media

Obama a Muslim and Michelle a militant?

Sophie — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:51:55 +0200

Despite huge criticism for depicting Barack Obama and his wife, satirically, in a radically unpatriotic light, The New Yorker magazine refuses to apologise, saying that "satire is part of what we do". Obama's campaign team doesn't find it so funny though.

The illustration shows the Democratic candidate dressed in traditional Islamic clothing along with his Kalashnikov-armed wife in what looks like the oval office. Below a painting of what seems to be Osama bin Laden, the American flag burns in the fireplace. Obama's campaign team yesterday condemned the satirical depiction, calling it "tasteless and offensive". The New Yorker's editor defended it however, saying that the cover was "meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd". He also pointed out that the copy of the New Yorker, which is a publication known for its liberal leanings, also contains two in-depth articles about the Illinois senator.

Obama has faced continuous allegations about his religious beliefs and the Islamic faith, and 12% of Americans actually believe that he is a Muslim, while he insists that he is Christian. In an attempt to counteract this rumour, and others, he launched the site called Fight The Smears.

The illustration was drawn by cartoonist Barry Blitt, who said that the picture was inspired by the "preposterous" idea that "the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic (let alone as terrorists)".

Mugabe: "We are not a British colony!"

Sophie — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:02:00 +0200

Journalists from British Channel 4 directly challenged Mugabe on Monday, publicly accusing him of "stealing an election". His reaction says a lot about his personality.

The press confronted Mugabe at the African Union Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

What do the Chinese know about Tiananmen Square?

Ségolène — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:46:03 +0200

"Tiananmen Square" search on Google: in the US on the left, the tanks.On the right, a tour in China.

Chinese expats commemorated the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre yesterday. But while the event remains unforgettable to the rest of the world, one of our Observers for China reminds us that the country itself is almost entirely unaware of it ever taking place, as the authorities have extinguished close to all information about it from the internet.

Pervy alien "captured" on video

Ségolène — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:23:18 +0200

The only released screenshot of the footage showing a bald egg-head at the window.

The possible sighting of an extraterrestrial creature peering into a Denver resident's window has sparked excitement in the US where the three minute "unfakeable" footage of the blinking baldie is supposedly being examined by "unnamed experts".

Denver resident Stan Tiger Romanek says that he captured the "alien" on video after he suspected someone was perving on his twin teenage daughters through their bedroom window and planned to catch the peeping tom by setting up a video camera. Five years later, the footage appeared at a conference on Friday 30 May 2008, apparently unable to be released to the public or photographed because it's still under observation by experts. A screenshot of the film has been released, and of course YouTubers have taken it upon themselves circulate various fake versions of the unlikely occurrence.

Media mogul Murdoch praises Obama

Julien — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:04:17 +0200

The world’s most powerful media mogul and owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, the hard-line conservative Rupert Murdoch last night admitted he had told one of his publications to back Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Could this be the start of a home run for Obama? A political communication analyst tells us why he should be wary.

CEO and chairman of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch has a huge stake in the world press, including dozens of newspapers, magazines, television channels and websites. He has been criticised for a biased and overbearing influence, especially coming from his American news channel Fox News. In the UK, he owns almost all of the conservative written press and is thought by many to be the reason behind Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997. Last night, speaking at a technology conference supported by the Wall Street Journal, the media tycoon praised Barack Obama, calling him a “star”.

The newspaper ready to take on the traffickers

Sophie — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:14:08 +0200

One of our Observers in Colombia reacts to the return of El Espectador, an independent newspaper which, according to him, is capable of criticising Colombia's political and social elites and is not afraid of exposing their links to the drugs trade. The paper's return is a welcome relief for the daily Colombian press, which until now has bowed under pressure from the nation's powerful narco industry.

China's new chart-topper: "Don’t be too like CNN"

Julien — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:37:45 +0200

We've published several posts (here and here) about the onslaught of online criticism aimed at the Western media, in particular CNN, over its coverage of violence in Tibet. Here's the latest example of CNN bashing : a song originally broadcast on the state TV channel CCTV, and now running rife on the Internet. See the video.

Journalists at France's prestigious daily face a dilemma

Julien — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:57:28 +0200

The facade of Le Monde's building in Paris. Photo taken from the metro by "Mademoiselle N"

The French daily newspaper Le Monde announced plans to lay off 130 staff, including some 90 journalists, in an economic reshuffle last week. The news did not go down well with the editorial staff, who today, for the first time in the newspaper's history, went on strike did not publish the newspaper. A stopped press occurred only once before, in 1976, when the staff did not publish for one day in solidarity with another people which had been sold to new ownership.

The directors of the daily paper have also envisaged the sale of several of the group's titles, including Cahiers du Cinema. They said that the scheme would save them 15 million euros over two years in order to return them to financial stability by 2009. The resulting strike on the part of the employees shows an industry, endangered by the suffocating forces of free newspapers and the internet, at the end of its tether.

The world according to the media

Julien — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:15:49 +0100

The French site L'Observatoire des médias has released a map of the world "as seen by news editors". The countries on the interactive map change colour and expand depending on how many articles have been written about them by the chosen publication, altering the world map to represent its coverage. The creators of this innovative project, Gilles Bruno and Nicolas Kayser-Bril, agreed to create a version for the Observers site.

Even school children support Medvedev

Julien — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:40:05 +0100

Russian tabloid Express Gazeta organized a drawing competition all across Russia to support President Valdimir Putin's successor, Dmitry Medvedev. These drawings, published three days before the presidential election, are strangely reminiscent of personality cults from the Soviet era.

About 1000 kids participated in the contest called "draw the president." Every single drawing was about Dmitry Medvedev. These drawings have been displayed in Moscow since Feb. 26. The first contest prize : laptop. The second : a Smartphone. the third : a teddybear.