You can read the full New Zealand Herald article here
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
This Reuters story is both an interesting insight into what people actually use the internet for, and a useful example of how the internet is 'imagined" in mainstream media. You can read the full story here
Monday, September 8, 2008
Focus on Politics
In May, National Radio did a Focus on Politics piece on blogging and political parties' use of the internet more generally in election year. You can find it here.
Friday, September 5, 2008
The organisation of news
Rodney Hide's laying of a complaint against Winston Peters with the NZ Police is an excellent example of a politician utilising some of the aspects of news organisation that Sue was discussing in last week's lecture. Watch the One News report here and consider how Hide utilised news organisation.
NZ Election Coverage
For the take-home exam you will need to discuss media coverage of either the New Zealand elections, or the US presidential election. The NZ election can take place no later than Nov 15, and some of the major news organisations have begun packaging their political news as "election coverage". You can find blogs, archived footage, political analysis, and other media coverage at the following sites (this list will be updated regularly):
One News
3 News
New Zealand Herald
Online political blogging will also be an important feature of the campaigns (we will be discussing blogs in a few weeks). Some of the more well known NZ political blogs are:
kiwiblog (right)
Hard News (left)
No Right Turn (left)
frogblog (left: this is the Green Party's blog)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Asian Angst
Friday, August 8, 2008
The TVNZ charter
From the TVNZ site. There are links here to the charter itself, and to proposed revisions of it.
TVNZ Charter
Here are some links related to the TVNZ charter, which we will be looking at next week:
5:00PM Monday July 07, 2008
And further discussion here
And the One News coverage here
Nats would get rid of TVNZ Charter
5:00PM Monday July 07, 2008
Television New Zealand should be released from its charter obligations and have to compete for the associated funding with all other broadcasters, National Party broadcasting spokesman Jonathan Coleman said.
Dr Coleman released National's broadcasting policy today with the charter policy as its centrepiece.
Full story hereAnd further discussion here
And the One News coverage here
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Advertising in the news?
From Ed Pilkington in The Guardian (23 July 2008)
US advertising: McMorning Las Vegas, here's the news
"The tentacle-like growth of clandestine advertising in American TV shows in the form of product placement has taken another controversial step with the introduction of McDonald's products into regional news programmes.
Several TV outlets have begun to sell the fast-food giant the right to place cups of its iced coffee on to the desks of news anchors as they present morning current affairs shows.
Typical is Fox 5 News in Las Vegas, an affiliate of Rupert Murdoch's Fox television network. Two cups of coffee, their cubes of ice glinting in the studio lights, now daily stand before the channel's morning presenters. The presenters conspicuously do not drink from the cups, which is just as well - the cups contain a bogus fluid and fake ice to prevent the cubes melting."
Read the full story hereMonday, July 21, 2008
TVNZ ondemand
There is archival footage of a wide range of TVNZ shows available here at their OnDemand site. This includes news footage and programmes aired on their freeview channels.
Media7 and the TVNZ charter
Media7 is a weekly media commentary programme on TVNZ's Freeview Channel 7. It is hosted by Russell Brown, one of the country's best known media commentators. Last week's episode featured a panel discussion on the TVNZ charter that those of you who are doing response papers on the topic will find useful. We will be utilising Media7 throughout the course. Clips from previous episodes can be found here, and on their YouTube site here. Russell Brown also has a blog here.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Tony Veitch and mediated apologies
Below are some links to coverage and discussions of Tony Veitch's alleged assault on his former partner, and some discussions of media coverage, and media responsibility. 
Coverage from the Stuff website
Mediawatch
National Radio has a weekly media comment programme that often includes some excelllent media analysis. This week there is a discussion of the Tony Veitch story, amongst other things. Here is the podcast link.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Media Imagining the Media
Network and news promos are a useful site for examining how the media articulates its imagined relationship to us. Here are some links you might find useful in preparing for your first tutorial.
Monday, December 10, 2007
BBC poll on press freedom
"World opinion is divided on the importance of having a free press, according to a poll conducted for the BBC World Service.
Of those interviewed, 56% thought that freedom of the press was very important to ensure a free society.
But 40% said it was more important to maintain social harmony and peace, even if it meant curbing the press's freedom to report news truthfully.
Pollsters interviewed 11,344 people in 14 countries for the survey.
In most of the 14 countries surveyed, press freedom (including broadcasting) was considered more important than social stability."
Read more
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Government hearings about media ownership and concentration in the US
From Bill Moyers Journal on PBS in the US:
"On November 2, 2007, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced that the Commission would hold the sixth and final public hearing on media consolidation November 9, 2007 in Seattle, Washington. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein blasted the Chairman's decision to give the public only five business days notice before the hearing: 'With such short notice, many people will be shut out ... This is outrageous and not how important media policy should be made.'
The Seattle hearing was contentious — reflecting the aptness Chairman Martin's opening words to the Seattle meeting:
'The decisions we will make about our ownership rules will be as difficult as they are critical. The media touches almost every aspect of our lives.'"
What is of particular concern here is the FCC's intention to lift the ban for the ownership of newspapers, television and radio and the distinct propsect that in many American cities the same company could own own media outlet.
Read more and watch the programme...
"On November 2, 2007, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced that the Commission would hold the sixth and final public hearing on media consolidation November 9, 2007 in Seattle, Washington. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein blasted the Chairman's decision to give the public only five business days notice before the hearing: 'With such short notice, many people will be shut out ... This is outrageous and not how important media policy should be made.'
The Seattle hearing was contentious — reflecting the aptness Chairman Martin's opening words to the Seattle meeting:
'The decisions we will make about our ownership rules will be as difficult as they are critical. The media touches almost every aspect of our lives.'"
What is of particular concern here is the FCC's intention to lift the ban for the ownership of newspapers, television and radio and the distinct propsect that in many American cities the same company could own own media outlet.
Read more and watch the programme...
Friday, November 16, 2007
The future of news
A Frontline programme on the future of news:
"In a four-part special series, News War, FRONTLINE examines the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today and how the press has reacted in turn. Through interviews with key figures in print, broadcast and electronic media over the past four decades -- and with unequaled, behind-the-scenes access to some of today's most important news organizations, FRONTLINE traces the recent history of American journalism, from the Nixon administration's attacks on the media to the post-Watergate popularity of the press, to the new challenges presented by the war on terror and other global forces now changing -- and challenging -- the role of the press in our society."
Read more and watch the program
"In a four-part special series, News War, FRONTLINE examines the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today and how the press has reacted in turn. Through interviews with key figures in print, broadcast and electronic media over the past four decades -- and with unequaled, behind-the-scenes access to some of today's most important news organizations, FRONTLINE traces the recent history of American journalism, from the Nixon administration's attacks on the media to the post-Watergate popularity of the press, to the new challenges presented by the war on terror and other global forces now changing -- and challenging -- the role of the press in our society."
Read more and watch the program
Saturday, November 10, 2007
NZ Blogger interviewed by Online Journalism Review
"OJR: For those of us who are not very familiar with New Zealand – could you describe the country's media landscape?
Stevenson: There are two major newspaper companies: APN News & Media, which owns our biggest paper, the New Zealand Herald, as well as half of the provincial newspapers; and Fairfax Media, which owns most of the rest. There are two major online websites: the New Zealand Herald site and stuff.co.nz. Recently, Fairfax Media made a major purchase: It paid 750 million NZD for our version of eBay called Trade Me, a move to try to get the advertising that had been lost to Trade Me. I think Trade Me is the biggest site in New Zealand, in terms of online forums and the volume of trades.
OJR: How popular are blogs in New Zealand?
Stevenson: They are popular. One of the earliest blogs is called Public Address. It was started by Russell Brown, a leading blogger, and he has been struggling to make it pay. The blog's been going for 10 or more years and his advertising's rising so he's hopeful."
Read more...
Stevenson: There are two major newspaper companies: APN News & Media, which owns our biggest paper, the New Zealand Herald, as well as half of the provincial newspapers; and Fairfax Media, which owns most of the rest. There are two major online websites: the New Zealand Herald site and stuff.co.nz. Recently, Fairfax Media made a major purchase: It paid 750 million NZD for our version of eBay called Trade Me, a move to try to get the advertising that had been lost to Trade Me. I think Trade Me is the biggest site in New Zealand, in terms of online forums and the volume of trades.
OJR: How popular are blogs in New Zealand?
Stevenson: They are popular. One of the earliest blogs is called Public Address. It was started by Russell Brown, a leading blogger, and he has been struggling to make it pay. The blog's been going for 10 or more years and his advertising's rising so he's hopeful."
Read more...
Friday, November 9, 2007
Networks, cell phones and Web 2.0
An interview with Belinda Barnet, from Swinburne University
"Mobiles are definitely having an effect on society and on youth culture in particular, but there is little public discussion of this. In Australia, the media is more interested in hysterical stories about mobile phones causing brain tumours or literacy problems in children. The real-world effects of mobile use are more subtle, and they touch all of us – not just kids. I don’t think these effects are detrimental either. As you point out, mobile devices are always on, always connected to the network – and in Australia at least, they are in the pocket of over 96% of the population. Many of these devices are also equipped with cameras and the ability to send and receive images. So for the first time in history, we have a citizenry who are in perpetual contact with the network, who are able to send and receive images wherever they are, who are never ‘offline’ unless they choose to be. If there is any kind of news event, a natural disaster or celebrity sighting for example, then someone is usually there with a camera in their pocket to capture it; perpetual surveillance."
Read more...
"Mobiles are definitely having an effect on society and on youth culture in particular, but there is little public discussion of this. In Australia, the media is more interested in hysterical stories about mobile phones causing brain tumours or literacy problems in children. The real-world effects of mobile use are more subtle, and they touch all of us – not just kids. I don’t think these effects are detrimental either. As you point out, mobile devices are always on, always connected to the network – and in Australia at least, they are in the pocket of over 96% of the population. Many of these devices are also equipped with cameras and the ability to send and receive images. So for the first time in history, we have a citizenry who are in perpetual contact with the network, who are able to send and receive images wherever they are, who are never ‘offline’ unless they choose to be. If there is any kind of news event, a natural disaster or celebrity sighting for example, then someone is usually there with a camera in their pocket to capture it; perpetual surveillance."
Read more...
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Facebook and advertising
From The New York Times:
"By LOUISE STORY
Published: November 7, 2007
FACEBOOK wants to put your face on advertisements for products that you like.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, discussed his company’s social advertising plan with marketers in New York.
Facebook.com is a social networking site that lets people accumulate “friends” and share preferences and play games with them. Each member creates a home page where he or she can post photographs, likes and dislikes and updates about their activities.
Yesterday, in a twist on word-of-mouth marketing, Facebook began selling ads that display people’s profile photos next to commercial messages that are shown to their friends about items they purchased or registered an opinion about.
For example, going forward, a Facebook user who rents a movie on Blockbuster.com will be asked if he would like to have his movie choice broadcast out to all his friends on Facebook. And those friends would have no choice but to receive that movie message, along with an ad from Blockbuster.
Facebook says that many of its 50 million active users already tell friends about particular products or brands they like, and the only change will be that those communications might start to carry ad messages from the companies that sell them. Facebook is letting advertisers set up their own profile pages at no charge and encouraging companies like Blockbuster, Condé Nast and Coca-Cola to share information with Facebook about the actions of Facebook members on their sites."
Read more
"By LOUISE STORY
Published: November 7, 2007
FACEBOOK wants to put your face on advertisements for products that you like.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, discussed his company’s social advertising plan with marketers in New York.
Facebook.com is a social networking site that lets people accumulate “friends” and share preferences and play games with them. Each member creates a home page where he or she can post photographs, likes and dislikes and updates about their activities.
Yesterday, in a twist on word-of-mouth marketing, Facebook began selling ads that display people’s profile photos next to commercial messages that are shown to their friends about items they purchased or registered an opinion about.
For example, going forward, a Facebook user who rents a movie on Blockbuster.com will be asked if he would like to have his movie choice broadcast out to all his friends on Facebook. And those friends would have no choice but to receive that movie message, along with an ad from Blockbuster.
Facebook says that many of its 50 million active users already tell friends about particular products or brands they like, and the only change will be that those communications might start to carry ad messages from the companies that sell them. Facebook is letting advertisers set up their own profile pages at no charge and encouraging companies like Blockbuster, Condé Nast and Coca-Cola to share information with Facebook about the actions of Facebook members on their sites."
Read more
Yahoo and political dissent in China
From The New York Times:
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two top Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) Inc. officials on Tuesday defended their company's role in the jailing of a Chinese journalist but ran into withering criticism from lawmakers who accused them of complicity with an oppressive communist regime.
"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said angrily after hearing from the two Yahoo executives.
He angrily urged Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan to apologize to journalist Shi Tao's mother, who was sitting directly behind them.
Shi Tao was sent to jail for 10 years for engaging in pro-democracy efforts deemed subversive after Yahoo turned over information about his online activities requested by Chinese authorities.
Yang and Callahan turned around from the witness table and bowed from their seats to Shi's mother, Gao Qinsheng, who bowed in return and then began to weep.
Yang contended that Yahoo "has been open and forthcoming with this committee at every step of this investigative process" -- a contention Lantos and other committee members rejected.
The committee is investigating statements Callahan made at a congressional hearing early last year."
Read more...
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two top Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) Inc. officials on Tuesday defended their company's role in the jailing of a Chinese journalist but ran into withering criticism from lawmakers who accused them of complicity with an oppressive communist regime.
"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said angrily after hearing from the two Yahoo executives.
He angrily urged Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan to apologize to journalist Shi Tao's mother, who was sitting directly behind them.
Shi Tao was sent to jail for 10 years for engaging in pro-democracy efforts deemed subversive after Yahoo turned over information about his online activities requested by Chinese authorities.
Yang and Callahan turned around from the witness table and bowed from their seats to Shi's mother, Gao Qinsheng, who bowed in return and then began to weep.
Yang contended that Yahoo "has been open and forthcoming with this committee at every step of this investigative process" -- a contention Lantos and other committee members rejected.
The committee is investigating statements Callahan made at a congressional hearing early last year."
Read more...
Sunday, November 4, 2007
How Google plans to chance social networking
From The New York Times
"Google’s vision — “Social Will Be Everywhere” — is more compelling than anything Facebook could possibly devise. Who wouldn’t prefer the unlimited freedom to take one’s own trusted circle anywhere on the Web, as opposed to the cramped confines of island life?...
The decision by MySpace, the No. 1 social networking site in the world, with more than 100 million unique visitors in September, to join OpenSocial gives Google an impressive assembly of social networking partners. The group includes Bebo, the No. 1 networking site in Britain, as well as SixApart, Hi5, Friendster, LinkedIn and Ning — and Orkut, of course. Google also signed up some other participants, like Salesforce.com, that are not social networking sites but which welcome social widgets. If Facebook chooses to remain a holdout, it will not be as the head of a countercoalition but as a cranky recluse."
Read more...
"Google’s vision — “Social Will Be Everywhere” — is more compelling than anything Facebook could possibly devise. Who wouldn’t prefer the unlimited freedom to take one’s own trusted circle anywhere on the Web, as opposed to the cramped confines of island life?...
The decision by MySpace, the No. 1 social networking site in the world, with more than 100 million unique visitors in September, to join OpenSocial gives Google an impressive assembly of social networking partners. The group includes Bebo, the No. 1 networking site in Britain, as well as SixApart, Hi5, Friendster, LinkedIn and Ning — and Orkut, of course. Google also signed up some other participants, like Salesforce.com, that are not social networking sites but which welcome social widgets. If Facebook chooses to remain a holdout, it will not be as the head of a countercoalition but as a cranky recluse."
Read more...
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
The New York Times on French Museum and the tattooed head
"French Debate: Is Maori Head Body Part or Art?
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Published: October 26, 2007
PARIS, Oct. 25 — Since 1875, the mummified, tattooed head of a Maori warrior has been part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Natural History at Rouen in Normandy.
ut when Rouen’s mayor arranged recently to return it to New Zealand as an act of “atonement” for colonial-era trafficking in human remains, the national Ministry of Culture stepped in to block him.
The ministry contends that the head is a work of art that belongs to France and that its return could set an unfortunate precedent for a huge swath of the national museum collections — from Egyptian mummies in the Louvre to Asian treasures in the Musée Guimet and African and Oceanic artifacts in the Musée du Quai Branly."
Read more...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Microsoft versus the Euopean Union: 9 years later
From The New York Times
"Microsoft Is Yielding in European Antitrust Fight
By STEVE LOHR and KEVIN J. O'BRIEN
Published: October 23, 2007
Microsoft has given up its nine-year fight against antitrust regulators in Europe, saying yesterday that it would not challenge a court judgment from last month and would share technical information with rivals on terms the software giant had long resisted.
European regulators and some software groups in Europe hailed the deal as a breakthrough that should open the door to freer competition, especially in the market for the server software that powers corporate data centers and the Internet."
Read more...
See Wired Magazine on the same story
"Microsoft Is Yielding in European Antitrust Fight
By STEVE LOHR and KEVIN J. O'BRIEN
Published: October 23, 2007
Microsoft has given up its nine-year fight against antitrust regulators in Europe, saying yesterday that it would not challenge a court judgment from last month and would share technical information with rivals on terms the software giant had long resisted.
European regulators and some software groups in Europe hailed the deal as a breakthrough that should open the door to freer competition, especially in the market for the server software that powers corporate data centers and the Internet."
Read more...
See Wired Magazine on the same story
Monday, October 22, 2007
The Sunday Star Times inconsistant?
On its first page yesterday the newspaper annnounced some of the potential targets from alleged terrorism plots:
"US President George Bush was among those allegedly targeted in the threats recorded by police investigating the alleged Urewera terrorist training camps.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and National leader John Key were also discussed as potential targets by those under surveillance during the 22-month police Special Investigations Group operation.
Key has admitted he was briefed on the operation by the SIS but neither he, nor Clark, were yesterday willing to comment on the possibility they were potential targets...
he Star-Times, which broke the story on Fairfax Media's Stuff website last Monday, understands the police have seized more than 20 guns, including AK-47s and other military-style semi-automatic rifles, as well as stab and bullet-resistant clothing, camouflage netting, bomb-making recipes and an IRA manual."
Read more...
Yet in its opinion pages it declared that the country should really "wait and see" and not draw early conclusions (opinion piece not available online).
"US President George Bush was among those allegedly targeted in the threats recorded by police investigating the alleged Urewera terrorist training camps.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and National leader John Key were also discussed as potential targets by those under surveillance during the 22-month police Special Investigations Group operation.
Key has admitted he was briefed on the operation by the SIS but neither he, nor Clark, were yesterday willing to comment on the possibility they were potential targets...
he Star-Times, which broke the story on Fairfax Media's Stuff website last Monday, understands the police have seized more than 20 guns, including AK-47s and other military-style semi-automatic rifles, as well as stab and bullet-resistant clothing, camouflage netting, bomb-making recipes and an IRA manual."
Read more...
Yet in its opinion pages it declared that the country should really "wait and see" and not draw early conclusions (opinion piece not available online).
Friday, October 19, 2007
Journalism, politics and the French president
After refusing to publish any of the rather loud rumours about the French President's marital status, French newspaper, Libération catches up with the front page below.In English in the original.
Political responses to police actions against activists
So far, only one party has posted comments, the Green Party.
Green Party:
"Greens appeal to police to show more respect
Keith Locke MP, Green Party Human Rights Spokesperson
18th October 2007
The Green Party is shocked by stories of police heavy handedness when executing search warrants under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
“Just this morning we see a pensioner in Tauranga describing feeling violated after police raided his house while he was absent and left behind a smashed window, a broken door catch, mud and a trashed linen cupboard and shed.
“Surely police should repair the damage they caused, especially as he was not charged with anything?
“Police have gone over-the-top in several raids, unnecessarily offending many people,” said Mr Locke, the Party’s Human Rights Spokesperson.
“Tuhoe people are very upset at the excessive display of force in their community. The raids have often left a mess and smashed windows, with little apparent thought of an apology or rectification.”
Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says she was shocked to hear that police had raided the Taupo home of Eco-Show organisers Jo Pearsal and Bryan Innes."
Read more...
Green Party:
"Greens appeal to police to show more respect
Keith Locke MP, Green Party Human Rights Spokesperson
18th October 2007
The Green Party is shocked by stories of police heavy handedness when executing search warrants under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
“Just this morning we see a pensioner in Tauranga describing feeling violated after police raided his house while he was absent and left behind a smashed window, a broken door catch, mud and a trashed linen cupboard and shed.
“Surely police should repair the damage they caused, especially as he was not charged with anything?
“Police have gone over-the-top in several raids, unnecessarily offending many people,” said Mr Locke, the Party’s Human Rights Spokesperson.
“Tuhoe people are very upset at the excessive display of force in their community. The raids have often left a mess and smashed windows, with little apparent thought of an apology or rectification.”
Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says she was shocked to hear that police had raided the Taupo home of Eco-Show organisers Jo Pearsal and Bryan Innes."
Read more...
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Continuous coverage of raids on stuff.co.nz
Pita Sharples in stuff.co.nz
"Race relations in New Zealand have been set back 100 years by police raids on Monday at alleged weapons-training camps in the Bay of Plenty, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples has told an Australian audience.
Sharples also questioned yesterday whether New Zealand security agencies might resort to planting evidence to justify their actions.
His criticism came yesterday as a Rotorua District Court judge denied bail to Tuhoe activist Tame Iti, one of 17 people arrested.
Sharples told a conference on restorative justice in Queensland that police had used "storm-trooper" tactics in raiding homes and making the arrests.
He said the justice system had "lashed out" at Maori. Maori sovereignty activists were among those arrested, as well as peace and environmental campaigners who police said were connected to the weapons-training camps found in rugged Bay of Plenty bush."
Read more...
See on-going coverage here
"Race relations in New Zealand have been set back 100 years by police raids on Monday at alleged weapons-training camps in the Bay of Plenty, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples has told an Australian audience.
Sharples also questioned yesterday whether New Zealand security agencies might resort to planting evidence to justify their actions.
His criticism came yesterday as a Rotorua District Court judge denied bail to Tuhoe activist Tame Iti, one of 17 people arrested.
Sharples told a conference on restorative justice in Queensland that police had used "storm-trooper" tactics in raiding homes and making the arrests.
He said the justice system had "lashed out" at Maori. Maori sovereignty activists were among those arrested, as well as peace and environmental campaigners who police said were connected to the weapons-training camps found in rugged Bay of Plenty bush."
Read more...
See on-going coverage here
NZ Police arrest activists
Does not the title of the article the question answered under the picture?
"Napalm bombs, Molotov cocktails and military-style assault rifles were among an arsenal of weapons that prompted early morning police raids across the country yesterday. "
Read more...
NZ On Air Reports on Public Broadcasting in the Digital Age
From the NZ On Air website:
"NZ On Air commissioned a thinkpiece from analysts Russell Brown and Andrew Dubber seeking their perspectives on the changing broadcasting and media environment. 'We're All In This Together' provides helpful insights as NZ On Air considers future developments, and we hope its publication here will be useful to those also intrigued by the opportunities offered by new technology. Not all the writers' views are necessarily shared by NZ On Air but they are a cogent and thoughtful contribution to consideration of the issues."
See the report among other research material from NZ On Air
"NZ On Air commissioned a thinkpiece from analysts Russell Brown and Andrew Dubber seeking their perspectives on the changing broadcasting and media environment. 'We're All In This Together' provides helpful insights as NZ On Air considers future developments, and we hope its publication here will be useful to those also intrigued by the opportunities offered by new technology. Not all the writers' views are necessarily shared by NZ On Air but they are a cogent and thoughtful contribution to consideration of the issues."
See the report among other research material from NZ On Air
Covering Police "Terrorism" Raid
A few days after the police raids across the country the media are starting to ask the significance of the actions.
Here's Colin Espiner's views:
"Police ‘terror’ raids - blunder or brilliance?
Colin Espiner in On The House | 1:01 pm 17 October 2007
I’ve avoided posting anything on the arrests of activists around the country on Monday because - and this doesn’t happen often, I’ll admit - I’m at a bit of a loss to know what to say.Either the police have uncovered the sort of organised, militant, terrorist activity that New Zealand has so far been blessedly free from, or the cops have made a monumental blunder and trampled over the basic rights of Kiwis to protest and to speak out against authority and the government of the day.Neither answer is particularly palatable. I’ve always considered that New Zealand has its fair share of nutcases, fruit loops, and raving lunatics but that like Douglas Adams’ summation of Earth in The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, they were “mostly harmless”.
Indeed I’d thought people like Tame Iti, with his full moko and passionate belief in Maori self-determination, and the earnest, well-meaning, wet-behind-the-ears “activists” that inhabit the darker corners of Wellington’s Te Aro Valley actually added to the country’s social fabric rather than detracted from it. Even if they did occasionally annoy me by chaining themselves to buildings to prevent the construction of the capital’s much-needed inner-city bypass.
But police claims that these people had semi-automatic weapons and molotov cocktails, held secret training camps in the bush and planned to assassinate key public figures is another matter altogether. It’s deeply disturbing.
I don’t think I’m alone in not really knowing what to say at the moment. The media has been every which way, starting off with blazing headlines declaring police had uncovered “terror camps” and conducted “anti-terror raids” before quickly switching to sympathetic portrayals of wronged activists upset at having their door kicked in by police at 4am."
Read more...
Russell Brown gives some historical perspective:
"Te Qaeda and the God Squad | Oct 16, 2007 11:02
The Dominion Post today covers yesterday's police raids in part by harking back 30 years, to the Full Gospel Mission -- better known as the "God Squad" -- the millenarian religious sect whose apparent stockpiling of weapons at a compound in Waipara was a huge news story in 1977. It's a story with lessons for all sides of our new controversy...
Read more...
Here's Colin Espiner's views:
"Police ‘terror’ raids - blunder or brilliance?
Colin Espiner in On The House | 1:01 pm 17 October 2007
I’ve avoided posting anything on the arrests of activists around the country on Monday because - and this doesn’t happen often, I’ll admit - I’m at a bit of a loss to know what to say.Either the police have uncovered the sort of organised, militant, terrorist activity that New Zealand has so far been blessedly free from, or the cops have made a monumental blunder and trampled over the basic rights of Kiwis to protest and to speak out against authority and the government of the day.Neither answer is particularly palatable. I’ve always considered that New Zealand has its fair share of nutcases, fruit loops, and raving lunatics but that like Douglas Adams’ summation of Earth in The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, they were “mostly harmless”.
Indeed I’d thought people like Tame Iti, with his full moko and passionate belief in Maori self-determination, and the earnest, well-meaning, wet-behind-the-ears “activists” that inhabit the darker corners of Wellington’s Te Aro Valley actually added to the country’s social fabric rather than detracted from it. Even if they did occasionally annoy me by chaining themselves to buildings to prevent the construction of the capital’s much-needed inner-city bypass.
But police claims that these people had semi-automatic weapons and molotov cocktails, held secret training camps in the bush and planned to assassinate key public figures is another matter altogether. It’s deeply disturbing.
I don’t think I’m alone in not really knowing what to say at the moment. The media has been every which way, starting off with blazing headlines declaring police had uncovered “terror camps” and conducted “anti-terror raids” before quickly switching to sympathetic portrayals of wronged activists upset at having their door kicked in by police at 4am."
Read more...
Russell Brown gives some historical perspective:
"Te Qaeda and the God Squad | Oct 16, 2007 11:02
The Dominion Post today covers yesterday's police raids in part by harking back 30 years, to the Full Gospel Mission -- better known as the "God Squad" -- the millenarian religious sect whose apparent stockpiling of weapons at a compound in Waipara was a huge news story in 1977. It's a story with lessons for all sides of our new controversy...
Read more...
BBC Changes
From The Guardian:
"Day of reckoning for BBC: thousands of jobs axed and Television Centre to be sold
· Staff in news and factual programming hardest hit
· Director general's plans met with union anger
Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Thursday October 18, 2007
The Guardian
The BBC Trust yesterday unanimously approved plans to cut thousands of jobs, sell off its west London headquarters and reduce the number of programmes it makes by a tenth.
The radical overhaul immediately sparked a furious backlash from staff likely to strike within weeks, with feelings running particularly high in the news and factual divisions where job losses will run into four figures.
Chairman Sir Michael Lyons said he was satisfied the package put forward by the director general, Mark Thompson, during a four-hour meeting would "safeguard the core values of the BBC at a time of radical change in technology, markets and audience expectations".
http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2193436,00.html
"Day of reckoning for BBC: thousands of jobs axed and Television Centre to be sold
· Staff in news and factual programming hardest hit
· Director general's plans met with union anger
Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Thursday October 18, 2007
The Guardian
The BBC Trust yesterday unanimously approved plans to cut thousands of jobs, sell off its west London headquarters and reduce the number of programmes it makes by a tenth.
The radical overhaul immediately sparked a furious backlash from staff likely to strike within weeks, with feelings running particularly high in the news and factual divisions where job losses will run into four figures.
Chairman Sir Michael Lyons said he was satisfied the package put forward by the director general, Mark Thompson, during a four-hour meeting would "safeguard the core values of the BBC at a time of radical change in technology, markets and audience expectations".
http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2193436,00.html
Possible change to rules for media ownership in the US
From The New York Times:
"Plan Would Ease F.C.C. Restriction on Media Owners
By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: October 18, 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — The head of the Federal Communications Commission has circulated an ambitious plan to relax the decades-old media ownership rules, including repealing a rule that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city...
Currently, a company can own two television stations in the larger markets only if at least one is not among the four largest stations and if there are at least eight local stations. The rules also limit the number of radio stations that a company can own to no more than eight in each of the largest markets.
The deregulatory proposal is likely to put the agency once again at the center of a debate between the media companies, which view the restrictions as anachronistic, and civil rights, labor, religious and other groups that maintain the government has let media conglomerates grow too large.
As advertising increasingly migrates from newspapers to the Internet, the newspaper industry has undergone a wave of upheaval and consolidation. That has put new pressure on regulators to loosen ownership rules. But deregulation in the media is difficult politically, because many Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned about news outlets in their districts being too tightly controlled by too few companies."
Read more...
"Plan Would Ease F.C.C. Restriction on Media Owners
By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: October 18, 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — The head of the Federal Communications Commission has circulated an ambitious plan to relax the decades-old media ownership rules, including repealing a rule that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city...
Currently, a company can own two television stations in the larger markets only if at least one is not among the four largest stations and if there are at least eight local stations. The rules also limit the number of radio stations that a company can own to no more than eight in each of the largest markets.
The deregulatory proposal is likely to put the agency once again at the center of a debate between the media companies, which view the restrictions as anachronistic, and civil rights, labor, religious and other groups that maintain the government has let media conglomerates grow too large.
As advertising increasingly migrates from newspapers to the Internet, the newspaper industry has undergone a wave of upheaval and consolidation. That has put new pressure on regulators to loosen ownership rules. But deregulation in the media is difficult politically, because many Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned about news outlets in their districts being too tightly controlled by too few companies."
Read more...
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Freeview update
From stuff.co.nz:
What you need to get Freeview
By WILL HARVIE - The Press | Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Read more...
And on TVNZ's new channel, TV6:
" Officially, it's branded TVNZ6, but even company executives call it TV6 in conversation. It is the new channel launched on Sunday and only available on Freeview.
TV6 does some "public-service television", which cynics will label as earnest and dull. "A lot of these shows nobody else will do.
"They're not commercially viable," says Eric Kearley, TVNZ's general manager of digital services.
But it will also import quality TV from overseas.
TV6 breaks the day into zones. Kidzone – children's programming mostly for pre-schoolers – runs from 6.30am to 4pm; Family – wholesome TV content suitable for all ages – runs from 4pm to 8.30pm; and Showcase – Kiwi and overseas shows for grown-ups – runs from 8.30pm to midnight. "
Read more...
What you need to get Freeview
By WILL HARVIE - The Press | Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Read more...
And on TVNZ's new channel, TV6:
" Officially, it's branded TVNZ6, but even company executives call it TV6 in conversation. It is the new channel launched on Sunday and only available on Freeview.
TV6 does some "public-service television", which cynics will label as earnest and dull. "A lot of these shows nobody else will do.
"They're not commercially viable," says Eric Kearley, TVNZ's general manager of digital services.
But it will also import quality TV from overseas.
TV6 breaks the day into zones. Kidzone – children's programming mostly for pre-schoolers – runs from 6.30am to 4pm; Family – wholesome TV content suitable for all ages – runs from 4pm to 8.30pm; and Showcase – Kiwi and overseas shows for grown-ups – runs from 8.30pm to midnight. "
Read more...
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Google and Youtube
From The New York Times:
Google to Put YouTube Videos on Its Ad Network
By MIGUEL HELFT
Published: October 9, 2007
"SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 8 — Google is taking the first steps toward turning its powerful advertising network, which places ads on hundreds of thousands of Internet sites, into a system for distributing content — and more ads — across the Web.
The Internet search giant is expected to introduce a service on Tuesday to allow Web sites in its ad network to embed relevant videos from some YouTube content creators. A Web site or blog specializing in hiking, for instance, might choose to embed hiking videos from YouTube.
The service, which represents the first major combination of a Google product with YouTube, will give video creators wide distribution beyond YouTube via Google’s network, known as AdSense. Since the videos will be surrounded by ads, the service is another way for Google to cash in on the huge number of video clips stored on YouTube.
Read more...
See also The Guardian on the same story...
"Google has begun allowing advertisers to "embed" clips from YouTube into their promotional messages, a sign of the search company's strategy to make money from its video streaming arm."
Google to Put YouTube Videos on Its Ad Network
By MIGUEL HELFT
Published: October 9, 2007
"SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 8 — Google is taking the first steps toward turning its powerful advertising network, which places ads on hundreds of thousands of Internet sites, into a system for distributing content — and more ads — across the Web.
The Internet search giant is expected to introduce a service on Tuesday to allow Web sites in its ad network to embed relevant videos from some YouTube content creators. A Web site or blog specializing in hiking, for instance, might choose to embed hiking videos from YouTube.
The service, which represents the first major combination of a Google product with YouTube, will give video creators wide distribution beyond YouTube via Google’s network, known as AdSense. Since the videos will be surrounded by ads, the service is another way for Google to cash in on the huge number of video clips stored on YouTube.
Read more...
See also The Guardian on the same story...
"Google has begun allowing advertisers to "embed" clips from YouTube into their promotional messages, a sign of the search company's strategy to make money from its video streaming arm."
Friday, October 5, 2007
File sharing and lawsuit
From the New York Times
Labels Win Suit Against Song Sharer
By JEFF LEEDS
Published: October 5, 2007
"In a crucial legal victory for record labels and other copyright owners, a federal jury yesterday found a Minnesota woman liable for copyright infringement for sharing music online and imposed a penalty of $222,000 in damages...
The verdict represents at least a symbolic victory for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group that has coordinated the music labels’ expensive legal campaign, which has recently suffered some highly publicized setbacks...
The lead plaintiff was Capitol Records, a label owned by the EMI Group. The three other major record companies — the Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and the Warner Music Group — also had songs involved in the suit against Ms. Thomas."
Read more...
Labels Win Suit Against Song Sharer
By JEFF LEEDS
Published: October 5, 2007
"In a crucial legal victory for record labels and other copyright owners, a federal jury yesterday found a Minnesota woman liable for copyright infringement for sharing music online and imposed a penalty of $222,000 in damages...
The verdict represents at least a symbolic victory for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group that has coordinated the music labels’ expensive legal campaign, which has recently suffered some highly publicized setbacks...
The lead plaintiff was Capitol Records, a label owned by the EMI Group. The three other major record companies — the Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and the Warner Music Group — also had songs involved in the suit against Ms. Thomas."
Read more...
Facebook and software development
From The New York Times:
"Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., opened its service to outside developers this spring, inviting them to create tools for the site and to try to profit from them. Since then, more than 4,000 “applications” have flooded onto the site, spicing it up with games or whimsical programs called widgets that let you turn your friends into virtual zombies and more practical tools that let users display images of their favorite books, music, movies and wine on their profile pages.
The wave of attention from users and developers has sent estimates of Facebook’s value soaring into the dot-com stratosphere. Last month, there were reports that Microsoft was considering a $500 million investment that would value the three-year-old company at up to $15 billion.
Now it appears that such exuberance has infused the expanding Facebook universe, even though no one has yet proved it is possible to build a profitable business with sustainable revenues on the site. Some developers report earning tens of thousands of dollars in advertising with the applications they have created. Yet their applications are mostly running ads promoting other Facebook applications — a situation that recalls the earliest Gold Rush miners, who earned a living selling shovels to other miners. And developers must cover the cost of hosting the applications on their own Web servers."
Read more...
"Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., opened its service to outside developers this spring, inviting them to create tools for the site and to try to profit from them. Since then, more than 4,000 “applications” have flooded onto the site, spicing it up with games or whimsical programs called widgets that let you turn your friends into virtual zombies and more practical tools that let users display images of their favorite books, music, movies and wine on their profile pages.
The wave of attention from users and developers has sent estimates of Facebook’s value soaring into the dot-com stratosphere. Last month, there were reports that Microsoft was considering a $500 million investment that would value the three-year-old company at up to $15 billion.
Now it appears that such exuberance has infused the expanding Facebook universe, even though no one has yet proved it is possible to build a profitable business with sustainable revenues on the site. Some developers report earning tens of thousands of dollars in advertising with the applications they have created. Yet their applications are mostly running ads promoting other Facebook applications — a situation that recalls the earliest Gold Rush miners, who earned a living selling shovels to other miners. And developers must cover the cost of hosting the applications on their own Web servers."
Read more...
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Myanmar and the Internet
From The New York Times:
In Crackdown, Myanmar Junta Unplugs Internet
BY SETH MYDANS
Published: October 4, 2007
BANGKOK, Oct. 3 — It was about as simple and uncomplicated as shooting demonstrators in the streets. Embarrassed by smuggled video and photographs that showed their people rising up against them, the generals who run Myanmar simply switched off the Internet.
Until last Friday television screens and newspapers abroad were flooded with scenes of tens of thousands of red-robed monks in the streets and of chaos and violence as the junta stamped out the biggest popular uprising there in two decades.
But then the images, text messages and posts stopped, shut down by generals who belatedly grasped the power of the Internet to jeopardize their crackdown.
“Finally they realized that this was their biggest enemy, and they took it down,” said Aung Zaw, editor of an exile magazine called Irrawaddy, whose Web site has been a leading source of news over the past weeks."
Read more...
In Crackdown, Myanmar Junta Unplugs Internet
BY SETH MYDANS
Published: October 4, 2007
BANGKOK, Oct. 3 — It was about as simple and uncomplicated as shooting demonstrators in the streets. Embarrassed by smuggled video and photographs that showed their people rising up against them, the generals who run Myanmar simply switched off the Internet.
Until last Friday television screens and newspapers abroad were flooded with scenes of tens of thousands of red-robed monks in the streets and of chaos and violence as the junta stamped out the biggest popular uprising there in two decades.
But then the images, text messages and posts stopped, shut down by generals who belatedly grasped the power of the Internet to jeopardize their crackdown.
“Finally they realized that this was their biggest enemy, and they took it down,” said Aung Zaw, editor of an exile magazine called Irrawaddy, whose Web site has been a leading source of news over the past weeks."
Read more...
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The Shock Doctrine: A Short Film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein
Alfonso Cuarón, director of Children of Men, and Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, present a short film from Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
See Naomi Klein's site
See Naomi Klein's site
Bush and Blogosphere
From The Washington Post:
President Reaches Out to a Friendly Circle in New Media
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 16, 2007; Page A07
The day after his prime-time speech on Iraq, President Bush sat down for a round-table interview not with traditional White House reporters but with bloggers who focus on military issues, including two participating by video link from Baghdad.
Judging from some of the accounts of the Friday meeting, the president offered up little news. Here is what one of the 10 bloggers, Ward Carroll of Military.com, described from his notes as some of Bush's most notable comments:• "This strategy is my strategy."
• "I'm defining a horizon of peace."
• "I don't mind people attacking me. . . . That's politics . . . but I do mind people impugning the integrity of our generals."
Still, the hour-long meeting in the Roosevelt Room offered Bush another opportunity to break through what he sees as the filter of the traditional news media, while also reaching out to the providers of a new source of information for soldiers, their families and others who follow the conflict in Iraq closely.
"More and more we are engaging in the new-media world, and these are influential people who have a big following," said Kevin F. Sullivan, the White House communications chief."
Read more...
And read a commentary from Harper's Magazine:
The Bush Administration has utterly botched the war, but it does demonstrate “intelligent, razor sharp” planning when it comes to putting on media lovefests.
President Reaches Out to a Friendly Circle in New Media
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 16, 2007; Page A07
The day after his prime-time speech on Iraq, President Bush sat down for a round-table interview not with traditional White House reporters but with bloggers who focus on military issues, including two participating by video link from Baghdad.
Judging from some of the accounts of the Friday meeting, the president offered up little news. Here is what one of the 10 bloggers, Ward Carroll of Military.com, described from his notes as some of Bush's most notable comments:• "This strategy is my strategy."
• "I'm defining a horizon of peace."
• "I don't mind people attacking me. . . . That's politics . . . but I do mind people impugning the integrity of our generals."
Still, the hour-long meeting in the Roosevelt Room offered Bush another opportunity to break through what he sees as the filter of the traditional news media, while also reaching out to the providers of a new source of information for soldiers, their families and others who follow the conflict in Iraq closely.
"More and more we are engaging in the new-media world, and these are influential people who have a big following," said Kevin F. Sullivan, the White House communications chief."
Read more...
And read a commentary from Harper's Magazine:
The Bush Administration has utterly botched the war, but it does demonstrate “intelligent, razor sharp” planning when it comes to putting on media lovefests.
Investigative Journalism, the USA and Iran
This is a new article by Seymour Hirsh who has been at the forefront of investigative journalism and Irak in the last few years and in the last two the American strategy in its relation with Iran.
Shifting Targets
The Administration’s plan for Iran.
by Seymour M. Hersh October 8, 2007
"In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. “Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people,” Bush told the national convention of the American Legion in August. “The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased. . . . The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And, until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops.” He then concluded, to applause, “I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities.”"
Read more...
Myanmar and the internet
A student in the Tuesday lecture raised the issue of the internet being utilised in the current unrest in Burma. Here is a discussion of one example of it. Read the article.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Amnesty International on China and Internet Censorship
"Amnesty International first reported on the issue of freedom of expression and information in November 2002. In the report State control of the Internet in China, Amnesty cited several foreign companies - Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, Websense and Sun Microsystems - which had reportedly provided technology used to censor and control the use of the Internet in China. Following the publication of the report, several companies dismissed allegations that their company's actions might be contributing to human rights violations in China. Cisco Systems denied that the company tailors its products for the Chinese market, saying that "[I]f the government of China wants to monitor the Internet, that's their business. We are basically politically neutral." Microsoft said it "focused on delivering the best technology to people throughout the world", but that it "cannot control the way it may ultimately be used."
... In January 2007, Amnesty joined a multi-stakeholder initiative with academics, socially responsible investment firms, other experts and companies including Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! to develop a set of voluntary principles to promote and respect human rights on the Internet. Amnesty welcomes the companies' commitment to the initiative and hopes that our participation in it will help establish a strong set of human rights principles for the industry. Additionally, we continue to support legislative efforts like the Global Online Freedom Act, as the companies' current and past practices remain of serious concern."
Read more...
Google & Privacy
Here are some links to reports and discussions of Google in relation to privacy.
Two that have appeared this week:
- privacy concerns and Google's acquisition of advertising company, DoubleClick: Stuff,
c/net news, a Techworld blog that discusses it in relation to conglomeration
- 'StreetView' and Canadian privacy laws: here and here
Here is a BBC report on Google in China.
Here is the discussion of the dispute with the US govt from silicon.com
And this is a link to googlewatch.org, a website that publishes critiques of google's technology, practice and monopoly.
Two that have appeared this week:
- privacy concerns and Google's acquisition of advertising company, DoubleClick: Stuff,
c/net news, a Techworld blog that discusses it in relation to conglomeration
- 'StreetView' and Canadian privacy laws: here and here
Here is a BBC report on Google in China.
Here is the discussion of the dispute with the US govt from silicon.com
And this is a link to googlewatch.org, a website that publishes critiques of google's technology, practice and monopoly.
One week in stuff.co.nz's "technology" section
These are the articles utilised in the discussion of how technology is framed in relation to "danger" in one week on stuff.co.nz (in Lecture 11).
Parents worry about web but don't stop kid's use
Facebook predators are 'tip of the iceberg'
Experts doubt EU plan to block bomb recipes on web
MP3 players get blame for deafness
Girls use website to trade sex for drugs - police
Cybercriminals 'acting like pros'
Adult TV on mobiles attacked
Parents worry about web but don't stop kid's use
Facebook predators are 'tip of the iceberg'
Experts doubt EU plan to block bomb recipes on web
MP3 players get blame for deafness
Girls use website to trade sex for drugs - police
Cybercriminals 'acting like pros'
Adult TV on mobiles attacked
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Digital democracy in action?
Police wiki lets you write the law
From stuff.co.nzIt's said the powerful write their own laws, but now everyone can.
Due to a new wiki launched by New Zealand police, members of the public can now contribute to the drafting of the new policing act.
NZ Police Superintendent Hamish McCardle, the officer in charge of developing the new act, said the initiative had already been described as a "new frontier of democracy".
"People are calling it 'extreme democracy' and perhaps it is," he said.
"It's a novel move but when it comes to the principles that go into policing, the person on the street has a good idea ... as they are a customer," he said.
"They've got the best idea about how they want to be policed."
NZ Police were reviewing the old Policing Act, from 1958, which had become "anachronistic" and was "written for a completely different age, not policing of today", Superintendent McCardle said.
But drafting new legislation "shouldn't just be the sole reserve of politicians", he said, so the wiki was created to invite input from members of the public.
Social networks strategist Laurel Papworth, who writes a blogs on how online communities change the way society operates, said "participatory legislation" was a "great idea".
Read rest of articleSaturday, September 29, 2007
Working on John Key's image
This is from a blog called The Standard. A cameraman follows a camera crew following John Key in Porirua market. Two things of interest here: firstly this shows the ways in which political campaigns stage opportunities for candidates to look in the touch with the people; secondly, this is an example of alternative media strategy since this cameraman reveals the manufacturing of the situation.
Read more and watch the video
Read more and watch the video
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Web 2.0 and music
This is a social network site for musicians so that they can collaborate on music projects.
Check the site...
Check the site...
Text messaging and advocacy groups
This is from The New York Times and about an American cell phone company but the article raises interesting questions about the extent to which text messaging can be used by advocacy groups and more generally its contribution to public debate:
"Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.
The other leading wireless carriers have accepted the program, which allows people to sign up for text messages from Naral by sending a message to a five-digit number known as a short code.
Text messaging is a growing political tool in the United States and a dominant one abroad, and such sign-up programs are used by many political candidates and advocacy groups to send updates to supporters... The laws that forbid common carriers from interfering with voice transmissions on ordinary phone lines do not apply to text messages."
Read more...
And then Verizon changed its mind:
"The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident,” Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said in a statement.
“It was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy,” Mr. Nelson said. “That policy, developed before text messaging protections such as spam filters adequately protected customers from unwanted messages, was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.”"
Read more...
"Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.
The other leading wireless carriers have accepted the program, which allows people to sign up for text messages from Naral by sending a message to a five-digit number known as a short code.
Text messaging is a growing political tool in the United States and a dominant one abroad, and such sign-up programs are used by many political candidates and advocacy groups to send updates to supporters... The laws that forbid common carriers from interfering with voice transmissions on ordinary phone lines do not apply to text messages."
Read more...
And then Verizon changed its mind:
"The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident,” Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said in a statement.
“It was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy,” Mr. Nelson said. “That policy, developed before text messaging protections such as spam filters adequately protected customers from unwanted messages, was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.”"
Read more...
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The New York Times,The Washington Post and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Following the previous post and as constrast to Juan Cole's assertion that the demonization of the president of Iran is about preparing Americans for war against Iran, here's The New York Times report of Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University in New York:
"He said that there were no homosexuals in Iran — not one — and that the Nazi slaughter of six million Jews should not be treated as fact, but theory, and therefore open to debate and more research.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, aired those and other bewildering thoughts in a two-hour verbal contest at Columbia University yesterday, providing some ammunition to people who said there was no point in inviting him to speak. Yet his appearance also offered evidence of why he is widely admired in the developing world for his defiance toward Western, especially American, power.
In repeated clashes with his hosts, Mr. Ahmadinejad accused the United States of supporting terrorist groups, and characterized as hypocritical American and European efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions."
Read more...
And in the Washington Post a column by Dana Milbank. The title says it all "Live From New York, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Unreality Show"
Read more...
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad interviewed on American programme 60 minutes
From Crooks and Liars a report on the interview as well as copy of the video:
"60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley sat down with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what can only be termed a surreal interview. Pelley was combative for most of the interview, White House talking points quite literally in hand. Ahmadinejad’s responses were frustratingly equivocal. It sparked a great debate in my home as to why…if Ahmadinejad does want to reach some sort of detente with the rising escalation of war rhetoric, his dancing around direct questions did not truly help him. But then again, Ahmadinejad’s smile also belied an annoyance with Pelley’s attitude, as his final comment indicated:
“This is not Guantanamo Bay. This is not a Baghdad prison. Please, this is not a secret prison in Europe. This is not Abu Ghraib,” Ahmadinejad said. “This is Iran. I’m the president of this country!”
Read more and watch the video
And here is an opinion piece from Salon.com: "Turning Ahmadinejad into public enemy No. 1" by Juan Cole:
"There is, in fact, remarkably little substance to the debates now raging in the United States about Ahmadinejad. His quirky personality, penchant for outrageous one-liners, and combative populism are hardly serious concerns for foreign policy. Taking potshots at a bantam cock of a populist like Ahmadinejad is actually a way of expressing another, deeper anxiety: fear of Iran's rising position as a regional power and its challenge to the American and Israeli status quo. The real reason his visit is controversial is that the American right has decided the United States needs to go to war against Iran. Ahmadinejad is therefore being configured as an enemy head of state."
Read more...
"60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley sat down with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what can only be termed a surreal interview. Pelley was combative for most of the interview, White House talking points quite literally in hand. Ahmadinejad’s responses were frustratingly equivocal. It sparked a great debate in my home as to why…if Ahmadinejad does want to reach some sort of detente with the rising escalation of war rhetoric, his dancing around direct questions did not truly help him. But then again, Ahmadinejad’s smile also belied an annoyance with Pelley’s attitude, as his final comment indicated:
“This is not Guantanamo Bay. This is not a Baghdad prison. Please, this is not a secret prison in Europe. This is not Abu Ghraib,” Ahmadinejad said. “This is Iran. I’m the president of this country!”
Read more and watch the video
And here is an opinion piece from Salon.com: "Turning Ahmadinejad into public enemy No. 1" by Juan Cole:
"There is, in fact, remarkably little substance to the debates now raging in the United States about Ahmadinejad. His quirky personality, penchant for outrageous one-liners, and combative populism are hardly serious concerns for foreign policy. Taking potshots at a bantam cock of a populist like Ahmadinejad is actually a way of expressing another, deeper anxiety: fear of Iran's rising position as a regional power and its challenge to the American and Israeli status quo. The real reason his visit is controversial is that the American right has decided the United States needs to go to war against Iran. Ahmadinejad is therefore being configured as an enemy head of state."
Read more...
NZ Police's E-Crime Lab
Yesterday the police launched their Electronic Crime Strategy. According to stuff.co.nz, Police Commissioner Howard Broad described its necessity in the following terms: "Crime is being increasingly committed in what is effectively the cyberspace wild west, a borderless environment where traditional policing methods are often no longer effective. This is the high end of new electronic crime – cyber-crime: anonymous, borderless, fast, dynamic and incorporating ever-changing and sophisticated technologies."
Go here to read the rest of the article.
Go here for TV3's coverage, and here for National Radio's.
Go here to read the rest of the article.
Go here for TV3's coverage, and here for National Radio's.
Web 2.0: The Machine Is Using Us
Microsoft seeking to buy stake in Facebook
From The Guardian"It is the scourge of middle managers, who fear their employees spend too much time using it, and beloved by people with a penchant for gaining new friends and indulging in internet Scrabble.
Now Facebook, the phenomenally popular social networking site, is at the centre of financial speculation, which, if it comes to fruition could value a company set up three years ago by a Harvard dropout at a staggering $10bn (£5bn).
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is poised to buy a 5% stake in the firm for between $300m and $500m. That would make Facebook worth up to $10bn in all and turn its founder Mark Zuckerberg, 23, into one of the wealthiest men in California's Silicon Valley."
Read the rest of the article
YouTube and "cyber bullying"
YouTube attack shows emergence of cyber-bullying
From The Press"An attack on a Dunedin student that was filmed and posted on YouTube is the latest in an emerging phenomenon of cyber bullying, schools say."
Read rest of article. One of the things to consider when reading accounts such as this (cyber bullying, text-bullying) is how the technology itself is often positioned as a determining factor in the events that take place.
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