Our other mags
Main Guidomedia index

Media trends digest – June 2007

Herald Sun contempt case gets weird(er) (June 28)
ABC: Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock is urging the Victorian Government to pardon two News Limited journalists who were convicted of contempt of court this week.
But the Victorian Government says Mr Ruddock's push is "extraordinary" given the Federal Government had pushed for their prosecution in the first place.
And the Australian Press Council agrees, saying that if the Federal Government had been less secretive, the case would never have come to court.
Full story

On whistleblowers…
"This man (Allan Kessing –- former Customs employee who raised the alarm on airport security) should be feted. They should be throwing rose petals at him," says John Hartigan, chairman and chief executive of News Limited, publisher of The Australian.
Full story
Australian Press Council shield laws resource page

Kids TV up for review
ACMA:  The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released an issues paper as part of its review of the Children’s Television Standards on free-to-air commercial television. ACMA invites public comment on its Children’s Television Standards Review Issues Paper by 17 August, 2007.
“ACMA is reviewing the Children’s Television Standards, given that they have not been reviewed for some time,” said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman. “We recognise that television content standards—such as the Children’s Television Standards —will need to be comprehensively reviewed over the coming years as the media landscape changes but consider that useful improvements can be made to aspects of the standards now.”
Full release

Kid TV audience is shrinking – ACMA
Despite what you may think, kids are not necessarily watching more TV, according to a recent ACMA report. However the numbers may need further analysis, as potential audience sizes are not immediately obvious. Here are a few highlights:
· Children aged 0–14 comprise 20% of the Australian population. As a result,  they represent a relatively small percentage of the total potential viewing audience for  television.  
· From 2001 to June 2006, the average size of the 0–14 free-to-air audience decreased by 24.6%, from 281,000 in 2001 to 212,000 by June 2006.  
· Over the same period, the average size of the 0–14 audience for commercial television decreased by 25.5%, from 216,000 in 2001 to 161,000 by June 2006.  
· The decrease from 2001 to 2006 was less among younger children, with the average size of 0–4 free to air audience decreasing by 17% and the average size of the 0–4 commercial television audience decreasing by 20%.
ACMA issues paper site

Parkinson to quit
BBC: Veteran broadcaster Michael Parkinson has called time on his distinguished career as a TV chat show host.
"After 25 years of doing my talk show, I have decided that this forthcoming series will be my last," he announced.
The 72-year-old said he still planned to work in TV but intended to take next year off "to write my autobiography and consider other television projects".
Full story

Headline of the week
The Liberation of Paris – Channel 10 news, Paris Hilton released from jail.

Speaking of which…
Slate.com: There is a huge trapdoor waiting to open under anyone who is critical of so-called "popular culture" or (to redefine this subject) anyone who is uneasy about the systematic, massified cretinization of the major media. If you denounce the excess coverage, you are yourself adding to the excess. If you show even a slight knowledge of the topic, you betray an interest in something that you wish to denounce as unimportant or irrelevant. Some writers try to have this both ways…
Full story

Google can be evil
Online Publishers Association (OPA): Is "do no evil" Google going to the dark side? Or as a News.com report was headlined recently, "Are Google's moves creeping you out?" Google Street View, for instance, has spied on workers playing hooky, while the search engine retains logs on billions of searches by individuals. Privacy International piled on the paranoia by ranking Google dead last out of 20 popular Internet firms as being "hostile" to helping protect people's privacy. Google defended its practices and called the report wrong-headed, and even took the step of lowering the time of data retention to 18 months before anonymizing it, to please EU regulators. Now the EU says it will be looking into data retention policies at Google's search rivals as well. Google is pushing for more consistent privacy laws around the world so it doesn't have to release personal data to governments that request it. Nicole Wong, Google's deputy general counsel, said the problem is that the pace of technological change is faster now, and social norms can't keep up.

Plus…
Along with nagging privacy issues, Google also was dealt a blow when eBay decided to pull all its ads off of Google's system after the search giant tried to lure eBay users to a pirate party during the eBay Live users conference. eBay is one of the largest advertisers on Google's network, but still only represented $25 million in ad sales per year. After eBay pulled the ads, Google decided not to have the party at eBay Live to promote its Checkout service (a competitor to eBay's PayPal). Did pulling the ads from Google and moving them to Yahoo and MSN hurt eBay's traffic? Nope, traffic actually went up for eBay in the week after pulling ads. "It's the very first time a major advertiser has stood up to Google and Google has backed down," Jupiter analyst Kevin Heisler told the NY Post. "I think the most dangerous message it sends is that other top advertisers may decide to follow eBay's lead."
Online Publishers Association

Is the Jesus Phone any good?
OPA: When Apple first announced its iPhone (released in the USA on June 29 – Ed), combining the iPod and a smartphone in one divine device, Apple fans quickly dubbed it the "Jesus phone”. It was behind a glass case, and people lined up for a chance to photograph it. Now, finally, the hype will meet reality when the iPhone goes on sale June 29, and we see whether Apple can reinvigorate mobile content the way it boosted digital music. IDC found that 60% of people surveyed were interested in the phone, but only 10% were willing to pay full price and sign a two-year contract with AT&T. Wired reported that third-party developers were upset when Apple said they would have to develop applications for it through Safari. Others dinged the device for being tied to the AT&T network, with its slow broadband speeds and expensive access price, and noted the failure of convergence devices in the past. "What convergence device has been a big success? Not many, although there have been a lot of convergence failures," wrote marketer Al Ries in AdAge.
Microsoft slams iPhone as irrelevant -- ZDNet
Why the iPhone Will Fail -- AdAge

Online ad boom is long-term
OPA: Three research firms looked into their crystal balls and projected that online advertising revenues will continue to outgrow other forms of ads globally and in the US. PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Media and Entertainment Outlook predicted that the US would remain the largest online ad market, bringing in $35.4 billion by 2011, though China would have more Net users by 2009 than the US Globally, PwC predicted online ad growth at an 18.3% annual rate, hitting $73 billion in '11, and making up 14% of all ads sold. Out of all the countries studied, Canada took the surprising honor of having the highest annual growth rate for online ads for the next five years, at 23.5%, outdoing the U.S. rate of 16.1%. Meanwhile, Jupiter piled on, predicting US online advertising would nearly double from $19.9 billion in '07 to $35.4 billion by 2012.
Finally, IDC predicted US Net ads would jump from $16.9 billion in 2006 to $31.3 billion in 2011, with an annual rate of growth at 13.5%. IDC made waves by saying search advertising would lose share from 40% of all online ads in '06 to 32% by 2011 as video ads proliferate, creating a "strategic threat" to Google. Search Engine Land quashed that angle by noting that Google would be much less dependent on search ads by 2011, with its push into display ads via DoubleClick and video ads on YouTube. "The [IDC] release identifies this anticipated shift as a 'strategic challenge' to Google," writes Search Engine Land's Greg Sterling. "While that characterization is attention-getting, the reality is not as dramatic."
PwC media outlook

Ad focus is not just the last click
OPA: Everyone who tracks online ad performance is obsessed with click-through rates and conversions but very few people actually take into account how many ad impressions a person viewed before making that last click. Atlas Institute recently highlighted how effective ads can be when they're seen over multiple sites. In a recent study, Atlas found that consumers who saw an ad across multiple publishers were twice as likely to convert as consumers who saw the ad on one publisher. Plus, two-thirds of people who clicked on ads had seen the same ads on other sites. The research firm concluded that search ads get more credit than they should from marketers.
"Search is getting more credit than it deserves -- that's because if you go upstream from those clicks, a lot of users have been to the advertiser website before because they've been exposed to other advertising," Atlas exec Young Bean-Song told AdWeek. Does that mean Google and other search engines might take a hit? Not exactly, said BusinessWeek's Rob Hof. "Atlas released a study in the same vein last July, but clearly that hasn't slowed search advertising down," Hof wrote. "Search ads are still seen as far more measurable in terms of their impact than banner ads. So whether this one will sway advertisers remains up in the air."
Atlas study

Fading promise of the information revolution
ABC: Dr Barry Jones says the appalling killings at Virginia Tech last April are obvious by-products of the information revolution…
Through Google and other powerful search engines we have instant access to what would have seemed like unimaginable richness to earlier generations -- but I doubt if the promise has been delivered.
Paradoxically, the age of the information revolution, should have been an instrument of personal liberation and an explosion of creativity.
But it has been characterised by domination of public policy by managerialism…
Full story

Citizen journalism battles the Chinese censors
ABC: Reporters Without Borders says the Chinese Government finds ways of blocking or censoring content -- including the website of the press freedom group itself.
In the strictly controlled media world of China, citizen journalism is beating a way through censorship, breaking taboos and offering a pressure valve for social tensions.
In one striking example this month, the Internet was largely responsible for breaking open a slave scandal in two Chinese provinces that some local authorities had been complicit in.
Full story
Reporters Without Borders

US search rankings (26 June)
901am, USA: Comscore released its monthly qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines. In May 2007, Google Sites captured 50.7 percent of the US search market, gaining one full share point from the previous month. Yahoo! Sites maintained its second place ranking with 26.4 percent of US searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (10.3 percent), Ask Network (5.0 percent) and Time Warner Network (4.6 percent).
Google Sites led the pack with 3.9 billion search queries performed, followed by Yahoo Sites (2.0 billion), Microsoft Sites (782 million), Ask Network (384 million), and Time Warner Network (348 million).
Americans conducted 7.6 billion searches online in May, up 4 versus April and up 11 percent versus May 2006.
Comscore
901am

Jerry’s Emmy
Its Jerry Time, a semi-autobiagraphical video blog, recently took home a gold Emmy. It’s well worth a look.
It’s Jerry Time

In contempt but not in gaol
Herald Sun newspaper journalists Michael Harvey and Gerard McManus have been spared a jail term for contempt of court.
The senior political reporters were convicted and fined $7000 each for refusing to answer questions in court about a source of a newspaper report written by the pair in 2004.
Chief Judge Michael Rozenes said despite upholding a professional code of ethics to protect their sources, journalists were not immune to criminal charges.
Full story

Plus…
County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes expressed confusion over the Federal Government’s contradictory approach to the case: "It seemed to me that the Commonwealth was suffering from a serious case of schizophrenia," he said.
"On the one hand the Commonwealth, whilst prosecuting Mr Kelly, was very much interested in them giving evidence for the prosecution.
"So too when the question of contempt arose, the Commonwealth assisted the court with respect to the laying of charges against the defendants and the prosecution of them.
"Finally the Commonwealth wearing yet another hat appeared on the hearing of the contempt charges to mitigate on behalf of the defendants."
More from the Herald Sun newspaper

Also... Suspended sentence for whistleblower
ABC News: A former Customs official who leaked classified reports on security at Sydney Airport has been spared jail.
Allan Robert Kessing, 59, faced a maximum of two years' jail after he was found guilty of leaking two internal customs reports to The Australian newspaper in May 2005.
Link

Golden Tonsils retires
Southern Cross Broadcasting legend John “Golden Tonsils” Laws announced his retirement on 25 June, 2007, after 54 years on the Australian air-waves.
The 2UE broadcaster said, “Radio has been my life. It is the second great love of my life after my family. I thank all of my listeners for being with me throughout my career and I will miss them desperately when I finish at the end of the year”.
Tony Bell, Managing Director of Southern Cross Broadcasting said, “John Laws has been the undisputed king of radio in Australia over the last 54 years, entertaining more people than any other broadcaster in the country’s history.
Laws’ recent career has suffered considerable controversy. In 2004 he was embroiled in a cash for comment scandal, accused of accepting money from companies in return for positive editorial coverage.
A more recent issue was his subsequent negotiation of a $4 million annual fee from his host station –- an industry high which many observers regarded as difficult to justify.
Laws’ ratings in his home market, Sydney, have not been strong in recent years and the share price of Southern Cross rose a little on the news of his planned retirement.
His show is syndicated to 71 stations nationwide, giving him an extraordinarily broad reach and, despite soft ratings in recent years, he is widely regarded as being very influential.
In the lead-up to a federal election, politicians were tripping over each other to pay tribute. Perhaps the most fulsome was from Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan. (You can read the release here, though we warn you it isn’t for the squeamish -- Ed.)
John Laws 2UE home page
Mark Day feature in The Australian
Enough Rope interview with Andrew Denton, 2004

The grim reaper view of newspapers
From Follow the Media (USA): If there is one newspaper in the US that stands out amongst all the rest for having to fight before anyone else the flight of classified advertising to the Internet it must be the San Francisco Chronicle, for it is in that city by the bay that Craigslist first got its start, and the financial hemorrhaging throughout the industry from that continues to this day. The Hearst-owned newspaper, which operates one of the most successful newspaper web sites in the country, has been losing some $60 million a year since 2000 and is anyone out there calling that just “cyclical”?
Full story

Kelly gang becomes part of world memory (21 June)
The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) has announced that Australia's earliest feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), has been added to the international register of UNESCO's Memory of the World.
Established in 1997, the prestigious Memory of the World Register formally acknowledges historical heritage of world significance, such as the Gutenberg bible and Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
Charles Tait's production The Story of the Kelly Gang, recently restored by the NFSA, joins other film classics such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1926), Luis Buñuel's Los olvidados (1950) and the first films by the Lumière brothers (1895) in UNESCO's list of cinematic treasures of the 20th century.
Other Australian entries in the Memory of the World Register include the Endeavour journal of Captain James Cook and the Mabo case manuscript.
Claimed to be the first feature length film to be produced anywhere in the world, The Story of the Kelly Gang is one of the most significant early cinema productions still in existence. While only fragments of the fragile nitrate film stock have survived, the NFSA has been able to restore almost 17 minutes of footage that provide a clear sense of the form, style and experience of the extensive production.
More
Memory of the World

Ludicrous banner of the week
And the prize goes to the Herald-Sun website for its Confidential section...see our Spin City editorial page.

Employment ad of the week
Do you enjoy long showers, gardening or being able to wash the car whenever you want?
Well here in Mount Isa we have the water to do it and we are looking for an experienced journalist/sub-editor. Link
Also, see our jobs page

Parenting moves online
Numbers released by Nielsen/Netratings  suggest that online parenting magazines have comprehensively overtaken their print equivalents.
Kidspot.com.au is tracking at 236,000 unique browsers, while EssentialBaby.com.au is registering 153,000 per month and was bought in January by Fairfax for an estimated $4 million.
Kidspot publisher Katie May told The Australian today that while she still reads magazines, she feels her audience wants more immediate access to information and enjoys the networking opportunities offered by a website.
Print mag Mother & Baby (EMAP) is scoring a Morgan Readership figure of 146,000, and Practical Parenting (Time Inc) 116,000.

US parents control children’s media – survey
Parents say they are getting control of their own children’s exposure to sex and violence in the media, but they remain concerned about inappropriate content in the media more broadly, according to a new national survey of parents released today (19 June) by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Sixty-five per cent of parents say they “closely” monitor their children’s media use, while just 18% say they “should do more.” This may help to explain why since 1998 the proportion of parents who say they are “very” concerned that their own children are exposed to inappropriate content – while still high – has dropped, from 67% to 51% for sexual content, from 62% to 46% for violence, and from 59% to 41% for adult language.
Parents are particularly confident in monitoring their children’s online activities. Nearly three out of four parents (73%) say they know “a lot” about what their kids are doing online (among all parents with children 9 or older who use the Internet at home). Most parents whose children engage in these activities say they check their children’s Instant Messaging (IM) “buddy lists” (87%), review their children’s profiles on social networking sites (82%), and look to see what websites they’ve visited (76%) after they’ve gone online.
Full release

Business will be the sharp end of the money wedge
Business reporting will be the sharp end of the wedge for newspaper publishers wanting to charge for the news they currently offer online for free, according to a report in today’s media section in The Australian newspaper.
Full story

Commercial news dumbed down & tarted up
Opinion – USA: The media firestorm following Dan Rather's remark -- that network executives had tried to boost ratings by "dumbing (CBS Evening News) down and tarting it up" -- illustrates the very point Rather was trying to make about the degradation of the mainstream, corporate news biz and the obliteration of the line between news and entertainment.
As another CBS alum, Walter Cronkite, recently said, that the pressure for profits is "threatening the very freedom the nation was built upon." And in a recent New York Times op-ed, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps warned of "pressure from media conglomerates" that has made licensing renewals for the free use of the public airwaves a virtual "rubber-stamp" every eight years. He contrasts this with a past when every three years the requirement that networks serve the public interest was given "a hard look" – prior to "deregulatory mania in the 1980's." We desperately need a news media that raises the tough questions, acts as watchdogs of the public interest, questions authority--performs the basic duties required of a free press in a democracy.
A flawed media leads to a flawed democracy. And in these past six or so years, with some notable exceptions, the media has been too easily intimidated by an administration that used fear to make its case for war, labeled its critics un-American, quashed dissent, perverted the meaning of patriotism and brazenly -- on all fronts -- subverted the Constitution. It ain't about Dan, and it ain't about Katie. It's about consolidation, conglomeration, and the impact on the Fourth Estate and our democracy.
Full story at TheNation.com

ABC develops trauma program
ABC News has developed what it says is a ground-breaking program to prepare journalists and crews for covering potentially traumatic events.
The ABC's Trauma Awareness Program was developed in collaboration with the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
In developing the courses, Heather Forbes from ABC News said she was conscious that journalists and crews work in a demanding environment of deadline pressures and high levels of responsibility.
"Almost by definition news is about change, fast-paced events, confrontation and sometimes conflict," Ms Forbes said. "Some stories, such as war, road crashes, crime, violence, bushfires and other natural disasters may be especially stressful and traumatic."
Full media release

Plus…
From the ABC News bunker: ABC News Online has a new look. We haven't just changed a few colours and moved our navigation - this redesign represents a seismic shift in our relationship with our audience.
It's a recognition that many online news consumers are no longer satisfied with the traditional passive relationship with news providers. Instead, we are asking you to enter into a partnership with us -- with interaction at its heart.
Link

New broadband plan
From the Communications Minister’s bunker: “Fast affordable broadband access will become a reality for all Australians under a landmark funding and legislative initiative announced by the Australian Government called Australia Connected,” the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Hon Helen Coonan said today.
“The Australian Government will ensure 99 per cent of the population has access to fast affordable broadband by June 2009,” Senator Coonan said.
“ Australia has now entered into a whole new broadband era with speeds 20 to 40 times faster than those used by most consumers today, with the first Australia Connected broadband network services to be switched on immediately,” Senator Coonan said.
“Australia Connected will provide 12 megabit per second broadband services to quite literally thousands of rural and regional communities including icon townships such as Birdsville, Bedourie and Windorah and builds on the Government’s success to date that has seen more than 4.3 million homes and small businesses connected to broadband across Australia,” Senator Coonan said.
Full release

Plus…
Telstra is unimpressed at missing out on the regional contract. It’s Now We Are Talking blog says: By giving nearly $1 billion of taxpayers’ money to the Singapore Government owned SingTel Optus, the Howard Government has sent the clearest possible signal that it places no value whatsoever in the hard work of the thousands of Australians who have built and operated the networks that are so essential to people living in rural and regional Australia.
Full story

Broadband opinion pieces from The Age newspaper: Phil Burgess (Telstra), Kevin Morgan (consultant)

News Corp considers Yahoo deal
From The Times: News Corporation has discussed swapping MySpace, its internet social networking unit, with Yahoo! in return for a 30 per cent stake in the enlarged group.
News is interested in a deal even if it means losing some control of MySpace because it would give the media group exposure to a far larger internet-based business.
Other News Corp digital assets, including the games network IGN, bought in 2005 for US$650 million (£326 million), are also thought to have been offered to Yahoo!.
Full story

Second Life music fest
Proof that virtual world Second Life is getting more like the real thing every day, is this announcement from The Guardian newspaper, spruiking its sponsorship of a three-day music festival inside the site:
Weekend after next, after the throngs have recovered from Glastonbury, The Guardian and Intel are hosting SecondFest inside virtual world Second Life, a three-day music and performance festival chokka block with big name real-life bands and in-world talent.
Headlining on the Main Stage are exclusive performances from Pet Shop Boys, New Young Pony Club, The Aliens and Hadouken, plus many others. On the Indie Stage are exclusive sets from Simian Mobile Disco, Hot Chip and Rob da Bank's Sunday Best. In the Dance Tents you can tune in to Gilles Peterson, Ninja Tunes and Journey Through the Light, and more. Secret stages host Ibiza-style chill out sets from Love Supreme and Sorcerer, among the rest.
Full story
Second Life

Masters of the irritating phrase
(UK Telegraph) Eager to preserve the English language against a rising tide of nonsense, we asked readers to compose a piece of prose crammed with as many infuriating phrases as possible.
“I hear what you're saying but, with all due respect, it's not exactly rocket science. Basically, at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is you have got to be able to tick all the boxes. It's not the end of the world, but, to be perfectly honest with you, when push comes to shove, you don't want to be literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Going forward we need to be singing from the same songsheet but you can't see the wood from the trees. Naturally hindsight is 20/20 vision and you have to take the rough with the smooth before proceeding onwards and upwards. The bottom line is you wear your heart on your sleeve and, when all is said and done, this is all part and parcel of the ongoing bigger picture. C'est la vie (if you know what I mean).”
Nick Godfrey
Link

Is WIkipedia really evil?
From the Denver Post: Wikipedia, the people's encyclopedia, is a multilingual, million-entry fount of knowledge from Britney to Byzantium that has lately become the elitists' favorite whipping boy.
Unreliable, they say. Easily tampered with. Incoherent. Out of control. A demolition derby of ideologies, driven by reckless amateurs and cybergeeks with too much time on their hands.
And yet, when people take time to read the Wikipedia entries on subjects where they have some experience or expertise, they are often pleasantly surprised.
Full story

We know where you’ve been & where you’re going…
(Reuters, via Benton) Personal identity has taken on a new meaning in the digital age, where basic facts like your name, address or age are far less important to some people than the collected records of what
you were looking at online.
Technologies for monitoring and interpreting Internet habits as a predictor of future behaviour cropped up at the start of this century, but only now are gaining momentum as the newest gold mine for Web sites and their advertisers.
Known as behavioural targeting, the premise is to follow the sites you visit and build a picture of what products may interest you, then deliver related advertising in time for you to choose your purchase. US marketers will nearly double their spending on such advertising to $1 billion next year from $575 million in 2007, according to research firm eMarketer.
By 2011, behavioral targeting will surge to nearly $3.8 billion of online ads.
Industry executives say it's a boon to the consumer, who in an ideal world will only receive commercial messages that suit them personally, while enjoying online entertainment or information for free.
Full story

Google learns from Microsoft’s  mistakes
(Washington Post, via Benton) When it comes to lobbying, Google does not intend to repeat the mistake that its rival Microsoft made a decade ago. Microsoft was so disdainful of the federal government back then that it had almost no presence in Washington.
Largely because of that neglect, the company was blindsided by a government antitrust lawsuit that cost it dearly.
Mindful of that history, Google is rapidly building a substantial presence in Washington and using that firepower against Microsoft, among others. Google is reaching beyond Washington, as well.
To publicize its policy positions and develop grass-roots support, the company
introduced the Google Public Policy Blog this week (Ed’s note: Note the similar efforts by Telstra locally, with its Now we are talking blog). "We're seeking to do public policy advocacy in a Googley way," said Andrew McLaughlin, Google's director of public policy and government affairs.
"We want our users to be part of the effort."
In its first major policy assault on a competitor, Google's Washington office helped write an antitrust complaint to the Justice Department and other government authorities asserting that Microsoft's new Vista operating system discriminates against Google software.
Last night, under a compromise with federal and
state regulators, Microsoft agreed to make changes to Vista's operations.
Full story

MySpace a good business -- founder
From the BBC: MySpace defined the red-hot phenomenon of social networking. But is the site which introduced millions to socialising online losing its edge?
Not if you believe the co-founder and chief executive Chris de Wolfe. "We are clearly number one," he says.
But the competition is hotting up. In mid-June one rival Bebo unveiled a deal with Apple's iTunes while another, Facebook, has grabbed attention in recent weeks by opening up to a whole range of outside applications.
Full story, including video

Plus…
Fifteen years ago, the early pioneers who launched the world wide web were not aiming to make money.
But within a few years, the streets around Palo Alto, California, the home of Stanford University, were buzzing with venture capitalists and dot.com entrepreneurs.
Read this backgrounder here

Potter not for kids?
(June 14) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, film number five of the series and due for release on July 11, has been given an M rating, like its predecessor (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). However the first three in the series had PG ratings.
Distributor Village Roadshow has not argued the classification, saying the movie has some adult content. The rating means it is suitable for audiences 16 and over, without placing any sanctions on who can see it. If the trailer is any indication, it is somewhat darker and more hard-edged than previous editions.
Book seven, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is to be launched July 21 and there’s international betting on which two characters die. Could it be Potter himself?
Meanwhile Warner Brothers has announced it will build a Harry Potter theme park within its Universal Studios park at Orlando, California. It should open in 2009.
Order of the Phoenix website (look for the cinema trailer)

Big radio makes internet audience grab
After ceding ground (and potential advertising dollars) for years to an army of autonomous Internet radio stations, some of which are run from basements and spare bedrooms, the nation’s biggest broadcasters are now marching online, determined to corral the next generation of listeners.
The result may be a showdown to define the future of the medium. Confronted by a slow erosion of listeners who are turning to iPods, podcasts and other sources for entertainment, the radio corporations are trying to merge their over-the-air music and DJ chatter with the Web, adding online streams of their broadcasts and features already found on many independent Web-based stations.
These include live chat rooms, blogs and MySpace-style social networking features. All of this comes at an inopportune moment for small, Internet-based radio stations, which are facing a sharp increase in the royalties they must pay to record labels (and artists) for playing their music.
The online stations had previously paid a percentage of their revenue for music streamed to United States listeners, in effect ensuring that their costs would not exceed whatever sales they received.
But a federal panel, the Copyright Royalty Board, has set new rates effective July 15 that alter that structure so the Internet radio stations are charged a fee each time a user listens to a song.
Source: NY Times, via Benton

Suitcase OB spells the end of the van
From The Australian: Seven network is to test a new compact broadcasting system that could render outside broadcast vans obsolete in covering fast-breaking news stories.
The system, developed by Perth-based Balconi, is small enough to be carried on a helicopter or checked in as luggage on a commercial airline flight.
It features internet protocol technology similar to that in Voice over Internet Protocol phone systems, with stories delivered in high-quality Mpeg4 format via satellite.
Full story
Balconi site

Gormless reality
Opinion piece from The Age newspaper: So reality television had a new "moment" on Sunday night, as leggy underwear model and Big Brother housemate Emma deemed herself emotionally robust only hours after discovering her father had passed away and requested that she be allowed to "grieve in private" - after, you know, getting a free Hyundai Getz and answering some inane questions about who was the loudest snorer in front of an auditorium full of gaping onlookers.
Full story

TT investigators stung by their own sting
Private investigators doing the work of journalists while using entrapment techniques is back in the news, this time as a result of a court case over story done by Channel Seven’s Today Tonight.
See this story in The Australian

YouTube fuels & foils US pollie campaigns
For months, the presidential wannabes have been churning out serious, talking-to-the-camera videos for YouTube. So far, viewers prefer the spontaneous, unauthorized, less flattering fare.
Traffic on YouTube related to the 2008 presidential race spiked in March and April, largely on two unofficial, critical videos, one about Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, the other about Republican John McCain, according to a study of YouTube traffic by Nielsen/Net Ratings.
While overall viewership of political videos is relatively small, the clips are becoming increasingly important in the elongated 2008 presidential campaign cycle.
Lesser-known candidates are using YouTube as a low-cost method to get some attention, while the leading candidates are trying to avoid any embarrassing on-the-trail goofs that can be exploited by opponents or their supporters.
This early in the election cycle, it's hard to say that Internet volume at candidate Web sites is an indicator of ultimate success at the polls. If anything, the data show that the increasing attention being placed on the Internet by candidates is a double-edged sword, since they are getting the most attention online for video clips beyond their control.
Source: Wall Street Journal, via Benton

Money moving out of media
US ad spending -- at least the measured kind -- fell 0.3% in the January-to-March period, the first down quarter since the ad recovery began in 2002. But a drop in reported ad spending does not mean a drop in marketing spending.
That's because what marketers need isn't just measured media; it's measurable results. Budgets are gravitating from old-line measured media to an array of marketing-services -- digital, direct, customer relationship management -- that offers better tools to quantify results.
Marketing services includes some media offerings, such as online ads. But much of marketing services doesn't fit in the box of an ad to be sold. For companies in the business of selling media space and time, a shift to non-media forms of marketing poses a fundamental challenge.
Source: AdAge via Benton

50 most significant moments in Australian pop/rock
From Australian Musician magazine: Since the early sixties, Australia has produced some of the finest contemporary music in the world, and is often touted as being a testing ground for global music tastes and trends. But how did we get here? What were the events that shaped the Australian music industry as we know it today? We got together eight fairly music literate beings, placed them in a pub one night and wouldn't let them out until they decided upon the 50 most significant moments in Australian pop/rock history. Here are the results…
1 VANDA AND YOUNG Meet in migrant hostel
Had Harry Vanda and George Young not met in the Villawood migrant hostel in Sydney 1964, there would not have been an Easybeats as we know them, possibly no Stevie Wright solo career, certainly not the Albert productions that made AC/DC a huge success, and none of those classic Countdown songs by artists such as John Paul Young, William Shakespeare, Cheetah etc, as well as their own hits under the Flash and the Pan name.
2 COUNTDOWN Goes colour
3 MEN AT WORK Number one in USA and UK simultaneously
4 THE SAINTS I'm Stranded Record of the Week -- UK Sounds magazine
5 MIDNIGHT OIL'S Sydney Olympics protest
6 SKYHOOKS Release Living in the 70s with 6 songs banned
7 LEE GORDON Arrives in Australia (music promoter who brought in many big name acts)
8 MUSHROOM RECORDS The label legend begins
9 SILVERCHAIR All five albums go to number one
10 BIG DAY OUT Goes national
Full story

Widgets are hot
Widget sounds like something out of the industrial age, but it's now become the buzzword du jour for marketers in the online age: widgets. These mini-applications have been around for years, allowing people to put them on their computer desktop without visiting websites. But widgets got a big boost recently when social networking site Facebook decided to open up its interface so that programmers could build and distribute widgets there.
The music-recommendation service iLike (pictured) went from 1200 users to 400,000 in a day after Facebook's changeover, eventually passing 2 million users. Fortune's David Kirkpatrick was wowed by the new Facebook, saying it was taking a more open tack while rival MySpace was pickier about mini-apps.
PaidContent's Rafat Ali was less impressed: "Smart business moves, but not really earth- shattering as the [media] coverage would have you believe." Others jumping onto the widget bandwagon include Google with its Gears and Gadgets, and NBC Universal with portable web offerings tied to various news shows.
MediaWeek reported that NBCU teamed up with start-up Clearspring, which also helped create widgets for CBS and the NBA.
Also, newspaper giant Gannett recently launched Nimbus, a weather widget that includes expandable banner ads via PointRoll. ClickZ's Tessa Wegert thinks advertisers will take a shine to widgets, and envisions the possibility that an insurance company could run a targeted campaign through Nimbus when a storm system is passing through the user's area. She notes that Google is testing Google Gadget ads, and that eventually advertisers will be able to deliver their own widgets to Google's content network via AdWords.
Facebook and the wonder of widgets –Telegraph.co.uk
Web widgets explained – Wikipedia

Media demands too much – Blair
Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair says the demands of the media on public figures are far too great.
He said, in a recent speech: I am going to say something that few people in public life will say, but most know is absolutely true: a vast aspect of our jobs today - outside of the really major decisions, as big as anything else - is coping with the media, its sheer scale, weight and constant hyperactivity. At points, it literally overwhelms.
“Talk to senior people in virtually any walk of life today -- business, military, public services, sport, even charities and voluntary organisations and they will tell you the same. People don't speak about it because, in the main, they are afraid to. But it is true, nonetheless, and those who have been around long enough, will also say it has changed significantly in the past years.” (Pic: 10 Downing Street)
Full text (PDF)

AFL monsters fanzine
The Age newspaper has reported that the Australian Football League (AFL) has monstered an online Richmond Football Club fanzine for showing video clips of games. The site, puntrooadend.com (pictured), is run by about 50 enthusiasts and has no formal ties with the club it follows or the AFL..
It recently received a threatening letter, demanding the site remove any TV footage, on the grounds that it impinged on the rights of the official web broadcaster, Telstra.
Though the offending material has been removed from the site, a spokesperson, Rosy, told the newspaper that they felt they may have a legal right to run the material under existing copyright law. This allows limited use of such material for the purposes of discussion and review.
But, Rosy told The Age, “There’s no way I  can afford the legal costs of fighting the AFL and Telstra.”
The latter company paid $60 million for  the web rights to AFL games, though its site has been widely criticized for being slow and unreliable.
The Age newspaper

Australian newspaper too right wing
Clive Hamilton of The Australia Institute has written a feature for New Matilda magazine lambasting The Australian newspaper for what he describes as its overt right-wing politics.
Last month, to considerable fanfare, Australia’s major media organisations launched an organisation called Australia’s Right to Know as part of a campaign to remove restrictions on free speech. It has mainly targeted restrictions on the use of Freedom of Information laws and a clamp-down on journalists reporting confidential government information.
The campaign was initiated by News Limited and includes Fairfax Media, the ABC, SBS, Australian Associated Press, as well as owners of commercial radio and television. It’s an admirable effort to counter the growing restrictions on access to information in government and the loss of accountability that is the counterpart of public ignorance.
However, there is a glaring contradiction in this campaign, and that is the prominent participation of The Australian newspaper. Of course, every news organisation wants access to more government information, but in recent years no news organisation in Australia has done more to attempt to silence critics and independent voices in public debate. (Many bloggers immediately pointed out the hypocrisy of The Australian calling for free speech while having a history of reproducing uncritically lies told by the Howard Government.)
The role of the Murdoch broadsheet is referred to several times in the recent book edited by myself and Sarah Maddison titled Silencing Dissent. (Read an edited extract about tracking down leakers here.) For example, The Australian has barracked for and supported the appointment of Right-wing cultural warriors to the Board of the ABC and has published material attacking the personal reputations of academics critical of the Howard Government. Other News Ltd publications have been central to the Government’s vengeance against its critics…
Full article at New Matilda
The Australia Institute
The Australian editorials: 11 June; 14 June

Internet advertising booms
(June 7) From Feedblitz: The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that Internet advertising revenues reached a new record of US$4.9 billion for the first quarter of 2007. The 2007 first quarter revenues represent a 26% increase over Q1 2006 at $3.8 billion and a 2% increase over Q4 2006 at $4.8 billion.
“The continued growth of online ad revenues clearly illustrates marketers’ increased comfort with the extraordinary vitality and accountability of this medium,” said IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg. “It reaches consumers with an unprecedented level of efficiency and measurability that provides marketers with actionable data. And the ever-changing landscape of new platforms and technologies that enrich interactive advertising guarantees that this growth trend will continue.”
“The recent results are particularly impressive when the size of the advertising revenue base is taken into account,” said Peter Petrusky, director, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Given these results, we may expect continued strong revenue growth buoyed by an expanding broadband subscriber base, which could translate into more users spending more time online and offers a platform for rich media and video ads that dial-up connections can’t render.”

PBL boss no Packer
Adrian MacKenzie, a 36-year-old Scotsman, is the man who now controls the purse strings at Australia's second biggest media empire. He says he is not the new James Packer and will operate as an institutional investor, not a media proprietor.
Source: The Australian

Google turns its attention to Australia
Google’s considerable ad sales abilities are being focused on Australia, according to a report in The Australian. It says, Google's vice-president for Asia-Pacific and Latin American operations, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, confirmed the company's trials to auction audio and print advertising for radio networks and newspaper groups in the US would be extended to Australia.
The company also recently announced an alliance with Fairfax online.
Full story

Steady as she goes, except for you, Alan
While PBL has been sending out messages that life will go on as normal despite the CVC take-over, it seems radio broadcaster Alan Jones was a stand-out exception. He has been dropped from his morning editorial gig at Channel 9.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph reports: High-profile commentator and close Packer family friend Alan Jones has been sacked from the Today show and will deliver his final editorial on June 15.

Plus…
The Nine network will be overhauled with a $100million investment in new technology and the outsourcing of key technical functions as it gears up for a future in which it could offer multiple channels.
Nine will also move from its present headquarters in Sydney's northern suburb of Willoughby and Melbourne's Richmond for the first time since it was founded in 1956, Nine's new chiefs told Media yesterday.
A range of new business models are being considered, including a move to a more automated delivery platform and the outsourcing of its playout functions, as has already been done by SBS.
Source: The Australian

30,000 battle for Pac-Man title
Clearly there a lot of people out there with too much time on their hands: The first ever Pac-Man World Champion was crowned during the inauguration of the new Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship Edition in Times Square, New York. Carlos Daniel Borrego Romero of Mexico bested 30,000 gamers who signed up to play on the Xbox Live online service from April 25 to May 9, the top 10 of whom were flown in from across the globe to play head-to-head in the finals. The finalists played the latest Pac-Man edition for the first time.

But 40,000 do something useful
Can you imagine that 40,000 people can work on one story for your newspaper? “Yes it is possible, we did it,” said Grzegorz Piechota, special projects editor of Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland, at the 14th World Editors Forum.
Through a campaign on problems pregnant women were facing in Polish hospitals, the newspaper was able to mobilise 40 000 pregnant women over a number if years to write reviews about their experiences.
“Thanks to the internet, we got thousands of reviews of all aspects, from young mothers giving birth, looking at all kinds of problems, covering various issues, problems and doing profiles.”
They posted over 200 000 photos on our web.
Even though the process involved fact-checking and editing with a number of editors and reporters, covering 413 hospitals, special supplements were made and some mums were even ready pay to see pictures of their babies in the supplements.
“Why did those 40 000 decided to share their experiences? Well, because they liked to share what they went through.”
“If you really want the readers to be involved, give them a cause -- they are the best experts in real life issues”.
Bate Felix, Wits University Journalism
Source: Editors weblog

From the World Editors Forum
A second and third generation of free papers has emerged - thematic sports and economic titles targeting niche groups and now free home-delivered papers targeting high revenue earners. Is quality journalism available for free?
See the presentation on YouTube

Murdoch moves in on WSJ
From Reuters via Benton: Rupert Murdoch said on Monday that he had a "constructive" meeting with the Bancrofts to reassure the family that controls Dow Jones & Co. Inc. that his $5 billion offer for the company will not undermine its flagship newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. Murdoch and his son James, met key members of the Bancroft family, which in total holds 64 percent of the voting power in Dow Jones, for the first time in New York. One focus of the five hours of discussions was safeguards to preserve editorial independence at the Journal, which is a key concern for the Bancrofts, as well as editors and reporters at Dow Jones. The union representing over 2000 Dow Jones workers, the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, said on Monday it had retained advisers to seek alternative bids that could better protect the publication's "unquestioned journalistic integrity."
Full story

Plus…
The newspaper’s editorial team seems to be preparing itself and its readers for a possible buy-out. A recent editorial reads: "Don't believe the man who tells you there are two sides to every question. There is only one side to the truth." So wrote William Peter Hamilton, one of the first men to hold the job of editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, in the early decades of the last century. For editorial writers worth their pay, those are words to live by, and we hope to be living by them for a long time to come.
That's a point worth stressing amid the news that the Bancroft family may soon sell the Journal's parent company to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. or some other bidder.
The Bancrofts have been exceptional stewards of this newspaper for more than a century. But capitalism is dynamic, and those of us who extol the virtues of Joseph Schumpeter's "creative destruction" for others can't complain when it sweeps through our own industry. That's what is happening as the Internet breaks up long-time media business models, and Dow Jones is hardly immune.
The Bancrofts have every right as owners to sell or not based on their own dictates, and what we say won't matter in any event.
On January 2, 1951, William Grimes wrote a memorable editorial, "A Newspaper's Philosophy," that summed up our worldview this way: "On our editorial page we make no pretense of walking down the middle of the road. Our comments and interpretations are made from a definite point of view. We believe in the individual, in his wisdom and his decency. We oppose all infringements on individual rights, whether they stem from attempts at private monopoly, labor union monopoly or from an overgrowing government.
People will say we are conservative or even reactionary. We are not much interested in labels but if we were to choose one, we would say we are radical." Even 56 years later, that still sounds good to us. Whether the Bancroft family sells or not, and no matter who is the buyer, we plan to stand for those beliefs for as long into the future as we are able.
Full story (requires subscription)

The future of the newspaper
From the WAN: Five new strategy reports on some of the most important recent developments in the newspaper industry globally -- increasing digital revenue development, advertising best practices, innovative management systems, newspaper company reorganisation and the power of local focus -- have just been published by the World Association of Newspapers.
The reports from the WAN Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, which were released at the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, focus on how publishers can benefit from the opportunities provided by these developments.
The reports, and the SFN project, are an exclusive service to WAN Members, who will receive the reports in the coming days and can now download electronic versions and more from the SFN website at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.

The past of European newspapers
Swedish newspaperman Arne Ruth has written a fascinating retrospective piece on where today’s European newspapers came from.
It says: Nowadays, few people recall the fact that the fall of Hitler changed the press structure of large parts of Europe at a stroke. In Germany, not a single paper published today was in existence before the war. In many occupied countries, there are still newspapers which were originally founded as part of the resistance movement.
The toughest retribution against the structures of occupation was in France. A total of 649 newspapers were confiscated. The Resistance's own underground papers took over premises and machinery. Le Monde first made its official appearance on Liberation Day. It moved into a building occupied until then by one of the worst collaborationist newspapers.
It was de Gaulle who settled the matter. He was anything but a socialist, but he had no sympathy whatsoever for newspaper proprietors' rights. Anyone who had played the game of the Germans would have to pay the price - their shares became worthless. Albert Camus, himself a member of the Resistance, graphically described the situation: "Journalism is the only sphere in which the purge has been complete, as we have managed to get the legal settlement to include a complete change of personnel. (. ..) France now has a press liberated from money. This is something we have not seen for a hundred years."
Full story

The great designer myth
From web functiionaity guru Jakob Nielsen: Having a good designer doesn't eliminate the need for a systematic usability process. Risk reduction and quality improvement both require user testing and other usability methods.
I often hear the following argument against usability: Just hire a great designer, and you don't have to worry about that pesky user testing. After all, a great designer will create a great design, and that's all you need.
Full story

Journo police checks dropped
A proposal to ‘vet’ would-be parliamentary journalists in Canberra has been knocked back, after intervention by the Prime Minister.
The Media Alliance reports: The Alliance and Press Gallery Committee strongly objected to the proposal, which vested the discretionary power to knock back gallery licence applications with the Department of Parliamentary Services.
Such a precedent would have represented a grave erosion of press freedom, said Alliance federal secretary Chris Warren.
However, following the direct lobbying -- particularly by the Committee -- of the Prime Minister John Howard, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, party leaders and presiding officers, the plan was scuttled.
Mr Howard last week wrote to Senate President Paul Calvert urging him to drop the idea: "Whilst I appreciate that this proposal is not solely directed at members of the press gallery, it raises an important issue,” Mr Howard wrote.
"In the absence of information suggesting there have been genuine problems with members of the gallery, or more broadly for other staff, I do not believe that it is necessary to introduce police checks of the kind that I understand are under consideration. I would hope that the proposal could be put aside. I would ask that you take my strong view into close consideration in your deliberations on this matter."

Digital TV take-up reaches 30%
Research by the Australian Communications and Media Authority released today shows that growth in the adoption of digital free-to-air television has more than doubled since July 2005 - to 30 per cent of households - but that many non-adopters are still not aware of the future changes to free-to-air television.
Full story

Plus…
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has decided to extend the current Eureka 147 digital radio trials in Melbourne and Sydney.
Source: ACMA
ABA digital radio backgrounder

Plus…
Comprehensive information on media groups and operations across Australia is now available following the publication today of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s Media Diversity Report. Editor’s note: The report is in fact a register, rather than an analysis of diversity.
Full story

Is the interview an endangered species?
Opinion piece from the Washington Post, via Benton: The humble interview, the linchpin of journalism for centuries, is under assault. It is a transaction that clearly favors the person asking the questions. A print reporter writes down someone's answers, then picks and chooses how much, if any, to use, how to frame the quotes and where to put any contrary information. Television correspondents slice and dice taped interviews in similar fashion. But in the digital age, some executives and commentators are saying they will respond only by e-mail, which allows them to post the entire exchange if they feel they have been misrepresented, truncated or otherwise disrespected. And some go further, saying, You want to know what I think? Read my blog. "The balance of power has shifted," says Jay Rosen, who teaches journalism at New York University. "Everyone used to be landlocked, and the media was the outlet to the sea of public discussion. But now there are many routes. . . . Readers have more power because they have more sources, and sources have more power because they can go direct to readers."
Full story  

Big Donor a big con
Dutch TV show Big Donor has been revealed as a hoax. Though the three kidney transplant patients used in the show were real, the woman playing the potential donor was in fact a healthy actress. BNN, the station responsible for the idea, says it went ahead with the hoax as part of a plan to push for reform in organ donation.
Chicago Sun Times report

PBL sells out
Today we see the end of an era, with the packer family selling down its interest in PBL (which owns Channel 9 and ACP) to a minority shareholding.
Media release: Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (ASX: PBL) today announced it had sold a further 25% interest in PBL Media Holdings Pty Limited to CVC and also sold its Ticketek and Acer Arena interests to PBL Media for a total of $725 million.
CVC has agreed to pay $515 million for the additional 25% share in PBL Media with settlement anticipated to occur, subject to FIRB approval, in July. PBL Media will pay $210 million for the Ticketek and Acer Arena businesses.
The latest transaction will take CVC’s overall ownership of PBL Media to 75% with PBL retaining a 25% share.
The Executive Chairman of PBL, Mr James Packer, said the sale of the additional 25% was part of a broader reallocation of capital within PBL.
“The partnership with CVC has been working well and both John Alexander and I will be continuing on the Board of PBL Media.”
Full release

Big Kidney wins freedom of speech call (31 May)
Move over Big Brother, we now have Big Kidney – or more correctly Big Donor.
Endemol, the company behind the Big Brother franchise, has started off a controversial new show where three contestants vie for a kidney being offered by a terminally-ill 37-year-old woman named Lisa, to be broadcast on Dutch TV.
In a plot calculated to have ethicists experiencing waking nightmares, numerous people and groups tried to convince the Dutch Government to ban the show. However it declined on freedom of speech grounds.
Bloomberg reports: A ban on the TV show from Endemol NV, which also produces Big Brother, would breach the right to freedom of speech, Education Minister Ronald Plasterk said at a parliamentary meeting today at The Hague. Plasterk called the ``competitive element'' of the show ``inappropriate and unethical.''
Broadcaster BNN defends its decision by claiming it is highlighting the plight of people waiting for donor organs. Its founder, Bart de Graaf, was a lifetime kidney patient who died five years ago while waiting for a suitable donor organ.

TiVo coming soon
The Seven Media Group has signed a deal with TiVo in the USA to introduce its digital recording and access service to the local market.
It has been available in the USA for some time, at times causing concern among advertisers because it allows users to easily ‘zap’ commercials. However the ad-skipping service will not be available here.
TiVo enables users to record their favourite programs to hard disk (called a DVR) – more easily than they might with DVD – and access broadband internet content via their television.
The service will not be exclusive to Channel Seven and will be made available to other free-to-air broadcasters.
A statement from the Seven corporate bunker says, in part: Chief Executive Officer of Seven Media Group, Mr David Leckie said, “This association unites the strengths of free to air television and TiVo to deliver new digital services to the Australian consumer.  Free-to-Air television is well positioned in Australia to benefit from the TiVo service in offering viewers the chance to easily find and automatically record the programming they want, schedule their viewing time and vastly extend their overall television viewing experience.”
Full Seven statement
TiVo home page

Timor five deliberately killed – inquiry
In a saga that has now lasted 32 years, an Australian inquiry is hearing claims the Balibo Five – as the journalists killed in East Timor became known – were executed.
The Age newspaper reports today: Counsel assisting the inquiry, Mark Tedeschi QC, said there was evidence Mr Peters and the other newsmen — Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart and Malcolm Rennie — were deliberately killed by Indonesian soldiers, contradicting previous Australian inquiries that concluded they died in crossfire.
And in a recommendation that could infuriate Jakarta, Mr Tedeschi said two of the alleged Indonesian perpetrators should be prosecuted in Australia for war crimes under the 1947 Geneva Convention.
Full report

Tintin a no-no
Cartoonist for The Australian newspaper Bill Leak has been sent a cease and desist demand from Moulinsart, the owners of the world rights to Belgian cartoon Tintin.
Originally conceived in 1929 by artist Herge, Tintin, his dog Snowy, along with companion Captain Haddock, are to star in a news series of movies.
Meanwhile Leak has been using his own version of the cartoon hero as a parody of Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd – understandably, as there is an uncanny resemblance.
Australian story

City win for regional broadcaster
WIN Corporation, which operates a network of rural TV stations, seems set to buy its first metropolitan outlet, Channel Nine in Adelaide, from Southern Cross Broadcasting.

Singleton leaves advertising
Veteran ad man John Singleton is selling up his remaining shareholding in the STW Group, marking the end of a 49-year career in the business.

US newspaper revenues slowing
Newspaper online advertising revenue growth is starting to slow, according to the most recent data from the Newspaper Association of America. In Q1, advertising spending for newspaper Web sites increased 22.3% to $750 million compared to the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2006, newspaper online ad revenue advanced 34.9% to $613 million. However, online advertising revenue makes up more of total ad revenue in Q1 versus the same period a year ago. In Q1 of this year, online advertising expenditures represent 7.1% of total ad revenue versus 5.5% for Q1 2006. Newspaper print advertising revenue fell sharply in Q1, down 6.4% to $9.8 billion. The growth realized with online advertising revenue did not push up total ad spending. Combined, print and online advertising revenue declined 4.8% to $10.6 billion in Q1.
Editor & Publisher story

Mexico nearly as deadly as Iraq
From the Washington Post, via Benton: Mexico is now the second deadliest country in the world for journalists after Iraq. More than 30 journalists have been killed in the past six years in Mexico. As more reporters die, journalism itself is suffering. A newspaper in Sonora said last week that it was temporarily shutting down because of attacks and threats by criminal gangs. Top editors at the two largest newspapers in Monterrey, Milenio and El Norte, said in interviews that they no longer ask crime reporters to dig deeply on their stories. At risk is the vibrancy of the free press in Mexico's still developing democracy. President Felipe Calderón has called the intimidation of journalists "an unacceptable situation," promised to protect journalists and discussed possible legislation to achieve that goal. But reporters keep dying and news media offices keep getting attacked.
Washington Post story

Virtual worlds underpopulated
It seems like a week can't go by without another company announcing that it has set up a building or island in the Second Life virtual world. But what you rarely hear are companies actually getting a return on their marketing investment -- beyond getting their feet wet. While Gartner predicts 80% of active Internet users will join a virtual world by 2011, those users are currently spread thin over Second Life marketing destinations. A recent rough count found that brand-marketing sites in Second Life had anywhere from zero to 6,400 unique visitors per week, GigaOm reported. Beyond Second Life, though, MTV Networks says it plans to launch even more of its own virtual worlds, where it can market directly to its users. And Business Week says it's the kid-oriented worlds like Club Penguin and Webkinz.com that have drawn buyout interest from companies such as Sony and News Corp.
Virtual World Marketing: Lots of Companies, Few Visitors (So Far) (GigaOm)
Virtual World Gold Rush? (Business Week)

Microsoft arms itself for online ad war
From the Online Publishers Association: There was a time during the dot-com boom that online ad-serving companies were hot. After the bust, many of those companies withered, but now it's a flashback to the old days as Google snapped up DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, Microsoft bought aQuantive for an eye-popping $6 billion, and WPP nabbed 24/7 Real Media for $649 million.
The Microsoft buyout was an 85% premium over aQuantive's stock price, showing how serious (desperate?) Redmond was about getting into digital ad serving. What took Madison Avenue by surprise was that Microsoft now owned the Avenue A/Razorfish ad agency, and didn't have plans to divest it.
Both AdAge and News.com questioned how Microsoft would deal with the conflict of interest inherent in having one company that buys and sells ad space. "While the door has swung open for a new model, a huge question is whether it also opens a Pandora's box of regulatory issues and conflicts," wrote Matthew Creamer in AdAge. The repercussions from the massive aQuantive deal -- the biggest buyout in Microsoft's history -- continued to be felt in the advertising and online worlds. Microsoft's chief advertising strategist Yusuf Mehdi told an investor conference that he didn't see the need for Microsoft to merge with Yahoo. "From where we are today, I think we have all the pieces," he said.
The next company on the block could be ValueClick, a company whose shares have soared despite being investigated by the FTC over questionable lead-generation practices. So why the big comeback for online ad firms? Just look at the soaring growth of online ad revenues. "The biggest innovation in the advertising industry during the last 70 years before digital was color TV, " AKQA's Ajaz Ahmed told the Wall Street Journal. "The agency of the future will be half a software company and half an entertainment company because that's the new landscape."
Quantifying Microsoft's biggest purchase ever (News.com)
Microsoft says has all it needs for ad business (Reuters)

Do Not Call a sham
The Federal Government’s Do Not Call register, theoretically intended to cut back on nuisance calls from telemarketers feels like a sham to us.
The exemptions include “some types of calls made by organisations that operate in the public interest. These include charities, religious organisations, educational institutions, government bodies, registered political parties, independent members of parliament and nominated political candidates.” Oh, and any business that has a relationship of some sort with you…
Exemptions also apply, “If a call is made solely to conduct a survey, it is considered market research, not telemarketing. These calls are permitted.”
See this link

Return to top

See our media trends archive for earlier stories. See our Benton index for USA media stories.

Use this tool to search our site or the web.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.guidomedia.com www.allflying.com www.allwomensport.com

Job Watch
See our jobs page.

Free Newsletter

Try our newsletter. We email a free summary of media trends stories in an easy-to-read interactive PDF. See our subscription page.

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

Spin City
The Editor's occasional blog… click