Newsworthiness

MONTEVIDEO, Nov 22 (IPS) - How can problems like poverty, education, health, the environment and gender equality make it to the front pages of newspapers or onto radio and TV newscasts? When put to journalists, the question tends to elicit a long litany of complaints of the difficulties they face in reporting on issues that the media do not consider "newsworthy". The role of the media in providing...

United States media organisations are now skewering President George Bush over his case for ousting Saddam Hussein, but few questioned the pro-war juggernaut in the run-up to battle. Now, with the White House's once-feared public-relations machine misfiring, Bush's approval ratings plumbing their lowest depths and US troops still dying in foreign fields, many commentators and journalists are...

Yahoo Inc has unveiled a deal to distribute media, gadgets, and political gossip blogs from Gawker Media. Yahoo will post "dozens" of stories per day from blogs including New York-media gossip blog Gawker, US political gossip-focused Wonkette, Hollywood insider's guide Defamer and popular technology blog Gizmodo. "Launching on Yahoo News with stories from five of Gawker Media's most well-known...

Meddlers or defenders of the truth? Schoolboy tell-tales or readers’ champions; heroes or villains? Readers’ editors are controversial figures, but their influence in European newspapers is growing, with the US-born trend spreading to the UK and beyond. But do they actually help newspapers to do their job better, or are they a hindrance to good old-fashioned journalism? Life in the newsroom used...

Chances are you may die dozens of deaths at the hands of ever alert 'Breaking News' channels — yes, sure 24x7 — if you are a VIP or VVIP hours or days before doctors certify your death. Former President of India KR Narayanan was not treated any differently by the over-enthusiastic media, which killed him in broad daylight on November 9, 2005 on bulletin after bulletin, scroll after scroll, when he...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has warned that France's imposition of a 12-day state of emergency and night-time curfews to curb street violence in major cities could lead to restrictions on press and media coverage of disturbances across the country. "These draconian rules will undermine the work of journalists and make an already difficult reporting environment even worse,"...

As more details about the Amman bombings emerge, the corporate media has gone into heavy-duty spin mode to shape events to the liking of the Bushcons and the Israelis. For instance, on the day of the bombing (November 9), Reuters reported that the bombs at the Radisson were "placed in a false ceiling," a rather difficult operation in a busy hotel and demonstrating the fact the bombers, who we are...

When it comes to Americans' reliance upon news, what's "new and hot" is not the choice for many consumers, business executives and Washington insiders, according to the findings of a survey developed jointly by Harris Interactive and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Foundation. The survey, titled "Executive, Congressional and Consumer Attitudes Toward Media, Marketing and the Public...

Nearly half the people in the United States believe the press is unfair to the Bush Administration, according to a Pew Research Centre survey. In fact, an increasing number of Americans believe the press is "too critical of the administration". Republican perceptions of press coverage of Bush have changed dramatically. Just a quarter of Republicans think news organisations are treating the Bush...

PARIS The banners and bullhorns of protest are being replaced in volatile French neighborhoods by mobile phone messages and Skyblog, a Web site hosting messages inflammatory enough to prompt three criminal prosecutions this week. Police officials are saying that youths have coordinated local arson attacks using mobile phone messages, and have arrested three people for comments on the online...