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)

Last Hack in Ulster made redundant

The end of the troubles means a cutback of Sunday Times news coverage in Northern Ireland, reports the mediaGuardian. That's why the Ulster office is no more.

The Sunday Times is closing down its Northern Irish operation and making its Ulster editor, Liam Clarke, redundant.

Clarke, who has worked for the paper for about 20 years and been on staff for more than 16 years, said he was leaving because the post had been made redundant "due to the changing news agenda".

The veteran has been at the forefront of some of the biggest and riskiest stories covered by the paper during the Northern Irish troubles.

But it seems that peace in the region, combined with budgetary restraints due to investment in new printing presses at the Sunday Times, have led to the closure of the post.

Clarke annnounced his departure to colleagues in an email, in which he said he had enjoyed his work.

"I had some great colleagues who I learnt a lot from.

"The redundancy settlement which is now being finalised should give me an opportunity to take stock without too much pressure to commit to anything full time or permanent straight away.

"People have suggested a few projects to me as the news of my departure filtered out. I plan to check all of these out in the coming weeks and, meantime, I am open to any other paying propositions.

"A drinks do might be a solitary affair as I was the only one in Belfast. However, we can have mini versions if any of you are over this way.

"Apart from that if I can be of any help do get in touch."

Clarke follows a number of news staffers out of the door over the past six months, including Whitehall editor Robert Winnett, social affairs editor John Elliott, night editor Maurice Chittenden, focus editor Paul Nuki, reporters Will Iredale and Gareth Walsh and education correspondent Geraldine Hackett.

Clarke's departure marks an end to one of the most turbulent news reporting careers on the paper, during which he frequently covered terrorism, extortion and crime.

In September last year, the Police Service of Northern Ireland agreed to pay substantial damages to Clarke after his home was raided following the publication of confidential political conversations between Sinn Féin and British government officials.

Clarke and his wife complained to police following the raid in May 2003, which was triggered by the publication of the transcripts of conversations between Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness and government officers, including Jonathan Powell, the prime minister's chief of staff.

The raid was carried out under the Official Secrets Act, but Clarke and Ms Johnston successfully argued that the wrong type of warrant had been used to gain entry to their home in Ballymena. They were held for five hours at Antrim police station, but never charged with any offence.

The transcripts were contained in the couple's unauthorised biography of Mr McGuinness entitled From Guns to Government, which contained the transcripts and suggested they had been obtained by phone-tapping. The tapes, it has been alleged, were made by the security services or the police.

'Borrowing' Wi-Fi signal- is it theft?

In cities where free broadband is available,or for blackberry enthusiasts, this internet ethics dilemma about the honesty of logging onto someone else's bandwidth may seem ridiculous.
Whether you use a public network in a cafe or library rather than borrow your neighbors', it is important to be watch out for Wi-Fi hackers and to place some firewalls and passwords to protect info on your laptop. An enterprising rival reporter in a press room could get at your files or a thief could snatch your credit card details. When I was using free broadband in the business lounge of United Airlines at Narita airport, Japan, some opportunist made paid calls on my Skype account and depleted the balance. Skype had automatically logged in when I switched on my laptop, and this cheapskate caller just couldn't resist. Skype eventually refunded the money after a lot of correspondence back and forth. Now I take more care; Life is just too short for such hassles.

You frequently can get a free signal when parking in front of a cybercafe or business. One dead giveaway that others are using a broadband network are nerd-marks like the one pictured:
The rather lame name the hackers prefer is "warchalking", but then they come from a cybergaming background and have a distorted self-image leaning heavily on martial avatars.

Read more details and a flurry of comments from agitated or angst-ridden internet users on this BBC link:

Drudgery leads the way to influence

The most influential journo in America, says New York magazine, is none other than the newly-reclusive Matthew Nathan Drudge. His mega-website, which famously broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal nearly a decade ago, even spawned a more leftwing anti-site, predictably dubbed the "Drudge Retort" in letters which slant the other direction. It's a backhanded compliment. The guy, hailed as an "equal-opportunity zinger" does not talk through his trademark hat. He seems to be the real deal. Well, mostly. The rebel has gone mainstream.
Read a paen to the erstwhile gossip who Camille Paglia praises as

"a highly creative performance artist who has invented his own genre. The Drudge Report is a kind of existentialist high-wire act.”

It hits the stands this week. Eventually all journalists will be tempted to "kiss his ring" if we want to be linked to his 4 million regulars, he predicts with a chuckle. He is clearly the guy with the greatest hits--more than the NY Times! No longer must Drudge dumpster dive for gossip, but he does tap into New York Times exclusives via their wire service from his bastion in Miami. The poignant case history of a prematurely balding high school nerd who got back at the world through computer power is compelling.

Castro defies death rumours, nixes Perez Hilton's bug-eyed cyber-scoop

Miami heat was generated all weekend as rumors about Fidel Castro's demise whipped around. And on the Blogosphere, there was a giddy salsa dance of self-congratulation; the anti-Commie scoop of the century was being broken not by any of the sober Mainstream Media outlets, but by that queen of snark, self-appointed Hollywood 'nemesis' Perez Hilton. This unhinged Cuban-American had breathlessly blogged on Friday that, according to his exclusive inside sources, Florida police were preparing an afternoon press conference to announce Castro's death at age 81. A round of Cuba Libres and Mojitos for Calle Ocho por favor!! Caramba. As part of his "Celebrity Juice", Perez posted a photo of Fidel with "Dead" scrawled across his forehead and a podcast of a hot Gloria Estefan tune as a backbeat for gusano gloating about the passing of the "oppressive ogre."

Problem was, Castro just was not cooperating. No confirmation. Friday passed, so did Saturday and Sunday. So Perez's report of this death was, er, greatly exaggerated. It's no secret that South Florida has been panting to hear news of the ultimate "biological solution" to the Cuba conundrum for decades. And for the past year, ever since brother Raul has been appointed the figurehead in La Havana, there's been a deathwatch out on the "Bearded ONe."
When it happens-- and it will, since Fidel Castro is not a cyborg and must eventually pass away-- journos are likely to hear the news first on radio. (Or, as an SMS text on their Blackberries following reports of a sudden respectful silence of radio and television inside Cuba proper.) Hugo Chavez , Venezuela's head honcho, or the Nobel laureate Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez will be among the first to know.

Trusted Cuba-watchers such as Anita Snow of Associated Press, Dudley Althaus of the Houston Chronicle, Dolly Mascarenhas and Tim Padgett of Time Magazine, or Jon Lee Anderson of the New Yorker will be the ones to break this historic news. Sorry Perez, best stick to the fluff. Babalulu of a premature file. It raises a yellow light about the dubious fact-checking prowess of a rumor blog which is so self-reverential it believes its own hype.

Supposedly, as a kind of rebuttal to the rumor mill, the ailing Castro has just published a signed article. But no photos or video footage of him has surfaced since June. El Barbudo is vain about his appearance, they say.

Radical Restyle of familiar cartoon characters - Meet the 'Simpsonzu'

The Simpsonzu by *spacecoyote on deviantART

A 14-year-old animated show inevitably gets predictable, so this exotic repackaging of the Simpson cartoon cast sent out a jolt. Fans were intrigued, puzzled, or confused. But they kept clicking online to eyeball it or download it. In fact, the "deviant artist" who styles herself Space Coyote was overwhelmed by the eventual fallout from her Japanese Anime-reinvention of America's yellow 'toon family, the Simpsons, which she posted last January in order to amuse her friends. After the blogosphere got the images out, reactions were strong and swift. The professionals scrutinized this decidedly odd take and decided it was commercial. Now Max Groening, the driving force behind Homer & co , has asked the artist to do a stint with his longrunning show.

For a larger image, click on one of the cartoon couch potatoes, and then click on "full image". D'oh.

Jesus puff piece. No offense intended?

This front page picture causes a furore in Kuala Lumpur when it ran in the Tamil-language newspaper, Makkal Osai.
The Malaysian newspaper issued an apology to Murphy Pakiam, the Roman Catholic archbishop, and the Malaysian government, which had complained that the graphic disupted "the naitonal harmony."

SM Periasamy, general manager of the paper, explained that a graphic artist downloaded the image from the internet to illustrate an article, and failed to notice that this particular Jesus clutched a butt and a beer.

"We are sorry for the mistake, but it was a very honest one," he told wire reporters, adding that the employee had been sacked.

"At no time did we mean to downgrade any religion," Mr Periasamy said. The ill-chosen illustration ran under an article about the sayings of great leaders. The quote: "If someone repents for his mistakes, then heaven awaits them'.

More than 60 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays and Islam is the official religion.