Though governments are often to blame for controlling the media, censorship can come from a variety of societal culprits.
In many regions of the world, a journalist's personal background and place in society has a profound effect on what he/she feels comfortable publicly reporting.
In countries around the world, governments have turned to using advertising to manipulate the media: Positive coverage equals more government ads; negative coverage leads to governments pulling their ads.
According to a new study, governments in Latin America are "distributing government advertising with the aim of influencing news coverage and punishing critics."
On October 3rd, the U.S.-based Washington Post newspaper reported that the U.S. Defense Department "will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to 'engage and inspire' the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.”
Do you have an example of a journalistic work that you are very proud of? Perhaps an investigative story on your local government, a photograph that captured a beautiful or historic moment, or a video you created using new journalism tools?
If so, would you like to share it with the rest of the world?
I recently came across this interesting article on Indian media's obsession with crime, celebrities, and other social issues, as discussed at a recent seminar organized by the BBC World Service and the Mass Communication Research Center at Jamia Millia Islamia University.
The article highlights some of the issues currently facing the media in India, including a lack of rural coverage, commercial driven reporting, and widening demographic divides perpetuated by the media.
In many countries around the world, journalists put themselves at high risk each day covering stories including drug-trafficking, guerrilla groups, violence and war.
Some claim that journalists interested in covering high risk stories should not wait for government action, but instead should receive special, military-like training, such as how to identify the sound of a firing weapon when reporting.
Last week, more than 15,000 journalists from around the world traveled to the U.S. city of Denver, Colorado, to cover the four-day U.S. Democratic National Convention.
In an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, managing Web editor Justin Peters criticized the media for dispatching so many reporters to Denver, suggesting only a small number of journalists did essential reporting.
In recent years, many U.S. newspapers such as the New York Times have developed mobile sites and now put newspaper content on millions of cell phones.
In 2007, the UK's BBC Mobile reached an all time high, with 2 million monthly users. The vast majority of mobile news consumers in the UK are under 44 years old - compared to 25% for television news.
And experts say the role of mobile media is becoming more prominent in countries with a less developed IT structure.
For the past two decades, British news editors have been puzzled by the lagging number of women reading daily newspapers – measured at 41% of women in the period October 2007 to March 2008, according to Editors Weblog. A few years ago, Peter Preston of the Guardian newspaper asked, "Where have all the women gone?"
The International Olympic Committee and the Chinese government have acknowledged that reporters covering the Olympics that begin August 8 will be blocked from accessing Internet sites that Chinese authorities consider politically sensitive.
A new study has found "unique visitors" to be the most important metric of a story's traction online, but there are a number of factors journalists can note to decide if the story has been a success. How do you measure the value of your work?
Sensor journalism lets newsrooms capture and report on their own data instead of depending on governments or other sources. The growing practice raises privacy and safety concerns.
Citizen journalists help cover revolutions, offer personal takes on breaking news and tell stories that would otherwise go untold. How does this impact the role of freelance journalism?
The Romanian senate passed a law last week requiring the media to provide their audiences with 50 percent positive news. The bill’s creators say the law will help fight the harms of negative news and its effects on people’s lives.
