Rights for all, print and online. What a difference a phone call can make. Earlier this week Crikey had drawn to its attention that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s media awards did not have a category for material published only online. Declaration: we found out about this because someone had wanted to nominate a Crikey story, and was told, several times and absolutely and with no equivocation, that it was not possible. Nor could material published only online be entered under the print category, the would be nominator was told.

We thought this a story, given that we would all like the concept of human rights to outlast print newspapers. So Crikey made a call to HREOC’s spinners asking for comment. And lo, within hours we were told the lack of an online category was an “oversight”, and the HREOC website was amended so that the print category now reads “print and online”. Which is testimony, in a way, to the power of the (online) press. — Margaret Simons

Front page of the day. Scandal prone and colourful Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is in hot water again. This time, transcripts from a recorded blackmail investigation have shown, according to The Guardian,  Berlusconi vowing in July “to leave Italy, which he described as a ‘shitty country’ that ‘sickened’ him”.

The from page of today’s Italian newspaper Libero has followed suit with a headline that loosely translates to “The outburst of Silvio. ‘Enough! I leave Italy'”:

The Department of Corrections. Tasmania’s Mercury was forced to apologise on Tuesday to Ben Gray, managing director of TPG Captial and son of former Tasmanian Premier Robin Gray:

Meanwhile, not everything about Jim Carrey is funny. Especially this correction from the August 31 edition of Canada’s The Globe and Mail. They didn’t even try:

WikiLeaks prepares to release unredacted US cables

“WikiLeaks is conducting an online poll of its Twitter followers to decide whether the whistleblowing site should publish in full its unredacted cache of US diplomatic cables.” — The Guardian

NotW phone-hacking panel to resume

“A parliamentary committee’s inquiry into phone hacking at News Corp.’s News of the World tabloid resumes next week with the focus on when top executives of the company’s U.K. newspaper unit became aware of the breadth of the problem.” — The Wall Street Journal

US papers ad spending down 7% in second quarter

“Newspaper advertising spending fell 7% in the second quarter to $6 billion, the Newspaper Association of America said Thursday. Spending on print ads declined for the 20th straight quarter dating back to 2006, dipping almost 9% to $5.19 billion.” — Market Watch

Washington Post dispatches memo on bureau closings

“WaPo Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli sent this internal memo to staff to explain the regional bureau closings.” — FishbowlDC

US ABC to finally release Kennedy’s secret White House tapes

“Shortly after her husband’s assassination Jackie Kennedy recorded a series of tapes with historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr that at her request were to be sealed in a vault for 50 years. The Kennedy family has allowed them to be released early and ABC is set to air a special on them on Sept 13.” — Business Insider

What journos can learn from scientists and the method

“Scientific method isn’t a single thing. It’s a collection of conventions and best practices, rigorously applied. While the need for journalism and the demands on it differ in many ways from those of science, it is a discipline that — like science — seeks truth.” — Poynter

Indigenous TV channel for SBS: Conroy

“SBS would launch a channel dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programming under a proposal outlined yesterday by federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.” — The Australian

2012 presidential campaign for the young (reporter)

“Once-coveted jobs covering the presidential campaigns are going to young journalists so news organizations can save money.” — The New York Times