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Blanket coverage: There's no news like snow news
There's nothing like a bit of snow to provoke a blizzard of 'Brrr..Brrr..Britain' type stories in the UK press, as shown by Journalisted which says the white stuff got the most coverage in the week ending Sunday 28 November.
Snow, with school, work and road closures as it began to cover the UK, generated 229 articles; more student protests, including school pupils marching on Whitehall, wrecking a police van and constrained by kettling, 187 articles; North Korea and South Korea, with the North firing across the western sea border killing two civilians and two soldiers last week, 174 articles.
Covered little, according to Journalisted, was the stampede at a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, killing over 350 people, 21 articles; workers holding austerity protests in Portugal, said to be the first general strike action in over two decades, 16 articles; three teenage boys adrift in the Pacific Ocean for 50 days, rescued off Fiji, 6 articles; first successful libel action brought against the Press Complaints Commission, with its chair apologising and paying damages, 2 articles.
Labels: Journalisted
Echo staff join Argus in Newsquest strike action
NUJ members at the Southern Daily Echo in Southampton are to join their colleagues at The Argus, Brighton, by taking strike action next week after an unsuccessful meeting with the title's management, journalism.co.uk reports today.
The Echo journalists will strike next Tuesday and Wednesday, December 7 and 8. The same days as journalists on The Argus are taking action over the transfer of six subbing jobs to Southampton and the company's pay freeze.
Echo staff have already held a two-day strike, on November 9 and 10, in protest at the pay freeze.
Labels: Newsquest, Southern Daily Echo, The Argus Brighton
WikiLeaks accused of 'a kind of censorship'
Stephen Glover in the Independent today questions why WikiLeaks has rationed its release of the US embassy cables to five titles - the Guardian, the New York Times, El Pais, Le Monde and Der Spiegel.
He asks: "Why doesn't Wikileaks make its material available to all media outlets at the same time? It is almost as though a kind of censorship is going on. For while it is true that other newspapers can gain access to the same information once it has been presented by The Guardian, the caravan moves on, so that the newspaper will today again be publishing revelations on evidence which in this country it alone has seen, and the same tomorrow, and so on for many days. Moreover, The Guardian has had many days to assess and edit the mountains of information which Wikileaks then dumps on the internet for others to make sense of.
"Presumably Wikileaks believes that The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais in Spain, Le Monde in France and Der Spiegel in Germany share its liberal values, and so it can rely on a sympathetic presentation of its revelations. No doubt it can. Wikileaks is in effect trying to shape the reaction to its disclosures when it should – if it truly believes in freedom – be putting them in the public domain for all to see, allowing responsible but widely differing publications to make of them what they will."
He adds: "Mr Rusbridger [Guardian editor-in-chief] may be confident that The Guardian is a responsible and trustworthy filter, but his paper does not have a monopoly on truth and wisdom. There are other ways of looking at the world, which is the glory of a free press. If Wikileaks really does believe in openness and transparency, it should try a bit harder to live up to these high ideals."
Labels: Stephen Glover, WikiLeaks
Making a splash: WikiLeaks sets UK news agenda
WikiLeaks revelations from US embassy cables dominate the UK front pages this morning with the combination of stories about claims China might abandon North Korea and the "rudeness"of Prince Andrew.
The Daily Mirror is the only red-top to splash on a WikiLeaks' story. The Daily Star goes for 'Becks: New sex plot to wreck World Cup bid', and the Sun: 'Cheryl's £3m X Factor USA deal'. The Financial Times leads on 'EU growth funds lie idle under red tape.'
According to the cables, Prince Andrew has a dim view of Guardian journalists: A dispatch about the Prince's briefing businessmen at a brunch says he "then went on to 'these (expletive) journalists, especially from the National [sic] Guardian, who poke their noses everywhere' and (presumably) make it harder for British businessmen to do business. The crowd practically clapped."
Labels: WikiLeaks
Media Street in $90,000 funding bid from Knight
Media Street, the hyper-local web application project being developed by the people behind King's Road , which covers the famous street in London's Chelsea, is seeking $90,000 funding from the Knight Foundation.
The Knight Foundation runs the Knight News Challenge which awards up to $5 million a year for innovative ideas that develop platforms, tools and services to inform and transform community news.
In its bid application, Media Street is described as a project that has focused on developing a new approach to supporting local news and "was started to better serve the local community of King's Road and to develop a sustainable business model for local news."
The bid application states: "We have recruited over 40 paying customers for Kingsroad.co.uk and have generated nearly £15,000 GBP in revenue over the last quarter of 2010...We are confident that after six months, Media Street and our case study site, King's Road, is providing a new way to support news and information in geographically defined areas.
"Our application for the Knight News Challenge is intended to help jump-start the completion of the Media Street software and to fund the launch of other sites such as Fulham Road with the recruitment of a local community editor. At present, we can also plug in any domain we want so Media Street has the potential to scale and support other English speaking communities.
"With the Kingsroad.co.uk project, we are testing whether Media Street can support a road but there is no reason why is can't support other communities; from roads and streets to wider areas such as cities and towns - whether they're in the US or UK. It has the potential to be a global product which runs local sites around the world."
Media Street, co-founded by Jack Rutter and Jonathan Lloyd, says it aims "to bring interest back to local communities and the high street. By having a focus on local business, start ups like Media Street are in a position to better serve local online news."
Labels: Kings Road, Knight News Challenge, Media Street
Argus journalists vote for second two-day strike
NUJ members at the Newsquest-owned The Argus, Brighton, have voted for a second two-day strike.
It will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday (7 and 8 December) in the dispute about the loss of six news sub-editors' jobs, whose work is being transferred to Newsquest's Southampton operation, and a continuing company-wide pay freeze.
Argus NUJ members went on strike on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 November (see pic) over the same issues.
Source: Brighton and Hove News website. Pic: Argus NUJ chapel.
Read my guest blog by former deputy editor of The Argus, Frank le Duc, Newsquest: 'You can only slice the salami so many times before there's no meat left.'
Labels: Newsquest, The Argus Brighton
Media Street: New hyper-local web application
The people behind the hyper-local King's Road website, which covers the famous street in the London borough of Chelsea, are developing a new web application.
It is called Media Street and will run local websites like King's Road. A holding page for Media Street was launched today and new features will be added before Christmas and in the New Year. A website is coming soon.
You can follow Media Street's progress on Facebook and on Twitter.
Jonathan Lloyd, co-founder of King's Road and Media Street, told me: "Our goal is to help local communities and High Streets and develop a new business model for local news."
Labels: Jonathan Lloyd, Media Street
Guardian video on the US embassy cables leak
This is a Guardian video of interviews on the issues surrounding the publishing of the US embassy cables, obtained via WikiLeaks. Contributors are Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, FoI campaigner Heather Brooke, Tony Blair's former chief of staff Jonathan Powell, the Guardian's investigations executive editor David Leigh and historian and political writer Timothy Garton-Ash.
Guardian and New York Times defend publication of US embassy cable leaks
Labels: Croydon Guardian, WikiLeaks
Tobias Grubbe is free to give his opinions
Gentleman journalist Tobias Grubbe, the creation of Michael Cross and Matthew Buck, is freed from prison and able to give his opinions about strikes and national recovery on telegraph.co.uk today.
Labels: Tobias Grubbe
Top 20 classic headlines made in tabloid heaven
Editorial training consultant Peter Sands has come up with a list of his top 20 classic tabloid headlines on his blog. More than half are from the puntastic Sun.
Labels: Classic tabloid headlines, Peter Sands
Guardian and New York Times defend publication of US embassy diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks
The Guardian and New York Times have defended the publication of US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
Simon Jenkins, on guardian.co.uk, says: "The job of the media is not to protect power from embarrassment. If American spies are breaking United Nations rules by seeking the DNA biometrics of the UN director general, he is entitled to hear of it. British voters should know what Afghan leaders thought of British troops. American (and British) taxpayers might question, too, how most of the billions of dollars going in aid to Afghanistan simply exits the country at Kabul airport."
He also says: "The Guardian had to consider two things in abetting disclosure, irrespective of what is anyway published by WikiLeaks. It could not be party to putting the lives of individuals or sources at risk, nor reveal material that might compromise ongoing military operations or the location of special forces.
"In this light, two backup checks were applied. The US government was told in advance the areas or themes covered, and "representations" were invited in return. These were considered. Details of "redactions" were then shared with the other four media recipients of the material and sent to WikiLeaks itself, to establish, albeit voluntarily, some common standard."
Jenkins concludes: "What this saga must do is alter the basis of diplomatic reporting. If WikiLeaks can gain access to secret material, by whatever means, so presumably can a foreign power. Words on paper can be made secure, electronic archives not. The leaks have blown a hole in the framework by which states guard their secrets. The Guardian material must be a breach of the official secrets acts. But coupled with the penetration already allowed under freedom of information, the walls round policy formation and documentation are all but gone. All barriers are permeable. In future the only secrets will be spoken ones. Whether that is a good thing should be a topic for public debate."
In a note to readers, the New York Times, which is also publishing some of the WikiLeaks material, said: "The Times has taken care to exclude, in its articles and in supplementary material, in print and online, information that would endanger confidential informants or compromise national security. The Times's redactions were shared with other news organizations and communicated to WikiLeaks, in the hope that they would similarly edit the documents they planned to post online.
After its own redactions, The Times sent Obama administration officials the cables it planned to post and invited them to challenge publication of any information that, in the official view, would harm the national interest. After reviewing the cables, the officials — while making clear they condemn the publication of secret material — suggested additional redactions. The Times agreed to some, but not all. The Times is forwarding the administration's concerns to other news organizations and, at the suggestion of the State Department, to WikiLeaks itself. In all, The Times plans to post on its Web site the text of about 100 cables — some edited, some in full — that illuminate aspects of American foreign policy.
"The question of dealing with classified information is rarely easy, and never to be taken lightly. Editors try to balance the value of the material to public understanding against potential dangers to the national interest. As a general rule we withhold secret information that would expose confidential sources to reprisals or that would reveal operational intelligence that might be useful to adversaries in war. We excise material that might lead terrorists to unsecured weapons material, compromise intelligence-gathering programs aimed at hostile countries, or disclose information about the capabilities of American weapons that could be helpful to an enemy.
"On the other hand, we are less likely to censor candid remarks simply because they might cause a diplomatic controversy or embarrass officials."
The New York Times has published the correspondence between WikiLeaks and the US Government.
The Guardian in an editorial says: "Once the material fell into the hands of WikiLeaks, an organisation dedicated to publising information of all kinds, there was no realistic chance of it being supressed. While opposing publication, the US administration has acknowledged that the involvement of news organisations has not only given protection to many sources, but has also given a context to information which, had it been simply dumped, would have been both overwhelming and free of any such context. As Timothy Garton Ash puts it: it is both a historian's dream and a diplomat's nightmare."
Daily Telegraph deputy editor Benedict Brogan has blogged: "The WikiLeaks story is great fun. The embarrassment of others always is. But however much the Guardian, the New York Times and Julian Assange assure us that this represents a shattering blow to every assumption we hold about foreign relations, the fact remains that it's a collection of little substance that will do nothing to reshape geo-politics."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tells The Times in the UK: "You only live once, why not do something worthwhile?. The cables cover serious issues for every country in the world with a US diplomatic presence. In as far as knowledge about what is truly going on in the world can influence our decisions, this material must result in political change and reform." [The Times is behind a paywall]
Stephen Glover in the Independent today questions the role of the D-notice in the age of the internet. He writes: "In the pre-internet age, the secretary of the Government's D-notice committee was a personage whom editors took seriously. His role was to inform them that a story had implications for national security and request them not to publish. As patriotic chaps they were expected to comply.It is difficult to see how the advice of the present secretary of the D-notice committee, Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Vallance, will inhibit The Guardian, which is carrying the latest batch of WikiLeaks documents. If its editor, Alan Rusbridger, got out his black pen and began to cross things out, that would have no effect on what is published on the internet or by newspapers abroad, where no one gives a fig for British national security. Our enemies have no need of The Guardian."
Labels: Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, WikiLeaks
Sunday Times says DMGT may sell Northcliffe
The Sunday Times has again claimed that the Daily Mail and General Trust may sell its regional newspaper arm, Northcliffe.
James Ashton writing in the Business section today claims: "The Daily Mail group is preparing to water down staff pension benefits in a move that may ease the path for the sale of its regional newspaper arm.
"The publisher, which has one of Fleet Street's best retirement packages, is in talks with pension trustees to cut liabilities of its national and regional schemes. The 2,500 staff affected and pension members should learn the details next month.
"The Mail closed its final salary scheme to new recruits in 2009. The revised scheme is likely to blend defined benefits with defined contributions.
"Efforts to sell Northcliffe Media, the regional arm, in 2006 hit trouble when trustees raised the spectre of a one-off cash injection to bolster the pension scheme, which would have depressed proceeds from the £1.3 billion deal."
In a separate article, comparing DMGT's business strategy favourably with that of the Guardian, Ashton writes: "Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) has made an easier transition in anticipation of falling newspaper profits. When it finally hives off its regional publishing arm, it will have become a business media firm with just two trophy titles."
The Sunday Times is behind a paywall
DMGT reported last week: "Northcliffe: facing another tough year; UK advertising revenue in the first seven weeks down 7% on last year, continuing year-on-year trend experienced in September (like-for-like decline of 8%). Outlook for first quarter not expected to improve on this trend; will also be affected by higher newsprint costs; focus remains on reducing costs and new revenue opportunities."
Labels: Northcliffe
Prosser: Getting to the hub of centralised subbing
Really good article Why the hubs will turn full circle about centralised subbing by Allan Prosser, one of the newspaper industry's most respected experts, in the latest issue of InPublishing magazine.
Allan quotes an editor whose paper was subbed at a hub: "My problem – call me a control freak – was that I had little if any influence over what the pages looked like. Page design? Headlines? Copy fitting and cutting? Picture selection? Signing off pages? All of that was done miles away. None of it was my business – at least that was the position of the subs and the chief sub to whom they were answerable. I carried the blame as far as readers (and sometimes advertisers) were concerned, but had little responsibility.
"The chief sub and staff did, I'm sure, their best… their best to get not only my paper out on time but also the other half dozen or so titles (plus contract jobs) owned by the company. There were many corners cut, and it wasn't long before I believed that most of them came off my paper, not least because it was the only broadsheet.
" 'These broadsheet pages,' I was told by the sub assigned to my paper for a day or so each week, 'are really difficult to fill'."
He quotes another journalist: "The problem is that there are very few people left in here who know anything about design, so they can't express their opinions properly on what they want from the outsourced operation. The paper is full of errors. Every day."
Allan concludes: "It doesn't have to be like this. If it was Nissan, they would have specified the job properly. Every worker would have been trained intensively. Style and quality guidelines would be embedded into the DNA of the system. Performance feedback would be constant."
I also liked Allan's anecdote: "Just the other day, I was listening to a fascinating debate between executives about who should be responsible for 'curating' (for that is the modern phrase) a hyper-local website.
"The task involved aggregating multiple sources of information, some provided by professional journalists, some delivered through user-generated content; the ability to update quickly; to make sound professional judgements consistent with the law, ethics and a general sense of publishing responsibility. Also required was local knowledge, commitment, and a disciplined approach to design.
" 'Do you know what that reminds me of?' I said. 'An old-fashioned sub-editor'."
Labels: Allan Prosser, Centralised subbing
Lord Black: 'CFAs biggest threat to press freedom'
Lord Guy Black of Brentwood, the Telegraph director and chairman of Pressbof, has warned that lawyers' Conditional Fee Arrangements are the most serious threat to press freedom - and a possible component in the closure of local newspapers.
Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Black said: "I would go so far as to say that, even bearing in mind the highly unwelcome growth of the so-called 'super injunction', there is currently no more serious threat to media freedom and to the public's right to know than the unfettered use by claimant lawyers of CFAs backed by the toxic combination of 100% success fees and 'after the event insurance.'
"First of all there is cost. It is not uncommon, as evidence submitted to Lord Justice Jackson's review revealed, that libel and privacy actions against newspapers can often end up with damages of as little as £5,000 - but costs of twenty times or more that amount, a frightening prospect that could put some small publications out of business.
"I cannot overstate enough the difficult commercial situation many publications are still in. The perfect storm of structural change and recession has left many bruised and battered. Too many local newspapers – the engines of local democracy – have already folded, and there may be others. And CFAS may well be a component in that.
"Even more important is the chilling impact on free speech. It is now too common that newspapers will fail to defend a claim, no matter how spurious it might be or how important the issue, because they cannot afford the risk. CFAs have become a distorting factor in the editorial process, with issues often avoided because of fear of the consequences and the scrutiny role that is inherent in a free press undermined."
Via Society of Editors
Labels: CFAs, Lord Black of Brentwood
Police warn London newspaper editors on sex ads
The Croydon Guardian is running a story today saying that newspaper editors across London have received a letter from the police warning them to stop running advertisements for sex establishments which may involve trafficked women.
The Guardian says the letter: "Warns editors that they could be held criminally liable if they run ads which turn out to be linked to human trafficking, exploitation or proceeds of crime" and "was sent to more than 170 editors yesterday afternoon and asks them to support the police initiative."
The letter from Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Martin, head of the Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Unit, reads: "Advertising in newspapers can play a key role in facilitating the exploitation of trafficked victims. The adverts in question often purport to be massage parlours, saunas or escort agencies, but are in reality a front for criminal networks to advertise trafficked victims for sexual services."
DCS Martin asks editors to put in place a system to make sure they do not accept adverts which are "fronts for criminal networks to advertise trafficked victims for sexual services".
He warns: "As you will appreciate, criminal liability can arise in certain circumstances where evidence clearly shows that the advertising in question supports or promotes offences associated to trafficking, exploitation or proceeds of crime."
In 2008, Croydon Guardian publisher Newsquest dropped sex advertising from its newspapers after becoming convinced of the link between them and women being trafficked into the country to be used as sex slaves.
The Guardian has a link to the police letter here
Former Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson has been running a campaign to get regional newspapers to drop sex ads.
Newsquest has estimated that the sex ad ban cost the company up to £250,000 in one region alone.
Labels: Croydon Guardian, sex ads
Newspaper nightmare: The day without any news
According to today's Sun, scientists have pinpointed the 20th Century's most boring day - April 11, 1954 - when there was no news.
The Sun says: "It was the only 24 hours in the momentous hundred years with NO major event, birth or death. In a century that saw two world wars, space exploration, and the invention of the telly and the internet, the spring Sunday could only boast a general election in Belgium.
"There was the death at 69 of journeyman footballer Jack Shufflebotham, who played a few games for Oldham - but a planned coup in Yanaon, a French colony in India, failed to go ahead. The main birth was that of Turkish academic and microwave electronics expert Abdullah Atalar.
"Boffins in Cambridge arrived at the date after feeding 300 million facts into a new search engine called True Knowledge. Founder William Tunstall-Pedoe said yesterday: 'When the results came back, the winner was April 11, 1954. Nobody significant died that day and no major events apparently occurred'."
Mind you in 1954 there was no X Factor or I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here to help fill the tabloid pages.
The Sun has mocked up a front page from April 11 with "er..." on the front.
Labels: day with no news, the Sun
Frontline award for Jerome Starkey of The Times
The Times' Afghanistan correspondent Jerome Starkey was last night presented with the Frontline Club's annual excellence in journalism award.
Starkey has reported extensively on civilian casualties during the Afghanistan War. His coverage of a raid in February this year in which five civilians were killed prompted a US military commander to visit the victims' families.
Accepting the award, Starkey revealed he had previously worked for the Sun writing about celebrities.
BBC special correspondent Allan Little, one of the judges of the award, has paid this tribute to Starkey: "When I have been in Kabul I get more call-backs on Jerome Starkey's work than anyone else's. He has found ways of getting at what is going on on the ground, in places where he himself can't physically travel. I think he is brave, physically and editorially, has an independent mind, seems genuinely on top of things and leading the thinking among the resident hacks. And I think he cares about what's true, as opposed to what people say is true."
There was also a special award for New York Times photojournalist Joao Silva, who was severely injured by a landmine while embedded with the US military in Afghanistan. A website supporting Joao Silva has been set-up where you can buy one of his prints and make donations.
Labels: Frontline Club, Jerome Starkey, Joao Silva
Quotes of the Week: From Newsquest's salami slicing to the workie who took on the Indy
Frank le Duc, ex-deputy editor of The Argus, Brighton, on this blog: "Newsquest has used a salami slicing technique which has its limitations. You can slice the salami only so many times before there's no meat left. Perhaps more aptly you can cut the cost of feeding your goose but don't be surprised if it keeps laying fewer golden eggs until you end up strangling the scraggy old bird."
President Obama's spiritual adviser Rev. Jim Wallis in the Independent: "The Murdoch/Fox News channel is trying to religiously assassinate Barack Obama."
Simon Heffer in the Telegraph: "There are a number of people in my trade around the world who have the blood of Diana, Princess of Wales on their hands because of how she was pursued literally to her death in 1997. We cannot control the foreign press; but the bottom-feeders of the British media should be aware of one thing regarding Kate Middleton. Any treatment of her that smacks of prurience, unfairness, impropriety or cruelty will go down exceptionally badly with the British public."
Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger giving the Andrew Olle Media Lecture in Australia: "Something is dangerously out of kilter when elected members of parliament confess – as they recently have – that they have held back from probing into, or criticising, one particular media company for fear of what that company might do to them. Or when that company's former employees – who know what went on and also what the company is capable of – are too frightened to speak publicly about what they know."
Alan Geere, editor-in-chief of the Essex Chronicle Media Group and editorial director of Northcliffe Media South East, on his blog: "Earlier in the week I'd been walking with dinosaurs at the Society of Editors annual conference in Glasgow. A largely uninspiring selection of self-important big-wigs trooped on stage to tell it like it was/is/will be, few of them displaying any of the verve, excitement and ability to have a go that marks out the real leaders in journalism."
Patrick Cockburn in the Independent: "Perhaps the most damaging effect of "embedding" is to soften the brutality of any military occupation and underplay hostile local response to it. Above all, the very fact of a correspondent being with an occupying army gives the impression that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, countries which have endured 30 years of crisis and warfare, can be resolved by force."
Jack Wood posts on HoldtheFrontPage about Northcliffe's latest results: "I suspect the people making the cost cuts have not seen their wage packets getting smaller through this nasty experience. And when the bigwigs see their kids on Christmas morning opening their presents - think about the guys you laid off/sacked/pushed who won't have such a great experience. This might sound corny and ghost of Christmas past, but just consider how many people were forced to move in last year's reshaping of sub desks and how many are out of work now. Merry Christmas Northcliffe managing editors and a slashed new year to you all...."
Girish Gupta, who billed the Independent after doing two weeks' work experience, on this blog: "I'm sure I won't be having too many bylines in the Independent anytime soon but I hope that other editors can see that I'm doing what I believe to be right. Journalism is meant to be about outing what you think is wrong so hopefully I am doing that."
More on the workie who challenged the Independent: Is he a Clark Kent or David Brent?
My story today on Girish Gupta, who tried to bill the Independent after doing two weeks' work experience on the paper, has sparked quite a debate on Twitter.
The jury seems split about Girish's attempt to invoice the Indy and his campaign that anyone doing work experience should get the freelance rate for any work published.
Some think he should have realised he wasn't getting paid, others praise him for being brave enough to speak out on the issue of young journalists being exploited.
As Girish, now a freelance in Mexico, emailed me: "Twitter seems to be ablaze with this. Have been called the David Brent and Clark Kent of interning! It's so very divisive. My site's had more hits today than a usual month." The site has published his email correspondence with the Independent.
Posts on my story ranged from: "Girish sounds like just the kind of gutsy person we need to be attracting into our floundering industry, instead of the servile, chinless off-spring of the privileged mummies and daddies, who can fund their kids to "work" as unpaid interns for how ever long it takes"... to..."Don't encourage him. You're supposed to research things like pay before you start these thing. You are a journalist right?"
Malcom Coles has interviewed Girish by email at length today.
Labels: Girish Gupta, The Independent
Strikes at Johnston Press Irish titles called off
Strikes planned by NUJ chapels in Johnston Press owned titles in Ireland have been averted, the union says.
Ballots in favour of industrial action were passed in eight JP titles -- The Limerick Leader, The Leinster Leader, The Clonmel Nationalist, The Tipperary Star, The Leitrim Observer, The Leinster Express, The Offaly Express and The Kilkenny People.
But the NUJ says that negotiations "took on a new vigour" following the ballot and jobs under threat were saved. In other cases redundancy was accepted after packages were improved. Vacancies were created after the company accepted volunteers for redundancy who had previously been rejected.
The NUJ also claims management gave assurances that issues that arose concerning the introduction of the new ATEX editorial management system would be dealt with constructively with the chapels.
The Limerick Leader NUJ members deferred their strike action on the morning that it was due to take place on Tuesday.
Labels: Johnston Press Ireland, Limerick Leader
The odd couple: Michael White and Andy Coulson
Sky News' chief political correspondent Jon Craig has blogged about yesterday's Parliamentary Press Gallery Lunch Club bash which was addressed by David Cameron.
Craig says: "It's always fascinating at these lunches to see who journalists take as their guest. We're each allowed one. (Mine was a distinguished former Fleet Street political editor and Conservative Party spin chief.)
"Rory Bremner was guest of David Hencke, a Guardian veteran, former Press Gallery chairman and now freelance commentator for Tribune and other fine organs.
"The oddest of odd couples at the Cameron lunch was the pairing of Michael White of The Guardian and Andy Coulson. After all the bile The Guardian has thrown at Andy!"
Labels: Andy Coulson, Jon Craig, Michael White
Northcliffe facing 'another tough year' says DMGT
Northcliffe, the regional newspaper arm of the Daily Mail and General Trust, is facing "another tough year" the company said in its preliminary results for the year ended October 3, which were announced today.
DMGT reported: "Northcliffe: facing another tough year; UK advertising revenue in the first seven weeks down 7% on last year, continuing year-on-year trend experienced in September (like-for-like decline of 8%).
"Outlook for first quarter not expected to improve on this trend; will also be affected by higher newsprint costs; focus remains on reducing costs and new revenue opportunities."
Northcliffe increased its UK operating profits by £6.7 million (34%) to £26.5 million. Underlying revenues were down £16 million or 6% and reported revenues by 8% to £262 million, with advertising revenues down by 7% to £186 million.
DMGT says digital advertising revenues of £17 million grew by an underlying 13% and the company continued its programme of restructuring and process innovation and delivered year-on-year underlying cost savings of £26 million.
By category, recruitment revenues declined by an underlying 19%. DMGT Says: "Although the increase in unemployment levels showed some early signs of slowing, recent Budget cut announcements have, as expected, had a heavy impact on our private and public sector recruitment spend. "
Newspaper circulation revenues fell on an underlying basis by 6% or £4 million. For the January to June 2010 ABC period, circulation of our dailies was down 7.7% compared with an industry average of 6.7%. The weekly titles recorded a fall of 4.4%, a result which outperformed the industry average by 1.5 percentage points.
DMGT says: "Northcliffe has continued to innovate and change processes to drive down operational costs which have been reduced by £26 million or 10%. Staff costs fell by an underlying £14 million as headcount was reduced by 242 or 7% since September 2009. Greater efficiency has been delivered across all departments."
Labels: DMGT, Northcliffe
What happened when a workie sent the Indy a bill
I've already written about how the NUJ is taking up the case of unpaid journalism interns and wants to help them claim the national minimum wage for work done for free .
Now Girish Gupta has contacted me about his campaign for those on work experience to be paid the freelance rate for any of their work that is published.
When Gupta invoiced the Independent after a two week placement, during which he had stories published in the paper, he was given short shrift. He has published his email correspondence with executives at the Independent on his own site.
In one email, the Independent's deputy editor Adam Leigh described Gupta as "particularly idiotic" and he was told not to contact the paper again.
Gupta says he believes it is "morally unjustifiable" for the Independent not to pay for work it published. He also says the reason he is targeting the Independent, as opposed to other places he did work experience, is because "it was, by far, the one at which I most did the job of journalists, essentially filling in for a paid freelancer or staffer".
Gupta, now freelancing in Mexico, told me: "I'm sure I won't be having too many bylines in the Independent anytime soon but I hope that other editors can see that I'm doing what I believe to be right. Journalism is meant to be about outing what you think is wrong so hopefully I am doing that."
Labels: Girish Gupta, The Independent, work experience
CPJ video: Impunity on trial in the Philippines
Video Report: Impunity on trial in the Philippines from Committee to Protect Journalists on Vimeo.
A year after the massacre of journalists in Maguindanao province, a faltering Philippine legal system struggles to bring justice.
From the murder scene in Ampatuan to the presidential palace in Manila, a CPJ delegation travels the country to examine the shocking attack and the many obstacles to winning convictions. Family members, justice officials, and political leaders talk about the challenges in this video, which premiered at the 2010 CPJ International Press Freedom Awards on Tuesday this week.
Labels: Committee to Protect Journalists, Massacre in Maguindanao
Punctured lunch?: Bring back the sub-editors
Seamus McCauley on his virtualeconomics blog makes the case for sub-editors over auto spellcheckers after the Herts Advertiser website managed to publish a story about a cyclist sustaining a "punctured lunch" rather than a "punctured lung".
Labels: Subeditors
Irish Daily Star's verdict on Irish Government
The Irish Daily Star doesn't pull any punches in its description of the Irish Government and its handling of the financial crisis.
Via Seamus McCauley's virtualeconomics blog
Royal wedding: The Sun sings the news
Smart Sun front page today on date of the royal wedding and the news that it will be a bank holiday. Just wonder how many young Sun readers have heard of the great Billie Holliday. It's not as if she's been on X Factor.
Labels: the Sun
News of the royal wedding engages the press
News of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton swamped the main and celebrity news for the week ending Sunday 21 November, according to journalisted.
The announcement of the engagement of Prince William and Kate after 8 years of courtship, generated 411 articles; Ireland's debt crisis, with the country reluctantly accepting an EU bailout, 285 articles; the Nato summit in Lisbon, where members discussed Afghanistan, Russia, arms control, and the Turkey (Nato) Cyprus (EU) veto problem, 119 articles.
Covered little, according to journalisted, were: Riots in Haiti against UN peacekeepers, accused by locals of bringing cholera to the country, the subject of 16 articles; North and South Korea on the brink of conflict, 15 articles; first human case of bird flu in seven years, diagnosed in Hong Kong last week, 6 articles.
Celebrity versus serious news: Nutritionist Gillian McKeith on TV show 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here', 67 articles vs. Britons Paul and Rachel Chandler freed after being held for 13 months by Somali pirates, 50 articles. X Factor contestant Wagner Carrilho, 44 articles vs. flooding in Cornwall, 42 articles.
Massacre in Maguindanao: Families speak out a year after murder of 32 journalists and media staff
One year ago, on 23 November 2009, 32 journalists and media staff were massacred in Maguindanao province, on the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines, by a private militia controlled by the local governor's family.
It is believed to be the worst single massacre of journalists in history.
Press freedom campaign group Reporters Without Borders says: "The tragedy's shocking nature did not reside solely in the record number of journalists killed but also in the criminal desire of the perpetrators to eliminate all the witnesses, down to the very last man and woman.
"The international community was stunned as the details of the massacre emerged. At first it was shocked by the scale of the death toll. Then it was appalled by the revelations about the criminal nature of the Ampatuan family.
"Now our common goal must be to press the authorities to allocate sufficient material and human resources to the trial of the main defendants, so that it can be completed within a reasonable time and conclude with the conviction of those responsible, both the perpetrators and the instigators.
"By commemorating the victims, every press freedom organisation can help to promote the deep-seated changes that the Philippines needs. Together, let's say: 'Never again'."
To pay tribute to the victims, Reporters Without Borders is broadcasting on YouTube testimonies of some of the families of the journalists killed a year ago. It is also appealing for a broad movement of support for the families.
The International Federation of Journalists and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines are organising a Global Day of Action Against Impunity and for Justice to the Ampatuan Massacre Victims. The campaign suggests actions that journalists and media workers can take to support the day, from letter-writing campaigns to collecting signatures in a condolence book for the victims' friends and family.
Labels: Massacre in Maguindanao
Want a job in journalism? Then get me a story
Alan Geere, editor-in-chief of the Essex Chronicle Media Group and editorial director of Northcliffe Media South East, has blogged about his methods of recruiting journalists - which he describes as "The Apprentice meets X Factor".
Alan talks to trainees on NCTJ courses and sets potential candidates an assignment. "Find a story for a specially devised publication and write it up. In that hour I can see if the 'driven, ambitious and motivated' applicant on the CV can actually talk to people, find an angle, write an intro that makes sense, construct a sentence and make a deadline. And you'd be surprised how many can't...
"With my sidekick Deanne Blaylock, editor of the Surrey Mirror Series and a perfect Margaret/Karren to my Sir Alan, we tease out the how, the why and the where of the stories and work out whether these people have got any chance in journalism.
"Key for me, though, is the ability to engage with people. All the doom-mongers for journalism in general and newspapers in particular seem to have forgotten that finding people and getting them to talk to you is at the heart of it."
Alan doesn't support the argument, put forward by Aberdeen Press and Journal editor Derek Tucker, at the Society of Editors conference, that the industry should take back the training of journalists from academics.
He says: "The trainees I see are trained to the highest standard by people who know and care. I don't have the capacity or capability to teach shorthand to 100 wpm in 16 weeks or give a thorough grounding in media law or public affairs. I'll leave that to the experts, thanks, Derek.
"What I can offer, though, is a step on the first rung of a ladder that has taken the likes of Derek and me into a rewarding, unpredictable, at times frustrating yet always fascinating career. And I want to do my bit to keep that flame alive."
This week Alan is meeting trainees in Newcastle and Brighton.
Labels: Alan Geere
Newsquest: 'You can slice the salami only so many times before there's no meat left'
Guest Blog: Former deputy editor of The Argus, Brighton, Frank le Duc on the strike by journalists at the Newsquest-owned paper and the challenge facing the big regional publishers from the rise of new local competition. Frank now runs the Brighton and Hove News website.
Staff at The Argus returned to work this morning after a two-day strike on Thursday and Friday.
Tomorrow they are due to hold a chapel meeting to work out their next move.
On a positive note, the six sub-editors who were going to be made redundant on Friday are among those back at their desks.
But the stay of execution is unlikely to last more than four weeks.
Brighton is not the only place where Newsquest staff have been on strike or are balloting on whether to strike.
And Newsquest is not the only local newspaper company to face unrest.
But allow me to plead what I shall call the Greenslade defence in writing about Brighton as an illustration of what is happening more widely.
I do this in part because it is where I live and in part because I used to work at The Argus as a reporter and more recently as deputy editor.
The demise of local newspapers has long been predicted.
Respected commentators Claire Enders last year and Ross Dawson last month have forecast widespread closures and even extinction, albeit with caveats.
The advent of radio then television, free newspapers, desktop publishing and more recently the internet have all prompted the last rites.
But there are those who would argue that the greatest threat comes from within.
Dan Sabbagh, for example, has been critical in describing the process of "disinvestment" as the big players have chased unrealistically high profit margins.
And the NUJ joined the chorus of condemnation when Gracia Martore, the finance director of Newsquest's American owner Gannett, said that the British titles made healthy profits.
Newsquest journalists had been told jobs were going because of the harsh economic climate.
The difficulty for companies like Newsquest is that their profits are not coming from a resurgence in advertising revenues but a ruthless cutting of costs.
Newsquest has used a salami slicing technique which has its limitations. You can slice the salami only so many times before there's no meat left.
Perhaps more aptly you can cut the cost of feeding your goose but don't be surprised if it keeps laying fewer golden eggs until you end up strangling the scraggy old bird.
If any of the wounds at The Argus have been self-inflicted, it has faced plenty of external competitive threats too.
These range from the launch of the Friday Ad in the Brighton area, which quickly captured the valuable classified advertising market, to the most recent recession.
Three staples of local paper revenues – jobs ads, motors and property – have migrated online but often to commercial rivals.
And if we avoid a double dip, we cannot be sure that those advertisers will return to local papers. After all, their target audience seems to like the searching and filtering functionality of the web.
The structural changes have brought a new fragmentation to a dynamic market not so long after local newspaper publishers borrowed heavily during the corporate consolidation of the 1990s.
Changes in ownership were followed by a drive for higher yields and margins along the lines of the Glazers' debt-loaded takeover of Manchester United.
In response one group of football fans set up FC United of Manchester (who travel to Brighton for an FA Cup tie next weekend).
The equivalent in local news has been the plethora of community publishers picking up display ads from small traders who find rates for space in papers like The Argus too expensive.
Now their online counterparts are springing up too in places like Saddleworth, Ventnor and Welshpool.
They too can undercut a paper like The Argus – and its website.
The Argus has its brand name advantage. But if jobs and functions keep being relocated to Southampton, another football comparison may be relevant.
When Wimbledon became the MK Dons and relocated to Buckinghamshire, disenfranchised fans responded by setting up AFC Wimbledon.
Like FC United, AFC Wimbledon is on the march.
Yet though the ground is shifting in local newspapers, Sir Ray Tindle has shown that even in a recession it's possible to be truly local and make good money.
He has been busy launching titles and editions. But his expansionism is unusual. So is his commitment to local communities.
In any case, sites like mine – Brighton and Hove News – are unlikely to displace papers like The Argus (and I'd hate to see the paper fold).
But these sites are adding to the truly local choices available to readers and advertisers.
And as publishers increasingly vacate the towns they purport to serve, they will have fewer eyes and ears on the ground to tackle the growing threat from the web – editorially or commercially.
When I went to the Argus offices to report on the strike it was clear that the journalists there had widespread public support.
Their goose may not yet be cooked but – with so many potential online rivals ready to fill any void – they are plainly anxious that corporate greed should not prove fatal.
Pic: NUJ Argus chapel
Labels: Frank Le Duc, Newsquest, The Argus Brighton
Tobias Grubbe. 'Is it a bird?, is it a plane?...
...No, it's a flying condom. Gentleman journalist Tobias Grubbe, the creation of Michael Cross and Matthew Buck, gives his latest opinions today on the Pope, the Royal Wedding and other subjects at telegraph.co.uk
Crowdfunding campaign to publish Middle East journals of photojournalist Tom Hurndall
Trolley Books is launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to publish 'The Only House Left Standing' - the Middle East journals of the aspiring British photojournalist and peace worker Tom Hurndall who was shot in the head in Gaza by an Israeli soldier in April 2003 and died nine months later in a London hospital, aged 22.
The book will contain Tom Hurndall's photographs in the weeks running up to his shooting, as well as extracts from his diaries and poems, and contains a preface by the Independent's Robert Fisk.
The eight week crowdfunding campaign will launch next Friday (November 26), the day before Tom's birthday, with a webinar panel talk starting at 16.00 GMT. The panel includes:
• Tom's parents Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall.
• BBC Panorama journalist John Sweeney.
• Rowan Joffe and Simon Block, the director and screenwriter of Channel 4's documentary The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall.
• Mohammed Qeshta - who was with Tom Hurndall when we was shot and worked for the International Solidarity Movement.
• Gigi Giannuzzi, publisher and founder of Trolley Books.
The panel will be filmed and streamed live online to launch the fundraising campaign. To watch the online panel talk live, on computer, ipad or iphone, register with your email in advance http://tomhurndalltrolleybooks.eventbrite.com/.
An edited version of the talk be uploaded to an Indiegogo page online. Indiegogo is a pledge-for-reward social platform where supporters of the project will be able to pledge anything from £5 upwards. It is hoped enough funds can be raised in time for the book to be published in April 2011, the eighth anniversary of Tom Hurndall's shooting.
Tom Hurndall's obituary in the Guardian, January 2004
Labels: Tom Hurndall
EDP holds the front page for something different
The Eastern Daily Press devoted its front page on Saturday to a petition form calling on the Prime Minister to maintain RAF Marham in Norfolk as the base for the UK's Tornadoes.
EDP editor Peter Waters, writing in the paper, said: "You'll have noticed that there is something different about today's front page. Normally there is a sizable headline in Centennial Black typeface and an accompanying story. There is usually a large photograph.
"Today we've published a petition form, something I don't believe we have done in the 140-year history of the Eastern Daily Press...We have, as we do in Norfolk , 'dun diff'rent' because the issue at stake is of the highest importance - it is the future of the last RAF flying base in the county."
According to the EDP's 'Make It Marham' campaign, the base employs around 5000 staff, with family members making a community of around 8000. Their incomes, combined with the purchase of goods and services from local businesses, contribute in excess of £130 million to the local economy.
Labels: Eastern Daily Press
Irish Examiner: 'Proclamation of Dependence'
Great front page in the Irish Examiner contrasts the plight of the Irish economy with the impending EU bailout, and subsequent loss of sovereignty, by re-writing the country's famous 1916 Proclamation of Independence and the Irish Republic as the "Proclamation of Dependence".
The original Proclamation of Independence begins: "IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom."
The Examiner's "Proclamation of Dependence" begins:"IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God how have we come to this? And in the name of the dead generations from which she received her old tradition of nationhood,Ireland, through our new masters at the European Central Bank summons her children to her financial sovereign funeral."
Via Peter Sands blog. Peter says the Examiner front page is "a reminder how effective print journalism can be".
Labels: Irish Examiner
Heffer warns press not to hound Kate Middleton
Simon Heffer in the Telegraph today warns the "bottom-feeders" of the British press that the public will not forgive them if they mistreat royal bride to be Kate Middleton.
Heffer writes: "There are a number of people in my trade around the world who have the blood of Diana, Princess of Wales on their hands because of how she was pursued literally to her death in 1997.
"We cannot control the foreign press; but the bottom-feeders of the British media should be aware of one thing regarding Kate Middleton. Any treatment of her that smacks of prurience, unfairness, impropriety or cruelty will go down exceptionally badly with the British public.
"Their sense of decency was violated by what happened to Prince William's mother. They will not forgive so easily next time. If anyone thinks that exploiting Miss Middleton is a route to building bigger audiences, I would warn them that the reality may be rather different."
Labels: Kate Middleton, Simon Heffer
Newsquest to cut at least 10 more jobs in Scotland
At least ten editorial posts at the Newsquest-owned Herald & Times Group - publishers of The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times newspapers in Glasgow - are at risk of redundancy, as part of a cost-saving exercise, allmediascotland reports today.
The reason for the planned redundancies, says the company, is "current trading conditions and the outlook for the business in 2011".
The company told allmediascotland it "would seek volunteers for redundancy where possible in the [newspaper] division and overall fewer than 20 employees would be affected" and that "like most regional newspaper groups, is has been badly affected by a downturn in advertising".
Labels: Evening Times, Herald, Newsquest, Sunday Herald
Bloggers: What to do when facing legals threats
Sense About Science, the group that has been campaigning for the reform of the libel laws, has published a guide - Bloggers and libel law - about what to do when your blog is the target of a letter threatening legal action over something they've published.
All bloggers should read and save this report.
Via Paul Bradshaw.
Labels: Bloggers and Libel law, Sense About Science
Warning over sharp newsprint price rise for 2011
Newsprint price increases of between 25 and 30 per cent are being asked for by all paper producers for 2011, with no guarantees that the price can be held for 12 months, according to the latest edition of Production Journal.
PJ editor Gary Callum says: "Sensitive negotiations are under way that could have far-reaching impact on the industry. PJ hopes that buyers and sellers will go on record next month when they are closer to the 'done deal'.
"Publishers have been hurting through reduced revenues and fast-moving business models and have little more to cut by way of reduced paginations and smaller formats."
Labels: Newsprint, Production Journal
Alan Rusbridger: 15 great things about Twitter
Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, giving the Andrew Olle lecture 2010 in Sydney today, highlights 15 great things about Twitter.
1. It's an amazing form of distribution
It's a highly effective way of spreading ideas, information and content. Don't be distracted by the 140-character limit. A lot of the best tweets are links. It's instantaneous. Its reach can be immensely far and wide. Why does this matter? Because we do distribution too. We're now competing with a medium that can do many things incomparably faster than we can. It's back to the battle between scribes and movable type. That matters in journalistic terms. And, if you're trying to charge for content, it matters in business terms. The life expectancy of much exclusive information can now be measured in minutes, if not in seconds. That has profound implications for our economic model, never mind the journalism.
2. It's where things happen first
Not all things. News organisations still break lots of news. But, increasingly, news happens first on Twitter. If you're a regular Twitter user, even if you're in the news business and have access to the wires, the chances are that you'll check out many rumours of breaking news on Twitter first. There are millions of human monitors out there who will pick up on the smallest things and who have the same instincts as the agencies – to be the first with the news. As more people join, the better it will get.
3. As a search engine, it rivals Google
Many people still don't quite understand that Twitter is, in some respects, better than Google in finding stuff out. Google is limited to using algorithms to ferret out information in the unlikeliest hidden corners of the web. Twitter goes one stage further – harnessing the mass capabilities of human intelligence to the power of millions in order to find information that is new, valuable, relevant or entertaining.
4. It's a formidable aggregation tool
You set Twitter to search out information on any subject you want and it will often bring you the best information there is. It becomes your personalised news feed. If you are following the most interesting people they will in all likelihood bring you the most interesting information. In other words, it's not simply you searching. You can sit back and let other people you admire or respect go out searching and gathering for you. Again, no news organisation could possibly aim to match, or beat, the combined power of all those worker bees collecting information and disseminating it.
5. It's a great reporting tool
Many of the best reporters are now habitually using Twitter as an aid to finding information. This can be simple requests for knowledge that other people already know, have to hand, or can easily find. The so-called wisdom of crowds comes into play: the "they know more than we do" theory. Or you're simply in a hurry and know that someone out there will know the answer quickly. Or it can be reporters using Twitter to find witnesses to specific events – people who were in the right place at the right time, but would otherwise be hard to find.
6. It's a fantastic form of marketing
You've written your piece or blog. You may well have involved others in the researching of it. Now you can let them all know it's there, so that they come to your site. You alert your community of followers. In marketing speak, it drives traffic and it drives engagement. If they like what they read they'll tell others about it. If they really like it, it will, as they say, "go viral". I only have 18,500 followers. But if I get retweeted by one of our columnists, Charlie Brooker, I reach a further 200,000. If Guardian Technology picks it up it goes to an audience of 1.6 million. If Stephen Fry notices it, it's global.
7. It's a series of common conversations
Or it can be. As well as reading what you've written and spreading the word, people can respond. They can agree or disagree or denounce it. They can blog elsewhere and link to it. There's nothing worse than writing or broadcasting something to no reaction at all. With Twitter you get an instant reaction. It's not transmission, it's communication. It's the ability to share and discuss with scores, or hundreds, or thousands of people in real time. Twitter can be fragmented. It can be the opposite of fragmentation. It's a parallel universe of common conversations.
8. It's more diverse
Traditional media allowed a few voices in. Twitter allows anyone.
9. It changes the tone of writing
A good conversation involves listening as well as talking. You will want to listen as well as talk. You will want to engage and be entertaining. There is, obviously, more brevity on Twitter. There's more humour. More mixing of comment with fact. It's more personal. The elevated platform on which journalists sometimes liked to think they were sitting is kicked away on Twitter. Journalists are fast learners. They start writing differently.Talking of which …
10. It's a level playing field
A recognised "name" may initially attract followers in reasonable numbers. But if they have nothing interesting to say they will talk into an empty room. The energy in Twitter gathers around people who can say things crisply and entertainingly, even though they may be "unknown". They may speak to a small audience, but if they say interesting things they may well be republished numerous times and the exponential pace of those re-transmissions can, in time, dwarf the audience of the so-called big names. Shock news: sometimes the people formerly known as readers can write snappier headlines and copy than journalists can.
11. It has different news values
People on Twitter quite often have an entirely different sense of what is and what isn't news. What seems obvious to journalists in terms of the choices we make is quite often markedly different from how others see it – both in terms of the things we choose to cover and the things we ignore. The power of tens of thousands of people articulating those different choices can wash back into newsrooms and affect what editors choose to cover. We can ignore that, of course. But should we?
12. It has a long attention span
The opposite is usually argued – that Twitter is simply an instant, highly condensed stream of consciousness. The perfect medium for goldfish. But set your TweetDeck to follow a particular keyword or issue or subject and you may well find that the attention span of Twitter users puts newspapers to shame. They will be ferreting out and aggregating information on the issues that concern them long after the caravan of professional journalists has moved on.
13. It creates communities
Or, rather, communities form themselves around particular issues, people, events, artefacts, cultures, ideas, subjects or geographies. They may be temporary communities or long-terms ones, strong ones or weak ones. But they are recognisably communities.
14. It changes notions of authority
Instead of waiting to receive the "expert" opinions of others – mostly us journalists – Twitter shifts the balance to so-called "peer to peer" authority. It's not that Twitterers ignore what we say – on the contrary (see distribution and marketing, above) they are becoming our most effective transmitters and responders. But, equally, we kid ourselves if we think there isn't another force in play here – that a 21-year-old student is quite likely to be more drawn to the opinions and preferences of people who look and talk like her. Or a 31-year-old mother of young toddlers. Or a 41-year-old bloke passionate about politics and the rock music of his youth.
15. It is an agent of change
As this ability of people to combine around issues and to articulate them grows, so it will have increasing effect on people in authority. Companies are already learning to respect, even fear, the power of collaborative media. Increasingly, social media will challenge conventional politics and, for instance, the laws relating to expression and speech.
You can read Rusbridger's lecture here
Labels: Alan Rusbridger, Twitter
Guardian and New York Times defend publication of ...
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Newsquest: 'You can slice the salami only so many ...
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MPs back striking Brighton Argus journalists
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Royal Wedding special: Spot the odd one out
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Cameron in China beats fees demo for coverage
Sun set up Politicians Complaints Commission
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Take That star can be named says Appeal Court
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Press Complaints Commission complains about 'error...
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Super-injunction imposed news blackout on Chandler...
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Republicans win mid-terms and most UK coverage
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'Timesworld cuts you off from web conversation'
No doubting this great Guardian correction. . . .
NUJ strike today at Newsquest in Southampton
Derek Tucker to retire at Press and Journal
Independent NUJ staff to ballot for action on pay
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Tobias Grubbe on a new mode of transportation
Premiership player may be unmasked says judge
D-G accused of compromising BBC impartiality
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Forester launches new titles after Tindle takeover
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Libel law reform could come in by May 2012
PM: Journalists' Charity represents 'Big Society'


text:
Jan Bienias (ur. 1839 w Święcanach, zm. 1915 w Jaśle) – polski działacz społeczny, spółdzielczy i samorządowy działający na terenie Galicji w Cesarstwie Austro-Węgierskim, członek rady gminy Święcany w latach 1878–1884, a następnie wójt gminy Święcany w latach 1884–1896, radny Cesarsko-Królewskiej Rady Powiatowej w Jaśle w latach 1894–1900.

Jeden z głównych pretendentów do objęcia mandatu posła VIII kadencji Sejmu Krajowego Galicji w 1904.

Życiorys
Urodził się w 1839 w Święcanach koło Biecza (obecnie województwo podkarpackie, wówczas kresy wschodnie Galicji Zachodniej), jako syn Wawrzyńca (ur. 1789) i jego drugiej żony – Anny (ur. 1808), która pochodziła z rodziny młynarzy. Został ochrzczony kilka dni po narodzinach przez ks. Jana Rządzkiego. Jego dziadek i ojciec byli zamożnymi kowalami. Jedna z gałęzi rodziny mieszkała w Czermnej, jednakże korzenie ich przodków po mieczu wywodzą się z obszaru Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego, gdzie piastowali stanowiska zarządców majątków dworskich i ekonomów folwarków pańszczyźnianych. Legitymowali się szlacheckim rodowodem i herbem Pielesz.

Przez dwie kadencje, od 1878 do 1884 zasiadał w radzie gminy wiejskiej Święcany. Od 1881 wchodził w skład Zwierzchności gminnej. Po wyborach w 1884 został wybrany na wójta gminy Święcany, na terenie której wraz z przyrodnim bratem Józefem (ur. 1826, syn Wawrzyńca z pierwszego małżeństwa, które zawarł w 1812 z Katarzyną Setlik) prowadził znaną w okolicy kuźnię. Do 1851 kuźnia należała do ich ojca – Wawrzyńca. Tam w trakcie powstania styczniowego wraz z członkami rodziny wykonywał m.in. broń białą, którą poprzez pochodzącego z Siepietnicy powstańca Aleksandra Paszkiewicza (ur. 1837, zm. 1908, syn Michała) oraz Stefana Wilczkiewicza z Libuszy (ur. 1844, syn Józefa i Salomei) i Rylskiego z Biecza dostarczano polskim, walczącym oddziałom powstańczym. Od 1876 był właścicielem dużego gospodarstwa rolnego. Opowiadał się za ruchem ludowym. Od 1894 do 1900 zasiadał w Cesarsko – Królewskiej Radzie Powiatowej w Jaśle (wybrany z grupy przedstawicieli gmin wiejskich). Za jego kadencji w gremium tejże rady, w 1897 wzniesiono neorenesansowy budynek stanowiący siedzibę tego urzędu, który w kwietniu 1898 został oddany do użytku. Zabiegał o wzniesienie murowanego budynku szkoły w Święcanach. Po przekazaniu działki pod budowę przez Felicję z hr. Bobrowskich Pruszyńską budynek szkolny został ukończony w 1898. W 1900 wszedł w skład delegacji samorządowej witającej cesarza Franciszka Józefa na największych w historii Galicji manewrach wojskowych odbywających się w Jaśle i okolicach. Jego kandydatura była rozważana odnośnie do objęcia mandatu posła do Sejmu Krajowego Galicji po przedwczesnym złożeniu urzędu przez ks. Karola Krementowskiego w 1904. Od momentu założenia na początku XX wieku był członkiem Kółka Rolniczego, a dodatkowo od 1906 członkiem Związku Katolicko–Społecznego, na zebraniu którego, 26 listopada 1909 stał się jednym z postulatorów utworzenia Wiejskiej Kasy Oszczędnościowo–Pożyczkowej Raiffeisena w Święcanach. Ostatecznie po blisko miesięcznych konsultacjach z działaczem spółdzielczym i ekonomistą Franciszkiem Stefczykiem założono Kasę Stefczyka, której był współudziałowcem.

Zmarł w 1915, w 76 roku życia. Ceremonię pogrzebową prowadził ks. Józef Śliwiński, ówczesny proboszcz święcański i inicjator powstania miejscowej jednostki Ochotniczej Straży Pożarnej. Został pochowany na cmentarzu parafialnym w Święcanach.

Życie prywatne
Z małżeństwa z Karoliną Nigborowicz (córką Antoniego i Małgorzaty z domu Pawłowicz) miał kilkoro dzieci, w tym Piotra, Pawła (1874–1934, zmarł w USA) i Mariannę (1878–1955). Jego wnukami byli m.in. Władysław (1913–2000) i Franciszek Bienias (1900–1964) – synowie Pawła, uczestnicy kampanii wrześniowej oraz synowie Marianny: Michał Wacław Suski (1913–1994), Jan Fryderyk Suski ps. "Ryś" (1916–2004) – właściciel młynu w Tokach, żołnierz AK i dowódca pułku zbrojnego na ziemi żmigrodzkiej oraz Stefana Suskiego – zamordowanego w 1943 w KL Auschwitz. Praprawnuczką Jana Bieniasa jest znana hepatolog związana z Uniwersytetem Medycznym we Wrocławiu – prof. dr hab. n. med. Małgorzata Inglot z d. Suska.

Jego bliskim przyjacielem był ksiądz prałat Karol Krementowski (1839–1909), powołany przez biskupa Józefa Sebastiana Pelczara na urząd kanonika przemyskiego i proboszcza parafii katedralnej, poseł na VIII kadencję Sejmu Krajowego Galicji z okręgu Jasło, a także Romuald Palch i Jan Data.

Wywód genealogiczny

Zobacz też
 Bienias

Przypisy

Bibliografia
 SZEMATYZM Królestwa Galicyi i Lodomeryi z Wielkim Księstwem Krakowskiem na rok 1894, Lemberg 1894
 Ks. Andrzej Motyka – Ks. Karol Krementowski – przyjaciel świętego biskupa, Niedziela rzeszowska, 2012

Polscy działacze społeczni
Członkowie Rady Powiatowej Jasielskiej (autonomia galicyjska)
Polscy wójtowie
Polscy działacze spółdzielczy
Polscy rolnicy
Polscy kowale
Polscy działacze ludowi w Galicji
Polscy działacze katoliccy
Osoby niosące pomoc powstaniu styczniowemu
Członkowie Okręgowych Towarzystw Organizacji i Kółek Rolniczych
Ludzie związani z Bieczem
Ludzie związani z Jasłem
Urodzeni w 1839
Zmarli w 1915

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Raw papaya sambharo is a very popular accompaniment with Gujarati fafda. I remember having fresh papaya sambharo with hot fafda for breakfast in Gondal, Gujarat few years back. The taste is simply to die for. This sambharo made by MIL and hubby also has besan and can be had almost like a chutney with sabzi-roti. If refrigerated it can last for 3-4 days and is a great way to incorporate raw papaya in your diet. Raw papaya as we know is rich in potassium and anti-oxidants. It aids digestion and has anti-inflammatory properties. I am not a big fan of ripe papaya but I love this green chili and raw papaya salad. Hope you'll like it too.
This Gujarati style raw papaya sambharo or papaya salad is a very good accompaniment with sabzi-roti as well as Gujarati snack known as fafda.
Heat a kadai, add besan, 1 tbsp oil, 1/4th tsp haldi, 1/4th tsp hing, and salt.
Mix well, cook till the flour starts to turn dark in color, and then transfer to a bowl.
Add 1 tbsp oil in the same kadai, and when the oil heats up, add mustard and cumin seeds.
Add 1/4th tsp of hing and haldi each when the seeds start to splutter.
Add green chilies and raw papaya, and mix well.
Add roasted besan and sauté till the flour soaks up the moisture.
Select light-colored, non-spicy green chilies.
If refrigerated the sambharo can last for 3-4 days.


Be the first to hear about their new releases and deals. Download the Booksprout app and search for Delaney Jane today!
Delaney Jane is an American author with the vocabulary of a sailor and a saucy muse. Born and bred in New England, one can't be too surprised that she was drawn to the steamier side of fiction - one has to keep warm somehow on winter nights. When she isn't writing, Delaney spends much of her time traveling to the UK, singing so loudly in the car that people think she's having a throw down argument with her windshield, and trying out some of the spicier tidbits of her imagination with her handsome husband.
Don't worry. He can keep up.


text:
/* Test File for Opt_Plan/
 *
 * Email questions to {nga, hoangt}@cs.brandeis.edu
 *
 */

#include "OptTest.h"

OptTest::OptTest() {}

OptTest::~OptTest() {}

bool OptTest::run(Globals* g, const vector<string>& args) {
  CatalogInstance::getCatalog();

  while (1) {

    /* Initilize parser and objects */

    Parser* p = new Parser();
    PObject::initialize();

    /* Parsing a query */

    cout << "Enter a query: " << endl;
    int result = p->doParse();

    if (result == 0) { /* If query parsed successfully */
      cout << "\nQuery parsed properly!" << endl;

      QSelect* ptrQuery = (QSelect*) (p->getQuery());

      Opt_QueryGraph* ptrQueryGraph = new Opt_QueryGraph(ptrQuery);

      char FactTables[2000]; FactTables[0] = '\0';
      char *ptrFTable;
      char QueryName[256]; QueryName[0] = '\0';
      list<char*> FList;

      cout << "Enter a list of fact tables: ";
      cin.getline(FactTables, 2000);
      cout << "Enter output file name: ";
      cin.getline(QueryName, 256);

      StopWatch stopWatch;
      stopWatch.start();

      ptrFTable = strtok(FactTables, " .,;\n");
      while (ptrFTable != NULL) {
	char* _table;
	_table = (char*) malloc (sizeof(char) * 30);
	assert(_table);
	strcpy(_table, ptrFTable);
	FList.push_back(_table);
	ptrFTable = strtok(NULL, " .,;\n");
      }

      // Decompse the original
      decompose(ptrQueryGraph, FList, QueryName);

      // Get replica if any
      Opt_QueryGraph* ptrReplica = ptrQueryGraph->getReplica();
      if (ptrReplica != NULL)
	{
	  //cout << "Replica: \n" << ptrReplica->getSQLQuery();
	  //cout << "------------\n";

	  // Get replica table names
	  list<ReplicaTable*> replicaTables = ptrReplica->getReplicaTables();

	  // Add these replica into fact table list, right before its's original
	  list<ReplicaTable*>::iterator replicaIt;
	  for (replicaIt = replicaTables.begin(); replicaIt != replicaTables.end(); replicaIt++)
	  {
	    char* replicaTableName = (char*) (*replicaIt)->m_sName.c_str();
	    int numReplica = (*replicaIt)->m_iNumReplica;

	    //cout << "Replica: " << replicaTableName << "\n";

	    // Insert this replica tables in the right fact position
	    list<char*>::iterator factIt;
	    for (factIt = FList.begin(); factIt != FList.end(); factIt++)
	    {
	      //cout << "         " << (*factIt) << "\n";

	      if (strcmp(replicaTableName, (*factIt)) == 0)
	      {
		for (int i = 0; i < numReplica; i++)
		{
		  char s[300];
		  s[0] = '\0';
		  strcpy(s,replicaTableName);
		  strcat(s,"_");
		  char num[10];
		  sprintf(num, "%d", i+1);
		  strcat(s,num);

		  char* _table;
		  _table = (char*) malloc (sizeof(char) * 30);
		  assert(_table);
		  strcpy(_table, s);

		   FList.insert(factIt, _table);
		}
		break;
	      }
	    }
	  }

	  /*
	  list<char*>::iterator factIt;
	  cout << "New fact tables:\n";
	  for (factIt = FList.begin(); factIt != FList.end(); factIt++)
	    {
	      cout << (*factIt) << ",";
	    }
	  cout << "\n";
	  */

	  // decompose the replica
	  strcat(QueryName, "R");
          decompose(ptrReplica, FList, QueryName);
	}

      /* Memory de-allocation */

      for (list<char*>::iterator iter = FList.begin(); iter != FList.end(); iter++) {
	free (*iter);
      }
      delete ptrQueryGraph;

      cout << "[done]" << endl;

	    cout << "Running time: " << stopWatch.stop() << " ms" << endl;
    }

    PObject::uninitialize();
    delete p;
  }

  return 1;
}

// Decompose a given query
void OptTest::decompose(Opt_QueryGraph* ptrQueryGraph, list<char*> factTables, char queryOutputName[256])
{
     if (factTables.size() >= 1) {

	/* List of fact tables will be from 2 */

	for (unsigned int i = 1; i <= factTables.size(); i++) {
	  char thisQueryName[300]; thisQueryName[0] = '\0';
	  char num[10]; sprintf(num, "%d", i); /* Convert from int to char */

	  /* Formatting query's name */

	  strcpy(thisQueryName, queryOutputName);
	  strcat(thisQueryName, "_");
	  strcat(thisQueryName, num);
	  strcat(thisQueryName, "F");

	  /* The ptrQueryGraph is kept and only its list of fact tables is reset */
	  (ptrQueryGraph)->resetFactTable();

	  /* The first i table in the list of tables will fact tables */
	  // cout << "FACTS: ";
	  unsigned int t = 1;
	  for (list<char*>::iterator iter = factTables.begin(); t <= i; t++, iter++) {
	    (ptrQueryGraph)->addFactTable(*iter);
	    //cout << *iter << ",";
	  }
	  //cout <<endl;

	  /* Set the fact tables for this given Query Graph */
	  (ptrQueryGraph)->setFactTable();

	  /* SnowFlake Query data structure is created for every i */
	  Opt_SnowFlakes* sf = new Opt_SnowFlakes(ptrQueryGraph);
	  assert(sf);

	  sf->produceSnowFlakeQueries();
	  sf->toSnowflakeSQLsOracle(thisQueryName);

	  delete sf;
	}
      }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A lot like The Face, but without the big metal grill. A bright urban commuter bike light ideal for those daily commutes from the 'burbs to the big smoke. Outputting 80 lumens of light at the front and 44 at the rear this bright bike light ensures you are well seen not just to road riders ahead of you, but those behind too up to 1.2 kilometres away. With its focused 35° beam, reflective faceplate, long battery life and 5 different light modes (2 constant & 3 flash), you're guaranteed to light up all night long, no matter where you ride. And its secret weapon? 2 x front & 3 x rear interchangeable straps so you can swap the lights between bikes with different sized seatpost and handlebars - including aero seatposts and oversize bars.


Things are good… for now. They won't last.
That's the TL/DR summary of the latest IMF World Economic Outlook report released this morning. Like the last Financial Stability report, released in October, the sunny headline numbers – which show that global economic growth is expected to continue expanding over the next two years before the advent of the next slowdown some time after 2020 – conceal signs of growing concern buried deeper in the report.
Widening income inequality, a phenomenon the IMF says has been exacerbated by technological advancements, could lead to myriad problems down the road, from political unrest to worsening trade wars, that governments will need to grapple with.
Instead of slashing taxes, governments need to focus on raising workers sense of security in the face of radical technological changes, while more evenly distributing the benefits of strong economic growth and asset appreciation.
But first, some good news: Economic activity in 2017 ended on a high note, with second-half growth surpassing 4%, the strongest since the second half of 2010, bolstered by a recovery in investment.
In Japan, the US and China, growth exceeded the October 2017 World Economic Outlook forecasts while it also continued to improve gradually in commodity exporters. Despite the recent volatility in equity markets, financial conditions remain supportive even as bond yields have risen slightly following signs of firming inflation in the developed world. With broad-based momentum and expectations of a sizable fiscal expansion in the United States over this year and the next, global growth is now projected at 3.9% for 2018–19, a 0.2 percentage point upgrade for both years compared with the October 2017 forecast.
And while the expected recovery in investment will help raise potential output, weak productivity trends and reduced labor force growth due to population aging constrain medium-term prospects in advanced economies.
Risks around the short-term outlook are broadly balanced, but risks beyond the next several quarters are clearly to the downside.


text:
N2AL | Amateur Extra Class Operator
Lawson / Walker Wedding
Tail of the Dragon
2016 My 30th Birthday Celebration
2015 UMDF (United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation) Washington, D.C. Symposium
Vacation 2014 – Arkansas
Vacation 2013 – Missouri & Arkansas
Public FTP File Server
Amateur Radio Blog
MD380tools
Amateur Radios and Their Use Saving Lives
Challenge Accepted – Learning Morse Code
N2AL – My New Call Sign
Maine Warden Service – North Woods Law
HUK Electronics Quick-Tune Dongle for Yaesu FT-817, FT-857 & FT-897
East Tennessee Amateur Radio Frequencies
How To Setup RMS Express on OS X (Apple)
Mac Terminal Command Tricks, Games & Movies
Vacation 2013 – Arkansas – Part Two
Vacation 2013- Saint Louis – Part One
Tag Archives: APRS
November 17, 2016 Andrew Lawson	Leave a comment
Recently our world was rocked with the news that Annie Schmidt, daughter of Jon Schmidt of The Piano Guy's, had gone missing while hiking in the back country of Oregon State. Immediately Jaime and myself, along with many others, began praying for her safe return. Days turned into weeks as the search for Annie continued, which lead to my wondering of what may have happened to her. Tragically the news came in weeks later, that Annie had fallen from a cliff and sadly perished. Her body was found at the base of the cliff weeks later by Search and Rescue teams, led by cadaver dogs. We all were praying for her safe return, and were heartbroken to learn of her fate.
A few years ago, Geraldine Largay went missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail in the great state of Maine in 2013. Searches were performed without success, and she was presumed dead, and the search halted. Unknown to would-be rescuers she survived for nearly one month, and weeks after the search was halted, in the back country of Maine, along the Appalachian Trail. She was left to die alone and afraid, waiting for help that never came. She tried to send multiple text messages to her husband requesting help from police. It would not be until the year 2015 that her remains would be found by a forester, two years too late.
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/05/25/report-geraldine-largay-kept-journal-during-weeks-lost-in-maine-woods/
What is the point of this article you may wonder? Well, when I heard of Annie Schmidt's case where she was missing, and ultimately found deceased, I wondered what if she was like Geraldine Largray. Because I first poised the question when I heard about Geraldine's case and her disappearance. What if they were so far back in the woods, conventional cellular telephone reception was not available. How would someone call for help?
Amateur Radio is how someone could call for help.
See, Amateur Radio is far more reliable than typical cellular telephones. Amateur radio operators, "Hams" as coined by our ranks, often build repeaters, similar to cell towers, that cover areas in remote mountainous regions where cell phones do not work. The only difference is our radios have far more power than cell phones, and they are far more reliable. If someone is stranded and in need of help, where cell phones fail, a simple 5 watt radio with Amateur Radio Repeaters programmed into the memories, may be the difference between life and death.
See I have a view from both sides of the coin, as a public servant, and as an amateur radio operator who enjoys his time spent in the mountains and back countries of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cherokee National Forest, and everywhere in between.
While I am in the back country I employ the use of the Yaesu FT1DR, a handheld radio that is equipped with an internal GPS capable of use on APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) and transmits my location on 145.390 MHz, which is received by digital repeaters, and the information can be located at www.APRS.fi by searching the call sign of the amateur radio operator, and the SSID if one is used. For example my call sign and SSID is N2AL-7. If something should happen to me I can transmit messages via text on APRS to other stations, requesting help, and communicating back and forth with other stations. Most importantly APRS.fi can be used to find station locations when they have their GPS enabled.
I can also use my handheld radio to transmit on amateur radio FM repeaters which are programmed into the radio, and request help that way. I use a program called RT Systems for my radio, and I can automatically program all repeaters within a 100 mile radius of where I select, into the memory banks. This way I have all the repeaters available for use, and can signal for help if needed.
This can mean the difference between life everlasting, and death all alone. It would not have saved Annie Schmidt unfortunately, but it may have saved Geraldine Largray. The cost for amateur radio use is not expensive at all. My radio, with the software, and an extra battery, and an MFJ 12.5 inch dual band VHF/UHF antenna cost me close to $300.00 a few years ago. Add some solar panel chargers for the batteries, and you can take the radio with you, charge it on the go, and have the capability to signal for help if needed. You are not constrained to finding a wall power outlet to charge the radio with. You can use the solar panels and let them do it for you, while you hike.
The knowledge required for amateur radio operations, and testing to obtain a license, is not complicated at all. It actually is quite easy. I studied for three days, mostly consisting of watching The Ham Whisperer on YouTube, where he went over all the questions, then the answers, for the test banks. I received my Technician Class license a week later and I was on the air.
The Technician Class license, next the General Class, and finally the Extra Class license, are not difficult to obtain. But for the purpose of VHF & UHF FM communications while portable and hiking, or driving, about the back country or the city, all that is needed is the Technician Class license.
To conclude, Amateur Radio has the ability to save lives, and they save lives far more than someone might think. Where I live in East Tennessee is close to The Dragon, The Cherohala Skyway, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee Forest, and other places that are prone to cell phone coverage lapses. Often when trouble occurs in these hard to reach places, Amateur Radio operators use their radios to summon help. It happens quite frequently, and as of this article, I know of two cases this week alone in East Tennessee. If we could get more people who spend their time outdoors in remote regions to use Amateur Radio's, then we could save more lives when disaster happens.
Now as a side note I DO NOT recommend using Amateur Radio as the sole method of signaling for help. A lot of professional companies have developed ways of requesting assistance during an emergency.
One such device is a PLB, also know as a Personal Locator Beacon, which is very similar to an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio-beacon Station (EPIRB) used on marine vessels across the world. These devices are relatively inexpensive, although you cannot put a price on your life and safety. The basic concept is relatively simple -It can be automatically activated when certain conditions are met, or manually activated when emergency assistance is required. The devices are battery-powered and some work via GPS and radio beacon. More information on these devices can be found at the links below.
Wikipedia EPIRB & PLB Information
Artex Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) Products Page
Please join me in continuing to keep the families of both Annie Schmidt, and Geraldine Largay, in our thoughts and prayers. These are two tragic cases where two families lost loved ones. God bless them, and God bless us all.
amateur radioAnnie SchmidtAPRSCherohala SkywayCherokee ForestEmergency Position-Indicating Radio-beacon StationEPIRBGeraldine LargayGreat Smoky Mountains National Parkham radioMaineMaine Warden ServiceOregonPersonal Locator BeaconPLBTail of the DragontennesseeThe DragonYaesuYaesu FT1DR
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Recent Posts: N2AL | Amateur Extra Class Operator
This post tells of our wedding in October of last year, and has pictures captured at the wedding chapel and reception!
This post is dedicated to providing the links for easier downloading and installation of MD380tools, written by Travis Goodspeed, KD4KKV, and forked by Warren Merkel, KD4Z.
My experiences with Mac Terminal (Command Prompt for Windows) commands, and the cool tricks to try, games to play, and Movies to watch!
Amateur Radio has the possibility to save lives, especially of those who are in need of help in the back country. Sadly many gret people have lived and died needing help in the mountains. This article outlines some of those situaitons, and what outdoorsmen -and women, can do to call for help if the need arises.
Day 40 – Thirty Pounds Lighter!
Follow along with me as I complete Day 40 and Phase 2 of the NutriMost Diet!
Follow along as I explore The Tail of the Dragon! I found a hidden community at Calderwood Dam, and enjoyed the beautiful mountains from Tennessee into North Carolina.
NWS Morristown on Twitter
This website is devoted to the furtherance of Amateur Radio by my own experiences as an F.C.C. licensed operator, and from other operators and sources devoted to electronics, computer science, and radio-communications.
© Andrew Lawson | N2AL 2018

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Javascript/Jquery JSON File Upload I have to create a html list with one li name  import . On back i have create input type ="file" which will be hidden .
If user click on import  it should fire file upload from back using .click()[![enter image description here][1]][1].
Once the use select the .json file it can be of any name ..
Then On click of open button of file upload it should save the json and pass the json object with an event dispatcher . I have create event dispatcher but not able to get json
Issue : I am not able to save the json object using .onChange and also .onChange work single time then i have to refresh then it work again.
Requirement: On click of import button, hidden file import will fire then on selecting the json file of any name (json filem can be of any name) function will save the json object and json object will be sent using iframe using event dispatcher .
Issue:: Not able to save the json or get the json . I tried getjson but it if for single file name .
   <!DOCTYPE html>

<meta charset="UTF-8"/>

<input type='file' id='import' style = "display:none" accept='.json ' aria-hidden="true" >

<button id="importLink" >import</button>

A:

$(document).ready(function(){
   $("#importLink").click(function(){
      $("#import").click();
   });
   function readTextFile(file, callback) {
    var rawFile = new XMLHttpRequest();
    rawFile.overrideMimeType("application/json");
    rawFile.open("GET", file, true);
    rawFile.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (rawFile.readyState === 4 && rawFile.status == "200") {
            callback(rawFile.responseText);
        }
    }
    rawFile.send(null);
}
    $("#import").on('change',function(e){
      var file =  e. target. files[0];
      var path = (window.URL || window.webkitURL).createObjectURL(file);
readTextFile(path, function(text){
    var data = JSON.parse(text);
    console.log(data);
    //Your ajax call here.
      });
    });

});

<input type="file" id="import" style="display:none" accept='.json' aria-hidden="true" >

import

 <output id="list"></output>

list

list

Read file from e. target. files[0];

A: Off what I can see, you are missing an argument list for your import onChange listener.
In the first image, you are calling $'#import').click() -- you are missing the leading (
you should be getting a javascript error when running the code you mentioned, since you don't include at least an empty argument list when the file input changes, though I could be wrong.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


New Rochelle's Police Department is taking part in Speed Awareness Week, a state-wide initiative to curb lead-foot drivers.
NEW ROCHELLE - The city's Police Department is taking part in Speed Awareness Week, an initiative by the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee to curb lead-footed drivers.
On Wednesday, New Rochelle police began ramping up enforcement of speed limits on city thoroughfares. There will be officers dedicated to the effort during the week-long campaign.
"Speeding drivers put themselves, their passengers and other drivers at tremendous risk," said New Rochelle Traffic Unit Supervisor Detective Sgt. Myron Joseph. "Our goal is to save lives, and we're putting all drivers on alert—the posted speed limit is the law."
Robert Sinclair Jr., spokesman of AAA Northeast, said these types of campaigns are effective.
New Rochelle resident Robert Gomez agrees.
"It'll be great," Gomez, 50, said of the campaign. "It should be all the time. The law's the law."
Ramapo's Police Department is also performing a week-long crack down of speeding drivers. Called, "Obey the Sign or Pay the Fine," it runs through Aug. 7.
During this period, drivers should not expect a warning if they are pulled over for speeding, police said.
In New York State, 39 people were killed in speed-related crashes in August 2016, the deadliest month that year, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
State police issued 21,148 tickets during last year's enforcement campaign.