And the broadcast went silent for a while:
Save the Internet:
"Over the weekend AT&T gave us a glimpse of their plans for the Web when they censored a Pearl Jam performance that didn’t meet their standard of “Internet freedom.”
During the live Lollapalooza Webcast of a concert by the Seattle-based super-group, the telco giant muted lead singer Eddie Vedder just as he launched into a lyric against President George Bush. The lines — “George Bush, leave this world alone” and “George Bush find yourself another home” were somehow lost in the mix.
Pearl Jam: Seen But Not Heard
“What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it’s about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band,” Pearl Jam band members stated in a release following the incident.
Indeed. AT&T routinely rails against Net Neutrality as a “solution without a problem.” They say Net Neutrality regulations aren’t necessary because they wouldn’t dare interfere with online content. At the same time they tout plans to become gatekeepers to the Web with public relations bromides about “shaping” Web traffic to better serve the needs of an evolving Internet."
Read more...
ATT says it was an error:
"Lyrics sung by Pearl Jam criticizing President Bush during a concert last weekend in Chicago should not have been censored during a Webcast by AT&T, a company spokesman said Thursday.
AT&T, through its Blue Room entertainment site, offered a Webcast of the band's headlining performance Sunday at the Lollapalooza concert. The event was shown with a brief delay so the company could bleep out excessive profanity or nudity.
But monitors hired by AT&T through a vendor also cut two lines from a song to the tune of ''Another Brick in the Wall'' by Pink Floyd. One was ''George Bush leave this world alone,'' and the other was ''George Bush find yourself another home,'' according to the band's Web site.
The AT&T spokesman, Michael Coe, said that the silencing was a mistake and that the company was working with the vendor that produces the Webcasts to avoid future misunderstandings."
Friday, August 31, 2007
More on net neutrality
Not exactly recent but useful, from The Washington Post:
"No Tolls on The Internet
By Lawrence Lessig and Robert W. McChesney
Thursday, June 8, 2006; Page A23
Congress is about to cast a historic vote on the future of the Internet. It will decide whether the Internet remains a free and open technology fostering innovation, economic growth and democratic communication, or instead becomes the property of cable and phone companies that can put toll booths at every on-ramp and exit on the information superhighway.
At the center of the debate is the most important public policy you've probably never heard of: "network neutrality." Net neutrality means simply that all like Internet content must be treated alike and move at the same speed over the network. The owners of the Internet's wires cannot discriminate. This is the simple but brilliant "end-to-end" design of the Internet that has made it such a powerful force for economic and social good: All of the intelligence and control is held by producers and users, not the networks that connect them."
Read the rest...
See also...
And a case of the immediate implication of the loss of net netreality: Pearl Jam vs ATT...
"No Tolls on The Internet
By Lawrence Lessig and Robert W. McChesney
Thursday, June 8, 2006; Page A23
Congress is about to cast a historic vote on the future of the Internet. It will decide whether the Internet remains a free and open technology fostering innovation, economic growth and democratic communication, or instead becomes the property of cable and phone companies that can put toll booths at every on-ramp and exit on the information superhighway.
At the center of the debate is the most important public policy you've probably never heard of: "network neutrality." Net neutrality means simply that all like Internet content must be treated alike and move at the same speed over the network. The owners of the Internet's wires cannot discriminate. This is the simple but brilliant "end-to-end" design of the Internet that has made it such a powerful force for economic and social good: All of the intelligence and control is held by producers and users, not the networks that connect them."
Read the rest...
See also...
And a case of the immediate implication of the loss of net netreality: Pearl Jam vs ATT...
Alternative to media concentration in the US
From Bill Moyer's journal on American public television:
"Media consolidation isn't widely covered by the mainstream press, but potential changes being considered to the rules governing the nation's big media companies could have far reaching effects on democracy. In 1984 the number of companies owning controlling interest in America's media was 50 — today that number is six. The Federal Communications Commission is once again considering whether to revise media ownership rules and let these media conglomerates get even bigger. This week Bill Moyers talks with FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps about media ownership rules, the debate over net neutrality."
Read a transcript, follow interesting links and watch the video...
"Media consolidation isn't widely covered by the mainstream press, but potential changes being considered to the rules governing the nation's big media companies could have far reaching effects on democracy. In 1984 the number of companies owning controlling interest in America's media was 50 — today that number is six. The Federal Communications Commission is once again considering whether to revise media ownership rules and let these media conglomerates get even bigger. This week Bill Moyers talks with FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps about media ownership rules, the debate over net neutrality."
Read a transcript, follow interesting links and watch the video...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
TVNZ to increase Maori Programming
This is from a TVNZ press release published on scoop.co.nz:
"TVNZ wants to significantly increase Maori programming
TVNZ has today unveiled a plan to significantly increase the presence of Maori programming on the national television public broadcaster...Mr Latch said at the moment TV ONE and TV 2 showed 167 hours of Maori programming. Under the new strategy that would go to 300 hours on TV ONE and TV 2, plus another 190 hours on TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7."
Read more...
"TVNZ wants to significantly increase Maori programming
TVNZ has today unveiled a plan to significantly increase the presence of Maori programming on the national television public broadcaster...Mr Latch said at the moment TV ONE and TV 2 showed 167 hours of Maori programming. Under the new strategy that would go to 300 hours on TV ONE and TV 2, plus another 190 hours on TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7."
Read more...
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Russell Brown in the Listener on the Wikipedia edits
"A fraction too much friction
by Russell Brown
It took an American student to show us why Wikipedia should never be taken as gospel.
The appearance of the Wikipedia Scanner – a web-based tool that has disgorged an apparently endless list of self-interested interventions in the online encyclopedia by organisations as diverse as the CIA, Amnesty Inter‑national, Fox News and the voting-machine maker Diebold – has rightly generated global media interest.
But many reports missed the fact that it has always been possible to do what American student Virgil Griffith did with this new tool. Anyone can edit Wikipedia, but anyone making a change anonymously will have their IP (internet protocol) address logged against the change they have made. An investigator with a modicum of technical skill can easily trace the IP address back to its source."
Read more...
by Russell Brown
It took an American student to show us why Wikipedia should never be taken as gospel.
The appearance of the Wikipedia Scanner – a web-based tool that has disgorged an apparently endless list of self-interested interventions in the online encyclopedia by organisations as diverse as the CIA, Amnesty Inter‑national, Fox News and the voting-machine maker Diebold – has rightly generated global media interest.
But many reports missed the fact that it has always been possible to do what American student Virgil Griffith did with this new tool. Anyone can edit Wikipedia, but anyone making a change anonymously will have their IP (internet protocol) address logged against the change they have made. An investigator with a modicum of technical skill can easily trace the IP address back to its source."
Read more...
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Pirate Bay vs Hollywood
From The Guardian:
"Operating under the sign of a Jolly Roger, The Pirate Bay website hopes to evoke a buccaneer spirit: swashbuckling swordsmen, or perhaps the pirate radio stations of the 1960s. But as the internet's number one destination for illegal downloads, it has raised the hackles of the entertainment industry and elevated its founders to the top of Hollywood's most wanted list.
With more than two million visitors every day, The Pirate Bay has become one of the sharpest thorns in the side of the media business. Its controversial success has caused havoc in the music, TV and film industries.
Current top downloads include The Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard 4.0 and Knocked Up — all showing in British cinemas, but available to watch on a computer screen for those willing to take the risk.
The three-year campaign to bring down the website is almost an epic of Hollywood proportions, sprinkled with high-flying lawyers and accusations of political extremism. And yet, so far, the chase has failed to bring the pirates down."
Read more...
More editing at Wikipedia
From stuff.co.nz:
"If you believe the NSW Premier's Department's version of history, a profanity-laden outburst Morris Iemma had at a media conference last year never happened."
Red more...
Friday, August 24, 2007
Adbusters and Murdoch
From alternative media magazine adbusters:
The Resistible Rise of Rupert Murdoch
From Adbusters #73, Aug-Sep 2007
Ever since he burst into Britain four decades ago by snapping the country’s largest newspaper out from underneath his competitors, Rupert Murdoch has come to secure a firm and powerful grip around the throat of the United Kingdom’s media. The Australian-born, self-described “billionaire tyrant” now controls nearly 40 percent of the national press, owns one of the world’s biggest book publishers, and has monopoly control over the country’s satellite television service.
But as Murdoch continues to exploit his power to exert political and personal influence, his growing hold on the media has become increasingly controversial and unpopular with the UK public. When Murdoch’s BSkyB television service recently swooped in to acquire a sizable stake of ITV, the largest free-to-air commercial television channel in the nation, media activists, regulatory bodies and even the government are all saying the “Dirty Digger” has gone too far.
Murdoch is known as an extremely hands-on proprietor, choosing editors who follow his orders and political dictates. “Every media property Murdoch has owned has been put to his political purposes,” said Ben Bagdikian, author of The Media Monopoly, “as is demonstrated by how he uses the Fox networks to project right-wing politics into news and commentary and to cheapen the national culture.” The same is true of his UK newspapers."
Read more...
The Resistible Rise of Rupert Murdoch
From Adbusters #73, Aug-Sep 2007
Ever since he burst into Britain four decades ago by snapping the country’s largest newspaper out from underneath his competitors, Rupert Murdoch has come to secure a firm and powerful grip around the throat of the United Kingdom’s media. The Australian-born, self-described “billionaire tyrant” now controls nearly 40 percent of the national press, owns one of the world’s biggest book publishers, and has monopoly control over the country’s satellite television service.
But as Murdoch continues to exploit his power to exert political and personal influence, his growing hold on the media has become increasingly controversial and unpopular with the UK public. When Murdoch’s BSkyB television service recently swooped in to acquire a sizable stake of ITV, the largest free-to-air commercial television channel in the nation, media activists, regulatory bodies and even the government are all saying the “Dirty Digger” has gone too far.
Murdoch is known as an extremely hands-on proprietor, choosing editors who follow his orders and political dictates. “Every media property Murdoch has owned has been put to his political purposes,” said Ben Bagdikian, author of The Media Monopoly, “as is demonstrated by how he uses the Fox networks to project right-wing politics into news and commentary and to cheapen the national culture.” The same is true of his UK newspapers."
Read more...
Hell Pizza
From stuff.co.nz:
"The Hell pizza chain is removing its billboards of Hitler saluting with a pizza slice after complaints from the Jewish community.
The chain, which has had a string of complaints about its advertising, including a condom mailout last year, said the Hitler billboards in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were meant to lampoon Hitler rather than be offensive.
The Nazi leader is shown in a Heil Hitler salute with pizza in his hand, next to his quote: "It is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell."
Yesterday afternoon the Hitler billboard in Christchurch's Lincoln Road was replaced with another one in the chain's famous-quotes campaign – Pope Benedict saying "Hell is real and eternal".
Kirk MacGibbon, from Cinderella, the Auckland agency that handles the chain's advertising, said yesterday he had received three complaints from Jewish people in Auckland who were offended by the Hitler billboard.
Some had lost family members in the Holocaust."
Read more...
Hell Pizza is well-known for its use of advertising strategies which are often reminiscent of alternative media approaches such as remixing (see lecture on week 9). Usually this means taking a brand or an icon and re-contextualising it in such a way that it is used to speak against itself. See the unwoosher from adbusters.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Blu Ray vs HD DVD?
...it's all being decided now. In passing earlier in the trimester I made reference to Blu-Ray technology (what is it?, or here)which is to replace the traditional DVD. The article mentioned below suggests that Blu-Ray might be losing the battle not because it's not the better technology.
From The New York Times:
"The competition between Blu-ray and HD DVD has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market.
Until recently, many consumers were able to defer the choice because players have been so expensive. But prices have been slashed by about half -- Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray player now sells for $499, and Toshiba Corp.'s cheapest HD DVD player sells for $299, with both likely to include as many as five free movies as an incentive...
Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association trade group, questioned the studios' decision to adopt HD DVD over Blu-ray, saying price differences between players have diminished in recent months. He said the trend ''is on its way to eliminating any perceived cost advantage the HD DVD format has claimed to have.''
Blu-ray discs can hold more data -- 50 gigabytes compared with HD DVD's 30 GB -- but the technology requires new manufacturing techniques and factories, boosting initial costs.
HD DVDs, on the other hand, are essentially DVDs on steroids, meaning movie studios can turn to existing assembly lines to produce them in mass.
Studios and retailers have been choosing sides in recent months."
Read more...
From The New York Times:
"The competition between Blu-ray and HD DVD has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market.
Until recently, many consumers were able to defer the choice because players have been so expensive. But prices have been slashed by about half -- Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray player now sells for $499, and Toshiba Corp.'s cheapest HD DVD player sells for $299, with both likely to include as many as five free movies as an incentive...
Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association trade group, questioned the studios' decision to adopt HD DVD over Blu-ray, saying price differences between players have diminished in recent months. He said the trend ''is on its way to eliminating any perceived cost advantage the HD DVD format has claimed to have.''
Blu-ray discs can hold more data -- 50 gigabytes compared with HD DVD's 30 GB -- but the technology requires new manufacturing techniques and factories, boosting initial costs.
HD DVDs, on the other hand, are essentially DVDs on steroids, meaning movie studios can turn to existing assembly lines to produce them in mass.
Studios and retailers have been choosing sides in recent months."
Read more...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
And for a NZ connection to the Wikipedia editing findings
From Russell Brown's public address blog:
"I looked up some IP addresses logged against dodgy edits of New Zealand Wikipedia articles -- the old-fashioned way, rather than with the scanner -- but didn't find anything of interest. Part of the problem is that addresses here tend to resolve to third parties: so there's a bit of vandalism on the Helen Clark article from an IP address in the same block as the National Party's mail server -- but it's also the same block (controlled by dts.net.nz) as the Parliamentary web server, which doesn't tell you much."
Read more...
"I looked up some IP addresses logged against dodgy edits of New Zealand Wikipedia articles -- the old-fashioned way, rather than with the scanner -- but didn't find anything of interest. Part of the problem is that addresses here tend to resolve to third parties: so there's a bit of vandalism on the Helen Clark article from an IP address in the same block as the National Party's mail server -- but it's also the same block (controlled by dts.net.nz) as the Parliamentary web server, which doesn't tell you much."
Read more...
More Corporate Edits on Wikipedia
Following the item on Fox News editing Wikipedia entries here is an article from The New York Times describing the extensive practice from Corporations:
"Last year a Wikipedia visitor edited the entry for the SeaWorld theme parks to change all mentions of “orcas” to “killer whales,” insisting that this was a more accurate name for the species.
There was another, unexplained edit: a paragraph about criticism of SeaWorld’s “lack of respect toward its orcas” disappeared. Both changes, it turns out, originated at a computer at Anheuser-Busch, SeaWorld’s owner.
Dozens of similar examples of insider editing came to light last week through WikiScanner, a new Web site that traces the source of millions of changes to Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
The site, wikiscanner.virgil.gr, created by a computer science graduate student, cross-references an edited entry on Wikipedia with the owner of the computer network where the change originated, using the Internet protocol address of the editor’s network. The address information was already available on Wikipedia, but the new site makes it much easier to connect those numbers with the names of network owners.
Since Wired News first wrote about WikiScanner last week, Internet users have spotted plenty of interesting changes to Wikipedia by people at nonprofit groups and government entities like the Central Intelligence Agency. Many of the most obviously self-interested edits have come from corporate networks"
Read more...
And here's the article from Wired magazine referred above...
"Last year a Wikipedia visitor edited the entry for the SeaWorld theme parks to change all mentions of “orcas” to “killer whales,” insisting that this was a more accurate name for the species.
There was another, unexplained edit: a paragraph about criticism of SeaWorld’s “lack of respect toward its orcas” disappeared. Both changes, it turns out, originated at a computer at Anheuser-Busch, SeaWorld’s owner.
Dozens of similar examples of insider editing came to light last week through WikiScanner, a new Web site that traces the source of millions of changes to Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
The site, wikiscanner.virgil.gr, created by a computer science graduate student, cross-references an edited entry on Wikipedia with the owner of the computer network where the change originated, using the Internet protocol address of the editor’s network. The address information was already available on Wikipedia, but the new site makes it much easier to connect those numbers with the names of network owners.
Since Wired News first wrote about WikiScanner last week, Internet users have spotted plenty of interesting changes to Wikipedia by people at nonprofit groups and government entities like the Central Intelligence Agency. Many of the most obviously self-interested edits have come from corporate networks"
Read more...
And here's the article from Wired magazine referred above...
The Sunday Star Times explains Facebook
"The most recent public web craze is social networking, where people are cyberconnecting by the millions. Danielle Murray explains the pitfalls and plusses of Facebook.
"Oh, MySpace and Bebo are so last year," says my niece in that smug dismissive teenage way.
"I'm on Facebook now."
Six months ago, if you hadn't heard of Facebook, it probably meant you were older than 25."
Read more...
"Oh, MySpace and Bebo are so last year," says my niece in that smug dismissive teenage way.
"I'm on Facebook now."
Six months ago, if you hadn't heard of Facebook, it probably meant you were older than 25."
Read more...
Friday, August 17, 2007
Fox News and Wikipedia
Fox News has admitted it has edited entries from wikipedia which it did not find to its advantage or altered them in order to attack their opponents.
Read more...
See also this...
Read more...
See also this...
Fairfax Media
From scoop.co.nz (owned by Fairfax media):
"Fairfax Media has strengthened its position as the country’s most influential media company with the number of New Zealanders being reached by its newspapers, magazines and online platforms increasing.
The latest Nielsen readership survey ending June 2007 for newspapers and magazines show Fairfax Media print publications are read by 2.7 million or 84.6%1 of New Zealanders aged 15 years+, an increase of 60,000 readers year on year. "
Read more...
"Fairfax Media has strengthened its position as the country’s most influential media company with the number of New Zealanders being reached by its newspapers, magazines and online platforms increasing.
The latest Nielsen readership survey ending June 2007 for newspapers and magazines show Fairfax Media print publications are read by 2.7 million or 84.6%1 of New Zealanders aged 15 years+, an increase of 60,000 readers year on year. "
Read more...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Music fans' cell phones as marketing tools
From The New York Times:
"The modern mobile phone — equipped with camera, Internet access and more — has proved to be a liability for some performers, like Akon and Beyoncé, whose regrettable moments were captured by fans and then immortalized on YouTube and similar sites. But for the fans themselves, mobile phones are becoming as important an accessory as an all-access wristband. Beyond using them to record a short souvenir, they are becoming a ticket to everything from free ringtones to V.I.P. treatment...
Even when there is no fee, the service comes at a price: fans must give their phone numbers to marketers. And purists — and some artists — disapprove of fans pecking out text messages or snapping pictures during performances. Still, the arrival of a new generation of phone-based activities could add a new twist to live events at a time when rising ticket prices have discouraged many concertgoers."
Read more...
"The modern mobile phone — equipped with camera, Internet access and more — has proved to be a liability for some performers, like Akon and Beyoncé, whose regrettable moments were captured by fans and then immortalized on YouTube and similar sites. But for the fans themselves, mobile phones are becoming as important an accessory as an all-access wristband. Beyond using them to record a short souvenir, they are becoming a ticket to everything from free ringtones to V.I.P. treatment...
Even when there is no fee, the service comes at a price: fans must give their phone numbers to marketers. And purists — and some artists — disapprove of fans pecking out text messages or snapping pictures during performances. Still, the arrival of a new generation of phone-based activities could add a new twist to live events at a time when rising ticket prices have discouraged many concertgoers."
Read more...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Hone Harawira to pay back half of his fare to Australia
From NZPA via stuff.co.nz:
" Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has been ordered to pay back half of the cost of his taxpayer-funded airfare to Australia after he went walkabout while on an official parliamentary visit.
Speaker Margaret Wilson told MPs that Mr Harawira's "private visit" to the Northern Territory to see aboriginal communities had come halfway into a select committee visit to Melbourne.
MPs had an obligation to complete their work for which they received public funding, she said.
"As Mr Harawira participated in less than half of the committee's business I consider it appropriate that he refund half of the airfare that has been paid out of public funds," Ms Wilson said.
It has been estimated that the MPs' airfares cost $3000 for a business class return flight."
Read more...
And in a different story:
" Hone Harawira has struck back at the "petty and ridiculous" critics of his Australian walkabout, suggesting a whiff of hypocrisy in their sniping."
Read more...
" Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has been ordered to pay back half of the cost of his taxpayer-funded airfare to Australia after he went walkabout while on an official parliamentary visit.
Speaker Margaret Wilson told MPs that Mr Harawira's "private visit" to the Northern Territory to see aboriginal communities had come halfway into a select committee visit to Melbourne.
MPs had an obligation to complete their work for which they received public funding, she said.
"As Mr Harawira participated in less than half of the committee's business I consider it appropriate that he refund half of the airfare that has been paid out of public funds," Ms Wilson said.
It has been estimated that the MPs' airfares cost $3000 for a business class return flight."
Read more...
And in a different story:
" Hone Harawira has struck back at the "petty and ridiculous" critics of his Australian walkabout, suggesting a whiff of hypocrisy in their sniping."
Read more...
Russell Brown discusses the impact of NZ political blogs
From The Listener:
"Key isn’t the first politician to claim to have been misquoted to get himself out of a fix. But in the old days, it wasn’t so easy for journalists to bite back – and certainly not as rapidly as Young did. Remarkably, it was the second week in a row in which Young, in the less formal setting of her blog, had produced the week’s big political story.
Her account of an interview conducted the previous week with David Benson-Pope (“he misled me as well”) appears to have triggered the end of Benson-Pope’s ministerial career. Again, Young hadn’t mucked about: her post appeared online only an hour or so after the minister had offered his revised account of the Setchell affair during question time in the House...
These blogs have emerged as part of a burst of blogging on the two main newspaper sites. Stuff has had the best of it so far: Dave Moore and Guy Somerset, the Dominion Post’s motoring and books editors respectively, give every impression of having been unleashed, and tech commentator Juha Saarinen, recently hired by Fairfax Digital Media, has brought his popular Techsploder blog with him."
Read more...
"Key isn’t the first politician to claim to have been misquoted to get himself out of a fix. But in the old days, it wasn’t so easy for journalists to bite back – and certainly not as rapidly as Young did. Remarkably, it was the second week in a row in which Young, in the less formal setting of her blog, had produced the week’s big political story.
Her account of an interview conducted the previous week with David Benson-Pope (“he misled me as well”) appears to have triggered the end of Benson-Pope’s ministerial career. Again, Young hadn’t mucked about: her post appeared online only an hour or so after the minister had offered his revised account of the Setchell affair during question time in the House...
These blogs have emerged as part of a burst of blogging on the two main newspaper sites. Stuff has had the best of it so far: Dave Moore and Guy Somerset, the Dominion Post’s motoring and books editors respectively, give every impression of having been unleashed, and tech commentator Juha Saarinen, recently hired by Fairfax Digital Media, has brought his popular Techsploder blog with him."
Read more...
Monday, August 13, 2007
MediaWorks (TV3, C4) sold to Australian Private Equity Company
This took place a couple of weeks ago. From The NZ Herald:
"Australian private equity firm Ironbridge Capital rushed to make a higher takeover bid for the remainder of MediaWorks after another Australian media owner tried to snap up minority shareholders' stakes."
Read more...
What is a Private Equity company?
:At a base level, private equity funds raise money for companies in need of a capital infusion. In that respect, they're similar to investment banks. But while investment banks raise money by selling stocks or bonds on the public markets on behalf of client companies, private equity funds do it by raising cash from wealthy individuals and institutions like pension funds. In turn, they use this money to invest in companies.
In ideal situations, PE funds invest in underperforming companies, turn them around, and sell their stake at a profit some years later, often in the public markets. Sometimes private equity companies engage in "asset stripping," or breaking up a company and selling its assets separately in order to make their profit.
Venture capital and private equity are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, venture capital firms focus on funding promising new businesses, where private equity firms focus on generating value from established businesses through restructurings and better management."
From this site...
"Australian private equity firm Ironbridge Capital rushed to make a higher takeover bid for the remainder of MediaWorks after another Australian media owner tried to snap up minority shareholders' stakes."
Read more...
What is a Private Equity company?
:At a base level, private equity funds raise money for companies in need of a capital infusion. In that respect, they're similar to investment banks. But while investment banks raise money by selling stocks or bonds on the public markets on behalf of client companies, private equity funds do it by raising cash from wealthy individuals and institutions like pension funds. In turn, they use this money to invest in companies.
In ideal situations, PE funds invest in underperforming companies, turn them around, and sell their stake at a profit some years later, often in the public markets. Sometimes private equity companies engage in "asset stripping," or breaking up a company and selling its assets separately in order to make their profit.
Venture capital and private equity are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, venture capital firms focus on funding promising new businesses, where private equity firms focus on generating value from established businesses through restructurings and better management."
From this site...
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Coverage of Hone Harawira's trip to Nothern Territories
From stuff.co.nz (The Dominion Post):
" Where the bloody hell are you?
Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is in trouble after ditching a taxpayer- funded parliamentary trip to Melbourne to visit Aborigines in the Northern Territory instead.
Labour MP Shane Jones said Mr Harawira's tribe were alarmed at his disappearance and were saying: "SOS: A dingo's got our Hone".
His impromptu walkabout has left some MPs fuming – though Green MP Nandor Tanczos says he would have liked to have gone too.
Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson is investigating whether she can dock Mr Harawira's pay for the costs of the trip, which include accommodation in a luxury hotel and business-class airfares to Melbourne."
Read more...
I paid my own way - Harawira...
Maori Party break silence on Harawira's trip...
Uluru leader hails NZ MP
Walkabout MP not on his own, says backer
Greens back Harawira but others aren't happy...
Blog: Harawira's walkabout like an Agatha Christie novel...
Harawira goes walkabout in Australia...
Harawira supporters thin on ground...
TV3's coverage...
" Where the bloody hell are you?
Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is in trouble after ditching a taxpayer- funded parliamentary trip to Melbourne to visit Aborigines in the Northern Territory instead.
Labour MP Shane Jones said Mr Harawira's tribe were alarmed at his disappearance and were saying: "SOS: A dingo's got our Hone".
His impromptu walkabout has left some MPs fuming – though Green MP Nandor Tanczos says he would have liked to have gone too.
Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson is investigating whether she can dock Mr Harawira's pay for the costs of the trip, which include accommodation in a luxury hotel and business-class airfares to Melbourne."
Read more...
I paid my own way - Harawira...
Maori Party break silence on Harawira's trip...
Uluru leader hails NZ MP
Walkabout MP not on his own, says backer
Greens back Harawira but others aren't happy...
Blog: Harawira's walkabout like an Agatha Christie novel...
Harawira goes walkabout in Australia...
Harawira supporters thin on ground...
TV3's coverage...
Changes to NZ Copyright Law
All mp3 players (including Ipod) have been breaking the law.
From The New Zealand Herald:
"Proposed law changes will make it legal to copy music for personal use, but anyone recording a favourite television programme will be able to keep it for only a few days.
It is now illegal to copy music from a CD or tape to another device such as an iPod or an MP3 player.
But Parliament's commerce select committee has changed the Copyright (New Technologies) Bill to make it legal to "format shift" - or copy - music from a CD to other devices if it is for personal use.
The committee has not changed rules that render shelves of dusty videotapes illegal.
The current law allows home videotaping from TV, but only if programmes are kept for "no longer than is reasonably necessary for viewing ... at a more convenient time". That provision will remain.
And MPs on the committee have specified that copying DVDs or videotapes on to a device such as an iPod should not be permitted.
International treaty obligations did not allow the law change to extend to copying films, the committee said, and it did not consider such copying to be widespread."
Read more...
Stuff.co.nz's coverage of the bill...
Here's the link to the bill...
From The New Zealand Herald:
"Proposed law changes will make it legal to copy music for personal use, but anyone recording a favourite television programme will be able to keep it for only a few days.
It is now illegal to copy music from a CD or tape to another device such as an iPod or an MP3 player.
But Parliament's commerce select committee has changed the Copyright (New Technologies) Bill to make it legal to "format shift" - or copy - music from a CD to other devices if it is for personal use.
The committee has not changed rules that render shelves of dusty videotapes illegal.
The current law allows home videotaping from TV, but only if programmes are kept for "no longer than is reasonably necessary for viewing ... at a more convenient time". That provision will remain.
And MPs on the committee have specified that copying DVDs or videotapes on to a device such as an iPod should not be permitted.
International treaty obligations did not allow the law change to extend to copying films, the committee said, and it did not consider such copying to be widespread."
Read more...
Stuff.co.nz's coverage of the bill...
Here's the link to the bill...
Slate Magazine on Youtube
YouTube's Dark Side
HOW THE VIDEO-SHARING SITE STIFLES CREATIVITY.
By Nick Douglas:
"The Internet was supposed to make the video world egalitarian. No longer would an oligarchy of content providers—a few TV networks, a couple of major movie studios—control what we watch. The Web gives creative people a potential audience of millions, as well as countless venues to display their creations. But that's not how things turned out. Web video isn't an oligarchy, it's a dictatorship. You're either on YouTube or nobody's watching. This dominance has a downside: The popular misapprehension that YouTube and Web video are synonymous has limited our sense of what online video can be."
Read more...
HOW THE VIDEO-SHARING SITE STIFLES CREATIVITY.
By Nick Douglas:
"The Internet was supposed to make the video world egalitarian. No longer would an oligarchy of content providers—a few TV networks, a couple of major movie studios—control what we watch. The Web gives creative people a potential audience of millions, as well as countless venues to display their creations. But that's not how things turned out. Web video isn't an oligarchy, it's a dictatorship. You're either on YouTube or nobody's watching. This dominance has a downside: The popular misapprehension that YouTube and Web video are synonymous has limited our sense of what online video can be."
Read more...
Keith Ng and Internet adversting
From Public Address blog:
"The reason for their existence is contextual advertising. Advertisers will pay a premium for space in subject-specific sections, because those readers are easier to sell to. For example, if you're reading car reviews, you're more likely to be someone actually looking to buy a car, and so a car ad is worth more, because more sales are likely to result from it. Same with travel sections and airlines, etc."
Read more...
"The reason for their existence is contextual advertising. Advertisers will pay a premium for space in subject-specific sections, because those readers are easier to sell to. For example, if you're reading car reviews, you're more likely to be someone actually looking to buy a car, and so a car ad is worth more, because more sales are likely to result from it. Same with travel sections and airlines, etc."
Read more...
Reuters and Titanic
From Guardian:
"News agency Reuters has been forced to admit that footage it released last week purportedly showing Russian submersibles on the seabed of the North Pole actually came from the movie Titanic.
The images were reproduced around the world - including by the Guardian and Guardian Unlimited - alongside the story of Russia planting its flag below the North Pole on Thursday last week."
Read more...
"News agency Reuters has been forced to admit that footage it released last week purportedly showing Russian submersibles on the seabed of the North Pole actually came from the movie Titanic.
The images were reproduced around the world - including by the Guardian and Guardian Unlimited - alongside the story of Russia planting its flag below the North Pole on Thursday last week."
Read more...
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
The Guardian reports Murdoch's complaints
From The Guardian:
"Rupert Murdoch has complained that his victorious three-month battle to buy the Wall Street Journal involved fending off criticism bearing a degree of vitriol usually reserved for "genocidal tyrants".
In his first detailed comments since securing a $5.6bn (£2.7bn) takeover of the Journal's publisher, Dow Jones, the media mogul revealed that he was seeking $50m in annual cost cuts - and was considering offering free access to the paper's website.
"The Wall Street Journal is the greatest newspaper in America and one of the greatest in the world," said Mr Murdoch, insisting that he would be hiring - rather than firing - staff. The paper had "tremendous" journalists and a valuable brand. "That's why we put such a premium on it and why I spent the better part of the last three months enduring criticism normally levelled at a genocidal tyrant."
Read more...
"Rupert Murdoch has complained that his victorious three-month battle to buy the Wall Street Journal involved fending off criticism bearing a degree of vitriol usually reserved for "genocidal tyrants".
In his first detailed comments since securing a $5.6bn (£2.7bn) takeover of the Journal's publisher, Dow Jones, the media mogul revealed that he was seeking $50m in annual cost cuts - and was considering offering free access to the paper's website.
"The Wall Street Journal is the greatest newspaper in America and one of the greatest in the world," said Mr Murdoch, insisting that he would be hiring - rather than firing - staff. The paper had "tremendous" journalists and a valuable brand. "That's why we put such a premium on it and why I spent the better part of the last three months enduring criticism normally levelled at a genocidal tyrant."
Read more...
The building of a media conglomerate
From The New York Times:
"The video rental chain Blockbuster said yesterday that it had acquired the Internet movie provider Movielink to offer video downloading services to customers.
Blockbuster is also acquiring rights to show the films of Movie- link’s owners, which include Warner Brothers Studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures, it said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“It immediately puts us in the digital download business,” Blockbuster’s chief executive, James W. Keyes, said. “Clearly, our customers have responded favorably to having other convenient ways to access movies and entertainment.”
The purchase provides Blockbuster with a way to send movies straight into televisions and computers, complementing its store and movie-by-mail operations, where it competes with Netflix."
Read more...
"The video rental chain Blockbuster said yesterday that it had acquired the Internet movie provider Movielink to offer video downloading services to customers.
Blockbuster is also acquiring rights to show the films of Movie- link’s owners, which include Warner Brothers Studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures, it said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“It immediately puts us in the digital download business,” Blockbuster’s chief executive, James W. Keyes, said. “Clearly, our customers have responded favorably to having other convenient ways to access movies and entertainment.”
The purchase provides Blockbuster with a way to send movies straight into televisions and computers, complementing its store and movie-by-mail operations, where it competes with Netflix."
Read more...
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Colin Espiner's blog, Labour and Key
As part of its strategy to make stuff.co.nz a platform for many of Fairfax media activities the site has launched several new blogs including one by Political Editor of the Christchurch Press, Colin Espiner.
Following the National Party Convention this weekend and the official countdown to the next election, Labour is launching a new series of attack on Key:
"Labour’s policy of quietly ignoring National’s bushy-tailed leader John Key and hoping he would go away came to a spectacular end in Parliament today, with no less than three senior ministers having a piece of him over three seperate issues.
Defence Minister Phil Goff reckons Key’s told porkies over his stance on the war in Iraq, and produced transcripts of media interviews to back his claims. And certainly if the reported comments he gave to the Rodney Times back in 2003 are correct, Key has shifted his position on the war a long way.
He told the Rodney Times: “Blood is thicker than water and we should stick with the family which has supported us in the past and will support us in the future.” In other words, where America goes, we go.
If there were any doubt, Key followed up by saying: “I know it might not be a popular decision, but at the end of the day we have to look to the future and that isn’t with some Franco-German coalition.”
Read more...
Blair, Murdoch and Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair's Director of Communications and Strategy (press secretary) from 1997 to 2003. He was in charge of putting together the public case for the war in Iraq and clearly was aware that some of the information was of very dubious origins. A BBC reporter got hold of some inside information about the manufacturing of evidence and his source was later revealed by the government. The whistle-blower, Dr David Kelly committed suicide and an inquiry was later launched (the Hutton Report) which laid blame essentially on the BBC. Campbell resigned in 2003 and has recently published his diaries.
This week-end he published a guest editorial at The New York Times entitled "Don’t Be Afraid of Rupert Murdoch" in which he writes:
"That standards in British newspapers have fallen in recent years is in my view beyond dispute, and in that Mr. Murdoch has been so dominant in the marketplace, clearly he has to be somewhere in the mix when it comes to handing out the blame. But to pretend, as some seek to, that he is somehow single-handedly responsible for all that is bad in our news media is not just intellectually lazy — it also misses the point...
But in the advanced democracies, though power structures have changed, elected leaders continue to hold enormous power. Mr. Murdoch is a huge global media player. If politicians are intimidated by him, that is their problem. If they make the wrong calls out of fear of his editorial wrath, they shouldn’t have been elected in the first place. And if journalists don’t like working for him, there are more media jobs now than at any time in the history of humankind. He was involved in making that happen, too."
Read more...
The Guardian has published an interesting response to Campbell's editorial "Alas, Alastair, if only you'd heeded your own advice":
"The New York Times piece appears under the wondrous headline "Don't be afraid of Rupert Murdoch". Campbell's unique brand of unconscious irony has always been enjoyable. It might be a sports column in which he mentions in passing an exchange with Clinton, to whom Campbell said fawningly what a privilege it had been to work with "the greatest all-round political communicator of the late 20th century", eliciting the reply "that it had been a pleasure working with the best communications adviser in the world". What a pair of lads, to be sure!...
What Campbell says about Murdoch is again exquisite in its unconsciousness. Would Tony Blair have lost the 1997 election "if the Sun had stayed with the Tories?" he writes, and answers, "I don't think so". He is quite right, in my view, but he doesn't begin to see the implications of that. From the start, Blair was always the suitor, cap in hand as he begged Murdoch's favour in a manner both humiliating and quite unnecessary.
Their relationship became much more intimate than almost any of us realised, with Murdoch what Lance Price (a sometime spin paramedic in Campbell's Downing Street team) called the invisible 24th member of the Blair cabinet. We have only just learned about the series of telephone calls between Blair and Murdoch just before the invasion of Iraq, when Blair was much more concerned about the opinion, and support, of the media magnate than of any member of his own government."
Read more...
Monday, August 6, 2007
Mediawatch on Murdoch and other interesting things
This week's Mediawatch program delves into blogs and politics and Murdoch's acquisition of Dow Jones.
Listen to the show here...
Listen to the show here...
Changing Nature of News
From The Press on 16 April 2007:
"The EPMU's national secretary, Andrew Little, says New Zealand journalism is "under attack" and that the public should be worried about the quality and breadth of the news and information it can expect to receive. Appropriately, given that prediction, the union chose Black Friday to launch its "OurMedia!" campaign on the steps of APN's corporate headquarters in Auckland. "Irrespective of populist views about journalists," says Little, "we are reliant on good reporting and good broadcasting for understanding of what is happening in our communities and promoting public debate on important issues. This is an issue the wider public needs to understand."
Under APN's outsourcing proposal, for example, news and other copy from the company's provincial papers (including in Whangarei, Tauranga, Hawkes Bay, Rotorua and Wanganui) would be sub-edited, along with that of the Herald and the Listener magazine, by a pool working in what the union predicts will be a "factory-like" set-up somewhere in Auckland's industrial outlands. It is, Little argues, a recipe for mistakes and loss of local colour and distinctiveness, a short-term money saver that long term will inevitably "dumb down" the product and undermine the public's confidence in what they are reading.
"But the key decision-makers are in Australia. They don't have the local connections," he says."
Read more...
Website of EPMU, the trade union fighting the sub-editing contracts
"The EPMU's national secretary, Andrew Little, says New Zealand journalism is "under attack" and that the public should be worried about the quality and breadth of the news and information it can expect to receive. Appropriately, given that prediction, the union chose Black Friday to launch its "OurMedia!" campaign on the steps of APN's corporate headquarters in Auckland. "Irrespective of populist views about journalists," says Little, "we are reliant on good reporting and good broadcasting for understanding of what is happening in our communities and promoting public debate on important issues. This is an issue the wider public needs to understand."
Under APN's outsourcing proposal, for example, news and other copy from the company's provincial papers (including in Whangarei, Tauranga, Hawkes Bay, Rotorua and Wanganui) would be sub-edited, along with that of the Herald and the Listener magazine, by a pool working in what the union predicts will be a "factory-like" set-up somewhere in Auckland's industrial outlands. It is, Little argues, a recipe for mistakes and loss of local colour and distinctiveness, a short-term money saver that long term will inevitably "dumb down" the product and undermine the public's confidence in what they are reading.
"But the key decision-makers are in Australia. They don't have the local connections," he says."
Read more...
Website of EPMU, the trade union fighting the sub-editing contracts
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Australian Labor Leader and FM Radio
Adam Swift pointed this up. As the campaign for the next elections in Australia are well under way, the Labour Party is fonding ways to reach younger viewers. From The Australian:
"OPPOSITION Leader Kevin Rudd appeared last Thursday as a special guest on the Nova FM breakfast program in Sydney. He was wired to an electric-shock machine.
His ebullient hosts, the duo known as Merrick and Rosso, asked him to take part in a freewheeling, unscripted and, let's face it, potentially catastrophic test in which Rudd would get a short, sharp electric shock if he failed to correctly answer one of the questions put to him.
Rudd managed quite well but then missed a beat. He got a jolt and nearly fell off his chair, laughing. Once he'd recovered, he immediately asked the hosts if they could get John Howard on the program, wire him up to the shock machine, turn up the voltage and really give the Prime Minister a jolt.
In fact, the shock machine is hardly necessary: confidential internal government polling and last week's Newspoll clearly show young voters are preparing to give Howard an extremely high voltage poke with the cattle prod.
The Newspoll showed 53 per cent of voters aged up to 34 would support Labor at the coming election. The Coalition had just 30 per cent of these votes, a drop of 10 percentage points."
Read more...
"OPPOSITION Leader Kevin Rudd appeared last Thursday as a special guest on the Nova FM breakfast program in Sydney. He was wired to an electric-shock machine.
His ebullient hosts, the duo known as Merrick and Rosso, asked him to take part in a freewheeling, unscripted and, let's face it, potentially catastrophic test in which Rudd would get a short, sharp electric shock if he failed to correctly answer one of the questions put to him.
Rudd managed quite well but then missed a beat. He got a jolt and nearly fell off his chair, laughing. Once he'd recovered, he immediately asked the hosts if they could get John Howard on the program, wire him up to the shock machine, turn up the voltage and really give the Prime Minister a jolt.
In fact, the shock machine is hardly necessary: confidential internal government polling and last week's Newspoll clearly show young voters are preparing to give Howard an extremely high voltage poke with the cattle prod.
The Newspoll showed 53 per cent of voters aged up to 34 would support Labor at the coming election. The Coalition had just 30 per cent of these votes, a drop of 10 percentage points."
Read more...
The Australian on Murdoch
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps is saying:
"This deal means more media consolidation and fewer independent voices, and it specifically affects the local market in New York City…What's good for shareholders of huge media conglomerates isn't always what's good for the public interest or our civic dialogue...We should immediately conduct a careful factual and legal analysis of the transaction to determine how it implicates specific FCC rules and our overarching statutory obligation to protect the public interest. I hope nobody views this as a slam dunk."
Read more...
"This deal means more media consolidation and fewer independent voices, and it specifically affects the local market in New York City…What's good for shareholders of huge media conglomerates isn't always what's good for the public interest or our civic dialogue...We should immediately conduct a careful factual and legal analysis of the transaction to determine how it implicates specific FCC rules and our overarching statutory obligation to protect the public interest. I hope nobody views this as a slam dunk."
Read more...
Friday, August 3, 2007
Democracy Now on Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones
From a broadcast of Democarcy Now:
"AMY GOODMAN: On this issue of media consolidation, I wanted to bring in Craig Aaron, spokesperson for Free Press in Chicago. Craig, can you talk about what this means in the media landscape right now, the number of holdings that Rupert Murdoch has?
CRAIG AARON: Well, you know, it’s an immense amount of holdings at this point. You know, several decades ago, there might have been fifty corporations that controlled what we see, hear, watch every day. Now we’re down to probably about five that really dominate the vast majority of information and news. And so, this gives one company and one man an immense amount of power.
You know, if this deal goes all the way, which all indications are that it will, Murdoch will control, you know, a national broadcast network, a cable news channel and one of the few remaining daily newspapers that really set the national news agenda. So among this small handful of outlets that really set the agenda every day across the country in all the papers and all the local television stations, suddenly Rupert Murdoch, who is very clear he’s always going to put his personal ideology and his personal business interests before the quality of news, he’s going to have an incredible amount of influence over that news agenda."
Read more...
Listen to the show...
"AMY GOODMAN: On this issue of media consolidation, I wanted to bring in Craig Aaron, spokesperson for Free Press in Chicago. Craig, can you talk about what this means in the media landscape right now, the number of holdings that Rupert Murdoch has?
CRAIG AARON: Well, you know, it’s an immense amount of holdings at this point. You know, several decades ago, there might have been fifty corporations that controlled what we see, hear, watch every day. Now we’re down to probably about five that really dominate the vast majority of information and news. And so, this gives one company and one man an immense amount of power.
You know, if this deal goes all the way, which all indications are that it will, Murdoch will control, you know, a national broadcast network, a cable news channel and one of the few remaining daily newspapers that really set the national news agenda. So among this small handful of outlets that really set the agenda every day across the country in all the papers and all the local television stations, suddenly Rupert Murdoch, who is very clear he’s always going to put his personal ideology and his personal business interests before the quality of news, he’s going to have an incredible amount of influence over that news agenda."
Read more...
Listen to the show...
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Murdcoh buys Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal
From The New York Times:
"Mr. Murdoch has shown in the past that he is willing to experiment, even knock over some sacred cows. In an interview with The Times earlier this year, Mr. Murdoch mused aloud about The Journal, saying, for instance, that he did not have time to read longer articles during the week and might like to swap out the paper’s Pursuits section on Saturdays with a glossy magazine. More recently, he told Time magazine that he was not sure about the offbeat front-page stories known internally as “A-Heds” that are a plum for reporters to write."
Read more...
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal
From The New York Times:
"Murdoch Seen to Win Control of Dow Jones
Rupert Murdoch appeared today to have gained enough support from the deeply divided Bancroft family to buy Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion...
For Mr. Murdoch, the prospect of acquiring The Journal represents the pinnacle of his long career building the News Corporation into a $28 billion global media empire that already includes more than 100 newspapers around the world, satellite broadcast operations, the Fox television network, the online social networking site MySpace and many other properties.
It also signals the end of an era for Dow Jones and the controlling Bancroft family, an intensely private clan that had allowed The Journal to operate independently and become one of the nation’s most prominent and trusted newspapers, even as its finances deteriorated.
The three dozen members of the Bancroft family had engaged in an intense debate about The Journal’s future. Some argued vociferously that Mr. Murdoch would damage the newspaper’s credibility, while others said that his offer was too good to pass up at a time when the newspaper industry has been struggling."
Read more...
Read also...
And from the Wall Street Journal where journalists have been very skeptical about the deal.
"Murdoch Seen to Win Control of Dow Jones
Rupert Murdoch appeared today to have gained enough support from the deeply divided Bancroft family to buy Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion...
For Mr. Murdoch, the prospect of acquiring The Journal represents the pinnacle of his long career building the News Corporation into a $28 billion global media empire that already includes more than 100 newspapers around the world, satellite broadcast operations, the Fox television network, the online social networking site MySpace and many other properties.
It also signals the end of an era for Dow Jones and the controlling Bancroft family, an intensely private clan that had allowed The Journal to operate independently and become one of the nation’s most prominent and trusted newspapers, even as its finances deteriorated.
The three dozen members of the Bancroft family had engaged in an intense debate about The Journal’s future. Some argued vociferously that Mr. Murdoch would damage the newspaper’s credibility, while others said that his offer was too good to pass up at a time when the newspaper industry has been struggling."
Read more...
Read also...
And from the Wall Street Journal where journalists have been very skeptical about the deal.
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