Connective Earth Announces Channel Partnership with News Direct
COD Launches Virtual Newsroom to Expand Coverage of Stories, Experts and Events
Weekly World News Launches its First NFT Collection on OpenSea Monday, Nov. 29th at High Noon ET
News Direct Introduces NewsBoost, a Story Syndication Program that Fast-Tracks Coverage from News Releases
News Direct Introduces DB Direct, an In-Platform Global Media Database
Game-Changing New Feature, SimpliFi, Changes the Way IR Pros Issue Market-Moving News
Inc. Magazine Unveils Its Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies—the Inc. 5000
News Direct Joins OTC Markets Group’s Premium Provider Directory
News Direct and Media OutReach Form Distribution Partnership for Asia Pacific and America
Daily Mail GH partners with Asianet-Pakistan for global distribution of editorial content
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Reuters Wins SOPA Award for Public Service Journalism for Story on the Rohingya Crisis
The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), a Hong Kong-based not-for-profit organization, named Reuters as the winner of the SOPA Award for Public Service Journalism for its reporting on the Rohingya crisis. The announcement was made at the SOPA 2018 Awards Gala Dinner on Wednesday evening. Now in its 20th year, the SOPA Awards are widely considered the most prestigious in the Asia-Pacific publishing and media industry. This year, the SOPA Award for Public Service Journalism replaces Journalist of the Year as the top award in an effort to honour outstanding work by individuals and teams that make an exemplary contribution to public service in the region. One of the journalists in the winning team is currently being detained in Myanmar as a result of his work covering the Rohingya crisis, which shows the ongoing challenges facing the media, the strong commitment and courage of journalists as well the need for the whole community to stand up for press freedom. Awards for Excellence in Business Reporting across the three award categories -- global, regional and local media -- went to the Financial Times ("Unravelling the mystery of China's HNA"), Frontier Myanmar ("Funny money") and Caixin Global ("穿透安邦魔术" or "A Maze of Capital Leads to Anbang's Aggressive Expansion"). These awards were among the 95 SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence across 17 categories announced at the event (see the full list here). This year, SOPA saw the highest number of entries since the launch of the awards in 1999, with more than 850 English- and Chinese-language submissions by international, regional and local media in the region. The entries were assessed by a judging panel appointed by the Journalism & Media Studies Centre (JMSC) of the University of Hong Kong. Led by Jeffrey Timmermans, SOPA Awards Head of Judges and Associate Professor at JMSC, the panel comprised more than 100 media professionals, including journalists, editors and columnists from some of the region's most influential publications, along with academics from a number of Asia's leading journalism schools. "Congratulations to all the winners! Competition was especially fierce this year, with a record number of entries and extremely high standards. The winning entries covered a wide range of crucial issues, from the Rohinghya crisis to the assassination of Kim Jong-nam. By recognising their excellence, we hope to inspire and encourage journalists to keep producing work of the highest quality," said Cliff Buddle, Chair of the SOPA Editorial Committee. The keynote speaker at the dinner was Maria A. Ressa, former bureau chief in Manila and Jakarta with CNN, and now CEO and Executive Editor of Rappler, a Philippines-based social news network that connects factual reporting with public opinion to foster conversation and drive social change. Addressing the gathering, Ressa shared her thoughts on the rollback of press freedom globally and specifically in Southeast Asia, the threat to journalism with a particular focus on the Philippines, as well as the challenges faced by media in the age of social media. About 300 media executives, editors, journalists and industry practitioners attended the gala event.They came from across the region, including mainland China, Myanmar, Australia, the Philippines and Taiwan. The SOPA 2018 Awards for Editorial Excellence are supported by Facebook and Google (both are Platinum Sponsors). FleishmanHillard, Media OutReach and High Technology Printing Group Limited provide SOPA with support respectively on public relations, newswire and printing services. Event highlights, photos and judges' comments, plus the video of Ms. Ressa's speech, can be found on: https://www.sopawards.com
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As Russia Bans Telegram, NordVPN’s Russian Users Grow by 150%
Russia’s state telecommunications regulator said on Monday that it’s starting to block the access to messenger service Telegram. Telegram refused to comply with an order to give Russia access to users’ private communication. NordVPN, a VPN service provider, has seen a 150% increase in Russian users since Russia announced its plans to block Telegram. Telegram is blocked by banning certain websites or IP addresses that provide access to the app – and this block can be bypassed by using a VPN. A user can choose to connect to a VPN server in any country where Telegram is accessible and easily circumvent the restrictions. “VPNs come really handy when governments block certain websites or apps – or implement harsh surveillance rules,” said Marty P. Kamden, CMO of NordVPN. “We always see an increase of users from the countries where freedom of speech is restricted or surveillance is increased. For example, UK users grew by 300% when Investigatory Powers Act, which allows mass hacking by the government, was introduced in 2016. U.S. users also grew by 300% in the past year due to many reasons, including the repeal of net neutrality. Now it’s Russia’s turn. While Russia has been blocking thousands of sites for years, Telegram’s ban seems to have really crossed the line.” Besides giving access to blocked sites, VPNs encrypt all the information that passes between a user’s device and the VPN server. In this case, Telegram users should look for a VPN service with mobile apps for Android and iOS. Telegram is a very popular messaging app in across the former Soviet Union and Middle East, also used by Russia’s journalists and political opposition.
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New U-M center will promote social media responsibility, tackle fake news
Google the words "fake news" and you'll find articles about made-up accounts of the recent school shooting in Florida, new evidence that false stories influenced the last election, and numerous references to the current president's accusations against media. Dig a little deeper and find that the proliferation of fake news has moved beyond an assault on the integrity of traditional and social media to a real concern about how easy it is for anyone to manipulate the news people are reading and watching. While Google itself and Facebook are among the web and social media corporations that have promised to crack down on fake news and other false information on the internet, University of Michigan School of Information experts say the problem is bigger than filters built into apps. In fact, they are sounding the alarm on what they call an infocalypse, or information apocalypse, a state when fake news and altered videos on social media and elsewhere on the web effectively end social reality as we know it—something they warn is not far off. To address this growing concern and bring some of the brightest minds together to brainstorm creative solutions, U-M has formed the School of Information Center for Social Media Responsibility, and hired one of President Barack Obama's former social media managers as its executive director. The center will build upon the school's strong global leadership in social media research. Garlin Gilchrist II. "The Center for Social Media Responsibility is really a response to a unique challenge and opportunity," said Garlin Gilchrist II, executive director of the center. "Social media has become the way so many people across the world have conversations. It is as diverse as humanity—there are usages of it that are positive and there are uses that can be for more nefarious purposes. "Our job is to create tools, and to use and make our research usable to media makers to media consumers to platform companies, to make sure we deal with this ongoing threat of more difficult-to-understand and potential misinformation." Gilchrist, a Detroiter who worked in the city for a number of years, has extensive experience as a technology innovator and non-profit and political organizer. He recently served as director of innovation and emerging technology for the city of Detroit. He is a U-M graduate with degrees in computer science and computer engineering. Developing a center that addresses the growing phenomenon of social media was one of Thomas Finholt's top goals when he took the reigns as dean of the U-M School of Information in 2016. At the time, social media was coming into its own as a much-consulted information source, yet was proving increasingly unreliable in much of what was purported to be news. Unlike print and broadcast journalism, there are no gatekeepers or regulators to make sure the information on the internet or social media is credible. Yet, the latest Pew Research Center poll shows 67 percent of Americans get at least some of their news from social sources, with 78 percent of those under 50 and 55 percent over 50 saying they are more likely to get news from these sites. "From the earliest days of the internet, technologists envisioned the benefits of broader access to the means of public communication: social mobility, resistance to despotism, universal authorship and open source software," Finholt said. "Much of this has come to pass. However, we now also see the challenges arising from such unedited and unhampered access: harassment and bullying, a credibility vacuum, a race to the bottom in competing for attention and a triumph of mobilization over persuasion that threatens to fracture our society. "We at the School of Information are committed to meeting the intellectual and social challenges of this new era of unregulated public communication via social media. Our new Center for Social Media Responsibility will help to produce the designs, systems and metrics that will steer social media use toward more civil and beneficial discourse." Specifically, the center will feature working groups that will monitor progress, articulate principles and create metrics and tools that empower technologists to find ways to influence responsibility on the part of those who own social media organizations, and increase social media user savvy. "Our information ecosystem determines what we all know, understand and believe—and if it fails, then we fail with it," said Aviv Ovadya, a technologist who will work with Gilchrist to spur ideas and technical solutions to understand and improve the health of that information ecosystem. "For example, if our social networks are designed such that sensationalist and false information is significantly more likely to spread, then that can hurt our democracy—and even our health." The School of Information has launched this project with an investment of its own resources and significant funding support from the Office of the Provost. Ovadya and Gilchrist will present a session titled "Infocalypse: The Future of Misinformation and How We Stop It" at 2 p.m. CDT (3 p.m. EDT) March 13 at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference, Interactive track, in Austin, Texas.
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Global Tech News Portal HostingJournalist.com Forms Alliance With Publishing Industry Veterans, Adds Video News Feeds
HostingJournalist.com (https://hostingjournalist.com), a fast-growing global daily news portal attracting targeted visitors from around the world within the cloud, hosting and data center business segment, announces a strategic alliance agreement with OnlineTalentLab B.V. – a Dutch web development company focused on digital publishing innovation with its cross-boarder business operations in the Netherlands as well as Germany. OnlineTalentLab is part of a family of global media brands owned by international media entrepreneur Donald Wiedemeyer. The first result of this strategic alliance with OnlineTalentLab B.V. is the re-launch today of the HostingJournalist.com daily news portal including a new logo and color schemes as well as a variety of added editorial and advertising features - with new display banner advertising as well as native advertising (content marketing) options. Company Video’s, Social Media Next to this new platform deployment with high levels of social media integration, the website release includes YouTube-based company video feeds. This way, HostingJournalist.com expects to further improve the overall visitor experience as well as the visitor time spent on their website. It would also provide cloud, hosting and data center industry companies the opportunity to significantly improve the visibility of their corporate videos and reach target audiences, with videos already posted on their YouTube company channels. Founded in 2013, HostingJournalist.com is a global technology niche news portal focusing on cloud, hosting and data center services. With its daily news feed – 7 days a week, as well as in-depth interviews and opinion articles, HostingJournalist.com is aiming its highly targeted online media services at visitors around the globe. The media outlet continues to show strong readership growth across the world and has a strong geographical audience reach in the United States, Israel, and Western Europe. Hosting Company Directory, Expert Blogs The added editorial and advertising features on the re-launched HostingJournalist.com news portal further include: a specific form where industry experts can upload their expert blogs; cloud, hosting and data center industry events; newsletter subscription; a searchable company directory with map visuals for data center locations (soon to launch); and more. The strategic alliance with OnlineTalentLab B.V., part of a family of global media brands owned by international media entrepreneur Donald Wiedemeyer, located in Bemmel, the Netherlands, would enable HostingJournalist.com to instantly add a wealth of innovative publishing know-how and online development skills to bring the global operations of this daily online news portal to the next level. “Since 2013, we’ve managed to grow the HostingJournalist.com news portal to over 20,000 unique monthly visitors globally and more than 200,000 monthly page views, while attracting targeted visitors from a wide range of different countries throughout the globe,” said Koen Stegeman, Editor-in-Chief and founder of HostingJournalist.com. “Most of our visitors come from the U.S., Israel and Western Europe, but we’re aiming for true global reach. The alliance with Donald Wiedemeyer and OnlineTalentLab provides us the opportunity to add instant innovative digital publishing power. Besides that, we also plan to invest in added power for our hosting and SEO infrastructure to further enhance the HostingJournalist.com reader and advertiser experiences.” Tertium Invest B.V. By entering into an alliance with Donald Wiedemeyer, an international media entrepreneur owning media brands within the proces- en flowcontrol industries amongst others. The HostingJournalist.com team expects to be able to take the next steps in editorial perfection and executing its global expansion strategy. Wiedemeyer’s media companies (see: http://tertiuminvest.com) have their offices located in the Netherlands, Germany, China, and Canada. “As most of the media brands we own are focused on global niches and rich content with high added value, I know exactly what the value is of a highly targeted technology news portal with global reach like the HostingJournalist.com brand,” said Donald Wiedemeyer. “With the right infrastructural and operational investments, I expect the HostingJournalist.com brand to significantly enhance their reach as well as its reader satisfaction and advertiser fulfillment, and soon become a top-5 player in its niche worldwide. The editorial and advertising features added today and new features to be launched in the near future will allow IT marketers worldwide to effectively establish and enhance their brand building and sales enablement efforts within the cloud, hosting and data center space.”
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WikiTribune Conference by Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Visiting Korea
On May 15, Jimmy Wales attended 'WikiTribune Conference' at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, and said that he hopes the news site 'WikiTribune' would enter the Asian market. Today, the world is suffering from 'Fake news', and as it has become a social issue, various Internet portal sites and social network services (SNS) are presenting functions that can detect fake news. However, Wikitribune is the first to claim a specialized media platform that sorts out only fake news. Jimmy Wales said "WikiTribune will deliver true evidence and accurate information to help the public make the right decisions." And, "It will be the best alternative to fake news issues that are emerging as a global problem today." ▲ Jimmy Wales has made inroads in Asia with 'WikiTribune,' a media platform that catches fake news. With the introduction of a new online news platform 'WikiTribune' that combines collective intelligence and evidence-based journalism, change of a fairer and cleaner media ecosystem is expected. Like Wikipedia, according to the first WikiTribune, released on April 25th (local time), a rep orter with expert knowledge writes an article based on the facts, and general readers are free to modify and add to the article whenever its content is different from the truth. However, the changes are only reflected in real time if approved by the employee or authorized volunteer. In addition, WikiTribune secures funds through donation system in crowdfunding platform rather than profit models such as advertisement or subscription. Those who participate in funding can become 'volunteers' and present their views on the topics that will be covered by WikiTribune. This is a part providing a glimpse into the fact that Wikipedia has a sense of responsibility as a social enterprise beyond the limitations of the big data platform simply related to knowledge. In the US, the fund is collected enough to hire more than five journalists through overseas crowdfunding, and the official service will be launched starting in English in June. Meanwhile, Jimmy Wales's visit to Korea was prepared to open the first Wikipedia-based WikiTribune's entry into the Asian market. In particular, the relationship between Kwame Ferreira, Chief Technology Officer of Impossible.com and Managing Director of ESV, and Korea has begun since he was in charge of the development of WikiTribune. In this regard, the event was hosted and organized by ESV. ▲ Joseph Kang, a CEO of ESV, delivered a welcoming speech. ▲ Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales ▲ After the introductions of Wikipedia and the WikiTribune, the Q&A session was followed. Q1. (Acrofan) After establishing Acrofan in 2006, in the past 11 years, I have seen both Vandalism and Dogmatism moving in pairs from both readers and reporters while experiencing and remembering the whole process of producing, providing, and distributing the contents. How did you build the safeguard against this? Are you willing to accept reports of premium-level content from Acrofan to WikiTribune for editors' tutorials and training? (Jimmy Wales) The things you said afterward are interesting. I think it will need more conversations. To answer the previous question, the control aspect is significant in the news, so I will be very careful. When publishing, we will check carefully and base on professional standards. Collaboration will be also equalized. When thinking about traditional news companies and the content management system, I believe many participations would be possible. It will not be as exactly as Wikipedia, but new elements will be tried. In particular, we will test the maximum value of participation.
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