While doing some work-related research, I found an interesting sub-heading under the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Action Plan document for October, 09 – March, 10.  Page 44 of this document (Under the sub-heading Naxal Management Division) mentions a heading called the “Media / Perception Management Plan“.  The activities planned under it pertain mainly to inane activities such as advertisements and Tribal Youth Cultural Exchange Programmes.

So, I did a Wiki-search for the term Media / Perception Management Plan.  Apparently, “Perception management is a term originated by the U. S. military.”  The Wiki-article also goes on to state that

“The phrase “perception management” has often functioned as a “euphemism” for “an aspect of information warfare.” A scholar in the field notes a distinction between “perception management” and public diplomacy, which “does not, as a rule, involve falsehood and deception, whereas these are important ingredients of perception management; the purpose is to get the other side to believe what one wishes it to believe,whatever the truth may be.”

This is another quote from an article talking about the Bush administration’s policy of perception management:

“Perception management” — also known as “public diplomacy” — is a propaganda strategy for controlling how a target population views political events. Refined by intelligence services as they tried to manipulate foreign populations, the practice eventually seeped into domestic U.S. politics as a way to manipulate post-Vietnam-War-era public opinion.”

I am not asserting that the Indian government is doing something similar.  The facts do not seem to support such an assertion.  I however, do find the use of the term very striking, considering its historical usage.

Journalism is the publishing of news and information in a variety of media forms (television, radio, newspaper, etc.) for the use of the public.  There are several different categories of journalism: advertising, media management, reporting and writing, broadcast news, and photojournalism.  These are only a few broad categories of journalism which show that journalism involves more than just writing.  This blog post will discuss the different categories of journalism and how these categories contribute to journalism. 

Advertising

Advertising is the marketing of products and services to the public.  Advertising is designed to influence consumers to buy specific products through the use of the peripheral route of persuasion, the central route of persuasion, or both.  Career opportunities include: advertising media planner, media traffic, copywriter, production manager, design specialist, and others.

Media Management

Media Management focuses on helping media companies grow and develop alongside new technologies.  Career opportunities in this category include: media relations manager, marketing media management, relations, social media manager, digital media director, and others.

Reporting and Writing

Reporting and writing is the area of the news that generates the written articles.  Writers gather news information and organize it into clear, concise written documents. Career opportunities in this category include: journalist, editor, reporting specialists, reporting executive, and others.

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the transmitting of visual or audio information by means of radio, television, web, etc.  Career opportunities in this category include reporter, radio broadcast technician, producer, announcer, directors, radio operators, and others.

Photojournalism

Photojournalism is the use of images to tell news or to convey information.  Career opportunities in photojournalism include: photographers, photo imaging, film, print, graphic design, and others.

Because the above categories are broad, some of the career opportunities fall under more than one category.  For example, management positions fall into all of the journalism areas as well as the positions of editors, writers, and technicians.  Journalism provides job opportunities in several areas, tapping into a variety of skills outside of communication skills and writing skills.

The crisis is fostering consolidations in the media industry. Operations of concentration help to reduce costs and allow to better face the increasing number of competitors. But, according to most analists, more than 70% of mergers do not add value for shareholders.
We provide some suggestions for developping successful mergers and acquisitions:
- Prepare a good analysis. Be a bit sceptical about the synergies that you will create.
- Forget the “big words” -credibility, diversification of risks, internationalization…- and look at the real data: income, costs, debt, profit margins.
- Write the plan for “the day after”: tasks, deadlines, people in charge of each goal…
- Look at the intangible benefits you will get: new knowledge and new competences, more talent and creativity, more valuable brands…
- Do not overestimate the benefits of size and economies of scale. Do not forget the risks of burocracy and lack of focus.
- Try to armonize the two organizations’ cultures fostering internal dialogue.
- Pay attention to the little details of implementation.

Stop this scaremongering! We got enough problems of our own to worry about yours!

We did not get an agreement on 50% reductions in global emissions by 2050 or on 80% reductions by developed countries. Both were vetoed by China, despite the support of a coalition of developed and the vast majority of developing countries. Indeed, this is one of the straws in the wind for the future: the old order of developed versus developing has been replaced by more interesting alliances. (via The road from Copenhagen | Ed Miliband | Comment is free | The Guardian).

Old bulldog … old tricks

President Bharrat Jagdeo. *Photo credit: thereddsite.files.wordpress.com

Gordon Brown, The British Prime Minister declared, “today, together with Norway and Australia, the UK is taking a further step to a Copenhagen agreement: publishing a framework for the long-term transfer of resources to meet the mitigation and adaptation needs of developing countries.” (Paris Hilton note, who the PM of Britain is!)

More interesting was when Europe went ahead and committed funds and disbursed carbon credits. Small amounts – but nevertheless a significant step! So, what gives! How come Europe was disbursing – not serious money, but more than pocket money, without using IMF, World Bank, et al. No UN! How come?

Anglo-Euro efforts

The joint trojan operation (Norway, Australia and UK + EU) against China (or was it India?) was immaculately pursued. Bernarditas de Castro Muller, former lead coordinator and negotiator for the G77 and China in Copenhagen, writing in the Guardian of UK, reported,

The UK financed workshops in selected vulnerable countries and deployed climate envoys. One of its envoys told intransigent negotiators that the UK would mobilise a group of vulnerable countries to pressure the major developing countries – such as China, Brazil and India – into committing to emissions reductions, contrary to their obligations under the climate treaty.

The EU for example made sustained attempts to influence and pressure developing nations – something that only served to increase their cohesion. They bribed where they could, promising the same recycled financing and maybe more to come if countries bent to their demands. And they bullied when they could not bribe.

India’s neighbours, like Maldives, Bangladesh were co-opted – as were countries, led people of Indian extract like Caribbean island of Guyana, Mauritius. The strategy was to isolate China and pair India with the ‘vulnerble 14′ – like Maldives, Guyana, Bangldesh, etc. For instance, alongwith Mohammed Nasheed, Bharrat Jagdeo in Guyana, was faultlessly pursued. Long ignored and isolated, countries like Guyana suddenly found themselves in the spotlight.

Agreeably surprised, they wondered how Guyana “received a disproportionate amount of coverage and access given its size for its progressive and leading stance on climate change.” Time magazine nominated Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo, as one of Heroes of the Environment 2008. This year Time magazine included Mohammed Nasheed in its Heroes of the Environment 2009. It was also announced,

Stabroek News in Guyana has confirmed that President Bharrat Jagdeo has been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to combat climate  change. He was nominated by Professor David Dabydeen, Director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick.

US actor Harrison Ford and Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo at a news conference about forest protection on September 21, 2009 in New York. Photograph: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

The Commonhealth Heads meeting a few weeks before Copenhagen was supposed to seal this ‘alliance.’ Intriguingly, the French President Sarkozy joined the Commonwealth Summit, with Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen and UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon – and proposed a US$10 billion fund for climate change. Just imagine the French joining in a Commonwealth meet (a first, I would think).

Possibly it was the US efforts which made China and India stand together at Copenhagen.

Why the US did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol?

The political undertones of climate control talks are unravelling. The first major smoke signal was when the USA refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol – while talking about global warming and climate change at the same time. Sometimes puzzling and wholly beyond understanding! The lip service paid by the US to climate change can be best summarized by a Hindi idom हाथी के दांत, खाने के एक, दिखाने के एक. Meaning, elephants have two sets of teeth – one for actual use and another for show.

Cynical subversion of media, honours and public opinion

The third element in the multilateral equations set was the efforts made by Bush /Obama to get India and China to ‘get on the climate change band wagon’ with the US. The Chinese ‘unilateral’ announcement of ‘voluntary’ carbon intensity cut after Obama’s trip to China a few days before Copenhagen was a signpost of this unusual ‘alliance’. India followed soon thereafter with its own ‘voluntary’ carbon intensity cuts. One of the justifications of Bush’s nuclear deal with India was climate change.

This US master-stroke of Obama+BASIC meeting, ensured that the “only breakthrough was the political coup for China and India in concluding the anodyne communiqué with the United States behind closed doors, with Brazil and South Africa allowed in the room and Europe left to languish in the cold outside.”

In hindsight, US covert resistance to climate change was actually resistance to the monopolisation by the EU on the climate change agenda and campaign. Under the garb of climate change, EU was trying to do what US did to the world, under the garb of poverty elimination, population control, Bretton Woods in the aftermath of WW2.

What were the BASIC countries resisting

Writing from a Western standpoint, John Lee, in the Guardian, of the UK, faults China for not allowing,

“Teams of international economists, scientists, inspectors and statisticians roaming China to gather information on carbon emissions and reduction initiatives … reporting to political masters in America and Europe … (on) the further problem of cheating in current and future carbon reduction schemes.” (ellipsis and linking text in brackets mine).

The Climate Change Agreement would have delivered us - hog tied and helpless!

Ed Milliband, Britain’s Energy Minister, younger brother of British foreign secretary, David Miliband, writing for the Guardian,

“We cannot again allow negotiations … to be hijacked in this way. We will need to have major reform of the UN body overseeing the negotiations and of the way the negotiations are conducted (for this) global campaign, co-ordinated by green NGOs, backed by business … we must keep this campaign going and build on it. It needs to be more of a genuinely global mobilisation, taking in all countries …this year has proved what can be done, as well as the scale of the challenge we face. (ellipsis and emphasis mine).

Indeed much has been done.

Face behind the mask

Faceless NGOs, without accountability to anyone, were able to bring global political leadership, to the very brink of an agreement. Like Milliband’s boss, Gordon Brown remarked, “the political will to secure the ambitious agreement … comprehensive and global agreement that is then converted to an internationally legally binding treaty in no more than six months.” was very much there. The same 25,000 people (25 countries x 1000 powerful people) who rule over the G8-/OECD wanted the poor to invite these 25,000 to have undue and illegitimate oversight over our ‘poor’ lives – in the name of climate change.

The message I got ... loud and clear

To deliver more than 600 crore (6 billion) of humanity to an agreement that would have allowed the likes of the Milliband Brothers (and their NGO ‘partners-in-crime’) to pry into our lives, our affairs and dictate our very existence – with our own consent. Without recourse, with no checks and balances. With large amounts of unaccounted money at their disposal. To decide how we live our lives. Under a system, that would have re-invented colonialism, in a way wholly unknown to us earlier.

Any deal was a bad deal

Last time around, India was called the deal breaker at Doha. This time around, it is China. Who gets called, what by whom, may seems unimportant! But as my grandfather reminded me many times, बद हो जाओ, लेकिन बदनाम नहीं (Beware of getting a bad reputation).

The Guardian, goes onto say, “Only China is mentioned specifically in Miliband’s article but aides tonight made it clear that he included Sudan, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba, which also tried to resist a deal being signed.” Sadly India is not included in this list of ‘deniers’ who are, as Gordon Brown puts it, “anti-science and anti-change environmental Luddites who seek to stand in the way of progress.”

Climate control noise is just drowning out all debate

How I wish India was blamed for the failure of Copenhagen!

De-construction of climate change by 2ndlook

• Climate change – How India is falling for propaganda
• Climate Change at Copenhagen – Britain mounts a Trojan operation
• Indian cows were blamed for global warming!
• US Euro Clubs hobble Third Wold
• Climate head steps down over e-mail leak
• NASSCOM wakes after 15 months
• PR Stunts – The Maldives underwater meeting
• Indian to head Amnesty
• Amartya Sen at the Aspen Institute India’s Conference in New Delhi – WSJ.com
• Climate change – ‘Time for Plan B’ says Nigel Lawson

Too much money ... creating too much of maya

Environmental writer and activist Bill McKibben of 350.org voiced his disapproval. (and) summarized what Obama accomplished:

He formed a league of super-polluters, and would-be super-polluters. China, the U.S., and India don’t want anyone controlling their use of coal in any meaningful way.

(via Copenhagen Talks End With Agreement, But No Binding Deal: So, How Screwed Are We? | Environment | AlterNet).

QED

On Aug 14, 2009, a Quicktake post wondered if this entire climate change and global warming had something to do with coal-fired power plants.

This is too close to my dis-comfort zone

Bill McKibben’s peeve does prove that this is indeed the case.

Now, coal is the cheapest way to generate electricity. Looking at the shortfall in electricity, and Indian consumers’ ability to pay, coal is the answer.

To low costs, add the fact that India has coal reserves that will last for the next 100 years – at least. But, coal-generated electricity, will also makes India industrially competitive.

And we don’t want that, do we? Right, Billy Boy!

Inside Indian bedrooms

60years ago, an assault was made by foreign ‘observers’ into Indian bedrooms. Foreign ‘observers’

1. Tied ‘development aid’ to India’s population control.
2. Trained Indian ‘health workers’ to control India’s human reproductive behaviour.
3. Paid for by Western Governments, soon after that, we had ‘health workers’ fanning out across the Indian country-side, conducting  vasectomies /tubectomies on India’s (especially poor) population.

Is this the science we are talking about?

It did not matter then, who the ‘observers’ were – foreign or Indian. Neither does it matter now. What matters is someone’s monitoring. And I don’t like that at all.

Even if the monitors have brown skins (my liking for brown skin notwithstanding). Even if it comes with a recommendation from Nobel prize winner, Amartya Sen. How Indian power producers generate electricity is our business.

Getting a handle on the Indian  economy is the second and related part of the agenda.

An agenda, I don’t like.

All that nice, fresh, white newsprint …

Wasted!

Just the amount of newsprint that has been devoted to climate change and global warming must have raised temperatures (going by the ‘warmers’ calculations and estimates) enough to make this debate of questionable value. To that add, the amount of gimmickry and media overdrive (through slick PR) that raises many doubts and questions.

Hush, boy! Do not even mention ’scientific manipulation’.

Just look at the record.

The most prominent and vocal votary of Climate Change was Al Gore – who was promptly awarded the Nobel Prize. The recruitment of Maldives and the positioning of President Mohammed Nasheed was again a very slick operation. The underwater Maldives cabinet meeting had a interesting story.

Maldivian officials said the idea to hold the attention-grabbing underwater cabinet meeting came from President Mohamed Nasheed when he was asked by an activist group to support its “environmental day” action on October 24.

“The 350.org group asked if the Maldives can hold an underwater banner supporting environmental day,” an official from the president’s office said.

“The president thought for a while and then came up with the idea to have an underwater cabinet meeting.” (via Maldives cabinet rehearses underwater meeting).

Is this the problem?

Propping up Maldives as ‘fifth’ column was done over the last more than 20 years. Based on excellent PR and media management skills, the Maldives was the trojan horse loosed on the G77+Basic grouping.

350.org is rather well armed on the PR front – with a specific agency for South Asia itself. The PR agency for the Maldives Travel and Tourism Authority McCluskey International does  seem to either bask in reflected glory – or is hinting at the authorship of this stunt. The Maldives climate change campaign seems to be headquarted in Britain also.

Been there and done that

The hallmark of the Maldives’ climate  change campaign has been it slick PR. Dramatic statements, intriguing sound bites, the Maldives’ campaign was beyond the common bureaucratic ‘creature’ – much less a Maldives’ bureaucrat. This is consistent and in line with Al Gore’s media and public relations management – which won the PR agency, the campaign of the year award. And Al Gore the Nobel Prize.

All this is much like, how from the early 1950’s to the late eighties, the Western world created hysteria regarding ‘population explosion’  in India and China. Enormous pressures were brought onto the Chinese and Indian Governments to ‘control’ their populations.

Same game, different name! Doesn’t wash. Just like last time.

Related Posts

• Climate change – How India is falling for propaganda
• Climate Change at Copenhagen – Britain mounts a Trojan operation
• Indian cows were blamed for global warming!
• US Euro Clubs hobble Third Wold
• Climate head steps down over e-mail leak
• NASSCOM wakes after 15 months
• PR Stunts – The Maldives underwater meeting

The Europeans, especially the UK, have been at the forefront of diplomatic maneuvers to carve out a separate voice of small vulnerable countries such as Bangladesh and Maldives which would, in the name of strong global action, put pressure on India and China to take commitments. The UK government had recently part-funded and helped organize a meeting of this group, called the “Vulnerable 14″ countries, in Maldives. (via Cracks appear in G-77 bloc on Day One – Europe – World – The Times of India).

Awesome.

1. The Maldives jigsaw

The Maldives Government staged a dramatic PR coup to draw world media attention on climate change, by holding an underwater cabinet meeting. Nepal Government followed up with a cabinet meeting at the Himalayan foothills. These were in a long line of various other such PR stunts.

The PR agency for the Maldives Travel and Tourism Authority McCluskey International does  seem to either bask in reflected glory – or is hinting at the authorship of this stunt. Apparently, Maldives has been at the forefront of climate change trip for some time. One journalist, from New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, recounts his first encounter with Maldives representatives in

Toronto in 1988 to report on the First International Conference on the Changing Atmosphere. Most of the discussions centered on devising strategies to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from automobiles, power plants, and the burning of tropical forests. Among those in attendance was Hussein Manikfan, who holds the title Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the United Nations from the republic of Maldives. At first it seemed odd to find a representative from the Maldives at the meeting. The country, a sprinkling of 1,190 coral islets in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka, has no tropical forests, hardly any automobiles, and little industry beyond the canning of bonito.

Well coached, when Manikfan was asked what was he doing in Toronto, a slick and dramatic answer was available.

Why was he in Toronto? “To find out how much longer my country will exist,” was his simple reply.

Such answers and sound-bites have been a recurring and regular Maldives phenomenon.

Media management and Maldives

The hallmark of the Maldives’ climate  change campaign has been it slick PR. Dramatic statements, intriguing sound bites, the Maldives’ campaign was beyond the common bureaucratic ‘creature’ – much less a Maldives’ bureaucrat. This is consistent and in line with Al Gore’s media and public relations management – which won the PR agency, the campaign of the year award. And Al Gore the Nobel Prize.

For sometime, Nasheed was in Britain, a ‘political refugee’. Amnesty International declared  Nasheed a ‘prisoner of conscience’ in 1996. The Maldives climate change campaign seems to be headquarted in Britain also.The New York Times report mentions how

Officials in the Maldives made the decision after soliciting a report on how to cut fossil fuel use and otherwise trim the country’s climate footprint from  Chris Goodall and  Mark Lynas, British environmentalists and authors of books on energy and climate.

The British press has been quite generous in its coverage and published his writings. Such coverage from Western media is normal for Western leaders or a significant head of State. Not for a President of a 300,000 people island-State.

President Mohamed Nasheed, declared with saturation Western media coverage, that Maldives will be the first country in the world to be carbon neutral. At another gab-fest, he dramatically declared, “We don’t want a global suicide pact” - which received wide publicity, especially in Canada, Britain, US media. News agencies like AFP and AP gave Nasheed saturation coverage.

Much like how the population explosion report by the ‘Club of Rome’ was released from the Smithsonian, the climate change

“announcement was made in the Maldives, but synchronized with the London premiere of ” The Age of Stupid,” a new film on global warming and oil that is a mix of documentary, dramatization and animation.

In response to this article in NY Times, significant data was shown, how Maldives will not go under-water.

High noon in Maldives

Interestingly, the current President of Maldives came to power, in rather unusual ‘circumstances’. “After violent civil riots in 2003 and fierce international pressure pushed Gayoom, to call for the 2008 Maldives Presidential elections. During the campaign and electioneering, “Gayoom’s allies accused Nasheed of seeking to spread Christianity in the increasingly conservative Muslim country, while the opposition accused the president of being a dictator who abused human rights.”

In the first round, Nasheed was placed second with 44,293 votes (24.91%), behind President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the long-ruling Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), who received 71,731 votes (40.34%). In the second round, Nasheed (supposedly supported by the unsuccessful first round candidates) won 54.25% of the vote against Gayoom (45.75) – “anyone waiting in line was permitted to cast a vote.”

Displaying penchant for excellent PR, Nasheed promptly declared himself as “the world’s first democratically elected president of a 100 percent Muslim country” – and promised to “to fight inflation, downsize government, tackle corruption and protect human rights”.

One comment simplified the Maldives riddle very well.

If the Maldives are doomed why spend $1.1 billion on the place. Abandon the islands. Move to higher ground. Ans.: They won’t get many $$ if they ask for any other reason. And they know better than anyone they are not sinking!

Of course, this begs the question, why Maldives? That brings us to the next part of the climate change factors. For more than 2 decades, Maldives has been nursed into a ‘leadership’ position. President Nasheed today leads the calling themselves the V11 – the vulnerable 11, which has become 14. Led by Maldives, this group includes far bigger and important countries like Bangladesh, Kenya,  Ghana, Tanzania and Vietnam among others. Most of India’s neighbours have joined this group – like Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan.

If it wasn’t such deliciously, low life fraud, I may have even admired it.

Media groups all over the world are feeling the pinch. Almost everything is going down: advertising incomes, profits, share’s prices, circulation figures, size of staffs, managers’ expectations…

In periods of prosperity it is not easy to discover companies’ failures because profits usualy hide managers’ mistakes. But now the crisis has helped us to identify some strategic errors: most part of media groups have been short term oriented, have take to much financial risk, have been obsessed with maximizing profits and increasing size, have had weak editorial projects, and have not paid enough dedication to motivate their teams.

The crisis remind us that good management requires strong leadership, a culture of innovation, balance between short term focus and long term goals, a highly motivated team, good understanding of new technologies, the ability to protect brands’ value and a coherent editorial project.

Companies can not avoid the crisis -which is deep, long and almost universal- but at least can learn from it.

The economic crisis is forcing free dailies to become partners. Metro International and 20 Minutos closed a deal wherebythe Swedish Company will manage the international advertising of SchibstedSpanish free daily.

During the third quarter of 2009, the advertising income of 20 Minutos shrunk 12.5%. These figures complicate the future of Schibsted in Spain. Even though the free daily reduced costs dramatically, including staff, the effects are still not evident.

The deal with Metro will not only support advertising incomes of the Spanish free daily, but will also allow it to trade with important European brands. The same agreement was signed by Metro UK (Associated Newspapers), so Global Sales of Metro International will negotiate the international advertising packages of both publications. This is one of the strategies free dailies are implementing to fight the crisis.

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An interesting article about the rise of Apple and fall of Microsoft in the smartphone market.  Personally I dislike Macs and and anything Apple related.  I don’t even own an iPod and the only reason I have iTunes on this computer is because my partner uses an iPod.  On the upside, she too uses a a Windows Smartphone, like I sometimes do.  We currently use the Palm Treo 500 which admittedly is an entry level smartphone.  It has no touch screen, a crap camera and the music player, while using Windows Media Player Mobile, leaves a lot to be desired.

What I do enjoy about the Windows Mobile phone is the ability to read and edit native Office documents on the go.  It may seem a bit geeky and unnecessary to access an Excel spreadsheet on the train but document reading and writing is great, and I have even studied a PowerPoint show on the train in preparation for a presentation.  I am told that the iPhone does lack these features currently, and while I admit they don’t work that well on my phone, I would hope they run more efficiently on the higher end phones.

I really like the potential for seamless synchronisation between phone and PC, but at this stage it’s just that – potential. In all honesty while I do use the Windows phone on occasion, it’s size and absolutely crap battery life means most of the time I take out my trusty Nokia 5310.  Even with the music player I get at least 2 days out of it.

As someone who has been using a smartphone of some sort for a number of years, I get a little frustrated at all the iPhone hype.  I’ve been emailing, surfing the web, reading docs, managing time and listing to music on my phone for years.  Microsoft and to a greater extent Palm have really missed the boat here – they had the potential to saturate the market with devices that were superior to the iPhone, but lost out it on cool.

From: Wired.com

Yesterday I asked some students if they would be disposed to pay for online contents. They said “no”. But today I read that a Boston Consulting Group research affirms that, in Spain, 52% of Internet users would pay for those contents.

Rupert Murdoch, who is convinced that the future of Internet depends on charging for the contents, is gaining more and more supporters. London Times already charges for their contents in its portal and many other editors are planning to do the same.

Boston Consulting Group has studied nine countries and in every one of them the results have been positive in favor of paying. The nature of the contents for which people would pay is especially local, although in EE.UU and U.K. Internet users prefer to pay for the breaking news service.

However, Boston Consulting Group research explains that even though a lot of people would give money for those contents, they are not disposed to pay a lot. In Spain, people would pay four Euros per month for “premium contents” on Internet, and only 11.3% of the Internet users would reach to ten Euros for them.

One of the walls that difficult the operations is that people do not like online transactions through credit card, because they have to give some bank details.

Mercedes Medina.

I would like to share some comments with you. There are many changes that affect the media and are transforming them. I´ve heard this morning in a Conference in Neuchatel, Switzerland, about Media Interactivity: Economic and Managerial Issues, that the revenue from interactive services of the television channels, Mediaset and BSkyB, has grown in the last years. On the other hand, users of media are now dialoguers, debaters, messengers, testers and content producers. Furthermore, in El País, October 28, there was a report about the DTT where was said that the future of television goes through the interactive services such as income tax statement, taxes payment, medical services, shopping, that overcome the digital divide of households without Internet access.

With all these changes, media companies are not any more companies that only deliver contents. Media managers have to set departments of marketing, retailing, and stores, or to signed agreements with external firms. So, in this new context what is the role of the content producers? How do they have to produce or create media goods? What is going to be the core business of media companies? Will be still important to have good contents that satisfied the information and entertaining needs of the audience?

It has been a while since I have posted to this blog. I think the main reason is I haven’t had a real focus in the past. Over the next month or so, I am going to start posting more often and developing a theme. It might seem like the topics are fragmented and coming from many different directions, but in my head they all tie together, and hopefully that will become apparent.

If you read my previous post about TV vs. Media Management, that’s where the new theme starts. Managing the media I consume has been a big concern of mine over the past few years, and I think most people don’t really think about it a lot. I’ll start to discuss the different methods and sources I use, and what led me to really consider what I’m absorbing. I spent a great deal of time developing a concept for software that is built around this paradigm of deciding what to consume and getting it on your own schedule, but it would not be able to exist with the current intellectual property landscape. I still want to develop it one day (because I want to be able to use it myself).

Another key area I will focus on for this blog is what I’m calling Resource Management. The term is kind of broad, but it basically has to do with keeping track of possessions I have and how I use them. I’m spending most of my time now on designing software that will help me do this. I see big changes coming in the next 5 years or so in the way people keep track of what they have and how they use it, and the way that new goods are designed and manufactured, so I’ll talk about that, too.

I keep a document in my computer called Protocol and Processes, which I review weekly, where I basically keep track of rules for staying organized, managing my money, managing the media I consume, and a lot more. This document and other related documents that I will discuss in future posts serve their purpose well, but I think there is ton of room for improvement for a personal protocol management system. I figure I am spending a lot of time and energy thinking about and improving my processes, so I may as well share the results with others and develop software that can help other people live more efficiently and improve themselves, as well as be transparent about what led up to the creation of the systems I am developing.

When I was telling my uncle about the resource management system I am developing, he said it reminded of a George Carlin standup routine, so as a reward for reading all this text here is something to watch:

Utilitarian Approach

Fairness/Justice Approach

Virtue Approach

The Rights Approach

The Common Good Approach

Ethical Principles

With war a certain inevitability, here is a recap of some recent articles you might find interesting as background to what will most certainly be both a historic and memorable time in our lives.

Radio Propaganda – Another Weapon In War
Synopsis: Radio has long been used as another weapon in war, mainly as a propaganda tool. From broadcasts aimed at Iraq by U.S. forces against Saddam Hussein, to North Vietnam’s “Hanoi Hannah” during the Vietnam War, “Germany’s Axis Sally”, and Japan’s “Tokyo Rose” in World War II, Radio has been used by the good guys and the bad guys.”

The Radio Broadcast That Panicked America
Synopsis: On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre performed a radio play based on an H.G. Wells story entitled “War of the Worlds”. The national broadcast caused panic and mass hysteria as listeners began to believe Martians had landed in New Jersey and were taking over the world. Here are links to the original audio and related resources.

The Baghdad Morning Zoo
Synopsis: The Baghdad Morning Zoo is a humorous satire about two fictional Iraq Radio personalities and what their Top 40 morning show might sound like if you heard it.

Introducing Color Coded Terrible Alerts For Radio
Synopsis: The color-coded terror alert system our Department of Homeland Defense uses has inspired a similar color-coded system to alert listeners to awful Radio. This satire presents the five stages in the new “Terrible Alerts” system.

The People Involved in Radio Production

The size of the radio station and / or the budget often dictates the number of people involved and their job functions, but regardless of whether one person fulfills all the roles, or there is a greater degree of specialisation with different people assigned to each, the main skills and the roles needed to produce a commercial, and there are essentially only four:

1. The Scriptwriter: having the writer present at the session often helps clear up any misunderstanding with the written word.
2. The Sound Engineer: a good experienced technician with a good pair of ears can make everything work quickly and smoother.
3. The Producer: the person in overall charge of achieving the end result.
4. The Voice Over(s): Good casting is essential and knowing the capabilities of each voice helps.

All the above roles can be, and often are, completed by one person, and sometimes for larger campaigns with larger budgets, present in the studio can also be:

• The Client(s): whose money is paying for the session.
• The Media Sales Representative(s): responsible for booking the commercial airtime.
• The Advertising Agency: either in a creative capacity as the writer and producer or as an advisor to the client.

So present in the studio to record a radio commercial or a number of commercials for any advertising campaign can range from one person to several.

Read more: http://radioproduction.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_essentials_elements_of_radio_production#ixzz0TkM1NYNU

Amateur Radio Emergency Communication In Action

4:28 BJT, 12 May 2008, A magnitude-8.0 earthquake hit China’s Sichuan area.  69,180 died and 374,008 injured in the disaster as of 1200 BJT, June 19, 2008. 80-90% of houses were crashed.

Ham radio operators around Chengdu, Mianyang area setup their gears at earliest time . All other communication means failed in the center area and one amateur repeater was setup at 13 May morning, to pass command for government instruction.

Many amateur radio operators kept hourly monitoring to check what can help in the disaster relief.Amateur radio was used to organize the car owners in transportation of supplies and wounded immediately after the quake.Amateur radio was helping the relief efforts in Zhaogongshan

HD Radio

Charging fees for online content has been one of the most interesting debates for the last few years. The problem of how to make money through the Internet has taken publishers to consider the possibility of charging fees for their online content.

Companies that want to be profitable on the Internet currently need to atract millions of visitors because it is the only way to get good advertising contracts. However, many enterprises are anticipating a change of paradigm and rethinking their business model and planning a shift to getting money directly from the visitors, through micropayments or subscription (http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/944161/Online-charging-work-AOP-delegates-told/).

Charging for content would have a very positive impact on media industry because it would force the journalists and people who work producing and delivering information to make better products. When one competes against a company which distributes free information it becomes imperative to make an effort to differentiate one’s product and convince the public that it is worth paying for higher quality content.

1. The advancement of Internet grew from the invention of the telegraph and telephone via telephone lines.

2. Impact on NEWS

Telecommunication has also transformed the way people receive their news. It has made it faster to receive news all around the globe giving constant news feeds to the Industry. Headlines has grown as news are presented shorter or to the point therefore people are constantly up to date with global issues instead of only knowing whats going on in their neighborhood.

Telephone and Telegraph helped the Entertainment Industry to grow as well with the progress in receiving and reporting news.

3. Economic impact

Business -Use of telephones to organize many home services ranging from pizza deliveries to electricians. The growth in Globalization between countries all over the world.In Bangladesh’s Narshingdi district, isolated villagers use cell phones to speak directly to wholesalers and arrange a better price for their goods. In Cote d’Ivoire, coffee growers share mobile phones to follow hourly variations in coffee prices and sell at the best price and etc. Telephone and  Telegraph brings connections and makes the world a smaller place for Business.

4. Social impact

Telecommunication is playing an increasingly important role in social relationships. Technologies like SMS (handphones) can keep people all around the world well connected and updated.It has become faster and easier to communicate.

In recent years, the popularity of social networking sites has increased dramatically. These sites allow users to communicate with each other as well as post photographs, events and profiles for others to see. The profiles can list a person’s age, interests, sexuality and relationship status.

Sample of a Home made Telegraph

Before you can work with media in Final Cut Studio, you need to get it onto your hard disk and into Final Cut Pro. Ingest describes, in a very general sense, the process of capturing, transferring, or otherwise importing different types of video, audio, or image media into Final Cut Pro in order to use it in a program. Once in Final Cut Pro, media can be easily moved into any of the other Final Cut Studio applications.

There are three primary ways of ingesting media into Final Cut Pro:

• Log and Capture window: You use the Log and Capture window to capture standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) media from a tape-based format, in real time.
• Log and Transfer window: You use the Log and Transfer window to capture tapeless media in a wide variety of formats, including SD, HD, and even some 2K and 4K formats.
• Import Files or Import Folders: You use the Import Files and Import Folders commands to import other kinds of QuickTime, audio, and image file formats, as well as compatible Final Cut Studio project and data files.