MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST DEC 6: ACP STRAITS TIMES PORN PUSH ASIAN AGE PERMIRA
March 7th 2008 07:00
SYDNEY-BASED ACP MAGAZINES SELLS 50 PERCENT OF ITS UK PUBLISHING JOINT VENTURE
ACP Magazines today announced that it had sold its 50 percent interest in the UK publishing joint venture ACP NatMag to its partner, the National Magazine Company.
The UK publishing joint venture was formed in 2004 between the Hearst-owned UK publishing arm The National Magazine Co and ACP Magazines, specifically to develop weekly magazines for the UK market.
The ACP NatMag joint venture publishes weekly titles Best, Reveal and Real People.
PBL Media, ceo, Ian Law, said, “The decision to sell our 50 percent interest in the UK joint venture was based on two main factors.
“Secondly, we think the ACP NatMag joint venture business will do better if it is fully integrated in to The National Magazine Co publishing operations.”
Law said, “The decision will mean that Colin Morrison will leave ACP Magazines after eight years of service. Colin has worked with us across various markets and has been invaluable in our publishing success. We wish him well.”
Prior to the ACP NatMag joint venture role in the UK, Colin Morrison was the ceo of ACP Magazines in Australia.
Law said the terms of the UK sale were confidential.
ACP Magazines said it has a continuing, and developing relationship with the Hearst group through other publishing joint ventures in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, which included titles like Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, and Madison.
Scott Lorson, ceo, ACP Magazines, said, “We are extremely proud of our long-standing partnership with the Hearst Group. Joint venture titles such as Harper’s Bazaar, Madison, and Cosmopolitan are leaders in their markets, and we have further joint publishing initiatives planned in the region.
RUPERT MURDOCH SHORTCHANGED HIS MOTHER OF $273 MILLION, THEN DUMPED HER WITH A TAX BILL THAT HAS GROWN TO $70 MILLION
Fairfax newspapers in Australia report that Rupert Murdoch “short-changed” his now 99-year-old mother, Elisabeth, to the tune of A$273 million, and in his attempts to make it up to her left her with a tax bill that has grown to as much as $70 million.”
Fairfax said lawyers for Dame Elisabeth yesterday appeared in the Federal Court to appeal against the assessment ordering her to pay tax on an $85 million payout from the Murdoch family company, Cruden Investments, in November 1994.
Asked for an opinion on the legal and tax implications of the payout before it was paid, John Dyson Heydon, QC - now a High Court judge, but then a barrister - said "it may appear that Mr Murdoch is in a position of undue influence over his elderly mother", the court was told yesterday.
Fairfax said the hearing exposed rarely seen details of the Murdoch family finances - including Dame Elisabeth's fortune held in four trusts. The trusts controlled about 8 percent of Cruden Investments, a company set up by her late husband, Keith Murdoch, in the 1940s to hold the family's shares in his company, News Corp.
Fairfax said, “In 1994, while buying out his sisters from the family shareholding in News Corp, Mr Murdoch realised his mother could have earned $273 million more from the four trusts in the 11 years from 1983 to 1994, had they been invested in higher yielding stocks.
“Counsel for the Tax Office, Anthony Slater, QC, yesterday likened the situation to Mr Murdoch's failure to pay his mother ‘a big enough slice of the pie’ because the trust had invested its funds in the company he controlled. To compensate her for breaking the trust law by investing in News Corp shares - known for paying paltry dividends - he agreed to pay her $85 million.”
AUSSIE JOURNALISTS WHO BROKE THE PRINCE HARRY-AFGHANISTAN EMBARGO ARE PROMOTED…OR ARE THEY?
Not only have the two Australian journalists who broke the Prince Harry in Afghanistan embargoed story gone on to bigger and better things, pay-wise, they have also been hailed in The Times in the UK.
Michelle Endacott and Mirella Cestaro, two writers on the Australian women's magazine New Idea who that broke the Harry in Afghanistan embargo, have both now been promoted.
The Times reported, “That's despite original reports of 'rolling heads and
floods of tears'.”
But while The Times ran that information in the UK, the Australian today reported a slightly different story.
The Australian said, “Michelle Endacott, who was editing New Idea when the embargoed story about Prince Harry in Afghanistan was published, has been overlooked for the editor-in-chief role vacated by Robyn Foyster this week.
Late yesterday Pacific Magazines announced Suzanne Monks, the publisher of New Idea, would take on the additional role of editorial director and the deputy editor, Mirella Cestaro, had been promoted to editor-in-chief.
Endacott, Foyster's second-in-command, was not even mentioned in the release, but the company said later she remained editor and had chosen to work part time because she had a young child
While Foyster has tried to distance herself from the Prince Harry scandal by pointing out she was on holiday when the story was published, Pacific Magazines sources insist Foyster knew of the story's contents before she went on holiday, magazine lead times being what they are.
AUSTRALIA’S CONSOLIDATED HOLDINGS REQUESTS ASX TRADING HALT
Australia’s Consolidated Media Holdings has requested a trading halt in its shares on the ASX until the market opens tomorrow.
It plans to make an announcement about a non-binding indicative proposal made in January by Lachlan Murdoch's private company, Illyria, and ConsMedia's major shareholder, Consolidated Press Holdings, to buy all of ConsMedia.
FREESHEETS ERS BOOMING IN DENMARK WHILE MOST PAID-FOR PAPERS HOLD THEIR OWN
Newspaper Innovation reports that free daily 24timer was the best-read Danish newspaper in the second half of 2007 with 535,000 readers a day. MetroXpress is second with 507,000 readers.
Free daily Nyhedsavisen is fourth (470,000 readers) after paid paper Jyllands Posten (505,000 readers).
Urban is fifth with 435,000 readers; followed by Politiken (432,000), Ekstra Bladet (425,000), B.T. (401,000) and Berlingske (356.000).
The market leader 24timer increased its readership compared to the first half of 2007 by 21 percent, while Nyhedsavisen increased readership by 47 percent.
Compared to the last six months of 2006, both Metro and Urban lost around 20 percent of their readers. This suggests that free newspapers compete with each other for readership.
Most paid newspapers saw a stable readership compared to 2006. The exception being Jyllands Posten which lost 7 percent of its readers compared to 2006. When readership is compared to 2003, paid papers lost 20 percent or more of their readers.
POTENTIAL PRIVATE EQUITY BUYERS CIRCLE REED BUSINESS INFORMATION WHICH IS UP FOR SALE
The Times in the UK reports that Permira, the British private equity group, has emerged as a potential suitor for Reed Business Information, the trade magazines arm of Reed Elsevier, which could soon be for sale for about GBP1.25 billion (A$2.66 billion).
Permira joins a line-up of buyout firms including Cinven, Candover, CVC and Providence Equity Partners that are circling the owner of magazine titles such as New Scientist and Computer Weekly in Britain.
In Australia, Reed Business titles include B&T, Australian Doctor and Money Management.
It is also understood that Apax and Guardian Media Group, which together recently acquired Emap's business-to-business arm for GBP1 billion, have held discussions in the past two weeks about the possibility of jointly bidding for the group's magazines business.
The interest in Reed Business Information comes as it emerged that trade players including United Business Media and Informa were not interested in the assets.
CAMPAIGN FOR PRESS FREEDOM IN CHINA GROWS
The World Association of Newspapers is calling on editors and publishers to print a full-page advertisement that says China is currently detaining 30 journalists, plus as many as 50 “cyber-dissidents” and bloggers, for exposing the regime’s activities.
Last Friday, the Birmingham Post agreed to print the ad once a week for three weeks in a weekly supplement.
Newspapers in Yemen and Poland have this month printed the ad.
The claims within it have met with strong denials from the Chinese embassies in those countries.
The poster asks, “Would you be comfortable with the thought of the Olympic Games taking place in a country that imprisons its own journalists for telling the truth?”
The Paris-based WAN group, which promotes the business and free-speech interests of newspapers, is organising a conference in April on how the world’s press should react to the China’s suppression of journalists.
ARMENIA BLOCKS LOCAL LANGUAGE RADIO BROADCASTS
ABC News reported that the only foreign radio programming in Armenia's native language was taken off the air and its web site blocked as part of the country's state of emergency.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said in a statement that its two Armenian affiliates halted the broadcasts to comply with the emergency decree that allows media to only report news that is sanctioned by the government. Some Armenian newspapers did not publish on Tuesday in protest of the restrictions, and the country's non-state broadcast media has been limited to repeating official news and programs, according to the media freedom representative for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Armenian President Robert Kocharian declared the 20-day state of emergency on Saturday night following clashes between government forces and demonstrators protesting alleged fraud in the February 19 presidential election.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said it was adding web domains to get around the blocking of its Armenian language web site in the country.
US MUSCLES IN ON ASIA: RGE MONITOR OPENS ASIS SUBSIDIARY IN HONG KONG
Economics and policy website RGE Monitor has opened an Asian subsidiary in Hong Kong, marking the first international expansion for the New York-based company, according to Media Asia.
RGE Monitor targets global traders, economists, corporate executives and journalists. Previously a free academic resource aggregated by co-founder Nouriel Rubini, professor of economics at New York University, it has been run as a subscription based website since 2004.
The Hong Kong office will be headed by regional director Douglas Jaffe, who joins from his previous position as research director at Financial Insights, Asia Pacific.
US MUSCLES IN ON ASIA: NEW YORK TIMES AND INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE TO CHASE AD BUCKS IN SINGAPORE AND HONG KONG
Asia Media reports that the New York Times Media Group has partnered with digital sales agency Energy Media Networks in an attempt to increase ad revenue on newspaper sites NYT.com and IHT.com in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The sites, for The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, have seen increased traffic in Asia over the past years, and executives look to optimise revenue the region’s two main hubs, Asia-Pacific advertising director Dominic Ciafardini told Asia media.
Energy has previously worked with Dow Jones and the Financial Times.
MITCHELL COMMUNICATIONS GROUP IN AUSTRALIA WILL NOT PROCEED WITH MEAGER DEAL WITH BLUEFREEWAY
AAP reports that Australian media outfit Mitchell Communications Group Ltd, owned by high profile media buyer Harold Mitchell, has confirmed speculation it has entered into indicative discussions regarding a merger with BlueFreeway Ltd.
But Mitchell Communication said it had decided not to proceed with further discussions with BlueFreeway at present.
"Mitchell Communications continually evaluates strategic initiatives to create shareholder value," Mitchell Communication said.
"Consistent with this, we confirm that such initial indicative discussions regarding a potential merger between Mitchell and BlueFreeway have been held.
"These discussions have been preliminary and incomplete and no formal agreement has been reached.
"However, given the recent announcements of BlueFreeway, Mitchell Communication has informed BlueFreeway this afternoon that it has decided not to proceed with further discussions at
BlueFreeway, which has a market capitalisation of $23 million, told the Australian stock exchange on Friday that it had entered into exclusive due diligence with one party.
GLOBAL BROADBAND MARKET REPORTS SAYS 65 MILLION NEW BROADBAND USERS SIGNED UP OVER LAST TWELVE MONTHS
Researchandmarkets has released Global Broadband Market Report, and in summary, points out that global demand for broadband services continues to be strong.
Over the past twelve months, 65 million new broadband subscribers signed up for high-speed access to the internet. With these new subscribers, the total of global broadband subscribers hit 285 million in May 2007.
The principal market drivers for the adoption of broadband service is pretty straightforward: people want to access the internet with a higher-speed connection.
Beyond this basic desire, the emergence of online applications, such as viewing video clips or TV programming, downloading music files, and even playing online games, are also fuelling end-user demand for “fatter pipes” that provide ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth.
The report covers the market for worldwide broadband services. It examines leading market drivers for broadband services and discusses the most widely available broadband access technologies.
The report provides historical subscriber data for broadband services and forecasts worldwide broadband subscribers through 2011. In addition, it provides regional subscriber forecasts for cable modem service, DSL service, fixed wireless broadband service, and fibre to the home households.
It also provides worldwide subscriber forecasts for satellite broadband service, broadband over powerline service, and ethernet in the first mile service.
ASIAN AGE NEWSPAPER APPOINTS NEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
There has a change of guard at The Asian Age newspaper in India with T Venkattram Reddy taking over as editor-in-chief from M J Akbar from March 1.
Akbar will continue to be associated with the newspaper he launched in 1994.
P K Iyer, managing director of Deccan Chronicle Holdings, told Business Standard, “The Asian Age will continue the way it has been functioning so far and the association with Akbar will also continue, though in a different capacity. The details will be worked out between us in due time.
Akbar had apparently indicated to the promoters his intention to move out of the day-to-day activities of The Asian Age for some time now.
The Asian Age is published from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and London by Deccan Chronicle Holdings, which also owns the Deccan Chronicle newspaper.
Deccan Chronicle Holdings owns 90 percent in Asian Age Holdings, and it acquired a 67 percent stake in Asian Age Holdings in 2005.
Before its acquisition in May 2005, Asian Age Holdings was the promoter company of The Asian Age with Akbar owning a 26 percent stake along with a clutch of other investors like United Breweries (23 percent), Deccan Chronicle Holdings (22 pe cent), Zee Telefilms (15 per ent) and T Venkattram Reddy (3 percent.)
WHY AUSTRALIA’S PREMIER NEWS MAGAZINE THE BULLETIN BIT THE DUST
Articles about the demise of Australia’s premier news magazine, The Bulletin continue to appear in a range of publications, the latest being a long informative piece in The Monthly.
The article, ‘Packed It In,’ by Gideon Haigh delves into the history of the Bulletin: its fabled past, its triumphs and troubles in the last two decades as it attempted renewal, and its sudden demise. This is the definitive behind-the-scenes story - told by a long-time Bulletin contributor – of the people who developed and ran the nation's oldest and most celebrated magazine, its culture, and how the mogul who loved it so much oversaw its decline.
Haigh writes,
“Only one factor made the Bulletin model viable: Kerry Packer. His commitment never weakened, and even won him a certain admiration ... But week in, week out, the Bulletin was actually demonstrating that news, in commercial terms, was scarcely worth the trouble of breaking it. When Laurie Oakes divulged Gareth Evans' long-term affair with Cheryl Kernot in July 2002, for example, the Bulletin had no way of monopolising the story: such profit as accrued to anyone did so across all news outlets. Yet here was a proprietor who, albeit for reasons less to do with his munificence than with his own distaste for change, apparently subscribed to journalists' belief in the redemptive qualities of their craft…
When Phil Scott came into Stockland House to announce that the new Bulletin editor-in-chief was John Lehmann, there was dead silence.
“Nobody could look at Kathy Bail,” says one former executive. “Of course, she never lost her sangfroid. But people were shattered.”
Others detected a latent misogyny at work. “It was horrible, just horrible,” says another former staff member. “And so disappointing, because she so deserved to do it.”
When Scott left, Tim Blair jumped up and started googling Lehmann's name. Who was this guy? He was little the wiser after the exercise ... Lehmann, it transpired, had come to John Alexander's attention while a media writer for the Australian. There he had become involved in PBL's interminable politicking, being leaked an exclusive story about Nine CEO Sam Chisholm's attempt to oust John Lyons as executive producer of Sunday, an attempt thwarted by Alexander. Shortly before Lehmann departed the Australian, he had come into possession of the fabled Llewellyn affidavit. But where Crikey published the document – deeply embarrassing to Alexander – Lehmann refrained. He left the paper with the curse of his editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, ringing in his ears: "I wouldn't want to be the last editor of the Bulletin.”
AUSTRALIAN X-RATED DISTRIBUTORS SAY THE OPPOSITION GOVERNMENT IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH PORNOGRAPHY ISSUES
Australia’s national adult retail association yesterday declared the Coalition to be totally out of touch with pornography issues in indigenous communities and extended an invitation for Brendan Nelson and Tony Abbott to take a tour of Canberra’s leading X rated film distributor, to bring them up to speed.
Eros ceo, Fiona Patten, said that the previous bans on possession of X rated films in the Northern Territory by the Howard government had been implemented without any intelligence from the Australian Federal Police and without any knowledge of what was happening on the ground.
“ John Howard claimed that X18 films were flooding aboriginal communities but he never asked the ACT Registrar of X Films to verify how many were leaving Canberra and going to Darwin. When Eros checked these figures, we found that less than 0.5 percent of all orders for X18 films from the ACT in 2006 (144 sales) were sent to NT post codes.”
Ms Patten said that X18 films were not the problem and that in 2006 she had sent a detailed submission to Communications and Post Minister, Helen Coonan, outlining the activities of an organised crime gang based in NSW and Queensland who were operating out of Darwin post boxes and flooding isolated areas of the Northern Territory with cheap and nasty Refused Classification pornography.
She sent catalogues and samples of the material being sold through the Northern Territory to the Minister.
She said Eros also pushed the Howard government to look at R18 Pay TV pornography as the second major delivery method into aboriginal communities – way ahead of classified X18 product from Canberra. The Howard government did not action this request.
“These organised crime gangs are still operating illegally and supplying remote communities around Australia”, she said. “The only way that state and federal governments can assure the community that these rogue gangs
are put out of action is to insist on a regulatory scheme for selling properly classified X18 films in all states of Australia. Only then will governments and the police have ready access to reliable information about who, when and where sales of pornography are being made to and in what quantities.”
She said she would write to Dr Nelson and Mr Abbott regarding the tour and would also suggest that they meet with the ACT X Film Registrar, Brett Phillips, so they could understand the record-keeping aspects of the ACT’s
regulatory scheme.
TAIWAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DENIES MEDIA REPORTS THAT HIS WIFE STOLE A NEWSPAPER AT HARVARD
Asia Media reports that Taiwan’s Kuomintang (party presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou denied reports that his wife, Chou Mei-chin, was caught stealing a newspaper when she was a student at Harvard University.
Chin Heng-wei, a columnist for the Liberty Times, made the allegations in a column and at a rally for Democratic Progressive Party (presidential candidate Frank Hsieh. Ma plans to file a lawsuit against Chin for slander, but Chin says the incident is already known and documented.
Ma also accused Hsieh of using smear tactics for allowing Chin to speak about the incident.
Taiwan's presidential election is scheduled for March 22.
STRAITS TIMES JOURNALIST JAILED FOR SPYING IS HONOURED ON HIS RELEASE
A special mention was given to Straits Times chief China correspondent Ching Cheong at Tuesday’s awards ceremony for the newspaper.
The 58-year-old spent more than 1,000 days behind bars in China on charges of spying for Taiwan, allegations he strongly denies.
In a surprise move, Beijing granted him parole on February 5 and allowed him to return to Hong Kong.
For the first time in four years, the veteran journalist returned to Singapore.
Asked about his plans, Ching said he wanted to have plenty of rest.
“I have still not adapted to normal life,” said Ching. “I plan to spend time with my family and catching up with everybody.”
Mr Ching said he is still in talks with Singapore Press Holdings on where he will be based.
AMERICAN RADIO AD REVENUE FALLS BACK TO 2003 LEVELS
The Wall Street Journal reported that American radio advertising revenue last year fell back to 2003 levels, according to a report from the Radio Advertising Bureau, an industry group.
Over-the-airwaves radio ad revenue totaled U$19.63 billion last year, a 2.6 percent drop from $20.14 billion in 2006. The figure has held steady at about $20 billion for the past few years, and hasn't seen any big gains since the internet boom of the late 1990s. Radio's internet and other off-air revenue rose 10 percent to $1.68 billion.
The numbers for 2007, coupled with the incremental growth of the past few years, "speak to the fact that in good economic times, you can't count on radio to grow," says John Blackledge, a media analyst at J.P. Morgan. Now the overall economy is on shakier ground, he expects radio revenue to shrink 3 percent this year.
Part of the problem, he says, is that radio companies are undercutting each other on price in critical big markets.
The wall Street Journal quoted Jim Boyle, an analyst at CL King, who said the last time the industry backtracked multiple years was in the early 1950s.
"It was a similarly challenging time. There was a recession; the country was coming out of a war; there was a brand-new media competitor [TV]; and there was a musical technological change" in the form of extended-play records, or LPs.
REUTERS WEB TRACKER FIRM ATTRIBUTOR REVEALS SURPRISING DEMAND FOR ‘FLUFF’ STORIES
Journalism.co.uk reported that Reuters' deal with web tracking firm Attributor has revealed a thirst for lifestyle and entertainments stories amongst its clients and other users of its content.
Speaking at the DNA conference in Brussels, Reuters global head of strategy and business development, Maria Molland told delegates that the news giant was three months into a deal with content tracking firm Attributor to monitor how clients and the wider web uses its content.
Speaking later to Journalism.co.uk, Molland said the agency had been surprised by the demand for “fluff” stories and that results from the tracking research were fed back to editorial so it could determine if it needed to dedicate more resources to these areas.
"The primary reason we signed the deal is because Attributor take a fingerprint of all the content we produce and we can track how its used by our customers and those who are not our customers, so we're really getting a better insight to the use," she told Journalism.co.uk.
"We send out this feed and we don't know what happens to it...this deal has really let us understand how people are using it, before it was just sent away with no user feedback."
The system started by monitoring text-based content, she added, then extended to cover photographs. It's expected that agency video will soon also monitored in this way.
"We have been a little surprised online readers are moving more toward fluff stories, infotainment, and as a result we are putting a lot more editorial resources behind sport and lifestyle.
"Overall with our content, it turns out people are using a lot more of the lifestyle material, which is very different from those Reuters core elements – business, finance and hard news. That was one big shock.
"The second was understanding how photos are used in conjunction with text.
"Our theory, and I think it has been backed up by Attributor, is that people are using photos and text in conjunction, so it's becoming much more important to find out how we can create links between different types of stories.
"If you have a photo, video and text together of the new Russian president, for instance, that will be much more appealing to users than if they were all supplied separately."
In addition to understanding the wider use of its news, Molland told Journalism.co.uk that the software is also used to drive additional revenue by tracking use on the web by publishers to whom they do not directly supply and forging business relationships.
This new approach to forging syndication deals, she added, had already brought several smaller publishers to Reuters as clients.
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