Canwest not paying bills

Attached is a story about how Canwest is not paying freelancer writers, except after some duress and arguments with the court. I also know a guy in Regina who took a package from Canwest from their most recent round of layoffs and was advised he could have it lump sum or over several months. He chose several months. Bad choice: he got a letter saying Canwest was broke and he wasn’t getting anything more. I’m not a bankruptcy expert, but shouldn’t there be some simple human consideration for those who suffer from dumb management?

CBC, February 9 2010

Teens giving up blogs, Twitter: US report

It looks like social media are turning into the media of choice for teens, according to another Pew study on media use in the US.  Teen blogging is down 50 per cent over the past three years, and only eight per cent of teens Twitter. Short updates on Facebook and heavy dependence on texting via cell phone seem to drive teens more than the somewhat longer form blogs allow for. You’d think Twitter would fit the teen attitude, but they seem to have decided that it is a better medium for celebrities and corporations than them.

Washington Post, February 4 2010

MSM makes huge bucks, end is not in sight

So, Time Warner, CBS and News Corp all reported profits, monster share price increases over the last year, and in some cases increased dividends. So, what’s this about Mainstream Media facing imminent death? They seem to be doing just fine, partly because they’re now fairly diverse companies, with Time Warner and News Corp making money off movies (sometimes called content). So it would seem a large part of the bad media news in 2009 was related to the worst recession since the Great Depression, not systemic technological change.

Wall Street Journal, Feb. 3 2010

Where’s our national strategy on digital/new technology?

I don’t often want to get into political discussions here, but MP Marc Garneau makes a cogent argument in the National Post on the need for a national strategy on digital technology. The CRTC does some ad hoc decisions, the Supreme Court sometimes weighs in and a lot of stuff is being done by provincial phone companies. Where’s the overarching strategy that will encourage more Canadian tech successes like RIM? Should teenagers be taught defamation law in school (you can predict my vote on this). Are there going to be national standards on new technology, or will we just let the market prevail? M. Garneau promises to raise this at the next Liberal convention; I think we should have a national debate on it.

The National Post, Feb. 2 2010

Geist gives kudos to NFB for free accessibility

Prof. Michael Geist, guru of intellectual copyright, praises NFB (the National Film Board) for putting its catalogue online, for free in a number of different platforms. He points out, philosophically, that this puts their content directly into the hands of the people who pay for it: Canadian taxpayers. I note with keen interest that he questions why that other taxpayer-subsidized media corporation doesn’t do the same; in fact it charges as much as $250 for some of its content.

Toronto Star, Feb. 1 2010

Irish blogger whacked for more than 100,000 Euro libel hit

Unlike one of the posters to this story, writing in a blog does not make you immune to the law, particularly defamation law, as has been reinforced in every country in the world: the type of media you choose to communicate in does not give you protection from libelous, reckless, reputation smashing language. It’s about $150,000 Canadian,  plus legal costs, which according to the story can run up to eight times as much. Oh, not to mention that the hapless blogger just lost his job. Not to worry; once he has one, he can look forward to having his wages garnisheed for life. Knowing defamation law is as important as knowing communications software.

The Sunday Times, January 31 2010

More media carnage: two Montreal AM stations shut down

Well, AM has been in touch ever since FM produced a higher quality sound, which meant most of the music migrated to that frequency, leaving AM to all news/sports/talk show formats. I didn’t know till the National Post told me (some value to newspapers still, providing more information in a less timely manner than their broadcast colleagues) that one of the stations shut down was the first radio station in Canada, dating back to Marconi. Worth reading for that alone.

National Post,  January 29 2010

Ad buyers echo Canwest motto: don’t break the papers up

Yeah, it may be easier for ad agencies to place an ad in all Canwest newspapers by only going to one source, but on the other hand, so what? After all, if a client says to an agency “I want to place an ad in every daily newspaper in the country”, they will gladly do so and for a handsome fee. So make em work, I say, and break up the Canwest chain and return to the Southam model: local newspapers locally managed.

Calgary Herald, Jan. 28 2010

The argument for buying online news

The Globe’s Leah McLaren, who I rarely read since I’m not a fashionista (we should all just wear Mao clothes and be done with it) nevertheless put together a very cogent argument for buying what used to be for free: newspaper news online.  I will be doing the same when the NY Times starts charging for online content. After all, what value does any news have if it’s free?

Globe and Mail, January 23 2010

CITY TV whacks local news

CITY TV has five stations, all of which except Toronto are losing their noon, five p.m., six p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, essentially leaving the morning show to do local news. And Rogers has the gall to state “We strongly believe in local television and we’re strongly committed to local television.” Oh yeah? Then why are you cutting local content? Some practitioners are so focused on staying on message they forget that the message doesn’t make sense. 60 jobs will be lost in all.

Globe and Mail, January 20 2010