Pigs don’t kill people, humans do

The hysteria surrounding swine flu has glossed over the impending inquiry that has escaped media outlets and the World Health Organisation.Instead of prophecising a possible pandemic, why haven’t the W.H.O. –  via the media  – explained that the mortality rate among swine is just 3 per cent?

What’s so new about Twitter?

Astronauts are even using sending ‘tweet’ updates to share the experience of space travel. David Kearns talks of Twitter as the world’s latest newswire service, but in the era of partcipatory journalism, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Reflecting the alternative view

Sam Matthew’s examines the prevalence of Democracy Now!  as a forum for voices that the corporate-sponsored media tend to suppress. Media Bite, an Irish organisation, provides a similiar dissenting voice within the domestic sphere, monitoring and criticising the way in which news media operate.

Cutting out the middleman

This video by British documentary maker, Adam Curtis, explains how the function of television journalists is being severed by participating citizen journalists.

Monetising YouTube content

Over 100 million people have viewed Susan Boyle’s performance on Britain’s got Talent, but neither YouTube or ITV is making any money from the hit ratio because of a disagreement over terms of rights. 

Dissent reduced to comedy

America’s most prominent dissenting voice is a comedian, Jon Stewart, which is a damming indictment on the mainstream media.

An everyday mobile makes an everyday journalist

Continuing the subject of  the most recent post, the mobile phone’s usage to permeate the news agenda and unfold inadequate information was seen recently between the converged versions of the print and online release of The Guardian newspaper. 

Multimedia mobile phones

A selection of photograghs will be exhibited in Dublin’s city centre this week. What renders these pictures unique is their source; an unexceptional Nokia camera phone.

The embedded, hyperlocal, journalist

The embedded journalist is a concept  derived from  media tactics during the first Gulf War. The euphemism has taken a militaristic meaning, yet to embed is really to deposit or entrench.

Multimedia beasts

Clear writing, grammar, syntax and being able to spot a story are the core elements that construct a good journalist.