Global Media News

Joseph Pulitzer: Advice for Editors and Reporters, 1897, 1910

Reporter Ben Walsh (Palewire) selected  the two following pieces editorial philosophy from a biography of  Joseph Pulitizer:

"Joseph Pulitzer's instructions on how to best edit a newspaper, as delivered to a new managing editor circa 1910, according to W.A. Swanberg's biography, "Pulitzer.":

Pulitzer on drawing the line between advertising and editorial content:

"Messages to the staff of the New York World sent in 1897 by the newspaper's publisher, Joseph Pulitzer. Drawn from page 219 of W.A. Swanberg's biography, "Pulitzer.""

Fascination with Korean TV Drama

It feels like it was just yesterday when I was channel surfing one night and stumbled on an Asian show with sub-titles. It seemed interesting, so I continued to watch it. A few days later I found myself at 11pm watching the same show. Like bait to a fish I was hooked. I loved the story line, the music, and I loved the culture.

This was in 2004 when I lived in Philadelphia, nine years later back in New York City I find myself more in-depth with the Korea culture and their language. I can tell if someone is speaking Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. I know how to say thank you, hello, good-bye, and how are you. If someone is speaking Korean I can even catch words and phrases and know their meaning. I can attribute all of this to my watching of Kdramas.

 I never thought this would be a phenomenon, until four years ago when my niece who also lives in Philadelphia was watching a Kdrama via online. I wasn't really surprised my niece was fascinated with Kdrama, because as a child she was engrossed in Japanese anime movies, and TV shows. She even took Japanese as a second language in grade school. She actually got into the kdrama because her other aunt would watch it and she fell in love with the culture.

I was shocked never knew it was online, I never imagined or thought to google it. My niece told me all the platforms that were available to watch not only Kdramas, but dramas from China, Japan, and Taiwan. The site is Drama Style, Viki(similar to hulu), Drama Fever, and there were more. On these sites there were also movies, and American movies as well. It was great.

 

Kdrama can be watched by all ages. The dramas are very PG. There are also all types of dramas such as a family drama, an action drama, a teen drama, and historical dramas. Unlike American dramas where sex is displayed all the time, in Kdramas kissing is like having sex.

According to PR Newswire, Tom Larsen, President, YA Entertainment.

"The 'Korean Wave' and high quality K-dramas have captivated US audiences, including a growing viewership turned off by the sex, gore, and violence that drives today's American entertainment industry."

Could it be Americans want to watch something that has a happy ending?  Are Americans over the raunchiness and over the top sex craze on TV. Maybe. This past year we have lost iconic daytime soap operas that have been on for years on TV. One by one we are losing what made American soap a hot thing to watch.

According to Korea Observer, Kdramas are a big hit in the Philippines. The people there are so influenced by the dramas that they Filipinos dress like the actors on the show and even have the same hairstyles.

The best thing about a Kdrama is (drumroll please) they end. A storyline ends and I can watch another. Most of the shows can run about 16-20 episodes and is about a 30-45 minutes per episode. Others can be 50 episodes, but those are usally the long dragging ones that needed to end around episode 30. Historical dramas can be around 150 episodes depending on the storyline.

I love watching my Kdramas and the fact that I am able to pick up and watch it whenever I am available is great.

 

Bloggers Jailed and Detained in Vietnam

    Bloggers in Vietnam have become the target an Internet crackdown. The International Federation for Human Rights  (FIDH) has documented violations of the right to freedom of expression. According to the report, “Bloggers and Netizens Behind Bars: Restriction on Internet Freedom in Vietnam” 32 bloggers and netizens are being detained, charged, and/or sentenced to prison time in Vietnam.

    FIDH says that bloggers resort to the Internet to voice political opinions, expose corruption, and show officials abusing power. Together, the prison terms range from 2 to 16 years.    

    According to The Australian, three Vietnamese journalists, Nguyen Van Hai, Ta Phong Tan, and Phan Thanh Hai were all jailed up to 12 years in September 2012 for creating the Club of Free Journalist.

    The Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) reports that in 2012, Vietnam imprisoned 14 reporters, making Vietnam the 6^th leading prison to jail journalist. 13 of the 14 journalists were imprisoned for frequently publishing on independent blogs or other online publications. 

Foreigners allowed mobile internet use in North Korea

Foreigners in North Korea will soon be allowed to use the mobile internet on their cell phones, Ipads and other mobile devices.  The mobile Internet service will be offered by provider Koryolink.  However, North Korean citizens will still not have access to the mobile Internet. 

    This story comes from FOX News.  This announcement comes weeks after North Korea began allowing foreigners to bring their own cell phones into the country, but only to be used use with Koryolink SIM cards.  This new policy reverses a longstanding rule requiring most visitors to relinquish their phones at customs and leaving many without easy means of communication with the outside world. 

    North Koreans, however will remained to be governed by a separate set of telecommunication rules than that of foreigners.  Though North Korea is equipped for broadband Internet, only a small, approved segment of the population has access to the World Wide Web.  Radio Free Asia reports that North Koreans will be allowed to access only certain 3G services.  These services include SMS, MMS, and video calls. They will also be able to subscribe to a state run newspaper but only this one source.

Foreigners will be allowed to purchase monthly mobile Internet data plans for use with a USB modem or on mobile devices using their SIM cards starting next week. Prices have not been announced yet. 

It is not yet known if the internet will be open or have restricted sites.

 "I think this policy is just a simple trick to earn foreign currency," said Eunkyoung Kwon, manager of International Affairs at Open North Korea.

    I think this shows that North Korea is becoming more open to the outside world.  Hopefully in the near future North Korean citizens will be given more freedoms such as complete internet access. 

Iran sets New Restrictions for Internet Cafes

    Iran's cyber police have imposed more restrictions on internet cafes. They have issued a list of 20 new requirements that must be complied with within 15 days by all such businesses or else they will face prosecution. This news comes fromNCR-Iran.

    Cyber police have said that all businesses that offer internet services must be owned by "committed, married individuals that have no criminal or judicial records."

    The cafes must now also keep details of their customers' identities, including their address, national number and telephone number.

    The businesses also have to keep detailed records of when and how their customers used the internet, including a list of the websites they visited. The information must be kept for a minimum of six months.

Setting up 24-hour surveillance cameras and keeping those recordings for up to six months is another requirement for internet cafes.

    Also the use of VPNs, technology that allows users to go around internet blocking, is also forbidden in internet cafes.  VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, are used to get around internet firewalls.  The shutdown of VPN ports takes away the ability for Iranian citizens to get on to sites that they could usually get on.  "Within the last few days illegal VPN ports in the country have been blocked," said Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard.  This comes from Reuters. 

    This is yet another example of the lack of internet freedom in iran.

Pro-Reform Journalists Arrested In Iran

Two pro-reform journalists have been arrested in Iran. This news comes from the guardian.  Managing editor Mohammad Mahdi Emami Nasseri and political editor Ali Reza Aghaeirad were reported detained on March 6.

    ISNA, the Iranian Students' News Agency, said the journalists were detained by agents from the Tehran prosecutor's office. Their arrests were linked to last month's publication of an article that criticized the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.   

According to the Huffington Post three reformist periodicals have been banned by the prosecutor’s office.  The Huffington post says “The latest moves are seen in the context of rivalries among political factions ahead of June's presidential election.”

    "Iran began a wave of arrests on January 27, what is now called 'Black Sunday,' the day authorities detained at least 14 journalists affiliated with reformist news outlets. In all, 23 journalists, including Nasseri, Aghaeirad, Kurdpour, and Ahmadi, have been arrested since then. At least five are still being held behind bars, along with dozens of other journalists who have been held for months or years." said the Commitee to Protect Journalists.

    Iran has maintained a "revolving-door policy" for imprisoning journalists.  Some have beem freed on furloughs, though new arrests are still being made.  The prosecutions targeting media come in preparations for Iran’s June presidential election. 

    This is just another example of the lack of media freedom and politics in the middle east and Iran.  i think it is difficult for many Americans to understand how lucky we are to be able to say, or write, or tweet anything without being arrested.

India's politicians using social media to attract voters.

  In an attempt to connect with India's growing internet users, the Finance Minister P Chidambaram recently joined a google hangout session to take questions from young students, analysts and even farmers, about his budget. This news comes from the BBC

    His hangout session lasted over an hour with over 38,200 views on YouTube on the day.  It was also broadcast live by most mainstream news channels in India.  American Vice President Joe Biden has also engaged in a google hangout recently.

   " At the end of 2012, it was estimated that India had more than 150 million internet users, which is the same number of television sets in the country.  Of this, 65 million are Facebook users and Twitter has an estimated 35 million accounts."

Although a small percentage of people in india are on the internet they still rank in the top 3 internet markets in the world.

    Indian politicians have been making a push to be more active on social media with the latest election coming up, which is a strategy American politicians have be using lately.  Although the accounts may not actually be run by the politicians themselves they provide information about campaigns.

    Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is often been criticised for being inaccessible to the media.  He started a Twitter account last year to inform people about the work done by his office.          

    

    But some would say the push to be active online is because of the number of incidents with social media the Indian government has had in the past year

    In November, two women were arrested over a comment on Facebook.

    In 2011, the government announced that it would introduce guidelines to ensure "blasphemous material" did not appear on the internet.

    The government is looking at setting up a social media wing in charge of publicizing the initiatives of all ministries and government departments.

    This shows the Indian government is becoming more open to social media and the internet in general.  This is a strategy we have seen in America.  Both presidential and vice presidential candidates had active twitter accounts during the last election.  I think social media and politics mixing is good because I think it allows more people to have their voice heard.  We live in a time now were, because of social media and the internet, anybody can share their voice on the internet.

Scottish Soccer Player Charged for Racist Tweet

Scottish soccer player Leigh Griffiths has been arrested and charged under the Communications Act.  This news comes from BBC News.  Griffiths has made bail and will report to court at a later date.  Section 127 of the United Kingdoms Communications act states

"(1)A person is guilty of an offence if he—

(a)sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; o

(b)causes any such message or matter to be so sent."

 

     Griffiths tweet directed at Zak Iqba, was deemed racist for saying "back to your own country"      

                A similar situation occurred about a year ago, but this time a soccer player was on the receiving end of the abuse.  Soccer players Ashley Cole and Ashley Young were abused by fans on twitter after missing key kicks in a soccer game.  This comes from an article in The Guardian.  Due to the abuse on twitter an investigation was launched.  No arrests were made.                              

    While I do agree the comment was racist and uncalled for i do believe in freedom of speech.  I dont believe that there should be criminal charges against comments made on a social networking site.  I think matters such as this should be left to the website to deal with.  I believe the proper action would be for twitter to delete the comment and ban Griffiths account and no police charges.

Guardian Twitter accounts hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army

    Twitter accounts belonging to The Guardian newspaper have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army.  This news comes from the BBC.

    The hackers have been  breaking into high profile Twitter accounts in recent weeks including their attack on AP's Twitter account when they posted fake news of an explosion at the White House.  Several official BBC Twitter accounts were also hacked by the same group last month.

            In the most recent incident, unauthorized messages were posted from the newspaper's @GuardianSustBiz and @BusinessDesk accounts.

 

    According to some media reports, a total of 11 accounts belonging to The Guardian were hijacked. Although some have been recovered, others appear to still be under the control of the group or to have been suspended by Twitter security.                                                                                                                           

Nicolas Maduro's Twitter Hacked by Rival Candidate?

     According to Agence France-Presse's article on Raw Story, Nicolas Maduro's twitter may have been hacked by supporters of rival candidate, Henrique Capriles. Maduro's twitter was hacked just moments before he defeated Capriles to become President of Venezuela.

     The messages left by well known hacker @lulzsecperu read: "Electoral Fraud by @lulzsecperu" and "HACKED BY @LULZSECPERU." These messages showed up as polls were closing.

     Maduro's campaign chief, Jorge Rodriguez, says "This is yet another sign of the enormous desperation of opposition supporters and their candidate rival candidate Henrique Capriles." Rodriguez went on to say "dirty campaign from Bogota… which has sought to muddy the electoral process.”

     Maduro is quoted accusing Venezuelan political adviser Juan Jose Rendon, who works with the Capriles campaign, of being involved with  “dirty war to poison the electoral process and show hatred in the country.”

     According to the Huffington Post @lulzsecperu also wrote jokes for Maduro's 700,000 followers. "Thank you to all of those who follow me on this Twitter account," Tweeted @lulzsecperu. "I just got 700,000 followers in record time." Over 11 tweets were sent over a 2 hour time span making fun of Maduro and promoting @lulzsecperu.

     Maduro's Twitter was not hacked by Capriles, but the message is loud and clear. The hacker thinks Capriles should have won the election. Maduro still does not have access to his account. Like Chavez, Maduro worked very hard to market himself through social media. The supporters of Capriles can do nothing but be a nuisance to Maduro, and they are definitely succeeding.

     Many people say Maduro was the "hand picked" successor to Chavez. Chavez was well known for his rants on Venezuelian television. Maybe Maduro had planned to use his twitter account to do the same. We will not know anytime soon because the account is still controlled by @lulzsecperu.