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A U-2 spy plane may have triggered a computer problem at an air traffic control center that disrupted flights last week across the southwestern United States, US media reported Monday.

The Cold War-era plane, which is still part of the US fleet, somehow overloaded a computer system that displays data for air traffic controllers in the Los Angeles area, after its flight plan was incorrectly translated into computer code, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal said.

The glitch sparked a chain reaction and led the Federal Aviation Administration to halt flights into airspace Wednesday managed by the Palmdale air control center. The country-wide "ground stop" lasted for about an hour and affected hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers.

At Los Angeles International Airport, one of the country's busiest airports, there were 27 cancellations of arriving flights, as well as numerous delays and diversions to other airports. Flights also were delayed at several other airports in southern California.

A Pentagon spokesman, Colonel Steven Warren, said Monday: "I can tell you that there was a U-2 operating in this area in accordance with all FAA regulations.

"The U-2 filed all the prepared flight plan paper work and was conducting its operations in accordance with those filings."

The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating the incident, he said.

The computer problem raised fresh questions about the reliability of an expensive, new air traffic control network, known as ERAM, or En Route Automation Modernization. The system has already suffered budget setbacks and technical problems.

In last week's incident, both the primary and back-up systems were affected.

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U-2 spy plane linked to US air traffic meltdown

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RAW VISION: David Gyngell gives a brief response to media questioning after his punch up with James Packer.

James Packer and David Gyngell are the bearers of a singular tradition in Sydneys media battleground: real blokes settle things with their fists, assuming a bullwhip or a revolver isnt handy.

The kerbside stoush between the two former friends reminds those with a sense of history that Sydneys media barons and bosses have long caused some of the citys most fabulous front-page stories through their propensity to go the biff.

James Packers father Kerry, along with Kerrys brother Clyde, were involved in a marvellous late-night brawl in 1960 with a gang of thugs hired by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch was determined to evict the Packers from the premises of the Anglican Press, which owned a printing plant that held the key to control of Sydneys newspapers.

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The Daily Mirror subsequently published, beneath the screaming headline Knights Son in City Brawl, a picture of Clyde Packer tossing a one-legged clergyman into the street. The Packers lost the stoush. Kerry, a former schoolboy heavyweight boxing champion, was clouted with a six-by-four timber post and Clyde reportedly suffered a wound from a dart to the buttocks. Murdoch is supposed to have orchestrated events via two-way radio from the safety of a nearby park.

Kerry and Clydes father, Sir Frank Packer, had previously found himself in a celebrated dispute involving fisticuffs with the colourful media tycoon Ezra Norton. Packer, owner of the Daily Telegraph, and Norton, who ran Truth, had been trading verbal and newspaper-article blows before meeting at Randwick Racecourse on Derby Day in 1939.

Not afraid to go the biff: James and Kerry Packer. Photo: Reuters

Norton was infuriated that the Daily Telegraph had been publishing unflattering photographs of him. He hauled off and thumped Packer when they came across each other in the racecourse bar, and a ding-dong ensued. Norton was forced to apologise to the Australian Jockey Club committee because he had thrown the first punch.

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Wild men of the Australian media

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RAW VISION: David Gyngell gives a brief response to media questioning after his punch up with James Packer.

James Packer and David Gyngell are the bearers of a singular tradition in Sydneys media battleground: real blokes settle things with their fists, assuming a bullwhip or a revolver isnt handy.

The kerbside stoush between the two former friends reminds those with a sense of history that Sydneys media barons and bosses have long caused some of the citys most fabulous front-page stories through their propensity to go the biff.

James Packers father Kerry, along with Kerrys brother Clyde, were involved in a marvellous late-night brawl in 1960 with a gang of thugs hired by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch was determined to evict the Packers from the premises of the Anglican Press, which owned a printing plant that held the key to control of Sydneys newspapers.

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The Daily Mirror subsequently published, beneath the screaming headline Knights Son in City Brawl, a picture of Clyde Packer tossing a one-legged clergyman into the street. The Packers lost the stoush. Kerry, a former schoolboy heavyweight boxing champion, was clouted with a six-by-four timber post and Clyde reportedly suffered a wound from a dart to the buttocks. Murdoch is supposed to have orchestrated events via two-way radio from the safety of a nearby park.

Kerry and Clydes father, Sir Frank Packer, had previously found himself in a celebrated dispute involving fisticuffs with the colourful media tycoon Ezra Norton. Packer, owner of the Daily Telegraph, and Norton, who ran Truth, had been trading verbal and newspaper-article blows before meeting at Randwick Racecourse on Derby Day in 1939.

Not afraid to go the biff: James and Kerry Packer. Photo: Reuters

Norton was infuriated that the Daily Telegraph had been publishing unflattering photographs of him. He hauled off and thumped Packer when they came across each other in the racecourse bar, and a ding-dong ensued. Norton was forced to apologise to the Australian Jockey Club committee because he had thrown the first punch.

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Hard men of Aussie media

FORTUNATELY, both Hamid Mir, the intended victim of the April 19 shooting in Karachi, and freedom of expression will survive. Like Pakistans nuclear weapons programme, there is no scope for a rollback, despite the dastardly attacks on media and journalists. However, the present situation underlines the illusion of media self-regulation, especially by electronic news media.

There are two broad categories of media regulation. The physical, operational category is an exclusive state responsibility covering essentials of eligibility.

The second category is of content regulation, shared between the state and media. It is only partly covered by one aspect in the first category ie acceptance by the licensee of the terms and conditions on which permission is granted to own and operate the media. For example, in Pemras case, it is mandatory for each licensee of a channel to practise the Pemra Code of Conduct.

But just as the nature of news is volatile and unpredictable from minute to minute, the manner in which electronic news media should report events is vulnerable to variable factors of spontaneous utterances and actions, competitiveness, speed and sensation. All these elements fused into a potent, explosive mixture to make the live, unedited transmission of allegations against the ISI and its chief on April 19, an archetypical example of content regulations complexity.

Equally, the episode underlined the inadequacy of media themselves being the sole determinant of the imperatives that should shape their content. A serious, unproven accusation against a state institution and an individual was projected instantly to virtually billions of people around the world. This incident was actually a crisis in the making from the very inception of independent, privately owned electronic media in Pakistan onwards of 2002.

The Pemra Ordinance 2002 was the third version of a law unprecedented in Pakistans history. First came the Emra Ordinance of February 1997 by the unelected caretaker government of president Farooq Leghari and prime minister Meraj Khalid which was deliberately allowed to lapse in June 1997 by the elected second government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The second version was a draft law known as the Rambo Ordinance twice approved by the cabinet of president Pervez Musharraf in 2000 but not actually promulgated. Then came a slightly revised version known as the Pemra Ordinance in March 2002 which, with subsequent amendments, remains in force today.

Though assailed by some, the Pemra law and Pemra as a regulatory body have actually helped transform the electronic media landscape. For better and worse. We went rapidly from the extreme of monopoly to the extreme of abundance. Despite a few lacunae, several failures and weaknesses in enforcement, the Pemra law and Pemra have significantly advanced freedom of expression and media. Public awareness and engagement on vital issues have been radically enhanced.

Yet a curious simultaneity of construction and deconstruction occurred. Even as the number of channels took the giant leap, the will and capacity to enforce unwritten norms of propriety, and written laws and rules took several steps backwards. This became all the more strange because in this very period, government control of the regulatory body increased, rather than decreased.

The decline in regulatory effectiveness was vigorously enabled by the superior judiciary. This state pillar remains willing to promptly issue stay orders against Pemras attempts to discipline media conduct. Stay orders are prolonged for years instead of weeks. The judiciary permits the law to be flouted: non-licensed religious channels are allowed to continue broadcasting.

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A media myth - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

To tweet or not to tweet?

As companies flock to Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites to tout their brands, many businesses are still struggling to strike the balance between immediacy and the need to exercise enough control to prevent ill-advised posts, tweets and other social media embarrassments.

A pornographic picture recently sent from US Airways' official Twitter account is a fresh example of a social media misstep. In that instance, the company says an employee didn't mean any harm, but mistakenly posted a picture of a naked woman playing inappropriately with a toy plane.

Examples of embarrassing posts on official company social media accounts are legion: a reference to "hitting the hay" during a horse-meat scandal, a glib mention of "not being able to tell the truth" and posts making light of airplane crashes, to name just a few.

Separately, the actions of individual employees using their own social media accounts sometimes have brought unwelcome attention to their employers. Perhaps the most infamous example of 2013: the public relations professional who turned to Twitter to write, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"

Where being quick on the trigger can be risky, there is an upside to a timely post.

Gordon Fowler, president and CEO of Sacramento's 3fold Communications, said a quick response to a pop-culture phenomenon can bring much more exposure to social media messages that would otherwise go unnoticed.

"People are trying too hard to be relevant," said Fowler, who recently invited people to get over the sourness of tax day by visiting the company's "Tax Day Bitter Bar" for a lunchtime lemonade. Guests were then invited to take pictures and share them via social media.

The three most popular U.S. social media platforms -- Facebook, Twitter and Instagram -- were conceived and continue to serve primarily as platforms for millions of individuals to connect, but more and more businesses are using them to reach customers. Some 93 percent of marketers use social media to reach a vast and growing audience, according to statistics complied by social media expert Erik Qualman. More than 1 billion people use Facebook, while Twitter boasts of 115 million active users monthly.

Local communications professionals agreed that staying out of the social media pool is not an option.

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Negotiating Social Media Strategy in Business