SacredFacts

Offset that flight....

So where were we? I survived a week on the slopes at (reasonably) high speed. However, everywhere I turned the debate about air travel, and its effect on the environment, seemed to be raging.

In the EasyJet in-flight magazine, CEO Andy Harrison was keen to address the Stern Report and dispel some myths: in built simplicity and a low-cost approach makes them more efficient than others he says; they therefore balance economic development and impact on the environment; they support EU emission trading; taxation is not the answer ("giving the government money does not improve the environment") but reform of state subsidised airlines might help. And, he says, aviation accounts for just 1.6% of global greenhouse gases anyway. Remember that figure.

Then in The Guardian, George Monbiot gets stuck in as usual: Uk airplane emmissions by 2050 will account for 49% of the governments CO2 reduction targets. And planes other greenhouse gases create a global warming effect 2.7 times greater than Carbon dioxide alone. Aviation, he says, will account for between 91% and 258% of the greenhouse gases the UK will be permitted to produce in 2050 (Are you following these figures?) and, he says, emission trading won't work - the answer in his view is to limit airports and travel.

Over in the Telegraph, Andrew Pearce doesn't bother too much with the figures. He just berates environment minister Ian Pearson for suggesting we shouldn't indulge in cheap flights and basically argues that you can't ignore the market. Quite where that leaves the planet, he doesn't say.

Meanwhile in Newsweek, Richard Branson says investment in science can make the skies green - which is why he's supporting a $3billion project for biofuel production. The Prime Minister, having bought offsets for his holiday flights, seems to agree Science will be the answer.

As I reflected on all this over a Chocolat Chaud at 1600m, I also read that it was the warmest alpine winter for 1300 years, that if I had travelled by train to the Alps I would have been responsible for 5.7g of CO2 per kilometer as opposed to 180g by plane, but that at least the resort I was in runs its lifts on hydroelectricity. And although over the border the upmarket Swiss resort of Zermatt proudly declares itself to be car-free, there is a very busy heliport bringing in rich skiers.

So what to make of it all? A classic battle of mis-matching statistics - figures which don't relate to each other and which are cherry picked and spun to suit commercial or political (including environmental) interest. It leaves the layman confused rather than illuminated. In such circumstances the only thing you can be really sure of is that the stakes are higher than Mont Blanc and the debate has a long way to run.

And that hot air rises.

Gowers Review

The Gowers Review into Intellectual Property in the UK has just been published. The Review, commissioned by Gordon Brown from former FT editor Andrew Gowers, is important in setting the path for digital rights in the UK. It's remit was:

"(to) create incentives for innovation, without unduly limiting access for consumers and follow-on innovators. The Review examined the instruments of Intellectual Property i.e. patents, copyright, designs and trade marks, to ensure that they are balanced, coherent and flexible, and at the operations; how IP is awarded, used, and enforced. The Review also considered the governance of IP"

It tries to balance these interests by recognising the realities of how digital media are used privately, set against the need to protect the entertainment industry from piracy. The report estimates 20% of the entertainment industry's turnover was lost to illegal copying and says tougher enforcement is a vital part of reform.

It sensibly proposes de-criminalising the private copying of music (eg from CD to MP3 player - curently illegal) with tougher regulation and new powers to crack down on copyright infringement.

It's a large and thorough document - more may emerge as it is digested

UPDATE: Becky Hogge interviews Andrew Gowers at OpenDemocracy.

Reuters continue to invest in citizen journalism

The New York Times reports on Reuters latest deal - with Flickr. Yahoo and Reuters will both showcase pictures and video submitted to a special area in Flickr.

“This is looking out and saying, ‘What if everybody in the world were my stringers?’ ” said Chris Ahearn, of Reuters Media.

It's another smart move following Reuters investment in Global Voices, NewAssignment.net and Pluck. Unlike, for example, the BBC, Reuters are able to invest and learn from these ventures, proving old and new media can work together.
They also have a very good series of reporters and editors blogs.

The next new Next New Thing

If 2004-5 was about blogs and citizen journalism, and 2005 - 6 has been about podcasting and videocasting (and the phenomenal growth of YouTube) it seems to me 2006-7 will be about live TV on the internet. Technologies to deliver pictures over VOIP and DVBH are about to break through. There are of course already major channels streamed on the net, new commercial services about to arrive and independent start ups. If I were a VC or a developer I would looking for the really simple functional internet TV Programme Guide which can pull multiple choices together in one place or portal, organised by genre, geography or any other form of categoristation. There are a few out there, but not yet a break-through version.

Privacy and Risk

I'm going to the Internet Governance Forum in Athens next month. I've therefore been looking harder at some of the issues - and was struck by part of the conversation at a WEF meeting on the future of the internet in New York last week. Like all WEF sessions these are off the record, but I don't think I'm breaking any rules to say part of the meeting discussed privacy issues on the web. As one delegate put it "everything you do is now a matter of public record". There's a spectrum between a totally unregulated internet, where -in theory at least - there is privacy but a high risk of criminal activity (eg phishing, stealing bank details etc) moving across to a highly regulated internet, with no privacy and low or no criminal activity. Although the current openness of the web is one of its principal virtues, the risks may rise to an extent that make it unacceptable. So how far along the dial should it move? And should any level of control be left to governments or to the market? It seems likely these will be key questions over the next few years. The Berkman Centre and the Oxford Internet Institute has some of the best work on this.
John Palfrey, The Berkman Centre's Executive Director, blogged about some of the academic preparation for the IGF a couple of weeks ago and points to Netdialogue as a place to keep across the issues.

Cultural Diplomacy

According to Peter Preston in The Observer, Prof. Jeremy Tunstall has just updated his 1977 work "The Media are American" with a new volume, "The Media Were American" - suggesting the market share occupied by US programmes and films is in steep decline around the world. It's hardly surprising with the growth of India, China and the robust media industries in Latin America for example. Hollywood and American music are still of course hugely popular, but increasingly business, and not just the media, is looking east for inspiration and innovation. Asia is cool.

The fight for market share globally is now intense, even without programme sales and movies. It's no longer just the BBC and CNN seeking to inform the world. Of course there's Al Jazeera and its much delayed english language launch, but also in a twelve month period we have seen the launch of Russia Today, the expansion of Tele Sur, France24 due to launch by year end, plans for TV news across Africa and more. India alone has 30 news channels. And that's before we begin to consider the internet.

Most global channels do not make money - that's not the point. Governments, business and wealthy Emir's want a voice and influence in the world. But it's getting harder to cut through the noise.

Politics and TV

Two of the UK's leading conservative bloggers - Tim Montgomerie and Iain Dale - are planning to launch a political TV channel on the internet next month. 18 Doughty St TV will launch on October 10th and broadcast for four hours a night. They are giving a hundred camcorders away to people with strong views to provide content. Tim Montgomerie says:

"In twelve months political blogs have broken the monopoly enjoyed by the Westminster commentators but blogging is only the beginning of the new media revolution. Over the next few years internet entrepreneurs are set to storm the decaying fortresses of the mainstream media. They will offer a radical alternative to the BBC’s pretence of impartiality, its obsession with personalities and its unwillingness to commit serious amounts of time to the concerns of ordinary voters. Big businesses, self-important NGOs and timid political elites should also start preparing their defences.”

Their YouTube trailer:

climate philanthropy

It does feel as if the global warming issue is reaching a Gladwellian Tipping Point. Richard Branson has today announced that he will donate 100% of his profits from his travel firms (trains and airlines) into climate change research and the hunt for renewable energy sources.

Reuters and the Web

Reuters continues to invest in internet - participation partnerships. As well as supporting Global Voices - and getting and edge on global blogging content as a consequence - they are now investing in NewAssignment.net. This site is the brainchild of Jay Rosen at New York University and the PressThink blog and the idea is to provide a place for the public to suggest and offer stories and assignments they want to see professional journalists follow up. A place to incubate "networked journalism". It's a smart move by Reuters - they seem to have seedcorn capital to keep themselves across the cutting edge of participation and social networks on the web. Chris Ahearne, President of Reuters Media, explains their thinking here on Huffington Post.

Viral video

Global Voices and Witness (a human rights - video organisation set up by Peter Gabriel) have joined forces to create the Human Rights Video Hub. The idea is to create a kind of YouTube for video of human rights abuses. Mark Glaser of PBS has a good analysis of it on his Mediashift site. A couple of examples so far - cell phone video of police misconduct in Malaysia and also footage of police in China beating protestors. Global Voices bloggers then provide some background and analysis of the incidents. Very early stages at the moment, but another interesting example of networked journalism.