30 maio 2003

ECO-TERROR
US finds evidence of WMD at last - buried in a field near Maryland: The good news for the Pentagon yesterday was that its investigators had finally unearthed evidence of weapons of mass destruction, including 100 vials of anthrax and other dangerous bacteria.
The bad news was that the stash was found, not in Iraq, but fewer than 50 miles from Washington, near Fort Detrick in the Maryland countryside.
The anthrax was a non-virulent strain, and the discoveries are apparently remnants of an abandoned germ warfare programme.
VITAMEDIAS
Blogs: The Next Big Thing: The unanswered question at this point is what direction the blog scene will go in. What will blogging be like in five years?
VITAMEDIAS
Weblog Ethics:
1. Publish as fact only that which you believe to be true.
2. If material exists online, link to it when you reference it.
3. Publicly correct any misinformation.
4. Write each entry as if it could not be changed; add to, but do not rewrite or delete, any entry.
5. Disclose any conflict of interest.
6. Note questionable and biased sources.
diez consejos para una bitácora mejor:
1. Escoge una herramienta de actualización que sea fácil de usar.
2. Determina tu objetivo.
3. Conoce a tu público potencial.
4. Sé real.
5. Escribe acerca de lo que amas.
6. Actualiza con frecuencia.
7. Construye tu credibilidad.
8. Enlaza a tus fuentes.
9. Enlaza a otras bitácoras.
10. Sé paciente.
Consejo extra: ¡Diviértete!.
CONTAMINANTES
SARS and the Patent Race: What Can We Learn from the HIV/AIDS Crisis?
Scientists and doctors are engaging in a friendly race to search for treatments for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Meanwhile, their lawyers have been engaging in a totally different race.
In the past month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the British Columbia Cancer Agency, and the University of Hong Kong have been battling to patent the coronavirus that is believed to cause SARS.
Although no institution can currently claim a monopoly on the treatments for the disease, the patenting race has sparked major concern in the public health arena. If an individual or an individual company could indeed obtain such a monopoly, the results could be disastrous.

29 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
Pacheco Pereira continua as suas "Notas sobre as escolas do jornalismo político", dedicadas ao Expresso.
VITAMEDIAS
PGR recusa "policiar" carteiras profissionais de jornalistas: A Procuradoria-Geral da República recusou instruir os delegados do Ministério Público e os departamentos de investigação e acção penal para policiar a validade das carteiras profissionais dos jornalistas, apurou a Agência Lusa.
O pedido tinha sido feito pelo presidente da Comissão da Carteira Profissional dos Jornalistas (CCPJ), Eurico Reis, a 25 de Fevereiro, mas em Maio os serviços de Souto Moura limitaram-se a transmitir essa solicitação aos delegados e departamentos "a título meramente informativo".
A CCPJ queria que os magistrados do Ministério Público exigissem sempre aos repórteres a exibição da carteira profissional, não apenas para comprovar a sua condição de jornalistas, mas também "para que pudesse ser verificado se a carteira está ou não dentro do seu prazo de validade".
[Admirável, as ideias que podem vir da CCPJ... Alguém quer pedir ao PGR para verificar como anda o mandato do juiz desembargador presidente da CCPJ, "a título meramente informativo"? É que não se sabe nada desta Comissão, excepto neste tipo de casos - será que posso dizer? - patetas...]
ECO-TERROR
Uma "complexa organização"
Odeio cabalas, sempre que posso, até porque "...the Cabala opens up access to the hidden, to the mysteries. It enables us to read sealed epistles and books, and likewise, the inner nature of man...", como diria Paracelsus. Ao abrir acesso para os mistérios da política, não deixei de reparar nos efeitos da prisão preventiva de Paulo Pedroso:
finalmente, Cruz Silva Disponível para Responder no Tribunal ou, dito de outro modo, PSD obriga Cruz Silva a ir depor ao tribunal de Águeda. A leitura política passa por "se eles podem ser presos, os nossos também devem"?...
Por outro lado, lá se conseguiu Portas Chamado a Depor no Tribunal de Monsanto, com uma declaração como esta: "o ministro da Defesa disse que encara a sua convocação "com tranquilidade, respeito e sentido de justiça". Considerou mesmo "pedagógico responder aos juizes"".
Se não se soubesse que era Portas, alguém desmentia ser Herman José a falar quando "Diz Que Vai Dizer a Verdade e Só a Verdade"?
Finalmente, o que se ficou a saber deste ainda por findar processo?
Que há um tratamento diferenciado para os cidadãos do mesmo país (Advogado de Carlos Cruz critica tratamento desigual a arguidos do caso Casa Pia) e que os políticos sabem destas coisas pouco triviais antes do português normal e tentam manobrá-las antes do conhecimento público. Por exemplo, António Costa Tentou Evitar Ida de Juiz ao Parlamento, e "o espanto dos dirigentes socialistas estende-se ao facto de os telefonemas de António Costa para o procurador-geral da República e para o presidente da AR terem estado na base da prisão preventiva de Pedroso".
Mas analise-se o requinte: "O líder da bancada socialista tratou, assim, de diligenciar junto de Mota Amaral para que este garantisse junto de todos os líderes parlamentares, sobretudo dos líderes parlamentares do PSD e do CDS, Guilherme Silva e Telmo Correia, que a maioria votaria a favor do levantamento da imunidade a Pedroso.
António Costa tratou de frisar essa questão a Mota Amaral, já que a prática parlamentar é os deputados não serem autorizados a depor presencialmente nestas situações e o PS temia que, no momento das votações das autorizações, o PS autorizasse que Pedroso fosse depor e pudesse ser preso e o PSD e o CDS optassem pela posição contrária."
Ou seja, era o próprio PS que queria ver preso Pedroso?!?!? Não, porque "o ex-ministro da Segurança Social foi ainda inquirido sobre a possibilidade de o seu envolvimento no processo da Casa Pia ter sido montado por algum inimigo seu. Paulo Pedroso admitiu ter a opinião de que por trás dos factos poderá estar uma "complexa organização" mas reconheceu não ter dados sobre isso. Adiantou apenas ter tido uma conversa com uma pessoa que atribuiu o caso da Casa Pia a uma trama dos serviços secretos militares. Por fim, questionado sobre se tinha conhecimento de pessoas que não gostassem de si ao ponto de montar uma cabala, Paulo Pedroso citou apenas um caso antigo de um ex-jornalista e actual assessor do ministro da Defesa, Paulo Portas, que disse a um amigo seu não gostar nem de si nem do líder do PS, Ferro Rodrigues."
Confusos? Ou não será apenas a política no seu esplendor?... Os únicos factos que me continuam a admirar é porque há tantos portugueses ainda a votar neste sistema podre e/ou porque não aparecem movimentos políticos com mais credibilidade. Não é preciso comentar.
.DE!
[Duas formas de contar uma mesma estatística:]
Mais de 70 por cento das empresas portuguesas têm internet
Empresas ainda não aderiram à Internet
VITAMEDIAS
We need all the information we can get: Blair should be seen as a corrupt reporter, not as a corrupt black reporter, and his lies should be treated the same as if he were Latino, Native American, Asian or Ballard Norwegian. Such negligence by any individual journalist cannot be tolerated. But the greater threat to our freedom would be control by a willful few media empires of the information sources on which most Americans depend. That is why we should wish for continued publication of more than one daily newspaper in Seattle and hope the FCC puts off its merger decision Monday.
U.S. Media Ownership Debate Slow to Hit TV News: network broadcast news directors say they have covered the issue like any other news event. They also say there isn't as much early interest in regulatory issues.
VITAMEDIAS
NBC fitted for Adidas: The next Olympics are more than a year away, but NBC and Adidas are already teaming up in a mega endorsement deal.
The agreement that's about to be signed will stamp the famous Adidas logo on all the clothes worn by the network's Olympics sportscasters and anchors, according to documents obtained by the Daily News.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Music and porn feed broadband boom: Web sites with music, movies and porn are the main gainers from a broadband "boom" in Europe, say researchers.
CONTAMINANTES
Online communities get real: New phenomena such as weblogs have allowed people to share their interest and passions with a wider audience but often provide a quite mundane and honest view of life.
"Increasingly technologies allow people to find out about others in the real world and keep in touch with their day-to-day lives," said the report's author Will Davies.
VITAMEDIAS
Get bloggers on board: Web guru Steve Outing has urged online publications to improve their journalistic 'talent' by scouting for bloggers.
Mr Outing, senior editor at the Poynter Institute in the US, also warned against unnecessary animation, pop-up adverts and archives with links that do not work.
"This could be the year that mainstream media companies acquire the best blogs, underwrite them, and turn them into viable businesses," he said. "This is not only a great business opportunity, but a way to get innovative, non-mainstream content on to the traditional media sites... to make your site more appealing to younger consumers."
He recommended that local news sites identify the best local bloggers and offer them contracts. "The best ones produce content that's as good as the stuff your staff produces - perhaps even better - so consider publishing an acquired local blogger in print as well as online."
Mr Outing also warned against the 'subscription-only' mentality towards paid-for content.
VITAMEDIAS
MUDIA – Multimedia Content in the Digital Age: Final Project Report

28 maio 2003

CONTAMINANTES
[act.: A "Star Wars Mask" foi retirada após troca de correspondência com os autores, queixando-se de "bandwidth theft". O assunto lá ficou esclarecido :-)]

Surgical mask beauty contest

Messenger
[O ser humano não deixa de surpreender com as suas criações, mesmo nas situações mais difíceis...]
VITAMEDIAS
Trust in media keeps on slipping: Public confidence in the media, already low, continues to slip. Only 36%, among the lowest in years, believe news organizations get the facts straight, a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
Trust in the media has dropped from 54% in mid-1989 - about the time of the fall of communism - to a low of 32% in December 2000, during the post-election confusion over George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Low marks for the media reflect a larger societal trend today, says Todd Gitlin, a Columbia University journalism professor: ''I think you'll find almost all institutions declining in popular repute.''
ECO-TERROR
Discord over Giscard's Euro vision: The disharmony over a proposed constitution for the European Union is growing louder - and Britain’s fury at coming last in the Eurovision Song Contest will only make things worse
VITAMEDIAS
Your Ad Could Be Here! (And Now We Can Tell You Who'll See It.)
In the statistically obsessed world of media ratings, outdoor advertising has long been a data-deprived wasteland. Time-tested technologies and methodologies can predict how many 18- to 34-year-old females will see a Motrin commercial, or hear one on the radio, or even click on a Web ad.
But for 70 years, the only information available to billboard advertisers has been raw traffic counts. Never mind who's actually in the cars - no one knows. Media buyers say that's one reason U.S. outdoor ad spending ($2.5 billion in 2002, according to research firm CMR/TNS Media Intelligence) now accounts for a measly 2 percent of the nation's total advertising outlays.
But that may soon change. Nielsen Media Research, the firm known for rating television viewership, is testing a billboard ratings system that uses the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) to track consumers wherever they drive. In a Chicago rollout this fall, Nielsen will recruit a sample of adults - à la TV's Nielsen families - who, for a small stipend, will allow their minute-to-minute movements to be recorded on a cell-phone-size GPS receiver. Since Nielsen will already know each participant's demographic characteristics, the age and gender questions will no longer plague outdoor advertisers.
VITAMEDIAS
Al-Jazeera chief 'sacked': The controversial Arab satellite television station al-Jazeera has replaced its chief executive but said the move was not linked to reports that it had been infiltrated by Iraqi intelligence.
VITAMEDIAS
Times Weighs Correction to Mega Apology: Insiders say that the New York Times is preparing to make a correction on a portion of the massive correction it ran on May 11, regarding the fabrications, factual errors and plagiarism that appeared in disgraced reporter Jayson Blair's stories over several years.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Bowie's diamonds may turn into dogs: A slump in music sales is worrying analysts at Moody's Investors Service, who have warned that the creditworthiness of pop star David Bowie's "Bowie bonds" may be at risk.
Six years ago, Bowie made financial headlines when he sold $55m (E64m) of bonds backed by future royalty payments on songs he had written and recorded.
The deal was the first time that pop music revenues had been secured in a financial transaction and bankers thought it would open up a lucrative new market.
James Brown and the Isley Brothers sold similar bonds, but the early hopes of growth have not been realised, in part because the number of recording artists who, like Bowie, control their own copyright is relatively small.
CONTAMINANTES
Earful - Hasta más ver: Hasta aquí ha llegado la historia de Earful. [...] Y es hora de pasar a otras cosas.
Cómo mantener un weblog y sentirse orgulloso de él en trece sencillos pasos [são apenas 12...:]
1. Dí lo que piensas, siempre. Es saludable para tu weblog.
2. Tu trabajo no eres tú.
4. No todas las opiniones son respetables. No es obligatorio el buen rollo.
5. No te hagas esclavo de las estadísticas.
6. Sé claro y evita las ambigüedades.
7. Del prestigio no se come. De la fama, tampoco.
8. Piénsatelo dos veces antes de meterte a opinar según dónde.
9. Huye del utilitarismo.
10. Algunos chinos no saben tocar el violín.
11. Alimenta tu trabajo para que se defienda por sus medios.
12. No has firmado un contrato que te obligue al post diario.
13. Diviértete, siempre, mucho.
.DE!
Woman Gets Phone Calls for God: Dawn Jenkins isn't in the new Jim Carrey comedy "Bruce Almighty," but her phone number is - and that's become a problem.
In the film, Carrey stars as a mortal who receives the powers of God. The character of God tries to reach Carrey's character by repeatedly leaving a phone number on his pager.
But instead of the usual 555 prefix used by most television shows and films, God's number is a common exchange - one too common for Jenkins' liking. It's her cell phone number.
She's been getting about 20 calls per hour, with callers asking for God before hanging up. [...]
Jenkins isn't alone in her plight. The number on Carrey's character's pager matches the number of a South Carolina woman who declined to give her name, but said she's been "getting aggravated to death" by the incessant calling.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Matrix, Agitprop? the untold story about the Matrix franchise is that its the biggest piece of leftist agitprop to hit the western mediasphere in years
The Matrix: Revolutions Trailer
ZITE
Infrared Zoo Gallery
CONTAMINANTES
Mount Everest: 360 degree panorama from the top
Everest helicopter crash kills two: This year a record number of climbers are traveling to the area hoping to follow in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay 50 years ago.
Since the two first conquered Everest on May 29, 1953, it has been climbed by more than 1,300 people.
About 175 climbers have died on its unpredictable slopes.
Conquest of Everest: The Role of the Sherpa: In the 50 years since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to climb Mount Everest, about 1,200 people have followed them to world's highest point. One third of those climbers have been Sherpas, ethnic Nepalis who have lived in the shadow of Mount Everest for centuries. Many Sherpas say their contribution the trek up the mountain has never been fully recognized.
ECO-TERROR
US plans death camp: The US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber.
Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal, The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday.
US plans death camp: The United States is illegally holding thousands of Iraqi prisoners of war and other captives without access to human rights officials at compounds close to Baghdad airport, The Observer has learnt.
There have also been reports of a mutiny last week by prisoners at an airport compound, in protest against conditions. The uprising was 'dealt with' by the Americans, according to a US military source.
The International Committee of the Red Cross so far has been denied access to what the organisation believes could be as many as 3,000 prisoners held in searing heat. All other requests to inspect conditions under which prisoners are being held have been met with silence or been turned down.
There is circumstantial evidence that prisoners are being gagged and hooded, in the manner of the Afghans and other captives held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba - treatment in itself questionable under international law.
High Court Won't Review Secret Deportation Hearings: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday a challenge to the federal government's policy of holding secret immigration hearings of people detained after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The justices declined to review a U.S. appeals court ruling that news media and public access to the deportation proceedings could endanger national security.
VITAMEDIAS
Fontes pouco anónimas:
Intra-Times Battle Over Iraqi Weapons: An internal e-mail by Judith Miller, the paper's top reporter on bioterrorism, acknowledges that her main source for such articles has been Ahmad Chalabi, a controversial exile leader who is close to top Pentagon officials. Could Chalabi have been using the Times to build a drumbeat that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction?
[Ler também "Blogging Ban", em que um jornalista não seguiu o pedido do jornal para encerrar o seu blog pessoal e está-se a aconselhar com um advogado "to see if we can't shake some sense into the head of the paper."]
[act.:] Military Pundit Sues Fox News Over Al Qaeda Tape: A wartime pundit for Fox News Channel has sued the cable news network in Los Angeles, claiming he was not compensated for a videotape of an al Qaeda training camp that Fox aired repeatedly as an exclusive.
Commentator and former Green Beret J. Keith "Jack" Idema also alleges that Fox agreed not to copy the videotape and to return the original to him, but has broken both agreements.
A spokesman for Fox, a unit of News Corp. Ltd. , said the network does not comment on pending litigation.

27 maio 2003

CULTURAS IN VITRO
"Matrix Reloaded" bate recordes de bilheteira em Portugal: Cerca de 201 mil espectadores viram "Matrix Reloaded", dos irmãos Wachowski, no primeiro fim-de-semana de exibição em Portugal, batendo todos os recordes de bilheteira nos cinemas nacionais.
O segundo episódio da trilogia "Matrix" estreou na sexta- feira em mais de 90 salas de todo o país e foi visto por 201 mil espectadores, os resultados obtidos nos primeiros três dias batem o anterior recorde de "Harry Potter e a Câmara dos Segredos", de Chris Columbus.
VITAMEDIAS
Acclaimed Honda ad in copycat row: Two artists whose work has been shown at Tate Modern are threatening legal action against Honda UK, claiming the company's hit "Cog" commercial is a rip-off of their award-winning short film.
Peter Fischli and David Weiss say Honda's 60-second commercial, which is already being described as one of the most impressive television adverts ever made, copies key elements of their 30-minute film, Der Lauf Der Dinge (The Way Things Go), which was made in 1987.
[O trailer do filme "Der Lauf Der Dinge" é elucidativo sobre o anúncio da Honda.]
VITAMEDIAS
Who killed Daniel Pearl? A French bestseller puts forward an intriguing theory
CONTAMINANTES

World's largest flower opens in Bonn: Thousands gather to see and smell blue whale of botany.
CONTAMINANTES
Copied citations give impact factors a boost: Probability can make some scientific papers famous.
Scientific papers that are not widely read and that lack any great influence can end up being classed as high-impact, claim researchers in California.
The mistake occurs because citations are often just copied from the reference list of one paper to another. A largely unremarkable or unread paper can therefore end up becoming highly cited, the researchers suggest.
ECO-TERROR

G8 Illégal
CULTURAS IN VITRO
ICAM apoia projecto de promoção de vinhos: O ICAM – instituto do Estado criado para apoio ao cinema, audiovisual e multimédia – e o Ministério da Cultura decidiram apoiar financeiramente o projecto de criação de um site na Internet para a promoção dos vinhos nacionais.
[Seria simpático alguém explicar o que tem o ICAM a ver com os vinhos...]
[act.: Já percebi, é no âmbito de um projecto multimédia aprovado em 2000!!!... Ver Resultado do Concurso de Apoio Financeiro à Produção de Obras Multimedia 2000]
VITAMEDIAS
The big blackout: Surprise, surprise: The TV networks that will benefit from the new FCC rules on media ownership have been keeping their viewers in the dark about the changes.
On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission will make a decision that will probably radically change how Americans receive their news. But if, like most people, you rely on television as your primary information source, chances are you haven't heard a word about it.
At stake are the current rules on how many different properties a media conglomerate can own.
The Great Media Gulp: The future formation of American public opinion has fallen into the lap of an ambitious 36-year-old lawyer whose name you never heard. On June 2, after deliberations conducted behind closed doors, he will decide the fate of media large and small, print and broadcast. No other decision made in Washington will more directly affect how you will be informed, persuaded and entertained. [...]
The F.C.C. proposal remains officially secret to avoid public comment but was forced into the open by the two commission Democrats.
Last stop before the media monopoly: FCC chairman Michael Powell is likely to get media ownership deregulated - even though public comment is running 97 percent against it.
Captive Audience: A few big media firms dominate 4 of 5 FCC commissioners’ hometowns
Well Connected : The Databases: Curious about who owns [...] local media, telephone and cable company?
FCC Receives Trips From Lobbyists: Federal Communications Commission officials have taken more than 2,500 trips in the last eight years, most of them paid for by the telecommunications and broadcasting industries the agency regulates, a watchdog group said.
The Center for Public Integrity report, based on records from the federal Office of Government Ethics, details trips worth more than $250 taken by agency commissioners and staff between May 1995 and February 2003. The total cost of the trips was $2.8 million.
Murdoch disclaimer provokes mirth at US senate: Veteran media mogul and legendary deal-maker Rupert Murdoch prompted laughter from senators in Washington yesterday when he said that he did not plan to take advantage of the upcoming relaxation in America media ownership laws.
[act.:] Well Connected : The Databases: basic information on every radio and television station in America as well as every cable television system and telephone company
[ Não é só em Portugal que este tipo de questões é debatido em segredo para favorecer as empresas instaladas em desfavor dos cidadãos. Tal como os senadores em Washington, só dá vontade de rir...]
VITAMEDIAS
The Lies We Bought: The Unchallenged "Evidence" for War
The American media failed the country badly these past eight months. As journalists, what can we do about it? Perhaps we need to adopt the rapid-response techniques used in public relations, something akin to James Carville’s and George Stephanopoulos’s famous “War Room” ethos: never leave an accusation unanswered before the end of a news cycle.
Unfortunately, the politicians and their p.r. people know all too well the propaganda dictum related nearly twenty years ago by Peter Teeley, press secretary to then Vice President George H.W. Bush. Teeley was responding to complaints that the elder Bush, during a televised debate, had grossly distorted the words of his and Ronald Reagan’s opponents, the Democratic candidates Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. As Teeley explained it to The New York Times in October 1984, “You can say anything you want during a debate, and 80 million people hear it.” If “anything” turns out to be false and journalists correct it, “So what. Maybe 200 people read it, or 2,000 or 20,000.”
VITAMEDIAS
Return of the Dotcom Media Flameouts: I am a fan of decentralized media, and there are blogs - like Romenesko - that I trust as much as I do the Wall Street Journal. But even though it's still in its early days, WSJ.com's Media & Marketing Edition showcases what a full publication can offer that a blog can't: a process that, in theory, produces a more impressive final product. [...] Amateur blogs don't have copy editors or fact checkers. Indeed, part of what makes blogs so charming is that the idiosyncrasies of the blogger are front and center. Subjected to a traditional editorial process, the Drudge Report would be boring; an AndrewSullivan.com with an editor might be more believable, but it would surely be less provocative, and it's clear that bomb-throwing is the purpose of that site.
VITAMEDIAS
How to detect lies in your newspaper: Anonymous sources, one key to Blair's baloney in The [New York] Times, inevitably lead to lies. Here's why:
• The anonymous source, if in fact one exists, generally is a coward who tells more than he or she knows.
• The reporter permitted to use such sources often writes more than he or she hears.
The only sure way to separate fact from fiction is to ban all anonymous sources. If your newspaper uses them, be very, very skeptical.
[Já agora, uma recomendação para este manual de jornalismo: "The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril". As histórias são sobre o jornalismo nos EUA mas rapidamente se percebe que são simplesmente sobre o mundo do jornalismo no mundo...]
ECO-TERROR
CIA Stamped Secret on Santa Claus, Blacked Out Joke on North Pole Terrorism: Declassified Documents Show Excessive Secrecy, Arbitrary and Subjective Classification Decisions, "Icons" and "Secrets of Convenience" Rather than Real Protection of National Security
VITAMEDIAS
SJ exige respeito pelo sigilo profissional nas escutas telefónicas: O Sindicato dos Jornalistas (SJ) considera que os investigadores judiciários estão obrigados a guardar respeito pelos segredo profissionais acidentalmente interceptados, a propósito de uma recente conversa de um jornalista com um político que foi gravada pelas autoridades.
[ Importam-se de definir "respeito"?...]
O SJ lembra aos próprios jornalistas que lhes "cumpre respeitar escrupulosamente o segredo profissional, pelo que devem proibir-se de dar publicidade a registos de conversas de âmbito profissional dos seus camaradas a que por qualquer motivo tenham tido acesso e muito menos devem identificar os interlocutores".
[ Porquê? E se esses "camaradas" estiverem a violar a lei?]
.DE!
EpiCurtas: Assine já! Nova revista sobre a vida dos famosos. Descubra quem é quem no nosso Portugal, inteire-se de todos os segredos do país (sim, todos mesmo... até os de justiça), saiba com quem dormem os nossos políticos, apresentadores de Tv, embaixadores e muito mais... Caras Prisões!

26 maio 2003

ECO-TERROR
The New Blog Economy: Then, a few weeks ago, I found a new web site, and a new addiction. BlogShares.com has become a daily obsession for me. For those of you who have not experienced BlogShares, it is a fantasy stock market for blogs. [...]
Virtual money? Well, not always. That changed yesterday when I paid $100 to each of two different BlogShares players (Jonathan Galas and Protect and Gamble) to acquire their accounts and have their fortunes transferred to mine. Why would I spend $200 of real money for $200 million of virtual money?
.DE!
De qualquer forma, antes que seja tarde, digo apenas isto: estejam atentos a Felícia Cabrita e às ligações obscuras, mas muito bem escondidas, desta jornalista (ou intriguista?) com sectores até agora insuspeitos. Vai demorar um bocado a que as coisas se saibam, mas depois não se esqueçam deste blog. [via Sopa de Pedra]
ZITE
[act.:] O bloco-notas "ápedeites" "para ver as últimas actualizações em weblogs portugueses" [não percebi se funciona com todos os blogs em .pt, há alguns que não aparecem - mas é uma iniciativa louvável. Aparentemente, segundo um comentário na paragem de autocarro, também não indexa os albergados no blogger.com.br.]
VITAMEDIAS
Depois do coreano OhMyNews, eis que surge o americano Correspondences - News for the people by people
VITAMEDIAS
Portugal adere em força aos ‘weblogs’: A política é o tema mais discutido nos ‘weblogs’, devido à liberdade de expressão.
[Oh Carlota, importa-se de explicar o que é aderir "em força"? E porque é a política o tema mais discutido? E "devido à liberdade de expressão"? Tomo a liberdade de exprimir (espremer?) que não percebi!...]
VITAMEDIAS
Os limites do jornalismo livre: [...] o poder dos media não é escrutinável nem responsabilizável como é o poder dos eleitos ou mesmo o poder dos juízes. [Discordo: é "escrutinável" na medida em que os leitores compram ou não os jornais, vêm ou não as televisões, ouvem ou não as rádios, acedem ou não a sítios Web; é "responsabilizável" na medida dos códigos penal, deontológico, etc.]
ECO-TERROR
Jorge Sampaio pede confiança nos políticos: Depois dos apelos à serenidade, o Presidente da República, Jorge Sampaio, pediu ontem, em Soure, para que os portugueses confiem na classe política, num momento em que ela está profundamente abalada por associações ao escândalo da pedofilia. [Importa-se de repetir? E, neste caso, porque não dar alguma confiança à classe judicial?...]

23 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
Para os interessados nos blogs, o BlogTalk em directo:
[act.:]Updated List of Conference Bloggers
BlogTalk Live
Joho the Blog
Dan Gillmor

21 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
Caleidoscópio virtual: Já são mais de um milhão os adeptos dos blogs, os diários que servem de central de notícias, palco de debates e de expressão artística
ECO-TERROR
Patrons : pendant la crise, les salaires grimpent: Leurs rémunérations ne sont pas liées à leurs résultats.
Fat cats cornered: The rejection by shareholders of GlaxoSmithKline’s proposed $30m-plus payoff to its chief executive in the event of his dismissal marks a turning point in the battle against corporate excess
VITAMEDIAS
‘So Jayson Blair Could Live, The Journalist Had to Die’: It infuriated him that he was being compared to Stephen Glass, the white, ex-New Republic fraud who has just published a novel, The Fabulist, about his own nonfiction fictions. Because in his tortured, roller-coaster mind, you could call him a liar, but you could not call him unworthy.
"I don't understand why I am the bumbling affirmative-action hire when Stephen Glass is this brilliant whiz kid, when from my perspective-and I know I shouldn't be saying this-I fooled some of the most brilliant people in journalism," he said. "He [Glass] is so brilliant, and yet somehow I'm an affirmative-action hire. They're all so smart, but I was sitting right under their nose fooling them."
Mr. Blair continued: "If they're all so brilliant and I'm such an affirmative-action hire, how come they didn't catch me?"
They did catch him, finally.
VITAMEDIAS
[Quando os entrevistados conhecem os títulos das entrevistas:]
Final de Sevilha não tira o sono a Mourinho: Os jornalistas estavam a tentar perceber como e com quem José Mourinho vai procurar hoje em Sevilha surpreender o Celtic na final da Taça UEFA. "Vou contar-vos uma coisa... Vai sair uma entrevista minha, numa revista, na sexta-feira, ou seja, depois do jogo, cujo título é o seguinte: 'Estou orgulhoso dos meus jogadores, os meus jogadores são fantásticos'.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Buried Treasure: Why has Bill Gates stashed millions of the greatest images of the 20th century under a mountain in Pennsylvania?

20 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
The blog clog myth: The row over whether webloggers are distorting Google search results is a storm in a teacup
ZITE
[O Abrupto (sim, ele mais uma vez...) pensa "que seria interessante fazer um catálogo dos objectos que estão a desaparecer à nossa volta, que a nossa geração usou pela última vez. Seremos capazes de os identificar? Seria interessante saber até que ponto "sentimos" a história quando ela passa por nós."
Como também gosto destas coisas, cá vai um endereço de alguém que já se lembrou disto há uns anos...:]
The Dead Media Project
[act.:] Mais uma contribuição

19 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
Too many journalists are making the news: There is an old adage in my business that goes something like this, "Cover the news. Don't make it!"
So far in 2003, it appears my colleagues are failing to make the grade on this standard.
Journalists seem to be making the news more and more often, and somewhat to the profession's embarrassment.
An Erosion of Trust: The Times scandal has only heightened public cynicism about the press. Why we’re all poorer for it
VITAMEDIAS
Defame and be damned: Over the past few years, the media have scored numerous successes in the law courts. [...]
But a new danger has arisen for newspapers. This is not in the substance of the actions brought against them, but the costs associated with them.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
DVDs atenuam queda de vendas na indústria discográfica: Segundo dados revelados hoje pela Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa (AFP), no primeiro trimestre deste ano os portugueses compraram quase 20 milhões de euros (M€) em discos, o que representa uma descida de 10,73% relativamente ao período homólogo do ano passado.
Juntando às compras de discos as compras de audiovisuais (vídeos musicais e DVDs) o total gasto pelos consumidores eleva-se a quase 22 M€, o que reduz a quebra para os 6,50%.
Os maiores aumentos em unidades vendidas foram os dos DVDs, as quais se cifraram numa subida de 95,80%, e dos vídeos musicais cujas vendas aumentaram 255,69%.
A venda de CDs sofreu um decréscimo de 10,46%, enquanto os CD 'singles' aumentaram 107,80%.
VITAMEDIAS
A Justiça portuguesa merece confiança [entrevista com José Miguel Júdice, bastonário da Ordem dos Advogados]: Agora, deixem-me ser muito crítico em relação à vossa profissão. Não vejo sindicatos, não vejo o conselho deontológico, não vejo os jornalistas a criticarem outros jornalistas que fazem coisas ignóbeis de exibição de menores sem nenhum interesse jornalístico, apenas para aumentarem as tiragens das suas publicações. São poucos, como são poucos os advogados que se portam mal, mas gostaria que na ordem dos jornalistas, que espero que exista no futuro, façam o que estou a fazer na ordem dos advogados.
VITAMEDIAS
Dating a Blogger, Reading All About It: The proliferation of personal bloggers has led to a new social anxiety: the fear of getting blogged.
"It's personal etiquette meets journalistic rules," [Nick Denton], the blog publisher, said. "If you have a friend who's a blogger you have to say, 'This is not for blogging.' It's the blogging equivalent of 'This is off the record.'"
VITAMEDIAS
Blogs e jornais - ou o inverso, tanto faz -, após a (ultra)passagem do Expresso de sábado:
Tanto barulho para nada!: É, tipicamente, uma discussão de WC tipo «a minha é maior que a tua»;
foi um pandemónio;
pergunto-me se o caso justificaria a contundência da resposta;
O problema é que há uma clara tensão, que admito ao vir para aqui tenha agravado, entre um mundo fechado – a blogosfera – e a viragem dos blogs para fora, para o público da Net e para o público em geral.
Apenas um comentário, retirado das leituras do António:
just because someone is regarded as a savant in the barbershop doesn't mean he'll pass for wise with the people in the other stalls.
[act.:] Ver Tudo e Saber Nada: A estrutura comunicacional contemporânea, essa sim bem mais "embedded" em tecnologia do que os repórteres de guerra "embedded" na guerra do Iraque, é hoje um dos mais importantes e decisivos desafios que os investigadores, as elites, os decisores, os profissionais do conhecimento têm para humana, livre e rigorosamente, pensar, analisar e reflectir. Estamos ainda longe de entender em profundidade o tipo de tecnologia em que vivemos.
VITAMEDIAS
Censura 16: reproduz textos do Notícias da Amadora, cortados parcial ou totalmente pelos Serviços de Censura ou Exame Prévio, durante um período de 16 anos, entre 1958 e 1974.
[Uma grande descoberta do Jornalismo e Comunicação]
VITAMEDIAS
Acabar com a Publicidade na RTP1: A publicidade obriga a RTP1 a funcionar em termos comerciais e a ser pensada em termos comerciais. Os seus responsáveis olham para o "share" como os donos e directores da SIC ou TVI. Precisam do máximo "share" para terem o máximo de publicidade, pois há objectivos económicos a atingir.
Isso tem consequências perversas.

16 maio 2003

ZITE

Art. Lebedev
VITAMEDIAS
Top 10 Intriguing Things to Watch in Media for the Rest of 2003
June 2nd, 2003 (The date of the FCC's decision on whether or not to change media ownership rules)
Another ad downturn?
TiVo Nation
Satellite Radio
Copyprotection of digital media
Cross-branding
Post-theatrical movie marketing
The reality of Reality TV
AOL Time Warner's online magazine pullback
Blogging as a Marketing Vehicle
ECO-TERROR
The truth about Jessica: Her Iraqi guards had long fled, she was being well cared for - and doctors had already tried to free her.
[Dr Harith al-Houssona] put her in an ambulance and instructed the driver to go to the American checkpoint. When he was approaching it, the Americans opened fire. They fled just in time back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch.
VITAMEDIAS
Blog eats blog: Howard Rheingold, Tim O'Reilly, Clay Shirky, Doc Searls, Dave Winer and Ben Hammersley (no, I'm not going to promote them even more by linking to them) are all what Register reporter Andrew Orlowski calls 'the A-list bloggers', the people whose regular musings on their personal websites can shape debate and make reputations. [...]
These people are not quite an aristocracy. Perhaps they are simply the blogeoisie (pronounced bloj-wah-zee), a dominant class in network society. Or it may be simpler to think of blogs as a feudal system, with respect and links acting as the chief currency. [...]
This isn't about not liking blogs. It's about not liking unaccountable concentrations of influence, about believing it is still true that 'the first duty of the press is to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of events of the time and instantly, by disclosing them, to make them the common property of the nation' - and about noting that 'most correct' does not mean 'what the blog says'.
VITAMEDIAS
Stay Tuned: The distinction between mobile operators and broadcast operators is beginning to blur. The next big opportunity could be mobile TV - if industry gets the model right.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Why the Recording Industry Loves Tech: Forget what you've heard - the RIAA believes technology holds the key to music's future. All you have to do is give that future a chance.
VITAMEDIAS
Search Results Clogged by Blogs: Commercial websites believe scoring high placements in search-engine results is so crucial for generating traffic that many are willing to pay top dollar to sponsor keywords or hire "positioning" consultants to secure a good ranking.
Then there are bloggers. With no deliberate effort, many dedicated weblog publishers are finding their blogs rank high on search results for topics that, oftentimes, they claim to know practically nothing about.
VITAMEDIAS
And Here's Where It Gets Uninteresting: Dave Walker, a 32-year-old cartoonist and Web editor from Cookham, England, has claimed the distinction of writing "The Dullest Blog in the World." [...]
His minimalist musings have attracted something of a cult following, with his blog (www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull/) counting about 85,000 page views a month. Seldom has dullness generated such keen interest. [...]
Despite his growing number of fans, Mr. Walker said he had not been tempted to make his blog more interesting.
VITAMEDIAS
MSN Radio Implements Pay to Play: Microsoft turns another free service into a money-maker
ZITE
Write Like an Egyptian
VITAMEDIAS
The Times they are a-changing: Leading UK broadsheet The Times will launch its first electronic edition at the end of this month, although the publication will not be available in the UK due to audit constraints.

15 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
What's the big deal about Jayson Blair? Disgraced reporter is strictly small-time compared to larger (and unacknowledged) Times fiascos
Editor of Times Tells Staff He Accepts Blame for Fraud: Many of the reporters and editors left the meeting saying that it would take months, if not years, for [NYT executive editor, Howell Raines] to prove he could raise morale in the newsroom.
The Blair Get-Rich Project: The disgraced New York Times reporter has hired an agent to scope out book and TV deals that could net him a mid-six-figure paycheck - way more then he ever would have seen working for the paper.
VITAMEDIAS
War Coverage Fails to Boost Paper Sales: Publishers were still digesting the bad news from the Readership Institute that the Iraqi war failed to inspire people to read newspapers more completely or more frequently

14 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
Net publishers expand offline: Some Web publishers have traditional-media stars in their eyes as they venture into radio or television, in a new sign of the digital domain going mainstream.
VITAMEDIAS
A blogosfera portuguesa cresce, e cresce, e cresce... Nada como uns fermentos mediáticos para a fazer aumentar?
No espaço de seis dias, foram indexados mais 45 endereços no Blogs em .pt!
E não pára: o Jornalismo e Comunicação acaba de anunciar o , enquanto já se discutem os "Blogs versus Foruns ou totalitarismo versus democracia" e já há mesmo quem considere que se está perdendo a magia dos blogs...
.DE!
Ueblogue oficial do Núcleo Duro...: Gostaria de alertar o senhor JPP, seja ele Pacheco Pereira ou não, para o facto de estar a infringir uma regra de ouro do código deontológico dos blogues, mais concretamente o artigo 8º, que estabelece que (e passo a citar):
«Quando um blog é citado noutro, deve imediatamente retribuir o acto com um link para este, devendo ainda citar um qualquer outro blog à escolha, criando uma cadeia interminável e despropositada de referências mútuas sem qualquer sentido ou proveito».
As leis são para cumprir, amigo JPP!
[Sem dúvida, nada como o humor para nos salvar do tédio :-) Força!]

13 maio 2003

CULTURAS IN VITRO
Las redes de intercambio de archivos están recargadas... de "Matrix" falsos
50 Reasons to Reject The Matrix Reloaded
VITAMEDIAS
Blogs play a role in homeland security: Weblogs, the Internet technology that allows anyone with a browser to publish a personalized online journal, are increasingly being used to support the intelligence-sharing requirements of homeland security efforts.
CONTAMINANTES
Total Lunar Eclipse Happens Thursday: Portugal will see the entire eclipse, which ends shortly before the moon sets
VITAMEDIAS
The Canadian television industry is stupid.: Not necessarily the people who make the programs or the shows that end up on our TV screens. What's stupid is the system in which these people work and which provides the money for the programs we supposedly want to see. And because it is stupid -- or, as Bill Mustos, a senior vice-president with CTV, puts it, "complex, contradictory and labyrinthine" - it makes people say and do goofy things, including Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and Finance Minister John Manley.
All this has become especially and painfully obvious in the last three weeks, following the April 14 announcement by the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) - that hodge-podge of government agencies and cable and satellite industries concocted by Jean Chrétien's Liberals in 1996 - that it was going to be able to assist only 73 of 202 applications for drama, variety and kids shows from its $75-million Licence Fee Program (LFP).
[O que dizer então do sistema de financiamento português?...
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Previews are here to stay, so deal with it: "It's the strongest marketing tool at a studio's disposal," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which compiles national movie-going statistics. "They've done surveys that indicate that moviegoers absolutely love trailers. But there is a point at which it becomes too much."
What is that point? What number of trailers is optimal, and what number results in trailer fatigue?
"As a corporation, our magic number is no more than three," says Pam Margolis, who handles trailers for the 13 Mann Theaters in Minnesota, including St. Paul's Grandview. "We think people do like to watch them, but they came to see a movie, not a half-hour of trailers."
VITAMEDIAS
Of Art, Politics and Censorship: The last time Americans were going to be allowed major media coverage of Cuba, the networks were all there to cover the Pope's visit. If you don't remember the reports, that's because, at the very moment, someone in Washington just happened to disclose the existence of some intern named Monica Lewinsky. All anchors and their cameras were on the next planes home.
VITAMEDIAS
Musicians Against Media Monopoly: Musicians of all stripes are starting to recognize that the galloping consolidation of American media - especially in radio, where most Americans were first introduced to their favorite songs - has reduced the ability of recording artists to take the risks that reshape our consciousness, to explore new ideas and new sounds and, ultimately, to be heard.
DJs Suspended for Playing Dixie Chicks: Country-music station KKCS has suspended two disc jockeys for playing songs by the Dixie Chicks in violation of a ban imposed after one group member criticized President Bush.
A New Era for Media Firms?: Public, Private Interests Clash as Revision of Ownership Rules Nears
The China Syndrome: No, not the one involving nuclear reactors - the one exhibited by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation when dealing with the government of the People's Republic.
In the United States, Mr. Murdoch's media empire — which includes Fox News and The New York Post - is known for its flag-waving patriotism. But all that patriotism didn't stop him from, as a Fortune article put it, "pandering to China's repressive regime to get his programming into that vast market." The pandering included dropping the BBC's World Service - which reports news China's government doesn't want disseminated - from his satellite programming, and having his publishing company cancel the publication of a book critical of the Chinese regime.
Can something like that happen in this country? Of course it can. Through its policy decisions - especially, though not only, decisions involving media regulation - the U.S. government can reward media companies that please it, punish those that don't. This gives private networks an incentive to curry favor with those in power.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Cultural Globalization Is Not Americanization: Globalization not only increases individual freedom, but also revitalizes cultures and cultural artifacts through foreign influences, technologies, and markets. Thriving cultures are not set in stone. They are forever changing from within and without.
Lost in translation: the narrowing of the American mind: The indifference of American public culture to the imaginative experience of other peoples is reflected in the dearth of work translated from foreign languages. As the world becomes more complex and its literary voices more varied and challenging, the damage of this complacency is not only to unheard, unread writers, but to the American mind itself. [...]
About 3% of the fiction and poetry published in the United States in 1999 was translated (approximately 330 out of the total 11,570 fiction and poetry titles published).
Reading Europe: The long anti-European years of the Thatcher-Major era plunged us into a meretricious world in which speaking or reading English was all you needed. Our schools - even our universities - all but gave up the fight to enforce a second language as a norm.

12 maio 2003

PHOTO-GRAFIA
The Deepest Photo Ever Taken
CONTAMINANTES
Time slows for people who stop smoking: Time really does pass more slowly when you are gasping for cigarette, reveals a new study demonstrating that smokers who are deprived of cigarettes have an altered perception of time.
US researchers found that when regular smokers gave up their habit, their perception of passing time was stretched by 50 per cent.
VITAMEDIAS
BlogTV: I Want My BlogTV! (accepting applications for beta testers)
VITAMEDIAS
Angola: Cable TV From December as result of a joint venture between Angola Telecom and Grupo Nabeiro of Portugal, its manager Paulo Varela said in Luanda on Saturday.
Dois pesos e duas medidas: O DN não quis, pois, pôr em causa a versão do bastonário _ uma fonte de indiscutível importância _ o que poderia acontecer se afirmasse que mantinha as notícias que ele corrigiu. Mas, por outro lado, também não assumiu publicamente, nessa altura, ter sido «manipulado» pelas «fontes» (não identificadas) que lhe forneceram as informações (pelos vistos, falsas), o que se compreende.
É, contudo, ao nível da transparência perante os leitores que a atitude do DN surge como mais frágil. De facto, os leitores ficaram sem perceber como foi possível publicar, para mais como tema de capa, uma série de notícias que depois reconhece terem resultado de «erro». Um esclarecimento ter-se-ia imposto.
VITAMEDIAS
A tale of two piers: Readers are deserting newspapers for the web
VITAMEDIAS
[Outro blog que adormece para o autor fazer outras coisas:]
Quantity Over Quantity: Jimmy Guterman's 'blog: I am pleased and surprised and grateful for the notes I've received, but I really have to do this. It's not like I'm retiring from writing (sorry) or dying or anything like that. It's just that I have to do other things. Now the lights will go dark here for some time, but not indefinitely.
Don't think for a moment that my personal decision implies any negative opinions about weblogs in general.
CONTAMINANTES
Investigadores protestam contra financiamento da astrologia pelo Estado: Cerca de trinta cientistas portugueses protestaram contra a contratação de astrólogos pelos meios de comunicação do Estado, situação que consideram "incompatível com o rigor orçamental" e "imoral do ponto de vista pedagógico".
"Só a Sra. Cristina Candeias (astróloga convidada do programa "Praça da Alegria", da RTP-1) tem mais tempo de antena, por semana, na televisão estatal do que todos os cientistas e todas as instituições de ensino e investigação do país", denunciam os cientistas.
[Concordo mas só 30 cientistas é que protestam?...]
VITAMEDIAS
Total Fiction: Five years ago, in the journalistic scandal of the decade, a hot young writer got fired for making up outrageous yarns. Now he’s writing real fiction.
Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception: In an inquiry focused on correcting the record and explaining how such fraud could have been sustained within the ranks of The Times, the Times journalists have so far uncovered new problems in at least 36 of the 73 articles Mr. Blair wrote since he started getting national reporting assignments late last October.
VITAMEDIAS
Big Brother: One employee fired by Primedia, the troubled company that owns New York magazine, is sending e-mails warning friends not to leave any messages on her voice mail. "In their infinite understanding of, and compassion for, the human spirit, Human Resources at Primedia has instituted the charming practice of leaving my voice mail on, but not allowing me to access it. They plan to listen to 'my' messages at some unspecified future date, and let me know who called . . . Please do not call my work number and leave messages there, be they condolences ("Thank God you're outta there"), freelance offers, drown-sorrows cocktail invites, or what have you. I will most certainly not get them."
VITAMEDIAS
The B&C 25 Media Groups: Economic uncertainty, corporate scandals, and the large issues of war and peace may have wreaked havoc on Wall Street, but it did little to alter the B&C 25 (formerly the Top 25 Media Groups):
In this story:
1 AOL Time Warner
2 The Walt Disney Co.
3 Viacom
4 Comcast
5 Sony Corp.
6 Vivendi Universal
7 News Corp.
8 Cox Enterprises
9 Hughes Electronics
10 Clear Channel
11 NBC
12 Gannett
13 Tribune Co.
14 The Hearst Corp.
15 EchoStar
16 McGraw-Hill
17 USA Interactive
18 Charter
19 Cablevision
20 Adelphia
21 New York Times
22 The Washington Post
23 Liberty Media
24 Discovery
25 E.W. Scripps Co.
VITAMEDIAS
Publish and be praised? Journalism graduates and new reporters struggling to get a foothold in the media industry can now publish their work on a new UK-based web site.
Greatreporter.com was launched last week

09 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
The Times probing 'all the fiction fit to print': As more evidence of deceit by former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair surfaced, the question increasingly asked by angry staffers and media watchers is how he got away with it for so long.
Times to Detail Reporter’s Fake Facts: Hoping to quell a swirl of criticism, The New York Times aims to publish on Sunday a report about how one of its journalists apparently fabricated information in stories
CONTAMINANTES
How to trade mark a colour: The European Court of Justice decided this week that a colour can be registered as a trade mark, so long as it is described using an internationally recognised identification code. A sample of the colour is not good enough.
ECO-TERROR
Big oil's dirty secrets: The ethics of the oil industry are coming under unprecedented scrutiny
VITAMEDIAS
Raed is still alive: On his Weblog, Dave Winer recently noted the decentralizing impact of the Internet on what he describes as the "monoculture." In this sense, the Internet becomes a revolutionary tool changing the cost of distributing culture to the point where it has become virtually free. "Every day we're asked to pay a price to continue the existing centralized system of flowing information and creativity," writes Winer. "What if we don't want to pay?"
It's a provocative and perceptive question that goes straight to the bigger point: The global distribution of information, which creates news and culture, is no longer an exclusive monopoly. For the interests that have traditionally acted as information gatekeepers, this is bad news in bells. We don't have to pay, and there are only going to be more alternatives as the rest of the world gets wired.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
The Public Domain: In November of 2001, Duke University School of Law held a conference on the public domain; the "outside" of the intellectual property system, the material that is free for all to use and to build upon. So far as we could tell, this was the first conference on the subject, which is surprising when one realizes the central role of the public domain in our traditions of speech, innovation and culture.

08 maio 2003

.DE!

Inflatable Church
VITAMEDIAS
Your TV is watching you: The company's software - which it now sells for use in cable and satellite set-top boxes - builds digital profiles of each person regularly using a particular TV, a statistical analysis of your TV tendencies that functions as a sketchy picture of your personality. Peter Mondics, Predictive's CEO, says that his software can get to know you quite well. It can, for instance, suggest with surprising accuracy what you may want to watch on TV.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Rap, Dance/Club and Alternative Rock Most Popular With Online Music Downloaders: Nielsen//NetRatings reports that nearly 31 million active Internet users, or 22 percent of the active Internet population ages 18 years old and up, downloaded music in the past 30 days and 71 percent of this audience purchased music in the past three months.
VITAMEDIAS
Electronic paper: Flexible active-matrix electronic ink display: Ultrathin, flexible electronic displays that look like print on paper are of great interest for application in wearable computer screens, electronic newspapers and smart identity cards.
Flexible E-Paper on Its Way: In a step toward electronic newspapers and wearable computer screens, scientists have created an ultra-thin screen that can be bent, twisted and even rolled up and still display crisp text.
L'écran de papier s'affiche enfin
VITAMEDIAS
Baghdad Blogger Returns to Net: The Baghdad blogger is back.
After nearly six weeks offline - a break that many thought bore bad tidings for Salam Pax - the pseudonymous weblogger has returned with nearly two months' worth of journal entries on his Where is Raed? website.
[Com esta pérola:]
A conversation overheard by G. while in the Meridian Hotel – the Iraqi media center :
Female journalist 1: oh honey how are you? I haven’t seen you for ages.
Female journalist 2: I think the last time was in Kabul.
Bla bla bla
Bla bla bla
Female journalist 1: have to run now, see you in Pyongyang then, eh?
Female journalist 2: absolutely.
Iraq is taken out of the headlines. The search for the next conflict is on. Maybe if it turns out to be Syria the news networks won’t have to pay too much in travel costs.
VITAMEDIAS

[Uma capa original da Visão, basta ver a entrada de 30 de Abril!]

07 maio 2003

.DE!
Judge Awards $104M to Families of Sept. 11 Victims: A federal judge Wednesday awarded nearly $104 million in damages to the families of two victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, finding the plaintiffs had provided some evidence that Iraq provided support to Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. [...]
The judge noted that the experts provided few actual facts that Iraq provided support to the terrorists.
But he said the experts "provide a sufficient basis for a reasonable jury to draw inferences which could lead to the conclusion that Iraq provided material support to Al Qaeda."
ECO-TERROR
Vt. Cop Photographed Class Projects: A uniformed police officer persuaded a custodian to open a school in the middle of the night so he could photograph class projects he found objectionable as an American and as a military veteran.
The projects that Barre Town Police Officer John Mott photographed included a poster of President Bush with duct tape over his mouth and a large papier-mache combat boot with the American flag stuffed inside stepping on a doll.
ECO-TERROR
White House refuses to release Sept. 11 info: The Bush administration and the nation's intelligence agencies are blocking the release of sensitive information about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, delaying publication of a 900-page congressional report on how the terrorist assault happened.
Intelligence officials insist the information must be kept secret for national security reasons. But some of the information is already broadly available on the Internet or has been revealed in interim reports on the investigation, leading to charges that the administration is simply trying to avoid enshrining embarrassing details in the report.
ECO-TERROR
[motivações, mentiras e vídeos:]
Missing in Action: Truth: I rejoice in the newfound freedoms in Iraq. But there are indications that the U.S. government souped up intelligence, leaned on spooks to change their conclusions and concealed contrary information to deceive people at home and around the world.
Selective Intelligence: Donald Rumsfeld has his own special sources. Are they reliable?
These advisers and analysts, who began their work in the days after September 11, 2001, have produced a skein of intelligence reviews that have helped to shape public opinion and American policy toward Iraq.
All the President's Lies: Bush's rhetoric bears no resemblence to his policies. How does he get away with it?
Bush's 'Great Image': In a city where image is everything, several political consultants and operatives from both parties say the White House has created an indelible, and formidable, image by having Bush land aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln to deliver a speech signaling the end of the military phase of the war with Iraq. [...]
The president's every move - from his takeoff from San Diego to the landing on the carrier's runway - was captured in the wall-to-wall coverage by the cable news networks. [...]
Paul Begala, a former Clinton aide, called the flight a "tax-subsidized commercial."
Associated Press Puts Violent Words in Iraqi Protesters' Mouths
Most Iraqi Treasures Are Said to Be Kept Safe: Col. Matthew F. Bogdanos, a Marine reservist who is investigating the looting, said recently that Baghdad museum officials had listed only 25 artifacts as definitely missing.
[A] vast majority of the looting at the National Museum had not taken place in its display halls but in its basement storage rooms, where more commonplace objects were kept.
Some 100,000 to 200,000 objects were stored in the basements, British Museum officials said. Many of them may never have been photographed or cataloged.
Iraqi welcome for US turns to fury: This is the way the war ends: not with the jubilation of the liberated but with the whimpering of ragged children. "Water! Water!" they cry, running from the roadside towards passing cars, thrusting their fingers towards their mouths in the salute of the thirsty.
Rough Exit From Iraq: After losing Saddam as ally, Palestinians lose homes, too
Press play for the voice of Saddam: An audiotape has been handed to the Herald in Baghdad, with this tantalising claim: it is the voice of Saddam Hussein only two days ago
VITAMEDIAS
Off Target: In his sniper coverage, former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair appeared to be embarrassing the Washington Post. Actually, he was embarrassing the New York Times.
"New York Times" Investiga Repórter Acusado de Plágio
VITAMEDIAS
Blogger: Catch Me If You Can: A mysterious weblog purporting to be the journal of an anonymous heiress on the run from her wealthy family appears to be a hoax. But the site and offline elements supporting it are so elaborate and so well executed that many bloggers suspect the whole thing just might be true.
[Aliás, o mesmo se passa com o Abrupto: é mesmo o Pacheco Pereira?...]
VITAMEDIAS
A Respected Face, but Is It News or an Ad? Aaron Brown of CNN, Walter Cronkite and other broadcast journalists have been hired to appear in videos resembling newscasts that are actually paid for by drug makers and other health care companies, blurring the line between journalism and advertising.
VITAMEDIAS
Rosy future for online journalism: Several recent surveys by online research group emarketer have also shown that, in the US, the web has overtaken traditional media in popularity with younger news consumers.
According to John Berthelsen, writing for Asia Times Online, the growth of broadband connections and advances in technology that enable more interactive and 'embedded' advertising are responsible for this growth.
CONTAMINANTES
Coincidências ou contradições?
Nove Detidos por Livrarem Mancebos da Tropa: A Polícia Judiciária (PJ) deteve ontem nove indivíduos, seis militares e três civis, entre os quais um médico e um sacerdote, por alegado envolvimento numa associação criminosa que, a troco de 1750 e de 3500 euros, livravam mancebos do serviço militar ou a passagem à disponibilidade de soldados nas fileiras, respectivamente.
Bispos contra egoísmo e fuga aos impostos
Bispos Adiam Documento Sobre Ética
ZITE
Whose Side Are You On? J2O, the boys and the girls
VITAMEDIAS
Para quem ainda não reparou, já existem 400 Blogs em .pt...

06 maio 2003

ECO-TERROR
US: 'Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction': The Bush administration has admitted that Saddam Hussein probably had no weapons of mass destruction.
Senior officials in the Bush administration have admitted that they would be 'amazed' if weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were found in Iraq.
According to administration sources, Saddam shut down and destroyed large parts of his WMD programmes before the invasion of Iraq.
Ironically, the claims came as US President George Bush yesterday repeatedly justified the war as necessary to remove Iraq's chemical and biological arms which posed a direct threat to America.
Bush claimed: 'Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. We will find them.'
ZITE
When i was little - the baby picture project
CULTURAS IN VITRO
The road to 1984: George Orwell's final novel was seen as an anticommunist tract and many have claimed its grim vision of state control proved prophetic. But, argues Thomas Pynchon, Orwell - whose centenary is marked this year - had other targets in his sights and drew an unexpectedly optimistic conclusion
ZITE
Rob's Amazing Poem Generator: This poem was generated from http://contrafactos.blogspot.com.
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ECO-TERROR
[U.S.] Judges approve all but one wiretap order in four years: Only one wiretap order requested by state and federal prosecutors last year was refused, the first time in four years courts had rejected such a request, government data showed.
The rejected wiretap request was among 1,359 applications filed in state and federal courts last year for investigations other than terrorism.
ECO-TERROR
How Will the Iraq War Change Global Nonproliferation Strategies?
VITAMEDIAS
The New Media Reader Book: The new media field has been developing for more than 50 years. This reader collects the texts, videos, and computer programs - many of them now almost impossible to find - that chronicle the history and form the foundation of this still-emerging field.

05 maio 2003

VITAMEDIAS
When no news is big news: The frenzy surrounding Bush’s speech last week affirmed how easy it remains to manipulate the major media.
Bagdade - Texas: Esta decomposição da sequência de imagens televisivas parece-me reveladora: o ídolo de pés de barro apeado do monumento, graças ao poder da tecnologia militar; a cena organizada como operação de relações públicas para telespectador gravar na memória enquanto atestado de vitória; o povo supostamente libertado de costas para a libertação e para os libertadores. O plano oficioso, se me permitem a expressão, por ter sido adoptado na maior parte dos telejornais, deixa-nos acreditar numa enorme manifestação de júbilo popular ("remake" de Paris em delírio a saudar as tropas aliadas...), numa celebração prometida que, afinal, não chegou a haver.
[E, já agora, lembro "Critic Accuses Media of Aiding U.S. War Propaganda"]
VITAMEDIAS
Fired Salt Lake Tribune newsmen reveal their Smart sources: Michael Vigh and Kevin Cantera met on Friday with the Smart family's attorney and revealed their sources for a National Enquirer story and about a half-dozen other Salt Lake Tribune Smart-related stories [...]
"In exchange for divulging their law enforcement sources, the Smart family has agreed not to sue Vigh and Cantera. The Tribune has received no such guarantee." [...]
Fired reporter Vigh says: "In some ways the Smarts have a right to know who was saying things about them."
[Claro - mas nesse caso porque não divulgar as fontes logo no texto dos artigos?]
ECO-TERROR
Web Antidote for Political Apathy: In October, the BBC plans to flick the switch on an ambitious website designed to help Britons organize and run grassroots political campaigns. The site, dubbed iCan, is designed to help citizens investigate issues that concern them, find others who share those concerns and provide advice and tools for organizing and engaging in the political process.
"It's a big change for the BBC," said James Cronin, the project's technical lead. "It's ceasing to be just a broadcaster. It's starting to enable conversations."
VITAMEDIAS
Jornais nacionais apostam em conteúdos pagos: Actualmente, o expresso.pt tem cerca de mil assinantes, o que provocou uma ligeira subida do total de utilizadores e do tráfego no ‘site’.
[Importam-se de repetir?] A 17 de Janeiro de 2003, a direcção do Expresso afirmava ter "mais de 150 mil leitores que semanalmente" consultavam o "site". Com apenas mil assinantes houve "uma ligeira subida" dos utilizadores e do tráfego? Para verem o quê - conteúdos fechados?...
Outra questão não respondida é se o número de compradores da edição em papel aumentou ou não. (Opinião: Eu acho que não, devido ao aumento das notícias leves...)
E porque é que o Público não foi questionado sobre este assunto pelo DE?
VITAMEDIAS
Que me lembre, é o primeiro caso em Portugal de uma empresa a requerer o fecho de um "site": Um Jornal a Anunciar o Seu Fim: A IKEA(tm) escreveu-me. Weeeeee! Não, não foi por uma boa causa! Pediu-me que fechasse o site Jornal (não-oficial) IKEA(tm) Lisboa.
Não sei se foi por causa da média de 50 visitantes diários, do fórum ou simplesmente porque utilizava a palavra IKEA(tm). Mas também já não interessa agora. O site deixou de existir.
CULTURAS IN VITRO
Dressing to Dodge Bullets: That 'Matrix' Look: "Not since `Blade Runner' do I remember an action movie that has had that much style," said Stefan Sagmeister, a graphic designer known for his CD covers for the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed. "The slow-motion action, the uses of new technology, the special effects and the costumes, even the villains with their skinny ties, bad suits and queer sunglasses - you definitely still see that around as an influence."

02 maio 2003

ECO-TERROR
Dept. of Connections: The Contractors: Bin Laden’s estranged family, a sprawling, extraordinarily wealthy Saudi Arabian dynasty, is a substantial investor in a private equity firm founded by the Bechtel Group of San Francisco. Bechtel is also the global construction and engineering company to which the U.S. government recently awarded the first major multimillion-dollar contract to reconstruct war-ravaged Iraq.
.DE!
LevitateCNN.com: WHEN? Memorial Day weekend, May 24-25, 2003 (Date subject to change pending approval of permits, etc.)
VITAMEDIAS
Bill Gates wants to be the journalist's friend: "We are not at heart a content company," said Mr. Gates, after referring to Microsoft's few remaining editorial-side properties, among them MSNBC.com and online magazine Slate. "We are a software company."
[ver também High-tech a benefit to newspapers]
CONTAMINANTES
Anthrax: Publish and perish? The anthrax genome has just been published. Should it have been?
Some critics argue that the publication of this sequence typifies the sort of problem that the scientific community is creating for itself. But in this case the political authorities seem just as much to blame, if blame there be, as gung-ho researchers who cannot see the security wood for the scientific trees. In any case, the publication also underscores the difficulty of keeping scientific information secret. Once it is known how to do something, it is hard to stop undesirables doing it anyway - so why hamstring your own side with needless restrictions? Besides, the editors of scientific journals cannot act as gatekeepers for all of science. Scientific information is communicated by many means, through seminars, meetings and electronic posting on the web. Information, as Stewart Brand observed, wants to be free. In this case it is probably best to let it be so.
VITAMEDIAS
Blogging for Dollars: Blogs may be the cheapest way to communicate with your customers. [...]
Still, blogs aren't for everyone. Unless your clients spend a lot of time online, it may not be worth the trouble. What's more, blogs get stale fast and require frequent upkeep to be effective. They also require a certain amount of personality; after all, the whole point is to give a company a distinct voice. But if you and your employees are committed, you may be surprised at the results.
[ver também: Why Blogs Haven't Stormed the Business World]
CONTAMINANTES
Some fear loss of privacy as science pries into brain: Using magnetic resonance imaging machines that detect the ebb and flow of brain activity, researchers have become so good at peering into the workings of the human mind that their work is raising a new and deeply personal ethical concern: brain privacy. [...]
A marketing research company is already starting to use the machines to gauge consumers' unconscious preferences by looking at the pattern of brain activity as they respond to products or messages. Though brain scientists are nowhere near reading minds, their mounting success at mapping brains is sparking a discussion that echoes recent debate about preserving the privacy of people's genes. The issues of brain privacy, however, hold the potential for even more heat, say scientists and ethicists who are beginning to address them.
''Everybody's worried about genetic privacy, but brain privacy is actually much more interesting,'' said Steven E. Hyman, Harvard University's provost and a neuroscientist.
ECO-TERROR
A History of the Anti-Globalisation Protests (1975-2001)
ECO-TERROR
O grau zero: Passada a poeira que levantou o Iraque, volta a evidência: onde é que pára a oposição? Onde é que se meteu a esquerda? Acabámos nas birras que o sr. Ferro resolve fazer ao primeiro-ministro e que, afinal, são «figuras de estilo»? Se contarmos com cuidado as pessoas que, nestes quinze anos, saíram ou se afastaram do PS (e até do PC), percebemos por que razão a esquerda chegou ao que chegou: ao grau zero. Foi o falhanço de uma geração.
VITAMEDIAS

Critic Accuses Media of Aiding U.S. War Propaganda: It is one of the most famous images of the war in Iraq: a U.S. soldier scaling a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad and draping the Stars and Stripes over the black metal visage of the ousted despot.
But for Harper's magazine publisher John MacArthur, that same image of U.S. military victory is also indicative of a propaganda campaign being waged by the Bush administration.
"It was absolutely a photo-op created for (U.S. President George W.) Bush's re-election campaign commercials," MacArthur, a self-appointed authority on U.S. government propaganda, said in an interview. "CNN, MSNBC and Fox swallowed it whole."
Media Tonic for War Fever: Many Americans got their news and attitudes about the Iraq war from alternative sources showing far more skepticism than mainstream U.S. television.
The U.S. news media covered the war in Iraq the same way they cover the Olympics—with red, white, and blue trappings, human interest stories, bombastic theme music, and an almost total focus on American accomplishments at the expense of any international context. Around the clock coverage gave the illusion of telling and showing everything and made us forget how little we actually knew.
Embeds and Unilaterals: One reporter who covered the war estimates that only 50 to 70 of the 600 embeds saw any interesting combat during the conflict. Others found themselves embedded with units that saw little action or were never deployed.
VITAMEDIAS
The Scoop on Kids: How will today’s kids access news when they grow up? Look at how they use the Web.
Most youngsters aren't looking for news yet; they're doing homework, playing games and chatting with one another. But by investigating how they interact, play and learn, we can predict how they might behave as adults:
• They'll take advantage of choice. [...]
• They'll practice verification by corroboration. [...]
• They'll be information hunters. [...]
• They will expect to learn by experiencing. [...]
• They will be discriminating about presentation. [...]
.DE!

Cultural differences: For some years, the English and Scottish football Premier Leagues have been a beacon of cosmopolitan enlightenment. On any given Saturday, about half the players plying their trade are likely to be from overseas. But this admirable diversity has given rise to a troubling cultural conflict.
The problem is spittle, which has recently been flying in all directions.
ECO-TERROR
We went to war just to boost the white male ego by Norman Mailer
With their dominance in sport, at work and at home eroded, Bush thought white American men needed to know they were still good at something. That's where Iraq came in...