Here are some media stories of note for Friday, July 12, 2013:
Margaret Sullivan, The New York Times' public editor, reviews a recent article in which anonymous sources speculated that Edward Snowden unwittingly leaked state secrets to China while he was in Hong Kong. She wonders how acceptable it was to include anonymous speculation of that sort, given the reputational damage possible for Snowden. She concludes that the Times should have thought more about publishing the speculation.
Jeff Jarvis, writing for The Guardian, pursues a recent theme in his Buzzmachine blog about who is a journalist. He notes the trial of Bradley Manning, on trial accused of providing government cables to WikiLeaks, and the testimony by Harvard scholar Yochai Benkler, who told the court that journalism today involves networks. Any effort to chill citizens from participating in that network will have an impact on a free press, Benkler said. What may determine the fate of Manning (and possibly Edward Snowden if he comes to trial) is whether the leaks of secret holdings were made to journalistic organizations --- thus the debate on who is a journalist and what is a journalism organization.
Peter Kafka, writing for AllThingsDigital, has a look at a new report on tablets that suggest they are tethered almost always to WiFi. Only one in five tablets sold have chips for data connection, only half of those are ever activated, and about half of those are deactivated along the way. While it is possible someone is looking at this site from the middle of a field, Kafka suggests it's far more likely someone is looking from a desk in an office.
Margaret Sullivan, The New York Times' public editor, reviews a recent article in which anonymous sources speculated that Edward Snowden unwittingly leaked state secrets to China while he was in Hong Kong. She wonders how acceptable it was to include anonymous speculation of that sort, given the reputational damage possible for Snowden. She concludes that the Times should have thought more about publishing the speculation.
Jeff Jarvis, writing for The Guardian, pursues a recent theme in his Buzzmachine blog about who is a journalist. He notes the trial of Bradley Manning, on trial accused of providing government cables to WikiLeaks, and the testimony by Harvard scholar Yochai Benkler, who told the court that journalism today involves networks. Any effort to chill citizens from participating in that network will have an impact on a free press, Benkler said. What may determine the fate of Manning (and possibly Edward Snowden if he comes to trial) is whether the leaks of secret holdings were made to journalistic organizations --- thus the debate on who is a journalist and what is a journalism organization.
Peter Kafka, writing for AllThingsDigital, has a look at a new report on tablets that suggest they are tethered almost always to WiFi. Only one in five tablets sold have chips for data connection, only half of those are ever activated, and about half of those are deactivated along the way. While it is possible someone is looking at this site from the middle of a field, Kafka suggests it's far more likely someone is looking from a desk in an office.
