From WIRED
The Justice Department’s interference in the local civil case was surprising yet significant in that it put not only Baltimore but also every other city police department around the country on notice that interference in such recordings was unconstitutional. It was sent to Baltimore days after several media and civil rights organizations sent U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder a letter insisting that the Justice Department take action against agencies that arrest people who record officers. “Since the Occupy Wall Street movement began, police have arrested dozens of journalists and activists simply for attempting to document political protests in public spaces,” the letter to Holder stated. “A new type of activism is taking hold around the world and here in the U.S.: People with smartphones, cameras and Internet connections have been empowered with the means to report on public events.” While individual cases didn’t necessarily fall under the Justice Department’s jurisdiction, the letter acknowledged, the suppression of speech was a national problem that had to be addressed at the federal level. “Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of access to information are vital whether you’re a credentialed journalist, a protester or just a bystander with a camera,” the organizations asserted. (via Justice Dept. Defends Public’s Constitutional ‘Right to Record’ Cops | Threat Level | Wired.com)
Editor and writer joke. Too true.
Okay. Editor and writer, dispatched to the Gulf, are lost in the desert sands. Winds howling, sun beating down. Mirages appear, shimmer on the horizon, vanish into the merciless midday heat. Editor and writer sink to knees, by now quite close to death, when suddenly — an oasis! Actual water! Editor and writer make desperate surge toward water, writer crawls hand over hand, immerses face in cool desert pond, and then looks up, appalled, to see that the editor is standing over him and peeing straight into the water.
“What are you DOING?” the writer cries.
“It’s okay,” the editor says. “I’m making it better.”
Since submarines began roaming the depths in World War I, sailors and oceanographers, who use sonar technology to map seafloor topography and identify ocean life, have regularly run into “acoustic ghosts”—inexplicable bodies of movable mass that sometimes rivaled the size of a city. Every time a theory emerged to explain the phenomenon, however, it was quickly shot down.
In 2003 scientists aboard a research vessel just south of Long Island, New York, discovered that the UFOs were composed of hundreds of millions of fish—massive gatherings on a scale never before documented. Using low-frequency sonar technology that penetrated hundreds of miles, they identified a school roughly the size of Manhattan.
Source: utnereader
I would love to see someone get copies of the US and Europe editions and do a more full fledged content analysis of the different editorial choices made. But, in terms of judging a magazine by its cover, Time does it again….
This thing again: Criticism over Time’s differing cover play resurfaces
Remember a few months back, when we did the analysis of Time’s covers to see if the balance between hard and soft news was consistent around the world? The issue’s cropping up again, with Slate pointing out how Time passed on giving Americans a Mario Monti cover. Just a couple points to this: First: The prior week, Time gave Americans (and the rest of the world) a cover on a prosecutor trying to clean up Wall Street, a story which treads some of the same ground as the Monti cover. Two weeks ago, Time passed on giving Americans a cover on soccer icon Lionel Messi, which would’ve been a weird time for one considering the Super Bowl was on the way. As I said last time, I personally don’t think it’s a matter of Time trying to soften the news — but more a matter of Time playing to different markets. Though it’d be nice if Time thought Americans cared about the Italian leader enough that they’d pick up a magazine with his face on the cover. — Ernie @ SFB
Source: Slate
Robert Reich: The Birth of the People's Party
Look at the outrage in Madison, Wisconsin. Look at the crowds in DesMoines, Iowa. Look at the demonstrations in Indiana and Ohio and elswhere around America.
Hear what they’re saying: Stop attacking unions. Stop making scapegoats out of public employees. Stop protecting the super-rich from paying…
Check out Open Mobile
My active Tumblelog is called Open Mobile.
Here’s a short description: “The future of the Internet is mobile. Democracy depends on access to wireless networks and devices. Your phone is political.”
Head over there if you want to read more.
