Newsworthiness

12 February 2007

Starting with climate change BBC surveys to look at global news agenda

BBC World and international market research firm Synovate have announced a global survey partnership which will look at the global news agenda. Haze, which according to a meteorological official was caused by a change in direction of the south wind, covers the business district in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, February 6, 2007. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he is committed to urgent...

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7 February 2007

Corporations Co-opt Citizen Journalism

Advertising forecasters predict double-digit growth for online media outlets in the new year. Traditional media, including television and newspapers, are slated for flat growth, at best, during 2007. We all know what this means. The big media companies are migrating to the Internet as fast as possible, simultaneously laying off workers and cutting budgets in their traditional broadcast and print...

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17 January 2007

Memo to the Media: Extreme Weather Is Linked to Global Warming

It wasn't Katrina, not even close, but Seattle's storm of the century was no picnic. It gave me one more a taste of a future where the weather can suddenly turn--and destroy the habitability of our world. The storm hit Seattle mid-December with pounding rain and 70 mile-an-hour winds, reaching 110 miles per hour near the slopes of the Cascade Mountains. The ground was already soggy from the...

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13 January 2007

Citizen journalism flexes its muscles

From his slurred babbling to his dumbstruck appearance, every sign of High Court Judge Nkola Motata's alleged inebriation was captured for posterity - not by a journalist, but by a member of the public using a cellphone. Motata's case is a classic example of citizen journalism, in which ordinary members of the public take on the role of journalists, and cover an unfolding story themselves. Their...

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19 December 2006

House may come under a media scanner

NEW DELHI: A revolutionary move is afoot to open the deliberations of standing committees of Parliament to the media with a view to ensure greater transparency and accountability. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who took the initiative, said on Tuesday that he had discussed the matter with Leader of Opposition L K Advani, who has endorsed the proposal. As the winter session came to an end...

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11 December 2006

Talking Beards

Perhaps the history of the world would have turned out differently if, in the beginning, there had been that remarkable little invention—the mobile telephone. Imagine Prophet Mohammed chatting with his loyal men before making the historic journey from Mecca to Medina. Imagine the crusaders halting halfway to the gates of Jerusalem because of an SMS message. The course of world events would have...

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1 December 2006

Channel tunnels

No doubt you have also been part of the great Shah Rukh Khan-Kaun Banega Crorepati discussion that has swept the country over the last week. For the record, I accept some of the arguments that suggest that this extravagant experiment will not succeed. Who Wants to be a Millionaire, KBC’s videshi parent, is on the downslide everywhere in the world. KBC itself has lost its novelty value: in its last...

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27 November 2006

Is It News...or Is It an Ad?

Last month, FoxNews.com ran an article about Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert's postelection prospects. In the story, the words "house," "speaker" and "leadership" were underlined twice. The underlines weren't for emphasis -- they were clues that those words were doubling as advertisements. When readers moved their cursors over the underlined words, a pop-up advertisement would appear...

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19 November 2006

America's media bubble

THE UNITED STATES no longer controls the script. That's a reality Democratic congressional leaders must digest as they seek to recast America's relationship with the world. There used to be a time when the US media wrote the global narrative. The world saw itself through a largely American camera lens. No more. This week's launch of al-Jazeera International, the English speaking cousin to the...

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15 November 2006

Less News at Washington Post print newspaper

In a surprising memo to Washington Post staffers, Leonard Downie, Jr., executive editor, announced several general and specific shakeups "to maximize readership of the printed newspaper, build audience on the Web site and further reduce costs in the newsroom." This includes a plan to "shrink" the newsroom. "tightening up the paper's newshole," cracking down on story length and moving reporters and...

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