Scorned SBS subtitlers say goodbye. Last Friday Crikey reported that 10 members of SBS TV’s subtitling unit were to be made redundant. According to a source within the unit, four subtitlers have already been told of their imminent redundancies. Crikey has been informed that two of these four have not returned to work today.

SBS’s corporate communications manager Jane McMillan told Crikey today that the network’s managing director will announce further redundancy details tomorrow: “Shaun Brown has informed subtitling staff that he will update them by tomorrow about the language groups to be affected by potential redundancies.”

Despite the suggestion that SBS is showing less foreign content than ever before, McMillan maintains that the amount is on the rise. “SBS has expanded its range of LOTE content, and by July SBS will be showing the largest amount of in-language content in its history across SBS ONE and SBS TWO. This does not just include WorldWatch in-language news.” — Crikey intern Matt de Neef

E-books on the rise

“The digital revolution sweeping the media world is rewriting the rules of the book industry, upending the established players which have dominated for decades. Electronic books are still in their infancy, comprising an estimated 3% to 5% of the market today. But they are fast accelerating the decline of physical books, forcing retailers, publishers, authors and agents to reinvent their business models or be painfully crippled.” — Wall Street Journal

Google UK keeps Wi-Fi data

“Google is already facing criminal investigations in Germany over its capture of the data from open Wi-Fi networks and faces further investigations from a number of European countries for possible breaches of data protection laws and, possibly, computer hacking.” — Guardian

#askABC goes viral

“And it started, as it always does, with one seemingly innocuous tweet. Wanting to launch a new Twitter account to gather leads and information for the Online Investigative Unit, Kemble issued a straightforward request. “The ABC News Online Investigative Unit is now on Twitter,” he tweeted. “Got something you want investigated? Tweet @abc_investigate.” — The Australian

Old Media, new media

“News today is increasingly a shared, social experience. Half of Americans say they rely on the people around them to find out at least some of the news they need to know. Some 44% of online news users get news at least a few times a week through emails, automatic updates or posts from social networking sites. In 2009, Twitter’s monthly audience increased by 200%.” — Pew Research Centre

Facebook and MySpace in advertising data leak

“Facebook, MySpace and several other social-networking sites have been sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find consumers’ names and other personal details, despite promises they don’t share such information without consent.” — Wall Street Journal

Landing a job in digital journalism

“If you were still looking for a summary, the absolute master list of what to do to land a job, and if you wanted that job to be in online journalism, you could do much worse than looking at Steve Buttry’s recent blog post.” — Media Jobs Daily

Telstra chases internet TV sport

“Telstra has lobbied the Rudd government to reduce the number of “protected” sports covered by anti-siphoning legislation and reconsider plans to extend the rules governing sports broadcasting to the internet.” — The Australian

Gay magazine launched in Morocco

“With gay rights under attack across Africa, it might not seem the best time to launch a magazine for homosexual people there. But the owners of Mithly believe the launch of the magazine in Morocco is a sign of progress in a country where most gay men and lesbians tend to keep their sexuality secret.” — The Guardian

Facebook to face privacy concerns

“Facebook has caved in to pressure from critics and said it would simplify controls over the degree of privacy given to users of the popular social networking service. Facebook has been under fire from privacy and consumer groups over new features that critics claim compromise the privacy of its more than 400 million members.” — The Australian