Axel Springer CEO Mathias Doepfner steps boldly into the future of media

Interesting interview with the chief of Germany's Axel Springer empire by the Globe and Mail's Joanna Slater:
Excerpt:

"Axel Springer’s flagship publication is Bild, a tabloid offering a daily fare of provocation, insult and entertainment that dominates the German market. The company also publishes the highbrow conservative daily Die Welt and owns a portfolio of specialized websites focusing on everything from finance to sports to classifieds. It’s a partner or investor in a host of new media ventures, including Politico Europe, Business Insider and Mic.com.

"Like publishers elsewhere, Mr. Doepfner is trying to reduce the company’s reliance on print advertising and to boost revenue generated by digital media. Axel Springer has made big strides: digital products accounted for 60 per cent of the company’s €1.58-billion ($2.29-billion) in revenue in the first half of this year, up from 54 per cent in the same period last year. Especially promising are the classified-advertising properties under the Axel Springer umbrella, where revenue jumped 57 per cent in the first half."

 The full story

Woodbridge buys BCE’s 15% stake in The Globe and Mail

The Woodbridge Co. Ltd. has taken full ownership of The Globe and Mail, acquiring the 15 per cent stake in the news organization from BCE Inc. that it did not previously own, the Globe and Mail reports.

Woodbridge, the private holding company of the Thomson family, and the communications giant announced on Friday they had reached a deal. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to complete the acquisition of all of the shares of Canada’s preeminent national news organization and reconfirm our commitment to the critical role that The Globe and Mail plays in Canada,” said David Binet, president and chief executive officer of Woodbridge.

Through Woodbridge, the Thomson family has been The Globe’s majority owner, holding an 85-per-cent stake in the paper acquired after BCE agreed to take full ownership of broadcast company CTV Inc. for $1.3-billion in late 2010. The newspaper and broadcasting properties had been jointly owned under CTVGlobemedia – a large private media company forged a decade earlier by BCE and the Thomson family under the prior name Bell Globemedia.

Until Friday, BCE had continued to own 15 per cent of The Globe, and occupied a seat on the newspaper’s board of directors.

The Globe will keep its governance structure, though its board will no longer include a representative from BCE. In a memo to staff, Phillip Crawley, The Globe’s publisher, said the sale will not affect day-to-day operations.

Judge tosses Charter challenge against cops posing as journalists

The Star's Wendy Gillis reports:
Two OPP officers working for the make-believe news company “United Press Associates” spied on protesters at Ipperwash Provincial Park.
In another case, a provincial cop posed as a reporter to gain better access to demonstrators at another aboriginal protest.
In a third, a female OPP officer pretended to be an independent author to pick the brain of a convicted killer.
Media groups went to court against the police pretenders, arguing that such actions violate the Constitution by creating a chilling effect on freedom of the press.
The deceptive practice, the journalists argued, could threaten their work because it might cause suspicion about who they really are. It could also make it more difficult for reporters to earn the trust of sources, meaning they might lose out on getting vital information in the public interest, the groups argued.
But in a recent decision, Ontario Superior Justice Benjamin Glustein dismissed the application brought forward by the CBC,
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada (RTNDA), which sought a declaration from the court that cops pretending to be journalists was an unjustified violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
More

CTV journalist Tom Walters charged one year after Ferguson protests

Tom Walters

CTV journalist Tom Walters is facing charges almost a year after being arrested while covering the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, the Star reports.
Walters, who is the network’s Los Angeles bureau chief, was charged with interfering with a police officer, according to CTV News.
Walters had been covering the violent protests that gripped Ferguson last summer when he was arrested after asking a police officer a question on West Florissant Avenue.
His arrest was caught on tape, and he was detained almost nine hours before being released without charges.
Now he is being summoned to a St. Louis, Missouri court later this month to face charges for allegedly “failing to comply with officers’ lawful commands to disperse from West Florissant Avenue,” CTV News reports. “CTV News strongly condemns the charges filed by St. Louis County against CTV News correspondent Tom Walters while he reported on the protests in Ferguson, Missouri last August,” CTV News President Wendy Freeman said in a statement.
“Tom has the full support of CTV News as we fight these charges. Almost a year ago, Tom was arrested and detained for eight-and-a-half hours for simply doing his job. As an organization that covers news both in Canada and internationally, CTV News is unwavering in its commitment to defending the rights of all journalists.”

The debate circus continues . . .

The CBC reports that Tom Mulcair says he'll take part in the foreign policy discussion to be hosted by the Munk Debates, but it's far from clear who else will be on stage with him.
The party agreed to a revised invitation from the Munk Debates that proposed a bilingual debate. One of Mulcair's conditions was that there be an equal number of debates in English and in French. The presence of Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was another criterion.
But it wasn't immediately clear whether Harper or Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau would agree to the revised terms of the Munk Debates.
(Why can't they all just get along? :)) )
More on the CBC web page