Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 15 March 2006 at 15:45
Tags: Citizen journalism, Journalism, Online
Self confessed technophobe Tony Blair will grapple with the challenges of technology when he answers questions from 10 members of the public via a video chat on MSN Messenger.
Blair is said to be particularly keen to be grilled on issues relating to climate change and Africa.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 8 March 2006 at 16:53
Tags: Journalism, Sunday Times, United States
Oh dear, oh dear. As we reported here on Monday, the Sunday Times a few weeks ago reported on a non-existent WHO report about the extinction of blondes, presumably by repeating 2002 news reports from the many papers that were fooled by the hoax when it first emerged.
Now the paper’s namesake in New York has compounded the error — by repeating the Sunday Times’ recent report.
Back when this story first emerged, the New York Times’ great rival, the Washington Post, ran a story showing how lax fact-checking had led the media echo-chamber to perpetuate the story. Now that is worth digging out of the archive.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 3 March 2006 at 13:19
Tags: Journalism, Libel, Privacy, Sport, Sun
So now we have a chance to find out what’s really going on with Ashley Cole.
In an amusing twist of fate, The Sun today revealed that future Mrs. Ashley Cole, pop star Cheryl Tweedie, will feature in an exclusive Sun webchat next week.
Tweedie and her fellow Girls Aloud band mates will take part in an online Q&A session courtesy of the The Sun.
The paper cheekily states:
So if there’s something you’d like to ask Sarah, Nadine, Cheryl, Kimberly or Nicole just go to www.thesun.co.uk/bizarre and give us your questions.
In a statement issued today Cole’s lawyers said: “There is no truth whatever in these allegations. Ashley Cole will not tolerate this kind of cowardly journalism or let it go unchallenged.”
“It is disgraceful that he should be faced with this kind of unpleasant insinuation and innuendo at a time when he is trying to focus on this summer’s World Cup and his forthcoming wedding.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 22 February 2006 at 16:57
Tags: Newspapers
US teen mag Seventeen struggles to find friends as it markets itself on MySpace.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 22 February 2006 at 16:00
Tags: Newspapers
Following on from last week’s comment, it looks like media owners are beginning to take notice of the fact that lots their archives are being made available on www.Youtube.com.
Founded in February 2005, by early commerce pioneers of PayPal, YouTube is a consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. Prior to YouTube, there was no easy way for individuals to share video on the Web. Dealing with hundreds of multimedia formats, massive file sizes and difficult uploading methods made sharing personal video clips on the Web a daunting task for even the most tech savvy individual.
CNet reports that US broadcaster NBC has kindly requested that the site pull several classic skits from Saturday Night Live as well as numerous over programmes. How many other broadcasters will follow suit? While a quick search through the content throws up 280 results for NBC, the BBC has a whopping 380 ranging from an interview with Noam Chomsky to the hideously scary mutating faces ad. Surely Aunty can’t be best pleased about possible copyright concerns.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 22 February 2006 at 15:26
Tags: Newspapers
Defense departments around the world may be getting slightly hot under the collar as Italy’s Rai News24 scoops an interview with Ali Shala al Kaisi, a former detainee at Abu Ghraib. The shocking images of him hooded with electrodes attached to his hands traveled across the world and led to serious questions being posed. Now Repubblica reports that he’s telling his side of the story on Italian TV and reveals that it wasn’t only Americans who were involved in torturing inmates.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 22 February 2006 at 14:20
Tags: Newspapers
Last week’s London Fashion Week had more launches than NASA. It seems Anna Wintour’s presence in the Big Smoke inspired aspiring fashion editors to seize the moment and put new mags onto the market. Harpers (Bazaar not Queen), Rubbish magazine (excellent launch party by the way) and all leapt on onto the scene during the shows but perhaps the most interesting contribution to the fashion scene of the future is Let Them Eat Cake.Â
The quarterly magazine lets the lowly fashion assistant out of the fashion cupboard and onto the covers in an exercise of creativity. It’s intended to be a platform for the next generation of journalists, stylists and illustrators currently struggling to make a name for themselves in the cut-throat fashion press. Who knows maybe the next Alexandra Shulman will be found on its pages.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 20 February 2006 at 16:09
Tags: Newspapers
Last night’s Bafta awards ceremony was unremarkable in terms of who won awards (the yanks), who wore what (Lacroix and Armani…again) and the weather (torrential downpour). However the clever bods at Orange craftily turned it into high profile opportunity to show the media that they’re on the ball with the whole citizen journalism thing.
In an amusing turning of the tables, Orange selected 15 competition winners to photograph the stars as they entered the awards ceremony. From their Orange ‘Waparazzi’ pen along the red carpet and armed with Motorola V3X camera phones Joe public flashed and snapped at the likes of George Clooney, Cristina Ricci and Thandie Newton.
“Our customers have been taking an interactive role in major news events,” said Orange spokesperson Hayley Lloyd. “Joe Public has already become a bit of a paparazzi by providing newspapers, magazines and television with images taken using camera phones.”
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 17 February 2006 at 12:38
Tags: Newspapers
While everyone else ponders how to jump on the internet “3.0″ bandwagon how about driving it? The kids who already know where its at are like so over the podcasting, blogging hype. Instead they’re using television to share media and not just the internet.
Posted by
Zoe Smith
on 7 February 2006 at 14:38
Tags: Magazines
Rubbish, a new fashion annual which celebrates the ‘silly side of style’ will launch next Thursday during London Fashion Week..
The twice-yearly magazine was created by Jenny Dyson, European Editor for US Teen Vogue, and her brother, writer, Jack Dyson.
 “There is a very straight dialogue when writing about style and there often isn’t much room for humour,” said Jenny. “Rubbish aims to do it in a fun way without compromising on the look of the magazine.”
The first edition, sponsored by Miss Selfridge, features heavyweight names including John Snow who models for the magazine and Spectator columnist Mary Killen. Yet Rubbish isn’t afraid to take an irreverent approach to the industry. The forth coming issue features a fashion shoot with clothes chosen by a blind folded stylists and portraits of designers as vegetables.
“People are too caught up with the idea of being cool, there’s a lot of Schadenfreude in the press and far too many ‘ooh yuck sweat patches’ or ‘ooh yuck cellulite’ stories about,” said Dyson. I want Rubbish to be clever and to make people laugh without it being at the expense of others.
