New Media

Longtime readers will notice a not-so subtle re-branding of this blog. The generic “Currents” is finished. New Media is where it’s at.

I’ve been a part of the “new media” scene since it became relatively easy for terminal late adopters like myself to start publishing and promoting stuff online. We’re all still trying to figure out precisely what new media means and how “old media” is going to survive in the Information Age. And I’ve written before that I really do think both new and old media are actually just flip sides of the same coin.

In future, knowledge transfer will take place in a symbiotic relationship between syndication on Web 2.0 platforms and essential raw investigative data from the traditional media sources. So, new media isn’t precisely new. It is something different than what we’ve had, but mostly it just builds on what we’ve already had. A vintage Model-T Ford and a brand new Ferrari may look different, but they’re both basically cars, if you get my meaning.

I’ve operated in both traditional media and communications and this new media world for a while and this is where I want to continue to be be. This site will continue to be mainly a central platform for collecting my own essays and opinions. It’s still a personal site and as such, I will be keeping my name-based URL. However, I will also be linking and highlighting more the voices of those with whom I’ve built relationships in this new media scene.

So stay a while. Leave a comment. Feel free to get in touch with me on my other social platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Looking forward to re-connecting.

New Media Douchebags Explained

Reporters Without Borders reports that Canada’s freedom of speech has measurably suffered, apparently due in part to the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s censorious activities (Details at Ezra Levant’s blog). Chris Waddell, a journalism professor at Carleton University, criticizes the institution in the CP thusly:

Waddell says the second thing that comes to mind is the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which has come under fire recently over a couple of high-profile cases.

One of those cases involved a Mark Steyn book excerpt on the Maclean’s magazine web site. The excerpt was accused of promoting hatred and contempt of Muslims.

That case was tossed out, but led some to demand that the commission be disbanded.

Mind you, we’re still ahead of the Yanks. Apparently, the Danes are today’s beacon of freedom in the world.

Getting back to the point, though, isn’t it long past time to disband the CHRC?

Rex Murphy’s Take on the CHRC

A view from inside Iran’s propaganda apparatus, courtesy of a former Press TV employee:

The running joke at Press TV is that the channel’s logo, a rip-off of BBC-style block letters arranged after an oversized globe that looks like an ‘o’, reads “Opress TV.” Every day, when a fleet of shuttle cabs drops employees off at the Tehran headquarters – located on a quiet residential street in the northwest district of Saadat Abad, just blocks from Evin prison – they pass under the huge neon sign looming over the building’s entrance. The irony is not lost on anyone…