Tuesday, July 31, 2007
New Zealand on the Daily Show
The New Zealand Herald covers the story:
"One of America's most watched cable television shows has made of mockery of our politicians' attempts to ban satire of Parliament.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which pulls an audience of 1.4 million each night, explained that New Zealand's government recently passed an order prohibiting broadcasters from using footage of lawmakers in their parliament for satire.
"This cannot stand. As we have done so often in the past, once again America to the rescue," says host Stewart."
Should this be in the entertainment section of the paper or in politics?
John Howard and myspace
From The Australian:
[Howard] does not have a personal MySpace or a Facebook page, and a quick look at the sites bearing his name shows why.
The Liberal Party's official Prime Ministerial MySpace site boasts only nine friends and most of those are ministers on the make, including Joe Hockey and Malcolm Turnbull.
Read more...
John Howard on MySpace
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Republican candidates and CNN Youtube debate
From The New York Times:
"The Republicans’ presidential YouTube debate, scheduled for Sept. 17 in Florida, may move to another date, given reservations that some of the candidates have expressed about both the date and the format. Sept. 17 comes near the end of the third-quarter fund-raising period and could interfere with the candidates’ intense dash for cash."
Read more...
From Wired magazine which has another idea as to why Republican candidates might be reluctant:
"Most of the Republican candidates have supported President Bush's approach to the war in Iraq -- but the polls show that most Americans now oppose the war and Bush's decision to increase the number of troops there. Thus it doesn't seem like a great idea for the candidates to potentially expose themselves to graphic and heart-rending videos from soldiers' relatives and others who are likely to ask very difficult questions that would cast an extremely negative light on the candidates' policy positions."
Read more...
"The Republicans’ presidential YouTube debate, scheduled for Sept. 17 in Florida, may move to another date, given reservations that some of the candidates have expressed about both the date and the format. Sept. 17 comes near the end of the third-quarter fund-raising period and could interfere with the candidates’ intense dash for cash."
Read more...
From Wired magazine which has another idea as to why Republican candidates might be reluctant:
"Most of the Republican candidates have supported President Bush's approach to the war in Iraq -- but the polls show that most Americans now oppose the war and Bush's decision to increase the number of troops there. Thus it doesn't seem like a great idea for the candidates to potentially expose themselves to graphic and heart-rending videos from soldiers' relatives and others who are likely to ask very difficult questions that would cast an extremely negative light on the candidates' policy positions."
Read more...
Public Trust in BBC down
From the Guardian:
"Public trust in the BBC has fallen sharply in the wake of the scandal involving fake phone-in competitions on high-profile programmes and wrongly edited footage of the Queen, a Guardian/ICM poll shows today.
The poll also reveals a wider crisis of public confidence in the broadcasting industry as a whole, with viewers strongly sceptical of what they see on television, even when they are told the scenes are real.
Fifty-nine per cent of those questioned say they now trust the BBC less than before. Only 37% say their opinion has remained unchanged, despite the BBC's admission that it had made mistakes and would ensure that they were not repeated."
Read more...
"Public trust in the BBC has fallen sharply in the wake of the scandal involving fake phone-in competitions on high-profile programmes and wrongly edited footage of the Queen, a Guardian/ICM poll shows today.
The poll also reveals a wider crisis of public confidence in the broadcasting industry as a whole, with viewers strongly sceptical of what they see on television, even when they are told the scenes are real.
Fifty-nine per cent of those questioned say they now trust the BBC less than before. Only 37% say their opinion has remained unchanged, despite the BBC's admission that it had made mistakes and would ensure that they were not repeated."
Read more...
Friday, July 27, 2007
Maori Television announces new channel
From Maori Television Services:
Key features of the new channel include:
§ Broadcasts three hours per day, seven days per week, during prime time from 7.30 PM to 10.30 PM. On-air hours are expected to increase over time.
§ 100 per cent te reo Māori.
§ Advertising-free.
§ Schedule space available to iwi to provide iwi-specific information programmes. This is aimed at ensuring tribal dialects are broadcast and at profiling tribal activities and development.
§ Schedule will comprise up to 90 per cent local programmes.
§ 30 to 45 per cent of the schedule is new programmes.
§ A particular focus on new programmes for the older, fluent audience.
§ All new programmes will be subtitled for second play on the existing channel.
§ Local and international documentaries reversioned into te reo Māori.
Māori Television’s second channel, which is yet to be named, is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2008.
Read more...
From The New Zealand Herald:
"Maori Television is expected to announce today it is setting up a digital channel dedicated solely to te reo.
Sources said the service had been waiting to make the announcement after making a case for an exclusively Maori language second channel to Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.
It is understood the second channel would be transmitted on Freeview and there would be no decrease in Maori language content on the existing channel.
The announcement coincides with Maori Language Week. Mr Horomia is expected to deliver the news at the service's Newmarket base this afternoon.
A spokesperson for the minister would not comment yesterday. Maori Television Service (MTS) said it was not in a position to pre-empt any announcement.
However, the news will not come as a surprise to the industry.
In May the Government set aside an extra $23.1 million in funding over four years, adding to the existing $28 million budget."
Read more...
Read also
Key features of the new channel include:
§ Broadcasts three hours per day, seven days per week, during prime time from 7.30 PM to 10.30 PM. On-air hours are expected to increase over time.
§ 100 per cent te reo Māori.
§ Advertising-free.
§ Schedule space available to iwi to provide iwi-specific information programmes. This is aimed at ensuring tribal dialects are broadcast and at profiling tribal activities and development.
§ Schedule will comprise up to 90 per cent local programmes.
§ 30 to 45 per cent of the schedule is new programmes.
§ A particular focus on new programmes for the older, fluent audience.
§ All new programmes will be subtitled for second play on the existing channel.
§ Local and international documentaries reversioned into te reo Māori.
Māori Television’s second channel, which is yet to be named, is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2008.
Read more...
From The New Zealand Herald:
"Maori Television is expected to announce today it is setting up a digital channel dedicated solely to te reo.
Sources said the service had been waiting to make the announcement after making a case for an exclusively Maori language second channel to Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.
It is understood the second channel would be transmitted on Freeview and there would be no decrease in Maori language content on the existing channel.
The announcement coincides with Maori Language Week. Mr Horomia is expected to deliver the news at the service's Newmarket base this afternoon.
A spokesperson for the minister would not comment yesterday. Maori Television Service (MTS) said it was not in a position to pre-empt any announcement.
However, the news will not come as a surprise to the industry.
In May the Government set aside an extra $23.1 million in funding over four years, adding to the existing $28 million budget."
Read more...
Read also
Goodbye to Newspapers?
From The New York Reviews of Books, an article by Russell Baker reviewing When the Press Fails: Political Power and the New Media from Iraq to Katrina by W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence, and Steven Livingston University of Chicago Press
"The American press has the blues. Too many authorities have assured it that its days are numbered, too many good newspapers are in ruins. It has lost too much public respect. Courts that once treated it like a sleeping tiger now taunt it with insolent subpoenas and put in jail reporters who refuse to play ball with prosecutors. It is abused relentlessly on talk radio and in Internet blogs. It is easily bullied into acquiescing in the designs of a presidential propaganda machine determined to dominate the news.
Its advertising and circulation are being drained away by the Internet, and its owners seem stricken by a failure of the entrepreneurial imagination needed to prosper in the electronic age. Surveys showing that more and more young people get their news from television and computers breed a melancholy sense that the press is yesteryear's thing, a horse-drawn buggy on an eight-lane interstate....
Rupert Murdoch of course has long spread melancholy in newsrooms around the world, but it was the disclosure in May that the Bancroft family, which controls The Wall Street Journal, might be ready to sell him their paper for five billion dollars that really struck at journalism's soul. The sale of another newspaper is common enough these days, but The Wall Street Journal is not another newspaper. It is one of the proudest pillars of American journalism. Like The New York Times and The Washington Post, it has for generations been controlled by descendants of a founding patriarch.
Family control has sheltered all three newspapers from Wall Street's most insistent demands, allowing them to do high-quality—and high cost—journalism. It was said, and widely believed, that the controlling families were animated by a high-minded sense that their papers were quasi-public institutions. Of course profit was essential to their survival, but it was not the primary purpose of their existence. That one of these families might finally take the money and clear out heightens fears that no newspaper is so valuable to the republic that it cannot be knocked down at market for a nice price. Murdoch at the Journal is a dark omen for journalists everywhere. When the sign in the shop window says "Everything For Sale," it is often followed by "Going Out Of Business."
Read more...
and an earlier article called "The End of News"
"The American press has the blues. Too many authorities have assured it that its days are numbered, too many good newspapers are in ruins. It has lost too much public respect. Courts that once treated it like a sleeping tiger now taunt it with insolent subpoenas and put in jail reporters who refuse to play ball with prosecutors. It is abused relentlessly on talk radio and in Internet blogs. It is easily bullied into acquiescing in the designs of a presidential propaganda machine determined to dominate the news.
Its advertising and circulation are being drained away by the Internet, and its owners seem stricken by a failure of the entrepreneurial imagination needed to prosper in the electronic age. Surveys showing that more and more young people get their news from television and computers breed a melancholy sense that the press is yesteryear's thing, a horse-drawn buggy on an eight-lane interstate....
Rupert Murdoch of course has long spread melancholy in newsrooms around the world, but it was the disclosure in May that the Bancroft family, which controls The Wall Street Journal, might be ready to sell him their paper for five billion dollars that really struck at journalism's soul. The sale of another newspaper is common enough these days, but The Wall Street Journal is not another newspaper. It is one of the proudest pillars of American journalism. Like The New York Times and The Washington Post, it has for generations been controlled by descendants of a founding patriarch.
Family control has sheltered all three newspapers from Wall Street's most insistent demands, allowing them to do high-quality—and high cost—journalism. It was said, and widely believed, that the controlling families were animated by a high-minded sense that their papers were quasi-public institutions. Of course profit was essential to their survival, but it was not the primary purpose of their existence. That one of these families might finally take the money and clear out heightens fears that no newspaper is so valuable to the republic that it cannot be knocked down at market for a nice price. Murdoch at the Journal is a dark omen for journalists everywhere. When the sign in the shop window says "Everything For Sale," it is often followed by "Going Out Of Business."
Read more...
and an earlier article called "The End of News"
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Facebook in court
Facebook's founder is facing a lawsuit. These are the details from The New York Times:
"The owners of a rival social networking Web site are trying to shut down Facebook.com, charging in a federal lawsuit that Facebook's founder stole their ideas while they were students at Harvard.
The three founders of ConnectU say Mark Zuckerberg agreed to finish computer code for their site, but repeatedly stalled and eventually created Facebook using their ideas.
The lawsuit's allegations against Zuckerberg include fraud, copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. It asks the court to shutter Facebook and give control of the company and its assets to ConnectU's founders.
Facebook has responded by asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston.
Facebook started in 2004, a few months before ConnectU went online, and now has 31 million users, compared with about 70,000 users for ConnectU, based in Greenwich, Conn. Last year, Facebook turned down a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo Inc."
Read more...
However it does not seem that the suit is going in the complainants' direction. From The New York Times again:
"The judge's message Wednesday to ConnectU over its intellectual property lawsuit against fellow social-networking site Facebook was clear: show us the evidence.... Massachusetts Federal Judge Douglas P. Woodlock repeatedly stressed that there was simply not enough evidence to back up allegations that Zuckerberg, who had performed programming work for ConnectU while it was in development, had pilfered the start-up's business model and code. Facebook now boasts more than 30 million members worldwide, while ConnectU stands at well under 100,000.
"Claims must have a factual basis." --Judge Douglas P. Woodlock
Woodlock asked ConnectU's counsel, led by John F. Hornick of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, & Dunner, to revise its court complaint before the case could go forward. "Claims must have a factual basis," the judge said. The allegations, which ranged from breach of confidence to fraud to misappropriation of trade secrets, comprised a "most evanescent of explanations," Woodlock said. He gave ConnectU's founders--Divya Narendra and twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss--until August 8 to provide a revised complaint. He also gave Facebook two weeks after that date to respond.
Read more...
"The owners of a rival social networking Web site are trying to shut down Facebook.com, charging in a federal lawsuit that Facebook's founder stole their ideas while they were students at Harvard.
The three founders of ConnectU say Mark Zuckerberg agreed to finish computer code for their site, but repeatedly stalled and eventually created Facebook using their ideas.
The lawsuit's allegations against Zuckerberg include fraud, copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. It asks the court to shutter Facebook and give control of the company and its assets to ConnectU's founders.
Facebook has responded by asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston.
Facebook started in 2004, a few months before ConnectU went online, and now has 31 million users, compared with about 70,000 users for ConnectU, based in Greenwich, Conn. Last year, Facebook turned down a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo Inc."
Read more...
However it does not seem that the suit is going in the complainants' direction. From The New York Times again:
"The judge's message Wednesday to ConnectU over its intellectual property lawsuit against fellow social-networking site Facebook was clear: show us the evidence.... Massachusetts Federal Judge Douglas P. Woodlock repeatedly stressed that there was simply not enough evidence to back up allegations that Zuckerberg, who had performed programming work for ConnectU while it was in development, had pilfered the start-up's business model and code. Facebook now boasts more than 30 million members worldwide, while ConnectU stands at well under 100,000.
"Claims must have a factual basis." --Judge Douglas P. Woodlock
Woodlock asked ConnectU's counsel, led by John F. Hornick of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, & Dunner, to revise its court complaint before the case could go forward. "Claims must have a factual basis," the judge said. The allegations, which ranged from breach of confidence to fraud to misappropriation of trade secrets, comprised a "most evanescent of explanations," Woodlock said. He gave ConnectU's founders--Divya Narendra and twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss--until August 8 to provide a revised complaint. He also gave Facebook two weeks after that date to respond.
Read more...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
CNN Youtube Democratic Primary Election Debate
Another interesting report by Australia's ABC on the debate organised by CNN-Youtube with the Democratic contenders for their party's nomination:
"America's presidential candidates are discovering the benefits and perils of cyberspace campaigning in what is being called the YouTube election. Last night the candidates experienced the latest use of new media- the first presidential CNN/YouTube debate."
Read the transcript
Watch excerpts form the CNN-Youtube debate
And here the question/answer clip on which most of the commentaries seem to focus.
Australian Politics and Cyberspace
Adam Swift who tutors in the class pointed this out:
This is the transcript of a story on Australia's channel ABC from their 7:30 report. The video can be screened on the site to. The report discusses the use of the internet for the upcoming Australian elections and especially a Youtube posting by Howard on his environmental policy. As the report suggests this is a clear attempt to address issues which most young people find relevant in a context which is supposed to ackniwledge the growing influence of the internet.
Read the transcript of the story
Watch the ABC news story
John Howard's statement posted on Youtube
This is the transcript of a story on Australia's channel ABC from their 7:30 report. The video can be screened on the site to. The report discusses the use of the internet for the upcoming Australian elections and especially a Youtube posting by Howard on his environmental policy. As the report suggests this is a clear attempt to address issues which most young people find relevant in a context which is supposed to ackniwledge the growing influence of the internet.
Read the transcript of the story
Watch the ABC news story
John Howard's statement posted on Youtube
Monday, July 23, 2007
Youtube and the American Presidential Campaign Part 2
From The New York Times:
"The first of a new kind of presidential debate is scheduled for Monday night, one in which members of the general public pose questions to the candidates via homemade video. The debate is the latest front in the candidates’ running battle to keep up with the fast-paced changes wrought by the Internet on politics.
CNN and YouTube are sponsoring the debate, which will take place among the eight Democratic presidential candidates. They are sponsoring a similar debate for the nine Republican candidates on Sept. 17."
Read more...
CNN and Youtube presidential debates
Africa and the Internet
Ron Dixon from The New York Times:
"Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa.
A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed."
Read more...
"Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa.
A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed."
Read more...
Sunday, July 22, 2007
National Party reconsidering ban on Television Satire of Parliamentary debate
Saturday morning on Agenda, TVOne:
"The National Party will talk with the media about revising the ban on satire from the debating chamber.
On TV One’s Agenda National MP Anne Tolley, who is on the standing orders select committee, said the party would meet with broadcasters to address their concerns.
“We are happy to sit down with the media and find a way through all of this.”
Read more...
Youtube and the American Presidential Campaign
James Wolcott from Vanity Fair:
"The YouTube Election
The "Vote Different" anti-Hillary ad, Newt Gingrich's Spanish apology, Mitt Romney's trail of flip-flops—this is the mouse-click mayhem of the 2008 campaign, in which anyone can join. It's the end of the old-fashioned, literary presidential epic, and the dawn of YouTube politics."
Read more...
From MNSBC:
"In 2004, YouTube didn't exist. Three years later, politicians have learned to fear and revere the video-sharing Web site that has become a vital part of the campaign for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
From rapid dissemination of political blunders, often with funny tunes, to a new wave of music videos featuring scantily clad women singing the praises of their presidential favorites, YouTube.com has sparked a new interest in politics.
More than 2.5 million people have viewed "I've Got a Crush...On Obama" about Democratic Sen. Barack Obama since it was posted last month. A rebuttal video of women fighting over Obama and leading Republican contender Rudy Giuliani has been watched more than 500,000 times in four days."
Read more...
This is older but on the same topic. From the New York Times:
"Last week, Senator George Allen, the Virginia Republican, was caught on tape at a campaign event twice calling a college student of Indian descent a “macaca,” an obscure racial slur.
The student, working for the opposing campaign, taped the comments, and the video quickly appeared on YouTube, where it rocketed to the top of the site’s most-viewed list. It then bounced from the Web to the front page of The Washington Post to cable and network television news shows. Despite two public apologies by Senator Allen, and his aides’ quick explanations for how the strange word tumbled out, political analysts rushed to downgrade Mr. Allen’s stock as a leading contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination."
George Allan did loose the election in November by a very small margin.
Read more...
"The YouTube Election
The "Vote Different" anti-Hillary ad, Newt Gingrich's Spanish apology, Mitt Romney's trail of flip-flops—this is the mouse-click mayhem of the 2008 campaign, in which anyone can join. It's the end of the old-fashioned, literary presidential epic, and the dawn of YouTube politics."
Read more...
From MNSBC:
"In 2004, YouTube didn't exist. Three years later, politicians have learned to fear and revere the video-sharing Web site that has become a vital part of the campaign for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
From rapid dissemination of political blunders, often with funny tunes, to a new wave of music videos featuring scantily clad women singing the praises of their presidential favorites, YouTube.com has sparked a new interest in politics.
More than 2.5 million people have viewed "I've Got a Crush...On Obama" about Democratic Sen. Barack Obama since it was posted last month. A rebuttal video of women fighting over Obama and leading Republican contender Rudy Giuliani has been watched more than 500,000 times in four days."
Read more...
This is older but on the same topic. From the New York Times:
"Last week, Senator George Allen, the Virginia Republican, was caught on tape at a campaign event twice calling a college student of Indian descent a “macaca,” an obscure racial slur.
The student, working for the opposing campaign, taped the comments, and the video quickly appeared on YouTube, where it rocketed to the top of the site’s most-viewed list. It then bounced from the Web to the front page of The Washington Post to cable and network television news shows. Despite two public apologies by Senator Allen, and his aides’ quick explanations for how the strange word tumbled out, political analysts rushed to downgrade Mr. Allen’s stock as a leading contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination."
George Allan did loose the election in November by a very small margin.
Read more...
Friday, July 20, 2007
Downfall of a media mogul
From the New York Times:
"The two engines of indignation and opportunism helped power Mr. Black’s rise to the heights of the media mogul life during the 1980s and 1990s. During that time, Mr. Black routinely sparred with regulators, denounced critics and sued journalists whom he claimed defamed him.
He also displayed his not inconsiderable charm — gathering the likes of Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher to sit on his corporate boards — and wrote conservative thought pieces and scholarly biographies of great men whose lives he felt had been inaccurately depicted elsewhere, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard M. Nixon and, well, himself.
His grandiose style, characterized by sweeping pronouncements and Latinate diction, served Mr. Black well while he was building a publicly traded company Hollinger International that, at one point, was the third-largest newspaper company in the world by circulation, owning The Daily Telegraph, The Jerusalem Post and The Chicago Sun-Times."
Read more...
And also here...
Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal
From the New York Times:
"For employees at Dow Jones, the 11 weeks since they learned of the Murdoch offer have been a wrenching time, raising the prospect of fundamental changes at an organization that had already had its fill of big changes in the last couple of years — with Mr. Kann being replaced by Richard F. Zannino as chief executive, with Marcus W. Brauchli taking over from Paul E. Steiger as top editor; and with a shift of its mission, by adding a Saturday paper and more lifestyle articles to appeal to new advertisers, and investing heavily in its digital properties.
So a possible takeover by the News Corporation — the deal is now in the hands of the Bancroft family after the offer received board approval — has placed an unusual strain on the company and its employees. Tensions have risen between The Journal’s newsroom and management, particularly Mr. Zannino, a nonjournalist who had spent much of his career in the garment industry.
Journalists are also facing two futures they never expected when they signed on to jobs they saw more as a mission, not a business — the uncertainty of what Mr. Murdoch would do as an owner, or the uncertainty of a suddenly harsh advertising climate that could lead to deep job cuts."
Read more...
"For employees at Dow Jones, the 11 weeks since they learned of the Murdoch offer have been a wrenching time, raising the prospect of fundamental changes at an organization that had already had its fill of big changes in the last couple of years — with Mr. Kann being replaced by Richard F. Zannino as chief executive, with Marcus W. Brauchli taking over from Paul E. Steiger as top editor; and with a shift of its mission, by adding a Saturday paper and more lifestyle articles to appeal to new advertisers, and investing heavily in its digital properties.
So a possible takeover by the News Corporation — the deal is now in the hands of the Bancroft family after the offer received board approval — has placed an unusual strain on the company and its employees. Tensions have risen between The Journal’s newsroom and management, particularly Mr. Zannino, a nonjournalist who had spent much of his career in the garment industry.
Journalists are also facing two futures they never expected when they signed on to jobs they saw more as a mission, not a business — the uncertainty of what Mr. Murdoch would do as an owner, or the uncertainty of a suddenly harsh advertising climate that could lead to deep job cuts."
Read more...
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
More on TVNZ's digital channels
From the TVNZ website:
"TVNZ 6
TVNZ 6 will be the first of the new channels, It will launch on Freeview at the end of September. This channel is really a placeholder for three independent services that share the channel. Three in one if you like.
The morning and daytime service will show pre-school kids programming.
From late afternoon in to kids' bedtime the second service will provide safe, entertaining and educational programming that the whole family can watch together. Then, at 8.30 the third service kicks in with more challenging programming centred on the arts and drama.
We are putting together a great schedule for each of these services. We are commissioning some pretty exciting new programming, and we have acquired rights for existing programming. What really sets the new channels apart is their very high level of local programming - up to 70% on the services sharing TVNZ 6.
TVNZ 7
TVNZ 7 is a factual channel that we are currently planning to launch in March next year. This has been described in media as a 24 hour news channel. That's not quite right. The channel will have news bulletins on the hour, every hour, but it really is a broad based factual channel. It is definitely not a Sky News style rolling news channel. It will show news, sports, documentaries and current affairs programming.
Both channels are advertising free."
Read more...
"TVNZ 6
TVNZ 6 will be the first of the new channels, It will launch on Freeview at the end of September. This channel is really a placeholder for three independent services that share the channel. Three in one if you like.
The morning and daytime service will show pre-school kids programming.
From late afternoon in to kids' bedtime the second service will provide safe, entertaining and educational programming that the whole family can watch together. Then, at 8.30 the third service kicks in with more challenging programming centred on the arts and drama.
We are putting together a great schedule for each of these services. We are commissioning some pretty exciting new programming, and we have acquired rights for existing programming. What really sets the new channels apart is their very high level of local programming - up to 70% on the services sharing TVNZ 6.
TVNZ 7
TVNZ 7 is a factual channel that we are currently planning to launch in March next year. This has been described in media as a 24 hour news channel. That's not quite right. The channel will have news bulletins on the hour, every hour, but it really is a broad based factual channel. It is definitely not a Sky News style rolling news channel. It will show news, sports, documentaries and current affairs programming.
Both channels are advertising free."
Read more...
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Television and self-censorship
From The New York Times:
"Controversy over a new advertising campaign by Trojan, the condom maker, has trickled down to the local level, with television stations in Pittsburgh roundly refusing to show it, and stations in Seattle giving it the green light.
When Trojan introduced the condom commercial last month, it was rejected as national advertising by both CBS and Fox. Fox said it objected to the message that condoms can prevent pregnancy, while CBS said it was not “appropriate,” drawing a firestorm of criticism from public health advocates and bloggers.
But Trojan, which is owned by Church & Dwight, was in for more unhappy surprises last week. Local affiliates in Pittsburgh for ABC and NBC, two networks that had agreed to run the ad nationally, also snubbed it."
Read more...
You can see the commercial on Youtube:
Bill O'Reilly from Fox television on the commercial:
Hard to know if the most offensive thing for O'Reilly is the reference to sex or evolution.
"Controversy over a new advertising campaign by Trojan, the condom maker, has trickled down to the local level, with television stations in Pittsburgh roundly refusing to show it, and stations in Seattle giving it the green light.
When Trojan introduced the condom commercial last month, it was rejected as national advertising by both CBS and Fox. Fox said it objected to the message that condoms can prevent pregnancy, while CBS said it was not “appropriate,” drawing a firestorm of criticism from public health advocates and bloggers.
But Trojan, which is owned by Church & Dwight, was in for more unhappy surprises last week. Local affiliates in Pittsburgh for ABC and NBC, two networks that had agreed to run the ad nationally, also snubbed it."
Read more...
You can see the commercial on Youtube:
Bill O'Reilly from Fox television on the commercial:
Hard to know if the most offensive thing for O'Reilly is the reference to sex or evolution.
The IPhone
This is Russell Brown in The Listener:
"On Monday, commentators were split between declaring that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had hit another one out of the park or that Apple had missed its secret sales target of a million handsets in a weekend.
Why the hype? Surprisingly, not that much of it comes down to Apple’s actual marketing, except in so far as the strategy is to keep everyone guessing. Few people got one before launch day, and many analysts and technology publications bought theirs specifically to break open so that they could reveal what was inside.
Then there was the iPod factor. Apple’s digital player has changed the way we listen to music. The iPhone – a big generational step for the iPod line – nails two things that fans have been waiting for: a video iPod with a landscape screen, and an iPod phone. It’s sort of Apple’s Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band."
Read more...
Steve Jobs announces the release of the IPhone
"We've designed something wonderful"
Then there is the important question: will it blend?
"On Monday, commentators were split between declaring that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had hit another one out of the park or that Apple had missed its secret sales target of a million handsets in a weekend.
Why the hype? Surprisingly, not that much of it comes down to Apple’s actual marketing, except in so far as the strategy is to keep everyone guessing. Few people got one before launch day, and many analysts and technology publications bought theirs specifically to break open so that they could reveal what was inside.
Then there was the iPod factor. Apple’s digital player has changed the way we listen to music. The iPhone – a big generational step for the iPod line – nails two things that fans have been waiting for: a video iPod with a landscape screen, and an iPod phone. It’s sort of Apple’s Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band."
Read more...
Steve Jobs announces the release of the IPhone
"We've designed something wonderful"
Then there is the important question: will it blend?
New Channels on Freeview
Freeview (free to air digital television) is already available but offers nothing new at this point in terms of channels. This might change:
This is a press release published on scoop:
TVNZ 6 will feature up to 75% local content
Monday, 16 July 2007, 11:51 am
Press Release: Television New Zealand
TVNZ 6 will feature up to 75% local content
TVNZ 6, the first of TVNZ's two new digital channels for the Freeview platform will feature advertising-free programming with between 50% and 75% local content.
TVNZ 6 programming will be divided into three distinct services targeting preschoolers (50% local content), families (70% local content) and adult viewers (75% local content). None of the services will carry advertising.
TVNZ 6 will begin broadcasting on 30 September.
Read more...
This is a press release published on scoop:
TVNZ 6 will feature up to 75% local content
Monday, 16 July 2007, 11:51 am
Press Release: Television New Zealand
TVNZ 6 will feature up to 75% local content
TVNZ 6, the first of TVNZ's two new digital channels for the Freeview platform will feature advertising-free programming with between 50% and 75% local content.
TVNZ 6 programming will be divided into three distinct services targeting preschoolers (50% local content), families (70% local content) and adult viewers (75% local content). None of the services will carry advertising.
TVNZ 6 will begin broadcasting on 30 September.
Read more...
Obama's presidential campaign and the Internet
From The Washington Post:
"The Illinois Democrat's second-quarter fundraising haul of $32.8 million far outpaced the rest of the presidential field, including his chief Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. About a third of it -- $10.3 million -- came over the Internet, according to the Obama campaign, and 90 percent of the online donations were under $100. Half were $25 or less."
Read more...
"The Illinois Democrat's second-quarter fundraising haul of $32.8 million far outpaced the rest of the presidential field, including his chief Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. About a third of it -- $10.3 million -- came over the Internet, according to the Obama campaign, and 90 percent of the online donations were under $100. Half were $25 or less."
Read more...
Monday, July 16, 2007
Editorials form the Sunday Star Times on Harawira's comments
Howard's way isn't that wayward, Hone
By ROSEMARY McLEOD - Sunday Star Times | Monday, 16 July 2007
"Harawira - and others - seem to think that men in indigenous communities ought to be able to carry on however they like with their children, and that it's racist to try to stop them."
Read more....
Harawira: indelicate but spoke for many
By FINLAY MACDONALD - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 15 July 2007
"Hone Harawira was indelicate, but politicians are merely representatives of their people.
He represents the opinion of plenty of New Zealanders, and the target of his opprobrium is certainly representative of many Australians."
Read more...
By ROSEMARY McLEOD - Sunday Star Times | Monday, 16 July 2007
"Harawira - and others - seem to think that men in indigenous communities ought to be able to carry on however they like with their children, and that it's racist to try to stop them."
Read more....
Harawira: indelicate but spoke for many
By FINLAY MACDONALD - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 15 July 2007
"Hone Harawira was indelicate, but politicians are merely representatives of their people.
He represents the opinion of plenty of New Zealanders, and the target of his opprobrium is certainly representative of many Australians."
Read more...
Sunday, July 15, 2007
While on the subject of investigative journalism... or the lack thereof
This a link to the transcript, video and links related to a programme by Bill Moyers which aired on public television in May.It is called Buying the War. The show details the extent to which the media did not question the administration's decision. Interesting investigative journalism on the absence of investigative journalism. This has not aired on NZ television.
From the PBS website:
Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a flight suit and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. He was hailed by media stars as a "breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neo-cons now;" NPR's Bob Edwards said, "The war in Iraq is essentially over;" and Fortune magazine's Jeff Birnbaum said, "It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context."
How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported? "What the conservative media did was easy to fathom; they had been cheerleaders for the White House from the beginning and were simply continuing to rally the public behind the President — no questions asked. How mainstream journalists suspended skepticism and scrutiny remains an issue of significance that the media has not satisfactorily explored," says Moyers. "How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?"
Watch the programme; read the transcript, follow useful links...
Washington Post's investigative series on Cheney's Vice-Presidency
This is a defining investigative report on Cheney's Vice-Presidency. The report provides much new material and insights. It also provides a perfect example of investigative journalism and what it can do best: draw on many sources to build a insider look on the role of the American Vice-President.
"Dick Cheney is the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office of vice president. This series examines Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment."
Read more...
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The New Yorker discusses Murdoch's take-over of The Wall Street Journal
"The prospect of a Murdoch takeover of the Wall Street Journal has already produced repercussions at the paper. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, Americans consider the Journal their most credible newspaper. Yet a senior executive at the paper says, “Even before anything happens, there has been so much publicity about this that there are issues with our readers and advertisers. . . . We don’t yet know how best to deal with that issue, or how big an issue it is.”
Promises, Promises
What might the Wall Street Journal become if Rupert Murdoch owned it?
by Ken Auletta
Promises, Promises
What might the Wall Street Journal become if Rupert Murdoch owned it?
by Ken Auletta
TVNZ's Charter Revisions
Here's a quick round up of what two political parties seem to be saying.
National:
"The review of the TVNZ Charter is going to do nothing to disguise the abysmal failure of Steve Maharey's broadcasting policy, says National Party Broadcasting spokesman Jonathan Coleman."
Read more...
The Greens:
"TVNZ’s invitation to the public to comment on how to rewrite the broadcasting charter is a welcome move, but a totally inadequate response to the challenges that state broadcasting now faces in the digital age,” Green Party Broadcasting Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says."
Read more....
National:
"The review of the TVNZ Charter is going to do nothing to disguise the abysmal failure of Steve Maharey's broadcasting policy, says National Party Broadcasting spokesman Jonathan Coleman."
Read more...
The Greens:
"TVNZ’s invitation to the public to comment on how to rewrite the broadcasting charter is a welcome move, but a totally inadequate response to the challenges that state broadcasting now faces in the digital age,” Green Party Broadcasting Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says."
Read more....
Hone Harawira's statements about Howard
This is from a few days ago (11 July): an interview with Hone Harawira after the media ran stories about his calling Howard a "racist bastard". Particularly of interest to MDIA 102 is Harawira's views about how to use media statements as a way to provoke public debate.
From Radio Live: "WILLIE & JT~talk to Maori Party MP Hone Harawira about comments he made about Australian PM John Howard, and the political reaction to what he said."
Listen here....
And even earlier on the week (10 July) Paul Henri interviews Maori Party co-leader Peter Sharples about Hone Harawira's statements.
Listen here....
These two interviews encapsulate particularly well the ways in which media debate can be framed and provoked. Harawira is the provocateur. Sharples is the diplomatic politician. Both are skilled politicians but in different registers.
From Radio Live: "WILLIE & JT~talk to Maori Party MP Hone Harawira about comments he made about Australian PM John Howard, and the political reaction to what he said."
Listen here....
And even earlier on the week (10 July) Paul Henri interviews Maori Party co-leader Peter Sharples about Hone Harawira's statements.
Listen here....
These two interviews encapsulate particularly well the ways in which media debate can be framed and provoked. Harawira is the provocateur. Sharples is the diplomatic politician. Both are skilled politicians but in different registers.
Focus on Politics: New Rules for Television in Parliament
Last night on this National Radio programme Liz Banas looked at the controversy surrounding the new rules banning the televising of Parliament.
To listen to the show go here
To listen to the show go here
From the Guardian: BBC orders inquiry as pressure mounts
"The BBC has launched a wide-ranging internal investigation into the mistakes that led the controller of BBC1 to claim that the Queen had walked out of a photoshoot "in a huff".
Peter Fincham was forced to apologise after wrongly claiming, while unveiling the BBC's autumn schedules, that a fly-on-the-wall documentary to be screened later in the year showed the Queen storming out of a photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz.
As pressure mounted on the BBC yesterday, Mr Fincham repeated his determination not to resign. His fate may now hang on a crucial meeting between BBC trustees and the corporation's director general, Mark Thompson, due to take place next Wednesday."
Read more...
Peter Fincham was forced to apologise after wrongly claiming, while unveiling the BBC's autumn schedules, that a fly-on-the-wall documentary to be screened later in the year showed the Queen storming out of a photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz.
As pressure mounted on the BBC yesterday, Mr Fincham repeated his determination not to resign. His fate may now hang on a crucial meeting between BBC trustees and the corporation's director general, Mark Thompson, due to take place next Wednesday."
Read more...
Bastille Day
Serge Gainsbourg received many death threats after this and created further scandal by buying the original manuscript of the lyrics at an auction.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Net Neutrality, the Digital Divide on PBS (public televison in the USA)
This is a website connected to a programme on PBS called Bill Moyers on America. This programme focuses on
The New Digital Divide
Net Neutrality
Community Connections
Big, Bigger, Biggest Media
It also has links to very useful information, articles, updates and discussion.
We will be discussing many of these topics in class.
Go there....
From the Washington Post:
"Net neutrality is a principle that bars Internet providers, primarily phone and cable companies, from charging higher rates to Web-based firms in return for giving their content priority treatment on the pathways to consumers. Without such restrictions, proponents say, a user might find it time-consuming, or even impossible, to call up a favorite site that carriers have relegated to slower lanes for economic or even philosophical reasons."
Read more...
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Racism, sports and the media
Interesting story from ABC in Australia in a programme called Media Watch. The programme (with transcripts and video available in the link here...) looks at the Saturday Daily Telegraph's decision not to cover Anthony Mundine's sporting career. This is what the paper says:
"The Saturday Daily Telegraph is so sick of Anthony Mundine and his racist taunts that this newspaper declined to preview any aspect of the boxer's bout against Pablo Zamora Nievas this week.
Instead of publicising the bout and helping to put money into the Mundine coffers, the newspaper decided not to give Sydney's biggest mouth any pre-bout coverage to prove that racist taunts will not be tolerated from anyone, no matter how big a star they think they are."
— Daily Telegraph, Short Shots, 30th June, 2007
The ABC programmme looks at what lead to the newspaper's decision.
Libby Hakaraia interviewed on 9 to 12 RadioNZ
Maori Issues With commentator Libby Hakaraia, TV director and producer. (duration: 16′05″)
Listen here...
All podcasts feed for Nine to Noon on RadioNZ are available here.
Listen here...
All podcasts feed for Nine to Noon on RadioNZ are available here.
Commentary in The Age, Melbourne
In this commentary Michelle Grattan and Jo Chandler explain what they see as a change of direction in Aboriginal policies.
"The Northern Territory decision is part of a wider transformation of indigenous policy. Last year Health Minister Tony Abbott put a label on a shift in policy and thinking about Aboriginal issues. He called it, for want of a better term, "the new paternalism".
Historian Dr Tim Rowse has seen it brewing for three years.
"The essence of it is to regard Aboriginal self-determination as a project that has failed because indigenous elites have proved to be not up to the job," says Rowse. It argues that the discourse of indigenous rights, which is what has empowered indigenous elites, has not provided a fix for the poverty and problems afflicting remote Aboriginal communities. That those far-flung communities are hugely expensive to service and maintain. That the social pathology within some communities has become poisonous. That they "carry the remnants of a culture which is self-destructive and badly adapted to modern times — I think that is the view that the Government has acquired," he says."
Read more...
"The Northern Territory decision is part of a wider transformation of indigenous policy. Last year Health Minister Tony Abbott put a label on a shift in policy and thinking about Aboriginal issues. He called it, for want of a better term, "the new paternalism".
Historian Dr Tim Rowse has seen it brewing for three years.
"The essence of it is to regard Aboriginal self-determination as a project that has failed because indigenous elites have proved to be not up to the job," says Rowse. It argues that the discourse of indigenous rights, which is what has empowered indigenous elites, has not provided a fix for the poverty and problems afflicting remote Aboriginal communities. That those far-flung communities are hugely expensive to service and maintain. That the social pathology within some communities has become poisonous. That they "carry the remnants of a culture which is self-destructive and badly adapted to modern times — I think that is the view that the Government has acquired," he says."
Read more...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Harawira's statements as covered on TVOne news last night
From TVOne website:
"The Maori Party co-leader, Pita Sharples, is supporting MP Hone Harawira's comments about Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Inan interview with Maori Television programme Native Affairs Harwaira called Howard "a racist bastard".
"John Howard is a racist bastard imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back - in terms of the Katrina thing - its actually more like Iraq - what he's trying to do in the Northern Territory," Harawira said in the interview.
Sharples says the MP was just voicing what many groups in Australia already think, but the comments are already making headlines across the Tasman.
Australian TV reacted to Harawira's comments, saying he was letting fly at the federal government's intervention."
more, including a clip of the interview on Maori television with Harawira's statements...
"The Maori Party co-leader, Pita Sharples, is supporting MP Hone Harawira's comments about Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Inan interview with Maori Television programme Native Affairs Harwaira called Howard "a racist bastard".
"John Howard is a racist bastard imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back - in terms of the Katrina thing - its actually more like Iraq - what he's trying to do in the Northern Territory," Harawira said in the interview.
Sharples says the MP was just voicing what many groups in Australia already think, but the comments are already making headlines across the Tasman.
Australian TV reacted to Harawira's comments, saying he was letting fly at the federal government's intervention."
more, including a clip of the interview on Maori television with Harawira's statements...
The 'R' word part 2
In The Dominion Post
A major political poll released by The Australian newspaper yesterday shows 61 per cent of voters agree with Mr Howard's actions.
Mr Harawira was chastised by his party yesterday for "attacking the man", but walked away with support for his criticism of the policy.
Even Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia gave qualified support to Mr Harawira's sentiments, if not his colourful language.
Mr Horomia said it was wrong to personalise the issue - which was up to Australians to deal with - but also struggled personally "with what John Howard has done".
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said attacking Mr Howard went against the principles of the party, but said the policies being advocated were "definitely racist".
Mr Harawira accepted the "telling-off" he received from Dr Sharples over his behaviour, but refused to resile from his comments.
"I've apologised to the Maori Party but I certainly won't be apologising to John Howard.
Harawira told to stay in own yard
And this is the coverage of the story in The Brisbane Times :
"the Northern Territory Government revealed yesterday that it will back a legal challenge to the radical intervention by the Northern Land Council, the most powerful indigenous organisation in northern Australia. The council says the action will lead inevitably to the High Court."
more...
A major political poll released by The Australian newspaper yesterday shows 61 per cent of voters agree with Mr Howard's actions.
Mr Harawira was chastised by his party yesterday for "attacking the man", but walked away with support for his criticism of the policy.
Even Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia gave qualified support to Mr Harawira's sentiments, if not his colourful language.
Mr Horomia said it was wrong to personalise the issue - which was up to Australians to deal with - but also struggled personally "with what John Howard has done".
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said attacking Mr Howard went against the principles of the party, but said the policies being advocated were "definitely racist".
Mr Harawira accepted the "telling-off" he received from Dr Sharples over his behaviour, but refused to resile from his comments.
"I've apologised to the Maori Party but I certainly won't be apologising to John Howard.
Harawira told to stay in own yard
And this is the coverage of the story in The Brisbane Times :
"the Northern Territory Government revealed yesterday that it will back a legal challenge to the radical intervention by the Northern Land Council, the most powerful indigenous organisation in northern Australia. The council says the action will lead inevitably to the High Court."
more...
Michael Moore vs Wolf Blitzer from CNN
Here's a series of links and information I read on www.crooksandliars.com
Michael Moore was on CNN yesterday to talk about his new documentary on the American health system.
Before his interview with Wolf Blitzer this is what CNN played in a segment called "reality check":
Here's the interview afterwards where Michael Moore accuses CNN, among other things, of distorting facts:
Michael Moore demands apology from Wolf Blitzer
And here is Michael Moore's response on his website:
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight
Michael Moore was on CNN yesterday to talk about his new documentary on the American health system.
Before his interview with Wolf Blitzer this is what CNN played in a segment called "reality check":
Here's the interview afterwards where Michael Moore accuses CNN, among other things, of distorting facts:
Michael Moore demands apology from Wolf Blitzer
And here is Michael Moore's response on his website:
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Politics and the"r" word
Is it possible to use the "r" word when talking about politicians?
Read more from the Dominion Post today...
and as some historical context...
Here's the report from The Sydney Morning Herald
"Howard a racist bastard: NZ Maori MP
July 9, 2007 - 2:54PM
An MP for New Zealand Maori Party has labelled Australian Prime Minister John Howard a "racist bastard" for his radical intervention aimed at stopping child abuse in Aboriginal communities."
Read more...
and more...
New Rules for Television coverage of Parliament
There are new rules for the coverage of the New Zealand Parliament
Read the Report of the Standing Orders Committee
"New Zealand's major television news organisations - Television New Zealand, TV3, Maori Television and Sky News NZ - today issued a joint public pledge to defy parts of Parliament's new rules on TV coverage of Members of Parliament in the debating chamber."
Read more...
National is having second thoughts about the new rule.
Read more...
On the same topic from Colin Espiner's blog:
"National has just announced it will seek to review the new ban on satire in Parliament. This comes after all the nation’s broadcasters got together to give the collective finger to Parliament over the rules restricting the media over what it can show of the House, which were passed by 111 votes to just six last week."
Read more...
Read the Report of the Standing Orders Committee
"New Zealand's major television news organisations - Television New Zealand, TV3, Maori Television and Sky News NZ - today issued a joint public pledge to defy parts of Parliament's new rules on TV coverage of Members of Parliament in the debating chamber."
Read more...
National is having second thoughts about the new rule.
Read more...
On the same topic from Colin Espiner's blog:
"National has just announced it will seek to review the new ban on satire in Parliament. This comes after all the nation’s broadcasters got together to give the collective finger to Parliament over the rules restricting the media over what it can show of the House, which were passed by 111 votes to just six last week."
Read more...
TVNZ proposed revised charter
TVNZ is in the process of proposing to the government a new version of its charter.
The proposed redraft is available at:
Suggested Redraft of TVNZ Charter
The current charter is here:
TVNZ Charter
Russel Brown has written a post on his blog on this:
TVNZ: The Sub's Pencil Strikes
The proposed redraft is available at:
Suggested Redraft of TVNZ Charter
The current charter is here:
TVNZ Charter
Russel Brown has written a post on his blog on this:
TVNZ: The Sub's Pencil Strikes
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