Israeli army video blogs censored by YouTube

As the horror in Gaza is into it`s fourth day and Israel seem to be ready for an invasion, the war is also fought on the internet. YouTube temporary removed a number of videos of the attacks on Gaza posted at the Israeli Defense Force`s official YouTube channel, possibly due to thousands of "inapropriate comments". Some of the videos were later put back with the comment section disabled.

The video above, shot by Israeli army personel, depict bombings of what the publisher claim to be "rocket launching sites" in Gaza. The comment field is also a war zone.

This blogger comments:

"It`s a propaganda campaign, pure and simple. Even though you can see far worse in the chillingly note-perfect AC-130 stage in fucking Call of Duty 4, there are people dying in those buildings, and no, not of of them are terrorists. No war in history has been fought without the warring parties attempting to control the story with info dissemination. But using a forum like YouTube, a public community where smartbombs destroying buildings in a populated city are adjacent to sleeping kittens and 12 year olds` rants on why homework sucks, and where said 12 year olds (literally, and those of 12-year-old intellect) can fill the comment sections with racist hate-spew, is this where we draw the line?"

I think YouTube are wrong to remove this content and censor the comment fields. The firestorm of hate fueled comments are at the very least some sort of dialogue. YouTube have no ethical right to censor this debate. As to the videos, the world is watching anyhow. (The Wikipedia page of the Gaza Strip Airstrikes is flagged with disputed neutrality, as could be expected.)

On a personal note: I`m writing this from Stavanger, the Norwegian oil hub on the west coast, enjoying Christmas break from University and preparing for New Year`s Eve celebrations with friends. I am very fortunate to be located where I am. My thoughts go out to those less fortunate with their location, the civilians in Gaza in particular.

Representative Journalism pilot project in US

Representative Journalism, another experiment in community funded journalism, is being tested in the US.

As with other community supported media business models, this project allows communities, individuals and groups to assign journalists to deliver Web-based local and topical news. The project, called Locally Grown, is geared around an online community in Northfield, Minnesota.

As explained in the documentary above, the pilot project is trying to find out whether there is a financial market for the idea in the community, how a journalist would have to behave to get that support from individuals or advertisers, etc etc.

The journalist assigned to the project says she is trying to bring professional standards and ethics into the blogosphere. "She (the journalist) doesn`t work for us, we`re just the place where she publishes her stuff, the place where she hangs her professional hat," a CO-Host/Blogger from Locally Grown says in the documentary.

The idea comes from Mr. Leonard Witt of Kennesaw State University, a former journalist concerned about the struggling print media: “We are living in an era when old journalism models are failing, newspapers are faltering and experienced journalists are losing their jobs,” Mr. Witt said in a press release from PJnet.

I`ve blogged about community funded journalism before. People are increasingly interested in local news on expense of foreign news. There certainly is a market for very local news stories. Community funded journalism is a very exciting idea, but my problem is still with the funding. (The project in Minnesota is funded through a grant awarded to Kennesaw University and not by the community.)

I don`t like the idea that people could pay for having produced the news they want. Especially in small communities in the blindspots of the public eye. Who`s going to write the important stories nobody want to pay for? Who`s going to write the stories nobody has thought of yet? Who`s going to write the stories the community don`t want to be written?

I`m not protesting about communities paying for the production of cosy feature articles, but news stories. Media can`t function as a watchdog if it`s paid for by the local community.

EU voices concern over Politovskaya-trial

The European Parliament issued this press release just before Christmas, by doing so voicing it`s loudest critique on the court proceedings to date. As I`ve blogged about earlier, there`s been several issues concerning public access to the trial.

The statement reads:

"Two years after the brutal killing of the Russian independent journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who has become a symbol for freedom of the press, serious concerns have been raised with regard to transparency and respect for the rule of law in the criminal investigation and trial following the murder. Parliament calls on the court to fully respect the jury's decision, open the proceedings to all journalists and media, and "establish not only who committed and assisted in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, but also who ordered it".

It`s encouraging to see the EU follow media watchdogs like Reporters Without Borders in taking such a strong stand on the issue, but I still don`t think their opinion will be heard in Kremlin.

Every Human Has Rights Media Awards

Citizen journalists were among the winners as the media watchdog and -entrepreneur Internews Europe hosted "Every Human Has Rights Awards" earlier this week.

The Paris-based NGO had invited mainstream and citizen journalists to submit world and current affairs reports and stories illustrating one or several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 482 contributors from 108 countries took part, according to the award`s website.

It shouldn`t surprise anybody to see citizen journalists take the stage among mainstream journalists at events like this. The quality and scope of the contributions is impressive. The full list over contributions by citizen journalists awarded is here:

The Tribune Company bankrupt

One of America's largest media companies has sought protection from its creditors in bankruptcy court. The Tribune Company sought protection last week under Chapter Eleven under US bankruptcy laws. (Chapter Eleven lets a business continue to operate while it seeks to restructure its debt.)

The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers. It also owns twenty-three television stations.

According to this story from voa.com, The Tribune Company is the first major newspaper group in US to declare bankruptcy since the rise of Internet in the mid-90s. The article goes far in suggesting that Internet is the cause of the media groups (and all other media groups) problems.

According to this article from The Guardian, penned by Peter Preston, internet can`t be blamed for the problems, it`s down to debts brought on by poor ownership:

"The central problem isn't the internet (a dampener on profits and spreader of uncertainty, at worst; not the end of everything). The problem is newspaper ownership flawed by misplaced ambition and short-sighted management."

I think the truth lies somewhere in between the Internet and greedy ownership. One thing is certain, The Tribune Company isn`t he last newspaper-geared media group to get themselves into trouble over the next few years.

Bloggers in Vietnam

With fast, free Internet available at internet cafes and Universities across Vietnam, bloggers are increasingly challenging censorship and the ruling Communist Party, according to this article from San Francisco Chronicle. A student is quoted:

"We won`t go to the streets, we won`t shout anything. We`re sitting before the screen, typing and blogging."

The article goes on to say that a Vietnamese state-regulated news site has been hacked by bloggers, typing in pro-democracy and nationalist slogans. The story is penned by Geoffrey Cain, Chronicle Foreign Service. I wonder if he`s situated in Vietnam. As most media enterprises are cutting back on their foreign reporting, it`s encouraging to read well researched stories from Asia that aren`t written in news rooms in Europe or the US.

Community-funded journalism project in Australia

I`ve blogged a bit about community-funded journalism before. It`s one of the new media funding models emerging as mainstream media continue to cut back on their staff and the global financial crisis is rocking media in general.

At the MEAA-summit (Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance) in Australia last week, journalist and author Margaret Simmons announced plans for a loose consortium of journalists, publishers and universities to set up "the first substantial experiment in community-funded journalism in Australia, the foundation for Public Interest Journalism."

"The idea is to develop a more interactive relationship between potential audiences and journalists so that audiences can directly commission the journalism they want," says Simons.

I`m still not sure about this model. The idea of having people pay a journalist to write a story just sounds wrong. I`m not sure about the whole public interest-argument, either. There is a difference between public interest and what`s of interest to the public.

The report following the MEAA-summit, "Life In a Clickstream: The Future of Journalism", can be read here

Mumbai coverage scrutinised

As could be expected, mainstream media is now considering how the Mumbai attacks were reported with regards to citizen journalists breaking the story and supplying the baseline of the reporting.

The Independent argues "Twittering is not how to supply news", saying that BBC was playing Russian roulette with it`s editorial integrity by including a live update from Twitter on it`s website during the attacks.

As I`ve blogged about earlier, for all the good citizen journalism coming out of Mumbai it wasn`t all good. A lot of it was gibberish, repetitive or unhelpful. Some were in the know, others just wanted to be heard.

To me, the biggest ethical dilemma seems to be that mainstream media can`t possibly check all the facts if they include a live update from citizen journalists.

BBC News website editor Steve Herrmann admitted that BBC "will need to take more care in how it uses lightening fast, unsubstantiated citizen posts in the future."

Is there a need for an international ethical standard when mainstream media is dealing with citizen journalism?

Politovskaya-trial again closed to public

The trial was initially closed to the public, then it was opened - and then it closed again, following what clearly must have been Government sensitive testemonies. It`s turning into a farce, really.

(Anna Politovskaya was a Russian investigative journalist and Kremlin critic, murdered in 2006)

The trial judge yesterday closed the trial to the public to hear "classified evidence", as the court heared a testemony from a witness linked to Government agencies, AP reports. The trial was again opened to the public following this testimony.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Politovskaya`s lawyer saying the witness testified that one of the accused, a former police officer, had told him that he gathered information about Politovskaya. The same witness allegedly also said $2 million was "paid out" for the murder.

Well, I don`t know. Who can tell? A lot of information has come out in earlier proceedings, and a defense lawyer earlier said that court documents indicated that a unnamed Russian politician was behind the murder.

Men are standing trial and someone is probably eventualy going to get sentenced. Possibly even the men who carried out the murder. But I can`t see the ones who ordered the murder being caught. When the trial keep getting closed to the public whenever crucial evidence is being heard it`s hard to not see the proceedings as a well coreographed show.

Reporters Without Borders issued a statement, saying:

"Judge Yevgeni Zubov`s decision to continue the trial behind closed doors has increased our concerns about transparancy. It prevents journalists and public from being able to evaluate the arguements, testimony and evidence presented in court."

Al Jazeera launches web portal for Citizen Journalism

The Beirut-based website Menassat.com reports that Al Jazeera have launched a web portal "in a attempt to increase citizen journalism in the middle east". The portal is currently available in Arabic, but an english version is on its way.