Media trends digest for March 4, 2010

UNDERSTANDING THE PARTICIPATORY NEWS CONSUMER
[SOURCE: USA - Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Kristen Purcell, Lee Rainie, Amy Mitchell, Tom Rosenstiel, Kenny Olmstead]
The overwhelming majority of Americans (92%) use multiple platforms to get their daily news. And the Internet is now the third most-popular news platform. It falls behind local and national television news and ahead of national print newspapers, local print newspapers and radio. Still, the overall reality is that the Internet fits into a broad pattern of news consumption by Americans. Six in ten (59%) get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day.
Just 7% of American adults get their daily news from a single media platform, and those who do typically rely on either the Internet or local television news.
The Internet and mobile technologies are at the center of the story of how people's relationship to news is changing. In today's new multi-platform media environment, people's relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized, and participatory:
Portable: 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.
Personalized: 28% of Internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.
Participatory: 37% of Internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
The rise of social media like social networking sites and blogs has helped the news become a social experience for consumers; people use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news. They also use traditional email and other tools to swap stories and comment on them.
benton.org/node/32673

iPAD MAGS ON WAY
NY Times: Condé Nast’s plans for the iPad tablet computer from Apple are getting firmer. Thomas Wallace, editorial director of Condé Nast, said a range of magazines would be tested.
The company already has an iPhone version of GQ.
The first magazines for which it will create iPad versions are Wired (pictured), GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour, the company plans to announce in an internal memorandum on Monday.
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CHEAP E-READERS ON WAY?
Bloomberg: Freescale Semiconductor Inc, whose products power about 90 percent of electronic book readers, said a new chip will help drive down the price of the devices to less than US$150 this year.
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BLOGGERS FAVOURED BY TOURISM OZ
Thumbrella: Tourism Australia has hailed its Visiting Opinion Leaders Program a big success for the youth market as the next wave of influential bloggers begin to land on Aussie soil. 
Launched in April 2009, the program targets digital influencers – bloggers – rather than traditional media…
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MEAA NEWS
Young Journo 2010: Less than a month left to get your entry in for the Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year Awards. If you're 26 or under, start thinking about your strongest body of work - it could be your passport to New York or London, and $5000. Keep an eye on this link for more details.
Freelance photographer needed - The ACTU is looking for a photographer to spend a few days photographing workers in their workplace and surrounding grounds. A combination of lifestyle shots with portraits. Flexible working hours needed. Please contact Amanda Nguyen on 03 9664 7326 or email anguyen@actu.asn.au with a show case of your work.
South-East Regional Media Awards: Entries are now open for the 2010 South-East Regional Media Awards. Visit this link for all the entry information.
MEAA

DEEP CUTS FOR BBC
Guardian: The BBC has pledged to cut £100m a year from overhead costs as part of a package of cuts unveiled today by the director general, Mark Thompson, which include proposals to close BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network and halve web output.
The proposals, which will free up £600m a year to be reinvested in high-quality content, also include cutting web budgets by 25% and spending on foreign shows such as Mad Men by 20%, as well as capping investment on sports rights and potentially selling off BBC magazines such as Top Gear.
The proposals, which will be the subject of a 12-week public consultation by the BBC Trust, could affect up to 600 BBC staff and freelancers.
More; BBC strategy review (PDF)

NETWORK NEWS AT A CROSSROADS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter, Bill Carter]
With news available more places than ever, on cable channels and Internet sites, and with revenue challenged by heavy dependence on shrinking advertising dollars, the future for the news divisions at ABC and CBS remains deeply insecure. "Long term, it's going to get harder for these guys to exist as they are currently constructed, with the exception of NBC because it can offload the costs on MSNBC," Michael Nathanson, an industry analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said. The economic problems facing ABC News and CBS News in many ways mirror those faced by newspapers, which have been similarly afflicted by a drop in advertising revenue. The reaction — severe cuts in personnel and other costs — also looks to be the same. But can you shrink your way to prosperity? Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News who is now a news media consultant (NBC News is one client), said of the ABC cuts: "The real issue after this is what is going to drive growth? How do you generate more profit? And this doesn't address that." The easy answer would seem to lie in NBC's structure, because in contrast to its competitors, that news organization is flush, making an estimated $400 million in profit a year.
benton.org/node/32690

GUARDIAN iPHONE APP A WINNER
The Guardian: Launched in mid-December and costing £2.39, the Guardian newspaper iPhone app had been downloaded 101,057 times by Sunday, showing that users are willing to pay for online news on mobile devices. "Breaking the 100,000 download barrier in just over two months is an enormous achievement for the Guardian App," said Emily Bell, the director of digital content, Guardian News & Media.
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UNIVERSAL PHONE APPS?
Online Publishers Assn: Apple's App Store dominance is being assaulted. At the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, a group of 24 cell carriers and handset makers announced a new alliance to build an app platform that would unite all the fragmented app stores. Dubbed the Wholesale Application Community (WAC), the alliance includes rivals such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, as well as device makers LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. While marketers and publishers would be thrilled to have one simple path to creating apps that run on various services and phones, skeptics weren't so sure. "The initiative is nonetheless doomed from the start," wrote GigaOm's Colin Gibbs. "Carriers have a well-earned reputation for not playing nice with one another, and it will be impossible to herd all those cats." Despite the hurdles, there is an obvious need for such an alliance. "A global app store, whether built and operated by WAC or another coalition, is a better option than the mishmash of competing standards and services that most mobile users face today," wrote PC World's Jeff Bertolucci.

CAN AIRLINES TEACH NEWSPAPERS HOW TO CHARGE?
Forbes magazine: Online newspapers face two seemingly insurmountable challenges: getting customers used to paying for content and getting the industry used to charging for it. But in fact airlines have faced a similar, albeit simpler, situation with respect to baggage.
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LESS PRIVACY ONLINE
[SOURCE:  Financial Times, AUTHOR: David Gelles]
While many Internet users are fretting about preserving their online privacy in the age of social networking, a new breed of digital natives is actively stripping away the last vestiges of anonymity. They are broadcasting their thoughts, plans and even their locations and purchases to the web, using new services that post intimate personal information in real time. What began with status updates on Facebook and Twitter has evolved into services such as Blippy, a website which automatically publishes everything a user buys with a credit card to a short, Twitter-like feed for all to see. Launched in December, Blippy has gathered more than 10,000 users who share information on about US$250,000 worth of purchases a day.
benton.org/node/32400

GOOGLE SET TO RESUME TALKS WITH CHINA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jessica Vascellaro]
Google representatives are scheduled to resume discussions in coming days with Chinese officials about the fate of Google's China business, said people briefed on the matter. The schedule and the status of the talks, which are being picked up after a break for the Chinese New Year holiday, are unclear. Among the range of Google officials handling the talks on the ground is Google policy executive Ross LaJeunesse, said people familiar with the matter. Any resolution to the matter of whether Google will be able to operate an unfiltered search engine in the country is likely to be weeks away, said one of the people.
benton.org/node/32402

CBS: UNLIKELY GUERRILLA ON THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
Could CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves be turning into a digital revolutionary? Long an advocate of broadcast television, Moonves would appear to be squarely in the old-media camp. Even so, in recent years he has shown a greater willingness than most of his peers to experiment with digital delivery. CBS has put its programming out on the Web through hundreds of outlets, including Netflix and Web-enabled TV devices. Moonves said last week that CBS is willing to cut the price of shows it sells on Apple's iTunes to 99 cents. Of course, it is easier for CBS to take risks because it doesn't own a big portfolio of cable channels that generate fees from cable and satellite operators. But that is the point. Its lack of big cable channels is arguably now more a strength than a weakness, freeing CBS to try new things. Moreover, because CBS relies for most of its revenue on advertising and sales of its programs to other outlets, it has little choice but to focus on top-rated programming. Other companies, in contrast, generate fee revenue from low-rated channels because they are bundled with bigger ones.
benton.org/node/32396

APPLE BANS RACY CONTENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jenna Wortham]
Apple has started banning many applications for its iPhone that feature sexually suggestive material, including photos of women in bikinis and lingerie, a move that came as an abrupt surprise to developers who had been profiting from such programs. The company's decision to remove the applications from its App Store over the last few days indicates that it is not interested in giving up its tight control over the software available there, even as competitors like Google take a more hands-off approach. When asked about the change, Apple said it was responding to complaints from App Store users. Among the victims of the purge was a game called SlideHer, a puzzle that challenged users to reassemble a photograph of a scantily clad actress. Another, Sexy Scratch Off, depicted a woman whose dress could be whisked away at the swipe of a finger, revealing her undergarments. Such programs often appeared on the store's list of most-downloaded apps.
benton.org/node/32394

THE STRONGEST OPEN INTERNET PROTECTIONS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Malkia Cyril]
[Commentary] Full broadband adoption and open Internet protections are both possible -- if, and only if, the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband as a universal service and ensures the strongest possible protections for an open Internet. Communities of color and the poor cannot thrive with less. It's time for our voices to be heard. The truth is, strong open Internet protections encourage investment and deployment, because they prevent ISPs from profiting from artificial scarcity; and nothing about network neutrality will prevent ISPs from charging heavy users more. The only reason additional costs would be dumped on poor and working class consumers is if private companies are given too much rope to hang us with. We can prevent that by ensuring the FCC imposes strong non-discrimination protections in network neutrality rules, thereby limiting corporate control over the Internet. I support -- and I believe Mr. Steele would agree -- stopping corporate bullies, not rewarding them with more control. It's clear that the civil rights mandate is to ensure full broadband access and adoption while defending representation online. Many members of the civil rights community agree that the best way to narrow the digital divide is to define broadband as a universal service, and codify the strongest open Internet rules possible that narrowly define reasonable network management and ensure that every voice and idea has a chance by preventing the blocking or prioritizing of content based on profit. But some in the civil rights community are legitimately concerned that limiting the ability of wealthy corporations to increase their profit through broad and discriminatory management of their networks might have a negative impact on broadband build out and access for communities of color, the poor, and other historically disenfranchised groups. As a result, they are hesitant to support rules that may curtail the flexibility of corporate media giants to block or prioritize content to make money. But the fight for an o pen Internet is a fight for our mothers, our children, and our future. Let's not be confused. The fight for an open Internet is an inter-generational fight that requires all members of the civil rights community -- veterans and leaders of a new generation -- to have the foresight and clarity to respond effectively to a new generation of media problems and opportunities. None of us should be willing to cede representation to get access, or accept any less than the strongest Open Internet protections possible.
benton.org/node/32539

NEWSPAPERS STILL TOP SOURCE OF LOCAL INFO
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saba]
More people go to newspapers Web sites for complete local information than any other source, according to a new survey from the Newspaper Association of America and comScore. Of the more than 3,000 adults surveyed, 57% chose newspaper Web sites as the top source for local information. However, the survey reveals that the competition is moving in. While 57% of identified newspapers as the top source of local information, 54% cited online portals while 53% went with local TV web sites. The respondents also rely more on portals for local information (31%) followed by local newspaper Web sites (23%)and local TV Web sites (22%). Newspapers have a tiny lead when it comes to being the most trust worthy local source. Thirty-three percent said newspaper sites while 32% said local TV Web sties. The source used most often by respondents by content type? Newspaper Web sites had only 30% of the vote for local news versus 31% for local TV sites. Newspaper Web sites bested other sources for local classifieds: 39% of respondents look to newspapers Web sites for that category -- far and away more than the next source, specialty Web sites at 14%.
benton.org/node/32529

ITALIAN GOOGLE VERDICT
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
An Italian court has convicted three former Google executives of violations of Italy's privacy code early Wednesday morning. The decision comes after months of back and forth on the case, all of which began with a video uploaded by some delinquent teenagers of themselves beating on a classmate with Down Syndrome. Though the judge in the case absolved the executives of defamation charges (and a fourth was found not guilty of all charges), the verdict is shocking and is likely to have serious repercussions for sites that host user-generated content in Italy. The three-minute video was uploaded in 2006 and had a short lifespan on Google Video Italia, as complaints were quickly lodged and it was pulled within hours. That didn't stop an Italian Down Syndrome support group called Vivi Down from arguing that it should never have appeared in the first place. The group filed a complaint that resulted in a two-year investigation, and eventually, Milan public prosecutor Francesco Cajani agreed that the Google execs had violated Italian law by allowing the video to be uploaded. The four executives in question were Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former chief financial officer George Reyes, and London-based Google Video exec Arvind Desikan. As Google has pointed out repeatedly, none of these executives had any involvement in the video and only learned about its existence after it had been removed. Nonetheless, Desikan was the only one of the group who was not convicted, while Drummond, Fleischer, and Reyes were all found guilty of privacy violations and received suspended six-month jail sentences.
benton.org/node/32523

FORMULAS AT HEART OF GOOGLE COMPLAINT
[SOURCE:  Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maija Palmer, Chris Nuttall]
Algorithms are the "secret sauce" behind Google's business, much like the recipe for Coca-Cola, and an important background to the antitrust complaints filed against it at the European Commission. They are highly complex mathematical formulae. Google's algorithm draws on 200 factors and is tweaked 400 times a year by an army of engineers, which the company uses to determine how to rank the search results it displays on its Internet search site. Google rankings can be vital to a company's business. About 67 per cent of Internet users go to its search engine to locate information, and most will only click on links on the first page of Google's search results. A low ranking means invisibility. The secretive nature of the algorithm is at the heart of the antitrust complaints the company faces in Brussels. Companies find it hard to understand why their rankings go up and down, and Google stands accused of manipulating the formula to discriminate against competitors.
benton.org/node/32555

IBM SURVEY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
IBM surveyed 8000 consumers and 60 telecom company executives to get a sense of Internet-related trends over the next decade, showing that broadband will continue to evolve and expand while traditional communications infrastructure -- those copper lines we've used to make phone calls for decades -- will rapidly disappear. IBM predicts that the use of land lines will decrease by 95 percent in the next five to 10 years. Conversely, usage of mobile and wireless broadband will increase by 98 percent during the same period. The company also found that consumers will demand open platforms, where they can access content on all types of devices. In fact, 70 percent of those surveyed said they want to access content on any device-- a computer, TV, phone or netbook--from any provider. Interestingly, IBM found that 65 percent of consumers expect their telecom provider to maintain their role as simply providing Internet and wireless services. Only one in five consumers expect telecom providers to have a role in the retail and delivery of online content services.
benton.org/node/32648

THE EMPEROR'S CLOTHES
[SOURCE: The Economist, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] The obstacles in the way of media moguls are especially big. Advertising is swiftly migrating online, and moving away from media companies as it does so. The Internet retains the power to disintermediate (that is, bypass media firms by bringing products straight to consumers) and de-aggregate (turning albums into tracks and newspapers into articles). Few have worked out a way of making money from putting content online. Nor is it clear that a willingness to spend on media-playing devices is a wholly good sign. Consumers bought lots of iPods in the past few years. But they did not spend much money on music. And there is always the threat that media moguls will go on another buying spree. The industry has a history of splashy mergers and acquisitions, particularly involving technology outfits, which end up destroying value. So let the content cocks crow. But if they start talking about synergies, run for the hills.
benton.org/node/32612

POLITICAL HACKTIVISTS TURN TO WEB ATTACKS
[SOURCE: BBC, AUTHOR: ]
Political activists are increasingly using net attacks as a means of protest, reveals a report. Since late 2009, environmental, political and ideological groups have become significant users of attacks that swamp sites with data. The groups are well resourced and use innovative techniques said Prolexic, a security firm that combats the attacks. Its findings come as cyber-activists block Australian government websites in protest at plans to filter content. Prolexic estimates about a total of nine million computers are used to mount the data flooding attacks.
benton.org/node/32253

THE LOBBYING-MEDIA COMPLEX
[SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: Sebastian Jones]
Since 2007 at least seventy-five registered lobbyists, public relations representatives and corporate officials -- people paid by companies and trade groups to manage their public image and promote their financial and political interests -- have appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, CNBC and Fox Business Network with no disclosure of the corporate interests that had paid them. Many have been regulars on more than one of the cable networks, turning in dozens -- and in some cases hundreds -- of appearances. For lobbyists, PR firms and corporate officials, going on cable television is a chance to promote clients and their interests on the most widely cited source of news in the United States. These appearances also generate good will and access to major players inside the Democratic and Republican parties. For their part, the cable networks, eager to fill time and afraid of upsetting the political elite, have often looked the other way. At times, the networks have even disregarded their own written ethics guidelines. Just about everyone involved is heavily invested in maintaining the current system, with the exception of the viewer. While lobbyists and PR flacks have long tried to spin the press, the launch of Fox News and MSNBC in 1996 and the Clinton impeachment saga that followed helped create the caldron of twenty-four-hour political analysis that so many influence peddlers call home. Since then, guests with serious conflicts of interest have popped up with alarming regularity on every network. Just examine their presence in coverage of the economic crash and the healthcare reform debate, two recent issues that have engendered massive cable coverage.
benton.org/node/32235

PRODUCT PLACEMENT IS YOUR FAULT
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg]
At the Association of National Advertisers' annual TV & Everything Video Forum, speaker after speaker lined up example after example of shockingly intrusive pacts that placed -- nay, shoved -- commercial messages deep into programming. Taken individually, these moves from commercial break to in-program content seem fun, novel, even entertaining. Placed together in this fashion, however, the parade of in-show appearances by paying advertisers took on the form of something more pernicious.  Never has it been more clear that commercials and content are fast becoming one and the same, wholly indistinguishable from each other. What's going on? 1) Media outlets, roiled by the recession and changes in the TV business, have bent, even broken, many of their own rules. 2) Advertisers have had it with trying to game ad breaks. 3) We have no one to blame but ourselves -- We say we hate ads. We say we love "American Idol," "24" or "The Closer." Yet we ignore the fact that the ads are the main reason we get to watch those shows for a relatively minimal cost.
benton.org/node/32232

IS THERE A MASTER METRIC FOR EVALUATING PUBLIC MEDIA?
[SOURCE: MediaShift, AUTHOR: Jessica Clark, Katie Donnelly]
[Commentary] How are Public Media 2.0 projects measuring their success in informing and engaging publics? We've identified five elements to explore; each of these elements represents a measurable category of activity that helps media projects convene publics around issues:
Reach: How many people encounter the project across various screens and streams: TV, radio, streaming audio, blogs and websites, Twitter, iTunes, mobile applications, and more?
Relevance: Is the media project topical within the larger news cycle? Is it designed to stay relevant over several news cycles? Is it particularly relevant to targeted publics concerned with a specific issue, location, or event?
Inclusion: Does the project address a diverse range of targeted audience, not just in terms of race, but in terms of gender, age, class, geographical location and beliefs? How open is the architecture for participation, collaboration and discussion?
Engagement: Does the project move users to action: to subscribe to a site, contribute material, to write a letter in response, to pass on a link, donate time and money, sign a petition or contact a leader?
Influence: Does the project challenge or put the frame on important issues? Does it target "influentials"?Is it "spreadable" or buzzworthy?
benton.org/node/32365

MEDIA BUSINESS UPDATE
Fairfax claims turnaround
SMH: Fairfax Media believes it is through the worst of the global financial crisis, riding resurgent advertising markets to lift underlying earnings by 37 per cent from the depths of market turmoil early last year.
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Comment: Terry McCrann, Herald-Sun; Stephen Bartholomeusz, Business Spectator
Seven tie-up with heavy equipment firm
AFP: Australian media and investment company Seven Network on Monday announced a surprise merger with a heavy equipment firm, saying the unusual match-up was designed to take advantage of the mining boom.
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Analysis: James Chessell, The Australian
Telstra media head profile
Telstra’s new head of voice, broadband and media has a big task ahead – see this profile.

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