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Unrest in Kazakhstan received the requisite ten days of attention from international news outlets. Once Russian troops filed in then filed out, attention had shifted to tennis players and other conflicts. Within the Russian Federation news coverage was muted.
“We couldn’t see what was going on,” said prominent Moscow radio channel Ekho Moscvy editor in chief Aleksey Venediktov, noted St. Petersburg news portal Lenizdat (January 11). “We couldn’t protect our correspondent if something happened. We decided not to send anyone. Although (reporter Alexei) Naryshkin was already standing by with a suitcase.” (See more about media in the Russian Federation here)
Though often espousing a level of journalistic independence, Mr. Venediktov went on to explain the Putin Doctrine: “the limited sovereignty of the former Soviet republics.” With the exception of the Baltic states - all European Union members - "nothing can be done in these spaces without Moscow's consent.”
Reporters for major international news organizations jumped on airplanes, once allowed, for Almaty. They missed the major protests, which began January 2, but were able to see Russian troops arrive, after which public demonstrations dissipated. “People even on the ground are confused,” said Washington Post Moscow correspondent Isabelle Khurshudyan (January 10). “It’s very very difficult to work out what’s going on in Kazakhstan,” noted the Wall Street Journal (January 7).
During the first early days, outside news organizations relied on independent Kazakh outlet Orda and agency KazTAG. Both were booted from the internet, with everything else, and moved to social messaging portals like Telegram. Internet access was mostly restored. Orda founder and chief editor Gulnara Bazhkenova broke the news on independent Russian TV channel Dozhd that former president Nursultan Nazarbayev and certain family members had left Kazakhstan.
Alternative dimensions are replacing every possible space. Unsurprisingly, there is no resistance. Perhaps this is because it is unseen, totally unseen. Soon your cat will reside there.
In a great leap into the outer limits, news agency Associated Press (AP) will soon offer some of its prized photojournalism as non-fungible tokens, NFTs. Rights holders, sometimes creators, have been selling and trading digital tokens representing images, videos and audio for a couple of years to collectors, who receive a certificate but not copyrights. These transactions are facilitated through blockchain technology. (See more about digital transitions here)
“Each NFT will include a rich set of original metadata offering collectors awareness of the time, date, location, equipment, and technical settings used for the shot,” said AP director of blockchain and data licensing Dwayne Desaulniers in the announcement (January 10). “For 175 years AP’s photographers have recorded the world’s biggest stories through gripping and poignant images that continue to resonate today.” Yes, the AP has a blockchain executive. Everybody has one, including the neighborhood veterinarian. (See more about news agencies here)
AP’s photo NFT marketplace opens for all on January 31. Credit cards and cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, can facilitate a collector’s transaction. For the AP, it’s a new profit center. As a copyright holder they can create endless NFTs, sell them and let the collectors negotiate any subsequent value. “NFT price points will vary,” said the AP statement. Marketplace proceeds, it said, will be funneled back into “factual, unbiased AP journalism.”
Digital media champions show little if any interest in newsprint, that particular paper on which newspapers and magazines have been printed for ages. If anything it is seen as a useless relic of a bygone age. Publishers, on the other hand, are concerned not because they doubt digital replacement. Print editions retain an essential element: reliable readers can hold them. There are other reasons, too.
Alas, the price of newsprint has climbed well-beyond inflation rates in recent years. Always keen to the bottomline, publishers are raising prices. At the first of the new year, the newsstand prices for French newspapers Le Monde, Le Figaro and Liberation rose significantly. Le Monde and Le Figaro marked up the single copy price €0.20, twenty centimes. Liberation bumped up weekend single copy prices to €3.50, up 50 centimes. Each offered front page condolences. (See more about media in France here)
Business-friendly Le Figaro moaned about the “sudden” increase - 50% - of newsprint but also the “spectacular” rise of energy costs. Les Echos, Dauphiné Libéré and Télérama announced increases in newsstand prices late last year. Observers of French publishing generally yawned: the future is digital. "The increase in newsstand prices will help accelerate the transformation of newspapers towards digital,” said Aix-Marseille School of Journalism president Jean-Clément Texier, quoted by AFP (January 10). “There is no longer an age barrier. There are seniors who are real geeks.” (See more about digital transition here)
“The appeal of the (printed) paper product is to attract people to the digital product,” added Sorbonne media professor Patrick Eveno. "Le Monde and Les Echos started their digital shift before the others and they succeeded. In the United States, regional newspapers have almost disappeared because they have not succeeded in making its digital shift.”
With the coronavirus making life miserable, not to forget crazed governments, those who report the news are depressed. Sunshine could help. So might getting paid with some regularity. They would do something else if they could. Media workers are people, too.
The Press Freedom and Media Studies Association (BAMAD), based in Izmir, Turkey, surveyed media workers in the western Aegean. Results were published by Bianet (January 10). Of these reporters, editors, managing editors and photojournalists, nearly three-quarters (73.5%) said they cannot make a living from their jobs. The same percentage said they’d choose the same profession again and slightly fewer (70%) said they wouldn’t consider changing. This is very close to the definition of madness.
Under the current government in Turkey, media workers have faced unprecedented persecution. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Turkey in 2020 had the second highest incarceration rate for media workers in the world, following only China. “Journalism is not just a profession, it is a responsibility,” said Jin News editor Gulsen Kocuk to Morning Star (January 11). Jin News is the only women’s news agency in Turkey focused Kurdish issues. (See more about media in Turkey here)
In the BAMAD report, 85% of respondents sometimes or often fear losing their jobs. A bit more than one-third (37%) were hopeful or optimistic for journalism in Turkey, nearly half were pessimistic. Nearly all (93%) said they fear getting into “trouble” sometimes or often. Nearly six in ten (59%) believe a change in government will “bring improvement for journalism.” Four in ten do not.
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