The Guardian spurs mobile news innovation, The Times of India expands its WhatsApp use and more in this week's Digital Media Mash Up, produced by the Center for International Media Assistance.
Here’s how the Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab wants to experiment with news on phones
Back in June, The Guardian’s U.S. operation announced the creation of the Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab. Funded by a US$2.6 million grant from the Knight Foundation, the Lab is developing and creating new approaches to delivering news and information using mobile technology. That’ll be done in a series of mobile-centric experiments over the next couple of years. (Nieman Lab, 11/17)
Times of India Group links journo salaries with breaking news on WhatsApp groups
The Times of India Group has created a new policy where its journalists’ paychecks will be dependent on whether or not they join specialised WhatsApp groups to share breaking news updates. The emails, of which Media Nama has copies, detail that all journalists must file, every week, at least three WhatsApp alerts, three “online-first” stories and a minimum three tweets per working day. Not complying with the policy will result in journalists getting a reduced target variable pay (TVP). (Media Nama, 11/18)
Turkey bans Reddit under its Internet censorship law
Turkey’s government has blocked Reddit under its Internet censorship law 5651. Under this law, the country’s officials are allowed to ban sites that contain content that is pirated, is pornographic in nature or contains criticism of the current President Mustafa Ataturk.
This is not the first time that Turkey has banned a popular website or Internet service. Turkey’s government officials had blocked YouTube for a brief period in April this year. Popular URL shortening service bit.ly was also blocked during this period. Users were redirected to a page stating in Turkish “this Internet site (bit.ly) is placed under administrative measures by the Telecommunication Authority.” (The Indian Express, 11/16)
Freedom on the Net 2015
Freedom on the Net 2015 finds Internet freedom around the world in decline for a fifth consecutive year as more governments censored information of public interest while also expanding surveillance and cracking down on privacy tools. (Freedom House, 10/28)
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Main image CC-licensed by Flickr via R. Nial Bradshaw.
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