WEB 2.0 Crowdfunded StopFundingHate targets tabloid advertisers

Once again, we see alternatives to formal regulators springing up.

Chomsky recognised the power of advertisers, one of the five filters in his propaganda model; Curran and Seaton argue that the government encouraged press industry reliance on ad revenue to ensure that radical papers would struggle; the NoTW was closed by Murdoch when advertiser boycotts were organised online and major advertisers began to announce they'd cease paying for ads in the paper (he feared this would widen to the Sun/Times and Sky), while the Times in the 60s changed their editorial policy to be more right-wing, and alienate the new swathe of working class readers they picked up (advertisers refused to pay any extra for these new readers); Facebook and Google refused to consider any action on racist and other right-wing ads until a threatened advertiser boycott ...

Like Hacked Off, this is a citizen pressure group, making use of new media to push their agenda, including crowdfunding to launch the campaign:








Crowdfunder link.

WEB 2.0 Media giants faking online following

A bizarre but significant twist - with pressure to show a strong online footprint growing in relation to declining print and linear viewing figures, it seems falsely boosting the numbers may be a common strategy. (see yournewswire)

There is much dispute over how papers calculate online readership, and similar arguments over online viewing figures (with YouTube's changing policies seeing huge drops in published figures for many channels and uploads).

According to one source at least the mainstream corporate media have also engaged in using specialists to set up 100s of 1000s of fake social media accounts to create a false sense of engagement ... AND to campaign against their critics, something that Chomsky and Herrman's near 40 year-old classic, Necessary Illusions, with its radical propaganda model, would recognise as flak (one of the five filters they argue systematically removes counter-hegemonic content from mainstream media discourse, or at least undermines it).

CHINA Live lyrics checked: Metallica Master of Muppets

Blabbermouth report on Metallica's willingness to allow Chinese authorities to censor the songs they select or song lyrics to play live there.

WEB 2.0 Citizen journalism Guardian of truth with unregulated press

Another example of the failure of formal (self-) regulation leading to alternative action online (see Prescott's successful tweet against Sunday Times made-up quotes, completely ignoring PCC/IPSO but getting swift action).

Readers of the Guardian newspaper, fed up at its drift away from accurate reporting, not least through its blatant antagonism to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, grouped together to create their own online news outlet.

This would clearly not be necessary if IPSO was doing the job its very name reflects: improving press STANDARDS - not least on accuracy, Clause 1 of the Editor's Code. Clause 1 breaches are routine for a right-wing press accustomed to throwing flak at left-wing leaders, policies and ideas, and building over decades British hostility to immigrants and the EU through content dripped of often inaccurate, sensationalist reporting ... but the (supposed) centre-left press, in the form of the Guardian, has joined in the ritual slaughtering of Corbyn, misrepresenting his speeches, selectively ignoring his successes etc.

LIBEL GLOBALISATION Bend it like Beckham: UK injunction sunk by Euro papers

Libel law remains a generally hidden form of press regulation; along with privacy laws and the ever growing powers of police and security forces to ignore the once sacred press/journalist right to protect the identity of their sources, the law courts play a significant role.





Publication of hacked David Beckham emails renders injunction worthless: the Sunday Times printed a front page story telling their readers they had a celebrity scandal they were injuncted (blocked: thats what a media injunction is, a ban on sharing, publishing or repeating information) from revealing. It turns out this was on David Beckham, and they were soon able to report it once the story was widely published in France and elsewhere; globalisation, and the sharing of global media content through twitter and others, often undermines UK court injunctions.

WEB Top shelf Instagram led by murky Mail

Snapchat is tightening up its guidelines for publishers on its Discover service, banning the posting of risque images without editorial value, and clarifying guidelines intended to prevent the spread of fake news on the platform.The changes, according to a spokeswoman for Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, are intended to “empower our editorial partners to do their part to keep Snapchat an informative, factual and safe environment for everyone”.Toeing the line between keeping Snapchat age appropriate for younger users – the app bars children from under 13 from making accounts, but allows 13- to 17-year-olds on the service – and allowing publications on Discover editorial freedom has been difficult for the company, particularly when media organisations know one way to appeal to the app’s millennial user base is with prominent use of risqué images.The Daily Mail, for instance, has attracted user complaints for frequently posting semi-nude images as its “cover” on the service. “I find it incredibly offensive that I can’t opt out of seeing these images and that I am forced to see these images every time I open up the app to see my friends’ stories,” one user told the Guardian. “Usually, I just put up with it, but a few weeks ago, a definite line was crossed”, she said: “The image was of a completely nude female on the top … The picture was taken from the side, so you can’t see the nipples but her breasts were dangling over her boyfriend who she was mounting. She was dressed on the bottom and I believe her boyfriend was completely dressed.”Due to the prominence of Discover features in Snapchat’s app, the cover story is visible even to users who simply use the service to talk with friends and family. In July 2016, Snapchat faced a lawsuit over sexualised Discover stories. It was eventually settled out of court.Snapchat’s new rules will require some news justification or other editorial value before such stories can be posted to the service. Snap also plans to give publishers a tool in February that will allow them to age-gate content, presenting different stories to users over and under 18, according to the New York Times.

Snapchat cracks down on risque images and fake news.

BBC finds itself guilty before OfCom takeover

BBC Trust says Laura Kuenssberg report on Corbyn was inaccurate https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/18/bbc-trust-says-laura-kuenssberg-report-on-jeremy-corbyn-was-inaccurate-labour?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

WEB TV Top Gear remake hits low note

Richard Hammond under fire for 'ice cream is gay' line on the Grand Tour https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/dec/27/richard-hammond-ice-cream-gay-the-grand-tour?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

MUSIC VIDEO heteronormative YouTube age restricts queer visuals

Battle of the bulge: how streaming censorship is affecting queer musicians https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/16/mykki-blanco-censorship-youtube-perfume-genius-lgbt?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

FILM conservative campaign fries French film regulator

French film board again under fire after Sausage Party rated 12 https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/01/french-film-ratings-board-under-fire-after-sausage-party-granted-12-certificate?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

IPSO Princess, Press, Privacy: Mail breaches Code

Why the bikini photographs of Princess Beatrice fell foul of Ipso.

WEB tightens as BBFC expands to online age checks

Pornography sites face UK block under enhanced age controls.


PRO
Protecting children


ANTI
Unrealistic aim?
Potentially restricting adult freedom of choice: many sites would simply block UK IP addresses (identifying web users as being in the UK) rather than run the risk of fines, or take on the cost of a separate monitoring and age verification system for this one market
Potential for government abuse: the legislation uses the terms pornography and adult content interchangably; as we've discussed with Baise Moi the term pornography is slippery enough, but adult content can be defined as widely as the government wishes.

ADVERTISING Mail bricks it over Lego boycott campaign

Campaigners claim victory after Lego stops Daily Mail promotions http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/12/lego-ends-daily-mail-links-campaigners-claim-victory?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Greenslade sums up why IPSO isn't credible

Greenslade has an interesting position: opposed to statutory intervention but argues that IPSO remains a regulator The Guardian should refuse to sign up to, for reasons he makes very clear...

Why I have opposed the Guardian being regulated by Ipso.

Why I reject press regulation through the royal charter.

Impress is here to stay. Let’s quit the barricades and think anew about press regulation.

Press freedom danger if MPs vote in section 40 by the back door.

MPs and peers question independence of press watchdog.

Mail is dangerous driver say 50 organisations

Note there is no mention of IPSO in this story. The Muslim Council of Britain organised 50 civic organisations (including the biggest teachers union, the NUT) to co-sign a letter of protest over a Mail front page claiming foreign drivers were much more dangerous than UK drivers. 

Not exactly a sign of public confidence in IPSO as a credible regulator.

Daily Mail draws criticism over front page story targeting foreign drivers http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/04/daily-mail-draws-criticism-over-front-page-story-targeting-foreign-drivers?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

In Brexit Britain, being a foreigner marks me out as evil

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/03/brexit-britain-being-foreigner-evil-tabloids-racist?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard