Week in Review

Short reads on a Saturday morning:

•  Economic news dominated the week: jobless claims went up, the stock market almost tanked before recovering somewhat, the crisis in Greece has citizens in the streets and economists on the edge of their seats. The resale homes report was a disaster, but one former exec got a $18.5 million payday just for going away.

•  While Washington went through the motions of the President's health care reform "summit" one Senator had his priorities straight: basketball rules. Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky) decided that he was mad as hell and not going to take it any longer. So, after being forced to miss a Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game, the aging Senator put a hold on a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits. The bill, which passed the House on a voice vote, faced no opposition in the Senate.

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Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky) shows the world his IQ.  ☞

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As a result of Sen. Bunning's actions, unemployment benefits for 1.2 million Americans expire on Sunday. The Senate will not reconvene until Tuesday. "This is -- literally -- taking bread off the table of human beings," Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash) said. "This is turning out lights in peoples homes. This is crazy. With unemployment at nearly 10 percent and millions of families depending on this, what Bunning is doing is inexplicable."

•  The Associated Press (AP) announced it is getting into the tablet publishing game, creating a new digital unit: AP Gateway. The new division will concentrate on paid applications, and has an iPad application ready to go. "Much like the AP Mobile news product, the iPad app will show custom packages of headlines, stories, photos and video from the AP and from newspapers and broadcasters that choose to contribute their content and share the revenue. AP members also could use the same system to offer their own iPad apps that show their own content," the AP said through a release.

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☜  Hang 'em high: Italian Judge Oscar Magi.

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•  The tubes were still vibrating from the news out of Italy: three Google executives were held liable for a video that was posted on YouTube. The video, admittedly vile, showed a young autistic boy being bullied by a group of Italian youth. Eventually, but apparently not fast enough, the video was pulled. But the Milan court ruled that the three execs, David Drummond, senior vice-president of corporate development and chief legal officer, Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel, and George Reyes, a former chief financial officer, were guilty and were sentenced in absentia to six months in prison (In Italy, sentences of three years or less are automatically suspended.)

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Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, and media mogul.  ☞

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The reaction was shift and pretty much unanimous: the judge is crazy. But the ruling may have its genesis in the media/political situation -- one where the media is dominated by one person, who just happens to be the Prime Minister, as well.

•  Finally, some great news (snark alert): all those layoffs are producing profits for someone. The Washington Post reported that profits quadrupled thanks to staff reductions. So obviously the move by ABC News to cut hundreds of jobs has to be seen a great news, too, right?

Photoblogging Friday - 8

It's Friday, and that means more Photoblogging Friday. Well, in this case, movie still Friday as we celebrate the premiere of the newest version of a classic: Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

This 1927 silent classic has seen its share of comebacks. The original release premiered in Berlin at 153 minutes long. But then the Americans got hold of it and chopped the film down, simplifying (and confusing) the story line and themes. Additionally, if reports can be believed, many movie houses showed the film at the wrong speed -- showing the film at the new sound standard to 24 frames per second instead of the silent standard of 16 frames per second. This same silly mistake still takes place all the time when silent footage is used in modern documentaries.

In 2001 a restoration attempt for Metropolis was made by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung and the result was screed the following year at the Berlin International Film Festival. The running time was 124 minutes as much of the original material remained missing.

But miracle of miracles, an early 16mm copy of the film was discovered in an archive of the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, Argentina and an additional 25 minutes of film could be added to the 2001 restoration. This version of Metropolis was screened outside in Berlin last week as part of this year's Berlin Film Festival. We look forward to yet another DVD release to follow.

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Understanding the differences between mobile users could help boost your mobile media efforts

AdMob, the mobile advertising company whose acquisition by Google is currently under government review, has released a new study of mobile media users and the results could come in handy for those currently entering the mobile media space.

Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch devices still dominiate the market, according to the study.  Fifty percent of all web traffic remains tied to Apple products, with Android-based phones quickly catching up.  Apple also dominates the the mobile ad "requests" market with 40.4 percent of mobile ad requests originating from Apple iPhones or iPod Touch devices. Nokia is far behind with a 16.2 share. Research in Motion's Blackberry products barely register at only 2.3 percent of requests.

(Apple recently purchased the mobile ad network company Quattro Wireless, a competitor to AdMNob.)

Read More >

BBC may be ordered to trim back assets; close two radio stations; lose magazines

The Times of London is reporting that the BBC will be ordered to cut back its media assets, ending an era of expansion for the publicly funded media organization. The BBC operates under a Royal Charter and decisions concerning such moves must be approved by the BBC Trust.

According to the Times, Mark Thompson, the Director-General, will announce that digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network will close, and will introduce a cap on spending on broadcast rights for sports events.  A report in the Daily Mail also mentions that the recommendations include halving the size of BBC Internet efforts

The moves seem targeted to please private media companies in the UK who complain of BBC activities and expansion. Last week, the UK based National Publishers Association requested that the BBC curtail its plans to launch iPhone apps for news and sports.

The formal review and recommendations are due in March, and is seen as a preemptive move by the BBC as a potential future Tory (conservative) government is seen to move toward privatization of media assets.

Short takes on Google's Italy adventure

Was yesterday's ruling against Google a major event? Or will it be forgotten by the time the Winter Olympics end on Sunday?

For the general public -- that is, those not living in Italy -- yesterday's ruling probably won't mean much. But in the Internet industry, and much of the media industry, many believe yesterday's ruling was astounding.

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The Guardian:

Italy has taken a step closer to China
Expecting Google to adopt a censorship system that automatically filters videos published online is like expecting highways companies to be incriminated for lack of traffic control at the toll booth. Of course Google should adopt the best possible technology to avoid abuses. But if someone is to control driving licences, that someone should be the police, not the highway owner. And it's about time that authorities took into account the technological problems arising from certain measures.

San Jose Mercury News editorial:

Reason to believe Google verdict in Italy will be isolated
... But the reaction — ranging from head-scratching to condemnation, even among privacy advocates — has been heartening. Despite worries the case will set a precedent in Italy or the European Union, we're hopeful that this backlash will keep other countries from following suit. It should also help persuade an Italian appeals court to rethink the verdict.

If not, the implications for free speech and commerce, at least as Americans understand them, are worrisome.

PC World:

Google's Case in Italy Was Always Lose-Lose
So in light of the Italian court decision, Google's options were to self-censor its video site (or obliterate it completely), or go to jail. Hopefully Google can win the case on appeal, and end the madness.

National Post:

Fascism alive and well? Italian court rules against Google
There is much speculation that, in a country where most private media is owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and public media is controlled by the government, the real motive is not to defend the dignity of a disabled child, but to crush a competitor. The New York Times reports, 

“there is a strong push to regulate the Internet more assertively than it is controlled elsewhere in Europe. Several measures are pending in Parliament here that seek to impose various controls on the Internet. Critics of Mr. Berlusconi say the measures go beyond routine copyright questions and are a way to stave off competition from the Web to public television stations and his own private channels — and to keep a tighter grip on public debate.”

Wired:

Does Italy’s Google Conviction Portend More Censorship?
Leslie Harris, the president of the influential Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology, argued the ruling would be used by authoritarian regimes to justify their own web censorship.

“Today’s stunning verdict sets an extremely dangerous precedent that threatens free expression and chills innovation on the global internet,” Harris said in an e-mail statement. “If the conviction is allowed to stand, it will chill the provision of Web 2.0 services that provide user-generated content platforms in Italy, and Italian internet users will find themselves without a powerful forum for free expression.

“Most troubling, what happened in Italy is unlikely to stay in Italy. The Italian court’s actions today will surely embolden authoritarian regimes and be used to justify their own efforts to suppress internet freedom.”