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That politicians seek to accentuate positive and play down negative news coverage is typical, usual and accepted. Among some it has become an obsession. Good coverage is great, the rest they call fake news.
A conference of various far right-wing political parties scheduled for later this month in Koblenz, Germany will have considerable news coverage. All the usual nationalist, xenophobic and anti-EU luminaries will attend with a smattering of populists and racists. The Koblenz conference is financially supported by the European Parliament (EuroParl) through its Europe of Nations and Freedoms (ENF) group.
As such, news organizations are planning to send reporters and photographers to catch-up on the latest breathless rants. Conference details are in the firm - often extended - hands of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) North Rhine-Westphalia party and its chairperson Marcus Pretzell. Last November the AfD denied all reporters to a regional meeting.
Several German news organizations have been refused accreditation to cover the event, including “all GEZ media”, meaning public broadcasters. GEZ is the acronym for the former agency responsible for collecting the household license fee. Also refused admittance are reporters from Handelsblatt, der Spiegel and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Channeling his inner Trump, Herr Pretzell took to Twitter to refer to journalists as “nasties,” reported Tagesspiegel (January 13). Apparently general coverage of press conferences will be allowed just not the speeches from infamous firebrands or meetings. (See more about press freedom here)
News directors at public television networks ARD and ZDF were not amused. “Not reporting the meeting of right-wing populist parties in Europe damages our audience,” said a joint statement, which also suggested a lawsuit to derail the ban. The controversial right-wing political congress should be widely covered, said German Journalists Association (Deutsche Journalistenverband - DJV) president Frank Überall because it is “not a private meeting in the living room.” (See more about media in Germany here)
It will “be a cosy right-wing family reunion in Koblenz without annoying media,” noted banned der Spiegel reporter Melanie Amann.
People complain about television. To the greatest extent, people complain because they watch a lot of TV. Then, too, some people just like to complain.
Clearly, TV viewers complain, when they have the opportunity, about language, nudity and the volume of ad breaks. Researchers at the University of Leicester and Birmingham City University interviewed a sample of UK and German TV watchers to discover what, exactly, viewers find offensive. The fieldwork concerned only daytime TV, news not included.
The constructs of today’s daytime TV offerings certainly grate on many but viewers also have, said the researchers, “wider issues – such as those around the construction of characters, the relative power and positions of the actors/creators behind characters and the absence and erasure of faces and issues.” (See University of Leicester presser here)
Viewers, they found, expect broadcasters and regulators “to create a media sphere which is engaging, responsible and which contributes to good outcomes for citizens.” At the same time “audiences clearly despise totalitarian censorship regimes for right reasons.”
In December UK media regulator OFCOM reported most complaints for the year for Channel Five’s reality show Celebrity Big Brother.
Exciting days they were at the turn of the century for online news outlets. Everything looked up. Times have changed.
The first independent Portuguese-language online news platform Diário Digital appeared in 1999. It closed last week as “no longer financially viable,” said editor-in-chief Pedro Curvelo, quoted by news agency Lusa (January 8). Shareholders made the decision before Christmas and waited until after New Years to deliver the verdict. (See more about media in Portugal here)
In its early years Diário Digital employed, briefly 80 staff. That was pared down to 20 in 2001. The Great Recession of 2008 took an even greater toll. "We were quite affected because we did not have the (financial) cushion that other traditional media groups had,” said Sr. Curvelo, who joined in 2000. “The newsroom started to shrink but there were no dismissals; the journalists started to go to other places.” (See more about online news here)
Seven staff remained until the end. They have been offered standard separation compensation. The company had no debt.
Online news portal Setúbal na Rede also closed this month.
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