Mediastudiesblog

Daily Maverick has set up launched Free Africa Media,  a dedicated website to track media and freedom of speech issues and "provide journalists – and citizens – of Africa with the analysis, insight and opinion that they need."

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" Whether you're a journalist on the front line in protecting freedom of expression, or a layperson who believes in your right to know what's happening in your country, we'll provide the tools"

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With free, quality media and freedom of expression under attack from just about every corner of African reality, it becomes more and more obvious that a concentrated, Africa-wide effort is needed to help the fight. Free African Media aims to be just that. The publication will function as a platform dedicated to freedom of expression throughout the continent, as well to helping improve the overall quality of reporting, analysis and opinion Africa-wide. We are anticipating that Free African Media's month-long trial will prove so successful that we'll be able to make it a permanent project.

 

 

Here's the draft programme for the Power Reporting 2010: The African Investigative Journalism Conference which started on Monday 1 November 2010 and ends today 3 November 2010.    

Idasa has expressed concern that the Protection of Information Bill and the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal are not the same,  as their interchangeable use in the media has led many to believe. 

PIMS manager Judith February says: “The Protection of Information Bill will, if passed in its current form, have serious consequences for all ordinary citizens, not only journalists.”

Here's the link to the media statement.

 

 

http://deadspin.com/5538321/tv-people-confuse-world-cup-host-country-with-similarly-named-landmass

 

 

(Thanks David!)

 An opinion piece from Ebrahim Fakir (from the Electoral Commission of South Africa)  on media freedom and how the media should respond to threats to its independence. 

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Upon reflection, it is clear that both the ANC Youth League and the journalists appear to muddle the distinction between public and private actions, and institutions. The Youth League's behavior remains politically and ethically indefensible to be sure, but there are important lessons from this saga about how the media ought to be responding to these kinds of threats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Thanks Celia!)

(From UN Pulse)

The International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) monitored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has issued a new report: The Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity. Submitted as a follow-up to the Decision on the Safety of Journalists adopted at the 26th session of the Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC in March 2008, it provides an overview and background information on the killings of journalists. It also gives information on the status of the judicial inquiries conducted on each of the killings condemned, and on the actions taken to prevent the impunity of the perpetrators.

From the Pew Internet Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism comes the "State of the News Media 2010"  [in USA]  

 

From the Introduction: 

Inside news companies, the most immediate concern is how much revenue lost in recession the industry will regain as the economy improves.

Whatever the answers, the future of news ultimately rests on more long-term concerns: What are the prospects for alternative journalism organizations that are forming around the country? Will traditional media adapt and innovate amid continuing pressures to thin their ranks?

And with growing evidence that conventional advertising online will never sustain the industry, what progress is being made to find new revenue for financing the gathering and reporting of news?

 

The Department of Communications has, in terms of section 3(1) of the Electronic Communications Act, 2005 (Act No. 36 of 2005), gazetted the Public Service Broadcasting Bill, Charter of the Corporation and the Charter of Community Broadcasting Services as a process to repeal the Broadcasting Act no.4 of 1999.

 

Comments can be emailed to Miyelani Khosa at miyelani at doc.gov.za  by no later than 7 December 2009

The Bill is here: www.pmg.org.za/bill

The charters are here: www.pmg.org.za/gazettes . 

 

(1) Broadcast media consisting of Radio and Television;
(2) Print Media consisting of Newspapers and Magazines; and
(3) New Media consisting of online media (Internet) and mobile media.

Radio is the most accessible medium of communication, with 94.1% of the adult population having access to radio. According to AMPs 2008 Television has a population reach of over 83.8%¹. Whereas, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation 2008 (ABC), newspapers and magazines have a population reach of 48% and 40% respectively.

Of interest, is the fact that South Africa's mobile penetration exceedsthat of PC (computer) and internet penetration, and mobile internet penetration is still in its growth phase. South Africa is Africa's highest mobile website page impressions as measured by AdMob².

 Spot the mistake. 

 

 

Sources:  http://mediamatters.org/blog/200907270040 and

 http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/30/egypt-fox-news-creative-chaos/

 

 

 

Spotted on various websites, blogs and in print.

A teenage intern, Matthew Robson,  at Morgan Stanley was asked how teenagers consume media.  His report so impressed the European Media Team at Morgan Stanley as "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen. So we published it."  

Here's the full report. 

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Most teenagers nowadays are not regular listeners to radio. They may occasionally tune in, but they do not try to listen to a program specifically. The main reason teenagers listen to the radio is for music, but now with online sites streaming music for free they do not bother, as services such as last.fm do this advert free, and users can choose the songs they want instead of listening to what the radio presenter/DJ chooses.

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No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper, as most do not have the time and cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV. The only newspapers that are read are tabloids and freesheets (Metro, London Lite…) mainly because of cost; teenagers are very reluctant to pay for a newspaper (hence the popularity of freesheets such as the Metro).

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 What is Hot?

•Anything with a touch screen is desirable.

•Mobile phones with large capacities for music.

•Portable devices that can connect to the internet (iPhones)

•Really big tellies

What Is Not?

•Anything with wires

•Phones with black and white screens

•Clunky ‘brick’ phones

•Devices with less than ten-hour battery life

 

 

Spotted on Research Blogging which links to a posting on the Ecographica blog which in turn links to the first of three essays in Nature.   

Naturenews has, in the run-up to the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists in London next week, a special issue on Science journalism.  

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In the first of three essays, Toby Murcott argues that the process of science needs to be opened up if journalists are to provide proper critique.

There is a rhythm to science news, easy to spot in the mainstream media and as familiar to every science journalist as breathing. It follows the publication cycles of the major peer-reviewed journals such as Science, The Lancet and Nature. As press releases describing research arrive in our inboxes they are scanned for stories, the most newsworthy picked, offered to editors and then reported.

In the second of three essays, Boyce Rensberger tracks the progression of scientific correspondents from cheerleaders to watchdogs, while the third essay by Nadia El-Awady looks at science journalism in Arab countries.

In an editorial, Nature says that science journalism is under threat.  The Washington Post's national environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin and its executive editor Marcus Brauchli discuss the future of science coverage in their newspaper.

Spotted elsewhere on Bad Science and Mind Hacks is an invitation to science journalists attending the World Conference to attend a fringe event (Troublemaker's Fringe)  with Ben Goldacre (of Bad Science), Vaughn Bell and Petra Boynton.

 

 

 

Now you can see the Special Assignment programme on Satire, that was withdrawn yet again.

The uncut version comes via Mail & Guardian.  

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It's not hard to see why the broadcaster is stalling. Outside of a handful of examples -- Pieter Dirk-Uys, for instance -- South Africans are unused to political satire. African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema also showed his intolerance recently when he threatened to "mobilise the people of South Africa to take militant action" against Nando's after the fast-food chicken chain flighted an advert which took a gentle dig at the youth leader.

The documentary also explores the fact the President Jacob Zuma is still planning on suing award-winning cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro -- who uses the pen name Zapiro -- for a cartoon portraying him about to rape Lady Justice. Shapiro drew this cartoon as Zuma was involved in a court bid to have graft charges dropped.

Spotted on IOL,  the story and a link to the controversial puppet show, Z News, which was shelved by the SABC.     

The pilot episode shows news reader Mahendra Raghunath interviewing Mbeki and Zuma, who is also depicted as the ogre Shrek. There are skits in between the interviews which show Tshabalala-Msimang as a princess and a crazy doctor, as well as DA leader Helen Zille, who is depicted as a dragon.

One skit is an episode of Idols where Zuma is shown singing De La Rey and Awulet' uMshini Wam'; Zille sings a rap song, Hey, Hey, Hey Don't Mess With My City; and Mbeki sings I Will Survive.

 Z-News formed a part of the discussion on a documentary episode of Special Assignment on political satire  -  which was also canned.

 

 

Another story on Bizcommunity.

Student Radio Network has launched a new website.  

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