Druckzentrum Aschendorff obtains print quality certification

Druckzentrum Aschendorff is the seventh printing company worldwide at which a WAN-IFRA print quality certification process was successfully carried out. In order to qualify, the company had to prove that it was able to produce a consistently high standard of colour printing over the given period of almost one year.

Media reforms in Australia cause uproar

Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy made headlines today when The Daily Telegraph compared him to Stalin and Pol Pot on their front page.

SXSW: Politifact’s recipe for fact-checking success

Fact-checking is becoming increasingly common at news organisations around the world, particularly in pre-election periods. But Politifact was one of the first, and still is one of the most structured initiatives, noted Steve Myers, managing editor of The Lens, at a SXSW panel on Fast Food & Fact-Checking: Lessons from Politifact.

Morocco Releases Press Freedom Report

Morocco’s first report on press freedom was released last month, showing progress since the adoption of its new Constitution in 2011. However, Morocco still ranks low for press freedom according to Freedom House.

Lessons from Facebook’s redesign: Newspapers should tailor homepages to subscriber interest

When Facebook announced its aim to become “the best personalized newspaper,” news publishers rolled their eyes. “The reality is that Facebook is still not that great for news,” writes Jeff Sonderman of Poynter. But even if Facebook isn’t an ideal news disseminator, other news outlets provide little competition for “best personalized newspaper” as few tailor user experiences for subscribers.

Local newspaper sports pages ranked No. 1

A new study of sports media consumption in the USA reveals that local newspaper sports pages beat their print and digital media competitors as the top source of sports news, information and analysis for male sports fans between the ages of 18 and 54. The medium also scores as the most valued for in-depth local team coverage and a place where advertisements drive consumer action.

SXSW: David Carr on business models

“Content has always been subsidized,” said David Carr, media reporter at The New York Times, in a SXSW session on paid digital content called Gates of Heaven, Gates of Hell.

Thayer, Williams plagiarism scandals highlight undefined standards for online attribution

Plagiarism allegations against Nate Thayer and Fox News pundit Juan Williams this week might suggest “a plague of online plagiarism,” but more importantly they underscore the need for the industry to establish standards for online attributions so that such errors are not repeated. Sure, Thayer said that “every reference in the story was properly cited,” but in this new territory, who’s to say what is proper? The scandals highlight how much experts disagree.

SXSW: Hacks/Hackers from Africa to Latin America

The founding idea behind Hacks/Hackers was simple: that the future of journalism is intricately tied to technology, explained co-founder Burt Herman, also a co-founder of Storify. The movement, which unites journalists and developers, relies on the fact that “people are keen to get away from their day jobs and experiment and innovate,” Herman said, speaking on a SXSW panel on Hacking the News Around the World.

Spain’s infoLibre offers new independent source of news

infoLibre, a new Spanish site partnered with French company Mediapart, launched last Thursday in an effort to create a free and independent news source in Spain. In addition to the website, a monthly magazine called Tinta Libre will premier this Friday.