Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
On Netflix and their risky bet on original programming. "Extreme expenditures on content — a planned $3.7 billion over the next five years — represent either a massive protective moat or a hole deep enough to drown in"
Murdoch media empire is in full damage-control mode. But the pain and revelations keep on coming. As employees realise that self-preservation trumps loyalty, more and more spills into public view. How will it end?
"It doesn't stop. Won't stop. Can't stop. Rupert Murdoch is going to be run out of Britain. His is a worst-case scenario: A powerful political opposition moving against him, and a chain of evidence moving toward him"
First column of "The Fox Mole", giving an insider's view of working life at the TV channel. Enjoyable mainly for the pre-interview footage of Mitt Romney telling Sean Hannity about the horses he and his wife love to ride
A mere slip of a piece, and yet its commentary on war, and war reporting, is worth more than many longer ones. "May I ask you, I said, are you a Muslim or a Croat? And the answer he gave me still shames me as it echoes in my head"
If you want to raise awareness in good cause, can you risk telling lies and partial truths? How far should you go in simplifying and exaggerating the arguments? Reflections on Mike Daisey, Kony 2012, and Gay Girl In Damascus
"It is up to us, as a generation, to preserve our cultural history. We must push for reforms in copyright law that allow software to take its rightful place in historical archives without the need to rely upon the work of pirates"
Four bosses in four years; a litany of self-inflicted wounds; criticised for its journalism by both left and right. But still listened to by 27m people. This is NPR, the US enterprise formerly known as National Public Radio
Detailed look at YouTube and the content industry it supports. In particular Makers Studio, a modern day United Artists, where you notice "the same sort of anarchic energy that defined Hollywood during that wild, pre-corporate era"
He's back. This time with his own TV network. Tune in for racist attacks against Obama, UN, European diplomats, journalists, and Islamic terrorists. Available on every connected device, for a small monthly fee. Oh, lucky viewers
Superb, excoriating attack on News Corp. Not just a UK issue. Says America is in denial about extent of Murdoch empire's negative influence. And there's a lot more to it than mere tabloid vulgarity and right-wing attack-dog politics
Big, admiring portrait of Gulf-based TV network, pegged to revolution in Egypt. Old-fashioned values. Reporters go "trudging through protests and war wreckage, shantytowns and borderlands, mirroring back the reality of the world"
Photo by Raymond Depardon
