Advertising

New Reports Detail Little Progress in Fight Against Soft Censorship

Posted on October 29, 2015 Leave a Comment

Soft censorship continues to be a major threat to press freedom and the governments of Hungary, Mexico and Serbia appear unwilling to follow recommendations that would guarantee a non-discriminatory allocation of public funds and government advertising across the media.

This is the common conclusion of three new reports examining soft censorship practices in Hungary, Mexico and Serbia launched today by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) in Washington D.C.

Official soft censorship, or indirect censorship, is defined as “an array of official actions intended to influence media output, short of legal or extra-legal bans, direct censorship of specific content, or physical attacks on media outlets or media practitioners.”

Published with the support of the Open Society Foundations and research partners Mertek Media Monitor (Hungary), BIRN Serbia, and Fundar (Mexico), the three new reports provide an updated analysis of the situation as uncovered in detailed country studies conducted in 2013.

By using financial power to pressure media outlets, punish critical reporting and reward favourable coverage, biased government intervention in media sectors across the three countries not only distorts the market, but also makes it difficult for media to exercise their essential watchdog role.

“Articles of Asphyxiation: Soft Censorship in Hungary 2015 Update” shows that pressures on free and independent media in Hungary are accelerating and that the Fidesz government is enacting new and ever-broader laws and regulations that aim to control media output. The introduction of an advertising tax and other recently passed laws, together with the unfair and opaque allocation of government advertising show that intervention in the media market aggressively increased throughout 2014 and the first half of 2015.

“Media Reform Stalled in the Slow Lane: Soft Censorship in Serbia 2015 Update” highlights small improvements to the media-related legal framework in Serbia, such as thenew Law on Public Information and Media which regulates financial relations between the state and media outlets. However, as reiterated by the new report, efforts to reform legislation alone will not suffice if the Serbian government does not fully respect these regulations.Biased subsidies to media outlets, selective government advertising contracts, and manipulation regarding licensing continue to persist in the country.

“Breaking Promises, Blocking Reform: Soft Censorship in Mexico 2015 Update” (also available in Spanish) concludes that despite presidential promises, soft censorship – most conspicuously in the form of the partisan allocation of government advertising – remains a powerful impediment to a free, independent and pluralistic media in Mexico. Despite President Enrique Peña Nieto’s 2012 pledge to create a body to oversee government advertising, regulation of the sector remains weak. Lawmakers have failed to meet deadlines to establish a legal framework, while new legislation proposed by members of the Mexican Congress to regulate government advertising has not progressed. While positive developments such as a General Law on Transparency and Access to Public Government Information promises broad access to government advertising data, compliance has so far proven extremely weak.

Through more detailed research into soft censorship practices globally, WAN-IFRA and CIMA are drawing attention to the kinds of widespread and deleterious problems facing independent media that rarely generate the same level of international outrage as direct attacks on the press. The findings and recommendations of the soft censorship research series aim to contribute to the implementation of fair and transparent rules that are necessary for the development of independent media sectors around the world.

Country reports detailing soft censorship practices in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Montenegro are currently being finalised and will be published later in 2015.

Audience and readership measuring is flawed in India

Posted on October 20, 2015 Leave a Comment

Audience and readership measuring is flawed in India, according to the article “Boom time for media but witha growing ethical deficit”, by A.S. Panneerselvan. The unavailability of reliable data impedes, among others, the fair allocation of government advertising and undermines people’s quest for truth.

The Indian readership survey is supposed to give everyone — public, media and business interests alike — the demographic details of press readership and circulation. But the latest Indian Readership Survey (IRS) by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI) has “absurd figures which defy logic and reason”, says Panneerselvan.

The Television Rating Point (TRP), which is supposed to track the programmes that are most popular, has failed to gain the broadcast industry’s confidence. Prannoy Roy, the Chairman of broadcasting NDTV group, said: “Virtually every city in India has a ratings consultant who, for a relatively small fee, will ensure higher ratings for any channel.” Reportedly, ratings consultants get to know where the people-meters that measure viewership are located, visit the people-meter homes, give the family a brand new 60-inch plasma television and tell them: “Watch whatever you like on this lovely big television but on the television attached to the people-meter you must only watch such-and-such channels (…) The family also gets an additional reward at the end of the year if they have done what they were asked to do efficiently”.

Statisticians and other number crunchers are expected to follow a rigorous methodology to provide reliable data on the media’s reach. But if their projections are deeply flawed, it severely undermines people’s quest for the truth.

Source: A.S. Panneerselvan (2015) “India: boom-time for media but with a growing ethical deficit” in Aidan White (ed.) Untold Stories. How Corruption and Conflicts of Interests Stalk the Newsroom. Ethical Jornalism Network. http://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/assets/docs/220/136/92a87dc-d968188.pdf

Regional journalists in Colombia sell advertising to earn a living wage

Posted on September 21, 2015 Leave a Comment

Manipulation by political authorities, blackmail through government advertising, and irregular contractual relationships are some of the problems that regional journalists in Colombia are facing. These are some of the conclusions of Untold Stories, a 2015 report by the Ethical Journalism Network.

According to the report, the main concern is the pressure to get advertising or direct interference by public officials and politicians. “In the last six years eight radio stations have disappeared. Some have closed because journalists receive threats and leave the region, or move away from journalism. But it is also because media work is not economically viable. The ones that have better relations with the Mayor’s Office and get advertising money are the ones that survive”, said one journalist from Caucasia, capital city of the region of Bajo Cauca.

According to a 2012 report by the Colombian Federation of Journalists (FECOLPER) on working conditions and professional practice, journalists in Colombia devote 60 percent of their time to selling advertising. Most of the other 40 percent work on editing and production. The ability to conduct investigative journalism and research stories that affect society is much reduced.

The microphone and hat booby trap is a consequence of the advertising system’s “quotas” that operates in Colombia. Owners of radio stations provide radio or television space for journalists, as part of their remuneration. Thus, owners pay low wages, which are about 300 dollars, and in return journalists get more airtime, which in turn is sold to those interested in advertising. Journalists are forced to sell advertising to get their stories on air.

When a journalist is assigned to meet senior officials, he must first get out the microphone to ask questions and immediately after he must show the hat and convince them to advertise on his media, and thus collect money. Not surprisingly. It’s a situation that makes independent, critical journalism impossible.

In the book called País lejano y silenciado (Silenced and Distant Country), published by FLIP, the terrible consequences of this system are highlighted. According to the research it has given rise to a generation of journalists skilled in “extortion”, who disseminate false information in order to press potential customers to advertise. It has also served to present cases of “parachutist” journalists, who aren’t professionals but “opportunists who create programmes or newspapers with the only objective to make money from advertising”.

Source: Jonathan Bock (2015) “Colombia. Corruption, censorship and bullet points for ethical journalism” in Aidan White (ed.) Untold Stories. How Corrption and Conflicts of Interests Stalk the Newsroom. Ethical Jornalism Network.

Political and economic pressures threaten independent publications in China

Posted on September 16, 2015 Leave a Comment

In 2014, the combination of political and economic pressures threatened the quality and market positions of two influential liberal publications, accoring to Freedom House.

In January, Beijing’s municipal propaganda department purchased a 49 percent stake in the Beijing News, supplementing an existing ownership stake held by a party mouthpiece, the Guangming Daily. The move increased direct official control over the paper, and some observers described it as a blow against the process of media commercialization. Separately, in the wake of a January 2013 strike by journalists and related public protests against censorship at the Southern Weekly, numerous editors and journalists have left the publication, disillusioned by the continuation of heightened censorship. These changes have decreased the prevalence and quality of the paper’s investigative stories, reportedly reducing its influence among elite readers and its attractiveness to advertisers.

However, as Freedom House highlights, most media revenue in China comes from advertising and subscriptions rather than government subsidies, even for many party papers. Some observers argue that commercialization has shifted the media’s loyalty from the party to the consumer, leading to tabloid-style and sometimes more daring reporting. Others note that the reforms have opened the door for economic incentives that serve to reinforce political pressure and self-censorship.

Source: Freedom of the Press Index 2015 – China
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2015/china#.VYvmu0v_9EQ

Ownership concentration reportedly limits criticsm in Ecuador

Posted on September 9, 2015 Leave a Comment

Ownership concentration within the private media is a problem in Ecuador, according to Freedom House. In December 2014, it was reported that Mexican media mogul Remigio Ángel González was buying El Comercio, Ecuador’s oldest and most recognized newspaper. González already owned 13 television channels and radio stations in Ecuador and was expected to change the editorial tone of El Comercio, which has been critical of the government.

Foreign ownership of communication outlets was initially illegal under the Communication Law, but Correa passed an implementing regulation in late 2013 that revised the relevant article and allowed foreigners from countries that had signed certain cooperative agreements with Ecuador to own national media. Journalists and outside watchdog groups expressed concern that the sale of El Comercio would further limit media diversity.

The government is the country’s largest advertiser and generally grants ad contracts to outlets that provide favorable coverage. In 2012, Correa directed his press secretary to withdraw public advertising from what he called “mercantilist” media outlets, including the newspapers Hoy, El Comercio, El Universo, and La Hora, and the television stations Teleamazonas and Ecuavisa. The intrusive regulations and sanctions associated with the Communication Law have made it even more difficult for independent media to achieve financial sustainability and retain advertisers. Analysts say that businesses do not want to be associated with media targeted by the authorities, as they could lose state contracts or face government audits in reprisal.

Source: Freedom of the Press Index 2015 – Ecuador
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2015/ecuador#.VZZLjUv_9EQ

Costs of newsprint and ink remains too high for independent newspapers in Zambia

Posted on September 4, 2015 Leave a Comment

The costs of newsprint and ink (which include substantial import duties and taxes), printing, and distribution remain very high, hampering print outlets’ ability to increase their readership, Freedom House reports.

In addition, the majority of advertising comes from the government, which places its ads exclusively in the state media. There have also been reports of private companies withholding advertising from critical private outlets due to fear of government retaliation.

Source: Freedom of the Press Index 2015 – Zambia

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2015/zambia#.VY0d30v_9EQ

Funding patterns influence media content in Albania

Posted on August 31, 2015 Leave a Comment

While the number of media outlets keeps increasing, the advertising market is hardly sufficient in Albania, according to the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

As a result, there is a satisfactory pluralism of information, but there are problems with economic sustainability, which often directly affect journalists, the institution reports. Funding patterns and ownership structure of the media directly influence their editorial content, leading to continuous doubts about media independence and their pursuing of public interest.

Source: Konrad Anenauer Stiftung. BalkanMedia Media Map: http://www.kas.de/wf/en/71.13558/

Governments are reinventing censorship in the 21st century

Posted on August 21, 2015 Leave a Comment

Censorship is flourishing in the information age and governments are reinventing censorship in the 21st century, according to the journalists Moisés Naím and Philip Benet in “The Anti-Information Age”.

The authors describe how “the scope of censorship is hard to appreciate (…) [because] some tools for controlling the media are masquerading as market disruptions”: “Today”, they say “in Hungary, Ecuador, Turkey, Kenya, and elsewhere, officials are mimicking autocracies like Russia, Iran, or China by redacting critical news and building state media brands. They are also creating more subtle tools to complement the blunt instruments of attacking journalists”.

In Venezuela and elsewhere, they denounce that “the state’s methods include gaining influence over independent media through purchases using shell companies and phantom buyers”.

Using examples of Pakistan, Turkey and Russia, and quuoting the WAN-IFRA report on soft censorship in Hungary, the report points to the indirect methods that governments around the world are using to favor positive coverage and silence critical media.

As Tamoa Calzadilla, the former investigations editor at the Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Noticias, describes: “This is not your classic censorship, where they put a soldier in the door of the newspaper and assault the journalists. Instead, they buy up the newspaper, they sue the reporters and drag them into court, they eavesdrop on your phone and email communications, and then broadcast them on state television. This is censorship for the 21st century.” Calzadilla resigned last year after anonymous buyers took control of the paper, and she was pressured to change a story to align with government views, the authors report.

Source: Benet, Philip and Naím, Moisés: The Anti-Information Age, 16 February 2015, The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/government-censorship-21st-century-internet/385528/?utm_content=buffer1f052&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Bolivian journalist resigns to save radio station from financial suffocation

Posted on August 18, 2015 Leave a Comment

Top journalist Amalia Pando announced her resignation from the leadership of a news program on Erbol, a Catholic radio in La Paz, which for a decade imprinted a questioning journalism style, analysis and reporting of abuse of power.

The station, like other media that defend editorial independence, is prevented from receiving government advertising, and journalist Pando claims that her resignation could help this media to recover income to avoid shutdown.

The National Press Association of Bolivia (ANP) has repeatedly claimed about a tax encirclement and economic strangulation, that weaken the finances of independent media.

Pakistani authorities use advertising boycotts and bribes to manipulate the media

Posted on August 10, 2015 Leave a Comment

Provincial and national authorities have used advertising boycotts and bribes to put economic pressure on media outlets or provide incentives to keep journalists in check, Freedom House reports.

A ban on official advertisements with the Jang Group, whose Geo television station and various newspapers are known for their increasingly antigovernment editorial line, remained in effect in 2013. Both state and private interests, including the powerful intelligence agencies, reportedly pay for favorable press coverage, a practice that is exacerbated by the low salary levels of many journalists. In April 2013, the Supreme Court released a list of names of journalists, news agencies, and other entities that received payments totaling 1.7 billion rupees ($16 million) through a secret fund administered by the Pakistani government.

Source: Freedom of the Press 2014 https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2013/pakistan#.VUHi10v_9ER