media

Pure plagiarism from Egyptian TV channel

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:52:16 +0200

On the left, an extract from The Benny Hill Show. Right, its Egyptian twin.

A few months ago we brought your attention to the advertising world's most outrageous plagiarists, exposed by a Kuwaiti blogger. This time, it's a young Egyptian showing up a local TV station for its unoriginal ideas. But he's treading on dangerous ground.

A couple of weeks ago, 22-year-old graphic artist Tamer Azab came across a Facebook group announcing the launch of a new Egyptian TV channel, Cairo Centric (Al-Kahera Wal Nas). Browsing the various promotional clips, Tamer noticed that one of them was almost identical to that of a famous car brand. Tamer looked them up on YouTube and found that the channel's promos were based entirely on old ads from the West, going back as far as 1970 and from clips as bizarre as British comedian Benny Hill.

IDF fails to contain rumour of kidnapped soldier

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:56:42 +0200

Screen grab from The Jerusalem Post.

On Thursday evening we were alerted to a story about an Israeli soldier having been kidnapped near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport. Details of the incident were published online in an article by the Jerusalem Post. But a few minutes after it was published, the story was removed from the website.

The Israeli army dismissed the rumour shortly after the story broke, but only after it had put the secret services on high alert.

Was Taraneh raped and murdered, or did she never exist?

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:24:39 +0200

Taraneh was a 28-year-old beautician who was arrested by Basij forces, raped and tortured for 22 days, and then set on fire and left in the desert. At least, that's what dissident Web users say. According to the authorities, the woman in question has been living in Canada for the past two years; and they have evidence to prove it — they've interviewed her family. So who's telling the truth?

The story of Taraneh Mousavi emerged online on 14 July, when protest blog Iranian Leftists wrote about the suspected torture, rape and murder of a young woman after allegedly talking to a friend of the aforementioned. It reported that the beautician was arrested on 28 June along with around 40 protesters. Although she herself was not participating in the protest, it was said that she was detained for wearing high heels and fashionable clothes. While the other detainees were turned over to the police at Nobonyad police station, Taraneh was taken to a house in Hosseinieh Ershad district by the Basij militia.

The post reported that a few days later the family of the young woman received a telephone call from an anonymous caller who said that Taraneh had been hospitalised following an "accident" in which her womb and anus and were damaged. When her family went to the Imam Khamenei Hospital in Karaj to look for her, a nurse told them that a girl matching Taraneh's description had been brought into the hospital by plain clothes officers and then removed a few hours later.

Two days later, the website reported that Taraneh was dead. They published what they say is the account of one her friends. The alleged friend says that Taraneh's family received another phone call in which they were informed that her burnt body had been found in the desert between Karaj and Qazvin (north-west of Tehran).

The story caused such a hullabaloo online that it managed to reach Thaddeus McCottor, a Republican congressman from Michigan, who delivered a speech to Congress on July 20, asking Supreme Leader Khomeini to look at the photo of Taraneh, saying: "Here is the truth denied by Khomeini and his misogynistic murderous regime."

Raw video proves that “angry black woman” had every reason to be

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:25:15 +0200

The debate over President Barack Obama's universal health-care bill turned nasty this week when town meetings became chaotic. One in particular sparked an online debate after footage aired by news networks showed an African American woman being escorted out by police apparently disrupting the event. Images filmed from another angle and posted online by a blogger, however, proved that the story was not what it seemed.

Obama's controversial health bill is facing both public outcry and impassioned enthusiasm from respective opponents and supporters. Supposed to allow the public to air their views, town hall meetings set up across the country over the past week seem to have only worsened the situation after various senators were faced with furious outbursts and religious threats from angry opponents. One man turned up with a rifle strapped to his leg and a poster which read "It's time to water the tree of liberty" — a Thomas Jefferson phrase which is often used by white supremacists. Hoards of people tried to get into the meetings, but in most cases there was not enough room for everybody, leaving angry crowds outside waving the popular Obama "joker" poster and threatening that they'd rather die than see the "Marxist Jihad" scheme come into effect.

Elsewhere, tearful backers told stories of victims of the current system in an attempt to convince their senators to push on with the bill. One of these supporters is the now highly debated "angry black woman" who is featured in the following video, filmed at a town meeting in Missouri held by Senator Claire McCaskill and aired by various news networks on Monday.

The Middle East according to Fox News

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:43:33 +0200

This screen grab taken from Fox News programme The Live Desk on 27 July was posted on Twitter by StefanoScalia and then picked up by website mediamatters.

Find the mistake.

According to Fox, Egypt is situated between Syria and Iran. And as for Iraq...

TV channel banned in Saudi Arabia for sex talk

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:57:20 +0200

Photo posted on the Facebook group page "Give it what it deserves, boycott the LBC".

Two weeks ago we talked about the Saudi man who was facing jail after disclosing his sexual habits on television. He has since been detained and, if found guilty, could be jailed for 20 years or stoned to death. Meanwhile, the Lebanese channel which aired the programme has been banned from the kingdom indefinitely.

The Jeddah offices of the Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC) - a channel largely funded by Saudi billionaire Walid Ben Talal - closed on Saturday by order of Saudi interior minister Prince Nayef Ben Abdul Aziz. The Riyadh offices however, which are considered less important, remain open.

It was the previous Saturday that the guest of Lebanese show "The Red Line", Mazen Abdul Jawad, was arrested by the police and detained. His colourful description of his sex life, aired July 15, caused an outcry in Saudi Arabia, where the media and Internet were flooded with indignant comments over the affair.

Wall Street Journal says Siemens-Nokia helps Iran tap Internet users: exaggeration?

Julien — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:08:31 +0200

According to the Wall Street Journal, a joint venture between mobile phone companies Nokia and Siemens built a "monitoring centre" within the Iranian government’s telecom monopoly enabling authorities to inspect and intercept Web traffic.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article reported that Nokia-Siemens' system uses "deep packet inspection" technology, which allows cyberpolice to open packets of information sent online to censor or supervise Web users. The respected US broadsheet quoted a Nokia-Siemens spokesman as confirming that the company provided this technology, adding that "if you sell networks, you also, intrinsically, sell the capability to intercept any communication that runs over them".

The Wall Street Journal article was cited by dozens of US media outlets, and has begun making waves on social networking websites. Several groups on Facebook have begun calling for a Nokia and Siemens product boycott.

FRANCE 24 contacted Ben Roome, the spokesperson of the joint venture also reached by WSJ. He categorically denies that his company provided Iran with any type of technology enabling authorities to intercept or filter Internet content. According to Roome, Nokia-Siemens sold Iran a system which solely provides the capability to conduct voice monitoring of local calls on its fixed and mobile network. However, Roome remained evasive when asked whether Nokia's technology enabled Iran to intercept and block SMS messages.

The sale of a phone-tapping technology to Iran by Nokia and Siemens is therefore confirmed. It doesn't seem, however, that the European companies participated in the creation of an internet surveillance centre, as the WSJ seems to imply.

Media blooper of the year: Bolivian channel uses images from TV drama "Lost" in coverage of Air France crash

Team Observers — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:14:52 +0200

A mighty blow for Bolivian television network PAT. Last Thursday, they aired "exclusive" photos supposedly taken by a passenger of Air France flight 447 at the moment the plane crashed. In fact, the mid-air plane dismemberment photos were taken from the television series "Lost."

The Bolivian news presenter even specified that the images were found in a Casio Z750 digital camera, retrieved after the disaster.

As with many other media outlets we received these images via email last week. One can see a passenger spiralling off into the atmosphere in the second shot; in the first shot, the face is obviously that of actress Evangeline Lilly, who plays the character Kate on “Lost.” She is seen seated with an oxygen mask on her face. Another embarrassing tipoff: on the photos, it is clearly daytime, whereas the Airbus A330 crash occurred in the middle of the night.

The Bolivian network was not the only one duped. A Dutch radio station and a Polish television network also fell for it.

You’re watching Taliban TV

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:39:47 +0200

This little cyber-presenter, Dickie, seems pretty cute. Listen carefully to what he has to tell you, however. He's repeating - word for word - press releases from the Afghan Taliban.

FRANCE 24 contacted 'resistz2exist'; we'll update the post if they respond.

'Pro-Obama CNN' attacked at Tea Party

Team Observers — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:49:02 +0200

A CNN reporter who struggled to keep her cool during one of the anti-Obama demonstrations on Wednesday was subsequently attacked by both the immediate crowds and then the entire online Tea Party community.

The US is split over taxes. On one side, Obama supporters and stimulus package believers. On the other, conservatives and tax opponents. In the middle, the press. This video shows CNN journalist Susan Roesgen reporting from a Tea Party demo in Chicago on Wednesday. Her approach, which appears perhaps subjective, has only given strength to those who claim that CNN is pro-Obama. Gone are the days when Democrats moaned about CNN's support for Bush - it is now under fire for favouring the current president.

The video's been viewed over half a million times, blogged 213, and commented on 6,755.