Category: Radio

January 9 media notes: Bangladesh editor jailed, radio still strong, Ipso criticized

1/9/2014

Some media stories of note for Thursday, January 9, 2014:

Context is everything. Where press freedom fights in the West are about access to information, in many countries press freedom is about actual freedom.

Take, for instance, the court ruling Thursday to send a Bangladesh editor to jail for seven years for attempting to travel to Israel a decade ago to speak about the rise of Muslim militancy. Salahuddin Shaoib Choudhury was trying to bring CDs and deliver a speech when he was arrested in Dakka in 2003. Bangladesh does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and travel there is forbidden.

---

While we should always wonder about who finances a poll, an interesting one has emerged that suggests traditional radio remains the most popular way to listen to music. The poll was commissioned by the Clear Channel radio company and conducted by the MediaVest media agency, so it has an inherent self-serving possibility. But it suggests that the growth of streaming music hasn't necessarily come at radio's expense.

---

Roy Greenslade, the media columnist for The Guardian, updates the state of the new Independent Press Standards Organization (Ipso), a creature of the publishing companies in response to calls for stern measures from the Leveson inquiry into press conduct. Greenslade's take: Ipso is a new version of the mightily discredited Press Complaints Commission, with publishers pulling the strings and holding the purse strings. Several news firms have steered clear of provisions under the royal charter and formed Ipso as a form of self-regulation.

media notes 11.15.13

11/15/2013

For Friday, November 15, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former communications director, spoke in his role as a visiting professor at Cambridge about the media and politics. It is a meandering speech, but its central points appear to be: the audience is savvy enough to drive media change, the regulation debate in England is a mess, politicians would do better to think strategically more than tactically, and the threat to journalism comes from within. He argues that media decline owes not to technology but to a lack of accountability, abuse of power, and rising public awareness of journalism's methods.

Alexander Howard, writing for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, examines some of the recent ethical pitfalls of data-driven journalism. He argues that the tensions and their consequences will only grow more difficult and that journalists need to be more conscious of ethics than ever in this new environment of access to and distribution of data.

A report from the Pew Research Journalism Project suggests 21 per cent of Facebook users and 18 per cent of Twitter users get news often from newspapers. Local TV is a news source often for 42 per cent of Facebook users and 23 per cent of Twitter users. Cable (23 and 17 per cent for Facebook and Twitter users, respectively) and radio (25 and 24 per cent) are also strong sources.

USA Today media writer Rem Rieder argues that CBS News must conduct a full, transparent inquiry into the errant 60 Minutes report last month on the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. Rieder believes the damage to the venerable program is substantial and that CBS News must move swiftly to answer many questions about its practices in this matter.

media notes 09.27.13

9/27/2013

For Friday, September 27, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

A former federal Pakistan minister has suggested the country needs a press ombudsman to deal with standards and practices of the country's media. Javed Jabbar, a former minister of information, is a member of a commission examining media in the country. He argues that standards of fairness and balance have not been high and that a form of oversight is needed for media in his country.

Mathew Ingram, writing for paidContent, examines a recent presentation in Italy by Google's chief economist on what ails the newspaper business. Hal Varian argued that the Internet isn't responsible for the decline of newspapers (television news was much more significant) and that the Internet remains a much better way to deliver content. He notes that newspapers have made money from certain of their sections, but that it is much more difficult to profit from a "pure" news story.

A new British study suggests television remains the prime news source in the country, more than double that of newspapers, with radio and the Internet only slightly behind print. Press Gazette reports the Ofcom study found the BBC was the largest and most important source of news in the country. Of the 3,000 surveyed, 78 per cent used television, 40 per cent used papers, 35 per cent used radio and 32 per cent the Internet for news.

media notes 09.09.13

9/9/2013

For Monday, September 9, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

A major study published Sunday by the Nieman Journalism Lab examines the digital disruption of legacy media. Three Shorenstein Fellows oversaw the oral study, title Riptide, and they note the effort by established media to break through in digital with only middling successes. They interviewed 60 industry executives who acknowledge they saw the digital rise ahead but could not easily contend with it. It examines business model breakdown and the confusion about the next economic steps for journalism. Rick Edmonds, in a lengthy treatment on the study for Poynter, notes the lack of a conclusion or a sense of the near future from the study.

Facebook is introducing two new features that permit journalists a better reading on social conversations. The New York Times' Bits blog suggests this will be particularly helpful around large events, television shows and sports. It will also be helpful to marketers. The features will permit aggregation of public posts and anonymous aggregation of demographic data on private posts.

The New York Times examines the plight of AM radio. Not only has it long since lost its advantage as a platform to unveil new music (a move that forced it into talk formats mainly) but in recent years it has witnessed a diminution of its technical signal from smartphone and electronic interference. The Times looks at the quest by the lone Republican on the Federal Communications Commission to revive the signal.

media notes 07.09.13

7/9/2013

Here are some media stories of note for Tuesday, July 9, 2013:

It has not been an easy journey, but the first steps are under way in Britain to create the Independent Press Standards Organisation to replace the Press Complaints Commission. The Guardian reports many major newspaper and magazine firms have signed on. An appointments panel will soon be created. The new body is an outcome of the Leveson inquiry into press standards. It will have powers to fine, compel publication of complaint adjudications, a whistleblower hotline for journalists to alert the body to unethical practice, and an investigative and arbitrative arm as an alternative to courts. Some newspaper publishers (Financial Times and the Guardian, among them) have not signed on, while the Hacked Off group representing phone-hacking victims believes the exercise is bound to be ineffective.

Mathew Ingram, writing for paidContent, reports on a new Gallup survey in the United States that indicates television remains the principal source of news (55%), with the Internet second (21%), newspapers a distant third (9%) and radio fourth (5%). It isn't clear from the survey if newspaper websites are the main sources of information online for news consumers, but Ingram speculates that might be.

Earl Wilkinson, the executive director of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), writes that the timing of print-to-digital leaves no outliers. Everyone is "in the same funnel," he writes. It's only a matter of determining when to push the button on the transformation. Wilkinson says publishers in several countries have deluded themselves about the necessity for eventual change. But he notes, too, that many developing countries needed a print infrastructure before making the digital transition.

Mitch Albom and the criticism of conflict of interest

5/22/2011

In the last week public criticism has surfaced of author and journalist Mitch Albom for praising his home state's film tax credit regime while benefiting from those provisions.

The Michigan Film Tax Credit is helping finance the filming of Albom's adaptation of his Have A Little Faith bestseller. Albom was paid for the screenplay of his book.

Albom has, like many other artists, stood supportive of credits that provide incentives for film production. But his critics, including Detroit radio host Frank Beckmann, believe he cannot escape conflict of interest.

The two host radio shows on WJR-AM and exchanged extensively on the matter last week.

What do you think? Is Albom in a conflict? If so, what should he do?

PEJ: Annual State of the News Media report released

3/14/2011

The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism has issued its eight annual State of the News Media report today. It's a definitive look at American media, with some implications for media outside the U.S. in trends and practices.

The report concludes that, with the exception of newspapers, media operated better in 2010 than in 2009 on many frontiers. Some new business models began to blossom, for instance.
But the report says that the problems aren't involving audiences or even the new models.

"It may be that in the digital realm the news industry is no longer in control of its own destiny," the executive summary of the report concludes. New intermediaries are adding layers to the relationship between consumers and advertisers, whether they are software manufacturers or platform creators, and their share of the revenue and data pose new challenges.

Among major trends: executives from outside, some willingness to pay, untapped local news opportunities, a new media economy of smaller entities, and assistance to media via the car bailout.

The report looks at newspapers, online, television networks, cable television, ethnic and alternative press, magazines, audio and some special reports on, among other things, international newspaper economics and the online experiments in Seattle.

The tale of an NPR official, a prankster, and views caught on tape

3/8/2011

National Public Radio is dealing with reputational damage today after one of its fundraising executives was pranked into discussing discomfort with conservatives. (UPDATE: The CEO of NPR, Vivian Schiller, has left the company as a result of the incident.)

A chronic prankster pretended to represent an organization looking to donate and it took little effort to get the executive to open up about the organization's purported adversaries. The scheme plays into stereotypical concerns that NPR is anti-conservative.

NPR has disavowed the comments as unrepresentative, but already commentators are suggesting this hurts the organization.

Internet use higher than TV viewing in Canada: Ipsos Reid

3/22/2010

A survey released today indicates online use and television viewing were up in the last year, but the Internet now has edged ahead of TV as the preferred platform for Canadians.

The Ipsos Reid survey found Internet use at 18.1 hours weekly, up from 14.9 hours weekly a year earlier. But that number has surpassed TV viewing, which stood at 16.9 hours, up from 15.9 hours a year ago.

Listening to the radio (8.9 hours), reading the newspaper (2.9 hours) and reading magazines (1.4 hours) have been stable in the year.

The survey found men (20 hours) spent more time than women (16 hours) online weekly. There weren't large gaps in the online usage among age groups, interestingly.

2010 Standard & Poor's media forecast: Not nice

1/26/2010

The latest Standard & Poor's U.S. media tracking and forecast indicates the final quarter of 2009 will provide better year-over-year numbers (because of the collapse a year earlier) but weak 2010 numbers as the economy only slowly recovers.

Most hard hit: Local television, radio and print.

Bright spot: Local search advertising. Not entirely bright but not dim, either: Online advertising overall.

Newspapers are nearing their bottom, but may not come out of there this year, S & P suggests.

<<Previous