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Week ending April 19, 2008
An international conference on press freedom in China called on Chinese
authorities to honour their Olympic pledge to respect human rights and press
freedom and to release all jailed journalists.
More than 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are being held in prisons
in China, the world's largest jailer of journalists. The call for their
release was made by the "Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom"
conference, which was co-organised by the World Association of Newspapers,
the World Press Freedom Committee, the Committee to Protect Journalists,
Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights in China, Asia Presse and the Knight
Foundation.
More than 10,000 athletes will be going to Beijing for the Summer Olympics
in August. Thirty thousand foreign journalists will be covering it all three journalists for every athlete.
Chinese authorities promised in their successful Olympic bid that media
would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China." The
authorities have not only failed to honour their pledge, but they have
intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise
their right to freedom of expression. Foreign journalists now reporting from
China in the run up to the Olympics are regularly harassed and even
expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet.
And conditions are even worse for Chinese journalists themselves: 31 have
been jailed since the successful Olympic bid in 2001, and 16 of those remain
in prison half of all Chinese journalists currently in prison.
The two-day conference, which ended Saturday, called on Chinese authorities
to respect their pledges to improve human rights and press freedom
conditions, and for the International Olympic Committee and others in the
international community to press them to do so.
"I'm not sure that when China thought about the Games, they considered all
the implications of 30,000 journalists descending on their doorstep. It's
going to be a challenge," said Steve Wilson, European Sports Editors for The
Associated Press, one of the speakers at the conference, which was organised
to help journalists understand what to expect when covering China and the
Olympics.
"The journalists won't just be interested in the beach volleyball gold medal
winner. They will be as interested in the things outside the field of play
as inside what the average Chinese citizen thinks about the Olympics, how
it effects change in China," he said.
Paul Steiger, Chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said: "Neither
China nor the International Olympic Committee have fulfilled the commitment
that media would be free for the Games. China has moved away from fulfilling
it. Chinese journalist face tighter than usual restrictions slapped on their
reporting."
Mr Steiger said the IOC had rejected CPJ's entreaties to press China to
honour its Olympic press freedom commitments. "Lately, that tone has begun
to change," he said, noting that IOC President Jacques Rogge said earlier
this month that China should honour their "moral engagement" and improve
human rights.
Per Toien, Chief of Information for the Norwegian Olympic Committee, said
the change might have been brought about because "the very brand of the IOC
itself is at stake."
The Norwegian Committee, which has conducted briefings for its athletes with
media and human rights groups, believes "the fact that China wants to show
their country in a perfect light is an opportunity for human rights," he
said. "This will be a floodlight, not a spotlight, on conditions in China."
Speakers were generally pessimistic about China's desire and ability to
improve press freedom conditions, as it promised, before the Games. They
also offered some practical advice for those who will be going to Beijing.
For example, local production assistants, translators, and helpers could be
in short supply because of the dangers of arrest they face for helping
foreign journalists write about sensitive stories. "This could be a major
issue during the Olympic Games," said Vincent Brossel, Head of the Asia Desk
for Reporters Without Borders.
Mr Brossel said Chinese authorities will encourage journalists to go through
official channels to get helpers, "but if you want to work independently,
you shouldn't do this," he said.
A Chinese journalist jailed for her reporting told a conference in Paris
today (Friday) that press freedom and human rights have worsened in China
and that conditions for journalists in the run-up to the Olympics are
"considerably more catastrophic" than they were when she was arrested 15
years ago.
"Freedom of the press and human rights constitute the most serious problem
currently facing China," said Gao Yu, who was arrested in 1993 and sentenced
to six years in prison for sending two articles on current affairs to a Hong
Kong review. She was charged with "divulging state secrets", a catch-all
charge often used by Chinese authorities to stifle independent reporting and
dissent.
Ms Gao, speaking at the "Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom"
conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and a
coalition of leading press freedom groups, said she too is an Olympic
victim. Her arrest came weeks after China's failed bid to host the 2000
Olympics. It was her second jail term; she had previously served a 15-month
sentence in 1989 for her coverage of the Beijing democracy movement.
She compared her case to that of Hu Jia, a human rights campaigner and
citizen journalist who was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this
month. "As the Olympic Games approach, this case demonstrates in a terribly
emblematic fashion the position of the Communist Party in confrontation with
freedom of expression," she said. "It also shows the riposte of the Chinese
authorities to the demands of the international community."
Despite promises of reform made ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese
authorities have not only failed to respect them, but they have intensified
their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right
to freedom of expression. Foreign journalists now reporting from China in
the run up to the Olympics are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was
the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet. This violates the Organising
Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games pledge that foreign media would have
"complete freedom to report when they come to China".
Ms Gao, the 1995 laureate of the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom and the first
laureate, in 1997, of UNESCO's World Press Freedom Prize, said: "At the
approach of the Olympic Games, all Chinese who have suffered oppression hope
to be able to utilise the occasion to seek justice; the international
community hopes that the Chinese government will improve the situation of
the press and human rights in line with the promise made in 2001.
"But the Chinese authorities see these internal and external pressures as
'politisation of the Olympic Games. Unhappily, counterattacking against
these criticisms by repressing the freedom of the press only underlines this
contradiction."
The two-day conference in Paris, which ends Saturday, was organised to alert
journalists, particularly sports journalists, to the press freedom
conditions they should expect to encounter in China for the 2008 Olympics.
The conference spotlights the situation of the press in China and highlights
the conditions under which foreign journalists work.
"The experience of China and the Olympics is, in fact, yet one more example
of the terrible naivety and short-sightedness of those in leadership of our
governments, our sports organisations and our businesses as they deal with
repressive regimes like the one in place in Beijing," said Timothy Balding,
CEO of WAN, who opened the session featuring Ms Gao.
"History, if nothing else, amply demonstrates that dictators do not
voluntarily and spontaneously give up power, do not loosen the chains, do
not remove the gags, after sudden illumination and conversion to belief in
freedom and other human rights. They do so when they are forced to,
generally through a combination of intense internal opposition and dissent,"
he said.
Responding to the Commission’s Communication on the Application of State Aid Rules to Public Service Broadcasting, the EPC has issued a news release welcoming the review of rules for Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) and calling for radical changes in order to protect the future viability of commercial media.
In the press statement, Francisco Pinto Balsemão was quoted as saying: “Long established public service broadcasters in Europe have expanded hugely with public funds – and in some cases with the unfair advantages and distorting effects of advertising revenues too. But today’s PSBs are producing products little different from their commercial competitors and with only a handful of services which could truly be described as public service broadcasting”.
Mr Balsemão added that: “The publicly funded broadcasters have expanded beyond their ability to maintain broadcasting standards which critics can respect. Public Service Broadcasting was “good while it lasted” but is no longer serving the public interest.”
Following years of distortion of competition from publicly funded broadcasters on the TV market, commercial media companies now face the un-regulated colonising of the internet and mobile market from PSBs. This poses a major challenge to commercial media as governments continue to confer unrivalled funding and unparalleled protection and promotion of their legacy public service broadcasters across media market.
Mr Balsemão warned that “The impact of high expenditure by PSBs on the development of online publishing is profound. It restricts commercial growth, reduces the potential size and diversity of the commercial market and deters new entrants.
“Publicly funded broadcasters follow the trends set by the private sector but from an unequal position and with distorting effects. The Communication must address the question of how to define a public service, establish criteria for assessing what is of value to the consumer and work out appropriate levels of funding to achieve this objective without distorting or damaging the private sector and without stifling the growth of the media sector. Fair competition, a competitive European media and consumer choice are all at stake.”
The EPC’s key messages are as follows:
1. Advertising:
It is possible and indeed desirable to prohibit access to advertising and sponsorship revenues for any part of a service covered by a public service remit. This would go a long way towards removing distortions in those markets where dual funding already exists, and protect those markets where publicly funded broadcasters are exploring possibilities of introducing advertising to parts of their new media offers, particularly the internet.
2. Funding
The funding of PSB should be restricted to purely public service activities, according to clearly defined remits. Long-established PSBs in Europe - with a reputation based largely on a remarkable past performance, have expanded hugely thanks to public funds and in some cases with the help of advertising revenues. This is no longer justified.
3. Remit
Member States appear to have extended their remits for PSB to cover whatever they fancy to be public service activities with little or no regard for the market impact of extending their reach beyond traditional PSB. This needs to be addressed urgently.
4. Regulation
Independent regulation is essential but sadly lacking across the EU. EPC believes you must start from the point of first principle of defining what the public service remit can incorporate. Once the remit has been defined, clear ex ante evaluation of requests for expansion to new media should be established together with criteria for ex ante market impact assessment by competition authorities/independent regulators.
5. Definitions
A clear distinction between publicly funded and commercial activities requires major clarification. This is the only basis upon which public funding can be properly assessed and investment decisions made by the private sector.
Unlike the early days of traditional broadcasting, rooted in spectrum scarcity, there is no need for pioneering, state-subsidised semi-monopolies to make the heavy investment necessary to ensure the growth of new media markets. On the contrary, new media markets and their customers will benefit from the very opposite architecture: a wide diversity of suppliers, unrestrained by unfair competition from any dominant, state funded player.
The Internet must absolutely not be defined as broadcasting. The Internet is naturally an extension of the publishing business model. Furthermore, there needs to be a fair and open market for the development of e-commerce without the distorting effects of state aid.
Digital TV growth is fuelling staff turnover in broadcast sector
A major new research study from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that staff turnover in the global TV industry reached new heights in 2007, with almost a third (31.3%) of the sector’s staff changing their job during the year. This compares to 29.8% in 2006 and is higher than the previous record year of 1997, when 31.1% staff turnover was recorded.
The research found some significant differences between job categories and industry sub-sectors. The ‘elite’ category for the industry’s most senior executives had the lowest turnover rate – but at 21.3% it remained at a significant level. The ‘intermediate’ category, which includes administration staff and junior executives, recorded the highest rate of turnover – at 38%.
Amongst the business sectors, the ‘Networks & Channels’ category experienced the highest level of turnover, with 35.1% of staff leaving their position in 2007. The industry’s ‘Technology Providers’ reported the slowest rate of change – at 19.8%.
Adam Thomas, Media Research Manager at Informa, said: “As always, there have been a wide variety of reasons for people changing jobs. The headhunting of rising stars has continued as normal, although we have also seen some more unusual examples, including those of Peter Fincham and Stephen Lambert, who were high profile casualties of the Crowngate affair, while Dawn Airey was tripped up by the Iostar debacle.”
Thomas added: “But more generally the changes seem to have been prompted by the increasing rise of digital TV. Some 60 million homes worldwide changed from analogue to digital during 2007. This unprecedented level of transformation leaves the broadcast industry desperate for expertise across the business; whether it be technical skills for technology providers, or creative brilliance to help fill the increasing number of digital channels that need compelling content to outshine their competitors.”
Staff turnover rates by job type (2007)
| |
Elite |
Senior Executive |
Executive |
Business Heads |
Managerial |
Intermediate |
Total |
| Producers |
16.0% |
28.5% |
27.9% |
23.4% |
24.5% |
32.2% |
26.3% |
| Distributors |
24.0% |
36.6% |
31.7% |
31.9% |
31.4% |
41.4% |
33.8% |
| Technology Providers |
13.1% |
17.6% |
19.8% |
17.6% |
18.9% |
25.9% |
19.8% |
| Networks & Channels |
24.9% |
31.1% |
31.8% |
35.1% |
36.7% |
41.5% |
35.1% |
| Pay TV Platforms |
19.2% |
31.0% |
27.6% |
33.3% |
30.8% |
38.6% |
31.5% |
| Others |
17.7% |
25.7% |
27.2% |
24.2% |
31.0% |
37.9% |
29.0% |
| Total |
21.3% |
28.8% |
28.8% |
30.7% |
31.8% |
38.0% |
31.3% |
Note: Based upon movements amongst 11,960 TV executives worldwide
Source: Informa Telecoms & Media
The study also found some significant differences between regions. Specifically, the research shows that the most developed countries experienced higher turnover rates – with North America highest at 35.3%, followed by Western Europe at 34.3%. The least developed regions of Africa and the Middle East reported the lowest rates of turnover, at 21.2% and 23.5% respectively.
Staff turnover rates by location (2007)
| |
Africa |
Asia Pacific |
Eastern Europe |
Latin America |
Middle East |
North America |
Western Europe |
| Producers |
13.2% |
24.3% |
27.3% |
24.1% |
23.7% |
28.5% |
33.5% |
| Distributors |
22.5% |
32.1% |
38.2% |
32.4% |
19.3% |
39.8% |
38.2% |
| Technology Providers |
13.9% |
17.8% |
19.8% |
18.0% |
19.8% |
23.8% |
21.9% |
| Networks & Channels |
23.4% |
38.2% |
35.1% |
35.1% |
25.1% |
39.2% |
37.5% |
Pay TV Platforms
|
25.2% |
34.7% |
23.6% |
31.5% |
15.8% |
36.8% |
33.9% |
| Others |
22.8% |
37.1% |
22.0% |
25.1% |
21.8% |
38.7% |
36.3% |
| Total |
21.2% |
33.0% |
29.1% |
30.8% |
23.5% |
35.3% |
34.3% |
Note: Based upon movements amongst 11,960 TV executives worldwide
Source: Informa Telecoms & Media
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