BBC blogs: why bother?

The BBC has been running a blog network for a while now with presenters and producers encouraging feedback. It's a very obvious thing to do - most media organisations now do this sort of thing. The problem is that it simply doesn't work.

The technology which underpins much of the BBC's site is ancient, as commented on here and as the Beeb itself admits here (the problem is nearing two years old!). With the blogs, this means that a very high number of attempted comments fail and the network has crashes and slow periods far too often. The BBC bloggers themselves moan about this. And if they just used the same sort of technology that others use they wouldn't have these problems.

None of the blogs makes note of the problems, you just suffer them when trying to comment. They have no help which explains that sometimes comments fail because of their system. Only the most persistent or fortunate seem to get through.

They ain't usable and they're unfit for the purpose they were devised for — feedback. So, why bother?

• Postscript - BBC Blogs: A response
  

Australia: the apology

Kevin Rudd with Nana Nungala Fejo, the Northern Territory great-grandmother named by the Prime Minister in his historic apology to the stolen generation

The apology by Australia's new Labor Prime Minister to the Stolen Generations [Aborigines removed en masse from their parents] was a well-hyped moment. Coming at the beginning of the new Parliament it was received by large crowds of Aboriginal people who descended on Canberra.

It's way over due. Way past Canada or New Zealand or Brazil in their approach to their indigenous citizens. And it comes with - deliberately - no compensation (although the courts may see more compensated, it's unlikely because the evidence trail is cold), unlike those other countries. Plus there is still large scale opposition and complete denial, in particular to anyone raising the concept of 'genocide'.

Here's what this means in practice:

I do not know if Rikki Davis (Letters to the Editor, NIT Issue 144 ‘In defence of Brough’) is Aboriginal or non Aboriginal but this is exactly what I mean; no such thing as cultural genocide indeed? I know there is, cause I can’t speak MY language or practice MY culture because some whitefulla told my grandfather that he cannot do that “it is the old way” and to ensure he never did he was beaten every time he spoke one of the five or so more languages he could speak.

So he had to do it in secret, never to pass it onto his children for fear he would “hold them back”.

He also had the fear of a foreign god forced into his psyche to aid the cultural genocide policies of the times.

Like many Indigenous Australians, I couldn't get too excited. It's just (carefully calculated) words.

Labor in Australia is not, traditionally, that friendly to Aborigines. Inspiring figures like ex-Labor PM Keating ('we poisoned the waterholes') are rare. PM Rudd, as well, has form from his time as a Queensland civil servant in working against Indigenous interests and in the lead-up to the election Labor backed former PM John Howard's shocking, paternalist and colonialist 'intervention' in remote communities for electoral advantage. The States have been largely in Labor hands for years and they have done b****r all for Indigenous Australians. The Labor States have in particular fought the allied issue of 'stolen wages' - years of failing to pay or underpaying Indigenous workers.

Labor has done part of The Right Thing To Do but until they start serious spending to reverse the gap - which is enormous, many Aborigines live in Sub-Saharan Africa circumstances - and propose real constitutional change I ain't convinced by their sincerity.

The UK should also apologise, being the ultimate responsible party, but we have a historic antipathy to indigenous people within the UK establishment, focused on the Foreign Office, which most Labour supporters wouldn't be aware of.

We apologised to the Irish for the potato famine but apparently Australia's Aborigines living in our 'Terra Nullius' (empty land) don't have enough clout.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~


From ENIAR:

Between 1910 and 1970 up to 100,000 Aboriginal children were taken forcibly or under duress from their families bypolice or welfare officers .

Most were under 5 years old. There was rarely any judicial process. To be Aboriginal was enough. They are known as the ‘Stolen Generations’.

What happened to them?

• Most were raised in Church or state institutions. Some were fostered or adopted by white parents.
• Many suffered physical and sexual abuse. Food and living conditions were poor.
• They received little education, and were expected to go into low grade domestic and farming work.

Why where they taken?

They were taken because it was Federal and State Government policy that Aboriginal children - especially those of mixed Aboriginal and European descent - should be removed from their parents.

Between 10 and 30% of all Aboriginal children were removed, and in some places these policies continued into the 1970s.

• The main motive was to ‘assimilate’ Aboriginal children into European society over one or two generations by denying and destroying their Aboriginality.
• Speaking their languages and practising their ceremonies was forbidden
• They were taken miles from their country, some overseas
• Parents were not told where their children were and could not trace them
• Children were told that they were orphans
• Family visits were discouraged or forbidden; letters were destroyed.

What where the results?

• The physical and emotional damage to those taken away was profound and lasting:
• Most grew up in a hostile environment without family ties or cultural identity.
• As adults, many suffered insecurity, lack of self esteem, feelings of worthlessness, depression, suicide, violence, delinquency, abuse of alcohol and drugs and inability to trust.
• Lacking a parental model, many had difficulty bringing up their own children.
• The scale of separation also had profound consequences for the whole Aboriginal community - anger, powerlessness and lack of purpose as well as an abiding distrust of Government, police and officials.

A National Inquiry was set up in 1995. Its 1997 Report ‘Bringing them Home’ contained harrowing evidence.

It found that forcible removal of indigenous children was a gross violation of human rights which continued well after Australia had undertaken international human rights commitments.

• It was racially discriminatory, because it only applied to Aboriginal children on that scale, and
• It was an act of genocide contrary to the Convention on Genocide, (which forbids ‘forcibly transferring children of [a] group to another group’ with the intention of destroying the group.)

Tabloids kill kids?

A seventeenth teenage suicide was announced today in Bridgend. And one of the parents faced a press conference to denounce media coverage.

Sharon Pritchard and husband Vincent appealed to the media to stop high profile coverage.

They said: "We have lost a son, and media coverage made a difficult time unbearable. We did not wish to speak to the media. Not just for ourselves but for other families.

"We feel the media coverage could trigger other people who are already feeling low - to take their own lives.

"We feel that Nathaniel might have thought it was a way of getting attention without fully thinking through the consequences."

They said they never believed there was any 'internet pact'.

Much of the media has been speculating about the guilt of Bebo/MySpace, with zero evidence, though encouraged by the web-naive local MP, Madeleine Moon, who is now complaining about the coverage she generated. Teens in the area are actually using social networks to work against suicide. In the entire history of the web there are only a very few isolated examples of online 'suicide cults'. Yet the tabloids haven't stopped speculating in their ignorance (or worse).

People who know the subject well are angry too.

Suicide Prevention Charity Calls for End to Media Coverage of Bridgend Suicide

5 February 2008

With reports today of another young death in the Bridgend area being attributed as a possible suicide, Papyrus, the national charity for prevention of young suicide, is calling on media to resist further coverage surrounding the recent tragic suicides in Bridgend. Although this latest death is not yet confirmed as suicide, the charity reiterates its concern regarding copycat instances. It is well known that insensitive media reporting of suicide can prompt copycat cases, says the charity.

“Media coverage must stop,” said Anne Parry, chair, PAPYRUS. “We believe there is nothing further to be gained. We are seriously concerned that any more coverage would be counter-productive and exacerbate the current state of affairs, with disastrous results. At worst it could lead to further suicide attempts. We are asking media please do not draw further attention to this situation. We are also calling on other charities to support our initiative.”

I just looked up 'suicide town' in the UK Press:

Mail: 'Two cousins in 'suicide town' hang themselves within hours'
Metro: 'Police probe death in Bebo suicide town'
Express: '17TH TEENAGER DEAD IN SUICIDE TOWN '
Sun: '17th victim in 'suicide town''
Telegraph: 'Suicide websites blamed for deaths'
Times: 'Is an e-suicide cult sweeping the UK?'

The tabloid wing of the BBC: 'Web worries after suicide spate'; 'Call to ban 'suicide chatrooms''

Guardian: 'There's no such place as 'Suicide Town''

Here's the rules, updated by the Press Complaints Commission [PCC] in 2006, my emphases:

Until now, reporting of suicide has been covered by the Code’s general provisions on Intrusion into Grief and Shock, which require the press to carry out inquiries with sympathy and discretion and to handle publication sensitively.

However, as part of its annual Code review, the Committee considered international evidence highlighting the dangers of imitative deaths following reports of suicide.

In the light of that, the Committee, which writes and revises the voluntary Code to which the British press subscribes, felt that the risk of copycat suicides should be addressed specifically.

Code Committee chairman Les Hinton, Executive Chairman of News International [fox? henhouse], said: “During our annual review, we received convincing evidence, from the Samaritans and others, that media reporting of suicide often prompted copycat cases. It is an international phenomenon.

“We have attempted to minimise that risk - while maintaining the public’s right to know - by emphasising the need for care to avoid excessive detail, unless it is in the wider public interest to give the information.

[Here's the agreed clause: *5ii: When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used. - The asterisk indicates that under the new sub-clause exceptions could be made if editors could demonstrate that it was in the public interest.]

“For example, while it might be perfectly proper to report that the suicide was caused by an overdose of Paracetamol, it would probably be excessive to state the number of tablets used.

“We have consulted with the industry on this and it has been accepted. The new rule, in effect, codifies a practice already currently followed by many editors.”

The existing code was that reporting of suicide was covered by the Code’s general provisions on Intrusion into Grief and Shock, which require the press to carry out inquiries with sympathy and discretion and to handle publication sensitively.

So if the PCC already has rules and if the press isn't reporting details then 'suicide town', according to the self-regulated press doesn't constitute 'Intrusion into Grief and Shock'?

Apparently not, as the tabloid press seem to think they've done nothing wrong.

The Director of the Society of Editors, Bob Satchwell, told the BBC:

"There are a lot of things that can be done to help prevent suicide but one of those is not blaming the press or saying that they should stop reporting.

"I have read in the media a lot of harrowing and really frightening stories from some young people who were interviewed and they need listening to."

Speaking of the specific use of 'suicide town', this dick said:

"I think there are bigger issues here.

"There seems to be an unusual number of suicides in Wales and particularly this area and indeed Madeleine Moon has said so herself in the House of Commons.

"There are an unusual number of suicides occurring and there is a role which the media can play in trying to help in this situation."

I would love to see the parents take on the PCC with this:

Sharon, said: "Media coverage put the idea into Nathaniel's head."

Sitting beside Nathaniel's father, Vincent, Mrs Pritchard said: "We have lost our son and media reporting of this has made it an incredibly difficult time and more unbearable by intensive media coverage."

Which 'public'? Which 'interest'?

Postscript:

The Daily Mail really has no shame. Covering the press conference the next day there is no mention at all of Sharon Pritchard's comments about the media, nor the Police's.

Best flashmob ever

Frozen Grand Central — The guerilla comedy troupe "Improv Everywhere" strikes again! Charlie Todd, the twisted mastermind behind the group, choreographed hundreds of participants to freeze exactly at the same time in one of NYC's most famous landmarks, Grand Central Station. We get to sit back and watch the confused public question their sanity until the statuesque madness is over.

This has had 1.5m views already, but you may have missed it ;]

Fetid pools mark the 'new America'

The sub-prime loans crisis reaches 2 million foreclosures and goes legal as the Feds start laying charges on those whose claim was to be a “Proud sponsor of the American Dream.” Enron déjà vu.

So what does a fetid swimming pool explosion in LA have to do with panicked people queuing outside British banks? Read on:

Timothy Eagan /New York Times: The Pools of Riverside County

Look closer and you think you’re staring into a ghost exurb – empty homes left to bankers. This is the new America, Southern California’s affordable edge city, drowning in a sea of debt. In the Inland Empire, the eastern-most suburbs of Los Angeles, one out of every 43 households is facing foreclosure proceedings.

Peek behind the palm trees and there you see the most shocking sight: abandoned swimming pools, fetid and green, left to the elements and choked with algae.

Thousands of people have walked away without even draining the water. Mosquito control agents now patrol these murky pools, treating them with pesticides to keep disease-carrying larvae from forming.

“With the skyrocketing foreclosure rate, the problem is compounding daily,” said Jared Dever, a spokesman for the government district that monitors insect breeding grounds. He said about 2,000 abandoned swimming pools would have to be treated in just one part of Riverside County.

• More

Still no wiser? Let John Bird and John Fortune explain what the hell is going on, Without going into any detail at all. It's far too boring:

I like 'enhanced'. I'd buy anything if it said 'enhanced'.

More about "the ingenuity of the markets":

That's not silly, that's a sophisticated banking system in operation.

More movie clips? That's all there is, folks

Continuing my rummaging through Google Video Search, I actually found clips from all my list, bar one (a few were unpostable).

However, some of them aren't exactly inflictable or foul up a potential viewing of the movie . Like the ones for Distant Voices, Still Lives - a Terrence Davies movie which never fails to make me cry but seeing a clip would just ruin your day.

Or the one I couldn't find a clip for, Derek Jarman's Blue, described thus by IMDB: 'Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings associated with the colour blue.' Well I like it.

Or the Ciao Manhattan clips, all Edie tributes except for the uninflictable original trailer.

Or the terrible selection of bad copies of Muriel's Wedding highlights (not my pick), despite the Abba theme.

Or finding the - great - Anita Ekberg's Trevi Fountain flounce clip from La Dolce Vita but only advertising's tribute to the spectacular opening scene. Also good but not the actual film. As un-referable as most trailers, all I could find for Altman's The Player although its opening scene, which features an 8 minute tracking shot, sells the movie.

But the really popular movies do have a variety of clips, mash-ups and parodies and are ready made for clip picking/Youtube. Like one of my NSFW favourite numbers from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut:



'It's not my fault that I'm so eeevill.. it's society ... society ...'

Or another - very safe for work but insane - number ripe for a guitar band rethrashing from Wizard of Oz:



'Witch that rhymes with bitch'?

Masses of Oz and South Park clips. And there are other findable, memorable, inflictable clips like this one of the stunning Pam Grier acting cool for a reason in Jackie Brown.


Or the happy conclusion of Beautiful Thing:





As well as insane ephemera like a surreal 1930s Wizard of Oz cartoon or the bizarre, full-length Turkish version or, from last September, the even more bizarre 'Surviving Munchkins Honored At Wizard Of Oz Screening' (some still in costume):



From my rummaging I learnt that you just can't find 'everything' yet, including with the added touch that I can't then, easily, reshow it to you. Surprising lapse in movie marketing? I think so.

NSFW: F*** Planet Earth

Very very rude and very very funny anthropomorphism in the raw.

Scary spam

Almost all my blog generated spam gets filtered out by Blogger and using a gmail account, but this one got through and certainly stopped me in my tracks.

It appears to be computer generated but it made me think of William Burroughs' cut-ups after I'd stopped thinking 'Do I know anyone in Swansea?' ('which wouldn't be the DVLA', as someone jested).

But, jeez, if this is the state of computer simulation and AI be afraid ...

From: chris miller
Date: 25 Jan 2008 20:30
Subject: webmaster for me, my name is Canning
To: paulcanning1(at)gmail.com

Hi Paul,
My name is Canning, i am a 54yr old,well built, proffessional lady,at present living in the Swansea Marina.Unfortunately, at the present time, i am in the position of being unloved,so,
in order to bring name to the attention of as many interested people as possible,and hopefully encourage a number of individuals to become special friends of mine,i have decided to look
around for that 'special person' whom i know will take the greatest pleasure in promoting me to all and sundry.
Would you possibly be interested?
Just so there is no misunderstanding, i am sorry, but i will be unable to pay you,but i know i will be able to cover any out of pocket expenses you may incur.
Hope to hear from you.
Regards,
Canning

• More on such spam
• The text also reminds me of 'variety star' Count Arthur Strong
  

The State of the Ridicule

Classic Jon Stewart on Bush.

He does the best Bush caricature, better than Steve Bell's. And the cheer when he says 'last State of the Union' is something to behold.

Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) explains 'Why I kissed President Bush'

Stewart hacks up 'the Democrat response' hilariously too.



All round great show as he's also on form batting against historical anecdote queen, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

• Goodwin and other show extracts start here.

~~~~~~

One anecdote from this year to be recorded for history was Bush performing the rite of 'pass the phone' - where you go up to someone on the phone and say "tell them 'X' celebrity says 'hi'".

At the State of The Union it was Bush to the very gay Democrat congressman, elder and power broker Barney Frank:

"Tell him I said, 'Hello,' ''

Him, in this case, being Barney's Bf.

Barney rushed back over and said:

"Mr. President, by the way, the person I was talking to when you said to say hello was my boyfriend.'

"Well. I hope you said how open-minded I am,'' Frank said the president replied.

"I considered telling [the president] I wouldn't marry him,'' Frank said, "but then I thought, 'Nah.' ''

'Open-minded' must be Mary Cheney's doing and very 'State of the Union'.

'Kill me because I am from the tribe called Kenya'

Excellent post abut the worsening situation from a self-described young aspiring Kenyan diplomat:

I refuse to be labeled, hate me, burn my house and even kill me, but because I am Kenyan.

Kill me because I am Kenyan, not because of my tribe Not because of my name, please kill me because I am Kenyan

....

I chose to be proactive. We have to be proactive. I and one of my best friend are starting this movement called kill me because I am from the tribe called Kenya. He is Kenyan luo engaged to a Kenyan kikuyu girl, but first and most he is the key word is kenyan.

I am angry, really angry. Angry at myself for thinking being passive has ever changed anything. angry that this politicians, this gangs be it mungiki, taliban, kalenjin warriors and et al who want to tell us how to live, who to love and they want to dictate who to hate or kill?

I refuse yes I refuse that agenda and that is not my destiny

More


The Kenyan blogosphere makes for a series of such reads. And it's intimately connected to what's happening on the ground. It's plainly, for Kenyans, becoming the place to find news and where democracy is being fought over.

There are saboteurs, there are tribalists and there are ordinary people, like this poster, Kamau. The Mashada forum, especially, is apparently becoming the main social site for verbal battle with tribalism a big issue. This is what Kamau is reacting against.

NB: I was looking for a photo from Joseph Karoki's blog to use and this was about the mildest one. He, like the media is the rest of the 'developing' world, does carry photos of bodies. Burnt and hacked people - one shows a tin hut with a hacked to death mother and a child crying over her. Westerners never get to see these images. But it's really only by actually seeing it that you get closer to what's happening - horror - to other people. So - a warning for 'strong content'.

Best place to get a flavour if the blogosphere is the blog aggregator.

~~~~~~

Very quick postscript! Just saw the photo of the mother murdered in front of her child in the Washington Post -- anyone seen it in a UK paper? Are we that timid? And where's the offense?