Frequently Asked Questions
The purpose of this page is educational: to answer questions about newsmedia liberation, creative commons licensing, web-TV, podcasting and really simple syndication (rss).
The need for an alternative newsmedia
Q. Why is the alternative newmedia necessary?
A. Because the establishment newsmedia is owned and controlled by private corporations or governments. The news is filtered by a combination of over-reporting, under-reporting and non-reporting of events to suit the political and economic interests of the unelected wealthy plutocracy. This plutocracy either owns the media or politically dominates government-controlled media. The media, like the society it mirrors, has a hierarchical command structure. Journalists and broadcasting staff know what their bosses want to see and hear and a regime of censorship and self-censorship exists. Dissident views are allowed in the tiny-circulation newspapers of the intelligentsia, but they are never allowed to predominate. Dissidents are indulged to give the impression of impartiality. But when a major political crisis emerges (especially wars), they are witch-hunted, muzzled, side-lined or sacked as the patriotic flag-wavers and army cheerleaders take centre stage. The Kelly affair was instructive in this regard--the BBC was decapitated because it wasn't rabidly pro-war enough. And the anti-war editor of the British mass-circulation tabloid, the Daily Mirror, was set-up and sacked by the establishment.
And even the two most liberal British newspapers are not in fact very liberal. They both support pro-war parties. In the 2005 British general election The Guardian editorial politically supported Blair's warmongering Labour Party and The Independent editorial supported the Liberal Democrats, a party whose anti-war stance collapsed once the 2003 Iraq war got underway. How objective, or independent, can these newspapers be when they are dependent on advertising from corporations for up to 75% of their financial income? Any "knocking copy" that might be critical of corporations placing ads in these newspapers is quietly outlawed. They mustn't bite too hard the hand that feeds them. For example, the Zionist lobby in the US, and the West generally, is notorious for using its influence in the business/advertising world to limit and curtail media criticism of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians. Newspaper owners risk losing advertising revenue and end up facing bankruptcy if they ignore this powerful lobby. The US Christian Evangelist Right operates in the same way. How objective can the media be when their editors are gagged by government D Notices at critical junctures--purely on a voluntary basis you understand. But watch out any editor that doesn't toe the line.
The mass circulation tabloids and TV news read and watched by most working people are essentially crude propaganda affairs with no dissenting voices allowed. The British tabloid titles are little more than semi-fascist porno-comics. They are a national embarrassment--visitors from abroad are appalled by the sight of them on news-stands. TV news plays a pivotal role in propagating the outlook of the Establishment. Many people do not read newspapers. TV is their only source of news.
Q. So should the anti-war movement not bother to demand that the mainstream media report its activities?
A. Firstly, it is not the "mainstream" newsmedia, it is the Establishment media. It is the newsmedia of a tiny stratum of the population: the wealthy, unelected, corporate oligarchy. Who elected Rupert Murdoch? Secondly, since it is the newsmedia that is most readily available and thus read and watched by most people, anti-war activists should always demand that it reports their activities. But they should not hold their breath.
Q. Can the alternative newmedia ever hope to rival the Establishment media in terms of its impact on the mass of the population?
A. Not while the wealthy Establishment retains control over vast resources and of the levers of power. It would be Utopian to think otherwise. People like Robert Owen thought they could build islands of socialism within a sea of capitalism. This proved not to be possible. It boils down to a question of vast inequalities in resources. While billionaires like Murdoch control the newsmedia, they will always have an overwhelming advantage--until such time as people decide they have had enough of this. On the other hand, the old saying: "we are many, they are few" has never been more vaild than today. The Internet and the Web now allows anyone who can gain access to a computer to express their views globally. The more people that speak out about war, racism, the attacks on civil liberties and neo-liberalism the better.
Multimedia Audio-Visual Methods
Q. Why does this alternative newsmedia web-site use video?
A. Because as the saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words. We might add that a video clip is worth a million. The screen is mightier than the pen! TV news is the most potent weapon in the Establishment's propaganda armoury because it uses audio-visual methods of communication. Web-TV news is also potentially a powerful means of expression for the anti-war movement for the same reasons. Moving pictures and sound engage people's attention more fully than the print media. They use sight and sound and do not depend on high levels of literacy. Even in developed regions like Europe, North America and east Asia, levels of literacy vary enormously. That is why there are "serious" newspapers for the highly educated intelligentsia and newspapers which are little more than escapist porno-comics for less highly educated and less literate working people. TV news does not depend on literacy levels. Pictures and sound make it easier to comprehend. That is why it is so potent.
Blogging, Podcasting, RSS and Media Aggregation
Q. How can alternative media web-sites maximise their impact?
A. By using audio-visual methods and through using attention grabbing technology like really simple syndication (rss).
Q. What is really simple syndication?
A. It is a means of subscribing to web-site and blog updates automatically. The subscriber clicks on a small orange button on a web-page, or blog, which has the letters "rss", "xml" or "atom" on it (there is one at the top of this page). This reveals the rss feed web-page and its web-address (URL) at the top of the web-page. This feed web-address can then be copied and pasted into a news aggregation programme. The news aggregator will immediately download existing web-site/blog content and then automatically check the web-page/blog for updates and new articles the next time the subscriber goes online. The free and open source e-mail programme Mozilla Thunderbird has a news aggregator built in.
Q. Does subscription cost anything?
A. No, not normally with alternative media and anti-war web-sites/blogs.
Q. What exactly is a news aggregator?
A. It is a programme, or plugin, that is a means of bringing together in one place (aggregating) news about updates on web-sites and blogs that a person is interested in. Aggregators are designed to do this automatically saving people the task of visiting every web-site and blog every day to check for updates. It is possible, for example, to set the aggregator to check, say, a hundred web-sites or blogs every 5 minutes, or every 20 minutes, every hour, or once a day--as often as required. It would be physically impossible to visit a hundred sites every 5 minutes. An aggregator makes this possible.
Q. Doesn't this generate a lot of messages? I am already being spammed to death
A. Yes it does, but it is possible to set the aggregator to receive only a link and a brief one sentence or one paragraph summary of the article. These messages do not occupy a lot of space and can be deleted easily enough. Some rss aggregators, like the one that comes with the excellent free and open source e-mail programme Mozilla Thunderbird, simply provide a link that takes you directly to the relevant web-page. Aggregation provides the opportunity to scan a huge amount of up to the minute news about topics that interest the subscriber. So, yes aggregators can generate a lot of traffic, but it is in a concise, easily digestible form. If a particular message contains an item that is of interest, the subscriber just clicks on a link and the browser goes straight to the article. The messages that are of no interest can then be deleted. News aggregators do not receive spam because the subscriber only subscribes to web-sites and blogs that are of interest. And e-mail spam-filtering is getting better all the time. For example, some ISPs are installing spam-filtering software at the server level so that it eliminates it before it reaches e-mail clients.
Q. What is the difference between a blog and a web-site?
A. Blogs are more personal--an online diary. Web-sites are generally more impersonal. And blogs have tended to pioneer rss. But web-sites are also increasingly now using rss.
Q. What is podcasting?
A. Podcasting is a form of blogging using rss, but audio files are posted as well as text. Podcasting, or audio blogging, requires a special type of aggregator called a "media aggregator" or "podcatcher". These work in the same way as news aggregators, but they facilitate subscriptions to podcasting sites that are effectively web-based radio stations. They provide a link to download the audio files. The aggregator also enables subscribers to automatically transfer the audio file to their mp3 player, PSP or iPod. This has led to an explosion of online radio stations which post their programmatic content as audio files. Subscribers transfer these to their mp3 players, PSPs or iPods and listen to them on the way to work.
Q. What is Web-TV?
A. This is podcasting for video clips. Media aggregators retrieve, via rss feeds, video download links, and summarised information about clips, posted on web-TV sites to which they are subscribed. They also enable video clips to be transferred to popular portable games/video consoles like the Sony PSP and the video iPod. This will probably soon include video-enabled mobile phones too. A good example of web-TV is the alternative news bulletin Democracy Now!
Q. What exactly is a web-TV "channel"?
A. A web-TV "channel" is an analogy with a terrestrial, satellite or cable TV channel. The web-TV "channel" is simply a list of video download links on a web or blog page with an rss feed. The key element is the rss feed which tells the media aggregator what video clips are on its web/blog page. The individual video clips are analogous to TV programmes and the rss feed which lists them all is like a TV channel. The terms "web-TV channel" and "rss feed", in this context, mean the same thing. Have a look here, here, here and here to see some web-TV channels related to this web-site. To view the latter channel properly, you need to download a free and open source media aggregator Miro
Q. Don't audio and video files occupy a lot of hard disk space?
A. Yes, especially video files. However, media aggregators can be set so that video files are only allowed to occupy a certain percentage of hard disk space chosen by the subscriber. And they can be deleted after viewing, after they have been archived to CD or DVD, or after they have been transferred to portable devices. Big hard disks are getting cheaper and video files are being compressed into ever smaller sizes with little loss in viewing quality. The technology of video compression and the capacity of portable devices is improving all the time.
The Free and Open Source Movement and Creative Commons Licensing
Q. What is the open source movement and creative commons licensing?
A. The term "open source" was first used by software programmers who made their "source code" freely available so that other programmers could improve upon, and develop, a computer programme which they had created. Without open access to the source code, it is impossible to improve and develop a programme. Commercial concerns like Microsoft are notorious for keeping the source code of their commercially sold programmes (e.g. MS Windows. MS Office) closed so that only they are allowed to develop their software. The significance of open source software is that it releases a huge amount of creative energy among software programmers internationally. There are thousands of professional-trained and talented, self-taught amateur programmers around the world, linked by the Internet, who create and develop software for the fun of it--as a labour of love. The word "amateur" originates from the Latin for "love". Some narrow-minded professionals tend to view amateurs with disdain. However, the real meaning of the term amateur is someone who does things for the fun and satisfaction associated with creativity rather than because they have to do it as a paid job. To put it provocatively: amateur is the opposite of mercenary. Amateurs are often more creatively energetic and enthusiastic because they work on projects of their own choosing.
This international free and open source software movement (FOSS) is especially important for the computer users in the poorer countries of the world and poorer communities in the rich nations--many of whom cannot afford to pay for commercial software. Think about the number of programmes a person needs to use including the annual upgrades--the total amount of money needed is beyond the means of many people in tbis world. Open source programmers usually have a donation button on their web-sites so that users can voluntarily pay whatever they can afford to express their appreciation and to encourage the programmer(s) to develop the software.
The free and open source movement is based around the web-site: sourceforge.net. Thousands of open source software projects are under way as you read this. These include open source operating systems like GNU/Linux. The term open source has become extended to include other forms of creativity: writing, music-production, art, photography, filmmaking etc. In these cases, the "source" is not programming code, but the original work: an article, a book, a photograph, a design, an audio or video clip. Creative commons licensing facilitates collaboration between programmers, authors, musicians, filmmakers etc., often using the Internet as the vehicle for this collaboration.
Creative commons licensing is an alternative to "all rights reserved" copyright licensing used by commercial book publishers, software houses, music and media companies etc. Copyright stifles creativity by preventing others from making use of and (crucially) improving upon works. For this reason, Creative Commons licensing is sometimes known more popularly as "copyleft"--an allusion to the anti-corporate sentiments of some of the advocates of creative commons licensing. The term "open source" has a similar, though less precise, meaning. Creative commons is an attempt to be more precise about what exactly "open source" means. Creative commons licensing provides for a range of rights reservation by the creator(s) of a work: authors, software programmers, artists, musicians, photographers, filmmakers etc.
See the Creative Commons web-site for a wealth of information about this form of licensing.
As noted above, creative commons licensing allows for a range of possibilities. At one end of the spectrum is the traditional "all rights reserved" copyright--no one is allowed to use the work unless they (usually) pay a monetary price and no one is allowed to improve upon, or develop, the work except the copyright owner, unless a commercial deal is arranged to allow this. At the other end is public domain (PD)--where the creator(s) of the work reserves no rights and makes the work available for use and improvement by anyone--including commercial organisations who can improve the work, sell it, and profit from it. In between these extremes, there are creative commons licenses which reserve some rights, but not all. An example of this is the licensing used for video clips on this web-site: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This means that others can receive the work without payment. Except for commercial concerns, anyone may also improve upon, and develop, it as long as they credit the original creator (attribution) and provided that the resulting, newly improved, work is issued with an identical Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Commercial concerns on the other hand may contact the creator of the work and negotiate a commercial deal if the creator of the work is disposed to do so. For example video clips in the public domain can be freely used by anyone in a larger work (say a film) and the only requirement is usually that the original creator is credited in the resulting film. Clips released with an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license may also be used in a larger film project without payment, but commercial concerns are not allowed to do this unless they first negotiate a deal with the creator.
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