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17 Feb 2011 20:14

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U.S.: Glenn Beck rips on Google because of Wael Ghonim. WTF?

  • And so it begins: “I’m really not sure I want my search engine involved in government overthrows,” says Glenn Beck, who did exactly what we pointed out might be the side effect of Wael Ghonim’s activism – that people would start ganging up on Google because of its employee’s side projects. “I’m not leading any boycott,” he said eventually. “I hate boycotts: you do with your time, your money, and your information what you want.  For me personally, I’m not feeling real comfortable about the current direction of Google, the more I find out.” He then goes into that kooky conspiracy theorist thing that he does. Shoot us now. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2011 23:39

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Politics: On Nir Rosen’s sudden rise to Public Enemy No. 1

  • It’s crazy how fast things move sometimes. Within a day, Nir Rosen went from some relatively low-profile journalist tweeting controversially about Lara Logan to Twitter trending topic who’s on Anderson Cooper. That’s right, he’s become the story as much as Logan has. (Which, considering the nature of the Logan story, is sad.) Nir Rosen has surpassed Kenneth Cole as the worst social media user of the Egypt crisis. But some have suggested that this is a situation where actually-harmless gallows humor met its worst enemy: The internet mob mentality. We disagree, but we’d like to offer our feelings first:
  • Two mobs, two targets Foster Kamer, a journalist we like but don’t always agree with, had a pretty interesting take: “Lara Logan and Nir Rosen were attacked by the same thing. Or more precisely, the same sociological profile.” His correlation? A large online mob ganged up on Rosen, just as a large real-life mob did the same to Logan. While we can see where he’s going, Rosen largely encouraged the attacks by continuing to paint himself in a corner after the comments spiked out of control. He didn’t see the red flags.
  • Tweet at your own peril The thing about Rosen that makes him effective as a journalist is that he’s brash and in-your-face. Problem is, he’s one of those guys with strong views who doesn’t see when he’s gone too far. It’s something he admits to himself: “I’ve often been warned by friends that someone as rash and careless as me should not be on twitter, and clearly they were right.” Rosen didn’t take Twitter seriously. The problem is Twitter takes Twitter seriously, and it’s at a public figure’s peril to ignore that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2011 15:01

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Politics: Lara Logan released from hospital, in “remarkably good spirits”

  • good news on the lara logan front. It’s being reported that Logan has been dismissed from the hospital following her “brutal and sustained sexual assault” in Cairo. While an unnamed source claims that, fortunately, Logan’s assault was “not a rape,” we can hardly imagine of the terror of it, especially in the context of a wild, tumultuous scene in Tahrir Square. Logan is reportedly in surprisingly good spirits, and is home with her family. Best wishes for her, and for her recovery. Relatedly, though, film critic Roger Ebert had this to say: “The attack on Lara Logan brings Middle East attitudes toward women into sad focus.” We’re all for somberly analyzing the broad implications of specific events, but really? Unless you can’t imagine a woman in America being sexually assaulted in a chaotic mob, it seems a little cheap and easy to paint a whole part of the world with the brush of this horrible event. Still, better than Nir Rosen’s analysis was. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2011 13:13

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World: Another year, another absurdly lavish party for Kim Jong-Il

  • yay birthday For Kim Jong-Il, that is. The “1984”-esque ruler was feted with figure skating, an elaborate festival, and blossoming “Kimjongilia” flowers, which are seeded to bloom on his birthday every year. Of course, North Korea is one of the world’s foremost users of concentration camps, so perhaps the party lacked spontaneity.
  • boo birthday In one of the rare South Korean rituals of open antagonism to the North, balloons were released into the sky, drifting into North Korea bearing anti-Kim Jong-Il messages, and information about the uprising in Egypt. But with a society literally focused entirely around reverence of the Dear Leader, Hosni Mubarak never had it so good. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2011 11:12

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Politics: Nir Rosen loses NYU job, really sorry for Lara Logan comments

  • Mr. Rosen tells me that he misunderstood the severity of the attack on her in Cairo. He has apologized, withdrawn his remarks, and submitted his resignation as a fellow, which I have accepted. However, this in no way compensates for the harm his comments have inflicted.
  • NYU Center on Law and Security Executive Director Karen J. Greenberg • In accepting Nir Rosen’s resignation over his comments on Twitter criticizing Lara Logan in the wake of reports of her sexual assault in Egypt. “I am deeply distressed by what he wrote about Ms. Logan and strongly denounce his comments,” Greenberg wrote in a statement. “They were cruel and insensitive and completely unacceptable.” Rosen, a journalist who has been featured in a number of publications in the past and is noted for his Iraq War coverage, profusely apologized for what he said on Twitter: “There is no point following me, i am done tweeting. Too ashamed of how i have hurt others and the false impression i gave of who i am.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2011 10:46

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U.S., World: More details on the Lara Logan case: What happened?

  • egypt The Wall Street Journal reports that CBS’ Logan was separated from her crew from 20 to 30 minutes. While she was beaten and sexually assaulted, she was not raped.
  • hospital The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz reports that Logan, who is staying in an NYC hospital, will likely be let out today. Her injuries have not been disclosed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 20:46

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World: On Lara Logan and journalists who do difficult, dangerous work

Lara Logan

  • » And one journalist died during the crisis: According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group, three journalists have died in Egypt since 1992. One of them, Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, a journalist for the state-owned newspaper Al-Ta’awun, died February 4 from gunshot wounds sustained while attempting to shoot video of security forces and demonstrators fighting. Security forces noticed him, and a sniper shot and killed him. “They meant to kill him; they aimed at his head with live ammunition,” said his wife, Inas Abdel-Alim. “The perpetrator did this to him because he was filming what was happening. They didn’t want us to cover the massacre that happened that day.” And as awful as this all is, it pales in comparison to what journalists faced in nearby Iraq. Journalists do difficult work. Bloggers? We type into laptops. The biggest danger we face is spilling a macchiato on our hands while fervently typing. Don’t forget who does the real work.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Feb 2011 11:08

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Tech: Facebook’s protest game plan: Don’t favor anyone, ban fake accounts

  • Don’t ask Facebook to take sides in the Middle East. The massive social network may have played a key role in the recent protests in Egypt and in other countries, but they’re downright ambivalent about the trend – a major difference from Twitter, which has associated itself with being a communication tool for political movements, and Tumblr, which has a news tag devoted to Egypt. Facebook, meanwhile, has been banning pseudonym-based accounts created specifically to hide people’s names from the government, based on fraud concerns – including Wael Ghonim’s account. This has led to criticism, including a letter to Mark Zuckerberg from Sen. Richard J. Durbin. Look, Facebook, making it easier to facilitate protest isn’t the same thing as supporting protests. What, is the free spread of communication outside of your game plan? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2011 14:57

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World: Higher Military Council in Egypt issues timeline for reforms

  • 2 months maximum expected before Egypt’s constitutional referendum source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2011 10:36

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World: Danger, suppression cloud today’s Iranian protests

  • plan Today, Iranians planned to protest in solidarity with Egyptians who successfully won their independence last week.
  • wrinkle Unfortunately, police are reportedly ready for them – armed with shotguns, tear gas, batons and fire extinguishers.
  • wrinkle Also, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has been prevented from attending – his phone lines were cut, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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