Saturday, June 27, 2009

Michael Jackson: Front Pages



















The Guardian has a collection of 25 newspaper front pages from around the world showing how Michael Jackson's death was covered. It brings home the worldwide impact of the story.

The most radical treatment is on the front of Extra, Rio Janeiro,(above) simply showing one of Michael Jackson's gloves.
The Huffington Post website is running 19 Jackson front pages from US newspapers and a poll on which is best.

H/T Jon Slattery

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

'Momma, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away'



Sorry, Paul Simon. Kodak is taking Kodachrome away.

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

The photographer Steve McCurry with a poster of his celebrated photo of an Afghan refugee, shot on Kodachrome. He will shoot one of the last rolls of the film for a Rochester museum.

The Eastman Kodak Company announced Monday it would retire Kodachrome, its oldest film stock, because of declining customer demand in a digital age.

It was the world’s first commercially successful color film, immortalized in Simon’s song in 1973: “They give us those nice bright colors. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day. ... So, Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away.”

It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s, but in recent years sales have dropped to just a fraction of 1 percent of the company’s total sales of still-picture films. [Click for MORE]

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

24 Journalists & Bloggers Arrested in Iran

tehranlifephotog.jpg

Life magazine says the Iranian photographer who submitted this photo of protests in Tehran is now missing and probably arrested. Here is a gallery of the photographer's work with a note from Life. It's unknown if the photographer is counted among the 24 journalists and bloggers who have been reported arrested, among them Ali Mazroui, the head of the Association of Iranian Journalists, who was grabbed Sunday morning. Stories by the LAT's Borzou Daragahi continue to carry a Tehran dateline. At least 13 people were reported killed Saturday after protesters defied government orders not to assemble. The daughter and other relatives of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani also were arrested.

Noted (and updated):

  • Newsweek said its reporter Maziar Bahari was arrested Sunday in Tehran. NYT blog
  • The BBC's correspondent was told to leave the country. BBC
  • YouTube video of a Sunday protest in Tehran. YouTube
  • Cell-phone video of rock throwing and clashes on Saturday. BBC
  • An underground print newspaper has surfaced in Tehran.
  • Guide to supporting — and not hurting — Iranians on Twitter.Boing Boing
  • Twitter's impact for Andrew Sullivan: "As I have spent the past week hunched over a laptop, channelling and broadcasting as much information, video and debate about the momentous events in Iran, nothing quite captured the mood and pace of events like the tweets coming from the people of Iran." Times of London

From BBC Persian, protesters throw tear gas cannisters back at police then send them running. Raw:

Video

Ten other "significant" Iran videos via Boing Boing

Added:
Extremely graphic: If you have the stomach for it — and DO NOT click there if you aren't ready for blood and dying — here's YouTube video of a girl being killed on the street while relatives wail. The video came with a message: "The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know." The so-called "Neda" video has become a big thing globally, says CNN. Via Boing Boing and Andrew Sullivan

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Failed Daily Pilot Bid
Leads Veterans to Start News Site

Two California news veterans have launched an Internet news site after being unable to buy The Daily Pilot from its bankrupt parent company, Chicago-based Tribune Co.

Tom Johnson, the former publisher of the Daily Pilot, and Bill Lobdell, the paper’s former editor, started the Newport-Mesa Daily Voice site last week after failing to raise the $500,000 to $1 million needed to buy the struggling newspaper.

“We believed we had a chance at buying the Daily Pilot out of bankruptcy court, and so everything was sort of set,” Lobdell said. “But we couldn’t raise what was needed.”

Tribune, which owns the Daily Pilot through the Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy protection in December seeking relief from $12 billion in debt that largely stems from taking the company private in 2007. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

The Default Option:
Gannett Unlikely to Survive Through 2011


Because of the credit crisis, an unfortunate bunching of credit maturities and a debilitating number of so-called negative-basis trades featuring credit-default swaps -- all in addition to the industry's secular and cyclical downturns -- Gannett as we know it will be lucky to last through June 2011. "They painted themselves into a corner," the distressed-debt expert says of Gannett management. "They have to raise more than $400 million between now and the middle of 2011 in a market where, frankly, many of their bondholders would rather they default." [Full STORY] Sphere: Related Content