MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST DECEMBER 17: WHALING NEWS LTD MYANMAR TIMES SONY BSKG ADIVASI GIRL
December 16th 2007 23:34
A daily compendium of all news items filed by MediaBlab since 10 Friday, December 14, 2007
JAPANESE MEDIA REPORTS THAT MAJOR AUSTRALIAN TV NETWORK HAS JOINED THE ANTI-WHALING CAUSE
A high-profile campaign against Japanese whaling is gaining momentum in Australia after one of the country's major television networks joined the cause on Wednesday, the Japan Times reports.
The paper said Channel Nine Network's breakfast show Today has signed up to a Stop the Slaughter anti-whaling petition launched by Sydney's largest newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, this week.
It said, “The show's cohost, Lisa Wilkinson, labelled as ‘barbaric’ Japan's whaling program, which is technically allowed under International Whaling Commission rules because Japan claims it is doing "research."
"Masquerading this barbaric kill as research is nothing short of obscene, and an insult to right-thinking Japanese," Wilkinson told the Daily Telegraph.
"Hopefully by signing this petition the Japanese government and the Japanese people will finally understand" how strongly opposed Australians are to Japanese whaling, she said.
The newspaper's antiwhaling campaign is being run in conjunction with Greenpeace Australia Pacific and coincides with the lead up to this year's annual whale kill by the Japanese.
AUSTRALIAN MEDIA HISTORY MADE AS SUNRAYSIA TV IS SUSPENDED FROM TRADING BEFORE REMOVAL FROM LISTING
More Australian media history in the making: the ASX this afternoon announced that the securities of Sunraysia Television Ltd will be suspended from quotation immediately, at the request of the company, following the completion of its off-market share buy back.
In the morning, Sunraysia informed the ASX that its buy-back offer has now closed, and it is currently finalising the amount of the buy-back first installment and expects to dispatch cheques before December 31, 2007.
At the date of this notice the Directors estimate that the Buy-Back Price per share will be $12.75 for 11.309 million Sunraysia ordinary shares, representing 98 percent of the issued capital of Sunraysia.
The total consideration payable by Sunraysia will be $144.192 million.
STOUSH BETWEEN CRICKET AUSTRALIA AND MEDIA OVER PHOTO RIGHTS BECOMES AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE
The International Publishers Association has become involved in a content rights tussle between the Australian media and the Cricket Australia organisation.
Last month Cricket Australia was in conflict with major Australian and international news groups over limitation to free coverage of the test cricket game between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The International Publishers Association issued a press release late last week saying,
“Cricket Australia, the governing body of one of Australia’s favourite sports, is trying to force all photographers and agencies to sign a new contract before they enter the cricket grounds.
“In the latest version of the contract put forward by Cricket Australia on Friday, only Cricket Australia may authorise the sale of images to book publishers.
“The Australian Publishers Association and the International Publishers Association have immediately written to key representatives of Australia’s new Labor federal government to express their concerns. The letter has also been signed by the News Media Coalition, a group of newspaper publishers and other parties interested in press freedom.
The letter, which was addressed to Australia’s deputy prime minister, the attorney general and three ministers, includes the following:
‘We wish to raise with you urgently a matter of considerable public interest.…
What is at issue is proper balance between a sporting organisations’ legitimate commercial concerns and the needs of the public in being able to access objective, informative and topical information, both written and pictorial…
Of particular concern is a ban on editorial material created at CA events being used in books, of any nature or content, unless approved by Cricket Australia. They also reserve the right to charge fees to approved books. Such measures amount to censorship of editorial products. As well as raising this serious issue, such restrictions would deny the cricket-loving public in and out of Australia a fair opportunity to share in the fullest possible knowledge and understanding of the game in
Australia and Australian cricket’s standing in foreign lands.
We are writing to you to seek your support safeguarding the legacy of publishing’s right to inform and urge you to use your good offices to bring common-sense to this issue’.”
International Publishers Association secretary general Jens Bammel said, “This issue has been a battle ground between the media and sports associations for quite some time. This time a blatant attack has been made directly on the book publishing industry, a small but significant media sector with great importance to the real sports aficionados.
“At stake is not just the commercial viability of publishers wishing to publish novel and different perspectives on the sport in question. This is the manifest attempt of a quasimonopolist to curtail freedom of expression and freedom to publish and on the views and images that the officials do not approve. The international publishing community will support the Australian Publishers Association in its important fight for publisher freedom and against bullying and censorship.”
AUSTRALIA’S NINE TV NETWORK ACCUSED OF BEING A SEXIST BLOKEY CULTURE
A discrimination case beginning in Australia this week will hear accusations against Channel Nine’s veteran news boss John Westacott of offensive and sexist behaviour against female journalists, according to News Ltd’s Sunday tabloids.
The claims are part of an unfair dismissal case by reporter Christine Spiteri who had worked at the network for 13 years and was due to return to work from maternity leave next month.
A female reporter from Nine told News Ltd over the weekend that comments alleged by Spiteri were regularly made at Nine.
Westacott has also been accused of saying the newsroom was no place for women, and that to land on-air jobs females had to be blonde.
This follows a report in The Age newspaper in Melbourne last Thursday which claimed, “Channel Nine's on-air cricket team will be an all-male bastion once more this summer, with the axing of sports presenter Stephanie Brantz the latest evidence of a network struggling to shake off the blokey culture that has dominated for decades.”
Brantz claims she was told by Nine sports bosses that no one on the Australian cricket team wanted to talk to her and that was one of the reasons she had been frozen out of Nine's cricket coverage.
A spokesman for Cricket Australia, Peter Young, told The Age he was not aware of the Australian cricketers having a problem with Brantz.
"They don't have gender concerns," he said.
He said Cricket Australia encouraged broadcasters to include women journalists in their coverage in an effort to lift the number of women watching above its current level of about 35 percent of viewers.
MYANMAR WOMEN JOURNALISTS THRIVE IN EXPANDING YANGON MEDIA SECTOR
The Myanmar Times reports that as the Myanmar media industry expands, so too have the number of women working as reporters and editors at newspapers and journals in Yangon.
Many female journalists now work for local publications, but 40 years ago traveling the country in pursuit of news was seen as work unfit for a woman.
Despite the perceived unsuitability of the profession for women back then, Daw Kywe Kywe started working as a journalist and editor for the Lan Sin Party magazine in 1970 and stayed there for the next 25 years.
“When I was 38 I decided to become a journalist because I liked writing articles and novels and I wanted to educate people with my pen,” said the pioneering writer, now 75 years old.
“Before I worked as a journalist I had been a staff member at the Ministry of Commerce and I had also been a teacher. They were both great jobs as far as future potential but I didn’t feel like I found the right career until I became a journalist’” she said.
Daw Kywe Kywe told the Myanmar Times that as the married mother of three children she faced many social obstacles that ultimately led to her divorce.
“My family and relatives severely criticised me because as a journalist I often had to travel with male photographers to cover stories. I eventually had to divorce my husband because of this,” she said.
She said she “passed many years with tears” and often questioned the wisdom of pursuing journalism as a career.
“Although I felt pain in my heart, I worked with the confidence that I was a good reporter. And when I had to travel with a photographer for a week to write a story we knew that as Buddhists we could uphold our moral standards.”
Daw Kywe Kywe, now retired said she welcomed the opening of Myanmar’s first degree program in journalism next year. The three-year program will be offered at Botahtaung College as a collaborative effort between the ministries of Information and Education.
“Reporters must love and work for the good of their country and its people. They must be clever in the way they present information so it is not biased,” she said.
SEVEN NETWORK’S NEWS WINNEBAGO WEATHER GIRL ACCLIMATISES TO NEW UPGRADED ROLE
The Seven Network’s Sunrise breakfast weather reporter Monique Wright has been promoted and her new duties will include Olympic coverage, hosting on 7HD and presenting the national 4:30 News every Friday.
One of her major responsibilities in 2008 will be to spearhead Sunrise’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics and Olivia Newton-John's Walk of the Great Wall of China. She'll join John Travolta and Sharon Osbourne on a four week walk that Seven says is “guaranteed to make a global splash.”
Wright will also travel overseas five times in 2008 producing stories and working on a prime-time special series.
Another of her new roles will be as a panel member on 7HD’s new late show, The Night Cap.
"Monique's a genuine all-rounder. I can't think of too many people who can host a news bulletin one day and flirt with Matt Damon the next, “morning television director Adam Boland said.
Monique Wright’s final day as Sunrise weather presenter is Friday December 21, when she looks back at her trip around Australia aboard the Weather Winnebago.
SONY SPONSORS NETWORK TEN’S HD CHANNEL LAUNCH IN AUSTRALIA YESTERDAY
Network Ten has secured a sponsorship agreement with Sony for TEN-HD, Australia's newest free-to-air digital channel, launched yesterday.
The deal between Ten and Sony was finalised by the media agency Starcom.
Sony's group manager corporate marketing, Tim Rich, said, “Sony has just released its latest
High Definition Benchmark Report, produced independently by GfK, which shows that consumers are spending more on HD products than ever before. This partnership is a great fit for Sony as our Bravia LCD TVs provide the best way of enjoying HD content in the home.
"HD is the way the world is heading and this is evident by the support HD has from Ten, as well as the rise in sales of HD TVs, particularly in LCD TVs which made up 53 percent of all HD TVs sold in the third quarter of 2007.”
Dominos and KFC, Ten’s longstanding advertising partners, have also been confirmed as sponsors of TEN-HD.
Exclusive programs not shown on the main Ten channel include block-buster movies Black
Hawk Down and Snatch; award winning documentaries such as National Geographic's Amazing Planet; cult following sci-fi programs Battlestar Galactica and The 4400, and critically acclaimed dramas Veronica Mars, The Shield and Over There.
In October, Sony and Ten teamed with News Ltd Sunday newspapers in a national promotion to raise awareness of HD and give consumers the opportunity to win one of 100 Sony Bravia HD LCD TVs.
NETWORK TEN APPOINTS NEW NEWS DIRECTOR IN SYDNEY
Network Ten has appointed Cathie Schnitzerling as Sydney News director.
She currently heads Tens Brisbane News team, and her move follows the decision by David Breen, who has held the Sydney News director role since 2003, to leave Ten at the end of December.
Ten’s head of News, Jim Carroll said, “In her eight years with Ten News, Cathie has excelled as a senior producer, news editor and since 2005 as head of our Brisbane News team.
"With her keen editorial judgement and strong management skills, Cathie is more than ready to take on the challenge of the Sydney market."
Cathie Schnitzerling began her career with Nine News in Brisbane after completing an Arts degree at the University of Southern Queensland.
Following six years reporting for a number of Nine programs, she moved to ABC television where she presented and reported for Landline and also worked as a radio presenter on The Country Hour and ABC Coast-FM.
She joined Ten News in Melbourne in 1997 as a senior news producer and transferred to Brisbane two years later.
She has produced two independent documentaries and a short drama. Among her professional citations is a Queensland Media Award for Best Documentary in 2000.
RURAL NEWSPAPER IN AUSTRALIA OFFERS CATTLE DOG BITCH AS FIRST PRIZE IN COMPETITION
Readers of The Land newspaper in Australia will after Christmas have the unique chance to win a kelpie cattle dog bitch.
The dog, Capree Glide, is a Working Kelpie Council registered stud bitch, and is bred and trained by respected dog breeder and trainer Chris Stapleton, Capree Kelpie stud, Burraga.
He has bred and trained dogs for 35 years and represented Australia on numerous occasions.
The Land said, “Glide has a lot of natural ability, good cover, balance and presence around stock; she already has sides, stop and is starting to back sheep at just five months of age.
“Chris believes Capree Glide will make a very handy dog, in the paddock and yards, with the ability to work cattle and sheep.”
Capree Glide was sired by Capree Boss, 2001 Australian Yard dog champion.
The Land’s competition to win Capree Glide will start in the newspaper on December 27 issue and will be drawn at the end of January 2008.
Capree Glide will be eight months of age when the competition is drawn and will be available for pick up at the end of February 2008.
MEDIA CONTROVERSY OVER PHOTOS AND FOOTAGE OF TRIBAL INDIAN GIRL STRIPPED NAKED DURING DEMONSTRATIONS QUELLED BY ARRESTS
Three youths have been arrested over an incident at a demonstration in Indian where a young girl was stripped naked and chased.
Horrific pictures were shown on Indian television and in newspapers of the naked Adivasi tribal girl being chased and assaulted in full view of the public during Saturday’s retaliatory attack on Adivasi protesters by some residents in the city of Guwahati (see MediaBlab archive.)
This led to widespread criticism of some sections of the Indian media.
Senior superintendent of police Surendra Kumar told The Hindu daily newspaper that a case has now been registered against the three on charges of attempt to rape, attempt to murder and outraging the modesty of the girl.
He said the photographs and video footage of the perpetrators involved in the incident matched with the accused.
They will be produced in court on tomorrow.
Other photographs showed the girl, who was disrobed by the attackers, pleading for mercy with folded hands.
Some onlookers came to the rescue of the traumatised girl, who was running to save her life, and gave her clothes.
Police also arrested five senior leaders of the All-Adivasi Students Association of Assam, and they jailed on charges of causing communal violence and damage to public property, among others.
The student body took out a rally on Saturday to press for inclusion of Santal Adivasis and tea-tribes in the list of Scheduled Tribes.
The tea-tribes of Assam and surrounding districts are among the most exploited tribes in India. Anthropologically, they have negroid features, and are basically labourers, living in villages, inside tea-estates in remote areas.
Exploitation by tea planters, including very low wages and poor work standards, non-education, poverty, addiction of males to country-beer, poor standards of living and lack of health facilities are mostly their lot. There are instances when tea-planters do not even supply life-saving drugs when workers are dying out of epidemics
TONY O’REILLY INCREASES HIS STAKE IN IRELAND’S INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA
Ireland’s Independent News & Media chief executive Anthony O'Reilly has raised his stake in the newspaper publisher. Reuters reports that on Thursday he bought 1 million shares, or a 0.12 percent stake, taking his personal holding to 26.12 percent.
Irish s billionaire Denis O'Brien has also been steadily building up his stake in Independent News in recent months.
O'Brien holds over 12 percent, making him the second-biggest shareholder in the group, which operates in Ireland, Britain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.
KERRY GROUP TO MAKE A MANDATORY OFFER FOR THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok’s Kerry Group will make a mandatory offer for the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s largest English-language newspaper.
The Financial Times reported that the group has to make the offer, worth about $US300 million, after Kerry Media, an associate, increased its stake in Hong Kong-listed South China Morning Post to 40.4 percent in late November.
Kerry Media in 1993 acquired a 34.9 percent stake in the newspaper company from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for $349m.
South China Morning Post was the world’s most profitable newspaper during most of the 1990s, has a circulation of about 100,000 and its closest rival, The Standard, has become a free newspaper in an effort to increase readership.
The Financial Times said the South China Morning Post’s shares have been falling recently due to concerns over the effects of a Hong Kong stock exchange decision to stop requiring that corporate announcements be printed in full in newspapers as of June.
Such notices accounted for 20 percent of the South China Morning Post’s revenues, and the bourse’s decision would have a material impact on the paper’s earnings.
UK COMPETITION COMMISSION SUBMITS FINAL REPORT ON BSKYB’S ITV STAKE
The UK Competition Commission submitted its final report on BSkyB's 17.9 percent stake in ITV to the government last week.
The Guardian reported that the watchdog did not reveal the details of its recommendations, which are expected to suggest that the satellite group reduces the size of its shareholding.
John Hutton, the minister for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, now has 30 days in which to make a decision about what should happen.
In its provisional report in October, the commission found that Sky's share purchase was anti-competitive and set out potential remedies including the sale of part or the entire stake.
IT’S OVER: RUPERT MURDOCH’S NEWS CORP OWNS DOW JONES
News Corporation's takeover of Dow Jones cleared its final hurdle as Dow Jones shareholders approved the plan with a 60 percent majority, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Really, the only question at the start of the shareholder meeting had been the size of the majority for the acquisition, and so it’s officially history, with Rupert Murdoch already starting to reshape management at The Wall Street Journal with his hand-picked tried and true chosen few.
After the vote Rupert Murdoch, standing on a makeshift stage made out of four boxes of copying paper at Dow Jones's head office, reassured journalists about the company's future.
"If anything, you will find us trying to set a higher bar," he said.
News Corporation also embarked on an international advertising blitz to coincide with the Dow Jones vote, buying advertisements for the Friday editions of many rival newspapers around the world, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times in the US and the Daily Telegraph and Guardian in Britain.
But the three-page advertisement, ‘Free people, Free markets, Free thinking’ was not accepted by the Financial Times.
The newspaper objected to one sentence in the ad, which stated, “Today the greatest brand in journalism joins up with the world's most restless global media company."
Murdoch declined to alter the ad and told Fox News, "I think they're being a little over-sensitive. If I were them, I'd have taken the money."
The China Daily newspaper also declined to run the advertisement, according to Fortune.
Fortune said, “China Daily’s objections, according to News Corp insiders, were more comprehensive, including, not surprisingly, the liberal use of the word ‘free’ in the headline. Under advertising laws in Communist China, use of such words as ‘first’ or ‘best’ must be approved by authorities. Apparently Murdoch has rejected to the papers' requests to modify the ads.”
INDIA’S NEXTGEN WILL LAUNCH EMAP’S MOTHER & BABY MAG IN MARCH
India’s NextGen Publishing will launch Mother and Baby, a UK-based parenting magazine from the EMAP Group, by the end of March 2008.
Amit Tiwari, product head, NextGen Publishing, told Exchange4media that, “We believe there is no magazine in India that is dedicated to parenting, and which addresses issues and problems faced by women during pregnancy. The magazine is tried and tested in other markets like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, and we believe that this concept will work in India as well.”
The target audience for Mother & Baby India will be expectant and new mothers in the SEC A , A and B segments. The magazine will be available in 15-20 Indian cities, with an initial print run of 50,000 copies and a 120-160 page count.
INDIA’S ESPN STAR SPORTS PUTS INTERNATIONAL CRICKET RIGHTS UP FOR TENDER GLOBALLY
India’s ESPN Star Sports has invited broadcasters, broadcasting unions, sports rights agencies, cable operators and affiliates, and global media companies to participate in the tender process for the TV broadcast rights for the high-profile International Cricket Council events for 2008-2011.
The invitation to tender for various rights outside India is to be released shortly.
ESPN Star Sports is the International Cricket Council’s global broadcast and production partner.
Late last year, ESPN Star Sports affiliate, ESPN (Mauritius) Ltd. was awarded the exclusive global telecast rights from the International Cricket Council for all its events from 2007-2015.
Manu Sawhney, managing director, ESPN Star Sports, said, “We are heartened by the success of the recent International Cricket Council World Twenty20. The television coverage of the recent event was widely acknowledged, as being of a very high quality, and ESPN Star Sports will continue to raise the bar in producing coverage for the various upcoming International Cricket Council events. We are keen to build on this successful beginning and to help grow the popularity of cricket across the globe. We believe that the package of rights till 2011 offers broadcasters unparalleled cricket programming, with one major International Cricket Council event each year, as well as a number of other high-quality international competitions.”
ESPN Star Sports’ partnership with the International Cricket Council started on an extremely successful note with the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 in September 2007 in South Africa, which set new viewer-ship records for cricket around the world. ESPN Star Sports, through its networks and distribution partners showcased the tournament in over 110 countries, including China for the first time.
ATLANTIC MONTHLY TO DROP THE MONTHLY TAG AS IT DECREASES PUBLISHING FREQUENCY
The New York Sun reports that Atlantic Monthly will drop the word ‘Monthly’ from its masthead and simply be known as The Atlantic.
It has already cut its schedule back to 10 issues a month and now the title is catching up.
The magazine is moving its sales and marketing base from Washington to New York, and, following a familiar story in recent times among magazines, staff layoffs are expected.
David Bradley, who paid $10 million to acquire the title from Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman in 1999, is trying to stem losses and boost revenues. Buts it’s estimated the magazine is still losing up to US$5 million a year.
The magazine will also name a new publisher shortly and has pencilled in a five-year plan for a return to profitability.
UK SUN TO LAUNCH USER-GENERATED WEBSITE FOR PAGE 3 TOPLESS WANNABE MODELS TO AUDITION
UK Sun newspaper is planning to introduce a user-generated content website inviting women to upload video auditions to become Page 3 girls.
PaidContent said the Page 3 wannabes will ask users to add videos of them demonstrating their prowess at becoming a topless model, a task that apparently involves shedding some clothing and being able to unhook a bra.
Fellow readers will be able to add comments and vote for their favourite candidates. The winners will appear on Page 3 of the News International tabloid.
The publisher thinks the idea has “massive viral potential,” a potential already tapped by the Nuts and Zoo magazines’ websites, which each invite girls to do a similar thing. PaidContent said, “Those efforts have managed to work under the radar but, with the Page 3 brand and national reach behind this latest prospect, expect outrage from moral arbiters.”
Apparently the site is said to be “75 percent likely” to go ahead in the New Year.
MEDIA FORUM WANTS UN TO APPOINT SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS
A global media forum has called on the UN secretary-general to appoint a special rapporteur on the protection of Journalists in peace and war.
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union said the third World Electronic Media Forum, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, made the call after hearing that 2007 was already the bloodiest year on record for journalists' deaths.
The forum, which brought broadcasters, journalists, policy makers, academics and others, urged states to implement UN Resolution 1738, adopted by the Security Council in December 2006.
The resolution calls on states to end impunity for those who kill journalists and other news professionals, to investigate incidents of violence against news media, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The forum also called for greater efforts to preserve the world's endangered audiovisual archives.
In addition, it said broadcasters must maintain their core values and principles, such as accuracy, objectivity and ethical reporting, in the face of rapid technological change.
NZ TV CHARTER REVIEW REFERRED TO PARLIAMENTARY COMMERCE SELECT COMMITTEE
The Television New Zealand Charter review process will now go to its next stage by being referred to parliament's Commerce Select Committee, reports TVNZ online.
The TVNZ Act 2003 says the TVNZ Charter must be reviewed by parliament within five years of its implementation.
Earlier this year TVNZ issued a suggested redraft of the charter for public consultation. The suggested redraft divided the charter into seven themes - An Informed Society, National Identity and Citizenship, Maori, Diversity, High Standards, Innovation and New Zealand Talent - to give it clearer structure for the public.
The suggested redraft also tried to take into account that while TVNZ's main broadcasting services would remain for some time via TV ONE and TV2, additional programming content would become available to the public through the new digital channels TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 and increasingly in future years through TVNZ on demand, the TVNZ website and other media devices.
A working party of TVNZ and Ministry for Culture and Heritage officials, chaired by leading broadcasting academic Peter Thompson from UNITEC, considered 286 submissions from individuals and groups from New Zealand and overseas.
New Zealand government-controlled NZ On Air has announced a new fund - the Digital Content Partnership Fund - which will support programmes involving the use of new media, reports Television New Zealand.
The fund is also part of NZ On Air's new digital strategy as it prepares for changes to the national Broadcasting Act.
The fund will exist for four years, with NZ$1 million (A$887,000) set aside each year and submissions sought annually. The first application deadline is in March 2008.
NZ On Air's chief executive, Jane Wrightson, said the fund is a great opportunity for fresh collaboration across broadcasting and new media and is aimed at providing audiences with new experiences.
The preference for the first year is for projects targeting New Zealand children or youth.
"It's important they have the opportunity to connect with local content on all the platforms they use," she said.
GLOBAL WARMING MEDIA STRATEGIES DISCUSSED AT CLIMATE CHANGE REPORTING WORKSHOP IN BALI
The media shouldn’t give time and space to global warming deniers, a television news workshop on climate change reporting in Bali, was told by Andreas Fischlin, a Swiss scientist at the Institute for Terrestrial Ecology in Zurich.
Fischlin was speaking at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Climate Change Workshop held in Bali, Indonesia from December 10-11, which brought together 20 broadcasters from 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
The two-day workshop was held on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference that was held in Bali through to December 14.
Fischlin said, "We will face a climate change in this century more than what we faced in the last century. A lot of people are not aware of how serious the problem is and they need to know the facts. The media should help increase awareness on the issue to better mitigate climate change."
Silvia Llosa, program officer for the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction also spoke at the conference and said journalists need to understand climate change and the risks and start communicating it to other.
"Journalists need to inform and educate their audiences about the threats posed by climate change related risks and what they can do to avoid being a victim of a disaster from a climate change related risk," she said.
"When there is a disaster, it provides journalists an opportunity to jump in and say perhaps this can be avoided. Journalists should investigate the causes and ask themselves if a government is doing enough to avoid such disasters."
CHINESE GOVT GIVES GRANT TO DEVELOP MOBILE-PHONE TV TECHNOLOGY
China has granted a 400 million yuan (A$63 million) government fund to develop mobile phone TV technology in the next three years, said the Ministry of Science and Technology, according to the Shanghai Daily.
Chinese firms are developing home grown mobile TV standards so that they do not need to pay high royalty fees to Western firms if people use their standards instead.
"The fund is to finance the development from system research to end-equipment design and test process. That will help China establish a self-innovated mobile TV industry chain," the statement said.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will be responsible for the project, according to the statement, which indicated State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and media groups will dominate mobile TV technology.
China's mobile multimedia broadcasting, backed by State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has grown rapidly in China.
SOUTH KOREA BROADBAND COMPANY KT BUYS INTERNET AD COMPANY NASMEDIA
KT, South Korea's largest broadband service provider, entered the fast-growing online ad market on Thursday, with its acquisition of NasMedia, the country's leading internet ad company, according to a report in the Korea Herald.
KT purchased a 50 percent plus one share of NasMedia for 26 billion won (US$28.2 million.)
The Korea Herald said the deal also paves the way for the fixed-line carrier to make inroads into the nascent broadband advertising market based on its web-based television, IPTV, and high-speed wireless communication standard, Wimax.
KT expects the new businesses to serve as new revenue sources for the company, which is struggling to revive stalled growth in the almost saturated telecommunications market.
"The acquisition of Nasmedia is part of KT's efforts to transform itself from a telecommunications company into a media and entertainment company," Lee Ok-gi, a KT official, said.
Nasmedia, which supplies display ads for major portals such as Naver.com and Daum.com, is expected to see 80 billion won in billing in 2007. Doubleclick Korea changed its name to Nasmedia in 2002 when Kenny Chung took the helm of the company.
KT it has 44.5 percent of the South Korean market, or 6.52 million subscribers.
ASEAN MEDIA PORTAL LAUNCHED TO ENCOURAGE CONTENT EXCHANGE BETWEEN MEMBER COUNTRIES
The Philippines is the first country to be featured in a regional internet portal run by the Singapore government whose goal is to showcase digital content from different countries, the Philippine Daily Enquirer reports.
The site, called ASEAN Media Portal, the site was launched last month and is an online platform that showcases and facilitates the exchange of cultural information and media content among member states, according to Singapore's Media Development Authority.
The Philippines is one of four countries that has signed bilateral ‘media collaboration’ agreements with Singapore, aside from Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand.
This regional portal will feature the Philippines first, according to former Ilocos representative Imee Marcos, who now heads the Creative Media and Film Society or CreaM.
CreaM is a private sector initiative that aims to develop original Filipino-made content and to position the country as a content provider in Southeast Asia. The group includes people from the film and animation industries, including online gaming firms.
NEW YORK TIMES IN DEAL TO INCREASE ITS ONLINE VIDEO CONTENT FOR THE 2008 US PRESIDENTAIL ELECTION
The New York Times is expanding its online video content by creating syndication deals with independent content producers
Beet TV says the New York Times has an agreement with Purple States TV for a series of about a dozen segments on the presidential primaries leading up to Super Tuesday on February 5.
The segments will appear on the op-ed pages beginning on December 19, a spokesperson for The New York Times told Beet TV.
Purple States TV is a privately-funded business headquartered in New Haven, with editing facilities in Manhattan, has selected five non-journalist ‘citizens’ to interview candidates in the key primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
They are from various political persuasions: a Republican, Democrat, libertarian and independent. They travel together with a two-camera crew, a total of 14 in the entourage for this new kind of reality TV."
In addition to the deal with The Times, Purple videos will air on some state TV channels.
HONG KONG BARS INFRINGING ON CABLE TV COPYRIGHT COUGH UP HK$2 MILLION
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia has made substantial out of court settlements with the remaining Lockhart Rd Wan Chai bars in Hong Kong caught cheating the pay TV copyright regulations.
The two bars, The White Stag and the Devil's Advocate, have made undisclosed settlements with the pay TV association and will be forced to run letters of apology in the South China Morning Post and Apple Daily today as well as BC Magazine.
Earlier this year pay TV operator Hong Kong Cable Television and football federation FIFA made similar out of court settlements with three Hong Kong bars for illegally broadcasting the 2006 FIFA World Cup football tournament in June last year.
The three Wan Chai bars - Carnegies, the Bridge and the Coyote Bar & Grill - were forced to issued a letter of apology to FIFA and Cable TV and pay legal costs worth around HK$2 million (A$298,000.)
Simon Twiston Davies, CASBAA ceo aid the latest settlement were good news for the industry.
"We are very pleased with the outcome, this is confirmation that these venues understand that they have made serious copyright infringements," he said. "But I'm sorry to say we will have to revisit this issue."
He said across the region pay TV piracy had reached US$1.5 billion and some US$30 million in Hong Kong alone.
"These pirates need to know we are on their trails and serious about beating them," Davies added.
CASBAA has also been lobbying the Hong Kong SAR government to introduce legislation to criminalise copyright infringements, but as yet no legislation has been presented.
ISRAELI TROOPS RAID WEST BANK MEDIA ORGANISATIONS
Israeli troops searched and interrupted broadcasts at a TV station and two news agency offices in the West Bank on Wednesday.
The Nablus-based TV station Al-Afaq, had to stop broadcasting because the troops seized transmission equipment.
Israeli troops also seized computers and files in raids carried out at around the same time on An-Najah and Ar-Ruwad, two news agencies which employ pro-Hamas journalists and which work primarily with Al Quds, a daily newspaper that supports the Palestinian Authority. The reason for the raids was not known.
CORPORATE REFORM NEEDED IN US TO IMPROVE CORPORATION-OWNED MASS MEDIA, AUTHOR SAYS
The US mass media "is controlled by a handful of very large companies"
such as General Electric, Disney, Westinghouse, CBS and Fox that "are under very strong pressure to make a lot of money" and do so by degrading news to the level of entertainment for which there is a broader audience, according to Lee Drutman, communication director of the Washington-based non-profit Citizen Works and co-author with Charlie Cray of the new book ‘The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restructuring Democracy’ (Berrett-Koehler).
Drutman said corporate owners of mass media are providing "very little coverage of politics and world events."
He made his comments on the program, ‘What The Media Doesn't Tell You,’ sponsored by the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover and broadcast globally over the World Radio Network.
Drutman said he detects "a palpable shift" in public opinion as "people are getting fed up with the greed of corporations," and asserted the challenge is to build "broad support for corporate reform by reducing the clout of corporations, for example, in elections, through public funding of
elections.
The author said European and Asian corporations tend to be structured
differently from their American counterparts and thus conduct themselves
more in the public interest.
"In Germany, you'll find the workers sit on the board of directors and the company is also run by and for its workers, and that’s very common in European, socialist-leaning states where there is much more of a sense that the company has an obligation to its workers and communities."
Drutman said this spirit exists in Japanese and other Asian corporations
that operate beyond the narrow interest of stakeholders.
NINE NETWORK IN AUSTRALIA TO SELL ITS HEADQUARTERS PROPERTY IN BOTH MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY
Charter Hall, one of Australia’s leading property fund managers and property developers has been awarded the exclusive right to negotiate the purchase of the Nine Network’s television headquarters in both Sydney and Melbourne following a tender process.
The Sydney property is an iconic landmark located in Willoughby on Sydney’s lower north shore and will be acquired by Charter Hall’s Opportunity Fund No. 5.
The Sydney property does not include the transmission tower which is owned by TX Australia and is not part of the sale process.
The Melbourne property, located in Richmond, will be purchased by a dynamic consortium comprising 50 percent Charter Hall’s CHOF 5, and 50 percent R.Corporation and Crane Corp.
The Nine Network is to remain in occupation of both properties for a predetermined period to enable it to finalise suitable alternative premises for relocation.
SONY HIRES EX-LOADED EDITOR TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST MAGAZINE IN THE UK
Sony has hired a former editor of Loaded to launch its first magazine, which with a GBP4.50 (A$10.5) cover price will be one of the most expensive in Britain.
But the Guardian reports that many Sony customers will receive the magazine for free. Customers who spend more than GBP50 with the electronics company will received the magazine free, as will 135,000 people on the Sony database.
The magazine is produced by Haymarket Network, the contract publishing division of Haymarket Media Group which also publishes magazines for the Army, Tesco, Manchester United and Jaguar.
Haymarket is putting only 5,500 copies on newsstands and about 115,000 copies in 140 Sony centres. The total print run is 300,000. Haymarket has also created a website that features video links and offers readers three free issues.
The magazine will contain advanced look at films, music and technology and games under production in the various parts of the Sony organisation, and is part of a marketing push by Sony to encourage consumers to regard it as an entertainment brand and not just a maker of electronics products.
JAPANESE MEDIA REPORTS THAT MAJOR AUSTRALIAN TV NETWORK HAS JOINED THE ANTI-WHALING CAUSE
A high-profile campaign against Japanese whaling is gaining momentum in Australia after one of the country's major television networks joined the cause on Wednesday, the Japan Times reports.
The paper said Channel Nine Network's breakfast show Today has signed up to a Stop the Slaughter anti-whaling petition launched by Sydney's largest newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, this week.
"Masquerading this barbaric kill as research is nothing short of obscene, and an insult to right-thinking Japanese," Wilkinson told the Daily Telegraph.
"Hopefully by signing this petition the Japanese government and the Japanese people will finally understand" how strongly opposed Australians are to Japanese whaling, she said.
The newspaper's antiwhaling campaign is being run in conjunction with Greenpeace Australia Pacific and coincides with the lead up to this year's annual whale kill by the Japanese.
AUSTRALIAN MEDIA HISTORY MADE AS SUNRAYSIA TV IS SUSPENDED FROM TRADING BEFORE REMOVAL FROM LISTING
More Australian media history in the making: the ASX this afternoon announced that the securities of Sunraysia Television Ltd will be suspended from quotation immediately, at the request of the company, following the completion of its off-market share buy back.
At the date of this notice the Directors estimate that the Buy-Back Price per share will be $12.75 for 11.309 million Sunraysia ordinary shares, representing 98 percent of the issued capital of Sunraysia.
The total consideration payable by Sunraysia will be $144.192 million.
STOUSH BETWEEN CRICKET AUSTRALIA AND MEDIA OVER PHOTO RIGHTS BECOMES AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE
The International Publishers Association has become involved in a content rights tussle between the Australian media and the Cricket Australia organisation.
Last month Cricket Australia was in conflict with major Australian and international news groups over limitation to free coverage of the test cricket game between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The International Publishers Association issued a press release late last week saying,
“Cricket Australia, the governing body of one of Australia’s favourite sports, is trying to force all photographers and agencies to sign a new contract before they enter the cricket grounds.
“In the latest version of the contract put forward by Cricket Australia on Friday, only Cricket Australia may authorise the sale of images to book publishers.
“The Australian Publishers Association and the International Publishers Association have immediately written to key representatives of Australia’s new Labor federal government to express their concerns. The letter has also been signed by the News Media Coalition, a group of newspaper publishers and other parties interested in press freedom.
The letter, which was addressed to Australia’s deputy prime minister, the attorney general and three ministers, includes the following:
‘We wish to raise with you urgently a matter of considerable public interest.…
What is at issue is proper balance between a sporting organisations’ legitimate commercial concerns and the needs of the public in being able to access objective, informative and topical information, both written and pictorial…
Of particular concern is a ban on editorial material created at CA events being used in books, of any nature or content, unless approved by Cricket Australia. They also reserve the right to charge fees to approved books. Such measures amount to censorship of editorial products. As well as raising this serious issue, such restrictions would deny the cricket-loving public in and out of Australia a fair opportunity to share in the fullest possible knowledge and understanding of the game in
Australia and Australian cricket’s standing in foreign lands.
We are writing to you to seek your support safeguarding the legacy of publishing’s right to inform and urge you to use your good offices to bring common-sense to this issue’.”
International Publishers Association secretary general Jens Bammel said, “This issue has been a battle ground between the media and sports associations for quite some time. This time a blatant attack has been made directly on the book publishing industry, a small but significant media sector with great importance to the real sports aficionados.
“At stake is not just the commercial viability of publishers wishing to publish novel and different perspectives on the sport in question. This is the manifest attempt of a quasimonopolist to curtail freedom of expression and freedom to publish and on the views and images that the officials do not approve. The international publishing community will support the Australian Publishers Association in its important fight for publisher freedom and against bullying and censorship.”
AUSTRALIA’S NINE TV NETWORK ACCUSED OF BEING A SEXIST BLOKEY CULTURE
A discrimination case beginning in Australia this week will hear accusations against Channel Nine’s veteran news boss John Westacott of offensive and sexist behaviour against female journalists, according to News Ltd’s Sunday tabloids.
The claims are part of an unfair dismissal case by reporter Christine Spiteri who had worked at the network for 13 years and was due to return to work from maternity leave next month.
A female reporter from Nine told News Ltd over the weekend that comments alleged by Spiteri were regularly made at Nine.
Westacott has also been accused of saying the newsroom was no place for women, and that to land on-air jobs females had to be blonde.
This follows a report in The Age newspaper in Melbourne last Thursday which claimed, “Channel Nine's on-air cricket team will be an all-male bastion once more this summer, with the axing of sports presenter Stephanie Brantz the latest evidence of a network struggling to shake off the blokey culture that has dominated for decades.”
Brantz claims she was told by Nine sports bosses that no one on the Australian cricket team wanted to talk to her and that was one of the reasons she had been frozen out of Nine's cricket coverage.
A spokesman for Cricket Australia, Peter Young, told The Age he was not aware of the Australian cricketers having a problem with Brantz.
"They don't have gender concerns," he said.
He said Cricket Australia encouraged broadcasters to include women journalists in their coverage in an effort to lift the number of women watching above its current level of about 35 percent of viewers.
MYANMAR WOMEN JOURNALISTS THRIVE IN EXPANDING YANGON MEDIA SECTOR
The Myanmar Times reports that as the Myanmar media industry expands, so too have the number of women working as reporters and editors at newspapers and journals in Yangon.
Many female journalists now work for local publications, but 40 years ago traveling the country in pursuit of news was seen as work unfit for a woman.
Despite the perceived unsuitability of the profession for women back then, Daw Kywe Kywe started working as a journalist and editor for the Lan Sin Party magazine in 1970 and stayed there for the next 25 years.
“When I was 38 I decided to become a journalist because I liked writing articles and novels and I wanted to educate people with my pen,” said the pioneering writer, now 75 years old.
“Before I worked as a journalist I had been a staff member at the Ministry of Commerce and I had also been a teacher. They were both great jobs as far as future potential but I didn’t feel like I found the right career until I became a journalist’” she said.
Daw Kywe Kywe told the Myanmar Times that as the married mother of three children she faced many social obstacles that ultimately led to her divorce.
“My family and relatives severely criticised me because as a journalist I often had to travel with male photographers to cover stories. I eventually had to divorce my husband because of this,” she said.
She said she “passed many years with tears” and often questioned the wisdom of pursuing journalism as a career.
“Although I felt pain in my heart, I worked with the confidence that I was a good reporter. And when I had to travel with a photographer for a week to write a story we knew that as Buddhists we could uphold our moral standards.”
Daw Kywe Kywe, now retired said she welcomed the opening of Myanmar’s first degree program in journalism next year. The three-year program will be offered at Botahtaung College as a collaborative effort between the ministries of Information and Education.
“Reporters must love and work for the good of their country and its people. They must be clever in the way they present information so it is not biased,” she said.
SEVEN NETWORK’S NEWS WINNEBAGO WEATHER GIRL ACCLIMATISES TO NEW UPGRADED ROLE
The Seven Network’s Sunrise breakfast weather reporter Monique Wright has been promoted and her new duties will include Olympic coverage, hosting on 7HD and presenting the national 4:30 News every Friday.
One of her major responsibilities in 2008 will be to spearhead Sunrise’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics and Olivia Newton-John's Walk of the Great Wall of China. She'll join John Travolta and Sharon Osbourne on a four week walk that Seven says is “guaranteed to make a global splash.”
Wright will also travel overseas five times in 2008 producing stories and working on a prime-time special series.
Another of her new roles will be as a panel member on 7HD’s new late show, The Night Cap.
"Monique's a genuine all-rounder. I can't think of too many people who can host a news bulletin one day and flirt with Matt Damon the next, “morning television director Adam Boland said.
Monique Wright’s final day as Sunrise weather presenter is Friday December 21, when she looks back at her trip around Australia aboard the Weather Winnebago.
SONY SPONSORS NETWORK TEN’S HD CHANNEL LAUNCH IN AUSTRALIA YESTERDAY
Network Ten has secured a sponsorship agreement with Sony for TEN-HD, Australia's newest free-to-air digital channel, launched yesterday.
The deal between Ten and Sony was finalised by the media agency Starcom.
Sony's group manager corporate marketing, Tim Rich, said, “Sony has just released its latest
High Definition Benchmark Report, produced independently by GfK, which shows that consumers are spending more on HD products than ever before. This partnership is a great fit for Sony as our Bravia LCD TVs provide the best way of enjoying HD content in the home.
"HD is the way the world is heading and this is evident by the support HD has from Ten, as well as the rise in sales of HD TVs, particularly in LCD TVs which made up 53 percent of all HD TVs sold in the third quarter of 2007.”
Dominos and KFC, Ten’s longstanding advertising partners, have also been confirmed as sponsors of TEN-HD.
Exclusive programs not shown on the main Ten channel include block-buster movies Black
Hawk Down and Snatch; award winning documentaries such as National Geographic's Amazing Planet; cult following sci-fi programs Battlestar Galactica and The 4400, and critically acclaimed dramas Veronica Mars, The Shield and Over There.
In October, Sony and Ten teamed with News Ltd Sunday newspapers in a national promotion to raise awareness of HD and give consumers the opportunity to win one of 100 Sony Bravia HD LCD TVs.
NETWORK TEN APPOINTS NEW NEWS DIRECTOR IN SYDNEY
Network Ten has appointed Cathie Schnitzerling as Sydney News director.
She currently heads Tens Brisbane News team, and her move follows the decision by David Breen, who has held the Sydney News director role since 2003, to leave Ten at the end of December.
Ten’s head of News, Jim Carroll said, “In her eight years with Ten News, Cathie has excelled as a senior producer, news editor and since 2005 as head of our Brisbane News team.
"With her keen editorial judgement and strong management skills, Cathie is more than ready to take on the challenge of the Sydney market."
Cathie Schnitzerling began her career with Nine News in Brisbane after completing an Arts degree at the University of Southern Queensland.
Following six years reporting for a number of Nine programs, she moved to ABC television where she presented and reported for Landline and also worked as a radio presenter on The Country Hour and ABC Coast-FM.
She joined Ten News in Melbourne in 1997 as a senior news producer and transferred to Brisbane two years later.
She has produced two independent documentaries and a short drama. Among her professional citations is a Queensland Media Award for Best Documentary in 2000.
RURAL NEWSPAPER IN AUSTRALIA OFFERS CATTLE DOG BITCH AS FIRST PRIZE IN COMPETITION
Readers of The Land newspaper in Australia will after Christmas have the unique chance to win a kelpie cattle dog bitch.
The dog, Capree Glide, is a Working Kelpie Council registered stud bitch, and is bred and trained by respected dog breeder and trainer Chris Stapleton, Capree Kelpie stud, Burraga.
He has bred and trained dogs for 35 years and represented Australia on numerous occasions.
The Land said, “Glide has a lot of natural ability, good cover, balance and presence around stock; she already has sides, stop and is starting to back sheep at just five months of age.
“Chris believes Capree Glide will make a very handy dog, in the paddock and yards, with the ability to work cattle and sheep.”
Capree Glide was sired by Capree Boss, 2001 Australian Yard dog champion.
The Land’s competition to win Capree Glide will start in the newspaper on December 27 issue and will be drawn at the end of January 2008.
Capree Glide will be eight months of age when the competition is drawn and will be available for pick up at the end of February 2008.
MEDIA CONTROVERSY OVER PHOTOS AND FOOTAGE OF TRIBAL INDIAN GIRL STRIPPED NAKED DURING DEMONSTRATIONS QUELLED BY ARRESTS
Three youths have been arrested over an incident at a demonstration in Indian where a young girl was stripped naked and chased.
Horrific pictures were shown on Indian television and in newspapers of the naked Adivasi tribal girl being chased and assaulted in full view of the public during Saturday’s retaliatory attack on Adivasi protesters by some residents in the city of Guwahati (see MediaBlab archive.)
This led to widespread criticism of some sections of the Indian media.
Senior superintendent of police Surendra Kumar told The Hindu daily newspaper that a case has now been registered against the three on charges of attempt to rape, attempt to murder and outraging the modesty of the girl.
He said the photographs and video footage of the perpetrators involved in the incident matched with the accused.
They will be produced in court on tomorrow.
Other photographs showed the girl, who was disrobed by the attackers, pleading for mercy with folded hands.
Some onlookers came to the rescue of the traumatised girl, who was running to save her life, and gave her clothes.
Police also arrested five senior leaders of the All-Adivasi Students Association of Assam, and they jailed on charges of causing communal violence and damage to public property, among others.
The student body took out a rally on Saturday to press for inclusion of Santal Adivasis and tea-tribes in the list of Scheduled Tribes.
The tea-tribes of Assam and surrounding districts are among the most exploited tribes in India. Anthropologically, they have negroid features, and are basically labourers, living in villages, inside tea-estates in remote areas.
Exploitation by tea planters, including very low wages and poor work standards, non-education, poverty, addiction of males to country-beer, poor standards of living and lack of health facilities are mostly their lot. There are instances when tea-planters do not even supply life-saving drugs when workers are dying out of epidemics
TONY O’REILLY INCREASES HIS STAKE IN IRELAND’S INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA
Ireland’s Independent News & Media chief executive Anthony O'Reilly has raised his stake in the newspaper publisher. Reuters reports that on Thursday he bought 1 million shares, or a 0.12 percent stake, taking his personal holding to 26.12 percent.
Irish s billionaire Denis O'Brien has also been steadily building up his stake in Independent News in recent months.
O'Brien holds over 12 percent, making him the second-biggest shareholder in the group, which operates in Ireland, Britain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India.
KERRY GROUP TO MAKE A MANDATORY OFFER FOR THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok’s Kerry Group will make a mandatory offer for the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s largest English-language newspaper.
The Financial Times reported that the group has to make the offer, worth about $US300 million, after Kerry Media, an associate, increased its stake in Hong Kong-listed South China Morning Post to 40.4 percent in late November.
Kerry Media in 1993 acquired a 34.9 percent stake in the newspaper company from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for $349m.
South China Morning Post was the world’s most profitable newspaper during most of the 1990s, has a circulation of about 100,000 and its closest rival, The Standard, has become a free newspaper in an effort to increase readership.
The Financial Times said the South China Morning Post’s shares have been falling recently due to concerns over the effects of a Hong Kong stock exchange decision to stop requiring that corporate announcements be printed in full in newspapers as of June.
Such notices accounted for 20 percent of the South China Morning Post’s revenues, and the bourse’s decision would have a material impact on the paper’s earnings.
UK COMPETITION COMMISSION SUBMITS FINAL REPORT ON BSKYB’S ITV STAKE
The UK Competition Commission submitted its final report on BSkyB's 17.9 percent stake in ITV to the government last week.
The Guardian reported that the watchdog did not reveal the details of its recommendations, which are expected to suggest that the satellite group reduces the size of its shareholding.
John Hutton, the minister for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, now has 30 days in which to make a decision about what should happen.
In its provisional report in October, the commission found that Sky's share purchase was anti-competitive and set out potential remedies including the sale of part or the entire stake.
IT’S OVER: RUPERT MURDOCH’S NEWS CORP OWNS DOW JONES
News Corporation's takeover of Dow Jones cleared its final hurdle as Dow Jones shareholders approved the plan with a 60 percent majority, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Really, the only question at the start of the shareholder meeting had been the size of the majority for the acquisition, and so it’s officially history, with Rupert Murdoch already starting to reshape management at The Wall Street Journal with his hand-picked tried and true chosen few.
After the vote Rupert Murdoch, standing on a makeshift stage made out of four boxes of copying paper at Dow Jones's head office, reassured journalists about the company's future.
"If anything, you will find us trying to set a higher bar," he said.
News Corporation also embarked on an international advertising blitz to coincide with the Dow Jones vote, buying advertisements for the Friday editions of many rival newspapers around the world, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times in the US and the Daily Telegraph and Guardian in Britain.
But the three-page advertisement, ‘Free people, Free markets, Free thinking’ was not accepted by the Financial Times.
The newspaper objected to one sentence in the ad, which stated, “Today the greatest brand in journalism joins up with the world's most restless global media company."
Murdoch declined to alter the ad and told Fox News, "I think they're being a little over-sensitive. If I were them, I'd have taken the money."
The China Daily newspaper also declined to run the advertisement, according to Fortune.
Fortune said, “China Daily’s objections, according to News Corp insiders, were more comprehensive, including, not surprisingly, the liberal use of the word ‘free’ in the headline. Under advertising laws in Communist China, use of such words as ‘first’ or ‘best’ must be approved by authorities. Apparently Murdoch has rejected to the papers' requests to modify the ads.”
INDIA’S NEXTGEN WILL LAUNCH EMAP’S MOTHER & BABY MAG IN MARCH
India’s NextGen Publishing will launch Mother and Baby, a UK-based parenting magazine from the EMAP Group, by the end of March 2008.
Amit Tiwari, product head, NextGen Publishing, told Exchange4media that, “We believe there is no magazine in India that is dedicated to parenting, and which addresses issues and problems faced by women during pregnancy. The magazine is tried and tested in other markets like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, and we believe that this concept will work in India as well.”
The target audience for Mother & Baby India will be expectant and new mothers in the SEC A , A and B segments. The magazine will be available in 15-20 Indian cities, with an initial print run of 50,000 copies and a 120-160 page count.
INDIA’S ESPN STAR SPORTS PUTS INTERNATIONAL CRICKET RIGHTS UP FOR TENDER GLOBALLY
India’s ESPN Star Sports has invited broadcasters, broadcasting unions, sports rights agencies, cable operators and affiliates, and global media companies to participate in the tender process for the TV broadcast rights for the high-profile International Cricket Council events for 2008-2011.
The invitation to tender for various rights outside India is to be released shortly.
ESPN Star Sports is the International Cricket Council’s global broadcast and production partner.
Late last year, ESPN Star Sports affiliate, ESPN (Mauritius) Ltd. was awarded the exclusive global telecast rights from the International Cricket Council for all its events from 2007-2015.
Manu Sawhney, managing director, ESPN Star Sports, said, “We are heartened by the success of the recent International Cricket Council World Twenty20. The television coverage of the recent event was widely acknowledged, as being of a very high quality, and ESPN Star Sports will continue to raise the bar in producing coverage for the various upcoming International Cricket Council events. We are keen to build on this successful beginning and to help grow the popularity of cricket across the globe. We believe that the package of rights till 2011 offers broadcasters unparalleled cricket programming, with one major International Cricket Council event each year, as well as a number of other high-quality international competitions.”
ESPN Star Sports’ partnership with the International Cricket Council started on an extremely successful note with the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 in September 2007 in South Africa, which set new viewer-ship records for cricket around the world. ESPN Star Sports, through its networks and distribution partners showcased the tournament in over 110 countries, including China for the first time.
ATLANTIC MONTHLY TO DROP THE MONTHLY TAG AS IT DECREASES PUBLISHING FREQUENCY
The New York Sun reports that Atlantic Monthly will drop the word ‘Monthly’ from its masthead and simply be known as The Atlantic.
It has already cut its schedule back to 10 issues a month and now the title is catching up.
The magazine is moving its sales and marketing base from Washington to New York, and, following a familiar story in recent times among magazines, staff layoffs are expected.
David Bradley, who paid $10 million to acquire the title from Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman in 1999, is trying to stem losses and boost revenues. Buts it’s estimated the magazine is still losing up to US$5 million a year.
The magazine will also name a new publisher shortly and has pencilled in a five-year plan for a return to profitability.
UK SUN TO LAUNCH USER-GENERATED WEBSITE FOR PAGE 3 TOPLESS WANNABE MODELS TO AUDITION
UK Sun newspaper is planning to introduce a user-generated content website inviting women to upload video auditions to become Page 3 girls.
PaidContent said the Page 3 wannabes will ask users to add videos of them demonstrating their prowess at becoming a topless model, a task that apparently involves shedding some clothing and being able to unhook a bra.
Fellow readers will be able to add comments and vote for their favourite candidates. The winners will appear on Page 3 of the News International tabloid.
The publisher thinks the idea has “massive viral potential,” a potential already tapped by the Nuts and Zoo magazines’ websites, which each invite girls to do a similar thing. PaidContent said, “Those efforts have managed to work under the radar but, with the Page 3 brand and national reach behind this latest prospect, expect outrage from moral arbiters.”
Apparently the site is said to be “75 percent likely” to go ahead in the New Year.
MEDIA FORUM WANTS UN TO APPOINT SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS
A global media forum has called on the UN secretary-general to appoint a special rapporteur on the protection of Journalists in peace and war.
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union said the third World Electronic Media Forum, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, made the call after hearing that 2007 was already the bloodiest year on record for journalists' deaths.
The forum, which brought broadcasters, journalists, policy makers, academics and others, urged states to implement UN Resolution 1738, adopted by the Security Council in December 2006.
The resolution calls on states to end impunity for those who kill journalists and other news professionals, to investigate incidents of violence against news media, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The forum also called for greater efforts to preserve the world's endangered audiovisual archives.
In addition, it said broadcasters must maintain their core values and principles, such as accuracy, objectivity and ethical reporting, in the face of rapid technological change.
NZ TV CHARTER REVIEW REFERRED TO PARLIAMENTARY COMMERCE SELECT COMMITTEE
The Television New Zealand Charter review process will now go to its next stage by being referred to parliament's Commerce Select Committee, reports TVNZ online.
The TVNZ Act 2003 says the TVNZ Charter must be reviewed by parliament within five years of its implementation.
Earlier this year TVNZ issued a suggested redraft of the charter for public consultation. The suggested redraft divided the charter into seven themes - An Informed Society, National Identity and Citizenship, Maori, Diversity, High Standards, Innovation and New Zealand Talent - to give it clearer structure for the public.
The suggested redraft also tried to take into account that while TVNZ's main broadcasting services would remain for some time via TV ONE and TV2, additional programming content would become available to the public through the new digital channels TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 and increasingly in future years through TVNZ on demand, the TVNZ website and other media devices.
A working party of TVNZ and Ministry for Culture and Heritage officials, chaired by leading broadcasting academic Peter Thompson from UNITEC, considered 286 submissions from individuals and groups from New Zealand and overseas.
New Zealand government-controlled NZ On Air has announced a new fund - the Digital Content Partnership Fund - which will support programmes involving the use of new media, reports Television New Zealand.
The fund is also part of NZ On Air's new digital strategy as it prepares for changes to the national Broadcasting Act.
The fund will exist for four years, with NZ$1 million (A$887,000) set aside each year and submissions sought annually. The first application deadline is in March 2008.
NZ On Air's chief executive, Jane Wrightson, said the fund is a great opportunity for fresh collaboration across broadcasting and new media and is aimed at providing audiences with new experiences.
The preference for the first year is for projects targeting New Zealand children or youth.
"It's important they have the opportunity to connect with local content on all the platforms they use," she said.
GLOBAL WARMING MEDIA STRATEGIES DISCUSSED AT CLIMATE CHANGE REPORTING WORKSHOP IN BALI
The media shouldn’t give time and space to global warming deniers, a television news workshop on climate change reporting in Bali, was told by Andreas Fischlin, a Swiss scientist at the Institute for Terrestrial Ecology in Zurich.
Fischlin was speaking at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Climate Change Workshop held in Bali, Indonesia from December 10-11, which brought together 20 broadcasters from 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
The two-day workshop was held on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference that was held in Bali through to December 14.
Fischlin said, "We will face a climate change in this century more than what we faced in the last century. A lot of people are not aware of how serious the problem is and they need to know the facts. The media should help increase awareness on the issue to better mitigate climate change."
Silvia Llosa, program officer for the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction also spoke at the conference and said journalists need to understand climate change and the risks and start communicating it to other.
"Journalists need to inform and educate their audiences about the threats posed by climate change related risks and what they can do to avoid being a victim of a disaster from a climate change related risk," she said.
"When there is a disaster, it provides journalists an opportunity to jump in and say perhaps this can be avoided. Journalists should investigate the causes and ask themselves if a government is doing enough to avoid such disasters."
CHINESE GOVT GIVES GRANT TO DEVELOP MOBILE-PHONE TV TECHNOLOGY
China has granted a 400 million yuan (A$63 million) government fund to develop mobile phone TV technology in the next three years, said the Ministry of Science and Technology, according to the Shanghai Daily.
Chinese firms are developing home grown mobile TV standards so that they do not need to pay high royalty fees to Western firms if people use their standards instead.
"The fund is to finance the development from system research to end-equipment design and test process. That will help China establish a self-innovated mobile TV industry chain," the statement said.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will be responsible for the project, according to the statement, which indicated State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and media groups will dominate mobile TV technology.
China's mobile multimedia broadcasting, backed by State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has grown rapidly in China.
SOUTH KOREA BROADBAND COMPANY KT BUYS INTERNET AD COMPANY NASMEDIA
KT, South Korea's largest broadband service provider, entered the fast-growing online ad market on Thursday, with its acquisition of NasMedia, the country's leading internet ad company, according to a report in the Korea Herald.
KT purchased a 50 percent plus one share of NasMedia for 26 billion won (US$28.2 million.)
The Korea Herald said the deal also paves the way for the fixed-line carrier to make inroads into the nascent broadband advertising market based on its web-based television, IPTV, and high-speed wireless communication standard, Wimax.
KT expects the new businesses to serve as new revenue sources for the company, which is struggling to revive stalled growth in the almost saturated telecommunications market.
"The acquisition of Nasmedia is part of KT's efforts to transform itself from a telecommunications company into a media and entertainment company," Lee Ok-gi, a KT official, said.
Nasmedia, which supplies display ads for major portals such as Naver.com and Daum.com, is expected to see 80 billion won in billing in 2007. Doubleclick Korea changed its name to Nasmedia in 2002 when Kenny Chung took the helm of the company.
KT it has 44.5 percent of the South Korean market, or 6.52 million subscribers.
ASEAN MEDIA PORTAL LAUNCHED TO ENCOURAGE CONTENT EXCHANGE BETWEEN MEMBER COUNTRIES
The Philippines is the first country to be featured in a regional internet portal run by the Singapore government whose goal is to showcase digital content from different countries, the Philippine Daily Enquirer reports.
The site, called ASEAN Media Portal, the site was launched last month and is an online platform that showcases and facilitates the exchange of cultural information and media content among member states, according to Singapore's Media Development Authority.
The Philippines is one of four countries that has signed bilateral ‘media collaboration’ agreements with Singapore, aside from Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand.
This regional portal will feature the Philippines first, according to former Ilocos representative Imee Marcos, who now heads the Creative Media and Film Society or CreaM.
CreaM is a private sector initiative that aims to develop original Filipino-made content and to position the country as a content provider in Southeast Asia. The group includes people from the film and animation industries, including online gaming firms.
NEW YORK TIMES IN DEAL TO INCREASE ITS ONLINE VIDEO CONTENT FOR THE 2008 US PRESIDENTAIL ELECTION
The New York Times is expanding its online video content by creating syndication deals with independent content producers
Beet TV says the New York Times has an agreement with Purple States TV for a series of about a dozen segments on the presidential primaries leading up to Super Tuesday on February 5.
The segments will appear on the op-ed pages beginning on December 19, a spokesperson for The New York Times told Beet TV.
Purple States TV is a privately-funded business headquartered in New Haven, with editing facilities in Manhattan, has selected five non-journalist ‘citizens’ to interview candidates in the key primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
They are from various political persuasions: a Republican, Democrat, libertarian and independent. They travel together with a two-camera crew, a total of 14 in the entourage for this new kind of reality TV."
In addition to the deal with The Times, Purple videos will air on some state TV channels.
HONG KONG BARS INFRINGING ON CABLE TV COPYRIGHT COUGH UP HK$2 MILLION
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia has made substantial out of court settlements with the remaining Lockhart Rd Wan Chai bars in Hong Kong caught cheating the pay TV copyright regulations.
The two bars, The White Stag and the Devil's Advocate, have made undisclosed settlements with the pay TV association and will be forced to run letters of apology in the South China Morning Post and Apple Daily today as well as BC Magazine.
Earlier this year pay TV operator Hong Kong Cable Television and football federation FIFA made similar out of court settlements with three Hong Kong bars for illegally broadcasting the 2006 FIFA World Cup football tournament in June last year.
The three Wan Chai bars - Carnegies, the Bridge and the Coyote Bar & Grill - were forced to issued a letter of apology to FIFA and Cable TV and pay legal costs worth around HK$2 million (A$298,000.)
Simon Twiston Davies, CASBAA ceo aid the latest settlement were good news for the industry.
"We are very pleased with the outcome, this is confirmation that these venues understand that they have made serious copyright infringements," he said. "But I'm sorry to say we will have to revisit this issue."
He said across the region pay TV piracy had reached US$1.5 billion and some US$30 million in Hong Kong alone.
"These pirates need to know we are on their trails and serious about beating them," Davies added.
CASBAA has also been lobbying the Hong Kong SAR government to introduce legislation to criminalise copyright infringements, but as yet no legislation has been presented.
ISRAELI TROOPS RAID WEST BANK MEDIA ORGANISATIONS
Israeli troops searched and interrupted broadcasts at a TV station and two news agency offices in the West Bank on Wednesday.
The Nablus-based TV station Al-Afaq, had to stop broadcasting because the troops seized transmission equipment.
Israeli troops also seized computers and files in raids carried out at around the same time on An-Najah and Ar-Ruwad, two news agencies which employ pro-Hamas journalists and which work primarily with Al Quds, a daily newspaper that supports the Palestinian Authority. The reason for the raids was not known.
CORPORATE REFORM NEEDED IN US TO IMPROVE CORPORATION-OWNED MASS MEDIA, AUTHOR SAYS
The US mass media "is controlled by a handful of very large companies"
such as General Electric, Disney, Westinghouse, CBS and Fox that "are under very strong pressure to make a lot of money" and do so by degrading news to the level of entertainment for which there is a broader audience, according to Lee Drutman, communication director of the Washington-based non-profit Citizen Works and co-author with Charlie Cray of the new book ‘The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restructuring Democracy’ (Berrett-Koehler).
Drutman said corporate owners of mass media are providing "very little coverage of politics and world events."
He made his comments on the program, ‘What The Media Doesn't Tell You,’ sponsored by the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover and broadcast globally over the World Radio Network.
Drutman said he detects "a palpable shift" in public opinion as "people are getting fed up with the greed of corporations," and asserted the challenge is to build "broad support for corporate reform by reducing the clout of corporations, for example, in elections, through public funding of
elections.
The author said European and Asian corporations tend to be structured
differently from their American counterparts and thus conduct themselves
more in the public interest.
"In Germany, you'll find the workers sit on the board of directors and the company is also run by and for its workers, and that’s very common in European, socialist-leaning states where there is much more of a sense that the company has an obligation to its workers and communities."
Drutman said this spirit exists in Japanese and other Asian corporations
that operate beyond the narrow interest of stakeholders.
NINE NETWORK IN AUSTRALIA TO SELL ITS HEADQUARTERS PROPERTY IN BOTH MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY
Charter Hall, one of Australia’s leading property fund managers and property developers has been awarded the exclusive right to negotiate the purchase of the Nine Network’s television headquarters in both Sydney and Melbourne following a tender process.
The Sydney property is an iconic landmark located in Willoughby on Sydney’s lower north shore and will be acquired by Charter Hall’s Opportunity Fund No. 5.
The Sydney property does not include the transmission tower which is owned by TX Australia and is not part of the sale process.
The Melbourne property, located in Richmond, will be purchased by a dynamic consortium comprising 50 percent Charter Hall’s CHOF 5, and 50 percent R.Corporation and Crane Corp.
The Nine Network is to remain in occupation of both properties for a predetermined period to enable it to finalise suitable alternative premises for relocation.
SONY HIRES EX-LOADED EDITOR TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST MAGAZINE IN THE UK
Sony has hired a former editor of Loaded to launch its first magazine, which with a GBP4.50 (A$10.5) cover price will be one of the most expensive in Britain.
But the Guardian reports that many Sony customers will receive the magazine for free. Customers who spend more than GBP50 with the electronics company will received the magazine free, as will 135,000 people on the Sony database.
The magazine is produced by Haymarket Network, the contract publishing division of Haymarket Media Group which also publishes magazines for the Army, Tesco, Manchester United and Jaguar.
Haymarket is putting only 5,500 copies on newsstands and about 115,000 copies in 140 Sony centres. The total print run is 300,000. Haymarket has also created a website that features video links and offers readers three free issues.
The magazine will contain advanced look at films, music and technology and games under production in the various parts of the Sony organisation, and is part of a marketing push by Sony to encourage consumers to regard it as an entertainment brand and not just a maker of electronics products.
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