Hard News: The new riot reporter
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Is arguing about social media really that important when your spy agencies are now going to be engaged in using their huge powers on domestic criminal acts, with seemingly nary a batting of an eyelid by anyone?
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Umm re that unbelievable video from Sky...that's just out and out suppression of speech...horrifying.
It shows a real misunderstanding of social media; Twitter/Blackberry Messenger didn't cause the riots, it was merely a mode of communication. If you suppress one, another will just shoot up....christ it's given me the heebie jeebies. And I don't often use the term heebie jeebies. -
Suck on that, you bleating panty-waisted liberals.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Suck on that, you bleating panty-waisted liberals.
I really want to believe that's satire ...
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Next thing she'll be calling for the printing presses, the TV stations, and the radio broadcasters all to be closed down. All phone lines (besides those belonging to gummint), of course, should be suspended. The Internet itself should be turned off for a while. A curfew would help too. The government could stop wasting time in those bloody debates, and - while we're at it - let's get rid of elections. There's such a thing as too much communication, y'know.
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Toby,
Louise Mensch is foolish on social media shutdown, but that shouldn't overshadow some good questioning around the News Intl scandal. Chutzpah, too. after a Twitter row with Piers Morgan (fmr Mirror ed, now CNN smarm expert; to be fair, she had misquoted him), she received an email from an "investigative journalist" digging into her past. Her reply is inspired.
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Down with words and media! I expect sales of stripy jerseys and white gloves to sky rocket.
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Sacha, in reply to
some good questioning around the News Intl scandal
She was pretty good in the bits of the hearing that I watched, not that I had any idea who she was.
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History repeats - "Don't worry about it, it's only a little bit, it's for the best, it will only affect the bad guys, if you have done nothing wrong you'll be OK". These have been the words of every suppressor of free communications for centuries.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
These have been the words of every suppressor of free communications for centuries.
Quite. She seemed unaware of how counterproductive her repeated assurances were. I was shouting at my new Rugby World Cup television when I re-watched it last night.
(Tip: the $170 Apple TV device is a brilliant solution for watching YouTube and Vimeo on TV, especially, but not necessarily, if you have an iPad. I'm looking forward to iOS 5 letting me mirror anything on my iPad screen.)
Anyway ... wish me luck when I'm interviewing Mr Lewis at 6am tomorrow.
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More grist for Mensch and her select committee colleagues - damning evidence emerges in the News of the World scandal.
Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and their former editor Andy Coulson all face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of an explosive letter written by the News of the World's disgraced royal correspondent, Clive Goodman.
In the letter, which was written four years ago but published only on Tuesday, Goodman claims that phone hacking was "widely discussed" at editorial meetings at the paper until Coulson himself banned further references to it; that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with "the full knowledge and support" of other senior journalists, whom he named.
...Two versions of Goodman's letter were provided to the committee. One which was supplied by [law firm] Harbottle and Lewis has been redacted to remove the names of journalists, at the request of police. The other, which was supplied by News International, has been redacted to remove not only the names but also all references to hacking being discussed in Coulson's editorial meetings and to Coulson's offer to keep Goodman on staff if he agreed not to implicate the paper.
The company also faces a new claim that it misled parliament. In earlier evidence to the select committee, in answer to questions about whether it had bought Goodman's silence, it had said he was paid off with a period of notice plus compensation of no more than £60,000. The new paperwork, however, reveals that Goodman was paid a full year's salary, worth £90,502.08, plus a further £140,000 in compensation, plus £13,000 to cover his lawyer's bill. Tom Watson said: "It's hush money. I think they tried to buy his silence." Murdoch's executives have always denied this.
And so much more. Great timing for a show.
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I’ve asked my friend Stella Duffy, lesbian writer of lesbian thrillers, for some comment, and it would seem that McGee isn’t the only writer working under gender disguise.
Oh, for fuck's sake - I've been working on a post about this and been severely hampered by my inability to beat up any great degree of outrage. Might help if genre fiction wasn't so damn full of pseudonyms and a long history of women "dragging up" to get published, or taken seriously.
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Moves to force blackouts on social networking aren't a show of strength. If anything, they're more a sign of desperation in the face of the barbarians pulling down the gates, as Mubarak found out the hard way.
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Might help if genre fiction wasn't so damn full of pseudonyms and a long history of women "dragging up" to get published, or taken seriously
Or the opposite, which is the long tradition of men (for whatever reason) writing books as women, which has been going on since at least the eighteenth century. John Mullan's written accessibly about this. And K. K. Ruthven, well, less accessibly, but in an Australasian context, at least.
On another note entirely, I notice that Paul Lewis has tweeted this discussion, so hopefully it's getting a few more sets of northern-hemisphere eyes today.
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Or the opposite, which is the long tradition of men (for whatever reason) writing books as women, which has been going on since at least the eighteenth century.
And you might be surprised how many men write romance novels under female pseudonyms - including a former President of the Romance Writers of America.
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BenWilson, in reply to
It's the only way I'd do it. Being able to choose a good pseudonym is like the first basic qualification for being able to bluff your way through that genre. Don't call yourself Busty Harlotte.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
On another note entirely, I notice that Paul Lewis has tweeted this discussion, so hopefully it’s getting a few more sets of northern-hemisphere eyes today.
He seemed quite flattered by the attention, but it was warranted. This is fascinating territory.
The interview was excellent. We'll use about five minutes in the show, and put the whole 17-odd minutes online. Hopefully the video has arrived on the satellite by now.
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Megan Wegan, in reply to
Don’t call yourself Busty Harlotte.
If Craig hadn't already gifted me a drag queen name, I'd be taking that.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
It’s the only way I’d do it. Being able to choose a good pseudonym is like the first basic qualification for being able to bluff your way through that genre.
I wouldn't be so dismissive of romance fiction -- which has always been the red-haired bastard of genre fiction. It's not exactly high art, but any writer (or publisher) who condescends to their audience is going to have that disrespect paid with interest. "atergory romance" may be as strict a form as a haiku, but Mills & Boon and Harlequin haven't done as well as they have, for as long as they have, by not listening to readers who know what works and aren't shy about saying so.
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Megan Wegan, in reply to
t’s not exactly high art, but any writer (or publisher) who condescends to their audience is going to have that disrespect paid with interest.
Actually, I tried to write a Mills & Boonesque novel a few years ago (as a challenge with a friend), and it was astoundingly hard. Everything I wrote felt like parody, and that's exactly what you don't want.
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Gareth Ward, in reply to
I'm looking forward to iOS 5 letting me mirror anything on my iPad screen.
iPad2 only though, yeah...
It just strikes me as so insanely obvious that organised disturbance/protesting/rioting/violence/whatever always manages to use whatever communcication channels are available that shutting down the newest spangliest one would just be massively pointless. Especially given that it seems this particular communication channel:
a) wasn't the major organising channel for these riots (BBM, text, I suspect fairly underground web forums)...
b) does a lot more good than harm during the same period (although Riot Wombles would have been heaps better if it was actually rioting Wombles)
c) is actually relatively easy to track compared to others (this basically being the primary reason business are so behind social media) -
Sacha, in reply to
Riot Wombles would have been heaps better if it was actually rioting Wombles
+1
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
It's the only way I'd do it. Being able to choose a good pseudonym is like the first basic qualification for being able to bluff your way through that genre. Don't call yourself Busty Harlotte.
That reminds me...
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Danielle, in reply to
"Underground, overground, rioting free..."
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