April 2005

BROADCASTERS AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST: GAMBLING WITH DEMOCRACY [Commentary]: The health of a democratic system depends on an informed, engaged citizenry. And the reality is that television continues to play an enormous role in the process of getting the public the information they need to make their own decisions about the issues of the day, especially at election time. Unfortunately, plenty of data prove that broadcasters are failing to provide even basic information about local politics and public issues. A study of local news during the last election by the Norman Lear Center clearly shows that the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality continues to drive news decisions. And that means that when citizens across the country went to the ballot box last year, they were essentially forced to shrug their shoulders and roll the dice. As trustees of a public resource, broadcasters have a statutory obligation to air programming that is in the public interest. But too many in the broadcast industry continue to resist even minor efforts to strengthen the public interest standard - to the detriment of the public, and our democracy itself. [SOURCE: Campaign Legal Center , AUTHOR: Meredith McGehee] http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/press-1645.html

DONALDSON: NETWORK NEWS IS DEAD: Former ABC News reporter/anchor Sam Donaldson said it so it must be true: broadcast network TV news is dead. There will be no film at 11. [SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell] http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA526034.html http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA526067.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers) http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=7679

NEWS WITH VIEWS [Commentary]: The executive producer of the first 30-minute network newscast in 1960 thinks providing more commentary is the way to revitalize nightly, network broadcast TV newscasts. [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Don Hewitt, CBS] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/20/opinion/20hewitt.html (requires registration)

WEB-SITE SUFFIX .JOB IS ADDED IN HOPE IT IS EASIER TO FIND ONE: 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] http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111387642952910352,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

INNOVATIVE USE OF DIGITAL MEDIA: Three examples of innovative use of digital media to cover news events. Each won the a Digital Edge Award.[SOURCE: CyberJournalist.net, AUTHOR: Jonathan Dube] http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/002397.php

HOW COMPANIES PAY TV EXPERTS FOR ON-AIR PRODUCT MENTIONS: A look at a little-known network that connects product experts with advertisers and TV shows. The experts pitch themselves to companies willing to pay for a mention. Next, they approach local-TV stations and offer themselves up to be interviewed. Appearances frequently coincide with trade shows, such as the Consumer Electronics Show, or holidays including Christmas or Valentine's Day. Interviews typically air during regular news programming in a way that's indistinguishable from the rest of the show. One reviewer may conduct dozens of interviews with local stations over the course of a day in what the industry calls a "satellite media tour." While this circuit is predominantly focused on the local television market, the big prize for marketers is a mention on national television shows, which carry far more clout with viewers. A longstanding principle of journalism holds that reporters cannot have financial relationships with the people or companies they cover. TV shows present these gurus' recommendations as unbiased and based solely on their expertise. But that presentation is misleading if the experts have been paid to mention products on network or local TV.[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: James Bandler at james.bandler@wsj.com] http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111386025685009961,00.html?mod=todays_us_page_one (requires subscription)

WATERGATE JOURNALIST SAYS MEDIA LOSING PUBLIC'S TRUST: 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] http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/202103 See also --TV news just isn't what it used to be[SOURCE: The Arizona Republic, AUTHOR: Bill Goodykoontz] http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0417cronkite17.html

FOX'S SANDSTORM: [Commentary] The style of Fox News Channel is having two dangerous effects: 1) the popularity of the approach leads cable competitors to mimic it, which in turn debases the quality of the news available to that segment of the TV audience, and 2) it threatens to destroy public confidence in all news. The plan at FNC is not so much to convince the public that its particular view is correct but rather to sell the notion that what FNC presents is just another set of biases, no worse than the biases that routinely drive the presentation of the news on ABC, CBS or NBC. FNC doesn't try to convince that it has a corner on the truth, just that the rest of the news business is grinding partisan axes all the time and that none deserve to be taken seriously as seekers of truth. What is at risk is not a reputation for infallibility; everyone knows that even the best newspapers and most careful broadcasters make mistakes. But it has been generally accepted that the mainstream media at least try to get it right.[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: William Raspberry willrasp@washpost.com] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61709-2005Apr17.html (requires registration)

FOR EVERY STORY, AN ONLINE EPILOGUE: The rise of the blogosphere remains one of the most exciting communications developments in decades, giving ordinary folks the chance to bite back at a media establishment widely viewed as arrogant. It's little surprise that mainstream media types don't like being questioned, challenged and chided by critics typing from their basements and bedrooms. But the increasingly caustic nature of some online criticism is prompting many journalists to complain that their honesty and motivation are being trashed along with their work.[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61803-2005Apr17.html (requires registration)

MERGER OF TV AND WEB MAY HIT CABLE INDUSTRY BEFORE IT'S PREPARED: 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] http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111377749479709036,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

LOCAL NEWS WAKES UP: Across the country, stations are waking up to the early shift. Changing lifestyles-longer work hours and earlier bedtimes-are sapping the audience for evening news. In contrast, the morning audience is growing. In 2004, 25% of American homes were watching TV at 6:30 a.m., compared with 15% in 1991, according to Nielsen Media Research. At 6 a.m., the tune-in levels jumped to 20% from 11%. Drawn by cheaper spots and strong ratings, national advertisers are jumping aboard the early-morning bandwagon, and stations are exploiting new ways to make money in the morning: One example is by selling sponsorships for the weather and traffic.[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Allison Romano] http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA525318?display=Features&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

AD FIRMS FOLLOW CUSTOMERS AROUND THE WEB: [Commentary] A bunch of young companies increasingly are tagging, tracking and analyzing us as we move across different Web sites. Their goal is to display ads they deem relevant based partly on our surfing histories, which they record using tiny "cookie" files stored on our computers, and other technology. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Leslie Walker walkerl@washpost.com] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51579-2005Apr13.html (requires registration)

WEB CENSORS IN CHINA FIND SUCCESS: The Chinese government is succeeding in broadly censoring what its citizens can read on the Internet, surprising many experts and denting US government hopes that online access would be a quick catalyst for democratic political reform.[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51712-2005Apr13.html (requires registration)

YAHOO 'HYBRID' NOW DOMINATES NEWS WEB SITES: A decade into the consumer Internet revolution, industry executives and analysts say users favor sites that offer information from more than one news organization. In six of the past 14 months, Yahoo's news site has drawn more unique visitors than any rival, displacing longtime news leader CNN.com, according to research firm Nielsen/NetRatings. Yahoo has agreements to display or link to content from about 100 news organizations, from USA Today to French news service Agence France Presse. Users can search through about 7,000 additional online news sources that Yahoo catalogs for information. Yahoo's rise comes as some traditional news organizations rethink their online strategies. Some that have offered free content are now considering charging for some items. "Is Yahoo a threat to the business model of traditional news organizations? Yeah," says Paul Grabowicz, director of the New Media program at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. "But it's not a threat that's going to go away. And if it's not Yahoo, it's somebody else."[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Kevin J. Delaney kevin.delaney@wsj.com] http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111343722734506550,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

BLOG CENSORSHIP GAINS SUPPORT: Web hosting company Hostway this week released the results of its poll of 2500 Americans on blogging. 80% of respondents did not believe that bloggers should be allowed to publish home addresses and other personal information about private citizens. 72% favored censorship of personal information about celebrities, and 68%, information about elected or appointed government officials such as judges or mayors. However, more than one-third of respondents had never heard of blogs before participating in the survey, and only around 30% of participants had actually visited a blog themselves.[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Renai LeMay] http://news.com.com/Blog+censorship+gains+support/2100-1028_3-5670096.html?tag=nefd.top

ADVERTISING, EDITORIAL LINES BLUR AS BLOGGERS' SALARIES TIED TO TRAFFIC: The Internet has been lauded for providing advertisers with exact metrics on how their ads perform, but it also can be turned against writers and journalists, especially at sites that live and die by traffic. About.com pioneered pay for Guides that's tied to traffic growth, and now Gawker Media is also paying a base salary for its stable of bloggers, along with bonuses for increased traffic. While this blurring of the Chinese wall between advertising and editorial could hurt the credibility of the nascent operations, few journalists can ignore the economic viability of their publications.[SOURCE: Online Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Mark Glaser] http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050412glaser/

CALL THEM WHAT YOU WILL, BLOGGERS WON'T SHUT UP[Commentary]: Rather than fruitlessly debating whether bloggers are journalists, we should ponder how our newly transformed news environment can best function. Newspapers have a huge stake in this debate. Young people no longer get their news exclusively from the morning papers, evening network newscasts or other traditional outlets. Increasingly, they go online to find news -- and read bloggers that professional journalists deem so dangerous.[SOURCE: Media Is Plural, AUTHOR: Rory O'Connor] http://www.roryoconnor.org/blog/

BROADCAST TV NETWORKS RATTLED BY DVR INROADS: Although the broadcast networks publicly play down the impact ofad-skipping technologies, TV moguls see the spread of digital videorecorders as a serious threat to their ad base. How will they combat it? 1)Live programming -- sports, news, events -- that people tend to skip less.2) Get consumers to pay directly for content, such as with video-on-demandservices and DVDs. 3) Network ad departments will work more closely withadvertisers to provide them with branded entertainment sponsorship deals orproduct integrations. [SOURCE: Ad Age, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson] http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44754

STUDY: DIGITAL AUDIO TO SURGE: By 2010, more than 20.1 million households will be hooked to satelliteradio, up from 4.5 million subscribers at the end of 2004, market researchfirm Forrester predicted in a report released on Monday. Also by that time,nearly 12.3 million households will use MP3 players to listen to podcasts,it forecasted. Streaming audio is also expected to grow significantly asplayers like America Online and Yahoo, along with traditional broadcasters,shift or step up their online programming, the research firm said. By theend of the decade, online radio will reach 30 percent of all U.S.households and about half of homes that have broadband connections.[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Dinesh C. Sharma] http://news.com.com/Study+Digital+audio+to+surge/2100-1025_3-5667524.html?tag=nefd.top

ADVERTISER REGISTERS OBJECTION: Marketers have been turning on media outlets for offenses real and perceived, for almost as long as there has been advertising space and commercial time to buy. Although marketers and media companies do business together, they are not in the same business, a distinction that manifests itself in fractious disputes caused by the tension between the media's right to say what they please and marketers' right to advertise where they please. The uneasy relationship between advertiser and advertisee made news again when General Motors said last week that it would stop running its advertising in The Los Angeles Times until further notice. The decision, generated by what a G.M. spokeswoman, Ryndee Carney, described as inaccurate coverage, has put a significant amount of ad revenue for the newspaper in jeopardy. Lauren Rich Fine, the analyst who follows media and advertising stocks for Merrill Lynch, wrote in a research note Friday, "There is obviously no positive to this story, unless you are a journalist believing in standing up to an advertiser." By one estimate, from The Wall Street Journal, G.M. spends more than $10 million a year to advertise in The Times, owned by the Tribune Company. G.M. is the nation's biggest automaker and its second biggest advertiser, behind Procter & Gamble. The Times is the biggest newspaper in the state that is the nation's biggest buyer of cars, trucks, minivans and other vehicles.[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/11/business/media/11adcol.html (requires registration)

FRANCE DETECTS A CULTURAL THREAT IN GOOGLE: Google planned to scan 15 million English-language books and make them available as digital files on the Web. But Jean-Noël Jeanneney, president of the French National Library, believes the move would further strengthen American power to set a global cultural agenda. Europe, he said, should counterattack by converting its own books into digital files and by controlling the page rankings of responses to searches. His one-man campaign bore fruit. At a meeting on March 16, President Jacques Chirac of France asked Mr. Jeanneney and the culture minister, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, to study how French and European library collections could be rapidly made available on the Web.[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Alan Riding] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/11/technology/11google.html (requires registration)

FOX: 'MARRIED' NOT INDECENT: The 169 stations carrying the Fox Television Network are expected to challenge the Federal Communications Commission's indecency crackdown by refusing to pay the proposed $1.18 million FCC fine for a raunchy Married by America episode featuring strippers and whipped cream. The stations are essentially daring the government to haul them into court. Under federal law, stations are under no legal obligation to pay FCC indecency fines unless the Justice Department takes them to court and wins a judge's order. If Fox stations refused to pay a fine for Married by America, they would be exercising a legal strategy communications lawyers often threaten but rarely use. Lawyers say Justice is unlikely to sue any station that fails to pay the standard fine. Despite the easy escape, however, nearly all stations pay up because they don't want to annoy the FCC, which controls license renewals, cable-carriage disputes and other regulatory actions critical to a station's survival. But after a year of one record-breaking fine after another, broadcasters are eager to fight the FCC over indecency. Besides, lawyers for Fox Television's 35 stations and the network's 134 affiliates are gambling that the FCC's legal case is so weak that even the lure of preserving the biggest indecency fine in history won't pull Justice into court.[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell] http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA516254.html?display=News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

WHAT'S NEXT IN EVENING NEWS? STAY TUNED: The Big Three broadcast TV networks have been losing audiences to 24-hour cable news, Internet sites, and other sources of instant headlines. All that competition, say many media analysts, will eventually force networks to experiment with the content, style, and format of the evening news. Minus the ads, the average newscast is just 19 minutes, according to Andrew Tyndall, who analyzes the network news at The Tyndall Report. That lends itself to summarizing the day's events rather than providing the added value of in-depth reporting. So newscasts may face the same change that newspapers have made -- emphasizing news analysis over news reporting. ABC News announced that it will make its coverage available on a variety of media platforms. In addition to ABC News Now, a 24-hour news digital channel, it will provide broadband news and video on demand for cellphones and computers.[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR:Stephen Humphries]http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0411/p11s01-ussc.htmlSee also:Web Giants Go With Different Angles in Competition for News Audience[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:Chris Gaither] http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-news11apr11,1,6617164.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business (requires registration)

ARTHUR'S TURN IN HOT SEAT: First Sponge Bob, then Buster the Bunny, now Arthur the Aardvark is the focus criticism. The plots of Arthur stories usually revolve around simple events that children can identify with, such as taking a family vacation, getting glasses, adjusting to a new baby in the family, or writing a story for a homework assignment. A program scheduled for May 1, however, had Arthur visiting an Eastern Orthodox church to celebrate Easter. In a letter to author/illustrator Marc Brown, a Department of Education faith-based initiative official wrote, "There's seems to be some misunderstanding about our funding priorities as outlined by President Bush and detailed in our educational television RFP. Obviously, many parents may find it disturbing to have their children realize that Arthur's family has not shed its old world ways and assimilated into American Christianity. We suggest you rewrite the script for 'A Day at St Andrew's' so that Arthur visits a normal, protestant Church." WTTW, the Chicago public television station that produced the show, apparently will go ahead with plans to air the program, but the show's sponsor Brach's Confections has pulled its underwriting announcement which included plugs for its popular Bridge Mix(R) and Peanut Butter Meltaways(R). The program will be made available for distribution, but not by beleaguered PBS which is urging stations to air it in the evening so parents can review its controversial content. [SOURCE: Broadcast&Cable, AUTHOR: Sean Jeggerton] http://www.broadcastcable.com/article/CA513929.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP (subsidized access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

Click here for earler Benton files.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Benton Foundation 2003. Redistribution of this email publication -- both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message:
Communications-Related Headlines are compiled, summarized and edited by Rachel Anderson (rachel@benton.org), Andy Carvin (andy@benton.org) and Charles Meisch (charlie@benton.org) of the Benton Foundation -- we welcome your feedback. Based in Washington DC, the Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Other projects at Benton include:
Digital Divide Network (www.digitaldividenetwork.org)
Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org)
OneWorld US (www.oneworld.net/us)
Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org)