The Tickle File is ftm's daily column of media news, complimenting the feature articles on major media issues. Tickle File items point out media happenings, from the oh-so serious to the not-so serious, that should not escape notice...in a shorter, more informal format.

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Week of July 22, 2019

Secrets of TV audience building: something different, audience targets, right now
many different viewers

Streaming video icon Netflix is answering the chants of critics - and competitors - braying about a seeming lack of Instagram-endorsed blockbusters for the summer. Oh, and the said same denigrators proclaimed victory, of sorts, when recent subscriber figures showed slower growth, particularly in the US. If the end isn’t neigh for Netflix then, at least, there is a chance at second place, or third, or twenty-fifth.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), rights administrator for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), has agreed a licensing pact for Netflix to offer the full compliment of the 2019 ESC - two semi-finals plus the really big show - about 15 hours worth. US viewers can now binge on the rebroadcast of the 2019 Tel Aviv spectacle. Then, next May Netflix will show the 2020 ESC live. All of this is offered just to US audience as EBU members, generally the European public broadcasters, get first touch. Netflix is also producing a feature-length movie based on the ESC for release next year. (See more about the Eurovision Song Contest here)

Stock traders punished Netflix shares on Q2 US subscriber figures below expectation, reported CNN (July 17). Total subscribers now total 151.5 million, an increase of 2.7 million over Q1. But, the US subscriber count actually fell by 130,000 so the actual increase was 2.83 million. Netflix watchers blamed a price increase in the US, which the company verified, according to TechCrunch (July 17). The company expects to add 7 million new subscribers in Q3 as it adds mobile-only pricing in India. (See more about streaming media here)

Several larger public broadcasters in Europe have been busy organizing streaming video services in an attempt to keep the Netflix monster at bay. Then, too, the Disney Plus and Apple TV streaming services are expected soon. The folks at Netflix remain the market leader.

Threats to news media part of ugly pattern
"inhibitions are diminishing"

Threats of violence - and worse - are just part of the landscape for many media workers in the polarized political age. These episodes are always cringeworthy. The facts are clear: the overwhelming majority are from professed right-wing extremists.

Regional German public broadcaster WDR received, apparently last week, a letter threatening the life of TV news magazine moderator Georg Restle. The letter, according to a WDR spokesperson, was sent by the same person who mailed death threats to Cologne mayor Henriette Reker and Altena mayor Andreas Hollstein. WDR filed a criminal complaint against the writer with the Cologne prosecutor.

“The threat establishes a direct link to the alleged right-wing motivated murder of Kassel mayor Walter Lübcke,” explained news magazine Bild (July 23). Herr Lübcke was shot dead at his home in early June. A suspect with neo-Nazi ties was subsequently arrested and confessed. Two others have been detained.

In the aftermath of Mayor Lübcke’s assassination several German media commentators spoke out against right-wing extremism, generally, and, more specifically the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) political party. On a recent program (July 11) Herr Restle described far-right AfD, in a commentary, as “right.wing extremists” and “the parliamentary arm of the Identitarian Movement.” (See more about hate speech here)

Of 26 attacks on media workers in the last year, 22 originated with right-wing extremists, reported the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). Half were reported in Saxony, the locus of AfD support. “The methods (of extremists) are becoming more imaginative,” said Union of German Journalists (Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union - DJU) managing director Cornelia Berger, to public broadcaster Bayern Rundfunk (July 21), “and the inhibitions are diminishing, intimidating and threatening journalists as they conduct their work.” (See more about media in Germany here)

"We have freedom of speech and press in this country, which is a great asset," said WDR news director Ellen Ehni, quoted by Süddeutsche Zeitung (July 24). "Anyone who tries to intimidate colleagues or hinder their journalistic work attacks this… is therefore an enemy of democracy."

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