Blurred Keys

Two separate issues… On Saddam’s execution, YouTube, and the old media acting as the arbiter, Roy
Greenslade asks…

Should people be restricted from
seeing anything they want? If so, who should act as the arbiter? Do we have a
democratic right to decide these matters as individuals? Does the apparent
hunger in the West to view the images of Saddam indicate that
taste has been incorrectly imposed in the past by mainstream media?”   .

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times columnist, Joel Stein, explains why not to email him… (no sub or reg req; found vie here)

Here’s what my Internet-fearing editors have failed to understand: I
don’t want to talk to you; I want to talk at you. A column is not my
attempt to engage in a conversation with you. I have more than enough
people to converse with. And I don’t listen to them either. That sound
on the phone, Mom, is me typing.

Some newspapers even list the
phone numbers of their reporters at the end of their articles. That’s a
smart use of their employees’ time. Why not just save a step and have
them set up a folding table at a senior citizen center with a sign
asking for complaints?

(UPDATE BELOW) “You’re a censor… how dare you” an uninvited guess told Late Late presenter Pat Kenny last night. With a few mutters from Kenny, the man continued, “Gay Byrne and you are [mutters] insufferable arseholes”.

“You arsehole” the man says – “thank you very much” Kenny replied – and just as the visually kicked in the man ended saying “you piece of shit”.

Irish tabloids led with the story on Saturday morning, but to quote tcal.net, a boards.ie discussion on  the Late Late Show intruder "appeared within *seconds*".

Just about a half hour after the incident, a boards.ie user posted a downloadable video clip that was then reposted on YouTube within an hour.

After lunchtime on Saturday at least five copies of the clip was on YouTube, with over 2500 views.

On Sunday after just before 4pm the five copies of the clip had mounted nearly 27,000 views, there was also a
second longer version of the clip with over 3000 views. Another spike is likely on Monday as links to the clip are emailed around offices.

Blogs such as Tcal.net, and blogorrah.com, and tabloids including the Irish Star, and the Sun were able reasonably accurately quoting the man. This task proved too hard for RTE News, Thomas Crosbie Media, the Press Association (on UTVlive.com), the Irish Independent, and the Irish Times.

The quotes used by the Irish Independent, and the Irish Times - "You and Gay Byrne are insufferable. You’re a piece of s***" and "You and Gay Byrne are insufferable. You’re a piece of s***" - are nearly identical. Talk about newsroom culture.

Both are wrong, the man clearly says, “Gay Byrne and you are insufferable arseholes”

As for the blocking of the word ‘shit’ in the line “You’re a piece of s***", we think most people would agree with the Guardian that “s***” and “s**t” are both copouts.

And unlike blogs newspaper’s online breaking news sections didn’t embed the YouTube clip into their pages, nor did they use a pop-up window as the LA Times website did when a UCLA student was recently Tasered for not showing their ID card in a library and refusing to leave.

UPDATE: An article
in the Irish Mail on Sunday reported that the Late Late Show intruder’s reference
to “You’re a censor” is connected with the show ignoring him about a ‘black
box’ type device for cars he has designed to tackle the problem of road deaths
in Ireland.

The Mail also reported that the man’s daughter is a researcher on the show, but
he says she had no knowledge of his stunt, nor did she get him into the audience.
The man claims he just told security at Montrose that he was in the audience
and was allowed to enter.

Vie tcal.net