Thursday, August 31, 2006

Row over Bush TV 'assassination'
A British television channel has been criticised as "irresponsible" for making a drama in which US President George Bush is assassinated.




Death of a President, on More4, uses actors and computer effects to portray the president being shot dead during an anti-war rally in Chicago in 2007.

The makers of the 90-minute film said they used the event to explore the effects of the War on Terror on the US.

But John Beyer, of TV watchdog MediaWatch, said it was irresponsible.

He said it could even trigger a real assassination attempt and told the Daily Mirror: "There's a lot of feeling against President Bush and this may well put ideas into people's heads." A White House spokesman said of the programme: "We are not going to comment because it does not dignify a response."

Shot by sniper

The drama will have its world premiere at next month's Toronto Film Festival before a screening on UK digital channel More4.

In the drama Mr Bush is assassinated by a sniper after delivering a speech to business leaders.

He is confronted by a demonstration against the Iraq war when he arrives in the city and is shot as he leaves the venue.


There will be people who will be upset by it but when you watch it you realise what a sophisticated piece of work it is
Peter Dale
Head of More4

The ensuing investigation focuses on a Syrian-born man.

Peter Dale, head of More4, who made the drama, described it as a "thought-provoking critique" of contemporary US society.

He said: "It's an extraordinarily gripping and powerful piece of work, a drama constructed like a documentary that looks back at the assassination of George Bush as the starting point for a very gripping detective story.

"It's a pointed political examination of what the War on Terror did to the American body politic.

"I'm sure that there will be people who will be upset by it but when you watch it you realise what a sophisticated piece of work it is.

"It's not sensationalist or simplistic but a very thought-provoking, powerful drama. I hope people will see that the intention behind it is good."


I don't know if there are many people in America who would want to watch something like that
Gretchen Essell
Republican Party of Texas

However, the Republican Party of Texas was not impressed with the film.

Spokesman Gretchen Essell said: "I cannot support a video that would dramatise the assassination of our president, real or imagined."

"The greater reality is that terrorism still exists in our world. It is obvious that the war on terror is not over.

She added: "I find this shocking, I find it disturbing. I don't know if there are many people in America who would want to watch something like that."

Saddam drama

Producers of the film, which is directed by Gabriel Range, hope to sell the broadcast rights to the US.

Death of a President will be shown on More4 on 9 October.

Other forthcoming More4 highlights include The Trial of Tony Blair, starring Robert Lindsay as the UK Prime Minister, and Ghosts, a drama inspired by the deaths of the Chinese cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004.

British politicians Charles Kennedy and Michael Howard will join forces to present The 30 Greatest Political Comedies, while the drama Saddam's Tribe tells the story of the former Iraqi dictator's regime.


washingtonpost.com

British TV Film to Depict Bush Assassination

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 1, 2006; 1:26 PM

LONDON, Sept. 1 -- Nearly every British newspaper on Friday carried photos of the assassination of President Bush -- or at least the eerily realistic depiction of it from a new documentary-style television film that is causing an uproar in Britain.

The film, Death of a President, has been alternatively derided as a tasteless publicity grab and defended as a serious look at a plausible event that could have dramatic ramifications for the world.

"It's a disturbing film," said Peter Dale, head of More4, the television channel that will broadcast the film next month, following its debut this month at the Toronto Film Festival.

"It raises questions about the affects of American foreign policy, and particularly the war on terror," said Dale, who denied criticism that the film made an anti-Bush or anti-American political statement. "It's a fairly attention-grabbing premise but behind that is a serious and thought-provoking film."

In the film, Bush is assassinated by a sniper after making a speech in Chicago in October 2007. The investigation immediately centers on a Syrian-born gunman and a shocked nation confronts the war on terror in the post-Bush era.

Dale said the assassination scene, which comes about ten minutes into the 90-minute film, is a glimpse rather than "a gratuitously lengthy gazing kind of scene." He said it was "very small in comparison to the blood and death we see daily in the news" from Iraq.

"We know some people are going to be offended," Dale said. "But you always risk offending people when you open people's eyes to the way the world is. Sometimes the truth is a bit unpalatable."

At the White House, spokesman Emily Lawrimore said of the film: "We are not commenting because it doesn't dignify a response."

Some critics in London scoffed at arguments that the film was a serious piece of film-making. Several said More4, which began broadcasting just ten months ago, was more interested in ratings than in exploring vital matters of public interest.

"It's about hype rather than a serious matter," said Roy Greenslade, a noted British media critic, who said the film "crossed the line" and was "obviously tasteless."

Britons awoke this morning to see their morning newspapers carrying a black-and-white promotional photo, with a sort of Dallas-in-1963 feel, showing a mortally wounded Bush dying in a Secret Service agent's arms. Other agents draw guns, cameras flash and people dive for cover in the photo, which was an actual filmed scene with Bush's head added later to an actor's body by computer.

Greenslade said the photos are so realistic that for a second he thought Bush had actually been assassinated. He said creating such a realistic image of Bush being killed "could convince crazy people that this might be a good idea."

"I'm sure they will cloak it by saying there's a serious point to be made," Greenslade said. "But isn't there another way? If it had been a fictional president wouldn't it have made the same point? It just beggars belief that this is the best way to make a serious point."

Dale defended the use of Bush himself, rather than a fictional president, because using a fictional character "wouldn't have the same kind of resonance."

"It's absolutely legitimate to deal with contemporary named figures," he said. "I would urge people to see the film and see if they think it is fair."

More4, which launched in October 2005, is one of three satellite channels affiliated with Channel 4, a major independent television channel in Britain. The other two affiliates are a children's channel and a movie channel, while Dale said More4 carries "serious, upmarket" programming aimed at adults.

The channel has made a name for itself with controversial films, such as last year's "A Very Social Secretary," a biting satire about former cabinet minister David Blunkett's affair with a British magazine editor.

Prime Minister Tony Blair will get a roasting of his own in November, when the channel plans to air the comedy, "The Trial of Tony Blair." Dale said the film was a satire depicting Blair's life after he leaves office, including an arrest on charges of waging an illegal war in Iraq.

The Bush film is directed by Gabriel Range, who used similar documentary-style techniques in his 2003 film, "The Day Britain Stopped," aired on BBC Two television, about a massive breakdown of Britain's transportation networks that results in national chaos.

Rod Liddle, a newspaper and magazine columnist who also makes documentaries for Channel 4, said he thought the Bush film gave voice to a common sentiment in Britain.

"You will never, ever be able to overestimate the degree to which the British people loathe George Bush," Liddle said. "It will be a free round of drinks in every pub for the person who plays the assassin."

Liddle said there was nothing wrong about making a documentary about the assassination of a U.S. president, even if it was difficult for some people to watch.

"I don't find it particularly objectionable, but then I'm not George Bush's family," he said. "It seems to me to be a reasonable premise, even if it is uncomfortable."

::home::


Bush’s ‘assassination’ as entertainment
By Jules Crittenden
Boston Herald City Editor

Friday, September 1, 2006 - Updated: 09:34 AM EST

Raise your hand if you believe in freedom of speech and a lively public debate of important issues.
Now, raise your hand if you think a feature film depicting the assassination of President Bush sounds like a thought-provoking look at the important issues of the day. Educational entertainment. A good date flick, maybe, for that hot librarian, the one with the fading "Unelect Bush Again in ’O4" bumper sticker who goes for that deep-think Brit Masterpiece Theatre stuff.
The BBC thinks so.Perhaps enviously eyeing the millions and the acclaim that self-loathing American Michael Moore’s exercise in distortion brought him, BBC’s Channel Four and BBC Director Gabriel Range are producing a "shockingly real," "documentary-style" film that shows Bush being assassined by a Syrian at a large anti-war demonstration in Chicago.
The film is clearly highly fanciful, as anti-war demonstrations have had a hard time mustering more than a few hundred angry marchers at a time ever since their efforts to keep Saddam Hussein in power failed.
Here’s what Range told the Times of London: "The film is based on meticulous research and interviews with FBI agents and people on the other side of the war on terror."OK, we know that FBI agents have sometimes been on the other side of the war on crime, particularly in Boston. But the other side of the war on terror, if I’m not wrong, would be Al Qaeda.
Wait a minute.I think by the "other side" he means us. Those of us who believe Al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the others who want to destroy us are evil.
"It is a serious and sensitive film. There is no way it would encourage anyone to assassinate Bush and usher in Cheney’s America," Range said.
Of course not.Not at a time when Bush is routinely called a murderer, and seemingly normal educated suburbanite Volvo drivers sport "Impeach Bush" bumper stickers, apparently believing grounds for such action exists.
But that "Cheney’s America" remark is interesting.I’m starting to get an Oliver Stone feel off this one.So Bush gets assassinated, and we are to learn the depths of depravity and dictatorship Vice President Dick Cheney is capable of.What left-thinking "Impeach Bush" t shirt-wearer would heed the clarion call to assassinate Bush when Range has soundly demonstrated what evil that act would inaugurate?
The Brits have very tough libel laws.Unlike America, where it is virtually impossible for a politician to sue for libel. Any British film that depicted Cheney engineering Bush’s assassination would land the limey fimmaker in court pretty quick.So I’m guessing a power-grab White House coup murder plot, if hinted at, is done so extremely obliquely.
And we are to understand this is actually a highly responsible call for Bush’s life to continue.Because it will demonstrate to all of those who would like to see him impeached or dead, how dangerous a course that is.Because that would usher in the true and unadulterated Rovian-Cheneyite nightmare. That is when the hood would be pulled off to reveal a true Gitmerica.
The BBC wants to hawk this revolting bucket of bile in the United States. It’s not clear to me what business foreign agents have advocating the murder of a sitting United States president, shouting fire in a crowded American theater.But America is a free country.
So I have an idea.How about a Hollywood blockbuster that depicts Britain under Sharia law?


Times Online
Times Online August 31, 2006



President Bush's assassination, as portrayed in the More4 drama (Channel 4/PA)

US networks offered UK drama on Bush assassination




It was the shot that echoed around the world - President Bush is assassinated by a fanatical sniper in the bowels of a Chicago hotel.

At least that is how Channel 4 would like us to remember the key event of October 2007 in a "shockingly real" film which is already causing outrage among Americans.

Death of a President uses digital trickery, archive footage and actors to imagine the murder of President Bush and the descent into national paranoia which follows.

The feature-length drama will be screened on More4, Channel 4’s digital sister channel next month after receiving a big-screen premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Channel 4 hopes to sell the film to US broadcasters but Americans in London declared the film tasteless and feared it could encourage extremists in their home country.

The film is set next autumn, when "US foreign and domestic policies have polarised the country’s electorate". Arriving in Chicago to make a speech to business leaders, the President is confronted by a large anti-war demonstration.

Unperturbed, the President goes ahead with his visit. But as he leaves he is gunned down by a sniper. While a nation mourns, the "state apparatus" turns its attention to the hunt for his killer. A Syrian-born man is identified but the truth may lie closer to home.

The assassination scene explicitly recalls the attempt on President Reagan’s life in 1981. John Hinckley fired six shots at close range as the President left the Washington Hilton hotel.

Americans were appalled at the Bush film. Michelle Bowman, 35, a US consultant working at the Bowman Group in London, said: "Most American will find a film depicting the assassination of a sitting American President in very poor taste. I cannot imagine that any American broadcaster would show this film."

The film is directed by Gabriel Range, who made the acclaimed BBC drama The Day Britain Stopped, which imagined a chain of events which could paralyse the UK’s transport infrastructure.

Mr Range told The Times: "We studied hours and hours of footage of Bush. The scenes are created by a mixture of special effects, stock footage and digitally compositing our actors onto the archive of Bush."

Mr Range secured permits to film the murder scene on location in a Chicago hotel.

He denied charges of sensationalism. "The film is based on meticulous research and interviews with FBI agents and people on the other side of the war on terror," he said.

"It is a serious and sensitive film. There is no way it would encourage anyone to assassinate Bush and usher in Cheney’s America."

Peter Dale, head of More4, said the film combined a "gripping detective story" with a "thought-provoking critique" of contemporary US society.

He said: "It’s a pointed political examination of what the war on terror did to the American body politic. I’m sure that there will be people who will be upset by it but when you watch it you realise what a sophisticated piece of work it is."

More4, which competes with BBC Four for upmarket viewers, will also screen a sequel to A Very Social Secretary, its satire about David Blunkett’s affairs.
Robert Lindsay plays the lead role in The Trial of Tony Blair, which finds the Prime Minister struggling to adapt to life out of office after moving from Downing Street to Connaught Square.

Written by Alistair Beaton, the comedy shows Mr Blair seeking absolution from the Catholic Church as he seeks to evade a war crimes tribunal over his role in the Iraq invasion.

Comic actor Alexander Armstrong plays David Cameron in the satire but Michael Howard appears in person alongside Charles Kennedy to present The 30 Greatest Political Comedies.

The duo, described by Mr Dale as "the Morecambe and Wise of politics", present the result of a poll of MPs which ranges from Till Death Us Do Part to The Thick of It.



British film killing off Bush outrages Americans
Adam Sherwin
02sep06

IT is a shot that echoes around the world - President George W. Bush being assassinated by a fanatical sniper in a Chicago hotel.

At least that is the story of a "shockingly real" British Channel 4 film that is causing outrage among Americans.

Death of a President uses digital trickery, archive footage and actors to imagine the murder of Mr Bush and the descent into national paranoia that follows. The feature-length drama will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month, before screening in Britain on More4, Channel 4's digital sister channel.

Channel 4 hopes to sell the film to US broadcasters, but Americans yesterday declared it to be tasteless and shocking.

The White House refused to comment on the film, which it said "did not dignify a response". In Texas, Mr Bush's home state, a Republican Party spokeswoman said: "I find this shocking, I find it disturbing. I don't know if there are many people in America who would want to watch something like that." A senior Republican official in Washington said: "It sounds like it's in very poor taste and in keeping with the tactics of liberal groups who have frequently tried to compare the President to Hitler and his policies to those of fascism."

The film is set in October next year, when "US foreign and domestic policies have polarised the country's electorate". Arriving in Chicago to make a speech to business leaders, the President is confronted by a large anti-war demonstration. He continues with his visit but as he leaves he is shot dead by a sniper. The assassination scene explicitly recalls the attempt on president Ronald Reagan's life in 1981. John Hinckley fired six shots at close range as Reagan left a Washington hotel.

The film is directed by Gabriel Range, who made the BBC drama The Day Britain Stopped, which imagined a chain of events that could paralyse the transport system.

Range denied accusations of sensationalism. "The film is based on meticulous research and interviews with FBI agents and people on the other side of the war on terror," he said. "It's a serious, sensitive film. There is no way it would encourage anyone to assassinate Bush."

Peter Dale, the head of More4, said the film combined a "gripping detective story" with a thought-provoking critique of contemporary US society.

But John Beyer of Britain's TV watchdog MediaWatch, told the Daily Mirror: "There's a lot of feeling against President Bush and this may well put ideas into people's heads."


The New York Times




September 1, 2006

British TV Movie Imagines Assassination of Bush

LONDON, Sept. 1 — The time is October 2007, and America is in anguish, rent by the war in Iraq and by a combustive restiveness at home. Leaving a hotel in Chicago after making a speech while a huge antiwar protest rages nearby, President Bush is suddenly struck down, killed by a sniper’s bullet.

That is the arresting beginning of “Death of a President,” a 90-minute film that is to be broadcast here in October on More4, a British digital television station. And while depicting the assassination of a sitting president is provocative in itself, this film is doubly so because it has been made to look like a documentary.

Using archival film as well as computer-generated imagery that, for instance, attaches the president’s face to the body of the actor playing him, the film leaves no doubt that the victim is Mr. Bush rather than some generic president.

The movie has not yet been released; indeed, the filmmakers were still editing it today and were not available for comment, said Gavin Dawson, a spokesman for More4. But the station’s announcement this week that it planned to present “Death of a President” as part of its autumn season has raised something of a furor here.

“Whilst one is aware of other films that have shown assassinations, those have been in the realm of fantasy,” said John Beyer, the director of Mediawatch-UK, which campaigns against sex and violence on television. “To use the president of the United States, the real person, in some fictional presentation, I think that is wrong.”

The United States Embassy here directed calls to the White House, which said: “We won’t dignify this with a response.”

But Peter Dale, the head of More4, said the film was not sensationalistic and did not advocate the assassination of Mr. Bush.

“It has the combination of a gripping forensic narrative and also some very thought-provoking places where you are encouraged to think about the issues behind the narrative,” he said.

The film is to be shown publicly on Sept. 10 at the Toronto International Film Festival. After it is broadcast on More4, a digital channel that is free but only available to those with digital television, it will be shown on Channel 4, a nondigital channel that is the BBC’s main commercial competitor.

As part of its publicity campaign, More4 released a still from the film depicting the moment Mr. Bush is shot. The picture, which has been reprinted extensively in British newspapers, shows the stricken Mr. Bush slumping forward into an aide’s arms, in front of a shocked, panicking crowd; a bank of cameras flash behind. It evokes the photographs of the mortally wounded Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, and also recalls John Hinckley’s attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981 outside Hilton hotel in Washington.

Mr. Dale said that the focus of the film is on the assassination’s aftermath, as the news media rush to judgment and as investigators plumb America’s fear and anger, particularly in communities with most cause to be angry at Mr. Bush. Suspicion soon focuses on Jamal Abu Zikri, a Syrian-born man.

The movie, Mr. Dale said, is “a very powerful examination of what changes are taking place in America” as a result of its foreign policy.”

“I believe that the effects of the wars that are being conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said, “are being felt in many ways in the multiracial communities in America and Britain, in the number of soldiers who don’t come home, and that people are beginning to ask: ‘When will these body bags stop coming back? Why are we there? When will it stop?’ ”

Two well-regarded films by the same team have used the same pseudo-documentary style to imagine the ramifications of disastrous events, but set in Britain. One, “The Day Britain Stopped,” showed Britain’s overstretched transportation system in meltdown after a series of mishaps cripples first the trainsand then the roads, leading finally to the point when a passenger jet collides with a freight plane near Heathrow.

Few Britons have criticized “Death of a President,” perhaps wanting to see it before they comment on it. But the newspapers have been quoting upset expatriate Americans.

“It is an appalling way to treat the head of state of another country,” Eric Staal, a spokesman for Republicans Abroad in London, told The Evening Standard. “We’ve seen from early in his presidency the extremes the political left are willing to go to vilify him as an individual. This takes this vilification to a new and disturbing level.”

But The Daily Mirror, whose front-page headline today was “Bush Whacked,” said in an editorial that while the film was “treading a fine line in terms of taste, it nevertheless provides dramatic food for thought.”

It added: “The undoubted furor that this will spark across the U.S. and among the handful of Bush supporters in Europe must not obscure the real question facing us all: Where is the War on Terror going? And how bad does it have to get before it gets better?”

washingtonpost.com

Bush 'Assassination' Film Makes Waves Across the Pond

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 2, 2006; C01

LONDON, Sept. 1 -- Nearly every British newspaper on Friday carried photos of the "assassination" of President Bush -- or, rather, the eerily realistic depiction of it from a new documentary-style television film that is causing an uproar in Britain.

The film, "Death of a President," has been alternatively derided as a tasteless publicity grab and defended as a serious look at a plausible event that could have dramatic ramifications for the world.

"It's a disturbing film," said Peter Dale, head of More4, the television channel that will telecast the film in England in October. It is scheduled to debut this month -- on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks -- at the Toronto Film Festival.

"It raises questions about the effects of American foreign policy and particularly the war on terror," said Dale, who denied criticism that the film made an anti-Bush or anti-American political statement. "It's a fairly attention-grabbing premise, but behind that is a serious and thought-provoking film."

In the film, Bush is assassinated by a sniper after making a speech in Chicago in October 2007. The investigation immediately centers on a Syrian-born gunman, and a shocked nation confronts the war on terror in the post-Bush era.

Dale said the assassination scene, which comes about 10 minutes into the 90-minute film, is a glimpse rather than "a gratuitously lengthy gazing kind of scene." He said it was "very small in comparison to the blood and death we see daily in the news" from Iraq.

"We know some people are going to be offended," Dale said. "But you always risk offending people when you open people's eyes to the way the world is. Sometimes the truth is a bit unpalatable."

At the White House, spokesman Emily Lawrimore said of the film: "We are not commenting because it doesn't dignify a response."

Some critics in London scoffed at arguments that the movie was a serious piece of filmmaking. Several said More4, which began broadcasting just 11 months ago, was more interested in ratings than in exploring vital matters of public interest.

"It's about hype rather than a serious matter," said Roy Greenslade, a noted British media critic, who said the film "crossed the line" and was "obviously tasteless."

Britons awoke this morning to see their morning newspapers carrying a black-and-white promotional photo, with a sort of Dallas-in-1963 feel, showing a mortally wounded Bush dying in a Secret Service agent's arms. Other agents draw guns, cameras flash and people dive for cover in the photo of a filmed scene in which Bush's head was added later to an actor's body by computer.

Greenslade said the photos are so realistic that for a second he thought Bush had actually been assassinated. He said creating such a realistic image of Bush being killed "could convince crazy people that this might be a good idea."

"I'm sure they will cloak it by saying there's a serious point to be made," Greenslade noted. "But isn't there another way? If it had been a fictional president, wouldn't it have made the same point? It just beggars belief that this is the best way to make a serious point."

Dale defended the use of Bush himself, rather than a fictional president, because using a fictional character "wouldn't have the same kind of resonance."

"It's absolutely legitimate to deal with contemporary named figures," he said. "I would urge people to see the film and see if they think it is fair."

More4, which launched in October, is one of three satellite channels affiliated with Channel 4, a major independent television channel in Britain. The other two affiliates are a children's channel and a movie channel. Dale said More4 carries "serious, upmarket" programming aimed at adults.

The channel has made a name for itself with controversial films, such as last year's "A Very Social Secretary," a biting satire about former cabinet minister David Blunkett's affair with a British magazine editor.

Prime Minister Tony Blair will get a roasting of his own in November, when the channel plans to air the comedy "The Trial of Tony Blair." Dale said the film was a satire depicting Blair's life after he leaves office, including an arrest on charges of waging an illegal war in Iraq.

The Bush film is directed by Gabriel Range, who used similar documentary-style techniques in his 2003 film, "The Day Britain Stopped." That movie, about a massive breakdown of Britain's transportation networks that created national chaos, aired on BBC Two television.

Rod Liddle, a newspaper and magazine columnist who also makes documentaries for Channel 4, said he thought the Bush film gave voice to a common sentiment in Britain.

"You will never, ever be able to overestimate the degree to which the British people loathe George Bush," Liddle said. "It will be a free round of drinks in every pub for the person who plays the assassin."

Liddle said there was nothing wrong about making a documentary about the assassination of a U.S. president, even if it was difficult for some people to watch.

"I don't find it particularly objectionable, but then I'm not George Bush's family," he said. "It seems to me to be a reasonable premise, even if it is uncomfortable."


Cashing in on Wiki-ness

Thursday August 31, 10:54 am ET

By Adam Lashinsky, Fortune senior writer

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has become one of the fastest-growing and buzziest destinations on the Web, thanks in large part to the devoted community that slaves over its authoritative entries. The site's founder, Jimmy Wales, hasn't made any money, however, because the site is free and relies solely on contributions for its $1.5 million annual budget.

Now Wales, 40, is ready to trade buzz for cash, and he's turned for help to a guy who knows something about profiting from an online community: Gil Penchina, 36, a longtime executive at eBay.

As the new CEO of Wales's for-profit creation, Wikia, Penchina aims to take what he learned at eBay - where he helped build the online marketplace's key trust-and-safety tools, such as dispute mediation and insurance - and apply it to the burgeoning power of wikis. (For those who've only consulted Wikipedia to learn about everything from horned lizards to the history of Myanmar but haven't contributed to it, wikis are software programs that allow users to create and edit each other's documents online.)

Whereas Wikipedia aspires to be a neutral reference tool, Wikia's business plan is to capitalize on opinion. It aims to have articles and discussion groups on any subject under the sun.

And while it deploys the same technology as its successful cousin, Wikia is intended as a freewheeling forum for all kinds of topics - from Star Wars to pet diabetes - with argument and advocacy welcome.

"Wikipedia is the encyclopedia," says Penchina. "Wikia is the rest of the library and the magazine rack."

Wales and Penchina have a small pot of cash to play with and some big-name backers. In May, Wikia (Wales pronounces it Wi-KEE-ah) raised $4 million from Bessemer Venture Partners and a group of Silicon Valley luminaries that includes Marc Andreessen and Pierre Omidyar. Penchina signed on in June with one condition: that Wales move Wikia from St. Petersburg, Fla., where he lives, to Silicon Valley.

The site - which has been up since 2004 but has thus far been a low priority for Wales - currently has some 250,000 articles (compared with Wikipedia's four million). The plan for profits is simple: Keep overhead low, grow the site, watch traffic increase, and run text ads supplied by Google.

That means Wikia's cash will come in incredibly small bits. And at least for a while, Wales will have to settle for more fame than fortune.

csmonitor.com - The Christian Science Monitor Online
from the September 01, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0901/p11s01-almo.html

Netflix: From movies in the mail to movies on demand?

Netflix is going to extraordinary lengths to become one of Hollywood's top powers. It even infiltrated Alcatraz.

By Gloria Goodale | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

ALCATRAZ ISLAND, CALIF.

Birds circle and scream overhead as winds howl through the wreckage of burned-out buildings. Waves crash against the rocky shores in the gathering dark, while dock hands work to berth our wildly bucking boat. No doubt about it, Alcatraz Island, or "The Rock," is long on the kind of atmospherics moviemakers love. Ever since it stopped being a prison (and before that, a fort), Hollywood has been making the trek across the San Francisco Bay to cash in on all these natural special effects.

Tonight, it's Netflix's turn. This is the online DVD-rental company that is spooking all of Hollywood with its unexpected success in getting consumers (5 million and counting) to change their movie-watching ways. The company has brought a group of 125 lucky film buffs to tour the island and then watch Clint Eastwood's "Escape from Alcatraz."

The total audience for tonight is small (and cold). But as all of Hollywood warms up for what everyone agrees is the next big thing - digital delivery of home entertainment - ironically, the little Los Gatos Internet upstart that relies on the first-class postage stamp to deliver its discs has become the player to beat. It now finances films. It scours independent festivals to procure movies that the studios miss. It's even begun exploring video on demand.

"We want to find unique ways to bring film to the people," says Leslie Kilgore, chief marketing officer for Netflix, explaining how tonight's festivities fit in with the overall Netflix vision. This event, held in the damp chill of the former inmates' chapel, is the final stop in the summer-long "Rolling Road Show." The company has also screened classics such as "Jaws" and "Field of Dreams" where they were made (Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and an Iowa cornfield, respectively).

"The company is a game-changer," says branding expert Morris Reid. Getting people to alter their behavior is the holy grail of modern business, he says, and when a company succeeds, everyone pays attention. "They've changed the model, not just by making [renting movies] more convenient, but it shifted the ground around them so that now everyone else has to react to what they're doing."

No late fees, (mostly) overnight delivery, and, most important, a deep catalog of more than 65,000 titles linked to a sophisticated, proprietary searching software that allows customers to find obscure films and introduces them to new ones, have been the keys to the company's success. In the past two years, Netflix executives have begun to find new ways to expand their reach. They have inked distribution deals for small, independent films such as "Embedded Live," "The Girl from Monday," and "Assisted Living." In July, they signed a deal with NBC to distribute new TV shows, including Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," even before some have aired.

The jewel in the Netflix crown, however, says Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer, is the answer it has found to Hollywood's most persistent bugaboo: how to tell what people will pay to watch. With its online communities of people who provide reviews and feedback, the company can identify potential fans for new films.

"By helping to find markets for hard-to-market films, there are a couple of hundred films already that would never have been seen without Netflix," says Mr. Sarandos.

Many media watchers are bullish on the company, even going so far as to call it revolutionary. "What Netflix has done and continues to do is broaden the viewership for movies, because it allows viewers to focus on niches that are of interest and see movies they might not otherwise see," says Michael Sherman, chair of the entertainment law group at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro in Los Angeles. The company is credited with single-handedly building audiences for such quirky films as "Capturing the Friedmans," a documentary about a family racked by sexual abuse.

But in Hollywood, where success is recalculated in every day's trade papers and imitation is the only sure thing, media watchers say the company faces many challengers. Blockbuster has a virtual replica of the Netflix service while every movie and television studio in town is scrambling to find new ways to deliver content to consumers, from iTunes to Movielink, not to mention deals with every major cable provider.

Some observers say Netflix may have already begun to lose its edge, beyond the recent swoon of the company's stock after failing to meet analyst's projections. "The biggest challenge for Netflix is distraction," says Mr. Reid, the branding expert. A content-delivery firm should not be in the business of picking and choosing winners through financing films, he adds. The company would be better off sponsoring film festivals or concerts, he says, and the jaunt to Alcatraz may have been unique, but it is a "waste of time and money."

Some analysts suggest that Netflix may have peaked with its core audience for obscure films. There is a limited viewership for small films seen at home, says critic Christopher Sharrett, adding, "most people still want the experience of going to the movie theater."

Indeed, not every movie fan is a Netflix fan, as demonstrated back at The Rock, where a select core of 25 diehards have also signed up to spend the night in a cell. John and Diana Lafleur have come in from La Mirada for the privilege. As they stamp their feet on the cold concrete floor of the makeshift screening room, they consider the relationship between their night in jail and their normal life. They do not subscribe to Netflix, says husband John. Will their stint in the pokey turn them into subscribers once they return home?

"Possibly," says John, who says he has little free time and likes to get out of the house when he does. "This just seemed like fun," he says. "I don't know if I would want to start getting committed to movies coming in through my mailbox every week."

Business Week Online

AUGUST 31, 2006
Top News

By Ronald Grover

Wal-Mart and Apple Battle for Turf

The retail behemoth isn't happy about the iPod maker's plans to offer movie downloads through iTunes. Has Wal-Mart met its match?

The guy from Bentonville, Ark., surely isn't on any of Hollywood's leading man lists. A 23-year Wal-Mart Stores (WMT ) veteran, David Porter is the person at the retail giant who orders DVDs and slashes prices to move them. But this summer, Porter has been one of Hollywood's hottest acts, taking meetings with top studio brass like a producer with a hot script. His pitch: Wal-Mart isn't happy.

That prospect tends to send shivers through Hollywood's Gucci-toed corner offices. As the largest seller of DVDs, Wal-Mart accounts for roughly 40% of the $17 billion in DVDs that will be sold this year, a financial lifeline to big-spending studios. But now Wal-Mart's video business faces a potential threat by Steve Jobs and Apple Computer (AAPL ), which in mid-September, sources tell BusinessWeek, plans to announce it will start offering movie downloads from its iTunes store.

The notion of kids running around with full-length movies on new, wider-screen iPods that Apple is expected to unveil as well is causing grief in Bentonville, according to Hollywood executives. The $312 billion a year retailer, they say, wants concessions that could include lower DVD wholesale prices.

PLAYING THE HEAVY. With Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott assigning his point man Porter to roam the halls of major studios, skittish executives have for months delayed giving Jobs the rights to distribute their movies through his new service. The price Apple hopes to charge, now set at $14.99 for new releases and $9.99 for older movies, has risen from Jobs's initial plan to offer new flicks for $9.99, say industry insiders.

So far, Apple only has one studio signed on: Walt Disney (DIS), where Jobs is the largest shareholder following the entertainment giant's purchase of his Pixar Animation Studios. News Corp.'s (NWS ) Fox Entertainment Group may join in later, as might independent Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF ), say Hollywood sources, but only if other studios come along, too. So far, other large studios have taken a pass, especially after Wal-Mart earlier this year threatened not to sell Disney's High School Musical for a time after Disney released it initially only on iTunes.

What does Wal-Mart want this time to play nice? Executives who have met with Porter say it wants marketing help when it launches its own planned download site. And it wants Hollywood to trim the current $17 wholesale price for DVDs. That would let Wal-Mart slash its own prices to the same $15 or so that Apple would charge. (The plan is for Apple to pay a $14 wholesale price for new releases, say sources, although negotiations continue.) A large wholesale cut for Wal-Mart, of course, would amount to hundreds of millions in lost studio revenues each year at a time when DVD sales are slowing.

LOSING PATIENCE. Wal-Mart isn't the only issue that's giving some studios pause. Several are concerned about Apple's rules for using iTunes, which let users watch a film on up to five different devices. And others worry about letting Jobs set a download price they can't change, as he has done in music. Still, studios have embraced the digital concept and accept some "burning" of movies to DVDs. In addition to Apple, the studios are negotiating potential download deals with Amazon.com (AMZN ), AT&T (T ), and cable giant Comcast (CMCSA ).

No doubt Steve Jobs knows how to turn tiny digital media niches into a mainstream phenomenon. That's what he did in the music biz. But his patience for all this tiptoeing is wearing thin. Jobs recently hopped aboard his corporate jet for a little politicking of his own in Hollywood, and insiders say he called Scott to express the concern of a vendor who sells tons of iPods and Macs through Wal-Mart stores.

Jobs would not comment for this story nor would any studios. Wal-Mart acknowledged that it's talking with studios about starting its own download service but disputed that it is "dissuading studios from conducting business with other providers," according to Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jolanda Stewart.

Apple Sends a NastyGram

Posted August 30 | 81 comments

We just got an email from Apple regarding a YouTube video reposted on CrunchGear:

VIA E-MAIL

NOT FOR POSTING

Re: Apple Computer Copyrighted Material Illegally Disseminated by Crunchgear.com

To Whom It May Concern:
We represent Apple Computer, Inc. (”Apple”). It has come to our attention that your website, at http://crunchgear.com/2006/08/28/how-expose-works-with-spaces-in-mac-os-x-leopard/, is posting a video demonstrating certain features of Apple’s new operating system, Mac OS X 10.5 (aka “Leopard”). While we appreciate your interest in Leopard, it has not yet been released to the public. The software demonstrated in the video must therefore be running on a pre-release developer’s build of OS X 10.5. All such builds have been distributed to developers under strict terms of confidentiality that prohibit the dissemination of screenshots or other displays of the software. The builds are also copyrighted by Apple, and U.S. copyright law explicitly prohibits unauthorized displays of copyrighted works.

Apple therefore requests that you remove this video from your website and take steps to prevent any further distribution of videos or screenshots of Apple software without Apple’s authorization. If you are represented by counsel, please provide me with the identity of that counsel.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation,

/s/ Ian Ramage

Ian Ramage
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Embarcadero Center West
275 Battery Street, Suite 2600
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 984-xxxx (direct)
(415) 984-xxxx (fax)
xxxx@omm.com

DMCA Certification: I hereby state, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that your activities are not authorized by Apple, that the information in this notification is accurate, and that I am authorized to act on behalf of Apple in this regard.

This message and any attached documents contain information from the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP that may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not read, copy, distribute, or use this information. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and then delete this message.

Ian, it a YouTube video. That’s at www.youtube.com. Get them to take it down if it’s a violation of your IP and it will stop showing at crunchgear and the other sites.

And Ian, when you are done, please take the time to send your client, Apple, a similar email for posting basically the same material on their own site.

latimes.com

Stolen Munch Masterpieces Recovered

The Scream
From Associated Press

1:59 PM PDT, August 31, 2006

OSLO, Norway — Two years after masked gunmen grabbed national artistic treasures in front of stunned visitors at an Oslo museum, police announced today they recovered the Edvard Munch masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna."

Art lovers had feared the priceless paintings were gone for good. Norwegian news media spent the months speculating about the works' fate -- whether they had been burned to escape the police hunt, sold to a wealthy collector for private viewing or suffered harm in their hiding place.

"I saw the paintings myself today, and there was far from the damage that could have been feared," said Iver Stensrud, the police inspector who headed the investigation since the paintings were taken by masked gunmen who raided the Munch Museum on Aug. 22, 2004.

Experts from the Munch Museum confirmed late today that the paintings, still shielded from the public and the news media, were the real thing.

Norwegians were shocked when two or three thieves black masks entered the museum and threatened an employee with a handgun, then wrenched the two paintings off the wall and fled. Many museumgoers panicked, thinking they were being attacked by terrorists.

Many people initially thought the paintings might be offered for ransom. Art experts said it would be nearly impossible to sell such famous pieces of art, although some people speculated an immensely rich, unscrupulous art lover might be a willing buyer.

Then at a trial this year for three men charged with minor roles in the heist, prosecutors suggested the robbery was pulled off to distract police from the hunt for a gang behind a commando-style bank robbery four months earlier that killed a police officer.

Prosecutor Terje Nyboe called the theft "an attack on Norwegian culture and Norwegian history."

The two paintings were on a list released by the FBI last fall compiling the top 10 art thefts around the globe.

"The Scream" is probably the best known work in Munch's emotionally charged style, which was a major influence in the birth of the Expressionist movement. Its waif-like figure, apparently screaming or hearing a scream, has become a modern icon of human anxiety.

"The Scream" and "Madonna" were part of the artist's "Frieze of Life" series, focusing on sickness, death, anxiety and love.

Even though Munch, who died in 1944 at age 80, had painted three other versions of "The Scream," his fellow Norwegians were heartbroken over the theft, and news of its return was greeted with relief and joy.

"I am almost crying from happiness," said Gro Balas, chairwoman of the Munch Museum board.

Stensrud, the police inspector, said authorities believed the paintings had been in Norway the whole time.

But he was cagey at a news conference in Oslo about how the paintings were recovered, saying only that "the pictures came into our hands this afternoon after a successful police action."

He did say no reward was paid, even though the City of Oslo, which owns the paintings, offered 2 million kroner, or about $294,000, for their return. He also said three men convicted this year for roles in the theft did not provide any help.

"We built this stone for stone," Stensrud said of the investigation. "This is a joyous day for the police, and for Norway."

No new arrests were reported.

Three Norwegian men sentenced to prison in May were convicted of participating in the theft plot, but police said the masked gunmen remain at large.

Petter Tharaldsen, 34, was convicted of driving the getaway car and sentenced to eight years in prison. Bjoern Hoen, 37, was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Petter Rosenvinge, 38, to four years for providing and preparing the getaway car.

The theft of "The Scream" was the second time in a decade that a version of Munch's iconic painting was stolen. One of the other versions was taken from Oslo's National Gallery in February 1994, but recovered three months later.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

CNNmoney
The secret to Yahoo Answers' success
The search giant has stumbled lately, but its popular Q&A service shows that getting people to create their own content can really pay off.

By Susanna Hamner, Business 2.0 Magazine

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- There are a few clouds gathering around Yahoo these days. The Internet star's delay in rolling out a crucial new advertising system sideswiped its stock price in July, and investors remain jittery about its prospects against Google, Microsoft, and other rivals.

But one ray of sunshine is beaming at the company's Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters: Yahoo Answers.

An online Q&A service, Yahoo Answers has become the second most popular Internet reference site after Wikipedia, according to Comscore. In June, Yahoo Answers attracted 12.3 million unique visitors, a 35 percent spike from the previous month. (For comparison, media sensation YouTube had 13.4 million visitors in June.) During the same period, 947,000 people clicked on Google Answers, down 4 percent from May.

The secret to Yahoo Answers's success?

Get your tens of millions of users to create your next hot product - and then give it away. On Yahoo Answers, anyone can ask any question, from the inane to the articulate, and get a response from, well, just about anyone. For free. It's a MySpace for know-it-alls and the perpetually clueless.

Peer content production

Yahoo (Charts) Answers is another example of the so-called peer production trend. Google (Charts), on the other hand, has taken an old-school approach, deploying more than 500 "carefully screened researchers" who answer questions if they like the price the asker is willing to pay. Some answers cost as much as $200.

The give-and-take on Yahoo Answers is decidedly more freewheeling and seems to be connecting with the hordes of young Web surfers increasingly accustomed to user-generated content that costs nothing.

Take the woman who recently sought advice on losing weight. Within five hours she received 21 responses, most sincere, notwithstanding the occasional juvenile gibe. Since the site went live in December, more than 30 million answers have been posted in the United States.

"Yahoo has been rapidly losing market share in search to Google," says Jim Friedland, senior Internet analyst with Cowen & Co., "so this is a clever way to get people to interact with the site."

John Cocozza, a Matawan, N.J., financial adviser, spends an hour every evening answering questions. "And I enjoy getting answers as well," he says, "because I receive multiple perspectives rather than the often irrelevant links a traditional search engine provides."

Of course, you might not want to take advice from Stinkydirtball or Sexymommy79, to name two recent Yahoo answerers. To manage any credibility gap, a Yahoo review team deletes inappropriate answers. Coming soon: an eBay-style system to let people rank individuals on the quality of their answers.

Will Yahoo Answers and its unpaid legions of content contributors ever amount to a significant weapon against the likes of Google and Microsoft (Charts)? The company won't break out revenue for the service, but Bradley Horowitz, Yahoo's VP for product strategy, says it will soon feature more advertising. The site currently sports only small text ads. Not for long. On the way are graphical ads that let major brands sponsor specific categories.

But maybe the site's profit potential is a question better put to Yahoo Answers. Who knows, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel might just give you the answer.

BBC News
Google makes novels free to print
Book
The service will allow users to download PDF files of classic books
Search engine Google plans to offer consumers the chance to download and print classic novels free of charge.

The firm's book search tool will let people print classics such as Dante's Inferno or Aesop's Fables, as well as other books no longer under copyright.

Until now, the service has only let people read such books on-screen.

Google's book search service stems from a wider project to put books online in a searchable format, which it is undertaking with major universities.

Working with Google on the Books Library project are Oxford University, Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan and the University of California, as well as the New York Public Library.

"How many users will find, and then buy, books they never could have discovered any other way?
Eric Schmidt, Google

Volunteers working for a project known as Gutenberg have for some years copied out-of-copyright books as text files, which can then be used for printing, reading or piping into a programme for editing.

In contrast, Google is offering the books in a "print-ready" format, as have several other - albeit much smaller and less well-known - firms.

Online shopping site Amazon has offered limited online access to the contents of its huge bookstore.

More services

Google's book searching device does not access books still under copyright, for which only bibliographies are available along with limited extracts.

The news comes as the search engine is expanding its empire to offer a wider spectrum of services.

Earlier this week, Google announced plans to target the software market for companies.

The firm said it would offer companies the chance to run their email, calendar and other services on their own domains, to expand on the service it offers to individuals.

This service puts Google, whose focus has been searching and advertising, in direct competition with software giant Microsoft.





Black Dahlia


By Kirk Honeycutt

Bottom line: A gourmet meal somewhat overcooked.
"Black Dahlia" has the looks, smarts and attitude of a classic Brian De Palma/film noir thriller. During the first hour, the hope that the director has tapped into something really great mounts with each passing minute. Then, gradually, the feverish pulp imagination of James Ellroy, on whose novel Josh Friedman based his screenplay, feeds into De Palma's dark side. The violence grows absurd, emotions get overplayed, and the film revels once too often in its gleeful depiction of corrupt, decadent old Los Angeles. Disappointingly, the film edges dangerously into camp.

No, "Black Dahlia" never quite falls into that black hole. The actors in the major roles cling firmly, even lovingly, to their boisterous characters. The sordidness and madness never seem completely wrong given the rancid world the movie surveys. Nevertheless, the second half feels heavy and unfulfilled, potential greatness reduced to a good movie plagued with problems.

Because the want-to-see factor for this anticipated film is equal to your want-to-like desire, the film's domestic distributor, Universal, could enjoy potent boxoffice. But it might skewer older, to fans of De Palma and crime fiction as well as those who recall Los Angeles' most infamous murder.

On Jan. 15, 1947, the city, in its postwar frenzy of growth, development, racial tensions and unbridled ambition, awoke to an unimaginable crime: The torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman named Elizabeth Short was found in a vacant lot off Crenshaw. The body was cut in half at the waist, disemboweled, drained of all blood and cruelly marked with grotesque taunts by her killer. The discovery sparked the city's greatest manhunt, but the killer was never found.

Which hasn't prevented continual articles, books, novels and documentaries from speculating on possible motives and suspects. Ellroy took a fictional crack at the case in arguably his best Los Angeles crime novel. It was typical Ellroy, who blamed the ghastly murder not on a deranged psychopath with a score to settle but rather police corruption, political chicanery, ruthless gangsters and various businessmen. In other words, the city killed Elizabeth.

Like any of his crackling crime tales, Ellroy surrounds historical events with fiendishly dark fictional characters. The cops on the case are Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), ex-boxers who become partners on the beat and off. Bucky finds himself in an unconsummated menage with Lee and his live-in lover, Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson). Each has troubling secrets.

Lee, hopped up on Benzedrine, grows obsessed with the Black Dahlia, as the newspapers named Elizabeth, driven to know everything about her. Bucky, too, is drawn to her fatal charm, especially when his lone-wolf investigation into lesbian bars brings him under the sway of an AC/DC hottie named Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), whose daddy is the richest developer in the city.

Characters, subplots and twists come fast and thick -- albeit abridged from an even greater onslaught in the novel. It is with the introduction of the Linscott family, though, that the story develops a noticeable wobble. Predictably, the Linscotts' involvement with the Dahlia proves extensive. Yet it is really so far-fetched. The family is one of those fictional creations where dementia, delusion and depravity run silent and deep, only to erupt in grotesque outbursts that border on the comic.

And speaking of comic, you should see De Palma and production designer Dante Ferretti's idea of a Los Angeles lesbian bar circa 1947. Instead of an underground hideaway, the place is a veritable Follies Bergere with half-naked chorines writhing and smooching on a towering stairway to the strains of a big band belting out Cole Porter.

But the film does many things right. The rapid dialogue is sharp throughout, as it should be because much of it is lifted from Ellroy's novel. Hartnett delivers an intriguing mix of tenderness, self-righteousness and self-incrimination -- Ellroy cops are never clean. Eckhart plays scenes at full throttle yet never feels out of control. As the good vamp, Johansson uses an angelic pout and faux innocence to have her way with men. As the bad vamp, Swank goes for such unrestrained sexuality that she makes the actual Dahlia -- Mia Kirshner seen in screen tests and one rather tame stag film -- seem almost demur.

Then there are the De Palma touches that pull you out of the movie: the black bird swooping down symbolically on the Dahlia's corpse, an earthquake thrown in for no good reason, Fiona Shaw's over-the-top performance as Madeleine's drug-addled mom, the rush of revelations in the final reel that feels more like footnotes than climactic moments.

Mark Isham's music is lush whether in a romantic or an overheated mood. Vilmos Zsigmond's graceful camera is a tad self-conscious as are sets and costumes, all a little too eager to flout their period trappings.

BLACK DAHLIA
Universal Pictures
Universal in association with Millennnium Films presents a Signature Pictures production for Equity Pictures Medienfonds and Nu-Image Entertainment
Credits:
Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Josh Friedman
Based on the novel by: James Ellroy
Producers: Art Linson, Avi Lerner, Moshe Diamant, Ruby Cohen
Executive producers: James B. Harris, Danny Dimbort, Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short, John Thompson, Andreas Thiesmeyer, Josef Lautenschlager, Henrik Huydts, Rolf Deyhle
Director of photography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Production designer: Dante Ferretti
Music: Mark Isham
Costume designer: Jenny Beavan
Editor: Bill Pankow
Cast:
Bucky Bleichert: Josh Hartnett
Lee Blanchard: Aaron Eckhart
Kay Lake: Scarlett Johansson
Madeleine Linscott: Hilary Swank
Elizabeth Short: Mia Kirshner
Russ Millard: Mike Starr
Ramona: Fiona Shaw
Martha: Rachel Miner
Bill Koenig: Victor McGuire
MPAA rating: R
Running time -- 121 minutes
The New York Times



August 30, 2006

Universal Music Group and an Online Site Plan a Joint Venture to Challenge iTunes

By ERIC PFANNER

A new online music company said yesterday that it would make a huge catalog of songs from the world’s largest record company, the Universal Music Group, available for consumers to download free.

The company, called SpiralFrog, said its intention was to wean music fans, especially young people, away from illegal downloads and pirate music sites by offering a legitimate source, supported by advertising instead of download fees.

SpiralFrog is the latest to offer a challenge to Apple Computer’s hugely successful iTunes service, which allows consumers to download songs legally for 99 cents each, and its many smaller imitators. Though the venture is not the first to try a free ad-supported approach, the backing of Universal, with millions of songs in its catalog from thousands of artists like Eminem and Gwen Stefani, Elton John and Gloria Estefan, Count Basie and Hank Williams, promises to give it instant credibility and scale.

SpiralFrog, which is privately held and headed by Robin Kent, a former advertising executive, said it expected to start testing its service in the United States and Canada by the end of the year and would extend its service to Britain and other European markets next year.

The announcement reflects the music industry’s eagerness to experiment with various digital business models and to find a way to overcome piracy and illegal copying, which remain a big problem despite the record companies’ efforts to enforce their copyrights in court.

While the industry has tried to encourage the growth of legitimate alternatives like iTunes, some record executives have begun to chafe at Apple’s dominance in the online market, particularly its insistence on a “one size fits all” pricing model, saying it has restricted the growth of digital sales.

For consumers, SpiralFrog’s free downloads will come with many more strings attached than Apple’s paid ones. Users of SpiralFrog will have to sit through advertisements and will be prevented by special software from making copies of the songs they download or from sharing them with other people.

They will have to revisit the SpiralFrog Web site regularly to keep access to the music they download. And the songs will be encoded in the Microsoft WMA format, meaning they will probably not work on Apple iPod portable music players.

The venture is not the first legitimate one to make music available free. Napster, a former peer-to-peer file-sharing scourge of the record companies, introduced an advertising-supported service this year that lets users listen to a few songs without paying fees. But Napster’s free service streams its music to users, rather than allowing them to download and store the files, as iTunes does.

Kazaa, another digital file-sharing network, agreed last month to settle copyright-infringement lawsuits with the music and movie industries. It is also expected to start a free-with-advertising service when it reintroduces itself as a licensed, legitimate distribution business.

SpiralFrog beat Kazaa to the punch with its own announcement, which was reported yesterday by The Financial Times.

“Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling,” Mr. Kent of SpiralFrog said in a statement. “SpiralFrog will offer those consumers a better experience and environment than they can get from any pirate site.”

Mr. Kent is a former chief executive of Universal McCann, a media-buying unit of the Interpublic Group that is not connected to Universal Music.

Neville Hobson, a spokesman for SpiralFrog, said the company hoped to pursue licensing deals with the other major record companies — Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music — to augment its deal with Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi.

SpiralFrog, which is based in New York, did not disclose the terms of its licensing agreement with Universal Music or how it would compensate the company for use of its copyrighted songs. Universal’s many record labels control about a quarter of the worldwide market for recorded music.

Given the fragmentation of the digital music business — the hundreds of would-be challengers to iTunes mainly have minuscule shares of the market — analysts said that new services like SpiralFrog would face difficult challenges, despite the lure of free music.

“Few service providers are currently in a position to provide the large audiences that advertisers require, and few pure music providers have the heritage of building a business funded by advertising,” said Michele Mackenzie, principal analyst at Ovum, a telecommunications and Internet consulting firm.

The music industry must also manage its relationship with Apple carefully, analysts said.

SpiralFrog took pains to discourage talk that its free-with-advertising model would threaten Apple’s pay-per-song service. Mr. Hobson, the SpiralFrog spokesman, said, “It’s a very different model. It’s complementary to iTunes.”


UK readers blocked from NY Times terror article
Julia Day

Tuesday August 29, 2006

MediaGuardian.co.uk

The New York Times has blocked British readers from accessing an article published in the US about the alleged London bomb plot for fear of breaching the UK's contempt of court laws.

Published in the US yesterday under the headline "Details emerge in British terror case", the article claims to reveal new information about the alleged terror bomb plot that brought British airports to a standstill earlier this month.

Online access to the article from the UK has been blocked and the shipment of yesterday's paper to London was stopped. The story was also omitted from the International Herald Tribune, the NYT's European sister paper.

The article purports to contain new information about Scotland Yard's surveillance of the alleged plotters and the subsequent police operation which resulted in the arrest of 24 suspects.

The claims in the article are based on testimonies from "British officials and others briefed on the evidence, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, citing British rules on confidentiality regarding criminal prosecutions" with six reporters contributing to the piece from New York, Washington and Pakistan.

Anyone from the UK attempting to read the article via the New York Times website is met with the message: "This Article Is Unavailable. On advice of legal counsel, this article is unavailable to readers of nytimes.com in Britain. This arises from the requirement in British law that prohibits publication of prejudicial information about the defendants prior to trial. "

It is believed to be the first time that the paper has stopped British readers accessing one of its articles because of worries about UK law.

Earlier this month, the home secretary, John Reid, and the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, issued a joint warning to the media to avoid coverage of the current terror investigations which might prejudice future trials.

The statement threatened possible contempt proceedings against publications that failed to show appropriate "restraint".

Mr Reid took the unusual step of seeking the attorney general's legal advice before publicising details of the alleged plot.

Because of the "exceptional" nature of the allegations, it was agreed he could reveal a significant amount of information surrounding the arrests of the 24 suspects.

The New York Times has been contacted by MediaGuardian.co.uk but had not responded by the time of publication.

Jill Abramson, a managing editor at the paper, said: "It's never a happy choice to deny any reader a story. But this was preferable to not having it on the web at all."

"I think we have to take every case on its own facts," said George Freeman, vice president and assistant general counsel of the New York Times Company.

"But we're dealing with a country [the UK] that, while it doesn't have a First Amendment, it does have a free press, and it's our position that we ought to respect that country's laws."

While shelving the print versions of the article in Britain was straightforward, the issue of the publication on the web was more complicated, said the newspaper in an article published online today.

Richard J. Meislin, the paper's associate managing editor for internet publishing, said it used the paper's online advertising technology to discern the internet address of users connecting to the site.

CBS magazine slims down Couric in photo

Photo

Wed Aug 30, 3:39 PM ET

No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing.

The touched-up photo of Couric dressed in a striped business suit appears on the inside of the September issue of Watch! which is distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights.

CBS News President Sean McManus said he was "obviously surprised and disappointed when I heard about it."

The original picture was snapped in May and was widely circulated to the media as an official photo of Couric.

Couric, 49, said she hadn't known about the digitally reworked version until she saw the issue. The former NBC "Today" show host told the Daily News, "I liked the first picture better because there's more of me to love."

Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications for CBS Corp., said Wednesday in a phone interview the photo alteration was done by someone in the CBS photo department who "got a little zealous."

But he dismissed any notion of heads rolling over the matter.

"I talked to my photo department, we had a discussion about it," Schwartz said. "I think photo understands this is not something we'd do in the future."

He said the photo department "services tens of thousands of photographs every year" for all parts of the company and that it "does a fantastic job."

"The article that accompanies the picture is very responsible, very interesting," he added.

Schwartz said the magazine has a circulation of over 400,000.

While expressing regret, McManus tried to make light of the matter.

"I've asked that three inches in height be added to my official CBS photo," he quipped to the News.

Couric debuts in the anchor's chair Sept. 5. CBS has spent millions on marketing to prepare viewers for her arrival.

The New York Times



August 30, 2006

First Source of C.I.A. Leak Admits Role, Lawyer Says

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state, has acknowledged that he was the person whose conversation with a columnist in 2003 prompted a long, politically laden criminal investigation in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case, a lawyer involved in the case said on Tuesday.

Mr. Armitage did not return calls for comment. But the lawyer and other associates of Mr. Armitage have said he has confirmed that he was the initial and primary source for the columnist, Robert D. Novak, whose column of July 14, 2003, identified Valerie Wilson as a Central Intelligence Agency officer.

The identification of Mr. Armitage as the original leaker to Mr. Novak ends what has been a tantalizing mystery. In recent months, however, Mr. Armitage’s role had become clear to many, and it was recently reported by Newsweek magazine and The Washington Post.

In the accounts by the lawyer and associates, Mr. Armitage disclosed casually to Mr. Novak that Ms. Wilson worked for the C.I.A. at the end of an interview in his State Department office. Mr. Armitage knew that, the accounts continue, because he had seen a written memorandum by Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman.

Mr. Grossman had taken up the task of finding out about Ms. Wilson after an inquiry from I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Mr. Libby’s inquiry was prompted by an Op-Ed article on May 6, 2003, in The New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof and an article on June 12, 2003, in The Washington Post by Walter Pincus.

The two articles reported on a trip by a former ambassador to Africa sponsored by the C.I.A. to check reports that Iraq was seeking enriched uranium to help with its nuclear arms program.

Neither article identified the ambassador, but it was known inside the government that he was Joseph C. Wilson IV, Ms. Wilson’s husband. White House officials wanted to know how much of a role she had in selecting him for the assignment.

Ms. Wilson was a covert employee, and after Mr. Novak printed her identity, the agency requested an investigation to see whether her name had been leaked illegally.

Some administration critics said her name had been made public in a campaign to punish Mr. Wilson, who had written in a commentary in The Times that his investigation in Africa led him to believe that the Bush administration had twisted intelligence to justify an attack on Iraq.

The complaints after Mr. Novak’s column led to the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s identity.

The special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, did not bring charges in connection with laws that prohibit the willful disclosure of the identity of an C.I.A. officer. But Mr. Fitzgerald did indict Mr. Libby on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, saying Mr. Libby had testified untruthfully to a grand jury and federal agents when he said he learned about Ms. Wilson’s role at the agency from reporters rather than from several officials, including Mr. Cheney.

According to an account in a coming book, “Hubris, the Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War’’ by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, excerpts of which appeared in Newsweek this week, Mr. Armitage told a few State Department colleagues that he might have been the leaker whose identity was being sought.

The book says Mr. Armitage realized that when Mr. Novak published a second column in October 2003 that said his source had been an official who was “not a political gunslinger.’’

The Justice Department was quickly informed, and Mr. Armitage disclosed his talks with Mr. Novak in subsequent interviews with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, even before Mr. Fitzgerald’s appointment.

The book quotes Carl W. Ford Jr., then head of the intelligence and research bureau at the State Department, as saying that Mr. Armitage had told him, “I may be the guy who caused this whole thing,’’ and that he regretted having told the columnist more than he should have.

Mr. Grossman’s memorandum did not mention that Ms. Wilson had undercover status.

Apart from Mr. Ford, as quoted in the book, the lawyer and colleagues of Mr. Armitage who discussed the case have spoken insisting on anonymity, apparently because Mr. Armitage was still not comfortable with the public acknowledgment of his role.

He was also the source for another journalist about Ms. Wilson, a reporter who did not write about her. The lawyers and associates said Mr. Armitage also told Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post and a well-known author, of her identity in June 2003.

Mr. Woodward was a late player in the legal drama when he disclosed last November that he had the received the information and testified to a grand jury about it after learning that his source had disclosed the conversation to prosecutors.