MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST JAN 24: BULLETIN MAGAZINE HEATH LEDGER AFI DHARMHA INDEXES HONG KONG TATLER
January 24th 2008 11:38
A compliation of MediaBlab items published over the last 24 hours
AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST MAGAZINE, THE BULLETIN, SHUTS DOWN
Australia’s premiere and iconic weekly news and current affairs magazine title The Bulletin with Newsweek will cease publication from the current issue of the magazine which went on sale on January 23, 2008.
The Bulletin is Australia’s longest running magazine and was launched in 1880.
In the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, The Bulletin had 57,039 in sales (Sept 07), which is down from circulation highs of over 100,000 in the mid 1990s. This trend is consistent with that experienced by many leading weekly news and current affairs magazines globally and is somewhat symptomatic of the impact of the internet on this particular genre.
“This is a sad day for all of us at ACP Magazines. The Bulletin has been an institution in Australian publishing and has provided its loyal readers with the best quality, in-depth news and current affairs analysis in the country. The Bulletin has often set the political agenda, broken many important stories and won many awards for journalism over the years,” ACP ceo Scott Lorson said.
“We have invested heavily in the title with top editorial, photographic and design staff who have been devoted to making The Bulletin the best of its genre. However, despite our best efforts, the magazine has simply not been commercially viable for some time. With limited prospects for improvement, the time has come to make a very tough decision.”
Ian Law, Chief Executive Officer PBL Media, said the decision to close The Bulletin had been made reluctantly.
He said, “We all had a sense of pride in the title. John Lehmann and his editorial team produced a top quality publication and should be commended. But the reality is that the publication has been running at a loss for a number of years and we could see no prospect of this trend being reversed.”
STRUGGLE FOR MEDIA TO CHECK ACCURACY DURING THE FAST-BREAKING NEWS OF HEATH LEDGER’S DEATH
The Los Angeles Times tracked the errors made mostly via internet media sources during the breaking of the Heath Ledger-is-dead news.
The LA Times said, “If you watched the story of Heath Ledger’s death explode chaotically across the internet, with facts, errors, inconsistencies and confusions flying every which way, you may have concluded that in the new digital media’s race to break stories in minutes, accuracy has been left in the dust.
“Chief among the media’s switchbacks was the early non-fact that Ledger’s death had taken place at the New York apartment of Mary-Kate Olsen. Celebrity news site TMX.com and even the New York Times' City Room blog reported this piece of misinformation before they unreported it.
“Importantly, however, neither the New York Times nor TMZ got it wrong. “It was the NYPD spokesman who had the story mixed up – the media were simply parroting incorrect information.
“But here’s the problem: Stories have never arrived to the world fully formed or vetted. Journalists have generally had hours – not minutes or seconds – to craft a story from the blast wave of facts and factoids that comes in the wake of a bombshell.
“What people are seeing now is an old-fashioned process – reporting – as it unfolds in real time. If the public wants its information as raw and immediate as possible, it'll have to get used to a few missteps along the way, and maybe even approach breaking stories with a bit of scepticism, like a good reporter would.”
In Australia the story broke in real time news time – at the busy end of the television morning shows.
Channel Nines Today show did an excellent job of reporting by reminding viewers that all reports were unconfirmed, and then confirming facts if proved correct.
Presenters broke into the program the instant first reports of Ledger’s death emerged, but pointed out to viewers that the reports of ledgers death were at first unconfirmed.
AUSTRALIAN SOAPS MUSCLE OUT TV NEWS IN BRITAIN
Brit broadcasters seem to have their priorities set right – Channel Five will move its 5.30pm news to create an hour-long burst of Australian soaps comprising Neighbours, which is moving from BBC1, and Home and Away, from next month.
Neighbours, to which Five secured the rights last year in a GBP300 million 10-year deal, will air in the 5.30pm slot every weekday from February 11.
Home and Away will continue to run in its usual 6pm slot, but will now follow Neighbours rather than the 5.30pm Five News.
The Guardian said, “It is understood that the scheduling of Neighbours on Five's flagship channel has been designed to closely match the times that fans have become accustomed to after 21 years of it running on BBC1.”
DRUG CHEATS: ANTIDEPRESSANT COMPANIES COOK THE BOOKS AND ONLY PUBLISH MAINLY POSITIVE REPORTS
Here’s something to get depressed about: according to Australia’s Biotech Daily, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that negative trial results on anti-depressants tend not to be published.
The January 17 article said that selective publication of clinical trials and the outcomes of those trials can lead to unrealistic estimates of drug effectiveness and alter the apparent risk to benefit ratio.
The authors obtained reviews from the US Food and Drug Administration for studies of 12 antidepressant agents involving 12,564 patients. They identified matching publications and for trials that were reported in the literature, they compared the published outcomes with the FDA outcomes.
Of 74 FDA-registered studies, 31 percent (accounting for 3449 study participants) were not published.
“Whether and how the studies were published was associated with the study outcome,” authors said.
A total of 37 studies viewed by the FDA as having positive results were published; one study viewed as positive was not published.
“Studies viewed by the FDA as having negative or questionable results were, with three exceptions, either not published (22 studies) or published in a way that, in our opinion, conveyed a positive outcome (11 studies),” the authors said.
“According to the published literature, it appeared that 94 percent of the trials conducted were positive. By contrast, the FDA analysis showed that 51 percent were positive”.
“Selective reporting of clinical trial results may have adverse consequences for researchers, study participants, health care professionals, and patients,” the authors said.
AUSTRALIAN FILM INSTITUTE BOSS QUITS SUDDENLY
The Australian Film Institute's chief executive James Hewison has quit just 16 months after taking up the post, The Age reports today.
Hewison is leaving on February 29 to "pursue new opportunities", AFI chairman Morry Schwartz said yesterday. He declined to detail the opportunities, saying Hewison would reveal all "in the fullness of time".
Although he was "slightly surprised" by Hewison leaving the office so soon, Schwartz said his departure was "totally amicable".
Before joining the AFI, Hewison was executive director of the Melbourne International Film Festival from 2001 to 2006.
MEDIA STOCKS MOSTLY IN GLOBAL FREE FALL
Media stocks are also feeling the pain of a looming global recession, and in the US Disney dropped 11.7 percent, News Corp is down on class by shares 8.9 percent and Time Warner just keeps going down.
In London, big media stocks were off, but not quite as much as the overall UK market. Shares in satellite broadcaster BSkyB lost 3.3 percent, while shares in commercial broadcaster ITV were down 3.7 percent.
In Germany, shares of pay TV giant Premiere ended down 7.3 percent.
But in Australia, shares in APN and Consolidated Media holdings, actually rose, the latter in the wake of news about a deal between the Murdoch and Packer sons.
Also in the US, Google's stock dropped at one stage more than 160 points since peaking at US$750 per share in early November.
The slide could be partly attributable; to the latest search numbers from Nielsen Online, which said that Microsoft gained nearly 2 percent on Google Search last month.
Reuters reported that while the tech sector is reeling on Wall Street, good news may emerge when Microsoft and Google deliver fourth-quarter earnings later this week.
DOW JONES LAUNCHES DHARMA INDEXES TO TRACK HINDU AND BUDDHIST-SENSITIVE COMPANIES
Religion News Service reports that Dow Jones has launched Dharma Indexes, which track companies that "observe the values of dharma-based religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism."
The Dow Jones Dharma Indexes are the first to measure dharma-compliant stocks and now track more than 3,400 companies globally, including about 1,000 in the US.
In addition to the global index, Dow Jones has created dharma indexes for the US, Britain, Japan and India.
Dharma Investments, a private faith-based Indian firm, partnered with Dow Jones to create the indexes.
Dharma Investments chief executive Nitesh Gor said, "The principle of dharma contains precepts relevant to good conduct, but also the implicit requirement of mindfulness about the sources of wealth, and therefore responsible investing."
Advisory committees of religious leaders and scholars will screen and monitor companies' policies on the environment, corporate governance, labor relations and human rights, among other criteria. Companies from business sectors deemed un-dharmic, such as weapons manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, casinos and alcohol, are barred from the index.
The first faith-based index was the Islamic Market Indexes, in 1999.
Dow Jones said socially responsible investing makes up about 10 percent of America's US$24 trillion investment marketplace.
HONG TATLER LAUNCHES ONLINE PORTAL ON ASIA’S BEST RESTAURANTS
Hong Kong Tatler has launched an online portal featuring dining and entertainment called Asia Best Restaurants.com aimed at young, affluent professionals in their mid-20s to 40s.
Marketing reports that the English language portal features a search engine that allows users to search based on the cuisine, location and price of over 250 restaurants that are mostly from its Hong Kong Tatler's Best Restaurants guide.
The portal also includes a daily updated events calendar of the art, music, theatre, dance and nightlife scene in the territory.
Pannee Ng, sales director for Edipresse Asia, said her team is now working on getting advertisers, and some restaurants have already expressed interest. Banks and credit card companies are also their target advertisers.
Fluid Hong Kong designed and built the site, which has been launched initially in Hong Kong and will extend to the rest of Asia from Singapore, Shanghai to Bangkok.
HORROR STORY FOR ZIMBABWE NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER
Western newspaper executives who think they’re up against it with declining circulations and ad revenues should spare a thought for the plight of their Zimbabwean candidates.
Africa Bizzcommunity reports that Raphael Khumalo, the chief executive officer of Zimind Publishers, which publishes the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard weekly newspapers this week revealed that his group had lost 40 percent of advertising revenue following what he described as “wanton looting of retail outlets” as a result of a government price blitz that triggered economy-wide shortages in the country.
Khumalo said, “This has been compounded by the following: price controls targeted at newspapers, loss of advertising revenue, high operating costs, cost of machine breakdowns, foot dragging by authorities in granting price increases even in the face of spiralling hyperinflation as well as reduced newspaper circulation figures due to unavailability of cash.”
He made this statement after journalists at the group's two newspapers last week embarked on a strike, the first ever industrial action by newspaper staff since a 2002 strike by journalists that crippled operations at the now-banned Daily News newspaper.
Plus to add to his woes, late last year Khumalo also had a dramatic brush with the law.
He said that on November 9, “The authorities had no difficulty arresting myself and Jacob Chisese, chief executive officer of The Financial Gazette, for violating price control regulations after increasing cover prices of our newspapers in an attempt to recover costs so that we could remain in business and allow our employees to earn fair returns.”
Other than that, Khumalo has had a smooth ride.
RUPERT MURDOCH READY TO TOPPLE NEW YORK TIMES SAYS LASKY
It’s real clear to US writer Ed Lasky that the New York Times will be toppled by Rupert Murdoch.
Lasky writes on the Real Clear Politics site that, “The American mediascape is about to experience an earthquake, Rupert Murdoch is preparing to topple the New York Times from its position as the pre-eminent general interest daily newspaper, generating severe financial pressure on a struggling media company reeling from mismanagement. There is every indication he will succeed.
“The New York Times has long enjoyed the status of America's leading and most influential national general interest newspaper. A wide range of advertisers, particularly purveyors of upscale goods, have paid escalating advertising rates to reach the elite readership presumed to read the nation's leading daily.
“The paper has capitalised on its nationwide reach and influential readership to promote a liberal agenda (its public editor admitted the Times was ‘of course...a liberal newspaper’).
“While the company has suffered from poor management under its chairman and publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr (‘Pinch’), he has been insulated from pressure by shareholders (including a hedge fund that accumulated millions of shares) because of an unusual voting class structure that vests enormous power – but little ownership – in the founding family.
”However, Pinch will soon face a very formidable competitor. Legendary media baron Rupert Murdoch has just completed his purchase of the Wall Street Journal - a paper that also enjoys nationwide reach, but one that has heretofore focused on the world of business. Change is afoot. Murdoch is a man who makes no ‘small plans’; he makes ‘big plans’.
”Murdoch's goal is to transform the Journal into a rival of the Times, and then surpass it, making the Journal the nation's pre-eminent general interest newspaper. Given Murdoch's history, zeal, resources and talents – all qualities sadly lacking in the fourth generation of Sulzbergers, as symbolized by Pinch – the Times will be toppled.
Lasky has spoke!
Meawnhile, a sister site, Real Clear Markets suggested Google may buy the New York Times. It said, “In the last five years, the New York Times has declined in value by an astonishing 70 percent. There is no indication that things will get better any time soon. Indeed, as the specter of recession looms, there is every reason to believe that things will get worse. At some point here in the near future, the market capitalization of the New York Times will fall below $2 billion. At that point, a psychological floor will have collapsed and the company will be in play.
“The company that has the most to gain from buying the New York Times is Google. If it proffered a Murdoch-like, no-auction bid of $4 billion, wouldn't the Sulzberger family have to accept it? Every single class B shareholder would accept the offer. It's their only exit. It is also likely that Times employees and retirees would enthusiastically support the deal; it's their only exit as well. So it would all come down to whether the Sulzberger family (smaller in number and not as far-flung as the fractious Bancroft clan that owned Dow Jones) would accept the deal.”
MANY NEWS AGENCIES TIPPED TO GO TO THE WALL
Newsflash, one of the best-known Scottish wire services, has been forced into closure, prompting the head of a news agency industry association to say that relations with newspapers are the "worst in 15 years.”
The Guardian reports that Mark Solomons, chairman of National Association of Press Agencies, predicted more agencies will go to the wall.
He said news agencies are also fighting the refusal by some major newspaper publishers to pay for web usage of content, the issue that caused the US writers' strike".
"The relationship between newspapers and agencies is the worst it has been for 15 years and the way we are treated by those who decide on payments will ensure more agencies will go to the wall," Solomons said.
"What has happened to Newsflash is bitterly disappointing for NAPA, their staff and the industry as a whole," he added.
"Most papers are still paying the same as they were 15 years ago, some even less and that's if you get paid at all, - the Sun still owes a lot of agencies money dating back more than six months.
"Now papers are imposing new terms and conditions which mean we give their internet sites free copy whether we like it or not."
Last year both Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mail, and Sun owner News International refused to pay for online usage after sending out new terms and conditions without any negotiations, according to Solomons.
"I think it's fair to say there's a lot of anger within the industry at the way agencies are being treated," Solomons said.
LONDON COUNCIL TELLS FREE NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS TO CLEAN UP THEIR ACT
Westminster City Council has finally cracked down on publishers of free newspapers, forcing them to clean up their cat.
The council has convinced Associated Newspapers, publisher of the free London Lite and competitor News International, publisher of thelondonpaper to install recycling bins throughout London’s busiest streets to hopefully cut down on the litter caused by the thrown away throw-aways.
The council had to get tough, threatening the publishers with banning their papers from certain parts of London unless they were more proactive in clearing up the mess.
So now both newspapers are banging on about their corporate citizenship. They will pay for and maintain 70 bins. The papers have already installed 56 bins which have the capacity to collect 1.5 tons of newspapers for recycling daily.
The council estimates that newspapers are fully 24 percent of street waste in the main West End shopping area.
Meanwhile London on a bus or taking exhibition director Karen Janody figured the best thing to do with all those newspapers was build a house from them.
Together with conceptual artist Sumer Erek, 48, and a new organisation called Creative City, she will begin building the shell of a Newspaper House on Gillett Square in Hackney, east London, at the end of this month. The public will then be encouraged to collect newspapers they find lying around or have at home and bring them to the location.
The artists anticipate that thousands of newspapers will be needed. People will not just be asked to bring the newspapers but also to write a personal message on them and roll them into "sticks" to use as building material.
REUTERS UK JOURNALISTS THREATEN STRIKE OVER SHABBY TREATMENT
Online Journalism reports that Nation Union of Journalists members at Reuters in Britain have called for a vote on strike action after 'shabby treatment' toward journalists over job restructuring at the agency.
The union has called for a ballot on industrial action on the company's 'refusal to hold meaningful negotiations' over changes to editorial job roles that came into force yesterday,
Reuters said that changes were part of an 'internal human resources reclassification of some roles within Reuters’ editorial'.
The 'reclassification' comes ahead of Reuters' planned merger with Canadian information service Thomson.
On Wednesday, David Schlesinger, Reuters’ editor-in-chief, was questioned by members of a House of Lords Committee about the planned merger and the company's alleged failure to properly consult staff.
NBC UNIVERSAL FOLLOW VIACOM AND DISNEY IN INDIAN MEDIA INVASION
The media invasion of India is well and truly on, with NBC Universal becoming the third major US media conglomeration to enter the Indian marketplace.
Viacom and Disney have already got a foothold, and NBC Universal this week confirmed that it has acquired a 26 percent stake in NDTV Networks Plc, the UK subsidiary of Indian media co NDTV.
Under the agreement, an affiliate of NBC Universal will pick up the 26 percent stake in NDTV Networks PLC for US$150 million, and NBC Universal’s affiliates will also have the option of acquiring up to a 50 percent stake in the NDTV Networks Plc in the third year of the joint venture.
Rafat Ali reports that NDTV Networks Plc is the parent company of NDTV Imagine Ltd, NDTV Lifestyle Ltd, NDTV Convergence Ltd (which owns the internet and mobile properties) and NDTV Labs Ltd and 50 percent in NGEN Media Services Private Ltd (the media outsourcing company).
The agreement does not cover any news channels in India, in which foreign direct investment is regulated.
This is the statement NDTV lodged with the Bombay Stock Exchange:
“New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) advises that NDTV and an overseas subsidiary of NDTV have signed a Memorandum of Agreement with NBC Universal, Inc. and a subsidiary of NBCU in respect of the sale / issue by an overseas subsidiary of NDTV of an effective 26% stake to an affiliate of NBCU for a consideration of USD150 million. The said subsidiary of NDTV is the indirect parent Company of the following Companies: NDTV Imagine Ltd, NDTV Convergence Ltd, NDTV Labs Ltd, NDTV Lifestyle Ltd, NDTV Emerging Markets B.V and the said subsidiary is a joint venture partner in NGEN Media Services Pvt Ltd.
“The MoA also envisages that NBCU affiliates would have the option to acquire up to 50% of said subsidiary in the third year of the joint venture at the then fair market value. The MoA and the transaction contemplated therein are subject to receipt of all necessary approvals. The proposed joint venture shall not relate to news channels in India.”
Meanwhile, the Virgin Group’s entry into the Indian Telecom market is expected to be announced next month, reportedly a joint venture with Tata Teleservices. The Economic Times also reports that Virgin is in talks with an Indian media house which has presence in film production, TV, music and animation.
The deal will apparently take a 2-3 months to finalize, and Branson has not mentioned the name of the prospective partner.
AUSTRALIA’S BUSH DOCTORS TO FEATURE IN ‘OBSERVATIONAL’ DOCCO SERIES
Channel 7 in Australia is about to launch a new “observational documentary” series Bush Doctors.
Filmed on location in regional Australia, this six-part series reveals the challenges presented to doctors and nurses in the bush. Seven’s cameras go into the community, following staff and patients who work and live in an unforgiving environment.
In the style of top-rating programs such as RSPCA Animal Rescue, Border Security and Medical Emergency, Bush Doctors will explore a range of cases that arrive at NSW’s Dubbo Base Hospital and beyond. The show will also follow the local ambulance service as it responds to calls for help from the community.
Seven enthusiastically spruiks the program, saying, “Witness real emergencies that just don’t happen anywhere else. You’ll meet Robert, who’s changing a tyre on his harvester when the huge machine falls, pinning him underneath. Will he survive? Bitten by a deadly snake, Hayley’s made it to hospital in time. But will the venom harm her unborn baby? Shearer Col slices the top of his middle finger in a wool press. His boss Darren throws the severed appendage in a paper bag and rushes him to hospital. William mounts a mechanical bull at an office party but before he knows it, he’s in the back of an ambulance.”
Bush Doctors premieres on Sunday February 3.
AUSTRALIA’S FACILITATE DIGITAL GIVES OPEN ACCESS TO RESOURCE CENTRE
Facilitate Digital Holdings Ltd, a leading Australian independent provider of digital marketing technology, will provide open access to the Symphony Media Resource Centre – at no charge.
Facilitate said, “Such a stance is of real significance for the global online media industry. Now for the first time, there is a central global repository of online publisher information accessible to all stakeholders of online media. “A uniquely powerful resource, the Symphony Media Resource Centre will drive greater efficiencies in the sharing of information between buyers and sellers of media locally, across the APAC region and globally.”
Located within the Symphony Media platform, the Resource Centre provides users with access to valuable information such as site profiles, key publisher contacts, visitation and audience demographic profiles, location and format information as well as other sales and credentials documentation for online publishers from all over the world.
Facilitate Digital has been working in partnership with publishers from UK, Europe, Asia and Australia and New Zealand to make this information the most comprehensive and accurate resource available.
“Throughout the history of Symphony, we have fielded a number of requests for the publisher data within Symphony Media to be made available to all parties," states ceo Ian Lowe.
"Our decision to make this information publicly available through the Symphony Resource Centre comes as a result of listening to the market as well as our own belief that open market access will drive further efficiencies for the industry.”
The company said having such information in one central database is of significant benefit to the digital market. Centralisation of information drives process efficiencies for agencies, and acts as a passive quality control mechanism for publishers. Most importantly, a central database of relevant information removes significant costs for both media and creative agency, and reduces revenue loss for publishers as a result of creative material being submitted late, not to specification, or both.
ANALYSTS: PACKER-MURDOCH AUSTRALIAN MEDIA DEAL LOOKS SET TO SUCCEED
The Wall Street Journal today reports that James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch look set to succeed with their $3.3 billion dollar plan to privatise Australia's Consolidated Media Holding Ltd., with rival bids unlikely to emerge, according to analysts said.
Shares in Consolidated Media closed up 9.6 percent at $4.23 against a sharply weaker broader market after the plans were revealed.
The Wall Street Journal said, “The closing price compares with a current indicative offer price of about $4.75 under the 50-50 privatization proposal. The two men are offering $4.06 cash plus 0.1116 of a Seek Ltd share for each Consolidated Media share.
“Under the plan, Mr. Packer will seek an exemption from the Australian corporate regulator from rules that could force him to sell his existing 37 percent stake in Consolidated Media if a higher bid emerges, discouraging rival bidders, analysts say.
“The offer has also been declared final, which means it can't be raised under Australian law.”
AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST MAGAZINE, THE BULLETIN, SHUTS DOWN
Australia’s premiere and iconic weekly news and current affairs magazine title The Bulletin with Newsweek will cease publication from the current issue of the magazine which went on sale on January 23, 2008.
The Bulletin is Australia’s longest running magazine and was launched in 1880.
In the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, The Bulletin had 57,039 in sales (Sept 07), which is down from circulation highs of over 100,000 in the mid 1990s. This trend is consistent with that experienced by many leading weekly news and current affairs magazines globally and is somewhat symptomatic of the impact of the internet on this particular genre.
“We have invested heavily in the title with top editorial, photographic and design staff who have been devoted to making The Bulletin the best of its genre. However, despite our best efforts, the magazine has simply not been commercially viable for some time. With limited prospects for improvement, the time has come to make a very tough decision.”
Ian Law, Chief Executive Officer PBL Media, said the decision to close The Bulletin had been made reluctantly.
He said, “We all had a sense of pride in the title. John Lehmann and his editorial team produced a top quality publication and should be commended. But the reality is that the publication has been running at a loss for a number of years and we could see no prospect of this trend being reversed.”
STRUGGLE FOR MEDIA TO CHECK ACCURACY DURING THE FAST-BREAKING NEWS OF HEATH LEDGER’S DEATH
The Los Angeles Times tracked the errors made mostly via internet media sources during the breaking of the Heath Ledger-is-dead news.
The LA Times said, “If you watched the story of Heath Ledger’s death explode chaotically across the internet, with facts, errors, inconsistencies and confusions flying every which way, you may have concluded that in the new digital media’s race to break stories in minutes, accuracy has been left in the dust.
“Chief among the media’s switchbacks was the early non-fact that Ledger’s death had taken place at the New York apartment of Mary-Kate Olsen. Celebrity news site TMX.com and even the New York Times' City Room blog reported this piece of misinformation before they unreported it.
“Importantly, however, neither the New York Times nor TMZ got it wrong. “It was the NYPD spokesman who had the story mixed up – the media were simply parroting incorrect information.
“But here’s the problem: Stories have never arrived to the world fully formed or vetted. Journalists have generally had hours – not minutes or seconds – to craft a story from the blast wave of facts and factoids that comes in the wake of a bombshell.
“What people are seeing now is an old-fashioned process – reporting – as it unfolds in real time. If the public wants its information as raw and immediate as possible, it'll have to get used to a few missteps along the way, and maybe even approach breaking stories with a bit of scepticism, like a good reporter would.”
In Australia the story broke in real time news time – at the busy end of the television morning shows.
Channel Nines Today show did an excellent job of reporting by reminding viewers that all reports were unconfirmed, and then confirming facts if proved correct.
Presenters broke into the program the instant first reports of Ledger’s death emerged, but pointed out to viewers that the reports of ledgers death were at first unconfirmed.
AUSTRALIAN SOAPS MUSCLE OUT TV NEWS IN BRITAIN
Brit broadcasters seem to have their priorities set right – Channel Five will move its 5.30pm news to create an hour-long burst of Australian soaps comprising Neighbours, which is moving from BBC1, and Home and Away, from next month.
Neighbours, to which Five secured the rights last year in a GBP300 million 10-year deal, will air in the 5.30pm slot every weekday from February 11.
Home and Away will continue to run in its usual 6pm slot, but will now follow Neighbours rather than the 5.30pm Five News.
The Guardian said, “It is understood that the scheduling of Neighbours on Five's flagship channel has been designed to closely match the times that fans have become accustomed to after 21 years of it running on BBC1.”
DRUG CHEATS: ANTIDEPRESSANT COMPANIES COOK THE BOOKS AND ONLY PUBLISH MAINLY POSITIVE REPORTS
Here’s something to get depressed about: according to Australia’s Biotech Daily, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that negative trial results on anti-depressants tend not to be published.
The January 17 article said that selective publication of clinical trials and the outcomes of those trials can lead to unrealistic estimates of drug effectiveness and alter the apparent risk to benefit ratio.
The authors obtained reviews from the US Food and Drug Administration for studies of 12 antidepressant agents involving 12,564 patients. They identified matching publications and for trials that were reported in the literature, they compared the published outcomes with the FDA outcomes.
Of 74 FDA-registered studies, 31 percent (accounting for 3449 study participants) were not published.
“Whether and how the studies were published was associated with the study outcome,” authors said.
A total of 37 studies viewed by the FDA as having positive results were published; one study viewed as positive was not published.
“Studies viewed by the FDA as having negative or questionable results were, with three exceptions, either not published (22 studies) or published in a way that, in our opinion, conveyed a positive outcome (11 studies),” the authors said.
“According to the published literature, it appeared that 94 percent of the trials conducted were positive. By contrast, the FDA analysis showed that 51 percent were positive”.
“Selective reporting of clinical trial results may have adverse consequences for researchers, study participants, health care professionals, and patients,” the authors said.
AUSTRALIAN FILM INSTITUTE BOSS QUITS SUDDENLY
The Australian Film Institute's chief executive James Hewison has quit just 16 months after taking up the post, The Age reports today.
Hewison is leaving on February 29 to "pursue new opportunities", AFI chairman Morry Schwartz said yesterday. He declined to detail the opportunities, saying Hewison would reveal all "in the fullness of time".
Although he was "slightly surprised" by Hewison leaving the office so soon, Schwartz said his departure was "totally amicable".
Before joining the AFI, Hewison was executive director of the Melbourne International Film Festival from 2001 to 2006.
MEDIA STOCKS MOSTLY IN GLOBAL FREE FALL
Media stocks are also feeling the pain of a looming global recession, and in the US Disney dropped 11.7 percent, News Corp is down on class by shares 8.9 percent and Time Warner just keeps going down.
In London, big media stocks were off, but not quite as much as the overall UK market. Shares in satellite broadcaster BSkyB lost 3.3 percent, while shares in commercial broadcaster ITV were down 3.7 percent.
In Germany, shares of pay TV giant Premiere ended down 7.3 percent.
But in Australia, shares in APN and Consolidated Media holdings, actually rose, the latter in the wake of news about a deal between the Murdoch and Packer sons.
Also in the US, Google's stock dropped at one stage more than 160 points since peaking at US$750 per share in early November.
The slide could be partly attributable; to the latest search numbers from Nielsen Online, which said that Microsoft gained nearly 2 percent on Google Search last month.
Reuters reported that while the tech sector is reeling on Wall Street, good news may emerge when Microsoft and Google deliver fourth-quarter earnings later this week.
DOW JONES LAUNCHES DHARMA INDEXES TO TRACK HINDU AND BUDDHIST-SENSITIVE COMPANIES
Religion News Service reports that Dow Jones has launched Dharma Indexes, which track companies that "observe the values of dharma-based religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism."
The Dow Jones Dharma Indexes are the first to measure dharma-compliant stocks and now track more than 3,400 companies globally, including about 1,000 in the US.
In addition to the global index, Dow Jones has created dharma indexes for the US, Britain, Japan and India.
Dharma Investments, a private faith-based Indian firm, partnered with Dow Jones to create the indexes.
Dharma Investments chief executive Nitesh Gor said, "The principle of dharma contains precepts relevant to good conduct, but also the implicit requirement of mindfulness about the sources of wealth, and therefore responsible investing."
Advisory committees of religious leaders and scholars will screen and monitor companies' policies on the environment, corporate governance, labor relations and human rights, among other criteria. Companies from business sectors deemed un-dharmic, such as weapons manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, casinos and alcohol, are barred from the index.
The first faith-based index was the Islamic Market Indexes, in 1999.
Dow Jones said socially responsible investing makes up about 10 percent of America's US$24 trillion investment marketplace.
HONG TATLER LAUNCHES ONLINE PORTAL ON ASIA’S BEST RESTAURANTS
Hong Kong Tatler has launched an online portal featuring dining and entertainment called Asia Best Restaurants.com aimed at young, affluent professionals in their mid-20s to 40s.
Marketing reports that the English language portal features a search engine that allows users to search based on the cuisine, location and price of over 250 restaurants that are mostly from its Hong Kong Tatler's Best Restaurants guide.
The portal also includes a daily updated events calendar of the art, music, theatre, dance and nightlife scene in the territory.
Pannee Ng, sales director for Edipresse Asia, said her team is now working on getting advertisers, and some restaurants have already expressed interest. Banks and credit card companies are also their target advertisers.
Fluid Hong Kong designed and built the site, which has been launched initially in Hong Kong and will extend to the rest of Asia from Singapore, Shanghai to Bangkok.
HORROR STORY FOR ZIMBABWE NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER
Western newspaper executives who think they’re up against it with declining circulations and ad revenues should spare a thought for the plight of their Zimbabwean candidates.
Africa Bizzcommunity reports that Raphael Khumalo, the chief executive officer of Zimind Publishers, which publishes the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard weekly newspapers this week revealed that his group had lost 40 percent of advertising revenue following what he described as “wanton looting of retail outlets” as a result of a government price blitz that triggered economy-wide shortages in the country.
Khumalo said, “This has been compounded by the following: price controls targeted at newspapers, loss of advertising revenue, high operating costs, cost of machine breakdowns, foot dragging by authorities in granting price increases even in the face of spiralling hyperinflation as well as reduced newspaper circulation figures due to unavailability of cash.”
He made this statement after journalists at the group's two newspapers last week embarked on a strike, the first ever industrial action by newspaper staff since a 2002 strike by journalists that crippled operations at the now-banned Daily News newspaper.
Plus to add to his woes, late last year Khumalo also had a dramatic brush with the law.
He said that on November 9, “The authorities had no difficulty arresting myself and Jacob Chisese, chief executive officer of The Financial Gazette, for violating price control regulations after increasing cover prices of our newspapers in an attempt to recover costs so that we could remain in business and allow our employees to earn fair returns.”
Other than that, Khumalo has had a smooth ride.
RUPERT MURDOCH READY TO TOPPLE NEW YORK TIMES SAYS LASKY
It’s real clear to US writer Ed Lasky that the New York Times will be toppled by Rupert Murdoch.
Lasky writes on the Real Clear Politics site that, “The American mediascape is about to experience an earthquake, Rupert Murdoch is preparing to topple the New York Times from its position as the pre-eminent general interest daily newspaper, generating severe financial pressure on a struggling media company reeling from mismanagement. There is every indication he will succeed.
“The New York Times has long enjoyed the status of America's leading and most influential national general interest newspaper. A wide range of advertisers, particularly purveyors of upscale goods, have paid escalating advertising rates to reach the elite readership presumed to read the nation's leading daily.
“The paper has capitalised on its nationwide reach and influential readership to promote a liberal agenda (its public editor admitted the Times was ‘of course...a liberal newspaper’).
“While the company has suffered from poor management under its chairman and publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr (‘Pinch’), he has been insulated from pressure by shareholders (including a hedge fund that accumulated millions of shares) because of an unusual voting class structure that vests enormous power – but little ownership – in the founding family.
”However, Pinch will soon face a very formidable competitor. Legendary media baron Rupert Murdoch has just completed his purchase of the Wall Street Journal - a paper that also enjoys nationwide reach, but one that has heretofore focused on the world of business. Change is afoot. Murdoch is a man who makes no ‘small plans’; he makes ‘big plans’.
”Murdoch's goal is to transform the Journal into a rival of the Times, and then surpass it, making the Journal the nation's pre-eminent general interest newspaper. Given Murdoch's history, zeal, resources and talents – all qualities sadly lacking in the fourth generation of Sulzbergers, as symbolized by Pinch – the Times will be toppled.
Lasky has spoke!
Meawnhile, a sister site, Real Clear Markets suggested Google may buy the New York Times. It said, “In the last five years, the New York Times has declined in value by an astonishing 70 percent. There is no indication that things will get better any time soon. Indeed, as the specter of recession looms, there is every reason to believe that things will get worse. At some point here in the near future, the market capitalization of the New York Times will fall below $2 billion. At that point, a psychological floor will have collapsed and the company will be in play.
“The company that has the most to gain from buying the New York Times is Google. If it proffered a Murdoch-like, no-auction bid of $4 billion, wouldn't the Sulzberger family have to accept it? Every single class B shareholder would accept the offer. It's their only exit. It is also likely that Times employees and retirees would enthusiastically support the deal; it's their only exit as well. So it would all come down to whether the Sulzberger family (smaller in number and not as far-flung as the fractious Bancroft clan that owned Dow Jones) would accept the deal.”
MANY NEWS AGENCIES TIPPED TO GO TO THE WALL
Newsflash, one of the best-known Scottish wire services, has been forced into closure, prompting the head of a news agency industry association to say that relations with newspapers are the "worst in 15 years.”
The Guardian reports that Mark Solomons, chairman of National Association of Press Agencies, predicted more agencies will go to the wall.
He said news agencies are also fighting the refusal by some major newspaper publishers to pay for web usage of content, the issue that caused the US writers' strike".
"The relationship between newspapers and agencies is the worst it has been for 15 years and the way we are treated by those who decide on payments will ensure more agencies will go to the wall," Solomons said.
"What has happened to Newsflash is bitterly disappointing for NAPA, their staff and the industry as a whole," he added.
"Most papers are still paying the same as they were 15 years ago, some even less and that's if you get paid at all, - the Sun still owes a lot of agencies money dating back more than six months.
"Now papers are imposing new terms and conditions which mean we give their internet sites free copy whether we like it or not."
Last year both Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mail, and Sun owner News International refused to pay for online usage after sending out new terms and conditions without any negotiations, according to Solomons.
"I think it's fair to say there's a lot of anger within the industry at the way agencies are being treated," Solomons said.
LONDON COUNCIL TELLS FREE NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS TO CLEAN UP THEIR ACT
Westminster City Council has finally cracked down on publishers of free newspapers, forcing them to clean up their cat.
The council has convinced Associated Newspapers, publisher of the free London Lite and competitor News International, publisher of thelondonpaper to install recycling bins throughout London’s busiest streets to hopefully cut down on the litter caused by the thrown away throw-aways.
The council had to get tough, threatening the publishers with banning their papers from certain parts of London unless they were more proactive in clearing up the mess.
So now both newspapers are banging on about their corporate citizenship. They will pay for and maintain 70 bins. The papers have already installed 56 bins which have the capacity to collect 1.5 tons of newspapers for recycling daily.
The council estimates that newspapers are fully 24 percent of street waste in the main West End shopping area.
Meanwhile London on a bus or taking exhibition director Karen Janody figured the best thing to do with all those newspapers was build a house from them.
Together with conceptual artist Sumer Erek, 48, and a new organisation called Creative City, she will begin building the shell of a Newspaper House on Gillett Square in Hackney, east London, at the end of this month. The public will then be encouraged to collect newspapers they find lying around or have at home and bring them to the location.
The artists anticipate that thousands of newspapers will be needed. People will not just be asked to bring the newspapers but also to write a personal message on them and roll them into "sticks" to use as building material.
REUTERS UK JOURNALISTS THREATEN STRIKE OVER SHABBY TREATMENT
Online Journalism reports that Nation Union of Journalists members at Reuters in Britain have called for a vote on strike action after 'shabby treatment' toward journalists over job restructuring at the agency.
The union has called for a ballot on industrial action on the company's 'refusal to hold meaningful negotiations' over changes to editorial job roles that came into force yesterday,
Reuters said that changes were part of an 'internal human resources reclassification of some roles within Reuters’ editorial'.
The 'reclassification' comes ahead of Reuters' planned merger with Canadian information service Thomson.
On Wednesday, David Schlesinger, Reuters’ editor-in-chief, was questioned by members of a House of Lords Committee about the planned merger and the company's alleged failure to properly consult staff.
NBC UNIVERSAL FOLLOW VIACOM AND DISNEY IN INDIAN MEDIA INVASION
The media invasion of India is well and truly on, with NBC Universal becoming the third major US media conglomeration to enter the Indian marketplace.
Viacom and Disney have already got a foothold, and NBC Universal this week confirmed that it has acquired a 26 percent stake in NDTV Networks Plc, the UK subsidiary of Indian media co NDTV.
Under the agreement, an affiliate of NBC Universal will pick up the 26 percent stake in NDTV Networks PLC for US$150 million, and NBC Universal’s affiliates will also have the option of acquiring up to a 50 percent stake in the NDTV Networks Plc in the third year of the joint venture.
Rafat Ali reports that NDTV Networks Plc is the parent company of NDTV Imagine Ltd, NDTV Lifestyle Ltd, NDTV Convergence Ltd (which owns the internet and mobile properties) and NDTV Labs Ltd and 50 percent in NGEN Media Services Private Ltd (the media outsourcing company).
The agreement does not cover any news channels in India, in which foreign direct investment is regulated.
This is the statement NDTV lodged with the Bombay Stock Exchange:
“New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) advises that NDTV and an overseas subsidiary of NDTV have signed a Memorandum of Agreement with NBC Universal, Inc. and a subsidiary of NBCU in respect of the sale / issue by an overseas subsidiary of NDTV of an effective 26% stake to an affiliate of NBCU for a consideration of USD150 million. The said subsidiary of NDTV is the indirect parent Company of the following Companies: NDTV Imagine Ltd, NDTV Convergence Ltd, NDTV Labs Ltd, NDTV Lifestyle Ltd, NDTV Emerging Markets B.V and the said subsidiary is a joint venture partner in NGEN Media Services Pvt Ltd.
“The MoA also envisages that NBCU affiliates would have the option to acquire up to 50% of said subsidiary in the third year of the joint venture at the then fair market value. The MoA and the transaction contemplated therein are subject to receipt of all necessary approvals. The proposed joint venture shall not relate to news channels in India.”
Meanwhile, the Virgin Group’s entry into the Indian Telecom market is expected to be announced next month, reportedly a joint venture with Tata Teleservices. The Economic Times also reports that Virgin is in talks with an Indian media house which has presence in film production, TV, music and animation.
The deal will apparently take a 2-3 months to finalize, and Branson has not mentioned the name of the prospective partner.
AUSTRALIA’S BUSH DOCTORS TO FEATURE IN ‘OBSERVATIONAL’ DOCCO SERIES
Channel 7 in Australia is about to launch a new “observational documentary” series Bush Doctors.
Filmed on location in regional Australia, this six-part series reveals the challenges presented to doctors and nurses in the bush. Seven’s cameras go into the community, following staff and patients who work and live in an unforgiving environment.
In the style of top-rating programs such as RSPCA Animal Rescue, Border Security and Medical Emergency, Bush Doctors will explore a range of cases that arrive at NSW’s Dubbo Base Hospital and beyond. The show will also follow the local ambulance service as it responds to calls for help from the community.
Seven enthusiastically spruiks the program, saying, “Witness real emergencies that just don’t happen anywhere else. You’ll meet Robert, who’s changing a tyre on his harvester when the huge machine falls, pinning him underneath. Will he survive? Bitten by a deadly snake, Hayley’s made it to hospital in time. But will the venom harm her unborn baby? Shearer Col slices the top of his middle finger in a wool press. His boss Darren throws the severed appendage in a paper bag and rushes him to hospital. William mounts a mechanical bull at an office party but before he knows it, he’s in the back of an ambulance.”
Bush Doctors premieres on Sunday February 3.
AUSTRALIA’S FACILITATE DIGITAL GIVES OPEN ACCESS TO RESOURCE CENTRE
Facilitate Digital Holdings Ltd, a leading Australian independent provider of digital marketing technology, will provide open access to the Symphony Media Resource Centre – at no charge.
Facilitate said, “Such a stance is of real significance for the global online media industry. Now for the first time, there is a central global repository of online publisher information accessible to all stakeholders of online media. “A uniquely powerful resource, the Symphony Media Resource Centre will drive greater efficiencies in the sharing of information between buyers and sellers of media locally, across the APAC region and globally.”
Located within the Symphony Media platform, the Resource Centre provides users with access to valuable information such as site profiles, key publisher contacts, visitation and audience demographic profiles, location and format information as well as other sales and credentials documentation for online publishers from all over the world.
Facilitate Digital has been working in partnership with publishers from UK, Europe, Asia and Australia and New Zealand to make this information the most comprehensive and accurate resource available.
“Throughout the history of Symphony, we have fielded a number of requests for the publisher data within Symphony Media to be made available to all parties," states ceo Ian Lowe.
"Our decision to make this information publicly available through the Symphony Resource Centre comes as a result of listening to the market as well as our own belief that open market access will drive further efficiencies for the industry.”
The company said having such information in one central database is of significant benefit to the digital market. Centralisation of information drives process efficiencies for agencies, and acts as a passive quality control mechanism for publishers. Most importantly, a central database of relevant information removes significant costs for both media and creative agency, and reduces revenue loss for publishers as a result of creative material being submitted late, not to specification, or both.
ANALYSTS: PACKER-MURDOCH AUSTRALIAN MEDIA DEAL LOOKS SET TO SUCCEED
The Wall Street Journal today reports that James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch look set to succeed with their $3.3 billion dollar plan to privatise Australia's Consolidated Media Holding Ltd., with rival bids unlikely to emerge, according to analysts said.
Shares in Consolidated Media closed up 9.6 percent at $4.23 against a sharply weaker broader market after the plans were revealed.
The Wall Street Journal said, “The closing price compares with a current indicative offer price of about $4.75 under the 50-50 privatization proposal. The two men are offering $4.06 cash plus 0.1116 of a Seek Ltd share for each Consolidated Media share.
“Under the plan, Mr. Packer will seek an exemption from the Australian corporate regulator from rules that could force him to sell his existing 37 percent stake in Consolidated Media if a higher bid emerges, discouraging rival bidders, analysts say.
“The offer has also been declared final, which means it can't be raised under Australian law.”
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