Front Page of the Day. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of tabloid class war, courtesy of today’s UK Daily Mirror:
The Department of Corrections. Is it ironic that, from a story titled “The experts got it wrong”, The Australian had to run a correction today for getting it wrong?
Phone hacking fallout: UK Labour plans tighter media regulation.
“Journalists guilty of gross malpractice should be struck off a professional register to prevent them working in news, the shadow culture secretary will suggest at the Labour conference on Tuesday.” — The Guardian
Rupert Murdoch sells Long Island mansion after five years on the market.
“It seems that after rotting in real estate limbo for nearly five years, Rupert Murdoch and wife Wendi Deng have reportedly sold their Oyster Bay mansion, Rosehearty.” — Gawker
Aunty “has lost her way” on TV programs.
“ABC TV programs such as Crownies and At Home with Julia, which were made by independent companies, should never have been commissioned by the public broadcaster, a federal parliamentary inquiry heard yesterday.” — The Australian
A video game that offers a war correspondent’s perspective.
“Go to war, follow leads, collect footage, and edit a news story. That’s the premise behind Defiant Development’s Warco: The News Game, which gives users a new take on the ‘first-person shooter’ genre popularized by games such as Call of Duty, Fallout, and Gears of War.” — Forbes
****** settles Two and a Half Men suit.
“The protracted conflict between ****** ****** and Warner Brothers Television ended quietly on Monday when the two sides agreed to settle a lawsuit the actor filed after the studio fired him from the hit CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men. — New York Times
New study: Americans rely on newspapers for local coverage of crime, community events, government.
“A new Pew Research study, released Monday morning, paints a fresh and detailed picture of “How People Learn About Their Local Community.” But among a broad range of findings, one paradox stands out.” — Poynter
And the media all pretend to care about the few that drowned but imagine if the Kenyan government said to the tens of thousands of Somalis crossing their borders every month “some have starved, you must all stay home”.
And presumably all starve.
This bullshit about people smugglers though is what drives me the craziest because there are no people smugglers. They might assist people without visas across borders but mostly they do not see them again, unlike traffickers and actual smugglers who use their victims as slaves or buy and sell them. In the case of asylum seekers all over the world they are only paying for the transport and nothing else.
The protocol against smuggling says it is quite legal and forbids any form of punishment but we punish everyone.
0.2% of asylum seekers have drowned on the way here but 25-37% of all Afghan kids under 5 are dying.