IPI Report Media and Money

Worldwide economic upheaval changes the shape of news

In partnership with IDEAS EXPERIMENTS RESEARCH SOLUTIONS Reynolds Fellowship The Donald W. Reynolds Fellowship program provides an exciting opportunity to apply the most exciting new ideas, tests them with real-world experiments, use social science research to assess their effectiveness and deliver solutions that citizens and journalists can put to use in their own communities.

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Futures Lab A testing venue for new journalism and advertising methods and technologies. The lab provides an environment where students, faculty and industry partners prototype journalism innovations for delivery to media audiences. The Technology Testing Center experiments with the use of emerging technologies. 2011 IPI Report Media Welcome and Money As 2011 nears its close, global stock markets are roiling and the world once again appears on the brink of a deep recession. Economists will tell you that officially, the recession in the United States began in December 2007 and lasted until July 2009. Of course, that official designation anointed many other countries that are suffering the worst downturn since the 1930s. What’s that got to do with journalism, and by extension, a free press? Plenty. This special report is a As economies tighten, the props of an advertising media partnership between the fall. As salaries fall, the pay for journalists becomes ever more International Press Institute, meager, opening the door for bribery and influence. Hard times the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and bring political instability, such as widespread unemployment, the University of Missouri. and may convince government to tighten press controls. Add the technological disruption of the standard media business model and you have a volatile mix. IPI Director and Publisher Last year, the International Press Institute revived this report, Alison Bethel McKenzie Editors: in time for IPI’s 60th anniversary. This year, we again present a Martha Steffens look at some of the topics in today’s media. Those topics show that Randall Smith all types of news media, from mobile to magazine to newspaper Amy McCombs and network, have been tumbled by changing economic fortunes. These essays share a wide point of view, from concerns about Publication manager: Patricia Smith government influence, to hopeful reports on the growing number Layout: Mary Delaware of new (financial) foreign correspondents, to the promise that Illustrations: mobile technology brings to freedom. Milica Miletic (cover) Where the world economy will take us, we aren’t sure. But it Lauren Steffens is clear that we cannot allow press freedom to take a back seat to economic interests. — Martha Steffens, IPI Report Editor ISBN 978-3-9503007-2-7

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A disunion that’s shaking the foundations of a free press by Marty Steffens 4 Financial worries lead to layoffs; less staff means lower quality. An effort to save a few dollars opens the flood gates to even greater losses, research finds. How can we reverse the trend, and in turn, save an independent media?

The battle within: Censorship, bribery and accountability The future of accountability journalism by Leonard Downie, Jr. 7 As journalism rebuilds itself, it must not forget that one of its true goals is making government and society accountable to the people.

Bribery is a blemish on the face of journalism by Allison Behtel McKenzie 15 No matter how many cultures make excuses for payments to journalists, it remains an insidious, if not soft-spoken threat, to an independent press.

Information Needs in the Age of Uncertainty by Amy McCombs 20 Can public policy make local journalism more accountable? Newsroom cutbacks have shaken the idea of an informed democracy, and now the US Federal Communications Commission has issued a landmark report outlining recommendations to promote informed and healthy communities.

Government advertising as bribes and punishment by Carolina Escudero 24 In this time of economic vulnerability, a nation’s decision to give or withhold large amounts of paid government advertising is tantamount to bribery. But in the end, it’s self censorship that’s more chilling.

Pakistani journalists: growing in number and danger by Umar Cheema 28 Journalists are getting better pay and status in Pakistan, and the number of media outlets is growing. But despite the media’s growing presence, Pakistan still remains a deadly nation for press freedom.

Big Business pressures Hong Kong news by Doug Meigs 34 Hong Kong news media remain incredibly diverse more than a decade after the former-British colony returned to China. Business models (and editorial slants) are just as varied, depending on the individual news outlet.

A short-lived Golden Age for Iraqi’s journalists by Sherry Ricchiardi 39 Iraq’s media blossomed into one of the most diverse and unfettered press environments in the Middle East, serving as a model of free expression, but continued strife poses an end to a brief Golden Age.

Financial news goes international by Stuart H. Loory 43 The fall and rise of foreign bureaus: As mainstream media has pulled back, the financial media has rushed in.

2 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 3 Technology changes the money equation A new role: financial, social and news access in Africa by Washington Gikunju 46 The mobile phone is rapidly narrowing the information technology gap in Africa. Newspapers still flourish as more get information from ubiquitous model phones.

Latin America’s foray into a digital world by Larissa Roso 49 To battle the economic and content challenges of the new digital world, Latin America is taking cues from a world full of ideas.

Smartphones in the Arab spring by Matt J. Duffy 53 By changing the way that information is collected, packaged and transferred for mass distribution, the smartphone could prove to be the most important innovation for journalism since the development of satellite uplinks. And yes, smartphones help organize revolutions.

The Visual Journalist in an Entrepreneurial World by Rick Shaw 57 Despite these challenging economic times, photojournalists are embracing the advanced digital tools that engage viewers with multidimensional storytelling.

It may be profit, but is it motive? Hunted by competitors in an unfriendly economic climate by Randall D. Smith 63 The media industry is being hunted by competitors, and the economic climate is not friendly. Yet we forget that now, more than ever, our product is reaching more customers

Eyeballs aren’t as valuable in new media economies—it’s the people by David Cohn 65 Eyeballs aren’t important in the newest business models—people (and the information they provide) are.

Business model works for print, but not for Web by Mike Jenner 68 After a decade and a half of seeing little or no progress with free online content, publishers are moving very quickly to implement paid subscription models on the web.

Profit may be a dirty word for many journalists by Peter Preston 70 Profit makes journalism’s carousel keep turning, and these days, profit unfortunately is in hideously short supply.

Can the public pay for its own local news? by Michael Stoll 73 The public needs the media to be independent and informative, why don’t readers just pay for it? An experiment in San Francisco finds there is a public for the public press.

Gossip business: Murdoch and others find a bankrupt business model by Greg T. Spielberg 78 The gossip business was lucrative – after all, reporting the buzz is a cheap alternative to reporting the truth. Long before the Murdoch scandal, the gossip business was already a bankrupt business model.

2 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 3 Money and Media: A disunion that’s shaking the foundations of a free press

By Martha Steffens

or decades, Media and golden era, where the idea of Money had the kind of Newspapers and Democracy well-bred and prosperous seemed to shine in the light partnership that you read that the American forefathers Fabout in the Wedding pages of intended. the Sunday New York Times. The attainment of uncov- Though their union was ering wrongdoing, including tainted by fortunes earned removing or impeaching sitting through less than U.S. presidents. trumped more pristine yellow mundane coverage, and edi- journalism busi- tors fought publishers for the When publishers had profits ness practices, their funds to build and grow report- that most industries envied, it offspring became the ing powerhouses, with highly was easy to be lenient on the greatest generation skilled journalists who es- of journalism—ideal- chewed jobs in the private sec- newsroom that provided a very ist, ethical newsmen tor. After all, when publishers salable product. and women that had profits that most industries embodied a free and envied, it was easy to be lenient vigorously inde- on the newsroom that provided pendent press that a very salable product. steadfastly refused But the computer, and its to be tainted by the progeny, the Internet, would very money that paid their close down a party that lasted now-handsome salaries. into the wee hours of 1999. Expose a crooked car Slowly, the novelty of news on dealer? A free and indepen- the web became a bother, then dent press could weather the a downright threat, part of advertising boycott. Launch a the digital disruption that had yearlong examination of cor- already begun to unravel the rupt workplace practices by music and movie businesses. tasking three or four reporters Cracks in the news me- to spend their days poring over dia business model began to government documents? Lav- deepen in 2002, but split wide ish them with prizes. It was a open in the Great Recession

4 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 5 of 2008. Like the once-in-a- wringing abounds, as people circulation of 13,000, showed lifetime earthquake that re- worry that the news industry that a one percent cut in the cently hit the U.S. East Coast, will barter its independence newsroom reduced expenses the financial shaking toppled for much-needed revenue, and about $10,000 but led to a parts of a legacy industry that hire less skilled and lower-paid revenue drop of $23,000 and wasn’t quite as solid as anyone journalists who won’t hold up a profit decline of $3,000. And believed. the expectations of a Fourth the bigger the cuts, the impact It was a particularly punish- Estate. And that niche media, on revenues becomes progres- ing blow for print publications, who seek narrow but deep sively worse. For example, a the admitted backbone of the pockets, will ignore stories 10 percent cut in newsroom news industry. Consumers once covered by mass media, expenditures led to a 5 percent were shedding expenses, in- turning their backs on govern- drop in subscription revenues, cluding cutting back on buying ment and foreign reporting. while a 50 percent cut in news- newspapers and magazines. Troubling still is the self- room expenditures led to a 30 Retailers weren’t buying ads; fulfilling prophecy of the qual- percent drop in subscription neither were brokerages or ity spiral. For years, the media revenues. banks. business leaned on the idea So, are news companies The New York Times raised that Quality brought increases being shortsighted, and per- $225 million by selling its stake in Circulation, at that, in turn, haps short-changing the idea in its flagship building to pay brought in Advertising revenue. of a free press? Other evidence debt. Seven media companies As Quality ramped up, then did in this IPI Money and Media filed for bankruptcy protection Circulation, and more trucks report appears to show that after years of consolidation to headed to the bank. might be the case. The quest to save costs. Others sold to pri- But slashing staff in the restore the profitable era gives vate equity firms to stem issues newsroom seemed to reverse advertisers the upper hand, as with shareholders. Newsweek, that upward spiral. A 2010 Doug Miegs writes about Hong the once-proud news weekly study by the Reynolds Journal- Kong media. This advertising magazine and part of the Wash- ism Institute showed that cuts pressure, also seen in Russia, is ington Post halo for half a in the newsroom and advertis- century, went from making $30 ing sales force actually push million a year in 2007 to losing profits down. more than $30 million in 2010. That analysis, led by RJI It was sold to philanthropist research director Esther Thor- Sidney Harman that year for $1 son, was based on historic data and assumption of debt. gathered by the Inland Press In 2009, nearly 15,000 U.S. Association data from 327 journalists lost their jobs at newspapers with under 85,000 papers large and small, either daily circulation. The research through layoffs or buyouts. found that newsroom cuts are Losses stabilized, and only the most costly on revenues. about 3,000 were cut in 2010. A one percent cut in news- But as the double dip of the re- room expenditures led to a .44 cession loomed this year, addi- percent drop in revenue. A tional layoffs of 3,500 piled up. one percent cut in the ad sales Countless journalists and force led to a revenue drop of Martha Steffens is the SABEW endowed chair of media reviews have hashed .24 percent. A one percent cut business and financial reporting at the University of and rehashed the decline of in the distribution force led to Missouri School of Journalism. She has lectured on business journalism and a free press in more than 20 the U.S. news industry, even as a .08 percent drop in revenue. countries. She was a newspaper journalist for more Internet companies like Google In dollar amounts, the picture than 30 years, including executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner. She was also executive editor and AOL rush in to seize prof- is even clearer. Data from small of the Binghamton (NY) Press and Sun Bulletin, and its from Internet news. Hand- newspapers with an average worked for the Los Angeles Times for a decade. She is editor of this report.

4 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 5 bending ethics be- Dow Jones and yond recognition. Bloomberg are the For instance, new foreign cor- in quest for cheap respondents, filling profits, many print hundreds of new and online media bureaus from Sin- have embraced the gapore to Banga- gossip business as lore. In fact, when a source of inex- Polish president pensive news that Lech Kaczynsk can attract read- died in a plane ers. But that, too, crash in 2010 in writes Greg Spiel- Russia, it was Mar- berg, is an empty cin Sobczyk, a Dow business model, Jones Newswires that again disen- reporter in Warsaw, gages the quality who shouldered spiral. much of the cov- Others seek to erage for its more engage the spiral mainstream media through building in quality and sister, The Wall Street Journal. having readers endorse jour- This special report is a nalistic efforts by going adver- This Money Media has snapshot of rapidly moving tec- tising-free. That’s the intent become a multi-billion tonic plates as Media and Mon- of the San Francisco Public industry covering the ey encounter long-term friction Press, which, like ProPublica, in their relationship. Whether runs on donations and grants. economic conflicts the digital upheaval will create And pay for journalists, that now define the new ground in media, or mere- which allowed them to resist ly create a fractured landscape, the temptations of bribery, or relationships of has yet to be determined. winning favor of future employ- superpowers. Signs, such as the use of ment in business or govern- digital media to pry open press ment, is on the decline. Alison freedoms in China and Syria, Bethel McKenzie writes about been wrecking jounalism, the give shouts of hope. The Arab how, despite gains, press pay- media that covers the econo- spring, which has turned into ments still dominate media ef- my—business news media—has an Arab fall, was built on the forts in Eastern Europe and Af- been expanding and flexing hope of news via mobile devic- rica. In Pakistan, Umar Cheema their muscle. This Money Me- es, as Matt Duffy explores. writes about how his nation’s dia has become a multi-billion One thing for sure: all know shifting fortunes make for a industry covering the economic that a free press is ideal, and deadly relationship between the conflicts that now define the that a stable media model is the government and media. relationships of superpowers. best way to meet that lofty goal. Len Downie, executive edi- In fact, as we decry the But waiting for that stability is tor of the Washington Post dur- damage done by the budget axe hard and fraught with worry.  ing many of those glory days of in eliminating foreign bureaus journalism, has said that jour- of major media outlets, the nalists’ salaries are unlikely to business media has been qui- ever return to the levels that etly filling those empty desks. allowed a journalist to move Stuart Loory, a former CNN from rookie to expert. correspondent himself, writes While the economy has about how Thomson Reuters,

6 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 7 The future of accountability journalism now at stake in America

By Leonard Downie Jr.

he future of accountability After all, not everything about journalism is now at stake those days was so good. And the in America—along with much else—as a tsunami Tof economic, technological and social change washes over the news media. It’s hardly the first time that journalism has changed dramatically. Obviously, there is still news— Now, of course, and in more abundance than ever. with the digital revolu- tion, the onrushing changes in journalism and the news media are much more rapid, profound and unpredictable. Accountability journalism is the most important mission of the American news media. It is a unique freedom and responsibility of a free press in our constitutional Leonard Downie Jr. is the Weil Family Professor of system. Journalism at the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and Obviously, there is still news— vice president at large of The Washington Post, where and in more abundance than ever. he retired as executive editor in 2008. During his 44 Much more news is now available years on the news staff of The Washington Post, he was an investigative reporter, foreign correspondent, to everyone with access to the metropolitan editor, national editor, managing editor Internet. from 1984 to 1991, and executive editor from 1991 to 2008. Downie is a founder and board member But, to quote an academic col- of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. and a league of mine, the question is: former board member of the Center for Investigative Reporting. He is chair of the advisory committee of Will the new news be good? Kaiser Health News. Downie researched and wrote, I do not intend to wax nostal- with Michael Schudson, a major report on the future of news, The Reconstruction of American Journalism, gic about or lament the passing of published by The Journalism School of Columbia the good old days of journalism. University. Downie also is the author of five nonfiction books: and a novel, The Rules of the Game (2008).

6 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 7 best journalism being produced from advertisers and subscrib- now—thanks to the same forces American ers but also from philanthropists of change that have so disrupted journalism is at a and foundations, university and the old order—is arguably better government budgets, and dona- than ever. transformational tions from individual readers and So, instead, I want to explore moment. viewers. with you the reconstruction of News reporting has become American journalism—both its more participatory and collabora- promise and its perils. You will rec- ences and news staffs of both tive. The ranks of news gatherers ognize similar currents of change the national television networks now include not only journalists in British and European news and local stations are shrinking in newsrooms, but also legions of media—although those currents steadily. freelancers working from homes may not yet be as fast-moving or as All of this does not mean and coffee shops, university faculty far-reaching. that American newspapers and members and students reporting American journalism is at television news will vanish in on the communities and states a transformational moment, in the foreseeable future. There are outside their campuses, and citi- which a long era of dominant still well over 1,000 daily metro- zens contributing information and newspapers and influential net- politan newspapers in the United images from laptops and mobile work television news programs States—and hundreds more tele- phones everywhere. is rapidly giving way to a new vision stations and cable chan- Journalists can gather news journalistic era in which both the nels—still offering news, includ- and information much more gathering and distribution of news ing on their websites widely and deeply on the In- is more widely dispersed. But they are playing sig- ternet. They can update and The economic foundation of nificantly diminished roles in an supplement their reporting American journalism, long sup- emerging and still evolving world of continuously on blogs and social ported by advertising, is eroding. digital journalism—in which news media—and they can have their The audiences for print and televi- gathering is being continuously reporting enriched and fact- sion journalism are dissipating. re-invented, the character of news checked by their audiences. Newsrooms are shrinking. redefined, and news reporting Journalists and news organiza- A number of large American distributed across a much greater tions can link their journalism to newspaper companies are now in number and variety of sources. news reporting and information bankruptcy or have been sold out The Internet has not only un- sources elsewhere on the web. And of bankruptcy to their creditors. dermined the economic and audi- they can present it all in engaging Some papers have closed. Some ence models of old news media. multi-media formats targeted at an are still losing money. More than As you can see every day, the infinite variety of news consumers 100 others now print and deliver Internet also has made it possible and tastes. newspapers only on some days to gather and distribute news in Guardian editor Alan Rus- each week. Still others now publish dynamic new ways—not only by bridger, in his thoughtful Hugh only online. surviving newspapers and televi- Cudlipp Lecture, put it this way The printed editions of most sion news operations but, more last year: surviving American newspapers importantly, by numerous start-up “Journalists have never before have shrunk substantially in size online news organizations, non- been able to tell stories so effec- and contain far less news. Many profit reporting projects, public tively, bouncing off each other, of their reporting staffs have been radio stations, university-based linking to each other, linking out, cut by half or more. Only a handful state and local news services, citing sources, allowing response— still have foreign correspondents. government agencies, NGOs and harnessing the best qualities of Many no longer have reporters advocacy groups, community and text, print, data, sound and visual covering the federal government neighborhood news sites, and media. If ever there was a route in Washington or even the govern- countless bloggers. to building audience, trust and ments in their state capitals. Financial support for news relevance,” Rusbridger said, “it is At the same time, the audi- gathering is now coming not only by embracing all the capabilities of

8 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 9 Examples of new online media organizations: California Watch, ProPublica, Chicago News Corp., Voice of San Diego, MinnPost, New Haven Independent, Texas Tribune, Bay Citizen, and the St. Louis Beacon.

this new world, not walling your- longer just a newspaper. It is now self away from them.” a multi-platform news provider op- Many older news media or- A new willingness erating out of a completely recon- ganizations were initially slow to by both for-profit structed newsroom in downtown embrace all those capabilities. and non-profit news Washington, D.C.—with a digital They were, at first, hostile to what universal news desk for all of its appeared only to be digital compe- organizations to share print and digital outlets, several tition, rather than digital opportu- reporting with each television and radio studios, and nities, for their journalism. They state-of-art multi-media produc- are now scrambling to survive in other tion facilities. the digital world, even as they do Washington Post reporters all face new competition from both eration enables them to stretch produce digital and print journal- for-profit and non-profit digital limited resources, to reach larger ism. They blog regularly on their news startups. audiences and to produce better subject beats—from politics, But they also are more open journalism. economics and national security to cooperation. There is a new The most aggressive of the to education, sports and religion. willingness by both for-profit and older American news organizations They produce audio and video non-profit news organizations to are changing fast. Like the Guard- podcasts. They converse with share reporting with each other. ian and the Financial Times in their audiences through on-line As I will discuss later, that coop- Britain, The Washington Post is no chats and social networks. They

8 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 9 various kinds of features, photo- graphs and graphics. The Gannett company, which owns dozens of newspapers in cit- ies throughout the United States, is grouping them into regional clusters that will centralize some journalistic functions, beginning with page design. A growing number of American television stations also are sharing local news reporting. At more than 200 stations around the country— from Los Angeles and Kansas City The Boston Globe and Boston University has launched the New England Center for Investigative Reporting to Philadelphia and Miami—their to work with the Globe and local public television and radio stations on investigative reporting projects. local newscasts are produced by other stations in the same cities. In some cities, such as Phoe- discuss their journalism on televi- other newspapers. Two former nix, Arizona, and Salt Lake City, sion and radio. And their work is rivals in Florida, the Miami Utah, where both a newspaper digitally tagged and manipulated to Herald and the St. Petersburg and a television station are maximize its exposure via search Times, now jointly cover the owned by the same company, engines, on-line aggregators and state capital in Tallahassee, while their print, television and digital social networks. the Herald and two newspapers newsrooms are being merged into Yes, that’s a lot of work, es- near Miami share their local a single newsroom for all their pecially in newsrooms, including media outlets. ours, where there are fewer jour- Some local American pub- nalists than there were just a few lic radio stations—along with a years ago. The eight largest smaller number of public television But it also immerses these newspapers in Ohio stations—are belatedly starting journalists more deeply in their share all their news, or increasing local news report- subjects, makes their journalism ing to make up for the shrinking more authoritative and transpar- along with various news coverage by newspapers and ent, and connects them more kinds of features, commercial broadcasting stations closely with their audiences. in the cities and states where they The Washington Post, like photographs and are located. many other older news organiza- graphics. Obviously, there is no tele- tions on the web, is supplement- vision license fee to support a ing its own journalism on its national public broadcasting websites with freelance blogs on news reporting. A number of network in the United States. The local and national news subjects, other newspapers are similarly current system of American public with journalism produced by collaborating in Pennsylvania, radio and television was created non-profit news and investigative New York, New Jersey, North by Congress in 1967. Through the reporting startups, with links to Carolina, Maine, New Hampshire, quasi-public Corporation for Public competitors’ news stories and Oklahoma, Texas and the state of Broadcasting, the federal govern- commentary, and with a variety Washington. ment funnels about $400 million a of reader contributions. In the most extensive collabo- year to national program produc- A growing number of Ameri- ration to date, the eight largest ers and to hundreds of indepen- can newspapers also are compen- newspapers in Ohio share all their dent public radio and television sating for their reduced reporting state, business, sports, arts and stations throughout the country. resources by collaborating with entertainment news, along with That’s roughly $1.35 of govern-

10 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 11 ment support per capita for public livery trucks, or expensive broad- other news organization or blog- broadcasting in the United States, casting facilities. Those startups— ger can follow up with additional compared to about $80 per capita which are organized as tax-exempt reporting. in Britain, $100 in Denmark and nonprofits—don’t need to make a Some of the new news organi- Finland, nearly $60 in Japan, and profit and can accept tax-deduct- zations are highly specialized. The about $25 per capita in Canada, ible funding from charitable foun- Washington-based Kaiser Health Australia and Germany. dations and individual donors. News, financed by the Kaiser Most public radio and televi- A national nonprofit news Family Foundation, a respected sion stations in the United States organization named ProPublica, nonpartisan health care research are individually licensed to uni- based in New York and dedicated organization, reports on health versities, non-profit community to accountability journalism, was care policy for its own website, for groups, and state and local govern- started three years ago by former several newspapers and for Nation- ments. They must supplement Wall Street Journal editor Paul al Public Radio. their relatively small grants from Steiger with a $30 million gift from The Center for Investigative the federal government with dona- husband-and-wife California phi- Reporting in Berkeley, Califor- tions from their audiences, philan- lanthropists. It now employs three nia, last year launched California thropic foundations and corporate dozen investigative journalists in a Watch, a fast-growing, foundation- contributors. shiny high-tech newsroom just off funded nonprofit news organiza- Most of the stations use most Wall Street. tion that produces high-impact of that money for overhead costs, accountability journalism about fund-raising expenses and enter- California issues and the state gov- tainment programming—rather ernment. California Watch news than for news reporting. A signifi- Some of the new news stories have been published and cant exception is the national and organizations are highly broadcast by dozens of newspapers international news reporting pro- and radio and television stations vided to the stations by National specialized. throughout California—many of Public Radio. which no longer have the resourc- The Corporation for Public es to do much of it on their own. Broadcasting, National Public ProPublica has produced A number of similar, small, Radio and some of the stronger award-winning investigative new non-profit, Internet-based local public stations have recently reporting about government, news organizations have been started working together to im- business, energy and health care, started in states and cities across prove the stations’ local news among other subjects. Its journal- the United States, many of them reporting. They are slowly expand- ism has been published and broad- during the past year. ing their news staffs, sharing news cast by major newspapers like The So far, the news staffs of these reporting among stations and with Washington Post, New York Times nonprofit startups are much National Public Radio, and mak- and Los Angeles Times, all of the smaller than even the shrunken ing their websites more dynamic major national television networks, staffs of most newspapers. But they and informative. National Public and numerous websites, including are able to focus their limited re- Radio also recently created its first its own. porting resources on high-priority investigative reporting unit. ProPublica has enlisted mem- accountability journalism about However, with some notable bers of its online audience to per- state and local government, poli- exceptions, most American public form so-called “crowd-sourcing” tics, economics and social issues. radio and television stations have a research for some of its stories, Some of them already have had very long way to go before they will such as the monitoring of public a much greater impact with their be covering local news in a mean- works projects funded across the journalism than their relative size ingful way, if they ever do. country by the Obama administra- would suggest. Meanwhile, new news organi- tion’s economic stimulus program. Among the most promising of zations of all kinds are starting up ProPublica has been completely these nonprofit news sites are the every day—without the costs of transparent about its reporting Voice of San Diego in southern printing presses, or fleets of de- methodology and databases, so any California, the Bay Citizen in San

10 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 11 Francisco,the Texas Tribune in the investigative reporting by their stu- state capital of Austin, MinnPost in A few university dents, often in collaboration with Minneapolis, the St. Louis Beacon, journalism schools in professional news organizations. the Chicago News Cooperative, the In Boston alone, Northeastern New Haven Independent in Con- the United States also University journalism students necticut, and several news sites in have become bases for have produced a dozen front-page the New York City area. investigative reporting projects Most of these nonprofit start- investigative reporting for the Boston Globe, and Boston ups were funded initially by foun- projects. University has launched the New dations and philanthropists. To England Center for Investigative survive, they will need sustaining Reporting to work with the Globe financial support from their audi- News Service, which reports news and local public television and ences in the same way that local and does investigative reporting radio stations. public radio and television stations about Arizona and its state govern- Most of these nonprofit news have been funded in the United ment for about 30 newspapers, startups are still financially fragile. States for decades. television stations and websites Raising money from foundations Some of the new nonprofits around the state. Cronkite journal- and other donors and sponsors— also are seeking business partners ism students also produce a local and seeking support from news among surviving older news orga- nightly newscast on the Phoenix media partners—consume a dis- nizations. The New York Times, public television station, as well as proportionate amount of their time for example, which circulates a multi-media news website. and energy. Some startups already throughout the country, is paying Students at the graduate have failed. Others are struggling the Bay Citizen in San Francisco schools of journalism at Columbia to stay afloat. Even some of the and the Chicago News Cooperative University in New York and the most successful so far still must for local news that it publishes in University of California at Berkeley build long-term economic models regional editions of the New York produce websites that cover local to sustain themselves in the future. Times for those cities. news in parts of New York City and Nearly 40 American non- At the same time, a growing the San Francisco Bay area. profit news organizations recently number of American universities The Capital News Service of formed a national Investigative have started their own nonprofit the University of Maryland, just News Network to collaborate on news sites—staffed by student outside Washington, D. C., oper- fundraising, legal and logistical journalists and overseen by profes- ates news bureaus in the state support, website development and sional journalists who have joined capital and in Washington that reporting projects. the university’s faculties. They serve newspapers in Maryland. A small number of large cover news and do investigative Students from Northwestern Uni- American philanthropic founda- reporting in the states, cities and versity, near Chicago, operate a tions, which have expressed strong neighborhoods where the univer- similar news bureau in Washing- concerns about the future of jour- sities are located. Their journal- ton for media clients throughout nalism, have been funding ways to ism is published and broadcast the country. increase the number of nonprofit on university-operated websites A few university journalism news startups to help them be- and public radio and television schools in the United States also come digitally innovative and to stations—as well as commercial have become bases for investiga- create longer-term sustainability. newspapers and stations that use tive reporting projects that have Journalists who have left large the student-produced journalism contributed significant account- American news organizations also to supplement their own reduced ability journalism to professional are starting new Internet-based reporting and resources. newspapers and broadcast sta- news organizations that they hope For example, the Walter tions. can make a profit. They range Cronkite School of Journalism Investigative journalists no from GlobalPost, which covers at Arizona State University in longer employed by those newspa- international news, to a rap- Phoenix—where I am now on the pers and stations have joined the idly growing number of so-called faculty—operates the Cronkite university faculties to supervise “hyper-local” websites covering

12 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 13 neighborhood news in cities across At the other end of the digital the United States. It remains to be seen spectrum from organized journal- GlobalPost has contracted whether journalists ism is the chaotic universe of blogs with freelance journalists around and social networks. the world to report foreign news contributing to hyper- Most of what they transmit is stories for readers of its website local news sites will trivia: personal activities, observa- and American newspapers and tions, opinions and images. broadcast outlets, including CBS find it financially But they also transmit news: News. Its revenue comes from the or professionally by sharing or linking to news from sale of its reporting, advertising on worthwhile over the the organized media or by offering its website and subscriptions sold original information. to readers who want direct access long run. In fact, the blogosphere and to GlobalPost corresponents and American news media have be- additional reporting. come increasingly symbiotic. They The future of GlobalPost will model of national Internet news feed off each other’s information be determined by the level of aggregators. They confine their and commentary, and they even Americans’ interest in Internet costs to minimal staffing nec- fact-check each other. They share access to international news and essary to operate the websites audiences, and they mimic each by the quality of the work of its and edit content. They fill their other through evolving forms of freelance correspondents, for websites with news, opinion, digital journalism. whom GlobalPost is only a part- features, photographs and video A number of independent time job. that have been aggregated—some bloggers and social media com- Hyper-local neighborhood would say stolen—from other na- mentators have become widely news sites have been started by tional and local news sites, along read and influential—by special- small-scale journalistic entre- with mostly unpaid postings by izing in subjects they know well preneurs in American cities like bloggers who settle for exposure and have informed opinions Seattle and by large companies like in lieu of money. about, such as politics, econom- AOL, which is launching hundreds Though they purport to be a ics and business, legal affairs, the of hyper-local sites in cities across new form of journalism, these ag- news media, education, health the country. They keep costs down gregators are primarily parasites and family issues, sports and by employing a single professional living off journalism produced by entertainment and the arts. journalist for each neighborhood others. They attract audiences A few American bloggers have site and seeking unpaid or low-cost by aggregating journalism about grown into full-fledged digital news contributions from bloggers and special interests, opinions reflect- organizations. Josh Marshall’s citizen readers. ing a predictable point of view and Talking Points Memo, for example, It remains to be seen whether titillating gossip and sex. has a small staff of paid reporters these hyper-local news sites can It is not yet clear whether and editors in a small newsroom in become self-sustaining in audi- many—or any—of the aggregators New York. His investigative report- ence and revenue whether they will be profitable—or, more impor- ing and sharp-edged left-of-center can produce journalism any tantly, whether any of them will commentary, assisted by contribu- more meaningful than bare- become sources of original, cred- tions from his audience, has won bones breaking news, lists of ible journalism. journalism awards and influenced neighborhood activities and links Even more problematic are reporting by other news media. to local coverage by other news recently started, so-called “content Most American bloggers who sites. It also remains to be seen farms,” in which free-lancers are report and comment on news whether journalists and others paid small fees to produce infor- are locally based, writing about contributing to these hyper-local mational articles on a wide range neighborhoods and cities where news sites will find it financially of subjects to attract audiences they live. Few of them earn or professionally worthwhile over and advertisers to websites. These much or any money from their the long run. shallow articles are not really news blogging; it’s more of a labor of This follows, in a way, the reporting at all. love. They now face the choice

12 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 13 of competing with or contribut- or doctrinaire answers. ing to for-profit hyper-local news With rare exceptions, Yes, in the digital world, ev- sites being started in their com- the financial support for eryone can contribute to report- munities by outsiders. ing the news, rather than relying While the Internet has made news reporting must be on sometimes arrogant and self- it possible for almost anyone more diversified. serving journalism monopolies with a digital device to become with sometimes dubious agendas. a journalist if they want to be, it If all traditional news organiza- has also made it more difficult for ing must be more diversified. tions were to vanish, informa- professional journalists to make a And, in the United States, tion, investigation, analysis and living by methodically reporting American society must now take community knowledge would not the news—just as the Internet collective responsibility for sup- necessarily disappear with them. has made it more difficult for porting news reporting in this But much of the most-needed news media companies to stay in new environment, as it has tra- journalism—especially account- business. ditionally for education, health ability journalism—is still best Some news organizations have care, scientific advancement and produced collaboratively by sta- been able to charge for subscrip- culture—through varying com- ble news organizations that can tions to their websites. They binations of private enterprise, facilitate professional reporting include American newspapers philanthropy, and government by experienced journalists, sup- in smaller cities and towns who policies and subsidies. port them with money, logistics still have a virtual monopoly on Specifically, Professor Schud- and legal backing and present local news coverage and advertis- son and I recommended: their work to a large public. ing, as well as news organizations • that American tax policy The challenge I see—in the providing valuable special interest be clarified to allow more news United States and elsewhere, information to a targeted audi- organizations, including existing over time—is to turn this tumul- ence, such as the Financial Times newspapers, to be organized as tuous moment of transformation and the Wall Street Journal. tax-exempt nonprofits, into a beneficial reconstruction Some general interest newspa- • that American philan- of journalism, enabling news re- pers are now experimenting with thropic foundations substantially porting to emerge enlivened and similar subscription pay walls, increase their support for non- enlarged from the current decline including The Times of London profit journalism, of long-dominant news media. and The New York Times. They are • that public radio and As can be seen in the eco- gambling that the resulting large television be substantially reori- nomic turmoil in the British news decreases in website traffic will be ented to support more local news media and the controversy over offset by revenue from loyal web reporting, that more universi- the future of the BBC, meeting subscribers. ties actually produce journalism that challenge will not be easy. Meanwhile, newspapers like rather than just teach it, Universities must take a the Guardian and The Washing- • and that a national Fund for much more active role in helping ton Post are keeping their websites Local News be created to enable to shape the future of news. That free for now, while seeking other the federal government to indi- means not just teaching and do- sources of revenue. rectly subsidize innovative local ing research about journalism. It In a report published a year news reporting. means actively producing jour- ago by Columbia University, Our recommendations are in- nalism and acting as a watchdog Columbia professor Michael tended to supplement, rather than to hold the news media account- Schudson and I concluded that replace, the commercial models able for the ways in which they news reporting can no longer be for journalism that are still evolv- transform themselves in this supported by a single economic ing in the digital marketplace. turbulent time. model, such as advertising or None of us wants to wake subscriptions. With rare excep- Will the new news be good? up one morning in the future to tions like the BBC in Britain, the That remains the question, discover that the new news is financial support for news report- for which I do not see any easy mostly bad. 

14 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 15 Bribery is a blemish on the face of journalism

By Alison Bethel McKenzie

oli. ‘Brown’ or ‘red’ Dean Kruckeberg and Dr. Kat- envelope journalism. erina Tsetsura in their report, “A T&T. Jeansa. Gifting. Composite Index by Country of Facilitation. Variables Related to the Likeli- SAround the world journalists hood of the Existence of ‘Cash have come up with interesting for News Coverage’.” ways to describe the unethical The first-ever comprehensive practice of bribery, a very big research on journalists taking blemish that exists on money for news coverage, sup- the face of journalism ported by IPI, was commissioned in far too many coun- in 2003 and by all accounts, the So pervasive is bribery that it has tries. So pervasive is findings were embarrassing. become a regular part of the problem that it the reporting and writing process has become a regular part of the reporting in many countries. and writing process in many countries. While press freedom organizations like the International Press Institute (IPI) battle to change or pre- vent legislation that would limit or eliminate, press freedom by Alison Bethel McKenzie has over 25 years experience in journalism, as a reporter, bureau chief, senior editor and confronting government offi- trainer. From 1995-2000 she was senior assistant city cials on the issue, what is rarely editor at the Boston Globe, supervising a reporting staff openly discussed is the role that that covered City Hall, urban affairs and transportation. In 2000, she joined The Detroit News as features editor, bribery plays in sidelining media and then became the paper’s Washington, D.C. bureau freedom. chief from 2001 to 2006, overseeing coverage of the White House and members of Michigan’s congressional “Bribery of the news me- delegation. She joined the Legal Times in Washington, dia in too many countries robs D.C. in 2006 as executive editor, moving on in 2007 to the Nassau Guardian, in the Bahamas, as managing editor. citizens of credible information Before joining the International Press Institute (IPI) they need to make personal in August 2009, she spent a year in Accra, Ghana, for the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for and collective decisions,” wrote Journalists, as a Knight International Journalism Fellow, public relations professionals Dr. helping Ghanaian journalists improve their reporting skills in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election.

14 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 15 Of the major consumer news- favorable stories—or for not editor’s shoulder. “A solution in papers surveyed in 66 countries, publishing damaging ones.” changing the climate of ‘cash for Kruckeberg and Tsetsura found, In many countries, money is coverage’ is to have editors who among other things, that bribery given to journalists in small en- would kill such stories. occurs regularly and with impu- velopes (brown envelopes in Af- “An experienced editor is nity worldwide. “News sources rica and red envelopes in China) likely to have an idea that a pay ‘bribes’ to have their infor- allegedly for transportation costs story which is to be published is mation subsidies disseminated when they arrive to cover press a product of ‘cash for coverage’. in many consumer news media conferences or attend meetings. When such stories are spiked (e.g., public relations practi- Often journalists not even as- and not published, persons who tioners, government officials, signed to the story arrive to col- have been paying cash for cover- business executives, advertisers lect an envelope, which is given age would stop. Journalists who and others),” according to the to all journalists, even those who have been indulging in these findings. walk around the corner to the acts will stop because their sto- The report breaks the prac- assignment. ries based on ‘cash for coverage’ tice down into three categories: As a Knight International will be spiked by the editor,” interpersonal, intraorganization- Journalism Fellow in Ghana, Ephson said. al and interorganizational. I was quite familiar with the He added: “The bribery of Interpersonal involves hand- practice. So engrained is it in the journalists is likely to have an ing cash directly to reporters. impact on press freedom as Intraorganizational is where an stories which will improve the editor tells a journalist what to freedom of the press might not write, or not write, because of So engrained is be published,” he said. “Fortu- pressure from an advertiser or bribery in the fabric nately, there are many journal- owner while interorganizational ists who do not indulge in ‘cash points to a formal arrangement of industry that for coverage’ who would protect in which a company pays a news some companies press freedom.” organization a monthly amount In Uganda last year, journal- in exchange for a certain number and agencies have a ists were openly criticized for ac- of positive news stories, accord- budget line specifically cepting money from politicians ing to Bill Ristow, author of the for that purpose while covering a political party Center for International Media conference. Assistance’s “Cash for Coverage: The allegations of “cheque Bribery of Journalists Around fabric of the industry that some box journalism” so annoyed Pe- the World.” companies and agencies actually ter Mwesige, executive director In a subsequent study, have a budget line specifically for of the African Center for Media conducted in 2007, Tsetsura that purpose. Excellence in Kampala, that he interviewed 93 journalists from During my time in Ghana, of- opined about it in an editorial to 35 countries and 310 public ten journalists would ask about allAfrica.com. relations practitioners from 56 their envelope before I would “Some journalists from countries, 49 per cent of whom invite them to free media train- smaller media houses rational- said “it is considered OK to ac- ing. If there was no envelope, ize their willingness to accept cept payments by national media some would not show. Ironically, money from sources on the in my country.” the training often centered on grounds that they do not get any Ristow points out, however, media ethics. transport and related allowances that sometimes the source is not Ben Ephson, editor-in-chief from their organizations. Others the bad guy. of the Daily Dispatch in Accra, blame it on poor pay,” Mwesige “All too often,” Ristow writes hands out cash to his reporters wrote. “But the list of journalists in his report, “reporters and edi- each day to use for transport to who have signed for brown enve- tors are the instigators, extort- and from assignments. He said lopes or quietly received money ing money either for publishing that one solution may lie on the from sources suggests that the

16 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 17 ‘Zakazukha’ in Russia

Editor’s Note: Galina Sidorova, a vice-chairman sure from the government. To be frank, most of the board of directors of the International of the independent media entities in Russia Press Institute, chairperson of the Foundation have at least once resorted to “coverage for for Investigative Journalism—Foundation 19/29 money” to fight financial difficulties. The logic (Russia) and former editor-in-chief of Soversh- is: We do one “ordered story” that permits the enno Secretno in Moscow, shares her experience newspaper to survive financially and to pro- with ‘zakazukha’, the word used to describe the ceed with 10 “pure” (unordered) investigations bribing of journalists in Russia. revealing corruption! Coverage (investigations) for money is like a vicious circle for the free press: Helping in some The ‘popular’ scheme in Russia goes like this: cases to settle financial difficulties, it is ruining: A businessman (oligarch) approaches the • The role of independent journalism in owner (editor-in-chief, individual journalist) of the creation of true civil society, based on the a newspaper (other media outlet) and “orders” principle of the right of every citizen to get free, coverage of certain events (investigation of activ- unbiased information; ities of known (unknown) personalities) usually • Trust in information journalists present; targeted against a business (political) competitor. • Prestige of the journalism profession The same scheme is true for any other And finally, it reproduces corruption, be- sphere where competition exists. cause it’s impossible to fight corruption using The worst thing is that sometimes the result corrupted methods. of the publication might even reveal some crimi- What might work in changing the climate of nal or corrupted activities and thus serve public “cash for coverage”? That is the most difficult interests. But there is certainly a dark side of the question. coin: A journalist in this case stops being a jour- There are, of course, legal ways to fight nalist and becomes a tool in somebody’s hands— “press corruption”—most countries have press he starts the work already knowing the result laws or legislation regulating the press, and law- (that is why sometimes such “investigations” are yers can work through these issues. often one-sided or manipulation of the facts). But the bigger questions remain, and I don’t In Russia, there have been several cases of know the answers. imprisonment of individual journalists for tak- What are the ways for a free press to survive ing money for investigations. In most cases they in times of crises and lack of advertising and the happened to be too greedy, acted on their own pressure from the state structures? and/or failed to do properly the work ordered What should be the relationship of the inde- and so were finally sued by those who ordered pendent media entities with advertisers, adver- for extortion. tising companies and government institutions in But the worst thing is that coverage (inves- these difficult times? tigations) for money has become part of the Is it possible that in a democratic country media economy here, especially for the inde- the state works out the way to help its inde- pendent media entities. It is an alternative way pendent media to live through the “bad times” to earn money and solve financial problems because the free press is the key element of the from the lack of “white” advertising and pres- democratic state and society?

16 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 17 practice is not limited only to also economic and political com- mainstream media have done a poorly paid journalists or those ponents to it,” she said recently. lot to deal with this sort of ethi- from smaller media houses. Sidrova said the practice of cal issue over the past 30 years “It does not matter what “zakazukha,” as it is known in or so, there are disturbing cases media house a journalist works Russia, is widespread and threat- involving the amorphous, online for. Accepting money from ening the very idea of press quasi-media operations.” sources degrades the integrity freedom. Says Ben Ephson of the Daily of journalism.” “In the countries like Russia, Dispatch, “Bribery in general At a symposium on “soli” free press is a key instrument to cannot be eradicated. What you (short for solidarity) payments develop civil society. Attempts need to bear in mind is that to journalists in Ghana, advo- to conduct independent media we should make bribery very cates of the practice argued that business ‘backstreet mode’ have unattractive. Bribery’s impact journalists cannot be blamed undermined the credibility of the on society is that it makes it for what they see as a systemic press here in recent years, led to difficult for objective decisions problem and poor pay. Mean- the loss of trust and respect for to be taken. The same impact while, those journalists who see our profession and thus played can be found in the journalism the practice of soli as doing dam- into the hands of top corrupted profession - it is likely to prevent age to the integrity of the profes- bureaucracy interested to gag an impartial assessment in the sion are fighting back through discharge of his (the journalist’s) such social media tools as Face- duties.” book. The ‘Journalists Against In “Cash for Coverage: Soli’ Facebook page has 131 Talk to media Bribery of Journalists Around members: a significant number professionals from the World,” Ristow, who points in a city with only a few hundred out that public relations journalists. Azerbaijan to Zambia professionals seem to be the The debate has increased and most will say ones taking the lead on the issue, dramatically in advance of they believe bribery suggests these recommendations Ghana’s presidential election for combating the crisis: because of the influence these of journalists is not 1. International and national unethical payments can have on something that will journalism associations should coverage. take the initiative to start a Whether instigated by the easily end. dialog with the public relations journalist or simply seen as a community about making the given by the journalist, the prac- problem of cash for coverage tice of “cash for coverage” has independent media,” she said. public and about working togeth- an irrefutable impact in press Talk to media professionals er to reduce or eradicate it. freedom. from Azerbaijan to Zambia and 2. Journalists should shine Galina Sidorova, former most will say they believe brib- a light on this problem, just as editor-in-chief of Sovershenno ery of journalists is not some- they do on attacks against jour- Secretno in Moscow, now Chair- thing that can easily end. nalists. person of the Foundation for “I would like to say that we 3. Journalists should docu- Investigative Journalism—Foun- are making real progress in this ment and publicize journalists’ dation 19/29 (Russia) calls cash respect, but I’m not sure I see salaries to combat the real prob- for coverage “one of the most any strong evidence of that,” lem of low salaries. shattering problems modern says Ristow, a veteran journal- 4. The media-development journalism as well as press free- ist and former Knight Interna- community needs to keep a dom faces. tional Journalism fellow based in sharp focus on ethics training. “What makes it so especially Uganda. “It’s the sort of prob- 5. The media development ruining for our profession—the lem that seems to find ways to community should support me- fact that besides being criminal keep popping up. In America, dia accountability systems, such and immoral in substance it has for instance, where I think the as ombudsmen in newsrooms.

18 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 19 A Ugandan journalist walks in front of a projector displaying the provisional result of the country’s presidential election in February. Journalists were openly criticized then for accepting money from politicians. EPA Photo by Dai Kurokawa

6. New media owners, man- media-advocacy groups don’t do agers, and editors must adopt, more on the issue” Ristow says. publicize, and then stick to a “I certainly understand policy of zero tolerance. some of the reasons they don’t, 7. Media owners and manag- but I also strongly feel (as I said ers should acknowledge that pay in the recommendations) that can have an impact on ethics. a strong joint effort by media 8. Media houses can take organizations, international their own steps for accountability. corporate groups and others 9. Public relations profes- to face the problem of bribery sionals and their organizations squarely is what ultimately will should not abandon this impor- be needed. tant effort. “This is important, to me, 10. PR agencies should prac- for pure ethical reasons. But it is tice their own zero tolerance. also important for a highly prac- 11. Corporations and non- tical reason: I agree with those governmental organizations who say that when journalists should also just say no—pub- take or solicit payment, it abso- licly, and without exception. lutely diminishes the standing “I was disappointed when I of the whole profession—and did my own report, that major threatens press freedom.” 

18 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 19 Information Needs in the Age of Uncertainty

By Amy McCombs

n mid-August I was dining help us understand a complex outdoors on a Santa Fe, New and unpredictable world and to Mexico, evening and enjoying explain his concern with those a vista that spanned millions who are bewildered by this pres- Iof years. An unknowing viewer ent reality. might think this land was always It may have been his love of stable, calm, stoic and beautiful. the New Mexico sandy landscape In fact the land had experi- that drew Ramo to a physicist enced radical changes and biologist for the base of his since its formation. argument. Per Bak, in his “sand- From the home to pile” theory, concludes that a “In a revolutionary era the oldest dino- stable-appearing sand cone is of surprise and innovation, you saurs it became an actually very unpredictable. He need to learn to think and act like ocean floor and then demonstrated that a single grain drained to become a of sand could trigger an ava- a revolutionary.” violent land covered lanche or no action at all. After Joshua Cooper Ramo by volcanoes before many control tests, Bak could it became “The Land not predict an outcome. Ramo of Enchantment.“ Its extrapolates, ” if you think the geological treasure world is stable it is not.” trove and land of How do you operate in this sand was the perfect type of environment? For Ramos setting for a lively discussion on it is obvious. “In a revolutionary the age in which we are living. era of surprise and innovation, My dinner partner was Josh- you need to learn to think and ua Cooper Ramo, New Mexico act like a revolutionary.” He native, former Time foreign edi- continues in his book, “Change tor and assistant managing edi- produces unpredictability and tor, and now managing director surprise. That means that any of Kissinger Associates. (http:// time we push for change—and jcramo.com) Ramo drew us into my contention is that we need his world view, one he expounds even more change than we have in his latest book, The Age of today—we have to prepare our- the Unthinkable. He set forth to selves for the fact that much of

20 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 21 what we’ll get is unpredictable.” community information needs U.S. media executives and are more important than ever. journalists have found them- It was this paradox that led selves in their own unpredictable the U.S.-based Knight Founda- world made more unstable by tion to create a bipartisan com- “revolutionaries” like Google, mission to examine the informa- Facebook, craigslist and Twitter. tion needs of communities in a However, there is a para- democracy. One of the primary dox. The media landscape is outcomes of the 2009 Knight dynamic and expanding. The Commission’s findings was a digital age has toppled govern- challenge to the Federal Com- ments, provided new tools for munications Commission (FCC). reporting and sharing news, and This is an independent U.S. gov- connected us in ways unheard ernment agency that regulates of five years ago. Yet, we see in interstate and international com- the United States the continual munications by radio, television, loss of accountability reporting wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 by professional journalists at the states, the District of Columbia, local level. In this era of change, and the U.S. territories. In June 2011 the FCC issued Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of The Age of the Unthinkable appears on “Meet the Press” in 2009. its own report and recommenda- Photo by: William B. Plowman/NBC NewsWire tions: “The Information Needs of Communities—The changing media landscape in a broadband to insure that a free democracy age”. This study is the most com- continues with enlightened, prehensive national look at U.S. informed citizens. The FCC media policy in a generation. It report’s author, Steven Waldman, followed hearings, hundreds of adds, “It is a confusing time. interviews, and 18 months of We find ourselves in an unusual research. The FCC recommen- moment when ignoring the ail- dations attempt to improve the ments of local media will mean future for accountability journal- that serious harm may be done AMY MCCOMBS is the Lee Hills Chair in Free-Press ism and for the flow of informa- to our communities—but pay- Studies at the Missouri School of Journalism and tion that meets the needs of local ing attention to them will enable Executive Editor of the Global Journalist. McCombs spent the majority of her career in media with communities in a very complex American to develop, literally, executive management responsibilities at both the and changing world. the best media system the nation Chronicle Publishing Company in San Francisco and the Broadcast Division of the Washington Post While this report and recom- has ever had.” Company She is widely acknowledged for transforming mendations are specific to the The FCC report (www.fcc. traditional, legacy-based organizations into proactive businesses ready to respond to changing competitive, United States, in many nations gov/infoneedsreport) and the regulatory and technology environments. McCombs the issue is the same: the future Knight Foundation report (http:// was at the forefront of technological advances and the and sustainability of journalism creation of news content for multiple media platforms. www.knightfoundation.org/publi- McCombs has been included in the San that holds powerful institutions cations/informing-communities- Francisco Business Times 50 Most Influential Business accountably. sustaining-democracy-digital) are Women in the Bay Area and is the recipient of the media’s top awards and honors including the Missouri Eric Newton, a Knight Foun- good resources for free-press Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism dation executive, discussing the advocates, policy makers, and and the First Amendment Freedom Award from B’Nai Brith Anti-Defamation League. report before a group of journal- concerned citizens around the The Lee Hills Chair in Free-Press Studies was ism educators, stressed that this world. Likewise, the U.S. policy established by Lee and Tina Hills with the goal to increase ordinary citizens’ understanding of the value is the first moment in a genera- discussion should be informed of free expression to democratic societies. tion that the public and policy by the debate and discussion The Global Journalist reports on the state of press makers have the opportunity to freedom around the world, covers developments also taking place across the in international journalism and serves international impact the broadband age and globe. journalists. (www.globaljournalist.org)

20 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 21 The FCC Report gives an broad principles: excellent summary of the media U.S. media executives • Information required of landscape, the impact of technol- and journalists have media companies by FCC policy ogy, and the surprising aspects to be disclosed to the public of this landscape. It stresses found themselves should, over time, be made avail- several times that even though in their own able online. the report was prepared by a • Greater government trans- government agency, the report unpredictable world parency will enable both citizens started with the “overriding made more unstable and reporters to more effectively premise that the First Amend- by “revolutionaries” monitor powerful institutions ment circumscribes the role and benefit from public services. government can play in improv- like Google, Facebook, • Existing government adver- ing local news.” That being said, craigslist and Twitter. tising spending should be target- it states, “Greater transparency ed more toward local media. by government and media com- • Nonprofit media need to panies can help reduce the cost steps to remove obstacles to in- develop more sustainable busi- of reporting, empower consum- novation and ensure that taxpay- ness models, especially through ers, and generally improve the er resources are well used.” private donations. functioning of media markets. The FCC’s specific recom- • Universal broadband and And policymakers can take other mendations follow these six an open Internet are essential prerequisites for ensuring that the new media landscape serves communities well. • Policymakers should take historically underserved commu- nities into account when crafting strategies and rules. In the 465-page report, the FCC included specific recom- mendations that immediately sparked comment, debate and criticism. The report was seen as offering strong analysis and re- search but “weak prescriptions.” Perhaps that was the intent. The media ecosystem is complex and confusing. Which brings me back to Joshua Ramo. For Ramo, the day belongs to the fleet and the adaptive. He draws his thinking from history, complexity theory, psychology, economics, immu- nology, and the science of net- works. On all fronts he advocates the concept of resilience and the need to innovate and to keep learning. I believe Ramos would refer citizens and policy makers de- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski speaking during a roundtable bating the information needs of discussion Aug. 26, 2011, in Anchorage, Alaska. AP Photo by Mark Thiessen

22 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 23 communities in the broadband changes. “[These changes] age to the 1974 Nobel accep- The digital age has should focus on three primary tance speech by the Austrian toppled governments, goals: making better use of the economist Friedrich August von public’s resources, increasing Hayek. (After the most recent provided new tools for transparency, and in the words financial collapse, Hayek has reporting and sharing of the National Religious Broad- moved from the shadows and is casters, ‘fertiliz[ing] the condi- being quoted regularly across news, and connected tions under which the media the political spectrum and in the us in ways unheard of does its work.”  business media.) five years ago. Ramo called his speech “a twenty-minute apology for win- ning a Nobel Prize”. Hayek titled ecosystem.” his speech ‘Pretence of Knowl- Ramos concludes that for edge,’ and what he had to say hundreds of years we have been was important not simply as a builders—builders of nations, set of observations about eco- corporations, highways and nomics. To treat complex phe- bridges. He suggests this “mode nomena as if they were simple, which delivered amazing prog- to pretend that you could hold ress is no longer suitable. The the unknowable in the cleverly world is too complex.” I am sure crafted structure of your ideas— he would apply the same think- he could think of nothing that ing to journalism. The builders was more dangerous. of the current form of journalism Hayek concluded his Nobel started in the 19th century with speech, “If man is not to do an advertising-driven, mass audi- more harm than good in his ef- ence press, followed by the one- forts to improve the social order, way conversations of radio and he will have to learn that in this TV in the 20th century. Concen- as in all other fields where es- tration of ownership followed. sential complexity of an orga- The Economist (www.Econo- nized kind prevails, he cannot mist.com), in its July 9 - 15, acquire the full knowledge which 2011, cover story “Back to the would make mastery of the coffee house,” argues “The Inter- events possible.” net is taking the news indus- Ramos adds to Hayek’s try back to the conversational remarks, “Politicians and think- culture of the era before mass ers would be wise not to try to media. The Internet is making bend history as ‘the craftsman news more participatory, social, shapes his handiwork, but rather diverse, and partisan, reviving to cultivate growth by providing the discursive ethos of the era the appropriate environment, in before mass media. That will the manner a gardener does for have profound effects on society his plants.’ To see the world this and politics.” way, as a ceaselessly complex As he examined this shifting and adaptive system, requires a world created by the Internet for revolution. It involves changing the FCC, Steven Waldman also the role we imagine for our- turned to the nurturing tone of selves, from architects of a sys- the cultivating gardener when tem we can control and manage he summarized the recommen- to gardeners in a living, shifting dations for government policy

22 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 23 Government advertising as bribes and punishment

By Carolina Escudero

n Argentina, government didn’t give trustful figures, and advertising in media has been independent media—in ap- increasing, and in some publi- pearance—was created and cations, represents 50 percent sponsored by official advertis- Iof their income. This official publicity advertising is used to benefit or punish the media ac- cording to its personal affinity with the government. Nongovernmental organizations agree Official advertising generates that the continuous economic dependency in use of official ad- the media that could act as vertising generates economic depen- censorship. dency in the media that could act as Carolina Escudero is director of the Buenos censorship. In 2009, Aires Program,for the Missouri School of Journalism. an election year, the She is a journalist specializing in international issues and Gender: European Union – Latin America. She federal government specialized at Université Robert Schuman, France, in this South American country in European Union and Mercosur relationships and is currently working on a master’s degree on “The spent almost 650 million pesos Sexual Difference” at the Centre de Recerca de in official advertising. Dones from the University of Barcelona, Spain. In January 2011, the Argen- Her articles and reports have been published in Argentina, Venezuela, England, Spain, France, tine organizations that audit Belgium, Holland and Serbia. She was awarded the the official advertising expense grant Leonardo Da Vinci that allowed her to work at European Union institutions, in Brussels, in the in the media, The Civil Rights communication area. Association(ADC), together As a professor, she worked for the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento with Poder Ciudadano (Citi- (Argentina), the high School of Journalism TEA zens Power), agreed that for (Argentina). She produced and researched “La Mujer Mediatizada” a documentary about “How more than a year, they had not media treats gender issues in Argentina”. received serious information. In july 2010 her book chapter regarding “There was no transparent media and gender perspectives was presented in Latin America with the support of the United information; the government Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in South America.

24 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 25 ing,” said Luis Majul, an Ar- gentine reporter, in his book El y Ella (“He and She,” based on the former president Nés- tor Kirchner and the president Cristina Kirchner. Majul’s re- search tells about the increas- ing official advertising during the Néstor Kirchner govern- ment (2003/2007) and during the presidency of Cristina de Kirchner(2007/2011). The increasing official advertising from 2003 till 2010 has a direct relationship with the government’s influence on the independent and critical media. Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez, right, addresses the nation as Argentina’s Cabinet Chief Anibal The Szpolski media group Fernandez, left, and Argentina’s Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo look on in Buenos Aires in August received the most money, 2010. Fernandez said leading newspapers, Clarin and La Nacion, used the newsprint company, Papel about 80 million pesos that Prensa SA, to impose media monopolies on Argentina, stifling other viewpoints by refusing to sell paper were distributed as follows: at fair prices to competitors. On top, a painting depicting Argentina’s former President Juan Domingo Peron. AP Photo by Eduardo Di Baia El Argentino, a free newspa- per (almost 30 million pesos); Tiempo Argentino newspaper (almost 20 million pesos) and journalists at the Casa Rosada Advertisements and the news channel CN23 (14 (government house), (presi- Censorship million pesos). dent) Cristina (Fernandez) de- Another publication also fined, in her professorial style, An investigation made by the investigated this increas- which journalism she missed Civil Rights Association(CRA) ing official advertising in the and which she hated. “Journal- revealed the existence of four book Patria o medios: La loca ism was born as an expression main types of indirect censor- guerra de los Kirchners para of big political ideas, as the ship: the abusive use of official controlar la realidad (Patria French Revolution, the Ameri- advertising to have an influence or Media: The crazy war of can Revolution or the Argen- on media content, payments the Kirchners for the control tine Mayo Revolution. But then made to journalists, advertis- over reality). In this book, the they were disassociated and ing favoring official politicians reporter Edi Zunino says that transformed into important en- and the use of this advertising “The official guideline used to terprises that protect any kind for propaganda purposes. Some domesticate the opponents, of interests.” regional officials use the state ad- when they were able to be According to Zunino, “Dur- vertising to compensate or pun- independent, was a visit by ing Kirchner government, the ish the media, and they usually the Federal Administration of Página/12 newspaper) has try to control what is published. Public Income (AFIP), Ministry received more than 60 million In the past, the information of Labour inspectors,or without pesos for official advertising. about official advertising given realizing, were investigated by Also, the Clarin newspaper) by the executive power allowed skillful hackers and govern- received a similar amount, nongovernmental organizations ment employees from the pen- although it has major distribu- (NGOs) and journalists to moni- guin intelligence. tion. La Nación, the second tor the activity. They concluded By the end of 2008, in the most important newspaper, got that the expenses were increas- presence of the accredited only 45 million pesos.” ing yearly.

24 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 25 The director of the Freedom newspaper: “...the official adver- that information and advertis- of Expression from the ADC, El- tising may be irrelevant to many ing should be clearly differ- eonora Ravinovich, interviewed people. However, it is a serious entiated. It also says that the for this investigation, said “We issue that affects the freedom of advertising stories contravene discovered advertising that expression as this abusive use the principle of information. aimed at the functionaries or of advertisement in favor of the Andres D’ Alessandro, executive government advertising.” government has the purpose director of FOPEA, interviewed Therefore, some politicians of disciplining editorials and for this survey, said that “Dis- reacted against this manipula- journalists and to compensate cretionary use of the official tion. In 2007, for example, the friends with millions of money.” advertising is one of the main ADC was invited to the National The deputy specified that topics when assessing freedom Congress to debate this issue “Our proposal assures an equal of expression in the world and together with other specialized treatment and distribution of ad- specially in Argentina…Jour- organizations. In 2010, a law vertising. Moreover, any citizen- nalists feel the presence of the that aimed at controlling these ship can control which media political power, which acts as irregularities was launched with receives public help and which pressure through the assigna- clear criteria and fair allocation don’t. It also creates a record tion or not of the advertising. of state advertising, mechanisms for the citizens with the aim to We talk about contents because of transparency, with a specific control and know which media there is a direct decision be- restriction of the use on adver- receive public funds. It sets an tween publishing and advertis- tising during election periods. equal treatment to the small and ing, or not, by analysing the Deputy Silvina Giudici community media, who simply contents of that media.” from the Radical Civil Union by enrolling in a registry will be This growth in government (an opposing political party to awarded with the 10 percent of advertising in the media could Kirchner), claimed in La Nación the total budgetary resources for endanger not only freedom of advertising.” expression but also the cred- ibility of the media. Martin Media Independence Becerra, professor of communi- cation studies at the University The Clarin newspaper last of Buenos Aires and University year also talked about the of- of Quilmes, claimed that “there ficial advertising in an edito- is freedom of expression in rial: “The public media doesn’t Argentina” and explained that belong to the government but to one of the most critical of the the community and claims that Argentine government, the re- the government should preserve porter Luis Majul, received until this independence and not use last year official advertising it for political purposes. The money. “Even getting that huge government often confuses the amount of money, this journal- public information with the offi- ist continued with his political cial advertising and the manipu- view. There is total freedom of lation of reality.” expression.” In Argentina, organizations, The increasing official adver- such as the Argentine Journal- tising in the media is not only Ricardo Kirschbaum, General Editor of Argentina’s ist Forum (FOPEA), control an Argentine problem. The ADC newspaper Clarin, speaks during an interview the development of journalistic with The Associated Press at the newspaper’s published research on this topic: headquarter in Buenos Aires. Argentina’s President activity. In its ethics code, Ar- “A soft censorship”(2004)and Cristina Fernandez, her late husband, former ticle 18 says that the diffusion another that spread its monitor- President Nestor Kirchner, were engaged in an of advertising messages, explicit ing in Latin America, “The price intense battle with Grupo Clarin, one of Latin America’s largest media companies, over a broader or implicit, is incompatible with of silence”(2008). law that would remake Argentina’s media industry. journalism. Article 19 states Eleonora Rainovich from AP Photo by Ezequiel Pontoriero

26 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 27 the ADC said, “With our in- asked to set standards so that vestigations, we came to the This growth in the state could adopt appropri- conclusion that it is not only a government advertising ate regulations. one-direction relationship of the In response to this, and tak- governments towards the me- in the media could ing into account the work about dia—arbitrary and abusive—but endanger not only the indirect censorship and official it’s a combination of practices advertising, the CIDH published done by some governments, freedom of expression the following standards in Latin some journalists and some me- but also the credibility America: The State should adopt dia. So attention should be paid of the media. special laws, clear ones, to not only to the responsibility of regulate the advertising; the of- the governments but also to the ficial advertising should include consequences of this relation- information of public interest ship. This vicious relationship is cial advertising” but it reminded and should not be for electoral not good for public debate and that there is a right against “the or political parties’ purposes; of- the whole community.” arbitrary assignation or the indi- ficial advertising should never be rect violation of the press free- assigned by the state to benefit Editorial Perfil case dom by economic means.” or punish editorial content; the “Therefore, if the state de- advertising should be planned In March 2011, the Argen- cides to give advertising, they to be publicly controlled and tine Supreme Court passed a should use nondiscriminatory the state should publish all the law on discriminatory official criteria, using neutral concepts relevant information about the advertising. This decision has towards the media point of official advertising; mechanisms been observed by the organiza- view.” of control must be settled by an tions that monitor the official There will be presidential autonomous identity. advertising in the media as “a elections in Argentina in Octo- It is important that discus- step ahead in matters of freedom ber 2011, and few people predict sions about the official guideline of expression.” major progress in the field of regulations are being done in dif- With an unanimous decision government advertising regula- ferent parts of Latin America. In in February 2009, the Supreme tion. Meanwhile, this lack of Colombia, the congress is debat- Court confirmed that the Na- progress doesn’t stop the reser- ing a noncorruption statute that tional Executive Power (NEP) ach done by NGOs and indepen- includes an article about adver- did not obey the freedom of dent journalists who report the tising distribution and different expression laws by excluding abuse and the negative impact of regulations that have been put Perfil newspaper from official advertising in mass media. into practice locally. advertising as a punishment for In Uruguay, the government not being in favor of the official Other advances in has promised to support a par- government. At that moment in liamentary initiative. In Argenti- 2009, the Chamber had ordered Latin America na, the debate was reactivated in the National State to give official IACHR published its last an- 2010 when some commissions advertising to different publica- nual survey including a chapter of the Deputy Chamber passed tions in 15 days, respecting “a about the advertising regulations a ruling of the majority and two reasonable balance with analo- of the media in Latin America. minority ones. In some Argen- gous characteristics.” These surveys about the tine provinces, regulations were The court, having the same official advertising in Latin adopted and in Buenos Aires, a criteria as the Special Rappourt- America were made by the orga- law that incorporated important er for Freedom of Expression nizations that in 2010 took part advances was voted by the gov- of the Inter American Commis- in an audience with the CIDH ernment chief. In Mexico, dif- sion on Human Rights (IACHR), and warned against the use and ferent legislative projects have claimed that “there are no rights abuse of the official advertising been presented.  to get a certain quantity of offi- in the region. The CIDH was

26 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 27 Pakistani journalists: growing in number and danger

Of the 48 journalists killed in Pakistan, only one killer has been brought to justice.

By Umar Cheema

hey have lost another col- brought to justice with one ex- league fighting for truth. The ception: The murderer of Daniel brutal murder of Saleem Pearl, a journalist for the Wall Shahzad, who died on May Street Journal, who died in 2002. 29,T has served as a fresh remind- Pakistan had one state-run er not to cross the lines that have channel in 2001. The mushroom- been drawn in Pakistan. Shahzad was the fifth jour- nalist to die in the first five months of 2011. The Committee to Protect Pakistan, the deadliest country Journalists (CPJ) declared for journalists in 2010 when 11 Pakistan the deadliest country for journalists in journalists were killed, could 2010 when 11 journalists easily retain that distinction in were killed. 2011. The situation is get- ting worse now, and Paki- stan is likely to retain this horrible title. Since Shahzad’s death, two others have died in June: Saiful- lah Khan and Asfand Yar Khan. Umar Cheema is an award-winning investigative They all lost their lives covering journalist from Pakistan. Heralded by the New York conflict started after the 9/11 at- Times for his work, Cheema has regularly faced tacks in the United States. threats. He was kidnapped and severely beaten in September 2010. In honor of his work, he received After 9/11, the media in- the International Free Speech Award at Syracuse creased in both size and with the University in 2011. He also received the Martha Gellhorn Award, the one of the most prestigious number of journalists murdered, journalism honors in the United Kingdom. He shared noted Adnan Rehmat, a Pakistani the honor with Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. media analyst. Cheema works for The News, the largest As many as 48 journalists English-language daily newspaper in Pakistan. He has broken stories on important political developments, have been killed in Pakistan, and exposed relationships between the security agencies none of the culprits have been and the private militia, and called into question the sitting government.

28 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 29 ing growth of private channels, radio stations and newspapers, oddly enough, is traced back to Pakistan’s military misadventure with India in 1999. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the architect of that conflict, fell out of favor with his Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for a war started without the latter’s consent. Sharif was then booted out by Musharraf through a military coup. The military ruler thought that the war was lost due to a lack of media propaganda. India, in contrast to Pakistan, had nu-

merous private channels. Pakistani journalists hold a protest rally and sit-in-protest outside the Parliament to condemn the killing As he took over, Musharraf of their colleague Syed Salim Shahzad, in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Pakistani journalist was slain after he introduced a policy of liberalizing reported being threatened by intelligence agents. Shahzad wrote about terrorism and security for the Asia airwaves, following the opening Times Online and other publications. Police said the 40-year-old’s body bore signs of torture when it was found. AP Photo by B.K.Bangash of private channels. Pakistan now has about 90 channels; 30 of them run current affairs pro- bates in our newsroom among channel to channel, in terms of grams. my colleagues about the possible language, themes and communi- In addition to the national options for switching into other ties. language, Urdu, and the official fields. Many journalists were not But this was not the de- language, English, half of the properly qualified for the job but sired goal of the military ruler. current affairs channels run their were welcomed because of the ­Musharraf had thought that segments in regional languages demand. media would remain obliged to like Punjabi, Sindhi, Balchi, his government and hence keep Pushto and Siraiki. him immune from criticism. He Like TV channels, radio sta- was wrong. tions also recorded a significant Through the ages, Pakistani media had been un- increase from one state-run radio Pakistani media have der attack by different regimes. station to more than 130 now. The army that ruled Pakistan for There are also more than 4,000 struggled to survive. 34 years of the 64-year life of the dailies, weeklies and fortnight- country worked hard to suppress lies. the media. Instead, the profes- This mushrooming growth There were 2000 journalists sion became resilient. of media outlets brought more accredited with the Pakistan Fed- Problems began with the openings and competitive sala- eral Union of Journalists (PFUJ) founding father of Pakistan, Mu- ries for journalists. in 2002. The figure has now shot hammad Ali Jinnah, in 1947. I joined the profession in up to more than 10,000. (This The late Zamir Niazi, a jour- 2001. This was a time when jour- figure is of accredited journalists; nalist, elaborated this fact in his nalists felt unsettled due to small there may be many non-accred- book, Press in Chains, discussing salaries. Most of them used to use ited.). how an effort was made to censor journalism as a transition from The rise in the number of a portion of the speech of Jinnah. unemployment to a promising new media outlets also increased “Immediately after it (the profession. pluralism in opinion that started speech) was over, the principal I remember the heated de- differing from region to region, information officer, Colonel Majid

28 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 29 Malik, phoned the Dawn office A new constitution was written and instructed that the portion The media initially in 1973, and it remains in prac- relating to citizens’ right and re- remained neutral tice today with certain amend- ligious beliefs should be omitted ments. from the speech.” but turned against However, the constitution The editor of Dawn, the Musharraf due to his did not encourage freedom of country’s leading English daily, expression. refused to follow the advice. ruthless operation that It says: “Every citizen shall Pakistan was a British colony killed hundreds. have the right to freedom of in United India, and after the speech and expression and there birth of the country in 1947 had shall be freedom of press, subject many previous media laws modi- English and Urdu publications of to any reasonable restrictions fied. a progressive media group called imposed by law in the interest of Throughout the history of Progress Papers Limited. Harsh- the glory of Islam, or integrity, British India, recounts Irfan er legislation was introduced security or defense of Pakistan, Ashraf, a journalism professor at in 1962, called the Press and or any part thereof, friendly rela- Peshawar University, the colonial Publication Ordinance, which tions with foreign States, public masters were intolerant towards empowered the government to order, decency or morality or in freedom of expression. confiscate any newspaper, close relation to contempt of court or “The same mindset traveled its operation and arrest journal- incitement of an offense.” down to Pakistan,” Ashraf said. ists. This restrictive freedom Under the modified laws, The journalists had bravely faced another blow after another many publications were forced fought these harsh measures but army rule was imposed by Gen. to close. Only two years after the with little result. A renowned Zia-ul-Haq in July 1977, the birth of Pakistan, the founding writer, Qurat-ul-Ain Haider, sent month of my birth. father was dead. But the policy a famous letter to the informa- Incidentally, I also started continued. tion secretary of the military my journalism career under the As many as 16 newspapers ruler, Qudratullah Shahab. shadow of martial law in 2001 were directed at that time to She bemoaned: “One doesn’t when the current army general, publish the same editorial un- want to bark all the time, but if Musharraf, began ruling Paki- der the headline ‘treason.’ The one is warned against barking, stan. purpose was to condemn a the urge for doing so multiplies.” Many young journalists were contemporary journal for a story As the media were being also born during these times. that the government thought was muzzled, the first military ruler, They began their work when the wrong. General Khan, stepped down in generals were at the helm of af- The journal under attack, 1969 because of public protests fairs, and the journalism commu- The Civil and Military Gazette, and passed power to his army nity was struggling for its rights. was also forced to suspend general, Yahya Khan, who presid- Zia introduced draconian publication for six months, ed over the separation of Paki- laws. One of the architects of even though it had published an stan and Bangladesh in 1971. Afghan jihad, Zia had amended apology under the government’s Bangladesh, previously East the laws that empowered the direction. Pakistan, emerged on the world authorities to punish and pros- In the first six years of Paki- map. Many Pakistanis, who con- ecute a publisher in case his/ stan, the security establishment sidered the action to be the dis- her publication carried a story banned 58 magazines and books integration of the country, were disapproved by the government, of progressive publishers and originally unaware of this event, no matter whether it was factual writers. and learned about it through in- and of national interest. Worse censorship came after dependent media outside of the The amendments were army rule was imposed in 1958 country. designed to promote the Islam- by Gen. Ayub Khan. Power was transferred to ci- ization that Zia had introduced, His government took over the vilians shortly after the breakup. which put the military and reli-

30 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 31 gious leaders into an unbreakable Pakistan faced another army rule Court, a move that started a push alliance. after an 11-year break starting to remove him from office. Censorship during Zia’s time in 1999 with the take-over by In an attempt to survive, was harsher than before. It was Musharraf. he imposed emergency rule direct and dictatorial to the core. In contrast to past military throughout the country, sus- Army officers were posted in the rulers, Musharraf liberalized pending basic rights and pulling newsrooms to approve content, media rules. His desire to open mainstream television channels. and journalists who showed defi- licenses for private channels and Geo TV, the biggest channel, ance were sent to jail and tor- to allow critical voices was rooted remained off for 73 days. tured. in the realization of changing Meanwhile, the media was The reaction to these mea- circumstances. caught between the military and sures was mixed. Those who con- By the time he had usurped militants, with an insurgency at tinued to defy either languished power, it was the dawn of the the Pakistan-Afghan border and in jail or fled the country. On the 21st century when the world was in the resource-rich province of other hand, the journalists who not so benign to authoritarian Balochistan. Increasing terror- responded positively were re- rule. Another reason for doing ism incidents in 2006 gave rise warded through cash and control so was the defeat he faced in the to media coverage, also blasting of the media. This gave rise to Kargil war with India in 1998. government policies. right-wing elements in the pro- That war was started without the A journalist from the tribal fession. knowledge of the prime minister area, Hayatullah Khan, was ab- Zia’s punitive measures only of Pakistan, Mian Nawaz Sharif. ducted at the start of 2006 after let up after his death in a plane The liberalization was an- his reports disclosed that drone crash in 1988, marking an end nounced under the assumption strikes on the Pakistan-Afghan to his 11-year rule. Democracy that the media would be used to border were being carried out by returned, but it was fragile. strengthen national security and the United States, not the Paki- The draconian laws were counter the threat from archrival stan Army. revised, providing a slight relief India. This was a fact that the to the journalism community. If Musharraf felt like the security establishment didn’t media would feel an obligation to want Pakistanis to know, fearing him because of the granted free- backlash over the question of ter- dom, he was wrong. The media ritorial sovereignty. Khan’s dead were initially soft, but became body was delivered six months harsh. after his kidnapping, and there The conflict intensified on were allegations that he had been the Pakistan-Afghan border after killed by the Pakistani Army and 9/11, pushing the whole country not the Taliban. into war. The Taliban and al-Qaeda Musharraf made several were not friendly towards jour- moves that enraged the country. nalists either. In the beginning of His first was a decision to con- the insurgency, they had man- duct an operation in the heart aged to win the confidence of the of Islamabad against a mosque media. Being naïve of propaganda believed to be sympathetic to the techniques, they would take ad- Taliban and al-Qaeda. vice from the journalists on how The media initially remained to portray their message. The neutral but turned against Mush- journalists, a majority of them arraf due to the ruthless opera- ill-trained, would play into their tion that killed hundreds, includ- hands. ing children. Musharraf’s second While media became very Pervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan, talks during the launch of his new political party, the unpopular decision was to re- critical of Musharraf in 2007, “All Pakistan Muslim League” in central London in move a top judge of the Supreme its perception towards militants October 2010. AP Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis

30 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 31 based resident editor of a news- paper headquartered in Lahore, the second biggest city of Paki- stan, was summoned in the court of a militant leader to seek apol- ogy for an editorial written by his colleague in Lahore. Out of 250 journalists work- ing in tribal areas, half of them have fled and switched to other professions due to the risks to their lives, according to a Pesha- war-based media expert. The journalists working in settled places like Karachi, the biggest city of Pakistan, remain under threat from organized crime and militant wings of the Pakistani journalists protest holding a poster of Karachi-based slain journalist Wali Khan Babar in Peshawar, Pakistan on Friday, Jan. 14, 2011. Ten people had been killed over the past 24 hours in what appears to be ethno-political organizations. fresh round of ethnic and political violence in Karachi, police said. AP Photo by Mohammad Sajjad The first murder this year of a Pakistani journalist was in Karachi. Wali Khan Babar, a changed in 2008 after a military as it faced during the Musharraf reporter with Geo TV, was killed, operation in the scenic valley of regime. according to police investigators, Swat against the Taliban. Video The security establishment by the militants of an ethno- footage showing the Taliban uses coercive tactics to deal with political organization who were flogging a teenaged girl over al- journalists. The journalists are unhappy with his work. legations of adultery was instru- counseled in a friendly manner Another reason for Paki- mental in this radical shift in the in the beginning, but those who stan being the deadliest nation media. remain undeterred face fatal for journalists is lack of safety These events also coincided risks. Saleem Shahzad is one training of reporters covering with the rise in suicide bombings such example. Conflict report- conflicts. Many journalists are that killed many journalists. In ing was his forte. His death has not adequately trained to mini- addition, some of the journalists drawn tears and fear. Nobody mize security threats in a hostile were put on warning by both the thought he would be beaten to environment. militants and the security estab- death. “When bullets start to fly, lishment. I was also abducted, stripped people flee the scene, but jour- The journalists in Pakistan and whipped in September 2010 nalists here run at it unthink- face threats from three sides: the and returned alive, with a warn- ingly,” says media analyst Adnan security establishment; Islamic ing. We thought Shahzad would Rehmat. militants; and secular militants also be sent alive. An email that Pakistan is at a crossroad and in the port city of Karachi and he had sent to Human Rights so is its media. In this situation the restive province of Balo- Watch disclosed that he was of doom and gloom, the people of chistan. These are fata threats. facing death threats from Inter Pakistan see a ray of hope in a vi- The government has cut Service Intelligence, the most brant media and the independent down its advertisements in the powerful intelligence agency of judiciary. Musharraf had sacked media and cancelled television Pakistan. the chief judge under fabricated licenses. The Jang Group, the In addition to the military, charges in March 2007, giving biggest media group in Pakistan, Islamic militants also pose an rise to a lawyers’ movement that has faced as much difficulty dur- equally fatal threat to journalists. enjoyed the strong backing of the ing the new Zardari government In one case, a Peshawar- media and public.

32 IPI REPORT Pakistan to bring those respon- a brave face to the elements. Liberalization sible for killing journalists to Their situation reminds me of has meant a louder justice. Only an international fo- ‘Whistling of Birds,” an essay by cus on Pakistan can prevent the H.E. Lawrence. media but also one further slaughter of journalists. “Most of the birds had died in constantly facing fatal International organizations a biting winter that was accom- should closely observe the gov- panied by heavy frost. The dead threats. ernment’s commitment to pros- birds lay on the ground, rotting ecute the cases involving mur- and partially eaten by other After the justice was re- ders of journalists. Zero tolerance animals. Their colleagues were stored to the bench of the Su- must be shown towards any kind scared and stunned. preme Court in July 2007, he of negligence in this area. Soon after the onset of spring, was sacked again in October No matter how difficult the those who managed to survive together with 60 other judges circumstances, Pakistani journal- started chirping and singing. It of the Supreme Court and High ists have learned the art of resil- was a quick transition from win- Courts. All were reinstated under ience. No doubt they feel shaken ter to spring because they had intense pressure aimed at Mush- and scared after the killing of a seen this happening for ages.” arraf’s successor, President Asif journalist colleague, the latest Pakistani journalists are like- Ali Zardari, who was otherwise of Shahzad. But they return to wise.  reluctant to do so. normalcy in no time, putting up The judiciary now has gained considerable independence. It has earned the freedom that was not granted. Media have been struggling since the independence. What- ever amount of freedom achieved was also earned, not granted. Liberalization has meant a louder media but also one constantly facing fatal threats. It must be protected or the voiceless will have no voice. A focus on safety training is very important. Likewise, media organizations need to be sensitized about the importance of their staffs. A proper social security system needs to evolve for them so that in case of death, their families will not be left at the mercy of a weak economy. The journalists’ community throughout the world must join hands with their fraternity in

Pakistani journalists protest holding a poster of Karachi-based slain journalist Wali Khan Babar in Peshawar, Pakistan on Friday, Jan. 14, 2011. Ten people had been killed in the previous 24 hours in what appeared to be a fresh round of ethnic and political violence in Karachi, police said. AP Photo by Mohammad Sajjad Big Business pressures Hong Kong news

Sometimes it’s political; often it’s just business as usual.

By Doug Meigs

ong Kong news organiza- decade after the former British tions are subject to unique colony returned to China. Busi- business pressures at the ness models (and long-entrenched crux of Chinese and Western editorial slants) vary depending Hmediaspheres. on individual news outlet. Political and business in- More than 20 local daily terests are often intertwined in newspapers are available in the tycoon-dominated Chinese Hong Kong, ranging from the Special Administrative Communist party-funded Wen Region. One promi- Wei to the sensationalistic (and More than 20 local daily nent Hong Kong media unabashedly pro-democracy) company claims to Apple Daily. Innumerable local newspapers are available in have suffered a politi- magazines and international Hong Kong, ranging from the cally motivated adver- publications also crowd robust Communist party-funded Wen tising boycott from newsstands, while ample televi- Chinese state-owned sion, radio and online news op- Wei to the sensationalistic (and corporations. Other tions help make Hong Kong one unabashedly pro-democracy) examples of Big Busi- of the world’s most competitive Apple Daily. ness editorial pressure appear rooted squarely in balance sheets. In the past year, Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway Corporation is- sued a letter threatening to pull advertisements if local media published critical coverage of the company. Meanwhile, Mainland companies pull strings to achieve positive coverage and boost initial public offerings on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index. Doug Meigs is a freelance writer based in Hong Kong. He worked as a teaching assistant at the University Local news media remain of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Center incredibly diverse more than a between 2009 and 2011. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 2007.

34 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 35 to put it in black and white, like giving out an order, this is a first time,” she said. Deputy executive chief editor of Ming Pao, Kevin Lau Chung Po, said the newspaper’s cover- age of MTR Corporation remains unflinching. He described the “wall” between advertising and editorial departments as The Great Wall of China. Concern about self-censor- ship in Hong Kong began escalat- ing before the 1997 Handover, notably when a Malaysian Chi- nese tycoon named Robert Kuok purchased Hong Kong’s lead- ing English language daily (The South China Morning Post) from Rupert Murdoch in 1993. Chinese pro-democracy publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai poses by big rolls of blank paper at the headquarters of Next Media, the company that owns ‘Apple Daily’, Hong Kong’s highest circulation tabloid newspaper. A Jonathan Fenby served as its consistent thorn in the side of China’s Communist Party, Mr. Lai’s influential newspaper is known in Hong editor-in-chief between 1995 and Kong and Taiwan for it’s uncompromising political stance of the events of the Tiananmen Square massacre. 1999. Fenby said he encountered Hong Kong is the only place in China where public protests about the Tiananmen Square massacre are legal. EPA Photo by Alex Hofford pressure from Kuok immediately upon taking the job. media landscapes. and the metro system across the “There was pressure from the Press freedom is protected in border in Shenzhen. It is also a owner to get rid of certain people the Hong Kong Special Admin- property developer and landlord or do certain things, not to call istrative Region’s constitutional that owns vast swatches of Hong Tiananmen Square a massacre, document, the Basic Law, which Kong real estate. and not to refer to certain Hong guarantees free speech and a Newspapers responded to the Kong business tycoons as China- policy of “One Country, Two letter with a series of exposés. friendly. There was pressure, but Systems.” The Hong Kong Jour- Ming Pao published an in-depth not self-censorship because I nalist Association keeps a vigilant news package exploring the said no to all that,” he said. watch over media industry issues threat. Apple Daily printed the Former columnist Nury that could threaten local press entire letter. MTR Corporation Vittachi has a different per- freedoms. immediately backtracked (blam- spective. Vittachi left the paper ing “the mistake” on a long-time during Fenby’s leadership and Tycoon power media consultant). The corpora- wrote a book, North Wind: What tion apologized and retracted the the Hong Kong Media Doesn’t In April, an advertising scan- advertising threat under public Want You to Know, about self- dal erupted after the MTR Corpo- scrutiny. censorship at the SCMP. Fenby ration sent a letter to 15 media The chairwoman of the Hong also outlined his account of the groups threatening to withdraw Kong Journalist Association, Mak period in the book Dealing with advertisements in response to Yin-ting, said that although ad- the Dragon. potential “negative news cover- vertising pressure on newspapers After Fenby left the SCMP, age about the brand image of the is an old story in Hong Kong, the paper’s helm has been a MTR Corporation.” such a brazen attempt to shape sort of revolving door for some The MTR Corporation is a coverage is unprecedented. “This of the region’s most established publicly listed business in charge kind of influence has always journalists. In recent years, the of Hong Kong’s metro railways been there, but (for a company) paper has continued producing

34 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 35 in-depth and critical coverage of Kong lawmakers enact laws that in Hong Kong tell us they had news across China. A senior edi- “prohibit any act of treason, been approached and were tor who recently departed from secession, sedition, subversion told, ‘We shouldn’t advertise the paper noted that pressure against the Central People’s Gov- with you.’” continues from time to time, but ernment.” The nearby Chinese Simon estimates that Next that self-censorship wasn’t an Special Administrative Region of Media loses HK $200 million issue in recent years. Macau enacted a similar law in (US $25.6 million) annually in Assurances from editors 2009. potential advertising because aside, Hong Kong’s citizens “Article 23 was targeted of the advertising boycott. He increasingly believe local news towards the media and a free said Mainland companies still media are practicing self-cen- press. Mr. Lai and Next Media refuse to advertise with Next sorship, according to a survey made the decision that this was Media. by the University of Hong Kong’s against our interests and carried Next Media is a profitable Public Opinion Program on a vigorous campaign against company, with one of Hong The Program began survey- it,” said Mark Simon, deputy to Kong’s most-read newspapers ing public perception of self- the chairman of Next Media. He (Apple Daily had an average censorship in 1997. During the was general manager when they daily net circulation of 303,047 survey’s first year, 40-50 percent began the campaign. in 2010, according to the Hong of respondents said they be- Roughly 500,000 residents Kong Audit Bureau of Circula- lieved the media practiced self- tion.) Simon said the boycott censorship. Over the subsequent by Mainland companies hasn’t six years, the figure dropped softened editorial content in steadily to 30.5 percent. But Assurances from Apple Daily or Next Magazine, since 2002, the figure has risen editors aside, Hong but the specter of withdrawn on average each year. advertising could discourage The results for April 2011 Kong’s citizens less profitable papers from were 53.5 percent (a record high) increasingly believe similarly critical coverage of answering “yes,” they believe the local news media Beijing. local media is practicing self-cen- Not all Hong Kong media sorship, while 33.5 percent an- are practicing self- are critical of Beijing, however; swered “no.” The swing in public censorship. some independent news outlets perception coincided with Next have a well-established sympa- Media’s news campaign against thetic stance toward Mainland controversial anti-sedition legisla- marched on Hong Kong Island political interests. tion in Hong Kong. during a protest against Article Mak Yin-ting said unprofit- Next Media publications 23 on July 1, 2003. Hong Kong’s able media outlets might actual- (Apple Daily and Next Maga- first chief executive resigned ly operate as fronts for tycoons zine) are famous in Hong Kong in the aftermath of the protest, seeking political favor (and busi- for sensational tabloid content citing health reasons, and the ness opportunities in enterpris- and the political views of owner government indefinitely side- es unrelated to news media) on Jimmy Lai. lined enactment of the law. the Mainland. “In Hong Kong, Management in Next Media Simon said Next Media felt there are some newspapers that said Chinese government-affili- an advertising backlash immedi- are losing money. Why do they ated business began a politically ately after the march. keep printing? When you are motivated boycott against the “We used to get advertise- holding a newspaper or media company in 2003, after Next ments from property develop- outlet you have a more conve- Media helped galvanize public ers in China, from Chinese nient chance to build up rela- opposition to legislation stipu- banks, and Chinese airlines, tions with the Chinese officials. lated under Article 23 of Hong but that dried up in three So the newspaper itself can be a Kong’s Basic Law. months,” he said. “We also had tool.” Mak declined to name any Article 23 requires that Hong some of the major advertisers newspapers.

36 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 37 A man takes a newspaper at a downtown street corner in Hong Kong. Local magazines and international publications drive robust newsstand sales, while ample television, radio and online news options help make Hong Kong one of the world’s most competitive media landscapes. AP Photo by Vincent Yu

Positive coverage for souvenirs or presents,” she far surpass any real costs). access in China said. “The organizers won’t Wang said Chinese compa- order you directly to what nies are able to pressure Hong Xiao Wang is a pseudonym. to write, but they will try to Kong business reporters pri- She spoke on a condition of make friends. The approach is marily through access privileg- anonymity. She currently very soft; then the relationship es instead of cash payments. works in Hong Kong as a busi- changes.” During the past summer, a ness reporter at a leading busi- Wang previously worked company treated Wang and a ness publication. as a reporter on the Mainland group of Hong Kong reporters Wang often joins cross-bor- before she moved to Hong to the maiden journey of the der reporting trips to write about Kong a few years ago. When Beijing-Shanghai high-speed Mainland companies becom- she worked in China, she said railway. They also visited a ing listed on Hong Kong’s Hang companies always gave enve- train manufacturing plant in Seng stock index. Private and lopes of money or precious Hebei. The journalists received state-owned corporations con- gifts to journalists at press a model train valued at ¥500 tact Hong Kong public relations conferences, but the prac- ($78USD). firms, which then invite local tice is not acceptable in Hong An official with Hong media on complimentary multi- Kong’s news industry. Kong’s Chinese Liaison office day excursions to business sites David Bandurski, the edi- (the defacto China embassy around China, with hotel, airfare tor of the China Media Project within Hong Kong) joined the and other expenses paid. website, said cash payouts to tour. Company representatives “When Mainland reporters Mainland journalists are often revealed “sensitive” informa- attend the trips, they accept referred to as “transportation tion about the origin of me- an extra cash bonus. Hong fees,” compensation to journal- chanical parts and the train’s Kong reporters are not al- ists for time and money invest- speed limitations at the fac- lowed to accept cash, but usu- ed in attending an event (even tory visit. Wang said the gov- ally (organizers) give us some though the payments involved ernment official told journal-

36 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 37 A screen shows the Hang Seng index at a bank in Hong Kong Aug. 3, 2011 when Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.9 percent to 21,992.72. AP Photo by Kin Cheung

ists, “You cannot report on this took effect nationwide. issue, it’s not allowed.” “The state-owned compa- “When I came back, I told nies are very big. When they my editor and he said, ‘If we ask not to disclose, we must report those figures, then the think very carefully,” she PR firm might not introduce said. “If we irritate them, then us to the next trip.’” So her they will not invite the paper article didn’t mention the de- to their press conference or tails. A few days after her story exclusive interviews. They will was published, the high-speed not send press releases, and train crashed in Wenzhou. they will not invite you to the Then in mid-August, Wang next trip, so it’s a huge loss to returned from an all-expenses a news institution.” paid trip to Xinjiang to visit a The chairwoman of the PetroChina plant. A company Hong Kong Journalist Associa- spokesperson asked journal- tion fears that self-censorship ists not to disclose the amount is becoming institutionalized of money PetroChina paid for among the new ranks of local Xinjiang’s natural resource tax. journalists. Mak said that low So she didn’t. Wang said the pay has led to higher turnover natural resource tax is current- among Hong Kong’s profession- ly being tested in the province, al journalists, which results in and the figure would be impor- less-experienced newsrooms tant for determining possible more susceptible to external costs to PetroChina if the tax pressure. 

38 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 39 A short-lived Golden Age for Iraqi journalists

As soon as U.S. troops took control of Baghdad, Iraq’s media blossomed into one of the most diverse and unfettered press environments in the Middle East.

By Sherry Ricchiardi

ince the ouster of Saddam operas and game shows from neigh- Hussein in April 2003, Iraq’s boring Arab states were beamed journalists have been on a into neighborhoods. wild roller coaster ride that For Iraq, it was a golden age of Sbegan soon after American troops journalism. took control of Baghdad. Iraqi journalists who defected Overnight, the country’s during Saddam Hussein’s iron rule media blossomed into one of returned to ply their trade. Saad the most diverse al-Bazzaz, former head of state and unfettered press television and editor of a leading environments in the newspaper under the old regime, Iraqi journalists who defected Middle East, serving as fled in 1992 and started a publish- during Saddam Hussein’s iron a model of free expres- ing business in Great Britain cater- rule returned to ply their trade. sion in a region known ing to exiled Iraqis. Soon after the for heavy-handed cen- invasion, he moved his operation to sorship. The transfor- mation was stunning. Privately owned news outlets grew from zero to more than 200 in a rush to meet the demand from an Iraqi citizenry that for three decades had been cut off from the free marketplace of ideas under a tyrannical regime. Satellite dishes, banned under the Baathists, flew off the shelves. Iraqis, once limited to government- run broadcasting and five news- papers, suddenly had access to a smorgasbord of news from CNN and the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera to dozens of publications and televi- sion channels sprouting up in their Sherry Ricchiardi is a professor at the Indiana University School of Journalism and senior writer hometowns. Music videos, soap for American Journalism Review, specializing in international issues.

38 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 39 Journalists chant anti-government slogans while hold pictures of detained journalists, at the Iraqi journalists syndicate in Baghdad, Iraq, in April 2011. The banners in Arabic read, “No to arrest journalists” and “Journalists messengers of peace” and “Freed al-Jazeera journalists.” AP Photo by Hadi Mizban

Baghdad. Al-Bazzaz told London’s Independent, “We can’t train staff fast enough … People are desperate here for a neutral free press after 30 years of a totalitarian state.” The transformation was be- ing driven on two fronts: by the Americans occupiers who made establishing a free press a priority and by the Iraqi people who were starved for an atmosphere of free expression. 2003 and 2008, making it then Media Network (IMN) and Com- This euphoria over a “neutral the world’s deadliest spot for munications Media Commission free press” was short-lived. the press, according to the New (CMC), part of the CPA’s makeover The reality on the ground York-based Committee to Protect of Iraq’s press system, were turned today is a far cry from what Journalists and other internation- over to the government years ago. Pentagon planners envisioned for al media watchdogs. Both were designed to foster free Iraq’s reconstituted press system. expression and provide a multiplic- Despite massive infusions of cash ity of views. from the U.S. government for It has not always turned out media development—more than a The reality on the that way. The CMC has used its half billion dollars by most esti- ground today is a far regulatory powers to shutter me- mates—the future of the country’s dia operations that don’t toe the media does not look promising on cry from what Pentagon government line and restrict news several fronts. planners envisioned coverage of public protests and Many of Iraq’s media outlets other important news events. have become mouthpieces for for Iraq’s reconstituted The country’s judiciary also ethno-political factions with the press system. has been used to silence media. potential to inflame sectarian divi- Iraqi news organizations have been sions that have led the country to plagued by lawsuits brought by the brink of civil war. In a pioneer- Those who target Iraq’s media the highest powers in government ing study, Middle East scholar professionals have little reason to to intimidate and, in some cases, Ibrahim al-Marashi warned that worry. According to CPJ, none of close them down. Journalists have “ethno-sectarian media empires” the 93 murders of journalists that been arrested, their equipment could threaten the nation’s stabil- have occurred in Iraq over the last confiscated, and exorbitant fines ity. Al-Marashi contended that 10 years has been solved. Besides leveled against them. All this has Iraq’s media already were engaged the violence, Iraq’s press corps has been occurring in a country ranked in a “civil war of words.” faced setbacks on other fronts. the fourth most corrupt in the None of this was good news The Iraqi government has em- world by Berlin-based Transparen- for local journalists who work in ployed laws from Saddam Hussein’s cy International’s 2010 Corruption a climate of terror and impunity. era to muzzle media as well as Perceptions Index. Record numbers of media pro- some put on the books by the Co- As protests swept Iraq and the fessionals, the majority of them alition Provisional Authority (CPA) autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraqis, were killed in Iraq between during the occupation. The Iraqi 2011, security forces turned on the

40 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 41 Ziyad al-Ajili, director of an Iraqi journalists organization, inspects the damage in his office in Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 23, 2011. Gunmen raided the office the night before and took equipment such as flak jackets, laptops and video cameras, al-Ajili said. AP Photo by Hadi Mizban

The bind Iraq’s journalists find themselves in has caught the atten- tion of world media monitors: CPJ has warned that Iraq’s new media rules reflect “an alarming return to authoritarianism.” CPJ noted in a report that the rules had been drafted by Iraq’s CMC, the regulatory body formed by the CPA, with the “narrow mandate to administer broadcast frequencies and other technical issues.” The media with a vengeance. In Febru- rules “would effectively impose gov- ary, Nalia, Kurdistan’s first indepen- ernment licensing of journalists and dent TV station, had been filming Police and Iraqi media outlets,” a tool of authoritar- unrest in Sulaymaniyah when 50 military continue to be ian regimes worldwide. masked gunmen raided the studio, particularly brutal to They bar coverage deemed to destroying equipment and setting be an incitement to violence and the building ablaze. media. require media organizations to Three days later, men in submit lists of employees to the uniforms, some wearing a skull- the death list. Veteran reporter government. Beyond privacy con- and-crossbones insignia on their Hilal al-Ahmadi, known for his cerns, that is particularly ominous helmets, stormed the Baghdad investigations of corruption among in a country where so many local headquarters of the Journalistic local and state officials, was gunned journalists have been killed in the Freedoms Observatory, a promi- down outside his home in Mosul on line of duty. nent Iraqi press freedom group. February 17. Mohamed al-Hamda- The U.S. State Department’s Among materials stolen: archives ni, a reporter for al-Italijah satellite 2009 human rights report on Iraq that documented abuses against TV, was killed in a suicide bombing criticized laws that prohibit report- the media. in Ramadi on February 24 while ers from publishing stories that A CPJ report released on covering a religious celebration. “insult” public officials, a notion February 25, 2011, told of military Iraq’s journalists face stark open to broad interpretation by en- and security forces preventing realities: forcers. That, the report said, “pre- cameras from entering Baghdad’s Police and Iraqi military con- vented them from freely practicing Tahrir Square where thousands tinue to be particularly brutal to their trade by creating strong fears of protesters had gathered and of media. of persecution…[and] widespread dozens of journalists being as- Draft press laws under de- self-censorship.” saulted and arrested. In the report bate could further squelch press In April 2010, Human Rights CPJ’s deputy director Robert Ma- freedom and give greater rise to Watch submitted a letter of protest honey, noted, “We are particularly self-censorship. to the CMC and called on the Iraqi disturbed that a democratically The increase in sectarian Parliament to “take all feasible elected government such as that of violence could place journalists steps to stem acts of violence, Iraq would attempt to quash cover- in greater danger from extremist intimidation and abuse aimed at age of political protests.” militias, terror groups, and other muzzling members of the media During this same period, more elements that view the messenger who have written or broadcast journalists’ names were added to as the enemy. information about governmental

40 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 41 Iraqi journalists cast their vote during elections to nominate a new head of the Journalist Union and deputies in Baghdad, Iraq, August 27, 2011. According to media reports, the elections take place every three years with journalists from across Iraq voting. EPA Photo by Ali Abbas

corruption or criticized govern- channel al-Baghdadiya on Nov. 1, crept up under cover of darkness ment policies or officials.” The 2010, under the guise that it had and attached a bomb. letter stated that CMC regulations aided terrorists. The real reason: Once the kids are safely on represent a “general and ugly turn The channel hosted a popular show their way, the freelance reporter of tide for freedom of expression where angry Iraqis could sound off heads to work, but not before he in Iraq.” about their government. gets down to check under his Kia Despite setbacks for press There are no easy solutions to for an explosive device. “This is our freedom, Iraq’s public has access to the problems Iraq’s journalists face, life—we are caught in a game of cat a diverse and vibrant media scene yet despite the atrocities com- and mouse,” al-Qaisi wrote Nov. unthinkable under the old regime. mitted against them, Iraq’s press 7, 2010. “Murdering a journalist is Although many media outlets corps refuses to fade away. A cadre easier than running a red light in are controlled by special interests of feisty media practitioners re- Iraq.” and only champion certain political mains steadfastly committed to the Al Qaisi’s responses were trans- and religious views, consumers do watchdog role and to press freedom lated from Arabic to English, and have a choice: They can read and in their conflict-plagued country of he chose to use a name he often watch only what reinforces their 31 million. writes under to protect himself and beliefs or seek a variety of opinions One of them, Muhammad al- his loved ones. That is the lot of in newspapers or on TV. Qaisi, described in an email inter- many Iraqi journalists today.  Iraq’s public can express opin- view how he survives in today’s ions and criticize powerbrokers hostile environment. Editor’s Note: Author Sherry through editorial pages, call-in Every morning, al-Qaisi climbs Ricchiardi adapted this article radio, and TV programs. Most Iraqi out of bed before the school bus from her March 2011 report newspapers have websites with arrives to pick up his children. He titled “Iraq’s News Media After online discussion boards. Yet often, grabs a broom handle, stands as Saddam: Liberation, Repression, there is a price to pay. far back from the front door as he and Future Prospect” for the The government closed the can, and pokes it wide open sev- Center for International Media studio of the popular satellite eral times to make sure no one has Assistance.

42 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT PB Financial news goes international

People whose livelihood depends on information are willing to pay big bucks to get the best of it.

By Stuart H. Loory

hile internationally ing likewise. The Financial Times minded journalists wring is continuing its assault on the their hands over the that part of the North American state of their craft these Wdays—bureaus shut down, time or space for stories denied, ex- pense budgets cut—one branch of the news business is thriving internationally. Here’s the secret known to many but ig- Business and financial news is nored by most: People no longer relegated to the back- whose livelihood de- of-the-book sanctuary of pends on information are willing to pay big dull writing. bucks to get the best of it. A leading provid- er, Bloomberg News, is adding bureaus at a prodigious Stuart H. Loory is professor emeritus from the rate. Matt Winkler, Bloomberg’s Missouri School of Journalism where he taught as chief news executive, claims 150 well as edited the magazine Global Journalist and moderated a weekly radio program of the same full-time staffed bureaus through- name for ten years. From 1980 to 1998, he was out the world with another 20 to at CNN and Turner Broadcasting where he was vice president and managing editor of the CNN 30 stringers working on contract. Washington Bureau, founder of the CNN Moscow Thomson Reuters is expanding Bureau, executive producer of the CNN World Report, the number of platforms from a special correspondent in Washington, executive vice president of Turner International, and general director which it distributes its wares to of TV6 in Moscow. He won several awards for his professionals primarily in law, work there. Prior to joining CNN he spent 28 years working education, healthcare, media, on newspapers including the New York Herald Tribune taxation and scientific research. (as science writer and Moscow correspondent), the New York Times (science writer), the Los Angeles Dow Jones Newswires and the Times (White House correspondent) and the Chicago Wall Street Journal, despite the Sun-Times (associate editor and managing editor). He has written or co-authored five books and anxiety over the conduct of their chapters in two others. He retired in July after Murdochian management, are do- spending an academic year as a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of War in Poland.

PB IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 43 nology, tradition can be main- tained. The Wall Street Journal, since Rupert Murdoch’s News Corpora- tion acquired it, has certainly not stuck to tradition. The WSJ has changed in many ways, becom- ing less focused on financial and business news, not more. That reflects Murdoch’s belief that WSJ readers want news about arts, culture, travel and sports as well as markets, business, finance and economic celebrities. (One such group of celebrities it was late in getting to was the Murdoch family. As the hacking, bribery and favoritism scandal in London escalated, the WSJ remained aloof until finally it could ignore it no Coverage of the testimony Rupert Murdoch, his son James and other executives of News Corp. gave more. The paper’s editorial writ- to Parliament had an impact on the future leadership of News Corp. and its role in the future of the news business. ers claimed the Murdochs would be exonerated, even before they testified before a House of Com- market of news consumers still president for news of the parent mons committee but to its credit, interested in the printed or digital company, says, “We have a very the news side reported the story word. attractive business model of value as if it were old times, covering Bloomberg and Thomson to high margin businesses, not the hearing, the side bar material Reuters are concentrating on dependent on the vagaries of the and the implications for manage- reaching professionals although advertising market and not as ment reform with vigor. Bloomberg, with the acquisition of concerned about free media as There is a reason for all of Businessweek and Charlie Rose general news organizations. We this international coverage; that television, is now seeking a broad- are very tool-oriented,” meaning is the money to be made in the er consumer base. Dow Jones and that Thomson Reuters gives its tabloid world. News Corp. is a the Financial Times, anchored high-end consumers information stock traded worldwide and its in the general consumers market, they need to make money. rollercoaster ride these days has are now seeking a more profes- The Financial Times will been a matter of great interest to sional base. post on your computer, iPad and traders and investors. Its deci- It is all being done with mar- iPhone a series of memos each sion to forego purchase of all the keting flair. day on subjects of an individual equity in British Sky Broadcasting Winkler says the primary mis- reader’s choice ranging from re- put $12 billion worth of shares in sion of his growing organization is gional news to news about specific play. Coverage of the testimony “to move markets.” In years past, products or markets. Readers Rupert Murdoch, his son James few respectable news organiza- can get analysis and commentary and other executives of News tions would have made that asser- as well. All of it is printed on a Corp. gave to Parliament had an tion. Times are changing. screen of Financial Times beige impact on the future leadership Thomson Reuters calls itself to reinforce the image the FT of News Corp. and its role in the “the world’s leading source of established for itself in the 19th future of the news business. intelligent information.” Stephen Century. Winkler of Bloomberg de- J. Adler, the editor in chief of So even with revolutionary fines important news not only as Reuters News and executive vice changes in economics and tech- market-moving but as “surprise”

44 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 45 and by that definition there are a huge international presence few stories as good and as im- Dow Jones Newswires among movers and shakers. portant as the drama playing out and the Wall Street Stephen Adler was the editor in London and, increasingly, on of Businessweek at the time of Wall Street, in Washington and in Journal now operate 86 the merger. After the Bloomberg Australia. bureaus throughout the takeover, Adler resigned and went “Murdoch, like Napoleon, is to work for Thomson Reuters. a great bad man” read a headline world. He oversees editorial operations in the Financial Times on July 13 and strategy for the company. His that was prominently displayed States and 18 are in Canada and organization has revenues of over on its commentary website as other countries of the Western $13 billion annually but only 3 well. Who made that judgment? Hemisphere. Latin America has percent come from the Reuters A jail bird by the name of Con- always been thought of as a part News Agency. The wire service no rad Black, himself a former news of the world that receives little longer has the importance it once business mogul of unscrupulous coverage but if you look at the had but it is a mark of prestige. achievement who traded his Dow Jones numbers that is hardly With it, Thomson Reuters has 200 citizenship in Canada for a peer- the case. More than half the com- bureaus throughout the world. age at Westminster and then was pany’s bureaus are in the west- There was a time when those convicted in the United States of ern hemisphere. The others are responsible for directing cover- robbing his own cash register. spread from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, age of international news came Black, who spent over two alphabetically and from Oslo and from the ranks of diplomatic or years in an American prison Lagos to Seoul and Manila geo- war correspondents and that may for his transgressions, is due to graphically. still be so at a few papers like the return to the cooler for another Winkler says Bloomberg has New York Times although Jill seven and a half months later this 150 full-time bureaus through- Abramson, the Times’ executive year on another charge. out the world with another 20 to editor, is the first to hold that po- All of this shows that business 30 stringers—part timers. Most sition who never had an overseas and financial news is no longer of them, he says, are in Africa. post and who spent nine years relegated to the back-of-the-book Bloomberg still sees its main au- at the Wall Street Journal before sanctuary of dull writing and re- dience as the 300,000+ readers of joining the Times. porting of interest only to a small “The Bloomberg”—the terminal Could that be an omen? number of consumers interested originally developed by Michael The talk about how to save in market movements. Remem- Bloomberg to bring real time the general news business these ber the days long gone when the information about bond prices days revolves around develop- financial pages were a sea of “ag- to traders. Those who have the ing business models that wean it ate” that told you a day late how terminal pay thousands of dollars from dominant advertising sup- the markets had moved? Now a year for the information they port. There have been proposals you get such news in real time receive—and it is no longer only for converting news organizations on your smart phone. Even your news specifically aimed at mov- to non-profit businesses or even computer may be too slow—al- ing markets. Now it can be news to give them government support though a Bloomberg or Thomson of a more general type that could of the kind that National Public Reuters terminal is not and they have an impact on business. Radio or the Corporation for Pub- bring the information right to In 2009, Bloomberg pur- lic Broadcasting receive. Although your workplace. chased the ailing BusinessWeek they could be possibilities, the This is part of the reason the magazine from McGraw Hill at a fact is that there is great value in major financial news organiza- bargain basement price between information and the general pub- tions are growing. $2 million and $5 million plus the lic needs to take its cue from the Dow Jones Newswires and the assumption of its debt. The maga- professionals. The public needs to Wall Street Journal now operate zine, now Bloomberg Business- learn that it will get more “intel- 86 bureaus throughout the world. week, has 4.16 million readers in ligent” information as it becomes Twenty-eight are in the United 140 countries—giving Bloomberg willing to pay. 

44 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 45 A new role: financial, social and news access in Africa

The mobile phone is rapidly narrowing the information technology gap in Africa.

By Washington Gikunju

lightly over a decade ago, literacy levels. only a handful of Kenyans The wide infrastructure and owned a mobile phone wealth gap meant that only Afri- handset at a time when the cans living in cities had access to Scommunication device was widely the information super highway, seen as a status symbol for the very wealthy. Mass production and rapid technological ad- vancement in the past 10 years, however, About three out of every five has transformed the Kenyans, or 24.9 million out of a mobile phone into population of 40 million, own a a cheap, ubiquitous device now owned mobile phone. by about three out of every five Kenyans, or 24.9 million out of a WASHINGTON GIKUNJU, 29, has worked as a population of 40 million. business writer at the Business Daily in Nairobi, Kenya, since late 2008, He rose to the position of Even more noteworthy is section editor in September last year, in charge of the fact that mobile phones have the finance section for this publication in the Nation Media Group, the largest media company in East transcended their basic role as a Africa. He previously was a business writer for The communication tool to become Standard (2007-08) and worked briefly as an equity research analyst at CFC Financial Services. a device that facilitates financial In 2010 Gikunju spent six months in the United transactions, social interactions States on an Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship, where he got a first-hand experience of the changing media and access to news. landscape in the United States and also got to learn As the world migrated to on- more about business news coverage in the United line connectivity in the past two States. The staff of the Business Daily, including decades, large parts of rural Africa Gikunju, won the Diageo Africa Business Reporting remained locked out due to lack Award’s “Media of the Year 2008.” These awards recognize and encourage high quality business news of reliable electrical power con- reporting in Africa. nections, the high cost of personal Gikunju is a graduate of the University of Nairobi’s Bachelor of Commerce (finance) class of computers and steep Internet 2006. He is also a Certified Public Accountant of access prices, compounded by low Kenya (part 2) certificate holder from Strathmore University.

46 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 47 A Kenyan woman makes a cell phone call while selling water melons at Kenya’s largest fresh fruit and vegetable market in Nairobi. AP Photo by Khalil Senosi

yet a majority of the continent’s NMG is the biggest media content,” Fernandes says. population—70 percent in Kenya’s organization in East and Central Most efforts to prepare for the case—still live in rural areas. Africa, with investments in news- looming changes in the mode of Easy access to the Internet has papers, TV, radio and with a digital news delivery and consumption seen Western news organizations presence across the region. have largely involved copying their suffer a sharp drop in newspaper The belated arrival in 2009 of equally cautious Western counter- print circulation and advertis- high bandwidth fiber-optic cables parts. ing revenues, while their African to the East African coast has The mobile phone is, however, counterparts have hardly felt the sped up Internet connections and rapidly narrowing the information disruption caused by advent of the increased the number of regular technology gap in Africa, and in- digital age. users to 10.2 million, according to creasing the urgency to find ways Most have indeed continued the latest data by the Communica- of monetizing digital news content to record growth in revenues and tions Commission of Kenya. while also opening new challenges profitability. Advertisers are taking note and opportunities for media own- But the early signs of a bleak of the gradual shift in the indus- ers. future for traditional media have try and are allocating more of The financial services indus- emerged in the form of stagnating their advertising dollars to online try, most notably, has been at the newspaper circulation growth, as platforms in pursuit of youthful forefront of taking advantage of the young, tech savvy population customers. the opportunities brought about takes advantage of free access to Yet like their Western peers, by increased mobile phone pen- news on the major news organiza- African news organizations have etration in Africa. tions’ websites and blogs. not figured out ways to make mon- An estimated 16 million “Newspaper circulation in ey from content that is published Kenyans use mobile-phone-based Kenya hasn’t been growing in on their websites for free. cash accounts to send money to the past 10 years,” says Ian “Advertisers in Kenya and friends and relatives and pay their Fernandes, Nation Media Group most of Africa are still inclined to water, power and other utility bills. (NMG’s) managing director of the buying newspaper space, yet con- The revolutionary money digital division. sumers of news want free online transfer and payment service,

46 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 47 which started in early 2007, has their primary access point to the gained wide popularity because The use of Twitter and Internet. of the relatively easy access to Facebook by Kenyan Those who surf the net via mobile phones, which are avail- mobile phones come a close sec- able in practically every Kenyan media to direct users ond at 45 percent, while others household. to online editions of access the web from their work Kenya’s leading mobile phone place (16 percent), at home (13 services provider, Safaricom, their news content percent), in school (11 percent) saw an opportunity in the huge has grown. and at their friends (7 percent). number of unbanked Kenyans “The mobile phone looks to launch M-Pesa—touted as the well set to be the new driver of world’s first mass-market, mobile- quite rapidly as most readers now Internet access as opposed to phone-based money transfer use the Internet to read news and computers,” Synovate reported system. other media. One big problem last year. The service has grown ex- here is that while most readers are Analysts have warned that ponentially in just under five happy to pay for a print copy of African media are set to experi- years to help the country leapfrog a newspaper, very few people are ence the disruptive power of the card-based electronic payments willing to pay for digital content,” digital era sooner rather than while attracting a user base close she adds. later as mobile phones increase to three times the total number of Kenyan news organizations Internet access points. Kenyan bank account holders. have tapped the opportunity “With the entry of smart About half a dozen African presented by mobile phones by phones, traditional print media countries have rolled out similar packaging a subscription-based, is on the way out,” says Mu- mobile-phone payment systems short-message-service news deliv- riuki Mureithi, chief executive of as the innovation also caught the ery model. the IT consulting firm Summit attention of international finan- Subscribers are charged on a Strategies Ltd. and a member cial institutions such as the World pay-per-news-alert basis in an in- of the Society of Telecommuni- Bank, which is keen to use its po- novative effort that has, to a small cations Consultants. Mureithi tency to enhance access to finan- extent, compensated for revenue says the increased use of Twitter cial services on the continent. that is lost through free access and Facebook by Kenyan media The cheap cost of mobile to Internet-based news content. to direct users to online editions phones has also seen Kenya, and Fernandes says this has partly of their news content shows indeed many other African coun- been helped by the relatively low that the industry is aware of the tries, leapfrog yet another era— usage of smart phones which have looming tectonic shifts. that of personal computers. broadband Internet capability. “One has to think outside IT experts project that surfing “We don’t see this as a sustain- the box for the next business the Internet via mobile devices able mode, because wider availabil- model. For example, the adver- will exceed use of personal com- ity of smart phones in Africa will tiser pays for the cost of calls, so puters to access the web by 2013. see potential subscribers shift more that content and advertising can “The main point here is for to consuming free online content.” be pushed through the mobile media houses to make sure that Increased usage of Internet- device. I think we will charge they offer access to their websites capable mobile phones is also less and less for the media and that have been optimized for tipped to accelerate technological the advertiser will pay more and mobile,” says Andrea Bohnstedt, convergence in global informa- more for targeted advertising and a Nairobi-based publisher of Ratio tion, as formerly sidelined rural demonstrated return on invest- Magazine, an online publication. communities get hooked to the ment. Perhaps it the high end of “If anything, there is an in- World Wide Web. the scale where people will pay verse relationship between rising According to a study by the for specific content, but that re- Internet access and the use of international research group mains to be seen,” says Joe Otin, print media: in the West, newspa- Synovate, majority of Kenyans (59 media research and monitoring per and print circulation has fallen percent) still list cyber cafes as director at Synovate. 

48 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 49 Latin America’s foray into a digital world

To battle the economic and content challenges of the new digital world, a variety of experiments are under way in Latin America.

By Larissa Roso

hese are busy days for jour- The biggest country and a nalists in Latin America. Not leader in the region is Brazil. to mention uncertain, fast- With 652 daily newspapers changing and overloaded. and 8.3 million copies printed TIt’s not enough to be just a every day, mobile devices and journalist anymore. You have to tablets represent the greatest be a multimedia journalist, will- challenge for mainstream ing to learn, connect with read- media outlets in Brazil. ers and find your seat in a different world. And you must be in a Mobile devices and tablets hurry. represent the greatest challenge To battle the for mainstream media outlets economic and content challenges of the new in Brazil. digital world, a variety of experiments are under way. One media com- pany has successfully created a telenovela, a soap-op- era-style entertainment program that increased traffic by several million viewers. Another is asking staff to spend afternoons listening to read- Larissa Roso is a 2011 Alfred Friendly Fellow and assigned to The Washington Post. Her permanent job is ers’ story ideas, copying a success- in Brazil where she has been a reporter for Zero Hora, in ful idea from the Czech Republic. Porto Alegre, since 1998. She was previously the editor in charge of Vida, a weekly section dedicated to health, Others are reconstructing and also edited articles for the local news section of the their newsrooms to make sure newspaper. In 2009, Roso participated in the Thomson Reuters Foundation program on HIV/AIDS coverage traditional and online journalists in Nairobi, Kenya. Additionally, she was a member of are working together. the team that received the World Young Reader Prize, Some have completely given sponsored by the World Association of Newspapers, for the series entitled “The First Time.” The stories explored up their print editions. significant events that children and teenagers experience for the first time.

48 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 49 Nowhere is that more appar- ent than at the Jornal do Brasil, which was the first in the country to launch a website in 1995. But the first big traditional newspaper to surf the Internet was also the first to put an end to its print edition, in August 2010, due to a dramatic decrease in sales. In the past 16 years, said Su- zana Barbosa, professor of contem- porary culture and communication at University of Bahia, it’s possible to identify four different phases in the Brazilian online history: Transposition, when the con- tents of a print edition were simply reproduced on a website; AP photo by Felipe Dana Metaphor, with the first at- tempts of interaction with the readers, who could send emails work on apps for the tablet, but it and discuss the stories in online was merely a reproduction of the forums; Facebook profiles and print edition, Duarte said. Third Generation or web Twitter accounts are Folha de Sao Paulo (294,000 journalism, when the first online pretty much integrated copies a day), the second in publications without a print base circulation, however, celebrated were launched; to newsroom routines optimistic numbers in early June: And, finally, the Fourth Gen- nowadays, but at a very the iPad’s edition already repre- eration or Digital Journalism with sented five percent of the total Data Base. Mainstream media web- basic level. paid circulation—around 15,000 sites use a complex system of data readers, an impressive milestone bases in their digital processes to negative evaluation of newspapers’ in the local scenario. document, produce, search and online performance. The striking development of circulate content. New business models, Duarte technology and all the possibilities “We have accomplished a lot, said, are still a distant reality. that it brings led to a slow start but there’s a long way to go before Companies have been focusing also on social media. Facebook we reach the level of some models on only one tablet, Apple’s iPad, profiles and Twitter accounts are of reference, like the Guardian after having ignored an important pretty much integrated to news- (United Kingdom), El Pais (Spain) stage of transition—the content for room routines nowadays, but at a and the New York Times, in terms mobile devices. very basic level. of hypertext, experiences with new “When journalists didn’t even Posts show the most important formats, interactive resources and know exactly what to do with element are headlines, or at least the use of social media,” Barbosa the Internet, the smart phones the ones that could bring more said. reached the market,” he said. traffic to the home pages. Real in- Alec Duarte, an editor at O “We didn’t know what to do with teraction, Duarte says, is missing. Estado de Sao Paulo (the 5th smart phones, and then the iPad Online communities should largest newspaper in circulation showed up. There has been a be a place for the exchange of in the country, with an average succession of platforms that dis- views—like in a conversation— of 236,369 copies a day) and a oriented journalism as a whole, and a great source for story ideas. professor at Fundacao Armando and not only in Brazil.” But that demands an editor’s Alvares Penteado, offered a more Most newspapers rushed to time, Duarte said.

50 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 51 “Building online communities lutely profitable.” is like building a relationship,” he Engaging journalists in On the other hand, the web- said. “It’s a process of interchange. a series of new tasks— site deals with a prosaic limita- Usually, newspaper websites only tion. The online interaction with think about the readers when with no raises—is readers through comments, tweets there’s a tragedy: ‘Did you see another problem for and Facebook posts is severely the plane crash? Send us your affected by an altercation between video!’,” Duarte says. newsroom managers. the newspaper and the country’s In Uruguay, according to the president, Cristina Kirchner. research center Radar, 60 percent in Argentina, has been through a “The government has been of the population that looks for total renovation during the past chasing independent media online news contents read El Pais. 12 months, from the technological groups, especially Clarin, for Even though the online and platform to the design. three years,” Datri said. “This print staffs are still working sepa- The new home page has lots confrontation happens through a rately, some good results have of brand new websites dedicated systematic bombardment ex- been achieved. Two editors update to specific segments of its audi- ecuted by bloggers, journalists and the Facebook and Twitter pages of ence, such as soccer fans, teenag- government employees against us. El Pais online and also of Ova- ers from 14 to 18 years old and People are paid to write provoca- cion online, the web version for women. tive, biased and defamatory com- the sports supplement that covers The main goal is to increase ments everywhere.” mostly soccer, a South American the editorial power of the website, Despite the difficulties, one of passion. making a clear division between the website’s goals is to increase There’s also a group thinking hard news and entertainment. traffic by 30 percent from social about strategies to invite read- The increasing interest of the media. Reporters and editors must ers for interaction on Facebook, users for videos—over the last participate more actively, offer- sending photos and taking part in six months, the number of views ing previews of stories and talking contests. jumped from 1 million to 4.5 mil- about what’s coming up next. “The emphasis is to chat with lion—is culminating in the Clarin. Obstacles are not only on the the users and give an answer to com Web TV, a studio inside the Internet. The demands on staff their issues, since we ask them integrated newsroom. have required renovation in the to send us pictures and stories,” And the Argentinians don’t Clarin’s building to bring co-work- said Oscar Vilas, editor of El Pais limit themselves to local news, ers together. online. politics or economy. A fiction Oftentimes, journalists don’t “The website also has a sec- experiment was such a great suc- have the slightest idea about each tion called “Tu Pais” (Your Coun- cess that it is now in its second other’s work, even when they try) for user- generated content,” “season”: the WiFi soap-opera “La share the same office. he said. “Readers can also send Pareja del Mundial.” Folha de Sao Paulo, O Estado a text message to inform what’s “Before the World Soccer de Sao Paulo, O Globo (in Rio de going on in different places, so we Cup (in 2010), we produced a Janeiro) and Zero Hora (in Porto can immediately start working on telenovela in high-definition, with Alegre) have already been through a story.” more than 20 episodes,” says changes. Both print and online A large range of important lo- Dario Datri, editor in chief of Cla- teams are now working together cal and world events—a political rin.com. “The characters should in a convergence process that discussion about the Uruguayan decide whether they would take should lead to totally integrated dictatorship, the finals soccer part in the competition or not. newsrooms. matches of the Libertadores Cup This dilemma allowed us to have Engaging journalists in a series or the royal wedding of Prince a very funny story and a huge site of new tasks—with no raises—has William and Kate Middleton— traffic. More than three million been another problem for news- have a live coverage via Twitter or people watched the show. It was room managers over the past few Cover it Live. also a very seductive platform for years. The online version of Clarin, advertisers. The results were abso- That’s the “hamsterization” of

50 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 51 American journalists, as the Fed- as a second-class source of infor- reporters in charge of the hy- eral Communications Commis- mation. But they are beginning to perlocal section chooses a coffee sion labeled it in a report released see that, when articles are pub- shop in which to spend a whole June 9, addressing the rapidly lished online, they are read and afternoon talking to readers and changing media landscape. commented by more and more taking notes of ideas for stories. “As newsrooms have shrunk, people.” The initiative was inspired by the job of the reporters who Zero Hora, in southern Brazil, Nase Adresa, a Czech newspaper. remain has changed,” the FCC decided to take a step further. “Our readers participate a reported. “They typically face Readers are very welcome to lot,” Sarda says. “They can write rolling deadlines as they post to write comments, make sugges- stories for an entire edition, and their newspaper’s website before tions and interact. all we need to do is call the City and after writing print stories.” But they are also invited to Hall for some quotes and explana- Dean Starkman first intro- work as reporters, in an attempt tions. They send us all kinds of duced readers to the concept to increase their identification materials, from personal stories in an article in Columbia Jour- with the publication. User-gener- and pictures of pets to claims that nalism Review: “The Hamster ated content is the foundation of matter to the whole community. Wheel—Why running as fast as hyperlocal supplements distrib- If the problems aren’t solved, they we can is getting us nowhere.” uted to six neighborhoods in the will call or write us again for the The demand for multitask capital of Rio Grande do Sul state. next edition.” professionals is spread all around, Published once a week, or The hyperlocal supple- and it’s no different in Latin every month since 2005, each ments mean a lot more for Zero America. supplement has a sign indicating Hora. Since the circulation is El Observador, in Uruguay, which stories were submitted by restricted to some places in has been under a renovation readers, making them feel part of Porto Alegre—where there are process as well. The content the staff. more subscribers­—advertising is management system and even “We believe the best way cheaper. The number of pages can the website name (Observa be- to show what each community vary from eight to 24. came Elobservador.com.uy) were wants to see is listening to those All these are efforts to win changed. people. It might seem obvious, readers’ hearts and minds. The The home page design was but frequently they don’t have a future of journalism is inevitably modified in order to value images, voice in the biggest newspapers,” tied up with interaction. Accord- videos, multimedia and social says the editor, Thais Sarda. ing to Inside Facebook, a blog media. There’s a convergence pro- Shortly after, the hyperlo- that provides data about the site’s cess under way, says the editor, cal project reached the Internet. traffic and demographics, most of Jimena Abad, who is aiming for Readers joined in Online Councils the social network’s growth is now complete integration. to discuss the issues of each com- coming from developing coun- The online staff is in the cen- munity, writing blog posts, taking tries. ter of the newsroom, a frequent photos and shooting videos. Mexico and Brazil were at the occurrence in redesign projects The first blog was considered top of the list on June 1. Barbosa nowadays. Print reporters usually a great success, with 20 active said teenagers look for news sto- write stories for the web, but most bloggers. The number varies, de- ries and information in a different of the time the online team is re- pending on the neighborhood, but way, most of time through social sponsible for writing for the web. the experience allowed the news- media. They are not the usual Over the years, the teams have room staff to multiply the number everyday reader. become closer, but there’s still a of sources all over the city. “The challenge is huge, and long way to go. At Zero Hora, this kind of learning comes from trial and “The integration of news- journalism now has a new name: error,” Barbosa said. “There rooms is difficult,” Abad says. “It “Affective Journalism.” isn’t one right model that can be implies cultural change in the More recently, the newspaper successful for all, so it’s neces- minds of journalists. Some print created the “Zero Hora Cafete- sary to have investment and journalists still consider the web ria.” The group of editors and experimentation.” 

52 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 53 Smartphones in the Arab spring

A revolution in gathering, reporting the news

By Matt J. Duffy

hile Twitter and Face- and YouTube. Often their infor- book grabbed all the mation was verified with short headlines, the increased video clips or photographs taken availability of mobile from their phones and effortlessly Wsmartphones subtly made an weaved into Facebook or Twitter unmistakable impact on the re- updates. porting of the Arab Spring revo- Rick Sanchez, the former lutions that rippled across the CNN correspondent, said the Mideast in 2011. smartphone helped cover the Some even argue Arab Spring in a way that tradi- the smartphone—pow- tional journalism simply couldn’t. The smartphone erful Internet-ready He called the smartphone “the helped cover the Arab Spring in cellphones such as the best piece of news equipment a way that traditional journalism iPhone, BlackBerry ever invented.” or Android—could Sanchez praised the smart- simply couldn’t. prove to be the most phone for its impressive range of important innovation functions. for journalism since “It’s a computer, word pro- the development of cessor, still and video camera, satellite uplinks. While Twitter recorder, editing system, phone and Facebook are acknowledged and satellite uplink all in one,” for their unparalleled advances he wrote in the Huffington Post. in disseminating information, “Best of all, it’s cheap and acces- the smartphone has changed the way that information is collected, packaged and transferred for mass distribution. During the January 25 pro- tests in Egypt, for instance, pro- testers would carry their smart- phones with them into the streets. They could offer first-hand reports using their smartphones connected to Twitter, Facebook Matt J. Duffy teaches journalism and new media at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

52 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 53 sible for everyone from the sub- journalism is particularly im- urbs of California to the streets of Smartphone portant in areas such as western Cairo.” citizen journalism Libya and Syria where govern- The relative low cost of the ments successfully controlled the phones has led to greater use in is particularly activity of professional journalists. the Arab world—although they’re important in areas These news outlets also helped still too expensive for everyone. cull the reports from smartphone A low-end model can be pur- where governments users and attempted to verify chased for around $250, putting successfully controlled their accounts. the smartphone at the hands of the activity of But the impact of the smart- middle-class Arabs throughout the phone videos and Twitter mes- Middle East. professional journalists. sages to affect events on the Naila Hamdy, an assistant ground—not just international professor of journalism at the sentiment through news cover- American University of Cairo, into “citizen journalists.” age—shouldn’t be underestimat- said she thought no more than Blake Hounshell, the Doha- ed. Technology-adept protesters 15 percent of Egyptian protesters based managing editor of Foreign in Tunisia and Egypt appealed to used smartphones. But she told Policy magazine, called these citi- each other through social media the International Press Institute zen journalists “a fancy name for outlets and text messages broad- that the organizers of the protests people with cell phone cameras.” cast from smartphones. As one used their smartphones wisely. Protesters could even use observer put it: “The personal “Some of the key organizers of their smartphones to roughly decision to face rubber bullets the revolution used smartphones edit their video, adding captions and tear gas is only ever taken to tweet messages to mobilize for locations or translations. The when appeals for solidarity come and organize protests,” she said. smartphone’s ability to quickly through social networks.” “They also used them to capture transmit information from the One unheralded use of smart- video and live streams of Tahrir ground to the rest of the world phones was their non-traditional (Square) moments.” had an indelible impact. use as a disseminator of Arab Protesters occupied Tahrir Hounshell spent time in Cairo Spring information. Sultan al Square in Egypt for 18 days until during the January 25 protests Qassimi, a commentator from President Mubarrak agreed to step where he saw protesters listen- the United Arab Emirates, rapidly down. Hamdy pointed to videos— ing to a fiery speech while staring gained fame via his Twitter ac- many shot from smartphone cam- down at their cell phones. They count because of his exhaustive eras and uploaded immediately were live-tweeting the event. reporting of events. Time maga- to social media sites—as the most “These weren’t revolutionaries zine named him in its list of most influential. so much as they were reporters, influential Tweeters in the world “Video pieces had a wide translating their struggle for the after his number of followers sky- impact as they were re-broadcast rest of us,” he wrote in Foreign rocketed from 5,000 to 60,000 in on television news shows and talk Policy magazine. the first six months of 2011. show programs, thus reaching Of course, the raw mate- In addition to his Mac lap- much larger numbers of Egyp- rial uploaded from smartphones tops, Qassimi covered the Egypt tians,” she said. wouldn’t have the international uprisings using his iPhone 4 The handheld cellular impact they did if not amplified while watching and reporting on devices even transformed the by other outlets. But news outlets broadcasts of various Arabic and participants in the protests. such as Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and English language news outlets. Five years ago, these people the BBC World Service wouldn’t Al Qassimi told the International would have simply been “part of have had access to footage of pro- Press Institute that he used his the crowd,” but their ability to tests and regime violence if not smartphone to take and upload easily transmit what they were for the smartphone videos taken over 1,000 high-quality pictures seeing and hearing (including by thousands of protesters. The of images from Arabic news text and video) turned them importance of smartphone citizen outlets including Al Jazeera, Al

54 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 55 A man takes pictures with his cell phone on Tahrir, or Liberation Square, in Cairo, Egypt. A new cell phone photography class at a suburban Philadelphia university focuses on both the quality of the images and the ethical responsibilities that come with taking and publishing them. AP Photo by Ben Curtis

Arabiya and BBC Arabic. These through iPhone applications. share sensitive information with images would often document “I updated the Twitter feed without being public,” Qassimi Arab governments’ brutal crack- around ten times in the half an said. downs on protesters. He would hour I was obliged to stand and But Saddek Rabah, an associ- also retweet information and greet people,” he said. “I excused ate professor of journalism at the pictures from key figures on the myself and left early so I could University of Sharjah, questions ground in Egypt. cover the protests better.” the impact of smartphones in the Al Qassimi tirelessly kept up During this period,Qassimi Arab Spring. his Twitter feed for several weeks provided an important conduit of “It is undeniable that these from the beginning of the protests information from the Arabic-lan- technologies have been widely to the fall of Egyptian president guage news stations. Many pro- tapped into by a large number Mubarak. To keep up the pace, he fessional journalists in the Arab of people to disseminate all sort said he would often use his smart- world follow Qassimi’s Twitter of information,” Rabah told the phone to continue Tweeting from feed (@sultanalqassimi) to stay International Press Institute. “But unusual locations—including an abreast of current events. that did not mean they substitut- elaborate Emirati wedding. He said that Blackberry ed for people’s determination and “(The iPhone 4) comes with smartphones were also useful for will to bring about the change.” two ear pieces,” he said. “I put organizers on the ground in vari- He said he watched many one in my ear under the ghutra ous Arab countries because they amateur videos on YouTube (headpiece) and left the other can easily create private groups from Egypt, Tunisia and Syria ear unplugged so I could greet through the Blackberry Messen- but questioned how many could people.” ger Service. have been uploaded directly from Al Qassimi listened to several “These groups would include smartphones at the scene since Arabic language news outlets only people they trusted and can the cellular networks in most

54 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 55 How important is technology, really?

Rabeh’s doubts reflect a larger debate about Policy magazine. the role of technology in the Arab Spring. Smart- Shirky and Gladwell don’t really disagree. phones did not cause the ouster of Zine El Abdine Gladwell asks whether the protests could have Ben Ali in Tunisia or Mubarak in Egypt. Braves happened without social media and digital tools souls who filled the streets and battled the armed like smartphones. Shirky wouldn’t likely argue forces of those corrupt regimes had far more to do that they couldn’t but simply suggests techno- with their departures. So, how important was the logical advances definitely helped the cause of role of technology on these events? the rebels. Some communication observers downplay the Smartphones on the ground, for instance, role of smartphones and social networks in the helped a global audience decipher events and Arab Spring. In a New Yorker article titled “Small collaborate on journalism. In one example, NPR’s Change,” Malcolm Gladwell pointed out that revo- Andy Carvin helped debunk a regional myth that lutions have erupted long before today’s digital Libyan forces were using Israeli munitions on tools existed. He criticized journalists for over- protesters. With the help of Libyans who took hyping the role they’d played in recent uprisings pictures with the cellphone cameras, Carvin and including the Arab Spring. He noted, for instance, a group of Tweeters helped show the weapons that many observers found that Iranian protesters weren’t from Israel after all. Similarly, when in- in 2009 didn’t rely upon Twitter as a communica- credulous observers asked Egyptians to prove that tion tool as Western journalists and other insisted. tear gas used against protesters came from Amer- Why, he asked, were all the updates organizing ica, an apparent smartphone user quickly took a Iranian protests written in English, not Farsi? photo and uploaded the picture to a photo-hosting But Clay Shirky, a new media professor at site to offer proof. In Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria New York University, argues that technological and other Arab countries, protesters were driven advances have clearly impacted events. to action after seeing pictures uploaded to You- “Digital networks have acted as a massive Tube and Facebook taken by protesters on their positive supply shock to the cost and spread smartphones. of information, to the ease and range of public Gladwell wouldn’t argue that these digital tools speech by citizens, and to the speed and scale weren’t influential. He’d just argue the uprisings of group coordination,” he wrote in Foreign would have happened anyway.

Arab countries generally don’t low-quality videos as a way to this manner. support use of high-bandwidth report on events taking place In the end, the debate is devices. (Of course, smartphones in these countries. Other news largely academic. But, for journal- can also connect to the Internet outlets followed their lead, Rabah ism observers, the role of smart- via WiFi networks and use that said, using YouTube videos to phones should not be forgotten. higher-bandwidth Internet access offer glimpses of the crackdown The introduction of smartphones to upload video and pictures.) on protesters occurring in areas represents a revolution in the Rabah said that the cellphone where journalists weren’t allowed. ability of a journalist—and any videos recorded and uploaded to “This, in turn, posed the other observer—to gather infor- YouTube from “total blackout” problem of veracity and trustwor- mation and quickly disseminate countries such as Syria became thiness of such content,” Rabeh it. For a new generation of jour- a crucial conduit for reporting said, adding that news outlets nalists, the smartphone will likely the news. Al Jazeera was the first will need to work on techniques replace the reporter’s notebook as news outlet to broadcast these to verify information obtained in standard equipment. 

56 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 57 The Visual Journalist in an Entrepreneurial World

A fragmented media landscape has challenged photojournalists to be self-promoters who offer diverse services with a determined mindset.

By Rick Shaw

hotojournalism has always nomic times, photojournalists are been a “calling,” not just a embracing the advanced digital “job.” Unfortunately, that tools that engage viewers with portrayal is proving to be multidimensional storytelling. By Pa literal definition considering blending motion and audio with today’s media landscape. still photographs, this new mode Counter to free-fall percep- of online visual storytelling pro- tion, staff employment numbers vides a richer experience for the at wire agencies and audience. Today’s complete “visual local newspapers journalist” is self-authored, expe- By blending motion and audio have stabilized in rienced at everything from cap- recent months. Photo turing the images, to editing the with still photographs, this new departments are story, and to producing the final mode of online visual storytelling generally maintaining package for online distribution. between 80 - 60 per- provides a richer experience for cent of their pre-2005 the audience. full-time employee positions. Still, the past de- cade shell-shocked many former newspaper and magazine photog- raphers into setting aside their cameras in search of a secure livelihood. Yet, for every career that is packed away, there are those people with passion who grip the camera with the renewed dedication of a starving artist. Documentary photographers are driven to spotlight injustice, to reflect the human condition, and to serve as agents for social Rick Shaw is director for Pictures of the Year International (www.poyi.org), the oldest and most change. So, it is not surprising that prestigious photojournalism program in the world. POYi despite these challenging eco- is a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism.

56 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 57 For decades, news photogra- phers rejoiced: “I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this.” Employment and inner passion held a symbiotic relationship with relative balance. An imbal- anced job market fraught with buyouts, downsizing and layoffs now puts photojournalists at a career crossroads. For the next generation of visual journalists to realize their calling, they must first embrace an entrepreneurial vision with a determined mindset.

Diversity helps sustain journalistic ambitions Former staff photographers who are now self-employed confront an already-saturated freelance marketplace and com- pete for editorial assignments from community newspapers, Emphas.is is a web-based enterprise that encourages “Crowdfund Visual Journalism” to support individual documentary photography. national media and special- interest publications. For many, however, editorial work alone says. “It is a perpetual drive for- for weddings, each with a distinct does not supply enough regu- ward—blogging, keeping in touch visual personality. lar assignments to provide for with clients, and making new “In terms of the diversity of a viable income. So, freelance portfolios. I think of myself as a my work, I see it like a pie and photojournalists are expanding product: LeahNash.com.” each field is a different slice. One their client base to include com- With a savvy command of new slice is weddings, one is grant mercial work for public relation digital tools, freelancer photo- work, another magazine, another agencies and advertising firms. journalists create high-end web newspaper, and another commer- By adopting this approach, they content for their clients that capi- cial,” Nash says. “For me that has face a steep learning curve on talizes on the documentary style. been the key, to make my living marketing techniques, business During the past decade, the wed- off the sum of the parts.” management and self-promotion. ding industry has benefitted from The new business model offers photojournalists who recognized Community-funded a more diverse source of income, that brides and grooms were eager yet requires ambition and hustle for a refreshing natural look for storytelling to make it all work. Leah Nash, their wedding albums. In 2002, Online funding platforms are a photojournalist based in Port- the Wedding Photojournalists gaining attention as a source of land, reflects the current business Association (www.wpja.com) was support for in-depth projects and model of a freelancer who bal- formed that serves as an online investigative journalism. New ances editorial assignments with marketplace to connect wedding business models such as Spot.Us commercial work. “To make it as parties with photojournalists. (www.spot.us) and Kickstarter. a freelancer, I feel that you need As a business model, Nash com (www.kickstarter.com) to be aggressive and really know maintains two websites—one for provide online forums for viewers how to market yourself,” Nash her editorial work and another to financially support an author’s

58 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 59 TOP: One slice of Leah Nash’s diverse freelance business, based in Portland, is the growing photojournalism-style wedding enterprise. BOTTOM LEFT AND RIGHT: Freelance photojournalists Leah Nash maintains two websites: one for her editorial work and another for weddings, each with a distinct visual personality. Photographs by Leah Nash

work. In the spirit of a telethon, The documentary photogra- photography projects through a story idea is posted with an ac- phy world has adopted a similar donations. According to Karim companying tote board, and then fundraising concept with the Ben Khelifa, co-founder and contributors are encouraged to launch of Emphas.is (www.em- CEO of Emphas.is, the crowd- donate to projects they feel are phas.is) this past year. The site funding model provides photo- relevant and worthy. Reporting describes its efforts as “Crowd- journalists with a mechanism to for the projects commence once fund Visual Journalism” to do projects they feel are impor- donations reach the funding goals. support individual documentary tant with creative freedom.

58 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 59 The model also is forming a new interrelationship between the journalists and the readers. “Rather than feed viewers with stories they haven’t chosen, we let the public decide what they want to see,” Khelifa says. “Emphas.is empowers the public to become the gatekeepers of the news.” Tina Ahrens, another found- ing officer for Emphas.is, explains that the crowdfunding concept is both a entrepreneurial and jour- nalistic response to the “radical change” in today’s media world. “We want to offer the reader something in return,” Ahrens says. “People increasingly seek and rely on direct sources. They want to be able to engage on the issue that they care about.” Khelifa notes that Emphas. is is not a magic bullet for the photojournalism industry and the budget for each project monetizes only the expenses. Most projects focus on social concerns with an international scope and budgets range from $5,000 to $30,000. To their success, he says: “In the first four months we almost sent back $100,000 for the funding of inde- pendent storytelling projects.”

Advocacy feeds the soul In the wake of the publishing layoffs, some photojournalists feel a sense of freedom to make An editorial assignment for Rolling Stone magazine leads to promotional work for the band “Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks.” Photograph by Leah Nash photographs that serve the public good, without the controlling “gatekeeper.” It is a chance to charities are collaborating with award-winning photojournalist exercise their visual voice through photojournalists who shoot to for the Virginian-Pilot newspa- advocacy journalism, working benefit community causes. While per in Norfolk. “Shoot for Good” with non-governmental organiza- the work is often pro bono, the (www.shootforgood.org) was tions, charitable foundations and resulting project adds to the pho- organized as a 24-hour project humanitarian groups on topics tographers’ portfolios and serves in October 2010 that connected such as hunger, mental health, or as validation for larger projects. 93 photographers with 29 non- the environment. One grassroots experiment profits and care organizations in While some of these projects was launched in Hampton the community—Special Olym- are on a global scale, many local Roads, Va., by Stephen Katz, an pics, the humane society, the lo-

60 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 61 cal farmer’s market, Scouts, the raphers. The Emerging Photogra- The evolving agency food bank, and cancer aware- pher Grant (www.burnmagazine. Media companies that repre- ness, among many others. Re- org/emerging-photographer-grant) sent and distribute work are going gional photographers of all skill was launched in 2008 by David through a tremendous change, levels participated in creating Alan Harvey as an annual grant as traditional photo agencies “a snapshot of the acts of kind- sponsored by Burn Magazine and embrace new visual storytelling ness that go on around us every awarded through the Magnum methods, online distribution and day,” according to Katz. “I don’t Foundation. Similarly, the Emerg- creative partnerships. know a single photographer ing Vision Incentive (www.poyi. One example is VII Photo who doesn’t dream of shooting org) offers $16,000 in funding for Agency’s (www.viiphoto.com) images that make the world a aspiring photojournalists, which business approach that promotes better place. The problem is, too is sponsored by Pictures of the collaboration among multiple many think they have to travel Year International with the An- partners with a shared cause. In a to an exotic land to do so. There nenberg Foundation. recent article for Nieman Reports, are a near limitless number of Collaborating with NGOs and VII Photo Agency director Stephen groups and organizations in our seeking grants comes with some Mayes calls for a redefinition of own backyards that can benefit sobering realities. Grants and fel- “our products, our partners, and greatly from the talents of a lowships are increasingly compet- our clients.” VII partners their photographer.” itive and the number offered each affiliated photographers on top- However, most nonprofit orga- year is limited. The amount of ics that dovetail with non-profit nizations are not insulated from organizations, research institutions the economic downturn and, and foundations providing funding therefore, do not have the mar- support. In 2007, photojournalist keting budget to sustain a photog- Media companies that James Nachtwey embarked on a rapher’s long-term livelihood. The represent and distribute long-term project about the resur- most practical funding avenue work are going through gence of tuberculosis, which was for advocacy work is through funded by a $100,000 TED Prize sponsorship from a third party or a tremendous change, and working in collaboration with grants from foundations. as traditional photo BD (Becton, Dickinson and Co.) Sources such as the Alicia agencies embrace medical technology company and Patterson Foundation, the Getty XDRTB.org. VII recently partnered Grants for Good, and the Alexia new visual storytelling with Doctors Without Borders on a Foundation grants make hun- methods, online major project, “Starved for Atten- dreds of thousands of dollars tion,” that examines childhood accessible for proposal ideas on distribution, and malnutrition through the lenses of topics of social relevance. And, creative partnerships. eight photographers. “Now is the some grants serve as a partner- time when VII is transitioning from ing agent between the applicant time it takes to make a proposal, being a mere supplier to being a photographer and the nongov- complete the application, then producer and increasingly acting as ernmental organization (NGO) wait for the selection process its own publisher,” Mayes says. PhotoPhilanthropy (www.pho- makes this avenue of funding im- New business models are tophilanthropy.org) offers a broad practical for sustained work. Also, emerging that can hardly be range of grants that promote most grants provide funding only classified as agencies in the collaboration between the pho- for the expenses and not for per- traditional sense. MediaStorm tographers and non-profit groups. sonal income. Also noteworthy is (http://mediastorm.com), a 2005 Funding is awarded in a variety that a certain amount of editorial visionary in the field, describes of categories throughout the year control is lost when collaborating itself as a multimedia production for professionals, amateurs and with any advocacy organization, studio that creates “cinematic student proposals. Other fund- as they become the client. The narratives.” The success of ing groups provide assistance to purity of the final project may be MediaStorm has encouraged the “emerging” documentary photog- subject to their agenda. startup of similar companies such

60 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 61 as Story 4 (www.story4.org) and Bombay Flying Club (http://bom- bayfc.com), which describes itself as a “multimedia collective.” These, and similar com- panies, identify their work as photojournalistic storytelling that targets an array of clients including news organizations and nongovernmental organizations. Many staff members at these companies previously worked for newspapers, magazines or wire services as photojournalists or photo editors. Re-Act Media (www.re-actme- dia.com) is a young media com- TOP: Photographer Wendy Maness joined the “Shoot for Good” team to shoot a photo story on an adaptive pany dedicated solely to producing dance class for children who have Down syndrome. Photography by Wendy W. Maness BOTTOM: In a 24-hour photo project on Virginia’s volunteerism, James and Janette Watrous were featured stories that benefit nonprofits. Re- in a “Shoot For Good” story about an assisted living facility. Photography by Sonya Paclob Act was founded by Chris Tyree, a former newspaper photojournalist, with the goal to create projects to “influence audiences and bring about social change” with “docu- mentary-style visuals.” To make their mission economically fea- sible, the team includes six other members who live in different re- gions with primary incomes from other sources. The team members come together “sometimes physi- cally and sometimes virtually,” to serve in a variety of roles as pro- ducers, writers, editors, and even an “outreach” specialist. Tyree acknowledges the challenges of launching a small company during the economic downturn of the past few years. Yet he speaks optimistically for 80s. Television stations that once And just as viewers can get news all emerging business models hired both the reporter and the and information from a wide that “there is always a rebound, photojournalist have restocked range of sources, so, too, must and photojournalists are resil- their ranks with the one-person photojournalists rely on a diverse ient.” “Right now it takes a lot band. And within the past few client base, offer an array of of guts and a crazy amount of years, we have watched as visual services, and promote their sweat-equity.” newspapers take the same path work across multiple platforms. as magazines by reducing the Successful photojournalists will A determined mindset number of staffers and relying on need to demonstrate an entrepre- “stringers.” neurial spirit, a continued passion Magazine-employed photo Today’s fragmented media for visual reportage, and a deter- staffs eroded in the 1970s and reflects the fragmented journalist. mined mindset. 

62 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 63 Hunted by competitors in an unfriendly economic climate

The media industry is at the stage where we have become like a water buffalo that is standing still, the moment before the kill.

By Randall D. Smith

hile in Africa, I watched Clatchy are frightening for news- a water buffalo hunted paper employees who’ve who by lions.The massive have seen multiple layoffs and animal, knowing that he other so-called surgical trims. wasW in trouble, set off on a gallop The solutions, at least those and outdistanced the lions by 100 proposed by the newspaper indus- yards. Lions run at swift speeds, try, have been bandages. Harvard but tire easily and often look for Professor Clayton Christensen notes the wounded or an ani- incumbent industries often focus on mal that moves slowly. innovations rooted in the things that The solutions, at least those Suddenly, the buf- have always helped sustain them. falo stopped. He was proposed by the newspaper either tired, convinced industry, have been bandages. that he’d outrun the lions, or confused about where to go next. Seizing the moment, the lions hit him from every position, and he was quickly a pile of bones. The sight, which only took a few minutes to play out, made me think about my profession. The media industry is being hunted by Randall Smith is the first Donald W. Reynolds competitors, and the economic cli- Endowed Chair in Business Journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism. Smith is a former president of mate is not friendly. We are at the the Society of American Business Writers and Editors stage where we have become the and a recipient of the organization’s Distinguished Achievement Award. He is the president and first non- water buffalo that is standing still, family member of the board of the Alfred Friendly Press the moment before the kill. Fellowships. The author of the book “A Kenyan Journey,” Smith has lectured to classes in China, Africa, Korea We all know the story well and the United States. As an editor for 30 years at The in America. Publishers have Kansas City Star, Smith has worked with award-winning newsroom teams that have earned the profession’s top watched earnings decline for al- awards and honors. One won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 most two years. The latest earn- for coverage of the Kansas City Hyatt skywalks disaster ings reports from companies like in July 1981. Other staff recognitions include a Sigma Delta Chi award, an Eppy award, a Philip Meyer Award, The Washington Post and Mc- 12 Missouri Press Association Gold Cups and a Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Award.

62 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 63 Of course, that leaves them Yes, there’ll still be a demand open to the lions of the market- Online advertisers are for curated news. That’s good news place, those who are the disrup- now reaching more for Bloomberg, The Associated tive innovators. Press and Thomson Reuters. But Let’s look at what the media customers than they did it’s bad news for the traditional has done recently. They have with print and television. media companies who have argu- created new websites and appli- ably been the underpinning of our cations for their mobile content. players spend about 3.3 million collective democracies. They have offered extra comics hours on the application every day. So what to do in these final and news narratives for sale to Think about this: How did hours? My advice: Give up on the readers. They have started blogs you learn about Angry Birds? It idea of trying to solve this problem that are focused on moms and certainly was not from newspaper on your own. Whether you’re the other interest groups. On the and television advertisements by the New York Times or a small advertising side, they’ve tried to Rovio, the company’s founder. independent, this strategy will lead imitate those efforts like Grou- How did they produce this phe- to certain death. pon and discounted rates. nomenal engagement model? Instead, there should be a con- These companies have bally- Does any newspaper or media certed effort by those concerned hooed that digital readership has company have this kind of record about the future of journalism to skyrocketed, but it’s nowhere near on engagement? find the brightest, most out-of-the- digital competitors like Google and Another place to probe is tradi- box companies that are building Yahoo. The real story is that rev- tional advertisers. Their websites the most innovative media plat- enue is still only about 10 percent. and mobile strategies are so so- forms for the future. Most of the income still comes phisticated that they’re now reach- These companies may be from print and its derivatives. ing more customers than they did down the street in a warehouse. No matter what traditionalists with print and television. Often, they know how to produce say, print is flickering. The reason Have you used the personal eyeballs and long-term engage- is engagement. shopping service at Sears? Have ment that surpass any news web- I often pick up my morning you taken advantage of the movie site or web app known today. And newspaper, and find that I have freebies through Redbox’s market- they already know how to scale read every story in the front sec- ing on Facebook? When was the the advertising, which remains a tion on the previous day. Of those last time that you saw a Netflix ad mystery to most publishers. stories that particularly interest in the newspaper? They are a transformational me, I’ve read richer content else- Sears is remaking its advertis- bridge—yet, they are far from per- where. The advertising, which I ing models. Redbox and Netflix fect. They need content to survive. once found to be robust and inter- have replaced several movie Second, hook up with a pro- esting, is now relegated to mostly companies, who were former old- gressive university where there second- and third- tier enterprises. media advertisers. are researchers who are focusing When a business or industry is What’s more, traditional food on engagement models and have a in trouble, Harvard Professor John advertising is going to places like tradition of working with compa- Kotter says that it’s often wise to Meredith’s Recipe.com. Like clas- nies to solve real- world problems. look at what others are doing. In sifieds, most specialty advertising The road ahead requires a seat his book about transformational is migrating to places where there’s belt. The fact that many large parts change, Our Iceberg is Melting, greater value and increased en- of the old model will no longer be Kotter’s penguin characters talk to gagement with the desired demo- needed is a leap for old- school the seagulls. graphics. It will not come back. journalists. In today’s world, a good com- In the 1980s, the Pacific Rim But it will transform media pany to study is “Angry Birds,” one was harkened as the place of traditionalists from water buf- of Finland’s top businesses. It has future business innovation. Today, falos into lions. And this is a far been downloaded an estimated 300 the obvious place is mobile devic- better place to be on the hunt million times on all platforms since es, which have now surpassed PCs for tomorrow’s revenue and 2009. The company claims that in factory orders. content streams. 

64 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 65 Eyeballs aren’t as valuable in new media economies— it’s the people

By David Cohn

efore The New York Times of online profiles. unveiled its paywall I would Before you start scratching often ask a trick question. your head as to why so many Af- I’d ask if folks were familiar ghans are reading the NY Times, Bwith the login screen that regular NYTimes.com readers are occa- sionally confronted with. The only time average read- ers ever logged into their NYTimes.com accounts was when The new relationship to the site hoisted this advertisers is predicated on in front of them, but the new relationship with the at one point in their online lives, they audience. registered for the NY- Times.com to create a profile. Then, they an- swered questions—whether you are male/female, what year you were born and what country you David Cohn has written for Wired, Seed, Columbia Journalism Review and the New York Times among are based in. And that’s what led other publications. to the trick question: After the While working toward his master’s degree at Columbia University’s Graduate School of United States, take a wild guess Journalism, Cohn worked with Jay Rosen as the what country had the highest editor at the groundbreaking Newassignment.net in number of registered New York 2006, which focused on citizen journalism and ways news organizations could explore the social web. Times online readers? Cohn also worked with Jeff Jarvis from Nobody has ever guessed the Buzzmachine.com to organize the first Networked Journalism Summits, which brought together the right answer. best practices of collaborative journalism three After the United States, it’s years in a row (2007-2009). He has been a contributing editor at actually Afghanistan. That’s right, NewsTrust.net, a founding editor of Broowaha and Afghanistan has the second larg- most recently created Spot.Us, a nonprofit that is pioneering “community funded reporting.” In 2010- est number of New York Times 2011 he was a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism readers according to its database Institute and is a frequent speaker on topics related to new media and beyond.

64 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 65 Left to right: Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt AP Photo by Dita Alangkara. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg AP Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez and Twitter co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey AP Photo by Charles Dharapak. Right: Spot.us logo Logo courtesy of David Cohn consider what the registration The site with lots of people They need more information. drop down from the NYTimes. pretending to be Afghanis or the And you can’t force it out of peo- com looks like. It’s in alphabeti- site where you can target your ple, You need to create an incen- cal order. It’s not that there is customer based on what books tive that entices people to share actually a large Afghan audience they’ve read. Privacy issues information about themselves. for New York Times content; aside, it’s pretty ingenious. The Interestingly enough, the rather there is a large portion most fascinating part about it new relationship to advertis- of New York Times readers who is that readers at NYTimes.com ers is predicated on the new don’t want to share what country are annoyed with the process relationship with the audience. they are from and are too lazy and feel it’s justified to lie about The more the audience is ready to come up with a creative lie. who they are where, while the to reveal about themselves the Instead they see Afghanistan as users of Facebook.com feel more advertising is valued. Same the first choice in the drop down compelled to share information with GroupOn. If customers and just go with it. about themselves. Indeed, the freely reveal they are interested Now compare this registra- site doesn’t work if you lie about in a deal before it becomes of- tion process with Facebook, who you are. ficial, the small business offer- where most people freely reveal It’s often said that news- ing the deal starts licking its their age, religion, relationship papers don’t have an audience chops—rightfully so. And in all status and more. Facebook has problem; they have a revenue cases, the users are incentiv- so much information about users problem. I beg to differ. News- ized to reveal the information that founder Mark Zuckerberg papers don’t have an audience because it’s to their benefit. famously boasted he could create problem, they have an informa- For the Facebook user they are an algorithm to predict which tion problem. The NYTimes. connecting with friends. For the couples were about to break up com website has enough traffic GroupOn user, they are looking based on their surfing habits on to make plenty of money, much for money-saving deals. Good Facebook. more than most major web- advertising is actually just good Put on your advertiser hat sites. But they can’t reap those content. If the advertisement is and ask yourself where do you rewards until they get a better exactly what you were looking want to take your business? grasp of who their audience is. for, it isn’t annoying—it’s help-

66 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 67 ful. To get the right advertise- carrot to the audience to share increase advertising rates as it ment in there, however, you information. This carrot isn’t starts to get a better sense of its need to know who your audi- social, but selfish. The user gets audience. It’s a feedback loop ence is. something for free that would that could spiral profits up in- normally cost money. The NY- stead of down. Incentives for exposing Times.com could start doing this tomorrow, if it wanted. yourself Currently, after 15 clicks a Next Steps There are a few reasons why month, a NYTimes.com reader is It used to be the case that people might share information confronted with a $15 paywall. news organizations would fight about who they are. The first, But imagine if instead of a tax, amongst each other for the at- which social media sites have the New York Times asked its tention of a single reader. More pretty much cornered, is be- readers for some information. and more news organizations cause it allows you to connect This information could even are realizing that their competi- with your friends, family or co- be fun. It could ask the reader tion isn’t each other. The real workers. Hence the name “so- for the last movie he/she saw. competition isn’t even for eye- cial” media. You expose yourself Or the next movie the reader balls/attention, but for informa- to a company because, from the wants to see. It could ask for tion. Google, Facebook, Twitter users’ point of view, the com- demographic information, view- and other social networks have pany is just a medium to your points on topics, or help solv- a leg up. They’ve provided a friends. ing a puzzle. The point would clear reason why their commu- At the nonprofit Spot.Us be to treat the readers as more nity members should share who (www.spot.us), which I run, than just eyeballs but rather they are with the company. Now community members take sur- as entire human beings with it’s time for news organizations veys about themselves because thoughts and feelings on various to figure out why anyone should they are rewarded with points subjects. Once you’ve answered share anything with them. An that allow them to support the some questions, access to the organization that can crack this reporting project of their choice. site resumes for free. Meanwhile nut, will pave the way for the In other words, we extend a the NYTimes.com can start to entire industry. 

66 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 67 Business model works for print, but not for Web

After seeing little or no progress with free online content, publishers are moving very quickly to implement paid-subscription models on the Web.

By Mike Jenner

harging readers for access number is rapidly growing. to online news content is not A recent University of Missouri a new concept in many parts survey shows that smaller papers of the world. have led the paid content move- CFor years, publishers in many ment. Phone interviews with more countries have asked readers to than 300 publishers of daily U.S. pay to read at least some of the newspapers showed that 46 per- content their staffs produce. cent of publishers of daily newspa- Not so in the pers under 25,000 circulation now United States. Since require payment for at least some While smaller papers have been the advent of web of their online content. Among publishing, most daily newspapers with greater than leading the charge to online pay newspapers have of- models, larger papers have been fered much or all of their content online most active in creating mobile for free. Publishers phone and tablet apps. reasoned that the business model that worked so effectively for centuries in print—use content to generate an attractive audience and then sell it to advertisers—would work on the web. After a decade and a half of see- ing little or no progress with that model online, publishers are mov- ing very quickly to implement paid subscription models on the web. Mike Jenner, an award-winning editor with a history of innovation, is the Houston Harte Endowed Chair at Just two years ago, only a the School of Journalism. handful of American dailies were Jenner joined the faculty in 2010 from The Bakersfield Californian, the family-owned newspaper charging for content on the web. he helped lead for almost 17 years. New research shows that four in A graduate of the journalism school, Jenner 10 dailies are now asking readers also was managing editor of The Hartford Courant and served in key roles at The Philadelphia Inquirer, to pay for online content, and the Columbia Daily Tribune, Coffeyville (Kan.) Journal and Hattiesburg (Miss.) American.

68 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 69 25,000 circulation, 24 percent have tion to the bottom line. begun to charge. Although most see no impact The survey was based on a ran- on print circulation, a few do. Six dom sample of all 1,390 U.S. dailies, in 10 see no effect; one in three and 301 interviews were conducted believe their pay model will slow April 1-18 by the Missouri Journal- or stop circulation decreases, and ism School’s Center for Advanced 4 percent think print circulation The online digital version of The Associated Press Social Research. The response rate might actually increase. ( AP ) newsfeed is pictured on Apple Computer’s was 78 percent. While smaller papers have been iPad tablet. Underlying the move to begin leading the charge to online pay charging is a strong belief that audi- models, larger papers have been Publishers were also asked ences will pay to consume quality most active in creating mobile about their revenue mix and how news content. Two-thirds of the phone and tablet apps. they expect it to change. After publishers believe customers will Sixty-two percent of newspa- years of talk about the need to pay. Only 14 percent agreed with pers with circulation of 25,000 or bolster the proportion of digital the statement, “I don’t believe we’ll more have a mobile phone app, revenue to offset declining print ever be able to get customers to pay while 21 percent of newspapers revenue, publishers are finally for online content.” below 25,000 have a mobile app. expecting a shift in the mix. They That confidence is reflected in The numbers were lower for tablet were asked to estimate the pro- the plans of publishers who have portion of revenue represented by not implemented paid subscription print, digital and “other” (niche models. Of the papers that don’t publications, outside printing, now charge, 35 percent have plans Publishers say they etc.), and to project how the mix to do so; another 50 percent may are looking both would change in three years. begin charging at some point. Only The overwhelming majority 15 percent of publishers said they for revenue and to acknowledged that digital revenue had no plans to charge. establish value for the was still a small contributor at their Newspapers continue to reel content their staffs properties. Fully 85 percent said from the economy and from an ex- digital dollars represent no more odus of advertisers who are seeking produce. than 15 percent of their companies’ cheaper and more targeted alterna- revenue, and 80 percent said print tives. And while online readership apps: 39 percent of papers above revenue still constitutes 70 percent of news continues to grow, print 25,000 circulation offered tab- or more of overall revenue. revenues continue to decline. Pub- let apps while only 9 percent of In three years, 60 percent of lishers say they are looking both for smaller papers did. publishers expect digital revenue revenue and to establish value for Publishers seem eager to enter to represent more than 15 percent the content their staffs produce. the space, however. In the next 12 of their papers’ overall revenue While publishers of papers that months, 59 percent of newspapers stream, with nearly one quarter are charging welcome the new reve- that don’t offer a mobile phone expecting digital revenue to rep- nue coming from digital circulation, app plan to introduce one, and 35 resent more than 25 percent of all most have modest expectations percent of those newspapers plan revenues. Overall, changes to the about the amount pay models are to charge. “other” revenue category did not likely to generate. In the coming Fewer than 20 percent of news- see significant change. 12 months, one-third believe the papers overall offer a tablet app. In analyzing the data, we revenue from their pay models will Among larger papers, 39 percent looked for relationships between count for up to 20 percent of their offer a tablet app; among smaller pa- these trends. One interesting rela- companies’ digital revenue. Only pers, only 9 percent have one. In the tionship stood out: Publishers who one in 10 expect revenue from coming year, 48 percent of newspa- expect the most dramatic shift in content to make up more than 20 pers that don’t offer a tablet app plan the revenue mix from print to digi- percent of their digital revenue. to offer one, and 45 percent of those tal also happen to have a mobile Half expect a negligible contribu- newspapers plan to charge for it. phone app in the field. 

68 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 69 Profit may be a dirty word for many journalists

Profit makes journalism’s carousel keep turning, and these days, profit is in hideously short supply

By Peter Preston

t’s a bind every editor recog- fueled it are in recessionary nizes. You have your freedom abeyance. A perfect storm—and when the paper’s making a tsunami of problems, which money. But when it’s losing, leaves a probing, confident you’reI boxed in, constrained by press laid flat amongst the anxious accountants, wonder- wreckage. ing whether to fight the next What’s to be done, though? libel fight—or fold. Can you The crucial difficulty, one that afford to launch long needs to be acknowledged investigations, to openly, is that nobody really turn over necessary knows. We have gurus, proph- What’s to be done, though? The stones? Profit may ets, technical geniuses, but crucial difficulty, one that needs be a dirty word for we don’t have a plan. Perhaps to be acknowledged openly, is many journalists, but there is no plan. Some brave profit makes journal- that nobody really knows. ism’s carousel keep turning. And profit, these days, is in hid- eously short supply. On the one hand, you embrace the Internet, the websites, the daily audience swelled by thousands, even mil- lions. On the other hand, print- copy sales are shrinking seem- ingly inexorably by five or six percent a year. Net advertising goes up, but because it’s poured into a digital infinity of space, the rates it can command are relatively puny. And meanwhile print advertising goes away Peter Preston, a former IPI world chairman and because the jobs, homes and editor of the Guardian in London for 20 years, now writes street-shopping routines that an award-winning column on media matters for the Observer on Sundays.

70 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 71 souls talk of transition, so that name to conjure with. Twitter one day the Seattle Post-Intel- We know what the (launched July 2006) wasn’t ligencer is a print newspaper transition is from— any sort of name to conjure of renown and the next it’s a with. Facebook, having done website. There are precious paper and printer’s well on the university circuit, few examples of such transfor- ink and heavy lorries was just about to let American mations making worthwhile high school students in. Very money or claiming editorial tearing through the simply, a future solid enough to success. And the reason for night. But we don’t facilitate transition—or include profound uncertainty is easy to know yet what it’s static concepts like over-arch- find once you stop and analyze. ing pay walls—didn’t exist. The We know what the transition is to—because that pace of change was much too from—from paper and printer’s future is still a work in fast and much too unpredict- ink and heavy lorries tearing able to make transition or salva- through the night. But we don’t bewildering process. tion meaningful options. know yet what it’s to—because And the brutal fact is that it that future is still a work in jotted down somewhere. Join a still isn’t. Newspaper manage- bewildering process. big club and enjoy big benefits. ments, including editors, can’t Come back with me to Good idea? Of course. But stand on the front steps and Britain in 2007 as recession also, in Britain at least, a very wring their hands. They have starts to bite. The wizards difficult concept to execute to appear in charge, as confi- of Hindsight Inc. are already because the law—trailing in the dent masters of three- or five- lamenting newspapers’ idiocy wake of digital developments year scenarios. But reality, in in giving their news away free as usual—won’t allow newspa- private, admits no such con- on the Web. Many of them now per managements even to talk fidence. Different newspapers think papers should throw up about creating anti-market have different answers. pay walls and begin to charge. mechanisms this way. Can The New York Times builds Yet, how do you do that when outsiders with an interest follow a porous pay wall. The Times the BBC’s hugely powerful the same road more practi- of London builds an imperme- website gives all its news away cally? Yes. Sir Martin Sorrell’s able one. The Daily Mail stays free? You can’t (or at least, you great WPP advertising agency free—and makes a small profit, don’t think you can). Therefore has a riff on this notion on the because it keeps costs small a great tide of BBC antipathy front-burner; Google is always as well. The Guardian is free begins to flow. there or thereabouts, eager to and makes a big loss, because Yet perhaps the BBC model seem helpful; Apple owns the the service it offers is far more isn’t so much the problem as ITunes store and shows some expertise intensive. the solution. After all, it isn’t willingness to move the cash The Telegraph believes in really “free.” You pay a hefty li- tills around inside it. Nobody integrating its digital and print cense fee—currently £145.50— can say that a good idea is dead. staffs so that one set of im- every year, and the web site Yet, meanwhile, the future peratives fits all; the Mail keeps comes as part of the package. pounds on. online and print journalists far Why not take that same model When this whole approach apart, frowning at any hint of and apply it to papers on the began, half a decade ago, the integration. Most papers com- net? Why not gather newspa- iPhone hadn’t been invented. bine a print presence with Web pers into a consortium and There were no smartphones; development—but, cheered on charge entry fees to go behind there were no tablets. The Daily by Professor Emily Bell at Co- that communal pay wall, so Mail in London had a perfunc- lumbia University, the Huffing- you may roam and click as tory web site scoring very low ton Post concentrates on digital you wish? No more individual visitor levels (as compared with only. websites with individual walls nearly 80 million a month to- These differences, and many and individual passwords to be day). Microsoft was still a giant more like them, aren’t small

70 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 71 matters, problems of detail on as take-up on eReaders such as the road to a few broad solu- Kindle and Nook outpaces its tions that fit all cases. Least of sales growth). all do they echo the old veri- I do know one thing, of ties of print profitability with course: Articles which reach no a mere two revenue sources— conclusions because there are cover price and advertising—to no conclusions to be reached worry about. Rather, chang- don’t fit any familiar journalis- ing the picture and course of tic model. Articles need to be events year after year, they assured, confident, to argue a betoken only profound uncer- case that readers can respond tainty. Consider just a few of to. But what if, in all honesty, the things we don’t know. that’s impossible? What if— We don’t know if the mighti- altering in experience from est corporations of the new era country to country—there is no will survive, mature and flour- familiar model? What if we’ve ish. If MySpace soars high and no sooner arrived at one defi- then falls to earth, why should nition of salvation than more Twitter, without anything that unpredicted digital advances seems like a solid business blow it away? plan, fare any better? We don’t Then there is one deeply know whether Apple will keep unwelcome conclusion that on winning, just as Microsoft can’t be avoided. Perhaps used to keep on winning—until some newspaper sites—say it didn’t. the FT on the web, shelter- We don’t know if soaring ing behind its pay wall—can success, like the Mail’s unique make money. Perhaps care- visiting scores, can be sus- fully targeted ploys—say the tained, because it is so nar- Mail in Celebrity Square—can rowly focused that some fresh produce profits for a while. contender may just move in Perhaps some intensive news and do it better. We don’t know services—say Politico.com— how to produce agreed-upon can make money from print figures for visitors on the Web: whilst online cements its ABC-e, Comscore and Neilsen grip. Perhaps specific audi- can’t create a consensus that ences—say the international helps willing advertisers. We conference organizers who don’t know whether there is flock to Forbes.com—can offer any robust economic model advertising returns in a flash. that enables an all-purpose Many, many things are pos- quality newspaper to make sible. But the old snug secu- money on the Web. And, of rity that allowed investment course, we don’t know whether in investigative reporting, the Web itself is shrinking in foreign bureaus, and well- range and practice because staffed, expert financial cover- apps and iPads offer a narrower age is gradually becoming less but swifter experience. (Oh! and less possible. In the end, and I might have added, exam- maybe, the net will set us free. ining the latest figures, we don’t Alas, though, nobody can tell even know whether the iPad it- when that end will be, or how self is king for more than a day we can now define it. 

72 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 73 Can the public pay for its own local news?

Still scrappy, experimental public media change the local conversation on serious news

By Michael Stoll

n San Francisco this summer, San Francisco Chronicle, or any a social service agency that of the five television stations, or helps elders prepare for their four news radio stations, or the citizenship tests was threatened two alternative weeklies. Most withI cutbacks that might have of these news sources have been crippled the program in a city cut back tremendously in the with a high immigrant popula- wake of news industry realign- tion, so its executive director ment. The Chronicle’s editorial had to lobby City Hall staff has declined by more than to have most of the half in the last decade, as eight funds restored. Police of its nine regional bureaus have If it works in media-saturated and firefighters lost San Francisco, the model could part of their pension packages. Construc- even more easily thrive in smaller tion projects totaling towns and cities similarly afflicted $27 million were put by the media meltdown. on ice. Meanwhile, clear signs of waste emerged in other de- partments. The city’s public transit director sheep- ishly told city supervisors that in the first month of the fiscal year the agency was already plan- ning to bust through its overtime budget by $20 million because of unplanned but foreseeable overtime. Michael Stoll is editor and executive director of Documenting the winners the San Francisco Public Press, a local, nonprofit, and losers in the city budget noncommercial news organization covering economy, civics and streetscape in the Bay Area. It aims to do used to be the bread and butter for print and Web what public broadcasting does for of local newspapers, but few of television and radio. The Public Press produces news online daily and in a quarterly print newspaper. Stoll is also these details made it into the a journalism lecturer at the University of San Francisco, dominant local newspaper, the and a former reporter at the San Francisco Examiner, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Hartford Courant.

72 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 73 The San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial staff has declined by more than half in the last decade, as eight of its nine regional bureaus have shuttered. shuttered and the paper strug- The Public Press, which gles to remain relevant. Much of I helped found in 2008 as an its front-page coverage is focused A flood of new entrants experiment in mixing noncom- on individual high-drama crimes. in the journalism mercial public media with the Though small, new and rela- field is changing the newspaper sales business model, tively unknown among sources is part of a nationwide move- and readers, the San Francisco prospects for serious ment among journalists who Public Press (sfpublicpress. news on all levels, from care about the decline of local org) reported on the city budget news coverage to come up with cutbacks in detail on the Web global to local. new ways of doing business and and in a broadsheet print news- doing journalism that will fill the paper for sale in the city and just month and the quarterly ad- gaps left in the mainstream. A beyond its borders. The organi- vertising-free newspaper is sold flood of new entrants in the field zation, a mostly volunteer-led for $1 to about 6,000, a modest is changing the prospects for nonprofit organized along the audience in a major metropolis serious news on all levels, from lines of a local public broadcast- but a major achievement for global to local. er, was founded to help address such a young and under-financed But while corporations such the shortfall in reporting capac- media startup. It is a demonstra- as AOL are experimenting with ity that has left many govern- tion project—something that, if dispatching hundreds of journal- ment agencies, big businesses it works in media-saturated San ists across the country to set up and other powerful institutions Francisco, could even more eas- cloned local news blogs under without scrutiny. ily thrive in smaller towns and the moniker Patch.com, there The website is now read by cities similarly afflicted by the has been relatively little invest- tens of thousands of locals each media meltdown. ment in nonprofit mission-driven

74 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 75 74 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 75 professional news organizations. hitting a coveted high-income The startup capital in new pub- The philanthropic demographic. As a result, the lic media is still tiny compared community needs people who most need access to with the need. accurate and timely information It is not that the non-profit to both expand are the ones who have the least model is inherently better than its support for access to it. for-profit. Right now, the need is So we at the Public Press de- experimentation with a diversity experimental public cided it was important, at least of business models and journal- media and pay while some people still read and istic focuses. attention to the ideas pay for newspapers, to produce a Some are professional, print edition to reach audiences others are amateur or pro-am. they bring. that still have less access to digi- Some are advertising-based and tal news sources. We wanted to others noncommercial, relying take the spirit of innovation that on grants and small donations. can Journalism Review a few is almost entirely focused on the Some are websites, some are years ago documented many Web and bring it to a medium print, some are broadcast and examples of how news organiza- that many have already given up some exist only on social media tions that arose from the public for dead. platforms. Some are advocacy broadcasting tradition of public But the road has been rocky. while others play it right down service were less sensational, The organization, started by a the middle. Some are focused with longer sound bites and bunch of journalists, has done a on one topic while others cover more focus on public policy, lot with rather scant resources. the gamut. Some are local, some even sometimes at the expense We have raised about $140,000 are global. The more different of maximizing audience size. in a little more than two years models are tried, the more likely Profit was not a consideration. of operation, and many of our it is that some will survive and Because the financial bar- key staff have been volunteers thrive. The more we leave the riers to entry on the Web are from the start. While most of future of the media to corporate now effectively nonexistent, our journalists and business staff consolidators, the more vulner- many startups are able, with have been paid something, it is able the media monoculture is to enough tech savvy, to magnify intermittent and not sustain- devastating economic pestilence. their voices to rival some of the able. I have been a volunteer Trust in the news media is dominant players. But among since the start—my philosophy ebbing. The News Corp. phone nonprofits it is really only the is that I could inspire others to hacking scandal might easily well-funded experiments that get involved as volunteers if I did spark a public backlash that have a shot at supplementing or so myself. Our operations direc- could harm the independence of replacing the ancien régime. tor is also unpaid. This has al- the news, and thus the account- At the Public Press, we start- lowed us to involve really skilled ability reporting we as journal- ed with a mission statement that people to magnify our financial ists have prided ourselves on emphasized the public value of resources many times. If our providing to the public. What we serious, independent news, par- annual budget is about $70,000, need, therefore, are examples of ticularly to an audience not tar- we’re operating as if we had future-focused media businesses geted by advertisers—the poor, more like $200,000 if you add in that present alternatives to the working class and minority resi- the pro-bono labor. cynical consolidated empires of dents of San Francisco. These It can’t continue forever this amoral media barons. groups are less often reflected in way, though. We can produce Public media represent a newspapers, at least in a neutral award-winning explanatory and unique opportunity to tran- or positive light, and are likely investigative reporting on a scend this tradition. Public polls to be redlined out of circulation shoestring for a while longer, but consistently rate PBS and NPR promotions and delivery routes we need more angel funding on as the most trustworthy news because they don’t help papers top of our initial round of grants sources. A cover story in Ameri- show their advertisers they are from the San Francisco Founda-

76 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 77 tion and others to keep doing created a nonprofit subgroup. what we’re doing and expand. The Investigative News Network, We hope to accelerate the paper which exists to support serious edition to monthly within a year news nonprofits, has grown to if we get the funds. more than 50 members and is National journalism foun- developing new business models, dations have been focused for including syndication through years on digital innovation, put- Reuters. And NPR stations are ting a premium on encouraging now embracing local news ex- the development of tech widgets periments through meaningful that will grow the audiences for journalism collaborations online news as fast as possible. They and on the air. have also emphasized prop- No one knows which of ping up the organizations that these experiments will survive, are already generously funded but the more that arise and are by wealthy individuals, on the nurtured, the likelier it will be theory that they are the most that some will provide the kinds likely to reach critical mass and of coverage major metro papers influence public policy. But most have frittered away.  of these organizations have no better idea how to sustain them- selves than the smaller ones, and waste money on high execu- tive salaries. And by vacuum- ing up scarce dollars, they suck the financial oxygen out of the room, leading some of the more precariously funded operations to close. The philanthropic commu- nity needs to both expand its support for experimental public media and pay attention to the ideas that each startup brings to the table, to maximize impact and minimize waste. And they owe it to communities to invest directly in idled but dedicated and skilled journalists instead of employing legions of already well-paid programmers to cre- ate tech tools, most of which don’t contribute meaningfully to improving local journalism, and many of which are abandoned or become obsolete within a year. There are promising signs in the news industry that this is happening. Block by Block, a forum for more than 100 lo- cal news startups, has recently

76 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 77 The gossip business: Murdoch and others find a bankrupt business model

By Greg Spielberg

efore the acquisition of Dow experienced meteoric audience Jones and the Wall Street growth on the back of gossip Journal, the really big busi- journalism. And Gawker.com ness of Rupert Murdoch’s has its DNA right there in the tag BNews Corp.newspapers is nonin- line: “Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s structive by design. news.” Gossip falls right behind They’re not looking to help photos as the best fuel for Web readers understand the world. traffic and paper readership. It’s They don’t seek to be cheap to produce, unlimited in guides to cities, cul- supply, easy to find, write about, ture, business, arts, aggregate, reblog, consume, com- Gossip journalism is any story science, or govern- ment on and pass along. Take a that tells us what people say and ment. They don’t nothing more. attempt to perform “intelligence work,” Walter Lippmann’s shorthand for what journalists do. News Corp.’s core is gossip journalism­—writing about and featuring idle talk, conversation snippets, off-the-cuff remarks, heat-of-the-moment opinion from well-known people—and it’ll cost them while moving forward. We tend to pigeonhole gossip journalism as Page 6 celebrity con- tent. It’s not nearly that narrow. Gossip journalism is any story that tells us what people say and nothing more. More media companies than News Corp. have used gossip to Greg Spielberg is a community-building journalist propel profits. The Huffington who writes about and creates pop ups at Openhouse Gallery in Manhattan. He’s written for Bloomberg, Post, Politico and Gawker have Bundle, Businessweek, Harvard’s Nieman Lab for Journalism, Ode and Poets & Quants.

78 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 79 Eagles’ late “foul-mouthed head NBC Sports, Black Sports Online, Paid and unpaid coach,” and voila—he had a new New York Giants fan site GMenHQ, journalists throughout piece of journalism. and of course the Huffington Post, By the end of the day, Mc- all riffed off the gossip journalism. the country play off Mahon’s story generated robust ESPN’s Skip Bayless and Rob Park- powerful gossip. reader conversation and engage- er gave their opinions, too, and the ment: 2,675 reader comments long-tail story will be referenced look at this Aug. 2 example from and 46,000 responses to the poll from now until the season starts ESPN to see how powerful gossip question, “What do you think and until the season ends. is from an editorial standpoint. of Cowboys assistant Rob Ryan On Aug. 2, ESPN, owned by appearing to call out the Eagles?” Gossip journalism is fuel Disney/ABC, reported that Dallas ESPN was asking fans to gossip for editorial but shape- Cowboys defensive coordinator (“what do you think?”) about Rob Ryan talked trash about the gossip (“appearing to call out”) less for advertisers. Philadelphia Eagles. “I don’t know and building great Web traffic By the numbers, McMahon’s if we win the all-hype team… along the way. story is an awesome success. Part but we’re going to beat their ass Paid and unpaid journalists of ESPN’s organizational advantage when we play them,” he said at throughout the country played off is having professional competitors a press conference. The gossip the gossip, propelling it across the as news subjects. They’re brim- about the division-rival Eagles Web faster than a Michael Vick ming with gossip, and gossip jour- took only a few seconds for Ryan pass. Philadelphia Sports Daily, nalism is a fundamental part of to produce, journalists to record Bleeding Green Nation, GCobb ESPN’s daily budget—from Tiger’s and it formed the basis for ESPN’s and Buzz on Broad, Dallas’ the caddie’s thoughts to racist radio story. It was almost as easy for Landry Hat, the Fort Worth Star- host tweets to LeBron James’ pre- ESPNDallas writer Tim McMahon Telegram, San Antonio Express- diction that there will be a 2011 to find a reaction, too, through News, Dallas Morning News, Fox NBA season. But gossip is just a Twitter, the infinite well of gossip. Sports Southwest, SportsBlog side dish at ESPN. The network “Talk is cheap,” Eagles lineman Nation, NFL.com, New England’s has by far the most comprehen- Cullen Jenkins wrote about Ryan. WEEI, Reuters Canada (!), Yahoo sive sports coverage on Earth. It “He must be nervous.” McMahon Sports, the Los Angeles Times, owns TV rights to college football added some context by referenc- Football News Now, Examiner. games that include the BCS, pro- ing Rob’s father Buddy Ryan, the com, Gack Sports, Ball Junkie, fessional baseball and basketball, Monday Night Football, NASCAR and bowling. ESPN created the lucrative and fantastical X Games, now in the 17th year. ESPN.com generates and controls well-defined content for a well-defined audience (94% men, 87% college-educated, 81% at- tended a sporting event in the past year, 89% shopped online in the past year), so they have a well- defined proposition for advertisers ranging from beer to sports equip- ment to cars to Viagra. Fox News, News of the World and other News Corp. properties try to serve gossip as their main dish and it’s muddled like mashed Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan talked trash about the Philadelphia Eagles at a press potatoes. Since everyone is into conference and soon was in newspapers and on the air. AP Photo by James D Smith

78 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 79 Strong journalism companies are trusted conduits for brands to reach well-defined communities.

Your brand, er, here? By focusing all their coverage on gossip, murder, scandal, sex, corruption, drug use and con- flict, Murdoch’s properties drive traffic but become no-ads, no- partners land. Who reads about sex? Everyone. Who’s enticed by corruption stories and drug-fueled Britain’s best-selling Sunday tabloid signed off with a simple front page message, “THANK YOU & GOODBYE,” leaving the media establishment here reeling from the expanding phone-hacking scandal that brought down nights? Everyone. I’ve spent the muckraking newspaper after 168 years. AP Photo by Sang Tan hours eating through Wikipedia posts about mobsters and serial gossip, everyone flocks to it. That harder for deeper partners. Strong killers, but that doesn’t mean I’m was great for business when only a journalism companies are trusted more likely to buy Pringles over relative handful controlled dis- conduits for brands to reach well- Post-It Notes. tribution. Gossip served as the defined communities. There’s just no way to tell lowest-common-denominator Through e-commerce, brands what products a reader of the Post content that produced enormous can partner with journalism or the now-deceased News of The readership. Now that everyone companies to engage audiences World would buy. News Corp. can distribute, advertisers expect on targeted offers or, even bet- properties can’t claim ownership audience definition. What exactly ter, leverage economies of scale of a demographic, age group or can an advertiser expect to know through group commerce. Hearst gender like Gun Dog, AARP or about the reader who’s looking at is bringing deals to its specialty Bride magazine. a story about Lindsay Lohan’s lat- publications, Road & Track, Car To compound the problem, est relapse? Or whether Jennifer and Driver, Marie Claire, Cosmo- gossip as a distinct category can’t Aniston has found true love? Or politan and Esquire, says Tricia be owned the same way it could whether Sarah Palin thinks Presi- Duryee of All Things D. when a handful of newspapers, dent Obama palled around with Esquire is starting an online magazines, radio and TV shows terrorists? men’s store, and Seventeen.com ruled distribution. Gossip was a Murdoch’s New York Post.com is partnering with JC Penney. whole lot more attractive when has no real community. Its readers Group commerce on the whole is only a few outlets had access. Any are 53 percent men, 47 percent capturing the attention of 102 mil- site can make gossip its beat by women, but that’s all the definition lion Americans according to BIA/ riffing off easily obtainable pic- their media kit can muster. Cre- Kelsey. As Esquire editor-in-Chief tures or stories about Taylor Swift, ate a mishmash of editorial gossip, David Granger says, his brand Rihanna and Zac Efron. As News and advertisers are faced with a wants to “close the gap between Corp.’s thematic twin, the celeb- muddled nightmare when consid- inspiration and action” and allow rity mag, is finding out, making ering their media buy. readers to go straight from his readers pay for gossip is a difficult If gossip and sensationalism— Web site to “take consumer action deal. Keith Kelly reports that Peo- content meant to elicit gossip based on the desire we’ve created ple’s newsstand sales fell 10% this from readers—are a tough sell on our pages.” Gossip does not year, Touch’s 16%, Life & Style’s for a simple display ad, it’s even drive consumer action. 22% and OK!’s more than 20%.

80 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 81 Intelligence work creates community. Gossip doesn’t.

Meanwhile, journalism com- panies interested in doing intel- ligence work are expanding, partnering and making money. They’re attracting influential audi- ences and come-a-runnin’ adver- tisers. In the first half of 2011, Wired’s ad pages skyrocketed 27%, Fast Company went up 17%, Businessweek and Harvard Busi- ness Review jumped 16%. (Think about that: HBR is considered a consumer mag.) At Marie Claire, ads increased 20% last year and at Elle Décor, 35%. Top-of-the-line Anchor Shepard Smith broadcasts his “Studio B” program for the Fox News Channel, which often broadcasts companies like Bloomberg, Econo- narrow, noncommercial gossip. AP Photo by Richard Drew mist and Mashable leverage their intelligence work to pull together are stories to be told, readers only with murder, celebrity sex, thought leaders in real life, too. to influence and advertisers to high-octane crime and drugs, Mashable’s Social Good Sum- line up. News Corp. brands can’t there’s not going to be a whole mit is done in partnership with create conferences. The best Fox lot of story options. News of the the UN and gets Ted Turner, MTV News can do, for example, is cob- World journalists eliminated the Network’s CEO Judy McGrath, ble together a tea party rally. What economic, social, technological Elizabeth Gore and other players would a sponsor try to pitch there: and cultural development stories to join in. (Mashable is only five Don’t Tread On Me T-shirts? that are increasingly more pow- years old.) Bloomberg recently erful and lucrative than gossip. hosted its Chile Economic Sum- Community-less People care about newspaper or mit, another on cars and fuels in journalism companies TV gossip like they do real life gos- L.A, one on women’s entrepre- sip: Just for a moment and then neurship in Shanghai and on the are bound to fail they move onto something else debt crisis in London. BMW, Mini, At News of the World, we saw more worthwhile. American Iron and Steel Institute the result of a terrible journalism Fox News, by focusing on and Dell signed on as sponsors. model. One former Murdoch ex- toxically narrow, noncommercial The Economist creates conferenc- ecutive told Carl Bernstein that gossip, will eventually induce the es like its Buttonwood Gathering the ends justify the means when same fate as News of the World. (finance), Ideas Economy (innova- it comes to News Corp.’s cruelty, I heard the term “smart TV” tion and collaboration), The World intimidation and bottom-feeding, for the first time the other day, in 2012 festival (palm reading), but really the means created which means marketers are start- The Silk Road Summit (trade and the end. It has nothing to do ing to push their weight behind investment outlook for Central with ethics, just the editorial open-source Internet-integrated Asia and South Caucasus). Come model. By focusing only on the televisions. The same logic that December, they’ll have an East lives of well-known politicians, is bringing down lean-forward gos- Africa Summit in Rwanda. criminals, victims, athletes and sip journalism models will bring When journalism companies celebrities, News of the World down lean-back ones, too. When treat every country like a develop- constricted its own supply of consumers have a real choice be- ing country and every industry potential news producers. tween smart and dumb, targeted like a developing industry, there If an editorial budget is filled intelligence always wins out. 

80 IPI REPORT IPI REPORT 81 have lost their lives so far in 2011 for doing their job.

Join IPI in defending press freedom worldwide. w w w . z e n i t h b a n k . c o m Photo: Wien-Tourismus/Claudio Alessandri Vienna: Harmony of Old and New

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