Submitted by Bob Burton on
In early June George W. Bush announced he was nominating sitcom producer, Warren Bell, to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The corporation funds public radio and television programming.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Reflecting on his 50 years of reporting Washington politics, Washington Post journalist, Walter Pincus, notes that media coverage has "become dominated by increasingly sophisticated public relations practitioners, primarily in the White House and other agencies of government." Writing in an edition of the Nieman Reports on the theme of "journalistic courage", Pincus argues that "journalistic courage should include the refusal to publish in a newspaper or carry on a TV or radio news show any state
Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on
"Adult shopping decisions might be affected by a sociological change called 'age compression'--the idea that kids may be getting older younger and demanding adult products," reports Andrea Canning. By ABC's count, kids are demanding cell phones, iPods, and may even want Japan's nonalcoholic "Kids'Beer." The story twice quotes Paul Kurnit, president of KidsShop Youth Marketing Company: "There is focus on a more savvy, more informed, more inclusive kid today," he notes.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
"Next time you see an 'exclusive' tag on a story about state politics, stop and have a closer look. The chances are that the story, far from being a feat of journalistic endeavor, is what we call in the trade 'a drop,'" writes Anne Davies in the Sydney Morning Herald. "You'll be able to tell it's a drop because it's likely to quote one side of politics only. This is often a condition of the drop." Drops, especially those in Sunday papers, help politicians influence the week's media agenda.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Archived internal BBC documents from the 1980's, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under Freedom of Information legislation, reveal that the British spy service, MI5, was used to vet existing and potential staff at the public broadcaster. The paper reported that the documents revealed that "at one stage it [MI5] was responsible for vetting 6300 BBC posts - almost a third of the total workforce." The BBC adopted "categorical denial" as its "defensive strategy" to deflect questions about the practice by unions.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Lance Price, who worked as a media adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1998 and 2001, writes that Rupert Murdoch "seemed like the 24th member of the cabinet. His voice was rarely heard ...
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Kate Corcoran, an account executive at the New York-based PR firm Articulate Communications, told PR Week that one of the benefits of audio news releases that run to a 60-second script is control. "This allows the message to be delivered in the exact way the company chooses," she said.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The Canadian government has until the end of June to respond to a legal action by CanWest MediaWorks, which wants to overturn the ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. CanWest MediaWorks, which owns a national television network in Canada, lodged the claim in December 2005.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
STRATCOM, the U.S. military's Strategic Operations Command, has awarded its new contract for foreign media monitoring to SOS International. Perennial Pentagon favorite the Rendon Group formerly held the contract. SOS will track "foreign press in several languages across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Mexico with a focus on the so-called Global War on Terrorism," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The tentacles of the transnational mediopolies reach deeper into racial and ethnic communities than ever before," warns media analyst and activist Makani Themba-Nixon. "For some, this is a triumph in diversity. Big corporations reaching consumers of color is something they say we should celebrate. However, this market penetration has gone hand in hand with decreasing media ownership by people of color. ... Diversity in staffing (especially at the top) is closely tied to diversity in ownership.
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