Media
The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s Press Standards, Privacy and Libel report was published last night and can be read in full HERE. In summary the report:
- Called for the Government to cut “enormous cost of libel cases” in the UK;
- Called for the Press Complaints Commission to be renamed and have power to fine;
- Condemned “collective amnesia” at News International over phone hacking but said the culture of hacking being deemed acceptable had now changed.
More in The Guardian HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE; Independent HERE and HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE.
Tech
It has been revealed that former children’s laureates Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Jacqueline Wilson, among others, have opted out of the Google Books settlement. Court documents relating to the case (see HERE) show that more than 6,500 authors, publishers and literary agents have opted out of the settlement. These include the estates of Rudyard Kipling and Roald Dahl. Novelist Marika Cobbold, author of books including Guppies for Tea and Shooting Butterflies, has opted out and said:
“My feelings were, in the end, that I doubted I would lose out by opting out, whereas I might do by opting in. Also there was the principle that copyright is important… It would be like handing over my babies to a babysitter I’d never met, [and] I couldn’t understand what was in it for me. I love Google, and in principle making information accessible is wonderful, but things are moving so fast, and authors are losing so much control over what we’ve done, that my fear was who knows, in five to 10 years’ time, how this information could be used?” More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and FT HERE.
More bad news for Google as it faces a preliminary anti-monopoly probe by the European Commission into its dominant position in online browsing and digital advertising following allegations that it demotes competing websites to the lower echelons of customers’ search results. The complaints centre on the way in which Google’s search results are compiled and on the terms and conditions the company attaches to deals with advertisers. Although the commission’s investigation is only at a tentative stage, the fact that Brussels is taking the issue seriously is likely to set off alarm bells at Google. More in The Guardian HERE.
Cinema
There’s interesting coverage of the Alice in Wonderland/ Odeon fall-out in today’s Guardian, where it notes that Tim Burton’s film has become an unlikely pawn in a global struggle to redefine how, when and where we watch movies in the digital age. Disney, which produced the movie, wants to shorten the amount of time between some films being released in cinemas and then coming out on DVD. Exhibitors, unsurprisingly, want to preserve the exclusive theatrical experience for as long as possible. The studio insists that it’s not trying to enforce a new industry standard: it simply wants the flexibility to release some films sooner on DVD, when it makes commercial sense to do so. The studio argues that films typically last about two months in cinemas before they disappear off screens; this means a further two-month wait until the official DVD release, a period used by pirates to flog illegal copies. A shorter window, says Disney, will mean less money lost to the pirates.
But exhibitors fear that if they accept a three-month window for Alice, rather than a four, then other studios will follow suit, making a further contraction inevitable. This, they say, will erode the eagerness of audiences to rush out to the cinema, and tempt them to wait instead for the DVD or online release. More in The Guardian HERE.
Music
It’s National Sing Up Day today, ‘Sing Up’ works on the basis that every child deserves the chance to sing every day. Singing improves learning, confidence, health and social development; it has the power to change lives and help to build stronger communities. You can read more about Sing Up’s work at their website HERE. There is also news this week that teaching stroke patients to sing can “rewire” their brains, helping them to recover speech. Dr Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist from Northwestern University in Chicago, also studies the effects of music on the brain. She has discovered that musical training seems to enhance the ability to perform other tasks, such as reading; providing yet more evidence that musical training is an important part of children’s education. More in BBC News HERE.
Auction
A rare copy of the first comic book to feature Superman sold for $1m (£640,000) yesterday, smashing the previous record for a comic. The 1938 edition of Action Comics No1 was sold by a private seller to a private buyer. Neither released their name. The issue, which has a cover featuring Superman lifting a car, originally cost 10 cents. More in The Guardian HERE.
Libraries
Miranda McKearney, Directorof the Reading Agency has given an interview to The Guardian, talking about their schemes to promote authors and books to communities, through such means as Summer Reading Challenges and reading groups. More HERE.
