Archive for the ‘Media issues’ Category
Talking with Dave: thoughts about media blur
I’m part way through an online conversation with Dave, who I like, about hyperbolic opinion pieces masquerading as news (what I call the Glenn Beck/Fox News effect). We’re discussing Dave’s frustration with the “blur” between news and opinion. Dave said: I wouldn’t mind if the media did genuinely report as an opinion piece. At least […]
Nothing new under the sun…
Apparently Scarlett Johansson is playing ‘Black Widow’ in the movie sequel to Iron Man. Cool. Of course, she’s very Emma Peel from The Avengers isn’t she? All good clean fun.
free?
Quite a good interview with Andrew The-internet-is-making-us-dumber-and-less-informed Keen: Andrew Keen talking to Bryan Crump Radio NZ National (mp3 20 mins) Some of the best lines: “It’s turning the knowledge business into a church” and “I don’t think a knowledge worker should be altruistic … shouldn’t give away their labour for free”…. as well as his […]
The French Resistance and Google
I must say I like the absence of inevitability the French demonstrate towards the mega-Google. Their ‘keep your hands off our culture’ approach, (despite Euro Disney and the laughable but well-patronised McDonalds and Disney store on the Champs Elysees) is refreshing and worthwhile. The hopeless shrug of the shoulders so many meet Google’s apparent dominance […]
A novel explanation of copyright and IP
© kiwiright from nu4mz on Vimeo. Worth watching and mostly good. But a specious argument (starts about 1.50) reveals a mindset: Do you know if you walk around town with a camera you’d be filming a lot of trademarked signs, You might have to get a permit for that. You might have to pay a […]
A rose by any other name
Well, that was quick. Rupert Murdoch’s campaign (what’s the opposite of ‘charm offensive’?) calling news aggregators ‘parasites’ and ‘thieves’ for their activities harvesting News websites’ internal organs material has had rather quick pay-off. We discussed the widely-reported/hyped ‘discussions’ News Corp was supposedly having with Microsoft Bing about ‘de-listing’ News Corp sites from Google (yeah right) […]
Did they jump or were they pushed?
Heads must roll… Fallout from last week’s blinding flash of the obvious, which I described as classic ‘provider capture’. Kneecapper and straightshooter Dame Margaret Bazley found that the Legal Services Agency was being routinely rorted by lawyers and that lawyers were effectively asserting control over the legal aid system. Four resign over scathing legal aid […]
Blinding flash of the obvious
Well, who’da thunk it? Doh! A classic case of Chicago School of Economics ‘public choice theory’ or ‘provider capture’. Read the full story for tales of (shock, horror) crooked lawyers playing the system. (Never!) Breathless reportage from the NZ Herald: A damning review of legal aid says a sea change is needed to fix a […]
Why journalists shouldn’t be defending Fox News
I didn’t see this article at the time, but Dan Froomkin makes a good case. I dislike the hypocrisy of this ‘channel’ — the apparent willingness to distort, their naked manipulation of the ‘issues’ (far beyond a ‘slant’, Fox misleads … in short, like some people I know: a total lack of self-awareness Sure, Fox […]
Microsoft helping ‘de-list’ news sites from Google?
Wow. Can this be the future? Microsoft paying News sites to BLOCK their content from Google? (… while, presumably, allowing it to show up on MS Bing)? OK, it’s still just a rumour. Here’s the CNN story and this quote from Lance Ulanoff in PC Mag‘s “online news ice age” what-are-they-thinking?’ reaction — which resonates […]
Playing with numbers
I thought perhaps I might sell my home, and so, I decided to do a little research on when historically the best time might be vs. the best historical sales price that might be obtainable. From the R100 Market Facts page at the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand web site: http://www.reinz.org.nz/reportingapp/default.aspx?RFOPTION=Report&RFCODE=R100 I downloaded all […]
Taylor Swift — self-aware, not self-absorbed megastar
I love the self-awareness this very talented singer/songwriter/megastar Taylor Swift displays with such apparent ease. (Of course she’s wildly talented and works hard.) She makes me smile. UPDATE: Watch the video at YouTube here. (Thanks to AK for the tip.) And an entertaining behind-the-scenes/making-of clip:
