“Freedom of speech in Turkey, 1994-2010

A very good comparative post:

Freedom of speech in Turkey, 1994-2010

Last week?s release of the 2010 edition of the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index made for more uncomfortable Turkish reading. Turkey was placed in 138th position in a list of 175 countries, down from 99th position in 2002 when the index was first published and when Turkey?s current AKP government first came to power….

Reporters Without Borders’ world press freedom index criticises France, Italy

According to the 2010 world press freedom index from Reporters Without Borders (or Reporters Sans Frontières, RSF), France and Italy trail the rest of Western Europe, ranked 44th and 49th respectively out of the 178 countries rated.

“It is disturbing to see several European Union member countries continuing to fall in the index,” said RSF secretary-general Jean-François Julliard. “There is an urgent need for the European countries to recover their exemplary status.”  Other EU members that came in low include Romania at 52nd and Greece and Bulgaria which tied at 70th. Spain was 39th.

Washington Post Tells Journalists Not To Engage on Twitter

from Mashable! by Vadim Lavrusik

USA Today to make significant changes to the newsroom

USA Today is “disassembling its universal desk and a five-year effort at newsroom integration,” Poynter’s Rick Edmonds reported following discussion with the paper’s publisher Dave Hunke. This effort will be replaced with “editing hubs by platform.”

Interacting with readers: Washington Post urges staff not to engage with readers on Twitter

How should news organizations respond to criticism by readers through social media?  According to the Guardian’s Greenslade blog, the Washington Post has told journalists not to argue with readers through Twitter. A memo was passed around to the Washington Post staff which said that “even as we encourage everyone in the newsroom to embrace social media and relevant tools, it is absolutely vital to remember that the purpose of these Post-branded accounts is to use them as a platform to promote news, bring in user generated content and increase audience engagement with Post content,” states the blog.  The memo was distributed after the Post put up a controversial article by an “anti-gay activist.”

Erosion of privacy may save journalism?

HTML 5, the latest version of code used to create websites, is expected to further erode users’ privacy, by letting sites know where users are physically located, as well as better track browsing histories. Consumer activists and privacy advocates are certain to be against these privacy threats, but those in the journalism world may find it to be their “salvation,” writes The New York Times’s Robert Wright.

2010 Press Freedom Index Shows Europe on Decline

Reporters Without Borders yesterday released its 2010 World Press Freedom Index. Thirteen of the EU’s 27 members are in the top 20 in terms of press freedoms, but some of the other EU nations are very low. The European Union has had a reputation for valuing and respecting human rights, and new data suggests that reputation is at risk.