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Big publisher Mafra is getting bigger. The company announced this week it is acquiring Czech and Slovak assets of big German media house Bauer Media, first reported by Czech public TV (October 9). That will include a bunch of nifty magazines like Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Top Gear. The transaction does not include Bauer Media’s Slovak radio station Radio Express or the online sales house NetBrokers that operates on both countries.
Mafra is owned by big Czech conglomerate Agrofert, which is currently held in trust as it is owned by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis. The transaction will require the blessings of anti-trust authorities. Financial considerations were not disclosed. (See more about media mergers and acquisitions here)
In the Czech Republic Mafra already owns newspapers DNES and Metro, with associated web sites, top rated national radio channel Radio Impuls and music TV channel Ocko. In Slovakia Mafra publishes several titles including the business magazine Stratégie, plus various websites. (See more about media in the Czech Republic here) (See more about media in Slovakia here)
“The forthcoming ownership change should not affect the normal operation of the individual titles and the work of the people who form them,” said Mafra chairman Stepan Kosik, quoted by Slovak media portal omediach.com (October 9). “On the contrary, we believe that in conjunction with the current position of Mafra in other segments of the publishing market we will be able to further develop and increase their value for readers and also our business partners.”
News agencies: There are a slew of them. Most people know the iconic brand names; Reuters, AFP, DPA, AP. Others are known locally and serve a variety of clients.
There are a quite few in Italy. “There are too many in Italy, but they know it,” said Undersecretary of State for publishing Vito Crimi to a Five Star Movement event in Milan, reported Huffington Post Italia (October 7). “I hope at the beginning of next year we will begin to look at what the future of news agencies will be. Certainly there is much to do.”
ANSA is the largest and best known news agency in Italy. It is a cooperative of major Italian publishers and, like other news agencies, receives state funding. Both the populist Five Star Movement and right-wing La Lega party are tackling something of a financial crisis and looking for any corner to cut. Leaders of the major parties in the ruling coalition, unsurprisingly, have railed about news coverage.
The Five Star Movement also supports deregulating professional statutes. “Today there are a thousand professions that must be freed because journalism today is not just the traditional one,” added Sr Crimi, quoted by giornalistitalia.it (October 7), giving no further details. (See more about media in Italy here)
Global news agency AFP (Agence France-Presse) chief executive Fabrice Fries announced last week a workforce reduction of 125 jobs over the next five years, all through attrition. “We must reduce our costs,” he said, quoted by OZAP (October 5). “This plan is obviously difficult, but essential.”
All news agencies, certainly, are concerned about every revenue stream. And most pay particular attention to branding. Bloomberg lawyers inserted particularly direct language on “deviating content,” reported the Guardian (October 8), in a licensing agreement with Saudi Research and Marketing Group, principally controlled by Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Culture. Stipulations include Bloomberg retaining control of social media accounts associated with the Arabic-language business information venture, called Bloomberg Asharq.
Near the town of Ruse in northeast Bulgaria on Saturday (October 7) 30 year old Viktoria Marinova was brutally raped, beaten “beyond recognition” and strangled. She had worked for local television station TVN as administrative director, a job she started in March. Recently she began hosting a weekly talk show called Detector.
Her first and last show was Sunday, September 30th. It featured two investigative reporters, Dimitar Stoyanov of Bivol.bg and Attila Biro of the Rise Project based in Romania. They described their work on public procurement fraud and misuse of European Union (EU) funds. Both had been detained by Bulgarian police after their reports were published. Her murder is the third of media workers associated with corruption investigations in the last 12 months in an EU country. (See more about media in Bulgaria here)
The investigation is far from complete. It may or may not lead to corrupt individuals. If so this murder will have eery similarities with the killing of Malta investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia a year ago and Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancé in February, both investigating official corruption. “The perpetrator will be revealed in a matter of time,” said Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov, quoted by bTV (October 7). (See more about investigative reporting here)
Even if not, it is certainly an act of extreme depravity against a women working in media. Bulgarian online news portal Bivol.bg (October 8) suggested a Facebook stalker had posted direct threats.
At a brief press gaggle, reported by Dnevnik (October 8), chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov and home secretary Mladen Marinov repeated that no version of the crime has been excluded and “none is leading.” They asked reporters for restraint. The story has eclipsed all others in Bulgarian media.
Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) 2018 Press Freedom Index ranked Bulgaria 111th, worst in the European Union. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Ms Marinova is the 44th media worker murdered this year.
The disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last week and the presumption of his demise have drawn considerable news coverage. He is the former chief editor of Al Arab News TV channel and an op-ed contributor to the Washington Post. He has been a frequent speaker on Gulf and Middle East issues and regular critic of the Saudi royal family, particularly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
What is known is that he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey (October 2) to retrieve documents for his upcoming marriage. His fiancé. who waited near the building, said he never came out. Saudi consular officials said he left later that evening. Still and all, he has not been seen since.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the episode “upsetting” and is “personally” following the case, reported Reuters (October 7). The Turkish government’s track record of jailing critical media workers is well known. The 2018 Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) Press Freedom Index ranked Turkey at 157th. Worse at 169th was Saudi Arabia. Anonymous Turkish sources told several international news organizations, including Reuters, AFP and CNN, they believe Mr. Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi consulate. (See more about media in the Middle East here)
“We call on both the Saudi and Turkish authorities to shed all possible light on this matter and to do everything to ensure that this journalist reappears – free – as soon as possible,” said RSF Middle East bureau manager Sophie Anmuth, in a statement.
The Washington Post (WaPo) (October 6) printed a blank space instead of Mr. Khashoggi’s column. Several of his previous WaPo columns have been made paywall free. “We're not going to let this go,” said WaPo global opinions editor Karen Attiah to CNN (October 8).
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