Today’s MediaWireWorld roundup of journalism news from outside the U.S. Send tips to Kristen Hare: khare@poynter.org
Australia
News Corp Australia called reporters with Daily Mail Australia “copy snatchers and parasites,” Amanda Meade reported Monday in The Guardian. Meade reported that News Corp sent a letter to the recently rebranded organization (formerly known just as Mail Online) threatening a lawsuit if it doesn’t stop lifting copy.
One of the exclusive stories News has accused the Daily Mail of copying is a feature about “the best dress a woman can own”, which reportedly took six Daily Telegraph journalists, including a fashion editor with 20 years’ experience, to produce.
Daily Mail Australia sources called the whole thing “ludicrous.” Since it launched, Meade reported, the new site has 2.18 million unique visits a month “and it now ranks sixth in Australian news websites, according to Nielsen.”
Hungary
Members of the media in Hungary are pushing back against increasing restrictions on the press, Gábor Csuday reported Monday in the Columbia Journalism Review. Those restrictions include a tax on media advertising and government raids to non-profits, which fund some news organizations.
The press turmoil in Hungary illustrates some of the difficulties independent news outlets are having in maintaining a foothold in central and eastern European countries where governments, through their regulatory power, financial clout as an advertiser, and other means exert vast influence over the media landscape. As it happens, the media outlets at the center of the disputes last week are owned by German concerns, putting media companies in the middle of diplomatic tensions over what critics say is Hungary’s anti-democratic drift.
Spain
From ARA in Barcelona, Spain, this front comes courtesy Newseum.
