According to survey research by commissioned by global firm Edelman PR, Edelman Trust Baromoter 2007, 25% of opinion leaders in this part of the world trust the media;

In the three largest economies of Western Europe, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, trust in business stands at 34%, which is higher than trust in media and government at 25% and 22% respectively.

After a reflection on the recent Bertigate episode, the above figures for Ireland might be reversed for goverment and the media.

The summary of the report does make for some interesting reading. And raises some questions;

For example; how would you define an ‘opinion leader’?

The survey was produced by research firm StrategyOne. The survey was conducted by a 30-minute telephone survey conducted in October - November 2006. The survey population included respondents who are between the ages of 35 and 64; college educated; in the top 25% of household income nationally; report a significant interest and engagement in the media, economic, and policy affairs.

Aside from appearing to be self reflective, mediaforum wonders what a survey of ‘opinion followers’ might reveal.

Perhpas Piaras Kelly might have some insights, particularly into the survey findings specific to Ireland.

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Last night (Monday 29th January) RTE Radio 1’s flux programme presented a show produced by Ronan Kelly looking at the intrusiveness of media attention associated with major news stories.

The programme took a look at the case study of a tragic and traumatic event in a local community in Firhouse (2006) which recieved huge media interest. Interviewing editors, journlists and photo journalists from broadcasting and press, tabloid and boradsheet, the show revealed some interesting insights into the workings of contemporary journalism.

“We’ve got your picture; now what’s your name?”
What happens in a community when a tragedy there brings the national media to their doorsteps.

The audio is not yet available online (programme 38), but should be soon from the Flux page on rte.ie.

**Update;
audio now available.
Interviewees included; Fergal Keane (RTE), Jimmy Cunningham (Daily Mirror), Steven Cregg (RTE), Laura Ryan (TV3) Warren Swords (Tallaght Echo) and Paul Drury (Irish Mail editor).

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mediaforum.ie says hello to MediaBite.org (Ireland’s answer to the UK’s medialens.org) edited by David Manning and Miriam Cotton.

MediaBite also likes a light shade of blue, but just to be different has gone down a lighter shade of grey. mediaforum.ie is thinking of turning a little red by feeling flattered at the possible compliment, but will give the benefit of the doubt (perhaps hoping that mediabite was green with envy when looking at mediaforum’s colours).

If you’re feeling hungry for a mouthful of media you can subscribe, post messages and comments, or send in your own letters;

Welcome, for all these reasons [see here], to MediaBite. Populist newspapers are not the subject of our interest: by and large they wear their hearts on their sleeve and in a certain way, though it is not always true, are more often straightforward about what they do. What we are concerned with are the avowedly liberal or broadsheet media to whom people traditionally look to as a safeguard against encroachment on our democratic way of life and for reliable, considered news. That is the place where we perceive the worst of the critical journalistic oversights as described above. We hope you will participate in the debates and discussions raised here and that, as mainstream media journalists, you will welcome the focus of our attention on your profession. If the Media Lens experience is anything to go by, that debate is likely to be lively and challenging at times but we hope it will never be less than interesting or worthwhile. For other readers and contributors we hope you will help us to highlight the frustration and alienation that many people increasingly feel from the corporate-driven media.

So, the list grows.

There’s indymedia.ie, the clearaun media fora, the Family and Media Association, the government’s Broadcasting Bill econsultation trial, and the Paper Round experiment.

We’ve got bloggers looking at the media; sluggerotoole.com, blurredkeys.com (and probably some more).

Aggregates collecting media related blogs; The Community at Large, IrishElection.com, Irishblogs.com …

We’ve got a bunch of journalists who blog; list grace á blurredkeys;

and Piaras Kelly

….

and a ‘not-quite-a-blogger’, found recently, by the name of Mark Humphrys

…

and there’s been talk of a Media Cohort

…

and, of course, there’s boards.ie threads on News and Media, and filmmakersnetwork.ie.

…

no doubt, we’ll be updating this compillation fairly soon.

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The number of planned job cuts in the U.S. media soared 88% last year, according to a study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, up to 17809 layoffs, from the 9,453 that were announced in 2005. The trend is to continue, and ‘old media’ must effectively renew themselves.

Importantly, the study focuses on planned layoffs, not actual number of job cuts.

“Already this year we have seen job cuts announced by Time Inc and the New York Times Company,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “These organizations will continue to make adjustments as their focus shifts from print to electronic.”

As readers spend more time online than reading print, advertisers are readjusting their own focus, thus providing less revenue for print, thus pushing newspapers to focus even more on online, and so on.

Newspapers are in tough competition with other media and news organizations, but also with the increased number of alternative news sources and information platforms (blogs, gossip sites, consultants and analysts), according to Challenger.

“This dilutes their audience and dilutes the amount of money they can charge advertisers, which currently is the primary source of revenue for online news sites, since most are not charging subscriber fees to access their content,” Challenger said.

There is only one solution for traditional media including newspapers: transition quickly and smoothly to online and multimedia. For those who can’t embrace the change, or who don’t have the resources to sustain print while transitioning, they will continue to be forced to cut jobs.

“Until they can figure out a way to make as much money from their online services as they are losing from the print side, it is going to be an uphill battle,” said Challenger of planned cuts across the media sector.

Source: CNN, via EditorsWeblog.org

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Mr Noel Dempsey, TD and Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources today outlined the largest-ever Government investment programme in the areas of Energy, Communications and the Marine.

Communication & Broadband (€0.4bn)

• Broadband (MANS and nationwide broadband) - €435m
• Digital Terrestrial Television

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Below is a very short synopsis of some of the issues that have been posted to date. As of midday of Friday 26th the (extended) deadline for submissions has passed.

• All public service broadcasts should be free to air – Rory Conway
• There should be a definition of community radio – Ciaran Murray
• There should be a statutory requirement for radio broadcasters to reserve part of their budget for programmes made by independent radio producers – Mary Owens, AIRPI, and Doireann Ni Bhriain
• There should be 2 x ½ hour open access broadcasts in each broadcasters weekly schedule which consider whether news gathering and presentation is accurate and impartial – Patrick Murray
• UOBROIN would like to see complete independence of the BCC from broadcasters.
• Jennifer Taffe, RTÉ has made additional observations in relation to Head 45- Right of reply on issues relating to the legal and constitutional rights of journalists, programme-makers and broadcasters; that a right of reply should apply to all media; and that “undue or unnecessary protection of reputation cannot be enshrined in our legal system at the expense of full and frank discussion of matters of public interest”.
• There has been some discussion around the TV license with Kenneth Haggman, Ronan Coy and James Tierney believing that state funded broadcasting should be paid for out of taxes while Anonymous believes that being required to pay a TV license for a PC would be “a direct tax on work and a dis-incentive to have broadband”.
• David Walton, PayPoint Ireland, and Valerie Cahill agree that the TV license should be put out to tender.
• Re the focus on the audience council Pat Hannon recommends a radio feedback type programme and Jude McGovern believes that “Irish broadcast media could take a lead from the BBC re maintaining standards in content.”

Reproduced with permission from the eConsultation eModerators and the Oireachtas.
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Malaysian bloggers unite against defamation lawsuits

Malaysia’s independent news and political websites have stepped up their campaign against a pro-government newspaper that sued two bloggers for defamation, with one urging the prime minister to intervene.

The lawsuits by English-language New Straits Times were the first against Malaysian bloggers for publishing comments on the internet. Much of the traditional media in Malaysia are controlled by political parties or by the government, and the suits have raised fears that the freedom of online media may be in jeopardy.

The defamation suits were filed earlier this month against Jeff Ooi - whose ‘Screenshots’ blogs carries daily commentaries on the political situation in the country - and Ahirudin Attan, who operates ‘Rocky’s Bru,’ a similar blog. They are alleged to have defamed the newspaper and some of its current and former editors. The Times has said it is not out to shut down the blogs, but launched the suits because of the defamatory nature of the postings.

Source: - AP, International Herald Tribune, via EJC.

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David Barstow, Investigation Unit, The New York Times, 2004 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Public Service.

I think we are at a defining generational moment in journalism: a moment when we must earn again the freedoms that give us the vital space to work.

I think we, as a profession, are at a point where we must step up and pay the butcher’s price. We must step up and earn the right to report the news, without fear or favour. We must earn the right to tell the difficult stories that comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. We must earn the right — in the immortal words of “Deep Throat” — to follow the money, especially when it leads to the highest of high. And we must earn the right to question authority, challenge concentrated power and reveal uncomfortable, unpopular, even unwanted truths about the world we live in.

Past generations of journalists have paid this price in spades. In my country, I’m thinking about reporters in the 1950s who suffered brutal beatings by racist mobs to cover the Civil Rights movement. I’m thinking of reporters who gave their lives to describe our long national nightmare, Vietnam. I’m thinking about Myron Farber, another New York Times reporter who went to jail to protect a source in the 1970s. Their sacrifice and their example cleared the way for us.

It created that vital space in our culture and in our politics for tough, honest investigating reporting. Now it is our turn.
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Letter to the Editors

Since it is part of the human condition that power corrupts it makes for a healthy democracy to have an alternative government to the one in power available at each election.

The ongoing and relentless campaign of the majority of political correspondents to undermine the possibility of any alternative government to the present being offered in the next election is, therefore, pathetic. This is a fairly widespread campaign. It includes the Independent Group of papers, the so called public service broadcaster RTE, much of commercial radio and TV and some of our former imperial master’s organs of propaganda in this country such as the Daily Mail and the Sun.

This orchestrated campaign is being conducted over many years in order to limit the choice of the electorate of this democratic republic. Its net results are nearly continuous government by one party. Its modus operandi is that the coverage of political affairs is confined to obsequious interviews with the politicians in power. There is a total lack of critical analysis towards the sayings and doings of the powers that be and the fact that they use taxpayer’s money to project their image and make celebrities of themselves. The cultivation of the image of the Taoiseach is all pervading. This includes many flattering photographs, soft interviews on his doings and his family’s connection with the celebrity circuit and nearly limitless access to public service radio and TV. Most importantly this campaign is totally dedicated to the destruction of the credibility of the leadership of the main opposition parties.

It is a prostitution of the role of the media in a democracy. They are supposed to act as watchdogs by holding those in power to account on behalf of ordinary people. Instead they are deliberately attempting to undermine the democratic right of the electorate to have an alternative government available at election time.

A. Leavy
Sutton
Dublin 13

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IMRN - Seminar
Date: Friday 16 February 2007 7.30-9.00pm followed by a glass of wine

Venue: Dublin Business School, Aungier St, Dublin

Guest speaker: Anthony Fox (independent film producer, writer, actor, currently filming - “Anton“)

Adm: free

The seminar will provide the opportunity to examine and discuss the production process with a practitioner, including all aspects of research required and how problems are overcome. Specific reference and illustration will be made to Anthony’s current project “Anton.”

Have a look for other similar future events here.

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