News embargo

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In journalism and public relations, the news embargo or the press embargo is a request or requirement by the source that the information or news provided by the source is not published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met. They are often used by businesses that make product announcements, by medical journals, and by government officials announcing policy initiatives; the media is given advanced knowledge of the undisclosed details so that reports can be prepared to coincide with the date of the announcement and still meet the press time. In theory, the press embargo reduces inaccuracies in reporting short stories by reducing incentives for journalists to save by writing information quickly in the hope of "scooping" the competition.

The understanding is that if an embargo is solved by reporting before it, the source will retaliate by limiting access to further information by the journalist or their publication, giving them long-term losses relative to a more cooperative outlet. Embargoes are usually pre-arranged as "male agreements." However, sometimes publishers will send embargoed press releases to an unsolicited newsroom in the hope that they will honor the date of the embargo without first agreeing to do so - the phrase "For Immediate Release" often found at the top of the press release shows that the information in the release was not embargoed.

News organizations sometimes violate embargoes and report information before the embargo ends, either accidentally (due to miscommunication in the editorial room) or deliberately (to gain a jump on their competitors). Breaking an embargo is usually considered a serious breach of trust and may result in a source blocking news outlets that deviate from receiving advanced information for long periods of time.

News embargo is one of several ways sources can influence the media presentation of the information they provide; others include providing "in the background" or "no for attribution" information, limiting or providing "access," or even directing government or market intervention against journalists or media companies. (See the terminology of secrecy in journalism for a full discussion of this.) The way in which journalists react to these efforts and other attempts to influence coverage is a journalistic ethics issue.

Video News embargo

Example

• Two-week press presses from the International Monetary Fund are usually embargoed until 10:30 am Washington time, 1430 GMT (for synchronized effects to global stock markets).
• The journalist who accompanied US President George W. Bush on a Thanksgiving visit to Iraq in 2003 was embargoed from filing until the President left the country. They were told that, in the interest of security, the trip would be canceled if there was news before its conclusion.
• The Ministry of Defense in the United Kingdom informs a handful of journalism outlets that Prince Harry will serve in Afghanistan, provided that the information will not be released until the end of his deployment. The information leaked after about two months, and officials agreed to end the embargo. The prince was immediately removed from the battlefield, reportedly for his safety and his fellow soldiers.
• In Canada, Australia, and other countries, prior to the release of other important government budgets and announcements, reporters are held in "locking" so that they can prepare the previous story. They are not allowed to apply until after the official announcement (for example, after the Minister of Finance goes up to deliver a budget speech.) Locks are specifically aimed at preventing insider trading under the leaked government announcement. It is uncertain whether such locking is done in the United States when the Federal Reserve Board is preparing to adjust the interest rate.
The 2008 New York Times encouraged the suppression of the abduction story of David Rohde (their reporter) at a news outlet and on Wikipedia until he returned in 2009. This example, where the instigator of the embargo is not the source, may be a case of self-censorship.

Maps News embargo

In an article in the scientific journal

Embargo news is usually applied to health related news information related to upcoming medical journal articles. All major medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet, have a publication embargo.

Embargo may date back to the editor of Morris Fishbein, 1924-1949, and holds up to 15:00 Central Time on the day before the closing date of the problem. Journalists who agree not to publish (in print, on television, on the radio, or via the Internet) until then the information contained in the manuscript to be published by the journal receives a copy of the journal by post for a week prior to publication. For selected articles, press releases and news release videos were also prepared by science writers and released to journalists during the week.

The reasons given for the embargo are twofold. First, they allow journalists to produce more comprehensive and accurate coverage, since the embargo gives time where they can research the background of the story and then publish the "background" along with the release of the story. Second, they enable doctors and scientists to receive and analyze medical research before the general public does so, enabling them to get better information when asked to comment or react by journalists or by patients. However, some objects to the medical news embargo system, claiming that it is driven by profit motives in parts of medical journals.

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See also

• Crash control
• Journalistic Resources
• Media bias
• Media democracy
• Media transparency
• Prohibit of publication
• Press the sensor

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References

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Further reading

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External links

• 1st Hyde Park - Amendment proposes online news embargo - 13/11/06
• Journalism - Future Embargo
• The New York Times - Preliminary Report By ABC News Is Criticized - 14/04/94
• The Truth About Cars - The Embargo! - 04/01/05
• Embargo Watch
• Reserve Bank of Australia - Lockup Procedure

Source of the article : Wikipedia