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Media trends digest – 2006

Video news releases under fire in USA (April 27)
From the Wall Street Journal via Benton: Local television stations are again coming under fire from media watchdogs and the Federal Communications Commission for using so-called video news releases during their newscasts without full disclosure. A video news release, or VNR, is basically a press release in video form. Just as news organizations are inundated every day with press releases from government agencies, consumer groups and corporations, television stations receive the equivalent in video form. While there is nothing inherently wrong with reporting a story based on a press release, many television stations are using the VNRs alone in lieu of original reporting. What's more alarming, these stations are airing these videos without revealing the origin of the footage to viewers. "Viewers are accustomed to watching news programs with an uncritical eye and only put their filter on when commercials start. VNRs take full advantage of this tendency and do a direct attack," says Matthew Felling, a director of Center for Media and Public Affairs, a Washington, D.C., media watchdog group. The makers of VNRs say they aren't trying to deceive viewers and don't have a problem with disclosing their involvement or their clients. Douglas Simon, president of D S Simon Productions Inc., a public-relations firm whose clients have included Sony Corp, Panasonic and March of Dimes, says "disclosure is great from a client's perspective as it becomes another plug."

Also…
The Wall Street Journal is celebrating 10 years online by opening its normally pay-to-view website an open house for ten days. See this link.

China web to self-police (April 27)
From Reuters via Benton: China's top Web portals, including Sina Corp (pictured) and Tom Online, have agreed to rid their sites of "unhealthy" content, amid a broader Beijing campaign to clean up the Internet. Other major players in the self-policing drive include Sohu.com, NetEase.com, Baidu.com and Yahoo’s China Web portal, according to the text of a pledge by 14 companies posted on Sina's Web site.
Reuters link; Benton media alerts

USA TV gets serious about broadband (April 27)
From the Online Publishers Association (OPA): NBC and its 230 affiliates launched a joint venture dubbed The National Broadband Company (NBBC). The venture will aggregate videos on various topics such as health, consumer news and entertainment, according to Broadcast & Cable, and will likely be supported by advertising. Future plans call for user-generated content as well. Meanwhile, Disney announced it would offer free streaming versions of hit TV shows such as Desperate Housewives and Lost -- with ads you can't fast-forward. The Financial Times rained on Disney's parade by reporting that the Net infrastructure for serving up so many free streams could result in poor picture quality. Fox also announced it would offer up ad-supported video online, with some proceeds going to affiliates.
Why the big rush online by TV networks? "The established industry has come to feel safe experimenting online," writes Kevin Maney at USA Today. "Ad sales have mushroomed. Technology has made experimentation cheap and easy. And a sense of fear -- of not wanting to get Napstered all over again -- has created urgency."

Online ads break records (April 27)
More from the OPA: Online advertising's meteoric rise from the ashes of the dot-com bust continues apace with a record total $12.5 billion spent in 2005, according to figures from the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). That number shows growth of 30% over 2004, and the fourth quarter alone saw year-over-year growth of 34%. Paid search ads were leading the charge, making up 41% of the total ad money, with display ads coming in at 34%, and classifieds at 18%. Of the consumer ads, almost half of them came from the retail sector, 20% from autos, 14% from leisure and 10% from entertainment.
PWC report link

Media bias can swing voters – report (April 26)
Does media bias affect voting? The authors of a Berkeley report address this question by looking at the entry of Fox News in cable markets and its impact on voting. Between October 1996 and November 2000, the conservative Fox News Channel was introduced in the cable programming of 20 percent of US towns. Fox News availability in 2000 appears to be largely idiosyncratic. Using a data set of voting data for 9,256 towns, the authors investigate if Republicans gained vote share in towns where Fox News entered the cable market by the year 2000. They find a significant effect of the introduction of Fox News on the vote share in Presidential elections between 1996 and 2000. Republicans gain 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the towns which broadcast Fox News. They also find a significant effect of Fox News on Senate vote share and on voter turnout. The estimates imply that Fox News convinced 3 to 8 percent of its viewers to vote Republican.
Report link (PDF)

Regional Australia let down by local media (April 21)
Coonan ownership test likely to make things worse
New research by the Communications Law Centre shows that regional centres have very few sources of local news and in many locations residents are angry at the poor quality and lack of coverage of major events.
Many people felt strongly that the local newspaper should be a linchpin of local communities, but too often neglects that role. Some residents felt that their local paper would be incapable of exposing corruption in local politics. In Toowoomba, residents pointed to the need to supplement local media with state or national media and cited the poor coverage of Toowoomba’s proposed water recycling plant. “We actually know more about Sydney’s desalination plant,” commented one participant in the study.
The CLC conducted research in four regional locations in mid-2005 (Wollongong, Townsville, Launceston and Toowoomba). The report, titled Content, Consolidation and Clout: How will regional media be affected by media ownership changes?, was written by Tim Dwyer, Derek Wilding, Helen Wilson and Simon Curtis. The results of the research are used to assess proposed four-to-a-market test to guard against further consolidation if the cross-media rules are removed.
The report notes that Communications Minister Helen Coonan’s so-called diversity test has no way of distinguishing between a low-rating radio station with little local news and the local newspaper. The Minister’s test would allow significant consolidation in all four locations studied.
Releasing the document at the CLC at Victoria University in Melbourne, Director Elizabeth Beal said, “This new report shows that mergers between regional media companies will lead to significant consolidation in regional Australia." Follow this link for the full release.

FCC commissioner says net neutrality is critical (April 18)
A debate in the USA over whether publishing access to the internet should be open or multi-tiered has prompted a Federal Communications Commissioner, Michael Copps, to denounce any attempts to constrict the current set-up.
A number of telecommunications companies have suggested they should be able to effectively place toll gates on the net, providing faster information flow for those content providers able and prepared to pay for it, while punishing those who can’t with a slower feed. The telcos claim content providers are getting a free ride – though the latter could counter that the telcos are effectively getting free content with which to sell their services.
Copp believes the social importance of the internet is too great to allow self-appointed toll-collectors to restrict access.
He said at a recent public forum, in part: “We view the Internet as a place of freedom and openness. We view it as a place where innovation can flourish, where it seems almost anyone with a good idea, some technological savvy and a healthy dose of persistence, can develop a business with global reach. With the genius of a dumb pipe connecting to intelligence at the edges, and the common language of IP communications, the possibilities are endless. And this is indeed the way things ought to work.
“But if we are not watchful, we will miss the signs that there are threats to the openness that makes the Internet so great. Some telltale clues are out there…”
The complete text of his speech can be accessed via our Movers & Shakers page.

Are phones the future? (April 18)
From the Wall Street Journal, via Benton: According to Len Lauer (pictured), chief operating officer of Sprint Nextel Corp, there are only three forgotten things consumers will return home for: a cellphone, a wallet or purse and keys. The telecommunications industry wants to get that list down to just one. As such, engineers are busy cramming as many features and services into cellphones as they can. Among them is the capability to open doors or pay for lunch with a wave of the handset. In Japan, NTT DoCoMo offers a mobile-payments service that allows subscribers to make purchases at a convenience store or check into the airport by waving a cellphone. Some subscribers even have their apartments programmed where they can lock and unlock their doors with their handsets. The technology, called "near-field communication", has been up and running in Japan since 2004. (Pic: Sprint Nextel)

Plus…
From the Financial Times, via Benton: Dick Parsons, chairman and chief executive of Time Warner, the world’s biggest media company, has set his sights on establishing a strong presence in mobile phone services, either by purchasing wireless spectrum or via an acquisition. “The ultimate table has to be constructed with four legs, not three. The fourth leg will be wireless – how one solves the equation I don't know,” Mr Parsons said.
Wall Street Journal; Financial Times; Benton media alerts

Seven to broadcast via net (April 17)
Channel 7 is about to trial broadcasting recent hit TV show episodes on the internet, via online partner Yahoo!7, according to the Australian newspaper.
While free to air TV networks are concerned about internet’s potential to fracture audiences, there also seems to be a growing acceptance that engaging more closely with the medium is inevitable.
However a major factor in the success or otherwise of such enterprises could be Australia’s appallingly slow and expensive (by world standards) internet access.
The Australian home; Story

Too much work for too few staff – MEAA (April 14)
Intense and extended working hours, unrealistic expectations and fewer staff to pick up the slack are all contributing to unsafe working conditions, according to a Sydney University report into occupational health and safety issues facing Australian media workers, commissioned by the Media Alliance.
Media Alliance; Report

Web newspaper audiences – USA report (April 12)
The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) has released a study which says newspaper online audiences are growing fast. More importantly, the Association claims web sites are expanding audiences for newspapers.
One in three Internet users -- 55 million -- visit a newspaper Web site every month. Unique visitors to newspaper Web sites jumped 21 percent from January 2005 to December 2005, while the number of page views soared by 43 percent over the same period.
NAA report

Online video moves into the big time (April 11)
From the Online Publishers Association: Watching video online used to be an oddity, with flickering postage-sized images that gurgled and froze. Fast-forward to 2006 with the online video revolution in full swing, and Netizens are making it a regular part of their online life (see research item below). With the growth in viewership has also come a booming demand for ad inventory on online videos. AdAge has run multiple stories on the push for a "digital up front" this spring, as well as a change in mindset by advertisers and agencies who consider the television just one of many venues for video ads. American Express calls the category "rolling video stock" while Media Vest reorganized its buyers as "video investment and activation units," AdAge reported. "Broadcast is not dying; broadcast still works," Media Vest's Donna Speciale said. "But we have to follow the consumer to where he or she is getting content and that means being video-neutral. " One video site Heavy.com is going to approach advertisers for special digital upfront deals for its slate of new online shows." AdAge notes that the digital upfront idea isn't new, and that AOL, Yahoo, MSN and other video-rich sites have sold out inventory in advance for certain categories. The demand for online video ad inventory has also led to a new in-stream ad network from Advertising.com, which will supply 61 million ad impressions per month. Advertising.com has signed up 30 publishers, compared to rival Instream's 50 publishers, ClickZ reports. Plus, NYTimes.com (pictured) said it would add more original video to its home page and section front pages in order to satisfy the massive demand for video inventory. "Pre-roll inventory is very, very, very much in demand," AccuSteam iMedia Research's Paul Palumbo said.
Links: Marketers, Media Buyers Reorganize for New Video Age (AdAge)
Web Sellers Build Own 'Upfronts' (AdAge)
Advertising.com Launches Pre-Roll Video Network (ClickZ)
NYTimes.com Builds Original Video Inventory to Satisfy Advertiser Demand (ClickZ)
Cable networks tout new media for content and advertising (Broadcast & Cable)
YouTube's 'Bowiechick' and the spiders from marketing (News.com)
Online Publishers

Honour an Orwellian (April 7)
The Media Alliance is calling for nominations for the tongue-in-cheek anti-press freedom Orwell Awards. Launched in 2003, the awards accord a dubious honour to supreme violators of press freedom in Australia and abroad. Nominations close on Friday, April 14.
Orwell website

China media still facing grim political picture (April 6)
A report by the State Department in the USA says that China’s media still faces a grim reality when it comes to government control.
The report says media in 2005 faced “increased restrictions on freedom of speech and the press; closure of newspapers and journals; banning of politically sensitive books, periodicals, and films; and jamming of some broadcast signals.”
This is part of a wider report on human rights practices. See this State Department link.

Thai media fights back (April 6)
Amid election turmoil, Thailand’s media yesterday held a mass meeting in an attempt to fight back against what its members see as intimidation. Since the government declared emergency powers a year ago, publishers say they have been operating under threat of censorship and being shut down altogether.
See this story from The Nation newspaper

Networkers and local news rule web growth (April 5)
From the Washington Post, via Benton: While growth is slowing at most top Internet sites, it is skyrocketing at sites focused on social networking, blogging and local information.
The dramatic success of those Internet categories is apparent from a recent online-traffic analysis provided by market research firm ComScore Media Metrix, which examined visitor growth rates among the 50 top Web sites over the past year.
Top-ranked sites growing the most, ComScore's data showed, were Blogger.com, a personal publishing site; MySpace.com, where young people do virtual preening and share musical tastes; Wikipedia, an open reference site jointly edited by millions of people; and Citysearch, a network of local guides focused on cities.
The number of monthly visitors to each site rose at rates ranging from 185 percent (Citysearch) to 528 percent (Blogger.com) between February 2005 and February 2006. Their growth far exceeded the 4 percent increase in overall Internet visitors in the United States during that period.
The traffic analysis shows the Internet is still a space where new brands such as MySpace can suddenly break into the upper ranks, where older brands such as Citysearch can revive themselves after languishing for years, and where established outfits such as Google often wind up as beneficiaries because they buy or copy services pioneered by upstarts.
Washington Post home; Story; Benton; ComScore Media Metrix

Web inventor outraged at neutrality threat (April 5)
From Benton: Tim Berners-Lee, chief architect of the World Wide Web, says his world-changing invention would no longer be an "open information space" if broadband providers abandoned the principle of Net neutrality. In an interview with the Toronto Star, Berners-Lee said he's "very concerned" about talk from major North America phone and cable giants about their desire to collect so-called Web tolls from content suppliers and e-commerce companies that want assured access to broadband subscribers. "It stops being the Net if a supplier of downloaded video pays to connect to a particular set of consumers who are connected to a particular cable company. It would no longer be an open information space," Berners-Lee said. "The whole point of the Web is when you arrive it's more or less the same for everybody. That integrity is really essential...I'm very concerned." His comments come as a major public-policy debate on net neutrality rages in the United States and, in Canada, is just beginning to heat up.
Toronto Star home; Story; Benton

Narrower & younger audiences for  US papers (April 5)
From the Wall Street Journal, via Benton: Looking for ways to shore up their readership and broaden appeal to advertisers, many US newspapers are adopting a new tactic: targeting narrower and younger audiences. Newspapers are launching youth-oriented publications designed to attract smaller advertisers that can't afford mainstream papers. They're building search engines to compete with Google and Yahoo on a local level. And they are offering "self-serve" classified-ad Web sites, where consumers can create their own ads. In many cases, profits are small, but papers are willing to take the hit in order to break into new markets. "In the past what newspapers did well was reach broad audiences, but that is not where the growth is occurring," says Scott Flanders, chief executive of Freedom Communications Inc., the closely held parent of the Orange County Register in California and other publications. "If we're going to get growth, it will come from capturing new readers, being able to segment them and being able to let advertisers target audiences."
Wall Street Journal; Benton

Web readers ‘flit’ in an F-pattern (April 5)
From USA Today via Benton: Nielsen Norman Group is releasing a study today on how people read web pages. As more business shifts to the Internet, the study findings show companies still have much to learn about how best to present an online image. Findings include: 1) Individuals read Web pages in an “F” pattern. They're more inclined to read longer sentences at the top of a page and less and less as they scroll down. That makes the first two words of a sentence very important. “People are extremely good at screening out things and focusing in on a small number of salient page elements,” says Jakob Nielsen, a principal at the firm. 2) Surfers connect well with images of people looking directly at them. It helps if the person in the photo is attractive, but not too good looking. Photos of people who are clearly professional models are a turnoff. “The person has to be approachable,” Pernice Coyne says. 3) Images in the middle of a page can present an obstacle course. 4) People respond to pictures that provide useful information, not just decoration. 5) Consumers will peek at ads in search engines as a “secondary thing,” Nielsen says, since they usually have specific product targets in mind.
USA Today home; Story; ZDnet story

50 years of TV at the Powerhouse (April 4)
The Sydney Powerhouse Museum says it will celebrate this year’s 50th anniversary of Australian television broadcasting with a landmark exhibition, On the box: great moments in Australian television 1956-2006, opening on April 6. 
From Bruce Gyngell’s memorable first words “Welcome to television” to the latest developments in digital TV, On the box will promises an engaging account of Australia’s rich history of achievement in television entertainment and technology. The exhibition organizers say it will also take a critical look at the impact of television on the lives of Australians.
Drawing on the collections of the Powerhouse Museum, the National Film and Sound Archive, other museums, television networks, production companies and private collectors, On the box will showcase over 700 objects including rare and costumes, props, historic technical equipment and memorabilia.
On the box happens at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum from April 6 this year to January 29, 2007.
Exhibition link

Digital radio by 2009 (April 4)
From the Federal Communications bunker: Digital radio services – which will offer consumers more choice, better sound quality and innovative new services - will commence in Australia by 2009, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced today.
“In October 2005 I gave a commitment to Australian radio broadcasters and their listeners to develop the necessary legislative and planning structures to implement digital radio as soon as possible,” Senator Coonan said.
“I am pleased to announce the next steps in the implementation process which will result in services commencing in the six state capital cities by 1 January 2009.”
The introduction of digital radio requires amendments to the existing radio broadcasting and transmission legislative and regulatory arrangements.
New licence categories will be defined and legislation will be required to implement the six-year moratorium on the issue of new commercial digital radio licences in the Broadcasting Services Band.
The moratorium will commence from the start date for services in the state capital markets, and the multiplex licensees will need to achieve specified rollout and coverage requirements in these markets by the end of the moratorium period.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority will have the power to plan and licence digital radio services and to oversee digital radio rollout including the development of Digital Radio Introduction Schemes, which will set out the technical, and other, requirements broadcasters must meet for the implementation of digital radio. (Editor's note: Digital radio began broadcasting in the UK in 1996 and has been widely available in the USA since 2004.)

Buy movies online (April 4)
Hollywood movie studios are making it possible to buy a copy of some of the latest release movies online, from this week.
Sold through Movielink.com, the titles are from most of the major studios -- except Disney, which is still negotiating.
Titles available include King Kong and Brokeback Mountain, but the list is at this stage a selection of old and new, rather than a complete catalogue.
It’s expected that major retailers such as Amazon will join the fray before long. At this stage the copy you buy will only work on the computer it is originally downloaded to and is only available to customers inside the USA.

Leak and the satire wars (April 3)
Bill Leak, the cartoonist at the centre of the Indonesia versus Australia cartoon war, has written a column for today’s Australian newspaper, politely suggesting to anyone that is offended that they might like to get a grip on themselves.
His cartoon, showing the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as a dog mounting a Papuan was published last Saturday. It was in response to a cartoon run in the Indonesian newspaper Rakyat Merdeka showing the Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Minster as a pair of rutting dogs.
At the centre of the crayon wars is the decision by the Australian Government to allow a group of West Papuans to seek asylum in this country. Indonesia, still unhappy about the secession to East Timor with Australia’s assistance a few years ago, is sensitive to any potential criticism of the handling of its territories, including West Papua.
Leak comments that cartoonists are being taken far too seriously --  citing the recent uproar over cartoons mocking the prophet Mohammed published in Denmark recently – adding that the worst thing that could happen to a satirist is to be taken seriously.
With an air of exhasperation, he adds, “Now, apparently, we're supposed to second guess everyone out there who will see the fruits of our labours and then hold back for fear of upsetting someone. What a ridiculous proposition.
"Imagine a comedian standing on stage and having to ask his audience permission first before launching into a joke: ‘Excuse me, there will be a reference to two copulating dogs in my next joke. That okay with you?’”
The Indonesian embassy in Australia has said of both cartoons, that it views them as malicious and tasteless.
“While acknowledging the freedom of media in Indonesia and Australia to publish materials,” said the statement from second secretary Dino Kusnadi, “And respecting its independence without interference from governments, the Indonesian embassy believes there is a responsibility from the media to  be sensitive and attentive of the consequences of their actions.”
The Australia home; Story

Top cop and the role of media (April 2)
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty recently gave a speech to the Australian Press Council, outlining his view of the role of the media and its sometimes prickly relationship with police. While his audience may not have agreed with much of what he said, it nevertheless provided a useful insight into the thoughts of one of the country’s most influential law enforcement officials.
Among his statements were:
“Today the media takes a strong interest in the work of federal law enforcement and we are working hard to produce a strong and productive relationship with the media. This is not surprising because in many ways our objectives in serving the community are very similar.

"We are both in the business of seeking out information, following up leads and serving the public interest. And these are objectives that often have to be achieved in difficult and time critical circumstances. We also share extraordinary powers and responsibilities to apply those powers “without fear or favour”, which again is highlighted in the Council’s Statement of Principles.

"Importantly, we share a responsibility to ascertain the truth…
“The past five years has been characterised by a shift in journalism where police roundsmen and women who were familiar with the criminal law and familiar with the court systems have been over-run by a new cadre of journalists who have been directed by their news editors to go out and report on the security environment. Some of these journalists have little or no understanding of our criminal justice system. There are inherent difficulties in sending people who are unfamiliar with law enforcement, unfamiliar with the court system; and unfamiliar with the genesis of legislation and policy to cover stories in the new environment…”
You can see the full text of the speech via our Movers & Shakers page.

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