobs within the first six months of 2008. This group assembles journalists, students, and unemployed professionals who circulate ideas for dignifying our profession and fighting the crisis affecting it.

The rise of these associations should not be depicted as a bizarre trend in a country like Spain where journalism is a wholly unregulated sector. In Spain, labor rights have historically been introduced through collective agreements and bargaining processes. Affiliation with trade unions has rising in the last decades in Spain but membership does not reach the levels of southern European countries like Portugal or Italy, where union affiliation is on average 80 percent.

Building a strong professional sense of camaraderie among practitioners of our profession should be a major concentration; it is especially so during an era in which media moguls are leading a transition that does not prioritise the defence of quality journalism.

Camaraderie was the objective pursued at the annual meeting of the European Federation of Journalists, held 17 May, 2009, in Varna, Bulgaria. This conference joined together leaders of unions and associations from 25 European countries and concluded with the declaration, Journalism in the Vanguard of Change

Change indeed. These are bruising times for our vocation. Starting halfway through 2008 and up through 2009 there have been media industry jobs dismissals all over Europe. To cite but a few numbers: around 1,000 in Germany and 3,000 between the UK and Spain. These numbers do not include the employ of freelancers, widespread all over the European Union.

Facing the crisis
Cash-strapped media companies strive to find new ways to lower expenses to gain ground on advertising losses and dwindling circulations. This makes the search for new revenue streams all the more compelling for any journalist.

If one observes this search we come across ideas like the one adopted by The Times and the Sunday Times, which decided to launch a membership scheme enticing their readers with special offers and access to exclusive events in return for a £50 pound annual fee. This measure comes a few months after Rupert Murdoch announced the introduction of charges to access all his news websites next summer due to a huge losses incurred by in his global empire.

A different and original business model appears on stage Niiu, the first “personalised” newspaper in Europe due to kick off in Germany on 16 November. Niiu will not only provide news from major German titles like Handelsblatt, Bild and Tagesspiegel, or foreign ones such as the Herald Tribune and the New York Times; it will also include major blogs and Internet news sources. Customers, mainly a young audience, will be able to choose the length of their customised paper. It can range from only eight pages to 60 pages per day.

In the middle of this business crusade journalists must stay true to the best tools we have to cope with the media crisis: quality stories and respect for the unchangeable principles that have always buttressed our profession. Neither a long-term contract in one of the worldwide communications companies nor our powerful editor in chief makes us be a steady journalist; rather we go forward in fidelity to and partnership with our readers, viewers and listeners.

Goodbye to advertising on Spanish state TV

2009-11-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

Autumn of 2009 will stick with every Spaniard as the season when its capital city lost out in its second consecutive bid to host the Olympic Games, this time to Rio de Janeiro. It’s also when Spanish Public Television, TVE, bids farewell to advertising after more than 50 years on the air.

Some European states, including Britain and France, charge citizens a TV licence fee. Spain has no licence fee.

But the Spanish government aims to provide a public service station. It is hard to believe the government will be able to do this without the help of commercial advertisers. Spain’s two public channels, TVE1 and TVE2, currently broadcast 10 minutes of advertising per hour, which translated to 400,000 adverts last year.

The National Broadcasting Radio & Television RTVE, Financing Law came into force on 1 September, 2009. TVE may no longer contract any space for publicity. This means there will be “a significant reduction of advertising space in the coming months of October, November and December,” said Luis Fernández, president of RTVE.

By January, 2010, advertising must be wiped from Spanish state television.

Commission clash
The European Commission voiced concern about the volume of adverts on Spanish state television in July, 2007, when it instructed Spain to cut down on TV commercials or be taken to the European Court of Justice in the violation of the Television Without Frontiers Directive. The 20-year-old directive seeks to harmonise broadcasting regulations across the 27-nation bloc.

The Commission’s concern in ’07 stemmed from infringements of a 12-minute limit on spot advertising and teleshopping.

In Spain the limit was established at 17 minutes per hour.

According to the Commission, the terms under which Spain defined the “advertising spot” were too narrow. Consequently, ad formats such as tele-promotions or microslots were included in Spain’s “advertising spot” concept.

The Commission forwarded a letter of formal notice to the Spanish authorities. It read:

“...Spain has not taken the requisite measures to ensure effective compliance with all the provisions of the Directive. Everything must now be done to remedy this situation and to establish a genuine internal market for audiovisual media services….”

The Spanish government did not agree to change its interpretation of what constitutes an “advertising spot.”

Fast forward two years, though, and the owners of privately-held channels are rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the advertising axe falling on the public broadcaster: In 2008 ad revenues at public channels totalled 557 million euro.

Complex broadcasting
Spain is a decentralised country. Two public broadcasting systems coexist: a national broadcasting television station, TVE, and many autonomic channels that can be watched only in their respective territories known as Autonomous Communities. TVE, founded in 1937, consists of two stations: TVE1, targeting a general audience, and TVE2, which offers cultural programming as well as sports competitions.

The regional channels are modelled after TVE: one is directed to a broad audience and the other to a more cultural customer. Moreover, in Autonomous Communities with official language besides Spanish, such as the Basque Country or Catalonia, regional channels transmit in their co-official languages. Although publicly and privately founded as well, these territorial networks will not automatically be effected by the new law. Their own legislative and administrative competences impact this issue.

This is why discussions about adopting new initiatives must always be held in a context of political and administrative decentralisation.

New funding system
How will Spain pay for non-commercial public state television?

To compensate for an annual loss of publicity revenue (foreseen to be around 478m euro in 2009) Spanish authorities have established a three-way solution.

Privately-owned commercial stations must provide the country’s two public television stations with 3 percent of their annual gross income, which will raise an estimated 140m euros.

Telecommunications providers also offering audiovisual services (Telefonica, Vodafone, Orange and others) shall give the equivalent of 0.9 percent of their benefits, which translates to 290m euro.

The third financing source will come from taxes that all operators (from radio stations to telephone companies) have to pay to be entitled to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum for broadcasting purposes, which corresponds to 240m euro.

To complete the 1,200 euro annual budget, state-owned television will contribute 550m euro to RTVE.

Reactions
Privately-owned commercial channels are partially in favour of this plan. They’ll have one competitor less in an era of eroding advertising revenues. On the other hand, they do not feel compelled to fund RTVE budget with a percentage of their publicity income. This tax will join the already existing 5 percent they are required to earmark for the funding of European and Spanish films.

Telecommunications providers have reacted angrily. They are willing to take legal steps claiming it is not fair to require them to fund a sector that has no direct connections with their own duties. They have declared they will charge users 0.9 percent more, which the charge itemised on all telephone bills.

Prominent Internet users call the new financing law an abuse ultimately relying on consumer taxation.

Other critics include TVE’s commercial sponsors. They have proposed at least 12 minutes of advertising an hour. Their argument is that less advertising will mean less consumption, which has already been slashed by the country’s brutal recession.

Questions
How will TVE fill the space previously taken by advertising, considering that only TVE1 currently uses 270 minutes a day?

Will programming be extended by nearly five hours? If so, how? Will the news last 60 minutes instead of the actual 45? Will news shows include self-promotion as does the BBC? Or will reporters produce more in-house series?

Little insight has been given. What we do already know are new obligations TVE will have to follow.

TVE is already forced to air more content on political debate and education, boost children’s programming and give access rights to social agents such as political parties and trade unions. The new public service will have to provide the Spanish cinema industry with 6 percent of its annual budget (at the moment set at 5 percent).

It will have limited access to sporting events, with the exception of the Olympic Games. It will be entitled to invest only up to 10 percent of its yearly expenditure, the equivalent of 120m euro, to buy TV rights for football matches.

The days of lavishing Trash TV are numbered.
No longer we will wonder if we watch it because it is offered or if is offered because we watch it. The new RTVE´s financing law will challenge Spanish state television to demonstrate it is capable of providing the viewers with content fostering the values of democracy, education, pluralism, culture and entertainment.

Reporting from virtual worlds

2009-11-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

I am sat onboard a C17 transport airplane after being manhandled by guards into it, my head covered with a black hood, hands tied behind my back and feet restrained while I hear voices telling me to be quiet. Seconds later I am bound and it is time to wait……when the hood is removed I am given a pair of orange jumpsuits to wear as I crouch within a cage. Behind the fence two women, also wearing orange jumpsuits, are watching me. Can I call my parents, can I call my lawyer, what am I here for? No answers are given to me.

These lines were not lifted from the script of a horror movie, but are part of Gone Gitmo, a virtual project from the online world of Second Life.

The journalist and filmmaker Nonny de la Peña created Gone Gitmo together with University of Southern California Interactive Media adjunct professor Peggy Weil. The duo presented the project and its implications for immersive journalism in Amsterdam at Picnic09.

Gone Gitmo is set at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Digital recreation allows visitors, through their avatars (in the test case, a brunette and a blue-haired woman represent De la Peña and Weil) to immerse themselves into the daily real-life horrors of prison life. It’s possible to walk through the experience of military detention in this US prison camp operating, some say, outside of the law.

Virtually accurate?
Gone Gitmo creates a virtual but accurate and true version of this facility and the experience of having a close access to the detainees, military personnel, and lawyers. How can a virtual world be so lifelike? As Nonny de la Peña said, “When your avatar goes into a cage, it is a very visual feeling, beyond watching it in a film, beyond reading it in a newspaper, geography does not matter.”

Weil and de la Peña aim not only to demonstrate that it is possible to mix analogue and digital reality in order to recreate a sense of truth but also to prove that a virtual representation of a system can be as informative and valid as reality itself. Gone Gitmo offers “new tools to expose war crimes and other serious violations of human rights and disseminates this information in real time throughout the world,” Weil said. What’s the potential of this tool be for journalists? Can it help when we have to cover something, in this case Guantanamo Bay prisons, but are denied access? Weil and de la Peña are exploring this idea under the umbrella of “immersive journalism.”

Immersive journalism
The researchers explore how “storytellers” can, using their own leading characters and their own narrative, make use of 3D environments and platforms to create news documentaries that cannot be created with techniques associated with traditional news media.

We are witnessing the emergence of disciplines in the communications field that are generating accepted forms of communicating through the Internet. We, as journalists and communicators, should be aware of them. Products like Gone Gitmo can highlight what is to come with regards to the future journalistic language in digital networks.
The area in which this evolution is most rapidly transpiring is digital infographics: visual representations of information that make the most of these digital platforms.

Strong signals: infographics
In previous years, infographics appeared to readers as fixed and static shapes positioned alongside printing information. In today’s media they have developed into pieces integrating text, images, 3D, sound and an increasing dose of interactivity. This modern communication process does not limit itself to presenting information, but invites the public to immerse themselves in what its being transmitted.

Referring to this term of “immersion” De la Peña and Weil have also created a venture titled IPSRESS, or Induction of Psycho-Somatic Distress in Virtual Reality. They’re delivering firsthand knowledge of what it is like to be a prisoner at a Guantanamo facility. The knowledge consists of a scenario built in immersive virtual reality. It relies on research, on body ownership, to give users the illusion that they are in a cell standing in a stress position while hearing an interrogation going on in the cell next door. The viewer undergoes an illusionary transformation of the physical body, thus perceptually, if not literally, entering the body of the other.

To see the world in first-person but through the perspective of others could be really valuable when it comes to solving conflict situations or discussions about which course of action to pursue in order to achieve difficult tasks.

Toward immersive journalism
The reactions toward these practices among academics and journalists are not unanimous. Some reviewers are of the opinion that these experiences will hook younger readers in a valuable way because immersive journalism not only delivers good news but also good experiences. Others disregard virtual reality tools as mere entertainment that skims the surface of news without any serious journalistic engagement.

Whatever the debate, significant news events demand innovative applications of mass communication tools like Gone Gitmo. Through digital recreation of any scenario, whether involving political or social issues, the aptly named “immersive journalism” can not only help us have a better understanding of it but also raise an awareness and further more, could even stimulate political action.

The use of online interactive journalism in virtual platforms can only complement and extend traditional reporting of professionals in news media and enhance the audiences’ empathy with the information transmitted.

Information, in whichever form, is not meaningful when it is not accompanied by attachment or involvement.

A glimpse at Picnic '09

2009-11-29T08:07:00.001-08:00

The tables at Amsterdam’s annual Picnic, a multi-session festival, brim with highbrow speakers. The international platform for creative thinkers involved in media technologies takes place every year in September in a unlikely location, the Westergasfabriek, a former gasworks factory in the city of Amsterdam.

Initially conceived as a space where people working on inspiring and cutting-edge projects could gather, it has turned into a convergence of some of the world’s most well-known entrepreneurs, artists, innovators and scientists collaborating closer to engender a three-day experience packed full of inspiring ideas.

Whether a student, an independent thinker or a professor, the aim of the festival is to foster connections between people, industries and diverse disciplines in order to stimulate creativity, innovation and new business opportunities.

The Picnic09 programme focused on the challenges of financial crisis and climate change concern. Playing upon these themes gave way to showcases for ways to make a positive and noticeable change.

Due to the immense variety of stages, multiplied by the amount of speakers participating, not to mention complementary events and workshops running alongside, it was possible to witness but a few of these.

Keynote speakers
The keynotes speakers were the loudest names attending the event, the influential and high-ranking experts in new media, technology, business and creativity.

To mention just a few:

Niklas Zeenstrom, founder of KaZaA, Skype and Joost. He detailed the imperative and required tools that assisted him to become a successful entrepreneur, such as full dedication and building a good team around you. He also showed his latest engagements on the climate change problem.

Another remarkable speaker was Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of MIT MediaLab and founder of the ambitious project One Laptop Per Child. Negroponte outlined the importance of children from developing countries having access to a computer: it helps foster intellectual creativity and, consequently, boost their development.

Professor of psychology at Stanford University and internationally known researcher Philip Zimbardo startled the audience with the theories included in his book, The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life. In this work he categorises people in past, present and future orientations and demonstrates that those people who are focused in the present and the future time are today’s creative minds and tomorrow’s innovators.

Festival highlights
The Picnic Labs were small workshops where each group instigated an idea that was finally pitched in the main conference hall as part of Picnic Bites. This year´s edition seemed

to be a little bit greener and therefore attendees could dive into Picnic Ecomap Lab, Picnic Creative Ecosystem Lab or Think Cradle2Cradle. All these Labs meant to attract participants concerned with ecological awareness and sustainability philosophy.

Meanwhile the event also organised the so-called Picnic Specials, small discussion groups built upon this year’s key topics to generate ideas, arguments and where the audience had the chance to interact with the speakers. Worth mentioning was the aptly-titled Reality Continuum, which pondered the increasing gravity of digital interactions and debated the controversy between virtual reality and real life.

Transmedia producer Nonny de la Peña and digital media artist Peggy Weil showed current work including a virtual access of Guantanamo Prison, leading into the discourse of how journalists report on destinations when we are denied access.

Picnic has always been a place that brings together visionary people with the most groundbreaking ideas and entrepreneurial spirit. But this year it also integrated eco-friendly policies and green solutions.

The Green Challenge is an international competition launched by the Dutch Postcode Lottery for the most innovative product or service idea to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The winner of this contest receives prize money of 500,000 euro to help finance their project. In previous editions Green Challenge was supported by international figures like former US president Bill Clinton and world-famous British entrepreneur Richard Branson.

This year’s winner was Power Collective Limited and its ingenious Wind Turbine. A nearly invisible rooftop wind turbine described by co-funder Dean Gregory as a “very small, very efficient windmill that blends into the open landscape…created for people in town to generate their own electricity, save carbon and save money.” Taking into account a basic estimate of 500,000 units across the world, it would be equivalent to turning off one coal power station.

Dessert
Seasoned with sunshine, music, light displays and good karma, it truly was a picnic of innovation and creative challenges in a non-stop vibrant atmosphere, designed to provoke quirky reactions, entertain, inspire and uncork your brain.

Is there another golden age of journalism yet to come?

2009-09-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

As journalism’s death knell rings far and wide, it is difficult to tune into voices defending the craft. Nevertheless, on the pages of Charlie Beckett`s Supermedia. Saving Journalism so it can save the World, I stumbled upon a resounding statement of affirmation: “This is the most wonderful time to be a journalist.”

Such an assertion made me feel proud of what I have grown to be, but also encouraged me to keep researching one of today’s most practiced types of journalism: Networked Journalism.

True, journalism is facing a crisis. Newspaper circulation is declining; advertising revenue is down; jobs are being slashed. New business models are sought.

But in the middle of this cacophony, is there a place for a new kind of journalism? Is it still reasonable to talk about the future of journalism? I believe so.

Change and media
Some of the most creative and positive thinking may arise from crisis periods. The media crisis has caused a fissure in the existing journalistic order; there is space for new ways of doing and presenting journalistic work.

The history of journalism is a history of change. In the middle of the 19th century, newspapers became synonymous with all the changes happening in industrialising societies. That moment was known as the golden age of journalism, the time when news information started to circulate on a mass scale.

The conditions allowing the proliferation of mass media were very much connected with the technological improvements taking place at the time: cheaper paper, a higher percentage of advertising, a faster rotary press and, last but not least, a growing number of consumers needing to be informed about the rapid transformation of their society.

We are witnessing a very similar process with so-called Networked Journalism, which has increasingly thrived and is still looking for its own place among the established mass media platforms.

Creating interconnected nodes
Spanish professor Manuel Castells defines a network as “a set of interconnected nodes. It may have a hierarchy, but it has no centre. Relationships between nodes are asymmetrical, but they are all necessary for the functioning of the network.” This from his work, Information Technologies, Globalization and Social Development.

Humans and networks have always co-existed. Today they have become the integral tool for organising the way we work and produce. Just as expected, the contemporary journalistic profession has also adopted this model of function and organisation.

As in the 19th century, technology has allowed these modern sources of information to be useful. But in contrast with the journalism printed on the pages of yesteryears, today’s journalists are negatively perceived as gatekeepers, who judge which stories are appropriate to be published, which sources are trustworthy and so on.

Journalists as curators
Networked Journalism calls for journalists to be the facilitators of information. In most cases, though, reporters and editors cannot monitor what does and does not reach the public sphere. The boundaries of what is or is not noticeable or newsworthy are no longer set by journalists.

Having in mind the traditional and unequivocal principles of truth and accuracy, Networked Journalism aims to provide the audience with the tools to actively participate in the public conversation, which usually means creating content in whatever medium: e-mail, mobile phones, digital cameras, online editing suites, webcams or texting and on whatever scale necessary.

Networked Journalism, therefore, has to be regarded not as a final product, but as a continuous process shared in by the professionals and society that takes place in a space carved out by new media technology. This shared sphere is labelled by professor Roger Silverstone as mediapolis in his work Media and Morality: On the Rise of the Mediapolis. Utilizing this concept, Silverstone makes a successful attempt to conceive this cutting-edge journalism.

Networked Journalism is by nature democratic and delivers an unquestionable public service, which I firmly believe should remain journalism’s main principle. But in order for Networked Journalism to take place, the responsibility of the professionals but also of the public is crucial. To exercise meaningfully access to the information, the audience requires what Charlie Beckett describes as media literacy, which means the ability of the public to make use of a wide range of media in order to access and understand the information contained in them. Should the audience want to take this ability to a higher level, it would have to comprehend the information provided by the media to the point of being able to analyze, question and even construct a critical opinion. Once the public has obtained these participatory tools it will be “networked to journalism.”

We’re already there
Whether journalists are in favour of this border crossing or not, it is too late to stop it. Citizens have already welcomed what it means to be included in all the aspects of newsgathering, the production and the publication of news information. We must be aware, too, that there will always be attempts to limit people speaking for themselves. This is why it is so important that anyone seeking to stand up for freedom of expression should seek to build Networked Journalism.

It is indeed a wonderful time to be a journalist because we can help the audience engage in the challenges we face, which is the first step to overcome them. It is also the best time to be a meaningful and practical link between society and power; doing so helps people empathise with the policies affecting us all.

Networking is the only way of becoming an active member of the changing society. It is also the way commitment to problems emerges, and that is exactly where the greatness of our profession lies. Consequently, another golden age of journalism is about to arrive.

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Flickr images from users 45street and Binkiexxx

Spain’s digital dilema

2009-09-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

A Fonsagrada is a small Spanish town situated in the mountains of the north-west province of Galicia. The history of this village of no more than 5000 inhabitants is linked to the well known pilgrim way to Santiago de Compostela, but in April 2008 A Fonsagrada was in the spotlight in Spain for a very different reason: it became the first Spanish municipality where the analog blackout took place. Many years have passed since 1961, when the first analogical television signal arrived at this picturesque Galician town, which more than a year ago welcomed in the 21st century.

In December 2005 the European Commission recommended that all its member states should have completed the digital switchover by 2012. The digital television transition (DTT), also known as the digital switchover or analog blackout, refers to the process in which analog television broadcasting is turned into digital television. For us, the end-users, the DTT means an improved image quality and sound reception, a major increase of TV channels and the so long-desired interactivity, in contrast with the unidirectional televisión. DDT has also.

DTT made its entrance into Europe and although not all of the European countries have ceased analogical television transmissions, “the process has already been completed in countries such as Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands, in Flanders here in Belgium, as well as in major areas in Austria”, outlined Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Telecoms and Media at Lisbon Council’s Ludwig Erhard Lecture in Brussels on 9 July.

A further group of countries have already begun the analog blockout and Spain is one of them.

The Spanish government designed a transition plan that would be spread out in three stages. The first one started on the 30th June 2009 and 13% of the Spanish population was affected by it; the second one will commence on the 31st December 2009 and will cover 32% of the population; the final stage will take place the 3rd April 2010, after which analogical television transmissions will no longer function in Spanish territory.

Previous to this schedule, the Spanish government put into practise two DTT transition tests. The first one, as mentioned above, was carried out in the town of A Fonsagrada. A Fonsagrada was chosen because its difficult geographical situation would provide useful information as to how DTT would work in isolated areas with a small population. Soria, a province located north-east of Madrid, was the second location to try the analog switchoff. In this last case some 50.000 citizens were affected by the plan that seeked to serve as an example for the rest of the country.

In the year 2000 Spain was one of the first countries, along with the United Kingdom in 1998 and Sweden in 1999 to launch DTT with platforms heavily reliant on pay television. But in Spain the process between the launching of these platforms and the completion of analog switchoff has been pretty slow, whereas other European countries, such as Norway and the Netherlands, have been able to complete it within 2 years.

Thus, in recent years there have been a number of surveys and studies expressing disbelief in the future of digital television in Spain. The “Estudio de Opinión: Tendencias del Sector Audiovisual” (Study of Opinions of Trends in the Audiovisual Sector), carried out by Time Consultants for IESE's Public-Private Sector Research Center in June 2008, outlined that 60% of Spanish audiovisual industry leaders thought the country was little or not at all prepared for the switch to digital. Results also revealed that skepticism was even higher among private TV operators (74%) and local institutions (83%). On the other hand, technology companies and public television operators appeared to be less gloomy, saying that Spain was well or somewhat prepared (60 and 57% respectively).

Most criticisms related to the difficulties in achieving a wide coverage; the uncertainty sorrounding the date of the blackout; the little interest in DDT by certain TV operators; the absence of concrete plans of implementation; and the lack of action and information towards the viewers, who, at the end of the day, are the most affected part of this process.

Have they taken enough time to prepare us for it? Has the audience been engaged in this process? Changes in the media sector have to be based on a simple and self-interested truth: citizens must participe in them because an informed public will always respond better to these changes than a non well-informed one. The next example backs up this idea.

Yet in 2006, FACUA-Consumers in Action-, a Spanish non-governmental and non-profit organization, warned the government that the lack of information could make the digital transition more complicated. They informed that an important number of consumers living in areas with no DTT coverage had already bought DTT receptor units thinking that was all they needed to be able to capture the new digital transmition.

Completing the analog terrestrial platform in Spain will not be easy and it will be very interesting to observe how major cities like Barcelona or Madrid addapt to it. Yet at the beginning of 2009 figures were not very encouraging: DTT coverage was 90%, but not even 50% of Spanish households could reach the digital signal and, what is even worse, only 22% of them were DTT consumers. Something similar happened in the United States, where the analogical swithoff was planned for February the 17th, but it had to be put off until June because some 6 million households did not have access to it. Just a couple of months after the complete digital swithover took place, some NGO's have reported the problems that some public sectors such as inmigrants and families with a low level of incomes are facing difficulties to get access to the new digital television. Let's not hope this issue turns into a matter of civil rights.

This only comes to show it is imperative that gobernamental bodies, audiovisual industry leaders, private TV operators and local institutions strive hard together so that the so long-expected digital platform becomes a reality for everyone. This scenario will also let us see how society responds as a whole when it comes to adapting to the latest technology and its new products.

Back in A Fonsagrada a year and a half later, results have not been as expected. Some 18% of the population, according to data provided by the Xunta de Galicia, the regional government, have still no access to the digital transmition. Having stated this, it should be taken into account that these figures may not be very reliable due to the fact that the Xunta is not aware of how many inhabitants receive the digital signal from other platforms.

Whatever the case may be, if we are eager to experience television in the 21st century, we need only look towards a small village in the north of Spain, they should surely know by now about big changes!

As goes journalism so does climate change?

2009-09-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

The fate of the political, financial, social and climate worlwide problems depends a great deal of the public understanding of the issue and it is here where media and journalists play a main role.

Whether these issues appear or not in the worldwide scenario and, if so, how long they endure, is very much connected with the importance that media gives to them, with the number of pages they occupy in the papers, with the impact of their images on TV and above all, with the public discussion that journalism generates around them.

Climate change has become one of the most debated subjects, uttered throughout media and the most powerful politicians in the world, and until recent times it was not a major problem for the public.

People are showing more concern about climate change because an informed public can do more things to resolve a problem than a less informed one. But I am afraid that when the coverage of the global warming becomes more limited, the public perception of its importance will also be reduced...so powerful are media in our society!!!

As media and journalism go, so goes the climate change??

2009-09-05T10:56:00.000-07:00