Media Navel Gaze: December 15, 2014
The Week Unpeeled
Hack Attack: If you don't want it read (because it will likely be hacked and made public), don't email it. So learned Hollywood bigs this week, as Sony head Amy Pascal and others were victims of the work of Guardians of Peace, an anonymous group that targeted Sony Corp email accounts, which led to pretty juicy headlines (read The New York Post for some of the best coverage especially on pretty racial comments about President Obama's assumed movie tastes and everything nasty about Angelina Jolie).
Elsewhere:
- Crude-oil prices continue to sink, sending stocks sharply lower, a positive for consumers at the pump but a drag on oil-producing companies and an increase in talk of deflation on the overall economy;
- That led to the markets biggest weekly loss in three years, with the Dow plunging 3.8% for the week and some 315 points alone on Friday to end at 17,280;
- Bloomberg, the terminals chief, seems to be cleaning house, making some terminal decisions for at least one long timer, with News Editor-in-Chief Matt Winkler stepping down, replaced by John Micklethwait from The Economist; Winkler will assume the new role of emeritus editor-in-chief;
- San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year;
- Ebola fighters were named Time people of the year;
- Congress passed a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown; and
- In a win for Bitcoins, Microsoft will allow the currency to be used to pay for certain products.
