June 2011

Twitter jitters sweep Capitol Hill

Twitter’s a dream for politicians with an itch to reach voters in candid, quick bursts, but the fear of jokes gone wrong, gaffes and hacks is becoming palpable.

A series of awkward Twitter moments in the past few months have left the handful of Capitol Hill lawmakers who run their own Twitter accounts vulnerable to varying degrees. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has treaded into over-share territory in tweeting about her weight as she approaches her 60th birthday. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) snapped at followers in defense of his command of spelling. And most recently, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) claimed he was hacked, when a link to a photo of a man’s crotch appeared on his feed. Holding the keys to their accounts gives these lawmakers an authentic voice, but it also makes the embarrassing and even damaging incidents that much worse when they arise. And they know it.

Assembly OKs bill to tax online retailers

Online retailers such as Amazon would be required to collect California sales and use taxes under a bill approved by the California state Assembly, potentially boosting the state's revenues by more than $1 billion a year if it becomes law.

Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) says his legislation evens the playing field for physical stores that operate in California and have been paying the sales tax already. "We're not imposing a new tax," he said. "What we are suggesting is a way to collect a tax that goes uncollected." AB155 extends the statewide 8.25 percent sales tax rate to purchases made from online retailers that have a presence in the state, including those that work with sister companies with offices in California. Physical stores also must charge local taxes that can range as high as an additional 2.5 percent. The measure passed 47-16 with the support of one GOP lawmaker and now heads to the Senate. Other Republicans rejected the bill because they said it would invite lawsuits, drive business out of California, and get the state entangled in the messy task of regulating the Internet.

Deadly Storms Top the News

A storm system that spawned the deadliest tornado in decades, killing more than 100 residents of Joplin Missouri, last week registered as the biggest weather story since the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism began monitoring the press.

From May 23-May 29, the Midwest tornado and subsequent storms accounted for 22% of the newshole as measured by PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index. Previously the biggest weather week since PEJ began tracking news in January 2007 was September 1-7, 2008, when Hurricanes Hanna and Gustav combined to fill 20% of the newshole. Last week’s scenes of death and destruction were primarily conveyed to U.S. citizens on television news. The story accounted for nearly one-half (46%) of the network news airtime studied last week; it filled more than one-third (38%) on cable news. In a year of dramatic newsmaking events at home and abroad, the spring of 2011 has been marked by a series of violent storms ravaging the Midwest and South. Indeed, this makes the fifth time in the past seven weeks that destructive weather has finished among the top five stories. If weather led the news, politics played a central role in the second and third biggest stories last week. The economy was the No. 2 story, filling 12% of the newshole studied, and much of that coverage focused on a Democratic victory in a special congressional election in western New York widely viewed as a referendum on Republican budget priorities, particularly the party’s plans for reforming Medicare.

Toward a New World Media Order

[Commentary] The rules governing the international media order lag behind the times, especially compared to changes in politics and economics. The gap is seen, first and foremost, in the extremely uneven pattern of international communication. The flow of information is basically one-way: from West to East, North to South, and from developed to developing countries. In 1980, the 21st General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) addressed the imbalance and inequality in international news reporting and called for a new order in international mass communication. Over the years, a growing number of insightful people, including many from the West, have proposed changes with the conviction that the existing order is far from just, rational and balanced.
Four principles should guide changes in the value system:

Fairness: This requires that media organizations from all countries should have the right to participate in international communication on equal terms. Those media organizations in turn should provide comprehensive, objective, fair, balanced and accurate coverage to minimize discrimination and prejudice.
All-win: It is advisable to create conditions allowing media organizations from different countries to share the fruits of development in information and communication industries, to play an active role in international mass communication, and to reverse the unbalanced situation where the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker.
Inclusion: To maintain the world's diversity, media must respect the unique cultures, customs, beliefs and values of different nations; strive to dispel suspicions and remove barriers between different cultures and civilizations; enhance dialogue and communication; and seek common ground while putting aside differences.
Responsibility: Media organizations should not only ensure openness and transparency to promote the building of an open society, but also keep to rational and constructive rules so as to turn mass communication into an active force for promoting social progress.

[Li is president of China's Xinhua News Agency.]

Egypt’s Military Censors Critics as It Faces More Scrutiny

The Egyptian military — facing public criticism for torturing demonstrators and admitting that it forced some female detainees to undergo “virginity tests” — is pressing the Egyptian news media to censor harsh criticism of it and protect its image.

The military’s intervention concerns some human rights advocates who say they are worried that such efforts could make it harder for politicians to scrutinize the military and could possibly undermine attempts to bring it under civilian control or investigate charges of corruption. In recent weeks military authorities have sent letters warning news organizations to review any discussion of the military before publication or broadcast. A military court has also sentenced a blogger to three years in prison for what it called persistent attacks, and it has charged an outspoken liberal presidential candidate with libeling a general and insulting the military. Military authorities have summoned many journalists and bloggers to headquarters for questioning about their reports and sources.

Benton

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