MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST JAN 8: CRICKET RACISM NAOMI CAMPBELL BRITNEY SPEARS MANIA CRIKEY CNBC KENYA
January 8th 2008 11:44
A compilation of MediaBlab items published over the last 24 hours
AUSTAR FLOGS OFF ITS BROADBAND SPECTRUM IN SURPRISE MOVE
Austar United Communications will sell off its entire WiMAX regional wireless broadband spectrum to the Optus-led Opel consortium for $65 million and focus its attention on regional pay-TV operations.
The Australian said this is a surprise move and a decision that “flies in the face of Austar boss John Porter's comments in October that a sale of the spectrum was unlikely.”
"We don't need the cash," Porter said at the time. "Our instincts would be to try to partner with other companies to build and operate the spectrum.”
MURDOCH’S NEWS CORP BUYS BACK INTO THE GERMAN TV MARKET
Rupert Murdoch has bought a nearly 15 per cent stake in Germany’s largest pay TV broadcaster, Premiere, for US$487 million, according to The Australian.
But his News Corporation media conglomerate, which owns Fox News Channel and part of BSkyB, does not plan to increase the stake in Premiere, a source familiar with the matter said.
The Munich-based company has repeatedly been at the centre of market speculation that French media group Vivendi was interested in it.
Premiere is not Murdoch's first foray into German television. News Corp once owned a 49 per cent stake in VOX, which belongs to European broadcasting company RTL Group, owned by Bertelsmann.
He was also involved in media entrepreneur Leo Kirch's Kirch Group, which used to own Premiere.
AUSTRALIAN MEDIA IN MELTDOWN MODE OVER INDIAN CRICKET TOUR RACISM CRISIS
India cricket lovers are in a spin and the Australian media is in meltdown mode because the Indian cricket tour of Australia is in crisis and in danger of collapsing after Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh' was “convicted” by cricket authorities for racially vilifying Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds by calling him a monkey.
Australian officials claim this is racist and refers to Symond’s rarely mentioned Caribbean heritage or, as one cricket doyen said on ABC TV news, he is “of dark colour.”
The Indians say this is crap because monkey is not viewed as a racist taunt in India and has connotations of childishness.
Plus they deny their man made the statement anyway and say the Aussies are liars.
Ouch.
The Indian cricketers at one stage threatened to take their bats and balls home if their player isn’t exonerated via appeal.
Many Australian media commentators suggested that the Indians are guilty of being over-emotional about this issue, which comes on the back of a bout of atrocious umpiring decisions against the Indians and a refusal by the Australian captain to display any hint of diplomacy.
But the Indians have point – the issue is piddling and the decision is stupid. Australia has a propensity to be a slave to faddish political correctness, and even during the 1930s a British writer likened Australia to a country ruled by maiden aunts and crisscrossed by a bewildering web of red tape.
During one cricket match, authorities actually placed ‘undercover racism police’ in the crowd to catch out spectators uttering racist terms.
Australian sports officials, when they attain power, tend to reveal and revel in Nazi-like tendencies and have ruined the careers of many outspoken sports stars, such as swim champ Dawn Fraser.
Incidentally, Australian cricketers in the past were internationally notorious for the blatancy of their racist comments.
PRAGMATIC CLERIC RELAUNCHES A MODERATE NEWSPAPER IN IRAN CALLED EXECUTIVES
Arabianbusiness.com reports that allies of pragmatic Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani relaunched a moderate newspaper on Sunday, ahead of March parliamentary elections seen as a battle between moderates and conservatives.
The paper, Kargozaran or Executives, which is owned by the Executives of Construction Party, hit the newsstands again with a new layout and staff after it closed down in September due to financial problems.
The party, which was formed by former ministers from Rafsanjani's 1989-1997 presidency and his allies, has joined reformists in a broad coalition for the March 14 parliamentary polls.
The new chief editor, Mehran Karami, was a columnist for the banned moderate dailies Shargh and Ham Mihan, which was directed by former Tehran mayor and the party's secretary general Gholam Hossein Karbaschi.
Iran's moderate press burgeoned in the early years of the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005 but was then hit by a series of bans which have continued under his hard-line successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
But, according to Arabianbusiness.com, despite the frequent closures, Iran retains a surprisingly vibrant moderate press scene led by the reformist dailies Etemad Melli (National Confidence), Etemad (Confidence) and the economic paper Sarmayeh (Capital).
SAIGON TIMES DAILY LAUNCHES ONLINE EDITION
The Saigon Times Daily has launched its online edition named Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon Online, providing readers “with a new vehicle to look for information in a timely and updated manner.”
The company said other publications in the group have their own websites, but Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon Online is a “complete electronic editorial office able to provide timely and updated information to readers.”
The e-newspaper will specially focus on the various economic spheres, keeping readers abreast of changes in the economy in the fastest possible way, and will serve as a two-way information link.
Businesspeople and all readers interested in the economy can get updated information like in other e-newspapers on one hand, and search for information about partners and business opportunities as well as learn and exchange management experience on the other.
Tran Minh Hung, deputy editor-in-chief of Saigon Times Group, in charge of Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon Online, said, “We want to develop the e-newspaper into a multimedia tool for readers, especially businesspeople.”
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the online edition vice chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thu Ha hoped the e-newspaper would serve as a forum for ideas and diversified information from economic experts, journalists and readers over socio-economic matters.
She hoped the e-newspaper would pursue the underlining goals of the group in delivering support for economic reform in Vietnam, and contributing to the economic integration. The online edition should also voluntarily support enterprises, and lend a helping hand in building up a business circle as well as contribute to the development of the Vietnamese media, she said.
Nguyen Mien Tuan, general director of Viet Dragon Securities Corporation highly appreciated the special column on the stock market. Tuan and Cao Tien Vi, chairman of Saigon Paper Corporation, suggested the e-newspaper have more articles, reports and analyses by economic experts.
With Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon Online, its fifth publication after Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon, The Saigon Times Weekly, The Saigon Times Daily and Thoi bao Vi tinh Saigon, the group hopes it will continue to be a close companion of the business community.
KENYA BLOGGERS BEAT THE MEDIA BLACKOUT AND DISSEMINATE NEWS
With news blackouts in force in Kenya, bloggers have come to the fore keeping even traditional media informed of events throughout the country.
Kenya has one of the most vibrant blogging communities in Africa according to the Internet and Democracy project team at Harvard in the US.
“Blogs and mobile phones have played critical roles since violence erupted,” according to the blog post which is hosted at the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
The blog reports, “Besides South Africa, Kenya has long had the most vibrant blogging community in sub-Saharan Africa. Since Sunday, when the government instituted a media blackout, blogs have become critical to spreading the latest news. On Tuesday, the blackout was lifted, but in this rapidly changing situation, bloggers have been far swifter and more detailed in their reporting about the latest clashes…”
Many Kenyan bloggers using large scale sms-ing have also been threatened by security forces this week.
Kenya imposed a live radio and TV news ban on December 30 in the wake of its disputed presidential election.
Internal security minister John Michuki announced the live broadcast ban shortly after President Mwai Kibaki was proclaimed winner of the controversial election. The information and communication minister said the "suspension of live broadcasts" had been ordered "in the interest of public safety and tranquillity." A government press release said: "In the prevailing environment, some people are using the media to call for violence and to incite members of the public to engage in violence."
Most of the broadcast media suspended all their news programs, effectively plunging Kenya into a news blackout. Local broadcast journalists said they were afraid the police could raid their stations and order them to close. One privately owned station, Kiss FM, is continuing to broadcast a phone-in programme. Two TV journalists with privately owned K24 were attacked by protesters while covering demonstrations on December 30.
An initial meeting was held between the Media Owners Association and the government on the morning of December 31, and Wachira Waruru, the head the Media Council, a press regulatory body, described the ban as "draconian" and said it threatened press freedom.
The situation is tense, with deadly clashes being reported in Nairobi and several provincial cities. Local journalists said news was now circulating mainly by means of SMS messages. Kiss FM host Caroline Mutoko asked listeners not to cite Kiss FM as the source of reports in their SMS messages when it is not true, explaining that such behaviour could result in the station being closed.
Radio Lake Victoria, a station based in the western city of Kisumu, openly supported opposition candidate Raila Odinga, and has been forced off the air as a result of what deputy station manager Seth Oloo called government "sabotage."
THREE MAJOR US MAGAZINES DECLARED TO BE DYING DUDS BY MARKETWATCH
New York-based MarketWatch predicts that 2008 “may actually shape up to be a good one for the (US) magazine industry. Propelled by the presidential election and the Olympics, the pace of advertising should be stronger than it has been in years. But this may prove to be a one-time phenomenon, as the industry could head back for the doldrums in 2009. “
But writer Jon Friedman the continuing fall of three “proud” magazines that have lost their glow.
He names BusinessWeek, Sports Illustrated and Money, as magazines “which are sorely in need of a buzz, (and) are teetering on the verge of irrelevance.
“Edgy blogs and web sites, which are by nature more confrontational in tone, have begun to unseat the trio, which have reputations for being stodgy cheerleaders, though their editors would no doubt disagree sharply with me.
“It's commendable when magazines have high standards and strive to be taken seriously. All too often, these books cross the line to seem dull, though.
Friedman said of BusinessWeek, “(It) has to dispel the notion that it's an anachronism. News junkies can get their fixes faster (and sometimes more comprehensively) on the web. It's hard to remember the last time I heard people buzzing about anything they read in BusinessWeek, either in the magazine or online. People can't work up any kind of reaction.
He said Sports Illustrated needs to do something drastic if it wants to stay in the game.
He said Money, also published by Time Inc., may be in the leakiest boat of all. Its traditional category, personal finance, is better served on the web because the stock markets fluctuate not only day to day, but minute to minute.
“Money is facing competition for advertising and subscribers from a newcomer, Pursuits, which is scheduled to debut in September. It will be published by The Wall Street Journal, a division of News Corp.”
PARADE MAGAZINE IN THE US HINTS THAT BENAZIR BHUTTO MAY STILL BE ALIVE
Folio reports that US Parade magazine’s web site, not normally noted for being taken seriously on issues of international importance, received the largest number of unique visitors in its history on December 27, the day of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, when it released its feature on Bhutto, scheduled to be the cover story for its January 6 print issue, more than a week early.
Approximately 81,000 users visited the site on the day the piece was posted, compared to Parade.com's daily average of 31,000.
Of course in typical Parade style, its Sunday print run intimated that Benazir Bhutto is still alive.
Meanwhile, in his first one-on-one interview since Bhutto's assassination, Pervez Musharraf tells Laura Logan of CBS News ‘60 Minutes’ that Bhutto is to blame for her own death.
Musharraf said, "For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone. Nobody else. Responsibility is hers."
Asked if he believes a gunshot could be the cause of Bhutto's head injury, he replies, "Yes, yes."
CNBC AND NEW YORK TIMES IN CONTENT SHARING DEAL TO STAVE OFF THE MARCH OF MURDOCH
MediaBistro reports that CNBC and The New York Times have agreed to share material on their web sites, uniting the main competitive targets of the News Corporation's new ventures, the Fox Business Network and The Wall Street Journal.
The deal, which takes effect immediately, will mostly involve posting Times articles and other written material on CNBC's site, and CNBC video on the Times site.
Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch’s most trenchant critic, Jack Shafer of the Washington Post-owned web site Slate wrote, “Where exactly is Murdoch taking the Journal? It's not Murdoch's style to use a new acquisition to curry political favour or punish enemies, so it's too soon to catch him trying to anoint somebody president the way he put the fix in for John Major in the UK.. But the day will come. Until it does, I'll be tracking his subtler Murdoch mutations of the Journal's DNA.”
MYANMAR RUMOURS SUGGEST SATELLITE TV LICENCE FEE STELLAR HIKE IS BEING REAPPRAISED
While Beijing has its Chinese whispers, Myanmar has rumours, and we’re not talking of Fleetwood Mac cds.
Rumours swirl around Rangoon as incessantly as the city’s incessant flocks of ravens wheel through the sky, silhouetted against the orange orb of the setting sun.
Latest rumours doing the rounds are that the increased satellite television license fees will drastically drop back from Kyat 10 million (US$800) to Kyat 50,000 (US $ 38).
In early January, satellite dish users in Rangoon, who went to pay the annual license fees, complained when they discovered the increased in the fee to Kyat 10 million from 6000 Kyat.
Then on January 4, a rumour spread that the fee has dropped back to 50,000 kyat, which is still an eight- fold increase.
"There are two information spreading now, some said from 6000 Kyat it [the license fee] will increase to 50,000 Kyat. But no body knows the exact information as yet. The telecommunication office said they have not receive any direction on this regard and refuse to accept any license fees," a resident told Mizzima News.
An official at the Yankin Telecommunication office, when contacted by Mizzima, refuse to answer, stating that there has been no official notification or direction on the matter.
However, a Burmese blog site named ‘Dr Lwun Swe’ confirmed the information and said, “Several Rangoon residents have re-install their Satellite Dishes, which they have it down last week.”
Typical of the day-to-day civil disobedience Yangon residents habitually engage in, and which is sadly never reported by mainstream media, most satellite dishes are illegal anyway.
Reporters Without Borders claimed, for example, that while there are 60,000 licenses in Yangon for satellite TV, there are in fact about a million subscribers.
Meanwhile, Followthemedia yesterday, “Maybe we’re missing something. Reuters converts one $US to 1,280 Myanmar kyats. Every other source follows, generally, this ratio. Old faithful XE.com, the on-line currency converter, reports one $US to 6.42 Myanmar kyats.”
Once again, while the Myanmar government sets a ludicrous official exchange rate of about 6 kyats to the US dollar, nobody actually pays heed to it. The unofficial exchange rate, set organically every day on the streets, hovers between 900 to 1300 kyats to the US dollar and of late the figure’s been tending toward the 1300 kyat range.
MediaBlab, while resident in Yangon in 2004-2005, asked a minor official what would happen if anyone actually went to what passes for a bank in Myanmar and demanded to change money at the official rate of about 6 kyat to the US dollar.
The official replied, “Not even the most stupid of tourists would do that. But if you did, you could possibly be arrested as a subversive element.”
IN HONOUR OF BRITNEY SPEARS, THE PATRON SAINT OF INCREASED MEDIA REVENUES
MediaBlab has discovered that it is impossible to live in a modern media climate and not be Britney conscious.
In its infancy MediaBlab foolishly and naively declared itself a Britney Spears-free zone but now we have seen the light, and like all other outlets, we have come to realise that when it comes to media, the bucks don’t stop flying when Britney breasts the body copy and headlines.
Peter Preston of the UK Guardian acknowledged the phenomenon in a beautifully written piece about the media industry’s major revenue raiser.
Long may she raise revenue.
Preston wrote, “As the obsessive coverage of this tear-stained wreck shows, mental illness has become a spectator sport.”
He continued, “…in Africa or Asia we are mere onlookers at the carnage. We may send food, medicine, sympathy and perhaps feel a twinge of post-colonial guilt, but the causes of conflict do not immediately engage us. This is distant desolation where we, in our living rooms, have no direct role. But the tear-stained wreck of a young pop star? We are, in our way, that howling mob around the arena. Those snappers, at first- or second-hand, are working for us.
“TV issues no squeamishness warnings as we watch Spears wheeled through the melee. Sky puts it top of the shop without a second's thought. The Sun, Mirror and the rest weigh in about "Psychotic Brit at rock bottom" with all the relish of editors seeing a good sales day ahead. (Who needs lost Maddy now?) The News of the World counts 100 pills swallowed in 36 hours. One prime Hollywood gossip site reports 10,089,428 Spears page impressions in 24 hours: an all-time record. Yet these, to be clear, aren't events happening in some lowly corner of impolite society. You can watch those ambulance scenes over and over on the Times website video. All the quality papers' websites have the tale among their five most visited. Only the Financial Times is Britney free.
“From top to rock bottom, from Bournemouth to Beverly Hills, we are customers, cash payers, ad revenue fuellers, gawpers, bloggers. That's the distressing bit. A deluded 26-year-old has lost her bearings and her two small children. And we're queuing up for a peek and a snigger.”
INDIA LAUNCHES ERGO, ITS FIRST FREE DAILY NEWSPAPER
The first Indian free daily has been launched in Chennai (formerly know as Madras), the fourth biggest city in India. The tabloid Ergo, has a page count of 16 and is published by Kasturi and Sons Ltd, also publisher of paid daily The Hindu and Sportstar.
Newspaper innovation reported that he print run of Ergo is 50,000, and there are a dozen people on the staff of the paper. Ergo is mainly distributed to the target audience: IT professionals in their twenties and thirties. The publisher is also thinking about launching Ergo in other cities with a high number of IT-professionals, like Bangalore and Hyderabad.
India does have many community based free weeklies like City Plus, Downtown and Neighbourhood Flash, many of them with a substantial circulation.
THAILAND SHUTS DOWN POLITICAL WEB SITE THAT SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE MONARCHY
Thai authorities have shut down a political web site that spoke out against the monarchy, in another move to punish critics of Thailand's most revered institution.
ABC News reported that visitors posted comments on the sameskybooks.com bulletin board, questioning claims in the Thai media that the entire country was in mourning over the death of Princess Galyani Vadhana, King Bhumibol Adulyadej's older sister.
The site also criticised official calls for the public to wear black as a sign of mourning, said Thanapol Eiwsakul, who operated the site.
The Information and Communication Technology Ministry threatened local internet provider Netservice with closure unless it took the action against sameskybooks.com, which was closed on Friday, Thanapol said.
Thanapol said he did not know if he would face charges or if he would be allowed to reopen his site.
HELLO, IT’S AL-QAEDA CALLING ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE
The Guardian reports that Al-Qaeda has gone high-tech and is reissuing batches of its video recordings in formats suitable for viewing on mobile phones.
Al-Qaeda’s media wing, al-Sahab, has announced the move on websites commonly used by Islamic militants. On Sunday eight previously recorded videos were made available including a tribute to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, killed by US forces in June 2006.
In a written message introducing the videos, Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda’s Number two man, asked followers to spread the group's messages.
Watching videos on mobile phones is increasingly popular in the Middle East. Clips showing former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's execution in December 2006 showed up on mobile phones soon after his death. In Egypt, images showing police brutality have been passed around via handsets
CRIKEY: AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST SWITCHES CAMPS AND JOINS CLIMATE CHANGE SCEPTICS
Influential Canberra Australia journalist Richard Farmer has come out of the closet and revealed in Crike.com that he is now one of the reviled – a climate change sceptic.
In an article headlined, “If the globe is warming, why is Antarctica cooling?” he wrote, “Until I read the New York Times last week I had not heard of availability entrepreneurs. John Tierney, that paper's always entertainingly readable op-ed columnist, used the expression in his New Year’s prediction piece warning us we are in ‘for very bad weather.’
“This latest Tierney column is about climate change and the people who promote it as the major problem confronting the modern world. It deserves to be read in full but this extract gives the flavour:
Tierney: “You’re in for very bad weather. In 2008, your television will bring you image after frightening image of natural havoc linked to global warming. You will be told that such bizarre weather must be a sign of dangerous climate change – and that these images are a mere preview of what’s in store unless we act quickly to cool the planet.
“Unfortunately, I can’t be more specific
“I don't know if disaster will come by flood or drought, hurricane or blizzard, fire or ice. Nor do I have any idea how much the planet will warm this year or what that means for your local forecast. Long-term climate models cannot explain short-term weather.
“But there's bound to be some weird weather somewhere, and we will react like the sailors in the Book of Jonah. When a storm hit their ship, they didn't ascribe it to a seasonal weather pattern. They quickly identified the cause (Jonah's sinfulness) and agreed to an appropriate policy response (throw Jonah overboard).
“Today's interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels.”
MediaBlab has detected a subtle shift too in the arguments proffered by proponents of the climate change belief. The more zealous fringe has put the brakes on personal vilification such as comparing sceptics to holocaust deniers and instead has begun invoking the concept of the Big Picture.
The argument now is that even if it is shown that there are some serious flaws in the climate change thinking, it doesn’t matter because the Big Picture is more important, the big picture being that the planet must be saved at all costs.
Unfortunately the idea of going along with a theory regardless of whether it is correct or not because it will be good for the planet isn’t exactly compatible with the notion of sound journalism.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that “Global Warming hits China.”
Corresponded Chris O’Brien revealed, “There are few more startling embodiments of climate change than the current health of China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, in the south-eastern province of Jiangxi. As is now customary in discussions involving global warming, the following statistics are liable to alarm.
“The surface area of Poyang Lake has shrunk to 50 square kilometres from its peak of more than 3,000 during the summer – it is 1.67 percent of its size six months ago. Some perspective is needed. A spectacular fluctuation in the lake's area from the summer flood season to the winter dry period has long been commonplace.
“However, the Jiangxi hydrological bureau reported that the area of the lake last winter was 300 to 500 square kilometres, up to 10 times larger than this year's figure.”
China is in the midst of a winter drought.
NAOMI CAMPBELL IN SUCCESSFUL DEBUT AS INTERNATIONAL JOURNALIST
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has wasted no time in her mission to emerge as a journalist – her interview with Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, is about to appear in the latest issue of men's magazine GQ in the UK.
In the GQ interview, in the February issue, to be published on Thursday, Campbell discusses with Chavez his plans for closer ties with Cuba and his opposition to the US president, George Bush.
The Guardian reports that at one point Campbell asks Chavez if he would ever be photographed without a shirt, like Russian president Vladimir Putin. He replies: "Why not? Touch my muscles?"
Campbell writes in the article that she wanted to see if it was true that Chavez was a people's president.
"I didn’t want to judge Chavez, or probe him for his political views, even though he gave them freely. I simply went to interview Hugo Chavez the man."
The GQ editor, Dylan Jones, told MediaGuardian.co.uk: "It was actually remarkably easy to organise the interview, as Chavez obviously wanted to meet Naomi.
"Is she a better journalist than model? I think she has a natural flair for it and is tremendously engaging with people – also, she gets them to talk," Jones said.
IS AUSTRALIA’S SBS NEWS DIRECTOR DEFECTING TO AL JAZEERA
Australian media scuttlebutt: Crikey reports that Paul Cutler, the director SBS TV news and current affairs department has been seen at Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar.
Crikey reported, “It seems he's front runner for the top job in Al Jazeera's bureau in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It appears he will just close the door on the mess he made of SBS News and walk away into the warm tropical night.”
Hmmm, let’s hope for Crikey’s sake that he’s not there simply to tie up a programming deal because SBS, which runs Australia’s only one hour prime time TV news hour, uses material from Al Jazeera fairly regularly.
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