Media News - Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Obama surfs the Web to the White House

Did Barack Obama's MySpace and Facebook friends help put him in the White House? Did he Twitter his way to the top? Social networks and Twitter messages may have helped but analysts agree it was the Democrat's impressive online organization and Internet fund-raising that fueled his victory over Republican John McCain in Tuesday's election. 'No one's going to say Obama won the election because of the Internet but he wouldn't have been able to win without it,' said Julie Germany, director of George Washington University's Institute for Politics Democracy & the Internet. 'From the very beginning the Obama campaign used the Internet as a tool to organize all of its efforts online and offline,' Germany told AFP. Both campaigns used the Web for fund-raising but Obama with considerably more success, pulling in tens of millions of dollars more than McCain online. Both campaigns had similarly slick official websites, cultivated bloggers and made heavy use of YouTube, creating their own channels on the video-sharing site which did not even exist four years ago to help push their message. But the Obama campaign took its efforts one step further, creating a massive grass-roots online network of volunteers. 'What we're talking about is a very sophisticated, very elaborate database that allowed the Obama campaign to microtarget all of its efforts online and offline,' she said. 'They used emails to communicate with people with messages relevant to their districts and relevant to the issues that they cared about and to organize and mobilize get-out-the-vote efforts,' Germany said. (AFP)

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Sudan journalists on mass hunger strike

Sudanese journalists launched a mass hunger strike on Tuesday, and three independent newspapers stopped work for three days in the country's biggest organised media protest against draconian censorship. Between 150 and 300 journalists began a 24-hour hunger strike and the Ajras Al-Hurriya, Al-Maidan and Rayal Al-Shab newspapers halted production, saying they could no longer accept government restrictions over editorial content. Sudan's interim constitution, which is supposed to guide the country through a six-year phased implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended two decades of civil war, upholds freedom of the press and expression. But laws guaranteeing press freedom have yet to be passed, and security officials inspect the editions of every newspaper nightly. Editors who resist censorship risk their publications being banned outright or confiscated from distribution offices. Journalists say news articles and editorials are banned, particularly on subjects deemed particularly sensitive such as the conflict in Darfur, corruption and human rights. Sudan's robust media includes around 30 independent dailies, representing a range of political views, according to Reporters Without Borders. (AFP)

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China: Reporter’s suit challenges China’s media controls

A Chinese reporter whose newspaper was closed for three months after she wrote an article that criticized one of China's largest banks has sued the government, her lawyer said Tuesday. In a rare challenge to Communist Party control over Chinese media, journalist Cui Fan filed a lawsuit last Wednesday charging that authorities did not have the right to shut down the China Business Post for publishing her article that alleged the Agricultural Bank of China had committed forgery. Cui's article said a branch of the bank in Hunan province had forged official seals in order to dispose of CNY 4.6bn (EUR 530m) in bad assets. The China Business Post was ordered closed on Sept. 8 for three months by the Bureau of Press and Publications in Inner Mongolia where it is registered. The newspaper, which is state-owned but managed by a private company, sells about 400,000 copies nationwide. Cui was suing on grounds that under China's press regulations, the government can legally stop distribution of a particular issue of a newspaper but that authority does not extend to suspending a publication for three months, according to Cui's attorney, Zhou Ze. Zhou said the lawsuit filed in the local court of the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot seeks the reopening of the newspaper, an apology from the press bureau, compensation and legal fees. Zhou said he was not optimistic about winning the case in China's state-controlled court system. (AP)

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US regulator agrees to open American radio spectrum

Over the objections of television broadcasters, U.S. regulators on Tuesday approved use of a disputed slice of radio spectrum for public use in hopes that it will lead to development of low-cost, higher-speed Internet access and a new generation of wired devices. The Federal Communications Commission voted 5 to 0 to approve the use of the public use of the unlicensed frequencies, which are known as 'white spaces.' A coalition of powerful groups, including broadcasters, Broadway theater producers and sporting franchises, hoped to derail or delay the decision. They have argued that their own transmissions - whether of television signals or wireless microphones used in live music performances - could be interfered with by devices that use the 'white spaces.' But the agency's commissioners said in a public meeting during which their vote took place that they felt confident that sufficient testing had been done to assure that spectrum interference was not a major risk. They said the measure could lead to Internet access that is the more powerful than Wi-Fi, which transmits signals over unlicensed frequencies less reliable than white spaces. (International Herald Tribune)

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CNN debuts hologram reporters

Broadcaster CNN has pulled out all the stops in its coverage of the US election by using Star Wars-style holograms to interview journalists. On the program The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, journalist Jessica Yellin appeared to be projected onto the floor as she was interviewed by the show's host. Newspaper USA Today reported the news channel used 20 computers and 44 cameras in remote locations to record 360-degree imaging data of the interviewee which is then transmitted and processed by another system in New York. CNN senior vice president David Bohrman said TV screens allowed interview subjects to see Mr Blitzer and screens in the main studio allowed him to see interviewees. No actual holograms are projected into the studio, however. Instead, the holographic images are added into the broadcast similar to the use of a 'green screen' for special effects in movies. In Hollywood, actors play out scenes in front of 'green screens' which are then digitally removed to add background action or other effects. CNN has also used a hologram of the Washington Capitol Building, which presents how power is changing in the US congress. Mr Bohrman told USA Today he had dreamed about using the effect made famous in Star Wars but until recently TV networks did not have computers capable of achieving it in real time. CNN was not the only network using cutting edge technology in its election broadcasts with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News also using high tech touch screens, allowing presenters to analyse detailed results in real time. (Brisbane Times)

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Newspaper claims exclusive with Obama victory story

Readers of the New Mexico Sun must be wondering what all the fuss is about. As far as they are concerned, the election ended 10 days ago when the paper splashed the headline: Obama Wins! in bold red typeface. According to CNN, the bi-monthly newspaper couldn't wait until its next edition - three days after the election - to declare the result, so it took a leap of faith and called it for Barack Obama on October 26. In an article explaining their choice, the editors wrote: 'When it comes to calling the winner of a presidential election, everyone wants to be first. The New Mexico Sun News hereby claims that achievement.' The liberal leaning alternative newspaper ended by imploring its readers to get out and vote, 'even if we did spoil the ending for you'. (Belfast Telegraph)

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