30
Sep
Media Mania USA?
‘ADDRESSING CONCERNS’
Reuters reports:
A senior Republican lawmaker won a commitment on Thursday from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to address concerns about the increased detentions and accidental shootings by U.S. forces of reporters trying to cover the Iraq conflict.
NEW GREENWALD FILM ON WAL-MART IS READY
Director Robert Greenwald writes:
After spending almost the entire summer in the editing room working with four incredible editors, we’ve finally finished the film. We’re getting ready to master the DVD now, and it’s chock full of extras: three bonus sections, two behind the scenes features, a shorter 20 minute version of the film, an organizing video, and a slew of fun commercials mocking Wal-Mart’s expensive ads.
We just started taking pre-orders for the DVD, you can get yours for $12.95. I’d like to see Wal-Mart beat that price!
http://www.walmartmovie.com/buy.php
OUR TV-ADDICTED SOCIETY
NEW YORK, September 29, 2005 -– Nielsen Media Research reported today that the average American home watched more television the past TV season vs. any previous season. During the 2004-05 TV season (which started September 20, 2004 and just ended September 18, 2005), the average household in the U.S. tuned into television an average of 8 hours and 11 minutes per day.
This is 2.7% higher than the previous season, 12.5% higher than 10 years ago, and the highest levels ever reported since television viewing was first measured by Nielsen Media Research in the 1950’s. During the Sept 2004-Sept 2005 season, the average person watched television 4 hours and 32 minutes each day, the highest level in 15 years (See Table 1 in the attached document). Household tuning levels going back to the 1950’s can be downloaded at the following link:
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/newsreleases/2005/TVviewinglevels.xls
RATINGS DOWN AT NBC
Kurt Andersen notes in New York:
Last year, NBC’s prime-time audience shrank by 11 percent, sending it from No. 1 to No. 4 in the season ratings, a more extreme reversal of fortune than had ever befallen any network — at the same time that (not coincidentally) Today’s lead over Good Morning America shriveled. The punch line to the annus horribilis came in May, when NBC’s “upfront” revenues — from the advance sales of ads for the season starting now — plummeted: The company had budgeted a drop of several hundred million dollars, but the loss turned out to be twice that.
NPR: LOCAL REPORTING FALLS OFF
Jeff Dworkin, NPR ombudsman, reports:
In 1997, only 5 percent of the reports came from local stations. That rose with deliberate collaborative effort of NPR and member station reporters.
But recently, that number has declined again. In the period from Aug. 30, 2004 to Aug. 30, 2005, NPR aired a total of 18,486 reports on the newsmagazine programs. That figure includes all of the news programs but excludes reports heard on NPR hourly newscasts. Only 960 — or 5.19 percent — of all reports came from member-station reporters over the past year. And that means NPR-station collaboration is back where it was eight years ago.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4865936
DOES KEEPING PROFITS HIGH MAKE FOR BETTTER NEWS?
Michigan State University media economics professor Stephen Lacy responds to retired Mercury News ad exec Lou Alexander’s argument that newspaper profits must remain high. It has stirred a lot of attention, given the recent cuts in staffs across the nation:
http://www.gradethenews.org/commentaries/lacy.htm
Lacy says: “Cutting staff to please Wall Street’s demands for profits is a dangerous short-term strategy for newspapers.”
INTERNET UNDER SURVEILLANCE IN ITALY
The Guardian reports:
Anyone visiting Italy and wanting to use an internet point, or cafe, will need to take along their passport — and be prepared for a major invasion of their privacy, writes John Hooper.
Anti-terrorist legislation prompted by the London bombings in July imposes a string of new obligations on the managers of businesses offering the public access to communications. As of this week, they must obtain – and, according to some interpretations, photocopy – the identity documents of anyone wishing to access the internet, send a fax or make a telephone call.
Not only that. They must also supply the police with records of the times at which customers enter and leave the premises and which computers or telephones they use.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/09/29/passport_to_surf.html
GOOD NEWS, ANYONE?
