MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST JAN 17: HEZBOLLAH THE CHASER TOM CRUISE TOP GEAR TIME OUT M2M
January 18th 2008 06:05
A compilation of MediaBlab items published over the last 24 hours
HEZBOLLAH-BACKED TV CHANNEL NO LONGER BEAMED INTO AUSTRALIA
Yesterday MediaBlab featured a report from the Australian newspaper that said Hezbollah-backed television channel al-Manar “is once again broadcasting into Australia, despite a tightening of laws that prohibit programs supporting terrorism.
“The Lebanese channel has been picked up by the Thai satellite communications company Thaicom, and is currently being broadcast across Australia, Africa, Europe and Asia.”
Piyanuch Sujpluem, a spokeswoman for Shin Satellite Public Company, said the broadcasts of Al-Manar were halted last Friday after just three days of a "test run" beamed through Thaicom satellites.
She told AP, "We would like to confirm to you that we do not provide the ... Al-Manar TV Channel on any Thaicom satellites at the moment and will not do so in the future.”
She said the deal was terminated after the company found out about the channel's background from foreign media.
The Media Line, a non-profit news group focused on Middle East coverage, and the Jerusalem Post reported last week that the Thaicom satellite was beaming the channel to Asia, Australia, the Middle East and most of Europe.
The Jerusalem Post quoted the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre in Israel as saying the Thai satellites had "significantly boosted the resonance of Al-Manar's propaganda messages around the world after other satellites had stopped airing the channel."
Shin Satellite is owned by Shin Corp, to a Singapore state-owned investment firm.
Australian-based media monitor Sol Salbe told MediaBlab, “It is typical of the Australian to pick up a story from a right-wing Israeli NGO about a week late. This story was circulated by Arutz Sheva, the pro-settler multi-media on January 9. It then appeared in English in the Media Line in New York on the following day.
“The source, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre is a right-wing NGO.
“Ironically Israelis have no fear of watching al Manar. During the 2006 of war Israeli TV stations regularly picked up al-Manar signals and re-broadcast it to its own viewers. At one stage it reached the ridiculous stage of Israel’s Channel Ten and Manar getting into a loop with each picking the other one’s signal at the same time.
“I have no love to al-Manar which has broadcasted anti-Semitic (not merely anti-Israel) programs.”
COURT CASE AGAINST AUSTRALIA’S THE CHASER COMEDY CREW ADJOURNED…AGAIN
A court has adjourned a case against members of ABC TV's satirical team The Chaser, accused of breaching security during last year's APEC summit in Australia, after new information came to light.
The Australian today reports that the case was adjourned “because the information would affect it”
The case was adjourned late last year, with speculation the charges might be dropped.
Ten men and one woman face charges of entering a restricted area without justification after allegedly using a fake motorcade to breach the multimillion-dollar APEC security in Sydney on September 6.
The incident garnered global publicity for the comedy team , with images of one of the cast dressed as Osama Bin Laden confronting security officials popular on YouTube.
AUSTRALIA’S M2M SETTLES JOINT VENTURE WITH CHINA’S BAIPAN TECHNOLOGY
m2m Corporation Ltd, through its Hong Kong subsidiary, Starband Communications Ltd it has formally settled a joint venture with Baipin Technology Co Ltd, to increase sales and distribution of internet related services in China.
Baipin, a newly formed company, is a spin-off from an existing marketer of internet related services in Beijing. Baipin, which is based in Beijing, will market exclusively a range of products and services for Starband under a generic brand for the Chinese market.
Michael So, ceo of m2m, said “We are very pleased with the launch of this joint venture. Our strong portfolio of internet products suites will leverage off our joint venture for expansion into China and will help us attain an economically significant share of this expanding market.”
The joint venture is a profit sharing arrangement in which Baipin will receive 10 percent of the net profits while Starband will retain 90 percent of the net profits with the option to acquire Baipin at a later date once predefined milestones have been achieved.
Baipin is planning to launch the internet-based services in February 2008 once completion of the Chinese eCommerce portal is reached.
LE MONDE NEWSPAPER SUED BY BARCELONA FOOTBALL CLUB
French newspaper Le Monde and one of its journalists were handed a court order on Tuesday to pay EUR300,000 (A$506,000) in damages to Barcelona football club after the paper published a defamatory article on alleged doping practices at the club.
AFP reports that Le Monde and journalist Stephane Mandard have also been ordered to publish the court's decision in both the newspaper and its internet site.
Le Monde said it will appeal the decision.
Barcelona sued the newspaper in December 2006 for claiming there was a link between the club and Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who was at the centre of a blood-doping network which rocked professional cycling.
In the December 8, 2006 edition of Le Monde, the newspaper said that, apart from cycling, there were also four Spanish football clubs linked with Fuentes, including Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The clubs denied the accusations and Real Madrid also sued Le Monde, according to AFP.
AFGHAN GOVERNMENT BANS THE FILM THE KITE RUNNER
Afghanistan has banned the film The Kite Runner because the government in Kabul is worried that public performances might lead to rioting and violence, according to Radio Netherlands.
The most controversial scene shows the rape of a young Afghan character, an act considered highly offensive in Islamic circles. The dramatisation of conflicts between two Afghan communities, the Pashtun and Hazara, were also felt to be threatening.
The film, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by the American-Afghan author Khaled Hosseini, is about friendship and treachery in Afghanistan, from before the Russian invasion in the 1970s up to the emergence of the Taliban.
In recent months there has been much controversy over the film, which premiered in December. The young actors and their families, who were worried about the consequences of the rape scene, were moved as a precaution to the United Arab Emirates.
ISRAEL MEDIA TENSIONS: PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY ORGANISES TOUR BY UK JOURNALISTS AND EDITORS
UK-based pro-Israel lobby will bring a delegation of senior journalists from major media outlets to Israel on Sunday, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Fourteen editors and senior journalists, including senior editorial staff from the Times, Independent and Sun newspapers and broadcasters from the BBC and Sky News, will visit for Israel for six days, in a trip organised by the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre.
The idea is to show the journalists events from Israel's point of view. Many of the journalists have written on the Middle East for years, but are visiting Israel for the first time. All play a large part in determining the editorial policy at their respective organisations.
The group will speak to politicians, journalists and analysts. Meetings are planned with Deputy Premier Haim Ramon and senior policy advisers involved with the negotiations with the Palestinians.
The journalists will also visit Sderot to meet families who have had their lives disrupted by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza. The visitors will also meet with Palestinian businessmen in Ramallah who are trying to resurrect the Palestinian economy.
ISRAEL MEDIA TENSIONS: MS MAGAZINE CONDEMNED FOR NOT RUNNING PRO-ISRAEL AD
The New York Sun reports that Jewish feminists are criticising Ms magazine for refusing to run a full-page advertisement submitted by the American Jewish Congress that features three prominent Israeli women.
Calling the decision "contemptible" and "hostile" toward Israel, the women – some of whom helped to found the feminist magazine – said that the decision seemed to be motivated by anti-Israel sentiment among the publication's staff and its readers.
The advertisement, which includes the words ‘This is Israel,’ features photographs of the president of Israel's Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch; Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the speaker of the Knesset, Dalia Itzik.
"It breaks my heart to have to recognize that the magazine that taught the world about the power and possibilities of women has banned an ad featuring women at the height of political power because they are Israeli," Francine Klagsbrun, the editor of "Free to Be … You and Me," and "The First Ms Reader," a compilation of articles published in Ms, said.
According to officials at the American Jewish Congress, Ms magazine declined the advertisement due to a feeling it would incite a "firestorm."
Ms magazine refuted the charges. "It simply isn't true and it's not fair," the magazine's executive editor, Katehrine Spillar, said.
She said the magazine turned down the advertisement because it was outside the publication's mission. "Our role at Ms. magazine is not to promote countries, it is to report on what's happening to women in different countries."
Earlier this week, the magazine posted a profile of Ms. Livni on its site. "We wanted people to see it, so that we couldn't be accused of not covering Israel or Israeli women leaders," Ms Spillar said.
The author Blu Greenberg described a culture of anti-Israel sentiment within parts of the feminist movement, "The forces at Ms. that decide matters have aligned themselves with those on the political far left whose agenda is to totally delegitimise Israel on the state of world opinion."
CANADIAN REGULATOR USHERS IN TIGHTER MEDIA CONTROL RULES
Canada's broadcasting regulator announced new rules on Tuesday limiting the number of conventional television and radio stations companies may control in the same market, to ensure diversity.
But according to AFP the rules were criticised by the Canadian Media Guild, which said the regulator ‘has blown a chance to address Canada's highly concentrated media landscape.’
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said a person or company will only be permitted to control two media outlets such as newspapers, radio and television stations in the same market.
Limits were also imposed on ownership of broadcasting licences to ensure that one party does not control more than 45 percent of the total television audience share as a result of a merger or acquisition.
The commission also said it would not approve transactions between cable or satellite companies that would result in one person effectively controlling the delivery of programming in a city or region market
Critics say the rules should be retroactive to undo the consolidation in the Canadian broadcasting and newspaper industry that led to the emergence of media giants CanWest Global, CTVglobemedia and Quebecor.
BBC’S TOP GEAR PROGRAM WILL PILOT IN THE US IN MAYBE MARCH
America’s NBC has ordered a pilot of Top Gear as BBC Worldwide continues to push local adaptations of the popular motoring television format.
BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, will produce the pilot of Top Gear for NBC with an all-US presenting team.
The Guardian reports that casting for four presenters and a racing driver is already under way and NBC plans to announce the commission at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Saturday.
Hollywood Reporter said that BBC Worldwide considered using UK hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, but Clarkson was reluctant to spend extended periods of time in the US.
NBC has yet to confirm a transmission date for the pilot, but it is likely to air in March.
Top Gear is also set to air in Australia later this year after a deal between the BBC and local channel SBS in November last year.
Sydney-based Freehand Productions will produce eight episodes of Top Gear for the state-owned network.
The production is the first by Freehand since BBC Worldwide bought a minority stake in the company in January last year.
Top Gear is a consistent ratings winner for BBC2, pulling in around 8 million viewers in its regular Sunday night slot. International audiences for the show are around 350 million viewers.
The show has been running on BBC2 since 1977 and relaunched with great success in 2002.
TIME OUT MAGAZINE LAUNCHED IN BARCELONA FOLLOWING ITS OCTOBER LAUNCH IN SYDNEY
Listings magazine Time Out continues its global march, launching an edition in Barcelona, ahead of a planned relaunch of its London website later this year.
The magazine, founded by Tony Elliott in London 40 years ago, launched its Catalan-language version in Barcelona last week.
Time Out’s aggressive international expansion saw the launch of four Time Out editions in 2007, and this will continue in 2008, with discussions underway for versions in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Budapest and Jakarta.
With the launch of the Barcelona edition, which is being published under licence, Time Out is now available in 23 international versions. It is published in 21 cities around the world, with dual language editions in Beijing and Istanbul. There is also a website and a range of guidebooks.
Time Out owns or jointly owns Time Out magazine in London, New York and Chicago and licenses it in other cities.
The most recent launch of Time Out was Sydney last October and in 2007 editions were also launched in Singapore, Delhi and Lisbon.
BRITAINS RED TOP NEWSPAPER DECEMBER CIRCULATIONS DROP AS LOW AS A PAGE-THREE MODEL’S BRA
Two of Britain’s most scandalous ‘red-top’ newspapers have fallen to almost all-time circulation lows in December.
FollowTheMedia reports that the Murdoch-owned Sun dipped below 3 million circulation for the first time in 33 years in December with official average circulation of 2,985,672, a 92,716 drop from November marking a substantial 3 percent one-month fall..
The Daily Mirror’s December decline fell under the 1.5 million barrier to 1,494,114, down 24,767 or 1.6 percent, to a circulation that has not been that low since World War II.
December is a notoriously weak newspaper month in the UK, with a lengthy holiday period so media observers are closely watching what happens with the red top rags in January.
INDIAN TWENTY20 CRICKET THE TENTH MOST WATCHED SPORTS EVENT GLOBALLY IN 2007
Initiative, part of Lintas Media Group, has published its ViewerTrack global trends report for 2007, ranking the world’s most watched live TV sports events. The report has been produced by Initiative’s global sports consultancy division, Initiative Sports Futures.
Leading the field is the NFL Super Bowl from the US..
But the surprise entry on the top ten, is the ICC World Twenty20 Championship cricket match between India and Pakistan.
This comes in at 10th place with an average live global audience of 20 million people.
Exchange4Media reported, “Even though 2007 was the inaugural year for this event, it still nevertheless beat the ICC World Cup Final between Australia and Sri Lanka in the TV-viewing stakes. This reflected the unique appeal of the Indian team to cricket fans, and also the success that Twenty20 cricket has had in attracting fans to the sport.”
Lynn de Souza, director, Media Services, Lintas Media Group, said, “The shorter form of the game telecast during prime time enabled office goers to come home and enjoy a night of good fast paced cricket. Even a busy person like Shah Rukh Khan could see an entire game. This clearly led to a bigger pie for cricket in the global eyeball game.”
WEBSITES DEFY SCIENTOLOGY ATTEMPTS TO HALT BROADCAST OF TOM CRUISE VIDEO
This week, just as an unauthorised new biography of Tom Cruise debuted in America, so did a video of the actor proclaiming the virtues of the Church of Scientology, according to Online Minute.
It said the nine-minute clip shows Cruise speaking four years ago at a Scientology ceremony where he received an award, according to The New York Daily News. "When you're a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it... you're the only one who can really help," he says at one point in the clip.
After initially surfacing on Gawker's Defamer.com, YouTube and other sites, the video was briefly removed, but then reappeared. Yesterday, Gawker publisher Nick Denton posted the clip again, along with the statement that he would not be taking it down. "Gawker is now hosting a copy of the video; it's newsworthy; and we will not be removing it," Denton wrote.
By this morning the clip was available on several news sites as well as YouTube.
Online Minute said, “It won't be surprising if the Church of Scientology threatens litigation over the clip, which is fast cementing Cruise's reputation as a crackpot.
“The group, which copyrights and sells its religious documents, has been quick to sue when people have posted portions of its tracts. In one case, it unsuccessfully sought an injunction prohibiting The Washington Post from writing about Scientology materials obtained from court records.
“But in the YouTube era, the Scientologists can't do much to permanently keep that video off the Web. Yes, the group can send takedown notices, or file lawsuits, but the clip now has a life of its own online. Even if YouTube were to use some sort of digital fingerprinting technology to keep users from re-posting the clip, it now exists on enough other sites that it will haunt Cruise for some time to come.”
Meanwhile today The Australian newspaper reported, “The mere thought of legal action has divided the men from the boys in the book trade when it comes to Tom Cruise and the Scientologists.
Pan Macmillan Australia has been scared away from publishing a salacious biography of the movie star by British author Andrew Morton.
Retailer Dymocks has also decided not to stock the book because of fears of possible defamation action.
By contrast, US publishers St Martin's Press, which is a sister company of Pan Macmillan, was gearing up for a massive launch of Tom Cruise - An Unauthorised Biography to a ravenous American audience.
The Australian reported, “According to freedom-of-information advocate Irene Moss, the different moves reflect the more plaintiff-friendly defamation laws in Australia, where even the suggestion of possible lawsuits is enough to scare off publishers and booksellers.”
In the book Morton claims Cruise's former wife Nicole Kidman, in the final "audit" session she had with the church, in which members speak to a minister who watches a version of a lie detector, discussed her sexual relations with Cruise and the session was taped.
Morton alleges that Scientologists threatened to blackmail Kidman if she spoke out against the church after her failed marriage to Cruise.
NEPALESE JOURNALIST SHOT DEAD BY MAD MILITANTS
Nepalese journalist Pushkar Bahadur Shrestha was murdered on January 12, near the southern city of Birgunj. Responsibility for his shooting was claimed by Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha, a militia led by Jwala Singh, which says it defends the population of the southern plains.
It called Shrestha a "pahadi" journalist, meaning one from the hill region.
Reporters Without Borders said, "Shrestha's murder tragically highlights the violence affecting civilians, including journalists, as a result of the ethnic tension in southern Nepal Hope of defusing the tension this year seems to be evaporating in the face of the inability of the authorities to curb the repeated violence."
Reporters Without Borders is part of an international press freedom delegation that is currently visiting Nepal.
Shrestha, the publisher of two local weeklies, Highway Weekly and New Season, was shot in the back while with his brother in a small town near Birgunj, which is on the border with India. He was killed the day that the latest issue of Highway Weekly was published.
A man who said he was a local representative of Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha called reporters in Birgunj to claim responsible for the murder. He said Shrestha was killed because he was a "pahadi" and a "journalist." The group has promised to continue committing acts of violence until one of its leaders who is imprisoned, Tulasi Das, is released.
OPRAH THE TV SHOW, THE MAGAZINE, AND THE BOOK NOW SET TO BECOME OPRAH THE TV NETWORK
Oprah Winfrey's production company, Chicago-based Harpo Productions, announced that its owner will soon launch her own cable network.
Winfrey has inked a deal with Discovery Communications that will morph the US-based Discovery Health Channel into OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The new net will likely launch in the second half of 2009, with ownership divided 50-50 between Harpo and Discovery. Currently, Discovery Health reaches about 68 million American households.
"This is an evolution of what I've been able to do every day," Winfrey told Associated Press. "I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever."
OWN will be the second network Winfrey has established. The first was Oxygen, which was sold to NBC late last year.
The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, “Americans love The Oprah Winfrey Show, but are they ready for the Oprah Winfrey Network?
“Ms Winfrey has a huge public following which could make the channel a success even without her talk show. She has a successful monthly magazine, O, the Oprah magazine, co-published with Hearst Corp., which sold an average of 2.4 million copies a month last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Her book club is credited with turning various titles into best-sellers. She also has a satellite show, Oprah & Friends on XM Satellite Radio.”
MEDIA STOUSH BETWEEN MALAYSIANS AND INDONESIANS
The Malaysian information minister's “lash out” at the Indonesian media's apparent aggressiveness in reporting that Malaysia-Indonesia ties were thorny seems to have backfired, reports Jakarta Post columnist Imran Yacob.
He said, “Malaysian mainstream media had splashed news of the exchanges of a Malaysian journalist to Indonesian news agencies in an attempt to soften the perceived Malaysia bashing by the Indonesian media.
“As if part of a complete package on damage control between the two countries, an Umno-Golkar meeting had concluded, on the establishment of a joint committee, to this year actively revitalise bilateral relations in the spirit of an Umno-Golkar memorandum of understanding signed earlier. The memorandum was ceremoniously witnessed by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
“All that effort seems diminished by this latest scurry of attacks on Indonesia's empowered press.
“The reverse effect seems to have overtaken events with Malaysians themselves, lamenting on the limited freedom of the press and the emasculation of its news agencies.
“The Malaysian information minister's remarks have elicited a heated counterblast from Malaysia's lively blogs.
“The bloggers are now in combat mode ahead of imminent elections and were quick to point out to the Minister that his powers over Indonesia were none and Malaysia's media should be allowed to uphold its sacred journalistic duty to expose the truth and provide the check and balances essential to democracy.
“The problem in Malaysia is not that you can't say what you want, its just that you have no where to say it.
“The mainstream media – be it broadcast television or radio stations, even the print media – are all owned by the government or the major component parties of the ruling coalition (Barisan Nasional).
“Malaysians often read between the lines when trying to make sense of the current political scenario. They turn toward popular news blogs like Malaysia Today to get the real news.
“…The Indonesian media's enfranchisement is the envy of Malaysians. No one wants a restricted press here
MORE REPORTS OF CENSORSHIP CRACKDOWNS IN MYANMAR
The Myanmar regime’s censorship board has warned the National League for Democracy, the main opposition party, about its recent publication of a bulletin that discussed the pro-democracy uprising.
An NLD spokesman Han Tha Myint told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that an official from the junta’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Board asked to discuss the publication on Monday.
Later, Nyan Win, another NLD spokesperson, went to a censorship office and met with Major Tint Swe, the director of the censorship board.
He said the authorities told him that the publication of the bulletin on January 4 was against the publication act.
No action against the NLD was taken at the time.
On January 4, the 60th anniversary of Burma’s Independence Day, youth members of the NLD published and distributed a news bulletin called Ah-yoan-thit or Dawn.
The publication included news about the September crackdown on protestors, the closure of Maggin monastery, detained NLD members and the distribution of videos critical of the military government and others.
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