Google Recognises Palestine

Internet search behemoth Google has recognised Palestine’s upgraded United Nations status, placing the name “Palestine” on its search engine instead of “Palestinian Territories,” the US company said, raising the ire of Israel. The domain name www.google.ps, Google’s search engine for the territories, now brings up a homepage with “Palestine” written underneath the Google logo.

In November last year the UN general assembly upgraded Palestine to the status of non-member observer state by a vote of 138 votes in favour, 9 against and 41 abstentions.

Palestinian authorities have since begun to use the “State of Palestine” in diplomatic correspondence and issued official stamps for the purpose. The google recognition took effect this week, Google spokesman Nathan Tyler said in a statement :: Read the full article »»»»

Fairfax Wins Confidential Source Case

The Victorian Court of Appeal has ruled two Fairfax journalists will not be ordered to reveal their sources. Last year a magistrate summoned The Age journalists Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker to appear in the committal hearing of eight former directors of the Reserve Bank subsidiaries, Securency and Note Printing Australia.

The former executives are accused of bribing foreign officials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam to gain contracts to print banknotes between 1999 and 2004.

The journalists’ reports on the scandal triggered a police investigation into the allegations. Subpoenas were issued for Mr McKenzie and Mr Baker after a newspaper article in December 2012 reported an allegedly corrupt businessman was prepared to testify against the former directors in exchange for a leniency :: Read the full article »»»»

Fairfax Kills OFF Broadsheets and Lifts Profits

Fairfax Media’s familiar broadsheets have been consigned to the history books, with the first tabloid editions of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age rolling off the printing presses this morning.

In what is more of a survival strategy than a cosmetic overhaul, the larger broadsheet layout has been dumped for the weekday editions as Fairfax Media fights to hold onto readers and advertisers in a digital media world that has forced the closure of papers around the globe.

Apart from just size – which Fairfax amusingly refers to as compact rather than tabloid -  one of the biggest changes puts sport on to the back pages, with the very back page taken up by an advertisement, nice work.

Fairfax’s head of advertising strategy, Sarah Keith, says the company put in some very serious research. Brain imaging was used to track what readers really wanted during the entire redesign process, with some resounding plus’ for the new tabloid sized compact papers :: Read the full article »»»»

REBLOG! Doping Australia’s Sporting Elite

BLOG! At the outset of this post, I must confess to being the LEAST interested in Australian Sport! The shinanigans ofthe preceeding week have been of amusement to me simply because of the irony, elite sports men and women taking performance enhancing drugs? your kidding right, not here, not in AUSTRALIA!

For those in a cave, this past week, the ACC – Australian Crime Commission – has released a landmark report that as the countries sporting fans and officials in a proper dither: Apparently, Australians are SHOCKED that it’s sporting elite uses drugs!?

Mainstream media in Australia is currently abuzz with chatter on the ramifications of the ACC report, organised crime, doping, betting are clearly the focus. The minister for sport – Kate Lundy – in a press release said: “The investigation identified widespread use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in professional sport. It also found that this use has been facilitated by sports scientists, high-performance coaches and sports staff. In some cases, players are being administered with substances that have not yet been approved for human use.”

Like other notable international incidence of drug abuse in sport – Lance Armstrong – the Australian case is more about policing powers, not drug testing. The coercive powers of the ACC are set to beef up ASADA – Australian Sport Anti Doping Authority –  in the wake of the recent review into Cycling Australian. One of the plus-points here is that ASADA should now be able to move now from simply being a testing and education body to an agency with proper teeth

So as we’ve sat at front of our teles snickering at oversized Chinese swimmers, or cyclists who strove for greatness at the end of a needle while we swallowed his cancer pitch, we clearly missed just HOW good our own guys were getting (except of course for the 2012 Olympic Swim Team, Doubtless there are any drugs there) :: Read the full article »»»»

Fairfax SELLS NZ Online Classifieds Site TRADE ME… for a profit!

Fairfax is selling its remaining 51 per cent stake in New Zealand online classifieds site Trade Me for over $600 million. The struggling media company is selling its shares for $3.05 each, in a sale underwritten by UBS that will raise a total of $616 million.

Fairfax reckon that the money will be used to pay down its extremely large debt burden. The company’s chief executive Greg Hywood says cutting debt will allow the business greater flexibility in adapting to the new media environment.

“The proceeds from the sale will reduce Fairfax’s net debt and will provide us with a very strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to invest and to complete the company’s structural transformation,” Mr Hywood said in a statement. ”So when you look at the sale of both parts, despite selling at a discount, Fairfax has sold the entire Trade Me business for just over a billion dollars, giving it a $413 million profit.”

This dramatically reduces Fairfax’s debt down to around $230 million, which means that Fairfax can concentrate on rejuvenating it’s Australian business interests. Post sale, Fairfax will no longer have any stake in Trade Me. Mr Hywood says the firm has learnt some valuable lessons about the online environment through its six-year ownership of Trade Me.

“Trade Me has been a great business for Fairfax and we have learned a great deal more about the successful operation of digital businesses over the years since we acquired Trade Me for $NZ750 million in 2006.”

Ten Network Sells EYE Corp

Australia’s least favourite television network – Ten Network – has announced the sale of its EYE Corp outdoor advertising business to Champ Private Equity for up to $AU145 million. The sale will proceed via Champ’s outdoor media interest Outdoor Media Operations – OMO – owner of oOh!media.

Ten will receive $120 million cash on completion of the sale, with $AU25 million deferred for three years, the full payment of which will depend on various factors. One of those factors is the price that OMO can get for EYE’s United Kingdom and US businesses, which intends to sell off immediately. Ten may also choose, or be required, to repurchase those businesses if they are not sold within an agreed timeframe.

Ten is also keeping oround $AU16 million worth of “onerous contracts”, but subcontracting the operation of them to OMO. The  Ten statement notes certain of EYE’s Australian contracts will be retained by Ten, but the operation of the relevant assets will be subcontracted to OMO. The net present value of these contracts is estimated at around $AU16 million :: Read the full article »»»»