In The News

MH370 Amuses as Syria Suffers

Tony Burman April 1, 2014
The global audience appears to be more curious about the mystery of 239 people on board Malaysian Flight MH370 than the victims of the civil war in Syria – as many as 125,000 dead, including nearly 12,000 children, and millions of refugees as of December. Tony Burman, journalism professor, reviews the news coverage of a search by 25 nations for a missing jet versus the suffering in a refugee camp...

Media Under Attack From Hackers: Google Researchers

Jeremy Wagstaff March 28, 2014
Some countries block the internet for news they don’t like; others actively try to disrupt the computers of news gatherers. Journalists and news organizations are a frequent target of state-sponsored hacking attacks, suggests research by two Google security engineers, presented at the Black Hat conference in Singapore. “Both researchers declined to go into detail about how Google monitors such...

Bloomberg Should Have Rethought Articles on China, Chairman Says

Neil Gough March 21, 2014
The chairman of Bloomberg L.P. waved a white flag over news coverage on China – and suggested that investigative journalism is inappropriate for a company that sells expensive business terminals. Peter T. Grauer’s comment as reported in the New York Times – “Our approach is pretty much to tune out all the news about weaknesses in the emerging markets” – implies that the company can sell a product...

Turkey's President Gul Challenges PM's Move to Ban Twitter

Rory Cellan-Jones March 21, 2014
Those who try to shoot messengers often appear guilty, frustrated and infuriated about getting caught. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to wipe out a social-media site and “took action against Twitter after some users had posted documents reportedly showing evidence of corruption relating to his office – a claim he denies,” reports Rory Cellan-Jones for BBC News. “His spokesman said Mr...

“Netflix for Piracy” Popcorn Time Saved by Fans

Dave Lee March 19, 2014
Consumers can’t resist the lure of free entertainment. The film industry may want to shut down software development that provides easy sharing, but Popcorn Time may have the last laugh. The service that freely streams digital content as BitTorrent files, including movies, has been released as open-source software posted free online and already translated into 32 languages. “This means that anyone...

Are Big, Rich Cities Greener Than Poor Ones?

March 17, 2014
More than half the world’s population lives in cities: “Consequently, a new science of cities is being fueled by the sudden availability of fascinating datasets collected from urban areas all over the world,” notes MIT Technology Review. As cities grow wages rise, drawing more residents; reliance on vehicles tends to decline. Overall, wealthier nations produce more emissions per capita than...

You Can Hunt for Flight 370

Lizzie Crocker March 12, 2014
A Malaysian Airlines jet with 239 persons on board vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. “Using high-resolution satellite images and the eyes of any human that’s willing to help, earth imagery company DigitalGlobe launched a campaign to scan the Gulf of Thailand for survivors,” reports Lizzie Crocker for the Daily Beast, about the company that provides imagery for Google Earth and Apple...