EU dailies in 10 Languages

Via Crossroads magazine, as part of the news section, an article titled New Portal to Translate EU Dailies Into 10 Languages, features a new website attempting to have all citizens of EU to read the same thing.

A new website launched Tuesday (26 May) aims to get EU citizens across the 27 member states talking and reading about the same issues, something that to date has been hindered by language barriers. With EUR 3m of European Commission funds a year and a team of 10 journalists, www.presseurop.eu is part of the EU’s drive to create a ‘European public sphere.’

Among the languages are: Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. Especially for those who are into international comparative research, staying on the top of the current news might be helpful.

NY Shield Law Extended to Bloggers?

The NY Times City Blog reports on a bill introduced by Democratic state senators Thomas Duane and Linda Rosenthal that would extend the state shield law for journalists to include "journalist bloggers." The current shield law protects journalists from having to disclose confidential sources or information in state court. S8746 proposes to amend Civil Rights Law 79-h to include those who write a web log in the definition of a professional journalist, and adds a new section defining the term web log:

"Web log" shall mean a website or webpage that contains an online journal containing news, comments and offers hyperlinks provided by the professional journalist or newscaster.

Be Aware Of Wikipedia!

Via WisBlawg, a post titled Student's Wikipedia Hoax Fools Journalists, Bloggers, writes about an example of unreliability of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. I think it is safe to say that everyone of us, at least once, received the warning to verify information found online against a reputable source. We all heard the advice to always make sure information found online is reliable and authenticated.

This story goes:

When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote on Wikipedia, he said he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news.

His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.

The sociology major's made-up quote -- which he added to the Wikipedia page of Maurice Jarre hours after the French composer's death March 28 -- flew straight on to dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites in Britain, Australia and India.

Just to make sure, it is fine to use Wikipedia for a quick look up to gain a general idea of a topic, but to cite to Wikipedia or completely rely on the information found within, without verifying the reliability against a reputable source, well - that is just a gamble! So, let's warn ourselves once again! And I'll take advantage now to mention the Pace Law Library Research Assistants Guide that contains a section on evaluating Internet Resources. Take a look!