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With two hostage situations on-going in the Paris area involving suspected violent killers Friday afternoon, French media regulator CSA distributed a "note to editors" urging caution, reported Les Echos (January 9). Radio and TV broadcasters were urged to use "the greatest discretion" in deploying news teams.
"With the tragic events currently facing the country, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) invites televisions and radios to act with the greatest discretion, with the double aim of ensuring the safety of their teams and to allow the security forces to complete their mission with the required efficiency," said the CSA communication.
Media coverage of the murders of Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris and subsequent hunt for the culprits has been intense, compounded by another, related murder-hostage situation. French news crews, joined by international media teams, are very much in evidence. Pressure to be first and fast has led to some contradictory reports. All media people on the scene and editors back at the desks should remain mindful that the bad guys started this by killing media people.
Broadcasting concession fees charged to private-sector owners in the Netherlands have been ruled excessive by an appeals tribunal. The decision immediately affects Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG), which paid a bit more than €20 million in 2011 for Radio Veronica's FM frequencies through September 2017. Appeals by other broadcasters over concession fees remain in process.
The Business Appeals Board (CBb) faulted the Ministry of Economic Affairs for an "inadequate investigation of the value of the FM frequencies," reported nrc.nl (January 8). TMG was awarded the Radio Veronica FM frequencies with a program format restriction limited to pop oldies music. The CBb determined that this special condition "could have a negative effect on value." (See more about media in the Netherlands here)
FM frequencies in the Netherlands were redistributed into "lots" in 2011 with fees determined by coverage and programming. The Ministry of Economic Affairs must now recalculate and, perhaps, send TMG a rebate. Talpa, owner of Radio 538, and De Persgroep Nederland, owner of Q-Music, are also seeking a concession fee adjustment through the CBb.
The official inquiry into high-level corruption in Turkey has not pleased the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, mostly because several party-loyalists have been implicated. After the corruption commission decided to end investigations of ex-ministers and have recordings of wire-tapped phone calls destroyed several television channels reported it all with a graceful attempt at side-stepping a ban on coverage legislated by parliament by having newscasters read reports of the goings-on from newspapers. It didn't quite work.
Turkey's media regulator - the RTüK - let all broadcasters know they'd be watching and listening for violations of the coverage ban. But six TV channels "breached the law," said the RTüK, quoted by Hürriyet Daily News (January 8), by reading inquiry testimony as reported by newspapers Hürriyet and Cumhuriyet. Fines, yet to be announced, will be "consequential," said an RTüK spokesperson. (See more about media in Turkey here)
Like the corruption inquiry commission, the RTüK board is dominated by AKP members. Dissenters have, indeed, spoken out. "It is a big blow against press freedom in Turkey," said board member not affiliated with the AKP Ali Oztunc. "Unfortunately, the RTüK continues to be the AKP administration's stick."
"Punishing a broadcaster for arbitrary reasons or by government influence only exists in dictatorships," said Esat Ciplak, another RTüK board member not aligned with the government.
Words cannot begin to express the shock, horror and disgust at the brutal attack on the offices of Paris weekly Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people were murdered by hooded, machine-gun wielding terrorists. The dead include renowned editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, writer, economist and Charlie Hebdo shareholder Bernard Maris and three cartoonists. Two police officers also lost their lives, one shot dead as he lay injured on the street. Five others have been reported in serious condition.
According to various French and international media outlets, two men armed with an assault rifle and pump-action shotgun "burst" into the magazine's offices at about 11h30 (Wednesday, January 7) as the weekly editorial meeting was taking place. A mayhem of bullets broke out for about ten minutes before the gunmen casually left, shooting the police officers on the way. Several sources reported the men shouting "God is great" in Arabic and "tell the media that we are from Al-Qaida in Yemen," speaking "perfect" French. The attack and get-away seem to have been well-planned.
As of 19h00 CET the assailants, along with a third person, remain at-large amidst a massive police operation. Armed security services have been assigned to other Paris media headquarters as well as schools and major shopping districts. The worst terrorist attack in France since World War II has put the greater Paris area on the highest possible security alert.
Charlie Hebdo is a weekly satirical magazine, notable for never avoiding a controversy, published in Paris for 40 years. After republishing the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, which caused great controversy when originally published in 2005, Charb was given 24/7 armed protection. The Charlie Hebdo offices were fire-bombed in 2011. "I prefer to die standing rather than live on my knees," he said two years ago. (See earlier article about Charlie Hebdo here)
Virtually every media organisation chief and head of state joined French president François Hollande in condemning this viciously violent act. "We must stand against the forces of division and hate," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. "This should be a wake up call for all of us to counter the rising climate of hatred that threatens to fracture our understanding of democracy," said WAN-IFRA CEO Vincent Peyregne. (See WAN-IFRA statement here) French public radio and television and newspaper Le Monde pledged support so Charlie Hebdo "can continue to live."
"We have killed Charlie Hebdo," shouted one of the assailants, reported several sources. They still just do not understand.
There was a time, which few remember, when publishers rarely complained. Readers subscribed, advertisers spent and politicians stood back in awe as the money rolled it. It seems like such a long time ago. Now, more than a decade into the digital era, some publishers have engaged with this revolution, others not so much.
"It was a beautiful, successful and good year," said Swiss-German publishers association (VSM - Verband Schweizer Median) president Hanspeter Lebrument at the annual Epiphany conference in Zürich, reported Swiss media portal kleinreport.ch (January 8). "Even my investors have joy." After that warm welcome, he launched into the New Year's theme: public broadcasting.
Specifically, Swiss-German publishers want public broadcaster SSR-SRG to give up its ad revenue, which, after the household license fee revenue, is modest but noticable. Herr Lebrument wants the Swiss parliament to consider a public broadcasting model more like that of UK public broadcaster BBC, ad-free. There were days when publishers tacitly accepted public broadcasting as preferable competitively to privately-owned television.
Like publishers in other countries, Herr Lebrument wants SSR-SRG to do less; fewer channels and less text in online content. "The SSR.SRG does everything like newspaper," he said. "Excessive text drives away (online) traffic from private (publishers)," adding that public broadcasting "encourages the culture of free."
An astounding €92 billion a year is being “wasted” on Facebook just in Italy, according to calculations made by economist Luciano Canova, reported Polish daily Rzeczpospolita (January 3), quoting a “weekend” article in Italian daily La Repubblica, yet to be uncovered. The good professor’s findings were originally published well before the holiday season that normally might explain tireless effort alone with a calculator. Dr. Canova teaches experimental economics at the post-graduate Scuola Enrico Mattei.
Dr. Canova’s short article “In Search of Lost Time” appeared in lavoce.info (November 25) and described the calculation in terms of opportunity cost and productivity. The €92 billion figure is nearly equal to the interest paid in 2013 on Italy’s public debt or “conservative estimates of the amount (lost) to tax evasion.” According to well-known data 25.2 million Italians use social media every day. Daily use is about two hours, half of which he attributes to Facebook. Simple calculation yields 9.198 billion hours a year and, at €10 per hour, €3650 per year per Facebook user in “opportunity cost,” (See more about social media here)
“These figures are based on assumptions and do not aim to objectively estimate the monetary value of the time spent on Facebook,” he wrote in the original article. ”However, this is an exercise that highlights in economic terms an essential aspect of our hyper-connected lives.” Social media certainly has the full attention of academics, much as television did in the 1960‚ looking for rhyme and reason.
“Thinking about time value, even in monetary terms, should not be overlooked,” he concludes. “And you can start by calculating the opportunity cost of not sharing this article on Facebook.”
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