MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST DEC 21: DOW JONES FACTIVA AL-DURA QSOFT M2M
December 21st 2007 08:20
A daily compendium of Mediablab media news items published over the last 24 hours
FINANCIAL TIMES TO CHARGE FACTIVA AND OTHER AGGREGATE USERS FEES FOR CONTENT ACCESS
The Financial Times dropped part of its web pay wall in October but now it is erecting a new one through Factiva.
Although the Financial Times’ press release on the subject only mentions Factiva, other users of paid aggregation services like Alacra and LexisNexus and will also have to pay extra for content under the new deal.
On Tuesday the Financial Times issued its press statement announcing an agreement with Factiva to provide access to FT content under a new licensing model.
“Existing Factiva subscribers that wish to continue to receive FT content after 1 April 2008 will need to contact the FT to arrange a subscription to the new licence.
Caspar de Bono, mmanaging ddirector B2B at the Financial Times, said, “We have created the FT Content Licence to ensure a fair and transparent means of separating the price paid for FT content from the price paid for news aggregations services.
“We think the services provided by news aggregators are excellent and that this is distinct from the value that the FT provides. Corporate customers will now have the benefit of buying a licence for multiple users of FT content that can be used across a variety of technology platforms. We are delighted that Factiva have agreed to provide access to FT content under this new licensing model.”
“The publisher’s October strategy seeks to drive consumers including blog readers to more free articles, now that online advertising is delivering rapidly increasing returns. The flip side of that was always going to be the retention of its commercial subscriber base.
“But the Financial Times is confident its content is valuable enough that people will continue to pay. Forcing customers of third-party aggregators to pay twice to get FT stories, however, (once for the platform, once for the feed) is a rather ballsy demonstration of that confidence.”
Rafat Ali spoke to Karin Borchert, Factiva's vice president for global content and customer operations, and she said she didn’t expect Factiva to feel much of an impact because its customers are different and use it because it provides unfettered access to news material
"If they're a casual user, they might just opt to go straight to FT.com," she said.
While she acknowledged the Financial Times’ US and global presence, she added that "the majority of the interest is in the UK."
TV ANNOUNCER IN THE AL-DURA, THE-PALESTINIAN-BOY-MARTYR CASE, STARS IN DISHONEST REPORTER AWARDS
The French judge might be still out in the Mohammed al-Dura case, but the verdict of the ‘jury’ is in, the jury being the courtroom spectators and journalists who watched 18 minutes of footage of this famous incident and who seem to have universally declared the footage is basically inconclusive – no one can say who shot the boy.
This week HonestReporting web site, which considers its raison d’etre to correct what it regards as anti-Israel bias in the media, celebrated what it claims as a victory in this case by naming Charles Enderlin as the “Worst Film Editor” in its Dishonest Reporter Awards 2007.
HonestReporting said “In his legal battle over the Mohammed al-Dura video, French media analyst Philippe Karsenty forced France 2 TV to publicly screen for the first time cameraman Talal Abu Rahma's raw, unedited footage.
“When the judge asked correspondent Charles Enderlin why only 18 minutes of footage were submitted, instead of an expected 27 minutes, the veteran reporter told the court that when he transferred the images to DVD for the court, he had to manipulate some footage that wasn't relevant for that day.
“Although a final ruling isn't due till the end of February, the development and the footage discredited the myths of Mohammed al-Dura.”
Reports from journalists who have seen the footage seem to conclude that it’s impossible to tell who shot who, or what happened during the incident, and that initial reports that the Israelis shot the boy are therefore incorrect.
HonestReporting’s Alain Benjamin, who saw the video in court, said, “We can definitely say that nobody can say who was shooting at who. Charles Enderlin said in court that the Palestinians started shooting first, but in the end, there's no way we can say what happened that day. You can't tell who did what. The assertion from Charles Enderlin, that the Israeli army killed the boy, is totally wrong. The least he could've said was that the boy was killed – but we don't know by who.”
In a way it was the media fizzer of the year, because the November 14 French court case hopefully would have put paid once and for all to the myriad of swirling conspiratorial allegations and often hysterical, ill-informed rants from both pro-Israel and anti-Israel camps, over the sensational story surrounding the Palestinian martyr-boy Muhammad Jamal al-Durrah, or Al Dura.
MediaBlab has run several items on this story over the last six months, and to recap, Al Dura, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, became an icon of the Palestinian uprising on September 30, 2000 when he was filmed crouched behind his father, then killed, during a gunfight in the Gaza strip at the beginning of the Second Intifada.
The footage of the incident originated with the French public television station, France 2.
The footage was filmed by the network’s Palestinian cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma. The voice-over accompanying the footage was provided by France 2’s Jerusalem bureau chief Charles Enderlin.
ALMOST 25 PERCENT OF AUSTRALIANS HAVE INTERNET
A million Australians signed up to broadband internet in the past year, with new connections up 50 per cent over the previous year, an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey found.
The Australian today reported that while 70 percent of Australian households are connected to the internet only 3.5 million - 43 percent of those - have access to broadband.
The Australian Capital Territory has the highest proportion of broadband connections (58 percent of all households) while Tasmania (32 percent) and South Australia (33 percent) have the lowest.
The survey showed that about three-quarters of Australian households have access to a computer and five million had internet access.
AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TV PRODUCTION FOR 2007 UP A MASSIVE 68 PERCENT
The value of Australian film and TV production increased by more than two-thirds last financial year, according to the Australian Film Commission's annual Drama Production Survey, released yesterday.
The survey shows a rise in feature production and TV drama after the previous year's below-average result.
The Australian reported that the value of production activity in 2006-07, as measured by the portion of budgets spent in Australia, totalled $625 million, up 68 percent on the previous year's $371 million.
This years figure shows a $342 million expenditure on feature films and $282 million on TV drama..
Twenty-seven films made up the Australian and co-production feature slate, bettering the five-year average of 25 titles.
WHITE HOUSE REQUESTS NEW YORK TIMES TO CHANGE HEADLINE OVER CIA INTERROGATION TAPE DESTRUCTION STORY
Politico reports that the New York Times has changed the subheadline in Wednesday’s front-page story on the CIA’s destruction of secret interrogation tapes, following a formal request by the White House.
The correction has already been made online, and there will be a print correction in the paper, according to a Times representative.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement that the Times subheadline, ‘White House Role Was Wider Than It Said’ was inaccurate.
“The New York Times inference that there is an effort to mislead in this matter is pernicious and troubling, and we are formally requesting that New York Times correct the subheadline of this story,” Perino said.
The White House has continued not to comment on what the representative dubbed “misleading press reports.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL LAUNCHES ONLINE MEDIA GUIDE FOR ADVERTISERS AND MEDIA BUYERS
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Wall Street Journal has launched an online media guide for advertisers and media buyers to streamline its internal and external ad sales operation.
The site has been designed for advertisers, media buyers and the Journal's own sales staff to calculate advertising rates and schedules and access regional data like publication dates and category information in real time.
Creative agency Fluid beat four agencies in a tender to develop the site for Dow Jones, and the site will receive a major marketing push in early 2008 with online and print support targeting media buyers and advertisers.
Scott De Nino, Fluid's new media director, said the technology used to create the site allows advertisers and their agencies to calculate rates and make forecasts on their yearly budgets in real time.
Shawn Hiltz, senior marketing manager at Dow Jones, said the ambition project had been one year in the making.
M2M CORP AVOIDS COURT ACTION OVER ITS PROPOSED HIGH-TECH GROUP ACQUISITION
M2m Corporation Ltd has mediated to avoid court action of its proposed acquisition of the Hi-Tech Group.
Yesterday it informed the ASX that the dispute, which it reported on December 7, had arisen regarding the provision of financial and other information by the Hi-Tech Group that was required to be provided under the binding heads of agreement.
M2m advised then that both parties had agreed to go to mediation over this matter.
As a result of the mediation process, m2m has now received undertakings that the information sought will be provided, and the Court case it initiated regarding the non-provision of the required information will be discontinued.
The settlement date has been extended to February 22, 2008.
NEWS CORP GIVES UPDATE ON PROPOSED LISTING OF CLASS A STOCK IN DOW JONES ACQUISITION
News Corp yesterday updated the Australian Securities Exchange over its announcement of proposed listing of additional Class A common stock – Dow Jones acquisition, which it lodged with the ASX on December 4, 2007 (See MediaBlab archive).
News Corp has now advised “that the number of Ruby Newco Class B common stock issued to certain holders of Dow Jones as a result of the conclusion of the merger has been determined as 7,900,672.”
Each of the holders of those units may, between 121 and 180 days after the closing of the merger, be permitted to exchange up to 25 percent of the total number of units the holder received for shares of News Corporation Class A non-voting common stock.
Following 180 days after the closing of the merger, any or all of the units may be freely exchanged for shares of News Corporation Class A non-voting common stock.
The initial exchange rate will be one share of News Corporation Class A non-voting common stock for each unit.
Further, an additional amount of 7,661,286 as been determined to provide for the exchange of Dow Jones equity awards.
Accordingly, a total of 15,561,958 News Corporation Class A non-voting common stock may be issued as a result such exchanges. Listing will be sought on the Australian Stock Exchange as and when such exchanges are given effect.
FACILITATE DIGITAL APPOINTS NEW BUSINESS CONSULTANT TO ITS IMPACT DATA SUBSIDIARY
Facilitate Digital Holdings Ltd, an independent Australian provider of digital marketing solutions, appointed Simon McNamara as a business strategy consultant to Impact Data, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.
Simon founded the Viva Juice retail chain in 1999 before it merged with Boost Juice Bars in 2004. He has recently held the position of ceo of Boost Juice, as well as holding interests in the Grill’d hamburger chain and job-seeking site, Hippo Jobs.
Prior to Viva Juice, he was a senior management consultant with the Deloitte Consulting Group in Australia and the US.
GOCONNECT AUSTRALIA’S MARKETING AGREEMENT WITH BRITAIN’S QSOFT FOR GAY PERSONALS AND SOCIAL NETWORKING PORTALS
London’s QSoft Consulting, owners of the largest gay personals and social networking portals in the world, and listed company GoConnect Australia, have agreed on an affiliate marketing agreement.
The agreement will see Gaydar marketing GoConnect’s video sharing website www.gay2share.com to its global members.
Gay2share is the first gay and lesbian online video-sharing platform, and was launched by GoConnect Australia in July 2007.
Under the agreement, www.gay2share.com will be promoted globally to Gaydar’s 4.1 million plus unique users in return for QSoft sharing in the site’s advertising revenue.
Over the past five years, QSoft Consulting has worked closely with GoConnect Australia in advertising representation, and gay and lesbian business directories Gaydar Direct.
This new agreement is the latest in a series of commercial deals struck between the two.
QSoft Consulting managing director Henry Badenhorst said, “We are always searching for relevant services to enhance our online offerings. Gay2share gives Gaydar users a relevant and ready-made video sharing platform.”
The active promotion of www.gay2share.com by Gaydar will enable gay2share to become the only relevant online video-sharing platform for Gaydar members and for the wider gay and lesbian community in the world.
GoConnect is targeting gay2share to achieve over 1 million unique users a month within 2008 and the firm support provided by the Gaydar marketing efforts will underpin the success of the platform, which in turn will enable strong growth in advertising revenue for the site.
QSoft Consulting Ltd is a gay owned and operated specialist IT company which is at the forefront of the development of interactive services for the global gay and lesbian community. Its stable includes gaydar.co.uk (and associated URLs), GaydarRadio, gaydargirls.com, GaydarNation.com, GaydarMobile and the flagship London entertainment venues, Profile and Lo-Profile.
In the UK, the Gaydar brands account for more than 72 percent of gay and lesbian traffic on the internet. GaydarRadio has more than two million listeners a month and 4.12 million people belong to the Gaydar personals websites in more than 140 countries and territories.
GoConnect is an internet and mobile media communications company listed on the ASX (and German stock exchanges.
SWISH BLACKCAT GIVES NEW DETAILS FOR ITS AUSTRALIAN LINE PRODUCTION DEAL WITH INDIA’S YASH RAJ FILMS
Australian digital media, entertainment and advertising company, Swish Group said that its subsidiary Swish BlackCat has entered into an agreement with leading Indian film studio Yash Raj Films to be the Australian line producers for a further Indian feature film to be shot in Australia commencing in January 2008.
Yash Raj Films is the largest production and distribution company in India. Swish BlackCat has previously line produced the extremely successful Salaam Namaste and more recently Chak de India, one of the most successful Indian films of 2007.
The company also recently completed production of its first US based feature film for another Indian studio which was successfully delivered on time and on budget.
The Indian film industry produces about 800 feature films per year and more and more of these films are being shot outside India, which provides significant opportunities for the Swish BlackCat business in the years ahead.
UK COMPETITION REGULATOR RECOMMENDS THAT MURDOCH’S BSKYB SELLS DOWN ITS ITV STAKE
The UK Competition Commission has recommended that BSkyB be forced to sell down its 17.9 percent stake in ITV to under 7.5 percent, the Guardian reports.
The Competition Commission's report, published by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory reform, found that the acquisition "may be expected to operate against the public interest".
The Competition Commission offered two remedies, the first being a full divestiture of BSkyB's holding.
But it concluded that a reduction to below 7.5 percent would also be adequate and was the "least intrusive" option and "therefore thought it more proportionate".
Sky paid GBP940 million for the stake in November last year and could lose up GBP190 million in the sell down.
NEWS CORP’S DOW JONES TO HELP BOOST DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEW YORK POST
The Wall Street Journal reports that just days after finalising its takeover of Dow Jones, News Corp is using its new acquisition to help boost distribution of the New York Post.
According to an item posted on an internal Dow Jones employee web site, New York Post, which was News Corp's only US newspaper prior to the Dow Jones deal, expanded its distribution into western Pennsylvania, and portions of Ohio and western New York on Monday by utilising an existing Dow Jones production plant in Sharon, Pennsylvania.
The Wall Street Journal reported, “News Corp and Dow Jones officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment and more information on Monday.”
FINANCIAL TIMES LISTS ITS TOP TEN WEB SITE STORIES FOR 2007
The most-read Financial Times story of the year on its web site, FT.com, was headlined, ‘Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned.’
The Top Ten FT.com stories for 2007 were:
1. Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned
2. Chinese military hacked into Pentagon
3. Iran on course for nuclear bomb, EU told
4. Google's goal: to organise your daily life
5. Pelosi backtracks on Armenia 'genocide' bill
6. Industry caught in carbon 'smokescreen'
7. Vista marks end of an era for Microsoft
8. Memo to Obama: win Iowa or lose the race
9. Gates warns on US immigration curbs
10. Globalisation backlash in rich nations
DISAGREEMENT WITH TIMES MAGAZINES CHOICE OF PUTIN AS PERSON OF THE YEAR
TV Week reports that CNBC has claimed it disagrees with Time Magazine’s choice of Vladimir Putin as Person of the Year, and has made it, wait for it – the American homeowner.
Jonathan Wald, senior vice president of CNBC said, “With foreclosures rising sharply and housing prices dropping in virtually all regions of the country, the plight of the American Homeowner is a story whose scope reaches far beyond the US.”
As TV Week sarcastically commented, “How ‘Main Street.’ So there, Time.”
Meanwhile, rumbles are coming out of the US that the vote as such was rigged and Al Gore was in fact the most popular candidate for Time’s honour.
There have even been suggestions of legal actions to give Gore his right due. But once again Gore seems destined to be the bridesmaid, never the bride.
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