Media Beat, Oct. 12, 2023

By David Farrell

The origins of the Hamas-Israel conflict explained

ABC in Australia explains how the current “conflict” between Israel and Hamas has been decades in the making.

What Is Hamas?

Dozens of countries have designated Hamas a terrorist organization, though some apply this label only to its military wing. Iran provides it with material and financial support, and Turkey reportedly harbors some of its top leaders. Its rival party, Fatah, which dominates the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and rules in the West Bank, has renounced violence. The split in Palestinian leadership and Hamas’s unwavering hostility toward Israel have diminished prospects for stability in Gaza. – Council on Foreign Relations

How Hamas was formed and which nations support the terror group?

How was the group founded and which nations support the terror group? Will the actions of Hamas instigate an all-out war between Israelis and Palestinians? Palki Sharma, First Post (ION)

Wealthiest People in Canada as of October 11, 2023

As of October 11, 2023, David Thomson was the wealthiest person in Canada, with an estimated net worth of 55.2 billion U.S. dollars, followed by David Cheriton (No. 2, $11.7 billion), Changpeng Zhao (No. 3, $10.2 billion); Anthony Von Mandl and (No. 4, $10.0 billion).

Jim Pattison is the fifth-richest person in Canada, with $9.5 billion, according to a new ranking published by US-based CEO World.

CRTC registration for podcasts and streaming companies draws criticism

The regulator has announced that online streaming and podcasting services operating in Canada with $10 million or more in annual revenue in this country, will have to register with it before Nov. 28.

Registration involves providing the legal name of a company, its address, its telephone number and email, and what type of services it offers. In its decision, released Friday, the CRTC called registration a "very light" burden. – Anis Heydari, CBC News

Confusing claims about the online streaming law abound. How does it really work?

Confusion over Canada's Online Streaming Act is running rampant on social media, clouding debate over what the legislation actually does.

Billionaire Elon Musk, podcaster Joe Rogan and other commentators have been sharing dubious interpretations of the law to their millions of combined followers.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has repeatedly called it a "censorship law" and promised to revoke it should he become prime minister.

The fact that many of the details are still to come through regulations and ongoing consultations is also prompting questions and fuelling debate.

Here are some key things to know about the controversial legislation… – The Canadian Press

Google contemplates wiping Canadian news from its search results

With Google suggesting the regulatory process is hopeless and that legislative changes might be the only path forward, the company and the federal government could be on a collision course toward dealing a serious blow to the country’s news industry. – Raisa Patel, Toronto Star

Former Rogers CEO Joe Natale alleges telecom violated ethics by altering board minutes

… The dispute between Mr. Natale and Rogers is a rare instance of a former CEO and a high-profile, blue-chip company openly going to war and airing their grievances in public.

Mr. Natale claims he was stiffed out of millions of dollars and that Rogers chairman Edward Rogers and his wife tarnished his reputation by using the online talent booking service Cameo to hire Brian Cox – the actor who portrays media mogul Logan Roy on HBO’s acclaimed television series Succession – to create a disparaging video about him. – Alexandra Posadzki, The Globe and Mail

Bell Media is digitizing the MuchMusic video archive

Bell Media’s content development vice president Justin Stockman says the broadcaster is in the midst of creating a digital archive of decades of MuchMusic programming. – David Friend, The Canadian Press

Federal Court of Appeal rules against Google in privacy law case

The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected an attempt by Google to overturn a decision that found the company's search engine is covered by Canada's privacy law, marking another victory for people seeking a digital "right to be forgotten." – The Canadian Press

Amazon Prime Video plans premium ad-free service next year

Amazon says it aims to show “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers” but did not venture an estimate. Prime members in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada will start seeing ads in early 2024, while France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia should expect to see them later next year. – Kayla Wassell, Cord Cutter News

X tests three paid subscription tiers amid ongoing financial woes

The rumour that X, formerly known as Twitter, is going to integrate more paid services continues to persist, with Bloomberg reporting that the company’s testing a trio of subscription tiers to help solve its financial woes. Details are scant, but it looks like these paid subscription options will impact the number of ads you see when using the platform. – Lawrence Bonk, Endgadget

Half of our waking hours are now devoted to entertainment

Think how much time you spend looking at a phone, tablet, computer, or TV. We stream music and videos, lose ourselves in YouTube and TikTok, scroll through social media feeds, and so on. How many of your waking hours are devoted to staring at those devices? According to data from Luminate, the number is around 50%–up 22% in the last year.

Yep. If you’re awake for 16 hours a day, there’s a good chance you spend eight of those hours consuming some kind of entertainment.

That’s a lot. But music critic Ted Gioia asks an obvious question: If we’re ingesting so much entertainment, why aren’t artists and creators making more? Actually, artists are collecting getting poorer. How? Why? – Alan Cross, A Journal of Musical Things

Roku players dominate cord-cutting viewership

… In our survey, we asked our readers to list all the devices they use to stream their content. (Adding the numbers up won’t add up to 100%, as many people use multiple types of devices.) According to our readers, 66% use a Roku, 38% of our readers use a smart TV, and 37% use a Fire TV. – Luke Bouma, Cord Cutter News