Splash News is using face recognition software to spot its celebrity photographs in newspapers and magazines and can match images which are published on the news stands to images in its archive of more than 1m photographs.
The news and picture agency is now able to accurately police usage of its material, and ensure its photographers get paid what they are due. The technology has also been used to help litigate against bloggers who steal Splash material, as the software can accurately identify pictures posted online.

The National Union of Journalists has condemned what it terms “excesses in executive pay”, following a report on 40 FTSE listed media companies by Halliwell Consulting, which shows that executives in the media sector are earning almost 60 times more than a newly qualified journalist.
NUJ president Michelle Stanistreet said: “To get a true picture of the sector you need to look at the other end of the pay scale, where many newly qualified journalists have to work incredibly long hours on poverty wages.”

The Liverpool Daily Post has welcomed a new news editor from its north Wales sister title.
Debbie James has moved over from her assistant news editor position at the North Wales Daily Post to Liverpool.
Her previous experience includes a stint with the Stockport Express and she fills the role vacated by Will Batchelor, who left the Liverpool Daily Post in October to join the city’s new-talk based radio station CityTalk.

The future of a youth centre approaching its 100th birthday has been safeguarded after it scooped £10,000 in a newspaper competition.

The Bath Chronicle ran a ‘Community Makeover’ campaign in which readers were asked to nominate a building which needed a facelift.
The town’s Garraway Club, which was built in 1912, received the cash handout after pooling twice as many points as its nearest rival.

A teenager waiting for a life-saving transplant has been flooded with offers after an appeal in The Echo, in Basildon.
The paper reported on Steffan Miles’ rare bone marrow condition – called aplastic anaemia – and appealed for any would-be donors to get in touch.

Readers of the Belfast Telegraph rallied to help a woman who was burgled while staying in hospital for cancer treatment.
Josephine McMaster said she had been inundated with cards and gifts after the Telegraph had featured the sad story about the break-in.

The best of the north-west’s media industry will be celebrated in a new awards scheme. A total of 14 prizes across publishing, broadcasting and communications categories are up for grabs in the inaugural How-Do Awards.
There will be recognition for the best daily and weekly newspaper in the region, along with other media industry awards such as best PR agency and top TV programme.