In a recent OpEd in the New York Times, media ethicist Kelly McBride generally stands by the principle that journalists should not pay sources for information; but she also wants pardoxically to propose that sometimes the ends justify the means.  Specifically, she is referring to an initiative (ploy, stunt?) by Wikileaks to crowd fund a “bounty” for a leaker to ...

Once again the Electronic Frontier Foundation has taken up the cause of industry in the guise of public interest, principally with the ultimate goal of distorting fair use doctrine beyond its intended purpose.  I am speaking about the case of FoxNews v TVEyes, which as Terry Hart points out in this post on Copyhype, re-treads some familiar ground regarding the ...

Last night, CBS news magazine 60 Minutes aired a segment featuring the flamboyant internet pirate Kim Dotcom (Kim Schmitz), whose Megaupload cyberlocker site was taken down in early 2012 after a dramatic raid on his luxury compound in New Zealand.  Charged with contributing to, inciting, and profiting from mass copyright infringement as well as related charges of racketeering and money laundering, ...

Running a Small Town Paper in the Digital Age As 2012 was coming to a close, I decided to have a chat with our local Editor-in-Chief of The Columbia Paper, which serves a small, rural community in the Hudson Valley.  In addition to being the founder and editor of this paper, Teasdale was also part of a new media vanguard ...

This week, Newsweek announced that the final print edition of the 80 year-old magazine would appear this coming December 31.  This site launched with an interview with Newsweek veteran Christopher Dickey, who writes this morning, “Digital does not mean dead.  Far from it.” Read his post on Shadowland Journal. I remember the proclamation “paper is dead” being echoed almost immediately ...

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)