News

By any measure American journalism is in a state of crisis. Media scams and scandals abound, embroiling journalists and their news outlets – from Jayson Blair and The New York Times to Dan Rather and CBS News – in controversy. Plagiarism, errors and outright hoaxes proliferate, along with corrections, extensive "Editor’s Notes" and eventual apologies. Partisan political operatives masquerade as...

Reuters drew a line under four years of revenue decline yesterday but saw its shares fall 7.4% after warning investors that a new growth plan will hit profits. In a double-edged announcement to the stock market, the news and financial information group reported growth in subscriptions to its data screens and said it would return £1bn to shareholders. However, the interim results statement was met...

One question I ask my students in an introductory journalism class is to define "newsworthy." After a little prodding, they usually say that a newsworthy event has an impact on the community, society or world. They might mention the war in Iraq, the Supreme Court nominee and the recent bombings in London. From there, I launch into a lecture on news values and the social-responsibility role of the...

Even as marketers have started looking at blogs seriously, the blogging environment is all set to undergo a shift. The government is mulling a set of guidelines for bloggers that includes registration for bloggers. This was shared by Vijayashankar, Secretary, Cyber Society of India, at a seminar organised by the Society and Prime Point Foundation on ‘Challenges of Cyber Crime and Cyber...

Product placement has become the cause celebre on Madison Avenue, transforming the TV advertising marketplace. But a new report shows it is a much bigger deal that has influenced virtually all forms of media, even supposedly sacrosanct print outlets such as newspapers and magazines where paid placements are that fastest growing segment of the business. Although highly controversial, the total...

Reporters Without Borders wrote to Pakistani foreign affairs minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar today voicing astonishment at the action of the authorities in refusing entry to Indian journalist Harider Baweja of the independent weekly Tehelka on her arrival at Lahore international airport (in the eastern province of Punjab) on 22 July although she had a valid seven-day visa. She was told she was...

Every so often someone asks us why we didn't have a story on such-and-such. "It was all over town, and so-and-so said it was true. He heard it from that other guy, who got it from his aunt, who heard it at coffee in the cafe. Councilman Doe is having an affair with that waitress!" Often people come to the office with tales like the one above and we check them out-if we can find something or...

It’s been a hush-hush issue for long, but now more players are openly talking about the working professional relationships that are happening out of the realm. For most channels, which do not have cross-media (radio, print etc) presence, an opportunity that is working well is a "cashless", "not on paper" tie-up with organisations with whom they have a "mutual understanding". A lot of these cross...

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the representative body of television broadcasters, got its website (ibf-india.com) recently. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Jaipal Reddy, launched website. Asked on the objective behind launching the website, Naresh Chahal, Director, Finance, IBF, said, "The website has been launched just to give proper information related to the...

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of The Statesman, Cushrow Russy Irani, 74, passed away on July 23 in Kolkata, bringing to an end his 37-year innings at the helm of one of the country’s pioneering English dailies as well as an exemplary saga of fearless journalism. A lawyer by training, Irani joined The Statesman as its Managing Director in 1968 after having worked in the insurance sector. He took...