Tainton's Corner.

A critical examination of race in the UK press

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:31:00 +0000

The media today occupies a pivotal position in society, not only transferring information and ideas but also shaping opinions and presenting particular versions of reality (Ameli, 2007). The media’s impact is evident through their widespread presence and reliance placed on them as authentic purveyors of news. Thus, the media plays a key role in articulating particular discourses and defining the way in which we understand issues relating to race and minority groups in Britain (Cottle 2000). The lack of representation of minorities greatly influences how majority audiences consider minorities in society. Whilst the media creates invisibility of minorities by marginalizing their voices, actual portrayals are often restricted and negatively stereotyped contexts (Campbell, 1995). Similarly, media discourses are often the main source of an individual’s attitude and ideology. When this discourse is specifically about minorities and the audience has limited contact with these groups, the role of the media as an exclusive provider of information becomes even more critical (Van Djik 2000).

The term race is one of the most politically charged in the journalistic vocabulary (Allan, 2004). Like sex, race is a set of genetically defined, biological characteristics. However, it is also a set of culturally defined characteristics too. Racial stereotypes are often based on social myths, perpetuated by white dominant cultural attitudes through the ages. The mainstream media, though differentiated by genre and subject interests, all too frequently produce shocking examples of xenophobic reporting and racist portrayal (Cottle, 2000). Representations of issues relating to race are now intertwined with matters of individual, group, national and ethnic identity (Hall, 1992). The concept of individual identity is becoming increasingly under threat as a result of social, political and philosophical upheaval. Globalization of the media has also contributed to the fragmentation of cultural representation which has led to cultural hybridity.

Robert Ferguson has clearly shown the way in which globalization has impacted on cultural and racial identity:

Cultural representation, (along with implicit or explicit signification of issues of race) has been recombined or reconstituted. It can manifest itself in many forms… so we have curry and chips, or coca-cola with everything. All these factors, in turn, are represented in the media.
(Ferguson, 1998, p. 5)

To understand the construct of race in the press, first we must understand the types of racism that are exercised. The specific practices that the press employ to reproduce race ideologies often re-affirm racist assumptions as the ‘norm’. The question of race is taken for granted and naturalized, making the concept of racism virtually disappear (Hall, 1990). Hall rejects the idea that the media is racist because of racist individuals in the organization, and instead argues that racism is:

The result of a set of complex, often contradictory, social relations; not the personal inclinations of its members. This naturalization of racism is a longstanding feature of cultural modernity.
(Hall, 1990, p.13)

There are two common types of racism within the British press. The first is overt racism, whereby favourable media coverage is granted to explicitly racist arguments – for example a right-wing newspaper. The second is inferential racism, whereby representations of racist situations are naturalized and inscribed in the coverage as a set of unquestioned assumptions (Allan, 2004). Allan contends that racism becomes acceptable and therefore true, subsequently achieving invisibility in the media.

This theory relates to Jhally and Lewis’ (1992) comparison between enlightened racism and traditional racism. While Jhally and Lewis accept that ‘old-fashioned’ racism describes the bigotry associated with ethnic stereotypes, regarding white people as superior and minorities to exist outside of mainstream society, they also highlight the effects of the equally harmful ‘liberal’ racism. Here, they describe enlightened racism as the attitude of liberal whites who point to the social and economic success of a small number of minorities in suggesting that racism is not a factor in the failure of other minorities to attain similar success. Enlightened racists reject bigotry based upon skin colour, yet they remain wary of working class minorities. Colour difference is seemingly acceptable, whereas cultural difference is not (Essed, 1991).

This type of new racism reinforces the idea that minorities are not inferior, but carry different values and beliefs (Barker, 1981). The recognition of the interplay of media representation and negative social experiences can be understood further by contextualizing the construction of Orientalism. Professor Edward Said’s theory suggests that Orientalist discourse is the system of thought in which dominant economic, social and political Western powers construct a monolithic ‘Other’ as it’s barbaric, inferior opposite (Said, 1978). Orientalism comprises of openly stated Western ideas about Eastern civilization and history which confirm the notion that Western culture is superior to others; and that the Oriental is primitive and incapable of rationalism. (Ashcroft, 1999)

Thus, Orientalist values create an ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ situation, whereby minorities are marginalized for being outside of commonality. Said claims that minorities are often represented as backwards and chaotic, a stereotype that dehumanizes the ‘Other’ and results in a loss of individuality:

In newspapers, the Other is always shown in large numbers. There is no individuality, no personal characteristics or experiences. Most stories and images represent mass rage or misery, or irrational (hence hopelessly eccentric) gestures. Lurking behind these images is the menace of rebellion… a threat to imperialist and post-imperialist dominance.
(Said, 1978, p. 286)

The sense of Otherness also bears relevance to the construct of Whiteness, a social discourse that defines itself as normal. Because whiteness is relatively unmarked by history or practice it is difficult to characterize, and thus there is an absence of white identity. The lack of classification presumes the absence of ethnicity, which reinforces white dominance (Gabriel, 1998). Whiteness in the media represents the power to include or exclude and to hold the dominant, subjective position. It is the blank canvas upon which Otherness is constructed. Dyer (1999) contends that whites are not of a certain race, they are the human race. He argues that the only way to contextualize whiteness is by underlining its inescapable differences from blackness, so therefore whiteness is only racial when it is marked by the non-white subject (Bernal, 1987).
The British press constructs blackness as something exotic and different to be measured against the normality of whites. They reinforce the idea that minorities do not share the same personality, interests or education (Ferguson, 1998)

Racial stereotypes have been utilized by the press day by day, ever since the centuries of colonialism and slavery began (Hill, 1997). Media stereotypes of minorities often carry negative connotations, whereas white stereotypes indicated whiteness as normal or planetarily central. Racial stereotypes are argued to have some connection to reality, but with a contemptible undertone. For example, the fact that some Muslim women wear a burkha is a familiar, universal truth. However, despite not being explicitly stated, the notion of a Muslim woman as powerless or repressed, emphasized by her code of dress, is a widespread belief (Downing, 2005).

A prime example of negative imagery by the UK press was the way in which Islam was represented after the September 11 attacks. The national broadsheets and tabloids consistently presented Islam as an indiscriminately violent religion and associated it with violence and terror (Elgamri, 2008). For instance, some of the headlines in the aftermath of the attacks included: ‘Young Muslims ready for holy war’ (The Times, 29/09/2001); ‘Taliban call for revenge’ (The Independent, 18/09/2001); ‘Muslim students linked to terror’ (The Guardian, 18/09/2001) and ‘Muslim clerics urge jihad’ (The Independent, 18/09/2001). The conflation of radical Islam with mainstream Islam contributed to reinforcing negative representation and influenced the views of those whose main source of information about Islam is the mass media (Elgamri, 2008).

John Downing suggests that ethnic stereotyping in the media commonly overlaps, for example race and gender, and social class and ethnicity:

There is little doubt that stereotypes of social class overlap with those of race as well, particularly in situations where unskilled migrants are re-adjusting to industrial capitalism… they are all ignorant, noisy, dirty, disorganized, thieving. These are class stereotypes lent additional traction by racist ideology. This gender and class fusion process tends to lend extra vitality to racial stereotyping because it draws on more detail, or offers a variation in knowledge about supposed differences in the ‘others’.
(Downing, 2005, p. 34)

Recent data and discussion of the racial diversity of Britain’s journalists confirm that a gross imbalance between white and ethnic minority journalists continues to exist within the news media industry (Ainley, 1998). According to a survey called ‘Journalists at work’ by the Governmental body, Journalism Training Forum, 96% of journalists working in UK newsroom were white – more than nine out of ten journalists (Cole, 2006). Suggestions that ethnic minority journalists are not suited to the newsrooms are still audible (Francis, 2003). To succeed and progress in their career, a journalist has to conform to the goals of a news organization, and not to their disruption. The unspoken acceptance of shared news values and the apparent lack of conflict may well have the effect of distancing ethnic minority journalists from acting in the interests of the minority groups that they might otherwise seek to serve, thus reducing the possibility of recruitment and retention (Allan, 1999).

Despite the supposed freedom of the press, the white dominant media are ultimately responsible for the prevailing discourses of the media they control. According to Van Djik (1991), most white newspaper readers have few daily experiences with minorities and few alternative sources of information. White readers are actively involved when the media focus upon problems and threats by ‘others’. Because anti-racists and minority groups have little access or power over the media to publicly oppose biased reporting then the press becomes the most influential form of public discourse. Van Djik maintains:

When there is a near consensus, and opponents and dissident groups are weak, then the media are able to abuse such power and establish the discursive and cognitive hegemony that is necessary for the reproduction of racism… and the implementation of power in news and news making.
(Van Djik, 1991, p. 37)

The role of the press in the system of racism is not limited to news reports but also is present in the process of news making (Tuchman, 1978). Minorities have less access to the media because they have no control over the many sources on which news is gathered. For instance, press conferences, press releases, briefings, information brochures, interviews and documentation (Van Djik, 1988). News regarding minority groups is often restricted to immigration, welfare, employment and crime. Even neutral topics such as housing soon tend to have a negative dimension, as ethnic relations are represented in terms of problems or threats (Cottle, 2000).

Ethnic minorities are also under-represented through the sources and quotes used in news stories. In general, minorities are quoted less prominently than white elites. When sources are quoted, they are often selected to confirm the general attitudes about the group in question. Minority representatives, if used, will seldom be allowed to speak alone and will commonly be used to respond to a negative accusation. Campbell (1995) suggests that the minority groups are represented as ‘bad guys’, whereby a source to offer their point of view is rarely heard, subsequently marginalizing that opinion. The reader is never asked to consider the non white understanding of the story. Richardson (2006) contends that because journalists rely on official or bureaucratic news sources, such as councils, parliament, police, media organizations, access to the news becomes a power resource in itself and further marginalizes minority groups. Cottle claims:

Groups labeled as deviant within the news media can be dehumanized and even demonized, leading to both the depoliticisation and delegitimisation of their claims for wider social acceptance or political change.
(Cottle, 2000, p. 429)

The newspaper industry’s watchdog, The Press Complaints Commission (PCC), is responsible for upholding the ethics of newspaper journalism in Britain. Clause 12 of the PCC’s Code of Practice centres on discrimination and prohibits the press from making a prejudicial reference to an individual’s racial background, stating: ‘The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to a person’s race, colour or religion.’ While complaints have been received for racial discrimination, nothing of significance has resulted from them. In the last five years only a tiny number of complaints have been dealt with by the PCC.

2005 - The total number of complaints under Clause 12 made to the PCC were 3654, 2.7% of which were investigated.
2006 - The total number of complaints under Clause 12 made to the PCC were 3325, 2.6% of which were investigated.
2007 - The total number of complaints under Clause 12 made to the PCC were 4340, 1.9% of which were investigated.
2008 - The total number of complaints under Clause 12 made to the PCC were 4698, 1.9% of which were investigated.
(Press Complaints Commission, 2009)

PCC inaction on press racism is not just confined to recent years. According to a study undertaken by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) ethics council, the PCC adjudicated only thirty-eight of the complaints concerning racial discrimination between 1991 and 2000. None had any further action taken (Petley, 2006). The significant revelation here is that not a single complaint on the grounds of ethnicity was upheld in ten years, and the statistics are just as dire in the last five years. The PCC argue that Clause 12 protects the individual from prejudice and is not there to restrain partisan comments from other nations. PCC Chairman Robert Pinker said, “The Commission does not accept complaints on matters relating to issues of taste and decency”, issues which the PCC claim are frequently the basis of complaints about discrimination. Petley (2006) rejects this assertion saying:

These are entirely self-imposed and self-denying ordinances: no-one other than the PCC has drawn up the discrimination clause in the code, and no one other than the PCC has decided how it will be interpreted… the plain, simple and unavoidable fact is that the PCC chooses to avoid confronting such journalism.
(Petley, 2006, p. 55)

One theory to eradicate media racism is the development of the multi-ethnic public sphere, a conceptual framework that reflects the diversity present in society in such a way as to facilitate the autonomous cultures and identities of minority and majority ethnic groups, as well as national minorities (Husband, 1998). Husband states that a multi-ethnic media must provide the exchange of information and cultural products across communities of identity. Media infrastructure is highly developed, and technologies are already favourable to the promotion of diversity within the mass media. Batty (1993) points to the media rich environment, citing the development of the internet and cable systems as factors in providing a diversity of choice which is intrinsic to the contemporary media.

Husband (1998) refutes the idea that the public sphere is a futile or utopian ambition. He asserts that a semi or fully subsidized public sphere would not be an arena of sweetness and light, but instead would generate distressing and robust exchanges between different cultural agendas. Nonetheless, he believes it is a critical development and not naively optimistic:

The public sphere establishes the benchmark criteria for a multi-ethnic media environment. This is defined by the complementarity of media giving voice to specific ethnic community interests and the media facilitating an inter-ethnic multi-interest exchange… in challenging the vested interests and xenophobia of the majorities… this model anticipates an equalitarian structural pluralism.
(Husband, 1998, p. 213)

The lack of coverage of minorities and minority communities contributes to the myth of marginalization, a belief that ethnic minorities exist at the periphery of mainstream society and do not merit or deserve the attention granted by news organizations to whites (Campbell, 1995). Albeit less frequently, the occasional overtly racist news coverage (usually in right-wing press or editorial columns) reflects traditional perceptions on non-whites and creates a further ‘Them’ and ‘Us’ divide.

The invisibility of minorities in news coverage is partly due to a severe shortage of ethnic minority journalists in British newsrooms. When minority news is covered, it is often negative and perpetuates mythical and Oriental understanding, whilst at the same time failing to incorporate sufficient information regarding social context or historical development of issues involving race (Simmons, 1993).

The persistence of racial insensitivity, when compounded with the misrepresentation of minority groups by the British press, can contribute to a dangerous ignorance of ethnic minorities and a continuing trend of discrimination and injustice (Richardson, 2006). The way that ethnic minorities are portrayed in the media not only has a negative impact on the white majority, but also serves to affect minority communities in unhelpful ways too. Ross (1992) claims that the Western media’s negative representation of the developing World as backward has led minorities to feel ashamed and under-valued:

The lack of positive role models and the way in which minority characters are routinely stereotyped contribute to feelings of low self-esteem and failure. Because most ethnic minority children in Britain were born in the country, their knowledge of ‘home’ is very limited, gleaned from what they are told and how the media report it.
(Ross, 1992, p. 145)

Kellner (1990) argues that newspaper coverage by the British press has resulted in all the diverse voices, interests, views and cultures dissolving into a mass of racial stereotypical essences. This is what Caribbean people are like; this is what Asian people do. Newspapers need to acknowledge the similarities and differences between ethnic minorities and white Britons, but also acknowledge the differences that exist amongst and between minority groups themselves, marking out each individual’s own distinctiveness from all the others who might be bracketed under ‘black’ or ‘Asian’ (Cottle, 2000).

All of the major news organizations in Britain have predominantly white audiences, meaning that stories must appeal to the target audience. Regardless of the type of news story being processed, an impetus must be placed on making the news palatable to a white audience, thus appealing to the reader’s preconceptions and denaturalizing racism at every level (Allan, 2004). The need for a more accurate portrayal of the diversity of different races is a priority for political agendas, but, as ever, it seems as though it will take a while for political thinking to filter through to the news-industry. To bridge the gap between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Hall (1990) calls for every effort to be made to ‘undermine, deconstruct and question the unquestioned racist assumptions on which so much of media practice is grounded.’ Cottle (2000) observes that the representations of race in the British media are a product of social and discursive processes mediated through established cultural forms. They are not set in stone and they are most certainly not beyond challenge or transition.

Focus on FMAS - Christmas edition

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Sports journalism students excel at HCC

A voluntary scheme between Hampshire Cricket Club and Solent’s sports journalism course has proved so successful that the club has invited students back to the Rose Bowl next summer. The project, which saw aspiring cricket writers report on Hampshire’s matches for the club website as well as interview players and upload pictures, was well received by supporters and the site’s readers.

Jane Cable, Hampshire Cricket Club’s press officer praised the quality of journalism on display. “Last year’s fixture list meant 50 days of First XI cricket at The Rose Bowl which represented a huge commitment in terms of resource. Not just any resource either; the job needed a knowledge of cricket and the ability to write. What started the season being a cause for constant stress became a slick operation, with the students writing the reports as play unfolded. As soon as play finished I would check their copy, import it into the website and press the button for it to go live.”

Level three sports journalism student Steven Woodgate was one of the writers to take part in the initiative, covering county and one-day matches. “The experience was a lot of fun, and it gave us an insight into the fast-paced world of sports reporting. Chris Tremlett was probably the scariest moment as being a modest 5’9’, he towered over me!” The team witnessed a successful season for Hampshire and managed to cover almost every day of first XI cricket. More of the same next summer.

Students take part in Neu/Now

The NEU/NOW Festival provides an innovative platform for talented graduating artists emerging from Universities across Europe to present themselves to wider European audiences and showcase their work.

The art of three Solent students were invited to the event in Vilnius, Lithuania. Katie Howe’s series of drawings, “The Unrequited Tales of Edwina and Gertrude”, are a diaristic reflection of unrequited love while Matty Long’s “Babylon” presents a series of thumbnail drawings sketched by hand and coloured digitally. Andy Etter’s unique conceptual video game “Fitti” brings a graffiti artist to life in an animated film.

The NEU/NOW Live festival took place between 19th and 22nd November 2009 in Vilnius as part of Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009.

Hugh Cudlipp Trust award

The Hugh Cudlipp Trust makes an annual financial award to a student of Journalism at a university in the United Kingdom. The £1000 award is for an article or a series of articles on an issue of public interest or concern which in the Cudlipp tradition exemplifies lucid and graphic communication. The article or series must have been written and published in English between 1 December 2008 and 12 December 2009. It may have appeared anywhere in the world on a website or in a national, regional or local newspaper.

For more information, visit www.ajeuk.org/circulars/cudlipp.rtf.

Adam Comiskey on Radio 6

Adam Comiskey was interviewed on the Cerys Matthews Show on BBC 6 Music. The former Catatonia frontwoman talked to Adam about his work on the music video for The Blizzards latest track, “And Another Thing.” Burn The Whole Place Down at Bang! Festival Adam Comiskey’s animated video for Hey Negrita’s “Burn The Whole Place Down” has been selected for the Bang! in the bar programme which will screen during the Bang festival at the Broadway cinema in Nottingham.

The judging panel viewed over 300 films to create a 90 minute programme. Recent graduate Jack Bonnington had his film selected for the festival as well which means Solent University staff and students occupy 30% of the entire Bang festival. As well as this, graduate Ryan Herbert’s film was selected at the Shortcuts film festival.

Criminology receives research grant

Criminology Senior Lecturer Simon Fox was awarded a grant of nearly £10,000 for joint research with Gloucestershire University. The funding, which will go towards revitalising assessment skills on the course’s Leadership and Management unit, was awarded by the Higher Education Academy’s Centre for Sociology, Criminology and Political Research. The unit requires students to analyse a fictitious police service, and discuss the problems associated with the authority. The course also created a DVD alongside Gloucester University’s media department and the BBC, examining the challenges that the police force has to face.

Solent teams up with ACRO in internship link

Solent University teamed up with the Association of Chief Police Officers Criminal Records Office (ACRO) to offer Criminology graduates four-month work experience opportunities. ACRO is the main data gathering body, responsible for collating national records and DNA evidence. After an intensive application process, three students were selected for the internship, and two have since been offered full times jobs while one is still waiting to here. A DVD outlining the internship was shown at Graduation and the same application process will happen again for criminology level three students this year.

Criminology promotes ethical policing

Criminology and Solent Productions have teamed up with Hampshire Police to create a DVD focusing upon ethical policing. The training video, which uses real officers, is designed for members of the force who have been active for two years and could be distributed nationally.

AOI accolade for Solent

For the fourth consecutive year Solent graduates have been selected for inclusion in the Association of Illustrators 2009 annual. The four successful students are David Thelwell, Rick Bellin, Ollie Stone and Matthew Long.

(Focus on FMAS Newsletter, 2009)

Payment Fraud: Why the companies affected are just as criminal

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

It’s fast approaching Christmas, but the World’s fraudsters don’t seem to be in the festive spirit. The payment fraud juggernaut continued to build momentum with a flurry of incidents recorded across Europe and America. There’s nothing new or extraordinary in the reported crimes either. Instead, a familiar pattern of ineptitude, carelessness and sheer stupidity on behalf of the authorities and companies in question remain.

We’ll start closest to home. The T-Mobile customer records scandal was well publicized in the UK media and drew criticism from the phone operator’s customers. Allegedly, a former employee sold the personal details of thousands of customers, including information about when their contracts expired, to a number of ‘brokers’ who passed the data onto rival networks and other phone retailers. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced it was actively investigating the case which involved ‘substantial amounts of money changing hands.’

T-mobile claim they are free of any guilt, since they ‘approached’ the watchdog themselves. A cynic might suggest they were just pre-empting the inevitable onslaught of media criticism when the story emerged. So have T-mobile issued a whole-hearted apology to their customers? Have they promised to assist fully with the investigation or compensate furious clients? Of course not. Instead, a company spokesman expressed ‘surprise’ that the ICO had gone public with the story. It seems they would have rather swept this unfortunate incident under the carpet and forgot about it.

This isn’t the first time a company’s staff have sold sensitive data to others in the UK. Fear not though, the Police are investigating all cases. Whether they will solve the mystery in which an unnamed Scotland Yard employee illegally accessed personal details from the Police national computer remains to be seen.

In the USA, they like to go the extra mile and give fraud criminals a helping hand. A Boston-based security consultant found he could purchase second-hand ATM machines containing sensitive transaction data on eBay and Craigslist. For less than $800 Robert Siciliano bought an ATM and extracted a log of hundreds of credit and debit card numbers as well as account details. Siciliano was able to make the purchase anonymously online and even managed to barter down the asking price.

And just in case an inexperienced fraudster gets a little bit confused, there’s a manual supplied alongside the machine giving clear instructions on how to access the sensitive data stored inside.

Scary, isn’t it?

In Spain, German authorities recalled more than 100,000 credit cards, the largest retraction in their history, amid fears that crooks had obtained sensitive data via an unnamed payment processing firm. Holidaymakers who used their Visa or Mastercard credit cards could be at risk of fraud following the security breach. Holders of cards issued by Barclays were among those at risk. In typical fashion, Visa and Mastercard deny any mishaps on their part, and pointed the blame elsewhere in the payment chain.

But all hope is not lost. The eight members of an Eastern European crime ring have been charged for their part in the hacking of RBS WorldPay last year. After stealing more than $9m in half a day, the men dispatched cashers in 280 cities worldwide to withdraw the money. The suspects were charged with computer fraud, identity theft, conspiracy and device fraud. They could face more than 50 year behind bars as well as being forced to pay back the stolen amount.
It seems as fraudster’s methods become increasingly sophisticated, the defence systems in place to thwart them are getting more and more primitive. As long as nobody accepts responsibility, or agrees to do anything about this problem, the crisis will continue to grow. Expect similar reports next month. And the month after that. Payment fraud is here to stay – we’d better get used to it.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

SESAMES Awards 2009 – The competition watched by the whole industry

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Every year, 10 SESAMES Awards are presented to the industry’s most innovative products, celebrating the best projects on the market. Selected by a panel of experts, the awards will be presented on the eve of the opening of Cartes & Identification 2009, at a prestigious ceremony in Paris. The accolades are regarded as a global standard for card manufacturers and give the winners a reputation and credibility that guarantees the success of their project. The event is a unique opportunity for the finalists to showcase their achievements to professionals, exhibitors and journalists attending from all over the World.

It’s no surprise that the competition attracts a growing number of candidates every year and 2009 was no exception. A total of 309 applications were filed for this year’s SESAMES across a variety of categories. These include the Hardware SESAME, awarded to the industry’s most ground-breaking card, token, chip, electronic component or terminal. The winner in this sector was Gemalto with Contactless VDHR, a high-data-rate application standard which ensures secure transfer for contactless smartcards. The other finalists were Oberthur Technologies with Smart Lumiere, a dual interface payment card, and Twinlinx with MyMax NFC Sticker, a thin electronic sticker designed to upgrade Bluetooth phones with NFC functionality.

The second award, the Software SESAME, promotes a sector that lies upstream of the market and includes operating systems, algorithms, software for access management, and test or audit tools. The winner for the software category was Sagem Orga with T2TIT, a self-configuring wireless network that enables communication between a web portal and other objects. The other finalists were Collis with NFC proxy concept, an NFC application and Oberthur Technologies with Chrysalis Fly EAL4+, a dual interface payment card.

The Identification SESAME showcases the strongest biometrics, RFID and identity management products. The award was won by JDSU with HoloFuse, a product that integrates holography with clear polycarbonate, effectively eliminating the need for adhesives. The other finalists were Oberthur Technologies with ID-One Sky, a physical polycarbonate security feature, Inside Contactless with MicroPass 5100, a cost effective solution for creating driving licenses and Infineon Technologies with SLE 95050 ORIGA, an authentication device.

The IT security SESAME recognises logical control access and electronic signature applications. The winner was Neowave Sas with Weneo ID Corporate Bundle, a smart object that helps organizations protect their informational and physical assets. The runners-up in this category were both Gemalto products. One was .Net Bio for Windows 7, a software solution that provides fingerprint biometric support and the other was digital signature adoption, an online authentication application.

The Transportation SESAME acknowledges products in the fleet management and transport sector. The winner was ERG Transit Systems with eO, an account based fare collection system. The other finalists were Neowave Sas with Weneo Duo, a contactless smartcard chip, Watchdata with CEPAS 2.0, a transport card trialled successfully in Singapore and Xiring with The Smart cardholder, a dynamic security solution.

The Banking and Finance SESAME was won by Hypercom with the HyperSafe Remote Key System, a solution that enables PIN encryption keys to be downloaded remotely. The other finalists included Gemalto with Ezio Touch Reader, an authentication device for online transactions and Giesecke & Devrient with Convego Air Mobile, an NFC sticker for making contactless payments.

The Health Care SESAME was awarded to Gematik with their unique eHealth-Portal, a web-portal solution to authenticate patients. The runners-up were Xiring with Prium-3S Barcode, a solutions provider for remote transactions and Laerdal Medical with the CPR Card, a chest compression device to guide life saving resuscitation.

The Mobile SESAME category includes mobile commerce and GPRS applications. The winner was Gemalto with Massim, a machine-to-machine SIM card that detects theft. The other finalists were NXP Semiconductors with PN 544, an NFC handset chip, Oberthur Technologies with SIMsense, a motion detection SIM card and Toro with Akami, an NFC mobile wallet product.

The e-transactions SESAME recognises e-government, virtual payment and secure transaction applications. The winning product was Monext’s Sign4Pay, a payment method using WPKI services. The other finalists were Crealogix e-banking with CLX Sentinel, an e-banking token, Hypercom with HyperSafe, a PIN encryption solution and Xiring with Connectable Xi-Sign solutions, a solution designed for visually-impaired users.

The Loyalty SESAME was won by Oberthur Technologies with Smart Lumiere, a dual interface light card technology. The runners up in this category were MasterCard with PASS-MasterCard, a wireless merchant terminal and ATOS Worldline with Multi Product Cards, a multi stage payment module.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Interview with Dr. Jack Pan, VP of International Business and Marketing at Watchdata

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:47:00 +0000

Can you tell me a little about the history of the company and the success experience of Watchdata?

Watchdata has come a long way since its inception in 1994. This year, Watchdata celebrates its 15-year anniversary, taking pride on its accomplishments in the past 15 years. With several data security and smart card deployments across different market segments around the world, Watchdata cements itself as a world leader in innovative smart card technology.

Watchdata began expanding its overseas market in 2001 and it overseas sales has increased by 102 times to date. Setting cultural differences aside, Watchdata is able to strengthen and gained better recognition from its overseas customers. The international business now accounts for 40 percent of all businesses. In addition, Watchdata has established a full set of effective supply chain networks as well as sales offices to support its growing overseas business and market presence.

Currently, Watchdata ranks among the top five global smart card suppliers and develops its business throughout the countries and regions in Asia-Pacific, India, EMEA and the. To keep in line with its steps for overseas expansion, Watchdata emphasizes on its core competencies. It also reserved a massive R&D team and established a timely supply chain network ready for deployment.

Watchdata is the only smart card vendor to comply fully with the Contactless ePurse Application Specification (CEPAS). Why is this significant?

This is very significant to Watchdata because after the release of CEPAS, the Land Transport Authority of Singapore invited many world-renowned smart card manufacturers to develop a card that would conform to the CEPAS standard. Through its hard work and dedication, Watchdata beat the competition and successfully won the bid. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Watchdata then developed the smart that conforms fully to CEPAS. Watchdata passed the strict testing criteria in 2007 to provide a CEPAS-compliant smart card. Its in-depth understanding and dedicated research in this technology provided superior speed and distance performance to meet the stringent requirements of the transport card issuers. This therefore, exemplifies Watchdata’s commitment and relentless pursuit of excellence in providing innovative products and solutions to its customers.

What is the advantage of Watchdata’s products and technology over its competitors?

Watchdata strongly focuses on providing “differentiated innovation” that creates value-added solutions to help customers achieve innovation and obtain new value. Its growing global presence, in-depth understanding and in-field experience gives it an added advantage to drive the adoption of emerging smart card applications across industries that include telecommunication, transportation, banking and finance, government and the enterprise.

Watchdata’s knowledge and expertise, such as the CEPAS standard, for example is second to none. The Singapore CEPAS-compliant transport card fulfills the demand placed on multi-application smart cards that need to be innovative. Watchdata plans to bring such knowledge and expertise across the globe providing its customers more secure, fast, efficient, flexible, interoperable and cost effective transport products and solutions.

The R&D team of Watchdata excels in new product and technology development. Its ability to be the first and only supplier (as of this day) of CEPAS-compliant cards speaks volume of the team’s capability. In addition, Watchdata continues to explore payment spaces including the EMV market. As a result, Watchdata provided DBS bank of Singapore the first 3-in-1 contactless smart card that combines Visa payment, Visa payWave and transport functionalities in a single-chip smart card. Furthermore, because of Watchdata’s superiority in technology development and industry relations, it continues to have in-depth discussions with key industry stakeholders in the telecom, transport and payment industry. Watchdata remains one of the main drivers that coordinates and collaborates among the stakeholders to support the vision of a “cashless society” and making it into a reality.

What’s the biggest challenge that Watchdata currently faces in the industry?

The biggest challenge that Watchdata currently faces is the penetration of the banking sector in Europe and the Americas. In order to tackle this challenge, Watchdata hopes to replicate its success in Singapore banking sector in providing multi-application solutions that combine EMV, contactless payment, transport and other applications in a single-chip smart card.

Watchdata’s CEPAS 2.0 Transport card will be demonstrated at Cartes and has been named a finalist in the Sesames Innovations Awards. What does this mean for the company?

Being the finalist in the SESAMES Innovation Awards goes to show Watchdata’s expertise in providing innovative products and solutions in the transportation sector. This is very critical in the development of other Watchdata’s “differentiated innovation”, especially in the mobile payment space where we see the extended use of a mobile phone as a contactless payment device in the field of transport and retail.

Despite the current economic circumstances do you still see a significant demand for Watchdata technology in the industry?

Yes, we still see a significant demand for Watchdata technology in spite of the current economic circumstances. Watchdata sees the economic downturn as an opportunity and not a threat to its business. Under the current economic circumstances, Watchdata remains optimistic and focuses on the opportunities the emerging markets have to offer, exemplifying its relentless pursuit of excellence through innovation. Watchdata shall continue to provide “differentiated innovation” to help its customers achieve innovation and obtain new value that will ultimately benefit the end customers.

Watchdata continues to expand its overseas market presence, what are the difficulties involved in this?

Watchdata realizes that new entrants to the market will be competing based on low cost pricing. This may work at the beginning but Watchdata ultimately sees that this type of business model is not sustainable. Therefore, Watchdata shall focus more on selling its brand, focusing on winning the respect and loyalty of customers not only with relatively reasonable cost but also with high quality products and solutions. This will be its main driving force to further excel and surpass both present and future market expectations.

What next for Watchdata?

Looking ahead into the near future, the exponential growth and proliferation of smart card technology is well underway. More and more industry sectors such as telecom, transportation, banking and finance, e-government and enterprises seek new solutions to reduce cost while providing value-added services to end customers. Watchdata believes that the convergence of these sectors, such as in the form of a mobile phone and non-card form factors (NCFF), could provide consumers more choices for ubiquitous payment means and more secure digital lifestyle. Thus, Watchdata shall continue to focus providing converged products and solutions as the market adoption continues to grow.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Interview with Ahmed Versi, editor of Muslim News

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Do you feel muslims are represented unfairly in the media?

The majority of the coverage that we get, whether it be the press or broadcasters, is negative. Sometimes, in stories that bear no relevance to islam, journalists will still mention religious beliefs if it is concerning a muslim. There’s clear examples everyday of how muslims are portrayed in the media, you only need to pick up a newspaper. The choice of words and style journalists use in articles changes when they are referring to islam. This is impacting upon minorities. After 9/11 things got a lot worse because the spotlight was turned on the muslim communities, and the same thing happened after the 7/7 attacks – maybe even worse. The press was questioning the threat that British muslims posed – and that’s a dangerous thing.

Do you think that the media representation has had political/social impacts on muslims in Britain?

It has impacts on society, because muslims feel that they are being targeted unfairly. The muslims that commit crimes are in a minority, but the way the british media portray the situation it’s as if all muslims are at fault. It makes us feel like scapegoats or ‘outsiders’ in our own country. All muslims are branded as terrorists, it’s a terrible situation really.

What can the media do to eradicate 'islamophobia'?

Muslims have worked with the media to educate them. The media has taken some of this help onboard, but not all of it. There’s still plenty to do. They have to look at the way they communicate with the public – and that starts in the newsrooms. We’re not saying that articles about muslims shouldn’t be written, that’s not a problem at all. It’s just a balance between positive and negative reporting is important. Objectivity is key.

Identity theft – It’s no fraud, we’re ALL at risk

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:16:00 +0000

It’s that time of the year again - Identity Fraud Prevention week is here. And not a moment too soon, either. The scheme, which marks an attempt to raise public awareness of the threat of identity fraud, is a timely reminder of the seriousness of identity theft, reckoned to be one of the UK’s fastest growing financial crimes and costing the UK a record £610m. In the last twelve months identity fraud has rocketed by 36% and 4.5 million Brits were unfortunate victims of the crime. That’s the highest number of cases in Europe and the figure is set to grow as rising unemployment and social unrest drives more people towards crime. It makes for painful reading, but why is identity fraud an increasing threat and what can be done about it?

One of the main factors, particularly for British consumers, is naivety. The average Joe continues to ignore advice that could keep his finances safe, surfing the internet without security software and throwing bank statements and bills in the bin without shredding them first. Fairly trivial, one might think, but it could be argued that bins are as big a risk to customer details as computer systems. Armed with just a name and address fraudsters can inflict untold damage. They can empty bank accounts, run up huge debts, ruin credit ratings and tarnish reputations. To make matters worse, the victim has to prove their own innocence.

You’d be forgiven for assuming that it’s just the average consumer that is to blame. Large companies and firms are just as bad. In fact, research by the National Fraud Authority (NFA) revealed that over 30% of small and medium-sized businesses had been impacted by fraud. This highlighted a shocking ineptitude amongst the business community – a total lack of understanding of the risks posed and a distinct absence of resources and information for those that were attempting to be vigilant.

The NFA found only 64% of businesses had a clear policy on how to handle documents containing sensitive information, and even less had any measures in place to respond to data loss. The frustrating thing is businesses could easily protect data by using in hardware encryption and authentication – an investment which would significantly reduce the threat of ID fraud.

So why aren’t they protecting our personal data?

Well, it seems if the government isn’t going to take it seriously, then the business community won’t either. It’s claimed that the Home Office does not appear to be dealing sufficiently with Data Protection Act (DPA) breaches, with no official confirmation as to whether custodial sentences or tougher measures on businesses will be implemented. Until firms are faced with the threat of jail or astronomical fines for DPA breaches, they’re quite happy not paying a small fortune to resolve the problem.

Tales of identity fraud are commonplace in countries all over the World. The FBI arrested 53 American citizens accused of carrying out illegal online activities and stealing nearly $2m from customers belonging to Wells Fargo and Bank of America. 47 more ‘co-conspirators’ are also set to be detained in what has been dubbed ‘Phish Phry’, the largest ever number of defendants charged in a single cyber crime case. In Germany, the number of internet-based crimes rose nearly 10% in 2008, and IT analysts predict another increase this year.

Yet the security industry continues to bury its head in the sand, and seems reluctant to confront a difficult and complex problem. The industry body Financial Fraud Action UK have effectively denied the problem altogether, saying that their findings for results this year showed the amount of fraud being committed on plastic cards had fallen 23%, while phone, internet and mail-order levels also dropped. Experts suggested that criminals had turned to targeting foreign-issued cards and criminal activity in Britain was finally coming under control. The introduction of online payment tools, such as MasterCard Secure Code and Verified by Visa have been failed as saviours in the battle against identity theft.

However, IT consultant at Consult Hyperion, Richard Allen, is finding fewer reasons to be positive. “Last year was a painful blip - with card payment fraud up significantly, partly due to some very big cases - and so the comparison is best done against figures for 2007. That still gives a trend downward, but far less dramatic.”

He may have a point. There were more than 26,000 phishing incidents in the first half of 2009 – a 26% increase on the figure in the same period last year. Online banking fraud losses rose to £39m, a 55% hike on the first half of 2008.

Allen said, “Looking at these numbers, the trend-bucking statistic is the reduction in card-not-present (CNP) fraud. I'm sure the likes of SecureCode and Verified-by-Visa has played a part in this, but the industry also has rolled out other countermeasures to stem the dramatic rise in CNP fraud over recent years. As a cardholder, you may have noticed changes like delivery only to cardholder address, address verification and the production of the card for travel. The reduction in CNP fraud is welcome, although the numbers certainly deserve some more investigation.”

So what next? It’s pretty obvious that businesses and individuals need to be more vigilant to protect themselves. Banks can also play their part, creating a position where online banking is conducted in isolation so fraudsters cannot access lucrative account information. Identity Fraud Prevention Week will stress the harsh consequences of identity theft. Many will choose not to listen. As long as the ignorance exists, instances of fraud will continue to increase, leaving more and more victims. Let’s hope the message of Identity Fraud Prevention Week lasts a lot longer than seven days this time.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Richard Dyer - White

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:14:00 +0000

‘White’ presents a fascinating study of the representation of whiteness in Western visual culture. In this chapter, Richard Dyer uses contemporary cinema to analyse the supposed absence of white identity and the stark contrast between black and white as cultural categories. Dyer emphasizes how difficult whiteness, seemingly unmarked by history or practice, is to characterise, saying “White power secures its dominance by seeming not to be anything in particular”. He describes white as no colour because it is all colours. Black, on the other hand, is much easier to define as a racial designation. Dyer refers to Judea-Christian teachings of white and black symbolizing good and evil, and the inevitable associations of white with light and therefore safety, and black with dark and therefore danger.

Dyer stresses how the “colourless multi-colouredness of whiteness” serves to reinforce white dominance and is the source of its representational power. Because Caucasians are not literally white, ‘white’ skin presumes the absence of ethnicity as opposed to racially labeling an individual. Dyer suggests such paradoxes inoculates whites against stereotyping and makes it difficult to explore white representation. Whiteness cannot be easily classified and he imitates that whites are not of a certain race; they are in fact the human race, thus creating an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality.

The theory shares similarities with Edward Said’s Theory of Orientalism. Orientalism is a set of values which claim that Western culture is inherently superior to Eastern ones. Subsequently, this breeds a belief that the ‘Orient’ is a separate, wholly different entity, whose progress is measured in terms of, and in comparison to the West, maintaining its position as the inferior Other. By defining itself in relation to non-white others, Dyer argues that “whiteness is only racial when it is marked by the presence of the truly raced, the non-white subject”.

Dyer suggests the most effective way to contextualise whiteness is by underlining its “inescapable differences from blackness”, and attempts to achieve this through the study of mainstream cinema. He claims that:

“White representation is immediately something more specific… Brief Encounter is not about white people, it is about English middle-class people, The Godfather is not about white people, it is about Italian-American people; but The Colour Purple is about black people, before it is about poor, Southern people.”

Dyer contends that the disorder, irrationality and looseness associated with black stereotypes mean non dominant groups play significant roles in contemporary cinema, reinforcing cultural stereotypes and emphasizing the qualities synonymous with whiteness - order, civility and rationality, (although colonialism, slavery and the holocaust suggest otherwise).

Perhaps Dyer is over-exaggerating the impetus that the media places on black stereotypes. Admittedly, racial representation is common in the dominant white media who stigmatize minority communities with negative imagery, but the media’s commitment to black presence throughout mainstream output is minimal. In fact, black-related shows that do survive are generally located in the least risky part of the network schedule, and the low investment sector.

Dyer stresses how whiteness has been central to the technology of photography and cinema in modern history. He maintains that film was specifically designed to depict the spirit of the white body, to make whites look ideal and brighter. Dyer uses the British film Simba (Rank Studios, 1955) as evidence of existential psychology as an explanatory concept in the representation of ethnicity. Existential psychology explains the model whereby an individual becomes aware of itself by perceiving its difference to others. Dyer suggests the presence of the black Mau-Mau tribe in Simba allows one to see whiteness as whiteness, relating to situations in which whites hold power in society.

The adventure film, which focuses upon a Briton called Alan (Dirk Bogarde) who travels to Kenya to bury his murdered brother by the Mau-Mau, maintains an absolutist view of black and white cultures as fixed, impermeable expressions of racial identity. Whilst the white settlers stand for modernity and reason, group meetings are held in well-lit rooms during the early evening, the black tribe represent backwardness and chaos, meeting in the dead of night, shrieking and gabbling in an uneven circle.

Robert Ferguson recognizes similar techniques in his analysis of the film based on the American Civil War, Glory (1989, Zwick). Ferguson notes that:

“Blackness is constructed again and again throughout the film as something exotic and always different to be measured against the normality of the whites. Different characters are carefully structured in the film in such a way as to demonstrate that African American males do not share the same personality, interests or education.”

In Simba, Dyer pays particular attention to several black individuals who have been “westernized”. Peter Karanja, the son of a local chief, is the village doctor who has essentially become ‘white’ by running a surgery in the village and adhering to the colonialist’s way of life.

This is contrasted with a black local who, despite wearing Western clothes and riding a bike, viciously stabs a wounded white man. Dyer encapsulates the fear that ensues if you can’t see black men behaving as black men should, the deceptiveness of a black man in Western clothes riding a bike, how can he be trusted? Dyer calls Simba an endorsement of the moral superiority of white values of reason, order and boundedness. The narrative continues with a sense of “white helplessness” in the face of the forces of blackness. He regards the stoic conservatism of the film’s hero Alan in the face of adversary as less than admirable, and suggests the notion of whiteness as “repression”.

In contrast, I feel whiteness represents power as opposed to repression and, under pressure, appears all to ready to resort to increasingly totalitarian strategies. It is the power to include or exclude, and the power to hold the dominant, subjective position. Essentially, whiteness acts as a blank canvas upon which Otherness and difference is constructed – a concept that is reinforced in this chapter. White culture has always been visible to others; the difference now is that Whiteness is now visible to whites themselves.

Dyer ends a perceptive chapter with no solid conclusion for the reader to grab on to – he has no answers for us. He wants discussion, discourse, and deliberation.

Interview with Michelle Dewberry - Apprentice winner 2006

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:01:00 +0000

What's the toughest thing about entering the professional environment?

I think firstly deciding what profession you want to enter into, it's an important decision because your career takes up a huge part of your life. Secondly, you must create the opportunities to enable yourself to succeed in your career of choice.

What's the best advice you have ever been given?

"Anything is Possible". It written in a leaving card by a former colleague and it's a statement that I believe strongly in. I always try and adhere to that mantra in my professional life, and I even named my autobiography after it.

What drives you to continue to achieve in business?

I have my own goals and personal drivers for wanting to achieve success. I keep these written down in a place I can always reference, and if I am struggling I look at them to remind myself of how I got to where I am today and why I'm doing what I do.

You've won The Apprentice, and run a thriving business. What's the secret to your success?

I think it is all about defining what success means to you and then working as hard as possible to achieve it. For some people financial gain is a motivator, for others it's job satisfaction. Everybody has different needs.

In an increasingly competitive job market, what can graduates do to get ahead?

Get as much experience as you can. So many people are going for the same jobs so its crucial that you stand out. Vounteer, do internships - whatever it takes. Also, if you get an interview prepare thoroughly beforehand, research the organisation and its current challenges. Think of ideas or proposed solutions and discuss them in the interview.

What tips or advice would you give to graduates who want to succeed in business?

Keep believing in yourself. It's easy to say but difficult to do. No matter how tough things get, remember your reasons for wanting success. Don't compare yourself to others and don't listen to undue criticism. You've got to keep on keeping on.

What's the next step in your career?

To develop http://www.chiconomise.com/ into the leading fashionable money saving site for women in the UK. I'm also regularly involved in charity work and I always try to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

(The Graduate Magazine, 2009)

Journalist's degree choices - a snapshot of 75 leading hacks

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Really interesting blog at http://www.uptospeedjournalism.com/ about the degree choices of Britain's leading journalists.

History

Andrew Rawnsley, Cambridge
Matt Frei with Spanish, Oxford
Rageh Omar, Oxford
Dermot Murnagahan, Sussex
Tom Bradby, Edinburgh
Jeremy Bowen, UCL

Economics/PPE/Politics

Evan Davies(PPE), Oxford
Katie Derham, Economics, Cambridge
Justin Webb Economics, LSE
Carl Dinnen, Social and Political Science, Cambridge
Zeinab Badawi(PPE), Oxford
Ben Brown(PPE), Oxford
Michael Crick PPE, Oxford
David Dimbleby(PPE), Oxford
Krishnan Guru-Murthy(PPE), Oxford
Robert Peston PPE, Oxford
Nick Robinson(PPE), Oxford
James Robbins(PPE), Oxford
Jeff Randall, Economics, Nottingham
Liam Halligan, Economics, Warwick and Oxford
Jane Hill, Politics, London
George Alagiah, Politics, Durham
Peter Sissons(PPE), Oxford
Will Lewis, Politics and Economics, Bristol

Philosophy

Conor McNicholas, Manchester
Will Self, Oxford
Modern Languages
Kate Adie, Newcastle
Rebekah Wade, Sorbonne
Frank Gardner, Exeter,
Kevin Bakhurst, Cambridge
Fiona Bruce, Oxford,
Bridget Kendall, Oxford
Huw Edwards, Cardiff
Dani Sinha, Bristol
Brigid Nzekwu, London
Caroline Hawley, Oxford
Sophie Raworth, Manchester,
Joanna Gosling, Birmingham

Sciences

Lawrence McGinty, Liverpool
David Attenborough, Cambridge
George Monbiot, Oxford
Susan Watts, Imperial, Physics,
Sarah Montague, Bristol Biology

Classics

Martha Kearney, Oxford
Boris Johnson, Oxford

Geography

Anna Botting, Oxford
David Shukman, Durham
Psychology
Jim Gray, Stirling
Kate Silverton, Durham

Law

Gaby Logan, Durham
Andrea Catherwood, Manchester

Media and Comms

Richard Bilton, Birmingham City University

Those NCTJ's are looking like a colossal waste of money...

FMAS Focus

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Wilks appointed chief consultant Senior lecturer in visual arts, Tim Wilks, has been appointed chief consultant for a major event which is scheduled to appear at the National Portrait Gallery in 2012. The exhibition celebrates the 400th anniversary of the death of Henry, Prince of Wales. Wilks, who wrote ‘Prince Henry Revived’, a book that focussed upon the cultural icon, will oversee the content and structure of the exhibition alongside an advisory committee.

This is my Land Andrew Cross, a lecturer in Photography, presented his screening programme, ‘This Is My Land’ alongside other internationally acclaimed artists at the Artsway visual arts venue in the New Forest in late August. The programme highlighted various aspects and sensations of rural life, and in particular how land is utilised, exploited and managed by human endeavour. Find out more about the event at http://www.artsway.org.uk/

Art research to be funded The intensive programme ‘Towards Creative Entrepreneurship’ has been approved by colleagues at Lahti, (University of Applied Sciences) and will receive funding. The aim of the project is to find new, innovative ways to promote entrepreneurship on arts courses at universities. Other partners in the project include the Cork Institute of Technology, the Estonian Academy of Music, and the Norwegian Academy of Music. There is funding in the budget for five students from Solent University to participate as well as one member of staff.

Filmmakers opportunities Lightstream TV, a business that produces professional short-format video adverts online, is in need of filmmakers to join their freelance network. It’s an excellent opportunity for students and experienced filmmakers alike to earn money, and develop their portfolio whilst shooting and editing video. For more information visit www.lightstream.tv/producers/join

The Big Draw The Millais Gallery and Solent University are hosting The Big Draw event on October 10, as part of a month long, nationwide campaign for drawing. The event invites people of all ages and artistic abilities to help create a huge panoramic drawing, with help from the resident lecturers/artists. The free event will take place in the gallery between 10am-1pm.

The Siege International bestselling author Helen Dunmore talked about her novel ‘The Siege’ at the Northguild Lecture Theatre in the Civic Centre on Tuesday September 29. Helen spoke about her story of love, life and survival during the German siege of Leningrad in World War 2, before participating in a Q&A session and book signing.

Framing Film The University of Winchester’s School of Film and Media staged the ‘framing film’ International Film Conference between the 4-6 September. The event was attended by film students from Solent University. Keynote speakers included Professor Ian Christie from the University of London and Peter Webber, the director of ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’.

Flynn high Adam Cominskey has been named a commercial director at Flynn Productions, an original and creative film making company. This will enhance links between the company and the university, and create opportunities for students to work on live projects. To find out more visit http://www.flynnproductions.com/

Alan’s art Alan Schechner’s artwork will appear in two academic publications from Sydney and Hamburg respectively. His piece, ‘It’s the real thing – Self portrait at Buchenwald’, will appear in ‘Law Text Culture’ and Professor Susan Rohr’s book ‘Comedy - Avant-Garde - Scandal: Remembering the Holocaust after the End of History’.

Simple for Simon Multimedia technician Simon Griggs has completed his ACA exams in Adobe Photoshop CS4 and is now an Adobe Certified Associate.

Digidesign for life Solent is now a Digidesign Certified Training Location, allowing the University to teach students the Pro Tools 101, 110, 201, and 210 courses. Toni Diaz and Jon JB Wills from the Media Production department passed the necessary courses, which have also provided the University with up to date software to teach on.

No Looking Barry Davies, a former student at Solent University, will be presenting his ‘No Looking’ exhibition at the Millenium Arts Centre in Cardiff. ‘No Looking’ is a collection of new and old post conceptual surrealist artworks by the Welsh Artist, performer and film maker. The work of Davies stems from his interest in perceptions of reality, he’s interested in the use of irony and hyperbole and in using materials, objects and processes in which to explore these ideas.

Relentless Brighton Brighton-based videogames developer Relentless Software recently visited the university for the Solent Jobs Fair in March, and the company’s Art Director Ben Lee met with students and discussed social gaming. Lee was ‘extremely impressed’ with the quality of junior animators and is keen to maintain a link between Solent and Relentless Software. It’s likely the company will be finalising details for a new project soon and as a result will be recruiting junior artists and animators.

Buckley’s Odyssey More than a quarter of a century ago Solent journalism lecturer Martin Buckley embarked on a trip to South Asia, travelling across Sri Lanka and India. During his time there, Martin discovered Ramayana – Valmiki’s epic written around 500-700 BC (much the same as Homer’s Odyssey, hence the title). Despite being relatively unknown in the West, Ramayana – The Wanderings of Rama – which tell the story of Lord Rama's search for his kidnapped wife – have achieved the status of holy writ. Buckley’s compelling recreation of Rama’s journey by bus, train, plane, and motor bike is inspiring and thought provoking. The book can be purchased for £8.99 from all leading book stores.

(Focus on FMAS newsletter, 2009)

Pew36 team up with Hey Negrita for zombie video

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:49:00 +0000

The animation studio Pew36, which was set up by Adam Cominskey, have joined Flynn Productions for music video representation, following the release of their zombie-themed video for Hey Negrita’s ‘One Mississippi’. Pew36 have created videos for the likes of Hundred Reasons and Jay Haze, and most of the team teaches on the animation degree at Solent University. The latest project features a fully animated promo trilogy for UK-based country band Hey Negrita, and the first features a low-fi battle with zombies. The films will be released alongside the band’s new album, ‘Burn the Whole Place Down’.

“All three videos needed to stand up to being videos in their own right and yet still work as a 12-minute whole. Other than wanting the band to be in it, we pretty much had blue sky on this," said Comiskey.

"We really liked the idea of making a computer-generated movie that looked like it was a low budget, live action film. We employed several live-action cost-cutting techniques and recreated them in the digital realm. It was important that it felt like a bunch of mates who had borrowed a couple of cameras, lights and shot it in their dad's garage."

Because the majority of Pew36’s staff teaches at Solent, the progress of the project can be archived and used as an excellent case study for teaching material.

(Focus on FMAS newsletter, 2009)

Black and Gold

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:47:00 +0000

To coincide with the BP Portrait Award and Black History Month in October, Southampton City Council’s Arts & Heritage have collaborated with the Stronger Communities & Equalities Team to commission three recent graduates of Southampton Solent University’s BA (Hons) Photography course; Fang Gleizes, Sarah Shaughnessy and Iain Anderson to take a series of photographic portraits.

Black History Month 2009 has been dedicated to the concept of Heroes and the Black Gold portrait exhibition was conceived as a way of recognising individuals of an African/Caribbean background as exemplars of good work.

This collection of photographs brings to the fore, individuals of an Afro-Caribbean background connected to Southampton who play a significant role in our society and have achieved, either as pioneers, explorers, campaigners, international figures or simply by just being the first.

Private View: Wednesday 30th September 2009 6.00 – 8.00pm. All welcome.

(Focus on FMAS newsletter, 2009)

Julie is CIH Student Representative

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:42:00 +0000

Julie-Watson-Cowen studied for her Housing Diploma at Southampton Solent and has since been appointed as student representative with CIH South East. Julie’s current post is Housing Enabling Officer at Havant Borough Council – and she ensures that affordable housing is delivered to meet the needs of the local population. This requires full involvement with developers, housing associations and planning officers at the council.

“I have been working on my Diploma in a group of about 26 students from a variety of organisations and job roles within housing. I was surprised by how many fellow students had little idea of the important work of CIH and how influential it could be. And there seemed to be a general lack of enthusiasm for converting their student membership to full membership when completing the course.”

Julie also praised the course at Solent, and the benefits of studying at the university. “The course has covered subjects directly relating to my various roles. The fact that I was studying for the Diploma helped secure my current job. Each of the modules has benefited my work in some way or another, from devising questionnaires, delivering presentations, writing reports, understanding organisations' governance procedures and, most importantly, being able to question whether things actually work or not. I've also gained a lot of specific technical knowledge, for example in planning and design, and also an appreciation of the bigger housing-related picture.”

(Focus on FMAS newsletter, 2009)

Where is she now - A graduate interview..

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Carly Rigley, editorial assistant of At Home magazine.

At Home magazine is a monthly women's consumer magazine, featuring a different celebrity each issue. Content varies from health, beauty, fashion, fitness, food and drink to homes and interiors.

What do you do? As editorial assistant, I have many roles. These include: researching for various features, contacting PRs for information and images, compiling product pages, writing the news pages, representing the magazine at press launches, dealing with reader queries, organising reader competitions, as well as managing the editor's diary and admin bits in and around the office. I also help the art team with image research.

How long have you been here? I have been here since July 07 (I joined straight after I graduated). I had done work experience at the magazine in the summer during 2nd and 3rd year uni, so got to know the editor and when I graduated, there was a position available.

What are the benefits? There's many perks of the job. As the editorial team is quite small, I get to write many features (which is not something an editorial assistant normally gets the opportunity to do.) I write in-house, as well as freelance so I've gained lots of experience. Also we get a lot of freebies and samples sent to us, which is cool, and the goody bags from press launches are always a bonus.

Worst part? - I'd probably say the pressure on press week. Plus the admin side of things can get a bit tedious.

Good money? - magazine journalism isn't very well paid, but that's not why people join the industry. Editorial assistants can expect to receive a starting salary of around £14,000 to £18,000 depending on the company and location.

(Focus on FMAS newsletter, 2009)

Team of the Week

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:18:00 +0000

The Trophy Wives XI

To mark the England women's first major final in 25 years, in the European Championships, here's a team of players with ladie's names. They would be called Crewe Alexandra and play at Hartlepool's Victoria Park.

GK: Kasey Keller (Tottenham)

DR: Michel Salgado (Blackburn)

DC: Dame Diouf (Hannover)

DC: Jody Craddock (Wolves)

DL: Kelly Gray (San Jose Earthquakes)

MR: Lilian Nalis (Aston Villa)

MC: Nikola Kalinic (Blackburn)

MC: Jean Tigana (Bordeaux)

ML: Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

FC: Valeri Bojinov (Manchester City)

FC: Marian Pahars (Southampton)

(The Independent, 2009)

GSMA promises fall on deaf ears as industry squabbles threaten the future of NFC

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:12:00 +0000

Last year, the GSMA (GSM Association) boldly predicted that by mid-2009 full NFC functionality – including the standardised ‘Single Wire Protocol’ interface – would be built into commercially available handsets. The global trade association, who represent more than seven-hundred mobile-phone operators, called for the standard to be introduced following the success of their ‘Pay-Buy-Mobile’ initiative which was trialed across various continents and enabled consumers to use NFC handsets to purchase goods and services. At the 2008 meeting in China, the GSMA’s Board stressed the importance of the need for the ETSI endorsed 'Single Wire Protocol' standard to provide the interface (known as the host controller) between the SIM and the NFC chip embedded in the handset. This would provide control of secure chips and application processors and ‘ensure that consumers can reap the benefits and of mobile payment services as soon as possible.’

Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA, Michael O’ Hara said that by signing up to the ‘Pay-Buy-Mobile’ scheme, handset manufacturers would avoid fragmenting the market, and benefit from introducing a new attractive service for users – boosting sales at a time when the industry forecasts are looking increasingly bleak.

The ‘Pay-Buy-Mobile’ trials were conducted in many countries including Australia, Taiwan, USA, and France, all of whom enjoyed strong results and positive feedback. In South-east Asia, 80% of the users were satisfied with the security of the service, while in the ‘Payez Mobile’ trial in France, 90% of consumers found contact less mobile payments ‘easy to use’ while 80% merchants welcomed the ‘speed and cutting edge appeal’ of contact less payments. Even the operators were queuing to heap praise on the mobile payment trials, praising the willingness of the consumers and the benefits to banks, providers and users. Sounds too good to be true?

There is just one niggling hitch. The new payment channel is wholly dependent on the availability of NFC-enabled handsets and device manufacturers incorporating Single Wire Protocol and NFC features as standard. While the GSMA have suggested that collaboration with vendors would help speed up demand, and were confident that a set of minimum requirements will accelerate the delivery of these handsets to the marketplace, it’s all gone a little bit flat. We’re fast approaching Autumn and there’s barely a fully functioning NFC phone on the market. So what’s happened to the GSMA ‘Single Wire Protocol’ dream?

No one doubts that NFC is a useful application. Wave your phone by a door and it opens, near a till and your bill is paid. But much of the technology requires a secure module that doesn’t necessarily need to be the SIM. The capabilities of a SIM have greatly advanced in the last few years, with multi-megabyte capacities and fast processors crammed into the package. However, getting payment for this potential hasn’t proved as simple. Even the emergence of a dynamic interface such as USB has done little to whet the appetite of the operator, despite USB adoption leaving one pin free on the SIM face, a single wire that allows the SIM to communicate with NFC hardware stored on the handset. It’s clear that the time is right for handsets to start handing control of NFC over to the SIM, providing the handset manufacturers see any reason to do so.

Which of course, they don’t.

They’re more than content to see the secure module embedded in the handset, much like Nokia’s 6131 NFC mobile, one of few NFC-enabled handsets on the high streets. While GSMA claim that all and sundry have signed up to make Single Wire Protocol handsets, the reality is that until networks demand it, the manufacturers will be delighted to keep NFC under their full control. After all, why give control to a network operator when you can own every slice of the pie?

The availability of handsets is minimal, but there are a few out there such as the LG KU380 and the Apple iPhone, a handset that harnesses RFID to indulge in bizarre activities like knocking over small objects when the device is swung in near-proximity. Still looking for a worthwhile problem to solve it seems. For Swedish telecom giants, Ericsson, it’s a year later than expected, in 2010. The company’s vice-president, Håkan Djuphammar promised that by next year every new handset that’s sold by Ericsson will possess NFC capabilities. Deja-vu, anyone?

The issue for the industry to decide is how much control the mobile operators should hold over the secure element of the process. SIM manufacturers and mobile operators are pushing for the SIM to play a part in all areas of communication that the NFC chip has with other chips in the phone, to the extent of giving the SIM the authority to reject unfamiliar applications.

Subsequently, they’re urging the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) committee to adopt this particular model. On the other hand, the handset manufacturers aren’t so enthusiastic. Nokia, a key player in the market, only wants communication between the SIM and the NFC chip, and rejects suggestions that the SIM should be involved in applications stored on other secure chips. And while mobile operators rush to ETSI to fight their corner, Nokia has turned to the NFC Forum, an organisation that it helped to create. If Nokia continues to stand it’s ground (which it inevitably will), the squabbling within the industry will only serve to cause further delays to widespread usage, bump up prices, and dramatically impact the time to market of NFC handsets.

The inability to agree on standards, and the lack of a solid business case to justify expenses have contributed to the limited availability of NFC handsets, and the continuing struggle for control of different parts of the supply chain. So where do we go from here? In the short term, vendors such as INSIDE Contactless have developed a stick-on NFC device that can be attached to a mobile phone thus enabling access to GPS, transit and smart postering solutions. In the longer term, SIM manufacturers may be forced to offer their services as a trusted third party. In the mean time, the rollout of mobile payments is edging ever closer, albeit painfully slowly. The specifications are completed; the trial results are in and the outcome successful. All we’re waiting on now is the handsets. But that’s easier said than done, no doubt.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Shipping goals: England's defensive mishaps

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Croatia 1 - 4 England (Zagreb, Sept 2008) Mandzukic 78 mins
England counter-attack even though 3-0 up and John Terry's missed clearance puts Srna in on goal.
Back four at the time of goal: Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Wes Brown tinyurl.com/ljk9t5

England 5 - 1 Kazakhstan (Wembley, Oct 2008) Kukeyev 68 mins
Ashley Cole's horrific back pass gifts the ball to Kukeyev, who volleys home.
Back four: Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Wes Brown

tinyurl.com/mqd2v9

Belarus 1 - 3 England (Minsk, Oct 2008) Sitko 28 mins
Srasevich turns Wayne Bridge and crosses and an unmarked Sitko heads in.
Back four: Wayne Bridge, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, Wes Brown

tinyurl.com/kmk3m2

Germany 1 - 2 England (Berlin, Nov 2008) Helmes 63 mins
Terry and Scott Carson fail to deal with a through ball, allowing Helmes to score.
Back four: Wayne Bridge, Matthew Upson, John Terry, Glen Johnson

tinyurl.com/mpvwg9

Spain 2 - 0 England (Seville, Feb 2009) Villa 36 mins and Llorente 82 mins
Phil Jagielka gives the ball away badly for the first. Peter Crouch then loses Llorente when defending a free-kick.
Back four for first goal: Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, John Terry, Glen Johnson. Second goal: Upson for Jagielka.

tinyurl.com/krd263

England 2 - 1 Ukraine (Wembley, April 2009) Shevchenko 74 mins
Free-kick into the box ricochets off Glen Johnson kindly into Shevchenko's path.
Back four: Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Glen Johnson

tinyurl.com/mnzllu

Netherlands 2 - 2 England (Amsterdam, August 2009) Kuyt 10 mins and Van der Vaart 38 mins
Rio Ferdinand's lazy back pass presents Kuyt with the first goal. Gareth Barry's back pass then puts Robben in, with Van der Vaart scoring from the rebound.
Back four: Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Glen Johnson

tinyurl.com/l6jh53

England 2 -1 Slovenia (Wembley, Sept 2009 ) Lubijankic 85 mins
Pecnik cuts past Johnson to cross for Lubijankic, who ghosts beyond Joleon Lescott to head in.
Back four: Ashley Cole, Joleon Lescott, John Terry, Glen Johnson

tinyurl.com/le32jc

(The Independent, 2009)

European banks consider magnetic stripe card ban

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:57:00 +0000

The chairman of the European Payments Council (EPC), Gerard Hartsink, recently announced that European banks may consider a ban on magnetic stripe cards by 2011, as widespread adoption of chip-and-pin credit cards continues to flourish. The EPC, established in 2002, is driving the transition to the Single Euro Payments Area and advised its members to stop accepting magnetic stripe cards. The technology is deemed less secure than the EMV alternative, an international standard specifying how smart card chips can replace the magnetic stripe on bank cards.

The decision to discard magnetic stripe cards altogether could have serious implications for U.S credit card merchants, who use magnetic stripe technology over chip-and-pin. While Europe made the switch to Chip-and-PIN in 2004, largely due to the fraud protection benefits, the reluctance of the U.S to follow suit has left them lagging behind in credit card technology. So it too late for the U.S industry to make the switch, and how will this affect American travellers?

Well, U.S citizens travelling with their magnetic stripe cards can rest assured – European Chip-and-PIN readers are capable of processing magnetic stripe cards as well. So any horror stories you may have heard (i.e. Joe Weiss, the U.S attorney who couldn’t use his card anywhere in France) are either a case of fear mongering, or an unfortunate rarity. Across the pond, the challenge lies in the cost and complexity of making the transition to EMV technology. Chip-and-PIN cards are processed using different terminals than those used for magnetic stripe cards. In Europe, the issuer is involved with the payment, as EMV uses ‘smart card’ technology which renders the card powerless without a PIN. However, in the U.S, issuers are separated from the payment processing system and subsequently are in no position to force merchants to purchase the new Chip-and-PIN terminals.

Another stalling point is the complexity of America’s multilayered payment system. Frankly, converting to Chip-and-PIN just wouldn’t be as simple as it was in Europe. Even with the inflated costs, the switch made sense for Europe as EMV technology dramatically improved efforts in preventing credit card fraud. Europe’s system is essentially offline, which means that transaction information isn’t instantly updated when a purchase is made. As a result, credit card fraud can’t be detected at the point of sale.

The U.S system is online, so fraud is more frequently detected at the point of sale and suspicious activity can be flagged. Some experts argue that the reason the U.S is less hasty to adopt smart cards is because the risk of fraud is significantly lower than in Europe – where fraud detection isn’t possible until after the event. Yet, there is conflicting evidence that suggests international credit card thieves are beginning to target the U.S. According to the U.K. Payments Administration, growth in credit card fraud cost the UK consumers £535.3m in 2008. In comparison, fraud and identity theft cost the U.S $48 billion – a vast difference.

Last year, eleven fraudsters stole 45 million credit and debit card numbers from companies such as TJX, Boston Market and Barnes & Noble – the biggest case of identity theft in U.S history. Then, in 2009, Heartland Payment Systems were targeted, and millions of card transaction details breached. Even the hackers themselves aren’t safe! In a twist of delicious irony, criminal hackers pulled off an ATM ‘skimming’ scan at the annual Defcon conference in Las Vegas, a meeting of hackers from all over the world. It seems nobody is immune to the threat of identity theft.

The decision for card issuers in the U.S is a tough one. The switch to Chip-and-PIN is not an easy one, but after significant data breaches which resulted in millions of cards being compromised, and issuers, banks and consumers all suffering, it would seem that a solution is drastically required. American credit card companies are already sharing higher costs driven by the increase of data breaches and online crime. For those reasons, it’s about time issuers reconsidered the economics of EMV migration.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Succeed@Solent presenting work.

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:52:00 +0000

See links for my presenting videos on the Succeed@Solent online learning portal.

I'll try and get the videos up as soon as possible.

Succeed@research - http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2361

Succeed@inductions - http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=75969

Succeed@feedback - http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=52341

Interview with Ken Warren, Smartcard Business Manager at Cryptomathic

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:44:00 +0000

What is CryptoFirewall and how does it work?

CryptoFirewall is an embedded silicon core designed only to protect keys and crypto-algorithm, it doesn’t burden itself with additional functionality, and it can be implemented on its own or embedded. If you take the example of the pay-tv system and its conditional access module, a crypto-firewall would be embedded and that would be responsible for the components of the control contribution. It’s essentially responsible for one part and doesn’t get involved with all the various permissions. The application compliments the existing system by securing that specific part of the control world so if the system is compromised the overall pay TV system isn’t. We can apply this in other anti -counterfeiting applications such as printers.

How much of a problem is piracy to the pay-tv industry?

Traditionally it’s been huge and continues to be so. There’s an estimate that if piracy was eliminated the suppliers would gain an extra £6bn in revenue worldwide, it’s staggering. Of course, some territories are better than others, and in instances where our CryptoFirewall technology is being deployed we have an unblemished security record. The first deployment was seven years ago and for something to survive in the field for that length of time is almost unheard of. The CryptoFirewall’s design goals were to be as highly tamper-resistant as possible and in the pay TV industry a lot of the attackers are well funded and well equipped. We see it as quite a compliment to our technology that it has survived the test of time. However, we’re not complacent. We recognize that things move along which is one of the reasons that we design CryptoFirewall with overlapping or complimentary systems. We accept that certain elements may be compromised but the whole thing won’t be, because it’s not a single point of sale.

What sort of threats are companies at risk from?

One of the big issues in the pay-TV space is that set top boxes are sold at a loss or subsidized so the attacker will compromise the conditional access security. Thus, the attacker will receive the access for free and can bypass the subscription and payment mechanisms as well as re-programming the devices to work in the general case. Regularly, on EBay, people offer to sell conditional access cards or pay subscription cards which will get you access to programmes at the fraction of legitimate cost. In the counterfeit goods area, someone will clone copy a component such as printer ink cartridges, usually be refilling the tank. Technology has begun to be deployed whereby authorization is required to verify that the correct ink supplier is correctly validated.

That’s another area for technology like CryptoFirewall where you would have a cryptographic handshake between the cartridge and the printer head to ensure it’s the legitimate procedure and it’s ok to continue. Cloning is a potentially attractive market as goods are sold significantly in excess of the raw manufacturing cost. Another type of attack, remanufacturing, is when the device is worked upon so it can be re-used such as modifying set-top boxes. The final area is repurposing devices where cell phones, limited to a handset provider, are made available for general use by cracking the security.

How does CryptoFirewall provide the solution to these risks?

What CryptoFirewall is doing is providing a cryptographic authentification of the legitimacy of the product. There are a number of other application areas, such as medical devices. The potential vulnerability goes beyond purely financial, because there are life-threatening consequences of people using dodgy sensors. Another area is the aircraft industry. There are huge financial issues and the temptation to use ordinary bolts as opposed to specialist components so there’s a growing requirement to ensure that legitimate products are used. In general terms, the impact overall globally of counterfeit goods is something like £200 billion, that ranges from bags and perfumes to all sorts. There are legal remedies to catch the perpetrators but the other solution is to use technology to ensure that only legitimate products and parts will be used.

What challenges or competition does CryptoFirewall face in the industry?

It is undoubtedly a change to the existing legacy, and there’s no doubt there is a cost implication. However, if someone is losing a certain amount of money then it becomes an economic decision to cover the cost of deploying what is essentially a chip solution to solve that problem. There are other approaches that aren’t so rigorous. In the ink cartridge market, there are several manufacturers that provide chip solutions to authenticate the ink. In most part, these are simple and easy to bypass and in some cases it might just be picking a chip off one product and putting it on another. We believe that with the CryptoFirewall we have a very robust and cost-effective solution. We’re keeping the design solely security focused and not burdening it with additional non-necessary functionalities.

Currently, what sort of take-up has CryptoFirewall had?

Currently 75 million CryptoFirewall devices are deployed globally, predominantly in the pay-TV space. To date, as far as we’re aware it hasn’t been compromised. We work in industries where if they have been compromised we’d know about it pretty quickly!

What does the future hold for CRI and CryptoFirewall?

We’re working with a number of customers to design CryptoFirewall into their products. We’ve announced initiatives in the pay-tv space and we’re working in other industries as well. The CryptoFirewall is quite a design intensive process and there’s an awful lot of work involved. One of the difficulties in designing something which is secure and tamper proof is that it has an impact on everything because you’re explicitly taking out the testing features that would help you. The verification process is time consuming and we put a lot of effort into that. One of the longer term objectives that we’re looking to achieve is to get a generic CryptoFirewall product supported by major manufacturers and we announced collaboration with Infineon to develop CryptoFirewall products. Ultimately, CRI’s objectives are to increase our capability to be able to relay CryptoFirewall solutions to those that would benefit from it, particularly anti-counterfeiting protection.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Interview with Morten Landrock, UK Managing Director of Cryptomathic

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:37:00 +0000

What is Cryptomathic?

Founded in 1986, Cryptomathic’s origin is contained in the company’s name: cryptology and mathematics. Initially, our core area of business was to deliver cryptographic algorithms to banks which in turn were integrated into their own solutions. Technology has advanced significantly and now a rising number of new markets require complex and highly secure systems and procedures to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of data.

We capitalised on this trend and today Cryptomathic is a leading provider of bespoke security solutions to organisations operating across a wide range of sectors including finance, smart card, digital rights management and government. We offer systems for e-banking, two-factor authentication (2FA), public key infrastructure (PKI) initiatives, EMV card issuing, ePassport and advanced key management, which contribute directly to our customers’ core business activities. Essentially, we specialise in areas where cryptographic security is an essential and critical requirement.

In what sectors has Cryptomathic experienced the most success?

Cryptomathic has been successful across a number of different industry sectors, in particular banking, government and digital rights management:

Banking: Although the migration to EMV and the banking sector’s continued use of the internet to deliver services has created new opportunities for banks and improved convenience for customers, such advances have also resulted in increasingly sophisticated financial attacks from fraudsters. It is a continuing and complex process to ensure banking networks are successfully protecting sensitive data from existing and future threats, as most banks are operating a legacy IT system which was originally created for functionality and not security.

This is made even more challenging by the pace at which technology has advanced over the last decade, which would have been unimaginable when these IT systems were first introduced. With the 2008 APACS fraud figures (published in March 2009) revealing an ongoing increase in card-not-present fraud and a startling rise in identity theft – up by a third from six to eight per cent of total fraud - it is without doubt that Cryptomathic’s expertise will continue to be in strong demand from this market.

Government: By transferring our knowledge from securing highly sensitive data within the banking sector into the progressive ePassport landscape, we have developed and implemented solutions which guarantee the security of the biometrics data held within a machine readable travel document or eID card. Taking this one step further, Cryptomathic has designed the technology required to ‘speed up’ the ability of border controllers to access biometric details without impacting the integrity of the infrastructure or application. Due to our work with the UK Identity and Passport Service to deliver a public key infrastructure (PKI) solution in 2006, our consultancy, product offering and visibility in this area has gone from strength to strength. This skill-set has also been used to support the delivery of government ID initiatives.

Digital Rights Management (DRM): As technology becomes increasing mobile, so does data which raises new concerns regarding the protection of copyright information and its management. Interest has grown considerably in the creation of a trusted environment for protecting data which will still enable access by authorised users. PKI is mostly known for electronic commerce and personalised digital signatures with the aim of preventing illegal use of digital contents by unauthorised users. However, there are currently a number of very large, ‘transparent’ PKI solutions for DRM in mobile phones and Trusted Platform Modules in PCs. Cryptomathic has witnessed an increase in demand for these specialised large scale solutions.

Who would you say to date is Cryptomathic’s main competition?

As one of the first companies to commercialise cryptographic algorithms, Cryptomathic has used its academic base to pre-empt new security requirements brought about by emerging technologies or regulatory decisions. This enables us to react to specific and individual client and industry needs in a timely manner. Our biggest competition comes from organisations that decide to develop solutions in-house rather than use an outside agency, which is usually a commercial decision.

What are the benefits of Cryptomathic products over those of its competitors?

All of Cryptomathic’s products are designed and built to specifically meet customer requirements today and are adaptable to future needs. Ensuring a solution is sustainable in the long-term is core in all our services, but is something that many systems developed in-house fail to acknowledge or accommodate, resulting in expensive amendments and time intensive upgrades.

Despite the current economic circumstances do you still see a significant demand for your products in the industry?

Not only is there still a strong demand for our offering, but we have also witnessed new business growth, particularly from the financial sector. Although banks are under increasing pressure to economise without compromising levels of security, fraud costs the industry millions of pounds each year and implementing e-security solutions can eliminate this criminal exposure and the associated losses. Such systems are automated, which can also reduce demand on internal resources and human error; all of which save banks money.What security products do you see as having the greatest potential for adoption?Due to the convergence of industry sectors, and the fast pace at which innovative multiple-partnership solutions are coming to market, scalable, reliable, flexible and secure server solutions have the greatest potential for adoption. Products that span payments and mobile in particular are currently experiencing a rapid rise in demand.

What are the main challenges facing the company in 2009?

Cryptomathic’s main challenge at present is the management of our global expansion strategy. We have an established office network throughout Europe and last year opened a new office in Canada to provide our US and Canadian-based customers with local business and technical support. With a rising demand in North America, Middle East and Asia for security solutions, in particular orders for EMV data preparation solutions for contact and contact less payment cards, as well as automated key management systems, 2FA technologies and PKI expertise, it is logical for us to raise our global visibility.

What does the future hold for Cryptomathic?

The security solutions market we address is likely to continue growing strongly for the foreseeable future, as there will always be a demand for cryptography-based products. In the coming years, a key area of focus will be the integration of biometrics with cryptography based solutions. Both technologies are very effective and offer different benefits in a range of scenarios. Cryptographic solutions - particularly when combined with a Hardware Security Module (HSM) - are so robust that the only challenge that has arisen has been from other sources.

For example, a bank will never experience a threat on the cryptography of its systems. The weaknesses originate from connections to the customer/bank interface and are most commonly exploited by attacks based on trojan, phishing, pharming techniques. In this instance, and many others, cryptography and biometrics can work together advantageously to provide increased assurances of security.

In the long-term, we intend to grow our company and further extend our portfolio of proven solutions through a pre-determined acquisitions strategy. Our overarching aim is to continue to deliver functional solutions and support, with a real return on investment, to a portfolio of happy and loyal customers.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)

Evaluate how new media has revitalised democratic participation in the 2008 US presidential elections.

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:57:00 +0000

On November 4th, 2008 Barack Obama was named the 44th president of America, winning 52 percent of the nation’s vote and earning hard-fought victories in several republican and swing states. The election results crowned a staggering two-year climb which began for Obama as a relative newcomer to national politics, and culminated in the candidate becoming the first African-American to win the White House – a remarkable milestone in American history. But Obama’s improbable success owes much to his revolutionary campaign, which harnessed the power of the internet to encourage fundraising, enable self-promotion, and attract a new voting demographic.

According to technology journalist Claire Cain Miller in ‘The New York Times’, the democratic campaign has changed politics forever. “The election has echoed that of John F. Kennedy in Obama’s use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet… by using interactive Web 2.0 tools, his team changed the way politicians organize supporters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents.” Ironically, it was Obama’s rival John McCain who first recognised the web’s potential in a presidential election, experimenting with targeted banner ads during his republican primary campaign against George Bush in 1999. Eight years later it was Obama who finally exploited the full potential of the internet, his online impact dwarfing that of his opponents and proving key to his triumph.

The emphasis on internet organising began during the democratic primary campaigns, when Obama acquired the services of Joe Rospars, a seasoned online political promoter, and hired Face book co-founder Chris Hughes to build his own social-networking site, myBarackObama.com – a move that proved dividends for the candidate. By the end of the campaign, Obama had raised a record- breaking $600 million in contributions from more than three million people, many of whom donated via the website. MyBarackObama.com hosted two million profiles, and over half a million blog posts. Research by Igor Beuker and Paul van Veenendaal of viralblog.com revealed that thirty-five thousand volunteer groups were created, and two-hundred thousand offline events planned in support of Obama’s cause.

Political blogger Richard Mcmanus said, “We've written a lot about how Barack Obama's Internet strategy was a significant reason for his success last year - first in the democratic nomination, then the Presidential election. The Obama campaign made masterful use of social media and revolutionalised election campaigning.” The internet developed from being a medium for the politically involved to a platform in which millions of American citizens could participate, be it through volunteering, offering support, or donating funds.

Obama raised money through thousands of small, regular, online donations and then used the funds to exploit other, more conventional forms of media, such as television and phone calls. According to TNS Media Intelligence, Obama spent $293 million on television adverts, saturating the cable markets in targeted states. In comparison, McCain spent just $132 million. In addition, the democrat team arranged phone banking events, urging a million volunteers to make phone calls reminding the nation to go and vote. Author and blogging activist Kurt Cagle suggested that the sheer volume of low-value donations enabled Obama to canvass effectively.

“Ultimately, the Obama campaign won the most important election - the money game. Obama and his campaign manager, David Plouffe, settled on the risky strategy of not accepting government financing, but were able to parlay this into a major financial network of small and intermediate sized donors giving anywhere from $5 to the legal maximum of $2300 - made primarily through the Internet.” There are many advantages of Internet fund raising. It's simple, cheap and far less intimidating than giving a large amount. In fact, the democrat campaign set up a system by which the credit cards of donors were billed automatically in budget-friendly monthly amounts.

In September 2008, the democrat’s biggest single month of fundraising, Obama amassed over fifty percent of his record-breaking haul ($100 million of the monthly total of $150 million) from online donations. In ‘The Washington Post’ political editor Jose Antonio Vargas underlined the impact that online fundraising had on the campaign. “Three million donors made a total of six million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those six million donations, ninety-five percent were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once… undoubtedly, the bulk of the more than $600 million that Obama raised throughout the campaign was through the internet.”

But Obama was also aware of an untapped market of huge promise – the youth population. In addition to reaching out to primary voters with his social-networking tool, Obama’s team contacted young Americans through text messaging and the Obama ’08 iPhone, an application that facilitated owners to rally friends and contacts through the Apple devices. They even ran in-game advertising on Xbox games such as ‘Burnout 3’ across 10 battleground states. The campaign also embraced mainstream social-networking sites such as Twitter, My Space and Face book, where Obama currently has four million ‘friends’.

(Figure 1, Ruffini, P, 2008. Levels of engagement with the Obama campaign.)

This chart by former republican ‘e-campaigner’ Patrick Ruffini shows the relative importance of various online media tools to the democratic election process. The graph shows that five million people interacted via social-networking while thirteen million engaged through email. The democrats mobilised support through ‘data mining’ and email lists. This involved identifying potential voters in every region across the country, using technology which predicts political preferences depending on factors such as car ownership and magazine subscriptions. Volunteers would then canvass the prospective ally, focusing on issues that the individual was most likely to be concerned about.

Obama took advantage of video-sharing giant You Tube for free advertising, and internet stunts such as ‘Obama girl’, a viral advert that helped to increase the candidate’s profile. The move was dubbed “more effective that television adverts” by political scientist Michael Cornfield. In ‘Politics moving online: campaigning and the internet.’ Cornfield argues that “the videos had more impact because viewers chose to watch them, or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted.” The official material that the democrats created for You Tube was watched for a total of fourteen million hours worldwide. Cornfield suggests that “to buy the same amount of time on broadcast TV would cost $47 million… a staggering difference.”

Internet video clips have broken the mainstream, as a way to convey political messages and to view clips of candidates streamed from news sources and entertainment shows. For example a recent clip of Obama discussing his desire to ‘spread the wealth’ on a radio show was viewed over two million times on You Tube.

The web has also enabled democrat supporters to fight rumours, disproving Obama’s alleged connections with terrorists. This was the case when citizens used the internet to check facts, by watching Obama’s race speech on You Tube after Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s controversial references to ethnic issues kept surfacing. Referring to Wright’s offending sermons about America, Obama says, “Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely.” To date, nearly seven million people have watched the speech online.
Not content with just Face book and Twitter, the Obama campaign linked up with My Space, sharing content with the site and placing a fundraising widget on the web page. In addition, My Space announced the creation of the ‘Impact Channel’, which focused specifically on the presidential race, and resulted in Obama’s page receiving greater interest.

(Figure 3, Fertik, M. 2008. Is Obama the first Internet president?)

A study conducted by Michael Fertik, CEO and blogger of http://www.reputationdefender.com/, reveals the extent of Obama’s control over online tools. The graph shows that in just over ten months, Obama’s My Space page rocketed from under one-hundred thousand members to over seven times that amount, with a huge increase as the election date neared. In comparison republican candidate McCain only managed around one-hundred and sixty thousand members, a figure which remained consistent throughout his campaign. The surge in Obama’s figures accounts for the aggressive campaigning on behalf of his team to attract last-minute support. But whereas Obama reached out to users of the internet in order to communicate and mobilize volunteers, McCain’s campaign used activist blogs which channeled anti-Obama attacks into the mainstream media.

Many pro-republican bloggers cross-posted content on several web sites to raise the profile of key ‘anti-democrat’ stories on Google searches and video links. In ‘Election campaigning on the WWW in the USA’ Rachel Gibson suggests that despite isolation from the rest of the blogosphere, ‘No-bama’ blogs “repeatedly focused on the extent of Obama’s association with alleged domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, and the community group ACORN. These posts surface in search engine results about Obama, and give the impression of widespread outrage, which can frame news coverage.”

With evidence of both sides of the political spectrum battling to gain political ascendancy online, it seems as if the internet has changed the outlook of national politics. Since Obama’s success at the polls, sites like Drudge Report have gained significant influence. In October 2008, the website’s recorded monthly traffic was six times that of four years previously. Simply by linking to a story, The Drudge Report force the mainstream media to pay attention, for fear of looking foolish and not covering a story seen online by thirty million people. In addition, mainstream news websites such as CNN.com and Foxnews.com have overtaken their television counterparts for news absorption. On Election Day, CNN reported twenty-seven million visitors to their site in just twenty-four hours.

Political blogs such as http://www.dailykos.com/ have gained credibility, while Dan Rather’s weekly blog on http://www.cbs.com/ has become a legitimate voice of authority in politics. The election has also enabled niche, non-partisan sites to reach a wider audience. The realclearpolitics.com poll average map has been routinely source-referenced by broadcasting networks and news outlets. Not only has this changed the way in which journalists report on raw voting data and outlying poll results, it has also increased the understanding of political variations for the mainstream audience. Before 2004, social media hardly existed, but during the 2008 election campaign the democrat campaign used networking sites aggressively to communicate with America. According to Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble, “the internet as an election tool will continue to thrive and grow, this is just the beginning.”

The use of the web throughout the American presidential race has revealed the good, creative, and sometimes ugly, side of national politics. The anti-Obama propaganda and terrorism rumours circulated on forums and blogs are vastly outweighed by the positive aspects of the web’s influence upon the election. The online innovations of Obama’s campaign team pushed politics into the mainstream, attracting record-breaking numbers of support and donations, and devising new and ground-breaking ways to gain voters. The Obama campaign utilized the web to help raise record-breaking amounts of funds, single-handedly destroying the concept of public financing, and setting a precedent for forthcoming presidential elections. Furthermore, the democrats used the internet to raise awareness and attract support, effectively rallying and organising volunteers, thus significantly changing the future of political strategy.

There is no doubt that the internet played a huge part in Obama’s presidential success, and as a strategy will evolve into perhaps the most powerful weapon a candidate has in their quest to organize, rally, raise funds, and ultimately win the presidency. The editor in chief of the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, contends that without new media many of us may not have even heard of Barack Obama. “Were it not for the internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee…it enabled one of the biggest turning points in modern history. God bless the internet.”

Assess and critically analyse Pilger’s assessment of journalists/journalism.

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:54:00 +0000

John Pilger’s ‘Hidden Agendas ‘the last voice’ provides an insight into an industry tarnished by market demands and corrupted by “power, censorship and propaganda”. Pilger discusses the deterioration of media ethics, and the traditional means of journalism through media monopolisation and deskilling of reporters. Citing references and examples from all facets of the media, be it radio, television or newsprint, Pilger considers whether journalism is still a noble cause, or whether we are in danger of surrendering our press freedom, and thus our pursuit of exposing the truth.

Pilger begins by scrutinizing the broadcast media, describing the stronghold that global media corporations have over most of the World’s media sources. “The biggest and richest are swallowing not just the minnows… but most of the world’s media: news, current affairs, and documentaries, our primary sources of information.” Highlighting Rupert Murdoch as one of the prime examples, Pilger emphasises the domination in broadcasting networks, an imbalance which inevitably leads to propaganda and subjective reporting. “The digital age of television belongs to Murdoch and his friends… they are Mafia godfathers, dividing turf.”

The author looks at a number of ways in which the media monopoly has affected its news output. In China, where media censorship is strict and regimented, Murdoch removed BBC World Service from his Asian satellite in a move to “appease the regime”. In addition, he offered Chinese authorities technology to edit television programmes before they were broadcast, and launched an internet service that censored politics for its online audience. Pilger concludes, ““In 1997, Murdoch launched his ‘Chinabyte’ internet service in English. Politics will be censored; the Chinese users’ view of the West will be the Murdoch view.”

However, it is not only Murdoch and co. who are guilty of such malpractice, manipulation of news is a growing habit afflicting many of the World’s most influential media outlets. Pilger highlights a once proud ITN service “consumed by market bureaucracy” and the BBC “handicapped by profiteering competitors” and subsequently desperate to retain audiences. He explains, ““In order to compete, the BBC is becoming the worldwide commercial operation it was never meant to be… The ‘Nine ‘o’ clock News’ called off a reporter’s assignment to China investigating sweatshops… as the BBC has growing trade with China, selling language courses, books and successful programmes.” The BBC’s actions echo Murdoch’s concurrence of the Chinese regime, and with the very same motive - to generate profits. According to Pilger, the policy of penalising those “who stray too far from the mainstream” results in “dull, homogenous, and predictable output.”

Pilger takes opposition with this method of newsgathering, and argues that it goes against the basic duties of a journalist. “Journalists ought not to stand outside the closed doors of the powerful waiting to be lied to. They are not functionaries, and they should not be charlatans… they ought to be sceptical about the assumed and the acceptable. Their job is not to stand idly by but to speak for true witnesses of the terrible truth”.

The author argues that reporting should be objective and balanced, natural enemies to the authoritarianism that negates press freedom. In ‘Media ethics and self-regulation’, the author Chris Frost supports this assertion claiming, “Journalists should be sceptical about everyone, seeing them as neither good nor bad, but merely human. Clearly, we need to ask more questions.”

But as Pilger points out, with “ninety percent of all World news and current affairs now coming to us from fewer and more powerful agencies… One American, one British and the other French”, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the ethics of impartial news, a factor that is considered “ultimately crucial to a journalist’s work.” Conversely, Martin Bell, a former broadcaster and war reporter suggests that subjectivity in news is not necessarily a bad thing. He says, “Objectivity is detached and disinterested… subjective reporting is journalism that cares.”

While this could be construed as the case in some circumstances, more often than not subjective reporting succeeds only in spreading the journalist’s own values, a practice which leads to corruption, propaganda and the decline of a balanced review. Matthew Kieran reinforces this idea in ‘Media ethics’ using the coverage of the O.J Simpson trial as a prime example of the media promoting its own interests. “There were striking differences in coverage of the trial… mainstream media focussed upon his star status, black media focussed on tactical angles and the woman’s press made much of the allegations of wife-beating… it would seem that an event can afford a plurality of different reports depending on what proves to be most lucrative.”

In the 1960s, philosopher and communications theorist Marshall McLuhan predicted that the individualistic print culture would be replaced by “electronic interdependence”, whereby electronic media would replace visual culture. McLuhan claimed that humankind would move from individualism and fragmentation to a collective identity brought together by advanced communications, known as the ‘global village’.

Pilger disagrees with this notion stating, “Marshall McLuhan was wrong. In the 1960s the Canadian media intellectual predicted that modern information technologies would create a global village, breaking down barriers of language and distance, bringing people a form of wired socialism... instead technology has spun out of control and humans have become servo-mechanisms of the technological order, controlled by the few at the expense of many.” If McLuhan’s ‘global village’ means anything, it is the power of global media corporations and their antipathy to the concept of a medley of competing voices.

Pilger suggests that while “media technology has become a wondrous tool… which one can only envy and admire” it has also contributed to the downfall of newspaper journalism and its honourable traditions. In order to survive in harsher financial climates, newspapers have succumbed to ‘tabloidisation’, publishing increasingly sensational material at the cost of accuracy or quality. In ‘Media ethics’ Matthew Kieran says, “In 1995 newspaper accuracy accounted for 70% of PCC complaints… it’s widely agreed that there has been a move towards a more tabloid agenda in journalism…but what will be the cost to people’s lives and to journalism?” Kieran underlines the diminishing responsibility of the press in telling the truth, and questions the impact of this recklessness on the industry and society.

According to Richard Keeble in ‘Ethics for journalists’, reporters find themselves “constrained by so many factors – proprietors, fear, the law, time, organisational structures and visited interests.” The lack of funding and time has not only subdued the free press, but has also served to encourage the concept of a multi-skilled journalist, an individual who can deliver news across a series of platforms at minimal cost and time to the newspaper. Pilger says, “Today, isolation and depleting staff has bred a new kind of ‘multi-skilled’ journalist, who is not multi skilled at all…there is no time to investigate; lifting a phone and scanning cuttings files require no apprenticeship and little expense. Newspapers have become ‘viewspapers’, vehicles not of curiosity and inquiry but of narcissism.” The author considers that ‘multi-skilled’ journalists are in fact lacking the relevant training, bogged down in tedious tasks and shunning the role of the “investigative reporter… which is, after all, what all journalists should be”.

Pilger continues, highlighting how low-skilled reporters will negatively impact upon the news we engage with. “As ‘multi-skilling’ becomes doctrine, the deskilling of craft becomes the practise, with the untrained encouraged to believe that possession of a camcorder makes them a filmmaker and pointing it at nothing in particular produces an observational documentary.” He ascertains that a media format which promotes minimal costs and maximum profits will in turn produce “spontaneous, meaningless trash”.

This assertion is also held by Eric Alterman in ‘What liberal media?’ who claims, “Most reporters are ignorant about most things, which is rarely seen as a barrier to coverage. Ignorance is not the same thing as bias… journalists’ project out their own personal values.” Alterman warns that a lack of skills will not only lead to “ignorant reporting” but also to “subjective, self-absorbed media”.

The notion of a free, impartial press is blemished even further by the dependence on advertising and public relations material. Richard Keeble questions the effect of advertisers on news-output saying, “Advertisers are best seen as promoting the values of materialism and consumerism and in doing so are stifling the development of the free press.” On the other hand, Colin Sparks maintains in ‘Media in Britain’ that “Newspapers are first and foremost a business… they do not exist to report news, they exist to make money.” This ideology is rejected by Pilger who contends that newspapers should not be profit-driven, and instead should go to “uncomfortable places, follow leads and gather evidence… to hold the powerful to account.”

According the Nick Davies in ‘Flat Earth News’, “meaningful independent journalistic activity is the exception rather than the rule. We aren’t just talking about investigative journalism here, but the everyday practices of news judgement, fact-checking, balance, that are central to day-to-day journalism.” Davies calls modern-day journalism ‘churnalism’, describing the process as “junk journalism as break-neck speed”. Pilger warns that journalists “going through the motions” will have their “imagination pacified, not primed, and the numbing acceptance of injustice will be left unchallenged”.

The quality of investigative news is not helped by PR generated material, a source of mainstream propaganda which fills the majority of “lazy” newspapers. Publicist Max Clifford said “The function of PR is filling the role investigative reporters should fill, but no longer can because cost-cutting has hit journalism heavily”. Pilger provides evidence to support this claim, stating, ““According to the editor of PR Week, the amount of PR generated material in the media is ‘50% in every broadsheet newspaper section apart from sport. In the tabloid press, the figure would undoubtedly be higher” Pilger contends that PR provide “needless fodder” and the newspapers are utterly interdependent. PR usurping the role of independent journalism has ominous consequences on the industry. By ‘manufacturing consent’ on issues such as tax, welfare, race relations and expenditure, the press is providing a platform for political agendas and propaganda think-tanks.

In ‘Journalism: critical issues’ Stuart Allan emphasises the problems that the industry faces. “These are troubled times for journalism. One commentator after the next is declaring the conviction that it is in a state of crisis, even in danger of losing its place at the heart of democratic society… journalists are wondering aloud whether the fabric of a once proud profession is slowly becoming unravelled… by the relentless pull of populism, politics and profits on its rapidly fraying threads.” The author claims that journalism could lose its place in democracy, a conclusion that is shared by Pilger. He says “we are in danger of losing our freedom of press without even realising it”.

So what will the future hold for journalism? The once honourable tradition has succumbed to fraudulence and manipulation. Rather than continuing the struggle towards universal suffrage and democratic government, journalists have become “wolves in sheep’s clothing, simpering loyally as they suppress.” In ‘Ethical issues in the media’ Andrew Belsey argues that fault must lie with everybody involved. “Journalism is an honourable profession, though many of those who care for it have dishonoured it… governments have sought to censor it, owners have used it as a means of satisfying their quest for power and wealth, and consumers have done journalism no service by putting up with trivia and trash.”

Pilger urges journalists to share a moral courage to “clear away the ideological rubble that smothers independence of mind and leads to self-censorship.” He acknowledges the risk, but claims “In countries where the majority of humanity live, the efforts and sacrifice of journalists shame their quiescent colleagues… the Philippines has the freest press in Asia and one of the highest death rates of journalists in the World.”

Pilger argues that a new broadcasting act “requiring commitment to original, factual programmes” and the establishment of a “public body providing start-up funds for news sources independent of monopolisers” would begin to win the second battle for press freedom. For when there is no longer anyone speaking out, Pilger asks “Who will be the last voice?”

Defamation laws are weakening in the UK. Is this a good or bad thing for the press?

tainton9@hotmail.com (Tom.) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:39:00 +0000

Defamation Laws are weakening..

Defamation can be either slander (spoken or transient form) or libel (written or permanent form). A statement is defamatory if it exposes a person to ridicule or contempt, causes him to be shunned or avoided, lowers him in the estimation of right thinking society or disparages him in his business or profession. A comparison between two cases offers a good example of how defamation legislation has weakened. In 1977, Mary Whitehouse succeeded in libel prosecution against the publication ‘Gay News’, claiming the magazine was blasphemous. In similar circumstances this year, religious minister Stephen Green failed in his attempt to prosecute the producers of ‘Jerry Springer the Opera’ for blasphemous libel.

Critical national figures like Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former England manager Steve Mclaren are excellent examples of how the laws have weakened. Scorned by several former backbenchers and ministers in hastily written autobiographies, Brown has bore the brunt of some harsh personal criticism. Former media advisor Lance Prince, John Prescott and Cherie Blair have all been in on the action, Cherie famously accusing Brown of ‘rattling the keys over her husband’s head.’

In published news articles Steve Mclaren has been accused of being ‘sulky’, ‘a liar’, ‘an unhappy man’, and ‘psychologically flawed’. It got so bad that Mclaren stormed out of a post-match press conference during the farcical World Cup qualifying campaign. All possible grounds for libel suits, although none were taken. Perhaps most surprisingly, the right wing site http://www.devilskitchen.me.uk/ ran a lead article on their front page called ‘Germaine Greer is a total c*nt’, referring to her pledge to challenge laws in the workplace.

Defamation Laws aren’t weakening..

Defamation has always been difficult to defend because the claimant does not have to prove what is said is true. Additionally, Max Mosley has appealed to the high court to introduce a new law forcing the press to ask permission before running a story. Should the legislation be passed, injunctions and legal wrangles will prevent juicy stories ever being published. One interesting and obvious argument is the Raphael vs. Firscht case. A company boss was awarded 22,000 UKP in damages over fake entries posted on the social networking site, Facebook.

The problem stems from a false profile of Matthew Firscht created in June last year by Grant Raphael. Mr Raphael stupidly alleged he was signed up to gay groups and had lied to avoid paying loans. Facebook disclosed the information the Claimant was seeking the identity and internet address of the person posting the comments which all led to Mr Raphael's computer.

The Claimant was awarded 22,000 UKP in damages. Judge Richard Parkes QC said that Mr Raphael was liable for the internet entries and had lied about the posts.Mr Firscht said of his former friend: "What Mr Raphael did was extremely offensive, embarrassing and may have caused serious damage to the reputation of myself and Applause Store, which I have spent years building into what it is today. The case never needed to go this far.If only Mr Raphael had apologised then there would have been no need to have issue proceedings. Instead, Mr Raphael stuck his head in the sand and will now have to pay the consequences for having lied to both myself and the court."

More evidence comes from a web article found on http://www.birminghampost.net/. The number of defamation cases is increasing as the economic situation worsens, according to a dispute resolution lawyer.

Simon Griffiths, a solicitor in the dispute resolution and litigation department at Black Country law firm George Green, says that the number of clients seeking to protect the reputation of their company and their goods against slander or libel has risen by more than 500 per cent in the past six months.“Businesses facing mounting financial difficulties seem to have made company executives increasingly desperate for sales, which some seek to secure by falsely running down their competitors,” says Mr Griffiths, who is based in George Green’s Cradley Heath offices.

“This practice has always gone on, and is often no more than mere exaggeration about the benefits of one product against another, but as the downturn deepens, we are now seeing more extreme examples, which go well beyond what is acceptable, or legal, and threaten to damage other businesses.”According to Mr Griffiths, some attempts at slander or libel are much more than just unsubstantiated gossip to a customer, which is hard to prove, but some individuals and companies are using the internet and emails to third parties to make damaging statements.

Good for Journalists because..

Obvious. Journalist’s can say more about people without the restriction or the threat of a defamation case. This means that stories and gossip that previously may have been risky now carry no such threat. The life of a journalist is easier too, sub-editors and reporters need not worry about breaching legal guidelines making copy quicker and more efficient, thus saving time and money for a newspaper or publication.

Bad for journalists because..

Weaker defamation laws are arguably bad news for journalism from an ethical perspective. Without the threat of libel, journalists and bloggers are free to publish whatever they wish, a trend that could threaten both the quality and decency of modern journalism. The PCC Code currently states that the press must be accurate and not publish misleading or distorted information. They must offer a fair opportunity to reply and respect an individual’s private or family life. Journalists are also advised to avoid prejudicial discrimination. Without defamatory legislation, these moral codes would be redundant. Another problem would be the loss of trust from readers, as truth would no longer be of utmost importance for newspapers, but instead a greater impetus would be placed on sensationalism and making a cheap buck. In essence, the art of journalism would be severely affected or lost altogether.