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Bugs in the news
…creepy…
German prosecutors raided Deutsche Telekom (DT) yesterday (May 29) in a probe of alleged spying by company officials of board members and, of course, journalists. The Financial Times Deutschland, also yesterday, published an account of DT spying on its journalists, which DT admitted (May 24), though not mentioning the FTD claim, was an “ill-advised use of communications equipment.”
Meanwhile, a Fox News channel employee filed suit (May 29) asking compensation for post-traumatic stress caused by bugs in her New York office. News Corp owned Fox News, according to the claim and reports by the New York Times, has been infested with bedbugs, a louse commonly associated with filth. The injured employee claims the last attack took place in April. (JMH)
UK Libel Law Suits Increasingly Filed In France
Many European newspapers are distributed throughout the EU, but each newspaper is liable to the libel laws of each country in which it is available. And there seems to be a growing trend that those who feel their privacy has been violated by a UK newspaper can do much better in the French courts and it doesn’t seem to matter how limited that French distribution might have been.
Case in point is Formula 1 President Max Mosley who is suing the Murdoch tabloid News of the World in the UK for breach of confidence, unlawful invasion of privacy, and misuse of private information and the trial is expected to begin in July.
But Mosley this week also has started criminal proceedings in France, claiming the newspaper had violated his private life (invasion of privacy taken far more seriously in France than the UK) and also for defamation (the News of The World accused the F1 chief of being involved in an orgy with Nazi connotations. He apparently does not dispute being with prostitutes, but he does dispute the Nazi connotations. A judge will be appointed in a few days.
Mosley has failed once already in getting a French court to help him. The News of the World has been prominently running a video about its Mosley accusations on its Web site, and a UK court had refused a motion to order the newspaper to withdraw it. So Mosley went to the French to try and get them to order a ban but the court ruled it had no power to issue such a ban on a British newspaper. It did rule, however, that the print edition with still pictures of the event had to be withdrawn in France.
Mosley is not the first to look for the French courts to stick it to a British newspaper. In 2005 Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, the billionaire owners of The Daily Telegraph, launched criminal libel proceedings against The Times over a report about their business activities. Two years later the case was settled out of court with The Times running a clarification about its original story.
Lawyers for the Barclays said at the time they were seeking redress in France rather than in Britain because the legal system was "quicker" and more "efficient".
That’s Not A Keffiyeh You’re Wearing?
Dunkin’ Donuts in the US has withdrawn an ad on its web site to promote its iced coffee drinks because the model was wearing a scarf that conservative bloggers said looked like a keffiyeh, the traditional headdress worn by Arab men but which the US conservatives associate with jihad.
Have things become that sensitive in the US? Apparently so.
The senior VP for communications had to explain, “In a recent online ad Rachel Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by the stylist for the advertising shoot. However, as of this past weekend we are no longer using the online ad because of the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee.”
What was Dunkin’ Donut trying to make go away? Blogs such as this one from Fox news commentator Michelle Malkin, “ It was with some dismay that I learned last week that Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman Rachael Ray, the ubiquitous TV hostess, posed for one of the company’s ads in what appeared to be a black-and-white keffiyeh. She further explained the keffiyeh “is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad.”
The Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman said, “Absolutely no symbolism was intended.”
Isn’t There A War Going On In Iraq?
The American Journalism Review has published a damning review of the massive drop-off in US media coverage of Iraq. It reported, for instance, that in the first 10 weeks of 2007 Iraq filled 23% of the terrestrial TV network newscasts; for the same period in 2008 it was 3%. According to the AP, in checking 65 newspapers in September, 2007, there were 457-related Iraq stories (154 by the news agency itself) on front pages. That figure fell, in succeeding months, to as low as 49 and it only spiked in March because of the war’s fifth anniversary.
Reasons given for the drop-off: It’s too dangerous, shrinking budgets and news space, there are bigger stories at home – the economy and elections. The New York Times foreign editor says she is content to run fewer stories, and those she does run must have “impact”. Midsize newspapers have perhaps a different agenda and are more sensitive to the human losses because it is their local community that bares that pain and sorrow.
“There is a strong local interest because we have a lot of service members over there and we have had quite a few deaths of local soldiers,” says Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan. “In my mind, there is no bigger nonlocal story. It’s the expense, the lives, the policy issues, and what it means to the country’s future. There is a general feeling that the media have tired of Iraq, but I have not.”
Good for her.
Newspapers – You’ve Got To Fight Back!
Tribune chief innovation officer Lee Abrams is out with another long, rambling memo on how newspapers need to learn from the cut-throat radio industry on how to compete in today’s modern media world. He continues in the vein of our last Abrams piece (click here) that newspapers need to be far more aggressive.
“Newspapers are not very aggressive. At least by today's standards. If a radio station had the circulation declines facing newspapers, all hell would break loose and you'd see the big guns pulled out. I don't see that in newspapers. When AOL started declining, they blew up the company. My point is that we gotta fight back....fight back to reclaim. It'll never be 1938 again, but there's no reason newspapers can't aggressively get in the 2008 competitive groove and grow again. Another committee meeting...another focus group...more debate? WHY? Ad revenue and circulation are down...consistently. Our choice: Slow drip to death by irrelevancy OR grab this thing by the hair and fight back.”
Green advertising on the rise
…surge…
Advertising with environmental themes has more than doubled in a year, says the French Agence pour l'environnement et la maîtrise de l'énergie (ADEME). Between the second half 2006 and the same period in 2007, ‘green’ ads increased as a percentage of all ads from 1.2% to 3.0%. (read more about the surge in ‘green’ media here)
“There has been a real surge,” said ADEME president Chantal Jouanno.
But, sometimes the ads are a bit misleading. And in France, that can mean a trip to court. Former Monsanto France president Jean-Pierre Princen was summoned, again, to a Nanterre court for false advertising for the famous weed-killer Roundup. According to AFP, labeling Roundup in 2002 TV ads “safe for humans, animals and the environment,” is a bit of a stretch for the court. (JMH)
Broadcaster buys into blogs
CME takes Czech portal
Central European Media Enterprises (CME) is extending its reach… into the web. The television broadcaster announced (May 27) a deal to acquire Jyxo, a Czech ISP with the blog site blog.cz. (See more on big European media companies moving into the web here)
One price is set initially, CZK 163 million, with a bonus on performance after the second year. Jyxo founder Michal Illich will join CME’s TV Nova “to head technical business development,” according to the CME presser.(JMH)
The Belgians Are Going After Google Again
Copiepresse, The Belgian copyright group, is having court papers served on Google at its Mountain View, California headquarters asking for up to €49 million ($77 million) for publishing and storing French-language Belgian newspaper content without approval from the publishers.
A court hearing is scheduled for September and figuring that Google might again use stalling tactics for which it is famous the plaintiffs are asking the court to order a provisional payment of €4 million ($6.3 million).
Google last year lost a similar lawsuit filed by Flemish and German language newspapers and it had to remove headlines and links to news stories that were stored in its search engine's cache without the copyright owners' permission. There then followed a “quiet period” in which it was thought Google and Copiepresse were working on some sort of out-of-court settlement, but apparently something has gone awry again.
Newspaper Type Too Small? Order Publisher To Use Larger Font
What do you do if you are President of a country and your failing eyesight makes it difficult to read news stories in your favorite newspaper? If you are President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe you tell your information minister to order the newspaper to increase the font size.
"We could not believe it when the minister said the President had told him to ask us to increase the size of the font. We all looked at each other amazed at what he had just said. We could not hold ourselves and openly giggled about it," said an editor who attended a meeting, according to newzimbabwe.com.
The minister explained, “the President clearly said he could not read stories in the Herald. Once when he wanted to read a story on page two about MDC and Zanu PF he failed. He called me and said (in reference to the type size) ‘Sikhanyiso what is this? Yibunyonyo (It's ants)’.”
The editors responded that the font size was a global standard and could not be changed.
Why Do Newspapers Give Their News Away For Free Online?
Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post’s very respected media correspondent, took questions from online readers Tuesday and here’s how he explains the problems facing newspapers today.
Online questioner: Why did newspapers such as the Post and the NY Times rush headlong into putting their product on the Web before knowing how they could make it pay? The result has been to create a new generation of readers who won't shell out a measly 50 cents a day to buy the paper because they can get it free online. I know you have said the Web extends the Post's reach nationally, but frankly, what good does that do if the flagship product keeps losing readers and advertising?
Howard Kurtz: Well, the truth is they had no choice. The Web is the future, and newspapers (along with networks, magazines and other Old Media folks) had to get in on the action. Among other things, the Web enables us to constantly update stories and post video, which you can't do in a once-a-day print edition. At the same time, you are giving away your product for free (except for what revenue you can wring from banner ads). I had once thought that people would be more than happy to pay pennies a day for the privilege of reading washingtonpost.com or nytimes.com or other quality sites, but experiments with charging, even for premium content, have mostly been a flop. So newspapers like The Post remain trapped in this dilemma.
And in answer to another question later he went into a bit more detail.
Howard Kurtz: The Internet is only part of the problem. Revenue and circulation are declining in part because people have a million choices about how to spend their time. People often tell pollsters they don't have "time" to read a newspaper, which is another way of saying it's not compelling or valuable enough to make a priority. I think some of these wounds are self-inflicted. During the 1980s and 1990s, when the picture was brighter, too many papers avoided controversy, delivered a bland product, and lost touch with their readers. We're now paying the price for that.
A British Correspondent’s Dismal View Of US TV Network Foreign Coverage
Matt Frei, a BBC’s Washington correspondent who also anchors the World News America program three times daily aimed primarily at the 60 million Americans who hold passports (about 25% of the population), believes the BBC has an opening there because of the cutbacks in US terrestrial network foreign news coverage.
Frei, in an Independent newspaper interview while in London to promote a new book, encapsulated the shame of the US terrestrial networks continual chopping of their overseas coverage resources. As The Independent wrote:
“The US networks still look inwards, he says, noting how Katie Couric, CBS's $15m-a-year (£7.5m) anchor, was obliged to commentate on agency pictures of the China earthquake last week, a story that was "10 minutes down" the CBS bulletin but remained the lead on all the British networks. "We can provide that bridge between the rest of the world and America that the domestic networks can't do because they haven't got the people. They've shut down all their bureaux. Most of the networks have one big bureau in London covering the rest of the world, one in Jerusalem covering the Middle East and an "embed" [correspondent] in the green zone in Baghdad. No-one in Africa, no-one in Latin America, they've completely slimmed down." Though CNN retains an impressive network of bureaux, it only offers American viewers its domestic news service, he adds.”
Frei, who has attended White House news conferences for six years, says the President has never called upon him for a question. “They just won't call me because they know it's going to be a rude question," he complains. "You don't ask the Brits."
A Message From Sir Martin Sorrell To Tom Glocer
A long Reuters interview with Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group Plc, on a variety of media matters ended last week with the Reuters interviewer thanking him for his time. Sir Martin responded, “Good luck with your merger (The Thomson-Reuters merger closed April 17), and the interviewer gently chided that the merger was complete, “We are the survivors,” the interviewer proudly stated.
Maybe, maybe not! Sir Martin got in the last word, “Sorry, It’s not done, it’s just starting. The easiest thing is to do the deal. The most difficult thing is to make it work.”
Getty Images Sale Vote June 20
Getty Images has called a special shareholders meeting for June 20 to vote on accepting Hellman & Friedman’s $2.4 billion all cash buyout offer at $34 a share.
Getty’s current share price of $33.44 indicates the markets believe the deal will go through. Getty, which calls itself “the world’s leading creator of and distributor of still imagery, footage, and multi-media products, as well as a recognized provider of other forms of premium content, including music” has been hard-hit in recent years by cheap Internet sales competition. It was only in November, 2005, that shares hit a high of $94.37. They had been languishing for a month or so in the $21-$27 area before the February, 2008, bid.
French TV viewers choose football over song contest
…it was a dark and stormy night…
Saturday nights’ TV ratings in France showed who stays at home. Médiamétrie reported the re-broadcast of the Coupe de France final on France 2 with 31.7% share and the Eurovision Song Contest with on France 3 with a 16.7% share. TF1 had a 26.1% share with an entertainment show.
The UK audience share for the Eurovision Song Contest was “just under 50%,” reported The Guardian. (JMH)
Local radio in China
searching for sources, contacts
I have been asked to write an article about local and regional radio in China and their programming plans for the Beijing Olympics for RWI. Good primary sources are not easy to locate. Do you know somebody who knows somebody?
If you are connected to local or regional radio broadcasters in China, please contact me! (JMH)
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