Cameron's Brain

Chomsky interview is up on G'DAY WORLD

The recent interview I did with American political activist and author Noam Chomsky is online. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Melbourne Journalists might go to gaol

As much as I like to beat up on the MSM, I have total respect for these two Melbourne Herald-Sun journalists Michael Harvey and Gerard McManus for refusing the reveal their source and are consequently facing contempt of court charges. Yeah, sure they'll get some kudos from their peers. Although PM John Howard is trying to kill that idea by talking about how much he respects them (while his Government simultaneously pursues the case).

The thing that shits me though is the hypocrisy. The Government is pissed off in this case because the story that was leaked revealed the Government's plans to short-change veterans by $500 million.

But in 2003, when confidential ONA documents were leaked by someone to Andrew Bolt (a pro-Howard journalist at the same Melbourne paper) prior to the Iraq invasion in order for him to discredit whistleblower Andrew Wilkie, the same Government apparently let the matter slide.

It's this kind of crap that totally destroys the credibility of the Howard government. And I've voted Liberal my entire adult life. So I'm no leftie. This whole double-standards thing is appalling and I'm left wondering what we do about it...

Time for a New Estate

"The Fourth Estate", as a term referring to the media, was first coined in the 19th century by either Thomas Carlyle or Edmund Burke according to Wikipedia. 

Thomas Carlyle in On Heroes and Hero Worship (1841) writes,

... does not... the parliamentary debate go on... in a far more comprehensive way, out of Parliament altogether? Edmund Burke said that there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a fourth Estate more important than they all." [1]

In this context, the other three estates are those of the French States-General; the church, the nobility and the commoners .

Today The Fourth Estate is largely owned by multinational corporations who run their media businesses to a) make the largest possible profit and to b) manipulate the political process.

The rise of citizen media is an exciting opportunity to create a new kind of press, one that is owned and operated, not by large corporations or by governments, but by normal people.

But here's what I can already start to see happening - citizen media is already starting to be assimilated by the guys with the big bucks. They come as white knights, offering friendship and benevolence, the light shining out of their eyes. They are on board. They get it. They want to help usher in the new paradigm.

Yeah.

At Microsoft, there used to be a term, used frequently before the DOJ case. That term was "embrace and extend" (often referred to by Microsoft competitors as "embrace, extend and extinguish"). A rough translation is "to appear to accept new and threatening standards from the outside by integrating them into your products, but then use your size and reach to quietly re-direct the new standards to meet your own objectives and create hurdles for competitors".

I can see "embrace and extend" already making its way into podcasting.

Where?

Apple integrates podcasting support into iTunes and then swamps its directories with MSM shows. Podcasters cheer. But ask yourself - who owns Apple?

TOP INSTITUTIONAL HOLDERS

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

FMR CORPORATION (FIDELITY MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH CORP)

AXA

STATE STREET CORPORATION

Calamos Advisors LLC

VANGUARD GROUP, INC. (THE)

MORGAN STANLEY

JANUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC

JENNISON ASSOCIATES LLC

Amvescap Plc

What other business interests do these funds have significant holdings in? Here's just one:

TIME WARNER

TOP INSTITUTIONAL HOLDERS

CAPITAL RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT COMPANY

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

AXA

CITIGROUP INC.

STATE STREET CORPORATION

WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LLP

FMR CORPORATION (FIDELITY MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH CORP)

DODGE & COX INC

VANGUARD GROUP, INC. (THE)

JANUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC

Coincidence?

Let's pull another company at random... say GENERAL ELECTRIC (owners of NBC and other media interests).

TOP INSTITUTIONAL HOLDERS

BARCLAYS BANK PLC

STATE STREET CORPORATION

FMR CORPORATION (FIDELITY MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH CORP)

AXA

VANGUARD GROUP, INC. (THE)

CAPITAL RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT COMPANY

NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION

Mellon Financial Corporation

JP MORGAN CHASE & COMPANY

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY

Hmmm... yeah, I'm paranoid... companies with very large MSM interests, who also have large stakes in technology companies, who happen to be playing a large role in podcasting, which is a key tool in citizen media.

What else is happening in citizen media?

Large venture capitalist firms are buying big equity stakes in leading podcasting outfits. Who provides the financial backing for these firms? What other interests do they have? What kind of interest, for example, do they have in Time Warner? Interesting...

So... What else is happening?

Large media companies are trying to buy up technology firms, some of which provide leading VOIP services important to citizen media. What could happen if they gain control of those assets? 

I don't know. Maybe I need to cut back on the espressos...

Don't believe everything you see on Channel Seven News

I know this news is a couple of weeks old, but I've been meaning to post about it for a while.

For those of you that missed it, the story goes down like this:

• On 14 June 2004, Channel Seven news did a story about airport security. See video of the story here, courtesy of Media Watch. In the story, they claim they hid a box cutter in a handbag and successfully walked onto a flight with it. The footage shows a knife being placed into a handbag and then that handbag on the plane.
• The Aust Federal Police decided, well, that's a CRIME, and the young Channel 7 producer who allegedly took the knife on the flight, Anna Szymanski, gets charged.
• She denies the charge!!   
• What was Channel Seven News' defense? "YOU CAN'T PROVE SHE TOOK THE KNIFE ON THE PLANE."
• The Judge agreed and the case was dismissed. ...
  " the evidence was "not enough to establish inferentially, beyond reasonable doubt, there was a box-cutter in the bag" when it was on the aircraft, Mr Keady said."

So... the lesson is, just because you see it on CHANNEL SEVEN NEWS, doesn't mean it really happened. Remember that folks. And Channel Seven News are the first to admit it. In fact, they are proud of it. Seven news director Peter Meakin said he's "proud of the story".

Funnily enough, if you search the Channel Seven News website for the name "Szymanski", it returns zero results. So I guess they aren't THAT proud.

Fortunately, the rest of the news gathering organization scanned by Google DID think it was newsworthy and you can read the full story here.

And journalists wonder why they always rate so low in surveys about public trust?