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Brian Stelter
New York Investigates a Yardstick for Radio
Submitted by Benton Foundation on September 10, 2008 - 7:48amLast updated: September 10, 2008 - 7:48am
The New York attorney general's office said Tuesday that it was opening an investigation into the way that Arbitron, which measures audiences for radio stations, is deploying devices called personal people meters.
Television Starts to Court the Young Voter
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:26amLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 7:26am
Television networks are assigning reporters to a new beat this election year: people who don't watch the evening news. Young people are catnip for advertisers, but they mostly shun TV, and especially news broadcasts.
Endorsement From Winfrey Quantified: A Million Votes
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 11, 2008 - 7:31amLast updated: August 11, 2008 - 7:31am
Economists Craig Garthwaite and Timothy Moore of the University of Maryland, College Park have found a correlation between subscriptions to O: The Oprah Magazine, sales figures for books that were included in Oprah Winfrey's book club and votes for Sen Barack Obama (D-IL).
Media Outlets are Still Seeking a Campaign Bounce of Their Own
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 4, 2008 - 8:41amLast updated: August 4, 2008 - 8:42am
Capitalizing on the interest in this year's election has been hot or miss for mainstream news media.
Griping Online? Comcast Hears You and Talks Back
Submitted by Benton Foundation on July 25, 2008 - 6:57amLast updated: July 25, 2008 - 6:57am
Comcast uses readily available online tools to monitor public comments on blogs, message boards and social networks for any mention of the nation's largest cable company. When employees find a complaint, they contact the source to try to defuse the problem.
Networks Fight Shorter Olympic Leash
Submitted by Benton Foundation on July 21, 2008 - 7:36amLast updated: July 21, 2008 - 7:36am
For several years now NBC has meticulously planned all the details for its coverage of the many sports events at the Summer Olympics in China. But with the Games only 19 days away, many at the network are concerned about how they will be permitted to cover any unscheduled events, like political protests or government crackdowns — or whether the Chinese government will allow them to cover such things at all.
The Facebooker Who Friended Obama
Submitted by Benton Foundation on July 7, 2008 - 7:09amA look at Chris Hughes, one of the four founders of Facebook. In early 2007, he left the company to work in Chicago on Senator Barack Obama’s new-media campaign. Leaving behind his company at such a critical time would appear to require some cognitive dissonance: political campaigns, after all, are built on handshakes and persuasion, not computer servers, and Hughes has watched, sometimes ruefully, as Facebook has marketed new products that he helped develop.
Cable Channels Gain on Broadcast Networks
Submitted by Benton Foundation on June 24, 2008 - 7:46amPreliminary figures for advance sales indicate that the cable channels will collectively sell about $8 billion in airtime to advertisers this season, up 7 to 8 percent from last year’s total.
Reporters Say Networks Put Wars on Back Burner
Submitted by Benton Foundation on June 23, 2008 - 8:15amLast updated: June 23, 2008 - 8:16am
Getting a story on the evening news isn't easy for any correspondent. And for reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is especially hard, according to Lara Logan, the chief foreign correspondent for CBS News.
Was Press a War ‘Enabler’? 2 Offer a Nod From Inside
Submitted by Benton Foundation on May 30, 2008 - 7:33amIn his new memoir, “What Happened,” Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, said the national news media neglected their watchdog role in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, calling reporters “complicit enablers” of the Bush administration’s push for war.
