Global Media News

Google Rejects Request for Removal of Lewd Depiction of Kirchner de Fernandez

Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner may not be enthused by The Rockadictos music video. The video, “Una Mensaje Mas” by The Rockadictos, a Miami-based Argentine-Venezuelan rock band is animated and is sung in Spanish.  The Rockadictos released the music video in September 2012. Christina Fernandez is portrayed engaging in sexual activity, undressing and grouping herself.

 

According to South American Herald, Google revealed that they have received request from Argentina to remove the YouTube video. Google’s Transparency Report states that it receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world. The request to remove content from their services in the case of Argentina to remove the video from YouTube, Google announced, “We received a request to remove a YouTube video that allegedly defames the President by depicting her in a compromising position. We age-restricted the video in accordance with YouTube's Community Guidelines.”

Jason Collins comes out; other players react via Twitter

According to BleacherReport.com; Jason Collins,the center for the Washington Wizards has came out of the closet and openly admitted he is gay. He has been in the NBA for 11 years. The report came Monday morning. In a recent interview with SportsIllustrated Collins told reporters 

       

 Collins, is the first athlete in sports history to openly admit he is gay. He quickly gained the support of many players around the world of professional sports. Kobe Bryant took to twitter to express his support for Jason. Among the others supporters were, Lakers guard Steve Nash and center Pau Gasol. "Magic" Johnson also expressed his support for Collins. Johnson's son recently came out publicly as well. Jason Kidd an NBA legend also supports this decision and said it doesn't matter what his sexuality is and that he is a great friend and competitor. Seems like a lot of the big name stars around the NBA and other sports support Collins and his decision, maybe this will pave the way for other athletes to come out, seeing as they have the support from their teammates and other players around the league.

Not only did Collins get the support of NBA players, but Bill Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama also expressed there support for him.

Colombia Controlling Their Reputation

Media censorship in Colombia is subtle and very particular in comparison to other countries' media censorship. In an article/blog post on expat-chronicles.com, author, Colin, complains about Colombians' relentless attempt to give their country s good name.

In the eyes of many, Colombia is a place to find drugs and coffee. However, Colombians strive to improve their reputation for coffee, art, beautiful landscapes, and passion.

Rap artist DMX stated, "I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every time a gringo or gomelo complained that I 'perpetuate the negative image of Colombia.'

The problem is that Colombians don't want the media to portray a negative image of
Colombia. "My friend Joey was reading my copy of 'Killing Pablo' soon after arriving. Some Colombian gave him shit, told him he shouldn't be reading it! I couldn't believe that. One of the most compelling news stories from the continent, and the world's most famous criminal in a generation - he shouldn't be reading it."

Colombians try to restrict the media and censor stories and information that portray the country in a negative light.

Similar to the media campaign It's Colombia, not Columbia," this post shows the ways in which Colombians strive to control their reputation and put out a certain image, even if it means restricting certain information.

Expat-chronicles.com/2012/05/censorship-and-the-image-of-Colombia/

The Social Media War: Brazilian Newspapers vs Google

Back in October of 2012 Brazil's Newspapers decided to ban their information from google. The reason behind this decision was simply  because Brazil newspapers felt that they were getting the wrong end of the deal. Brazil's newspapers feels as if the Google is not doing their job to benefit both sides. 

 The BBC News reports: 

"Brazil's National Association of Newspapers says all 154 members had followed its recommendation to ban the search engine aggregator from using their content.

The papers say Google News refused to pay for content and was driving traffic away from their websites."

To hear Google that are not doing the simplest of tasks which they are know for is very unheard of. Google is known for providing information over the world to any who uses the search engine. Lately there seems to be a lot of countries pulling out of Google's search engine. 

The Guardian: quoted: National Association of Newspapers for Brazil, Carlos Fernando Lindenberg Neto

"Staying with Google News was not helping us grow our digital audiences, By providing the first few lines of our stories to internet users, the service reduces the chances that they will look at the entire story in our websites."

Brazil newspapers seems to be very upset and dissatisfied with the job Google has done and feels that a split is the best thing for all newspapers in the country. Google has been going though some problems with Brazil first the arrest of a Google senior executive for refusing to take down a video from YouTube and another similar event when a french newspaper company decided to pull its stories form Google. 

 

Argentina's Government and the Media

The current president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has long had a tumultuous relationship with the media in the country. According to the New York Times, Kirchner has been at war with the country's largest media conglomerate, the Clarín Group, since 2008. It seems that she chooses to fight with the media because, "With no credible opposition to speak of, the press makes for a convenient enemy."

Kirchner's government has fought against the Clarín Group in many ways. Not only has the government pushed through legislation to reduce the size of the so-called monopoly, they have also attacked the company for years of tax evasion - simply to have a reason to fight.

But, according to the New York Times, it seems like the government has far more of a monopoly on the media and the public's access to information than the Clarín Group ever will: "Television and radio stations are often required to broadcast Kirchner’s speeches nationally. There’s no law guaranteeing the right to access public information. And thanks to generous and discretional advertising by the government, there are now far more outlets than not that are sympathetic to its point of view."

Argentina is a country where the president has little opposition and so she attacks the media as a way of having someone to fight against. Photographs of Kirchner holding up the newspaper are a regular occurrence because she regularly criticizes the paper. According to the Clarín Group, the president has even redacted a speech in which she called the media the "chain of fear and discouragement".  It seems she would prefer a media which always wrote in her favor - but if they did, what would she fight against?

What is Facebook again?

With many new social media platforms on the rise,  people are beginning to question the status of Facebook. If you are in a room with about ten people between the ages of 13-50, eight out of the ten has an account on facebook. Two may not have an account, but have heard of it. And maybe five don't log in as much and are now thinking about deleting their account.

I myself have had a facebook account for years. Do I post pictures-No. Do I start talking and or chatting with friends-No. Do I write and give everybody a daily recap of my day to day escapades-No. But I do know some people that do. Am I going to delete my account, maybe.

According to guardian.co.uk, last month facebook lost about 6 million visitors from the United States. And within the last six months they lost almost 9 million monthly visitors in the US and 2 million in the UK. The US and the UK arent the only countries were are backing away facebook. Neighboring countries such as Canada, Japan, Spain, France, and Germany has been easing away from facebook.

One of the new biggest social platform currently is Instagram, a photo sharing site that has become so popular, that facebook decided to acquire it. Before this acquisition Instagram gained 30 million user within the 18 months. I am a frequent user of Instagram, I would have to say its rather addicted.

With articles titled, Facebook loses 1.4 million UK visitors in a MONTH as users switch social media, in the dailymail.co.uk it makes you wonder will facebook be a thing of the past. Will it sieze to exist like Myspace.

Social media and American politics

In this day and age many people are online using the Internet for all sorts of things like for shopping, social interactions, looking up the latest news around the world or just you know looking at pictures of cats. That a lot of the time, people use social networking sites to do these things and one trend for Americans that is being seen more on social network sites is americans talking about american politics. 

Examiner.com has reported that "A new survey released Thursday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicated that about 39 percent of Americans in this previous election participated in political activity on a SNS."  The reason for new percent of use for the last election has a lot do with the fact that "Social media networking services like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others were heavily exploited by the Obama administration and by the former Republican challenger Mitt Romney." 

That politicians or least their PR people notice that Americans are using social networking sites to talk American culture, it problems and politics.That politicians take advance of how fast they can get a statements out on a problem in America on the Internet than would if they use a news outlet. Also they are for reaching for a wider audience across America were it easier and faster to find campaign information on Internet than it is waiting for some politician's campaign Ad commercial to show up on TV. 

Should the Venezuelan Revolution Be Televised and Tweeted?

Venezuela: In recent months Venezuela has lost their President Hugo Chavez and been turned into a place of total disarray. Known to be a nation of closing down radio and television stations for speaking out against the government, Venezuela does not take kindly to unwelcome media practices. So, it was an obvious no-no when the topic on if the current revolution should be, not only televised, but tweeted as well. One television outlet, Globovision, is prepared to take it to the bitter end, while social network users are still tweeting.

    In March President Hugo Chavez died leaving the nation of Venezuela to hold an election between candidates Nicolás Maduro and Henrique Capriles. When Maduro won the election, supporters of Capriles took to the streets in violent protests. Many believed Henrique Capriles should have won. As these protests continued several were left dead and arrest warrants even issued for Henrique Capriles.

    As the hysteria over continues one television outlet called Globovision is preparing to cover the revolution and mass protests. That could be a problem however. Venezuela is not known for taking kindly to media outlets who go against the government. Maria Torres, a spokesperson for the National Association of Journalists in Venezuela, told Aljazeera.com this about government intollerance of media,

"The government has been intolerant of criticism, and Globovision has been stronger in their criticism compared with other media companies," 

    This could be a problem for the media outlet. However, they are not willing to give up. They are the nations sole remaining private TV outlet, the rest are state broadcasters. In the past the network has been fined massive sums for going against the government but it has done nothing to stop them from wanting to film this process. Many expect to lose their jobs over it and even get harmed but are still in it to the end. They are literally calling this the end of an era. Guillermo Zuloaga, Globovision's majority owner, said

"We are politically unfeasible, because we are in a totally polarised country and against a powerful government that wants to see us fail."

Image depicts the two candidates Nicolás Maduro and Henrique Capriles.

Provided byaljazeera.com

    Not only is Globovision getting in the mix, but so are social network users. Twitter users are voicing their opinions about the election, protests and revolution. Pictures of the massive demonstrations were tweeted and people voiced their oppositions over the newly elected president. It marked a strong protest on line and offline. Diosdado Cabello, one of Chávez’s aides, commented on the use of Twitter. 

"The opposition believes itself to be the owner of social networking. They think Twitter and Facebook is theirs. We are fighting the battle and we are 7 million militants who will have Twitter."

Global Media News Webcast #11: April 25, 2013

Media News from the Mexico and Central America!

 

Global Media News for Thursday, April 25, 2013

 

Global Media News is a weekly webcast covering media news from around the world.  GMN is a production of  Media Studies students from the SUNY College @ Old Westbury. 

This week on Global Media News:   "Media News from Mexico, Venezuela and El Salvador"

• Venezuelan President Maduro's Twitter Account Hacked?
• Are Journalists Disappearing in El Salvador?
• Duck!  Crime Apps Warning Mexicans about Dangerous Places
• Mexican Journalists under Attack?
• Spotify Invades Mexico

Next week on GMN:   Media News from Brazil & South America.

Listen to our webcast streaming live next week on Thursday, May 2 @ 11am EST.

Can't listen live? Our next webcast of the season will be posted by 2:00pm, Thursday, May 2, 2013.

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Brazil: The Social Media Capital of the Universe

        Brazil was named "the social media capital of the universe" by the Wall Street Journal. Brazil is a country that has a lot of potential for social media. According the the Wall Street Journal, "Twitter Inc. says Brazil has become one of the micro blogging company's top-five active user groups...People in Brazil are spending increasing amounts of time connected to social-media sites. Globally, the average time spent on Facebook dropped 2% to 361 average minutes per user per month by September 2012, compared with a year earlier, according to comScore research." Brazilians are very into keeping up with social media, even more so than the United States.

        Part of the reason Brazil thrives more than the United States in the social media world is because Brazilians are much friendlier than Americans. According to Alexandre Hohagen, vice president of Facebook's Latin America division, "In Brazil it's common for someone to start talking to you in the elevator or in a restaurant just to start a conversation." This is something that is not as common in the United States, Americans keep much more to themselves. This helps the social media sites thrive in Brazil.

        According to Social Media Today, "In many ways, Brazil is the ideal target for social media marketers – with a young, socially-connected population who are happy to engage with brands. While Facebook use reaches saturation point in North America and Europe, it’s still growing fast in Brazil." This means that social media sites are targeting the Brazilian culture more than any other country since this is where they have the room to expand and grow.