MEDIABLAB NOVEMBER 26
November 26th 2007 01:32
from MediaBlab compiled by Peter Olszewski for Dow Jones' Factiva
ABC TV’S SHAMBOLIC AUSTRALIAN ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE SURE TO COME UNDER MICROSCOPE
The ABC-TV’s federal election coverage on Saturday night was shambolic due to crowd noise and raucous cheering that firstly had obviously nothing to do with precise moments unfolding via the commentary from the tally room at the time of cheering, and secondly drowned out much of the viewer-valued commentary.
An obviously upset moderator, Kerry O’Brien made several comments about the noise, at first suggesting The Chaser program members were responsible, and later chastising an unidentified commercial television presence for intruding on the gravity of the occasion.
At one stage, election analyst Antony Green, looking decidedly distressed as his words were drowned out, almost spat the dummy declaring that the ABC had lost control of the tally room. Kerry O’Brien calmed him and the coverage proceeded.
This morning the Strewth column in The Australian commented, “Whoever designed ABC-TV's central tally room set had better avoid Kerry O'Brien for a week or two. The 7.30 Report presenter looked ready to kill when noisy Labor supporters started drowning out the chat between him and election analyst Antony Green and new Deputy PM-elect Julia Gillard and Liberal Senator Nick Minchin early on Saturday evening.
“O’Brien is known for his fiery temper and as the noise level increased during the night, it was clear he was close to breaking point on a couple of occasions. At one stage he said the swing against John Howard to Maxine McKew in Bennelong was "a 5 per cent swing to the ABC".
A gaffe, but a very telling gaffe.
Disgrace of the night during the ABC’s otherwise excellent election eve coverage was Tony Jones’ totally unnecessary, bitchy and mean pillorying of an unfortunate South Australian female Labor candidate who had performed poorly, notching up one of the few, if not only, swings against Labor on the night.
Jones’ personal savaging of the obviously distressed candidate smacked of schoolyard bullying perpetrated by a podgy bespectacled spoiled boofhead intent on pulling the ponytail of the pretty girl.
SPURNED JOURNALIST ALLEGEDLY SLAPS LABOR CANDIDATE ON AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION DAY
Award-winning Australian journalist Caroline Overington hurled abuse at Labor candidate for Wentworth George Newhouse before slapping him across the face at a polling station in Sydney's east, witnesses say.
That was the way the Sydney Morning Herald website reported the incident which occurred on the day of the Australian elections.
Overington works for The Australian newspaper, which ran this report, “Award-winning journalist Caroline Overington has denied slapping a Labor candidate in Sydney's east this morning.”
Both papers reported witnesses claiming that Overington struck the candidate.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported, “Polling booth attendants and voters were shocked to see Ms Overington stride up to Mr Newhouse, strike him across the face and then walk away, those who saw the incident told AAP.”
The Australian reported, “The polling booth attendants and voters said Ms Overington walked up to Labor candidate for Wentworth George Newhouse at a polling station, shouted at him and then struck him across the face before walking away.”
Both newspapers then carried this word-for-word identical paragraph, “There was an incident and we are considering our options," Mr Newhouse's spokeswoman said. "It was Ms Overington."
The Sydney Morning Herald reported, “Comment is being sought from Ms Overington.”
The Australian reported, “However, the editor in chief of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, said Ms Overington denied she had slapped Mr Newhouse and had had no idea he would be at the voting booth she was attending with her seven-year-old twins.
”She admitted pushing him away with an open hand when he approached her, later apologised for doing so and said she regretted there had been any further contact with the candidate.”
Overington has been embroiled in an unseemly, questionable and highly publicised email spat with the candidate and his ex-girlfriend, also a candidate for the same seat.
First Overington she sent a series of emails to independent candidate and ex-Newhouse girlfriend Dani Ecuyer urging her to preference Wentworth Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull.
This exchange was aired disapprovingly on the ABC’s watchdog program, Media Watch, and also published in MediaBlab.
Later Overington also sent a series of flirtatious and at times threatening emails to Newhouse, whom she described as “short, dark and Jewish.” Those emails were then published in rival papers.
Caroline Overington is a senior writer and columnist with The Australian. She is a two-time winner of the Walkley Award for investigative journalism (2004 and 2006) and last year received the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Excellence in Journalism, for a series of articles on the Iraq wheat sales scandal. She is the author of two best-selling books, Only in New York (Allen and Unwin 2006), and Kickback (Allen and Unwin 2007). She has seven-year-old twins.
AUSTRALIA’S PRIME MINISTER-ELECT MOURNS JOURNALIST’S DEATH
"We are entering a long, dark tunnel with no guarantees. Still, if hope, prayers, friends and thoughts count for anything, I'm off to a good start."
Those were among the last words journalist Matt Price wrote for his employer, The Australian newspaper on October 9 when he publicly announced that he was suffering from brain tumours which had been diagnosed in September.
Yesterday his journey ended, when he died in Perth, shortly after the federal election that he had planned to cover.
Matt Price, 46, was a reporter with the Nine Network before moving to The Australian. He also wrote for other News Ltd newspapers and appeared regularly on ABC radio and on ABC TV's Insiders political program.
Yesterday Australia’s Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd said in a statement, "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Matt Price's death. Matt had emerged in recent years as one of the greats of the new generation of Australian journalists."
On November 22, fellow journalist with The Australian, Caroline Overington wrote, “Price is a columnist for this newspaper, who is fighting for his life right now. Until recently, he was based in Canberra and, as (Mark) Day says, he was ‘the undisputed king’ of columnists during the parliamentary term that is now coming to an end.
“’We can only imagine the contribution he would have made to this campaign,’ says Day. Yes, we can. He would have cut through the cant, and humbled the po-faced hypocrites. Price’s default position is one of big-hearted merriment. The space where his column should be yawns like a chasm.
“Yes, a Priceless campaign is pretty much worthless. To borrow a phrase from John Irving’s splendid book A Prayer for Owen Meany: Oh God, please bring him back! We shall keep on asking You.”
(In Price’s absence, Overington made her own unusual contribution to the federal election campaign – see Spurned Journalist story elsewhere in today’s MediaBlab news service.)
JOURNALISTS CAUGHT OUT BY FORMER AUSTRALIAN COALITION TREASURER’S DECISION TO NOT RUN FOR JOB AS PARTY LEADER
Deposed Australian Treasurer Peter Costello confounded journalists yesterday with the surprise announcement that he would not be running for liberal party leadership after the party’s resounding defeat at the election.
He gave the need for generational change as the reason.
Journalists for weeks, indeed even months, had been beating up Costello’s alleged overweening lust for the prime ministry and made it an issue which helped contribute to the party’s election loss on Saturday evening.
His announcement came as several high-profile political commentators, including News Ltd’s Glenn Milne, incorrectly predicted that he would rise to the leadership within hours of the coalition's loss.
“Mr Costello has already taken the decision to accept the challenge of the opposition leadership," Milne wrote in his News Ltd column yesterday.
In a news report in the News Ltd Sunday tabloids Milne stated, “Victorian Peter Costello will take over a decimated coalition unopposed as opposition leader, knowing he would have been able to mount a stronger fight against Kevin Rudd and Labor.
“Mr Costello has long held the view that is Mr Howard had stepped aside months ago and allowed him to establish his vision for Australia, the collation would have had a better chance of wining last night.”
Shortly after newspapers containing Milne’s emphatic statement hit the street yesterday morning, Peter Costello announced he would not be standing for leadership.
One News Ltd journalist, Greg Sheridan, will no doubt be happy with Costello’s decision.
On March 2, 2006 Sheridan described Costello as, “The grating pretender. This shallow, lazy, lucky and opportunistic treasurer does not deserve to run the country.”
Sheridan also said, “For the past 10 years he has tried to differentiate himself from Howard on the Left: Costello the republican, Costello the supporter of reconciliation, Costello the champion of a tolerant society. He ran as Howard lite, Howard minus, the little Howard.
“Now it seems he is going to differentiate himself from Howard on the Right. He will presumably now become the uber Howard, Howard plus, the meta Howard.”
Finally, with Costello quitting and calling for a generational change, with younger people leading the party, it’s hard to think who he is thinking of. After all, he’s only 51. Other contenders are in the same age bracket. Malcolm Turnbull is 53, Tony Abbott has just turned 50, Brendan Nelson will be 50 next August, Alexander Downer is 56, Kevin Andrews is 52, Philip Ruddock is 64 and Julie Bishop is 51.
The Strewth column in today’s The Australian commented, “If we are to take Costello seriously, 42-year-old Joe Hockey is the only likely candidate.”
Meanwhile, contentious Factiva-published blog Planet Wall Street, News Bites’ stablemate to MediaBlab and regular contributor to the Melbourne Age’s business section, has gone right out on a limb today and suggested the real reason Costello is quitting is that the excrement is about to fit the fan as dark secrets of the Howard years are uncovered.
Despite the hundreds of green rubbish bags full of shredded coalition documents that have been rushed to rubbish tips in Canberra yesterday and will continue to emerge as landfill today, Labor’s debriefings will unearth murky dealings that will writhe in the open like maggots exposed to sunlight and would marr Costello’s political career for ever if he had remained on the scene.
AUSTRALIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER URGED TO DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE PRESS FREEDOM
On the eve of Australia's general election, Reporters Without Borders called on the newly elected Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd to undertake to adopt a series of measures to improve press freedom. The organisation is seeking:
1. The adoption of a law on the protection of sources: There have been several attempts by judges or government officials in recent months to get journalists to reveal their sources. Two journalists in Perth were threatened with imprisonment in June if they did not say who leaked an anti-corruption commission's confidential report to them. The leak was the basis for a story in The West Australian naming a politician. Reporters Without Borders stresses that the protection of sources is one of the key pillars of press freedom.
2. The fight against impunity in the Balibo Five case: An inquest has just shed light on every aspect of the murder of five journalists in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975. The government must, as a matter of urgency, do everything possible to ensure that the Australian judicial system is able to try the murderers and those who gave them their orders.
3. Liberalisation of the access to information laws: The Australia's Right to Know media coalition's latest report showed that a great deal of information is not available to the media and public. Reporters Without Borders urges the next government to act transparently and not obstruct access to information. Australia's Right to Know found a total of 1,500 pieces of legislation and court orders restricting access to information.
Reporters Without Borders notes that as opposition Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd had promised to reinforce access to information laws and to ensure that the principle of professional privilege applies to journalists. Nonetheless, Labour-governed states, especially Queensland and Victoria have not displayed much respect for the principle of access to information.
4. Protection of journalists' work under the Privacy Law: Reporters Without Borders is worried by some of the conclusions of a report by the Australian Law Reform Commission in September recommending increased protection for privacy. Under the commission's recommendations, citizens could bring complaints against media without first seeking arbitration by the Press Council.
Reporters Without Borders obviously supports the protection of privacy, but it does not think this should not prevent journalists from working and reporting freely about public figures.
5. The revision of certain provisions of the anti-terrorism and interception of telecommunications laws: Some of the articles of these laws threaten the confidentiality of journalists' sources. The procedures for tapping phones can jeopardise the independence of the media when they are covering terrorism and organised crime, while some of the penalties under the anti-terrorism laws are simply outrageous.
Anyone, including a journalist, who contacts a terrorism suspect can be jailed for five years. Journalists can be arrested for publishing the names of terrorism suspects. Reporters do not have the right to refuse to identify their sources in terrorism cases. And the police have the right to search news media for evidence in such cases.
The Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 also provides for prison sentences for any person inciting others to disobey Australian law. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser described it as rolling back several centuries of progress in human rights.
SBS TELEVISION NEWSREADER DISPUTE SETTLED OUT OF COURT
A bitter dispute that’s lasted three months between Australia’s SBS television and its former leading news reader, Mary Kostakidis, reached what has been described as an “amicable settlement” on Friday.
The agreement followed a claim of breach of contract by Kostakidis, filed with the Federal Court last month.
Earlier she walked away from a 21 year career with the broadcaster calling that new management had bullied her and treated her with contempt.
She also claimed her contact was breached when former CNN news reporter Stan Grant was appointed senior newsreader and it was obvious at times viewers that the pair did not get on.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
Meanwhile there has also been media speculation that news reader Stan Grant is about to quite the broadcaster, possibly to return overseas.
PASSING OF PBL MARKS THE REAL END OF THE KERRY PACKER ERA IN AUSTRALIAN MEDIA
Friday saw Australian media history in the making when the country’s once largest and most powerful media company was given overwhelming shareholder approval (99 percent plus) to split into two separately listed companies, Crown Ltd, a gaming company with domestic and international investments and Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd , a media company with investments in new and traditional media.
Standard & Poor’s Index Services said that, following court approval, it will remove PBL from the S&P/ASX indices after the close of business on November 30, 2007.
It said Crown Ltd and Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd will both replace PBL in all of the indices of which PBL is a constituent: S&P/ASX 50, S&P/ASX 100, S&P/ASX 200, S&P/ASX All Australian 50, and S&P/ASX All Australian 200.
James Packer’s chairman’s annual general meeting address was brief and perfunctory, and it signaled where his interests now really lay – in the gambling business.
His media interests, once the pride and driving force of the powerful company, were given scant mention in his address.
All he said was, “Significant growths in profits were reported by Foxtel, Premier Media, and Seek.
“The margins for both ACP and the Nine Network, both part of our 25 percent investment in PBL Media, were higher during the 11 months to June 2007 than in the last financial year.”
At the end of the meeting, shareholder activist Stephen Mayne, founder of the irreverent Crikey.com website, gave Packer a serve for selling off the majority holding in the company’s media assets.
The Australian Financial Review reported, “Mayne stood up…launching a tirade about Packer’s decision to give away control of his historic and symbolic old-world media assets and go into the murky world of gambling ‘to carve out a crust.’
“As Mayne ranted, each director stared him in the eye with looks that could kill and Packer got noticeably agitated.
“But he took a deep breath and politely closed the meeting. The old ways of PBL are now history.”
WORLD’S BIGGEST CIRCULATION CIGAR MAGAZINE LAUNCHED IN THE US
Doubledown Media in the US has launched what it claims is the world’s largest-circulation cigar publication, the Cigar Report, with an initial circulation of 377,000.
According to media Daily News, the first issue includes a cover story titled Straight to the Top, about the growing popularity of Dominican cigars, as well as an interview with Jimmy Smits, the cigar-loving star of Cane on CBS.
It also features guides to cigar-friendly venues in cities around the world, recommendations for well-heeled and cigar-friendly resorts, and advice about transporting them when travelling abroad, such as buying a Louis Vuitton cigar steamer trunk for a mere US$69,000.
The magazine is also planning to hold a series of branded invitation-only, called The Wall Street Smoke, in New York, Chicago, and Napa, California. These invitation-only events allow sponsors to reach attendees through venue signage, logos on invitations, and gift bags.
UK FREE NEWSPAPER METRO COULD SOON TOPPLE THE DAILY MAIL AS BRITAIN’S THIRD BIGGEST CIRCULATED NEWSPAPER
The UK’s free national newspaper Metro is making over £8 million (A$1.9 billion) profit a year and will overtake the circulation of the Daily Mirror within 12 to 18 months, according to its managing director, Steve Auckland.
According to the Guardian, Metro, owned by Daily Mail parent company Associated Newspapers, boosted its distribution to 1,358,890 in October, an increase of 10.6 percent from the previous month.
This compares to the Daily Mirror, Britain's third biggest-selling daily, which sold an average of 1,525,477 copies a day in October, a fall of 4.68 percent year on year.
Steve Auckland, the managing director of Associated Newspapers' free newspapers division, said that Metro recently added 250,000 nationwide to its distribution and this would be increased in 12 to 18 months' time.
During this period it would overtake the Mirror, he said.
But he said that London Lite, the company’s other free paper, or freesheet as the genre is referred to in Britain, He said although London Lite's revenue has "exceeded expectations", it was probably about five years away from making a profit.
He expressed doubts about Murdoch’s rival freebie, the London Paper's claim that it would move into profit in two years.
"If they do that they are miracle workers," Auckland said. "
Guardian blogger Roy Greenslades said, “Metro is on a roll. It is the only free newspaper anywhere in the world that turns a profit. It's still growing, publishing 16 separate editions. It covers all the major conurbations in England and Scotland, plus the capitals of Wales and Ireland. It has even spawned an edition in Dubai, the world's fastest-growing media centre.
“In eight years it has grown from a London-only paper with a distribution of just 85,000 to become Britain's fourth largest national paper in terms of circulation, with 1.36 million copies distributed each weekday morning.
“The quantity is one thing. It is the quality of readership - its famous ‘urbanites’ - that appeals to advertisers. Metro is now claiming to have more graduate readers than any other paper. They are also young, with an average of 36, far younger than all the other nationals. Young, classy, educated and high-earning. What more could an advertiser want?”
SOUTH AFRICA’S JOHNNIC COMMUNICATIONS TAKES A HEFTY PROFIT DOWNTURN DUE TO NEW NEWSPAPER INVESTMENT
South African media group Johnnic Communications (Johncom) took a R33 million (A$5.5 million) downturn in its profit as a result of investments in new titles The Weekender and The Times, and in its digital online business, according to Business Report.
Johncom launched the daily newspaper The Times about six months ago, while The Weekender was introduced a year ago.
The company said profit for the six months to September grew fivefold to R1.75 billion.
But profit was boosted by a once-off R1.598 billion exceptional profit from its 36 percent stake in Caxton, which would not be repeated next year, when this stake would be listed separately.
Johncom said the media division's performance was affected by a slowdown in advertising and increased printing and distribution costs.
Last year advertising revenues grew 22 percent, but growth in the six months to September was in single digits.
SOUTH AFRICA’S FIN24 CONSOLIDATES ITS PRODUCTS UNDER ONE BRAND
South Africa’s Bizcommunity.com reports that financial intelligence media collective Fin24, plans to consolidate its collective intellectual capital under a single brand, Fin24. The new brand strategy, soft launched through a recent outdoor, online and retail campaign, will see the recently acquired McGregor, Fin24.com and printed medium Finweek as well as the group's digital satellite television programs branded as Fin24.
Fin24 brand manager Nikki Ruttimann said, “Finweek and Fin24.com count among the country's most credible financial intelligence resources and it makes sense to have a single brand represent a substantial product offering.”
Further growth within the Fin24 stable is also planned for the new year, including a revamp of its satellite television service and online presence with several new products under consideration.
RUPERT MURDOCH’S SON JAMES WON’T LISTEN TO HIM AND WON’T MAKE UK’S SKY NEWS MORE LIKE US’S FOX NEWS IN THE US
Rupert Murdoch has told a group of British peers that that nobody ay Sky, the company run by his younger son James, listens to him.
The Financial Times reported that in evidence given to a House of Lords committee, published on Friday, he said he wanted Sky News to be more like Fox News in the US but, despite his son being the inline boss of Sky News and BSKyB’s chief executive, “the only reason that Sky News was not more like Fox News was that nobody at Sky listens to me.”
Murdoch also informed the assembled peers that he thought the UK was “anti-success” which was why he had not invested more there in local evening newspapers.
The transcript says, “Mr Murdoch did not disguise the fact that he is hands-on both economically and editorially. He says that ‘the law’ prevents him from instructing the editors of The Times and The Sunday Times.”
A little later, it adds, “For The Sun and News of the World he explained that he is a ‘traditional proprietor’. He exercises editorial control on major issues – such as which party to back in a general election or policy on Europe.”
Lord Fowler, the chairman of the committee, told the Financial Times, “I didn’t take [his remarks about Sky] entirely seriously.”
But he added that Mr Murdoch had been open and frank in his description of is relationship with his news¬papers and with government regulation in the UK.
He said Murdoch seemed particularly upset that the Competition Commission had ruled against his holding 17.9 percent of ITV’s shares when a Communications Act had been passed saying any individual could own up to 20 percent.
US CONGLOMERATE IAC/INTERACTIVECORP TO LAUNCH $100 MILLION EXPANSION INTO CHINA
CNN Money reported last week that US media mogul Barry Diller said his internet conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp, which is splitting into five separate companies, is putting $100 million into expanding into China.
Diller told reporters that he plans to launch Ask.com, the company's search engine, into China within the next two years.
He said IAC is also looking to acquire new assets with local services geared toward Chinese users, hoping to avoid the pitfall of bringing US -based products and services into a country that has its own rules about censorship, which has caused trouble f MSN and Yahoo.
Online Media Daily, commenting on the story, said China has the world's second-largest web user base, with 162 million people. But foreign companies like Google, Yahoo and eBay have all struggled to succeed in China. The latter two eventually turned to local partners to run their China operations, while Google had to set up offices inside the country.
MURDOCH SAID TO BE CONSIDERING PURCHASE OF LINKEDIN BUSINESS-ORIENTED SOCIAL NETWORK SITE
TechCrunch UK, which has become a widely quoted source in recent times, has published the rumour that Rupert Murdoch wants to buy LinkedIn, the Silicon Valley-based social network for professionals. No valuation has been speculated on.
News Corp's social network MySpace still has a strong lead over Facebook, but the latter has managed to gain far more traction among professionals, the strength of 16 million-strong LinkedIn.
LinkedIn which connects business professionals with others, claims a 189 percent year-over-year traffic growth, according to Nielsen Online, and a network that spans 150 industries in 400 economic regions.
TechCrunch says business-to-business social networking is a field rife with opportunity, with lots of classifieds bleeding to the web. It said much of this goes to Craigslist, but LinkedIn has also proved valuable in recruitment because it allows job hunters to build relationships inside companies they'd like to work for and visa versa. TechCrunch says social networks will attract more classified dollars as job recruiters diversify online spending
TOKYOWALKER TO SPIN OFF HONG KONG MAGAZINE
Kadokawa Intercontinental Publishing has launched a spin off of its popular TokyoWalker in Hong Kong, aptly titled HongKongWalker.
Marketing-interactive said the bi-weekly magazine targeting fashion, travel and lifestyle advertisers launched its first edition last week, Samsung, JVC and Canon as initial advertisers.
CHINA AND IRAN AGREE TO RADIO AND TELEVISION COOPERATION
Broadcasting officials from China and Iran have agreed to expand cooperation in various radio and television fields such as co-productions and item exchanges in a bid to strengthen ties between both countries.
Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union said the matter was discussed at length during a recent official visit by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television to Iranian public broadcaster IRIB last week.
The Chinese delegates also visited several IRIB departments such as the engineering and external services departments, as well as affiliated networks like the newly launched 24-hour English channel, Press TV.
SOMALIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER URGED TO PROTECT PRESS FREEDOM
A Somali media panel on Friday asked the country's new Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein to protect press freedom.
AFP reported that the National Union of Somali Journalists appeal came a day after President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed appointed Hussein, a veteran law-enforcement official, and gave him the brief to restore stability.
Authorities have claimed the independent media has fanned conflict in the capital, by interviewing anti-government elements, broadcasting propaganda and involvement in the insurgency.
Authorities have defied calls by rights groups and foreign nations to relax its heavy-handed clampdown on press freedom.
So far this year, at least eight journalists have been killed and dozens others either detained, ambushed or robbed, ranking Somalia the second deadliest country worldwide after Iraq for journalists,
AUSTRALIAN MUSIC GUIDE SOLD AND TO BE EXPANDED INTERNATIONALLY
The annual Australian Music Guide, a 15,500 copy newsprint magazine distributed free at South by Southwest Music Festival has been acquired by Street Press Australia, owners of Drum Media, Drum Perth, Inpress and other music or youth lifestyle titles.
Street Press plans to expand the guide to serve as a promotional tool at future overseas trade fairs, conferences and music festivals with plans to have individualised editions for events such as MIDEM, Popkomm, CMJ, Street Press Australia’s Craig Treweek said he has new strategies to put in place for the print and online publication.
“We see the need for a united Australian business presence at a variety of global music conferences, trade fairs and showcase festivals. We intend to take the Australian Music Guide to the next level by increasing its print run, size and online reach beyond the US and into other territories such as Europe, the UK and Canada."
Over the past four years, the Australian Music guide has featured editorial on Doing Business With Australia, A Bluffer's Guide to Australian Music, Profiles on Showcasing Australian Artists, and a Mini-Directory of the Australian Music Industry.
AL GORE’S CURRENT TV MOVES AWAY FROM VIEWER-GENERATED CONTENT
Current TV launched a major web project last week, expanding the "viewer-generated" TV channel into crowd-sourced video news and topical debate.
The Guardian reports that the new direction for the web and cable TV platform, launched by former US vice-president Al Gore earlier this year, is an attempt to widen its audience beyond the independent film-makers it targeted at launch.
Robin Sloan, Current's online studio futurist, said Current is already profitable, funded mostly by revenues from the station's cable service. In the UK, Current TV is available on Sky and Virgin Media.
The station also makes money from advertising, including display, sponsorship and may introduce pre-roll and on-screen video ads on the new site.
It also publishes some adverts made by its viewers in response to briefs from selected advertisers.
Current employs 350 staff globally and claims to be the fastest growing cable TV channel. User content accounts for around one-third of the channel's output.
CNN MOVES AWAY FROM BUYING NEWS FROM REUTERS TO CREATING ITS OWN NEWS
The cry of content is king is rapidly being replaced by ownership is king, and Followthemedia has reported an interesting backgrounder to CNN International’s announcement last week that it will spend $10 million to add 15 to 16 correspondents to its existing staff of 150, plus develop some of its digital infrastructure.
Followthemedia points out that the $10 million comes from funds it has been spending with Reuters for its various services.
By expanding its own news gathering opportunities CNN can use that material for whatever digital uses it wants, where if it uses agency material then the agency wants more money for usage that goes beyond 30 days or on venues other than the television network.
Tony Maddox, executive vice president and managing director of CNN International, made clear the reason behind CNN’s expansion when he said, “This is all about owning more content; these new resources will have a huge impact across all of CNN’s networks and platforms. Owning the content we broadcast, publish and make available to affiliates and other platforms is the backbone of this business. This multi-million dollar investment in staff and resources will give us the power to move swiftly into developing new business models.”
Followthemedia made the telling point that, “The fact is that even in giving up paying for Reuters, CNN has shown it is not without Reuters’ access. On several breaking news events such as the demonstrations in Myanmar, CNN was extensively quoting Reuters.com, available to everyone for free on the web.
“It’s that last point that really must be giving Reuters media executives some headaches, and it is something they are closely studying. Reuters, and other agencies, are trying to get the best of both worlds – charging their traditional wholesale clients a lot of money for their text and pictorial production while at the same time trying to make a bundle of money by placing much of that information free on its own advertising supported web site.”
“It’s a wonder that many other news organizations haven’t made the same decision as CNN – save the money but still have access to agency material via information available for free on the web.”
TIBETAN JOURNALISTS GET HARSH PRISON SENTENCES FOR ESPIONAGE CHARGES
Harsh prison sentences for "espionage" of three to ten years were handed down last week to three Tibetans by the intermediate court in Kardze, Sichuan province on the Tibetan border.
The three, who had sent abroad photos of demonstrations held at the beginning of August by nomadic Tibetans, were charged with "espionage on behalf of foreign organisations, putting state security in danger".
Adak Lupoe, a senior monk at Lithang monastery and Kunkhyen, a musician and teacher, were sentenced to ten and nine years respectively for taking photos and recordings of the demonstrations following the horse festival on August first.
Under the Chinese justice system the fact of sending pictures to "foreign organisations" constitutes a "threat to national security".
Jarib Lothog was sentenced to three years in prison for helping send the photos.
Some shots of the demonstrations were used by media run by the Tibetan community in exile and by human rights organisations. Tibetans in the region have reported that since the 'incident', described by the state-run Xinhua news agency as a "laying siege to government buildings", tension has increased in the Lithang area and Chinese military reinforcements have been sent to the region.
"These very harsh sentences demonstrate the risks run by ordinary Tibetan citizens when they try to send information aboard, a step which is similar to citizen journalism," Reporters Without Borders said.
"It is striking that an organiser of the demonstrations was given a lesser sentence than those who took the photographs. This shows the regime's paranoia towards those who produce evidence of disputes within China, Tibet and Xinjiang. We call for the verdict to be quashed and the Tibetans released."
Meanwhile Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Menard has written to French President Nicolas Sarkozy urging him to intercede on behalf of China's 83 imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents during a three-day visit to China which began yesterday.
ABC TV’S SHAMBOLIC AUSTRALIAN ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE SURE TO COME UNDER MICROSCOPE
The ABC-TV’s federal election coverage on Saturday night was shambolic due to crowd noise and raucous cheering that firstly had obviously nothing to do with precise moments unfolding via the commentary from the tally room at the time of cheering, and secondly drowned out much of the viewer-valued commentary.
An obviously upset moderator, Kerry O’Brien made several comments about the noise, at first suggesting The Chaser program members were responsible, and later chastising an unidentified commercial television presence for intruding on the gravity of the occasion.
This morning the Strewth column in The Australian commented, “Whoever designed ABC-TV's central tally room set had better avoid Kerry O'Brien for a week or two. The 7.30 Report presenter looked ready to kill when noisy Labor supporters started drowning out the chat between him and election analyst Antony Green and new Deputy PM-elect Julia Gillard and Liberal Senator Nick Minchin early on Saturday evening.
“O’Brien is known for his fiery temper and as the noise level increased during the night, it was clear he was close to breaking point on a couple of occasions. At one stage he said the swing against John Howard to Maxine McKew in Bennelong was "a 5 per cent swing to the ABC".
A gaffe, but a very telling gaffe.
Disgrace of the night during the ABC’s otherwise excellent election eve coverage was Tony Jones’ totally unnecessary, bitchy and mean pillorying of an unfortunate South Australian female Labor candidate who had performed poorly, notching up one of the few, if not only, swings against Labor on the night.
SPURNED JOURNALIST ALLEGEDLY SLAPS LABOR CANDIDATE ON AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION DAY
Award-winning Australian journalist Caroline Overington hurled abuse at Labor candidate for Wentworth George Newhouse before slapping him across the face at a polling station in Sydney's east, witnesses say.
That was the way the Sydney Morning Herald website reported the incident which occurred on the day of the Australian elections.
Overington works for The Australian newspaper, which ran this report, “Award-winning journalist Caroline Overington has denied slapping a Labor candidate in Sydney's east this morning.”
Both papers reported witnesses claiming that Overington struck the candidate.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported, “Polling booth attendants and voters were shocked to see Ms Overington stride up to Mr Newhouse, strike him across the face and then walk away, those who saw the incident told AAP.”
The Australian reported, “The polling booth attendants and voters said Ms Overington walked up to Labor candidate for Wentworth George Newhouse at a polling station, shouted at him and then struck him across the face before walking away.”
Both newspapers then carried this word-for-word identical paragraph, “There was an incident and we are considering our options," Mr Newhouse's spokeswoman said. "It was Ms Overington."
The Sydney Morning Herald reported, “Comment is being sought from Ms Overington.”
The Australian reported, “However, the editor in chief of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, said Ms Overington denied she had slapped Mr Newhouse and had had no idea he would be at the voting booth she was attending with her seven-year-old twins.
”She admitted pushing him away with an open hand when he approached her, later apologised for doing so and said she regretted there had been any further contact with the candidate.”
Overington has been embroiled in an unseemly, questionable and highly publicised email spat with the candidate and his ex-girlfriend, also a candidate for the same seat.
First Overington she sent a series of emails to independent candidate and ex-Newhouse girlfriend Dani Ecuyer urging her to preference Wentworth Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull.
This exchange was aired disapprovingly on the ABC’s watchdog program, Media Watch, and also published in MediaBlab.
Later Overington also sent a series of flirtatious and at times threatening emails to Newhouse, whom she described as “short, dark and Jewish.” Those emails were then published in rival papers.
Caroline Overington is a senior writer and columnist with The Australian. She is a two-time winner of the Walkley Award for investigative journalism (2004 and 2006) and last year received the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Excellence in Journalism, for a series of articles on the Iraq wheat sales scandal. She is the author of two best-selling books, Only in New York (Allen and Unwin 2006), and Kickback (Allen and Unwin 2007). She has seven-year-old twins.
AUSTRALIA’S PRIME MINISTER-ELECT MOURNS JOURNALIST’S DEATH
"We are entering a long, dark tunnel with no guarantees. Still, if hope, prayers, friends and thoughts count for anything, I'm off to a good start."
Those were among the last words journalist Matt Price wrote for his employer, The Australian newspaper on October 9 when he publicly announced that he was suffering from brain tumours which had been diagnosed in September.
Yesterday his journey ended, when he died in Perth, shortly after the federal election that he had planned to cover.
Matt Price, 46, was a reporter with the Nine Network before moving to The Australian. He also wrote for other News Ltd newspapers and appeared regularly on ABC radio and on ABC TV's Insiders political program.
Yesterday Australia’s Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd said in a statement, "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Matt Price's death. Matt had emerged in recent years as one of the greats of the new generation of Australian journalists."
On November 22, fellow journalist with The Australian, Caroline Overington wrote, “Price is a columnist for this newspaper, who is fighting for his life right now. Until recently, he was based in Canberra and, as (Mark) Day says, he was ‘the undisputed king’ of columnists during the parliamentary term that is now coming to an end.
“’We can only imagine the contribution he would have made to this campaign,’ says Day. Yes, we can. He would have cut through the cant, and humbled the po-faced hypocrites. Price’s default position is one of big-hearted merriment. The space where his column should be yawns like a chasm.
“Yes, a Priceless campaign is pretty much worthless. To borrow a phrase from John Irving’s splendid book A Prayer for Owen Meany: Oh God, please bring him back! We shall keep on asking You.”
(In Price’s absence, Overington made her own unusual contribution to the federal election campaign – see Spurned Journalist story elsewhere in today’s MediaBlab news service.)
JOURNALISTS CAUGHT OUT BY FORMER AUSTRALIAN COALITION TREASURER’S DECISION TO NOT RUN FOR JOB AS PARTY LEADER
Deposed Australian Treasurer Peter Costello confounded journalists yesterday with the surprise announcement that he would not be running for liberal party leadership after the party’s resounding defeat at the election.
He gave the need for generational change as the reason.
Journalists for weeks, indeed even months, had been beating up Costello’s alleged overweening lust for the prime ministry and made it an issue which helped contribute to the party’s election loss on Saturday evening.
His announcement came as several high-profile political commentators, including News Ltd’s Glenn Milne, incorrectly predicted that he would rise to the leadership within hours of the coalition's loss.
“Mr Costello has already taken the decision to accept the challenge of the opposition leadership," Milne wrote in his News Ltd column yesterday.
In a news report in the News Ltd Sunday tabloids Milne stated, “Victorian Peter Costello will take over a decimated coalition unopposed as opposition leader, knowing he would have been able to mount a stronger fight against Kevin Rudd and Labor.
“Mr Costello has long held the view that is Mr Howard had stepped aside months ago and allowed him to establish his vision for Australia, the collation would have had a better chance of wining last night.”
Shortly after newspapers containing Milne’s emphatic statement hit the street yesterday morning, Peter Costello announced he would not be standing for leadership.
One News Ltd journalist, Greg Sheridan, will no doubt be happy with Costello’s decision.
On March 2, 2006 Sheridan described Costello as, “The grating pretender. This shallow, lazy, lucky and opportunistic treasurer does not deserve to run the country.”
Sheridan also said, “For the past 10 years he has tried to differentiate himself from Howard on the Left: Costello the republican, Costello the supporter of reconciliation, Costello the champion of a tolerant society. He ran as Howard lite, Howard minus, the little Howard.
“Now it seems he is going to differentiate himself from Howard on the Right. He will presumably now become the uber Howard, Howard plus, the meta Howard.”
Finally, with Costello quitting and calling for a generational change, with younger people leading the party, it’s hard to think who he is thinking of. After all, he’s only 51. Other contenders are in the same age bracket. Malcolm Turnbull is 53, Tony Abbott has just turned 50, Brendan Nelson will be 50 next August, Alexander Downer is 56, Kevin Andrews is 52, Philip Ruddock is 64 and Julie Bishop is 51.
The Strewth column in today’s The Australian commented, “If we are to take Costello seriously, 42-year-old Joe Hockey is the only likely candidate.”
Meanwhile, contentious Factiva-published blog Planet Wall Street, News Bites’ stablemate to MediaBlab and regular contributor to the Melbourne Age’s business section, has gone right out on a limb today and suggested the real reason Costello is quitting is that the excrement is about to fit the fan as dark secrets of the Howard years are uncovered.
Despite the hundreds of green rubbish bags full of shredded coalition documents that have been rushed to rubbish tips in Canberra yesterday and will continue to emerge as landfill today, Labor’s debriefings will unearth murky dealings that will writhe in the open like maggots exposed to sunlight and would marr Costello’s political career for ever if he had remained on the scene.
AUSTRALIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER URGED TO DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE PRESS FREEDOM
On the eve of Australia's general election, Reporters Without Borders called on the newly elected Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd to undertake to adopt a series of measures to improve press freedom. The organisation is seeking:
1. The adoption of a law on the protection of sources: There have been several attempts by judges or government officials in recent months to get journalists to reveal their sources. Two journalists in Perth were threatened with imprisonment in June if they did not say who leaked an anti-corruption commission's confidential report to them. The leak was the basis for a story in The West Australian naming a politician. Reporters Without Borders stresses that the protection of sources is one of the key pillars of press freedom.
2. The fight against impunity in the Balibo Five case: An inquest has just shed light on every aspect of the murder of five journalists in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975. The government must, as a matter of urgency, do everything possible to ensure that the Australian judicial system is able to try the murderers and those who gave them their orders.
3. Liberalisation of the access to information laws: The Australia's Right to Know media coalition's latest report showed that a great deal of information is not available to the media and public. Reporters Without Borders urges the next government to act transparently and not obstruct access to information. Australia's Right to Know found a total of 1,500 pieces of legislation and court orders restricting access to information.
Reporters Without Borders notes that as opposition Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd had promised to reinforce access to information laws and to ensure that the principle of professional privilege applies to journalists. Nonetheless, Labour-governed states, especially Queensland and Victoria have not displayed much respect for the principle of access to information.
4. Protection of journalists' work under the Privacy Law: Reporters Without Borders is worried by some of the conclusions of a report by the Australian Law Reform Commission in September recommending increased protection for privacy. Under the commission's recommendations, citizens could bring complaints against media without first seeking arbitration by the Press Council.
Reporters Without Borders obviously supports the protection of privacy, but it does not think this should not prevent journalists from working and reporting freely about public figures.
5. The revision of certain provisions of the anti-terrorism and interception of telecommunications laws: Some of the articles of these laws threaten the confidentiality of journalists' sources. The procedures for tapping phones can jeopardise the independence of the media when they are covering terrorism and organised crime, while some of the penalties under the anti-terrorism laws are simply outrageous.
Anyone, including a journalist, who contacts a terrorism suspect can be jailed for five years. Journalists can be arrested for publishing the names of terrorism suspects. Reporters do not have the right to refuse to identify their sources in terrorism cases. And the police have the right to search news media for evidence in such cases.
The Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 also provides for prison sentences for any person inciting others to disobey Australian law. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser described it as rolling back several centuries of progress in human rights.
SBS TELEVISION NEWSREADER DISPUTE SETTLED OUT OF COURT
A bitter dispute that’s lasted three months between Australia’s SBS television and its former leading news reader, Mary Kostakidis, reached what has been described as an “amicable settlement” on Friday.
The agreement followed a claim of breach of contract by Kostakidis, filed with the Federal Court last month.
Earlier she walked away from a 21 year career with the broadcaster calling that new management had bullied her and treated her with contempt.
She also claimed her contact was breached when former CNN news reporter Stan Grant was appointed senior newsreader and it was obvious at times viewers that the pair did not get on.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
Meanwhile there has also been media speculation that news reader Stan Grant is about to quite the broadcaster, possibly to return overseas.
PASSING OF PBL MARKS THE REAL END OF THE KERRY PACKER ERA IN AUSTRALIAN MEDIA
Friday saw Australian media history in the making when the country’s once largest and most powerful media company was given overwhelming shareholder approval (99 percent plus) to split into two separately listed companies, Crown Ltd, a gaming company with domestic and international investments and Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd , a media company with investments in new and traditional media.
Standard & Poor’s Index Services said that, following court approval, it will remove PBL from the S&P/ASX indices after the close of business on November 30, 2007.
It said Crown Ltd and Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd will both replace PBL in all of the indices of which PBL is a constituent: S&P/ASX 50, S&P/ASX 100, S&P/ASX 200, S&P/ASX All Australian 50, and S&P/ASX All Australian 200.
James Packer’s chairman’s annual general meeting address was brief and perfunctory, and it signaled where his interests now really lay – in the gambling business.
His media interests, once the pride and driving force of the powerful company, were given scant mention in his address.
All he said was, “Significant growths in profits were reported by Foxtel, Premier Media, and Seek.
“The margins for both ACP and the Nine Network, both part of our 25 percent investment in PBL Media, were higher during the 11 months to June 2007 than in the last financial year.”
At the end of the meeting, shareholder activist Stephen Mayne, founder of the irreverent Crikey.com website, gave Packer a serve for selling off the majority holding in the company’s media assets.
The Australian Financial Review reported, “Mayne stood up…launching a tirade about Packer’s decision to give away control of his historic and symbolic old-world media assets and go into the murky world of gambling ‘to carve out a crust.’
“As Mayne ranted, each director stared him in the eye with looks that could kill and Packer got noticeably agitated.
“But he took a deep breath and politely closed the meeting. The old ways of PBL are now history.”
WORLD’S BIGGEST CIRCULATION CIGAR MAGAZINE LAUNCHED IN THE US
Doubledown Media in the US has launched what it claims is the world’s largest-circulation cigar publication, the Cigar Report, with an initial circulation of 377,000.
According to media Daily News, the first issue includes a cover story titled Straight to the Top, about the growing popularity of Dominican cigars, as well as an interview with Jimmy Smits, the cigar-loving star of Cane on CBS.
It also features guides to cigar-friendly venues in cities around the world, recommendations for well-heeled and cigar-friendly resorts, and advice about transporting them when travelling abroad, such as buying a Louis Vuitton cigar steamer trunk for a mere US$69,000.
The magazine is also planning to hold a series of branded invitation-only, called The Wall Street Smoke, in New York, Chicago, and Napa, California. These invitation-only events allow sponsors to reach attendees through venue signage, logos on invitations, and gift bags.
UK FREE NEWSPAPER METRO COULD SOON TOPPLE THE DAILY MAIL AS BRITAIN’S THIRD BIGGEST CIRCULATED NEWSPAPER
The UK’s free national newspaper Metro is making over £8 million (A$1.9 billion) profit a year and will overtake the circulation of the Daily Mirror within 12 to 18 months, according to its managing director, Steve Auckland.
According to the Guardian, Metro, owned by Daily Mail parent company Associated Newspapers, boosted its distribution to 1,358,890 in October, an increase of 10.6 percent from the previous month.
This compares to the Daily Mirror, Britain's third biggest-selling daily, which sold an average of 1,525,477 copies a day in October, a fall of 4.68 percent year on year.
Steve Auckland, the managing director of Associated Newspapers' free newspapers division, said that Metro recently added 250,000 nationwide to its distribution and this would be increased in 12 to 18 months' time.
During this period it would overtake the Mirror, he said.
But he said that London Lite, the company’s other free paper, or freesheet as the genre is referred to in Britain, He said although London Lite's revenue has "exceeded expectations", it was probably about five years away from making a profit.
He expressed doubts about Murdoch’s rival freebie, the London Paper's claim that it would move into profit in two years.
"If they do that they are miracle workers," Auckland said. "
Guardian blogger Roy Greenslades said, “Metro is on a roll. It is the only free newspaper anywhere in the world that turns a profit. It's still growing, publishing 16 separate editions. It covers all the major conurbations in England and Scotland, plus the capitals of Wales and Ireland. It has even spawned an edition in Dubai, the world's fastest-growing media centre.
“In eight years it has grown from a London-only paper with a distribution of just 85,000 to become Britain's fourth largest national paper in terms of circulation, with 1.36 million copies distributed each weekday morning.
“The quantity is one thing. It is the quality of readership - its famous ‘urbanites’ - that appeals to advertisers. Metro is now claiming to have more graduate readers than any other paper. They are also young, with an average of 36, far younger than all the other nationals. Young, classy, educated and high-earning. What more could an advertiser want?”
SOUTH AFRICA’S JOHNNIC COMMUNICATIONS TAKES A HEFTY PROFIT DOWNTURN DUE TO NEW NEWSPAPER INVESTMENT
South African media group Johnnic Communications (Johncom) took a R33 million (A$5.5 million) downturn in its profit as a result of investments in new titles The Weekender and The Times, and in its digital online business, according to Business Report.
Johncom launched the daily newspaper The Times about six months ago, while The Weekender was introduced a year ago.
The company said profit for the six months to September grew fivefold to R1.75 billion.
But profit was boosted by a once-off R1.598 billion exceptional profit from its 36 percent stake in Caxton, which would not be repeated next year, when this stake would be listed separately.
Johncom said the media division's performance was affected by a slowdown in advertising and increased printing and distribution costs.
Last year advertising revenues grew 22 percent, but growth in the six months to September was in single digits.
SOUTH AFRICA’S FIN24 CONSOLIDATES ITS PRODUCTS UNDER ONE BRAND
South Africa’s Bizcommunity.com reports that financial intelligence media collective Fin24, plans to consolidate its collective intellectual capital under a single brand, Fin24. The new brand strategy, soft launched through a recent outdoor, online and retail campaign, will see the recently acquired McGregor, Fin24.com and printed medium Finweek as well as the group's digital satellite television programs branded as Fin24.
Fin24 brand manager Nikki Ruttimann said, “Finweek and Fin24.com count among the country's most credible financial intelligence resources and it makes sense to have a single brand represent a substantial product offering.”
Further growth within the Fin24 stable is also planned for the new year, including a revamp of its satellite television service and online presence with several new products under consideration.
RUPERT MURDOCH’S SON JAMES WON’T LISTEN TO HIM AND WON’T MAKE UK’S SKY NEWS MORE LIKE US’S FOX NEWS IN THE US
Rupert Murdoch has told a group of British peers that that nobody ay Sky, the company run by his younger son James, listens to him.
The Financial Times reported that in evidence given to a House of Lords committee, published on Friday, he said he wanted Sky News to be more like Fox News in the US but, despite his son being the inline boss of Sky News and BSKyB’s chief executive, “the only reason that Sky News was not more like Fox News was that nobody at Sky listens to me.”
Murdoch also informed the assembled peers that he thought the UK was “anti-success” which was why he had not invested more there in local evening newspapers.
The transcript says, “Mr Murdoch did not disguise the fact that he is hands-on both economically and editorially. He says that ‘the law’ prevents him from instructing the editors of The Times and The Sunday Times.”
A little later, it adds, “For The Sun and News of the World he explained that he is a ‘traditional proprietor’. He exercises editorial control on major issues – such as which party to back in a general election or policy on Europe.”
Lord Fowler, the chairman of the committee, told the Financial Times, “I didn’t take [his remarks about Sky] entirely seriously.”
But he added that Mr Murdoch had been open and frank in his description of is relationship with his news¬papers and with government regulation in the UK.
He said Murdoch seemed particularly upset that the Competition Commission had ruled against his holding 17.9 percent of ITV’s shares when a Communications Act had been passed saying any individual could own up to 20 percent.
US CONGLOMERATE IAC/INTERACTIVECORP TO LAUNCH $100 MILLION EXPANSION INTO CHINA
CNN Money reported last week that US media mogul Barry Diller said his internet conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp, which is splitting into five separate companies, is putting $100 million into expanding into China.
Diller told reporters that he plans to launch Ask.com, the company's search engine, into China within the next two years.
He said IAC is also looking to acquire new assets with local services geared toward Chinese users, hoping to avoid the pitfall of bringing US -based products and services into a country that has its own rules about censorship, which has caused trouble f MSN and Yahoo.
Online Media Daily, commenting on the story, said China has the world's second-largest web user base, with 162 million people. But foreign companies like Google, Yahoo and eBay have all struggled to succeed in China. The latter two eventually turned to local partners to run their China operations, while Google had to set up offices inside the country.
MURDOCH SAID TO BE CONSIDERING PURCHASE OF LINKEDIN BUSINESS-ORIENTED SOCIAL NETWORK SITE
TechCrunch UK, which has become a widely quoted source in recent times, has published the rumour that Rupert Murdoch wants to buy LinkedIn, the Silicon Valley-based social network for professionals. No valuation has been speculated on.
News Corp's social network MySpace still has a strong lead over Facebook, but the latter has managed to gain far more traction among professionals, the strength of 16 million-strong LinkedIn.
LinkedIn which connects business professionals with others, claims a 189 percent year-over-year traffic growth, according to Nielsen Online, and a network that spans 150 industries in 400 economic regions.
TechCrunch says business-to-business social networking is a field rife with opportunity, with lots of classifieds bleeding to the web. It said much of this goes to Craigslist, but LinkedIn has also proved valuable in recruitment because it allows job hunters to build relationships inside companies they'd like to work for and visa versa. TechCrunch says social networks will attract more classified dollars as job recruiters diversify online spending
TOKYOWALKER TO SPIN OFF HONG KONG MAGAZINE
Kadokawa Intercontinental Publishing has launched a spin off of its popular TokyoWalker in Hong Kong, aptly titled HongKongWalker.
Marketing-interactive said the bi-weekly magazine targeting fashion, travel and lifestyle advertisers launched its first edition last week, Samsung, JVC and Canon as initial advertisers.
CHINA AND IRAN AGREE TO RADIO AND TELEVISION COOPERATION
Broadcasting officials from China and Iran have agreed to expand cooperation in various radio and television fields such as co-productions and item exchanges in a bid to strengthen ties between both countries.
Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union said the matter was discussed at length during a recent official visit by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television to Iranian public broadcaster IRIB last week.
The Chinese delegates also visited several IRIB departments such as the engineering and external services departments, as well as affiliated networks like the newly launched 24-hour English channel, Press TV.
SOMALIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER URGED TO PROTECT PRESS FREEDOM
A Somali media panel on Friday asked the country's new Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein to protect press freedom.
AFP reported that the National Union of Somali Journalists appeal came a day after President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed appointed Hussein, a veteran law-enforcement official, and gave him the brief to restore stability.
Authorities have claimed the independent media has fanned conflict in the capital, by interviewing anti-government elements, broadcasting propaganda and involvement in the insurgency.
Authorities have defied calls by rights groups and foreign nations to relax its heavy-handed clampdown on press freedom.
So far this year, at least eight journalists have been killed and dozens others either detained, ambushed or robbed, ranking Somalia the second deadliest country worldwide after Iraq for journalists,
AUSTRALIAN MUSIC GUIDE SOLD AND TO BE EXPANDED INTERNATIONALLY
The annual Australian Music Guide, a 15,500 copy newsprint magazine distributed free at South by Southwest Music Festival has been acquired by Street Press Australia, owners of Drum Media, Drum Perth, Inpress and other music or youth lifestyle titles.
Street Press plans to expand the guide to serve as a promotional tool at future overseas trade fairs, conferences and music festivals with plans to have individualised editions for events such as MIDEM, Popkomm, CMJ, Street Press Australia’s Craig Treweek said he has new strategies to put in place for the print and online publication.
“We see the need for a united Australian business presence at a variety of global music conferences, trade fairs and showcase festivals. We intend to take the Australian Music Guide to the next level by increasing its print run, size and online reach beyond the US and into other territories such as Europe, the UK and Canada."
Over the past four years, the Australian Music guide has featured editorial on Doing Business With Australia, A Bluffer's Guide to Australian Music, Profiles on Showcasing Australian Artists, and a Mini-Directory of the Australian Music Industry.
AL GORE’S CURRENT TV MOVES AWAY FROM VIEWER-GENERATED CONTENT
Current TV launched a major web project last week, expanding the "viewer-generated" TV channel into crowd-sourced video news and topical debate.
The Guardian reports that the new direction for the web and cable TV platform, launched by former US vice-president Al Gore earlier this year, is an attempt to widen its audience beyond the independent film-makers it targeted at launch.
Robin Sloan, Current's online studio futurist, said Current is already profitable, funded mostly by revenues from the station's cable service. In the UK, Current TV is available on Sky and Virgin Media.
The station also makes money from advertising, including display, sponsorship and may introduce pre-roll and on-screen video ads on the new site.
It also publishes some adverts made by its viewers in response to briefs from selected advertisers.
Current employs 350 staff globally and claims to be the fastest growing cable TV channel. User content accounts for around one-third of the channel's output.
CNN MOVES AWAY FROM BUYING NEWS FROM REUTERS TO CREATING ITS OWN NEWS
The cry of content is king is rapidly being replaced by ownership is king, and Followthemedia has reported an interesting backgrounder to CNN International’s announcement last week that it will spend $10 million to add 15 to 16 correspondents to its existing staff of 150, plus develop some of its digital infrastructure.
Followthemedia points out that the $10 million comes from funds it has been spending with Reuters for its various services.
By expanding its own news gathering opportunities CNN can use that material for whatever digital uses it wants, where if it uses agency material then the agency wants more money for usage that goes beyond 30 days or on venues other than the television network.
Tony Maddox, executive vice president and managing director of CNN International, made clear the reason behind CNN’s expansion when he said, “This is all about owning more content; these new resources will have a huge impact across all of CNN’s networks and platforms. Owning the content we broadcast, publish and make available to affiliates and other platforms is the backbone of this business. This multi-million dollar investment in staff and resources will give us the power to move swiftly into developing new business models.”
Followthemedia made the telling point that, “The fact is that even in giving up paying for Reuters, CNN has shown it is not without Reuters’ access. On several breaking news events such as the demonstrations in Myanmar, CNN was extensively quoting Reuters.com, available to everyone for free on the web.
“It’s that last point that really must be giving Reuters media executives some headaches, and it is something they are closely studying. Reuters, and other agencies, are trying to get the best of both worlds – charging their traditional wholesale clients a lot of money for their text and pictorial production while at the same time trying to make a bundle of money by placing much of that information free on its own advertising supported web site.”
“It’s a wonder that many other news organizations haven’t made the same decision as CNN – save the money but still have access to agency material via information available for free on the web.”
TIBETAN JOURNALISTS GET HARSH PRISON SENTENCES FOR ESPIONAGE CHARGES
Harsh prison sentences for "espionage" of three to ten years were handed down last week to three Tibetans by the intermediate court in Kardze, Sichuan province on the Tibetan border.
The three, who had sent abroad photos of demonstrations held at the beginning of August by nomadic Tibetans, were charged with "espionage on behalf of foreign organisations, putting state security in danger".
Adak Lupoe, a senior monk at Lithang monastery and Kunkhyen, a musician and teacher, were sentenced to ten and nine years respectively for taking photos and recordings of the demonstrations following the horse festival on August first.
Under the Chinese justice system the fact of sending pictures to "foreign organisations" constitutes a "threat to national security".
Jarib Lothog was sentenced to three years in prison for helping send the photos.
Some shots of the demonstrations were used by media run by the Tibetan community in exile and by human rights organisations. Tibetans in the region have reported that since the 'incident', described by the state-run Xinhua news agency as a "laying siege to government buildings", tension has increased in the Lithang area and Chinese military reinforcements have been sent to the region.
"These very harsh sentences demonstrate the risks run by ordinary Tibetan citizens when they try to send information aboard, a step which is similar to citizen journalism," Reporters Without Borders said.
"It is striking that an organiser of the demonstrations was given a lesser sentence than those who took the photographs. This shows the regime's paranoia towards those who produce evidence of disputes within China, Tibet and Xinjiang. We call for the verdict to be quashed and the Tibetans released."
Meanwhile Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Menard has written to French President Nicolas Sarkozy urging him to intercede on behalf of China's 83 imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents during a three-day visit to China which began yesterday.
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