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At a moment in history of unparalleled human wealth, the world confronts unprecedented poverty and even sharp declines in the middle classes of Western countries. But status-quo thinking by elites, including the U.S. media, obstruct solutions, says Danny Schechter.

By Danny Schechter

One is always proud to be invited to speak at the United Nations, one of the few global institutions that is still taken seriously and that can generate international resolutions and shape programs free of total domination by the big powers.

When you are an outsider like I am, its a bit of an ego boost to think that the world might be listening to little old you and that, at least for one session, you are among the chosen to hold forth on something serious in what critics deride as The House of Babble.

Ugoji Adanma Eze.

I have been around the world body for years, even as recipient of a prize for a TV documentary from the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA). In that case, the film offered a strong critique of the UN cockup in Bosnia, but the award was presented to me by the then-UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali, who clearly hadnt seen it

So, yes there is pretense and hypocrisy, but there are also sincere and dedicated people diplomats and international civil servants working to improve the world. This is not to say that the big powers lack influence there since they control the Security Council and show clout by lobbying for their political positions, while staffing the Secretariat and agencies with their loyalists. Right across the street is the spanking new U.S. Mission, a symbol of Washingtons power and intent to stay in control.

While the UN was created in the name of the peoples of the world, it is the governments with all their rigidities, personalities and ideologies that effectively run the place with some autonomy left for UN officials and decision-makers like the current man at the top, South Koreas Ban Ki Moon.

Nevertheless, an allowance has been made to give a platform to citizens movements and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that used to meet in the basement or in the rarely utilized Trusteeship Council set up decades ago to speed decolonization. They were always a sideshow, but attracted activists with a calling to try to change the world.

Now, with the UN headquarters undergoing an expensive renovation, in part to get rid of toxic asbestos that made it an unsafe workplace, much of the action, including the small conference room in which I spoke, has moved to a temporary all white structure built on the grounds. Its satirical nickname: Bantanamo.

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Does the Media Hate the Poor?

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Digital Rapids Transcode Manager 2 media transformation software now offers integration support for Vidchecker automated QC software The new integration enables incorporation of Vidchecker's file, video and audio QC capabilities into Transcode Manager media processing workflows The combination maximizes workflow efficiency while minimizing costly manual QC effort and errors

Markham, Ontario and Bristol, United Kingdom Digital Rapids and Vidcheck today announced integration between the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager 2 automated media transformation software and the Vidchecker second-generation automated quality control (QC) software.

Available immediately, the new integration support enables Transcode Manager 2 users to seamlessly incorporate Vidchecker's extensive QC capabilities within their automated, customized media processing workflows. Outputs can be checked against a user-specified range of verification tests, with users alerted automatically to QC issues.

The enterprise-class Transcode Manager 2 software seamlessly blends media file transformation and workflow processes while offering outstanding efficiency, scalability and agility for applications from post production and archive to multiscreen distribution. Building on the unique benefits of the Kayak platform, version 2 of Transcode Manager combines its robust management tools and hallmarks of exceptional output quality and format flexibility with visual workflow design; automated decision-making with rich metadata support; dynamic deployment; easy integration of new technologies; and an extensive partner ecosystem.

Vidchecker provides comprehensive checks of file, video and audio parameters in file-based media, focusing on the most common video and audio errors users incur in the preparation and exchange of media files between post production and distribution. Vidchecker enables broadcasters, post production facilities and content distributors to automatically check and correct their media files to ensure that file formats, codecs, closed captions, video and audio parameters and levels are correct and immediately ready for distribution to their target platforms, devices and applications -- from broadcast television and VOD to multiscreen delivery.

"We're thrilled to have Digital Rapids Transcode Manager now directly support Vidchecker. The combination of Transcode Manager's powerful and flexible media processing capabilities with the automated QC of Vidchecker enables exceptionally efficient workflows for our mutual customers while assuring their deliverables are consistently compliant and high-quality," said Thomas Dove, CEO at Vidcheck.

"We're excited to expand Transcode Manager's array of supported industry-leading QC tools with the new Vidchecker support, giving our mutual customers access to its complete range of video, audio and file checks for automated validation," said Darren Gallipeau, Product Manager at Digital Rapids. "Quality control is critical in today's sophisticated file-based production and distribution workflows, where uncaught errors can be costly. Automating the QC process is crucial in maximizing the efficiency of media transformation pipelines while minimizing manual effort and mistakes."

For more information about Digital Rapids, please visit http://www.digitalrapids.com. For more information about Vidcheck, please visit http://www.Vidcheck.com.

About Vidcheck - Vidcheck is a specialist supplier of software tools for broadcasters for checking and intelligent correction of video and audio in file-based media. Vidcheck personnel have unrivalled experience in the QC of file-based video, having been closely involved from the start in this market.

About Digital Rapids - Digital Rapids provides market-leading media transformation and workflow solutions that enable the world's leading media organizations to reach expanding audiences more efficiently, more effectively and more profitably. The company combines innovative technology with proven expertise to help customers maximize the value of their video content while pursuing new revenue opportunities and new ways to reach their audiences, from the rapid growth of mobile video consumption to advances in 'television' delivery over IP. Founded in 2001, Digital Rapids is headquartered in Ontario, Canada with offices around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.digitalrapids.com.

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Digital Rapids and Vidcheck Partner to Integrate Automated Media Transformation and Quality ...

By Sadie Gennis,

The media narrative surroundingJustin Bieberhas spiraled out of control. He's this year'sAnne Hathaway, the person whom it's vogue to hate. But this turn isn't completely unfounded. Over the past few years, Bieber has undoubtedly become a bit of ajerk.

He was charged for illegal (and seemingly racist) graffiti, pissed in a mop bucket, left his monkey in Germany and could anyone seriously forgetthis hat? But for non-Beliebers, there has always been something grating about the singer. Everything from his swoopy hair to his sugar-pop love songs seemed designed to annoy all post-pubescents on sight, breeding discontent which lay dormant until his penchant for leather sweatpants and hocking loogies made him impossible to ignore.

Then all hell broke loose.

Justin Bieber's downward spiral: A timeline of bad behavior

Bieber is in the middle of that tricky transition from child star to adult. But unlikeMiley Cyrus, Bieber can't just put on a skimpy outfit and hump a foam finger to signify his maturity. It's come to be expected that child stars burn down their innocent image in theshiftto an adult career, but when their old franchise is nothing but ash the women still have one thing left standing: their sexuality. This is problematic for an entirely different set of reasons, but sadly it also provides female child stars the means to maintain some form of fan and industry support, no matter how misogynistic it might be.

But for the men, there is no quick antidote to destroying the very foundation of their fame. They're just another peach-stachioed kid who used to be cuter than they are now. So how does a male child star assert control over his image and establish himself an adult? Aggression, cockiness and rowdiness remain foundations of modern masculinity boys will be boys, after all so does it come as any surprise that these are the exact traits Bieber is exhibiting with nave desperation in the hopes of being respected, not as an artist, but as a man?

There are the few male child stars who have been able to navigate the problematicmovefrom baby faced ingnue to bonafide star. But for everyJustin TimberlakeandRyan Gosling, there are the dozens ofCorey Haims,Corey Feldmans, Edward FurlongsandMacaulay Culkins. Why do people seem so hell-bent to add Bieber to that list? Especially because we are the reason Bieber feels like he has something to prove in the first place.

For his entire career, criticisms of Bieber have focused on ridiculing his manhood calling him a lesbian, a little b---- and accusing him of PMSing if God forbid he expressed emotion or vulnerability. After spending his entire adolescence accused of being less than a man, is it really so hard to understand why he is trying to emulate hyper-masculinity?

Yes, it's been awkward to watch and he's made plenty of mistakes, but he's only 19. Bieber's still figuring out who he is and how that reconciles with society's expectations of him. Unfortunately, it seems as though what society expects is the popular pre-set narrative we anticipate with Schadenfreude-ian glee: that of the child star gone bad.

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Leave Justin Bieber alone: America's problem with male child stars

Comcast Corp. already produces movies, television shows and national and local news programs while operating theme parks and the largest pay-TV system in the U.S.

And now, with one bold stroke, the Philadelphia conglomerate could dominate the flow of information and entertainment into American homes with historically unprecedented power.

Comcast's proposed $45.2-billion takeover of Time Warner Cable would allow it to provide television, telephone and Internet service and even home security systems to nearly 30 million homes across the country.

ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll

The company's reach would encompass the nation's largest markets, among them Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. By taking over Time Warner Cable's nearly 1.8 million Southern California customers, Comcast would become the region's dominant pay TV operator.

The audacious move comes just three years after Comcast took control of media giant NBCUniversal in a deal that was valued at more than $30 billion. It continues the half-century quest of Pennsylvania's Roberts family to build the nation's preeminent media company.

Six decades ago, Comcast founder Ralph J. Roberts, now 93, made a living selling suspenders and belts. But in 1963 he gambled on new technology by buying a 1,200-subscriber cable TV system in Tupelo, Miss.

Now the company controlled by his son Brian L. Roberts, 54, is hoping to build an electronic beltway into nearly a third of all homes in the U.S. with pay TV.

PHOTOS: Box office top 10 of 2013

"Brian Roberts is, in fact, the John D. Rockefeller of the 21st century," Harvard Law School visiting professor Susan Crawford said Thursday. "He's cornered an essential input into every aspect of American life."

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Comcast plans a media powerhouse