FRIDAY'S LINKS: NAHJ Awards, Western Web Companies Slammed on China, Untrustworthy News Photos

By: E&P Staff In today's links, Human Rights Watch slams Western Web companies like Google and Yahoo! which are censoring their search results to comply with the Chinese government's demands, Google continues to grow in leaps and bounds, and a new study confirms that young people are switching away from traditional media.


***

Royal Editor Suspended by News of the World Over Eavesdropping Charges
Guardian: The News Of The World has suspended royal editor Clive Goodman, the journalist charged with nine counts of mobile phone hacking. Goodman is due to appear in court next week, charged with one count of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages and eight counts of intercepting voicemail messages.


***

Western Internet Firms "Act as Censors" in China
Reuters: A rights group accused Western Internet companies on Thursday of complicity with censorship in China and called on Microsoft Corp. , Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. to resist Beijing's demands. New York-based Human Rights Watch called the blocking of politically sensitive Web sites and search terms "arbitrary, opaque and unaccountable" and urged the publicly traded firms to be upfront with their users about censorship.


***

Growing By Leaps And Googles
BusinessWeek: "Can we talk for a moment about how ridiculous it is that Google's power keeps growing?" asks Jon Fine. "Search is free, so it costs nothing to switch from Google. Its three major competitors -- Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Ask.com -- are spending like crazy to steal its customers. Yet Google not only keeps building its market share in search, it's also getting better at leveraging its strength with search ads to swing deals the other guys can't. The Google/MySpace hookup is an especially bitter pill for Microsoft, which has tried mightily to strike such alliances. And to layer on the loss, Microsoft counts foxsports.com -- excluded from the Google deal -- as one of its search partners."


***

The Untrustworthiness of News Photography
Slate: "Someday we will approach each photograph we look at with the condign skepticism we bring to each story we read," writes Jim Lewis. "In the meantime, these useful scandals remind us that we're complacent and credulous, and that photography is rife with paradoxes, which can't be solved with hand-waving and apologies."


***

New Study Confirms Old Media Fears
Guardian: A "networked generation" of young people are switching off traditional media such as television, radio and newspapers in favour of iPods, mobile phones and online chats, according to research published today by media regulator Ofcom. In findings that will deepen fears among traditional media companies that they risk losing touch with younger consumers, Ofcom said the internet was now playing a "central role" in the daily lives of teenagers and young adults.


***

AOL Security Breach Puts Web on Notice
Christian Science Monitor: "[Breaches in trust and privacy are] a threat to consumers, but also to corporations like AOL or Google. They have much to gain by tracking online behavior -- and using the information to develop new products or to target ad pitches to specific people. But they also lose to the extent that customers are put off by intrusive policies, or if data breaches result in lawsuits."


***

Bond for Conrad Black Jumps $1M
Chicago Tribune: Conrad Black, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hollinger International Inc., must hand over an additional $1 million in bond money to remain free pending trial next year, a judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve in Chicago ordered Black to add $1 million in cash to the $30 million in cash and property that he has already posted to secure his release.


***

NAHJ Announces Winners of its Journalism Awards
PR Newswire: The National Association for Hispanic Journalists has announced the winners of its 2006 Journalism Awards honoring excellent work that serves the Latino community and journalists who have covered stories ranging from the continuing danger of land mines in Latin America to the effect of Hurricane Katrina on Hispanics in the Gulf region.