April 2015
Sky defends traditional TV viewing
Netflix and other streaming services have revolutionised the way we watch our favourite shows, but a senior figure at Sky reckons there is still demand for traditional TV viewing. The broadcaster’s group director of strategy Mai Fyfield claims that Netflix’s data-driven commissioning is taking human involvement out of the equation, and insists that on-demand isn’t for everyone. Fyfield is convinced that “linear broadcasting” is here to stay.
Digital Spy 30/4/2015
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Reality show will pit poor people against one another for prizes
A new reality show is to pit poor people against one another for prizes. The Briefcase will see families with varying levels of financial difficulty given a case filled with nearly £70,000 in cash. The family will then be tested on their generosity – and told they can either keep the money for themselves, split it or give the whole lot away.
Metro 30/4/2015
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‘Beach body ready’ ad banned from returning to tube, watchdog rules
The controversial ad campaign featuring a model in a bikini that asks “Are you beach body ready?” has been banned by the advertising watchdog because of “concerns” over its weight loss claims. After receiving about 360 complaints about the campaign, mostly that it objectified women, the Advertising Standards Authority has also launched an inquiry into whether the ad is offensive. A spokesman for the ASA explained that it was the health claims that led to the decision not to let the ad return in its current form. “We’ve met with Protein World to discuss its “Are you beach body ready?” ad campaign. It’s coming down in the next three days and, due to our concerns about a range of health and weight loss claims made in the ad, it can’t appear again in its current form.”
The Guardian 29/4/2015
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If schools are teaching about porn, should they show it too?
Cast your mind back 15 years. No one “liked” Facebook, mobiles were only for phone calls, and pornography was safely restricted to the top shelf of your local newsagent or seedy backstreet sex shop. Now, sexually explicit images or videos are just a click away; available to consume any time, anywhere by anyone. It’s inevitable that young people will view some form of porn growing up. So how should teachers tackle the subject in class? There is a general consensus that sex and relationships education needs to include the topic of pornography. But should that include showing children X-rated films in lessons? For many people, deliberately exposing students to this material is outrageous; indeed, showing pornography to children is currently illegal in the UK. But a leading sexologist in Denmark caused outrage recently by calling for schools to do exactly that.
The Guardian 29/4/2015
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Google ‘should be allowed in examinations’
It is inevitable search engines such as Google will be allowed in public examinations, including GCSEs and A-Levels, the head of an exam board says. OCR chief Mark Dawe told the Today programme allowing internet use in exam rooms reflected the way pupils learned and how they would work in future. He said students would still need a basis of knowledge and would have limited time to conduct searches. The Campaign for Real Education condemned the idea as “dumbing down”. Mr Dawe said: “Surely when they learn in the classroom, everyone uses Google if there is a question.
BBC News Online 29/4/2015
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Hard-core porn, violent YouTube videos and online dating: Devastating new book reveals terrifying truth about what teens REALLY get up to online
For most of us, the internet is a convenient form of communication, a mode of entertainment, which generally makes our lives easier. For teenagers, it is a window into the world, an identity, a friend, a parent, a guide, a bounty of information, an endless supply of entertainment, a friendship maker or breaker, a source of heartache and a million other things. It is something they obey and seriously believe they cannot live without.
The Daily Mail 29/4/2015
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‘Are you beach body ready?’: Body shaming advert attracts barrage of criticism
If you’re a regular traveller on the London Underground, you might just recognise this striking advert for nutrition store Protein World. The giant poster features toned Australian model Renee Sommerfield, alongside the question ‘Are you beach body ready?’. But despite the prominence of the campaign, it’s been slammed on social media by body image campaigners and feminists, who have denounced the poster as ‘sexist’ and accused it of promoting unrealistic body ideals.
Metro 26/4/2015
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Pornography has changed the landscape of adolescence beyond all recognition
I was having dinner with a group of women when the conversation moved onto how we could raise happy, well-balanced sons and daughters who are capable of forming meaningful relationships in an age when internet pornography is as freely available as a glass of water. Porn has changed the landscape of adolescence beyond all recognition. Like other parents of our generation, we were on a journey without maps or lights, although the instinct to protect our children from the darkness was overwhelming.
The Daily Telegraph 22/4/2015
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Twitter cyberbullies targeted with new anti-abuse tools
Twitter is to act against a wider range of violent threats as part of renewed efforts to tackle abuse. The social network has acknowledged that its previous rules, which said a threat needed to be “direct” and “specific” to justify its intervention, had been too “narrow”. The firm will still require a complaint to be made before it blocks an account. But it said it was also attempting to automatically make a wider range of abusive tweets less prominent. Its actions follow a series of high-profile cyberbullying incidents.
BBC News Online 21/4/2015
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Jeremy Clarkson ‘will return to the BBC’ says BBC Two boss
Jeremy Clarkson “will be back on the BBC”, according to the head of BBC Two and BBC Four. Kim Shillinglaw, who has the task of finding Clarkson’s replacement after he was dropped from Top Gear, said the host had not been banned by the BBC. “It’s serious and unfortunate what happened but there is no ban on Jeremy being on the BBC,” she said.
BBC News Online 22/4/2015
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Twitter allows direct messages from anyone without need for following
Previously, direct messaging could only happen between two Twitter users who followed each other. Users can now change the settings and opt to allow direct messages from any profile, including people or companies who don’t follow them. The user can then reply with a direct message to the sender, but people can still block other users if they start abusing them or sending spam.
Newsbeat 21/4/2015
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This Morning’s ‘Fifty Shades’ sex-toy slot cleared despite 120 complaints
A segment on ITV’s This Morning offering viewers a lesson in “bondage for beginners” has been cleared by the media regulator. Ofcom launched an investigation into the ITV daytime show following 120 complaints from viewers about the item, which was inspired by the hit film Fifty Shades of Grey. “Following a careful investigation we concluded this programme didn’t break broadcasting rules, after it aired a feature called ‘bondage for beginners’, before the watershed,” said an Ofcom spokesman. Ofcom said that the segment was unlikely to have been seen by many children and that the bondage discussion had been “appropriately limited”. “The material was scheduled at a time when children were at school and clear warnings were also given in advance of the feature to protect any children who were not at school,” said the Ofcom spokesman. “The feature itself was also appropriately limited in terms of detail.”
The Guardian 20/4/2015
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Google search changes will promote mobile-friendly sites
Google is updating its search algorithms to favour websites that work well on mobile devices. Sections of sites owned by the European Union, the BBC and Wikipedia currently fail the search giant’s Mobile Friendly Test developer tool. “Mobile friendliness” will affect how prominently websites appear in Google search results pages from 21 April. Criteria includes text size, the amount of space between links and whether the content fits across a mobile screen. A Google representative said mobile friendliness was “one of many” factors used by the search engine to rank results, but in a blog post the company said it would have “a significant impact” on search results.
BBC News Online 20/4/2015
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Shocking toll of social media on girls’ mental health: How sexualised images are fuelling rise in anxiety among pupils aged 11 to 13
Sexualised images of women in advertising and social media are leading to an increase in emotional problems among young girls, new figures suggest.Girls aged between 11 and 13 are now more likely to worry, lack confidence or feel nervous than they were five years ago because they feel under pressure.The rise in girls suffering from emotional problems may be linked to stress brought on by seeing images of women portrayed as sex objects on Facebook, Twitter and other websites, researchers from University College London believe.
The Daily Mail 20/4/2015
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Sexually explicit music videos should get ratings, poll reveals
Perhaps it was Miley Cyrus swinging naked on a wrecking ball that did it – or maybe it was the sadomasochism in Rihanna’s S&M video that was banned in 11 countries. But more than three quarters of the British public now believe sexually explicit music videos should be given age ratings like films, polling shows. An Ipsos/Mori poll for the feminist campaign group Object suggests shows that 81 per cent of people in the UK would like age certificates on pop videos to prevent young people being exposed to sexually explicit content. The same poll showed that more than 70 per cent thought regulation should also be applied to sexual material in newspapers, magazines and websites too. Nearly two in three of those surveyed believe porn normalises violence against women, and more than half agreed that watching it has a negative effect on personal relationships.
The Independent 16/4/2015
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Why I asked Anne Robinson to watch porn with me
Seventy-year-old journalist and TV presenter Anne Robinson has never watched porn before. Young feminist Grace Campbell, 20, grew up online, where hardcore porn is instantly available. Is that why Grace and her peers are dealing with unrealistic sexual expectations? She asked Robinson to have a look at what’s out there to see if her problems are unique to the internet age.
Guardian 15/4/2015
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Young dump Facebook to avoid mum and dad
Young people are deserting social media sites such as Facebook in a bid to ditch online relationships with their parents, a new report has revealed. Research showed a third of younger internet users admitted deleting social media accounts because their parents had started to use the same site.
One in 10 younger people confessed they had switched to social media channels where their activities and comments cannot be seen by their family, such as Twitter, the micro-blogging site, or Snapchat and Instagram, the photograph-sharing apps.
Telegraph 15/4/2015
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Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams: online bullies tried to ruin my life
Maisie Williams has some sage advice for young people using the internet: “Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want your mother to read.” You can take that or leave it, but, unusually for someone famous proffering guidance, it comes from a girl who knows all too well of what she speaks.
Williams, at 17, has been in the public eye since she was 12. She plays the tomboy princess Arya Stark on Game of Thrones, arguably the world’s biggest television show and almost certainly the one with the most rabid fanbase. That has meant two things: one, her every online utterance, her appearance and her past has been scrutinised – and mercilessly critiqued – by millions of people she will never meet.
“You get it every single day. Sometimes you can tell it’s just people that are very excited, and sometimes it’s people that genuinely want to say something nasty. As much as you can say these people just do this for kicks, it does hurt.”
Telegraph 15/4/2015
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Charity steps up removal of child sex abuse images
A child abuse watchdog has said it helped identify and remove more than double the number of sexually explicit web pages depicting youngsters in 2014 than in the previous year. The UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said it assisted in the removal of 31,266 pages last year, compared with 13,182 in 2013.
BBCOnline 14/4/2015
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George Osborne backs Ofcom to take over from BBC Trust as regulator
George Osborne has signalled that he favours the handover of BBC regulation from the BBC Trust to independent watchdog Ofcom. The chancellor also indicated he may seek changes during the renegotiation of the BBC’s royal charter which will follow the 7 May general election, to prevent the corporation stifling other local news providers with the volume of its output.
Guardian 14/4/2015
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How do you stop Twitter trolls? Unleash a robot swarm to troll them back
Knowing how to deal with Internet trolls is tricky, because the separating line between offensive expression and harassment very fine, and usually depends on your vantage point. But one subspecies, the misogynist troll, has been causing an awful lot of trouble lately. Online abuse seems to accompany every woman that pops her head over the parapet: Mary Beard, Caroline Criado-Perez, Zelda Williams and so on.
Today, a strange and mysterious advocacy group based in Berlin called the “Peng! Collective” have launched a new way of tackling the misogynistic Twitter trolls. They’re calling it “Zero Trollerance.”
Telegraph 14/4/2015
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iPad generation sees huge rise in back and neck pain
Nearly half of young people are suffering from neck or back pain because of the ‘sedentery epidemic’ which is sweeping Britain and the rise in laptop technology, health experts have warned. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds who now say they suffer from back and neck pain has risen from 28% to 45% within a year, a 60% rise. Almost one quarter said they suffered on a daily basis.
Telegraph 13/4/2015
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TV industry faces its ‘ketchup’ moment: ‘Mobile is now the first screen’
“The TV industry will have to work on a mobile-first strategy. Not a digital-first strategy, but a mobile-first strategy, because mobile is now the first screen, and it’s taking time away from the TV.” In a speech at the MIPFormats conference in Cannes this weekend, Eric Scherer, director of future media at French broadcaster France Télévisions, outlined the digital trends that he thinks are presenting traditional TV firms with headaches, but also huge opportunities.
mediaGuardian 13/4/2015
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Why smartphones are making you ill
The number of hours spent peering and jabbing at our smartphones isn’t just annoying, but potentially dangerous. As we become increasingly reliant on smartphones, picking them up every other minute to check the latest updates, we’re susceptible to smartphone health hazards.
Telegraph 13/4/2015
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Susanna Reid apologises over swearing in Piers Morgan’s Good Morning Britain debut
Susanna Reid has apologised to viewers who tuned into Good Morning Britain on Monday after one of its guests repeatedly swore live on air. Reid and guest host Piers Morgan were interviewing daredevil climber Alain Robert, who is known as “the French Spiderman”, on the ITV show when he dropped the F-word.
Guardian 13/4/2015
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Revenge porn: New offence comes into force
Posting “revenge porn” images on the web will become a specific offence for the first time under new legislation coming into force on Monday. Under the new crime sharing “private, sexual images of someone without consent and with the intent to cause distress” will carry up to two years’ imprisonment.
Telegraph 12/4/2015
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The children as young as ten who will do ANYTHING to feed their internet porn addiction
With three teenage boys in the house, Sally Shaw and her husband Simon, an Army officer, thought that they had taken every possible precaution with regard to internet safety. The boys, Sally’s stepsons, were banned from using devices in their room after 10pm, and the wifi in their four-bedroom home in Derby was switched off at night. Little did they know that one of the boys – 14-year-old Matthew – was secretly switching it back on in order to watch porn.
MailOnline 11/4/2015
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Teen social media use
Facebook rules over all other social networks for teenagers, with rival sites Instagram and Snapchat still far behind them, according to new research. Though many have claimed that teens are leaving the site, 71% of those in the study continue to use and 41% say that they use it more than any other.
Another much-maligned network, Google Plus, is the fifth most popular site and 33% of teens say they regularly use it — as many as use Twitter. Facebook-owned Instagram is the second most popular, with 52 % of those studied saying that they use it on a regular basis.
Independent 10/4/2015
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The Sun’s sales unaffected by its dropping of Page 3 models
I’m busy on election matters today, but the latest set of ABC figures have just arrived and I want to take time out to note one stand-out fact: the Sun’s dropping of Page 3 at the end of January does not appear to have made any discernible difference to its circulation.
GuardianGreenslade 10/4/2015
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Daniel Radcliffe in talks to play Grand Theft Auto creator
Daniel Radcliffe is set to play the creator of one of the most successful video game franchises of all time for BBC Films, in the story of how Sam Houser fought a Miami lawyer who wanted to ban violence in video games.
Telegraph 9/4/2015
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Reducing Facebook use could help with depression, study claims
New research has found that the competitive atmosphere inherent in Facebook goes “hand in hand” with depressed feelings. In a paper entitled ‘Seeing Everyone Else’s Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms’ published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, University of Houston researcher Mai-Ly Steers expands on previous studies about the detrimental effects of Facebook, particularly with regards to the unrealistic expectations of quality of life it creates.
Independent 7/4/2015
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Call to investigate adverts on YouTube Kids app
US regulators are being asked to investigate a YouTube app for children. Consumer organisations and childcare groups say YouTube is using the app to flout long-standing limits on adverts seen by youngsters. The groups have sent a joint letter to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking it to find out if the app uses “deceptive marketing practices”.
BBCOnline 7/4/2015
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How far can a government police internet porn?
The other day I asked whether technology would be an issue at the general election – and concluded that it almost certainly would not. Well, within a couple of days I was proved wrong. The Conservatives came up with a plan which could involve major changes in the way the internet is regulated.
They say that if they are re-elected they will act to prevent children from getting access to websites offering pornography. That is a policy which other parties are very unlikely to oppose, but it could become more controversial once the practicalities of making this work become clear.
BBCOnline 7/4/2015
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Ed Miliband: I’d defend the licence fee
Ed Miliband has vowed to defend the BBC’s licence fee in the next parliament, but admitted he doesn’t watch the corporation’s news output. The Labour leader said he believed the BBC provided a “benchmark for standards” in British media and helped to raise Britain’s profile around the world. But with the current licence fee settlement due to come under review in the next parliament, the broadcaster has come under fire from Conservatives who accuse it of a liberal bias.
mediaGuardian 7/4/2015
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Video games bring new generation to classical music
Soundtracks to video games have brought a younger generation to classical music, a new poll of the nation’s favourite pieces suggests. John Suchet, a weekday DJ on the classical music station, said: “What I find truly exciting is the continued increase in a younger audience for classical music – I didn’t expect to be thanking the video game industry for introducing the genre to a new generation of people, but it’s wonderful.”
Telegraph 6/4/2015
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Tories promise to enforce age limits on online pornography
The Conservatives say they will force hardcore pornography websites to put in place age-restriction controls or face being shut down if they win the election. The culture secretary, Sajid Javid, said the party would act to ensure under-18s were locked out of adult content after a recent Childline poll found nearly one in 10 12-13 year olds were worried they were addicted and 18% had seen shocking or upsetting images.
Experts welcomed the move – targeted at both UK-based and overseas websites – but warned it would take hard work to implement in practice. Under the Tory proposals the system would be overseen by an independent regulator with the power to compel internet service providers (ISPs) to block sites which failed to include effective age verification. ISPs could be fined if they did not co-operate.
Javid said: “If you want to buy a hardcore pornography DVD in a store you need to prove your age to the retailers. “With the shift to online, children can access adult content on websites without restriction, intentionally or otherwise.
Guardian 4/4/2015
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Does taking my 12-year-old to see a 15-rated film make me a bad mother?
As an Easter treat, I promised the 12-year-old a trip to the movies. She summed it up in three words: “Just us? Brilliant!” But what to see? Too old for Home, too sophisticated for Spongebob, she’d seen the latest Divergent film (Detergent, wasn’t it?). So I decided on The Voices: yes, yes it was a 15, but it featured talking pets and that nice Gemma Arteton’s disembodied head, chatting, on a kitchen worktop. Hilarious!
Telegraph 4/4/2015
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Parents: children spend too much time playing with gadgets on holiday
Children are too busy playing online to spend time in the sunshine, make new friends and spend time with family while on holiday, according to a new survey. Half of children miss out on sunny days as they’re too engrossed with their gadgets, and a further one in five were so engrossed by their smartphone that they missed seeing a tourist attraction.
Children play games on smartphones and tablets for an average of two and a half hours when travelling, though one in five parents claimed their offspring played for up to an hour daily when on holiday, according to the report by online ticket provider FloridaTix.
Telegraph 3/4/2015
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Web violence is parents’ top fear
Parents are more worried about their children being exposed to violent videos than pornography or bad language, according to new research. A report from Ofcom reveals that violent images tops the list of concerns for parents when it comes to their children watching footage on the internet.
Almost one in five parents said they are scared about what videos their children might be viewing and experts suggested this is being heightened by the rise of tablets and smartphones.
MailOnline 2/4/2015
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How watching TV can increase your risk of diabetes
Every hour spent sitting watching television increases the risk of getting diabetes, researchers have warned. A study revealed that every hour that people regularly spend slumped in front of the TV can raise the risk of developing the condition by 3.4 per cent. Researchers believe that too much sitting can increase people’s weight – a risk factor for the condition.
MailOnline 1/4/2015
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We Cannot Fail Children By Shying Away From Talking About Porn
For over 29 years we at ChildLine have strived to address the issues that young people tell us are affecting them – cyber bullying, self-harm and suicidal thoughts are just a few of the subjects we have helped children to deal with and to overcome. As a charity that fights for every childhood we will always listen to what young people are telling us – which is why we have launched the ChildLine FAPZ campaign (the Fight Against Porn Zombies).
It is impossible to ignore 18,000 visits every month about exposure to porn on our discussion forums from children and young people or that one in ten 12-13 year olds are worried they are addicted to porn.
Huffington Post 1/4/2015
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Jeep Cherokee ad banned for encouraging ‘unsafe driving practices’
An ad for Jeep Cherokee vehicles has been banned for suggesting that driving in dangerous winter weather can be fun. The radio ad began with a mock weather forecast which warned of overnight snow causing severe disruption before a voiceover said: “Time to play.”
mediaGuardian 1/4/2015
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