When you’re dead to Twitter, you’re dead to everyone else.

For a couple hours yesterday afternoon, “Rocio Sanchez Azuara” dominated the global trending topics list on Twitter, and while everyone else in the world had no clue why, it caused one of the biggest stirs among Mexican social media users.

No one is sure how it started, but in a matter of minutes there was one topic almost all Mexican “tuiteros” were tweeting about: the death of TV personality Rocio Sanchez Azuara.

What started as a rumour, was almost immediately confirmed, leading well-know radio host Maxine Woodside to announce live on the air that Sanchez Azuara’s death was in fact true. Tweets from journalists such as TV Azteca’s morning news anchor Monica Garza, also confirmed the news. “Rocio Sanchez Azuara has died from a heart attack. All the details in ‘Ventaneando’ at 4″ tweeted Jimena Perez, co-host of Mexico’s most-watched entertainment news show.

The story was then published on the websites of prestigious newspapers and television networks.

However, almost as fast as the news was “confirmed,” it was denied. “We just spoke with Rocio. She’s alive and well and says that she doesn’t know where the rumour came from,” tweeted Ana Maria Alvarado, who collaborates in Maxine Woodside’s radio show where the story was first confirmed. This led to a series of retractions from all journalists who had previously tweeted about Sanchez Azuara’s death.

By 4 p.m. the leading story in Mexico’s entertainment news shows was not Sanchez Azuara’s death, but the confirmation that she was in fact alive. She was then interviewed by some of the same reporters who had previously killed her, and said that she had been receiving frantic phone calls from friends and families all afternoon. What then followed was a blame game in which Televisa’s ‘NX’ blamed a TV Azteca executive for starting the rumour, while TV Azteca’s ‘Ventaneando’ affirmed that the news first came through a Televisa-owned newswire service. The fact is that, whoever started the rumour, did it with the intention of reviving Sanchez Azuara’s career, since she is now living in Miami and hasn’t been on the screens for over two years.

In the end, it doesn’t matter who was the mastermind behind Sanchez Azuara’s fake death. The true issue here is how easy it was to get journalists to jump in the band-wagon and confirm a story that wasn’t true. That is one of the dangers in this world of instant news and social media in which some journalists feel so pressured that they’d rather get a story wrong than not get it at all.

World of sports more welcoming towards gay women than gay men, survey says.

According to a survey published today by Fondation Emergence, Canadians believe that the sports world would not be as welcoming to homosexual men as it is to homosexual women.
The survey, performed by Leger Marketing, reveals that 61 per cent of Canadians believe that gay men are not easily accepted in the world of sports, compared to 45 per cent who believe the same concerning homosexual women. The survey also reveals that 75 per cent of Canadians think that homosexual women have the same chance of success in a sports career as heterosexual women while the percentage drops to 60 per cent when it comes to homosexual men. Furthermore, Canadians would be more inclined to accept that a popular athlete is a homosexual woman than a homosexual man. Sixty-seven percent of them believe people are ready to accept a female gay athlete compared to 53 per cent who believe the public would be ready to accept a male gay athlete.
According to Fondation Emergence’s president, Laurent McCutcheon, these results show the sexist stereotypes that predominate in the sports world.
“Women whose physical strength surpasses what’s average will be highly esteemed and their chances of success will increase. Yet on the other hand, a gay man’s image is still too often equated with poorer physical ability even if it’s just plain untrue,” he said.
In addition, 73 per cent of Canadians think that homosexuality is a taboo subject in sports, with 68 per cent of the respondents stating that homosexuality is also kept silent in the sports media.
“The survey confirms that the sports world is still one of the last, if not the last stronghold of homophobia. We’re dealing with built-in discrimination in which the system takes over the individual. Getting ahead in this community means accepting to keep homosexuality’s existence in society silent,” said McCutcheon. “The sports world is a small society in itself with its own rules and its own media system. No other sector of society is organized that way, which is what enables it, though involuntarily, to impose its own social evolution at a rhythm different from general society’s,” he added.
The survey also included a question about hockey, asked only to residents of Quebec. According to this survey, 42 per cent of Quebecers believe an openly gay professional hockey player would be considerably well accepted by his teammates and coach, an increase of 13 per cent compared to a survey performed in 2003.
The survey was presented at Montreal’s Complexe Desjardins where an exhibition on sports and homophobia is taking place. International Day Against Homophobia is Monday, May 17.

Loto-Quebec to offer online gaming

The Government of Quebec announced today that it has decided to allow Loto-Quebec to offer online gambling services.
Minister of Finance Raymond Bachard said the provincial government took this decision last week in order to fight an already existing underground online gambling economy.
“Loto-Quebec is being given the responsibility of working to redirect this already existing but illegal gaming activity to a site that is secure, legal and trustworthy,” Bachard said.
Illegal online gaming, has increasingly become a problem for Loto-Quebec, which has seen a decrease in its profits.
“By channeling online gaming, Loto-Quebec will be able to keep a significant part of money here in Quebec by returning the entirety of its profits to the QUebec government and community, just as it does for its other operations,” said Loto-Quebec’s CEO Alain Cousineau.
Loto-Quebec announced it is already working on its online gaming website which is scheduled to be up and running this Fall.

Corus kills 940Hits and Info 690

Corus Entertainment announced today it will end service on its two Montreal AM stations tonight at 7 pm. Ten jobs will be cut. Corus says it took this decision because the two stations are not commercially viable. The full press release follows:
Message heard on 940Hits today before it ceased broadcasting
Message hear on Info 690 today before it ceased broadcasting

AM Info690 Montréal and AM940 Montreal’s Greatest Hits to cease operation on January 29, 2010

MONTREAL, Jan. 29 /CNW Telbec/ – Corus Entertainment announced today that AM Info690 Montréal and AM940 Montreal’s Greatest Hits will cease operation on January 29 at 7 p.m.

Despite the excellence and dedication of station employees, Info690 and AM940 are unprofitable. Corus Québec and its employees worked to grow audience and revenues on both these stations while operating them as efficiently as possible. It is clear that these two AM stations are not viable, particularly in the current economic climate.

This decision affects 10 positions, including eight positions at Info690: three journalist positions, two traffic reporter positions and three operations positions. At AM940 Montreal’s Greatest Hits, two positions were affected: one on-air host position and one technician position.

The Info690 Montréal newsroom, known as CorusNouvelles, will continue its activities as part of 98,5 FM Montréal. CorusNouvelles will continue to invest in providing news content to the entire Corus Québec network and its clients. The majority of journalist positions from the Info690 newsroom (five of eight journalist positions along with three of five traffic reporter positions) will be retained.

“We put tremendous effort into trying to find the right format and content to grow our audience base and operate profitably, but after years of effort it is clear these AM stations are not viable,” said Mario Cecchini, Vice President, Corus Québec. “We would like to thank the employees affected by this decision for their hard work. We would also like to acknowledge the support of listeners and advertising clients of Info690 Montréal and AM940 Montreal’s Greatest Hits.”

The operating licences for these two AM stations will be returned to the CRTC. Corus Québec employs 466 people in Quebec.

About Corus Québec

Corus Québec is an integral part of Corus Entertainment Inc. and the largest private content and information broadcaster in Quebec. Corus Québec reaches more than 4.5 million listeners each week and operates 96,9 CKOI Montréal, 102,1 CKOI Quebec City, 104,5 CKOI Eastern Townships, 98,5 FM Montréal, CKAC Sports Montréal, 92-5 The Q Montreal, 103,9 CIME FM Laurentians and the Souvenirs Garantis network: 102,9 FM Quebec City, 107,7 FM Eastern Townships, 98,3 FM Saguenay, 104,7 FM Gatineau/Ottawa and 106,9 FM Mauricie. According to comScore Media Metrix, Corus Québec websites are visited by over 525,000 French-speaking users and 3 million English-speaking users in Canada every month.

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Radio-Canada requests licence for new sports channel

Radio-Canada announced today that it filed a licence request to launch a new 24-hour television sports channel. The new french-language service, called Radio-Canada Sports, would primarily focus on Canadian sports content produced by the SRC. Radio-Canada claims this is part of their strategic plan to better promote Canadian lifestyle and culture.

Design firm rebrands Swine Flu?

A Toronto-based marketing and design firm might have a little explaining to do after it inadvertently sent out a press release stating that it had “unveiled a new brand identity for the H1N1 flu virus.”
In its apparently bogus statement, AmoebaCorp, which has clients varying from Coca-Cola to the Toronto FC, claimed that it had rebranded the H1N1 virus because of a need to clear any confusion between seasonal flu, H1N1, and Swine Flu.
“Despite a significant effort made to educate the public on the symptoms and differences that exist between these viruses, consumers still appear not to understand that H1N1 and Swine Flu are one-in-the-same,” Mike Kelar, Co-Creative Director and Partner at AmoebaCorp said on the press release. “This confusion weakens H1N1′s position in the marketplace as the most severe flu because it splits brand awareness between 2 seemingly unrelated viruses and reduces H1N1′s ability to compete. We had no other choice but to do whatever we could to clear up this confusion by providing those in a position to influence and educate with the ammunition they need to do so.”
The press release also states that the new H1N1 brand was “designed with a classic, iconic aesthetic in mind,” and is “intended to convey a weight of authority and efficacy assurance while at the same time, reinforce the relationship that exists between H1N1 and Swine Flu.”
A couple hours later AmoebaCorp released another statement notifying media outlets to disregard the H1N1 brand press release for it was sent by mistake.
Was this a bad joke or is there really a whole marketing campaign behind H1N1?