Five Arrested In Alleged Rape, Torture in Libya

Five men were arrested in connection to the vicious rape and torture of a Libyan woman whose shocking claim of abuse made international headlines.

Among those arrested was the son of a high-ranking Libyan police officer, said a Libyan government spokesman, according to a story at nydailynews.com.

Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim told Britain's Sky News the men had been detained as part of the investigation into allegations made by Eman al-Obeidi.

He said her claims were being taken very seriously by Moammar Khadafy's regime.

She made the chilling claim Saturday after bursting into a hotel full of foreign reporters in Tripoli and fighting with security to tell her story.

Al-Obeidi said she had been raped and beaten by 15 men who she said urinated and defecated on her over the course of two horrifying days of abuse.

Read more here.

DJ Megatron Shot And Killed in Staten Island

BET host pronounced dead early Sunday

nydailynews photo

A Staten Island DJ considered to be a rising star in the hip hop world was shot to death early Sunday in a possible rubout, police said.

DJ Megatron was down the street from his Staten Island home when his killer approached about 2 a.m. and fired a single shot with deadly accuracy, police said.

The round slammed into the torso of the 32-year-old regular on BET's "106 & Park," whose given name was Corey McGriff. He died on the street.

As NYPD detectives combed the scene of the whodunit, DJ Megatron's family reeled from their sudden loss.

"It is just earth-shattering," his mother, Louvenia McGriff, 60, told the NYDaily News by telephone from her Georgia home.

"Words can't describe the way my husband and I feel right now. I just don't know how we're going to make it without him. He was our golden child."

A person who was in the area and heard the gunshot called 911, police said. By the time paramedics arrived at the scene in Clifton, DJ Megatron was dead.

He was lying on the pavement, his eyes facing the sky, his head close to the curb. A baseball cap was at his side.

NYPD forensics experts analyzed the crime scene for more than four hours as detectives canvassed the area, desperate to find a lead in the puzzling case. No witnesses have come forward.

Family and friends of the slain DJ said he had a friendly personality and was not one to make enemies with people on the street. They could not believe someone would take his life.

According to the AP, DJ Megatron began his career at New York’s WKRS-FM, better known as Kiss FM, where deejays remembered him on the air and online Sunday.

He also worked at what was then Boston’s Hot 97.7, or WBOT-FM, and at Philadelphia’s The Beat, or WPHI-FM, according to a bio on his MySpace site.

In recent years, he’s appeared on BET’s popular “106 & Park,” where his “What’s Good” spots took him onto the streets to ask bystanders about topics ranging from sports to “The Five Elements of Hip-Hop.” Viacom Inc.-owned BET had no immediate comment.
Read more here.

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Biden Aide Apologizes To Reporter Kept In Closet

The vice president's press secretary has apologized to a local political reporter after he was kept in a storage closet during a Florida fundraiser, according to foxnews.com.

Scott Powers, a reporter with the Orlando Sentinel, was relegated to the storage space during a fundraiser Wednesday for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., apparently to prevent him from speaking to people before Vice President Biden showed up. The Orlando Sentinel published a brief account of the incident earlier in the week.

Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander, responding to coverage of that account, said in a written statement Sunday that the decision to hold Powers there was a "mistake" and that the reporter has accepted her "unequivocal apology." The apology was made shortly after the fundraiser.

"This was the unfortunate mistake of an inexperienced staffer and the vice president's office has made sure it will never happen again," she said.

She explained that "hold rooms" are typically provided for pool reporters covering the vice president when he speaks at private homes. In this case, Biden was speaking at the home of a wealthy developer and the reporter was told to wait in a storage closet -- which Alexander said contained open space, as well as a table and chair where the reporter could work. She said the space was chosen because of its "close proximity" to the room where Biden was speaking.

Read more here.

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SCOTT POWER, ORLANDO SENTINEL:
How my wait in a closet almost brought down the White House

The Good Girl, Miranda Cosgrove

By Peggy Orentstein, NYTimes Magazine Cover Story

Read more here.

If you don’t recognize Cosgrove’s name, you must not be between ages 2 and 14, the parent of such a child or, possibly, British (nearly 8 percent of England’s population tunes into “iCarly”). You’re also not of much interest to Nickelodeon, which aims for the eyeballs, as well as the prodigious pocket change, of today’s media-hungry tweens.

“iCarly” is the network’s most popular show among that desirable demographic — two years ago it surpassed the seemingly untouchable “Hannah Montana” in the ratings. Cosgrove, who reportedly earns $180,000 an episode, is the second-highest-paid child actor on TV (bested only by Angus T. Jones, the “half” on CBS’s blighted “Two and a Half Men”).

Her first album, “Sparks Fly,” was released last spring by Columbia Records and made its debut at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. She is also an official “ambassador” for Neutrogena; voiced the character of Margot in the animated film “Despicable Me”; topped a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade; and serenaded the president’s daughters in a White House Christmas special.

That makes Cosgrove the latest in a series of “It” girls — among them Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Hilary Duff — who have emerged over the past decade: not just actresses, not just singers, these young women are industries. In addition to TV shows, they have movies, recording careers, clothing and cosmetic lines, and their images appear on everything from coloring books to nail clippers. Their popularity, in part, rises from the new perch they occupy in tween girls’ hearts. Rather than wanting to be with their idols (as they would, say, Justin Bieber), young fans want to be them.

That’s a different relationship entirely.

Best (Cheapest) Way To Get NYTimes Digital Access

The much debated pricing plan goes into effect at 2p today. Readers who do not subscribe to digital or print editions will hit paywall after reading 20 stories in a month

Last week when The New York Times announced its paywall pricing, I speculated readers would get a better ROI by subscribing to the Sunday print edition which would include digital access. (Of course, you must live a live in an area where home delivery is available. A web-only digital plan is not available and newsstand sales will not get you digital access.

At the time I wondered if the NYTimes would acutally give digital access for a Sunday-only subscription.  Well, the answer is: Yes they would.  Why?  Obviously the plan would be to boost Sunday print circulation, because it's a money maker.

Take a look at this from Frédéric Filloux, Edited at Monday Note:

Let’s stop a moment and behold the printed New York Times’ true gem: its Sunday edition. It changes everything in our look at the paper’s digital equation:

Sunday circulation is 54% higher than on weekdays (1.35m vs. 877,000).

It’s an expensive package: $5.00 in New York, $6.00 elsewhere in the country.

Sunday copy sales bring five times more money than any weekday.

Advertising-wise, some analysts say the Sunday NYT accounts for about 50% of the paper’s entire advertising revenue.

Altogether, between circulation revenue and ads, it is safe to say that NYTimes’ weekend edition makes the same amount of money as the rest of the week combined. (For a good analysis of the subject, read The newsonomics of Sunday paper/tablet subscriptions by Ken Doctor, on the Nieman Journalism Lab blog).

Just as important, reader engagement is much stronger on Sundays: with an average reading time of 53 minutes for the Sunday edition vs. 36 minutes on weekdays. In parallel, demographics are spectacular: the Sunday reader’s median household income is $112,154. A strong number for the sales team’s pitch to advertisers.

Read more here.

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PAID CONTENT: The NYT Pay Plan’s Most Dangerous Foe Is Perception

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CBS News Mulls Possibility of Couric Successor

CBS News executives are considering who could replace Katie Couric, according to people familiar with their thinking, as the anchor deliberates whether to leave her chair at "CBS Evening News."

According to Sam Schechner at wsj.com, Couric's five-year contract with the CBS Corp. news unit expires around the beginning of June, and she is now weighing a jump into daytime TV. Ms. Couric's decision on her future could come within weeks, according to a person familiar with her thinking.

Top CBS News executives are looking at all options, including internal and external candidates who could take on the nightly anchor role if Ms. Couric leaves, one of the people familiar with their thinking said.

Among internal candidates, Harry Smith has been the primary substitute anchor for Ms. Couric since leaving CBS's "The Early Show." Scott Pelley, a "60 Minutes" correspondent, has also served as an "Evening News" sub.

Read more here.

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NEW YORK POST: Couric offered '60 Min'

THE BEAST, HOWARD KURTZ:  Katie Couric Plots CBS Exit

Howard Stern Asserts Sirius Screwed Him

From Joan Lappin, Deduced Reckoning blog at forbes.com

After reading Stern’s suit as filed in the New York Supreme Court this week, it appears that Howard tried to be a good guy and not press Sirius for his payments while it was hurtling toward bankruptcy two years ago. All companies with huge debt loads were trashed at that time and Sirius was at the top of that list of over leveraged companies.

Poor decisions by Mel Karmazin CEO based on very bad advice from CFO David Frear left the company with insufficient cash and cash flow to pay the interest on its debt. On February 11, 2009, just a month before the markets bottomed on March 9, 2009, Sirius collapsed to a low of $ .0520. That’s right, a nickel. Bankruptcy was imminent when John Malone and Liberty Media (LINTA) swept in with enough cash to buy 40% of Sirius. That also provided the company with an ability to make its interest payments and recast its debt maturities over the year that followed. Malone loves tax loss carry-forwards and Sirius has them in spades. However, they will evaporate if Liberty moves to acquire the rest of Sirius prior to May 2012 so we have another year to wait to find out how that will play out.

In his suit, Howard states that during the time that Sirius was hurtling toward bankruptcy, he didn’t want to pile on and make things look even worse by asserting his claims to money he felt he was owed. So he kept silent. Even though he had recently signed a new agreement with Sirius now merged with its competitor XM, the implication in the suit is that negotiations were going on about this “back bonus pay.” In response to the suit, SIRI has said it feels it owes him nothing more. With regard to the finer details, we, of course, have no idea of knowing what’s in the Private Parts of the contract.

Some portion of the disagreement seems to hinge on how or whether the XM subscribers are to be counted with regard to the bonus hurdles that were in his original agreement. His attorneys assert that they were included in distributing Howard’s content to XM subscribers and therefore those subscribers should count for the bonus. There is no question that when Howard came subscribers were about a quarter of a million. Combined subs now are expected to exceed 21 million this year

Read more here..

Oakland A's, KTRB Radio Deal On Shaky Ground

With the season opener drawing near, there's uncertainty over whether flagship radio station KTRB 860-AM will be broadcasting the A's games during the regular season.

Joe Stiglich at the Oakland Tribune cites a source with knowledge of the situation told Bay Area News Group on Friday that negotiations for the A's to buy KTRB -- which is in receivership with Comerica Bank -- have hit a major snag. In the fallout, the source said, the agreement between the A's and the receiver to broadcast games during the regular season also is in jeopardy.

Ken Pries, the A's vice president for broadcasting and communications, did not return phone calls seeking comment, nor did A's spokesman Bob Rose.

The A's sent out a release Friday night saying that "due to technical issues beyond their control," the games Saturday and Sunday against the Colorado Rockies would not be broadcast on KTRB as originally planned. The games instead will air on mlb.com.

The same release also said broadcasts will resume Monday when the A's open the three-game Bay Bridge Series against the Giants at AT&T Park. But that doesn't necessarily guarantee broadcasts will continue once the A's begin their regular season Friday at home against the Seattle Mariners.

KTRB, a 50,000-watt station, went into receivership in September. The A's have been negotiating to purchase the station ever since and are thought to be the primary bidder.

Read more here.

Opinion: Why Radio Will Live On

Beth Knobel, Huffpost Media

I'm happy to report that radio's future -- or at least the future of audio reporting -- is still bright in many ways. And new technologies like the ones I describe above, and social media, are all helping to keep audio reporting alive.

Many radio stations are hurting these days, as young people lose the radio habit. Radio's "not cool," as one speaker put it. Indeed, very few of my students at Fordham University own one, even a clock radio.

But the stodgy image of radio is changing, as radio stations use social media and other communication technologies to engage their audiences.

Radio stations are already moving aggressively into social media. Part of that effort includes obvious things like Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. But that's all going to expand even more, as stations benefit from new, innovative ways to send and receive information.

Social media is clearly succeeding in bringing in some young listeners. People under 30 may not tune in to radio regularly, but if someone sends them a link to some great piece of audio, they may just open it. And if they listen and like what they hear, they might then tune in to a radio show, or subscribe to a podcast. Experience shows that good content will hold listeners if they just give it a try.

And it's not just social media that's engaging radio audiences. WNYC, New York's main NPR station, has been successfully using texting, too. Example: after last December's devastating snowstorm, the mayor said in a press conference that the city was doing a good job of clearing the streets. WNYC quickly asked listeners to text in to say whether or not their street had been cleaned. The station used the info to make a map, and then went back to listeners over the next few days to update it. Then the station asked those same people, once the streets were clean, if their garbage had been collected. That's real community engagement.

Technology is also remaking the broadcasting side of radio. Anyone can now make and broadcast radio programming on a home computer, and receive it on nearly any mobile device.

That means that terrestrial radio will undoubtedly go away someday. But I seriously doubt that that's going to be the end of radio. Radio stations will continue to exist, but they will distribute their programming digitally, and use the money they now spend on over-the-air broadcasting on content creation instead

Read more here.

Beth Knobel Co-authored, Heat and Light: Advice for the Next Generation of Journalists; Fordham professor; Former Moscow bureau chief; CBS News.

Your Every Move Is Being Tracked

You May Not Even Know
From Noam Cohen, New York Times

A favorite pastime of Internet users is to share their location: services like Google Latitude can inform friends when you are nearby; another, Foursquare, has turned reporting these updates into a game.

But as a German Green party politician, Malte Spitz, recently learned, we are already continually being tracked whether we volunteer to be or not. Cellphone companies do not typically divulge how much information they collect, so Mr. Spitz went to court to find out exactly what his cellphone company, Deutsche Telekom, knew about his whereabouts.

The results were astounding. In a six-month period — from Aug 31, 2009, to Feb. 28, 2010, Deutsche Telekom had recorded and saved his longitude and latitude coordinates more than 35,000 times. It traced him from a train on the way to Erlangen at the start through to that last night, when he was home in Berlin.

Mr. Spitz has provided a rare glimpse — an unprecedented one, privacy experts say — of what is being collected as we walk around with our phones. Unlike many online services and Web sites that must send “cookies” to a user’s computer to try to link its traffic to a specific person, cellphone companies simply have to sit back and hit “record.”

“We are all walking around with little tags, and our tag has a phone number associated with it, who we called and what we do with the phone,” said Sarah E. Williams, an expert on graphic information at Columbia University’s architecture school. “We don’t even know we are giving up that data.”

Tracking a customer’s whereabouts is part and parcel of what phone companies do for a living. Every seven seconds or so, the phone company of someone with a working cellphone is determining the nearest tower, so as to most efficiently route calls. And for billing reasons, they track where the call is coming from and how long it has lasted.

Read more here.

The Sunday Funny