Archive for December, 2007

Perez Hilton’s YouTube accounts suspended

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

In many senses this may appear trivial, particularly if you're not a particular fan of (that particular brand of) celebrity gossip. However, as noted in several places this is a straightforward, clear, example of the power of media oligopolies, and the problems that can occur when one corporation becomes the ...

Community radio show goes online-only, avoids indecency restrictions

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

DIY, Portland is normally broadcast monthly on KBOO. This month, however, the content would risk falling foul of FCC regulation if broadcast over the airwaves - they're focusing on masturbation - so they've turned to the web (for this particular episode). An interesting contrast to other community radio programmers I've ...

Life lessons in community radio

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Bill Weye of WXOJ (Valley Free Radio) learnt an important lesson about community radio recently:Chris reassured us that putting out fires and keeping the latest crisis in check is what running a community radio station is all about, that what many of the people at VFR feel is normal. That was ...

Troubled times for media in Bolivia

Monday, December 3rd, 2007

There's been a lot of coverage of the constitutional debates in South America, both in the mainstream and alternative media. Something that hasn't got a lot of coverage has been the tribulations of the various media, as they encounter intimidation and violence from supporters of all sides. A recent IFEX ...