News of the movement for January 7, 2013 |
The Government Reauthorizes More Warrantless Wiretapping
Talk about a crappy present. Before the holidays we warned you that Congress was about to hand us a lump of coal in the form of the FISA Amendments Act. Well, you got your coal. Ad Blocking Raises Alarm Among Firms Like Google
Xavier Niel, the French technology entrepreneur, has made a career of disrupting the status quo. Now, he's dared to take on Google and other online advertisers in a battle that puts the Web companies under pressure to use the wealth generated by the ads to help pay for the network pipelines that deliver the content. Can the FTC Enforce the Google Deal?
Google insists that its voluntary agreement to alter some search-engine practices contains legally enforceable measures -- even as the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said the agency is largely at the mercy of the company’s willingness to behave itself.
Three Crucial Media Issues We Can't Ignore in 2013
The media isn't just something that happens to us -- it is something we can and must be part of creating and reshaping ourselves. Here are three critical issues we must tackle in the coming year. Old Media’s Stalwarts Persevered in 2012
Everyone knows that traditional media companies are dead in the water, overwhelmed by ad skipping, cord cutting and audience flight. We know that because Chicken Littles (like me) have been saying it for years. We may eventually be proven right -- the sky will fall and the business will collapse -- but for the time being, the sky over traditional media is blue and it’s raining green. Media Consolidation -- a Panacea That May Not Be Good for Journalism
Greater media consolidation is generally considered by owners in both Britain and the United States to offer a way out of the current crisis. But an American commentator, Josh Stearns, believes that we should think again about acceding to such a plan. He argues that "media consolidation is largely what got us into this mess in the first place." A Rare Free-Speech Fight Erupts Over China Censors
Is China getting fed up with censorship? That’s the question people are starting to ask following a dramatic weekend showdown over press independence -- still very much ongoing -- between China’s official propaganda apparatus and reporters at Guangdong’s freewheeling investigative newspaper Southern Weekly. Test for New Leaders as Chinese Paper Takes On Censors
Turmoil at one of China’s leading newspapers is posing an early challenge to the measured political program of the new Chinese leader Xi Jinping, pitting a pent-up popular demand for change against the Communist Party’s desire to maintain a firm grip. Outcry After NOLA's Daily Paper Cuts Back
It's hardly news that the newspaper business is on the ropes. Some papers have folded completely, and others have reduced the number of pages. The most recent casualty is the New Orleans Times-Picayune, an institution that's seen the city through good times and the worst of times, a part of the very fabric of a unique American city. Last October, theTimes-Picayune began publishing only three days a week, making New Orleans the largest American city without a daily paper. Irish Newspapers and the Battle to Control Online Content
Irish newspapers created quite a stir when they demanded a fee for incoming links to their content. Actually, this is a mere prelude to a much more crucial debate on copyrights, robotic scraping and subsequent synthetic content recreation.
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Register today for the 2013 National Conference for Media Reform! Join thousands of activists, media makers, journalists, technologists and artists flocking to Denver for this can't-miss event. In Other News..Protect Democracy by Fighting Media Consolidation Cable Companies Squeeze More Obscure Channels Liberty Close to Taking Control of Sirius There Are 181,000 Social Media 'Gurus,' 'Ninjas,' 'Masters' and 'Mavens' on Twitter HBO Inks Exclusive, 10-Year Deal with Universal to Keep Content Out of Netflix’s Hands Students Rush to Web Classes, but Profits May Be Much Later
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