An embargo is actually simply a way for an organization with something
newsworthy to ensure that multiple news organizations are able to
cover the news. There are a lot of news publications now, and lots of
places that have something newsworthy. It's not possible for everyone
to organize press conferences where all the reporters show up at once
and write down the story as they hear it.
So, instead, the embargo is just a practical method to allow a
slightly slower release of news, without too much unfairness to
different press organizations.
For example, a company may be about to release a new product. They
want to contact about 30 news organizations to let them know about the
product, show the product to them, etc. So the company rep gets on a
plane, and flies to meet the different journalists over a course of a
week or two. They show them the product, talk about it, etc, under
the condition that the journalist doesn't publish anything until a
certain date -- the same date as everybody else.
The journalist is free to not follow the embargo. Indeed, sometimes
the news is so important that the journalist decides to break the
embargo. However, remember -- they only got to learn the news early
because the company shared it with them. If they didn't agree to the
embargo in the first place, they would have found out about the
product _after_ everyone else who was under the embargo already
published their articles. Indeed, if a journalist breaks embargo,
they sometimes get "blacklisted" by the company whose product it was
-- next time, they won't be on the list of journalists the company
talks to beforehand. Sometimes this is worth the risk for the
journalist, but for most routine situations it's really not.
The embargo system isn't perfect. In the case of political events of
high importance, embargo is simply unfair: a press conference makes
more sense, so everybody learns about it at once. However, in the
normal course of events, it solves the problem of having to inform
many journalists at once, and letting them have a day or more to do
their research and get their balanced articles going, without the fear
that they'll be scooped by someone else.
-ilya
On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 9:02 AM, divol <jacques.divol(a)laposte.net> wrote:
Le 19 mai 08 à 17:40, Paul Williams a écrit :
embargo or "media blackout"
are very bad.
I do not know who create this mechanism and why journalists'ld follow
this rule.
I know "embargo" exists as i fall upon one time or two (i am not a
professional journalist) and very surprised each time.
Franckly, i don't understand how "freedom of press" and embargo could
exist both.
For exemple, in France, when there's a vote, no one should know the
results before the end of the ballote, but journalists (and politics,
friends and famillies) know, why ?, because "embargo"? (not good
english i am sorry)
For me, Wikinews 'ld find his/her way outside this strange way to do
press and news : embargo or "media blackout"
we already have "Flags", it's enought
no border for knowledge, please.
no social or profesional border for Knowledge, please
jacques divol
(i hope i am not off topic)
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