With Fox and MSNBC veering to the right and left respectively, CNN are struggling to pull the ratings by steering a middle ideological path.
April, 2009
Hollywood feels the pinch with film production at standstill
Hollywood’s movie production has plummeted in the global financial crisis, sending 75-80% of Los Angeles-based technicians and film crew workers to the unemployment line.
Keira Knightley’s anti-violence advert banned
An anti-domestic violence advert starring Keira Knightley has been banned from British television after it was branded too violent by advertising censors.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turn 25, plan new movie
Wouldya believe it — those gnarly, product-placed, mutant, crime fighting terrapins are a quarter of a century old. Time for another bad CGI movie!
Will Fast Food award deny youth jobs?
Changes to the Fast Food Industry Award will make it more expensive to hire young workers. Michael Stutchbury claims it’s “madness”.
graph pr0n 
Political maps of Australia at booth level
Possum uses GPS, election data and the power of maths to create an Australian political map that shows voting preference by polling booth.
Deathbed reprieve for Dick Pratt
The prosecution has dropped the criminal case against Richard Pratt. But the dying mogul’s lawyers aren’t happy. And neither is the ACCC.
GM closes brands, cuts 20% of marketing staff
Marketing at General Motors is starting to resemble stuffing towels into the bow of the Titanic, as they cut staff and prepare to shut the Pontiac and Saturn brands.
What gadgets are early adopters searching for?
HitWise share a sample of what people in their early technology adopter demographic groups have been searching for recently.
Facebook opens site to developers
Facebook are opening up streams of content such as user status updates to third-party developers so they can build new services on top of it — and presumably become even more like Twitter.
Flu pandemic: History says don’t panic
Whether it’s anthrax, mad cow disease, foot-and-mouth disease, bird flu or, going back to the 1990s, ebola, the news of an outbreak causes fear unjustified by the reality.
Q& A with a Somali leader on dealing with pirates
Puntland leader Abdirahman Mohamed Farole discusses his plans to break the scourge of piracy in the Somali region.
The new war in Dagestan
Russia’s North Caucasus has been plagued with violence since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its capital Dagestan is a hotbed for terrorism and has become a new outpost for Chechen rebels.
What Chávez has wrought
The authoritarian socialist has brought Venezuela food shortages and massive inflation, writes Duncan Currie.
Stuff we like: Home funerals and feminist weddings
Can feminists get married? And other important questions of our time.
A glossary of important recession terms
Do you know your jetpooling from your donkeynomics? A dictionary of GFC buzz words to see you through the crunch.
Is more news good news?
There are reports that Ten is considering expanding its one-hour 5pm news bulletin to 90 minutes. But do we need three versions of news at 6pm?
Freeview launches phase two with some deja vu
Freeview launched the second phase of their campaign with a new-look website and roadblock TV ads, but there’s a striking similarity between the new Freeview ads and a previous Foxtel campaign.
Is the global recession affecting your health?
Four years from now, we will be in the midst of the longest debt deflation episode in post-war history and our health will be failing.
Britain’s rich get far less so
Britain’s richest people have lost $319.03 billion in just 12 months. And there are now 32 fewer billionaires than before.
$A top notch says New York mag
Australia has weathered the global financial crisis far better than its peers, says Manhattan magazine favoured by socialites.
Fox News rejects Obama press conference
On Wednesday, Fox will show its drama Lie to Me instead of the President’s speech. Apparently, networks are getting grumpy about Obama hogging prime-time slots to chat to the nation about unimportant things like pandemics and the GFC.
Nouriel Roubini: the interview
The man credited with predicting the 2008 meltdown sits down with the Washington Post.
Pandemic panic: should doctors sound the alarm?
Health officials dealing with swine flu are in a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” situation.
2020 Summit falls for health tech-fixes
The Government’s response to the 2020 ideas summit illustrates, once more, the enduring allure of the techno-fix. If boosting research into the bionic eye is the best idea, then we need better vision.
