MYANMAT GETS SMS; GEORGIA CENSORS RUSSIAN BROADCASTERS; SAMOA'S NEW RADIO STATION
August 22nd 2008 08:47
THE MIDDLE EAST’S LARGEST PUBLISHING GROUP APPOINTS BOARD OF TRUSTEES TO GUARD EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE
The Saudi Research and Marketing Group, the largest publishing group in the Middle East, announced the creation and appointment of an independent board of trustees, whose task will be guarding its publications' editorial independence.
The announcement came during Saudi Research and Marketing Group participation in the city of Assilah Forum marking the thirtieth anniversary of the group's flagship publication; the London-based international Arab daily, Asharq Al-Awsat.
Prince Faisal Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, chairman of Saudi Research and Marketing Group, explained that the its board of trustees would consist of a diversified committee, whose members are both specialised and experienced, with different professional backgrounds.
The members of this board, whose names are to be announced within days, would help in assessing the editorial performance of all of the group's publications, Prince Faisal explained, adding that they will also evaluate the performance of the editors of the Group's publications, and their commitment to the balanced editorial policies Saudi Research and Marketing Group has adopted.
SNAPSHOT OF CHINA’S PRINT AD MARKET SHOWS SOLID GROWTH
Research and Markets, in its China Newspaper and Book Publishing Industry Report, said that in 2006, China's gross newspaper ad value increased 8.61 percent year-on-year.
In terms of newspaper ad, after declining in 2005, Guangzhou Daily has reined in the declining tendency, and increased slightly. Shanghai Morning Post, Nanfang City News - Guangzhou edition and Jinghua Times developed rapidly in 2006.
The down turn of Beijing Youth Daily and Beijing Evening News is gradually slowing, and the resuscitative trend has emerged.
INTERNATIONAL SMS NOW AVAILABLE IN MYANMAR
Mobile phone users in Myanmar can now send and receive e-mail and short messaging system text (SMS) outside the country through the E-Trade Company web site.
The Myanmar government approved the international text messaging service several months ago, and about 1,000 customers are now registered with the company.
Currently, the Myanmar government bans transmission of short messaging
But the Irrawaddy Journal reports that a student at Singapore University advised users to be careful when sending text messages using the company’s service since all messages are retained in the company’s server.
GSM phones were introduced by Myanmar Post and Telecom in 2002. Despite being more expensive, they’ve quickly become more popular than CDMA and cell phones because they have more functions over a greater area.
“The Myanmar mobile telephone market flourishes, and there are more than 200,000 GSM phones in use in Myanmar,” said a mobile phone shop owner. The price of a GSM phone now is about US $900.
AUSTRALIA’S RADIO NATIONAL CREATES A CONTENT MAKERS’ POOL
Keen to foster creativity and collaboration online, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio National has developed Pool, a place for creative content makers to upload their work, publish and collaborate.
Pool builds communities of interest in a range of genres such as animation, video, audio, photography, film, music and sound art. All work on Pool becomes available to share and to broadcast.
Audiences have the opportunity to view works in progress, comment and review work and, perhaps, discover up and coming artists and creators.
"Pool is another exciting entry into the world of participatory media for the ABC, where audiences become collaborators in the stories we tell," said Sue Howard, director of ABC Radio & Regional Content.
An important part of Pool is the capacity for members to share their work for others to reuse, repurpose and remix. This is made possible by Creative Commons, a set of licences that enable contributors to choose which rights they wish to retain, while encouraging sharing, exposure and distribution.
Pool has been developed using an open source software Drupal, enabling the Pool community to be part of developing the web platform itself. Browsing, collaboration and uploading are easy and a glance at the tag cloud indicates the wide range of Pool contributors' interests.
Pool access and membership is free. All content is available to view without becoming a member of the community, but to comment or collaborate, membership is required.
ABC Radio National has been assisted in the development of Pool by organisations including RMIT University, University of Technology Sydney, University of Wollongong, and Pool's community of contributors.
Pool won its category for Best Blue Sky Project at the inaugural ABC Digital Media Awards in February 2008.
NEW YORK JOURNALISM BODY URGES GEORGIA TO STOP “CENSORING” RUSSIAN BROADCASTS
The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York has urged Georgia to stop censorship by not blocking Russian radio and TV broadcasts – the majority of Georgians speak Russian.
The committee’s deputy director Rob Mahoney said, “In a democracy such as Georgia the public has a right to hear a broad range of opinion and news, especially at this critical juncture in its history.
“We urge the authorities to allow RTVi (Russian Television International) to resume transmission and to unblock other Russian-language broadcasts and web sites.”
AUSTRALIA’S FACILITATE DIGITAL IN PARTNERSHIP WITH US-BASED EYEWONDER
Australia’s Facilitate Digital Holdings Ltd, has entered into a partnership and investment agreement with EyeWonder, a leading US-based provider of interactive digital advertising.
EyeWonder, with 12 offices around the world, has been an industry leading provider of rich media technology since 1999.
In addition to the partnership agreement, EyeWonder has agreed to make an investment in Facilitate Digital of up to $2 million.
EyeWonder is the fastest growing rich media platform in US servicing 30 percent of the Fortune 1000, with a track record of creating the industry’s most sophisticated and effective campaigns as stated by WPP company Dynamic Logic in its 2008 Market Norms Benchmark Report.
SAMOA’S SOUTH SEA BROADCASTING LAUNCHES NEW RADIO STATION
Pacific Magazine reports that American Samoa-based South Seas Broadcasting Inc, which has operated 93KHJ in the territory since 1999, has launched a new radio station, WVUV-FM.
It is known as V103, and is on the 103.1 on the FM dial. V103 conducted tests for several weeks before the launch.
Unlike 93KHJ, which programs American-style pop music and mostly English dialogue, V103’s programming features mostly of Samoan dialogue and a mix of Samoan and Polynesian music.
V103 also airs local news, world and national news from the ABC Radio Network, and will soon add a Samoan-language news broadcast.
WVUV-FM is named in honour of American Samoa’s original radio station, WVUV-AM, which was purchased by South Seas in 2001.
US BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS EXPLAINS WHY IT SWITCHED FROM EUTELSAT TO CHINA’S ASIASAT
Letitia King, director of the Office of Public Affairs for the US Broadcasting Board of Governors, says the board’s decision to switch from French-based Eutelsat to Chinese-controlled AsiaSat for its broadcasts to China means its broadcasts are more accessible within China.
Replying to comments from a correspondent in a letter to the Billings Gazette, King wrote, “As part of a transmission network realignment, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which broadcasts both the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, ended its contract with Eutelsat for satellite transmission to China. Having worked with AsiaSat for over 10 years without any threatened or actual interference, the agency continues to transmit VOA and RFA Chinese-language broadcasts to China via AsiaSat 3 satellite and by shortwave and medium wave radio.
“This realignment focuses our resources on the most cost-effective transmission means and on media that is more accessible and more widely viewed by our Chinese audience. While internet access is intermittently censored by the Chinese government, the board actively pursues alternate web routes for our online users.”
AILING AUSSIE WEEKLY SPORTS MAGAZINES REDEFINES IT NEW MENS TARGET GROUP AS GENERATION ACTIVE
AS The Australian newspaper reports that the metrosexual has been superseded as a marketing force, and so have his retrosexual and ubersexual brothers, according to News Magazines, publisher of sports monthly Alpha.
The company claims it has identified a new dominant category among male consumers: Generation Active which it claims accounts for 24 percent of 18-59 year old Australian males and 54 percent of the 18-29 year olds comprising Alpha's core readership.
The typical Gen A-er is in his 20s, single, with no kids and with lots of money to spend. He likes looking good, but doesn't much care for fashion. He loves seeing sexy women, but not sleazy ones. He exercises regularly and is passionate about sport.
News Magazines men's division general manager Mark Kelly said, "This is the new leader. The man who holds the most spending power."
But what it really means is that the company hopes this demographic has enough money to buy its revamped sports weekly magazine Alpha which relaunched it this week with a A$1 million marketing push targeting the Gen A reader.
And what this really means is that a last ditch attempt is underway to save the ailing Alpha.
When the magazine launched in July 2005, backed by a $6 million marketing campaign, a company executive described its initial target of 200,000 copies as "maybe even conservative".
In the latest audit, for the year to June, sales dropped below 114,000 copies.
AUSTRALIA’S FAIRFAX MEDIA’S UNDERLYING PROFIT FALLS WELL SHORT OF MARKET EXPECTATIONS
Australia’s Fairfax Media's full-year net profit, boosted by the acquisition of regional newspaper group Rural Press, rose 47 percent, but underlying profit came in below market expectations - while it rose 37.4 per cent to A$395.3 million, the final result was $378.1 million after paying the SPS dividend.
Analysts had been looking for underlying profit of A$386.6 million after the dividend, according to a consensus of seven market-watchers surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, and estimates ranged from $379.0 million to $400.5 million.
Fairfax Media publishes newspapers including the Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Revenue rose 33.9 per cent to $2.91 billion, and the group declared a final dividend of 10 cents a share, steady with last year and bringing the total dividend for the year to 20c.
Looking ahead, Fairfax said advertising markets had slowed in the new financial year. The media group said it had “limited visibility on how well advertising markets will perform this half”.
PRESS FREEDOM ORGANISATION PUBLISHES CHINESE DIRECTIVES ON HOW TO HANDLE FOREIGN MEDIA
Although Chinese police have attacked or manhandled around 10 foreign journalists since the start of the Beijing games, they were told not to obstruct the international press in directives sent to police stations at the end of July, of which Reporters Without Borders has obtained a copy. These directives nonetheless clearly instruct them to investigate the Chinese who talk to the foreign media, and another directive on August 7 (also obtained by Reporters Without Borders) orders them to deal quickly with religious demonstrations.
"The rules for the foreign press adopted in January 2007 were simple and explicit – freedom of movement and freedom to interview," Reporters Without Borders said.
"The Chinese police documents obtained by Reporters Without Borders show that the police were indeed ordered to let foreign journalists work, but they were also ordered to investigate the Chinese who told them embarrassing things.
"The recent arrests of Chinese who wanted to stage demonstrations or express themselves during the Olympic Games were examples of this desire on the part of the authorities to target their own citizens rather than the thousands of foreign journalists."
Reporters Without Borders is releasing three Chinese police documents on official strategy towards the foreign media. While the aim of these documents is to ensure that the thousands of accredited foreign journalists in Beijing are free to conduct interviews, they also ask the police to prevent non-accredited journalists from working and above all to investigate the Chinese who talk to the press. This suggests there could be reprisals after the games, when all the journalists have gone.
Dated July 25 and entitled "Four directives for handling foreign journalists," the first document asks the police not to block their camera lenses (1), not to damage their equipment (2), not to confiscate their memory cards (3) and not to investigate when they are involved in minor offences (4).
Reporters Without Borders knows of several cases in which these directives were clearly violated. Uniformed officers physically prevented Hong Kong journalists from filming a crowd getting out of hand during the sale of tickets for the games on 25 July. Reporter John Ray of Britain's ITN was arrested by Beijing police officers while covering a demonstration by pro-Tibet activists on 13 August. He was forcibly restrained for 20 minutes although he identified himself as journalist, while his cameraman was prevented from filming the arrest of the protesters.
Police destroyed material and equipment of a photographer with the London-based Guardian newspaper. And in Xinjiang, Associated Press photographers were forced to delete the photos they had taken.
The second document is entitled "Eight directives for not intervening when a foreign journalist is interviewing a Chinese." It tells police not to intervene if the journalist is accredited (1), if the journalist is accredited but is not asking political questions (2), if the person agrees to be interviewed (3), if the journalist asks about a third country (4), at news conferences given by foreign organisations that have permission (5), if the journalist is asking about sensitive matters but the interviewee is not causing people to gather and disrupt public order (6), if the interviewee talks about subjects such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan and Falun Gong or criticises the Party or government but is not behaving outrageously (7), if a journalist photographs or films policemen without disrupting their work (8).
As regards point 7, the directive tells the police to "speak to the interviewee in accordance with Chinese legislation and to follow and monitor the journalist." There have been more than ten cases of Chinese being arrested after trying to alert international public opinion to abuses they have suffered. The third document is an analysis by the Criminal Affairs Bureau of three incidents involving pro-Tibet activists, Christians and a delinquent. Directives tell the police that the priority is to carry out a thorough investigation and avoid bad publicity. The Criminal Affairs Bureau recommends arresting foreign demonstrators and deporting them as quickly as possible. The police are told to do everything possible to "depoliticise" their actions by stressing the public order consequences to the public.
Point 4 of the directives tells the Beijing police to deal with "religious cases as quickly as possible." They are told to "keep the crowd at a distance, devise all sorts of ploys to defuse the situation and immediately inform the Religious Affairs Department."
Read the directives on www.rsf.org
NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS FOR YOUTH ACCORDING TO NEW PEW REPORT
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has a report called Audience Segments in a Changing News Environment, and one of its findings is that youth are less interested in news.
The report says, "In spite of the increasing variety of ways to get the news, the proportion of young people getting no news on a typical day has increased substantially over the past decade. About a third of those younger than 25 (34 percent) say they get no news on a typical day, up from 25 percent in 1998."
MORE THAN A BILLION CHINESE VIEWERS WATCHED SOME PART OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES OVER THE FIRST FOUR DAYS
CSM Media Research reports that over one billion unique Chinese viewers watched some part of the Olympic Games on television between August 8, the day of the opening ceremony, and August 12.
That's nearly 85 percent of China's total TV population. This number is based on the viewing of the main CCTV channels broadcasting the games.
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