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After the Soviet Union came to an end State and party dominated media in Central and Eastern Europe saw new and, often, raw competition. Much of this was driven by passion. Later came money. Some of the survivors have become local media institutions. Others struggle with the same issues that vex media outlets everywhere.
Illustrious Romanian tabloid Evenimentul Zilei (EVZ) will cease its print edition at the first of the new year, reported media news portal G4Media.ru (November 20). EVZ was founded in 1992 by three journalists, three years after the revolution that toppled autocrat Nicolae Ceausescu. The uninhibited EVZ grew in daily circulation to 600,000. Current print circulation stands at about 7 thousand daily copies.
It’s just economics. ”The price for paper has doubled,” said proprietor Dan Andronic “The printed newspaper was losing, there are fewer readers from month to month for the print version.” Newsroom staff will be reassigned to digital products, including a streamed TV channel. He also suggested the possibility of “entry into a large press group,” no details provided. Media news portal paginademedia.ro (November 21) suggested there are “advanced talks” with tabloid publisher Radu Budeanu.
The original owners exited first to German publisher Gruner+Jahr, subsidiary of Bertelsmann, then to Ringier, which exited in 2010 to local owners. The current publisher - Evenimentul Zilei and Capital - filed for insolvency in 2014, which precipitated legal proceedings related to dodgy loans. Co-owned magazines Capital and Evenimentul Istoric will continue print editions. (See more about media in Romania here)
“I don’t know if you know,” wrote Mr. Andronic on social media, quoted by business and financial portal bursa.ro (November 21), “but in this world a newspaper only survives if someone gives money. A man or a state. No one gives to us.”
In October colorful Romanian media empresario Adrian Sarbu exited several online publications to the aforementioned Mr. Budeanu. Mr. Sarbu’s company - Mediafax - has been in insolvency proceedings since 2015. He had once been chief executive of Central European Media Enterprises (CME) before its takeover by Time Warner, now WarnerMedia. CME has recently been sold to Czech private equity investor PPF Group.
Digital technologies are no longer sci-fi wonders. They are business models. The media sphere is traveling from machine learning to artificial intelligence in the quest for the better, faster and smarter. This is not news. For newsrooms around the world this is a challenge.
Several recent well-written reports from very smart people present stark reasons for newsrooms to get on board with artificial intelligence (AI). There is, they say, not a moment to lose, or rather a nano-second. AI application is efficient. It is liberating. It is also a competitive advantage.
“If you’re not active (with AI) within five years, you’re going to lose the window of opportunity,” said London School of Economics and Political Science journalism think-tank Polis director Charlie Beckett, quoted by journalism.co.uk (November 19). “If you miss that, you’ll be too late.” Polis interviewed 71 international news organizations about their use of AI in newsroom editorial functions and found “just” 37% have an AI plan. Google News Initiative funded the research.
He notes - not at all incorrectly - that the retail and housing sectors are mad crazy about AI. Read up on dynamic pricing in the retail world for a few tips from Amazon. “People expect personalization,” he added, suggesting that news silos work wonders.
The tone is similar in a report from public broadcasting support group European Broadcasting Union (EBU), also presented this week. Like the Polis report, it emphasizes “necessary investment” as well as creating “value by personalizing (the) offering individually, as the move to many-to-many communication is the major paradigm to address,” quoting the EBU statement. It also notes, often repeated, the need to change metrics.
“New technologies will change societies and individual lives, and keeping the machines in human control requires new reporting skills that newsrooms are currently lacking,” wrote co-author Atte Jääskeläinen. “Public service journalism must fulfil its mission during and after this transformation, but using data and artificial intelligence effectively requires scale. Successful investments are large and therefore strategic.”
Ethics figures large in a Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism report (November 21). “The relationship between a journalist and AI is not unlike the process of developing sources or cultivating fixers,” wrote authors Bernat Ivancsics and Mark Hansen. “As with human sources, artificial intelligences may be knowledgeable, but they are not free of subjectivity in their design. They also need to be contextualized and qualified.”
While journalist, press freedom and human rights advocates continue to condemn assaults on media workers and the failure to authorities to bring perpetrators to justice, public outcry is adding sufficient political pressure. Manifestations of that outrage are only possible, obviously, within rule of law frameworks. The strength of the Fourth Estate is eternally tested.
Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told gathered news media he has prepared an executive pardon for an individual in return for evidence in the assassination 25 months ago of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, reported Times of Malta (November 19). “The police have carried out a coordinated operation together with Interpol, where people arrested on a money laundering operation, included someone connected to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.” A pardon will be issued, he added, “if the evidence will be enough for us to capture the person who commissioned the murder.” The person in question has been identified as a previously investigated money launderer, hence the involvement of Interpol.
Details, some quite bizzare, have swirled in recent days that the investigation into the murder of Malta investigative reporter Daphne may have reached a new phase. Last week PM Muscat changed two of three members of the inquiry board looking into the murder. One who was dropped is linked to a “corrupt relationship” to Mr. Muscat’s chief of staff, said Times of Malta (November 15), which was reported by Ms Caruana Galizia. (See more about investigative reporting)
The inquiry panel was formed in September following, in part, a scathing report from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that underlined a “prevailing culture of impunity.” Several of the country’s politicians attempted to blame news reporting. At the PACE hearing in June Irish member Paul Gavan offered, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging. It is clear what’s happening in Malta.” (See more about press/media freedom here)
“The Government of Malta remains far behind in its obligation to ensure that investigations in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia are conducted in a prompt, effective, independent and impartial manner,” said a joint statement from CoE, OSCE and the United Nations (October 16). “Two years have passed. No convictions, no trials of ringleaders and masterminds. On the contrary, posthumous libel suits continue to target the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia and makeshift memorials of her are frequently removed. This only adds to the sorrow and pain of her family and loved ones.”
“It won’t be ready in a matter of day,” explained PM Muscat to the gathered news media Tuesday, referring to the potential pardon, “but it will not take months either. It could be somewhere in between.” Three underworld characters were arrested shortly after the murder and ordered to stand trial this past summer. Threads to those behind it have remained thin.
Gigantic private equity firm KKR continues to make deliberate progress in privatizing big European publisher Axel Springer. The deal was struck several weeks ago and now the European Commission DG Competition, quite expectedly, has given its blessing. KKR has acquired most of the outstanding publicly-traded shares in Axel Springer, which tipped the transaction to DG Competition. Axel Springer heir Friede Springer and chief executive Mathias Döpfner maintain operational control over the publisher but, as we know, things can change. The investment agreement contains a performance clause and, of course, an exit clause - five years.
In general terms, KKR agrees with the restructuring plan set in motion by Herr Döpfner. That includes internal consolidation, limited downsizing, digital orientation and expansion. Proceeds from asset exits, if any, will accrue first to KKR. DG Competition saw no “competition concerns because the acquisition will have little impact on the market,” reported news agency dpa (November 14). In later October, Herr Döpfner reiterated his “dream” to take the company “off the stock market,” reported meedia.de (November 5), but the board has yet to initialize such action. (See more about media in Germany here) (See more about private equity here) (See more about Axel Springer here)
Meanwhile, in other parts of Germany, Italian media company Mediaset raised its stake in ProSiebenSat1.Media group to 15.1%, reported Reuters (November 15). “It is more a defensive move than an offensive move,” said Mediaset CFO Marco Giordani, suggesting raising the bet to 20% is possible but probably no further. Passing that shareholding threshold, under German competition rules, would force Mediaset to bid for the entire company. Expensive. (See more about Mediaset here) (See more about Vivendi here)
Mediaset is pushing its “Media for Europe” project that needs a German TV broadcaster to partner with its Italian and Spanish holdings. The stake in ProSiebenSat was acquired Mediaset’s Spanish subsidiary. Dealings with the French Canal+ (Vivendi) collapsed dramatically. Vivendi still holds a 29% stake in Mediaset, which Reuters reported it may reduce, and has little interest in “Media For Europe.” Private equity firms KKR and Permira exited their controlling stake in ProSiebenSat in 2014 after seven years.
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