In today’s Media Briefs: Why journalists like to compare presidents … Bing to challenge Google with Facebook recommendations … Front page of the day and more …
May, 2011
Crikey Says: Blackmail dangerous to your health
It’s not often you read a blackmail letter written by the CEO of a major company on the front pages major newspapers. But that’s what happened today when David Crow, managing director of British American Tobacco Australia, delivered a threat to the Australian government.
Guy Rundle: Final twist in The Oz’s war against Manning Clark
The Australian’s war against Manning Clark had a final twist this week when Fairfaxista Gerard Henderson weighed in.
The strange success of the Drudge legacy
US news websites get more traffic from an ugly old fashioned website than the do from Twitter or Facebook. The NYT explains why the site’s creator, Matt Drudge, has managed to maintain incredible influence in setting the news agenda.
Life at a blind radio station
Brisbane’s 4RPH battles all the typical community radio station troubles: no money, old equipment, but plenty of enthusiastic volunteers. The biggest difference? As a station for the print handicapped, many of those working are visually impaired.
Am I not pretty enough? Failed attempts to de-beautify Hollywood stars
Hollywood actors often endeavour to cheat their natural good looks in order to play unglamorous characters. Sometimes it works. The AV Club presents 17 occasions in which it didn’t.
Trump fires himself, let the real election begin
After months of speculation, Donald Trump finally declared that he won’t stand as a presidential nominee for the Republican ticket. Enough with the joke candidates, the Republican Party needs to figure out its game plan fast, warns Maggie Haberman.
How can a socialist public servant afford a $3000 hotel room?
Alleged rapist and IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn spends much of his time deciding how much — or little — money developing economies will get. But he enjoys an expansive expense account, first-class flights and multi-million dollar homes around the globe.
First impressions of Come Fly With Me
For those who are fans of Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ Little Britain there is nothing unexpected in new show Come Fly With Me. It’s the same formula, but diluted and minus the shock value in favour of a PG rating, says Matt Smith.
Carr: Malcolm Turnbull lives in immigration fantasy land
Malcolm Turnbull’s recent remarks calling for Shanghai style underground railways is lunacy. Such systems work with high density population, not urban sprawl, writes Bob Carr.
Why Microsoft had to buy Skype
It makes strategic sense that Microsoft happily bought Skype for the rather inflated price of US $8.5 billion, says Robert X Cringely. Microsoft needed a new market — telecommunications, but more importantly it needed to stop Google from buying Skype.
WIN deems Brits below the belt
In Little Britain, its usually “the computer says no”. In Australia it’s regional television operators NBN and WIN, owned by the mega-rich Gordon family, saying “no” to its creators.
Game-in-a-Box: Dragons over the Bulldogs again … just
The St George Illawarra Dragons headed into the weekend’s game against the Canterbury Bulldogs win a number of hard-fought recent wins under their belt, while the Bulldogs had struggled through a loss and a bye. Pat Byrne goes through the game.
theatre reviews Baal — Wharf 1, Sydney
Sydney Theatre Company’s new co-production, with Malthouse Melbourne, of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal is akin to the gulf wars waged by American imperialist forces: lots of shock and awe but little material result, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
Qantas does Dallas and keeps complaining about being Australian
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce celebrated the departure from Sydney to Dallas Forth Worth of its inaugural (and somewhat payload limited) non-stop 744ER service today with another declaration that its international business was losing money, reports Ben Sandilands.
Political snippets: A hasty decision on boat people
Julia Gillard is getting very close to looking like a Prime Ministerial joke.
Mark Scott: a future BBC boss?
The Guardian interviews ABC chief Mark Scott about life as a public broadcasting boss, the Murdochisation of the Australian media and the different battles facing the BBC compared to the ABC.
The book covers that never made the shelf
Book covers can be the most critical aspects of the entire publishing process, and when a new book is launched, up to 50 prototype cover designs get mocked up. These covers didn’t make the cut, but they are still intriguing works of beauty.
Malaysian detention ‘nothing short of hell’, say locals
Burmese asylum seekers hope Malaysia’s immigration deal with Australia will see them end up Down Under. They wait in conditions well below acceptable standards, according to local advocates. Stuart Ranfurlie reports from Kuala Lumpur.
Essential: voters unmoved by budget
Wayne Swan’s dour, participation-focused budget has left voters unmoved, with many professing a lack of interest or concluding it was neither good nor bad, according to today’s Essential Report.
Huckabee Fox off with ‘no ticker’, so who’ll kick-start GOP cause?
Would the real Republican candidates for president please stand up? The field of conservatives willing to challenge has gone from almost nobody to anybody with a book or TV show to sell.
Gottliebsen: an Olympic victory for BHP
Olympic Dam is the world’s most valuable mineral deposit and will go close to being the world’s biggest start-up mining development, writes Robert Gottliebsen, of Business Spectator.
Climate scientist rappers reveal why they did it
Earlier this week, Australian ABC show Hungry Beast screened an original rap video staring nine actual climate scientists, complete with “mutha f-cker”, a slammin’ gangsta baseline and scores of peer-reviewed science papers and decades of research to back it up, writes blogger Graham Readfearn writes:
Keane: media bias v political substance in the budget
Last week’s budget gave an insight in to three of the key reasons why Labor is in such trouble. This government, as no one needs reminding, has a reputation for incompetence.
