June 2008

A look at al-Hurra, an Arabic-language television network financed by the US government. Al-Hurra -- "The Free One" in Arabic -- is the centerpiece of a US government campaign to spread democracy in the Middle East. Taxpayers have spent $350 million on the project. But more than four years after it began broadcasting, the station is widely regarded as a flop in the Arab world, where it has struggled to attract viewers and overcome skepticism about its mission. Propaganda has become a primary front in the war against terrorism, with the United States and al-Qaeda each investing heavily to win over hearts and minds. This article examines one aspect of the U.S. effort to influence people through the airwaves. Tomorrow, another will look at al-Qaeda's online propaganda campaign. Since its inception, al-Hurra has been plagued by mediocre programming, congressional interference and a succession of executives who either had little experience in television or could not speak Arabic, according to interviews with former staffers, other Arab journalists and viewers in the Middle East. It has also been embarrassed by journalistic blunders.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR200806...
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Sen Barack Obama's decision to eschew public campaign funds, and spend as much as he wants on his presidential race, gave television executives a rare opportunity to smile. TV station owners including Scripps Howard, Hearst-Argyle and Post Newsweek -- with strong newscasts in hotly contested states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan -- stand to benefit most from Obama's plan to blow past the $84 million limit on publicly financed campaigns. Yet the extraordinary amount of cash to be spent on TV ads for Obama and Republican John McCain, who's accepting public limits, also could boost stations that don't usually see a presidential campaign windfall — as well as cable networks that want in on the fast-growing political business. Obama's decision "probably adds a couple of states to the (spending) mix," including North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Arizona, says Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of TNS Media Intelligence's Campaign Media Analysis Group. "He'll go 20 cable channels deep. There won't be something for him that's considered too risky," he says. McCain should still be competitive, even if his campaign has a cap. "The Republican national party has a lot more money than the Democrats," says Leo Kivijarv of PQ Media, a research and analysis firm. Candidates and issue groups at all levels will spend $3 billion on TV ads for this year's election, up from $1.7 billion in 2001 and $1 billion in 2002, TNS says. The presidential campaign will account for about 27% of this year's total. But forces beyond candidates' control may influence where the money goes.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20080623/1b_politics23.art.htm

The number of personal computers in use around the world has surpassed 1 billion, with strong growth in emerging markets set to double the number of PCs by early 2014, research firm Gartner said on Monday. Mature markets accounted for 58 percent of the first billion installed PCs, but would only account for about 30 percent of the next billion, Gartner said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2324525420080623

As long as there is news, people will try to share it. And new technology promises to turn the process into a tide that can swallow us up, good intentions and all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23link.html?ref=todaysp...
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