[Reader-list] Fwd: Latest issue of the Corporate Watch Magazine - The cost of free papers

[A. Mani]

____________ Forwarded message________________________

From:  <news at corporatewatch.org>
Date: Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 2:08 AM
Subject: Latest issue of the Corporate Watch Magazine - The cost of free papers



 **Editorial <http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3901>
**

 So the Corporate Watch Newsletter is late again! But we're back,
having transformed the Newsletter into a quarterly Magazine. The main
reason for this, as indicated in the reader survey in the last issue,
is to make space for more in-depth analysis of the themes dealt with
in each issue. This double issue on so-called free newspapers will
hopefully demonstrate this is a change for the better.

 **Free papers: Some history <http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3903>
**

 Free daily newspapers have, in the past decade, been heralded as a
wholly new model for the modern newspaper, one which 'challenges' the
'traditional' business model, but which also holds the potential to
'save' an ailing industry beset with falling readership and
circulation figures in the age of online news content. However, the
history of free papers is longer than that presented by many of the
scholars and journalists commenting on their current manifestation,
Hannah Schling writes.

 **Business as usual: The economics of 'free' dailies
<http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3904>
**

 The proliferation of free daily newspapers over the last decade has
triggered wide-spread fears that newspapers as we know them are dying
and being replaced by low-standard freesheets. Many scholars and
commentators have argued that free papers represent a 'new business
model'. Shiar Youssef argues that such claims are exaggerated and that
the dichotomy created between free and paid-for papers is a false one.

 **The cost of free: What's wrong with free dailies
<http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3905>
**

 Free daily newspapers may provide easily acquired basic news and
information for free, but the social, political, journalistic and
other costs are too high to overlook. From limited original content
and lack of investigative journalism to environmental impact,
everything is sacrificed for the maximisation of profits.

 ** **

 **Newspapers or Free Papers?
<http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3906>
**

 Newspapers can never be free in a society that really values
democracy. Propaganda rag sheets that actively undermine democracy,
however, can be, and are, distributed for free or for next to nothing.
This, of course, speaks volumes to the antidemocratic nature of the
times we live in, as newspapers have the potential to serve as a
priceless ally in the daily struggle for justice and equality. Yet,
paradoxically, this is exactly what they have become: priceless, not
to the public, but to the ruling elites attempting to profitably
manage us. By Michael Barker.
 ** **

 **More than a spoof <http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3907>
**

 Spoofs are nothing new. As a form of parody, they are works created
to mock or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author or style
by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. The word 'parody'
derives from the Greek parodia, which was a narrative poem imitating
the style of epics but dealing with light or satirical subjects.
Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin argued, eight decades ago,
that parody has a “carnival sense of the world” as opposed to
“that one-sided and gloomy official seriousness which is dogmatic
and hostile to evolution and change.”

 **Corporate media and the intellectual cleansing of journalists
<http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3909>
**

 In the article below, a version of which was first published by
MediaLens in October 2008, Jonathan Cook describes his experience of
'intellectual cleansing' while working as a journalist for free and
paid-for papers.

 **News Corporation: A profile
<http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3910>
**

 The story of News Corporation is equally the story of its CEO and
founder, Australian-born Rupert Murdoch and his family. News Corp was
created from wealth Rupert Murdoch inherited from his father. News
Corporation is Murdoch's life, and he runs it with a 'passionate
interest'. Richard Searby, Murdoch's school friend and later a
director of the company, once said: “Most boards meet to make
decisions. News Corp's board meets to ratify Murdoch's.”

 **Campaign Spotlight: MediaLens
<http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3911>
**

 MediaLens is a media-monitoring project, or campaign, that grew out
of a frustration with the unwillingness, or inability, of the
mainstream media to tell the truth about the real causes and extent of
many of the problems facing us, such as human rights abuses, poverty,
pollution and climate change. In this interview, we ask its editors,
David Edwards and David Cromwell, about their work, successes and the
challenges they face.

 **Are radical, collective, independent media projects still possible?
<http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3912>
**

 With the aim of exploring the present pitfalls, and potential future
directions, of radical, anti-corporate media projects, Corporate Watch
have put three virtual Independent Media Centre (Indymedia) volunteers
(IMCers) into a virtual pub, i.e. an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) room
names 'pub', to see what our imaginations could produce.

 **Babylonian Times <http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3913>
**

 - Hooray! We have a global deal!

 - The unpublic inquiry into the public bank

 - Rent a cop

 - Portaloo shortage in 2012

 **DIY Research Contest 2011 <http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3914>
**

 In our ever-determined efforts to seek and destroy corporate power in
all its manifestations, Corporate Watch is turning to you, our
ever-determined readers, to become our ever-determined contributors.
Corporate Watch is on the look out for DIY researchers close on the
heels of destructive corporations: Here's your opportunity to submit
your work into a brand new DIY research competition and win
publication on the Corporate Watch website and/or magazine, and a free
book of your choice from Freedom bookshop. There's everything to play
for!

__________________________________________________________




-- 
A. Mani
ASL, CLC,  AMS, CMS
http://www.logicamani.co.cc