Wednesday 13 February 2008

Danish newspapers reprint Muhammad cartoon

Danish newspapers today reprinted a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad, a day after three people were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill the man who drew it.

When the image was originally printed by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper as part of a series of 12 in 2005, it sparked global protests and violent demonstrations in Muslim countries.

The newspaper reprinted the cartoon today, saying it wanted to show its commitment to freedom of speech after yesterday's arrests.

Rosalind Ryan


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/13/muhammadcartoons

Horror film ad cleared by regulator

An advert for the horror film Saw IV featuring a man's severed head has been cleared by the advertising watchdog, despite 57 complaints from members of the public that it was likely to disturb children.

The print, online and outdoor ad was run by film distributor Lions Gate and featured a side view of a man's head sitting in a metal dish.

Lions Gate's outdoor ad appeared on the side of buses last October and ran with the headline "You Think It Is Over But The Games Have Just Begun".

The print version was published in the Daily Mirror, the Sun and the Daily Star and magazines Zoo, Kerrang! and Nuts, while social networking sites Faceparty and MySpace ran the online banner.

Of the 57 complaints made to the Advertising Standards Authority, six said that the ad had disturbed their children, aged between four and 13.
Lions Gate argued that most of the advertising campaign was targeted at people aged 18 years and over as the film had an 18 certificate, but acknowledged that younger readers might be able to see them.

Maria Esposito

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/13/advertising

Illegal music downloads hit record high

Illegal music downloads have reached an all time high just as the growth of online social networking has shifted the epicentre of the music industry away from the major record labels, according to a new study.

The 2007 Digital Media Survey, carried out by Entertainment Media Research in conjunction with media lawyers Olswang, revealed that the popularity of social networking websites such as MySpace and BeBo is helping to "democratise" the music industry as more young people discover new music online instead of via the radio or music television.

The first time they are caught, they will be given a warning, the second time their internet will be cut off and will be prosecuted.

By Ben Bland


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/07/30/bcnmusic130.xml

Wednesday 19 December 2007


Top range car, 'The pursuit of Pection' connotes that its a perfect car, simple through the use of background. The use of colours is brown which seems to be dull, and the colour of the car is silver, nothing bright, this shows that the company 'Lexus' know that their product is best selling. for example they don;t use bright colours to attract readers eyes as they know customers will be atteactive to the product.
The use of the dominoe effect shows that the car is idestructable, as in the car won't go anywhere, its stuck to you.
M- They use of the long shot shows that whole product, but the long shot is on the side view of the car, to give a view of the 'Figure', like males tend to be attracted to females figure, the advert is saying forget the female figure, look at mine.
I- The product of the car is produced by Lexus, whioch is in part competition with Mercedes and is a affordable version of a Bently etc.
G- The purpose of the Advert is to sell its product.
R- The representation of the car is that, every family must have it, you must have it, you will be industructiable, you will ahve the perfection if you buy this car. The adverts doesn't use words to connote this as the adverts wants to say simple, and that the ebauty of its simplicity.
A- The car is a five door car so it is a family car, its looks like it is targeted at A and B soci-economic groups but can be targets from C1 up to A. The colours of the advertisement is brown and has more male colours, and the car is a sports car, in which males would want a dream fast machine.
I- The ideology of this car is that this makes the perfection of your life. If you dont have it your life won't be perfect.
N- (N/A) Buy me or not :S
The product is a type of lifestyle product, by saying 'the peursuit of prefection' twice. its shows that this car can change the whole way you live and not make you incomplete.
Looking at the past of 'Lexus' everyone has always wanted a Lexus or Mercedes and many people are beggining to buy the cars due to the price of the cars and the income of the families, this shows that the economy work tgether to get everyones dream and prevent them from feeling incomplete.

Wednesday 7 November 2007

Nickelodeon to show anti-bullying films

Children's channel Nickelodeon is to replace its continuity links for a week with a series of short films about bullying after teaming up with the ChildLine charity to promote an anti-bullying week.

The channel will air its See Something, Say Something week from November 15 - the second year running it has promoted the anti-bullying initiative.

Nickelodeon has commissioned 27 short films featuring British children and its own stars talking about how to combat bullying. The short films will air between shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Drake and Josh.

The films, which have been made by Nickelodeon's in-house production unit, will also promote ChildLine's phone number and how to use it.

Nickelodeon will also provide a dedicated website and a "click through" to the charity's portal as well as providing sponsorship for the annual ChildLine fundraising ball.

The broadcaster said that more than 2.7 million children saw the anti-bullying week on the channel last year, which has been nominated for two Bafta children's awards.

Nickelodeon UK managing director Howard Litton said: "In 2006, millions of kids tuned in and logged on to See Something, Say Something to learn more about preventing bullying, giving kids the confidence and information to help make a huge and positive difference against bullying."

Eric Schmidt


Born: April 27 1955
Net Worth: $6.2billion
Fact: Earned a salary of $1 in 2006 with a holiday bonus of $1,723
Work Background:
Schmidt left Novell after the acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (with the assistance of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, Inc.) recruited Eric Schmidt to run their company in 2001 under the influence of venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz.
Schmidt joined Google's board of directors as chairman in March 2001 and became the company's CEO in August 2001. At Google, Schmidt shares responsibility for Google's daily operations with founders Page and Brin.
Earlier this year, he pulled in almost $90 million from sales of Google stock and made at least another $50 million selling shares in the past two months as the stock leaped to more than $300 a share
Schmidt was elected to Apple's board of directors on August 28, 2006.
Education:
After graduating from Yorktown High School (Virginia), Schmidt attended Princeton University where he earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering. He has also obtained a MS in 1979 and a PhD in 1982 in EECS from the University of California, Berkeley.

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Sky criticised over Murdoch bonus


Thursday October 25 2007

BSkyB has been criticised for the "excessive" bonuses paid to chief executive James Murdoch ahead of next week's annual general meeting.
The Pensions Investment Research Consultants, or Pirc, said Mr Murdoch was paid more than 500% of his base salary last year, "which we deem excessive".
Pirc, which is an advisory body for institutional investors and owns a single share in Sky, criticised the company's remuneration report for failing to disclose the maximum awards or the related performance targets.
A Sky spokesman said: "Sky's remuneration policy is designed to engage and retain world-class talent for the benefit of all shareholders."
Pirc also renewed its calls for shareholders to oppose the re-election of Rupert Murdoch as chairman of Sky.
Mr Murdoch has been chairman since June 1999 and is standing again for the post at the annual meeting on November 2.
Pirc's policy is to oppose the election of a chairman connected to the company's controlling shareholder.
Mr Murdoch is chairman and chief executive of News Corp, which owns a 40% stake in Sky, and is also the father of James Murdoch.
Last year shareholders ignored a similar call from Pirc and re-elected Rupert Murdoch with an overwhelming majority.
Sky declined to comment on next week's election for chairman.