The Problem With Burning Qurans

What if they burnt a Koran and nobody came? It already happened two years ago, according to the NY TIMES. Some soul-searching is under way in the media. And in The Problem With Burning Qurans Tunku Varadarajan dissects the latest media frenzy - what Arianna Huffington likens to the Balloon Boy.
What is the media responsibility in this coverage? Can the genie be put back into the bottle at this stage? Burn, baby , burn!

US Forces release freelance Photographer in Iraq

Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed had been held for 17 months without charge despite protests from media rights groups. This shooter from Reuter is free at last.Chris Tryhorn, from the Guardian, reports:

A Reuters photographer in Iraq has been freed by the US military after 17 months' detention without charge.

Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, an Iraqi who contributed to Reuters on a freelance basis, was released earlier today.

He was detained in a raid by US and Iraqi forces on his home in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in September 2008 and continued to be held without charge despite widespread protest from media rights groups.

"How can I describe my feelings? This is like being born again," Jassam told Reuters by telephone.

"I am very pleased his long incarceration without charge is finally over," said Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger.

"I wish the process to release a man who had no specific accusations against him had been swifter."

Jassam's case was the latest example of Iraqi journalists working for foreign news organisations being detained by the US military without charge.

A month before his arrest, US forces detained Reuters cameraman Ali Mashhadani for the third time, holding him for three weeks without charge.

The US military said Jassam was a "security threat" but the evidence was classified and no full explanation of his detention was given other than that it related to "activities with insurgents".

The Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruled last year that there was no case against Jassam.

A freelance print journo's foray into telly

Freelancer reporter Graham Johnson's travails with Zig Zag productions in London, trying to provide shock tv for hardmen without deep pockets, seems to be a lesson in schlock tv reporting for (hardly) men. Here's an excerpt from "Strong-arm tactics", Johnson's Guardian piece about the visual media's darkside:

The first thing you learn about TV folk is that they've got no stories. I'm generalising here. When I say TV folk, I mean some TV documentary makers, as opposed to the (slightly) more honourable breed of TV news reporters and execs.

The second thing you learn is that they haven't got any money to pay for stories. This brings me on to the third thing you learn about TV people - if they can't afford to buy stories, then they will try to take them from you... Many down-trodden print journalists look at TV as being the promised land, which will one day make them famous, give them the credit they deserve and free them from the pressure of tough news execs.

Memo to careworn, overworked print journalists: the magic of TV. It's all a blag. It's an illusion. Stay where you are.

Click here to read the complete article.

Samantha Bee revamps Al Jazeera English

World Power-Femmes 2007

Clout counts, ladies and laddies. Rankings are according to influence and wealth. (Money + power, as it is Forbes magazine doing the rating.) Politicians over industrialists, but just barely. Number three is also, incidentally, the wife of Singapore's leader. She pulls the $108 billion purse strings of the city state's holding company. The sale of Thailand's major telecommunications firm to Temasek ousted the premier of Thailand last year. Few journalists figure in the top 100.

1. Angela Merkel (German chancellor)

2. Wu Yi (Chinese vice-premier)

3. Ho Ching (Temasek Holdings)

4. Condoleezza Rice (US Secretary of State)

5. Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo)

6. Sonia Gandhi (Indian National Congress Party)

7. Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American)

8. Patricia Wortz (Archer Daniels Midland)

9. Irene Rosenfeld (Kraft Foods)

10. Patricia Russo (Alcatel-Lucent)


Source: Forbes magazine

Senator Hillary Clinton is number 25; Nancy Pelosi is way down at number 26.
Oprah Winfrey, rated number 23, is considered more influential than either of these quintessential pols.
.............

Most Media Queens rate considerably further down the Forbes list: there are just a dozen women who rated as journalist power fraus:

Oprah Winfrey Chairman, Harpo US (ranked 23)

Amy Pascal Cochair, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures US (ranked 35)

Janet L. Robinson Chief executive, president, The New York Times Company US (ranked 45)

Nancy Tellem President, CBS Paramount Television Entertainment, CBS Corp. US ( ranked 49)

Meredith Vieira Host, The Today Show US (ranked 55)

Ann Moore Chairman, chief executive, Time Inc. US (ranked 57)

Diane Sawyer Co-anchor, Good Morning America US (ranked 62)

Katie Couric Anchor, managing editor, CBS Evening News US (ranked 63)

Christiane Amanpour Chief international correspondent, CNN UK (ranked 74)

Anne Sweeney President,Disney-ABC TV Group;Co-Chair, Disney US (ranked 77)

Christie Hefner Chairman, chief executive, Playboy Enterprises US (ranked 85)

Cathleen Black President, Hearst Magazines US (ranked 94)

online citizen journos get $20m

Adario Strange on Wired ponders what a very strange media week this was.
Rupert Murdoch, a mega-media mogul, overpaid for an old school media brand already in decline. Meanwhile, he says,

citizen journalism is red hot with Associated Content landing $10 million in financing today from Canaan Partners, and NowPublic pulling in $10.6 million in financing from Rho Ventures on Monday (this time last year, OhMyNews landed $11 million from SoftBank). This ain't small change.

It should be noted that high profile Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway (an official advisor to Facebook,) sits on Associated Content's board of directors. Longtime observers of Conway know that if "he's" is sniffing around, there's probably something interesting happening in that particular space. Nevertheless, if you are looking for clues to where media is going by tracking this week's investment patterns, you’re probably in a state of confusion right now.

Here’s a tip: Rupert Murdoch already has a huge global media portfolio and a master plan to match (he’s playing chess), piece meal deals like these citizen journalism investments are built for short term, 4-8 year impact and ROI (they are playing checkers). If your interest is in Internet media, and you don't boast the portfolio of assets of Murdoch, it’s best to keep your media investment forecast window limited to “Internet time” until you’re ready to play in Murdoch’s league.