Journalists’ international day of impunity

“Those who kill and physically assault journalists have one goal: to silence the messenger and intimidate other journalists.” Those are the depressing words from a chilling article published by the Guardian‘s Roy Greenslade concerning the attitude of impunity surrounding those who kill journalists. Today has been designated ‘the international day to end impunity’, a reaction to the 90 journalists who have been killed doing their job in the past year. Those fighting to tell the truth are being punished, and there is little punishment for their assailants. As the UK media faces up to questions it might be uncomfortable answering, it’s articles like this that remind us why a lot of people strive to be journalists in the first place. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Guardian says it’s super sorry to the Sun

The Guardian has apologised to the Sun for claiming that a journalist from the red-top doorstepped yesterday’s #womanontheleft, barrister Carine Patry Hoskins. An article by Marina Hyde drew a “strongly worded” letter of complaint from the Sun, according to the Guardian‘s legal man. The article has since been amended, and a correction will be published in print tomorrow. Perhaps the Sun can learn from the Guardian‘s respectful about-face? (Source: Press Gazette)

UK winning at mobile social media

The UK might be rubbish at rugby, have a persistently disappointing tennis player and some awful television, but it is winning at something: mobile social media. An average 35 per cent of mobile users in the UK do their social networking through their phones, compared to the European average of 23 per cent. Plus, according to a study by comScore, mobile social networking has nearly doubled in the last year. If someone could do a study to establish whether there has been an increase in people bumping into each other in the street, we’d be very grateful. (Source: The Wall)

Sorry may not have been the hardest word of late for a profusely contrite News International, but it has taken the News of the World publisher nigh-on six years to finally admit that phone hacking “was not the work of a single rogue reporter”. NI lawyer Rhodri Davies, however, disputed the statement made yesterday by the Leveson inquiry’s counsel, Robert Jay, that 28 NoW journalists had been identified from the avalanche of incriminating notes seized from private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. The news “occasioned some surprise on our side”, he said – NI thought the number was closer to just five – stressing that only Scotland Yard had seen the full cache of evidence. And there we were thinking that NI and the police were as thick as thieves. (Source: MediaGuardian)

Trinity Mirror Midlands is doing its bit to emancipate underpaid, overworked journalists. Reports suggest 50 editorial staff will be made redundant from its Midlands branch due to (deep breath): the creation of a regional production hub for both Birmingham and Coventry; the introduction of a regional features unit for entertainment and lifestyle; and the merging of some specialist reporter roles. Trinity’s cannibalising also includes the closure of three titles – the Chase Post, the Stafford Post and the Sutton News. All is not lost: five full-time editorial roles will be created. (Source: The Drum)

Avert your eyes, Facebookers. “Porn, violent images and other graphic pieces of content” are flooding the social network site, according to CNN. More horrifically still, images include teen role model Justin Bieber assuming sexual positions (Media Digest can neither confirm nor deny whether this proves he is a father-to-be). “Mischief makers”, “clickjacking” or, inevitably, ‘hacktivist’ collective Anonymous are to blame. Facebook hasn’t commented, and the story has only come from a web security consultant, which we will only name if our account suddenly starts to show us even more of the Biebster than we’ve ever dreaded. (Source: The Drum)

In the weeks following the riots that spread across the country in August, there was a great deal of debate concerning what role social media websites played in the escalation of events. Now, a poll has found that more than two-thirds of adults would support a social media blackout if the events of August were to be repeated. Read the full story

Is Facebook losing its edge? As it prepares to make the biggest changes to the platform since its inception, one has to wonder if the boffins at Facebook HQ have forgotten why the MySpace alternative was created in the first place. Read the full story

Facebook is due to announce a partnership with online music services Spotify, Mog and Rhapsody, a move that is set to make it “more than a social network” according to one analyst. Read the full story

Plans to ban suspected rioters from using social networking websites in times of ‘civil unrest’ have been abandoned by the government. Read the full story

BBC Worldwide has made its flagship motoring show Top Gear available to rent on Facebook, as it continues to test the water of charging for access to programming. Read the full story

The government is considering banning suspected rioters from using social media websites, in an attempt to curb the organisation of violent action the likes of which has dominated the public consciousness in recent days. Read the full story