News Archive 2015

By Media Matters President, JOHN TERRIS

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

In my last editorial, I mentioned our news hour and how it wastes our time with trivia simply so as to keep hold of the audience.  Often too, there is an objectionable amount of intruding on people's personal grief in the face of tragedy, which is little better than voyeurism.

All this intrusion on people's privacy, the freighting of bulletins with news which is actually faux news and not real news at all, is something that we should start to insist that "this is something up with which we will not put".

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By Media Matters President, JOHN TERRIS

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

The electronic and print media today do not have any high minded objectives such as "To Inform, Educate and Entertain."  With the exception of the BBC and those national broadcasters which have modelled themselves on the BBC, like the CBC and the ABC, the only interest of the broadcaster today is to sell you shows which are supposed to make your life complete.  The programmes therefore become a vehicle for sales, having no other story or production value. 

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Ousted Reddit CEO Ellen Pao explains how the internet has evolved from a bastion of free speech to a haven for harassment.
[Photo: ROBERT GALBRAITH/REUTERS]

I have just endured one of the largest trolling attacks in history.  And I have just been blessed with the most astonishing human responses to that attack.

What happened to me while head of the popular online forum Reddit for the past eight months is important to consider as we confront the ways in which the internet is evolving.  Here's why:

The internet started as a bastion for free expression.  It encouraged broad engagement and a diversity of ideas.  Over time, however, that openness has enabled the harassment of people for their views, experiences, appearances or demographic backgrounds.  Balancing free expression with privacy and the protection of participants has always been a challenge for open-content platforms on the internet.  But that balancing act is getting harder.  The trolls are winning.

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When the England Women's football team crashed out of the World Cup in July [2015], a swarm of internet trolls took to Twitter in order to direct abuse at Laura Bassett, the player whose freak own goal put paid to England's hopes in the tournament.

It was the latest in a seemingly endless stream of examples of high-profile women with a social media presence related to their work becoming targets for insults and threats, often from anonymous abusers.

In view of such cases, what should employers be doing to help and support individuals deal with trolling?  After all, many organisations now expect employees to maintain an active presence on social media as part of their day-to-day work.  As a result, there is a clear "duty of care" to be met, says Magnus Boyd, a partner at Schillings, the law firm.

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Nicola Brookes checks her mobile device for messages.  She has dealt with online harassment for five years and is still fighting to have her trolls prosecuted for their alleged crimes.  (Lucas Metz/CBC)

Sitting in a quiet Brighton pub, Nicola Brookes brushes back her hair, cautiously glancing down at her phone in anticipation of the next cruel message.

For five years, the 48-year-old says, she has experienced constant abuse from internet trolls who attack her on everything from her age to the way she looks.

She says that someone even stole her Facebook profile photo and personal information to create a fake profile that accuses her of being a pedophile.

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Researchers say people across the world now spend three billion hours a week playing video games.

Millions of gamers could be at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and other mental illnesses in later life through playing action video games such as Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, according to new research.

Scientists say players navigate the screen using a key area of the brain called the caudate nucleus, which leads to loss of grey matter in the hippocampus.

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MP Ron Mark swore during Question Time in Parliament - and the sign interpreter (top right corner) translated.

MP Ron Mark uttered a barely audible swear word in the House, but viewers watching Parliament TV's sign language interpreter were left in no doubt about what was said.

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Police are reporting an increase in the number of young children being contacted by sexual predators through apps and games on smart phones.

Kathryn Ryan [Nine To Noon] is joined by director of Netsafe Martin Cocker, and former undercover internet detective Brett Lee.

Brett Lee, a former undercover internet detective in Australia and now cyber safety expert, says it is crucial for parents to communicate with their children about what they are doing online.

The online safety team at the police said they were getting on average two complaints a week about children being targeted by paedophiles online.

They said this was partially due to an increase in the number of games and apps on mobile devices, many of which feature open chat options with other players.

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She's been asking for one since she was 8 years old.  He's been borrowing yours every day.  Both kids have so many after school sports that they really could benefit from having a phone to call you when their practices are over.  You've hemmed and you've hawed, but finally you've given in and bought your child a smartphone.  Now, the challenge begins: How do you ensure that he or she uses it wisely? 

Here are 10 guidelines to promote respectful, responsible use of your child's new gadget:

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There is concern that parents could monitor their children with out the children's knowledge.

Kiwi parents are saying no to spying on their kids after a monitoring app was launched in New Zealand.

The TeenSafe app, which prompted concern from cyber safety and privacy watchdogs, was aimed at parents to keep teenagers with smartphones safe.

The fear of a child being subjected to potential online sexual harassment, peer-pressure and cyberbullying has created a huge demand for the monitoring app in the US, where it claims to have more than one million users.

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Watchdogs removed more than 31,000 URLs hosting images of child abuse - and while only 95 of the were based in the UK, while more than half were hosted in North America

Shocking: The number of web pages found with images of child sexual abuse soared by 137% last year

Internet pages found with child sex abuse images soared 137% to 31,266 last year, a report today revealed.

Pages removed by the Internet Watch Foundation rose from 13,182 in 2013 to 31,266 after the watchdog was given powers to hunt out criminal content.

Around 89% of those pages contained images of children aged 10 or under, an increase from 65% in 2013 and 79% in 2012, the watchdog added.

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By Media Matters Member, Don McDonald

Don McDonald

Things which appear on television, are often blatantly false and misleading. 

Take the TVNZ Big Wednesday Lotto draw on 27th November 2013, when the presenter declared, at the end of the draw, that "of course, at least 3.5 million cents including all the luxury prizes are "up for grabs every single week".  From time to time, in the course of this weekly presentation she will add statements like "join me as I'll be giving away all the big prizes in just a moment."

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Our members span three generations and we continue to advocate for a safer TV and Internet environment for our kids.

You have to admit that the politicians have had it their way for too long.  The recent election campaign has been dominated by stories of Internet misuse, yet nothing has actually been done, or planned to be done, to prevent this.

Please help our cause and NZ's future.

Subscribe to Media Matters.

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A person using an iPad and watching TV [Getty Images]

A new study is suggesting stricter guidelines on how much recreational time children spend in front of screens like, television, computers and other devices.

It follows concerns by medical professionals of associated health problems like changes in blood chemistry, obesity, attention problems and reduction in sleep hormones.

The report by biologist and psychologist Dr Aric Sigman says the Government should come up with specific guidelines and parents should be informed.

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WE NEED TO TALK - Screen time in NZ, Media Use:
An Emerging factor in child and adolescent health.

Family First NZ Media Release 9 February 2015

A report on the increasing use of screen time for children is critical of government agencies for a lack of guidelines to families, and says that the Ministry of Health should consider screen time as a personal health and well-being issue to be formally included in the health education curriculum and taught in the classroom from primary school.

The Report "WE NEED TO TALK - Screen time in NZ, Media Use: An Emerging factor in child and adolescent health"  by biologist / psychologist Dr Aric Sigman says that although screen technology may be a beneficial aspect of modern life, there is growing concern from health and development experts about the disproportionate use in many families' lives, particularly the young in New Zealand.

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Scenes from Fifty Shades Of Grey have been condemned by Family First. [Photo / supplied]

The erotic movie Fifty Shades of Grey, due to be released on Valentines Day, should be boycotted because it "glamorises sexual violence", Family First says.

Moviegoers should instead donate the admission fee to their local Women's Refuge, the lobby group's national director Bob McCoskrie said.

The movie, based on the novel by British author EL James, traces the relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and wealthy businessman Christian Grey.

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Media Release by Family First NZ - 7 Feb 2015

Family First NZ is calling on families to boycott the upcoming "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie and instead donate the admission fee to a local women's refuge.  They are also encouraging families to use the release of the movie as an opportunity to have a discussion with their youngsters about real respect and intimacy in relationships.

"The premise of the movie is that a woman who is humiliated, abused, controlled, entrapped, coerced, manipulated and tortured is somehow an 'empowered' woman.  And a man who is possessive, controlling, violent, jealous and coercive is somehow showing 'true love'.  These are foul and dangerous lies.  This movie and the book it is based on simply glamorises sexual violence and should be rejected by everyone who is concerned about family and sexual violence," says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

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Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has taken responsibility for his site's poor handling of abuse.

Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo admits the site has become an ideal platform for harassment, in large part because it has done so little to combat it.

On Wednesday, in the wake of a blockbuster radio piece by the feminist writer Lindy West, Costolo admitted to a fatal flaw of his platform.

"We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we've sucked at it for years,"  Costolo wrote, in a company memo obtained by the Verge.

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SECURITY TIME BOMB: Favourites include 'qwerty', 'iloveyou' and the cunning 'letmein'. [Artwork: John Shakespeare]

Despite all the warnings, people persist in choosing easy-to-break passwords to protect their precious online data.

"123456" is the worst password imaginable but, amazingly it's still the most popular choice.

For all the high-tech security threats lurking in the shadows, weak passwords are the easiest to fix, yet apparently the most ignored.  It's simple to come up with complicated yet easy-to-remember passwords, it's just that some people still aren't prepared to make the effort - putting themselves and their friends at peril.

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