Prosecutors Turn Tables on Northwestern University's Student Journalists

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Subject: Prosecutors Turn Tables on Student Journalists
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Prosecutors Turn Tables on Student Journalists
By MONICA DAVEY
New York Times
October 25, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/us/25innocence.html?th&emc=th

[excerpt]

EVANSTON, Ill. - For more than a decade, classes of students at
Northwestern University's journalism school have been scrutinizing the
work of prosecutors and the police. The investigations into old crimes, as
part of the Medill Innocence Project, have helped lead to the release of
11 inmates, the project's director says, and an Illinois governor once
cited those wrongful convictions as he announced he was commuting the
sentences of everyone on death row.

But as the Medill Innocence Project is raising concerns about another
case, that of a man convicted in a murder 31 years ago, a hearing has been
scheduled next month in Cook County Circuit Court on an unusual request:
Local prosecutors have subpoenaed the grades, grading criteria, class
syllabus, expense reports and e-mail messages of the journalism students
themselves.

The prosecutors, it seems, wish to scrutinize the methods of the students
this time. The university is fighting the subpoenas.

Lawyers in the Cook County state's attorney's office say that in their
quest for justice in the old case, they need every pertinent piece of
information about the students' three-year investigation into Anthony
McKinney, who was convicted of fatally shooting a security guard in 1978.
Mr. McKinney's conviction is being reviewed by a judge.

Among the issues the prosecutors need to understand better, a spokeswoman
said, is whether students believed they would receive better grades if
witnesses they interviewed provided evidence to exonerate Mr. McKinney.

Northwestern University and David Protess, the professor who leads the
students and directs the Medill Innocence Project, say the demands are
ridiculously overreaching, irrelevant to Mr. McKinney's case, in violation
of the state's protections for journalists and a breach of federal privacy
statutes - not to mention insulting.

John Lavine, the dean of the Medill School of Journalism, said the
suggestion that students might have thought their grades were linked to
what witnesses said was "astonishing." He said he believed that federal
law
barred him from providing the students grades, but that he had no
intention of doing so in any case..

[...]

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Five reasons corporations are failing at social media

Five reasons corporations are failing at social media

[excerpts]

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/132126

"It's not rocket surgery."

That malapropism became a bit of a mantra at last week's Inbound Marketing
Summit.

Social media isn't complicated. When you boil it down it's about listening
to your customers, being helpful by offering your knowledge and giving
them interesting content to share and thereby advocate for you. The IMS
speakers shared several case studies (yes, too many of them mentioned
Comcast and Zappos) on how organizations have embraced social media to
connect with and built trust and affection among customers. None of the
examples required hyper-specialized knowledge or technology for a company
to connect with people.

So why is it so difficult for so many companies to successfully integrate
social media? I dug through my (30 pages of) notes to try and find some
themes in what the speakers shared and came up with a this list of why
organizations might be getting hung up.

1. They can't talk about anything broader than their own products.

[...]

2. They listen to customers but don't take any action

[...]

3. They aren't calibrated internally with the technology

[...]

4. They're not framing risk accurately

[...]

5. Their internal culture isn't aligned for social media success

The Yes Men Fix the US Chamber of Commerce

Canadian Folk-Blues-Jazz Radio Shows

This site is a listing of folk, blues, and jazz related shows aired on
campus and community radio stations in Canada (and a few CBC shows, too).
It is maintained by Melissa Kaestner (as passed on from Ian Gifford). If
you find something that needs correcting (shows, spelling, stations,
whatever!) or if you have a new listing then please email me at
melissa.kaestner[at]gmail.com.

A note from some campus and community radio music directors (other music
directors and programmers may have different opinions and approaches):
Artists/bands are encouraged to send releases to the station (Music
Director) to ensure charting. If music only gets to the show hosts, then
the release may not be eligible for charting, nor will the station have
access to your recording once the show hosts move on. Artists are
encouraged to contact the stations to find out their policy. Tips on how
to get airplay: blogs at http://www.myspace.com/communityradio and
http://www.myspace.com/digyourroots

Charting: Campus and community stations report to a variety of charts and
publications. The main publication for the sector is !earshot Magazine.
http://www.earshot-online.com/
!earshot maintains a weekly Top 50 and a monthly Top 200 spanning all
airplay and genres, as well as a Top 10 for specific genres, including:
Folk/Roots/Blues, Jazz, Electronic, Hip Hop, International, and Loud.
!earshot also publishes music reviews and other music-related resources,
including top picks from music directors around the country. It is
published online as well as monthly in Exclaim! Magazine.
http://www.exclaim.ca/

http://sites.google.com/site/rootsradiolist/

HERB & DOROTHY

"Most of us go through the world, never seeing anything. Then you meet somebody like Herb and Dorothy, who have eyes that see." —Richard Tuttle, artist

He was a postal worker. She was a librarian. Together they amassed one of the most important contemporary art collections in the world.

HERB & DOROTHY tells the extraordinary tale of Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a seemingly ordinary couple who filled their humble one-bedroom New York apartment with more than 4,000 works of art over a 45-year period. Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki turns her lens on the Vogels during a critical period of transition for the couple and their cherished collection.

Herb and Dorothy at The Gates, Central Park, 2005

From the earliest days of their marriage, the Vogels delighted in art. While working the midnight shift at the post office, Herb studied by day at the Institute of Fine Arts. Dorothy soon followed suit and began taking classes in painting and drawing. But ultimately, Dorothy confesses, they were "wannabe artists" and quickly gave up their own ambitions when they realized the joys of collecting.

Despite their modest income, the two began acquiring work that was undiscovered or unappreciated in the early 1960s, primarily Minimalist and Conceptual art by such visionaries as Robert and Sylvia Mangold, Donald Judd, Richard Tuttle, Sol LeWitt, Christo, Lynda Benglis and many other artists who are featured in the film.

More at

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/herb-and-dorothy/film.html

Ancient aboriginals in Australia may have been faster than a speeding Bolt!

http://www.australiannews.net/story/554479

[excerpt]

Edinburgh, October 15 : A leading anthropologist has suggested that
ancient aboriginals in Australia would have outrun Usain Bolt, the fastest
man alive, while a Neanderthal woman would have crushed Arnold
Schwarzenegger in arm-wrestling.

According to a report in The Scotsman, Peter McAllister, the author of
"Manthropology: the Science of Inadequate Modern Man", claims men today
are the weakest in history and would have been trumped in feats of
strength or speed by our ancient ancestors.

McAllister finds evidence he believes proves modern man is inferior to his
predecessors in, among other fields, the basic Olympic athletics
disciplines of running and jumping.

His conclusions about the speed of Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago
are based on a set of footprints, preserved in a fossilised claypan lake
bed, of six men chasing prey.

Do you need media insurance?

Do you need media insurance?

October 13, 2009 · Filed Under News

The Online News Association is surveying digital journalists to gauge the
need for low-cost Media Liability Insurance coverage, which includes
libel, defamation, copyright and other publishing torts.

If ONA determines enough need and interest, we will work to provide a
program tailored for digital journalists under the ONA name.

Please take a few moments to complete the following survey. If you aren't
in need of Media Liability Insurance, please forward this to someone who
might be.

http://www.cyberjournalist.net/do-you-need-media-insurance/

Report: Top Keyword Price Nears $100 Per Click

Report: Top Keyword Price Nears $100 Per Click
by Laurie Sullivan, Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 3:45 PM

[excerpt]

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=115431

The highest-priced keyword in the United States last month sold on Google
for $99.44 per click, according to the AdGooroo Search Engine Advertising
Update: Q309.

The report released Wednesday pegs Mesothelioma as the highest-selling
keyword in September. The same word sold on Yahoo in the No. 1 spot for
$60.68 per click. The phrase "auto insurance comparison" took top honors
on Bing, bringing in $55.20 per click.

It's the first time that AdGooroo's quarterly report has analyzed the
price for keywords, according to Rich Stokes, founder and CEO of AdGooroo.
He couldn't tell Online Media Daily how many times the top keywords were
clicked on during the month.

As for the word "mesothelioma," it seems lawyers have ramped up
paid-search ads based on lawsuits related to the asbestos-causing lung
cancer. The paid search ads direct people to lawyers affected by the death
sentence. "If I was a law firm specializing in mesothelioma lawsuits I
would put the paid-search ads on Bing," he says. "The word hasn't caught
up demand on Bing as it has on the other two search engines."

Stokes believes average cost per click (CPCs) will remain flat through
2010. Advertisers can expect to see keywords shift in and out of the
top-priced list. It suggests the industry has begun to mature.

The report also lists the top 25 U.S. advertisers by search engine. Among
the top in alphabetical order are Amazon.com, Ask.com, Att.com, eBay.com,
Google.com, Priceline.com and more. Companies come and go from this list
each quarter, Stokes says. Travel companies seem to dominate in the first
quarter, replaced in the fourth quarter by retail.

Actual Newspaper Story or the Onion Headline?

Ever read a small-town newspaper and just scratch your head in disbelief
at the funny headlines? We do all the time, and we can't help but notice
how similar many are to headlines in The Onion. Think you can spot real
news from fake?

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/36766

AP’s Tom Curley on the “oversupply” of news and whathe’s doing about it

By Zachary M. Seward / Oct. 13 / 8:40 a.m.

Tom Curley, president and chief executive of The Associated Press, was in
China last week for a government-sponsored media summit, where he compared
digital content to NCAA basketball and explained the AP's plans to build
revenue online. But Curley was far more revealing when he spoke without a
prepared text on October 6 at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong
Kong. I wrote about the big news from that talk on Friday but can now
share the audio and transcript.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/10/aps-tom-curley-on-the-oversupply-of-news-and-what-hes-doing-about-it/

Linux laptop for every pupil in Uruguay

* Laptop for every pupil in Uruguay *
Uruguay has given 362,000 primary children laptops which run on a Linux
desktop.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/technology/8309583.stm

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Portal Ceibal
http://www.ceibal.edu.uy/
One Laptop Per Child
http://laptop.org/en/

MEDIA: South-South Radio from Caracas to Africa

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Frederick Noronha <fredericknoronha@gmail.com>
Date: 2009/10/8
Subject: [cr-india] MEDIA: South-South Radio from Caracas to Africa
To: cr-india@sarai.net


http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48749

MEDIA: South-South Radio from Caracas to Africa
By Mildred Pineda

CARACAS, Oct 6 (IPS) - Poverty, attacks on human rights and corporate fraud will be among the main news coverage focuses of a new regional public radio network, Radio del Sur, which will link stations from South America and Africa.

Radio del Sur (Radio of the South) emerged as "an instrument of integration in a world of shifting power alignments and geopolitical changes," said Helena Salcedo, director of the Radio Nacional de Venezuela (the state-owned national radio station), who heads the new Caracas-based station.

Salcedo said the Venezuelan government, which launched the new network of public stations, is providing "a small amount" of funding, but did not provide figures.

The new station is motivated by the same objectives underlying Telesur, the Caracas-based regional TV network that for four years has been broadcasting news coverage, documentaries and series aimed at "giving a voice" to those who have none in the mainstream media.

Telesur is a 24-hour Latin America-wide network jointly owned by the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. The bulk of the station's financing comes from the Venezuelan government, with other governments providing mainly logistical and in-country support.

For now, Radio del Sur is broadcasting mainly music and some news, using the internet for international coverage, over a network of stations that reach 40 percent of the country.

The first day it went on the air, on Sept. 27, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said "People in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa are going to learn about their history and their revolutionary political struggles."

That was a concrete objective, he said, laid out by the second Africa-South America summit held Sept. 26-27 on Venezuela's Margarita Island, where the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador pledged support for the initiative.

Radio del Sur will closely follow news on the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the new regional lender Banco del Sur, Petrocaribe, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Universidad del Sur (University of the South), the Gasoducto del Sur (pipeline of the South) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) - blocs and projects aimed at political, financial, economic, energy and cultural integration, many of which were Chávez's initiatives.

The radio network will also provide coverage of social movements and cooperation agreements between the regions.

The programming will be planned with partner stations from Mexico to Argentina. Contacts have also been made with community and indigenous stations in Colombia. Venezuela will provide the system with news programmes and interviews, and editing and coordination will take place in Caracas.

On the Radio del Sur web site, www.laradiodelsur.com, 88 stations from Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, Canada and Spain are listed as partners: 18 from Argentina, 10 from Colombia, five from Bolivia, four from Uruguay and Honduras, three from Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and the United States, two from Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti and Peru, and one from Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

The eventual goal is to translate the programming into French, English, Dutch and Arabic, so that it can expand throughout the African continent.

Programming content will also be shared with several radio stations in Africa: stations in Gambia, Benin and Algeria – which have Spanish language broadcasts – and in Equatorial Guinea, where Spanish is one of the official languages.

Writer and media expert Luis Britto García, a member of the Telesur advisory council, told IPS that "Radio del Sur's broadcasts must provide an accurate view of reality, because the conventional media tend to create an illusory world; they only air reruns while transmitting U.S. values as if they were our own."

In U.S. programming, "we are depicted as picturesque beings, but actually, we have our own cultures," he said.

The question of the impartiality of Radio del Sur could be a point of controversy, as it will be largely financed by the Venezuelan government.

But Britto said that will not be a problem, because the government "is governed by the constitution, which stipulates that news must be veracious."

Furthermore, the station "is not going to sit on news items until they are no longer important, nor is it going to lie or censor, as the transnational news networks do – something that can be seen simply by turning to certain channels," he said.

Salcedo said "nations that have been subjected to the transnational news networks will now have a station that will be open to participation."

Magda Gibelli, a 21-year-old journalism student at the Santa María University in Caracas, said "it is always good when new media outlets are opened, but that depends on the focus that it will have, because we often see that official channels only show one viewpoint on what is happening in Latin America – in this case, from the angle of the left."

Another journalism student, Yosvelin Saavedra, 23, said "on Radio del Sur, listeners can find other eyes and microphones to see reality as it is; I just hope they focus on social issues instead of waging media wars."

The new station itself complains about a smear campaign and "counteroffensive" against the Chávez administration's so-called "Bolivarian revolution" by local and international stations.

The directors of Radio del Sur recall, for example, that in 2005, U.S. Congressman Connie Mack, a Republican from Florida, sponsored a bill that was to increase broadcasting to Venezuela "as a way to provide an accurate and comprehensive alternative source of news to the people of Venezuela" and counter Telesur's "anti-Americanism." The broadcasting would be financed by the U.S. government.

In late July, the Venezuelan government broadcasting watchdog Conatel ordered the closure of 32 radio stations and two TV stations because they failed to comply with regulations – a decision that drew wide criticism, on both the local and international levels.

Public Works Minister Diosdado Cabello, who oversees Conatel, said some of the stations were shut down because they did not renew their broadcasting licenses, and others because the stations had been illegally transferred to new owners.

Radio del Sur will broadcast on 98.5 FM, which it was assigned by Conatel prior to the July closures.

Salcedo said her team "has fulfilled all of the legal procedures," unlike the outlets that were taken off the air on Aug. 1. (END/2009)

--
Frederick Noronha :: +91-832-2409490
Writing, editing, alt.publishing, photography, journalism
Blog: http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com
Photos: http://photosfromgoa.notlong.com
Goa,1556: http://goa1556.goa-india.org

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cr-india mailing list
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https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india

Should access to broadband be a right?

Finland has made broadband a 'legal right', leading experts to question
whether the UK government is similarly committed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8311081.stm

Google launches e-book platform

Google launches e-book platform

[excerpt]

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/10/15/google-ebook-frankfurt.html

Google Inc. is launching an online service that will let readers buy
electronic versions of books and read them on such gadgets as cellphones,
laptops and possibly e-book devices.

Google Editions marks the company's first effort to earn revenue from its
ambitious Google Books scanning project, which attempts to make millions
of printed books available online. Although the scanning program has faced
complaints from authors and publishers over copyright, Google Editions
will cover only books submitted and approved by the copyright holders when
it launches next year.

The books bought through Google Editions will be accessible on any device
that has a web browser, including smart phones, netbooks and personal
computers and laptops, putting Google in competition with Amazon.com Inc.
and its Kindle e-book reader.

Tom Turvey, head of Google Book Search's publisher partnership program,
said Thursday the e-book market is evolving to allow access of books from
anywhere and from any device.

Consumers can buy directly from Google or from any number of online
booksellers and other retail partners using the Google Editions platform.
Google will actually host the e-books and make them searchable.

Sell The Vatican, Feed The World (HD, Official)

Sarah Silverman's ambitious plan for feeding the world.

Piano stairs - Rolighetsteorin.se - The fun theory

Video

2009-11-08 14:15

”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? See the results here.
http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/en/

Canuk Feds accused of softening stance on anti-spam law

Feds accused of softening stance on anti-spam law

OTTAWA — The Conservative government has buckled under pressure from businesses to water down its anti-spam legislation so some marketers can continue to send unsolicited e-mails.

And the government is now looking for an opposition party to help pass a bill with new loopholes, after Industry Canada officials released a list of more than 40 proposed amendments on behalf of the government. Some are technical and will not affect the scope of the bill meant to curtail junk mail, but others will narrow the reach of the proposed law.

They include new exceptions for: product updates, solicitation to participate in surveys or market research, and information on self-governing professions.

The government proposal also expands implied consent to receive unsolicited e-mails in instances where a person has provided her e-mail address to the sender, and removes the need for explicit consent for software programs for updates or upgrades, if consent was obtained in the past.

The John Howard Society of the NWT Logo

The John Howard Society of the NWT Logo
Originally uploaded by The MediaMentor

George Lessard
is pleased to announce, that at the John Howard Society of the Northwest Territories AGM Oct 8, 2009 he was elected to serve as Vice-president of the Society. The society's office is located in the basement of the Tundra Building (867) 920-4276...

JOHN HOWARD SOCIETY PARTNERS FOR HOMELESS DAY SHELTER

YELLOWKNIFE (October 1, 2009) – The Honourable Sandy Lee, Minister of Health and Social Services, Mayor Gordon Van Tighem, City of Yellowknife, and Richard Morland, Interim President and Chief Operating Officer of BHP Billiton’s EKATI Diamond Mine are pleased to announce their partnership with the John Howard Society. The John Howard Society won the request for proposal and will operate the day shelter in Yellowknife.

The day shelter will be operated as a pilot project for three years to allow the facility’s usage and future capability to be evaluated. The day shelter will be open and ready for use by the fall.

For more information contact:
Damien Healy
Communications
Department of Health and Social Services
Government of the Northwest Territories
Tel: (867) 920-8927 Fax: (867) 873-0204

Max Hall
City of Yellowknife
Tel: (867) 920-5624 Fax: (867) 920-5649

Deana Twissell
Superintendent of Corporate and Community Affairs
BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc.
Tel: (867) 669-6107 Fax: (867) 669-9293

Lydia Bardak, Executive Director
The John Howard Society of the NWT
(867) 920-4276

Who Makes the News

Who Makes the News

In November 2009, the world news media will once again come under scrutiny during the 4th Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). Volunteers from women's rights organizations, media associations, academia, etc across the world will collaborate in a one-day global research on gender in their local news media. GMMP research results are applied as a tool for change towards gender equality in and through media.