Should the Daily Telegraph have published the dead soldier’s family photo, lifted from his Facebook profile? I (and others) have been having an interesting discussion with Laurel Papworth with some surprising extracts from Facebook’s Terms of Use.
“Worse than Abu Ghraib”
After lunch today, this is what my email inbox looked like. I know the folks at New Matilda wouldn’t be big fans of News Limited columnist Piers Ackerman, but this!
I’ve previously posted a similar faux pas.
Domain: misleading advertising?
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s over-blown real estate section (right) claims 1.2 million readers each week. That’s misleading, surely?
According to Fairfax’s own circulation figures, the Saturday SMH gets 1,176,000 readers from a circulation of 364,000.
OK, rounded to two significant figures, I’m cool with that. But I reckon putting that 1.2 million figure on the cover of Domain is misleading — in the Trade Practices Act sense of the word — ‘cos it implies that the real estate ads get that many readers. I really, really doubt that.
The first thing many (if not most) readers do is fillet the paper, throwing out the classifieds-filled supplements. And if you look in the bins at any suburban railway station on a weekday, you’ll see them chock full’o unopened, unread Domain, Drive, MyCareer and all the other crap they don’t need.
So, Fairfax, misleading advertising? What’s the real readership of the real estate ads?
Published twice in one day
I’m happy. I’ve been published twice today, thrice this week.
As I mentioned before, Crikey was happy for me to cover today’s panel discussion with IT minister Senator Helen Coonan and her Labor opponent Senator Stephen Conroy. They were joined this morning by Democrats leader, Senator Lyn Allison.
My Crikey story points out that Coonan scored at least three own goals. I’m chuffed that it was selected as a “top story” for subscribers.
My other Crikey story was about Australia’s contribution to the Space Age, published on Wednesday and including my comments about the spaceport we never seem to get.
I’ll do a public version of both those stories tomorrow.
And the third piece was a little snippet for New Scientist, which I sent them on 24 June. There’s a picture (right), but here are the words for search engines to find.
The label on reader Stilgherrian’s Australian-made Starmaid ice-cube trays reassures him that they are “freezer safe” — which he says is “handy”.
But right now it’s Red Wine Time…
Another Tale of Two Thrillers
One of my six special vices is reading thrillers, often very trashy ones. So it was an especially wonderful pleasure to read two thrillers in a week — from opposite ends of the trashiness spectrum.
Adrian D’Hagé‘s action thriller The Beijing Conspiracy is like demolishing a slab of VB with mates on a Friday night. It’s loud, fast-paced and perhaps a little clichéd. But it’s great fun and you know you’ll be back for more. I ploughed through it in less than 24 hours.
By comparison, William Gibson‘s Spook Country is like a richly textured cabernet merlot. Take it slowly to appreciate the subtleties, and your time will be generously rewarded.
Joining the ABC Advisory Council
I’m tempted to apply for a spot on the ABC Advisory Council. I reckon I’d have something worthwhile to contribute. But am I close enough to their ideal of a fine upstanding citizen to fit with the others? “It’s your ABC,” but only for middle-class whites, plus a token Asian who’s a member of various committees so that’s OK.