THE FUTURE

I cannot even fathom what the future is going to be like. I think it could go two ways. We've already seen such an instant evolution of technology and media over these past few years. I think that things we can't even imagine will be invented in the future and completly change the way we live our lives. I do believe that one day televisions will be cut out of the picture, much like any old technology. I think that there will be flat screens all over people's homes which can perform any functions they would like; telephone, internet, TV, etc. So technology can either run almost every aspects of our lives, or it can pretty much stay the same amount as it is involved in our lives right now. I think that some people will be very weary of technology running people's lives as it takes out the human aspect of our very existence. But as long as the world keeps turning, people are going to be inventing new technology and new ways of live, just as it has been done for as long as man has been living!

Journalism 2.0 on Science 2.0

I can completly agree with the scientists who oppose the open access to scientific journals. That is their work in progress (some of them it's their life work!) and it is just opened for anyone to see, I wouldn't want that either. I especially agree with the part that some people might try and steal others work or ideas and publish it first, that is not cool! On the other hand I can see where people would think this would be a good idea so that the general public could know what scientific research was going on and what conclusions were found. I think we are coming into the age where ALL information is going to try and be published online and that is already creating a lot of arguments and debates. I just got an email with this link {http://aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf} about the scary future of personal information being available to anyone throughout computer systems. crazy to think about!

Media systems

The UK's primary system is Social Responsibility and its secondary one is Libertarian. It is more Social Responsibility oriented than Libertarian because they have a strong public broadcasting system and the biggest media company in the UK ( the BBC) is funded by the government. The government makes sure the main focus of the television channels is to provide social responsibilty with programs of public importance.It is Libertarian however because a lot of their print media is owned privately. Print journalism in London is much more entertainment based because being privately owned the main focus is on money and revenue.


I think Canada has the same two systems as the UK. They have government funded stations with national quotas about how much national content they need to broadcast.
Canada also has a private sector of owning media so that's how they get Libertarian as their second system.


I would say Japan is hard to figure out because the government has no laws interfering with its media however they have a club that only grants access to journalists who are in that club. They are called Kishas, and that is how the government creates relationships with the media and creates favortism. Because of this I would say it is Developmental. But they are also Libertarian first off because they can put anything they want on air from news to entertainment and pretty much the whole country has access.

Private Matters

I agree with the courts ruling in the case presented in this article. Hacking into voicemails to get private information is ethically wrong! I just don't have respect for gossip tabloid papers anyways so I am biased. It's kind of like the paparazzi in L.A. Just leave these people alone! I think it's sad that people make careers and revolve their life around publishing people's "dirt." Even though there is a market for this type of journalism, the journalists still need to abide by journalistic codes of ethics. So this case with the Royal family where the journalist was jailed for hacking into their voicemails-I don't think it was wrong for him to be jailed. This whole debate between balancing privacy rights with the freedom of the press is a difficult one. On one hand, people who choose to live their lives in the public limelight know that media attention is something that comes with the lifestyle they choose to live. But I think the issue is when journalists go too far (mostly tabloid ones) and everything published is all about gossip.

"Musharraf's Monster..."-Shahan Mufti

I think its so awesome that the Pakistani media didn't take these new laws of restriction sitting down, they stood up and fought! I also think that was kick ass what Hamid Mir did locking himself in the newsroom and refusing to cut transmission, they should totally make a movie about that. I also think its pretty sweet that that incident made Musharraf break his reputation for never apologizing and saying this, "“Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and the freedom of media, this is my mandate. I strongly condemn any violation of this.”
Its crazy to think that they don't really have schools in the state of Sindh and that TV will be their educators now that they have cable lines. Im also really glad I don't live in a country that is so volatile like that and is such a tough atmosphere for journalists trying to cover wars and politics while trying to be controlled by the government and threatened.

"The new Arab conversation"-Gal Beckerman

I think this article brings forth the changing world at hand! Now blogging is a regular seen way for people to express themselves, even people in Arab countries! (gasp) Our American media rarely reports any news-let alone GOOD news- from the Arab world besides the war on terrorism. People in the Arab world are portrayed so negatively by American media. Although I am aware of how different their culture and lifestyle is from the Western way of life, I was suprised to read that only 10 % of the Arab world has internet access. The internet definetly is a medium of freedom, just the fact that I am writing this blog right now shows that I am free to express my thoughts and put it on the web for anyone in the world to read. I like what the one blogger Salem Pax said about how all you hear about Arab people talking about is God and Allah. At least in my case that rings true because when I hear anything about the Arab world I automatically think about religion. And I can't think of any Arab personalities in movies or on TV besides political figures and terrorists you see on the news. So I think its really cool to hear about all the different opinions of the Arab people who are blogging. Even if it is a small number, and the elitest of their countries, to me it's a step forward. I really like the last paragraph of this article-

"The young insider-outsiders of the Middle East, blogging openly about their frustrations with the Arab world, about its persistent prejudices and limitations, as a way of liberalizing their societies, are doing what the front line of any social movement does — they say the unspeakable, they form the bonds that were previously unthinkable, they stand in the places that they are not supposed to stand. The Arab world will reform only when mindsets begin to change and a culture of dissent burgeons where it has never been allowed to exist openly before. If there is a way to kick-start this process, it is surely in the post of a twentysomething blogger wondering out loud why things can’t be more open, more transparent — more different."

reaction to Howard French article

The China media is less aggressive in foreign coverage because they are mouth pieces for the Chinese government says Yu Guoming, professor at People's University in Beijing. She says as government mouthpieces, the media is intricately linked with their government's policy and propaganda. I think the pressure of being so closely watched by the government, combined with the rule Chinese editors say the government has over them needing authorization to send reporters overseas or open over seas bureaus- has caused Chinese media to be seriously lacking in the coverage of foreign reporting. It shocked me to hear how after the Burmese soldiers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators, the Chinese media sent out a false report stating the, "Myanmar government has been restrained in handling the monks' protest and didn't use force."

I really believe that because China is a communist government, they run the media with an authoritarian hand which leads to state censorship and control over how much foreign media coverage they want to grant access to their people.