Media

To market a new video game, Sega built a PR campaign around a hoax. It created a weblog whose host called himself "Beta-7" and claimed that the game caused him to suffer blackouts and uncontrollable fits of violence. In reality, "Beta-7" was a fictional character, invented by the Portland, Oregon advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy.

If cable TV subscribers paid for just the channels they watch ("a la carte"), instead of paying a flat fee for channel packages, it would "jeopardize an economic model that has helped the industry maintain huge profits." The Center for Public Integrity reports on "a highly sophisticated lobbying campaign" by the cable industry to build anti-a la carte "astroturf." Some of the "seemingly disinterested

Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos weblog has written an insightful article about how bloggers helped turn the perception of first election debate in favor of John Kerry. "Bloggers, thinktanks, the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) all worked to fact-check Bush and point out his bizarre behaviour," he writes. "The flow of information flowed two ways, as the party establishment and allied organisations worked hand-in-hand with the blogs to gather ammunition, then blast it out to the world.

Journalism professor Jay Rosen has written another of his characteristically long-winded but thoughtful ruminations on the fallout from the Dan Rather memo affair and what it means for the long-running battle between conservatives and the "liberal media," as well as for the more recent contest between traditional media and online bloggers.