Tennessee rejects the RIAA’s smoke blowing
Friday, April 30th, 2004Tennessee rejects the RIAA’s smoke blowing.
The Tennessee Board of Regents has said no to the RIAA-coordinated Napster scam to line their pockets with university fees in the name of music downloading. As I wrote earlier this week, the RIAA is trying to pressure universities into paying for music downloaded by students by publicly noting — in their lawsuit press releases — which schools have been the site of illegal downloading. The RIAA thinks universities should model themselves after Penn State University and the University of Rochester, who are participating in using Napster.com to offer legal downloads to their students. It looks great on paper, but those two schools have close connections with RIAA executives, and are paying next to nothing for the Napster service. Not so with everybody else. At $9.95 a monthly pop, Tennessee’s 180,000 students would’ve given the recording industry $1,791,000 per month. According to the AP story, Tennessee school officials didn’t like the idea of another student fee.
Students already pay extra fees for student government, activities, technology initiatives and athletics. And another one would have met with some resistance from students.David Payne, a 19-year-old MTSU student, said he already pays to download music, and doesn’t think the Board of Regents should force all students to pay for such a service — especially since tuition and fees have doubled in recent years in Tennessee.
“I think music should be one of those things you go out and buy on your own if you want it,” said Payne, a 19-year-old MTSU student, who plays in a ska band called West End Stout.
Consultants to blame for USA Today scandal?
Thursday, April 29th, 2004Consultants to blame for USA Today scandal?
Here is a thoughtful piece from the New York Observer that suggests news(paper) consultants contributed to the atmosphere at USA Today that led to the Jack Kelley scandal by turning the news into a “brand.” TV news people will recognize this immediately.
Nobody knows whether the great institution of the free press in America is being shackled (sorry, restructured) by self-proclaimed experts who don’t know what they’re doing……the impressive 28-page report, written by three respected independent journalists commissioned by USA Today, on the Jack Kelley scandal. A report that doesn’t excuse Mr. Kelley’s responsibility for his fabrications, but demonstrates how his privileged status as a marketing tool—as a personification of “the brand,” as USA Today’s publisher called the newspaper—made him virtually immune to critical scrutiny.
The outside report, written by actual newsmen (Bill Kovach, John Seigenthaler and Bill Hilliard), also demonstrates how a standard management practice such as the “performance review”—supposedly designed to rationalize and humanize potentially arbitrary judgments—became the chief instrument in creating a “climate of fear” that stifled those who raised questions about Mr. Kelley’s fabrications—questions that might threaten the brand.
News on the Web should be during working hours
Thursday, April 29th, 2004News on the Web should be during working hours.
Spending time on the Internet has become the leading media choice among women–and is second only to work, sleep, and spending time with family in terms of being a valued activity and resource, according to a new study by Yahoo! and Starcom MediaVest Group and reported by MediaDailyNews. The study shows that some women frequently extend the workday to accommodate their Internet use.
Among the key findings of the research: Women most often seek out news, weather, games, and financial content on the Web; women feel justified spending time online at work for non-work activities because they are putting in longer hours than ever; and women multitask between doing work at work and surfing the ‘Net at work, alternating between purposeful searches and tuning into their favorite sites. While women browse and research online, they shop and buy both via the Web and at physical stores.The research found that the media habits of women have changed inexorably over the last 30 years or more as most women work outside the home. That suggests that marketers and online publishers will find most women in front of a PC at work, rather than the TV or any other form of media during the day. The qualitative portion of the research also found that detailing women’s overall activities in one day totaled up to a staggering 38 hours of activity within a 24-hour period. Multitasking has become mandatory.
Network execs: We’re still top dog!
Thursday, April 29th, 2004Network execs: We’re still top dog!
Despite disruptive innovations that have rocked the broadcasting industry, top level network executives defended their turf at a conference in Los Angeles Wednesday. According to an AP report, network television programming now accounts for just 45 percent of the total entertainment audience.
But executives speaking at the Milken Global Conference Wednesday were optimistic about network television’s prospects and earning power.“What time has shown is the unbelievable power of network TV,” said Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp., which owns the Fox Group. “The fact that people are still watching that much network television is a testament to its remarkable strength.”
“The only way you reach all American people is through network television,” said (Sumner Redstone, chairman and chief executive of Viacom Inc) Redstone, whose company owns CBS and several cable channels, including MTV and Nickelodeon.
The RIAA’s backdoor to your wallet
Wednesday, April 28th, 2004The RIAA’s backdoor to your wallet.
Recommended reading: The Register’s report on the RIAA’s deliberate naming of colleges and universities where students illegally download music. In announcing 477 new lawsuits today, the RIAA said that 69 of those people did the deed through universities and named Brown University; Emory University; Georgia Institute of Technology; Gonzaga University; Mansfield University; Michigan State University; Princeton University; Sacred Heart University; Texas A & M University; Trinity College (Conn.); Trinity University (Tex.); University of Kansas; University of Minnesota; and Virginia Polytechnic Institute. “Leaking” these names puts pressure on them to deal with the RIAA for legal downloads following a model created for two other schools.
As part of the pilot agreements, students at Penn State and Rochester get free music at almost no cost at all to their schools.The Napster service allows students to download as many songs as they like for free onto a network-connected PC, with the schools, in theory, fronting the $9.95 per month charge for this service. If the student actually wants to keep the song for after-university use, they can pay 99 cents per tune to download the track onto an MP3 player or to burn the track on a CD.
In reality, however, the schools have admitted they receive massive discounts for the Napster service - close to free. Still, the RIAA bills Penn State and Rochester as the models deviant institutions should follow.
The problem for the other schools is that, unlike RIAA chums Penn State and Rochester, they will have to pay and pay big for Napster. So the “model” is a bit flawed.”
The actual “model” for the schools works out like this. If you have 10,000 students, the Napster cost would be close to $100,000 per month or more than $1m a year. For schools the size of Texas A & M University with tens of thousands of students, we’re talking many millions of dollars.
The total one-year Napster cost for just the schools mentioned today by the RIAA would be close to $27m.
New essay: News as a sporting event
Tuesday, April 27th, 2004New essay: News as a sporting event.
One of the most subtle shifts in news reporting in my lifetime was a drift from the basic facts of a story to one wherein blame was assigned as a part of the lead.
“Two Nashville men were killed today in a fiery car accident on highway 431.” This is a factual lead for a news event.
“Police say alcohol played a role in a fiery car accident that killed two Nashville men today on highway 431.”
This is what I call “sporting event” news, where the writer or anchor plays the role of color commentator to interject understanding into the story. It completely alters the focus of the story and elevates “how” and “how come” over the basic who, what, why, where and when of elementary reporting.
ESSAY — News As A Sporting Event
Why I love the Web, #3,756
Tuesday, April 27th, 2004Why I love the Web, #3,756.
Here’s a guy selling the wedding dress of his ex-wife on eBay. Reality is always funnier than fiction. Read the whole thing.
Simple money-making Web ideas.
Monday, April 26th, 2004Simple money-making Web ideas.
For those who complain about the lack of ideas for making money off your station’s Website, there’s The TV Guru, former Cleveland TV exec, Richard Sullivan. His newsletter is filled with case studies of station projects that can be duplicated anywhere. Richard has hit on something that should be helpful to many people. To the best of my knowledge, there’s no one else researching the subject and providing case studies for all to read. Pass it on to your sales department.
Does the press represent the public?
Monday, April 26th, 2004Does the press represent the public?
This is a question posed by Jay Rosen in a wonderful post on his blog, Press Think, yesterday. It’s worthwhile reading and has generated considerable discussion in the form of comments. In a nutshell, Rosen believes the Bush administration has developed a policy regarding the press that is both new and deserving of attention.
…Bush and his advisors have their own press think, which they are trying out as policy. Reporters do not represent the interests of a broader public. They aren’t a pipeline to the people, because people see through the game of Gotcha. The press has forfeited, if it ever had, its quasi-official role in the checks and balances of government. Here the Bush Thesis is bold. It says: there is no such role.
Music downloads are up (or down)
Monday, April 26th, 2004Music downloads are up (or down).
Here we have the case of a press release that is open to interpretation. The fun is in the headlines.
The Washington Post - Americans Head Back Online For Music
An estimated 6 million people have stopped downloading copyrighted music from the Internet over fears that they may sued by the recording industry, but the overall number of Americans who download music is rising with the popularity of iTunes, Napster and other legitimate online music services, according to a survey released today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
The Associated Press - Study: Legal Fears Scare Away Downloaders
Driven largely by fears of copyright lawsuits, more than 17 million Americans, or 14 percent of adult Internet users, have stopped downloading music over the Internet, a survey finds.
SiliconValley.com - Music downloads on the rise again
Internet music downloading is rising again, even as the recording industry’s relentless anti-piracy campaign has scared millions of adults away from unauthorized file-swapping networks.
Flag-draped coffin story advances
Friday, April 23rd, 2004Flag-draped coffin story advances.
The Pentagon is quite upset about all the interest in pictures of flag-draped coffins of dead U.S. Servicemen. As I told you yesterday, a woman and her husband lost their cargo jobs in Kuwait, because a photo she took showed up in the Seattle Times. Then (ironically) the Pentagon released 350 similar photos to Russ Kick, the operator of The Memory Hole Website under a Freedom Of Information Act request. Since 1991, the Pentagon has banned the taking of such photos while apparently taking plenty themselves.
Most of the commentary about this so far has centered on politics. The Bush administration is being accused of trying to hide the fact that U.S. Servicemen are dying in Iraq. That’s a debatable point, and I see the real story as this: A citizen journalist took a photo that cost her a job while shining a light on the issue of the Pentagon’s rule, etc. Another citizen journalist obtained 350 Pentagon photos that further informed the American people.
It’s entertaining, albeit sad, to watch the traditional media fall all over each other to advance a story that they had little, if anything, to do with generating.
(NOTE: The Memory Hole Website’s pipe is clogged with traffic.)
Contextual advertising’s humorous side
Friday, April 23rd, 2004Contextual advertising’s humorous side.
Maybe it’s because I write about these things from time-to-time, but I notice contextual online ads, especially those offered by Google’s artificial intelligence. Of course, it could just be that I spend too much time on the Web. In certain environments, the ads work just fine, and by “work” I mean the businesses that are advertised seem in context with the page upon which they are delivered. Other times, though, whew!
It’s not on my blogroll, but I read Don Fitzpatrick’s Watercooler every day. It’s a glorified bulletin board that used to be a place where TV news people could talk about TV news. It’s overrun by morons and political antagonists these days, but that’s beside the point. Alongside the list of threads sit those Google contextual ads, and they produce some laughable results. One thread was about people wearing flip-flops in a newsroom (apparently this is not an acceptable practice). Mind you, this is one of about 20 threads on a list, but Google gave us four places where we could buy sandals and flip-flops. Then, there was a thread about John Kerry’s flip-flopping, and, yup, more ads for sandals. This morning, we’re given flip-flop pendants and other jewelry. A thread about photos of coffins of dead U.S. Servicemen produced ads for Mariners tickets, because the original photo was published in Seattle.
The Register — that wonderful technical news pub from England — also uses Google contextual ads (who doesn’t?) with similar, humorous results. A story about a new 419 email generated ads for more information about Islam, because the email is purportedly from a Muslim. A wonderful story about a postal worker reselling stolen items on eBay offers ads for clarinets, because the instrument was mentioned in the piece.
I’ve said before that contextual ads don’t belong in a news environment, and you can bet that serious advertisers will stay away from this — at least for awhile. Imagine the Google ads that a plane crash or automobile accident could generate. It wouldn’t be funny then.
Contractor fires citizen journalist in Kuwait
Thursday, April 22nd, 2004Contractor fires citizen journalist in Kuwait.
It’s a sign of the times in our new world of citizen journalism, and one of the big problems the genre faces downstream. The Seattle Times reports that Tami Silicio, the cargo worker who took this photo — which was published by the Times Sunday — has been fired by her employer in Kuwait. She said she hoped the image would help families understand the care with which fallen soldiers are returned home. Since 1991, the Pentagon has banned the media from taking pictures of caskets being returned to the United States, and her employer apparently had no choice but to give her the boot. They also fired her co-worker husband.
There’s a lot that could be said about this, but I’m going to limit comments to the idea that Tami was functioning in the capacity of a citizen journalist. One, she was fired for violating a Pentagon policy that applies to the news media. Does this then mean that private citizens, who function “like” the press, are, in fact, members of the press? Whoa, Nelly! This is a nice can of worms, methinks. Secondly, think of the ramifications of this in light of all the concern over cellphone cameras turning the entire citizenry into investigative reporters. Oh my!
If you can allow yourself to step back far enough, what’s happening is a further crumbling of the institution of the press and a further enabling of an uncontrollable citizen media. Gawd, it’s a great time to be alive.
“Get your 419 T-shirts.”
Wednesday, April 21st, 2004“Get your 419 T-shirts.”
A 419, according to the 419 Coalition, is also “referred to as “Advance Fee Fraud”, “419 Fraud” (Four-One-Nine) after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria, and “The Nigerian Connection” (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually called plain old “419″ even by the Nigerians themselves.” That’s right. All those Nigerian spam emails (parodied here) are known as 419s. And now, inspired by the 419s, the funny folks at The Register have come up with one of their Cash-n-Carrion T-shirts. Be the first on your block.
The echo chamber meme strikes again
Wednesday, April 21st, 2004The echo chamber meme strikes again.
I’m beginning to think that those who foster this concept are really afraid of it, for the pejorative “echo chamber” is really just an illusion, and yet it just won’t go away. Take Mark Glaser’s latest article for the Online Journalism Review, “EchoChamber.com: Is the Net Polarizing U.S. Political Dialogue?“
The Internet is seething with political vitriol, with so many partisan message boards, niche political sites and Weblogs. But the public’s taste for ideological journalism might be more for theater than for closing itself to opposing viewpoints.
Lippmann’s whole thing was a belief that people are stupid and need an educated, professional class to lead them. I reject that and am glad that I’ve been able to witness the revolt in my lifetime. People who dismiss citizen journalism through blogging as an echo chamber are seriously delusional and the real blind leading the blind. It’s not about statistics or influence or niches or theater. What we’re witnessing is the return of argument to journalism, and the country is so much better off for it. I read lots of different things, thanks to the Internet, and I think I’m much more average than the echo chamber theorists would have you believe.
Do they really believe THAT?
Wednesday, April 21st, 2004Do they really believe THAT?
The talented Catherine Seipp delivers a stinging indictment in the National Review of the media’s ability to fool itself.
And media people used to be embarrassed at not being able to analyze statistics or even understand basic science; but again, no longer. The feminization (and psychotherapization) of American culture so influences the newsroom now that gut feelings are too often treated with the respect of hard facts.Ignorant media people irritate me more than ignorant regular people because not only do they have easier access to information (and therefore no excuse), they can be a big part of the problem in the first place — spreading misinformation because they’re too lazy and complacent to bother educating themselves. Or for ratings. Or just because they can.
This is a fun view of a serious issue for news people. Good stuff, Cathy.
When is cross promotion too much?
Wednesday, April 21st, 2004When is cross promotion too much?
I’ve often stated here that at some point in my 28 years in TV News, the business changed from gathering news to managing audience flow. As an old colleague once said, “Little did we know when we became a profit center that one day we’d have to play by the rules.”
That said, there’s a biting commentary in Newsday that I would put on the “must reading” list today. Verne Gay takes on NBC’s orgy of “The Donald” last week that culminated in a plethora of stories and interviews on every NBC News program leading up to and following the 2-hour conclusion of “The Apprentice.”
Viewers may - or certainly should - begin to wonder about the financial tie-ins between NBC and every other entertainment-related story to air on both programs. That long Sarah Jones profile on “Today” last week? Surprise! She’s got a series coming up on NBC-owned Bravo next season. That interview with Rocco DiSpirito on Monday’s show? You guessed right! “The Restaurant” premiered that night. (”Today” typically, and very briefly, identifies the network tie-in.)Upon the completion of the deal to buy Vivendi Universal next month, NBC News will face an avalanche of new promotional opportunities, which (NBC News president Neal) Shapiro admits “is something we’re going to need to deal with.” Stars from the Sci Fi Channel and USA Network as well as Universal movies would just love a sit-down with Katie. The message from coverage of “The Apprentice”: All they have to do is get in line.
But the real issue for me is whether local broadcast companies will continue to follow the same path. Why not? Programming tie-ins are commonplace on local news under the guise of covering “pop culture.” I once begged the folks at the Oprah show to let my reporter do a behind-the-scenes sweeps series. I actually got on my knees and begged! (it worked)
There’s an old saying that “truth will out.” I believe that. The longer the broadcast news business continues to cling to journalism’s artificial hegemony (objectivity), the more it will be manipulated by owners, and the closer we come to the outing of truth. That’s the silver lining in all this — dropping the self-deceit and bullshit about what it is that we do and reinventing ourselves for a better tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I genuinely weep for the countless good people who are caught in the mess that the news business has become.
PSRA disses the word “reporting” in Video News Releases
Tuesday, April 20th, 2004PSRA disses the word “reporting” in Video News Releases.
VNR’s shouldn’t contain the word “reporting” if the narrator is not a reporter. That’s the word today from the Public Relations Society of America (site) in a release to Jay Rosen’s Press Think. This comes in the wake of the Karen Ryan DHHS Video News Release that slipped past the guard at CNN and found its way to the airwaves of scores of local television stations.
I agree with Jay that this is a smart move on the part of the PR establishment. I might even be inclined to say it’s a good PR move, but that would be an awful pun.
New sports viewing study reflects (another) broadcasting weakness
Tuesday, April 20th, 2004New sports viewing study reflects (another) broadcasting weakness.
The amount of time consumers spend watching sports on broadcast and cable networks declined for the first time in recent history, according to the annual “TV Sports Report” by Magna Global USA. MediaDailyNews reports that while ESPN and Fox noted gains, broadcast networks took it on the chin.
The development is ironic given that the number of options for watching TV sports continues to grow, but that in an indirect way may be a factor limiting the growth of ad-supported broadcast and cable network sports. A significant amount of that expansion has gone to regional sports networks, pay-per-view and satellite TV services that are not reflected in the analysis.The Magna analysts noted that if these disparate sources were factored into the analysis, “we’d likely see an overall increase.” Even so, those gains would likely have come at the expense from the major ad-supported TV sports players, which have shelled out hefty sports rights fees to lock up the premium nationally televised sports.
Spam doubles. Now one-third of all email
Tuesday, April 20th, 2004Spam doubles. Now one-third of all email.
That’s the conclusion of a new study by IDC, the IT and telecommunications research company. According to their press release, IDC estimates that spam represented 32% of all email sent on an average day in North America in 2003, essentially doubling from 2001.
The negative business impact of spam is measured in millions of dollars annually for larger organizations. Adding to this, three-quarters of the IT executives responding to an IDC survey feel the spam problem will get worse in the next 2 years. IT executives feel strongly that government legislation will have little to no effect on the spam problem.