“The War Book reveals a world of meticulous BBC planning. The Wartime Broadcasting System (WTBS) – referred to in the book as ‘Deferred Facilities’ – would have operated from 11 protected bunkers spread across the UK.”
Category: media
Making Reality TV A Lot More Real
“I actually cried from happiness… because I always wanted to be on TV. Because I wanted to be like the regular people on TV.”
Screening Film, Real Film, In Brooklyn
“Adversity has made the purists even more ardent. The act of acquiring a film becomes a treasure hunt: cinemas brag about having gotten their hands on a particularly high-quality print, and the buffs themselves are known to have rooms piled high with big metal wheels.”
Will Live-Streaming News Break The Cable News Networks?
“What we saw last week was live streaming’s Gulf War, a moment that will catapult the technology into the center of the news — and will begin to inexorably alter much of television news as we know it. And that’s not a bad thing. Though it will shake up the economics of TV, live streaming is opening up a much more compelling way to watch the news.”
Al Jazeera Is Coming Back To America
“Al Jazeera English is in talks with cable carriers that carried the now defunct Al Jazeera America to make its live video stream available [digitally] in the U.S. starting in September … The move comes almost three months after it shut down its U.S. cable television network, Al Jazeera America.”
Digital Comics Thrive As Art Form Flourishes
“Digital comics creators may fit their art to screen proportions or vertical strips. Artists and writers design for panel-viewing apps by making sure each chunk of the page works on its own, so you’re not left trying to remember who got Hulk so mad or what everyone’s looking at up in the sky — and they can use limited views to control pacing and create suspenseful reveals. Going further, formats such as Madefire’s Motion Books combine writing, animation and even sound. None of that invalidates the traditional art form, of course, but there’s always evolution.”
Pokémon Go Goes Global, And Governments Combat The Pikachu Peril
“In Saudi Arabia, clerics renewed an existing fatwa against Pokémon, calling it ‘un-Islamic.’ Bosnia has warned players to avoid chasing the creatures onto land mines left over from the 1990s. … Russian websites published articles claiming the game is a C.I.A. plot, while religious figures denounced it. ‘It smacks of Satanism,’ a Cossack leader told local media.”
A Reel CIA Plot: Hollywood Has Been An Agency ‘Asset’ For Decades
“Ever since its inception in 1947, the CIA has been covertly working with Hollywood. But it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the agency formally hired an entertainment industry liaison and began openly courting favorable treatment in films and television. … Especially after 9/11, American screenwriters, directors, and producers have traded positive portrayal of the spy profession in film or television projects for special access and favors at CIA headquarters.”
Lead Troll Who Harassed Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Star Permanently Banned From Twitter
“Milo Yiannopoulos, the technology editor for Breitbart.com, tweeted as @Nero. … [He’s] been suspended from Twitter several times in the past for violating its terms of service … but claims that he had fanned the flames of the harassment of Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones on Twitter led to a ‘permanent suspension’ from Twitter on Wednesday.”
Study: Are Video Games Becoming Less Sexist?
“The overall sexualization of female characters has decreased in recent years,” an Indiana University research team led by Teresa Lynch writes in the Journal of Communication. “The recent and growing interest of women and girls (in gaming) seems to be influencing game content in positive ways.”