Climate change: how to balance freedoms

Thanks for all the comments so far. The post in reply, and new comments have moved on to the new post, over here.
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Earlier this week, one of the key sceptical blogs, Jennifer Marohasy, re-listed a collection of quotes to do with scepticism, denial and free expression. There are pegs on which denial–denial, and not scepticism–finds [...]

Bush, pollution, delusions: did he really say that?

The timing of these two stories was interesting. First, George Bush reported as signing off from the G8 with the line: ‘Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter‘. Picked up the Independent, Telegraph and across the blogs; Climate Progress or, perhaps, the Greenpeace US blog probably says it best:
193 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes until Bush [...]

Media’s blind eye to advertising

Yesterday I wrote about protests by publishers and car manufacturers against plans by the EU to introduce compulsory rules governing pollution info on car advertising. In last night’s 7pm Channel Four flagship news programme, the producers covered the story (good) but relegated it to the ‘And Finally…’ slot (bad) generally reserved for the more lighthearted [...]

Ad agencies say adverts don’t work: believe them?

What do you think of this advert?*
Now, does it conform to what you would consider responsible advertising? Does it (thanks Leo Hickman) meet Advertising Standards Authority’s code of practice section 2.2. “All marketing communications should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.” Well, yes, unfortunately it probably does, unless you’re [...]

Imagining our environment: Hiroshi Sugimoto

Research for my PhD took us last weekend to the Museum of Modern Art in Salzburg and an exhibition of the work of photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. The Japanese-born New Yorker Sugimoto has been exhibiting since 1987 and is recognised as one of the outstanding contemporary photographers. Contemporary, but using almost archaic photographic equipment and practices, [...]

The cultural economy of the luxury brand

Yesterday I looked at the copy content in the launch of Standpoint, the new politics/business monthly magazine edited by former Telegraph associate editor Daniel Johnson, with launch articles from a number of neocon names and Telegraph writers that did nothing to support Johnson’s claim that it is a magazine of both the Left and Right.
The [...]

Long live ‘networked journalism’

Citizen journalism is the process by which the group (formerly known as the audience) plays an active role in news and information gathering, reporting, editing and dissemination. Here’s the definition from Wikipedia. It is the process by which people like you and me, outside of official media institutions (e.g. The Times, BBC), start up blogs, [...]

Esquire recreate cover from 1965

Have I said I love magazine covers? Esquire’s May 2008 magazine reimagines the 1965 cover that pictured Italian actress Virna Lisi, in town filming Assault on a Queen with Frank Sinatra. Shaving. In the magazine shoot, not the film.
The story in Esquire is told by the art director at the time, George Lois, [...]