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For what seems an eternity TV people have sought to explain declining audiences. Shareholders and investors want something to hold on to, a glimmer of hope. The advertising people, not waiting, jumped to TV-like opportunities on social media.
A new theory has emerged, filled with socio-economic significance. A fall in the unemployment rate correlates to drops in television consumption, offered investment bank Oddo-BHF Securities media analyst Jerome Bodin, quoted by Les Echos (November 28). He looked at contemporaneous data in seven countries over several and found sufficiently high correlation. Out goes the evil Netflix theory? Maybe not.
He went on to observe that advertising people should be OK with this and even accept higher spot rates. If TV audiences, even when smaller, are more likely to be employed they are better ad targets. "From a commercial point of view, it is more interesting for an advertiser to target an asset, even if its television consumption is declining.” Unemployment rate, he said, is a “principal variable.”
Alas, there are other variables underlying changes to TV viewing. French media institute Médiamétrie and ad saleshouse Publicis found that more sunshine, particularly in spring and autumn seasons, has a negative effect on TV audience ratings.
Are the Les Echos reporters giving up on the evil Netflix theory? “Not quite. The growing place of SVoD in (audience) habits, especially among younger viewers, obviously weighs in.”
News reporting on women’s issues has achieved greater prominence in recent years. They are, after all, 49.6% of the world’s population, according to the most recent World Bank statistics on gender. Remarkably, those numbers are from 2013. Still, in an expanding number of countries media outlets are employing more women as executives, reporters, editors, producers and the entire range of duties performed, including on board of directors. This tracks with the rise of women in professions, academia, services, skills and politics.
Two weeks ago UK daily The Guardian (November 14), Katherine Viner being editor-in-chief, reported on one of its competitors, the Financial Times (FT), adopting a software tool to inform editors and writers of gender disparity in sources quoted. Well, of course; in that great pool of experts there are just as many qualified women as men. The FT calls it the “She said, He said” bot.
For the FT this is about readership as much as gender equity. “Desks that use quotes from a high proportion of women also feature more women in their pictures, and their articles are well read by women,” explained FT deputy editor Roula Khalaf in an internal email quoted by the Guardian article. Major FT competitor Bloomberg announced a similar initiative, software included, across all platforms in October. A King’s College London Global Institute for Women's Leadership study released in July showed 80% of “experts” quoted by the online platforms of major UK news outlets were men.
It would seem, the Financial Times and Bloomberg being bellwethers of digital journalism, this would be a subject of significant interest within journalism tribes worldwide. Not so; some traction in the English language, zero in French or German.
Television news readers and news-oriented talkshow hosts have, arguably, an outsized role in opinion making. Those with the best developed on-air skills, not to forget wardrobe, are set above the rest. Research over decades in many countries shows that certain individuals on TV are granted high levels of credibility based, mainly, on voice, physical characteristics and mannerisms.
In the modern age, many broadcast news readers verbalize words written by others, the behind-the-scenes reporters and producers. In some news organizations the news reader - presenter role is kept separate from reporting to avoid confusion. A confused viewer is not well-served. (See more about TV news here)
For news readers employed by Catalan public broadcaster CCMA the rules are explicit. "Professionals working for the CCMA in the preparation and presentation of informational content can not advertise or participate in trade promotions, regardless of the contractual arrangements linking them with the company, if its public screening is associated with the medium where they work,” says the company style guide.
The Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC), however, is looking into the role of a different employment category: hosts of magazine shows and “infotainment” programs that may, sometimes, invade the journalistic space. It is not uncommon to see these show hosts appearing in supermarket or automobile dealer ads. Some appear in PR films. This extra work can pay really well. (See more about media in Spain here)
The CAC has asked the broadcaster to “find standards of conduct that are applicable to all the programs that include Informative content.” TV3 is the major television broadcaster in Catalunya and is partly supported by advertising. Therein lies the potential for confusion.
Investigative reporting tackles more than corrupt lawyers and the wild-eyed dictators who love them. This week (November 26) ICIJ partners and affiliates unloaded a trove of reports on medical devices and the spotty, often nonexistent regulations meant to keep real people safe. This particular effort - called the Implant Files - began with Dutch investigative reporter Jet Schouten. She and associates at public broadcaster AVROTROS went undercover in 2014 beginning a detailed investigation of the medical device certification and trade processes in 36 countries. They released a TV documentary in January 2016.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) came to international prominence with collaborative reporting on the Panama Papers just two years ago, though it was founded in 1997. The group won a Pulitzer Prize (2017) for Explanatory Reporting. Collaboration is no longer the exception in investigative practice.
When ICIJ became involved in November 2017 data specialists were among the 252 reporters and 59 news organizations. The Associated Press (AP) worked a US Food and Drug Administration database of manufacturers and user outcomes. As nothing similar existed internationally, the ICIJ created one of 70,000 device recalls and safety notices from 11 countries. Unlike the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, the Implant Files reporting did not, however, involve a data leak, yet. (See more about investigative reporting here)
In addition to AVROTROS in the Netherlands and the AP, contributors to the Implant Files reporting include US TV channel NBC News, UK public broadcaster BBC, Australian public broadcaster ABC, Dutch daily Trouw, UK daily The Guardian and British Medical Journal, French daily Le Monde, German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, Indian daily The Indian Express, Canadian daily Toronto Star, Canadian public broadcaster CBC, Irish daily The Irish Times, Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, Italian daily L’Espresso, Spanish broadcaster LaSexta and daily El Confidencial. Those outlets and many more headlined the results this week. All promised to continue the investigations.
Among the legitimate tools of investigative reporting is, within ethical boundaries, subterfuge. Mob bosses, politicians and others engaged in evil-doing finding their words or actions recorded, transcribed and broadcast for all to witness are less than pleased but, fortunately, rather powerless. Undercover reporting is often quite effective in afflicting the comfortable.
Last Friday evening agents of Poland’s Internal Security Agency (Agencji Bezpieczenstwa Wewnetrznego - ABW) entered the residence of Piotr Wacowski and presented a summons to appear before the Public Prosecutor’s Office on charges, quite serious in Poland, of “promoting Nazism,” reported press.pl (November 26). Piotr Wacowski is a television documentary writer/producer for privately-owned channel TVN. He had appeared, under-cover, in a documentary about neo-Nazis in Poland. A hidden camera captured this, and more. The documentary was broadcast last January. (See more about investigative reporting here)
"The documentary authors acted in accordance with all standards of investigative journalism,” said a TVN statement. “Putting a person who discloses criminal activities on an equal footing with criminals is an attempt to intimidate journalists.” TVN is the top-rated national television in Poland, owned by US-based Discovery Communications. Since coming to power in 2015, the governing right-wing populist nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has grumbled about “re-Polanizing” the country’s media sector. (See more about media in Poland here)
Legitimate news outlets, always under threat from PiS operatives, were outraged. "These allegations are absurd,” wrote Gazeta Wyborcza journalist Wojciech Czuchnowski in an open letter (November 25). “He performed his work well. Thanks to him, the public was able to see Polish neo-fascists for the first time. It is so obvious that the "promoting of Nazism" objection seems to be an act of exceptionally ill-will of the present power.” The letter was undersigned by journalists from Onet, TOK FM, Fakt, Newsweek Polska, Rzeczpospolita and Radio Zet.
Charges against Piotr Wacowski were dropped, unceremoniously, over the weekend, the Public Prosecutor’s Office saying they were “premature,” reported onet.pl (November 26).
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