Archive for the ‘Media Control’ Category

Media: Old players may continue to rule but content will be king

Competitive: Seven Group executive chairman Kerry Stokes. Photo: Nic Walker

Newspapers, radio and television will be there, but they'll be different and the companies that have long delivered their content might be gone. The Australian media a couple of years from now will be even more focused on fulfilling people's desires for content any time, anywhere.

Excluding live sports, the trend for on-demand content will intensify. But there will be a consumer impost, whether it's privacy, subscriptions or one-off costs, or inescapable ads.

Media ownership laws might be changed, leading to mergers and takeovers involving big old companies such as Nine and Fairfax.

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And as the splash surrounding this week's announcement demonstrates - Rupert Murdoch has promoted his sons Lachlan and James; Lachlan is now viewed as the likely successor - News Corp will continue to be a big player.

Foreign companies Google and Facebook might need to pay more tax. And depending on political will and the strength of private media businesses, the ABC might be more influential.

Former competition tsar Graeme Samuel said the internet had made content king and ''he who has control of the king can demand subscriptions and dollars''.

In a sign of where Lachlan Murdoch sees the future, he has been talking more like a Silicon Valley technology entrepeneur than an old-fashioned print baron. On being promoted to co-chairman this week, he boasted that News Corp had ''the energy and sensibility of a start-up''.

But that future is also under the microscope, as it often is, under a still-new government. After a fractious relationship with former communications minister Stephen Conroy, media companies are heartened that his successor, Malcolm Turnbull, has made positive noises about relaxing Australia's media laws.

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Media: Old players may continue to rule but content will be king

Cyber-bullying: Industry against proposals to regulate social media networks

ABC Anastasia Asarloglou is one of the thousands of Australian children who have experienced bullying online.

As many as one in three Australian children has experienced some form of cyber-bullying, yet the system to control bad behaviour on social media networks is voluntary, with the industry largely self-regulated.

The Federal Government has released a discussion paper proposing a number of changes to help make children safer online, but critics of the proposal say another layer of bureaucracy is not the answer.

Cristina Asarloglou sobs as she talks about her daughter Anastasia, who is among the thousands of Australian children who have experienced bullying online.

"She said to me that she didn't want to live anymore and I couldn't believe a child at eight years old could say that she didn't want to live anymore," Ms Asarloglou said.

"Bullying has always existed, but now with online bullying it just intensifies it.

"Anything to help kids that are being affected by this is something because I believe it is an epidemic."

For some children the relentless bullying becomes too much. Chloe Fergusson took her own life six months ago at the age of 15.

Her sister Cassie Whitehill is calling for tougher bullying laws and enforceable take down orders, and has set up a website promoting what she calls "Chloe's law".

"If we can just save one young person from taking their own life or being affected by bullying then we've achieved our goal," she said.

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Cyber-bullying: Industry against proposals to regulate social media networks

Chinese journalists say they are being ''locked out'' of AMSA media briefings

"This wouldn't even happen in China": George Yang. Photo: Andrew Meares

Chinese journalists covering the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from Canberra are furious at what they see as Australian government control of the media.

On Sunday, two Chinese crews decided to chase Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss into a car park at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority after being denied access to an AMSA briefing attended by Australian media.

The crews held an impromptu interview with Mr Truss but have complained at being ''locked out'' of any chance to put questions to AMSA boss John Young. On Monday, AMSA posted a security guard at the front of its headquarters.

George Yang, the chief correspondent for Hong Kong's Phoenix Satellite Television, said he had been asked to prove his credentials while he prepared to do a cross from public land. ''This wouldn't even happen in China,'' Yang said.

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''It's been very frustrating, there seems to be a Chinese media blackout. It is unbelievable that this is happening in Australia. There are relatives in China who are devastated and looking for answers.''

In a statement, AMSA said the security guard had been posted ''to prevent media vehicles from blocking access to the building and to prevent unauthorised access.

''AMSA rejects any claims that we are treating members of the Chinese media any differently to others. Yesterday's media event was a pool arrangement organised in conjunction with the federal press gallery committee to allow access to the Rescue Coordination Centre whilst minimising disruption to the operations.

''Chinese media requested to join the pool but the request was declined by AMSA and they were advised to contact the press gallery committee to arrange access to the pool content, which was also made available on our website.''

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Chinese journalists say they are being ''locked out'' of AMSA media briefings

Fairbanks Lawmakers Birth Control Comments Spark Criticism

(Skip Gray/Gavel Alaska)

In the process of declaring war on fetal alcohol syndrome, a Fairbanks state senator was labeled as an enemy in the war on women by national media outlets for comments he made about birth control.

In an interview published by the Anchorage Daily News on Friday, Republican Pete Kelly said Birth control is for people who dont necessarily want to act responsibly when asked if increasing access to contraceptives could help reduce the number of fetal alcohol cases in the state.

The Alaska Democratic Party seized on the remarks, and the story got picked up by outlets like MSNBC and the Huffington Post.

Kelly says his response was taken out of context he believes binge drinking is irresponsible, and that it can lead to a fetal alcohol case if birth control fails.

I dont care if people use birth control, for goodness sakes! says Kelly.

Kelly was also criticized for bringing up the involuntary commitment of pregnant women who consume alcohol. He stresses that Empowering Hope, the group of lawmakers and public health advocates behind the initiative, is not currently pursuing that policy.

Thats not what were doing right now. This leadership group may, and probably will, discuss this. But thats not part of our program right now.

In a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, Kelly said the group behind the fetal alcohol initiative may eventually consider the role birth control can play in reducing instances of the disorder.

But right now, the initiative is built around a public relations campaign and an effort to establish community responders who can help pregnant women who struggle with drinking. One idea the group is considering is supplying bars with pregnancy tests. Kelly says its a form of micro-advertising.

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Fairbanks Lawmakers Birth Control Comments Spark Criticism

The Xbox One's Media Remote Is Surprisingly Great

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The Xbox One wasn't supposed to need a remote control. That was the whole point, right? With its high-tech Kinect camera, we could just talk to it and tell it what to do. Remote controls were a thing of the past, a finally bygone relic of the 20th century! Except, well, not really.

A few weeks ago Microsoft released a "media remote" for the Xbox One. They sent one out for me to review, and I've been surprised at just how substantially it has improved the quality of my experience watching movies and TV shows on my Xbox One.

The remote works about the same as an Xbox One controller does. It has one four-way navigational pad, with a center button that functions more or less as the Xbox One's "A" button. It has an Xbox button in the middle to turn the console on and go to the home screen, and lets you hit play, pause, turn up the volume, fast-forward, rewind, turn the volume up, change the channel, etc. It doesn't have a number pad, so its functionality as a cable remote is limited, though you can still use it to navigate channels on cable TV.

The media remote significantly enhances the experience of using the Xbox One as an entertainment hub. That's for a few reasons:

I've always disliked turning on my controller before selecting a TV show or program to run. It's even worse when I need to pause a movie and the "Xbox, pause" isn't working for some reason. Pressing the middle button, waiting while the controller fires up and syncs, pressing the "A" button a few times before it's quite ready to go through it's a little thing that over time becomes pretty irritating. Unlike a controller the media remote, like most remote controls, is kind of just always on, so if you want to quickly pause or flip through channels without relying on Kinect, you can grab the media remote just like you would anything other remote.

It's also nice how, thanks to the Kinect's built-in IR blaster, the media remote lets me control the volume and muting on my audio system. I really don't like using the Kinect to do thissaying "Xbox, Volume Up" over and over again is no way to adjust your volumebut using a remote makes sense. The Xbox One media remote isn't quite a universal remote, but the Xbox One can control a lot of things, and the Media Remote controls the Xbox. So.

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Some people probably won't like the form-factor of the media remote, but I actually really dig it. It's very small and coated in a smooth, rubberized material that feels awfully nice in my hand. It has a rounded back that keeps it from sitting steadily on a table, which I'd imagine will be a point of contention for some but again, I don't mind it. The buttons are springy and the controller is at least water-resistant (it's doing fine after encountering some spilled beer in a coffee table mishap). The controls are all backlit, and making it cool-looking and easy to read in a darkened room. The remote is understated and sleek in a way that the Xbox One itself certainly isn't, and fits right in with my other remote controls.

This is another one where your mileage may vary, but I rarely use the Xbox One's Smartglass app to actually control my Xbox One. It still feels gimmicky, slow, and largely unnecessary. Smartglass takes too longUnlock my phone, open up the app, and use the odd touchscreen controls to do things. Easier to just use a controller, and that doesn't drain my phone's battery. The media remote is much more direct and convenient, more evidence that for all the new tricks our smartphones can do, dedicated devices are still usually easier to use.

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The Xbox One's Media Remote Is Surprisingly Great