Zimbabwe Video: Tutu accuses S Africa over Mugabe
HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe will prosecute 140 white landowners on charges of failing to vacate their farms under the country's controversial 2000 land reform programme, state media reported Sunday.
"A total of 140 farmers are to be prosecuted for failing to vacate farms after being issued with eviction notices," The Sunday Mail said, citing a report presented at the ruling ZANU-PF party's national conference.
The government ordered the white owners to leave by September 30 to make way for resettlement by landless blacks, under often-violent land reforms that critics blame for causing chronic food shortages in this onetime regional breadbasket.
The report did not specify what charges the farmers would face but law experts said it could be trespassing for failing to comply with the government ultimatium.
The report to the just-finished conference said another 278 farms owned by 13 countries would be spared from government seizure and prosecution under a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs).
This provision involves more than 522,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) owned by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mauritius, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, it said.
The government also recommended that 341 white farmers be allowed to continue farming across the country, and is drafting documents to give them a 99-year security of tenure on their properties "as the land reform programme nears conclusion," the report said.
A further 97 white farmers will be allowed to continue running conservancies or private game parks in six provinces, it said.
This brings to 438 the number of white farmers allowed to retain their land out of 6,708 operating in Zimbabwe before the reforms were launched eight years ago, The Sunday Mail said.
A total 1,530 new black farmers have received land offer letters from the government as of September 30 and the figure is expected to rise 1,800 by the end of this week, it added.
Under President Robert Mugabe's programme, at least 4,000 properties formerly run by white farmers have been seized for redistribution to blacks, the majority of whom lacked the skills and means to farm.
The chatoic programme is held largely responsible for the country's economic crisis, which has saddled Zimbabwe with the world's highest inflation rate and left nearly half the population in need of aid.
Mugabe, however, blames the food crisis on successive droughts and Zimbabwe's economic woes on Western-backed sanctions slapped on him and his aides for allegedly rigging his re-election in 2002.
Scores of frustrated white farmers have left the country to resettle in other African states, notably Nigeria. Many others have sought legal recourse to try to prevent the loss of their farms.
Nigeria, a regional powerhouse, invited the farmers to set up shop in April 2005 in a project located in Shonga in central Kwara state, which three years later is shaping up as an economic success story.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Voting starts in Ghanaian presidential run-off
by Susan Njanji Susan Njanji – 2 hrs 13 mins ago
AFP/File – Nana Akufo-Addo (right), presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party and John Attah Mills, …
ACCRA (AFP) – Ghanaians turned out Sunday to choose a successor to outgoing president John Kufuor in the second round of an election seen as a test of just how stable the west African nation is.
Nana Akufo-Addo of Kufuor's New Patriotic Party (NPP) is squaring off against John Atta-Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of ex-president Jerry Rawlings.
The vote was forced into a run-off after neither of the leading candidates won more than 50 percent of ballots cast in the first round on December 7. The elections are only the third since the country's return to democracy in 1992.
The first round of voting was hailed by observers as peaceful but tensions have risen in the past few days, with the NPP and NDC trading accusations of plots to rig the election.
At polling stations Sunday voters were unanimous that they wanted peace.
"Before the election people were talking about possible fighting and war. But we don't want war in Ghana, we don't want what happened in Ivory Coast to happen here," said Lydia Amponseah, a 28-year-old hairdresser with a baby at her breast.
Neighbouring Ivory Coast, once held up as an African success story, has been in the grip of a political crisis since a failed coup in 2002.
Okyere Darko, a retired military officer of 60, echoed a similar sentiment as he voted in Accra's Abokobi district:
"We've seen troubles before - we don't want a repeat of that," he told AFP, referring to the years before democracy when Ghana suffered a series of coups.
After the first round the NPP's Akufo-Addo led with 49.13 percent of valid ballots cast while the NDC's Atta-Mills trailed with 47.92 percent.
But the NDC is now the largest party in parliament after it swept 114 seats out of the 230, while the NPP took 107 seats, according to new figures from the electoral commission.
Seven seats went to smaller opposition parties and two seats are yet to be determined.
The NPP lost 19 seats, all to the NDC.
On the eve of the runoff the two parties accused each other of trying to rig or disrupt the voting.
The NDC said it had noted irregularities in early voting, while the NPP said opposition leaflets were trying to inflame tribal and ethnic tension.
Kufuor called for calm: "I am appealing to all Ghanaians... we should all keep cool, go and vote, as a peaceful exercise, as a legitimate exercise."
The polls are being closely watched as a litmus test of whether the country has truly consolidated its democracy.
Some 12.5 million people are eligible to cast ballots in the polls which close at 5 pm (1700 GMT).
Last week Guinea, Africa's second-oldest independent state, was rocked by a bloodless coup, moments after the death of a its longtime leader Lansana Conte.
Mauritania's first democratically-elected leader was ousted in a coup in August.
AFP/File – Nana Akufo-Addo (right), presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party and John Attah Mills, …
ACCRA (AFP) – Ghanaians turned out Sunday to choose a successor to outgoing president John Kufuor in the second round of an election seen as a test of just how stable the west African nation is.
Nana Akufo-Addo of Kufuor's New Patriotic Party (NPP) is squaring off against John Atta-Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of ex-president Jerry Rawlings.
The vote was forced into a run-off after neither of the leading candidates won more than 50 percent of ballots cast in the first round on December 7. The elections are only the third since the country's return to democracy in 1992.
The first round of voting was hailed by observers as peaceful but tensions have risen in the past few days, with the NPP and NDC trading accusations of plots to rig the election.
At polling stations Sunday voters were unanimous that they wanted peace.
"Before the election people were talking about possible fighting and war. But we don't want war in Ghana, we don't want what happened in Ivory Coast to happen here," said Lydia Amponseah, a 28-year-old hairdresser with a baby at her breast.
Neighbouring Ivory Coast, once held up as an African success story, has been in the grip of a political crisis since a failed coup in 2002.
Okyere Darko, a retired military officer of 60, echoed a similar sentiment as he voted in Accra's Abokobi district:
"We've seen troubles before - we don't want a repeat of that," he told AFP, referring to the years before democracy when Ghana suffered a series of coups.
After the first round the NPP's Akufo-Addo led with 49.13 percent of valid ballots cast while the NDC's Atta-Mills trailed with 47.92 percent.
But the NDC is now the largest party in parliament after it swept 114 seats out of the 230, while the NPP took 107 seats, according to new figures from the electoral commission.
Seven seats went to smaller opposition parties and two seats are yet to be determined.
The NPP lost 19 seats, all to the NDC.
On the eve of the runoff the two parties accused each other of trying to rig or disrupt the voting.
The NDC said it had noted irregularities in early voting, while the NPP said opposition leaflets were trying to inflame tribal and ethnic tension.
Kufuor called for calm: "I am appealing to all Ghanaians... we should all keep cool, go and vote, as a peaceful exercise, as a legitimate exercise."
The polls are being closely watched as a litmus test of whether the country has truly consolidated its democracy.
Some 12.5 million people are eligible to cast ballots in the polls which close at 5 pm (1700 GMT).
Last week Guinea, Africa's second-oldest independent state, was rocked by a bloodless coup, moments after the death of a its longtime leader Lansana Conte.
Mauritania's first democratically-elected leader was ousted in a coup in August.
Zimbabwe 'to prosecute 140 white farmers'
Monday, December 22, 2008
UN warns 5.5m Zimbabweans need food, collapse of health system
Yahoo News 12-22-08
HARARE (AFP) – About half of Zimbabwe's population needs food aid, UN experts said Monday, as a first consignment of supplies designed to help fight a cholera epidemic arrived in the troubled southern African nation.
As President Robert Mugabe faced fresh calls to step down from Western powers, the UN's warning highlighted yet another crisis facing Zimbabwe as it also battles a deadly cholera epidemic and runaway inflation.
And in a further bid to tighten the screw on Mugabe, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she planned to lobby Washington's allies to impose sanctions against the regime in Harare.
"An estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance," said the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutterhe, in a joint statement from four senior UN officials.
There was "just not enough food" in the country of around 12 million which was once the bread basket of Africa, he added, calling on Zimbabwe's government and the international community for increased help.
In the same statement, the special rapporteur on health rights, Anand Grover said the country's medical services could not control the cholera outbreak, which has killed more than 1,120.
"Zimbabwe's health system has completely collapsed. It cannot control the cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily increase in the death toll," he said.
As the UN experts sounded the alarm bells, the children's fund UNICEF was delivering its first consignment of aid -- intravenous fluids, drip equipment, essential drugs, midwifery and obstetric kits -- to boost government services in the fight against cholera.
"This is a strategic measure to address a desperate situation," said UNICEF acting representative in Zimbabwe, Roeland Monasch.
Once seen as a post-colonial role model, Zimbabwe's economy has been in a downward spiral since the turn of the decade when thousands of white-owned farms began being seized under a controversial land reform programme.
Food production has since plummetted and inflation has skyrocketed, hitting 231 percent when the last official data was released in August.
Zimbabwe has also been in political crisis since elections in March when the long-ruling ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament and Mugabe was pushed into second place by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a poll for president.
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, pulled out of a run-off after scores of his supporters were killed.
A power-sharing agreement signed by the two rivals in September was seen as an opportunity for the country to turn a corner but it has yet to be implemented amid disagreements over the control of key organs of state.
Under the terms of the power-sharing deal, Mugabe would remain president with Tsvangirai becoming prime minister.
But with Mugabe now declaring that Zimbabwe is "mine", both the United States and former colonial power Britain have the deal will be unacceptable as unless the 84-year-old Mugabe leaves office.
"Power-sharing isn't dead but Mugabe has become an absolute impossible obstacle to achieving it," said Britain's Africa minister Mark Malloch Brown.
"He's so distrusted by all sides that I think the Americans are absolutely right, he's going to have to step aside."
Malloch-Brown's comments came a day after the top US diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, said Washington would not restore aid to the cholera-wracked country unless Mugabe stood down.
In an interview with AFP, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would consult Washington's allies about imposing international asset freezes and other sanctions against the Mugabe regime which Washington has already put in place.
"I am going to consult with our allies, particularly with some of our African allies and with the British and we will see," Rice said.
"But I think it high time that the international community step up the sanctions on this regime."
Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African nation ever since independence in 1980, has made clear that he has no intention of standing down.
In a defiant weekend speech at ZANU-PF's annual conference, he vowed that he would "never, never surrender" and that "Zimbabwe is mine."
HARARE (AFP) – About half of Zimbabwe's population needs food aid, UN experts said Monday, as a first consignment of supplies designed to help fight a cholera epidemic arrived in the troubled southern African nation.
As President Robert Mugabe faced fresh calls to step down from Western powers, the UN's warning highlighted yet another crisis facing Zimbabwe as it also battles a deadly cholera epidemic and runaway inflation.
And in a further bid to tighten the screw on Mugabe, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she planned to lobby Washington's allies to impose sanctions against the regime in Harare.
"An estimated 5.5 million people may need food assistance," said the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutterhe, in a joint statement from four senior UN officials.
There was "just not enough food" in the country of around 12 million which was once the bread basket of Africa, he added, calling on Zimbabwe's government and the international community for increased help.
In the same statement, the special rapporteur on health rights, Anand Grover said the country's medical services could not control the cholera outbreak, which has killed more than 1,120.
"Zimbabwe's health system has completely collapsed. It cannot control the cholera outbreak which is spreading throughout the country, with a daily increase in the death toll," he said.
As the UN experts sounded the alarm bells, the children's fund UNICEF was delivering its first consignment of aid -- intravenous fluids, drip equipment, essential drugs, midwifery and obstetric kits -- to boost government services in the fight against cholera.
"This is a strategic measure to address a desperate situation," said UNICEF acting representative in Zimbabwe, Roeland Monasch.
Once seen as a post-colonial role model, Zimbabwe's economy has been in a downward spiral since the turn of the decade when thousands of white-owned farms began being seized under a controversial land reform programme.
Food production has since plummetted and inflation has skyrocketed, hitting 231 percent when the last official data was released in August.
Zimbabwe has also been in political crisis since elections in March when the long-ruling ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament and Mugabe was pushed into second place by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a poll for president.
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, pulled out of a run-off after scores of his supporters were killed.
A power-sharing agreement signed by the two rivals in September was seen as an opportunity for the country to turn a corner but it has yet to be implemented amid disagreements over the control of key organs of state.
Under the terms of the power-sharing deal, Mugabe would remain president with Tsvangirai becoming prime minister.
But with Mugabe now declaring that Zimbabwe is "mine", both the United States and former colonial power Britain have the deal will be unacceptable as unless the 84-year-old Mugabe leaves office.
"Power-sharing isn't dead but Mugabe has become an absolute impossible obstacle to achieving it," said Britain's Africa minister Mark Malloch Brown.
"He's so distrusted by all sides that I think the Americans are absolutely right, he's going to have to step aside."
Malloch-Brown's comments came a day after the top US diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, said Washington would not restore aid to the cholera-wracked country unless Mugabe stood down.
In an interview with AFP, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would consult Washington's allies about imposing international asset freezes and other sanctions against the Mugabe regime which Washington has already put in place.
"I am going to consult with our allies, particularly with some of our African allies and with the British and we will see," Rice said.
"But I think it high time that the international community step up the sanctions on this regime."
Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African nation ever since independence in 1980, has made clear that he has no intention of standing down.
In a defiant weekend speech at ZANU-PF's annual conference, he vowed that he would "never, never surrender" and that "Zimbabwe is mine."
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Chinese ship rescued from pirates in Gulf of Aden
By David Clarke – 2 hrs 36 mins ago
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A multilateral force rescued a Chinese ship from Somali pirates on Wednesday, in a sign foreign navies patrolling the shipping lane linking Europe to Asia are adopting tougher new tactics.
The Chinese boat Zhenhua 4 was one of four vessels seized by pirates on Tuesday, the same day the United Nations Security Council took a strong stand against the attacks and authorized countries to pursue the gunmen on land.
A Kenyan maritime group said the crew locked themselves in their cabins and radioed for help. A warship and two helicopters came and fired on the pirates, but did not kill them, it said.
Chinese state media said a "multilateral" force with helicopters hovered over the ship and successfully fought off the pirates.
Rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia this year has earned gunmen millions of dollars in ransom, hiked shipping insurance costs and caused international alarm.
The seizures have prompted some of the world's biggest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa instead -- which could push up the cost of commodities and manufactured goods.
Foreign navies have rushed to patrol shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa nation, but have had little impact so far on the pirates who mostly operate out of northern Somalia.
According to the Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance program, there have been 124 incidents of piracy off Somali this year and some 60 successful hijacks.
Nearly 400 people and 19 ships are being held along the coast, including a Saudi supertanker with 2 million barrels of oil and a Ukrainian cargo ship with 33 tanks.
VERY ROBUST APPROACH
Last week the European Union launched an anti-piracy operation with warships and aircraft from Britain, France, Greece and Spain, and pledged to take a "very robust" approach.
China is reported to be seriously considering sending naval ships to the region to escort vessels and Kenya said this week it would sink any pirates carrying out attacks in its waters.
Mwangura said on Wednesday the Chinese vessel, with 30 Chinese crew, and a yacht with two on board had been seized off Yemen a day earlier. A tugboat and a 100-meter (330-ft) cargo ship belonging to an Istanbul-based shipping company were also taken in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday.
Analysts say the problem must be tackled on land as well, but the weak Somalian government says it does not have the resources to tackle the buccaneers.
The country has been in virtual anarchy since the collapse of a dictatorship in 1991. Islamist insurgents control most of the south and feuding clan militias hold sway elsewhere.
The fractured Western-backed administration controls only the capital Mogadishu and the seat of parliament Baidoa, while pirates are mostly based in the northern Puntland region.
The resolution passed by the 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday said states "may undertake all necessary measures in Somalia, including in its airspace" to stop the pirates.
The Security Council called on countries to "take part actively" in the fight against piracy and Washington said the United Nations should deploy a peacekeeping force.
Authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland welcomed the decision to take the battle onto land.
"We, Puntland authority, have agreed to support this resolution. And we want our security forces to work with the U.N. forces because we are the main victims of piracy," Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, Puntland's assistant minister for fisheries, told Reuters.
Iran also called for tougher action on Tuesday, saying five of its oil tankers had been attacked this year and the cost of crude could rise if strategic sea lanes went unprotected.
Somalia's neighbor Kenya also began extensive air and sea patrols this week. "We are daring them to try any attacks on Kenyan waters and we will sink them," Chief of General Staff Jeremiah Kianga said on Monday.
(Additional reporting by Wangui Kanina in Nairobi, Celestyne Achieng in Mombasa, Abdiqani Hassan in Bosasso and Ian Ransom and Sally Huang in Beijing; editing by Andrew Roche)
Microsoft releasing emergency patch for perilous IE flaw
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A multilateral force rescued a Chinese ship from Somali pirates on Wednesday, in a sign foreign navies patrolling the shipping lane linking Europe to Asia are adopting tougher new tactics.
The Chinese boat Zhenhua 4 was one of four vessels seized by pirates on Tuesday, the same day the United Nations Security Council took a strong stand against the attacks and authorized countries to pursue the gunmen on land.
A Kenyan maritime group said the crew locked themselves in their cabins and radioed for help. A warship and two helicopters came and fired on the pirates, but did not kill them, it said.
Chinese state media said a "multilateral" force with helicopters hovered over the ship and successfully fought off the pirates.
Rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia this year has earned gunmen millions of dollars in ransom, hiked shipping insurance costs and caused international alarm.
The seizures have prompted some of the world's biggest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa instead -- which could push up the cost of commodities and manufactured goods.
Foreign navies have rushed to patrol shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa nation, but have had little impact so far on the pirates who mostly operate out of northern Somalia.
According to the Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance program, there have been 124 incidents of piracy off Somali this year and some 60 successful hijacks.
Nearly 400 people and 19 ships are being held along the coast, including a Saudi supertanker with 2 million barrels of oil and a Ukrainian cargo ship with 33 tanks.
VERY ROBUST APPROACH
Last week the European Union launched an anti-piracy operation with warships and aircraft from Britain, France, Greece and Spain, and pledged to take a "very robust" approach.
China is reported to be seriously considering sending naval ships to the region to escort vessels and Kenya said this week it would sink any pirates carrying out attacks in its waters.
Mwangura said on Wednesday the Chinese vessel, with 30 Chinese crew, and a yacht with two on board had been seized off Yemen a day earlier. A tugboat and a 100-meter (330-ft) cargo ship belonging to an Istanbul-based shipping company were also taken in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday.
Analysts say the problem must be tackled on land as well, but the weak Somalian government says it does not have the resources to tackle the buccaneers.
The country has been in virtual anarchy since the collapse of a dictatorship in 1991. Islamist insurgents control most of the south and feuding clan militias hold sway elsewhere.
The fractured Western-backed administration controls only the capital Mogadishu and the seat of parliament Baidoa, while pirates are mostly based in the northern Puntland region.
The resolution passed by the 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday said states "may undertake all necessary measures in Somalia, including in its airspace" to stop the pirates.
The Security Council called on countries to "take part actively" in the fight against piracy and Washington said the United Nations should deploy a peacekeeping force.
Authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland welcomed the decision to take the battle onto land.
"We, Puntland authority, have agreed to support this resolution. And we want our security forces to work with the U.N. forces because we are the main victims of piracy," Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, Puntland's assistant minister for fisheries, told Reuters.
Iran also called for tougher action on Tuesday, saying five of its oil tankers had been attacked this year and the cost of crude could rise if strategic sea lanes went unprotected.
Somalia's neighbor Kenya also began extensive air and sea patrols this week. "We are daring them to try any attacks on Kenyan waters and we will sink them," Chief of General Staff Jeremiah Kianga said on Monday.
(Additional reporting by Wangui Kanina in Nairobi, Celestyne Achieng in Mombasa, Abdiqani Hassan in Bosasso and Ian Ransom and Sally Huang in Beijing; editing by Andrew Roche)
Microsoft releasing emergency patch for perilous IE flaw
Monday, December 15, 2008
Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter becomes the talk of Iraq
By Waleed Ibrahim
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in a supreme insult has suddenly become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.
The little-known Shi'ite reporter, said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by unknown gunmen in 2007.
TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the Iraqi government of a "barbaric act." He would be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the prime minister's media advisor, Yasin Majeed.
His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Baghdad's Sadr City, in the southern Shi'ite stronghold of Basra and in the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a U.S. convoy.
"Thanks be to God, Muntazer's act fills Iraqi hearts with pride," his brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television.
"I'm sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush."
Zaidi shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.
The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush's head and slammed into the wall behind him. Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.
Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.
'BARBARIC'
The government said Zaidi had carried out "a barbaric and ignominious act" that was not fitting of the media's role and demanded an apology from his television station.
Al-Baghdadiya television played endless patriotic music, with Zaidi's face plastered across the screen.
A newscaster solemnly read out a statement calling for his release, "in accordance with the democratic era and the freedom of expression that Iraqis were promised by U.S. authorities."
It said that any harsh measures taken against the reporter would be reminders of the "dictatorial era" that Washington said its forces invaded Iraq to end.
At a university in Baghdad, students appeared to abandon routine classes to talk about Zaidi and his shoe-throwing. Continued...
View article on single page
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in a supreme insult has suddenly become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.
The little-known Shi'ite reporter, said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by unknown gunmen in 2007.
TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the Iraqi government of a "barbaric act." He would be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the prime minister's media advisor, Yasin Majeed.
His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Baghdad's Sadr City, in the southern Shi'ite stronghold of Basra and in the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a U.S. convoy.
"Thanks be to God, Muntazer's act fills Iraqi hearts with pride," his brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television.
"I'm sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush."
Zaidi shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.
The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush's head and slammed into the wall behind him. Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.
Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.
'BARBARIC'
The government said Zaidi had carried out "a barbaric and ignominious act" that was not fitting of the media's role and demanded an apology from his television station.
Al-Baghdadiya television played endless patriotic music, with Zaidi's face plastered across the screen.
A newscaster solemnly read out a statement calling for his release, "in accordance with the democratic era and the freedom of expression that Iraqis were promised by U.S. authorities."
It said that any harsh measures taken against the reporter would be reminders of the "dictatorial era" that Washington said its forces invaded Iraq to end.
At a university in Baghdad, students appeared to abandon routine classes to talk about Zaidi and his shoe-throwing. Continued...
View article on single page
Saturday, December 13, 2008
YouTube Videos Pull In Real Money
By BRIAN STELTER
Published: December 10, 2008
Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.
Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times
Michael Buckley quit his day job in September. He says his online show is “silly,” but it helped pay off credit-card debt.
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One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become “partners” and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site. For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chat show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job.
Mr. Buckley quit his day job in September after his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company. His thrice-a-week online show “is silly,” he said, but it has helped him escape his credit-card debt.
Mr. Buckley, 33, was the part-time host of a weekly show on a Connecticut public access channel in the summer of 2006 when his cousin started posting snippets of the show on YouTube. The comical rants about celebrities attracted online viewers, and before long Mr. Buckley was tailoring his segments, called “What the Buck?” for the Web. Mr. Buckley knew that the show was “only going to go so far on public access.”
“But on YouTube,” he said, “I’ve had 100 million views. It’s crazy.”
All he needed was a $2,000 Canon camera, a $6 piece of fabric for a backdrop and a pair of work lights from Home Depot. Mr. Buckley is an example of the Internet’s democratizing effect on publishing. Sites like YouTube allow anyone with a high-speed connection to find a fan following, simply by posting material and promoting it online.
Granted, building an audience online takes time. “I was spending 40 hours a week on YouTube for over a year before I made a dime,” Mr. Buckley said — but, at least in some cases, it is paying off.
Mr. Buckley is one of the original members of YouTube’s partner program, which now includes thousands of participants, from basement video makers to big media companies. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, places advertisements within and around the partner videos and splits the revenues with the creators. “We wanted to turn these hobbies into businesses,” said Hunter Walk, a director of product management for the site, who called popular users like Mr. Buckley “unintentional media companies.”
YouTube declined to comment on how much money partners earned on average, partly because advertiser demand varies for different kinds of videos. But a spokesman, Aaron Zamost, said “hundreds of YouTube partners are making thousands of dollars a month.” At least a few are making a full-time living: Mr. Buckley said he was earning over $100,000 from YouTube advertisements.
The program is a partial solution to a nagging problem for YouTube. The site records 10 times the video views as any other video-sharing Web site in the United States, yet it has proven to be hard for Google to profit from, because a vast majority of the videos are posted by anonymous users who may or may not own the copyrights to the content they upload. While YouTube has halted much of the illegal video sharing on the site, it remains wary of placing advertisements against content without explicit permission from the owners. As a result, only about 3 percent of the videos on the site are supported by advertising.
But the company has high hopes for the partner program. Executives liken it to Google AdSense, the technology that revolutionized advertising and made it possible for publishers to place text advertisements next to their content.
“Some of these people are making videos in their spare time,” said Chad Hurley, a co-founder of YouTube. “We felt that if we were able to provide them a true revenue source, they’d be able to hone their skills and create better content.”
In a time of media industry layoffs, the revenue source — and the prospect of a one-person media company — may be especially appealing to users. But video producers like Lisa Donovan, who posts sketch comedy onto YouTube and attracted attention in the fall for parodies of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, do not make it sound easy. “For new users, it’s a lot of work,” Ms. Donovan said. “Everybody’s fighting to be seen online; you have to strategize and market yourself.”
Mr. Buckley, who majored in psychology in college and lives with his husband and four dogs in Connecticut, films his show from home. Each episode of “What the Buck?” is viewed an average of 200,000 times, and the more popular ones have reached up to three million people. He said that writing and recording five minutes’ worth of jokes about Britney Spears’s comeback tour and Miley Cyrus’s dancing abilities is not as easy as it looks. “I’ve really worked hard on honing my presentation and writing skills,” he said.
As his traffic and revenues grew, Mr. Buckley had “so many opportunities online that I couldn’t work anymore.” He quit his job at Live Nation, the music promoter, to focus full-time on the Web show.
There is a symmetry to Mr. Buckley’s story. Some so-called Internet celebrities view YouTube as a stepping stone to television. But Mr. Buckley started on TV and found fame on YouTube. Three months ago, he signed a development deal with HBO, an opportunity that many media aspirants dream about. Still, “I feel YouTube is my home,” he said. “I think the biggest mistake that any of us Internet personalities can make is establish ourselves on the Internet and then abandon it.”
Cory Williams, 27, a YouTube producer in California, agrees. Mr. Williams, known as smpfilms on YouTube, has been dreaming up online videos since 2005, and he said his big break came in September 2007 with a music video parody called “The Mean Kitty Song.” The video, which introduces Mr. Williams’ evil feline companion, has been viewed more than 15 million times. On a recent day, the video included an advertisement from Coca-Cola.
Mr. Williams, who counts about 180,000 subscribers to his videos, said he was earning $17,000 to $20,000 a month via YouTube. Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos, a model that he has borrowed from traditional media.
On YouTube, it is evident that established media entities and the up-and-coming users are learning from each other. The amateur users are creating narrative arcs and once-a-week videos, enticing viewers to visit regularly. Some, like Mr. Williams, are also adding product-placement spots to their videos. Meanwhile, brand-name companies are embedding their videos on other sites, taking cues from users about online promotion. Mr. Walk calls it a subtle “cross-pollination” of ideas.
Some of the partners are major media companies; the ones with the most video views include Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, CBS and Warner Brothers. But individual users are now able to compete alongside them. Mr. Buckley, who did not even have high-speed Internet access two years ago, said his YouTube hobby had changed his financial life.
“I didn’t start it to make money,” he said, “but what a lovely surprise.”
Published: December 10, 2008
Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.
Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times
Michael Buckley quit his day job in September. He says his online show is “silly,” but it helped pay off credit-card debt.
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One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become “partners” and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site. For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chat show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job.
Mr. Buckley quit his day job in September after his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company. His thrice-a-week online show “is silly,” he said, but it has helped him escape his credit-card debt.
Mr. Buckley, 33, was the part-time host of a weekly show on a Connecticut public access channel in the summer of 2006 when his cousin started posting snippets of the show on YouTube. The comical rants about celebrities attracted online viewers, and before long Mr. Buckley was tailoring his segments, called “What the Buck?” for the Web. Mr. Buckley knew that the show was “only going to go so far on public access.”
“But on YouTube,” he said, “I’ve had 100 million views. It’s crazy.”
All he needed was a $2,000 Canon camera, a $6 piece of fabric for a backdrop and a pair of work lights from Home Depot. Mr. Buckley is an example of the Internet’s democratizing effect on publishing. Sites like YouTube allow anyone with a high-speed connection to find a fan following, simply by posting material and promoting it online.
Granted, building an audience online takes time. “I was spending 40 hours a week on YouTube for over a year before I made a dime,” Mr. Buckley said — but, at least in some cases, it is paying off.
Mr. Buckley is one of the original members of YouTube’s partner program, which now includes thousands of participants, from basement video makers to big media companies. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, places advertisements within and around the partner videos and splits the revenues with the creators. “We wanted to turn these hobbies into businesses,” said Hunter Walk, a director of product management for the site, who called popular users like Mr. Buckley “unintentional media companies.”
YouTube declined to comment on how much money partners earned on average, partly because advertiser demand varies for different kinds of videos. But a spokesman, Aaron Zamost, said “hundreds of YouTube partners are making thousands of dollars a month.” At least a few are making a full-time living: Mr. Buckley said he was earning over $100,000 from YouTube advertisements.
The program is a partial solution to a nagging problem for YouTube. The site records 10 times the video views as any other video-sharing Web site in the United States, yet it has proven to be hard for Google to profit from, because a vast majority of the videos are posted by anonymous users who may or may not own the copyrights to the content they upload. While YouTube has halted much of the illegal video sharing on the site, it remains wary of placing advertisements against content without explicit permission from the owners. As a result, only about 3 percent of the videos on the site are supported by advertising.
But the company has high hopes for the partner program. Executives liken it to Google AdSense, the technology that revolutionized advertising and made it possible for publishers to place text advertisements next to their content.
“Some of these people are making videos in their spare time,” said Chad Hurley, a co-founder of YouTube. “We felt that if we were able to provide them a true revenue source, they’d be able to hone their skills and create better content.”
In a time of media industry layoffs, the revenue source — and the prospect of a one-person media company — may be especially appealing to users. But video producers like Lisa Donovan, who posts sketch comedy onto YouTube and attracted attention in the fall for parodies of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, do not make it sound easy. “For new users, it’s a lot of work,” Ms. Donovan said. “Everybody’s fighting to be seen online; you have to strategize and market yourself.”
Mr. Buckley, who majored in psychology in college and lives with his husband and four dogs in Connecticut, films his show from home. Each episode of “What the Buck?” is viewed an average of 200,000 times, and the more popular ones have reached up to three million people. He said that writing and recording five minutes’ worth of jokes about Britney Spears’s comeback tour and Miley Cyrus’s dancing abilities is not as easy as it looks. “I’ve really worked hard on honing my presentation and writing skills,” he said.
As his traffic and revenues grew, Mr. Buckley had “so many opportunities online that I couldn’t work anymore.” He quit his job at Live Nation, the music promoter, to focus full-time on the Web show.
There is a symmetry to Mr. Buckley’s story. Some so-called Internet celebrities view YouTube as a stepping stone to television. But Mr. Buckley started on TV and found fame on YouTube. Three months ago, he signed a development deal with HBO, an opportunity that many media aspirants dream about. Still, “I feel YouTube is my home,” he said. “I think the biggest mistake that any of us Internet personalities can make is establish ourselves on the Internet and then abandon it.”
Cory Williams, 27, a YouTube producer in California, agrees. Mr. Williams, known as smpfilms on YouTube, has been dreaming up online videos since 2005, and he said his big break came in September 2007 with a music video parody called “The Mean Kitty Song.” The video, which introduces Mr. Williams’ evil feline companion, has been viewed more than 15 million times. On a recent day, the video included an advertisement from Coca-Cola.
Mr. Williams, who counts about 180,000 subscribers to his videos, said he was earning $17,000 to $20,000 a month via YouTube. Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos, a model that he has borrowed from traditional media.
On YouTube, it is evident that established media entities and the up-and-coming users are learning from each other. The amateur users are creating narrative arcs and once-a-week videos, enticing viewers to visit regularly. Some, like Mr. Williams, are also adding product-placement spots to their videos. Meanwhile, brand-name companies are embedding their videos on other sites, taking cues from users about online promotion. Mr. Walk calls it a subtle “cross-pollination” of ideas.
Some of the partners are major media companies; the ones with the most video views include Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, CBS and Warner Brothers. But individual users are now able to compete alongside them. Mr. Buckley, who did not even have high-speed Internet access two years ago, said his YouTube hobby had changed his financial life.
“I didn’t start it to make money,” he said, “but what a lovely surprise.”
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
FBI: Illinois Governor Sought To "Sell" Obama's Senate Seat
FBI: Illinois Governor Sought To "Sell" Obama's Senate Seat
Wanted President-Elect to "Put Something Together . . . Something Big"
By BRIAN ROSSDecember 9, 2008
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together…something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant US Senate seat, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed following the Governor's stunning arrest.
In this file photo, Ilinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during a news...
In this file photo, Ilinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during a news conference following their apperance before the Base Realignment and Closure commission during their hearings at Saint Louis University, St. Louis. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together…something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant US Senate seat, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed following the Governor's stunning arrest. (James A. Finley/AP Photo)
"I've got this thing and it's f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f***in' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there," Blagojevich said in a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI on November 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit.
Click here to read the full affidavit. The FBI says Blagojevich wanted an appointment to the Obama cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services, a well-paying job or huge campaign contributions as the price for naming Obama's successor.
Wanted President-Elect to "Put Something Together . . . Something Big"
By BRIAN ROSSDecember 9, 2008
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together…something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant US Senate seat, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed following the Governor's stunning arrest.
In this file photo, Ilinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during a news...
In this file photo, Ilinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during a news conference following their apperance before the Base Realignment and Closure commission during their hearings at Saint Louis University, St. Louis. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together…something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant US Senate seat, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed following the Governor's stunning arrest. (James A. Finley/AP Photo)
"I've got this thing and it's f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f***in' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there," Blagojevich said in a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI on November 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit.
Click here to read the full affidavit. The FBI says Blagojevich wanted an appointment to the Obama cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services, a well-paying job or huge campaign contributions as the price for naming Obama's successor.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
How YouTube Broadcasts Your Taste in Videos
How YouTube Broadcasts Your Taste in Videos
By Saul Hansell
The slogan of YouTube is “Broadcast Yourself.” I’ve got to wonder if many YouTube users are broadcasting information about their tastes in video far more widely than they understand.
Google’s video site lets you subscribe to a “channel”—a collection of videos from one person or company—so you can get reminders about new clips from sources that interest you. When you do this, your user name and photo is usually listed on the page of the channel you are subscribing to. And there is no way for you to keep your subscription private.
That means that if you have some reason to want to follow videos from channels like Youth Suicide/Domestic Violence Health, ProstateCancerMD , Bankruptcy Attorneys or Best Resumes of New York, anyone in the world could find out.
YouTube never explains this when you sign up for an account or use the subscription feature. There are some other aspects of using YouTube’s site that also publish its users’ viewing choices without properly explaining what is happening.
Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman said, “We’ve never had a complaint about this issue, but we’ll look into it.” Mr. Dale declined, however, to explain why the site is designed the way it is and whether this matter is an oversight or whether it believes that these viewing choices are facts that all its users would like to share.
Even if there haven’t been complaints, this matter shines the light on issues I think operators of all Internet companies need to consider as they rush to add various social features to their sites. (Indeed, today YouTube itself announced a new part of its site that mimic’s the Facebook newsfeed.)
If a site is going to take information about you and disseminate it to others, shouldn’t it be crystal clear what is happening? Moreover, for actions on a site that might be considered private, shouldn’t users have the choice about whether to make them public?
Video may even be a special case. After the video rental history of Robert Bork, a nominee for the Supreme Court, was published, Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 banning the disclosure of video viewing records.
YouTube’s origin was a site to promote sharing of personal video. It was designed with many of the features popularized by social networks and sharing sites like Flickr.
Amid YouTube’s rapid growth, the site’s design has not kept up with how people actually use it. YouTube is now both a way for friends to trade videos with each other, but it is also a broad communication medium—a way for virtually any person or company, even the president elect, to distribute video on nearly any topic. My guess is that there are far more people who use YouTube as a video search engine and a form of casual entertainment than use it to communicate with others.
As I use YouTube, and I don’t think I’m alone, I use the subscription and favorites features not to share my tastes but simply as bookmarks to keep track of things I may want to look at again.
This can be seen in how YouTube creates a channel—essentially a profile page—for all users when they establish an account or sign in using their Google account. This page, which is open to anyone on the Internet, by default, lists the other channels you subscribe to, the videos you mark as favorites, and the playlists you have made. Users can remove these sections from their channels, using a rather complex page buried in the site’s options.
There is no requirement that you use your real name in your YouTube user ID or post any identifiable information on this page. But users may well leave clues to their identities on their profiles without knowing how they may be used.
The YouTube privacy policy is misleading because it implies that information is disclosed only after users take an explicit action to add features to their channel:
If you choose to add certain features to your channel page, then these features and your activity associated with these features will be displayed to other users.
Sure there are lots of people who want to broadcast themselves. But there are others who, like Chance the Gardner in “Being There” simply say “I like to watch.”
By Saul Hansell
The slogan of YouTube is “Broadcast Yourself.” I’ve got to wonder if many YouTube users are broadcasting information about their tastes in video far more widely than they understand.
Google’s video site lets you subscribe to a “channel”—a collection of videos from one person or company—so you can get reminders about new clips from sources that interest you. When you do this, your user name and photo is usually listed on the page of the channel you are subscribing to. And there is no way for you to keep your subscription private.
That means that if you have some reason to want to follow videos from channels like Youth Suicide/Domestic Violence Health, ProstateCancerMD , Bankruptcy Attorneys or Best Resumes of New York, anyone in the world could find out.
YouTube never explains this when you sign up for an account or use the subscription feature. There are some other aspects of using YouTube’s site that also publish its users’ viewing choices without properly explaining what is happening.
Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman said, “We’ve never had a complaint about this issue, but we’ll look into it.” Mr. Dale declined, however, to explain why the site is designed the way it is and whether this matter is an oversight or whether it believes that these viewing choices are facts that all its users would like to share.
Even if there haven’t been complaints, this matter shines the light on issues I think operators of all Internet companies need to consider as they rush to add various social features to their sites. (Indeed, today YouTube itself announced a new part of its site that mimic’s the Facebook newsfeed.)
If a site is going to take information about you and disseminate it to others, shouldn’t it be crystal clear what is happening? Moreover, for actions on a site that might be considered private, shouldn’t users have the choice about whether to make them public?
Video may even be a special case. After the video rental history of Robert Bork, a nominee for the Supreme Court, was published, Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 banning the disclosure of video viewing records.
YouTube’s origin was a site to promote sharing of personal video. It was designed with many of the features popularized by social networks and sharing sites like Flickr.
Amid YouTube’s rapid growth, the site’s design has not kept up with how people actually use it. YouTube is now both a way for friends to trade videos with each other, but it is also a broad communication medium—a way for virtually any person or company, even the president elect, to distribute video on nearly any topic. My guess is that there are far more people who use YouTube as a video search engine and a form of casual entertainment than use it to communicate with others.
As I use YouTube, and I don’t think I’m alone, I use the subscription and favorites features not to share my tastes but simply as bookmarks to keep track of things I may want to look at again.
This can be seen in how YouTube creates a channel—essentially a profile page—for all users when they establish an account or sign in using their Google account. This page, which is open to anyone on the Internet, by default, lists the other channels you subscribe to, the videos you mark as favorites, and the playlists you have made. Users can remove these sections from their channels, using a rather complex page buried in the site’s options.
There is no requirement that you use your real name in your YouTube user ID or post any identifiable information on this page. But users may well leave clues to their identities on their profiles without knowing how they may be used.
The YouTube privacy policy is misleading because it implies that information is disclosed only after users take an explicit action to add features to their channel:
If you choose to add certain features to your channel page, then these features and your activity associated with these features will be displayed to other users.
Sure there are lots of people who want to broadcast themselves. But there are others who, like Chance the Gardner in “Being There” simply say “I like to watch.”
Monday, December 01, 2008
TV Sales Becoming Litmus Test for U.S. Economy
By MATT RICHTEL
Published: November 28, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO — In a volatile year that has turned many Americans into armchair economists, here’s an important indicator to watch this holiday shopping season: how many people are lugging home big, flat-screen televisions?
Shoppers comparing TVs on Friday at a Wal-Mart in Secaucus, N.J. Retailers use big discounts on televisions to lure consumers into stores.
The answer matters to more than just TV makers. Just as high-definition sets have become the hearth of the digital home, they are increasingly central to the fortunes of the consumer electronics industry and plenty of retailers.
And there’s reason for serious concern. While retailers are trying to use discounted TVs as a lure for shoppers, many would-be buyers continue to wait, and wait, for a magical price that is low enough to inspire a purchase. Others just have more pressing needs.
“The question is whether I buy a TV or something more important,” said David Lunsford, 62, who visited a Circuit City near here last week to shop for big-screen TVs. He would love to replace his aging rear-projection set, but he worried he needed to save money in case family members hit tough times.
“I’m a stable provider. They may turn to me,” said Mr. Lunsford, who works for the federal government.
Americans are expected to spend $28 billion this year on TVs, making them the largest segment of the $173 billion electronics industry. So far about half of American households have made the jump to flat-panel screens, which started out as status symbols but are on their way to becoming standard household appliances.
More people may choose to upgrade this year because of the national switchover to digital broadcast signals coming Feb. 17. The change, which will mostly affect people who watch over-the-air signals on older sets, has generated a good amount of consumer confusion — which could be good for sales of new sets.
TVs are also a gateway to a host of other products, like Blu-ray discs and their players, surround-sound audio systems, digital video recorders and cables.
All of these factors have led electronics stores like Circuit City and Best Buy and even less specialized chains like Sears, Wal-Mart and Office Depot, to put TVs front and center in their advertising recently, promoting them on the cover of Sunday circulars and on the home pages of Web sites. They are offering discounts — like 42-inch TVs for less than $700 and 32-inch sets for $450 — that come on top of recent steep price declines for the sets.
For the industry, the feeling is that if retailers cannot get TVs to move, the holiday season could be a bleak one indeed. In that sense, the TV market offers a glimpse of the broader tensions this year between wary consumers on the one hand and retailers and manufacturers desperate to spur sales on the other.
“The television becomes a litmus test of the robustness of the American economy,” said Richard Doherty, an electronics industry analyst with the research firm Envisioneering. In Mr. Doherty’s consumer surveys, the early word is mixed; many consumers want a new TV, but they think that if they wait to buy, retailers will drop prices further.
There were signs on Friday that more cuts might be necessary. At two malls outside Portland, Ore., the electronics stores were the only ones that were full of shoppers. But people seemed to be gravitating toward lower-priced items like video games instead of televisions.
Mr. Doherty’s firm tracked stores in New York and California
See -Harlem Blogospherehttp://harlemblogosphere.blogspot.com
Published: November 28, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO — In a volatile year that has turned many Americans into armchair economists, here’s an important indicator to watch this holiday shopping season: how many people are lugging home big, flat-screen televisions?
Shoppers comparing TVs on Friday at a Wal-Mart in Secaucus, N.J. Retailers use big discounts on televisions to lure consumers into stores.
The answer matters to more than just TV makers. Just as high-definition sets have become the hearth of the digital home, they are increasingly central to the fortunes of the consumer electronics industry and plenty of retailers.
And there’s reason for serious concern. While retailers are trying to use discounted TVs as a lure for shoppers, many would-be buyers continue to wait, and wait, for a magical price that is low enough to inspire a purchase. Others just have more pressing needs.
“The question is whether I buy a TV or something more important,” said David Lunsford, 62, who visited a Circuit City near here last week to shop for big-screen TVs. He would love to replace his aging rear-projection set, but he worried he needed to save money in case family members hit tough times.
“I’m a stable provider. They may turn to me,” said Mr. Lunsford, who works for the federal government.
Americans are expected to spend $28 billion this year on TVs, making them the largest segment of the $173 billion electronics industry. So far about half of American households have made the jump to flat-panel screens, which started out as status symbols but are on their way to becoming standard household appliances.
More people may choose to upgrade this year because of the national switchover to digital broadcast signals coming Feb. 17. The change, which will mostly affect people who watch over-the-air signals on older sets, has generated a good amount of consumer confusion — which could be good for sales of new sets.
TVs are also a gateway to a host of other products, like Blu-ray discs and their players, surround-sound audio systems, digital video recorders and cables.
All of these factors have led electronics stores like Circuit City and Best Buy and even less specialized chains like Sears, Wal-Mart and Office Depot, to put TVs front and center in their advertising recently, promoting them on the cover of Sunday circulars and on the home pages of Web sites. They are offering discounts — like 42-inch TVs for less than $700 and 32-inch sets for $450 — that come on top of recent steep price declines for the sets.
For the industry, the feeling is that if retailers cannot get TVs to move, the holiday season could be a bleak one indeed. In that sense, the TV market offers a glimpse of the broader tensions this year between wary consumers on the one hand and retailers and manufacturers desperate to spur sales on the other.
“The television becomes a litmus test of the robustness of the American economy,” said Richard Doherty, an electronics industry analyst with the research firm Envisioneering. In Mr. Doherty’s consumer surveys, the early word is mixed; many consumers want a new TV, but they think that if they wait to buy, retailers will drop prices further.
There were signs on Friday that more cuts might be necessary. At two malls outside Portland, Ore., the electronics stores were the only ones that were full of shoppers. But people seemed to be gravitating toward lower-priced items like video games instead of televisions.
Mr. Doherty’s firm tracked stores in New York and California
See -Harlem Blogospherehttp://harlemblogosphere.blogspot.com
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