MEDIA DAILY DIGEST NOV 7: SINGAPORE PUSHES WESTERN PRESS TO RESPECT ITS 'DEMOCRACY'
November 7th 2008 02:15
ABU DHABI’S THE NATIONAL TO EXPAND WITH A SATURDAY EDITION NEXT WEEK
The National, the United Arab Emirates newspaper launched by former Daily Telegraph editor Martin Newland, will expand next week to a Saturday edition to complement the five weekday editions it launched with earlier this year.
Brand republic reports that The National on Saturday, which will be edited by Burhan Wazir, will first hit newsstands on November 15 and will feature a 24-page news section carrying stories, opinion and analysis.
The paper's new Saturday edition will contain a number of specialist sections, including motoring, sport, travel, personal finance and house and home. The weekend paper will include a glossy lifestyle magazine called m.
The National, part of the Abu Dhabi Media Company, is owned by an investment fund controlled by the government of Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates.
INDEPENDENT ALGERIAN NEWSPAPERS TAKES THE LEAD IN ARABIC DISTRIBUTION NUMBERS
Algerian newspaper El Khabar has topped Arab newspapers in distribution rates. The newspaper's distribution estimations exceeded 600, 000 copies daily, despite the huge number of lawsuits which have been aimed at its editors and reporters over the years, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has said.
The independent daily newspaper is the fruit of efforts of serious Algerian journalists. It was started in 1990 as a journalists' cooperative with a distribution of 18,000 to become one of the major Arab press institutions, and the best-selling Arab newspaper.
The founder of El Khabar newspaper, Omar Ourtilane, had been dreaming of circulation figures reaching one hundred thousand copies before he was assassinated in 1995, when the newspaper decided to give an annual award to a journalist who practices his profession with exemplary courage, whether in Algeria or in another state.
WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS REPORTS ALMOST 44 PERCENT EARNINGS INCREASE IN FIRST QUARTER
Newspaper group West Australian Newspapers has lifted first quarter earnings despite a weaker ad market.
It reported net profit of A$29.65 million for the three months to September 30, a 43.8 percent jump on the prior corresponding quarter, according to The Australian.
Net profit on a normalised basis was up 5.4 percent, also to $29.65 million, compared to the same period last year.
In the first four weeks of October, advertising revenue was down 7.8 percent on the corresponding period last year.
WAN said display advertising was down six percent and classifieds were down 12 percent last month, with employment, motoring and real estate categories all below the prior year.
But advertising in the New Homes supplement of WAN'S flagship publication, The West Australian, was showing solid 35.5 percent growth on last year, with revenue up 30.8 percent on the June quarter.
Chief executive Ken Steinke said the group was managing its business in a tougher trading environment.
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PRESS WELCOMES AMERICA’S POLITICAL CHANGE
The Southeast Asia press mostly jubilantly hailed the landslide victory of US-president elects Barrack Obama.
The Irrawaddy Journal reported that in Bangkok, The Nation newspaper said, “If real change comes to America, it will have an effect that will change the rest of world. Such is the wonder of American power and its influence.”
The Jakarta Post published a report titled “Jakarta Celebrates the Menteng Kid’s Victory” and said, “Jakarta shared the anxiety and the joy of the US presidential election won by new Indonesian darling Barack Hussein Obama.”
In Myanmar, the state-run- newspaper, Myanma Alin’s story was headlined, “Obama Wins US Presidential Election; Democrats will influence the White House and Congress”.
The Philippine Star said, “The Democrats’ victory celebrations will be tempered by the reality that Obama is inheriting a country in crisis.”
The Bangkok Post said, “Many people in the US and around the world are looking at the election of a black president as proof that the American dream is still alive.”
The Bangkok Post predicted that the US will no longer go it alone in its foreign policy and no longer shirk its responsibility when it comes to climate change.
WSJ.COM PULLS IN THE BIG BUCKS SAYS RUPERT MURDOCH
WSJ.com is making more than US$200 million from advertising and subscription, News Corp chairman and ceo Rupert Murdoch told analysts during the company’s earnings call.
PaidContent.org reports that he said the site is making “probably $100 million in subscriptions and certainly over $100 million in advertising.” This time last year, Murdoch was still testing waters on freeing WSJ.com; now no longer.
Print subscribers—and probably online, although he didn’t specify—are looking at rate increases over the next three years. Those increases will take a while to show up in revenues. Murdoch: “It takes time to work its way through. Advertising is not down a lot. It is certainly a bit below what we budgeted. ... Today and tomorrow it’s on target.” He said to expect “even more emphasis than normal on international expansion” and that the big hope in Asia “certainly is putting our web site on mobile.”
NEWS CORPORATION POSTS A 30 PERCENT FALL IN FIRST-QUARTER PROFIT
Dow Jones Newswires that News Corporation posted a 30 percent fall in first-quarter net profit, weighed down by poor advertising conditions.
Weaker film and television programs as well as a write-down that pared contributions from affiliates also weighed down News Corp's earnings in the first quarter.
News Corp reported net income for the quarter ended September 30 of $US515 million below year-ago earnings of $US732 million.
The company blamed the profit decline on smaller contributions from affiliates, which included $US447 million in losses from German pay-TV operator Premiere – largely the result of a write-down – and the absence of DirecTV Group, which News Corp sold earlier this year.
Revenue rose 6.3 percent to $US7.51 billion.
Profits fell 70 percent at News Corp's television division due to lower ad revenue and the sale of eight stations. The weakness more than offset improved results from MyNetworkTV.
Profits at the filmed-entertainment unit fell 31 percent from a year earlier.
Profits at the company's satellite-television unit more than tripled, helped by the expansion of soccer programming and net subscriber additions totalling 359,000. SKY Italia was a key contributor.
The newspapers and information-services division reported a 44 percent rise in profits as declines in depreciation expenses outpaced declines in advertising revenue in Britain and Australia.
Profits at the company's cable networks rose 31 percent, as improvements at Fox News Channel, regional sports networks and international channels more than offset development costs at Fox Business Network.
In the "other" segment, which includes Fox Interactive Media, of which MySpace is the biggest piece, the operating loss widened to $US101 million from $US43 million primarily because of weakness that included News Corp's Eastern European TV stations. Fox Interactive revenue climbed 17 percent.
THAILAND’S PRO-GOVERNMENT TV TALK SHOW TO TOUR NORTHERN PROVINCES TO STAVE OFF COUP
Thailand’s pro-government political talk show Kwam Jing Wan Nee (Truth Today) will head to the north and northeast of the nation to drum up opposition to any coup and support for constitutional change.
The show's organisers, who hosted a mass gathering in Bangkok on Saturday, also plan to replay the controversial phone-in comments made last Saturday by convicted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at gatherings during their rural tour.
Co-host Jatuporn Promphan, a People Power party list MP, said yesterday the tour would kick off after the cremation of Her Royal Highness Princess Galayani Vadhana on November 15.
The tour was intended to raise public opposition to a coup and encourage support for the rewriting of the 2007 charter, he said.
The program normally broadcasts weekdays on the NBT channel.
Meanwhile, ppressure from provincial authorities and the military forced members of the pro-government Rak Chiang Mai 51 group to cancel the planned reoccupation of the grounds of the Thai PBS office in Chiang Mai yesterday.
On Monday, the group surrounded the station, proclaiming outrage over a news report that some members were paid to attend Saturday's rally at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
The station issued an apology but the protesters insisted that was not enough. They planned to renew the siege yesterday morning, but abruptly called it off.
LIBEL CASES CREATE EMERGENCE OF TENSIONS BETWEEN SOME WESTERN PRESS AND GOVERNMENT OVER DEFINITION OF SINGAPOREAN DEMOCRACY
Tension between some Western press and the government over what defines "Singapore's democracy" has emerged in libel cases according to The Straits Times.
Singapore’s attorney-general Walter Woon yesterday asked the High Court to impose a "substantial fine" on the publisher of the Wall Street Journal Asia for contempt of court.
This was necessary to send a signal that would stop others from making similar attacks which, if left unchecked, would chip away at the rule of law here as they had in other democracies the Wall Street Journal Asia wanted Singapore to emulate, he said.
The Government alleges that three items published in the Wall Street Journal Asia in June and July this year attack the integrity and independence of Singapore's courts.
Together, the articles imply that the courts do not dispense justice fairly in cases involving critics of senior political figures, and that they play a part in suppressing dissent through the award of damages in libel suits, Prof Woon said.
Such an assault on Singapore's judicial independence is part of a long-running argument between segments of the Western press and the Government here over what Singapore's democracy should be like, he added.
Justice Tay will deliver his verdict on November 25.
Apart from Dow Jones, the Government is also accusing Hong Kong-based editors Daniel Hertzberg and Christine Glancey of contempt. Both have applied to set aside their court summonses. Their applications will be heard at a later date.
CHINESE JOURNALIST SUES GOVERNMENT OVER A THREE MONTH CLOSURE OF THE NEWSPAPER EMPLOYING HER
AP said a Chinese reporter whose newspaper was closed for three months after she wrote an article that criticised one of China's largest banks has sued the government.
In a rare challenge to Communist Party control over Chinese media, journalist Cui Fan filed a lawsuit last Wednesday charging that authorities did not have the right to shut down the China Business Post for publishing her article that alleged the Agricultural Bank of China had committed forgery.
The China Business Post was ordered closed on September 8 for three months by the Bureau of Press and Publications in Inner Mongolia where it is registered. The newspaper, which is state-owned but managed by a private company, sells about 400,000 copies nationwide.
Cui was suing on grounds that under China's press regulations, the government can legally stop distribution of a particular issue of a newspaper but that authority does not extend to suspending a publication for three months, according to Cui's attorney, Zhou Ze. Zhou said the lawsuit filed in the local court of the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot seeks the reopening of the newspaper, an apology from the press bureau, compensation and legal fees.
Zhou said he was not optimistic about winning the case in China's state-controlled court system.
EXPLETIVE-NOT-DELETED CASE SPLITS US SUPREME COURT
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed split over the threat that vulgar words broadcast on television might pose to American children.
A liberal justice questioned the crackdown on broadcasters, while a conservative justice suggested television had helped desensitise viewers to offensive language.
Last year, a federal appeals court in New York struck down a 2004 Federal Communications Commission rule penalizing the broadcast of "fleeting expletives." That court found the FCC had been "arbitrary and capricious" in abandoning its prior policy, under which it generally ruled that isolated vulgarisms weren't enough to trigger the legal standard of indecency.
Solicitor General Gregory Garre warned the justices that the broadcasters who challenged the 2004 rule want the right "to use expletives, whether in an isolated or repeated basis, 24 hours a day, going from the extreme example of Big Bird dropping the F-bomb on "Sesame Street," to the example of using that word during "Jeopardy" or opening the episode of "American Idol.'"
None of those programs has yet been accused of violating decency standards. The major broadcast networks are parties to the case, including Fox Television, a unit of News Corp., which also publishes The Wall Street Journal.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed little sympathy for the government's position, saying the FCC's policy seems inconsistent. She noted that the commission cleared broadcast of the expletive-filled war movie "Saving Private Ryan," yet fined a PBS station
"There seems to be very little rhyme or reason to when the commission says that one of these words is OK and when it says it isn't," she said.
MEDIA MAGNATE MAKES HIS DEBUT AS A DIRECTOR OF WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Western Australia media magnate Kerry Stokes has made his debut as a director of West Australian Newspapers, drawing a mixed reaction from shareholders on a day the publisher revealed advertising sales were falling more sharply than expected.
At WAN's annual meeting in Perth this week the Seven Network boss and his right-hand man, Peter Gammell, faced shareholders for the first time since losing their high-profile battle to oust the other directors in April. They subsequently negotiated seats on an expanded board.
Attacked as "unwelcome" by some and applauded by others, Stokes flagged that he would continue to buy WAN shares "from time to time … if the share price falls", increasing Seven's 22.3 percent stake.
He endorsed WAN paying "as much as is possible" in dividends and tried to alleviate fears that he would emulate his strategy at Seven and lift his stake through share buybacks. "Personally, I believe in [buybacks] only when the company has no borrowings," which was not the case with WAN, he said. Talking to one especially vocal critic, Mr Stokes said he was "particularly disappointed that we are unwelcome on the register. Obviously, if you and your other colleague shareholders hadn't sold your shares we wouldn't be here."
US ELECTION: AMERICAN CABLE TV BENEFITTED GREATLY FROM US CAMPAIGN – BUT WHAT NOW
Forbes.com said American cable TV outfits, MSNBC, Fox News and CNN all benefitted greatly from election night coverage, or “the most-watched serial drama on their networks.”
But what will they do for the next four years?
According to Nielsen Media Research, all three major American cable news networks posted collective gains of 49 percent over last year, which adds up big advertising dollars.
Research firm SNL Kagan expects Fox News' net advertising revenue will round out the year at $539 million, up 17 percent year over year. At MSNBC and CNN, net ad revenue will rise 12 percent and 10 percent to $154 million and $477 million, respectively.
"It will be difficult, if not impossible, to continue the media momentum to the degree that cable news networks have enjoyed in this historic election cycle," says John Rash, director of media analysis at advertising agency Campbell Mithun.
US ELECTION: TALK ABOUT JUMPING THE GUN!
Readers of the New Mexico Sun must be wondering what all the fuss is about. As far as they are concerned, the election ended 10 days ago when the paper splashed the headline: Obama Wins! in bold red typeface.
According to CNN, the bi-monthly newspaper couldn't wait until its next edition – three days after the election – to declare the result, so it took a leap of faith and called it for Barack Obama on October 26.
In an article explaining their choice, the editors wrote, “When it comes to calling the winner of a presidential election, everyone wants to be first. The New Mexico Sun News hereby claims that achievement.' The liberal leaning alternative newspaper ended by imploring its readers to get out and vote, 'even if we did spoil the ending for you.”
UK SUNDAY TIMES GOES BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH PROMISES OF MORE IN-DEPTH STORIES AND PHOTOJOURNALISM
More investigatory journalism and photojournalism are promises made for the new look of the Sunday Times Magazine.
Press Gazette reports that the overall layout of the magazine will be updated, including a visual contents page as well as other "new regular features." There will be an increase in the number of pages devoted to photo-reportage, according to editor John Witherow, and Spectrum, a new 12-page section that will showcase news photography, will be introduced. The aim of the new-look, says Witherow, is to "refresh an already strong magazine," which claims to be the first national newspaper colour supplement, first published in 1962.
The Sunday Times is also launching a high-profile advertising campaign for the new layout, including TV, online, and outdoor ads.
OBAMA TIPPED TO GIVE THUMBS DOWN TO MEDIA MERGERS
Bloomberg reports that US president-elect Barack Obama will try to use his office to hinder media concentration, say industry observers.
In contrast to the Bush administration, an Obama presidency will view media mergers "very sceptically."
Perhaps this is why Rupert Murdoch gave him a bad rap?
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