In a poll conducted by Platform 51, more than 40 per cent of women asked supported the idea of a ban on the likes of the Sun‘s Page 3.

The support comes weeks after four women’s groups presented evidence to the Leveson inquiry demanding that the press must stop objectifying women.

The poll of 2,013 adults found that support for a ban was particularly high among young men and women aged between 18-24. While 42 per cent of women asked supported an outright ban on topless photos, 24 per cent additionally voiced their support for ending the publication of such images.

Platform 51′s Rebecca Gill said she hoped the Leveson inquiry will now “listen to women’s views”. She added: “Every day we help girls and women across the country to build up their confidence and self-esteem and we see how they are affected by such photos, both in how they feel about themselves and how men see them.”

Earlier this month Media Digest published the thoughts of freelance journalist Nicola Thornton on the issue of how women are represented in the press.

(Source: journalism.co.uk)

If the strike goes ahead, it will take place over a 48-hour period next week – coinciding with the release of the company’s full-year financial results.

Members of the National Union of Journalists chapel at the company claim that the pay rise, following “four years of effective pay cuts” isn’t good enough.

The blame lies at the feet of Thomson Reuters, according to chapel officers Mike Roddy and Helen Long: “The company ignored repeated warnings that members had reached a tipping point, after years of below-inflation pay rises, combined with rising costs, that are pricing many members out of their jobs.”

Voters agreed unanimously to go on strike. 83 per cent of Thomson Reuters NUJ members voted in favour of action.

It’s not the first time staff at the news agency have threatened strike action. In 2008 and 2009, the threat of industrial action was used following concerns over job cuts and working conditions.

(Source: MediaGuardian)

Mulcaire has lost the Court of Appeal case brought against him by the comedian Steve Coogan and PR consultant Nicola Phillips, who demanded that he should have to come clean on anyone employing his services.

However, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, who presided over the case, granted Mulcaire a stay until 5PM Monday, to give him the chance to appeal to the Supreme Court. Mulcaire’s solicitor, Sarah Webb, issued a statement saying that the decision would be appealed.

(Source: Press Gazette)

Colin Crowell, head of global public policy for Twitter, told parliament that the joint Parliamentary committee on privacy and injunctions the service – notorious for its users denuding the anonymity of injunction holders – could potentially censor content which breaches injunctions.

Crowell said: “[If] we receive, from an authorised entity, a request to take [Tweets] down, then, consistent with applicable law and in terms of service, we will work through those on a case-by-case basis.

“Our policy is now that we have the ability to cater things to a particular jurisdiction.”

Meanwhile, Facebook’s director of policy in Europe, Lord Allan of Hallam, said imposing regulation on the network would be the equivalent of trying to “regulate people having a chat in the pub” because “none of that content is ours”.

(Source: Press Gazette)

Sky will soon be bringing its television services to broadband customers, negating the need for a traditional set-top box.

The service, due to launch later this year, will be available to anyone with a broadband connection. Sky is looking at a pay-as-you-go model for access to movies and, later, sport and entertainment programming, but an unlimited subscription model will still be an option.

It’s all part of Sky’s drive to be available everywhere. The company is also set to launch its Sky Go app, which allows subscribers to watch Sky TV on their mobile devices, to the Android platform in February, opening it up for those who have resisted the lure of Apple’s iPad and iPhone gadgets.

These announcements come off the back of positive financial results for the six months up to December 2011. The company recorded its highest ever first-half operating profit, raking in £601 million, helped in no small part by the 100,000 households which joined its service in that period, meaning it now reaches out to 10.471 million customers.

The company also announced plans to offer free access to 10,000 WiFi hotspots to Sky Broadband customers, and create 1,300 jobs across the UK and Ireland over the next two years.

(Source: Engadget)

Outlining the powers of more robust regulation, he told the Leveson inquiry: “I have come to the conclusion that we do urgently need a fresh start and a totally new body with substantially increased powers to audit and enforce compliance with the code, to require access to documents, summon witnesses when necessary and also to impose fines, all backed by the commercial contracts.”

Ruling out the “inflexibility” of statutory regulation, he said his ideas had gone down well with editors he had spoken to, including some from the Star and Express papers which left the PCC last year.

He also warned that many MPs he had spoken to wanted to introduce legislation as a way of controlling the press.

“And that is what is driving me forward to find a solution and to respond positively to your own comments right at the outset of this… that there is a wonderful opportunity for the press itself to put its own house in order,” he added.

Meanwhile, former PCC chairman Sir Christopher Meyer insisted complaints against the watchdog’s inability to prevent papers from writing libelous stories in the cases of Madeleine McCann and Christopher Jefferies were “ridiculous”.

He told the inquiry: “It’s as if you would say to the police, ‘you’re a useless organisation because you can’t stop crime’.

“Or you would say to the bishops, ‘we still have sin after all these years, you had better give up and go’.

“It’s a ridiculous set of arguments. As long as there are human beings involved, there will be that fallibility.”

(Source: Press Gazette)

In a letter to staff TMG chief exec Murdoch MacLennan said the money would be reinvested in offerings being developed for mediums such as the iPad and Kindle.

Despite the “very demanding” economy MacLennan stressed that TMG still employs more people than it did in 2005, when the papers were bought by the Barclay Brothers.

(Source: MediaGuardian)

The survey, which quizzed viewers and industry experts on stereotypes in the media, found that 40 per cent of those asked where dissatisfied with the way young people were represented on television.

Concerns were also raised over the few roles given to middle-aged and older women in broadcasting, a view held by “both men and women of all ages” according to the report. Responses from middle-aged and older women suggested that there is an attitude of women developing a “face for radio” at a certain point in their careers.

The report concludes that audiences would “welcome more middle and older aged women on television providing positive role models and greater gender equality”.

(Source: MediaGuardian)

Media Digest now offers young writers the chance to get their work seen by a wide network of professionals, as it teams up with The Daily Blot.

Irrespective of whether you are at university and keen to get your work published to show prospective employers, or at school and eager to get a head-start on your peers, The Daily Blot gives you the opportunity to showcase your talent to the world.

Get involved and send an email to the editor of the Blot with your ideas.

Until now, the micro-messaging service has only been able to make blanket deletions, mainly to block links to child pornography.

The new development is likely to arouse concern among champions of free speech. Twitter however stressed the move would allow tweets to reach as many users as possible, in the countries where messages are allowed to remain, as it attempts to operate amid the nuances of international laws.

“One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice,” Twitter wrote in a blogpost, sentiments not dissimilar to the global stance taken by Google. “We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can’t. The tweets must continue to flow.”

(Source: MediaGuardian)