The finale of <i>Friends</i> may have drawn bigger spend than the Superbowl, but sitcoms are in a slump in the United States. Harry Herber returns from an extended trip with stories of the bizarre.
The second series in the political soapie that closed with Judge Hefer’s report is currently on air. Professor Tawana Kupe unpacks the media’s role in the intrigue.
A new generation of web ad is fuelling the dot.com recovery, writes Matthew Buckland. The keyword search advertising model, with Google as one of the main players, now accounts for 35% of online spend in the US.
When can a person’s image be used publicly without their consent? Greg Hamburger explains the local law on a subject that is currently affecting US presidential candidate John Kerry.
Is the working environment for journalists in Algeria the most repressive on the continent? Paula Slier spent two months in the country earlier this year and reports back on conditions.
Reality TV is the fantasy theatre of pop culture, writes Graeme Addison. People watch it to confirm their moral outlook on life and prepare for disasters, natural or man-made. It may not be real, but it’s sure riveting.
Ladies, start peeling your onions for the modern man. This poor confused creature is no longer afraid of tears, especially if they are neither his own nor shed in public. And if you want to know why you should cry for him, just look around at what is happening as we speak. First, women are flaunting, enhancing or lifting their cleavage all the time, clearly because they want men to notice them …
Picture an institution that invests about $55-billion a year in the world’s economy with the mandate of alleviating poverty. This is supposed to be the World Bank, which turns 60 next month. I won’t be sending a birthday card. World Bank money has left a legacy of environmental and social devastation, from cyanide spills in Peru to land expropriation and water pollution at oil pipelines.
Need a taxi in Togo? Climb aboard a Zemidjan, or "take me quickly", motorbike and get to your destination faster than you would do in a car. These small motorbikes, which take a single passenger on the pillion, are all the rage in this corner of West Africa. They also provide a regular source of income to thousands of people who would otherwise be jobless.
While most of the efforts in the fight against HIV/Aids seem to focus on education, prevention and provision of anti-retrovirals, the treatment of patients at the end of their lives is often forgotten. Palliative care is a branch of medicine that looks after people who cannot be cured, by focusing on symptom and pain relief. Yet health-care professionals rarely receive training in this capacity.