Media
Consumer watchdog warns social media influencers to disclose paid posts – Global News
Canada’s competition watchdog says it wants consumers to be told when advertisers have a close relationship with the people who praise their products through social media accounts.
The Competition Bureau says it has sent letters to nearly 100 brands and agencies involved in what’s called “influencer marketing.”
Some of the biggest social media influencers are global celebrities such as Kim Kardashian West, but even lesser-known people with a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram following can receive free products to promote or, in some cases, a fee.
The federal competition agency says influencers should clearly disclose what they’ve received from the brand or marketing agency and base any reviews or testimonials on their personal experience.
The Competition Bureau also warns that businesses that are marketing products or services through influencers could violate rules against sales or misleading content.
The bureau’s commissioner, Matthew Boswell, says consumers must be able to know if opinions expressed by influencers are independent or an advertisement.
© 2019 The Canadian Press
Quebecor reports Q4 profit up from year ago
The overall increase came as telecommunications revenue rose to $940.9 million, up from $908.6 million a year ago.
However, Quebecor’s media division saw revenue fall to $185.8 million from $208.0 million a year ago and sports and entertainment revenue dropped to $48.8 million compared with $54.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. – The Canadian Press
Pay for news? If anything, the news business should be paying Facebook and Google
If linking is stealing, why is every article on every news site adorned with a clickable button at the top urging readers to “share” it on Facebook, Twitter and other social-media sites? Why, indeed, do news organizations post links on these sites themselves? The same reason they invest so heavily in “search engine optimization,” to ensure their pages rank highly on Google and other search sites. Because their services are of benefit to us, driving readers to our pages that we can convert into subscriptions and/or advertising sales. – Andrew Coyne, The Globe and Mail
Broadcasters, Netflix at odds on regulatory changes
Executives from Canada’s major broadcasters and a Netflix official spoke before a parliamentary committee on Friday, saying changes need to be made to bring Canada’s broadcasting landscape into the 21st century.
Where they differed, however, was in how best to go about it. – Rachel Gilmore, Global News
Canada should follow Australia’s lead in copyright enforcement
Every year I receive a federal cheque for the use of my published books by Canadian libraries. The amount, after payment of hefty income taxes, is no more than several months’ supply of Tim Hortons coffee. But I do appreciate recognition of the principle that I should be compensated for my copyright.
As a “content-provider,” I think of this cheque every time I read about the tussle now taking place between Australia and the massive technology companies, Google and Facebook. Australia is bringing in legislation requiring digital technology companies to compensate news outlets for the use of their content. The legislation is in response to the shift of advertising revenue from broadcasters and publishers to internet platforms that so far have not had to pay the costs of creating content. In response, Facebook has clumsily cut off news information to Australians, raising significant concerns about the big tech firms’ economic power, not just in Australia but around the world. – Jack M. Mintz, Financial Post
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Canadian retail rents drop as office space hits a high
Despite the work from home trend gaining steam, Canadian companies are paying more for office space. Canada saw office rents climb 0.49% in Q4 2020, and is now up 1.29% from the same quarter a year before. This brings Canada’s office space pricing to a new record high. – Kaitlin Last, Better Dwelling
This indie rocker and designer is a rebel with a social cause
In her 20s, Lauralee Sheehan immersed herself in the music scene, writing music and collaborating with a wide community of composers and publishers, eventually helping to form the Lovely Killbots, where she recognized the importance of branding and began to explore the available technology and social media to put their name out there. Today, Sheehan is founder and chief creative officer of Digital 55, a successful digital media content studio in Toronto. – Denise Deveau, Financial Post
‘The Crown,’ ‘Schitt’s Creek’ take Golden Globes TV honours
Netflix Inc’s British royal drama “The Crown,” which focused its most recent season on the troubled marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, led the television honors at Hollywood’s Golden Globe awards on Sunday.
“The Crown” was named best TV drama, one of four awards in total, including best actress for Emma Corrin, who played the young Diana struggling to adapt to life in the royal family.
Feel-good comedy “Schitt’s Creek” landed the Golden Globes trophy for best TV comedy series, along with best comedy actress for Catherine O’Hara. And Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit,” about a female chess champion battling drug and alcohol addiction, won best limited series and best actress for Anya Taylor-Joy. – Reuters
Inside the SCTV writers’ room with Eugene Levy
For Eugene Levy and his SCTV colleagues, a day at the office in 1983 was just like a normal workday — except for the laughter. – CBC Archives
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Black Canadians face high unemployment during the pandemic
Differences in the unemployment rates of diverse groups of Canadians are attributable to a number of factors, including long-term trends, the age of the population and the unequal impact of COVID-19 on certain sectors of the economy.
Black Canadians experienced a higher unemployment rate than non-visible minority Canadians in the recent past. For example, 12.5% of Black Canadians in the labour force were unemployed at the time of the 2016 Census, compared with 6.9% of non-visible minority Canadians.
Experimental estimates from the LFS suggest that from January 2020 to January 2021, the unemployment rate increased more among Black Canadians (+5.3 percentage points) than among non-visible minority Canadians (+3.7 percentage points) in the context of the pandemic (monthly estimates).
In the three months ending in January 2021, the unemployment rate among Black Canadians (13.1%) was about 70% higher than that among non-visible minority Canadians (7.7%).
Black Canadians aged 25 to 54 also had a higher unemployment rate than non-visible minority Canadians in the same age group (9.4% versus 6.1%).
Black youth aged 15 to 24 have experienced high unemployment during the pandemic, as almost one-third of the labour force in this group (30.6%) was unemployed in January 2021—almost twice the rate of non-visible minority youth (15.6%). – Statistics Canada
Cuban musicians and artists collaborate on viral, political music video
The “Patria y Vida” video is spreading like wildfire in Cuba and Miami, a sign of widespread discontent on the island as well as unity among Cubans. – Coco Fusco, Hyperallergic
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Fall: The mystery of Robert Maxwell
From the bestselling author of A Very English Scandal, the jaw-dropping life story of the notorious business tycoon Robert Maxwell.
In February 1991, the media mogul and former MP Robert Maxwell made a triumphant entrance into Manhattan harbour aboard his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, to complete his purchase of the ailing New York Daily News. Crowds lined the quayside to watch his arrival, taxi drivers stopped their cabs to shake his hand and children asked for his autograph. But just ten months later, Maxwell disappeared from the same yacht off the Canary Islands, only to be found dead in the water soon afterward.
Maxwell was the embodiment of Britain’s post-war boom. Born an Orthodox Jew, he had escaped the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, fought in World War 2, and was decorated for his heroism with the Military Cross. He went on to become a Labour MP and an astonishingly successful businessman, owning a number of newspapers and publishing companies. But on his death, his empire fell apart, as long-hidden debts and unscrupulous dealings came to light. Within a few days, Maxwell was being reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. No one had ever fallen so far and so quickly.
What went so wrong? How did a war hero and model of society become reduced to a bloated, amoral wreck? In this gripping book, John Preston delivers the definitive account of Maxwell’s extraordinary rise and scandalous fall. – Amazon books
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Covid vaccine players will split $100B in sales and $40B in profits
Financial Times reports that Pfizer expects about $15 billion in revenue this year from its Covid-19 vaccine and has raised its 2021 profit guidance on hopes that having one of the first and most effective vaccines will boost its prospects. Longtime Evercore ISI pharma analyst Josh Schimmer figures the total market for the vaccines could be worth $100B in sales and yield $40B in post-tax profits. According to a report in Fierce Pharma, Moderna scored a $1.5B deal with the (US) federal government to supply 100 million doses of its mRNA vaccine, if it succeeds, with the option for another 400 million doses. That suggests the price per dose for government purchases would be less than $25. In the same publication it is reported that Pfizer also has a supply deal with the U.S. government, which is worth $1.95 billion for 100 million doses. The company is testing a two-dose regimen of its mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, which one analyst estimated could bring in $15 billion in profits for the drug maker.
Statista: The 20 countries with the highest public debt in 2020 in relation to the gross domestic product
Password managers have a security flaw
You would, naturally, think the password manager was safe when locked, but it’s not, according to the ISE. Worryingly, the researchers found that in some circumstances, the master password was residing in the computer’s memory in a plain text readable format. And once the master password is available to the attacker, they can decrypt the password manager database. – Kate O’Flaherty, Forbes
RIP
Jeff Ansell, a reporter, an MIT-Harvard instructor, media coach and more recently head of Jeff Ansell & Associates, died of cancer on Tuesday, February 23 at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital. As an investigative reporter, he exposed two Nazi war criminals who murdered 16,000 people. He talked about this in an Andrew Krystal Sirius XM broadcast three years ago that is included below, and an affectionate recollection of his life and times was penned by Steve Paikin, anchor of TVO’s flagship current affairs program, The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
John Burks’ tenure atop the masthead of Rolling Stone was brief, but he made it count, reshaping what was essentially a trade magazine for rock fans into a wider voice for the counterculture and antiwar movement. His timing was right and his instincts sharp, as made evident when Rolling Stone, a biweekly at the time, published the definitive account of the disaster that was Altamont in December 1969. He died Feb. 17 at age 83. – Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle
Your resume and cover letter will get you in the door for an interview, but your social media can either seal the deal or break it. Here are three ways to clean up your online presence for a job search.
Go back in time.
Your social media will be looked over at some point in the interview process, so you want to be sure that there’s isn’t anything on there that could be considered offensive or paint you in a negative light. To make sure that there’s nothing on your accounts that could harm your chances of getting a job, you need to go back through all of your posts. You want your social media to showcase you are now, not who you used to be.
While a hiring manager shouldn’t take into account what you do in your free time, they most likely will. Photos from parties are fun, but make sure they don’t depict anything wild or out of control. Be sure that everything you post is suitable for work. When in doubt, delete the picture or the tweet. When it comes to Twitter, remember that everything you like and share is public too. Set your accounts to private if you really don’t want to take any pictures down, but be aware that if all of your social accounts are private, this could be a red flag to the hiring manager.
Don’t forget the comments.
It’s not just your old posts that need to be gone through – it’s the comments too. Delete anything not suitable for work or even borderline offensive. To ensure all future comments are work-safe, let your friends know you’re in the process of job searching and that they can text you their comments instead.
Google yourself.
Googling yourself is a great way to catch things that you might have forgotten about or not even realized were out there. You never know what a Google search might turn up, like your middle school YouTube account or an old WordPress blog. It’s also a fascinating way to see how you show up online.
Make sure your LinkedIn is updated.
Make sure that your LinkedIn profile is up to date, including a recent professional photo and current job information. Treat your profile as if it’s an expanded version of your resume. Make use of all of the profile sections such as skills and endorsements, the about section, and accomplishments.
You should also be actively using LinkedIn to share content, comment on posts, and write your own articles. All of these things will look good to recruiters and hiring managers, as it shows you’re engaged in learning and you’re staying on top of current trends and news in your industry.
Remember, your social media presence has the possibility to help or hinder your chances of getting a job. By taking the time to go through your accounts and clean things up, you’re ensuring that it will help.
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BEIJING — China used coronavirus prevention measures, intimidation and visa curbs to limit foreign reporting in 2020, ushering in a “rapid decline in media freedom,” the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) said on Monday.
For the third year in a row, no journalists told the group that working conditions had improved, the FCCC said in an annual report based on 150 responses to a survey of correspondents and interviews with bureau chiefs.
“All arms of state power – including surveillance systems introduced to curb coronavirus – were used to harass and intimidate journalists, their Chinese colleagues, and those whom the foreign press sought to interview,” it said.
Authorities cited public health concerns to deny reporters access to sensitive areas and threatened them with enforced quarantine, it added. Visa restrictions were also used to put pressure on reporting.
At least 13 correspondents were given press credentials valid for 6 months or less, the FCCC said. Foreign reporters based in China typically receive one-year visas and must renew them annually.
Journalists were also used as “pawns” in China’s diplomatic disputes, it added.
China expelled more than a dozen foreign journalists at U.S. media organizations in 2020, amid a series of tit-for-tat actions between the countries. Washington also slashed the number of journalists permitted to work in the United States at four major Chinese state-owned media outlets.
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In September, Australia helped two of its foreign correspondents leave China after they were questioned by the country’s state security ministry.
Journalists reporting from far western Xinjiang, where China has been accused of large-scale human rights abuses, encountered especially intense harassment, the report said.
Last year Chinese authorities detained Cheng Lei, an Australian citizen working for Chinese state media, and later Haze Fan, a Chinese national working for Bloomberg News, both on suspicion of endangering national security.
Both remain in detention.
Some Reuters journalists are members of the FCCC. (Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and William Mallard)
Media Beat: March 01, 2021 | FYIMusicNews – FYI Music News
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