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Media trends digest – July, 2006

Lab rat TV or psychology thriller? (July 31)
Network Ten’s Big Brother is back in the news with The Age newspaper reporting the show is believed by some to reveal a great deal about the human condition. See the link.
The Age home; Big Brother story

Industry lecture series at Melbourne (July 29)
The University of Melbourne is running a Tuesday evening series of publishing and communication industry lectures, which are open to the public. The first speaker will be Michael Webster, CEO of Nielsen Bookscan, while the following weeks feature a very broad range of industry figures.
See our events page for details.  

Plus...
La Trobe University in Melbourne is running a public lecture by the chief of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, Graeme Samuel, entitled Australia's Changing Communications and Media Landscape. It happens at 6.00pm, 14 August, at the Village Roadshow Theatrette, Victorian State Library, 174 La Trobe St, Melbourne -- entrance 3.

A-G signals harsher censorship regime (July 27)
From the ministerial bunker: Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today welcomed the willingness of the States and Territories to re-examine laws relating to the classification of material advocating acts of terrorism, including the so-called books of hate.
"The Classification Scheme is intended to reflect community standards and a significant proportion the community is outraged that this material is available," Mr Ruddock said today at a meeting of Australia's Censorship Ministers in Melbourne.
Mr Ruddock questioned whether current censorship laws strike the right balance between freedom of expression and the community's right to be protected from material that incites terrorism.
"Material which urges or advocates terrorist acts should not be available for sale. Our laws should be effective to keep offensive material off the streets, and protect the vulnerable and impressionable in the community," Mr Ruddock said
"We are not about curtailing freedom of speech. I believe there is a case for the Classification Board to be given the power to ban material which has been submitted by law enforcement authorities and contains depictions or descriptions that advocate terrorist acts.”

And another thing: The Australian newspaper reports the minister's sentiments are wrong, with the Vic A-G saying nothing was agreed to, thanks...

Most mail sent by spammers (July 27)
From C-Net (pictured), via Benton: Nearly all of the Internet-connected computers that send e-mail are controlled by spammers, according to companies that track e-mail reputations. Less than 1% of systems that send e-mail can be deemed a good citizen of the Internet, according to Return Path, a company that compiles e-mail reputation data. Return Path collects data on 20 million Internet Protocol addresses that send e-mail…Spam makes up almost 75 percent of all messages sent today…
Full report; Benton news service

Milbloggers battle the journos (July 26)
Hundreds of US troops and veterans are blogging world-wide, and many focused on a common enemy: journalists. Military bloggers, or "milbloggers" as they call themselves, contend that they are uniquely qualified to comment on events in armed conflicts. Many milbloggers also argue that the mainstream media tends to overplay negative stories and play down positive military developments. For many of these blogs "the sole purpose is to counteract the media." There have always been at least some soldiers who have wanted to go to battle against Big Media. Some in the military blamed coverage of the Vietnam War for turning American public opinion against it. What's changed? The Internet now allows frustrated soldiers and veterans to voice their opinions and be heard instantly and globally.
Source: Wall Street Journal (requires subscription) via Benton

Cell phone rules (July 25)
Which technology has had the most impact in the last 25 years? The cell phone, according to well-known IBM software developer and blogger Sam Ruby. Though his represents just one opinion, Ruby made a strong case for why the cell phone outstrips the PC in terms of effect on the world. "It's killing the landline; it's killing watches; it's changing the camera business; it's changing the TV industry, the music industry," Ruby said Monday at the New Paradigms for Using Computers (NPUC) 2006 workshop at the IBM Almaden Research Center here. "It's destroying the pay-phone industry. It's hurting the hotel industry and putting the squeeze on universities," he said during a talk titled "Teenagers on the Go." To highlight the future stability of the device, he added, "Teenagers love the cell phone."
Source: C-Net, via Benton

Media gospel, according to BBC (July 21)
The UK's BBC restructuring speaks volumes about the rapid changes going in the digital world -- and how media organisations are having to adapt, faced with the challenge of new audience demands and huge new players such as Google and Microsoft.
Gone are the words radio and television, which have been pillars of the BBC structure since the1920s and '30s.
Instead, there will be two divisions called BBC Vision and Audio and Music, reflecting the way millions of people now receive pictures and sound from the BBC not on their TVs and radios but on their computers and mobile phones.
A third division, called Journalism, will be responsible for the BBC's news, current affairs and sport output, across the globe and on all media platforms.
The term New Media also disappears, on the grounds that much of it, as the director-general Mark Thompson explained to BBC staff, is now "Present Media".
Source & full story: BBC

Burrito boy wins anti-literature prize (July 18)
Californian Jim Guigli has won the San Jose State University Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for the most appalling opening line for a novel.
The hotly-contested prize has become infamous since its inception in 1982. This year’s winning entry read: “Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.”
The Bulwer-Lytton website explains: A retired mechanical designer for the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory is the winner of the 24th running of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. A resident of the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, Guigli displayed appalling powers of invention by submitting sixty entries to the 2006 Contest, including one that has been "honored" in the Historical Fiction Category. "My motivation for entering the contest," he confesses, "was to find a constructive outlet for my dementia."
An international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is the essence of simplicity: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Although best known for The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), which has been made into a movie three times, originating the expression "the pen is mightier than the sword," and phrases like "the great unwashed" and "pursuit of the almighty dollar," Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words that the Peanuts beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, "It was a dark and stormy night."
Bulwer-Lytton website (pictured)

Media Alliance slams government reform package (July 17)
The Media Alliance is deeply unimpressed with the government’s recently-announced package of media reforms.
It reports: "Alliance assistant federal secretary Mark Ryan says: 'The decision to abandon the cross media and foreign ownership restrictions will certainly lead to a feeding frenzy as big media players get bigger by swallowing vulnerable small media companies.'
"The outcome from such activity will be the loss of a broad range of 'voices' in the media landscape, leading to a reduction in diversity, particularly threatening regional and rural communities that will see their media resources dwindle.
"The government plans to put a floor on the number of media companies in a capital city to five and in regional areas to four. But such a move would more than halve the number of media companies currently operating in Sydney and Melbourne. 'History shows that where regulations allow minimums, the industry will default to the lower standard,' Ryan says.
"'What’s more, the last time the media industry underwent a wave of mergers and takeovers, there were numerous collapses of companies and many media outlets went into receivership - there’s every reason to expect the same to occur this time.'
"Likewise, the decision to stall the switch over to digital until 2012 shows the government continues to fail to take advantage of digital broadcasting opportunities. "Ryan says: 'As the Alliance outlined in its submission on the changes, digital broadcasting means that right now Australians could have twice as many free-to-air channels as currently operate - which would mean greater diversity through more Australian and local news, drama and other programming, and more work for the people who inform and entertain Australia.'
"The Government’s media reforms fail to adequately drive digital take-up by not providing appropriate incentives for broadcasters, receiver manufacturers/importers and consumers to move to digital. The reforms also act to protect and entrench existing media players (particularly by failing to allow a fourth free-to-air commercial network), and the reforms do not embrace the full capability of multi-channelling."
See this link to the Alliance website

Microsoft limbers up for a portable Xmas (July 17)
Software giant Microsoft is almost certainly putting the finishing touches on a media player billed by pundits as the “iPod killer”. If true, it will mark an increasing interest in hardware by a company which historically has been reluctant to tread too far into hardware. However its success with the Xbox gaming console, and the unquestionable success of Apple’s portable devices (pictured) may provide just a little too much temptation.
The company is widely reported to be putting the finishing touches on a portable media player featuring wireless connectivity.
MIT’s Technology Review provides the most thorough update at this link.
Microsft Xbox site; Appe iPod site

MySpace hits number one (July 14)
From Reuters via the Benton media alert service: Move over Yahoo and Google. Internet tracking firm Hitwise said on Tuesday that online teen hangout MySpace.com ranked as the number 1 US Web site, accounting for 4.46 per cent of all US Internet visits for the week ending July 8. MySpace captured nearly 80 percent of visits to online social networking sites, up from 76 per cent in April. A distant second was FaceBook at 7.6 per cent. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought MySpace for $580 million one year ago.
Full story from Reuters; Benton

Blogosphere becoming Plugosphere (July 14)
From Business Week, via Benton: Ted Murphy founded an interactive ad agency called MindComet, also runs a side business that pays bloggers to write nice things about corporate sponsors -- without unduly worrying about whether or not bloggers disclose these arrangements to readers. (A scan of relevant blog searches strongly suggests that, often, they don't.) He is launching PayPerPost.com, which will automate such hookups between advertisers and bloggers and thus codify a new frontier of product placement. Advertisers pay to post details about their "opportunity," specifying, among other things, how they want bloggers to write about, say, a new shoe, if they want photos to be included, and whether they'll pay only for positive mentions. Bloggers who abide by the rules get paid; heavily trafficked blogs may command premium rates. Those seeking to subvert PayPerPost from within can't: No pornographic or "illicit" content is accepted. Thanks in no small part to bloggers, this is an era of increased media transparency, and many shifty dealings between the business and editorial sides have been exposed. An undisclosed PayPerPost placement on a little-seen blog isn't the most egregious thing out there, but it's far from honest. Media may be more transparent, but the line between authentic editorial and paid placement is still often smeared, and defenders of disclosure can feel, like the proverbial buggy whip company, that they're terribly outmoded. Things being what they are, I should mention that no buggy whip association paid me to say that.
Business Week home; Full story

Games the new gold rush for ads (July 14)
From USA Today (pictured), via Benton: “Games are an exploding media channel,” says Reuben Hendell, CEO of digital ad agency MRM. Marketers are scrambling to be players in the world of video game advertising. A growing army of game fans and new game advertising options are making games increasingly attractive. Marketers spent about $80 million in 2005 on game advertising -- from product placement in games to sponsoring gaming events — according to research firm Parks Associates. By comparison, the value of all media product placement in 2005 was about $3.5 billion, estimates marketing researcher PQ Media. Parks projects game ad spending will top $400 million by 2009. About 75 per cent of U.S. Internet users spend at least an hour a month playing games, according to Parks. About 27 per cent average 30 hours a month. And more players are women: They are about 20 per cent of the audience at community gaming site Global Gaming League (GGL), for example, up from 10 per cent last year.
USA Today home; Full story

New media laws unveiled (July 13)
The Australian Government will comprehensively reform the media industry in Australia to create a competitive framework that will deliver consumer choice and a competitive industry in the digital media age, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, claimed today.
“This package of reforms will allow the Australian media sector to move from the old analogue-based regime into the dynamic new world of digital content, where traditional media co-exist and compete with new delivery platforms,” she said.
While the policy frees up the rules on cross-media and foreign ownership, there are numerous conditions and clauses. There are likely to be a number of mergers and take-overs as a result and media stock prices started to firm within hours of the announcement. The policy is wide-ranging and includes measures to encourage the growth (albeit at a controlled rate) of digital TV broadcasting and much broader powers for the Australian Communications and Media Authority. At this stage the government expects the legislation to be proclaimed some time in 2007.
Click here for the full release

Media reform back on the boil? (July 12)
Yesterday’s Federal Cabinet meeting is reported to have given the green light to most of Senator Helen Coonan’s media reform package, with the condition that rural broadcasting content is in some way protected.
Click here to see the Minister’s reform options page.

Too many attacks on whistleblowers – IFJ (July 11)
The International Federation of Journalists says it is alarmed by mounting attacks on media and whistleblowers by Western governments trying to hide potentially illegal or damaging actions and statements.
“It is unacceptable to see countries like the United States, Great Britain, and Denmark trying to intimidate and stifle independent journalism,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary, “while others, like Germany and the Netherlands, are caught out snooping on media and tapping the telephones of journalists.”
The IFJ says that a global crackdown on investigative journalism led by countries that are supposed to be models of democracy is repressive and is depriving people of their basic rights – “most importantly the right of citizens to know what their government is doing.”
Full story

Citizen journos off the boil (July 10)
From Broadcasting & Cable in the USA: When the London subway was bombed a year ago, the work of “citizen journalists,” the often grainy footage shot on personal digital cameras and cellphones, was everywhere. Almost immediately, mainstream TV news organizations began a quest to fill their broadcasts with such freelance firepower.
But a year later, none of the major TV news organizations have included citizen journalism as a major part of their newscasts. The news networks’ hesitancy to embrace content from viewers on-air has less to do with concern about video authenticity than with a desire to keep a certain level of quality and control.
B&C home; Full story

Real-time study tracks web use (July 9)
From the OPA: The Online Publishers Association (OPA) has announced the results of a new research project, A Day in the Life: An Ethnographic Study of Media Consumption.
The unprecedented observational research, conducted in the USA, tracked the real-time media use of 350 people, recording their actual activities every 15 seconds. The results show that the Web is now clearly a mass media -- ranking right alongside other major media when it comes to reach and duration of use. And when it comes to at-work media use, the study found that the Web clearly dominates (with 54.6 per cent reach, compared to television's 21.1 per cent), and is the only medium that ranks among the top two at both work and home.
OPA commissioned Ball State University's Center for Media Design to conduct the study, which is most detailed and in-depth analysis to date of the Middletown Media Studies data.
The full report can be downloaded at www.online-publishers.org/dayinthelife; Or see the OPA home page.

Fixers in the firing line (July 9)
The ABC’s Media Report on Radio National recently looked at the role of the fixer. It said: “Have you ever wondered how foreign correspondents fly into the latest disaster zone and instantly report with authority? The answer is The Fixer, a local, often taking extraordinary risks.”
See this link.

Home-based media centres to leap in popularity (July 7)
From ABI Research: The growth in digital entertainment content and the maturing of key industry initiatives for media networking are fueling the popularity of digital media servers in the home, according to a new study from ABI Research. These trends will result in the transformation of existing products such as PCs and set-tops into whole-home media servers. Driven by the efforts of Microsoft, Intel and Apple, the PC media server market alone will grow from $3.7 billion in 2006 to $44.8 billion by 2011 as mainstream PCs become fully functional media servers.
ABI Research believes that the digital media server will evolve into four main categories: PCs, set-top boxes, consumer electronics devices such as gaming consoles or PVRs, and Network Attached Storage (NAS) hardware. While in coming years many consumers will centralize much of their content on a Media Center PC, ABI Research believes that the determining factor will be the type of content.
Full story from ABI

Plus…
From Parks Associates: The number of US households with a connected entertainment network will reach 30 million by 2010, according to Networks in the Home: Connected Consumer Electronics, a new report from Parks Associates. A connected entertainment network is a network composed of either a PC connected to at least one consumer electronic (CE) device or multiple interconnected CE devices such as a whole-house DVR system.
“Broadband proliferation is a fundamental driver of connected entertainment opportunities inside the home,” said Harry Wang, research analyst at Parks Associates. “But more importantly, better network configuration tools and easy-to-navigate user interfaces will assuage consumers’ concerns about setup difficulties or application glitches.”
According to Networks in the Home: Connected Consumer Electronics, connected entertainment will be at the heart of the development and business opportunities in the digital home. For the near term, video service providers and CE and home networking manufacturers are driving this space with the deployment of whole-house DVRs and digital media adapters, respectively, but there will need to be cross-industry collaboration, such as efforts like the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), to realize fully the opportunities in connected entertainment.
“Consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers are still searching for the Rosetta stone of the connected entertainment market,” Wang said. “To move beyond the early-adopter stage, CE manufacturers must ally with content and service providers, software developers, and silicon designers to build elegance and usability into the product design and bring popular digital content to consumers’ fingertips anywhere in the home.”
Networks in the Home: Connected Consumer Electronics

Battle for the web explained (July 6)
There is an ongoing political battle in the USA over what’s called net neutrality, which will have an enormous impact on internet publishing in this country. This Washington Post article, sent by Benton, provides an overview:
From Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley, it's become one of the most controversial and confusing topics to hit the tech industry this year: network neutrality. The term is confusing, the ad campaigns have further clouded the issue, and it's no longer easy to tell who's for it and who's not. Whatever becomes of the concept could affect what you pay for connectivity, the sites you'll have access to and the types of services (think video, music and Internet phone offerings) you'll be able to use. Net neutrality is the push to prohibit a pay-for-speed Internet pricing structure that the cable and phone companies -- those that provide high-speed Internet connections -- have proposed. To better understand it all, go back to the old "information superhighway" analogy, where the phone and cable lines that connect your computer to the Web are the on-ramps to that highway. Should the companies who built those on-ramps -- Verizon Communications Inc and Comcast Corp in the Washington region -- be allowed to impose a toll system that charges Web companies such as Google Inc a higher fee to reach your computer faster than its competitors, such as Yahoo Inc? Is that the essence of a free-market system? Or is it one that creates inequality on a road that should have no tolls at all? The jury -- in this case, Congress -- is still out.
Washington Post home; Story (requires registration)
Ed’s note: There are many more pieces on this issue available via our Benton media news service pages.

Minister moves against Big Brother (July 5)
Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan has this afternoon signaled that her office is moving to clamp down on lab rat TV – specifically Channel 10’s Big Brother – and is threatening to review the ratings system applied to such shows.
The media announcement says, in part: The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will be directed to undertake a detailed review of the free to air television code of practice and legislation will be introduced into Parliament to extend content regulation to video streamed on the Internet, Minister for Communications, Information and the Arts Senator the Hon Helen Coonan said today.
The decision comes after an assessment from ACMA of the much publicised incident on the set of Channel 10’s “Big Brother” programme which was streamed live over the Internet at about 4.30am on Saturday 1 July 2006.
ACMA’s assessment noted that because the material had not been broadcast by Channel Ten on television, the standards applying to free to air broadcasts do not apply.
 “A number of other websites and media outlets had subsequently made footage of the incident on the Big Brother set available for viewing,” Senator Coonan said.
“However, I am advised that the material was subsequently removed from those websites after I wrote to the relevant news outlets asking that the material be taken down.
 “This matter has reinforced the need for changes to the Act to ensure that these new services being offered over the internet and mobile devices are subject to the same content restrictions that apply to television broadcasts.”
Full media release

Big Brother and the irony of war (July 5)
If you’re in publishing or broadcasting, brace yourself. We’re starting to feel the chills winds of neo-conservative censorship, as evidenced by the recent Big Brother episurd. It’s all too reminiscent of what’s been happening in the USA of late...see our Ed's blog at Spin City.

Newsagent wants a share of the classified pie (July 5)
Melbourne-based Mark Fletcher (pictured), who owns a newsagency and a software company, is planning to take on the classified advertising market – he hopes with the aid of newsagents – with a new website called Find It.
Newsagents will retail vouchers for ad space and collect a commission. This is reminiscent of days gone by, when they used to sell classified ad space for newspapers – before direct telephone sales took over.
Fletcher writes, on a page addressed to newsagency owners: “How many copies of the Trading Post did you sell between January and May this year compared to 2005 and 2004?
“If your newsagency is like many others, sales of the Trading Post are down 25 per cent to 30 per cent year on year. This is just one example of how online advertising is affecting newsagencies.
“Newspaper publishers will tell you that they see a bright future for newspapers. Their actions tell a different story. Why else would Fairfax invest $650 million in a New Zealand online advertising business? Why else would News Corp. invest more than $1.5 billion in online businesses since April 2005?
“Newspaper publishers are smart. Their old business model was based on classified advertising revenue, called the 'rivers of gold'. Since mid 2005 newspaper publishers have scrambled to move their reliance from their print product to online. It’s an appropriate strategy and absolutely necessary to grow shareholder value.
“Newsagents are not part of this online story. Nor are newsagents part of the Telstra owned Trading Post and Yellow Pages story. Nor are we part of the eBay story. eBay is the new 'rivers of gold' in classified advertising.
“Newsagents do not have an online strategy. Until now.
“Find It is a new online classified advertising website. It will carry advertising for employment, real-estate, vehicles, businesses, general merchandise, personals and many different community notices. More than half all advertising on Find It will be free.
“Find It newsagents will sell prepaid advertising vouchers (where people buy the voucher before placing the ad) and post paid vouchers (they buy the voucher after placing the ad). Vouchers are electronic and loaded direct from our website in seconds.”
The publishing model is pure classifieds with little or no editorial, similar to the Sensis-owned Trading Post business. Their closest online predecessor is Craig’s List in San Francisco, which started around 11 years ago and has grown into a significant local player.
Find It; Trading Post; Craig’s List

Why did the ABC board stall Jonestown? (July 4)
From the ABC’s Media Watch: Last week the ABC announced that it would not publish Jonestown -- the long awaited biography of powerful broadcaster Alan Jones.
The author is the distinguished Four Corners reporter Chris Masters, who's spent four years scouring the life and times of the controversial Sydney broadcaster. ABC Enterprises commissioned Masters to write the book -- but on Thursday afternoon they rang him to say that they were dropping the project…
Full story

Write by numbers (July 4)
From American Journalism Review: Television has always relied on ratings to know what people are watching. Now newspapers can get statistics showing which stories on their Web sites attract the most attention. Will those numbers heighten the tabloidization of America's newspapers?
Full story

China may fine news media for unauthorized news (July 4)
From the New York Times, via Benton: Chinese media outlets will be fined if they report on "sudden events" without prior authorization from government officials, under a draft law being considered by the Communist Party-controlled legislature. The law would give government officials a powerful new tool to restrict coverage of mass outbreaks of disease, riots, strikes, accidents and other events that the authorities prefer to keep secret. Officials in charge of propaganda already exercise considerable sway over the Chinese news media, but their power tends to be informal, not codified in law. More than 100 million Chinese have access to the Internet, and hundreds of commercially driven newspapers, magazines and television stations provide a much wider selection of news and information than was available in the past. But Chinese authorities have sought fresh ways to curtail reporting on topics they consider harmful to social and political stability.
New York Times home; NYT story; Washington Post story; Benton media news

Big does not always equal better (July 4)
From TheStreet.com, via Benton: Newspapers and local TV stations aren't necessarily a match made in heaven, big media companies are learning. A number of big newspaper outfits bought into the TV business in a bid to reap supposed advertising synergies. But while some operators have succeeded -- EW Scripps and Belo come to mind -- such cases are proving to be the exception, not the rule. Hard-won experience shows both the paper and the TV station must be market leaders for the owner to enjoy the benefits of cross-ownership. Newspaper companies that don't enjoy significant efficiencies from local TV assets might be smart to sell some stations.
The Street home; Story

Multicasting heads for the web (July 4)
From Multichannel.com via Benton: When television stations owned by NBC, CBS and other broadcasters first began transmitting digital-TV signals in 1998, the concept of "multicasting" -- squeezing up to four networks into space previously occupied by a single analog channel -- seemed like it could revolutionize the TV business...Rather than repeats of 24 or Desperate Housewives showing up on multicast channels, ABC, Fox, NBC and CBS have turned to platforms such as Apple Computer Inc's iTunes Music Store and their own Web sites in fresher bids to drive new subscription ($1.99 downloads) and ad revenue.
Multichannel story

UK trials live phone download (July 3)
The UK is the first country in the world to trial a scheme where people can download music instantly as they hear it on digital radio-equipped phones. Due for trials at the end of this month, the service will cut the PC out of the music download loop.
Billed as the next big alternative to iPods and Apple Music, the system is being backed by UBC Media and trialed on the Chrysalis Group Heart FM station, based in the midlands. UBC plans to have a broader national roll-out in place by the end of the year.
The business rides on the back of the emergence of mobile phones with built-in digital radios, which one manufacturer (Samsung) predicts will reach 500,000 in number in the UK market alone over 18 months and over 10 million in a decade.
UBC plans to charge 1.25 UK pounds (Au$3.00) per song, a premium over the 79 pence (Au$1.95) charged by Apple. The company believes a premium for the mobile service will be accepted and that its turn-over will reach 95 million pounds (Au$235 million) by 2012
Links: UBC Media, Chrysalis, Heart FM.  

Revenge of the corporate blog (July 3)
And just to show that blogging is far from being the preserve of the angry or desperate private citizen, communications giant Telstra is using its staff blogs to hit back at what it sees as poor media practice.
The company’s Sensis phone directory business was recently in the sights of the Perth edition of current affairs show Today Tonight. Telstra’s General Manager of News Services, Andrew Maiden, has revealed a fax which he says was received from Channel 7, outlining some dodgy practices. It was originally intended for disgruntled Sensis customer Bruce Williams, who was to be interviewed for the show.
He writes: Should a journalist coach someone who agrees to be interviewed? I've obtained an extraordinary fax from Today Tonight (click this link, GIF -- 68KB) that appears to do just that. It's a fax the Channel 7 show sent to a businessman who agreed to be interviewed about an advertisement in the Yellow Pages, which he says was bungled.
The fax proposes the questions to be asked. The author says "here's a list of the kind of questions I'm asking [a television crew] to ask you". But worse, it tells the businessman what words "you can say". It suggests the man accuse Sensis of "blackmailing" him. It suggests answers to questions about how the customer felt, the effect the alleged error had on his business, the reaction from Sensis, and his attempts to resolve the problem. It even finishes with a short statement the author presumably wishes the interviewee to use.
In court, lawyers cannot coach witnesses. In the media, viewers expect answers to reflect the subject's opinions, not the imposed views of a producer or reporter. Take a look at this amazing document and Journalists' code of ethics (Media Alliance).
Link to Maiden's blog

Portrait of a blogger (July 3)
HeraldToday.com, in the USA, has done a word portrait of its local bloggers, which provides some interesting insights into this form of publishing.
The story says, in part: Joey Marchy, who launched his blog, Urban Jacksonville, last June, got pretty fired up about the role bloggers now play in the dissemination of news when, in early April, he posted his "Urban Manifesto:"
"This city needs to wake up and realize that WE ARE THE NEW MEDIA," he wrote. "WE the bloggers of Jacksonville, WE the people who post comments on message boards and more so, we members of this community have a right to expose what is going on behind the curtain. I am talking about all of us, the citizens of this community. We have a right to report, publish and comment on any story that is news to us."
See this link

Big Brother screening for police (July 2)
Channel 10’s Big Brother franchise has taken yet another blow, this time due to allegations of sexual assault. Queensland police have been given footage to review the incident, which has resulted in two participants being ejected.
The lab rat TV program has had a traumatic run this season, and producers have proven surprisingly sensitive to criticism from federal parliament, dumping its more risque offerings as a result.
Communications Minister Helen Coonan was quick to respond to the latest incident, putting out a media release today, which said: The Minister has also sought an urgent assessment of the issue and possible breaches of the television code of conduct from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the regulator of television content.
“I have spoken with the Chairman of ACMA this morning and he will be providing an urgent assessment about possible breaches of codes of conduct relating to television content,” said Coonan.
It is understood that footage of the alleged incident was not broadcast on television but was streamed via the Internet to an unspecified audience who logged on in the early morning of Saturday.
“I have sought and obtained an undertaking from Channel 10 that they will not broadcast or promote this incident. I will ensure ACMA also investigates any breaches of the regulations,” the Minister said.
The production company in charge of the show, Endemol, is not commenting other than saying it evicted two participants for breaching the rules.
Big Brother web

Plus…
Meanwhile an arts writer at The Guardian newspaper, Gordon Burn, in the UK has seen a parallel between his local version of Big Brother and paintings by Francis Bacon. He writes in a piece called The Human Zoo: Ugly, obscene and terrifying -- the grotesque figures in Francis Bacon's paintings disturbingly evoke the claustrophobia and voyeurism of Big Brother. See this link.

Is a free press unpatriotic? (July 1)
The New York Times is feeling somewhat wounded after being hammered by politicians and other media for leaking the content of sensitive government documents.
Its editorial team writes: Over the last year, The New York Times has twice published reports about secret antiterrorism programs being run by the Bush administration. Both times, critics have claimed that the paper was being unpatriotic or even aiding the terrorists. Some have even suggested that it should be indicted under the Espionage Act. There have been a handful of times in American history when the government has indeed tried to prosecute journalists for publishing things it preferred to keep quiet. None of them turned out well -- from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the time when the government tried to enjoin The Times and The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers. The United States will soon be marking the fifth anniversary of the war on terror. The country is in this for the long haul, and the fight has to be coupled with a commitment to individual liberties that define America's side in the battle. A half-century ago, the country endured a long period of amorphous, global vigilance against an enemy who was suspected of boring from within, and history suggests that under those conditions, it is easy to err on the side of security and secrecy. The free press has a central place in the Constitution because it can provide information the public needs to make things right again. Even if it runs the risk of being labeled unpatriotic in the process.
Full story; Washington Post commentary.

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Movers & shakers
See our selection of speeches & papers on media issues... click

Spin City
The Editor's occasional blog… click