On Sunday, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced by a North Korean court to 12 years of “reform through labour” for an unspecified “grave crime” and for allegedly entering the country illegally, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The two journalists for Current TV were arrested in March, The Guardian reports, while filming a [...]

Campaigning for sweeping reform of copyright, privacy and patent laws, Sweden’s Pirate Party this weekend won enough votes in the country’s national elections to secure a seat (possibly two) in the European Parliament. Sweden is accorded 17 representatives in the EU governing legislature, and the Pirate Party’s 7.1 percent showing is enough for at least [...]

President Barack Obama is turning the White House into a leading example of how organizations can use Internet media and social networking.
In a post at the official White House Blog, The White House called its approach to the Internet WhiteHouse 2.0, noting its extensive new media and social media presence.
According to The White House, “WhiteHouse.gov [...]

The President has introduced a new tool on WhiteHouse.gov, Open for Questions, which lets you submit  questions on the economy and vote on those submitted by others:

“Open for Questions” is a new experiment for WhiteHouse.gov, the President’s latest effort to open up the White House and give Americans from around the country a direct line [...]

Republican blogger and strategist Patrick Ruffini is looking for “a few good bloggers” to help cover local political races and grassroots initiatives from a conservative perspective.
“Project Battleground” is Ruffini’s initiative to gather activist bloggers and conservative websites at the state and local level in “every battleground state and every competitive Congressional district” throughout the United [...]

The biggest new story of the day may be Barack Obama’s Presidential inauguration, but, at least for people interested in new media, the most interesting story of the day may be the introduction of an official White House blog. 
Three years ago, we predicted that the next President would be a podcaster, saying:
The next president of [...]

YouTube announced today a new project, in collaboration with the US Congress, to bring government videos to the video sharing site:
Two new channels were announced:

The Senate Hub
The House Hub

“These YouTube channels have the potential to make Congress more transparent and accessible than ever before,” sccording to YouTube’s Steve Grove, “but only if you continue to [...]

For the past week, our local newspapers and television have been preoccupied with three main themes: feel-good features about Christmas, horror stories about murderous ex-husbands dressed like Santa Claus, and expanded coverage of multiple waves of bad weather (snow, fog, ice, snow, and ice-jammed flash flooding).
Pushed to the margins of the news (here, at least) [...]

Jib Jab’s year-end wrap up for 2008.

We’ve mentioned President-elect Barack Obama’s use of YouTube previously - but it’s worth noting again that he’s using YouTube in a revolutionary way. 
In his latest video, he outlines his plan for the immediate future of the United States, focusing on 5 key points:

ENERGY: “[W]e will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. [...]