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February 27, 2014 media notes: Al Jazeera day of protest, LinkedIn's publishing move, phone-hacking trial evidence

2/27/2014

For Thursday, February 27, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

Al Jazeera today deemed a global day of action to protest the trials of four of its journalists in Egypt accused of supporting the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. The four have been held since December. Their arrests prompted an international outcry, so far to no avail.
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Adam Lashinsky, writing for Fortune, examines the move by LinkedIn to open its blogging platform (eventually) to all its members. He wonders if the company is becoming a publisher. LinkedIn prefers to see itself differently, with its publishing tool as a stronger connector within its network, a better driver of advertising revenue and recruitment information, and an inducement for more premium accounts. Lashinsky believes its next move may be to hire journalists.
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Three News Corp. reporters, a prison guard and a former police official have been charged in the U.K. probe into bribing public officials. Meantime, the phone-hacking trial has heard owner Rupert Murdoch wanted Rebekah Brooks as editor to make the Sun more fun and less about politics and that Brooks consented to payment to a public official for information when she believed there was an overwhelming public interest.

January 31, 2014 media notes: The New Yorker on Facebook, Hong Kong editor ousted, Egypt tries to reassure media

1/31/2014

Here are some media stories of interest Friday, January 31, 2014:

Vauhini Vara, writing for The New Yorker, offers an insightful piece on Facebook's effort to deliver relevant advertising to users. Vara examines the methods Facebook employs and questions the concerns raised recently that it has lost its grip on teenagers. The better area of study, Vara asserts, is how Facebook has figured out what people are interested in and what it does about it.

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The New York Times reports on the concerns following the recent ouster of the editor of Ming Pao in Hong Kong and the suspicion that the paper was vulnerable to political influence. The traditionally independent news source might be susceptible to an advance by the government in its affairs.

Meanwhile, Agence France Presse reports on how China is responding to U.S. criticism about its treatment of foreign journalists following the departure of a Times correspondent from the country. China says journalists are not being expelled and that the matter is a domestic issue.

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The situation remains blurry for the Al Jazeera journalists detained and facing trial in Egypt. The government has tried to quell accusations that it does not welcome foreign journalists and coverage of its political situation. It asserts that its laws permit contact with the Muslim Brotherhood but not if it assists or incites them. Further, its laws do not protect "thought and opinion" if it threatens national security.

January 3, 2014 media notes: Al Jazeera Egypt arrest, Netflix movie algorithm, Times Snowden editorial

1/3/2014

Here are some media notes for Friday, January 3, 2014:

An arrest of a journalist is typically followed by calls for release, including organizational outrage at the detention and wider concerns of the treatment individually and of the press generally. But what happens when the organization is itself delicately positioned in a country and itself the target of public complaint?

The Wall Street Journal examines the cautious campaign to free Al Jazeera English journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and three colleagues, held in Egypt since Sunday. Al Jazeera's Arabic network has been criticized for its coverage of the country in the months since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi for what is perceived to be sympathetic coverage of the Muslim Brotherhood. The legal endeavour to free Fahmy involves "tip-toeing around his affiliation," the WSJ says. Any criticism of the military would move Fahmy from a detainee to a criminally charged journalist.

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Alexis C. Madrigal, senior editor at The Atlantic, has a fascinating piece that helps explain how an algorithm can recommend content for the consumer. He focuses on Netflix and what he concluded are the 76,897 specific genres of movies it has identified in order to create an engine that leads consumers to the most relevant choices.

Madrigal goes another step: He spent weeks pulling apart what Netflix calls "altgenres" that help retain consumers, including the attributes of actors and details of plots, and concludes it is an enormous competitive advantage. To get there Netflix employ a small army of movie-watchers, gave them a 36-page guide to rate the films, and produced its metadata. The engine is affirmed by consumer patterns.

Madrigal speculates that while the algorithm couldn't necessarily make a film, it would be instrumental in helping someone determine what to make.

Felix Salmon of Reuters, meanwhile, takes a contrarian perspective. He says Netflix is losing access to big movies since it moved to streaming from DVDs and that its "dumbed-down" algorithm is largely shifting consumers to second-rate material because it cannot afford to buy the best content from Hollywood.

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When The New York Times published its editorial Thursday calling for clemency for former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, it likely expected strong reaction from both sides. Snowden, the source of information on U.S. surveillance programs, has been living in Russia. The Obama Administration has not indicated he can return home without facing prosecution, but the Times and the Guardian each wrote Thursday that his efforts should not be sending him to jail and that a deal should be sought to permit him to come back to America.

The Times' public editor, Margaret Sullivan, looks at the decision-making behind the editorial (she declares her agreement with it). The Times' editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, says that every so often an editorial goes beyond what is realistic to discuss what "should happen."

media notes 26.04.13

4/26/2013

Media notes for Friday, April 26, 2013:

South Africa pushed through contentious legislation Thursday that restricts access to information and imposes fines and penalties including jail time for journalists who publish what the government considers secrets. The Guardian notes there is widespread agreement that the bill's onerous measures have been reduced in the five-year debate since it was proposed, but critics believe there remains discretion for the government to curtail press freedom. Some see it as the first erosion of democracy since apartheid was eliminated in the country nearly two decades ago.

The English-language Egypt Independent closed abruptly Thursday. The New York TImes reports that the site, one of the most aggressive in chronicling political change in the country, was experiencing financial difficulties that investors said could not be surmounted. But it also notes that its staff believes there was a political motive in the closure because of the site's criticism of the president and the Muslim Brotherhood. That observation is shared in a commentary on Tahrir Squared.

A new law in England and Wales makes it tougher to sue. The New York Times reports that the bill passed Thursday does not switch the burden of proof from the defendant, but it offers some provisions to strengthen their position. They can, for instance, claim the information was published in good faith and that it was in the public interest. The bill also is aimed at reducing "libel tourism," in which people chose England as a litigation venue even when publicity of the information was minor there.

February 27, 2014 media notes: Al Jazeera day of protest, LinkedIn's publishing move, phone-hacking trial evidence

January 31, 2014 media notes: The New Yorker on Facebook, Hong Kong editor ousted, Egypt tries to reassure media

January 3, 2014 media notes: Al Jazeera Egypt arrest, Netflix movie algorithm, Times Snowden editorial

media notes 26.04.13

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