Media news digest archive for April 2005

Al-Jazeera goes global (April 29)
From the Media Alliance member newsletter: Arab station Al Jazeera plans to go global, launching an international channel in English by 2006 with 40 bureaus worldwide. However, the Arabic news network continues to be embroiled in controversy. Most recently, Iranian authorities shut down the station's Tehran offices, claiming it inflamed ethnic riots. The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the action as a "spiteful act of censorship".
Media Channel story: click here
The Guardian report: click here

Defamation or freedom? (April 29)
A study from the Melbourne University law school says defamation law in Australia has a measurable muzzling effect on local media. The abstract from the paper reads: This article reports on a comparative content analysis of more than 1400 Australian and US newspaper articles. The study suggests that in the US -- where defamation plaintiffs face much heavier burdens than under Australian law -- defamatory allegations are made more frequently against both political and corporate actors than in Australia. The US articles contained apparently defamatory allegations at nearly three times the rate of the Australian sample. In particular, the Australian media appeared to be less comfortable making allegations in relation to corporate affairs than its US counterpart. In addition, some US articles included far more extreme commentary than the Australian sample, which suggests a less restrained style of public debate may be fostered under US law. Through introducing comparative content analysis to Australian media law research, the article supports the idea that Anglo-Australian defamation law has a chilling effect on media speech. Click here for the download link.

10 years online for SMH (April 28)
The Sydney Morning Herald celebrates 10 years online this month. Its site began with a computers section, cobbled together from a boat shed in Glebe. See this link.

Serious gossip takes over (April 27)
From the ABC's Media Report this week: What is happening to serious journalism? In the UK the news media has a lot of power but has lost its credibility. In the US it has been relentlessly dumbed down. In Australia, readers seem more interested in gossip and where to get coffee. Three eminent journalists -- John Lloyd of the FT magazine, Tom Fenton of CBS News, and Eric Beecher of The Reader -- discuss what's happened and what ought to be done. See this link.

Bush's media war (April 26)
Eric Alterman at The Nation.com says the Bush administation has delared war on the media and is making no attempt to soften or disguise its hostility, which has broader implications for public knowledge about the process of government. In a piece describing a situation that makes the Nixon administration look like amateurshe piece says, “They are taking aggressive action: preventing journalists from doing their job by withholding routine information; deliberately releasing deceptive information on a regular basis; bribing friendly journalists to report the news in a favorable context; producing their own 'news reports' and distributing these free of charge to resource-starved broadcasters; creating and crediting their own political activists as 'journalists' working for partisan operations masquerading as news organizations.” See this link.

Broadband sparks media meshing (April 24)
Internet service Yahoo has released results from a study that confirms what many probably already suspected: that broadband access has significantly changed people's experience and use of media. The report says in part: “The Yahoo/Mediaedge:cia study found that consumers are increasingly growing closer to multiple media, and are turning to the Web for deeper content, entertainment and communication capabilities without forsaking other media. Broadband users view twice as many pages per month as their dial-up counterparts. The Internet is intersecting with all aspects of people's lives in dramatically new ways. The study showed that over half of broadband users say they are using online and offline media simultaneously, turning to the Internet to supplement other traditional media such as radio, newspapers and television. Broadband capabilities -- speed plus 'always on' -- sparked this new 'media meshing' trend, by allowing users to easily supplement one medium with another.” Click here for the full text.

Is TV network news dead or just unwell? (April 22)
From Broadcasting & Cable.com: Former ABC News reporter/anchor Sam Donaldson is ready to say the last rites for network news because it will soon lose its dominant position as Americans' primary source of news. "I think it's dead. Sorry," he said during a breakfast panel at the recent National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. "The monster anchors are through." See this link for the story.
Meanwhile the New York Times reports: Don Hewitt (who lays claim to being the executive producer of the first USA half-hour network newscast in 1960) says what's missing from network newscasts is opinion -- the kind of personalized, highly subjective material that people turn to the commentary page of their newspaper for, after they've finished with the front page. See this link for the full story.

Apoplectic over God's Rottweiler (April 22)
Vitriol is flowing fast and free over the latest papal appointment, with the tag “God's Rottweiler” taking out the award for most outrageous. Lifesite, an online 'pro-life' campaign mag, is running an interesting summary of what it suggests is an hysterical media reaction. See this link.

Publishers fight in-camera evidence (April 21)
News Ltd and Fairfax have objected to a NSW government move to have complainants in sexual assault court cases deliver their evidence in-camera. The government argues it reduces the trauma suffered by victims, while, the newspapers say it reduces the ability to report on matters of public interest. A report by the Australian newspaper can be reached at this link.

Benton postings (April 20)
Here is a selection of recent postings from Benton.org.
Dot jobs join the web: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers approved the suffix ".jobs" earlier this month. Employers can use the suffix to create dedicated job-postings Web sites that end in ".jobs" rather than ".com". [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Erin White erin.white@wsj.com and Kris Maher kris.maher@wsj.com] Click here

Idiot box runs rampant: Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter who, along with Bob Woodward, broke and covered the Watergate scandal, said, the ever-escalating quest for profits has replaced journalism's obligation to seek "the best obtainable version of the truth." Though the nation's newspapers are hardly faultless, Bernstein said television news had been taken over by an "idiot culture" that spends more time chasing celebrities than explaining life-changing events. Bernstein said the media's race to embrace this "idiot culture" has weakened its resolve to pursue truth and relevance. It's a weakness, he said, that's come to threaten the public good more than secrecy. Bernstein challenged the nation's media to rediscover its obligations to inform the public and to promote the "public good" rather than agendas driven by political spite. [SOURCE: Lawrence Journal-World, AUTHOR: Dave Ranney] Click here. See also --TV news just isn't what it used to be. [SOURCE: The Arizona Republic, AUTHOR: Bill Goodykoontz] Click here.

Web TV could hurt cable: The Internet is coming to TV whether cable companies like it or not. Phone giants like SBC Communications and Verizon Communications, which are racing to offer TV over the new fiber networks they're building, plan to deliver their signals using an Internet technology known as IP TV. While cable companies broadcast all their channels at once to the TV, blocking those that aren't paid for, with IP TV, SBC and Verizon will deliver only programs that viewers request. That essentially makes a limitless amount of content available, just as there's no cap on the number of Web sites. For programmers, total integration would open the door wider to file swapping and piracy. For cable operators, it raises the spectre of viewers going directly to content providers for shows and films, bypassing the middleman. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Grant peter.grant@wsj.com] Click here.

Toxic blogs rattle journos (April 19)
The Washington Post reports that many journalists are getting tired of the hate mail and sometimes bizarre attacks generated by weblogs critical of their work. While blogs have scored some notable acts of whistle-blowing in recent months, they have also caused a great deal of pointless distress. However some reporters are more relaxed about the issue. According to the report: "CNN analyst Jeff Greenfield likes many blogs and doesn't much worry about 'the baked-potato brains who say you're a media whore. . . . On the whole, I'm real happy to know there are a lot of people watching with the capacity to check me. I don't think that's chilling. It's just another incentive to get your facts right.'" Click here for the story.

Podcasting takes off (April 19)
From the Online Publishers Association: Six million people can't be wrong. That's the number of people who own portable MP3 players who have downloaded and listened to "podcasts," according to Pew Internet. Podcasts were only invented in the past year, but already 29 percent of all MP3 player owners have used podcasts, which are basically audio programs -- music, news, talk -- you download from the Net to your player. The idea of time-shifted audio programming has caught the imagination of the public, especially the younger demographic. Pew said that nearly half of digital-player owners under the age of 29 have tried out podcasts. Plus, the media spotlight is only getting brighter: NewCity Chicago called podcasting "the radio revolution," while Reuters says the technology has "caught on like wildfire," and the Ottawa Citizen said "podcast creators and fans are on the ground floor of something that is going to get bigger."
'Podcasts' explore universe of topics (Reuters)
Invasion of the Podcasters (NewCity Chicago)
Ottawa's premier podcasters (Ottawa Citizen)
'Podcasts' Catching on with iPod Owners -- Survey (Reuters)
Podcasting catches on (Pew report)
iPodder.org (podcasting site)

Plus…Just how high could the stakes be in online video advertising, now that broadband has penetrated more than half of online households? AdAge set the table with an in-depth report: Users will watch 21 billion video streams in 2005, according to AccuStream, while video ad revenues will more than double by '06, according to eMarketer. Meanwhile, MTV Networks told ClickZ it was having success selling shorter 15-second spots for its new broadband video channels, including to big advertisers such as Procter & Gamble and Sony Pictures. Online publishers have been pushing for the shorter video ad format, but advertisers have been reluctant to edit down their TV ads. And ESPN is planning to launch a new video player that would include clickable video ads, Adweek reports.
At-Home Broadband Changes Online Advertising Landscape (AdAge)
MTV Broadband Play Gives Life to 15-Second Spots (ClickZ)

Murdoch goes online (April 18)
News Ltd owner Rupert Murdoch recently told an American Society of Newspaper Editors conference that he, like many others, believes the time is right for print media to look harder at the opportunities presented by online environments. His speech, in part, said: “Thinking back to the challenge that television posed to the newspaper business, we can see some similarities. A new technology comes along, and like many new things, it is somewhat exciting at first, simply by virtue of being new. Like the advent of radio before it, television was always going to be at best an alternative way to get the news, and at worst a direct competitor. There was no way to make it a part, or even a partner, of the paper.
“That is manifestly not true of the internet. And all of our papers are living proof. I venture to say that not one newspaper represented in this room lacks a website. Yet how many of us can honestly say that we are taking maximum advantage of those websites to serve our readers, to strengthen our businesses, or to meet head-on what readers increasingly say is important to them in receiving their news?”
The speech covered a great deal of ground, and can be read in full by clicking here.

Been there, seen that (April 17)
Quote of the week comes from the Australian newspaper (April 16) and an article on the Archibald Prize for portraits, which this year has attracted over 800 entries. Writer Matthew Westwood interviewed Steve Peters, the head of the packing room at the Gallery of NSW, the gent who will be involved in choosing the winner of the infamous Packing Room Prize, to be announced this week. Peters has seen 21 Archibalds and the story concludes: “Peters said they would pick their winner in about 3 1/2 minutes. 'We've got better things to do,' he said, finishing a chocolate milkshake. 'If you've seen one painting, you've seen them all.'” See this link.

Disclose the source - FCC (April 15)
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the USA has reminded broadcasters of their obligations when it comes to using video news releases (VNRs). There has been a fuss in the states recently over the number of VNRs being pumped out by the Bush administration and their apparent wholesale use by broadcasters. The FCC has released a statement reminding broadcasters of the rules, saying in part, “Whenever broadcast stations and cable operators air VNRs, licensees and operators generally must clearly disclose to members of their audiences the nature, source and sponsorship of the material that they are viewing.” See the FCC home page at this link.

Media show for Dubai (April 14)
Dubai is to host a Media and Marketing show on November 7-9, intended to showcase what the middle-east region has to offer. According to the publicity, “Exhibitors will include a broad range of companies from the media industries, including marketing, advertising, media production and new media specialists. It will also see companies from across the industry value chain, such as those involved with finance, design, development, marketing, operation, supply and service for the media sector.” Dubai's Media City is a major sponsor. See www.dubaimediashow.com.

Media speaks well of the dead (April 12)
A Reuters story published at XtraMSN in New Zealand explores how even the most vociferous media critics of the late Pope John Paul II muted their complaints during the lead-up to his funeral. One example quoted was that of former priest James Carroll, who once described the pontiff as "medieval, absolutionist". After the passing of the Pope, however, Carroll was more generous, suggesting even God believed in John Paul II. See this link.

Publishers regroup for Apple battle (April 12)
ZDNet reports a co-operative of internet interest groups has pooled resources to fight a California court ruling, which could force two internet magazine publishers to hand over details of their confidential sources for recent news stories. Apple Computer brought the initial action, when it was angered by the early release of details about upcoming products. "The right to send and receive content over the Internet and associate electronically in a manner of one's choosing, without having one's identity and private communications revealed to third parties, is at the core of the protections of the First Amendment," says the appeal documentation. See this link.

Transborder publishing defeats ban (April 11)
Cnet says recent attempts by a judge to stop media reporting on a scandal embroiling part of the Canadian government have backfired badly. While Canadian media grumbled and complied, a USA website published the story and promptly saw its audience figures skyrocket when a Canadian TV station promoted the site. Click here for the story.

Slammer for spammer (April 11)
E-commerce Times says the USA's 'CanSpam' legislation, which was introduced at the start of 2004, may have claimed its first major scalp. Jeremy Jaynes, a man who is said to be the world's eighth most prolific spammer, has been convicted of breaking the USA's junk email rules and has been sentenced to nine years in prison. The decision is under appeal. Jaynes is said to have earned up to US$750,00 a month through his various schemes, which included an element of fraud. Other spammers have been convicted of fraud, but this would appear to be the first to have been given a prison sentence under spamming laws. However the anti-spam rules may be subject to challenge on the grounds they might conflict with the USA constitution -- this has yet to be tested in court. See this article.

Top guns in Phillipines media (April 8)
Columnist Dan Mariano at ABS-CBN Interactive writes the Phillipines government's treatment of journalists is out of control. A recent column says, in part: “If the stick of murder and intimidation is not enough to silence some journalists, others could be made to 'see the light' through special accommodations and outright bribes. For instance, some media workers have been invited to join 'gun clubs', which give them access to military firing ranges and ammo (for free), apart from 'mission orders' that authorize them to carry firearms in public without the permits that other gun owners need to secure-at great expense and effort-from the Philippine National Police.” See this link.

Photographer bugged by DNA demand (April 8)
The Age newspaper reports photographer Jamie Fawcett has been ordered by a court to submit to a DNA test, to establish ownership a listening device found near the Sydney home of actor Nicole Kidman. Fawcett and fellow photographer Ben McDonald were subject to a restraining order earlier this year, when Kidman felt they were becoming too intrusive. The bug in this new case was not around long enough to record anything and there is some uncertainty whether its installation constitutes an offence. Click here for the story.

A tale of two eds (April 8)
Mark Day's column in the Australian's Media liftout begins, “This is the tale of two cities, two newspapers and two editors; each very different but united in one endeavour: the life-and-death struggle to find new readers.” He examines the appointment of Andrew Jaspan at the Age and David Penberthy at the Daily Telegraph at this link.

Playing fast and loose (April 8)
A report on the state of American media, published via journalism.org, paints a very unflattering picture of where the business is heading. It says, “There are now several models of journalism, and the trajectory increasingly is toward those that are faster, looser, and cheaper. The traditional press model -- the journalism of verification -- is one in which journalists are concerned first with trying to substantiate facts. It has ceded ground for years on talk shows and cable to a new journalism of assertion, where information is offered with little time and little attempt to independently verify its veracity.” See this link.

New rules for suicide reports (April 8)
New Zealand's National Business Review says that country's ban on reporting suicide may be lifted as a result of a review of the rules by the Ministry of Youth Development. Click here for the newspaper article and here for the department's report.

Do the burger rap (April 6)
From the ABC's PM current affairs show: The advertising industry has been trying all kinds of methods lately to get through to a public that's increasingly reluctant to listen. Small wonder when the audience has scattered so far and wide. The big American broadcast networks, for instance, now only get about a third of the US audience. In the '60s they used to reach more than two-thirds. And of course nowadays lots of people channel surf when the ads come on. So advertisers increasingly try to catch readers, viewers and listeners off their guard. Hence product placement in movies and TV shows, and coming soon, in popular music. McDonald's has offered to pay rap artists to include references to its burgers in their music. The artists wouldn't be paid upfront but would get money every time the song was played. Click here for the full story.

Interactive media is hot (April 6)
Interactive games and internet are the hot media growth sectors for the next four years, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers media advisor. Those sectors should experience a 16 per cent growth on a compounded basis, while traditional media will run closer to 3-5 per cent. The Age newspaper has a report at this link.

Click rates on the rise (April 5)
From the Online Publishers Association (USA): "A few years ago, advertisers paid an average of 50 cents to $2 per click for key search terms like 'drug rehabilitation' and 'conference call'. Those days are long gone. Today, advertisers that want to get the very top listing on the results page for the term 'drug rehabilitation' can expect to pay $25 per click for the privilege...So if 10,000 unique Web visitors click on that ad, that drug rehab advertiser will be paying $250,000. Clicking on an ad, a link to a firm's Web site, does not mean that click is buying anything."
-- Pete Barlas, Investor's Business Daily
Search Advertising's Success Finds Rates Rising Rapidly (Investor's Business Daily)

UK online ads up 46% (April 5)
From the Online Publishers Association (USA): While the British market is smaller than the US, growth in online advertising in the UK has been even stronger than stateside. According to a recent report by the World Advertising Research Center (WARC), British online ad sales hit $1.12 billion in 2004, up 46.4 percent over '03, and almost matching radio ad sales of $1.14 billion. Net ad growth easily outpaced all advertising growth -- at 5.4 percent -- and online ads made up 3.2 percent of the total. The numbers are based on the IAB UK figures, and ClickZ adds that online advertising in Europe on the whole was up 30 percent in 2004, with projections by Jupiter showing 28 percent growth in '05 to reach $3.7 billion. The UK Association of Online Publishers recently called on members to explore geo-targeting, so that content and advertising matches up better to where readers live. "It's no longer good enough for media owners to offer the same products, ads and promotions in the same language, messaging and currency to everyone, everywhere," Quova UK's Steve Sawyer said.
UK Online Ad Spend Soared Nearly 50 Percent in '04 (ClickZ)
Internet adspend closes in on radio as it rises 46% to reach £597m (Brand Republic)

Broadcasting giant looks to webcasting (April 5)
From the Online Publishers Association (USA): Hit by the growing trends of satellite radio, podcasting and online radio, broadcast radio giant Clear Channel announced it would start an online-only concert series called Stripped. The concerts will include streaming video on the web sites run by Clear Channel's radio stations. The New York Daily News reported that Clear Channel won't be paying artists such as Matchbox 20 for the performances, though it will help them sell music through the sites. Clear Channel will sell one national advertiser and one local advertiser for each show. The Daily News says Clear Channel also recently hired away Evan Harrison from AOL, where he ran the popular Sessions@AOL. AdAge reports Clear Channel is building a network of streaming audio sites, and will sell in-stream advertising into stations online in the top 25 markets. It isn't hard to see what lit a fire under the radio giant: Arbitron and Edison found that 27% of 12 to 17 year-olds own an iPod or other portable MP3 device, and the weekly online video audience is nearly 20 million.
Radio giant attuned to Web for ads boost (NY Daily News)
Clear Channel to Webcast Video Music Programs (AdAge)
Big radio tunes in to Net's frequency (Hollywood Reporter)
Clear Channel Overhauls Its Net Strategy (Reuters)

Papal coverage cops roasting (April 4)
Sify News reports Al-Jazeera, the Arab-focussed TV network based in Qatar, is in the headlines again for controversial coverage. This time it's being roasted for devoting time to the death of Pope John Paul II, where in previous month the criticism came from the west for airing the views and activities of Islamic militants. See this link.

Ideological refusal to pay (April 2)
From the Benton news service: The Web isn't just a technology; it's become an ideology. The Web's birth as a "free" medium and the downloading ethic have engendered the belief that culture -- songs, movies, fiction, journalism, photography -- should be clickable into the public domain, for "everyone." What a weird ethic. Some who will spend hundreds of dollars for iPods and home theater systems won't pay one thin dime for a song or movie. So Steve Jobs and the Silicon Valley geeks get richer while the new-music artists sweating through three sets in dim clubs get to live on Red Bull. Where's the justice in that? [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Daniel Henninger]

Servitude or bust (April 1)
From the Benton news service: Journalism today operates under a kind of feudal system. Just as serfs once provided their labor to the lord of the castle in exchange for protection, reporters today rely on the corporations that hire them to give them the legal clout to take risks in digging out the truth. Bloggers and freelance book authors don't have this protection. As the power to disperse information moves from castle to cottage, bloggers need to band together, find patrons to protect them, or both. Bloggers are often compared with the lonely pamphleteers who flourished in the 15th century when printing with movable type was a new technology. Professional associations and support groups will make them less lonely. [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Philip Meyer, author of The Vanishing Newspaper]

Chipping away at convergence (April 1)
From Cnet's News.com: “The world's largest chipmaker, Intel, and a unit of German media giant Bertelsmann plan to cooperate in technology for downloading and sharing films, music clips and games from the Internet.” An Intel spokesman said this was intended to take advantage of a convergence in computing, communications and content. See this link.

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