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Turkish Prime Minister calls for EU membership, affirms commitment to press freedom at World Newspaper Congress

From Agence France Presse, reporting at the World Newspapers Congress and the World Editors Forum: "ISTANBUL, May 31 (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan on Monday vigorously called for his country's entry into the European Union as well as for freedom of expression, at an international newspaper conference. 'Today Turkey is more qualified, better prepared than others' before their membership of the European Union, he told the opening session here of the annual World Newspaper Congress.

"Turkey did not see the 25-strong bloc as an economic union but as a chance to develop 'values of civilisations' oriented towards peace, he said.

"Some 1,300 delegates from 88 countries are attending the congress until Wednesday.

"Erdogan also insisted on Turkey's efforts to ensure freedom of expression, especially in the media. A bill is currently being prepared on the issue.

"Meeting newspaper editors later, he said he did not want to see people jailed for expressing themselves. Reform to free up the press was one of the most important achieved since he took up his post, he added.

"President of the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers, Seok Hyun Hong, of South Korea, directed comments at the Turkish prime minister, saying
it was for the Turkish people to judge if he had kept his promises.

"He added '...but I must nevertheless recognise the major advances achieved in the area of the freedom of expression'.

"'Turkey has made large steps for the respect of human rights but that does not mean that we are fully satisfied,' he added.

"Turkey, a formal EU candidate since 1999, is eagerly waiting for the green light to begin membership talks with the bloc when EU leaders meet in December this year to assess the country's progress in democracy and human rights."

Souce: Agence France Presse

Building a "better-informed society" through new technology

At the World Editors Forum today, Andrew Nachison and Dale Peskin (biographies below), Co-Directors, Media Center at the American Press Institute, modeled the digital future of the newspaper industry. Through research, seminars and symposia, the Media Center has been creating models for "the visible future -- the things we know are happening, and how things are emerging," said Mr. Peskin. The goal is simple but ambitious: "to build a better-informed society," said Mr. Nachison.

In creating these models, they've come up with three propositions. The first is called the "know-trust network" -- a personal community where informal networks are exchanging news, information and conversation. "They
are becoming the principle means of learning and discovery," said Mr. Peskin and they could eclipse traditional media.

The second is referred to a digital everything. "All news and information will need to be virtual, digital and mobile," he said.

And the third proposition is the power of an individual person. "The individual -- not large institutions, will exert unprecedented power," he said.

Currently, the Media Center is focusing on convergence strategies -- which they call "emergence" as new media forms arise. And they are also examining strategies for mobile devices.

Since 2000, Andrew Nachison has set the course and steered the educational programs of The Media Center, a non-profit research and educational think tank committed to building a better-informed society in a connected world. The Media Center is an affiliate of the American Press Institute. Nachison is The Media Center?s chief teacher and leader, and he learned from remarkable teachers: the art of fiction from novelist Frank McCourt and computer programming from BASIC inventor John Kemeney.

Previously, Nachison worked as new media manager for the Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World, as a visiting faculty member at the Indiana University School of Journalism and as a reporter and editor for The Associated Press. He also founded Nach Media, a digital media consulting firm, and has written on various topics for The New York Times, Audubon, Computerworld and other magazines.

Nachison has played clarinet at Carnegie Hall, published one short fiction story, written many others (some available at nach.com), studied environmental policy in Kenya, spoken on media convergence and business strategies in Asia and Europe and currently serves on the board of the World Editor?s Forum in Paris. He majored in philosophy at Dartmouth College. He lives with his wife and two sons in Reston, Virginia.

Dale Peskin is co-director of The Media Center at the American Press Institute, where he specializes in strategies and research for new media. He previously served as executive director of New Directions for News, the news industry think-tank that explores innovation in media, and critical issues impacting the future of news.

Prior to joining The Media Center, Peskin served as vice president of Belo, the Dallas-based media company, and was a founding officer of its interactive media subsidiary, Belo Interactive. He joined Belo as editor for online media at The Dallas Morning News, where he developed the newspaper?s website, Dallasnews.com. As editor of Dallasnews.com in 1998, The Dallas Morning News was the first major news organization to break a significant, investigative story on the Internet. Peskin and The Dallas Morning News were awarded the Digital Edge Award for Pioneering Online Journalism.

He formerly served as Deputy Managing Editor of The Detroit News, where he won more than 100 awards, including four Gold Medals from the Society for News Design. Earlier in his career, Peskin served a managing editor of The Tribune Chronicle in Warren, O., and as deputy managing editor of The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, NY.

Peskin is a graduate of Youngstown State University and the executive program at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is married to Mary Peskin, former design director of The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. They have three children.

Was Warren Buffett right when he said U.S. newspapers weren't a good investment?

At the World Newspaper Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, which is running concurrently with the World Editors Forum, there has been discussion of comments made last month by investor Warren Buffett, who said the newspaper business is going to deteriorate. Brendan Hopkins, the CEO of APN News & Media, which is Australasia’s largest regional newspaper, radio and outdoor advertising group, had an interesting reaction -- he says Buffet singled out US newspapers and that innovations elsewhere in the world are keeping the business strong. Here is what he had to say at the Congress:

"Some of you may have read comments made by legendary investor Warren Buffett after the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting last month - Berkshire owns 18 percent of the Washington Post and the Buffalo News.

"Buffett said, 'the economics of newspapers in the United States are very close to certain to deteriorate over the next 10 to 20 years.' This would be due to increased competition for advertising dollars from other media. Now,
you ignore Warrent Buffett at your peril. But I think it is relevant that he singled out United States newspapers, which in general have not kept pace with the product developments being seen elsewhere in the world. US
newspaper houses must innovate to survive."

"Editors' jobs become more important" with blogs

During the debate following session 1 of the World Editor's Forum today, Mr. Dean Wright, Editor-in-Chief and Vice President, MSBNC.com (see biography below), and Mr Jean-Louis Cebrián, Chief Executive Officer of PRISA Group and EL PAÍS (see biography below), agreed that the newspaper "editor's role becomes more important" in a new media environment in which news can be produced and disseminated through online means such as blogs. Mr Cebrián welcomed blogging and said he sees no obstacle to the emergence of these new forms of media, as long as editors still play an active role in monitoring and directing content.

Jean-Louis Cebrián, Chief Executive Officer of PRISA Group and EL PAÍS: In 1976, Jean-Louis Cebrián became the founding Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper EL PAIS, which began publishing in May of that year. IN 1988, Cebrián was named Chief Executive Officer of EL PAÍS and the PRISA GROUP and Vice Chairman of the Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión (SER ), the positions he holds today. From 1989 until 1999, he was Vice-Chairman of SOGECABLE. Cebrián served as Chairman of the International Press Institute from 1986 to 1988.

Prior to the birth of EL PAIS, Cebrián was a founding member of the magazine Cuadernos para el Di?logo and a Senior Editor at the newspaper Pueblo until December 1967. In 1968 he joined the newspaper Informaciones as a Senior Editor and was named Assistant Editor in Chief there in 1969. In 1974, Cebrián was named Director of News Programming at the Spanish television's main channel.

Cebrián is the author of 13 books, including several novels, political studies and a portrait of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He was born in Madrid in 1944 and educated there at the El Pilar School. In 1963, he graduated from the Official Spanish Journalism School. Under the auspices of a grant from the Juan March Foundation, Cebrián also took journalism courses in France and Great Britain. He is a scholar of Philosophy and Humanities at the Complutense University of Madrid. Cebrián is married and the father of six sons.

Dean Wright serves as Editor-in-Chief of MSNBC.com, a leader in breaking news and original journalism on the Internet. He returned to MSNBC.com from AOL Time Warner, where he served as Senior Director of Programming Integration for America Online. In that post, Wright helped direct the integration into AOL of editorial content from Time, Inc. magazines. He also served as Senior Director, Programming and Promotions for Netscape/AOL Web Properties and helped lead the company’s effort to transform Netscape’s browser into a media website.

Wright spent four years at MSNBC.com as Managing Editor for News, helping launch MSNBC.com into the Web's No. 1 news destination by developing the site's original reporting, including coverage of the 1998 elections, the impeachment crisis and the 2000 presidential primary campaigns.

Before his first tenure at MSNBC.com, Wright worked as a reporter and supervisor at the Associated Press Washington Bureau. Over the prior 20 years, Wright held a range of editorial positions at leading metropolitan dailies, including the The Baltimore Sun, The Louisville Courier-Journal, The Kansas City Star and The San Jose Mercury News, one of the nation?s first newspapers to go online. Wright began his journalism career in Canada and worked for a number of newspapers there, including The Albertan, The London Free Press and The Toronto Star.

Wright lives with his wife in Redmond, WA

Arab journalists speak candidly at World Editors Forum

Here are some quotes from Arab journalists who spoke yesterday at the World Editor's Forum in Istanbul: "The Arab press is free to publish any news except news about the country they are in." Daoud Kuttab, Founder of AmmanNet, Jordan

"Which Arab reader is satisfied with the news they read? The answer is, none of them," Said Essoulami, Director of the Centre for Media Freedom in the Middle East and North Africa

"Why do they think the press is so dangerous? Why do governments think it is important to restrict the press? Why do they make us an enemy? Why don't they make us partners -- partners against corruption, partners against administrative ineffeciency." Walid Al-Saqqaf, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Yemen Times

“Blogging will evolve to become mainstream”

“Blogging will evolve to become mainstream,” said Ansssi Vanjoki (biography below), Executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia, Nokia, at the 11th World Editors Forum today. "Blogging will change the way people store and share information and news with others, whether it be at the personal or professional level," he said. The simplicity of blogging tools combined with professional capabilities of the weblog programs allow professionals and non-professionasl to publish, dialogue and react on the internet today, and perhaps on mobile phones tomorrow, Mr. Vanjoki explained. The new generation of handsets proposed by the mobile industry in the next few weeks will make it possible for blogs to be updates on the go, and will be critical to the revolution of reporting and publishing, Mr. Vanjoki stated.

As Executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia, Nokia, Anssi Vanjoki heads a business group offering devices and content for bringing mobile multimedia to consumers in the form of images, games, music and a range of other content. A highly respected brand authority with over 20 years of marketing experience, Vanjoki has been a driving force in Nokia's efforts to address mobile markets. Vanjoki joined Nokia in 1991 and was named Vice President of Sales, Nokia Mobile Phones, before his promotion in 1994 to Senior Vice President of Nokia Mobile Phones Europe and Africa. In 1998 he was made Executive Vice President of Nokia Mobile Phones Europe and Africa and became a member of the Group Executive Board of Nokia. In 1999, Vanoki took responsibility for Nokia's Digital Convergence Unit and in 2002, he headed up the Business Unit Management. He was appointed to his present position on January 1, 2004.

Prior to joining Nokia, Vanjoki held a variety of management positions at 3M Corporation and from 2001 to 2003 was a member of the Governing Committee of the European Foundation for Quality Management. He is a Knight, 1st Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

Vanjoki was born in 1956 in Helsinki, Finland and holds a master's degree in economics from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration. He is married and has three children. In his spare time, Vanjoki enjoys basketball and is a member of Finland's Harley Davidson owners' club. He also likes to spend time in the countryside with his family.

"Every citizen is a reporter," states OhMyNews founder Oh Yeon Ho

At the 11th World Editors Forum today, Mr. Oh Yeon Ho, CEO and Founder of OhmyNews said goodbye to 20th century journalism and invited everyone to the 21st century, in which “Every citizen is a reporter.” His online publication, OhMyNews, based in South Korea, has offered its readers since 2000 a new media proposition : to become active readers in an environment where every citizen is a (potential) reporter. In a south Korean market where (mobile & broadband) internet penetration is 75 %, online technologies give citizens the unique opportunity to produce OhMyNews' content. The intent of blurring the line between contributor and consumer is to "change the world together," Mr. Ho said.

Everyday, Korean citizens send OhMyNews their articles, photos, videos. The OhMyNews publishing team then selects, organizes and edits the most important news to post on the website's front page. In 2003, the site was ranked the sixth most influential Korean media outlet in the annual Sisa Journal Survey.

Fresh out of school, Oh joined Mahl, a liberal Korean monthly magazine, as a staff reporter. He continued his work at Mahl until 1999 as Chief-of-Staff. From March 1995 through October 1997, he worked in the United States as Mahl's correspondent in Washington, D.C.

Six years before AP correspondents were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their report on No Gun Ri massacre by American soldiers during the Korean War, Oh conducted comprehensive interviews with the survivors and reported the in-depth story for Mahl.

Oh was born in 1964 in Gokseong, a peaceful riverside town located in the southern part of South Korea. He graduated from Yonsei University in 1988 with a degree in Korean literature. He earned a master's degree in journalism from Regent University in 1998 and is currently preparing for a doctoral degree in mass-communication at Sogang University in Seoul.

Oh has published a number of independent books and collections of his experiences in South Korean journalism over the past ten years. He currently lives in Seoul with his wife and two children.

Tukish Prime Minister defends rights record at World Editors Forum

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said in a meeting with world editors Monday that he was confident that Turkey would be allowed to begin the European Union membership process in December and that he would continue to implement press freedom and human rights reforms. "We've made a package of reforms in our legislation in cooperation with the Copenhagen resolutions and we are on our way to implementing those reforms," he told editors from dozens of countries who are meeting at the World Editors Forum in Istanbul. "If you ask me, we should be able to join."

Asked about the possibility that the EU would refuse to consider Turkey for membership, he said there was no reason to consider the possibility. He said reform legislation is in place and that implementation would follow. "There are even countries that are full members struggling with these (reform) problems," he said. "Turkey is already more advanced."

Mr Erdogan earlier opened the 57th World Newspaper Congress and 11th World Editors Forum, the global meetings of the world's press organised by the
World Association of Newspapers. More than 1,300 publishers, chief editors, managing directors and other senior newspaper executives are in Istanbul
through Wednesday for the events.

The Prime Minister made his comments in a meeting with members of the World Editors Forum, the organisation within WAN that represents senior newsroom
executives worldwide. Its flagship event is the annual conference now underway.

Paraguay: Journalists denounce corruption in profession

From the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: Last week, we posted a piece by Claude-Jean Bertrand about black Africa's free press. Bertrand argued that newspapers in wealthy nations should "adopt" African papers and help foster quality journalism on the continent - which could in turn lead to fewer famines and political upheavals in developing countries. Remember what economist Amartya Sen said on World Press Freedom Day - famines and free presses never coexist. Now, news from Paraguay reminds us that a free press is hindered not just by explicit government crackdowns, jailings and violence, but also by economic factors. According to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, "(Paraguayan) journalists named the government and organized crime as main sources of pressure. Participants said the criminals offer reporters 'presents' to persuade them not to publish information, the newspapers reported. And many journalists work simultaneously for government institutions, due in part to low salaries, they said."

So this week then, both the Paraguayan and the American press had something to apologize for. After reading about the challenges faced by journalists in Paraguay and watching the American press beat itself up over self-inflicted lax reporting on Bush's weapons of mass destruction claims, it's difficult not to be frustrated. But I think the soul-searching going on at the New York Times is reminding the American journalism community to take advantage of its precious ability to question and criticize the powerful. It's an economic and political right not every journalism has.

Source: The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas

Guardian site to expand RSS Services

From Dot Journalism: Here at the Editors' Web Blog, we've been transitioning to a great new way to keep up to date on the news - RSS, or Real Simple Syndiaction. With RSS, it is possible to view all the latest headlines from your favorite websites in one window, through news feeds provided by the sites themselves. Individuals or businesses can sign up to receive the feeds by clicking on a site's XML link. More and more newspapers are reaching internet users in this way and now, according to Dot Journalism, the Guardian will be using XML to stream not only main page headlines, but also feeds from specific sections of the online edition. The Guardian asks consumers to pay for the XML feeds, but other papers and news aggregator type sites are providing the service for free.

Source: Dot Journalism