politicalowl

The Financial Times of London has argued that the Murdoch controlled Fox’s second bid for The UK's Sky television deserves proper scrutiny. In an editorial the FT argues that while with most products, at most times, market competition does an excellent job supplying consumers’ appetites, in a democracy, information is not just any product. The market may give consumers the information they want, but there is little economic reason to think it will supply citizens the information they need. A wide variety of information and opinion must be available. It is a key job of democratic institutions to ensure that this happens. This is why media mergers are exposed to intense scrutiny. The editorial concludes: When it comes to the fit and proper test, the allegations of sexual harassment at Fox News, following as they do the phone hacking scandal at the newspaper arm of the Murdoch empire, raise serious questions. In both cases, failings of corporate culture were endemic, with senior...

El Niño strengthens but a warm Indian Ocean - The 2015 El Niño is now the strongest El Niño since 1997–98. ... Most international climate models surveyed by the Bureau of Meteorology indicate the tropical Pacific will continue to warm, with the largest anomalies occurring later in the year. Typically, El Niño peaks during the late austral spring or early summer, and weakens during late summer to autumn. The 2015 event has, so far, been following a normal El Niño life cycle. CPS mulls corporate criminal charge against News UK as Rebekah Brooks set to head up News Corp in London - News UK could face corporate criminal charges after the  Metropolitan Police has handed a "full file" of evidence to prosecutors relating to hacking at News of the World. ...  The corporate prosecution of News UK relates to evidence gathered by detectives from Operation Weeting, which stretches back to 2011 and investigated illegal voicemail interceptions at the tabloid. ...  Co...

How can we measure media power?  – “The potential for political influence is what most people think of when they talk about the power of the media. A new media power index, proposed in this column, aggregates power across all platforms and focuses not on markets but on voters. It measures not actual media influence but rather its potential. Using the index, the author finds that the four most powerful media companies in the US are television-based and the absolute value of the index is high. This indicates that most American voters receive their news from a small number of news sources, which creates the potential for large political influence.” (Click to enlarge) MH370 search faces tough next phase  – “The next phase of the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 will be very challenging in places. Detailed information being gathered about the shape of the ocean floor west of Australia confirms the seabed in some locations to be extremely rugged.” The Con...