The moment the bomb exploded, our Frontier Corps driver slammed on the brakes. I wished he hadn't. If ever there was a moment to floor the accelerator that was it. The October sun was dropping fast. Slopes and broken ground stretched above either side of the road. We were less than an hour's drive away from the battlefield in Bajaur and the loyalty of the surrounding tribes was far from assured.
Read the Press Gazette web site and then read Jon Slattery (a former PG long term staffer). Which is better?
what you might not have considered is the potential danger in over-relying on these startups that could go out of business, get bought out, or close your account if you aren't familiar with their Terms of Service.
power users recommend that you don't put all your eggs in one basket. It's better, instead, to make sure you have a presence on various popular networks and make sure most of your effort still goes into your own site.
community newspapers continue to experience only a slight downturn in advertising revenues, contrary to industry-wide reported trends, according to third quarter 2008 financial data collected by the trade associations — Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA) and the National Newspaper Association (NNA). The SNA/NNA financial reporting group reports total ad revenue at $394 million, a 1.7% decline from the same quarter in 2007. As a point of comparison, NAA has reported an overall decline of 18% for the industry in the third quarter
Local advertisers continue to value the hyper-local news and desirable local audience provided by community newspapers,Community papers are affected by the current economic downturn but they are not in a crisis; in fact, there are some that are showing growth.
History verifies that the most significant of changes in mass communications have occurred when Jupiter transits from Capricorn into Aquarius, as it has just done. This year, and these dozen years until the next time Jupiter enters Aquarius, the changes will be fast and furious in the news business. Because of Uranus and Pluto, there will be no turning back.
Johannes Gutenberg of Strasbourg (then Germany; now France) perfected and unveiled his printing press and communication was revolutionized by the mass production of words on paper.and
the weekly and monthly pamphlets that passed for journalism up to that point began to be overtaken in Europe and the American colonies by the first daily newspapers focused on politics and the public sphere.
A strong performance by the Today programme also helped BBC Radio 4 to its biggest ever share of the audience in the three months to the end of December 2008, according to the latest Rajar listening figures published today.
Absolute's average weekly audience fell by nearly 500,000 listeners on the previous quarter to 1.89 million in the final three months of 2008.
And Absolute was down nearly 600,000 compared with the same period in 2007,
The Independent has taken risks in the past. Now, surely, it's time for the paper's owners to make the most revolutionary leap of all. It should stop publishing its newsprint editions and go entirely online
Despite INM's initial reluctance to acknowledge the growing potential of internet news outlets and its misguided attempt at first to charge users, The Independent website is not doing too badly at all nowadays. It is certainly growing its audience rapidly, having registered 8,408,910 unique users in September, an increase of 93% compared with the same month last year.
when Earl Watt quit his job as publisher of the town's 121-year-old newspaper, he went from being its valued employee to its biggest nemesis, turning this southwest Kansas community into one of the nation's most unlikely battlegrounds over newspaper cutbacks.
You are going to see communities rise up, "Just as communities don't want to lose their schools and grocery store ... they don't want to see their newspaper gone either."
Vesta Clemmons, who is 77 and lives alone, relies on the battered Zenith television in her tiny apartment here as more than just a lifeline to the outside world.
So Ms. Clemmons was concerned to learn from a public-service campaign that after Feb. 17 the rooftop antenna connected to her television would no longer function properly, and thus neither would her TV — unless she bought and installed an adaptor.
That so many viewers here and around the country risk losing something as basic as a free television signal is a function, at least in part, of the government’s failure to anticipate that those most affected would be among the nation’s most frail and vulnerable.
An MP is criticising the BBC's coverage of the recession, accusing the corporation of "dramatising, accentuating and underlining" Britain's economic woes. The Liberal Democrats Treasury spokesman John Pugh has tabled a Commons motion, warning that the "confidence, jobs and livelihoods of real people" are affected by the way events are covered. He's calling for academic research into the reporting of the downturn, and its effect on what he calls "the fragile psychology of the City"."
How they're appalled at the pusillanimous BBC in the face of this 'humanitarian' disaster - yet few of them spoke out loud and clear against the actions of Israel that caused it, nor, by extension, against the supine British government whose consistent failure to roundly condemn Israel is far more important than a charity advert.
Trust in nearly every type of news outlet and spokesperson
is down from last year among our 18-country
tracking audience of 35-to-64-year-olds.
Trust in television news coverage dropped from 49%
to 36%, and trust in newspaper articles fell from
47% to 34%.
This year, the world had more reasons than ever before to suspend its trust—and
for the most part, our data reflect this. Nearly two in three informed publics—62% of
25-to-64-year-olds surveyed in 20 countries—say they trust corporations less now
than they did a year ago. When it comes to being distrusted, business is not alone.
Globally, trust in business, media, and government is half-empty; and trust in
government scores even lower than trust in business.
If the public do not trust us, despite us repeatedly saying that we act for the public interest, then we ought to do all we can to find out why.
Is it because we are now seen as a monolithic institution rather than a disaggregated group of outlets? Is it because we are viewed as no different from any other business, seeking profit rather than acting as a public service? Is it because we have been guilty of publishing false stories?
Changing the cost structure of online publishing would allow the larger organizations to, essentially, raise the cost of publishing back to its former level. If it suddenly costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to publish again, then news brands have their monopoly back, and the ad dollars start rolling in.
If internet service providers are allowed to give preferential treatment to the data coming from customers who pay—essentially making “access to people” a biddable commodity—then the level playing field disappears instantly.
This would allow the larger publisher an advantage as they would benefit from economies of scale
And if the cost of publishing goes back up, then media companies get to have their monopoly back on widely-distributed media, and then, the advertising revenue comes flooding back in, as other doors are closed again.
Fuel to get the kindling going in your open fire, Aga, woodburning stove,
bonfire etc.
Back in August 2006 it turned down a DEC appeal for Lebanon for the same reason - impartiality. It was specifically concerned that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah might break down.
Did the DEC not remember the Lebanon precedent?Did BBC News warn that their impartiality was going to be questioned? Were they consulted? If the Appeal would bring criticism, was it really thought that it would be so strong and so credible that it should sway BBC policy? Would it not have appeared more confident and consistent to allow the appeal, take some flak and move on? In practice has this not made the BBC look much worse?
The BBC is now suffering from self-inflicted collatoral damage. One very senior BBC News person described the BBC Gaza Appeal decision to me as ‘a mess’.
broadband and technology development. An investment there will do more for the future of news than any dollar, euro, or pound given to keep presses rolling.he says and maybe this in all his reasoning is the most important reason why
Advertisers will have no excuse but to go online, when most everyone is there and when it can serve rich media beyond the banner.
One reason was a concern about whether aid raised by the appeal could actually be delivered on the ground. You will understand that one of the factors we have to look at is the practicality of the aid, which the public are being asked to fund, getting through.
This is because Gaza remains a major ongoing news story, in which humanitarian issues - the suffering and distress of civilians and combatants on both sides of the conflict, the debate about who is responsible for causing it and what should be done about it - are both at the heart of the story and contentious. We have and will continue to cover the human side of the conflict in Gaza extensively across our news services where we can place all of the issues in context in an objective and balanced way. After looking at all of the circumstances, and in particular after seeking advice from senior leaders in BBC Journalism, we concluded that we could not broadcast a free-standing appeal
That the population of Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian crisis is a matter of fact, not political hypothesis
Alexander Lebedev, the KGB spy-turned-tycoon, bought control of London’s Evening Standard a day after Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications magnate, had thrown a $250m lifeline to The New York Times. Alexander Pugachev, the son of a Russian oligarch, stepped in with a bid for France-Soir, a struggling French evening title.although he adds that
Even if bolstering reputations turns out to have been the motive for this week’s investments, people with an interest in the expensive business of journalism should be relieved. For a moment it had seemed newspapers might no longer even have a future as the playthings of the rich, given the grief they have caused recent buyers.
Could it be that in the future some radio listeners will ditch their old receivers and use services like Spotify to listen to whatever they want whenever they want, all without ever having to listen to any inane DJ banter ever again?
It won’t replace all radio listenership - many people like to have a presenter talking between records and there’s always speech radio like phone-ins, dramas and documentaries that can be replaced as easily by software. One thing’s for sure though - as much as radio is changing right now, there’s more upset to come for the execs.
Talk About Local intends to train thousands of people who don’t have a voice to find a powerful online expression for their neighbourhoods, even if they can’t use the internet today. The project will create a legacy of independent community sites across the country, owned, mainstreamed and updated by ordinary local people as a volunteer effort.
thoughts generated huge attention in Korea, particularly following Minerva's prediction that Lehman Brothers would fail. Those musings, however, have not sat well with Seoul. Now Park has been taken into custody by the government and, according to his lawyer, faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for allegedly spreading false information with the intention of harming or threatening public interest. Late last week, Park was denied bail.
According to his lawyer, Park taught himself economics, reading books on the subject since 1997.
It is a monument to the increasingly unified global community in which we
live and reminds us that the world truly is becoming more flat. The second
billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even
faster than that, until we have a truly global network of interconnected people
and ideas that transcend borders and cultural boundaries.”
To crown the embarrassment for BBC News at being scooped by arch rival Sky News in their own backyard , PA picked up Brady's quotes – which the BBC then ran.
The old media world has ended – and the sooner we say so the better.
We will only succeed if at all times we are guided by the viewing and listening public whose voices, at times, are dangerously excluded from fevered and inward-looking industry debates.
the Government will make a firm commitment to sustaining PSB provision including and beyond the BBC.
the core list of priorities is clear: high quality, impartial news at local, regional as well as national level; original high quality British content, including but not limited to children’s programming and drama; current affairs, international analysis and factual programming.
the provision of local news – and the plight of local newspapers - has to rise up the political agenda.
It is time to develop a sensible strategy that uses the converging nature of journalism to sustain a vital local media. There is a potential here for new partnerships which might include local media businesses, private sector partners, and communities, and may be – with proper safeguards- the public sector.
entirely unbeknown to me, my child was conducting a lively social life on the internet, where any browsing weirdo could have downloaded the sketch she had performed and proudly displayed on YouTube.
Surely this is where the future of online communication lies, rather than with the unwieldy full-profile sites. It is flexible, fluid and uncommitted by comparison.says the paper adding that unlike other social networking sites
Twitter reduces the need to keep that stuff online. Once we've "met" people, do we really need to constantly remind them that we're married, when our birthday is, where we live, who our other friends are? Not in real life.
if you watched the inauguration of Barack, did you detect just the tiniest,
weeniest difference in tone from the broadcasters, compared to how they marked
the re-election of President Bush four years ago? Just an infinitesimally minute
difference in nuance? I might be wrong but I don’t remember them cutting to a
bunch of well-fed, middle-aged, middle-class white people in the Peter Bruinvels
Centre in Beaconsfield every so often to hear them singing ‘Go George — nuke the
Arabs!’, amidst bunting and drained bottles of champagne. ‘Awe-inspiring’ and
‘breath-taking’ and ‘momentous’ and ‘I have a dream’ were the words used by the
correspondents this time.
There was a poll carried out back in the summer of 2008, in which almost one quarter of British people thought that the ‘credit crunch’ was entirely a media confection, a crisis whipped up to fill the blank pages. A little later the notion of the media being ‘responsible’ for the credit crunch became an urban myth. It is not quite so simple as that, nor quite so stark — but you would not bet against the media having been critically influential, given the ectoplasmic nature of city confidence.
I can see that there is a point to its existence for all of the people who work for it in that big shiny building in Horseferry Road. But I'm struggling to work out what's in it for the rest of us.
It claims a public service element, but I'm a member of the public and I haven't been served by it for years.
If it goes off air, the old test card could be shown in its place. That would provide more of a public service than the existing Channel 4.
The report adds that viewing hours tend to increase in tough times as consumers stay at home and digital switchover, taking place region by region between now and 2012, could boost viewing even more.
One of the boosts that television is likely to receive is in viewing hours, which tend to be counter-cyclical. Indeed, in the latter half of 2008, average viewing hours were already rising in some major markets as consumers increasingly entertained themselves at home21. Viewing hours may be boosted by digital switchover, one impact of which is to increase the number of channels available to consumers. Overall, in 2009, viewing is likely to rise by 30 minutes per week per viewer.
Fox News was the only major national TV outlet that carried a live telecast of former President Bush's homecoming speech to cheering supporters in Midland, Texas.
One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world.adding that
This site will feature timely and in-depth content meant to keep everyone up-to-date and educated. Check out the briefing room, keep tabs on the blog (RSS feed) and take a moment to sign up for e-mail updates from the President and his administration so you can be sure to know about major announcements and decisions.
Members of the delegation of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI), which met the president on January 15, quoted him as saying that journalists misreported things and presented the situation in a non-objective manner. They said the president felt the media should be careful in its handling of sensitive issues.
any proposed merger with Five does not address the need for structural change in the UK TV industry.
“Consolidation could only be part of the solution if it takes place within a new industry structure – and only after that structure is in place,”
“Even then, if the subject is Five, the limited and short-term cost savings would largely be swallowed by offsetting Five’s increasing losses and Channel 4’s contribution to public service broadcasting would diminish.
“The future must be about maximising the value of our content.”
that international coverage is in danger of disappearing from the British TV screen in the next four years unless radical new measures are introduced by public service broadcasters and OFCOM.
“The lack of creative commitment and the failure to translate promises about international coverage into meaningful actions means that British television is sleepwalking towards a global switch off. From the credit crunch to migration to climate change, understanding the world around us and the forces that shape it has never been more important. The tragedy is that no one denies the importance of international coverage but at the same time seems prepared to do something about it. This report is a wake up call to senior decision makers to act before it is too late.” and introduces a 10 point plan to rectify the situation
It is not just a question of television – it is also about how the strengths and characteristics of traditional television can be translated into the new digital world of online and on-demand.adding that tinkering around with the system is not the way forward
Now is the time to think big. The government has a matchless opportunity to create an entity able to deliver new public service content in new ways
Channel 4 and Five share many characteristics. Both are funded by advertising, both commission programmes from outside producers rather than making them in-house and both are reliant on a mix of home-grown and acquired programming. A merger that brings together two such complementary broadcasters would create a much stronger operator
Vietnam's government has issued several decrees in recent months to curtail bloggingreports Tim Johnson
The campaign started in August, when the government published an edict giving police broad authority to move against online critics, including those who oppose "the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" and undermine national security and social order.
The law also bans "obscenity and debauchery . . . and destroying national fine customs and traditions," according to the official gazette published -- online -- by the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Instead of relying on the major news outlets to get the news out of Gaza, many people are using the Internet to tell their version of the story, and that means a lot of graphic and unfiltered images and video circulating through emails and sites like YouTube and iReport.writes Michael Martin over at NPR.
Several hundred people packed the Debenham High School assembly hall with with more unable to get in.and he continues
I saw no sign of a reporter from the EADT but he could have been one of the late arrivals at the back of the hall. At the end of the meeting I saw no reporter checking facts with speakers.
The following morning there was no story in the EADT about the meeting which had called to hear local opinion on calls from Debenham Leisure Centre for a bail-out from the parish council. As a proportion of the council’s tiny budget it would be larger than the Government’s rescue of the banks. £25,000 a year for a place with a population of 2,000 is a lot of money to raise by taxation.
It is sad that a debilitated media is becoming unable to provide the lubrication democracy requires.
He maintains that in the age of mass media the press was able to define the sphere of legitimate debate with relative ease because the people on the receiving end were atomized-- connected "up" to Big Media but not across to each other. And now that authority is eroding.
allowing ourselves to think politically.Deciding what does and does not legitimately belong within the national debate is—no way around it
Lebedev said he had read the Evening Standard and other British newspapers when he was a young spy at the Soviet embassy in London in the late 1980s.
"I had to read every newspaper. I was there for that," he recalled. "I had to read the FT, the Guardian, Standard and the Daily Mail." The Standard was "a very good newspaper" with some "brilliant journalists," Lebedev said, adding that the Daily Mail was a "highly influential" title that closely reflected British public attitudes.
former Daily Mirror owner, Labour MP, socialist plutocrat, pension Labour Party donor, thief and long term Soviet asset: Robert Maxwell.
I find that I have about six bloggable ideas a day. I also find that writing twice as long a post doesn't increase communication, it usually decreases it. And finally, I found that people get antsy if there are unread posts in their queue.and adds
post only when I have something I really want to say that I think will interest my readers. I try to stay away from the online echo chamber where everyone writes posts about everyone else's posts.
Leading the charge is Time magazine, the most recent cover of which prominently features a Star of David behind barbed wire, a startling and disturbing image that seems to suggest a parallel between the Gaza war and the Holocaust, presumably not to Israel's credit.
Time likes to use Holocaust imagery that hints that Israel is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews.
Israel's decision to keep the Western press out of Gaza may also have backfired, because it's given a monopoly of coverage to the more inflammatory reporting of Arab satellite television stations such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiyya that maintain bureaus in Gaza. And while there are many excellent Palestinian journalists working for the Western press in Gaza, there have been some examples of doctored photographs and suspicious looking videos showing civilian suffering.
Beijing's plans to spend about $6.6 billion to improve China's image with foreign viewersadding that
In a New Year's essay for the Communist Party's main ideological journal, "Seeking Truth," national propaganda chief Liu Yunshan wrote: "It has become an urgent strategic task for us to make our communication capability match our international status."
The media themselves and not the stories they carry are important; their characteristics being more significant and influential than their content.
it is argued that the channel is not important, the stories, if good enough will find us. Content rules supreme.but is this really the case?
we can trust traditional media because we have learnt that the trust is well placed and because they operate checks and balances to ensure quality and veracity. In time many print newspapers will disappear but the best will survive, thrive and continue to set the news agenda, with their pixellated versions gradually replacing the ink and paper.
No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka, journalism. In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.
I have been in the business of journalism a good long time. Indeed, 2009 will be The Sunday Leader's 15th year. Many things have changed in Sri Lanka during that time, and it does not need me to tell you that the greater part of that change has been for the worse. We find ourselves in the midst of a civil war ruthlessly prosecuted by protagonists whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Terror, whether perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges. For neither group have the risks ever been higher or the stakes lower.
Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognising the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries. Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.
But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.
The Sunday Leader has been a controversial newspaper because we say it like we see it: whether it be a spade, a thief or a murderer, we call it by that name. We do not hide behind euphemism. The investigative articles we print are supported by documentary evidence thanks to the public-spiritedness of citizens who at great risk to themselves pass on this material to us. We have exposed scandal after scandal, and never once in these 15 years has anyone proved us wrong or successfully prosecuted us.
The free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel. From us you learn the state of your nation, and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. Sometimes the image you see in that mirror is not a pleasant one. But while you may grumble in the privacy of your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and at great risk to themselves. That is our calling, and we do not shirk it.
Every newspaper has its angle, and we do not hide the fact that we have ours. Our commitment is to see Sri Lanka as a transparent, secular, liberal democracy. Think about those words, for they each has profound meaning. Transparent because government must be openly accountable to the people and never abuse their trust. Secular because in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society such as ours, secularism offers the only common ground by which we might all be united. Liberal because we recognise that all human beings are created different, and we need to accept others for what they are and not what we would like them to be. And democratic... well, if you need me to explain why that is important, you'd best stop buying this paper.
The Sunday Leader has never sought safety by unquestioningly articulating the majority view. Let's face it, that is the way to sell newspapers. On the contrary, as our opinion pieces over the years amply demonstrate, we often voice ideas that many people find distasteful. For example, we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka's ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror, and made no secret of our horror that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens. For these views we have been labelled traitors, and if this be treachery, we wear that label proudly.
Many people suspect that The Sunday Leader has a political agenda: it does not. If we appear more critical of the government than of the opposition it is only because we believe that - pray excuse cricketing argot - there is no point in bowling to the fielding side. Remember that for the few years of our existence in which the UNP was in office, we proved to be the biggest thorn in its flesh, exposing excess and corruption wherever it occurred. Indeed, the steady stream of embarrassing expos‚s we published may well have served to precipitate the downfall of that government.
Neither should our distaste for the war be interpreted to mean that we support the Tigers. The LTTE are among the most ruthless and bloodthirsty organisations ever to have infested the planet. There is no gainsaying that it must be eradicated. But to do so by violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship.
What is more, a military occupation of the country's north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering "development" and "reconstruction" on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen - and all of the government - cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall.
It is well known that I was on two occasions brutally assaulted, while on another my house was sprayed with machine-gun fire. Despite the government's sanctimonious assurances, there was never a serious police inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks, and the attackers were never apprehended. In all these cases, I have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government. When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.
The irony in this is that, unknown to most of the public, Mahinda and I have been friends for more than a quarter century. Indeed, I suspect that I am one of the few people remaining who routinely addresses him by his first name and uses the familiar Sinhala address oya when talking to him. Although I do not attend the meetings he periodically holds for newspaper editors, hardly a month passes when we do not meet, privately or with a few close friends present, late at night at President's House. There we swap yarns, discuss politics and joke about the good old days. A few remarks to him would therefore be in order here.
Mahinda, when you finally fought your way to the SLFP presidential nomination in 2005, nowhere were you welcomed more warmly than in this column. Indeed, we broke with a decade of tradition by referring to you throughout by your first name. So well known were your commitments to human rights and liberal values that we ushered you in like a breath of fresh air. Then, through an act of folly, you got yourself involved in the Helping Hambantota scandal. It was after a lot of soul-searching that we broke the story, at the same time urging you to return the money. By the time you did so several weeks later, a great blow had been struck to your reputation. It is one you are still trying to live down.
You have told me yourself that you were not greedy for the presidency. You did not have to hanker after it: it fell into your lap. You have told me that your sons are your greatest joy, and that you love spending time with them, leaving your brothers to operate the machinery of state. Now, it is clear to all who will see that that machinery has operated so well that my sons and daughter do not themselves have a father.
In the wake of my death I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry. But like all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come of this one, too. For truth be told, we both know who will be behind my death, but dare not call his name. Not just my life, but yours too, depends on it.
Sadly, for all the dreams you had for our country in your younger days, in just three years you have reduced it to rubble. In the name of patriotism you have trampled on human rights, nurtured unbridled corruption and squandered public money like no other President before you. Indeed, your conduct has been like a small child suddenly let loose in a toyshop. That analogy is perhaps inapt because no child could have caused so much blood to be spilled on this land as you have, or trampled on the rights of its citizens as you do. Although you are now so drunk with power that you cannot see it, you will come to regret your sons having so rich an inheritance of blood. It can only bring tragedy. As for me, it is with a clear conscience that I go to meet my Maker. I wish, when your time finally comes, you could do the same. I wish.
As for me, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I walked tall and bowed to no man. And I have not travelled this journey alone. Fellow journalists in other branches of the media walked with me: most of them are now dead, imprisoned without trial or exiled in far-off lands. Others walk in the shadow of death that your Presidency has cast on the freedoms for which you once fought so hard. You will never be allowed to forget that my death took place under your watch. As anguished as I know you will be, I also know that you will have no choice but to protect my killers: you will see to it that the guilty one is never convicted. You have no choice. I feel sorry for you, and Shiranthi will have a long time to spend on her knees when next she goes for Confession for it is not just her owns sins which she must confess, but those of her extended family that keeps you in office.
As for the readers of The Sunday Leader, what can I say but Thank You for supporting our mission. We have espoused unpopular causes, stood up for those too feeble to stand up for themselves, locked horns with the high and mighty so swollen with power that they have forgotten their roots, exposed corruption and the waste of your hard-earned tax rupees, and made sure that whatever the propaganda of the day, you were allowed to hear a contrary view. For this I - and my family - have now paid the price that I have long known I will one day have to pay. I am - and have always been - ready for that. I have done nothing to prevent this outcome: no security, no precautions. I want my murderer to know that I am not a coward like he is, hiding behind human shields while condemning thousands of innocents to death. What am I among so many? It has long been written that my life would be taken, and by whom. All that remains to be written is when.
That The Sunday Leader will continue fighting the good fight, too, is written. For I did not fight this fight alone. Many more of us have to be - and will be - killed before The Leader is laid to rest. I hope my assassination will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration for those who survive to step up their efforts. Indeed, I hope that it will help galvanise forces that will usher in a new era of human liberty in our beloved motherland. I also hope it will open the eyes of your President to the fact that however many are slaughtered in the name of patriotism, the human spirit will endure and flourish. Not all the Rajapakses combined can kill that.
People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted. An example that has inspired me throughout my career in journalism has been that of the German theologian, Martin Niem”ller. In his youth he was an anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. As Nazism took hold in Germany, however, he saw Nazism for what it was: it was not just the Jews Hitler sought to extirpate, it was just about anyone with an alternate point of view. Niem”ller spoke out, and for his trouble was incarcerated in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, and very nearly executed. While incarcerated, Niem”ller wrote a poem that, from the first time I read it in my teenage years, stuck hauntingly in my mind:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter. As for me, God knows I tried.
We fully recognize that our industry is undergoing unprecedented change as technology alters the habits of our readers and advertisers. At the same time, the cyclical downturn in the U.S. economy has exacerbated advertising declines. But The New York Times Company is in a better position than many others in the newspaper industry because of the steps we have taken to improve our performance. In the last five years, we have focused on developing our digital properties and carefully reducing costs while continuing to provide our readers with great journalism both in print and online.
We have 830,000 loyal readers who have subscribed to The New York Times for more than two years, a number that has increased by about a third over the past decade. They like reading the print edition and pay a substantial amount of money to do so
I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think journalists should be anywhere
allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what’s
happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it’s asinine. You
know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you’d go to the theater
and you’d see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real
excited and happy for’em. Now everyone’s got an opinion and wants to downer–and
down soldiers.
The Daily Telegraph has outsourced some of its production work to the other end of the world, with several of its weekly sections to be processed in suburban Sydney.adding that
In an attempt to cut costs in the dramatic advertising downturn that is hurting media companies worldwide, the Telegraph Media Group decided to outsource sections of its flagship newspaper such as the travel, motoring and money pages and parts of The Sunday Telegraph. It chose Pagemasters, a company owned by the news agency Australian Associated Press, to do the job
Reducing the cost of manufacturing and distribution is an imperative for any newspaper group that is determined to remain profitable, as we are. This is a great time to be shopping around the world for value-for-money partners.
Commenting on news stories is still broken. Busted. Stinks. It’s a mudpit. Still.
In short, you can let readers “report as offensive” and ask questions and e-mail to a friend and vote comments up and down and recommend comments all day long, but if there’s not a journalist managing the community — participating in threads, asking and answering questions, and generally continuing the conversation — your comment threads will stay a mudpit, all technology, identity, and registration aside.
the Internet is an instrument for a “velvet revolution” and warn that foreign countries have invested in this tool to topple the Islamic Regime.
The use of social networking or blogging by military forces is not new. The U.S. Army has launched a video series that documents events in Iraq. (2) A series of blogs have also covered military activities in a number of countries, including Sri Lanka.but
What makes the IRGC project particularly interesting is its uniquely large scale, its timing and its possible consequences.
The reason why the Israeli government’s ban was not effective in the case of AJE is strikingly simple. Their correspondents were around before the news broke. As coincidental as this may sound, it is symptomatic of a different approach to reporting where continuous presence takes precedence over momentary action.and adds that
Those who are turning to Al Jazeera English for an entirely different kind of journalism may not find what they are looking for – but in its reporting on Gaza, the channel shows where its real potential for making a difference lies: in having a presence before news breaks in regions where other networks predominantly engage in situations of acute crisis. And in the political and cultural sensitivity on the part of the journalists that is growing out of this presence.
Israel has opened a hotline for tip-offs about uniformed officers or politicians suspected of spilling state secrets.
Soldiers have had cellphones confiscated to prevent them sending SMS messages about combat losses or troop deployments as they advance on Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas in Gaza.
Military censors, who avoid nosing around routine news coverage, now show their teeth. Two Israeli freelancers were arrested on suspicion they gave an Iranian TV station details about the Gaza sweep that was not cleared for publication.
Dear Hamas,
Allow us to restate that we deplore your actions, which have harmed both Palestinians and Israelis. However, it has come to our attention that Joe the Plumber is headed to the Middle East, to cover the war for WNWO-TV in Toledo. And while we are not technically asking you to kill Joe the Plumber (that's illegal!), we are encouraging you to reject a ceasefire until at least three rockets are fired in his direction. He's easy to spot. He literally has a skinhead, and he'll be surrounded by Israelis who will be asking themselves, "it's come to this? Israel's security is dependent on the editorial skills of Joe the Plumber?"
If the western journalists were in Gaza they would be able to talk not to the man the street but to the man and the woman and the child in the hospital. And we can’t do that, none of us can. And that is the problem.
It’s not that the images are a distortion – the images are real. The distortion is when we’re told afterwards that the Palestinians deserve it or indeed that the Palestinians had it coming to them because Hamas was using them, Hamas was in the school.
Readers will have nowhere else to go, either, if they want to go to their old reliable source of news and information. The numbers of unique visitors to a newspaper's web site will go up dramatically, if the print version disappears. And as those numbers rise the rates charged for ads can also increase. Of course, the web also offers a definitive method for tracking metrics, too. An advertiser can see how many people have clicked on their ad and then executed the "call to action" that was promoted. There is no more precise measurement for assessing the value of an advertising dollar. Calculating the impact of a full page ad in a newspaper is a slightly more complex and imprecise process.says James Moore over at the Huffington Post
Instead of delaying this transition to a full digital world and seeing how long they can sustain their print versions, media companies need to plan a full stop of printing presses and turn their web sites into their solitary news products. They can execute this strategy now or they can keep feeding money and intellectual energy into the already dead carcasses of their papers until they realize, too late, the paper is rancid with decay and the readers they might have captured on their web site have already gone elsewhere. Seems a simple choice.
Even the Israeli Government with its almost total disregard for international opinion know the images of fatalities in Gaza will be very powerful, and they have done everything they can to prevent the media getting in, whilst at the same time showing graphic images of the impact of missiles in Southern Israel.
technology moves on. The power of internet and e-mail means that people can get a worldwide distribution of their images out into the world within minutes of an explosion. The various Iraqi bloggers were able to paint graphic pictures of life inside a war zone, and the same thing is happening in Gaza. The revolution may not be televised, but the internet war is the future.
We’ve promoted our taste section, boosted our reputation for being the source of all food knowledge, published links to five old reviews that might now get some traffic and increased awareness of us as a brand providing a service to readers.
as twitter becomes more popular will the conversation become too loud.
This is what happened to Facebook etc and then it becomes a time consuming persuit to pick up the chatter
The collapse of daily print journalism will mean many things. For those of us old enough to still care about going out on a Sunday morning for our doorstop edition of The Times, it will mean the end of a certain kind of civilized ritual that has defined most of our adult lives. It will also mean the end of a certain kind of quasi-bohemian urban existence for the thousands of smart middle-class writers, journalists, and public intellectuals who have, until now, lived semi-charmed kinds of lives of the mind. And it will seriously damage the press’s ability to serve as a bulwark of democracy. Internet purists may maintain that the Web will throw up a new pro-am class of citizen journalists to fill the void, but for now, at least, there’s no online substitute for institutions that can marshal years of well-developed sourcing and reporting experience—not to mention the resources to, say, send journalists leapfrogging between Mumbai and Islamabad to decode the complexities of the India-Pakistan conflict.
Today, the whole world stands as a witness to the fact that the Nazi holocaust was a mere lie, which was devised by the Zionists to blackmail humanity. The same Zionist entity swindled the world out of billions of dollars over the years to compensate the wrong and unjust which they claim to have been inflicted on their people.
"It is evident that the holocaust was a conspiracy hatched by the Zionists and Nazis, and many innocent people gave their lives as a result of this inhuman plot."
Why did GMG stick £15 M into this Granada-lite effort? It could hardly be more different from real, relevant, refreshing community TV? Just a tired, pale imitation of grown up ITV. And thus doomed to fail its brief. And indeed fail its commercial desires. As part of GMG convergence and concentration business plan.and later asking
What's it for? What is it achieving? Is it worth the investment? Does it fulfil the purpose of Community TV?
And is the concentration of media ownership with GMG a good thing at any level? Even for GMG itself soul-wise and journalism-wise?
I personally think Channel M did a superb job staging a live debate. I think that for a local TV station - with a fraction of the budget of certain rivals - to get the leader of the opposition to answer viewers'/readers' questions for an hour is a real coup.
This is exactly the sort of thing that anyone who believes in local media, political accountability, etc. etc., should support.
TB: That’s all fascinating. But you’re the great blogger. You’ve pioneered serious blogging.
ID: I didn’t pioneer it, but I get quite a big readership – about 80,000 people every month, 600,000 last year.
TB: That is real influence.
ID: But even if you only have a few hundred, tell me a politician who wouldn’t like to make a speech to several hundred people every day. I suspect if you were starting out in politics now, you would be a fanatical blogger.
TB: I have thought about that, but you can't write a diary and do a blog at the same time. If you are a diarist you have to be free to do it, and if you are a blogger you have a different audience. A blogger is addressing an audience whereas I am recording what has happened.
