Channel Ten now taking programming direction from the blogosphereChannel Ten has decided to show the US version of The Office in an earlier timeslot due to pressure from bloggers, according to its new promos, which claim: “You blogged. We listened.”
November, 2009
Scientists create landmine-detecting bugs
Scientists have used DNA manipulation to create a new type of bacteria that glows green in the presence of explosives, and may be the future of landmine detection
The nine nations of China
We tend to think of China as one big monolithic empire, but in fact, it is more like nine very distinct and different regions, each with its own character and history. Patrick Chovanec redraws and rethinks the traditional map of China.
How Manny Pacquiao is single-handedly saving boxing
Boxer Manny Pacquiao just made history by winning his seventh title in seven different weight classes. But is biggest achievement has been putting boxing back in the headlines.
Video of the Day: Sarah Palin on Oprah
Go on, you know you want to watch…
Are we doing enough to save the bluefin tuna?
Fishing nations have agreed to cut the fishing of Bluefin tuna in the Atlantic by nearly 40% in 2010 — but is it enough to save the species from extinction? Not even close, according to some conservationists.
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A timeline of global media scares
From Y2K to swine flu, the biggest media scare stories of the past decade and the amount of panicky press they received, laid out in graph form. Who knew asteroid collisions were such a frequent and ongoing threat?
Sarah Palin goes rogue on Oprah: the liveblog
Can’t wait until Sarah Palin’s Oprah appearance hits our screens? Media Alley has a minute-by-minute account, including videos, as Palin talks Levi, 2012, Hillary and her new book.
Is Newsweek censoring its letters page?
After running a cover feature on Al Gore, 74% of the letters Newsweek received in response were negative. Yet, according to NewsBusters, the magazine ran only positive letters in its following edition. And it’s not the first time.
Fiction is dead; long live the autobiography!
What’s with the spate of tell-alls, autobiographies and memoirs lately? According to a new book, it’s all about the “democratisation” of authorship: everyone has a story to tell, and it’s now easier than ever to tell it.
The repugnant case of Omar Khadr
The US is still refusing to release or repatriate Canadian citizen and terror suspect Omar Khadr, who was arrested in 2002 in Afghanistan at the age of 15 and has been detained in Guantanamo Bay ever since, says Greg Barns.
China fails to fall in love with Obama
US President Barack Obama is on a diplomatic visit to China, but is struggling to win the country’s citizens over with his usually irresistible charms. Perhaps it’s because he’s being kept on a tight leash and well away from the media spotlight.
Clennell: Nathan Rees vs. the world
Nathan Rees’ “fresh approach” to government is already looking stale, say Andrew Clennell and Louise Hall, putting up a hostile front to critic, the media and fellow MPs as he continues to play party politics.
How Rees’ secret plot unfolded
Nathan Rees’ axing of ministers Joe Tripodi and Ian Macdonald was a carefully plotted and highly secretive affair, according to Labor insiders. The Tele reveals how it all unfolded “under the cover of darkness”. Straight out of Le Carré!
Why Murdoch won’t ditch Google
Rupert Murdoch’s threat to pull all News Corp sites from Google’s search index may not be as dire for the mastheads as many are predicting — but chances are he won’t follow through on it anyway: he’ll just erect even higher paywalls.
Oxford Word of the Year: Unfriend
Oxford University Press has named Facebook term “unfriend” as its 2009 Word of the Year. Other contenders included “hashtag”, “paywall”, “birther” and “zombie bank”.
Former British Corporal: My entire unit abused Iraqi civilians
A former British soldier convicted of war crimes in Iraq claims his entire unit physically abused Iraqi detainees, kicking and punching them while down, threatening to set them alight and holding guns to their heads.
Shanahan: Australians dissatisfied with Rudd’s boat bungles
Amid the Government’s stand-off with asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking, Kevin Rudd’s dissatisfaction rating has risen to 34% — a 10-percentage point rise since 1 October and the highest since September last year, says Dennis Shanahan
Possum: Polling volatility is the new black
The latest Newspoll looks to be a more historically consistent result with all the metrics now back in lockstep, says Possum Comitatus. And while Rudd’s satisfaction has been down, a complimentary boost to Turnbull hasn’t eventuated.
Is colour a limited resource?
The colour palette is shrinking as brands stake their claim, bit-by-bit, on the exclusive rights to individual tones. You already can’t use Jay-Z blue, or T-Mobile’s magenta. Are we literally selling off the rainbow?
Newspoll: ALP bounces back
The eagerly awaited Newspoll results are in: Labor bouncing from last fortnight’s 52-48 quirk to 56-44. Meanwhile, the latest Essential report has lurched from 59-41 to 55-45, the lowest lead for Labor so far.
Israel lobby funds another media tour. Read all about it
Sadly the SMH’s Peter Hartcher joins a long line of Australian journalists and politicians taking free Zionist lobby trips to Israel and miraculously returning with glorious tales of Jewish heroism, writes Antony Loewenstein.
The big problem in prosecuting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: torture
Prosecuting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the confessed architect of 9/11, should be a no-brainer. But the torture he endured at the hands of Guantanamo interrogators may have ruined the entire case.
A long way from “Yes We Can”
Yes We Can’t — that’s the new message on climate change from Barack Obama and other world leaders, who have now made a “realistic assessment” on Copenhagen: a climate treaty is “unrealistic”.
