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27 Jan 2012 19:44

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Biz: CBS Sports fires blogger who flubbed Joe Paterno death report

  • Bad sourcing plus poor timing: Adam Jacobi took to Twitter earlier this afternoon to reveal that CBS Sports — which ran with a erroneous story that Joe Paterno had died hours before he actually did, based on a single tweet from a student Web site, originally linked to and otherwise unsourced (then retracted it, naming the source and initially refusing to take full credit for the error) — fired him over the incident. “In the end, CBS had to let me go for the Paterno story going out the way it did,” Jacobi wrote. “and I understand completely. Thanks, everyone, for reading.” The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple calls the move classy on Jacobi’s part, and an important line in the sand for CBS: “Not only does CBSSports.com put on notice its employees that multiple sourcing matters,” Wemple writes,”it puts on notice the entire industry.” While we don’t necessarily think Jacobi should’ve been fired, CBS made a good move, as it initially looked like they would let the sword fall onto Onward State. It would’ve been better if they took credit right away. (photo via Flickr user audreyjm529) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2012 18:10

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Tech: Twitter responds to controversy over new country-based censorship

  • cause On Thursday, while evoking a post the company wrote during the Arab Spring, Twitter discussed a new policy for allowing countries to censor tweets, arguing it would allow the company to go more places.
  • reaction While many reacted to the news negatively, Twitter was not without its defenders, most notably UNC professor Zeynep Tufekci, an expert on the intersection of social media and global politics.
  • response A day later, Twitter updated the post with a FAQ, saying the overall goal is transparency: “We have users all over the world and wanted to find a way to deal with requests in the least restrictive way.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2012 16:16

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Music: On Spotify and the ethical issues it presents for music listeners

  • Why can’t you listen to “El Camino” on Spotify? There are a lot of reasons why The Black Keys’ discography ends with “Brothers” on the service, and it’s not because “Tighten Up” is the best song they’ve ever done. Really, the problems here are ethical. As an idea, the concept of subscription-based music has been around for years — remember Columbia House? or how about eMusic? — and in a lot of ways, Spotify and MOG and Rdio are merely the latest generation of that. But The Verge’s Paul Miller touches a solid nerve with a single sentence: “I suppose what I really want is some sort of ‘free range’ sticker slapped on my music consumption, so that I know the artist was ethically treated in this transaction.” Here’s a breakdown of the issues involved here.
  • benefits Listeners get to try things without worry of wasting money, and as one label executive notes, most people spend an average of $17 per year on music, meaning consumers could spend more with these services in the long run.
  • problems Big acts who don’t need services like Spotify to gain exposure — notably The Black Keys, Coldplay and Adele — have taken their latest albums off the service, saying labels benefit from the deals more than individual artists. source
  • » But is that actually the case? Small-scale bands probably have less to lose in terms of cannibalization, but in a change from the iTunes era, it’s the biggest bands on the planet, not the ones with legacies to protect, that are protesting the services. One Universal Records exec, Rob Wells, says that the artists have nothing to worry about: “Every single one of those bands has earned more money from its album being on Spotify than it has from being on any other services within a period of time.” But try explaining that to Patrick Carney, the drummer for the Black Keys: “For a band that makes a living selling music, it’s not at a point where it’s feasible for us.” For what it’s worth, Spotify and its ilk are working hard on discovery these days.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2012 14:52

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U.S.: Erin Brokovich investigating mystery disease affecting high schoolers

  • We don’t have all the answers, but we are suspicious. They have not ruled everything out yet. The community asked us to help and this is what we do.
  • Activist Erin Brokovich • Banking on her getting-to-the-bottom-of-stuff reputation to help a bunch of Le Roy, N.Y., high school students who have developed Tourette’s-style verbal and facial tics, in the wake of evidence of a toxic chemical spill near their high school 42 years ago. Regarding the claims, the school district said that “medical and environmental investigations have not uncovered any evidence that would link the neurological symptoms to anything in the environment or of an infectious nature,” but Brokovich plans to investigate anyway, saying that there are some significant holes in regulatory testing records. She previously exposed a toxic chemical cleanup in California that built her evil-chemical-company-fighting reputation and became a Julia Roberts movie, in case you were wondering where you heard that name before.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2012 14:17

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U.S.: Cincinnati: Casino development site suffers collapse, workers injured

  • 15 hospitalized, no life-threatening injuries: A major development in Cincinnati, the Horseshoe Casino, had stop construction this morning after a 60-square-foot section of the development collapsed. In a statement, Steve Rosenthal of Rock Gaming LLC said there would be an investigation and added: “We are thankful to report that there were no life-threatening injuries to any workers who were in the area at the time of the incident. On behalf of the entire ownership and casino construction team, we wish those workers a quick recovery.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2012 12:06

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Politics: Ron Paul’s former secretary: Paul PROOFED perceived-racist newsletters

  • It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product. … He would proof it.
  • Ron Paul’s former secretary (and current supporter) Renae Hathway • Discussing the perceived-racist newsletters that went out under his name, and he has largely disowned since then. If he edited the newsletters, clearly this would contradict what Paul himself has said about them. The Paul campaign denies these allegations, but this should get this back in the news cycle for a full week. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2012 00:03

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Biz: Newest reason to sleep in: Taco Bell now serves breakfast

  • “This is a very important launch for our brand”: Taco Bell may like to suggest that you need a Fourthmeal, but in 800 mostly-western locations, now it suddenly wants to focus on your Firstmeal. That’s right, the Gordita grandaddy is moving into the realm of breakfast food, offering up such ideals of morning goodness as the Johnsonville Sausage and Egg Wrap, above. The company, which makes three-fifths of its parent company’s U.S. profits, is assuming that its audience likes sleeping in (having of course eaten their Fourthmeal the night before), and will serve breakfast between 8 or 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. — a later window than McDonald’s, which totally owns the breakfast market. Screw this; we’re sticking with bagels. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
 
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