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Our news media is sadly evolving now into a monster.

When will the media see themselves in their own true light?

They have abused their freedom to such a point that it now simply borders on malicious forms of propaganda.

Our media outlets certainly understand their power. Their purpose is to impose their will.

Do not step out of line or this media will consume and destroy any merit to your thoughts, including your rights of privilege in the mandate that for us is everything American.

So just how does one tame this monster called the media?

Before we can answer that question, we must broach our own understanding of individual rights.

Our founders gave us freedoms in a way that was reasonable. They gave us our liberty based on the laws of nature and of natures God. To this, they also stated that both as American citizens of this great nation are equally entitled.

Our founders allowed us to choose our path, to decide the virtue of that which is right equally and what is wrong equally, and in the need at times to change it unequally, just as in nature.

To that end, nature can be a hard truth that is owned to no man, but only to natures God.

Abraham Lincoln spoke about those words held within our Declaration of Independence and said that when future generations read these words, they would realize that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration.

There is no equality in nature, only balance, and when this balance is undermined, nature will set a path to reclaim her balance.

To that end no man will persevere or prevail, this outcome belongs only to nature and to natures God alone.

Gerald Tisdell, Casselberry

Read more:
Sunday's Lead Letter: America's out-of-control news media - Florida Times-Union

Thai Journalists Association (TJA) president Wanchai Wongmeechai, who attended the seminar on the media regulation bill hosted by Thai Chamber of Commerce University, said he had learned from insiders that the committee would not revise the proposal concerning the media licensing authority.

Under the bill, authority would be passed to a new Media Professional Council as that is what the committee had set their minds on, he said. However, the groups would closely watch the committees moves and take action as necessary, Wanchai added.

Controversial legislation

The proposed legislation has become a highly controversial issue since the committee planned to submit it to the NRSA for endorsement last week. Media organisations, including the TJA and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA), strongly opposed the bill when they heard about its contents.

The media groups challenged two main points, the first of which was the composition of the proposed Media Professional Council, which would see at least four permanent secretaries from concerned ministries sit alongside media representatives and academics. The groups see this as a loophole for state intervention in the media.

The other bone of contention is the media licensing system, which the groups believe will lead to control of the media.

On Thursday, the media groups representatives submitted a letter to the NRSA vice chairman Alongkorn Ponlaboot, conveying their opposition. This resulted in the NRSA whips telling the committee to withdraw the bill for review and revision before resubmitting it.

TBJA chairman Thepchai Yong said the implications of the bill would be more far-reaching than people thought, as it would give power to the state, political sector and capitalists to control the media under the proposed council.

Vague definition

Thepchai said the proposed licensing system was vague in its definition. He urged media members to watch developments and help push for changes as the current suspension cannot ensure that the bill will be revised to facilitate press freedom.

The NRSA members, he said, should deliberate the bill carefully so that it would not eventually put media control in the hands of the state and politicians.

Former reformer from the now-defunct National Reform Council (NRC), Jumpol Rodkamdee, said |the NRC drafted a similar bill but with the principle of supporting press freedom and allowing media members to shape self-regulation. Their bill also proposed the same council but with different composition, including certified members of the media, to facilitate self-regulation.

The seminar heard various proposals for the revision of the latest bill, including a tri-party memorandum of understanding, including the academic and civil sectors, to help the media reform and regulate.

A civil-based council was proposed to replace the one proposed in the bill, so people would have more say in helping regulate the media.

Read more:
Media set to keep up its fight on regulation - The Nation

The AI battle over your living room is getting a tad more intense. At CES 2017, NVIDIA surprised its fans by becoming the first, and so far only, gaming and multimedia device to integrate Google Assistant and Google Home into its functionality. Though that future has yet to arrive, Amazon and Plex are bringing their own future to the present. Now anyone with an Amazon Echo, or actually any device where Alexa resides, can now enjoy hands free control of the popular Plex media server, bringing the smart home of the future to your living room today.

Sometimes is really just easier to tap on your smartphone or computer to start a movie or play some music, but its definitely fun once in a while to imagine your home being taken care of a disembodied voice. Theres also a sense of adventure when you let the computer suggest videos or music you wouldnt have otherwise encountered if left to your own.

Thats where the powerful partnership between Plex and Alexa comes in. Simply enable Alexas newly learned Plex skill, link to your Plex account, and open the Plex app. From there, you can just tell Alexa to play what you want or suggest something new. With Plexs search and discovery features, thats an easy task for the AI assistant to accomplish.

Integration with Alexa, however, is actually just a part of Plexs attempt to gain more control over your living room and your digital life. It is also working on Webhooks that would let you connect any Plex activity, from playing media to rating it, to actions, like sending out a tweet or even controlling your other smart appliances. It can even be as simple as displaying a notification on your desktop every time a new track starts playing.

Plexs new Webhooks, however, is available only for Plex Pass subscribers. In contrast, any Plex user is welcome to try out Alexas new skills for themselves. They just need to own an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, Amazon Fire TV, or Fire tablet to do so.

SOURCE: Plex

Read more from the original source:
Amazon's Alexa can now control your Plex media server - SlashGear

Representatives of media organisations file their opposition to a media-regulation bill with Alongkorn Ponlabut, second right, vice president of the National Reform Steering Assembly, at the parliament on Thursday. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)

The whip committee of the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) on Thursday rejected the controversial media regulation bill in the face of growing opposition from media organisations and told drafters to review it.

It agreed in principle that there should be a national media council but there were concerns inside and outside the assembly and the issue involved the public, Khamnoon Sitthisamarn, spokesman of the NRSA whip committee, said.

We agree in principle the voluntary self-regulation of media organisations should be upgraded and become a responsibility of a legal profession council. But the composition and authority of the councillors should be reviewed, he said.

The NRSAs media reform panel which drafted the bill would review that and resubmit the bill soon, Mr Khamnoon said.

Early on Thursday, representatives of 30 media organisations filed their written objection to the bill. They stressed that the bill would let authorities influence the mass media against the spirits of the new constitution which already passed a referendum and ensured independence and self-regulation among media organisations.

They also proposed that the head of the NRSAs media reform panel be replaced, saying ACMKanitSuwannatehad falsely claimed representatives of media organisations supported the bill and it passed a public hearing organised by the Thailand Development Research Institute.

Besides, four media professionals resigned as members of the NRSAs media reform panel in protest.

Opponents said the NRSA media reform panels draft bill on rights protection, ethical promotion and standards of media professionals would empower the national media council to issue and revoke licences for all media professionals.

Their main concern is the four seats in the council reserved for permanent secretaries of some ministries. They view the requirement would allow interference in the media and limit peoples rights to information.

Get full Bangkok Post printed newspaper experience on your digital devices with Bangkok Post e-newspaper. Try it out, it's totally free for 7 days.

Read more here:
Media control bill suspended | Bangkok Post: news - Bangkok Post

Snap Inc. often likens its app to a new form of television. Its also borrowing from the playbook of traditional media companies to create a small circle of power in its top ranks.

Using three classes of stock, founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy will hold majority voting rights after an initial public offering, according to the companys prospectus. That sort of control is rare outside the media business or the hottest technology companies.

Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy.

Photographer: J. Emilio Flores/Corbis via Getty Images

The Snapchat app maker intends to go a step further than most newly public companies by selling Class A shares in its IPO with no voting rights. As a result, Spiegel and Murphy can avoid losing power while raising capital.

Snap is doing something I have not seen before: creating and issuing non-voting shares at the IPO, said Jesse Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School. After the IPO, Snap can issue additional non-voting stock to employees or other parties without eroding the founders control rights.

The use of multiple voting classes has been a common way for media moguls to retain power over their businesses while reducing their financial stakes. Rupert Murdoch uses the strategy at News Corp. and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., as does the Ochs-Sulzberger family at the New York Times Co. and Sumner Redstone at CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. These arrangements come with their share of resistance from stockholders.

Media barons have said the ownership structure is necessary to protect their companies editorial independence or creative freedom,said Paul Gompers, a professor at Harvard Business School. Outside shareholders understand that the insiders have the ability to call the shots, he said.

Tech companies can thank Google for legitimizing the practice in their industry. To sell the idea to prospective investors, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin compared their business with newspaper publishers and Wall Street favorite Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which owns several papers.

When Google filed to go public in 2004, they acknowledged that dual-class structures were unusual for tech companies but typical among publishers that wanted to focus on the long-term task of serious news coverage, despite fluctuations in quarterly results, according to their IPO paperwork. They cited the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, as well as Warren Buffetts Berkshire.

We want Google to become an important and significant institution, Page and Brin wrote. That takes time, stability and independence. We bridge the media and technology industries, both of which have experienced considerable consolidation and attempted hostile takeovers.

Since then, several tech companies have adopted dual-class shares, with mixed results. Under Mark Zuckerbergs control, Facebook Inc. has weathered several technological upheavals, including the shift from desktop to mobile, and more than tripled its share price. However, some investors still chafe at his unchallenged power. Facebook is currently trying to fend off a shareholder lawsuit, including allegations that board member Marc Andreessen helped advise Zuckerberg at the expense of shareholders.

The founders of online coupon site Groupon Inc. and social game maker Zynga Inc. employed dual-class shares to give top executives majority voting control. Each founding CEO was ousted less than two years after their IPOs, and their market values have dropped by more than two-thirds since going public in 2011.

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To our knowledge, no other company has completed an initial public offering of non-voting stock on a U.S. stock exchange, Snap wrote. We cannot predict whether this structure and the concentrated control it affords Mr. Spiegel and Mr. Murphy will result in a lower trading price.

Google, now owned by Alphabet Inc., was sued over the issuance of non-voting stock and later for creating a third class of stock cementing Page and Brins voting control for good. It settled both cases.

Youll continue to see this trend happening until there is something really negative as a result, said Thomas Ivey, partner at law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

The money-making side of Snap is fairly young, but its increasingly positioning itself to take advertising dollars from media companies. Its aiming to keep the eyes of its largely millennial audience glued to its app, interspersing ads into video reels and in publishers Snapchat content.

The company has warned that its financial performance will be lumpy as it continues to grow, people familiar with the matter have said. In its IPO filing, Snap reported a 2016 net loss of $515 million, versus a loss of $373 million in 2015.

Snap is asking potential investors to trust a couple of twentysomethings to figure out how to capitalize on user engagement, keep growing and eventually reach profitability -- without shareholder intervention.

Original post:
Snap's Concentrated Power Structure Takes a Page From Old Media - Bloomberg