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Week ending October 27, 2012

EBU AND OTHER COMMUNITY TLD APPLICANTS ASK ICANN FOR PRIORITY CONSIDERATION - October 26, 2012
from EBU

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has joined the newly-created Community-Based Top Level Domain Applicants Group (CBAG), which emerged from the 45th Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meeting in Toronto (14 – 18 October 2012).

CBAG comprises 30 applicants that reflect the interests of millions of people in areas as diverse as sports, banking, and gay rights, as well as numerous other commercial and non-profit communities.

In joining CBAG, the EBU seeks to:
· defend its vision of public interest
· actively research ways to streamline the global gTLDs process, especially for community-based TLDs

At the Toronto conference, the group asked ICANN to consider the potential of a pilot evaluation of an uncontested community application.

CBAG argued this would help clarify the process for all community applications.

In March the EBU submitted an application to manage the .radio TLD for the global radio community with the full backing of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) and other relevant bodies.

EBU TLD Project Manager Alain Artero said joining CBAG was a positive step towards that objective.

“We are confident that ICANN will want to simplify its handling of community TLD applications in the knowledge that .radio, like other community TLDs, provides an ideal counterbalance to those interests that are strictly commercial,” he said.

Mr Artero added: “It is in ICANN’s interest to favour the evaluations of community TLDs that most closely follow the TLD programme guidelines.”

CBAG has also offered to work with ICANN on seeking solutions to other issues, such as optimizing contracts and negotiating community applications in contention.

Other conclusions from the Toronto ICANN meeting related to community TLDs:
· Most applicants agreed that the idea of a draw, announced by ICANN in October, as a way of deciding the order in which applications are assessed, is a necessary albeit less than ideal solution.
· The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which advises ICANN on issues of public interest, approved the principle of the draw but urged ICANN to consider prioritizing geographical name TLDs, community TLDs and applications from developing countries.

The draw to determine when each application will be evaluated is due to take place between 4 – 15 December, 2012.

Interested parties may comment on the proposal until 9 November, 2012.

Carnegie UK Trust - Public demand greater role in press regulation, reveals report - October 22 2012
from Martin Allen for Carnegie UK Trust

The public can no longer be excluded from defining ‘the public interest’ in media regulation, argues a report published today by Carnegie UK Trust, as it emerged that 63% of people feel that the public should have a say in the regulation of the country’s media.

The report, Voicing the Public Interest: listening to the public on press regulation, a joint project by the Trust and the think tank Demos, also reveals that 63% mistakenly believe that Parliament is already involved in setting guidelines for the media on what is and is not in the public interest.

The findings come ahead of the Leveson report, which is expected to be published before the end of the year, on the outcome of the phone hacking scandal and where the nation sits on media ethics.

Martyn Evans, Chief Executive, Carnegie UK Trust said: “The nation was outraged by the intrusion into the lives of 'normal' people, like Milly Dowler's family during the phone hacking scandal, and an overwhelming sense that the press have, in some cases, gone too far. But this national debate has been taking place without information about where normal people would draw the line between what is and is not acceptable in the name of the 'public interest’. This report addresses that deficit.

“We carried out this research to find out where the public see the balance and were struck by the findings which show they are, in general, far more reluctant to publish than the media and other commentators expect, especially where there has been a significant level of intrusion into the subjects lives.”

In a representative poll of 2,000 members of the public, participants of the research were given a total of 90 different scenarios, exploring public attitudes towards free speech, privacy and investigative journalism. Out of these scenarios, only 15* had a majority of the public approving publication.

For example,
Just 29% supported the publication of a kiss and tell story about a sports star or actor, using information gained through interviewing friends and neighbours.
Only 41% support publication of a story about a FTSE 100 director making money illegally, with information for the story gained from going through the dustbins outside of a house.
Less than half (46%) of the public supported publication of a story about an elected politician putting others at risk, with information for the story gained from going through the dustbins outside of a house.
40% believe that stories should ‘never’ be published if they draw on information gained through illegal entry into premises.

Martyn continued: “The most important element of our report is that the public want to be involved: they want to have a voice in press regulation. They are not content with a system of self-regulation whereby editors and journalists set the guidelines on what is acceptable in the public interest. In adjudicating on complaints, they are most positive about an independent regulator funded by government but again, the majority want a clear role for the general public in the process.”

The public appear to take a more pragmatic than moralistic approach in judgements about the public interest. Stories calling people’s professional competence into question enjoyed higher support for publication than those revealing deceit for example.

Meanwhile, no ‘kiss and tell’ stories enjoyed majority public support for publication. The public were also most likely to support the publication of stories about people in positions of power and responsibility.

The report reveals strikingly low levels of trust, with many people not believing that tabloid newspapers in particular operate ethically, with due regard to the public interest.

Only one in ten of those surveyed expects the Sun to behave ethically, with just 12% taking that view of the Daily Mirror. The highest ethical approval rating was given to the Financial Times at 55%.

Duncan O’Leary, Deputy Director of Demos and a co-author or the report commented: “Journalists need much more clarity on how public interest judgements will be reached – for their own sake and that of the public. Until that is made much clearer, investigative journalism risks becoming either too timid or too intrusive to serve the public interest.

“Above all the public need to brought into the conversation. Newspapers should become more transparent, so that readers know how stories have been acquired wherever possible. And regulators must become much more open and accountable, so that that the public can scrutinise the judgements made in their name.”