Tuesday 4 March 2008

Australian judge: Media should pay for retrials

The New South Wales Supreme Court is asking for new powers that would enable the court to penalise the media pay for criminal case retrials if the original trial is aborted due to news reports, The Australian reported Tuesday.

Judge Roderick Howie called for the court to be able to “make orders against a publisher for the financial consequences of publishing an article which results in the discharge of a jury even though the article does not amount to a criminal contempt.”

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Blick to begin where heute ends

Swiss free evening daily heute, published by Ringier, will be pulled off the market in June, and replaced by the free evening edition of the publisher's flagship tabloid Blick, Newspaper Innovation reported Tuesday.

Ringier is aiming to put Blick on multiple platforms, including print, online, TV and radio. The timing of switching heute for Blick is due to the Euro2008 football championship, set to take place in Switzerland and Austria in June.

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Blinkx team launches mobile photo service

Executives at online video service Blinkx will launch mobile photo blogging service NowThen in the United Kingdom today, Brand Republic reported Tuesday.

NowThen began as a tool to be used by employees to visually communicate between their U.S. and UK offices, but became so popular that developers Erin Laye and Kat Malinowska were asked to launch the service to the public.

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Number of Pakistani newspaper titles dwindle, but readership up

Although the number of newspaper and other periodical titles in Pakistan has decreased rapidly from 1997 to 2006, readership has grown, a survey conducted by the Statistical Department of Pakistan has found.

The number of newspapers and periodicals in the country dropped from 4,455 in 1997, to 1,464 in 2006. Meanwhile, total circulation of newspapers and periodicals written in all languages spoken in Pakistan was at 3,912,301 in 1997, but rose to 8,208,874 by 2006, the Daily Times reported Tuesday.

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Two California papers cut and combine staffs

The Press-Telegram and Daily Breeze, two newspapers owned by MediaNews Group Inc., will cut staff and combine their Internet, copy editing and pagination operations due to sagging ad revenue, an editor said Monday.

The move involves nine job cuts at the Daily Breeze, located in Torrance, Calif., and about 10 at the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

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Moody's raises Central European Media ratings

Moody's Investors Service raised Central European Media Enterprises Ltd.'s ratings Tuesday, citing its solid financial performance.

The corporate family rating and the ratings on its senior unsecured notes were lifted one notch in junk status to "Ba2" from "Ba3." The outlook is stable, Moody’s stated.

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Internet to outrun TV as top ad medium in Korea

Online advertisements are going to beat television advertisements beginning next year, according to Daewoo Securities Co.

Internet advertisements are expected to increase by 36.8 percent in 2008 compared to last year, making up 19.5 percent of the advertisement market. If it keeps on growing, the number of online advertisements will exceed that of television by 2009, The Korea Herald reported.

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Glasgow paper launches first wave of 12 community sites

The Glasgow Evening Times has launched 12 community Web sites today, a first wave that is planned to finish when a total of 80 community sites are up by the end of the year, covering every district in the city, HoldtheFrontPage reported Tuesday.

All of the sites will be built under the Evening Times brand, but each will be tailored for coverage on its specific district.

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