Media Navel Gaze: November 23, 2015
Coverage of the "flight" paths and playbooks of the Paris terrorists dominated the front pages all week following a raid on the "terror den" outside Paris, which killed the supposed mastermind, while another hostage situation place -- this time in the capital of Mali -- left 27 dead and many wounded amid reports that jihadists tied to al-Qaeda were responsible for the attack in Africa; in Europe and the US a backlash against Syrian refugees appears to be growing, while the entire conflict is making friends of unnatural enemies, namely Russia and Iran. Elsewhere:
- Convicted US spy Jonathan Pollard was released from prison after a 30-year sentence;
- Stocks posted a very positive performance with the Dow advancing some 3.4 percent for the week to end Friday at 17,823;
- Square went public, priced low and then surged 45 percent in its first day of trading amid mixed signals about tech IPOs for the payments startup;
- Gawker will change focus to political news with early focus no doubt on the US elections;
- Conde Nast is shutting down Details, suggesting clearly that most men need little fashion advice; and
- Adele's "25" dropped and did a lot of tears.
LatAm Gaze
- Argentina on Sunday elects a new President, with Daniel Scioli (backed by the current regime) and Mauricio Macri (backed by the opposition) competing to succeed the incumbent, Cristina Kirchner; and
- Brazil reported 169,000 job closings during October, the worst print since 1992.
