La agresión se produjo anteayer miércoles mientras cubría una manifestación de estudiantes marroquíes licenciados en Rabat que demandaban empleo

23/05/08. Comunicación. El fotógrafo gaditano pero que ha desarrollado casi toda su carrera profesional en Málaga Rafael Marchante, corresponsal de la Agencia Reuters en el Magreb desde 2006, sufrió una agresión anteayer miércoles a manos de siete agentes de las fuerzas auxiliares del Ejército de Marruecos mientras cubría una manifestación de estudiantes en Rabat, según ha confirmado hace una hora escasa el propio periodista a EL OBSERVADOR / www.revistaelobservador.com. Marchante resultó herido tras el ataque aunque su estado no reviste gravedad. “Tuve suerte, pude escapar, pero tengo el cuerpo lleno de moratones”, afirmó.

LOS servicios jurídicos de la agencia de noticias Reuters preparan en estos momentos una protesta formal en la que incluirán un informe de daños que remitirán al ministro de Comunicación y Portavoz del Gobierno de Marruecos, Jalid Naciri. Por su parte, la organización internacional Reporteros Sin Fronteras también ha adelantado a esta revista que emitirá en breve un comunicado de protesta ante este nuevo ataque a la libertad de información.

DEL mismo modo, el Sindicato de Periodistas de Andalucía (SPA) ha decidido organizar una recogida de firmas de apoyo para entregar al gobierno marroquí y al español, en señal de apoyo a Rafael Marchante, un profesional conocido y respetado entre sus compañeros de profesión y que ha sido durante años afiliado al sindicato.

POR su parte, el ministro de Comunicación y Portavoz del Gobierno de Marruecos, Jalid Naciri, ha negado en declaraciones a www.periodistas-es.org (quien ha difundido en primer lugar la información) que en el incidente con el fotógrafo español hubiera intención de reprimir el trabajo de los periodistas y ha anunciado una investigación sobre las circunstancias en que se produjo la agresión. Según Naciri "la libertad de movimiento y de trabajo para los periodistas en Marruecos está asegurada, sin ninguna discriminación entre los periodistas, ya sean marroquíes o extranjeros”.

MARCHANTE, de 36 años de edad, nacido en Cádiz pero afincado profesionalmente en Málaga, ha sido colaborador habitual de El País y de Agencia Efe en la capital de la Costa del Sol, donde ha desarrollado casi toda su carrera profesional. En su haber tiene los premios Los Reporteros (1994) y el Premio Andalucía de Periodismo (2000) por un reportaje sobre los refugiados albanokosovares. Su exposición Mujeres entre dos fuegos, realizado en 2001 en Cisjordania y Gaza y editada por la Diputación de Cádiz, refleja la vida cotidiana de las mujeres palestinas. Además participa en la exposición colectiva Prohibido volar, elaborada por la ONG Save the Children en 2005, según informan desde la revista digital http://www.ilya.it/msur/.

ORGANIZACIONES como Amnistía Internacional han criticado la actitud del gobierno marroquí por el acoso al que someten a los periodistas que no siguen la línea oficial sobre el conflicto del Sáhara Occidental. El director de AI en España, Benito Beltrán, afirmó recientemente en una conferencia en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid qua a día de hoy el norte de África es "una de las zonas del mundo donde el derecho a la libertad de expresión está más en riesgo" ante el número de encarcelaciones de periodistas y cierre de medios de comunicación por tratar temas "tabú" o la aprobación de leyes antiterroristas que restringen este derecho. ]]> http://voguerepublic.wordpress.com/?p=893 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:45:59 +0000 K.A. http://voguerepublic.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/the-economy-got-worse-lets-ignore-it/ From Politico:

Obama campaign shockingly immune to economic collapse. Study reveals that after the conventions, the Senator from Illinois aired 1,342 ads in NoVa to John McCain's 8. Overall, Senator Obama has spent almost $100 million more on ads than John McCain. While all of this is impressive in its magnitude and how clearly highlighted the failures of Camp McCain are, it doesn't help understand how the amount and numbers of ads correspond to the differing percentages of negative ads.

John McCain totally wishes he were Hillary Clinton, which is why the next best thing is to 'borrow' her political playbook and ideas.

The McCain Camp is surprisingly self-aware at the war they've lost: The Spin War.

Tragedy! Nancy Reagan falls, breaks hip, and is in pain! Normally, I'd think it's cliche but it's the loveable and adorable Nancy Reagan.

Daily Intel, New York Magazine:

Creepy French heir is drunk, perv on transatlantic Paris-New York flight.

OMFG! All-Star, Amazing Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin will be on Gossip Girl!!!

From CNN:

CNN makes some sense of all of this who's spending more on how many negative ads!

In college, Joe Biden, was totally THAT guy. Which isn't shocking, really.

Senator Obama admits that his comment that middle america clings to guns AND butter err bitterness was his biggest boneheaded move. Truth. Candid Barack is so much better than Slimy Politician Barack.

From MSNBC:

Guns are surprisingly, uncomfortably OK at airports. That's ok this policy loophole will never, ever, be a problem. No chance of a backfire here.

In ALSO tragic news, Desperate Housewives and QAF actor Gale Harold is in critical condition following a motorcycle accident. Get well soon, Gale!

From Reuters:

Finally, the news that would've made headlines months ago but is swallowed up by our economic malaise. 2011 will be the last year with American troops in Iraq. It's almost offish. They've made significant progress negotiating an agreement. The agreement aka bilateral pact will replace the UN Security Council resolution and will include a provision allowing Iraq to prosecute American troops for serious crimes committed on Iraqi soil. Will this come up at the debate, tonight? 2011 is later than Obama's plan and is one whole deadline more than McCain's.

The New York Times reports today, 10/15/08:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/world/asia/16cambo.html?ref=world

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-cambodia-thailand.html?scp=1&sq=thai-cambodian&st=nyt

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Cambodia-Thailand-Border-Dispute.html?scp=1&sq=thailand+cambodia&st=nyt

and about three months ago, 7/21/08:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/world/asia/21cambodia.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=cambodia%20and%20thailand&st=cse&oref=slogin

Success in mitigating anger: minimal.
Success in redirecting anger: medium.

[Reuters]

Well what other topics are the Bush Administration failing on today? For that answer, a return to Reuters. On Monday, El Presidente signed a new anti-piracy law. [insert Karen Walker-esque giggle] Seriously, honey, what's going on here? What's happening? What's this?

Well the new law has transformed the War on [electronic] Piracy into a modern, mirror image of the War on Drugs. Highlights include stiffened federal penalties (just like the drug war), a new 'intellectual property czar' (just like the drug czar), the forfeiture of crime abetting tools (just like the war on drugs), and a general apathetic and brazenly seditious youth (just like the war on drugs).

Hooray! Following the successful model of the War on Drugs will mean an expeditious and clean end to all of our intellectual property piracy issues!

Success in mitigating anger: high.
Success in restoring faith in government and society: none.

[Reuters]

Hmm...old people are good news story fodder. According to MSNBC the 'gray' vote is no longer reliably red. I struggle to figure out their complicated colour code and figure that if I substitute the words old people for gray and the word Republican for red, I've solved this paint by headlines riddle.  The article, originally from WaPo, is sourced from a Florida retirement community because when you want to talk to old people - you go to Florida, or Pennsylvania, or South Carolina. Anyway, apparently they're so worried about their monies in this economy that they just might vote for a black man. Or, alternatively, The Great Schlep is actually working.

Either way I'm concerned. You see old people vote more reliably than not-old people. Old people often go to polling places on Election Day. The number of car accidents increases on Election Day. Your chance of dying in an automobile accident on Election Day rises by 18%. Is there a connection?

Success in mitigating anger: high.
Success in mitigating irrational fear of old people: none.

[MSNBC]

Quick side not the auto accident story is interesting because MSNBC published it on Sept 30th. Kicking Tires the car blog wrote on it on October 3rd (noting that the study was a Canadian study - what are those Canucks up to with their anti-democratic fear mongering, I wonder?) They site the MSNBC article, which was an AP wire story. US News & World Report reports on Kicking Tires, the AP story, and shamelessly plugs their own ranking of safe cars without mentioning MSNBC at all. Tsk, tsk. I smell a non-existent feud! So let's start rumors, k?

Back to the quest to find news to distract me from economic meltdown based anger!

Unsympathetic characters with a pinch of irony zest might do the trick. According to CNN, the obese death row inmate who was too fat to be executed, wasn't. [CNN]

That didn't do the trick.

Madonna and Guy Ritchie are totally getting a divorce. OMG! So sad, if not unexpected. British media reports that Madge wants the divorce finalized before Christmas. Poor Lourdes, WORST CHRISTMAS EVER! On the plus side, maybe this means Guy Ritchie's films will stop sucking? [CNN]

Martin Lindstrom ha sido un pionero en el tema de entregarle a los consumidores las marcas. Escribía sobre el tema cuatro años antes de que  A.G. Lafley, CEO de P&G, declarase oficialmente (el 6 de Octubre del 2006), en el congreso de la ANA, la libertad del consumidor con dos frases clave:

"Lafley urged marketers to "let go" of their brands and bow to consumer wants and needs"

"Consumers are more participative and selective and the trend from push to pull is accelerating"

Esto, Advertising Age, lo resumió en su artículo central así:

Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley urged marketers to "let go" of their brands and bow to consumer wants and needs. In his keynote address, Procter & Gamble CEO A.G.

Lafley told marketers to 'let go' because the 'more in control we are, the more out of touch we become [with consumers].'his kickoff to the Association of National Advertisers conference here today”

Vale la pena releer por cierto a Lindstrom en 5 artículos que permanecen en la red y que escribió entre diciembre del 2002 y mayo del 2003:

Give Your Brand Away. Part one,    Dec 17, 2002

Find the Passion  (Give Your Brand Away. Part two),   Dec 24, 2002

Give Your Brand Away. Part three : Community Building, Step by Step,   Dec 31, 2002

Your New Brand Managers: The MSP Generation,   May 13, 2003

MSP: Don't Fake It,   May 20, 2003

Son artículos cortos y muy sencillos de entender que le dan crédito a Lindstrom como analista. No en vano en su lista de clientes aparecen nombres importantes como los de Disney, Mars, Pepsi, American Express, Mercedes-Benz, Reuters, McDonald's, Kellogg's, Páginas Amarillas y Microsoft.)

Lindstrom dice en Branding Strategy Insider, que “el manual de la marca” ha dejado de ser el Santo Grial de la gente de Marketing, principalmente porque ya no es una buena herramienta para predecir el comportamiento de la marca en el futuro, porque ya es el consumidor quien está a cargo de la marca y no el gerente de marca en vista de que la mayor parte de las brand impressions (o contactos con el consumidor) las genera el propio consumidor. Es, según el autor del libro “Brand Sense Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound”, una tendencia que predijo en dicho libro y en los artículos y que llamó MSP o sea Me Selling Proposition (en contraposición a Unique Selling Porposition).

Propone Lindstrom preparase para sobrevivir en el momento no lejano en que el consumidor sea el que cree y maneje casi cada actividad de marketing —¿no exagera?—  y dice que hay tres factores para prepararse para el proceso de transferencia de poder siendo el primero y más importante centrarse en los procesos de toma de decisión de la empresa, porque la compañía tiene que aceptar que ya no tendrá bajo su control cada fragmento de comunicación sobre la marca. Esto tendrá que se aceptado a nivel del Comité de Dirección de la empresa al que habrá que persuadir que es imprescindible desarrollar materiales que serán manejados por los consumidores y que en muchos casos, ellos transformarán la manera como se intentaba representar a la marca. Es fácil de entender, desde luego, que los consumidores, y en especial los Portavoces de los que hablábamos ayer querrán darle su propia forma a la comunicación.

Se considera que se tiene éxito en esta nueva realidad, cuando los consumidores empiezan a crear páginas web y a escribir blogs sobre la marca. Y se sabe que todo va bien cuando al poner en Google la marca, la mayor parte del tráfico es respecto a ella. Y, desde luego, es positivo

El Comité de dirección debe tener claro desde el principio que alcanzar un 100% de discusión positiva sobre la marca es absolutamente imposible y que, desde luego, los consumidores no estarán dispuestos a participar en un debate controlado. Incluso, como veíamos en “Los carnetarianos de Wendy’s” los de la Generación Y, desconfían de los videos colocados por las empresas que claramente desean que sean difundidos. Lo único que se puede hacer, por lo tanto, desde nuestro lado, es iniciarlo, estimularlo, incentivar el diálogo y hacerlo interesante, tal y como lo ha hecho, espectacularmente bien, por ejemplo la gente de Unilever con Dove y su web CampaignForRealBeauty.com. Dove que ha creado una cultura de la f la belleza real

Dove Girls - Belleza Real  (http://www.flickr.com/photos/knightpixfotos/540475744/)

Pero no por eso ha dejado de atraer protestantes de varios pelajes como estos de Noticias en Verde, que protestan porque Unilever está destruyendo los bosques tropicales de Indonesia, y eso implica que en distintos lugares la gente también se toma una foto con Dove. Pero como esta:

People of Chesterfield say "Stop Dove destroying rainforests" 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26872589@N00/2469439792/

Lo bueno y lo malo (e incluso lo feo) están mezclados en este nuevo entorno del branding. Irremediablemente.

El segundo factor, de acuerdo con Lindstrom es que es necesario romper el hielo del conservadurismo porque la imagen de la marca ya no puede ser súper limpia y sin cotroversia. Para darle a los consumidores algo de qué hablar hay que ser inquieto, provocativo y un poquito obstinado y presuntuoso, porque las marcas del mañana necesitan opinión para no ser consideradas insípidas. A menos que claro —digo yo— por razones de segmentación se escoja ser la marca delicada y agradable de la categoría.

Mucha gente, dice Lindstrom cree que el éxito de una campaña viral consiste en crear un video de 60” y subirlo a la red. Pero no. Hay que hacerlo tan extraordinariamente diferente, tan  provocativo, puntilloso, gracioso y extremista que los consumidores no puedan resistir el deseo de reenviarlo.

Esto requerirá preguntarse cuán lejos está uno dispuesto a llegar y confiar en que el Comité de Dirección entendió y aprobó un cambio de estrategia basado en un brand building determinado por el consumidor.

Nada raro. Tratando de encontrar el volumen de videos que hay en Youtube, descubrí que en junio del 2006, ya tenían más de 100 millones y una extraña página “Gaussianos.com” que se responden con una demostración la pregunta “¿Cuántos vídeos caben en Youtube? La respuesta está en la combinatoria”. Como no entiendo bien la fórmula, me he dado por satisfecho contestándome a mi mismo "¡un huevo!" (pero no se queden cortos los lectores aficionados a las matemáticas):

[caption id="attachment_137" align="alignnone" width="180" caption="You Tube"][/caption]

Así que si no se le pone algo como lo que pinta Lindstrom y se le entrega a gente especializada en diseminarlo, será difícil tener un proceso viral realmente importante.

Finalmente el tercer factor a tener en cuenta, según Linderstrom, es lo que él llama “instant branding”. Las marcas tienen que estar listas para reaccionar inmediatamente, en el transcurso de unas horas, a las tendencias. Si en solo unas horas se es capaz de darle un giro a una respuesta ingeniosa, a un evento o tendencia recién aparecida, la gente tenderá a sentirse positivamente sorprendida. Lo que es un reto es que se esperará una respuesta igualmente rápida tanto en las situaciones positivas como en las negativas. Y desde luego no habrá tiempo, como en el pasado para que el departamento legal y el de RR PP revisen los textos. Hay que tener equipos cuya gente pueda reaccionar instantáneamente cuando la situación lo requiera, para mostrarle al consumidor que la marca no simula o pretende tener una tendencia sino que es una entidad con opiniones y confianza.

Lindstrom termina anunciando que la comunicación de una vía ya no es válida, y se pone dramático al anunciar que la radio y la prensa están sufriendo grandes estragos y que los comerciales de TV están por desaparecer. Y que solo está creciendo el brand building interactivo. Que está llegando el tiempo de una comunicación de dos sentidos, polidireccional, de reacción rápida, sensible, con reacción, respetuosa y activa, para las marcas.

Lindstrom puede parecer agorero y quizás está algo extremista en esta ponencia, pero sus aciertos anteriores hablan por él y mucho de lo que predice no solamente está ya en proceso sino que lo vemos incluso en nuestros mercados del tercer mundo.

Also of note, Reuters reported that Domino's is looking for alternative sources of funding because the bankrupt, and soon to be dead, Lehman Brothers provided much of the funding for the pizza chain. That's not good. Any funding will be hard to find in the current economic situation. Banks stopped loaning to each other, let alone companies.

Bright side for Domino's, the government announced that it will invest in the banking system and those banks must use the money for lending purposes; Domino's better get in line.

More than 44 percent of women are overweight in Rio de Janeiro, where scantily clad females parade during Carnival and on beaches, a national survey by the health ministry showed.

Women in Sao Paulo, the capital of a fashion industry that gave rise to big-name models like Giselle Bundchen, are also more heavy-set than elsewhere in Latin America's largest country. Almost 43 percent of women in Sao Paulo are overweight, the third-highest rate among 27 state capitals surveyed.

Brazilian health officials say that the rate still falls short of levels in the United States but that they are concerned. "It is higher than we would like," said Deborah Malta, one of the survey's coordinators.

Researchers blamed traditional eating habits as well as a lack of exercise. Many of Brazil's foods, such as the typical bean and meat stew called feijoada, are rich in fats. Average consumption of fruits and vegetables was "far below" the minimum daily recommendation of 400 grams (14 ounces), the survey said."

The rest of the article (including the section on men drinking) can be found here. 

There's a discussion about this going on at Topix.com and I'd like to post a few responses I've read below. 

Response #1

Wrong... I just returned from Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador Bahia, from a month long trip, and the woman there are more in shape, than any american city I have been to. Yes most woman that do have a few extra ponds, Don't hide it, and are proud of their bodies. 

Why don't you actually take a trip, and have a look, and do a proper survey... Reuters, before you pump out your False Press Releases ... It's discusting to read this crap.

Response #2

I think a common person with average observation skills could dispute the "survey" that this article reports on. When my wife would go to the doctor in Aracaju and she was 1.3 kgs over the average weight, the doctor told her she is overweight. 5'2" woman weighing 107 lbs. or 47 kgs, with small bone structure. Right, if she shed another kg, she'd be a stick with boobs. 

One word, bullshit.

Response #3

I was virtually shocked when I went to Colombia and saw the types of bodies even hot dog sellers on the streets had.
Those girls over there had really nice bodies and figures in general.... 40 year old colombian mothers were thinner and in better shape than many 18 year old never married american girls.
but what do colombians eat? generally speaking a light breakfast, big lunch and their tea time is some bread with butter and cocoa around 4pm, then a light dinner
they also walk and ride bicicles a lot and junk food is generally speaking not part of their culture.... so junk food comes like one every 3 months or so for some sort of social gattering with friends.
I am 5'9 and 160 male and I was fitting right in with the guys.
now look at americans, breakfast at mcdonalds, lunch at some mexican taco place, dinner at subway, we never get off our cars and we hardly exercise.... how can we not be fatsos?

My Personal Opinion

First, I should say that the men there do drink too much...but what is too much exactly? What about the very low percentage of alcohol in their beer? Secondly, the women are not fat. I was there last year and if I had to make a call, I'd say people are people and they come in all shapes and sizes. Culturally (or perhaps I should say economically), Brazilians get more exercise in their day-to-day than Americans. Breakfast is all but nil, then you walk to school or to and from the bus-stop, walk to work from there, and as I've said before, Brazilians are social and therefore you will find them outside (often times doing activities) more so than Americans. Thirdly, there is also a difference between what is called gostosa (hot) and what is called fat (something I think the author of the article didn't take into consideration). Brazilian men are into big thighs, big butts and some meat on the bones and there's nothing wrong with that...(except the possibility that this standard was more than likely pushed upon the society by the media). As far as fast-food in Brazil, the big chains have been grabbing ahold of the Brazilian youth and they don't seem to think twice about the utter crap they are putting into their bodies. McDonalds many times is seen as something elite because of the high prices of their toxic "food"....I suppose we should all be happy that the food-courts in Brazilian malls also cater to clients who want something resembling an actual meal. As far as juices go, I highly doubt Brazilians aren't getting their fill as juices are readily available anytime, anywhere.

Reuters - The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States recorded its largest drop ever as consumer demand continued to wane and oil prices slid, a prominent industry analyst said on Sunday.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081012/us_nm/us_gasprices_lundberg

Criza financiară a fost întoarsă pe toate feţele în presa din toată lumea. Mai mult decât cuvintele vorbesc imaginile. Imagini memorabile ale traderilor şi ale investitorilor din momentul prăbuşirii burselor găsiţi aici. De mai multe cuvinte nu este nevoie.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, visits Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has spent the weekend watching missile tests. After watching Saturday a submarine-launched ballistic missile, a part of naval exercises being staged in the northern Barents Sea, Medvedev witnessed a test-firing of a 21-year-old Topol ICBM on Sunday at a rain-soaked launch site in the northern forests. (AP Photo by Dmitry Astakhov)

Russia flexes muscles with volley of missile tests

13 Oct 2008 14:27:48 GMT Source: Reuters By Dmitry Solovyov MOSCOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Russia test-fired two ballistic missiles and bombed a dummy town at the weekend, but analysts said the show of military preparedness was for domestic consumption and not a Kremlin warning shot to the West.

Russia Execises Military Muscles
10-12-2008 Russia test-fired long-range ballistic missiles Sunday as President Dmitri Medvedev pledged to build up the country's armed capabilities.

Reuters - Ignacio Alvarado, 40, is a freelance investigative reporter and Reuters contributor in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez where he was born and now lives with his wife and two children. He has been a journalist for 20 years -- seven in Mexico City, the rest in Ciudad Juarez.

The full story is here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_witness_mexico

Efectul direct al crizei financiare este evident criza de nervi.

Plăteşti 10 dolari şi te las să spargi la farfurii şi pahare timp de 15 minute. Bună idee, nu? În loc să spargem capetele celor care ne-au băgat în rahat, ne răzbunăm pe obiecte. Ideea pusă în practică sub forma unei mici afaceri, dă şi rezultate. Există dovada! O americancă, înnebunită şi ea probabil de criza economică, oferă doritorilor, posibilitatea de a se calma spărgând la farfurii contra unei sume modice. Echipamentul de protecţie intră în preţ. Chiar aşa, decât să-i spargi capul nevestei acasă, sau viceversa, de ce să nu te duci la spart într-un spaţiu special amenajat?
Criza financiară naşte noi afaceri de succes.

One new business is booming -- and ka-booming -- precisely because of frustration from the worst financial crisis to hit the United States in decades.

Welcome to Sarah's Smash Shack, where pent-up patrons can relieve stress by hurling dinnerware and bric-a-brac against a wall, as hard as they can, day and night, seven days a week.

Link Reuters: Trader agony di Susana Vera

(Note about above video window: this is the pilot episode of MacGyver. But YouTube embedding doesn't seem to work for full-length episodes so you may get a message saying the video is no longer available, even though it is. Hmmm, YouTube is playing a little catch-up to Hulu.com.)

This is one of those full-circle moments. Remember when the press erroneously labeled Hulu.com (before it was even called Hulu.com) a YouTube killer? This article I dug up from Reuters from March 2007 stopped short of saying "killer" but definitely pitched them as rivals. I went on record in that article disputing that idea:

"It's not actually going to take away from YouTube because it's as much about the social experience as the video. So YouTube is going to be fine," said James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research.

I stand by that statement. Clearly, at 5 billion videos a month, YouTube is doing just fine, responsible for 44% of all videos streamed in the US (according to that NYT article above, but probably closer to 25% of minutes, given the short nature of its clips).

But with the tremendous growth of Hulu.com, ABC.com, and the rest, it's no surprise YouTube would finally give in and put full episodes on; in higher quality than normal YouTube fare; and with ads before, during, and after (what good are those? as Michael Eisner said on stage last week, "Those aren't commercials, those are credits"). 

The question I got Friday from a major news outlet was: Can YouTube dominate the online TV space? It's a valid question but the answer is this: No. 

Certainly not as long as CBS and its properties are the primary TV content featured. It's not a knock -- CBS content can rock -- but CBS content is everywhere. You can see it on Joost, you can even come across it on IMDB when searching for "MacGyver" (which I'm sure you do nearly daily).  Oh, yeah, and on CBS.com.

The answer is still no even once other network content shows up there -- which I'm sure it will eventually, remember Hulu.com offered itself to YouTube from the beginning, an offer which Google CEO Eric Schmidt smugly declined.

There's little reason for people already on YouTube to interrupt the site's social, clip-focused experience to watch a full-length episode. And if you hit the Web knowing you want a particular TV show, you're as likely to go to its home page as you are to go to YouTube.

I'm not saying YouTube won't stream millions of TV shows. It will. I'd guess at least 25 million in the month of December, roughly half of what NBC.com or a similar site streams in an average month. But it won't dominate. So put it this way: YouTube won't be a Hulu.com killer...

Add your thoughts: will you watch full-length episodes on YouTube? (Other than MacGyver, of course, which we know you've already watched there).

Private equity fund Mithras Capital, which holds 1.9 million shares of Yahoo (about 0.14%), will propose to Microsoft that they buy Yahoo at $22 per share, Reuters reports. Microsoft would then unload Yahoo’s Asian assets adn non-search businesses, take $3 billion worth of cost savings and some tax benefits, and end up with Yahoo’s search business for $10.3 billion.  Microsoft is obviously thrilled to see this kind of corporate chaos at Yahoo, although they are unlikely to even respond to the proposal. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/09/yahoo-shareholder-asks-microsoft-to-re-bid-at-22 10/9)

NHL.com dropped the puck on its new online subscription service GameCenter Live powered by NeuLion, offering users a free weekend-long trial beginning today to watch the season's first games. The streaming video service will offer up to 40-games a week (local blackouts apply) with a variety of interactive features including multiple camera angles for select games and a multi-view option that allows you to keep an eye on 4 games at once. Sign up before Oct. 15 to lock in a special rate of $19.95/month payable in monthly installments or $159 for the season. (Cynopsis 10/10)

i-Rights, part of the Digital Rights Group (DRG) has signed a three-year deal to distribute Bebo's 10 part online comedy series Chelsey:OMG!, a fish-out-of-water tale about a young American girl in London for the first time. (Cynopsis 10/10)

I dig the trailer at least.  It’s like a younger, more American version of Bridget Jones Diary.  I really need these online series to word on their reminder functionality because requiring the audience to remember a series online in a non-appointment viewing world is near impossible.

Socially enlightened integrated media company GOOD launched a new six-part web series, Wild Frontier of Sports, appearing exclusively on social networking site Imeem. (Cynopsis 10/10)

The first video to load up was devoted to Dodgeball and specifically the rise of Dodgeball in Brooklyn.  Hysterical and well done.  I’d like to send this video shout-out to Evan, the number one Dodgeball fanatic in my friend group.

MoMedia International has agreed to a distribution deal with Sky to provide content for Go!View, the new video-on-demand service for the Sony PSP. MoMedia will supply Go!View with 10 episodes per month of The Aiya! Gang, an Asian version of Jackass, Endemol-owned JoeCartoon and Kamikaze Videos, described as funniest home videos meets Dirty Sanchez. (Cynopsis 10/10)

Content from online video sites such as YouTube and Blip.tv now is available on TV screens via Verizon Communications' FiOS service. The telecom said it would soon add video-download service Starz Play. Light Reading (10/9)

A Public Policy Polling survey released yesterday gives Barack Obama a solid 51 percent-to-43 percent lead over John McCain in Virginia, the third poll of the week that gives the Democrat a solid working lead.

The same poll gave Democrat Mark Warner a commanding 58 percent-to-31 percent margin in his race with Republican Jim Gilmore for Virginia's open U.S. Senate seat.

The poll shows independent voters breaking sharply for both Obama and Warner - 49 percent to 37 percent for Obama over McCain in the presidential race and 66 percent to 20 percent for Warner in the Senate race.

Another interesting tidbit from the numbers - the favorability/unfavorability ratings for vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin have flipped since the Republican National Convention. Palin had been viewed favorably by 42 percent of voters and unfavorably by 40 percent of voters after the RNC; those numbers are now 37 percent and 46 percent, respectively. Biden had been viewed favorably by 38 percent and unfavorably by 27 percent after the RNC; those numbers are now 43 percent and 26 percent.

***

The national polls
- Gallup: Obama 51 percent, McCain 41 percent
- GW/Battleground: Obama 51 percent, McCain 43 percent
- Rasmussen: Obama 50 percent, McCain 45 percent
- Hotline: Obama 48 percent, McCain 41 percent
- Reuters: Obama 48 percent, McCain 43 percent
- Fox News: Obama 46 percent, McCain 39 percent

AFP Poll Average: Obama 49 percent, McCain 41.8 percent

Reposted in entirety from:

http://www.you2gov.org/index.php/Blog/Default-Category/Time-to-get-Serious.html

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THIS FINANCIAL DEBACLE CALLED THE BAILOUT?

If the $800 Billion + Bailout was not enough, now we learn about the outrageous behavior of the just bailed out AIG executives. Let us all hope that the rest of the bailout money (our money) is not spent so extragavantly or so obviously "in your face". The "Bailout Bush and Buddies Bill" of 2008 is in future years going to be seen as a total sham. The structural problems in the economy are all too real. But if the "bailout" money is going to secure multi-million dollar executive salaries rather than pension funds, unemployment funds, or re-training funds -- then lots of questions need to be asked and they need to be asked now. While the current Congress is in action, we all need to continue to assert our rights as citizens and taxpayers for demanding the truth (truth in lending). We need to show the leaders that the outpouring of anger, angst and the almost meltdown of congressional phone and email servers was not a one time flash, but rather a hot fire on their collective behinds. These people just voted on all this money to "stabilize the financial system" but how many Members of Congress, Republican or Democrat can tell any of us what a derivative swap is, or a fractional loan value, or for that matter the difference between a mortgage backed security and a partially mortgage backed financial instrument? Do they know what they voted on besides fear? How many of them can actually tell us what would have happened if this bailout was not rushed but rather put through the Committee System, be subject to debate and critique from the media, from academia and from other Government agencies?

You2Gov designed tools to make all of us more informed, more powerful. If we have learned anything from these times filled with fear, both literal and imagined - it is that the only thing that matters now is oversight. Not the kind you hear bandied about by this and that Congress person or Senator. No, I mean the kind of oversight a manager effects on his staff, or the kind of oversight that a principal has with the teachers, or even better the kind of oversight the military practises on itself through the chain of command. In this case the chain of command ends with you and me. We are the owners of the United States, the people. There are little read documents, some people don't even know what they are. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights, If you have not read them lately or never have, now is a good time to catch up. One of the important things you will come away with is how seriously the Founding Fathers took the concept of "Power from the People, to the People."

We all need to be that serious about this serious situation.