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Authoritarian regimes work overtime protecting the official story they like to tell. This practice dates from antiquity. Pushing out their worldview loudest and most often is the first step. In the post-modern media world this never works well. The next steps range from frightening to deranged.
Chinese authorities have made crystal clear their patience with foreign reporting teams in their country has run out. Critical coverage of Hong Kong protests was followed by coronavirus outbreak issues and, added to both, questions about treatment of the Uyghur population of Xinjiang province. Foreign news agencies and their reporters have been harassed, some arrested.
The latest to exit China was the BBC’s John Sudworth. After nine years in Beijing he and his family abruptly relocated to Taiwan March 23rd. “We left in a hurry, followed by plainclothes police all the way to the airport through the check-in,” he said to BBC Radio4 (March 31). “The true grim reality for reporters here being made clear all the way to the very end.” (See more about press/media freedom here)
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) has lost several members in recent months. Two reporters for Australian public broadcaster ABC exited abruptly last September after being interrogated by Chinese security services. Earlier reporters for the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal relocated to Taiwan or Singapore. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying called the FCCC “an illegal organization,” reported Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia daily Straits Times (April 1). "Foreign journalists in China should feel lucky.” (See more about media in China here)
As it would happen, French daily Le Monde (March 31) published results from their investigation into a free-lance reporter for the French-language section of Chinese state international broadcaster CGTN. The reporter Laurène Beaumond has appeared on the channel several times in the last year, recently giving glowing reports from Xinjiang province and saying she has lived in China for seven years. Hummm, said the intrepid investigators from Le Monde. (See more about propaganda here)
Nothing about Mme Beaumond checked out: no degrees from the Sorbonne, no registration with the French press service, no employment history in France, nothing. “Laurène Beaumond n’existe pas,” concluded Le Monde. Channeling efforts of all authoritarians, CGNT released a statement (April 1; yes, April Fool’s Day) keeping up the charade. "Laurène Beaumond wished to use a pseudonym and we respected her choice, because we know the risk that this represents for some French journalists to express their favorable opinion of China.”
Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, has been ordered to pay reporter Patricia Campos Mello. A São Paulo civil court judge said 20,000 Brazilian reals (about €3,000) would be about right after hearing a civil complaint from Ms Campos Mello that she had been disparaged “with sexual context” at a press conference last year. Magistrate Inah de Lemos e Silva Machado said President Bolsonaro’s comment was meant to “harm the journalist’s reputation… and should therefore be held responsible.” reported AFP (March 27). He was also ordered to pay court expenses and attorney’s fees.
Ms Campos Mello is a reporter and columnist for Folha de São Paulo, a widely read and respected daily newspaper. President Bolsonaro regularly rails about his press coverage. Due to failed policies on the coronavirus pandemic and, increasingly, an unstable economy Brazilian news media has been withering. He has 15 days to appeal the decision. Ms Campos Mello said the decision was “a great day… a victory for all women.” (See more about news media here)
Separately, another court in January ordered Eduardo Bolsonaro, a member of parliament and the President’s son, to pay 30,000 Brazilian reals (about €4,500) to settle a quite similar civil lawsuit by Ms Campos Mello charging moral damages by improper public sexual comments.
Media measurement crept slowly into digital transition. Media buyers have always loved baskets of data, not especially careful how it was gleaned. Publishers and broadcasters, who paid for it, cared mostly about the cost of it all, knowing that they had to sell whatever the numbers showed. All that started to change when online publishing and social media took all the attention.
The big five global measurement suppliers are Nielsen, GfK, Kantar Media, Ipsos and Comscore. There are others, many; new ones popping up all the time. All supply cross-media measurement with deep granularity. Some are specialists. It is a very competitive business.
In mid-March media and advertising representatives in Spain called on GfK to measure digital media, replacing Comscore. Traditional media - print and broadcast - is measured by Kantar Media for the General Media Study (EGM). Comscore had provided digital media measurement in Spain since 2012. GfK, Nielsen and Ipsos bid for the new digital measurement contract. Comscore submitted a joint bid with Kantar Media and Telefónica. The new digital measurement services contract runs for three years. (See more about media measurement here)
Comscore’s “unique user” rankings were roundly criticized as influenced by clickbait and various traffic barters used by well-known social media platforms. Spanish publisher Grupo Prisa exited the agreement with Comscore in January. Vocento, publisher of ABC, withdrew in February due to “discrepancies in the analysis and measurement criteria of digital audiences.” (See more about media in Spain here)
The GfK proposal - “well liked,” said media news portal Dircomfidencial (March 25) - calls for all the bells and whistles media buyers want today. It’s a single source panel based on individuals, not devices. All panel members will install software on each and every device. Navigation will be a key data point. GfK is providing subscribers with analytic tools that integrate with the media buying software, removing, presumably, any drift toward 3rd party analytics.
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