Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
Can you really run a web operation that has 300 million page views per day by using a tin cup to raise money? Probably not, even if your budget is only US$4.6 million per year. From latimes.com, posted March 10: When it comes to money, “we are about as unsophisticated as we could possibly be,” [...]
Thu, March 13 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Veteran Canadian journalist Geoffrey Stevens writes that people should now forget about Conrad Black, who is nothing more than a white-collar criminal and ultimately wasn't a particularly great newspaper operator. From straightgoods.ca, posted there on March 10: … Conrad Black may seem larger than life because media barons tend to command more attention in the [...]
Thu, March 13 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
This is an utterly weird story. From AP via CTV.ca: Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years — so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police. Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said [...]
Thu, March 13 2008 » Main Page, Minutiae » Comments Off
This Guardian piece offers vignettes from critics of various types who have had to deal with a bad reaction to their insights. I particularly liked this story from Phil Daoust, a former comedy critic: In 1998, a few months after I gave Steve Coogan's live show, The Man Who Thinks He's It, a lukewarm review, [...]
Thu, March 13 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From washingtonpost.com: Twenty-eight percent of the public is aware that nearly 4,000 U.S. personnel have died in Iraq over the past five years, while nearly half thinks the death tally is 3,000 or fewer and 23 percent think it is higher, according to an opinion survey released yesterday. The survey, by the Pew Research Center [...]
Thu, March 13 2008 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From the BBC: Thousands of people are taking part in “virtual protests” against countries accused of censoring the internet. For its first Online Free Expression Day, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has created virtual versions of nine public spaces. These areas where protests are not normally possible include Beijing's Tiananmen Square and Kim Il-Sung [...]
Thu, March 13 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From the BBC: Media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has expressed concern about the fate of five Sri Lankan journalists detained by the police. The Paris-based group also called for an explanation as to why anti-terrorist police arrested them last week. The journalists are being accused of receiving money from the Tamil Tiger rebel [...]
Thu, March 13 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Here's a CTV.ca feature I whipped up looking at Gary Hart, Slick Willie, JFK's adult love child and all the way back to the Profumo Affair and Gerda Munsinger. The topic comes up, obviously, as a result of one Mr. Spitzer's misfortunes.