thenewnewmedia.com

So there I had it. Perched on the corner of my bed at 5:30 this morning… Yesterday’s ‘first’ (or rather first test) edition of The Times. Some might say that flipping through a (new) paper and forming an opinion of it during the morning getting-ready-for-work routine may not be the best way to go about it. But hey, that’s how we consume media now… isn’t it? I’m sure Ray wrote about attention spans as well… Just battled to find it.

I like the front page.

Strong identity.

I’m hoping the Page 2 content about online and multimedia doesn’t feel as static when the team start producing.

Can we stop with all the Bullard?

Pictures. Pictures. Pictures. The Times has brilliant ones. And they’re used well. Mostly. Not too sure about the big ones at the bottom of pages.

The Star and The Citizen need better pics.

What’s with The Times‘ (and Sunday Times‘) obsession with Facebook?

An op-ed piece about Facebook???

Are four pages of business sustainable?

Nice to see integration of CareerJunction in job supplement. Very good move. People are thinking.

Dr Carr on the motoring page?!

Readers are going to want a condensed TV guide. Surely.

Why the L-shaped ads everywhere? Yellow pages a la This Day soon?

The news hole on pages with L-shaped ads looks like its exactly that. An afterthought.

BBK rocks.

Relatively bland sport section. Good photos though.

Where’s all the promised integration with online? Rip page two out and suddenly you’re left with a newspaper. Nothing more. Nothing less.

A different newspaper. But somehow not that different.

This is classic! Well done Herman and the MXit PR team. Brings a bit of reality and common-sense into De Lille’s “argument”.

MXit calls on government to regulate Patrica de Lille

We are very concerned by the recent statement issued to press by ID President, Patricia de Lille calling for legislation to regulate internet blogging and MXit.  This is, at its essence, a call for censorship.   To hear this statement from a respected whistle-blower who has often championed silent causes is a blow to South Africa’s potential to remain a place where freedom of speech is guaranteed. 

(more…)

I have no words. And to think we all once considered voting for this woman. Sigh.

De Lille calls on government to regulate MXIT and Internet blogging

ID President Patricia de Lille has called on Government to look into ‘urgently implementing legislation that will regulate MXIT and Internet blogging, where members of the public can with impunity slander and defame individuals and organisations they do not like.’

De Lille’s comments follow a surge in activity among young children on MXIT, which makes them vulnerable to sexual predators and paedophiles.

The ID leader says she has been ‘horrified to hear daily stories from people whose marriages have been destroyed and about children who are led into situations where they are molested by grown men, who use MXIT to lure these girls and boys into their traps.

‘We are already struggling to repair the social fabric of our society, and to tolerate a platform for this kind of sexual predation and deviance against our young children is inexcusable,’ De Lille says.

The most recent MXIT crises is the circulation of pornographic images of young girls.

‘This has gone too far and it is time for Government to intervene to protect our most vulnerable. The right to freedom of expression is not absolute,’ says De Lille.

Another worrying development in cyberspace is the abuse of blogging, which allows anonymous individuals to post slanderous and defamatory comments with impunity about anyone they choose, without the legal consequences they would face in other more reputable print and electronic media.

‘We recently came across a blog with slanderous comments about a famous rugby player, a respected reverend in the church and a prominent entertainer.

‘This blog also included one of our senior politicians, Councillor Simon Grindrod. He reported this matter to the Caledon Square police on Tuesday 15 May and they are currently investigating it,’ De Lille says.

‘Because the problem is that we couldn’t trace the author of the defamatory statements, we will also ask the NIA to investigate.

‘The reason why the ID cannot expose the website address and its content is we will then also be responsible for spreading the defamation and the slander against the reverend, the ex-Springbok rugby player, the entertainer and the ID politician, amongst others,’ says De Lille.

‘Our legal team has advised us that in terms of the law anyone who republishes, reprints or rebroadcasts defamation of this nature published on any blogging website, is liable for civil and criminal action.

‘The only way to put a stop to this is to use every legal option to hold not only the website, but also the perpetrator, responsible. This kind of thing must not go unchallenged,’ De Lille says.

Over the past six months, its userbase has more than doubled to 23 million users
It expects to generate $150 million in revenue this year
It is addiing 100 000 new users a day

Fahk. Those are scary numbers…

I’m planning to write something about this later this week. Hoping.

An incredible South African had a feature devoted to him in The New York Times two days ago. And this time it wasn’t about politics, our Minister of Health, lions eating people or the planning for the World Cup being “behind schedule”.

Oscar Pistorius. The guy must surely be an inspiration to every one of us.

Read it now: An Amputee Sprinter: Is He Disabled or Too-Abled?

Forward it on. Tell your friends.

The New York Times Sunday Magazine offers this interesting, but incredibly long-winded, feature on blogging and the indie rocker lifestyle. An interesting story, especially the parts which focus on Jonathan Coulton. Go on. Read it. Now.

Also, you couldn’t hope for a better headline.

Now that made me laugh last night on Sky and again this morning. Along with these…

• Tarrant’s cutlery abuse shock
• Arrested Tarrant: ‘It Was No Assault’
• (Oh yeah, and Tarrant: No aggro, no temper and no problem)

No relation, in case you were wondering…

“An opinion more deadly than a thousand bullets. Beware the blogger looms. To spew crap and made-up facts.”

Stirring the pot. See it on Loud.

Something that’s irritated me for a while is the pronounciation of the Skype/Kazaa founders’ new web video platform. Whenever I find myself with techie-types, the conversation inevitably ends up with some reference to Joost. Perhaps some of the older people want to show they’re still “down with it”.

Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis don’t know Joost van der Westhuizen. (more…)

Two men spearheading the revolution speak candidly about BCX, competition and recent management resignations…
One gets a strange feeling when you walk into Telkom’s sprawling National Business Solutions Centre in Centurion. This atmosphere is quite unlike the overwhelming sense of bureaucracy at Telkom Towers in Pretoria.

It’s almost as if the change is being led from here. The building is at the end of a short road in an area unimaginatively named TechnoPark. Most don’t even know it exists. (more…)