NUJ New Media

London New Media Social Event

2008-07-17T00:18:00.003Z

All new media workers in London are invited to a social event next Thursday (24 July) in the Yorkshire Grey pub (upstairs), 46 Langham Street (anyone who was at the previous socials, this is not the same pub as before, it just has the same name).

Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=46+Langham+Street%2C+London%2C+United+Kingdom

Come along, bring a friend or two, and have a few drinks and some nibbles (paid for by the NUJ). This is not limited to NUJ members, non-members are welcome to come along and have a chat with colleagues and the union.

Pop in any time between 7 and 11 - and don't feel you have to stay all night, it's up to you.

If you're on Facebook, check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=18359453348&ref=nf

NUJ DGS London hustings video

2008-06-03T21:35:00.003Z

The four candidates for the post of NUJ Deputy General Secretary took part in a London hustings event on Thursday 29 May. You can watch a series of videos of the event on the London Central Branch website - http://nujlondoncentral.wordpress.com/ - as all four candidates give their views on issues facing journalism and their suitability for the job.

Look What's Happening To TV News

2008-05-29T01:02:00.001Z

ADM 2008 – New Media news

2008-04-27T22:44:00.003Z

This year's ADM came wrapped up a year of controversy for the union. The debate over Israel raged for a few months after ADM 2006, but for the new media sector, it was the Drogheda debate that's most important. The debate (if you can call what was often an ugly spat a debate) centred around a deal at the Drogheda Independent in Ireland, which, amongst many other very positive issues, was the first time a newspaper chapel had agreed, in principle, to the possibility that print journalists might, at some point, take pictures.

But, let's come back to Drogheda later, because the biggest news for the new media sector came early in day one of ADM, right at the beginning of the second order paper on Finance and Recruitment. The New Media Industrial Council had proposed a motion to make recruitment in new media a priority with major investment in promotional materials and, most importantly, a mapping exercise to help branches find and identify potential members in the sector. The National Executive Council (NEC) submitted an amendment to broaden the motion and make recruitment a priority for all sectors of the union and, after a little bit of discussion to make sure the mapping exercise of the new media stayed in, it was passed overwhelmingly. So expect to see some results from that fairly soon.

But, back to Drogheda. Due to some overlong speeches, the planned running order of the conference got a bit messed up, but that ended up being for the best for the debate. The Drogheda debate, which had its own order paper, ended up coming before the general Wages, Payments and Conditions motions. As the latter included a motion on the Multimedia Commission Report, that could have become a debate on Drogheda. As it happened, though, there was a robust debate on the two main Drogheda motions themselves, leaving the WPC motions to mop up.

The first Drogheda motion was the more extreme one – calling for the resignation of the NEC's Emergency Committee (which would have led to chaos as the President, Vice-President and General Treasurer were all on the committee) and for the adoption a principle that all Chapel agreements be approved by a higher body. So much for Chapel power, eh? That motion was roundly defeated and so, thankfully, was the following motion, against which I spoke. That motion called for the return of a variation on the old point in the union's Working Practices about writers not normally taking photographs – a proposal I called regressive and out of touch with the reality faced by many of our members.

With those out of the way, the scene was set for Composite H, as it was called, which endorsed "Shaping the Future", the Multimedia Commission's report and planned the way forward – protecting quality journalism online through negotiation on pay, conditions, health and safety and training. All these are, of course, hugely important for our sector and, if you haven't read the document, you should do so, it's easily accessible on the NUJ website (under Activists). The Commission, which features three members of NMIC, Gary Herman, Jemima Kiss and yours truly, is to continue its work on an ongoing basis with elections at the next ADM.

On top of this endorsement was the adoption of a new principle, which added a positive statement to the rejection of the regressive motions about Drogheda. ADM agreed that the NEC should "ensure demarcation rules do not prevent members from seizing the opportunities available to them." In other words, the union's highest body has recognised that multimedia journalism is increasingly the norm in our industry and that we can't let old ideas of who does what stand in the way of our members engaging completely in a multimedia world. For our sector, where, of course, multimedia working is the norm and always has been, this is great news and it will hopefully aid in the recruitment the union has made its priority for the year.

There were a couple more bits and pieces of relevance to our sector, one long-running issue, in particular, took a step forward – that of online branches. For a few years now, European branches or the Continental European Council have brought a motion calling for the rules to allow for branches that exist online only to help branches with geographically disparate members. Each time, it's been knocked back after a long (and sometimes humorous debate), despite regular support from NMIC. This year, though, the movers rejected a call for the issue to be remitted for consideration by the Structure Review and there was a debate. This year, though, the vote was won and the NEC is now obligated to bring a motion calling for a change in the rules to next year's ADM.

Finally, there's the question of the online future of The Journalist magazine. The NEC had put forward a couple of specific issues about the Journalist, such as restricting the number of print editions, but ADM voted instead for a review of the magazine and its relationship to the Campaigns and Communications office and rejected a number of the specific recommendations. So, that's one to watch over the next few months.

Dear Mr Rusbridger

2008-04-24T11:14:00.004Z

This is really old now, but such a good one I thought we needed to share it. Broadsheets are still serving up intros to the world of blogging, and this is a very nice little backatcha: ThisIsThis' Meet the Newspaperers.

"For those of you who don’t already know, newspapers make up a significant portion of topical written content in the UK and are fast becoming a vital part of the newsgathering process."

Trouble in the Wikisphere

2008-02-23T01:29:00.002Z

A Whistleblowers' publishing site was closed down last week after legal action in the US by Swiss bankers Julius Baer. But Wikileaks.org had been publishing evidence of alleged money laundering and tax evasion at the Bank.
The decision to close the site has brought the web freedom campaigners out in force.

Swiss Bank's attempt to hide money laundering backfires
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/22/18480978.php

Cringely Looks at the WikiLeaks Debacle
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/02/20/1556209.shtml

To Stop a Leak - Did Bank Julius Baer overstep when it demanded an entire Web site be disabled for hosting a handful of documents?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/114415

Convergence - the final frontier

2008-02-07T14:18:00.000Z

To the Emirates stadium today for a government think-tank session on digital convergence. Today's - rather grandly titled "What is Convergence?" - is the first in a series of events where Whitehall will apparently attempt to piece together some sort of coherent government overview on the mysterious future of the digital world.

Many of the great and the good from the media, hi-tech industry and academia were in attendance, with representatives from the Beeb, ITV, Orange, AOL, Five, Channel 4, the CBI, Guardian, Newspaper Society, Sky, O2...etc

Andy Burnham MP, the recently appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport kicked off proceedings with the usual Nu-Labour speak about the importance of "open markets", diversity and putting consumers in charge etc. According to Mr Burnham, it was important that the think tank wasn't just seen as "insiders talking to insiders" and stressed the importance of including young people in the debate.

A surreptitious glance round the room confirmed there was no-one there under the age of 30, so quite where the input of the "born digital" generation will come from is anybody’s guess, a point picked up by the platform.

Oh, and the findings of the think tank "might or might not" form part of new legislation...my guess is that it probably wont unless Murdoch wants some more favours.

First up in the panel session was the chief executive of Ofcom Ed Richards. He felt that the changes brought about by convergence will bring "disruption" - not only to the media industry but to consumers as the wider media tries to adapt to the digital future. Of course, most NUJ reps would argue that this has been going on across the media for years already, with many hard-working journalists trying to make the best of hair-brained and ill-thought-through schemes to move into the online world drawn up by starry-eyed bosses who don't fully understand the technology...

BBC Director General Mark Thompson spoke about the success of the new iplayer application, with more than two million users since the launch on Christmas Day 2007. However, while evangelising about the brave new world, Thompson also defended radio broadcasting as being central to BBC output and also stressed the need for "outstanding content" as central to digital delivery...

Neil Berkett from Virgin Media told the group that, last Sunday, his broadband customers had downloaded the equivalent of 313 million MP3 tracks in data. Sunday is apparently the busiest day for downloads. (Thus confirming that most UK broadband users are now finally learning to switch off Last of the Summer Wine and instead go on You Tube to rerun that video of Star Wars Kid...)

Marc Overton of Orange moaned about how relatively cheap fixed term broadband was for consumers in comparison to the actual cost of providing the service and support. Damn us savvy customers for going for the cheapest deals! Presumably Orange will either be upping their prices or pulling out of the broadband market. It could be the latter - as Marc predicted that, at an indeterminate point in the future, there would only be three broadband providers for the UK - most likely BT, Virgin and Sky...

He also, rather depressingly, spoke about the popularity of the "Buff or Rough" feature on the Orange website as being one of their most popular developments. (Maybe they hadn't been around during the height of the "Am I Hot Or Not" craze all those years ago...)

The most lucid contribution of the day came from Nick Bertolotti - Investment Fund Managing Director from Credit Suisse. He effectively said what we had all suspected - that the city was "scared of convergence" and that the UK was already "behind the curve". Brands were less important in the online sphere and the established large media companies were under threat from smaller companies, therefore threatening investment etc.

His advice to the media bosses? "Build up the brand. Build up the content side." Ironic that it should be the most overt profiteer on the platform that comes out with what the NUJ has been saying for years about media companies investing in good quality content...

The best contribution of the day came from the floor - Jackie Devereux of the Community Media Association. She picked up on the theme that had come from the platform all morning - that the "individual" was key to the convergence debate. She challenged the notion that the "born digital" generation (anyone under 23) would forevermore be locked away alone in darkened rooms in front of a screen addicted to the net, noting that peoples priorities change as they get older and we don't all stay aged 16 for ever. Amen.

She also pointed out that just because we could now individualise our media consumption, this would not alter the fact that families would sit down and watch a TV show together...a refreshing antidote to the prevalent idea of the day that we would all become anti-social slaves to our handheld devices in years to come.

Finally exposing the elephant that had sat conspicuously in the corner all morning, Devereux made the most valid point of the day that the digital divide is still huge, with almost 50% of children at some inner city schools not having access to a computer at home, along with the scant availability of quality broadband services in poor areas...one for the powers that be to ponder as they attempt to make sense of the rapidly changing digital environment.

I managed to make the NUJ positions during the "break out" discussion group about the very real dangers facing existing media, particularly for local paper staff and freelances, because of the rush online and the need to train all journalists to work across platforms. I also banged the drum for quality content - and the need for all online news content to be managed and produced by experienced and trained professionals. Whether or not these points are taken into the "final cut", remains to be seen.

Petition for Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

2008-01-31T13:08:00.000Z

Afghan journalism student Sayed Pervez Kambaksh has been sentenced to death by an Islamic court for the crime of downloading an Iranian report on women's rights, deemed to be insulting to the court's interpretation of Islam.

Kambaksh handed round the report at his university, with the aim of starting a discussion on the issue in class, but instead found himself denounced and arrested.

The Independent has the story, and is also mounting a petition to President Hamid Karzai, as in this case he is the only one with the power of veto over the court's decision.

You can sign it at www.independent.co.uk/petition

The professor who banned Google speaks

2008-01-17T17:37:00.000Z

I don't know if anyone's spotted it, but an academic has been whipping up a storm (well, mid anti-cyclone) with an unenforceable ban on Google.

Despite her entry in Wikipedia praising her as a finalist for Australian of the Year, Professor Tara Brabazon has banned her students from using Google and Wikipedia, telling them 'Too many students don't use their own brains enough'. This raised the collective eyebrow of the blogosphere just days before her lecture, yesterday, titled Google is White Bread for the Mind proving she is still adept at using modern communication technology.

In reality, despite the alarmingly luddite attitude her ban might imply, the 37 year old professor of Media Studies made some interesting points, perhaps the most interesting was her support of projects like DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), PKP (Public Knowledge Project) and even Google Scholar. Her concern is actually that of many journalists – that the value of quality writing and research is being lost as the public are increasingly subjected to opinion presented as fact, or a homogenised reality designed to appear in the top spot in a Google search.

Her solution? Good quality research being made available for free through these sources, in effect bypassing the expensive licenses charged by the electronic journals that make up modern libraries. All very well if you're being paid handsomely by Brighton University to teach and come up with headline-grabbing publications, but not a solution that will help us all.

You won't be surprised to hear that the lecture is not available as a PowerPoint file!

NUJ publishes multimedia report

2007-12-06T10:55:00.000Z

The long-awaited report of the NUJ's Commission on Multimedia Working, established to investigate the implications of media convergence, has found widespread concern about the impact of new media working on journalistic standards. Three members of the Commission are also members of the union's New Media Industrial Council.

The report, called Shaping the Future, follows months of consultation with journalists working across the industry. It finds that the significant sums that have been spent on new technology haven't been matched by investment in journalism.

The document welcomes the possibilities offered by the internet and media convergence, highlighting their potential to engage new audiences in lively and high quality journalism. However, it also finds that many journalists are worried about the impact they will have on their professional standards.

The report includes numerous examples provided by journalists dealing with these technologies everyday. Trends include demands to produce more content for more outlets without the provision of any extra journalistic resources, which is often felt to have a detrimental effect on quality.

Read the report on the NUJ's redesigned website.

Bloggers told to beat it

2007-11-26T14:09:00.000Z

No - it's not Conrad Quilty-Harper's membership application again, but an interesting link from Conrad himself via the NUJ new media email discussion list (thanks Conrad!) to a US media project.

Beat Blogging

13 journalists with different specialisms are going to try using blogging to build networks to help them in their normal careers. They reckon it'll be a great way to tap into the community around each of their specialisms (sports, local, gaming, stocks, environment, pharmaceuticals etc), and they'll hear more stories and be able to research better as a result.

The names (most of) are announced, and they're waiting to go. I for one will be following this one to see what happens. With some of the specialisms, I reckon it might be hard to break into existing strong communities (gaming maybe). The local one could work really well, but I'm most interested to watch the trade mag ones, to see how they deal with commercial information through the grapevine.

Will they get any more useful than the stream of Guidoesque trolling that Nick Robinson has to put up with on his beat blog? Or will they beat Paul Mason's "Get yourself on Newsnight!" Facebook group to the first social networking/MSM mega-scoop? Reality careers - More gripping than reality TV!

NUJ secures key concessions in AOL redundancy negotiations

2007-11-09T18:01:00.000Z

Members at AOL have been involved in a redundancy process that is seeing the company cut more than half the editorial staff; reducing the number of journalists, designers and photo editors from 38 to just 17.

This is the third restructure of the editorial department in less than 12 months - and now the cuts are accompanied by the outsourcing of much editorial work to India.

Fortunately the NUJ was recognised here a couple of years ago following a tenacious campaign, and the union has able to marshal a strong defence of members' interests during the consultation process -- significantly mitigating the damage.

The union has negotiated a very strong severance package for those members who will be leaving, but our greatest achievement has been securing voluntary redundancies where possible, not just for journalists but across the whole organisation.

We have also successfully gained additional concessions for older colleagues, an extension of redundancy terms for the next year, greater flexibility on retraining allowances and a fairer scoring system for those who will be staying and competing for the remaining jobs.

The union has achieved significant gains which simply would not have been made if the workers had only been represented by the "Employee Forum".

Union reps are still joining members in their meetings with HR as the new organisation is implemented -- but the process has largely been running smoothly and both parties are working together in an attempt to minimise compulsory redundancies.

The whole process has greatly strengthened the chapel at AOL and convinced members of the value of collective representation.

Stacey King, FoC, AOL UK

Remember, remember the fifth of November

2007-10-31T23:08:00.000Z

Don't forget to Stand up for Journalism on Monday.

http://www.standupforjournalism.org.uk/

Read what Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ President, wrote for journalism.co.uk.

My article in The Journalist and the subsequent controversy

2007-10-25T20:34:00.000Z

A little article I wrote for the NUJ's magazine, The Journalist, railing at how the philosophy of Web 2.0 is being used to attack professional journalism - reposted on my blog - elicited a response in the Telegraph's blogs.

The magazine contained more articles, drawn from a report I'm involved in preparing on the impact the way some media outlets are using new technology is having on journalism and journalists. Some of the details are here in the Press Gazette blog.

There's been a a little bit of controversy kicked up by this, with some frankly rather odd reactions. Jeff Jarvis tried to be funny and then followed-up with a more considered response. The Torygraph followed up slagging me off with a go at the rest of the articles and then Roy Greenslade made a grand announcement.

So there we go - a nice big debate about the issues, which is a good thing. So what do you think?

Update: here's another one .

More updates:
Some Silicon Valley oiks get their facts wrong (I'm neither particularly old, a hack nor a Limey - there's a clue in my name)
Shane Richmond strikes again
I get an award
Greenslade needs the weekend
his City University colleague jumps in
and, finally so far, we've someone missing the point (seeing as the whole point of the Multimedia Commission is to "equip our members to embrace it").

And the Podcast:
The Guardian interviewed me about this story - and then people discussed what I said, though I'm not sure they really got the point.

Even more, this time some more considered pieces looking at the issues involved:
Journalism and the articulate commons
What is Wrong with the Tech Journalism

and then there's this one:
Hands up those who think Web 2.0 is rubbish!.

Latest:
Now It’s Your Turn Journalist.

And it goes on:
Let's have a real debate about Web 2.0
Still going: more of the NUJ debate
The NUJ and me: a considered response
Is the Web as weak as its weakest link?
Stand up for kremlinology and groupthink
Night Of The Blunt Nibs
Facing the reality of new media

Another audio appearance from me, this time on late night BBC 5 Live and the subsequent podcast.

And over on our sister site, nujnewmedia.org.uk - Much Ado About Not Very Much

Even more updates:
More Jeff Jarvis:
In olde London
Leaving the union

More Neil McIntosh:
Five things the NUJ could do to engage with the web
NUJ and new media: the trouble is, they just don’t know what’s going on

More Shane Richmond:
Still going: more of the NUJ debate

Paul Bradshaw: The NUJ fuss - now I’m spitting

Joanna Geary: Bedtime reading for the NUJ...

Reportr.net: Does the NUJ understand the internet?

And apparently the Internet's own personal blog

Latest:
A considered and interesting look at the issue from the University of Bedford's New Media Research Group, contrasting with this from the PBS in the US.

Standing up for journalism in the blogosphere

2007-10-18T16:50:00.000Z

The NUJ inspired Stand Up for Journalism day on November 5 has been generating interest in the blogosphere.

And everyone is taking a different line.

Grimmer Up North concentrates on the BBC.

Labour of Love goes with the Peterloo massacre.

Dave's Part plays it straight.

Brussells Reporter takes the Euro-angle.

PR in a jar says she's taking part.

City of the Dead looks at Liverpool's media.

Stephen Newton wants his press releases re-jigged.

How-do pokes the bonfire.

And the Guardian does it the old fashioned way.

If you see anything else, please add them to the list by commenting (thanks to Miles Barter for compiling this list so far).

Downed blogger Craig Murray defends Usmanov attacks

2007-10-01T17:17:00.000Z

see also
Stand up for Tila, an unlikely web warrior

and
Craig Murray will be back online shortly...

Downed blogger Murray vows to continue Usmanov attacks
Ex-ambassador defiant in libel row
By Chris Williams

Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray has vowed to carry on making allegations against billionaire Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov, despite attempts to silence him and his supporters.

Murray told The Register: "If the man believes he was libelled then he should take me to court."

Murray's blog was deleted by www.fasthosts.co.uk on Friday 21st September after threats from Usmanov's UK legal team. It's expected to reappear on an overseas server, and will repeat the charges that drew heavy fire from specialist libel firm Schillings.

The ex-diplomat says he has contacted Schillings to ask for clarification of which specific aspect of his allegations they contest, but has not received a response. "They say my book [Murder in Samarkand] is 'grossly libellous and defamatory', yet it has been widely available for a year and has sold 25,000 copies, without their actually taking any legal action," he added.

Murray's criticism of Usmanov stems from his rise in Uzbekistan following the collapse of communism to become one of Russia's richest men. He denies the accusations. His profile in the UK has skyrocketed since he followed Chelsea chairman and fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich into football investment.

Murray's blog entry about Usmanov, made September 2, were picked up by many political and Arsenal websites which later also received complaints from Schillings. It became the third-highest hit on Google for the search "usmanov", but was quickly removed from Murray's site after the first legal letter.

Tim Ireland, who runs the political site Bloggerheads.com, which was downed along with Murray's site, has slammed Fasthosts' action, and denied the claim that they refused to comply with takedown requests after he repeated Murray's allegations.

Fasthosts says it acted according to standard industy practice and has declined to answer Reg questions.

Ireland said Fasthosts has so far failed to provide copies of two of the three complaints made by Schillings. "We don't have any of the correspondence despite multiple requests," he said.

The third complaint was made weeks after the September 2 post was removed. The takedown meant the Google robot instead indexed another piece Murray had penned in October 2005 that included the name.

On contact from Fasthosts, site administrator Clive Summerfield suspended the site and wrote back to Fasthosts to suggest that it, Schillings, Ireland and Murray liase on what was acceptable. Fasthosts responded by pulling the plug on his two dedicated servers on Friday.

Bloggerheads and craigmurray.co.uk were part of a small stable of sites run by Summerfield. This connection explains the deletion of Tory mayoral hopeful Boris Johnson's site, despite it having no involvement in the Usmanov affair. The action also downed the website of the London Bach Society and an independent record label.

The new hosting has been arranged separately from the rest of Summerfield's sites - Murray believes that Usmanov's lawyers are trying to make him back down by attacking others.

We asked Murray if he intends to stay on Usmanov's back. He replied: "There is room on Usmanov's back for an awful lot of people. You could get even more on his stomach, and possibly lose some under the overlap of his chins."

We think that's a "yes".

Yahoo, AOL and MSN censor truthout emails

2007-10-01T16:30:00.000Z

Subscribers to the anti-war email news service at Californian news site Truthout.org have found messages diverted into their trash bins, and at Yahoo! blocked entirely, without explanation. This apparent censorship raises questions about the honesty and accountability of free email 'services' and whether those who sign up are actually getting the service they think they are entitled to.

I personally experienced exactly this one month or so ago when sending an invite by email to ex editor of the Independent on Sunday Rosie Boycott. She wrote back to me explaining that she had found my invitation in her trash folder and only noticed it because I had put the word URGENT in the subject heading. One wonders whether this is some ind of systematic policy?

Managers and PR people of these largely faceless free email services have still, since the problem was originally encountered on 14th September, failed to give an apology or a credible explanation. This sort of error, deliberate or otherwise, by the major players who provide free email services to the public round the world begs the question... If MSN, Hotmail, AOL and Yahoo can't be trusted with our mail then who can? I want out but where can I go?

Answers on a postcard please, or post a reply below on this blog. Personally I have found fastmail.fm to be reliable but there doesn't appear to be any quality control to speak of in place as these big corporations apparently use their market share to censor peace movement material they don't like and abuse the trust of their users allying themselves with the US war faction.

AOL/Microsoft-Hotmail Preventing Delivery of Truthout Communications

Here's what one truthout subscriber had to say.

Guys, just to let you know, I do receive my Truthout communications at my Yahoo e-mail address, -@yahoo.com, however, I have noticed this past week that they no longer appear in my Inbox. Rather, they are now always delegated automatically to my BULK folder. I have to check my Bulk to make sure they're Truthout's, and usually, they are.

So, they are coming through, but for some reason, are now delegated to the dump.

I will add your Truthout address to my address book to try and correct this problem - nothing for you to do on your end. I just thought that, in light of your message about Microsoft, this was a curious development.

Keep fighting for truth. We activist/bloggers out here fighting to end this war - I'm a Marine mom who's sent three family members to Iraq SIX times - and fighting to bring sanity back to govt can't do it without you guys.

Sincerely,
Deanie (TO Reader - Yahoo box holder)

And here are some of the people responsible.......

Brad Smith
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Legal & Corporate Affairs
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
Phone: 425-882-8080
Fax: 425-936-7329

Tom Burt
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Litigation Group
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
Phone: 425-882-8080
Fax: 425-936-7329

Yahoo

Michael J. Callahan
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Tel: (408) 349-3300
Fax: (408) 349-3301

LinkedIn and Facebook

2007-09-27T23:40:00.000Z

There's now an NUJ group on LinkedIn, click here to join.

And NUJ's Facebook group is the biggest union group on Facebook and the union has just had it first Facebook only recruitment, Sushanta Das Gupta, editor of http://www.e-bangladesh.org/. If you're on Facebook, go here to join the NUJ group.

A tale of two cities

2007-09-18T15:37:00.000Z

"Brighton has a vibrant developer community and rich cosmopolitan culture" says Linden Labs' director of marketing Catherine Smith, in this week's New Media Age, as Second Life opened their UK offices and started hiring in London by the sea.

It's shaping up to be a real battle for the UK's second digital city, as Brighton squares up to the BBC's move to Manchester. Both of them are eminently well equipped for new media firms fed up of London - good locations and great variety of lifestyles to attract staff away from the capital. And of course, both with good local NUJ links! What more could you want?

Farewell Facebook?

2007-09-08T21:25:00.000Z

Facebook and employers who ban it at work have been all over the media in the last couple of weeks. I don't think the issue is as widespread as the touted surveys suggest, but I reckon it's getting such good coverage for one main reason... 90% of the UK's journalists are complete Facebook fiends, and they're bricking it that they may have to give up their poking antics too.

I don't think this is too likely though. Journalists are networkers by nature (witness the NUJ group - the biggest of any union group, despite a much smaller membership than unions like Unite), and can often get more of a blind eye turned to the blurs between the cultivation of friend networks and professional networks on and offline than other groups of workers might. I'll eat my Second Life avatar's hat if it ever gets switched off at the Beeb!

Anyway, before you go and practice your "but it's a vital tool of my trade!" plea, check out this guidance for staff about your rights to Facebook, and the correct etiquette for dealing with a friend request from your editor.

In a comedy twist to the issue, one group of banned workers have taken it to its logical conclusion, starting a Facebook group to campaign for Facebook rights reinstatement at Medway Maritime Hospital - a kind of MC Escher recurring issue within an issue.

Wordpress blogs banned in Turkey

2007-08-22T00:50:00.000Z

Turkey bans Wordpress blogs after alleged libel of Islamic writer

Aug 20, 2007, 16:05 GMT

Ankara - Turkish Internet users have been blocked from accessing sites on the Wordpress.com hosting service after a court in Istanbul ordered the site be blocked after lawyers complained that a number of blogs hosted by Wordpress were libellous of Islamic creationist author Adnan Oktar.

Turkish Internet users attempting to access more than a million Wordpress.com sites are now redirected to a site which says in Turkish and English, 'Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance.'

Kerim Kalkan, a lawyer for Oktar said that the court first ordered Turk Telecom to block a couple of specific sites but the authors of the sites soon moved the allegedly libelous content to other Wordpress sites.

'It was when this happened that we applied to the court to order that all websites of Wordpress be blocked,' Kalkan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Kalkan said the court first ordered that Wordpress be blocked on August 13 and that Turk Telecom implemented the order on August 17. 'We have also sent messages to other blog hosting sites and if the libellous content moves to them we will again apply to the courts to have those blocked also,' Kalkan said.

The Wordpress website has posted a number of e-mails and letters from Oktar's lawyers, asking for the various sites to be taken down
......... C O N T I N U E S .............

Michael Chossudovsky Global Research

Punchy New Wave News Sites in Canada

2007-08-18T19:46:00.000Z

The Real News

Exceptional new wave news sites - such a lot of good journalistic stuff going on in Canada. That in Toronto and this in Ottawa.

Michael Chossudovsky Global Research

Journalist Advisory Committee

The Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG) is an independent research and media group of writers, scholars journalists and activists. The CRG is based in Montreal. It is a registered non profit organization in the province of Quebec, Canada.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=theme&themeId=2

The Global Research webpage at www.globalresearch.ca publishes news articles, commentary, background research and analysis on a broad range of issues, focussing on social, economic, strategic, geopolitical and environmental processes.
Our website was established on the 9th of September 2001, two days before the tragic events of September 11. Barely a few days later, Global Research had become a major news source on the New World Order and Washington's "war on terrorism".
Since September 2001, we have established an extensive archive of news articles, in-depth reports and analysis on issues which are barely covered by the mainstream media.

Don't forget - London, 26 July evening - drinks on the NUJ

2007-07-14T18:03:00.000Z

Less than two weeks to go - if you haven't told your friends already, tell 'em now:

NUJ New Media Social Recruitment Event

The NUJ's London Central Branch is putting on a recruitment social event, so, if you work in new media or do you have friends or colleagues who work in new media and like having a drink in good company in comfortable surroundings - please come along.

This event is planned to start at 7:30 pm on Jul 26, 2007 upstairs at the Yorkshire Grey pub, Holborn, London.

If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2393405298, if not, just turn up.

Fairer subs for new media

2007-07-10T21:11:00.000Z

As of Monday 9 July, the union's members working in new media will see a fairer subscription rate, with many paying lower subs. The change follows a decision made at this year's Annual Delegate Meeting.

The ADM motion called for subs for all new media journalists, except for those working alongside other journalists in the more established parts of the media, to be lowered to Grade 1.

Low pay continues to be a problem in many parts of the new media sector and job uncertainty is endemic, factors that made recruitment very difficult with subs for the sector at the highest level. The New Media Industrial Council hopes the new subs rates will lead to a boom in recruitment in the sector at a time when the union most needs it.

The full text of the new rule will be in the new Rule Book, but the breakdown means that all those, except people employed in workplaces defined under Grades 2 and 3, will pay subs at the lowest grade. The others will pay subs as appropriate to their workplace.

As part of the new media recruitment drive following the change in subs, London Central Branch has organised a recruitment event in the city on Thursday July 26 from 7:30. Details below.

Lords communications committee to probe media ownership and the news

2007-07-04T21:09:00.000Z

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/hlcommunications.cfm

[mind you the parliamentary web team seem to have some communication problems of their own - two of the three links are kaput. When I visited them the email advice signup was down as was the link to the call for evidence]

The House of Lords Communications Committee have today launched a new inquiry into media ownership and the news.

The inquiry will be in two parts, with the Committee first focusing on changes in the way people access news, developments in the way news is provided and how concentrated media ownership affects the balance and diversity of news in a democracy. The Committee will then go on to consider the concentration of media ownership, cross media ownership and the regulation framework.

The Committee have today launched a Call for Evidence for the first part of the inquiry. A separate Call for Evidence will be issued later in the year for the second part of the inquiry.

At this stage the Committee are particularly seeking evidence on:

1. How and why have the agendas of news providers changed? How has the content of news programmes and newspapers altered over the years?

2. How is the way that people access the news changing? The Committee is interested in national and regional trends and figures for television, radio, newspaper and on-line news consumption.

3. How has the process of news gathering changed? The Committee is interested in the process of news production, the prioritisation of budgets and the deployment of journalistic resources.

4. What is the impact of the concentration of media ownership on the balance and diversity of opinion seen in the news? Does ownership have an impact on editorial priorities and on news values such as fairness, accuracy and impartiality?

5. How should the public interest be protected and defined in terms of news provision? Are the public interest considerations set down for Ofcom in the Communications Act 2003 enough to ensure a plurality of debating voices in the UK news media?

Commenting Lord Fowler, who chairs the House of Lords Communications Committee, said:

“There has been an increasing concentration of ownership in the media. We want to examine if this has had an effect upon news provision. There are important public interest factors here. In a democracy it is vital to have as wide a diversity of news as possible.”

“There has been very little work investigating the impact of ownership on editorial priorities such as fairness, accuracy and impartiality. It is important to know what influence ownership has in order to make informed decisions on media regulation.”

Notes to Editors

1. The House of Lords Communications Committee was formed in May 2007 to consider issues relating to communications and the media. It has since then been conducting a short inquiry into the Chairmanship of the BBC.

2. The Call for Evidence on the Committee’s new inquiry into Media Ownership and The News can be found at:

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/hlcommunications.cfm

3. The current members of the House of Lords Communications Committee are:

Lord Fowler (Chairman)

Lord King of Bridgewater

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury

The Bishop of Manchester

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale

Lord Maxton

Baroness Eccles of Moulton

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick

Baroness Scott of Needham Market

Baroness Howe of Idlicote

Baroness Thornton

Lord Inglewood

[ENDS]