TV News LIES

Today more than 600 million people have Facebook accounts. The average user spends seven hours a month posting photos, chatting with friends, swapping news links and sending birthday greetings to classmates.

Now the Palo Alto company is looking to cash in on this mother lode of personal information by helping advertisers pinpoint exactly whom they want to reach. This is no idle boast. Facebook doesn't have to guess who its users are or what they like. Facebook knows, because members volunteer this information freely — and frequently — in their profiles, status updates, wall posts, messages and "likes."

The Center for Public Integrity is reporting that an unnamed former ABC News journalist was an FBI informant during and after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, passing along tips and revealing a source. We know who it is.

According to an FBI memo obtained by the Center, a nameless ABC News journalist contacted the FBI on the evening of the bombing to pass along information he had heard from a source: That the "bombing was sponsored by the Iraqi Special Services" and that two more attacks in Los Angeles and Houston were imminent.

Hundreds of thousands of websites appear to have been compromised by a massive cyber attack. The hi-tech criminals used a well-known attack vector that exploits security loopholes on other sites to insert a link to their website.

Those visiting the criminals' webpage were told that their machines were infected with many different viruses. Swift action by security researchers has managed to get the sites offering the sham software shut down.

In an effort to deflect and counteract leftist regimes in Latin America during the Cold War, Washington attached great political importance to its propaganda efforts.

From Cuba to Chile, the US sought to promote friendly media while cultivating the support of right-wing reporters. Ultimately, such propaganda efforts proved not only economically wasteful but also politically self-defeating as Washington antagonised the Latin left, leaving a bitter residue for years to come.

Long known as a "boy's club", the worldwide media industry continues to struggle with gender equality, with new research showing women are still under-represented in the majority of newsrooms across the globe.

The study, conducted over a two-year period for the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), covered 170,000 people in the news media and involved interviews with 500 companies in 59 countries.

What a difference the chain of Middle East uprisings — and a change of presidents in the White House — has made for Al Jazeera.

The Qatar-based pan-Arab television network was pilloried not long ago by many in Washington as the official house organ for Osama bin Laden and other terrorists because it aired their anti-American statements. Lately, however, it's become the go-to network for the White House, Congress, Embassy Row, and Washington intelligentsia seeking reliable coverage of what's happening in Middle East hot spots.