• J-Source

    Live Global Forum – The Future of Media (webinar)

    Journalism, New Technologies and Media Development: The Transformation of News in the Digital Age An interactive, live conversation between scholars and practitioners Join us, Tuesday July 14 (at 4 pm Budapest time, 3 pm GMT, 10 am EST) as we debate the issues at the digital crossroads of the transnational media environment. The interactive session…

  • J-Source

    Eastern Europe media development – no longer the flavour of the week

    Sándor Orbán remembers when the biggest problem faced by Eastern Europe’s media organizations was not being able to burn through dollars fast enough to please donors. Now, twenty years after the fall of the Wall, the funding is drying up just as truly serious challenges are emerging. “In those days – it’s difficult to believe…

  • J-Source

    Freedom of the press annual rankings: are they worth reporting on?

    We’re all familiar with press freedom rankings, like Freedom House’s annual Freedom of the Press Index. But are they valid? This was the question of the day at the Central European University in Budapest. I’m here for a summer course in Media, Democratization and International Development put on by the CEU and the Annenberg School…

  • J-Source

    CBC radio doc explores news in age of social media

    Documentary producer Ira Basen created a two-part series called News 2.0: The Future of News in an Age of Social Media on “where the news business is going, now that it’s everybody’s business.” Part one aired on the Sunday Edition, CBC Radio 1 on June 21 and the second part will air June 28 at…

  • J-Source

    Canwest in freefall

    Shares of Canwest Global Communications plunged into freefall this week, dropping to historic lows before closing Friday at 13 cents, off from a 52-week high of $3.59. The fall comes on the heels of Monday’s reprieve from the company’s creditors, who gave Canwest yet another extension to reach a deal on a recapitalization plan —…

  • J-Source

    In the dumps

    Have we hit bottom yet? Two recent media business developments suggest not. La Presse will no longer publish on Sundays, effective June 28, reported the Globe and Mail. Standard and Poor Poor’s deleted Torstar Corp. from its Canadian composite index, effective Monday June 15. (The rating agency deleted Canwest earlier.) 

  • J-Source

    AP to distribute work by non-profit news orgs

    Associated Press will distribute stories produced by four non-profit news organizations that specialize in investigative reporting – ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop and the Center for Investigative Reporting. It’s a six-month experiment sparked in part by a desire to stem the growing void of investigative reporting resulting from financial cuts among AP’s member news organizations. Hmmm, a legacy…

  • J-Source

    What, if anything, does Raitt-tapegate say about the practice of journalism?

    What, if anything, does Raitt-tapegate say about the practice of journalism? The story about cabinet minister, Lisa Raitt, the private conversation she had last January with her aide, Jasmine MacDonnell, the accidental tape recording which then fell into the hands of a reporter for the Chronicle Herald, certainly seems to be “sexy” judging by the…