MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST MAY1: CHINA'S XINHUA BRANCHES OUT; POLICE RAID AUSSIE NEWSPAPER
May 1st 2008 02:11
CHINA’S XINHUA STRIKES OUT – INTO PRINT
Media Asia reports that Xinhua Finance Media has launched a weekly Chinese language newspaper aimed at the burgeoning retail investor sector.
The Investor Journal will be headed by editor in chief Zhao Li, from the original team behind China's Economic Observer.
The Investor Journal will be distributed nationwide, with headquarters in Beijing and subsidiaries in Shanghai and Shenzhen. It will target readers who have more than a million renminbi's worth of liquid assets, and it s the only title in this niche in mainland China.
CHINA’S XINHUA STRIKES OUT – INTO FILM PRODUCTION
Redline China reports that XFMedia, or Xinhua Finance Media, announced a strategic alliance with China Film Group to collaborate on China film production, distribution and sales.
It will establish a new subsidiary Xinhua Media Entertainment as a full service film production and investment company based in Beijing, with a satellite office in Los Angeles.
XFMedia ceo Ms Fredy Bush said, "China Film Group and Xinhua Media Entertainment have established a strategic alliance to collaborate across various sectors of the burgeoning Chinese film entertainment industry including development, production, post-production, domestic and international sales and distribution of film entertainment content.''
China Film Group (is the largest and most influential state-run film enterprise in China. All motion pictures imported to China for theatrical release must go through its subsidiary, China Film Import & Export Corporation, while another subsidiary, China Film Co-production Corporation, manages all Sino-foreign co-productions.
China Film Group produces more than 30 feature films, 400 TV plays and 100 telefilms each year. According to statistics from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, since 2003 the movie box office in China has grown at a compounded annual rate of approximately 38 percent from US$96 million in 2003 to US$470 million in 2007.
Xinhua Finance Media is a media group in China with five business groups, advertising, broadcast, print, production, and research. It covers a wide range of media assets, including television, radio, newspaper, magazine, outdoor, online and other media assets.
Headquartered in Beijing, the company has offices and affiliates in major cities of China including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE OVERSEEING EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE AT THE WSJ?
Adrian Monck’s blog amusingly asks the question, “So what was the point of that special committee to oversee editorial independence at the Wall Street Journal? I must remind myself.”
He reprints these points
“1.4 Roles and Responsibilities of the Special Committee.
(a) The Company and Dow Jones agree that the Special Committee shall have rights of approval over each of the Special Committee Matters (as defined below)...
(b) For purposes of this Agreement, the “Editors” shall mean each of (i) the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal...
(c) For purposes of this Agreement, “Special Committee Matters” shall mean the following:
(i) Appointment and removal of each of the Editors (including any material changes in the terms and conditions of employment of each such Editor that could give rise to constructive termination, such as a material reduction in compensation, relocation of principal place of employment, material change in duties or responsibilities and the like)...”
Monck comments, “Thank goodness that’s clear. So would Marcus Brauchli resigning come under any of that?”
He quotes the Committee which says, “Committee members expressed the view that learning of the Brauchli matter after the fact failed to meet the letter and the spirit of the agreement.
“The Committee met subsequently and decided that there was no practical way to ‘unresign’ Brauchli and start the process over. Under the agreement, the committee has the duty and responsibility to approve or disapprove such actions.”
Rupert Murdoch must be quaking in his boots waiting for Committee disapproval, or approval, or whatever.
Meanwhile, here’s how The Guardian reported the story:
“Four months after buying the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch has been accused by a special independent committee of breaking ‘the letter and the spirit’ of an agreement to protect editorial integrity.
“A five-strong committee established as a condition of the Bancroft family's sale of the paper's Dow Jones parent company to Murdoch has complained that it was kept in the dark over the resignation of the Journal's top editor.
“Committee members say they were not told until after the event about the controversial resignation last week of the managing editor, Marcus Brauchli, which has prompted fevered rumours of a rift over the direction of the paper.
"’Although our charter does not directly envision a process for dealing with a resignation, committee members expressed the view that learning of the Brauchli matter after the fact failed to meet the letter and the spirit of the agreement,’" a statement said.
BUSINESS ORIENTED DAILY NEWSPAPER STARTS UP IN INDONESIA
Jakarta Post reports that Koran Jakarta, a 24-page Indonesian newspaper with a special business section, will be available at newsstands next week.
Chief editor Marthen Selamet Susanto told the Post that the daily paper wanted to provide society with "enlightening news that caters to their needs".
"Business news will be our main strength. We've allocated around 40 percent of our paper to business," Selamet said.
"We're not head to head with any other newspapers because ours is unique. It is a morning newspaper with more news on the economy." P
The paper will be published by PT Berita Nusantara, a company owned by several media organisations, and according to the Post, “the newsroom in Central Jakarta is full of senior journalists.”
Selamet explained the newspapers financing by saying, “We have a concept and we offered it to businessmen. There are at least 10 businessmen providing us with capital, but they don't determine our editorial.”
"Our target is to sell 80,000 copies," said Tri Juli Sukaryana, the newspaper's managing editor. --
MUSICAL MAGAZINE ADS RING UP A FINE TUNE IN CANADA
Media in Canada reports, “Some sort of bar must have been raised last week, when People magazine embedded tiny batteries and speakers in its middle pages. When readers flipped them over, they heard Natasha Bedingfield warbling her latest pop song.”
The musical initiative was staged by Verizon Wireless to promote its new music download service.
CBS DEFIES US MEDIA DOWNTURN WITH BETTER THAN EXPECTED FIRST-QUARTER RESULTS
Reuter’s reports that CBS Corp reported a greater-than-expected rise in earnings, helped by healthier results from its television business, and boosted its dividend by 8 percent.
CBS reported first-quarter net earnings of $US244.3 million, compared with $US213.5 million a year earlier.
CBS revenue was essentially flat at $US3.7 billion, even though last year's first quarter included revenue from the Super Bowl and the semifinals of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, two popular events which were not included in this year's results.
Television revenue for the first quarter of 2008 increased 1 percent to $US2.60 billion from $US2.57 billion.
Weak spots were radio, where revenues on a same station basis decreased 6 percent, and publishing, where revenue fell 12 percent as its titles failed to match last year's blockbuster sales of ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne.
Overall, CBS results came in well ahead of forecasts.
AUSTRALIAN PAY-TV BOSS WANTS GOVT SCRAP ‘JUNKYARD’
OF OLD REGULATIONS
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the chief executive of Foxtel, Kim Williams, has stepped up his calls on the Federal Government to scrap a "big junkyard of old regulation", saying the key rules governing TV broadcasting in Australia are anti-competitive and unfairly benefit the free-to-air networks.
"Let's not carry on like a banana republic," he told an ABN Amro conference. "All that subscription television seeks is that great Australian dream, the level playing field. No special favours for them, no special favours for us."
The Sydney Morning Herald said, “His comments came as alarm bells are ringing at Foxtel and its regional counterpart, Austar, that the new Minister of Communications, Stephen Conroy, could amend rules governing sports broadcasting to let their free-to-air rivals show major sporting events on their new digital channels.”
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY RADIO STATION BREACHES LICENCE BY BROADCASTING ADS
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found that Bankstown City Radio Co-operative Ltd, the licensee of Sydney community broadcasting service Radio BFM, breached a condition of its temporary licence by broadcasting advertisements. Community radio stations may broadcast up to five minutes of sponsorship announcements in any hour. Under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, sponsorship announcements on community radio must include an appropriate acknowledgement of financial support (a ‘tag’), otherwise they can be considered advertisements.
ACMA found that Radio BFM broadcast advertisements on October 19 and November 23, 2007 as a number of sponsorship announcements played during the program ‘Dosti’ did not carry ‘tags’.
However, as the program is no longer on air and ACMA is satisfied that the licensee has put in place adequate measures to ensure there are no further breaches of the sponsorship rules, no action is proposed at this time.
ACMA started its investigation after it received two complaints from a complainant in November 2007.
Bankstown City Radio Co-operative Ltd provides community radio service Radio BFM for the general community of Bankstown. The service is provided under a temporary community broadcasting licence.
A copy of Investigation Report 1930 is available on the ACMA website.
THE MIRACLE OF EVER-ESCALATING NEWSPAPER SALES CONTINUES TO UNFOLD IN AUSTRALIA
Irreverent Aussie website Crikey, in its own inimicable sarcastic style, pondered why Australia’s print media seems to be in relatively good shape.
Crikey reported, “One could be forgiven for thinking, on the abundant international evidence, that newspapers are in something of a pickle. In the past 24 hours we have learned that no less an organ than The New York Times shed nigh on 4 percent of its circulation in the six months to March.
“Things are of course entirely different in Australia, where the miracle of ever-escalating sales and robust revenue continues to unfold. We have the word of Fairfax chief David Kirk on that, ‘Fairfax Media has never been in stronger shape. Our revenues are growing – and our metro brands, with their combined print and online reach, have never been stronger. Our broadsheets are commercially successful and have an enduring future. Across our mastheads, we have the best editors in the country and, in my view and I think the view of our readers and staff generally, we produce first-class newspapers and magazines.’”
Crikey summated, “There is clearly much that Fairfax can teach the rest of the publishing world. Pity is that the Australian media are, as a pack, disinclined to host any sort of rigorous self examination, much less share the mystery of how, alone in the publishing universe, we can produce quality newspapers that grow.”
TAIPEI CITY DEPUTY MAYOR SUES NEXT MAGAZINE FOR LIBEL OVER BRIBE REPORT
The China Post last week reported that Taipei City Deputy Mayor Wu Hsiu-kuang sued Next magazine for libel over a report alleging that he had taken bribes from a local arms dealing firm.
Wu described as "totally unfounded" the Next report that accused him of taking bribes from the "Lai Fu" company, which the magazine said is the biggest arms dealing firm in Taiwan.
But he admitted that during August 2004 and July 2006, when he was not working in the government, he received funding for research work commissioned by Lai Fu.
Wu filed a libel lawsuit with the Taipei District Prosecutors Office against Next, as well as five political figures from the Democratic Progressive Party who had joined the magazine in accusing him of corruption.
RESEARCH SHOWS THAT MULTI-TASKING MEDIA RICH LIFESTYLES ARE THE NORM FOR YOUNG ASIANS
Synovate research reveals that multi-tasking, media-rich lifestyles are the norm among 8-24 year olds in Asia, with these on-the-pulse consumers fitting 38 hours of activities into every 24 hour period.
The recently-released third annual Synovate Young Asians study looked at what is in the hearts and minds of the region's youth, revealing their media consumption, purchase habits, attitudes, favourite brands and heroes. It covers 11 markets across Asia Pacific, including Australia for the first time.
Associate director of Synovate in Hong Kong, Susanna Lam, said that Synovate, in conjunction with the research sponsors – Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, MTV, SingTel, Star TV and Yahoo! – had uncovered a connected and community-minded youth.
"It's not a huge surprise that this digitally-nimble generation places great stock in online time, but it was gratifying to uncover they are just as committed to personal communication and relationships, prioritising family above all else.
"It's these contrasts that smart marketers need to understand before they can build and maintain a loyal consumer base in a notoriously trend-aware and media-savvy generation," she said.
Of the 38 hours of activities Asia's youth manage to squeeze into a day, 10 are spent on some form of media.
Lam said that, in part, this accounts for the extreme multi-tasking capabilities of the region's youth.
The study asked the older respondents, those who are 15-24 years, just how much attention they were paying to each medium and found the internet came out on top. Thirty-one percent of respondents say they pay 100 percent attention to the internet when they are online and a further 38 percent give it 75 percent of their attention. Television is the next most involving medium, with 18 percent giving it their full attention and 31 percent at a 75 percent attention-level.
The Young Asians survey makes it clear that, as far as young people go, the mobile is taking off as an all-in-one portable device. Coupled with young Asian's dependency on their phones, this means the mobile is rapidly becoming a vital part of the media mix for brands seeking to interact with young consumers," Lam said.
The two most popular features remain SMS (64 percent do it, with young Indonesians leading the way at 85 percent) and taking pictures (55 percent).
On average, Asians aged 15-24 years are spending 1.6 hours a day, every day, on the phone. Just shy of one hour is spent on their mobile (59 minutes) and another 38 minutes is on a landline.
Synovate Young Asians is an annual tracking survey that provides credible, relevant information on the media, purchasing and leisure habits of young people in Asia Pacific aged eight to 24.
This is the first year the survey has been carried out in Australia.
ISRAELI COLUMNIST ATTEMPTS DEFINITIVE DISCOURSE ON WHAT’S WRONG WITH US NEWSPAPERS
These days everybody seems to have an opinion why much of the western world’s print publications are going down the gurgler and this week the Poynter Institute chose to highlight the alleged wisdom of one Sever Plocker, pronounced Plotzker.
He’s an economics columnist for Israel’s largest daily, Yedioth Ahronoth.
On the decline of the US newspaper industry, he wrote, “America's print journalism is losing readers and advertising, because business-wise, politically, and culturally it is stuck in the 1960s. It is overly serious, its stories are too long, its style is patronising, and it avoids essential geographical reorganisation."
Sounds a bit like the US in general.
Plocker criticises the US media's handling of the Iraq War (first as blind obedience to the White House line and now as blind obedience to the opposite line), and coverage of Barack Obama. He describes a recent Time magazine piece about Obama's mother as containing "expressions that are reminiscent of the fantastic childhood tales of communist leaders as presented by the Soviet press."
Plocker continues, "The combination of a geographical split, subjugation to political correctness, and an elitist discourse has made the American press boring and unreliable, and has resulted in declining readership."
But, as one critic points out, Plocker commits most of the same sins in his newspaper. Then again, who’s perfect? .
TWO AUSSIE JOURNOS WOUNDED IN AFGHAN SUICIDE BOMBING
Two Australian journalists were wounded in a suicide bombing that killed about 15 people in Afghanistan, just two days after an Australian commando was killed in battle.
The freelancers, photographer Steve Dupont and journalist Paul Raffaele, were injured when the bomber detonated the bomb during an anti-drugs meeting in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
A witness reported that the bomber was a young boy.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said one of the men had been seriously injured and required evacuation by air to a US military hospital while the other was treated at the scene.
The two men were working for Smithsonian Magazine. Paul Raffaele was formerly a feature writer for the Australian edition of Reader’s Digest magazine.
The Sydney Morning Herald in publishing this story committed the cardinal journalism sin of getting Raffaele’s name wrong, incorrectly referring to him as Paul Rafael.
Meanwhile, The Australian newspaper got both the name and the occupation correct – the Sydney Morning herald said Raffaele was a photographer, whereas he is a feature writer.
Raffaele, a veteran freelance journalist who began his career in 1965 with the ABC and who has been described by The Washington Post as the "last of the great old-fashioned adventure writers", was treated at a US military base.
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS LISTS NINE THINGS CHINA MUST DO BEFORE THE OLYMPICS
With just 100 days to go to the start of the Beijing Olympic Games on 8 August, Reporters Without Borders today called on the Chinese authorities to take rapid and effective measures to improve the situation of press freedom and online free expression in a lasting manner.
The press freedom organisation also released a report on the fate of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in China and the impact on the foreign press of a government-orchestrated campaign to rally nationalistic fervour.
"The Chinese authorities should quickly release prisoners of conscience and allow access to Tibet," Reporters Without Borders said. "If this is not done in the next 100 days, the international protest movement will grow and the Olympic Games will be ruined by the government's intransigence."
The organisation has been campaigning since 2001 for an improvement in rights and freedoms before the Beijing games.
The Reporters Without Borders list of nine things the Chinese authorities must do before the Beijing Olympic Games:
1. Release all journalists and Internet users detained in China for exercising their right to information.
2. Allow the foreign press freedom of movement, including in Tibet and Xinjiang, and freedom to interview whomever they wish, both until and beyond October 2008
3. Disband the Publicity Department (the former Propaganda Department), which exercises daily control over content in the Chinese press.
4. End the jamming of foreign radio stations.
5. End the blocking of thousands of news and information websites based abroad.
6. Suspend the "11 Commandments of the internet," which lead to content censorship and self-censorship on websites.
7. End the blacklisting of journalists and human rights activists, which prevents them from visiting China.
8. Lift the ban on Chinese media using foreign news agency video footage and news reports without permission.
9. Legalise independent organisations of journalists and human rights activists.
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) issued a press release today condemning the death threats received by at least 10 foreign correspondents based in China and the serious restrictions imposed on the work of the media in Tibet.
The FCCC also quoted six sports journalists as criticising the lack of sincere cooperation from the organisers of the games, difficulties in accessing athletes and Chinese officials and inconsistencies in the information provided to the media.
GOOD OLD FASHIONED POLICE RAID ON WESTERN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER
Major Fraud Squad officers raided the Perth, Western Australia headquarters of The Sunday Times newspaper to find the source of a story that severely embarrassed the Carpenter government.
The Australian newspaper reported that more than a dozen police officers arrived at the newspaper's Stirling Street offices shortly after 2pm to execute a search warrant for documents relating to a report written by senior journalist Paul Lampathakis in February this year.
The exclusive story detailed a request by Treasurer Eric Ripper, as chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee on communication, to the expenditure review committee for A$16 million to pay for advertising for the Carpenter government’s re-election bid.
Detective Sergeant Allan Jane and other members of the fraud squad interviewed editor Sam Weir for almost an hour and spoke with senior management including Sunday Times managing director Ish Davies before beginning the search of the office.
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance WA Branch secretary Michael Sinclair-Jones said the search was outrageous.
LATEST MEMBER LIST FOR THE INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD OF THE AFRICAN PRESS ORGANISATION
The latest member list for the International Advisory Board of the African Press Organisation was released this week.
Members are as follows:
Hon. Dr. Gertrude I. MONGELLA - President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) - Pretoria (South-Africa)
M. Mahamat Saleh ANNADIF - Ambassador of the African Union near the European Union and the ACP Group of State in Brussels - Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chad - Former Chief of staff of the President of the Republic of Chad - Brussels (Kingdom of Belgium)
M. Ahmedou OULD-ABDALLAH - Special Representative of the United -Nations for Somalia - Former Minister of Foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania - Naïrobi (Kenya)
M. Jiuma ABULKHER - Director-General of external information of the Libyan Arab Socialist People's Jamahariya - Tripoli (Libya)
M. Jim BOUMELHA - President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) - Brussels (Kingdom of Belgium)
M. Babacar FALL - Director-General of the Pan-African News Agency (PANA) - Dakar (Sénégal)
M. Amadou Mahtar BA - President of AllAfrica Global Media (AllAfrica.com) - Washington (USA)
M. Dominique GUIHOT - Director-General of Africa N°1 - Paris (France)
M. Franck SALIN - Editor-in-chief of Afrik.com - Paris (France)
Mrs Ayoko MENSAH - Director of Africultures - Paris (France)
Mrs Heidi SINCLAIR - Director of communication of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Seattle (USA)
Mrs Jacquelline FULLER - Head of Advocacy and Communications of Google.org - Mountain View (USA)
Mrs Risha CHANDE - Media Relations Officer of The Mo Ibrahim Foundation - London (United Kingdom)
Mrs Katy CRONIN - Media Manager of DATA (Debt • AIDS • Trade • Africa) - London (United Kingdom)
Miss Tina MUSOKE - Media Relations Manager of Africare - Washington (USA)
M. Elroy BOS - Senior Manager, Communications & Advocacy Program of The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) - Geneva (Switzerland)
Mrs Lucia GRENNA - Head of the Unit of the Communications for Development of the World Bank - Washington (USA)
Mrs Aminata D. TRAORE - Former Minister of culture of the Republic of Mali - Author - Bamako (Mali)
M. Patrick LUCAS - President of the African Committee of MEDEF International and PDG of Gras Savoye - Paris (France)
Mrs Frances Anne HARDIN - International Independent Consultant - Former Senior Press Officer of the International Monetary Funds (IMF) - Washington (USA)
M. Jon LIDEN - Head of Communications for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - Genève (Switzerland)
M. David BARNARD - Executive Director of the Southern African Non-Governmental Organisation Network (SANGONeT) - Gauteng (South-Africa)
Maître Robert BOURGI - Lawyer - Paris (France)
M. Nicholas BRAY - Head of Media Relations at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - Paris (France)
M. Normand LAUZON - Director of the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) of the OECD
M. Reed BRODY - Spokesperson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) - Brussels (Kingdom of Belgium)
M. Bjarke LARSEN - Head of communication of the Africa commission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark - Copenhagen (Denmark)
M. Jacques GODFRAIN - Former Minister of Cooperation of the French Republic - Millau (France)
Mrs Cécile SPORTIS - Diplomat - Former Director of the World Food Program office in Paris (WFP) - Paris (France)
M. Peter BALLANTYNE - Director of the Europe's Forum on International Cooperation (Euforic) - Maastricht (Netherland)
M. Samuel MIKENGA - Communications Manager of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission - Pretoria (South-Africa)
M. Rigobert EMILE-FONGNI - Communication officer of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (EMUWA) - Ouagadougou (Burkina-Faso)
M. Eric MGENDI - Regional Communications Co-ordinator for Africa of ActionAid International - Nairobi (Kenya)
M. Joris ZYLBERMAN - Representative of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in Shanghai - Shanghai (China)
M. Pascal DROUHAUD - Geopolitical Expert - Area manager for Latin America of Alstom - Paris (France)
Mrs Marie-Laure de BERGH - Program Officer at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) - Maastricht (Netherland)
M. Damien AMADOU - Press officer of France 24 - Paris (France)
M. Michel ALI - Informatic Consultant - Toulouse (France)
M. Dapo LADIMEJI - Executive Member of the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) - London (United-Kingdom)
M. Blaise MISTLER - Head of International Relations of the Groupe Canal - Former adviser to the Prime-Minister of the French Republic - Paris (France)
Mrs Sarah BEL - Communication officer of the Technical Centre for Rural and Agricultural Cooperation (CTA) - Wageningen (Netherland)
Mrs Lucine HAPI - Program Co-ordinator of Avenir Nepad International UK - Londres (United Kingdom)
M. Mathieu ROCHAT - Director-General of Weboconference - Sao-Paulo (Brasil)
M. Bill ANDERSON - Director of African Development Information Services Ltd (AfDevInfo) - London (United Kingdom)
M. Wole ADAMOLEKUN - Secretary General of the Federation of African Public Relations Associations (FAPRA) - Abuja (Nigeria)
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