October 2008

Spanish Political Ads' Multiple Translations

How fitting that the most Latinized presidential campaign season in history enters its final week with the Democratic candidate looking deep into our eyes and carefully pronouncing 65 words in Spanish. Just two questions about Barack Obama's new television ad: What is he saying, and to whom is he saying it? But what is he saying, and who gets it? Also, what was the point of buying 30 minutes on Univision last night to run a translated version of his "American Stories" infomercial that simultaneously aired on several English-language networks? The same can be asked of Republican candidate John McCain, who has aired several commercials with his spoken English translated into Spanish. Is this just a little bit of linguistic showing off? Most Latino registered voters don't need to be addressed in Spanish. Those born in the United States tend to speak English fluently, and those naturalized as citizens had to pass an English test. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that 84 percent of Latino voters speak English very well or pretty well.

Change of scenery in DC

Whether Barack Obama or John McCain wins the presidency next week, the Washington-Hollywood social nexus is likely to change. An Obama presidency would do the most to alter the landscape of DC's social scene and the way that industry figures carry out their favorite causes. Obama also could display a propensity as chief executive to call on Hollywood for help. It would surely be a contrast to nearly eight years in which President Bush has all but shunned the entertainment industry and its trappings.

Shock: Drudge loses his grip on US media!

[Commentary] The decline of Drudge is part of a broader shift in the US media, both old and new, towards the Democratic party. Drudge's dominance has been undermined by competition. His sensibility infuriated so many people that left-leaning sites such as the Daily Kos sprung up to challenge him. Lately, his thunder has been stolen by the Huffington Post, an unlikely blend of leftwing blogging, reporting and aggregation founded by Arianna Huffington, the media gadfly. The Huffington Post has leapt past the Drudge Report in traffic, attracting 4.5m unique users in September, compared with 2.1m for Drudge and 2.4m for Politico, a political news site. While Mr Drudge picks out stories that could hurt Mr Obama, the Huffington Post does the opposite, highlighting anything that makes Mr McCain look bad. This shift leftwards online has been matched on cable television, where Fox News, the rightwing news channel, has increasingly faced its mirror image at MSNBC. The latter's leftish talk-show hosts, Keith Olbermann and now Rachel Maddow, a chirpy gay liberal, dish out scorn about Republicans in opposition to Bill O'Reilly and others at Fox. The effect is not just to balance out Mr Drudge and Mr O'Reilly but to place old-school media objectivity, as practised by US newspapers, under pressure.

Don't fear the fairness doctrine

[Commentary] Here's the truth: the fairness doctrine is never, ever coming back. And that's a good thing. If you want more balance and variety on the airwaves, the fairness doctrine won't do it. It's a poorly designed, constitutionally dubious policy - one that failed to meet its arguably well-intentioned purpose the first time around. The old fairness doctrine was infrequently enforced and easy to avoid. Only a miniscule number of complaints filed were ever taken up by the federal communications commission. And despite the heated rhetoric in the conservative press, progressives should remember that a new fairness doctrine would cut both ways. For every complaint about some noxious shock jock's rant, there's sure to be a coordinated attack on "liberal advocacy journalism". The government simply shouldn't be in the speech-regulating business. Instead of bureaucrats deciding what constitutes balance, we need policies that encourage the expression of diverse points of view. Political imbalance on the radio dial shouldn't be blamed on the fairness doctrine's demise. The real culprit is runaway media consolidation. The biggest companies like Clear Channel and Cumulus have swallowed up hundreds of local stations, shuttering newsrooms and supplanting local talent to pipe in the same cookie-cutter, mostly conservative content from coast to coast.

Yahoo, AOL in due diligence on combination: source

Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL unit are looking at each other's books to figure out how much money they could make together and where costs can be saved, a person familiar with the talks said on Wednesday, indicating a merger may finally be on the way. While noting a deal was not imminent, the source said the two companies have engaged in "meaningful" due diligence about a possible combination for the past couple of weeks. Talks are focused on how to integrate AOL's content and advertising business into Yahoo, said the source. Yahoo and Time Warner began talks several months ago, when the Internet company was looking for an alternative growth strategy to fend off a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft.

Consumer group opposes Google, Yahoo partnership

US Public Interest Group, a consumer organization, is opposing Google's plan to share advertising with rival Yahoo, saying it could harm consumer privacy, according to a letter sent to the US Attorney General. PIRG argued that advertisers who try to compete with Google and Yahoo, which together have more than 80 percent of the search advertising market, will be forced to collect more information on Internet users because they would not be able to compete with the market leaders on price. The result would be a loss of privacy for consumers, the group said.

How Different Media Have Covered the General Election

When it comes to coverage of the campaign for president 2008, where one goes for news makes a difference. In cable, the evidence firmly suggests there now really is an ideological divide between two of the three channels, at least in their coverage of the campaign. On the evening newscasts of the three traditional networks, in contrast, there is no such ideological split. Indeed, on the nightly newscasts of ABC, CBS and NBC, coverage tends to be more neutral and generally less negative than elsewhere. On the network morning shows, Sarah Palin is a bigger story than she is in the media generally. Online, meanwhile, polling tended to drive the news. And on the front pages of newspapers, which often have the day-after story, things look tougher for John McCain than they tend to in the media overall.

Obama's Record Fundraising Fails to Benefit TV Station Owners

Television stations are finding as political campaigns end that Sen Barack Obama's record $600 million fundraising isn't turning into an advertising bonanza. A lack of competitive big-state Senate races, falling interest-group outlays and Sen John McCain's decision to accept campaign spending limits have led to a shortfall. "We were very surprised at the lack of growth," said Kip Cassino, research director at Borrell Associates, an advertising consultant. "It puts the stations in a much worse spot than they thought they'd be in." Political ads were supposed to be the bright spot for station owners E.W. Scripps Co., Belo Corp. and Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. in a year marred by less spending by auto dealers. Instead, campaign spending on local TV will fall to $984.3 million from 2004's $1.05 billion, Cassino said. Total ad sales for local TV will fall 8 percent this year, he said.

Will Viewers Tune in to Obama's Half-Hour Ad?

Call it Barack Obama's $3.5 million gamble, but as the Obama campaign readies to air a half-hour TV program at 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday on major broadcast and some cable networks, the question is will it actually work? The real test of the ad's success is a three-part one. First, will it be seen at all, or will viewers ignore it? Second, will the ad really convert undecided voters or motivate already committed Obama voters to get out and vote? Finally, even if viewers don't view the ad, will its airing fuel enough discussion in the press, on TV and radio talk shows and at water coolers of the issues it mentions or the ad itself to be worth the spending? Because there is no recent history of half-hour campaign ads in the presidential race—the last one was aired by third-party candidate Ross Perot in 1992—none of the answers is readily apparent.

Senators To FCC: Put The Brakes On Nov. 4 Telecom Reform

Sens Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), John Tester (D-MT), Max Baucus (D-MT), Christopher Bond (R-MO), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) have written the Federal Communications Commission asking the FCC to rethink its timeframe regarding next week's vote on a proposed order for intercarrier compensation and Universal Service Fund (USF) reform. They say that the FCC should "postpone moving forward with this proposal until more steps have been taken to weigh the potential disadvantages to rural customers." The senators also requested that "the proposal be published in the Federal Register, and the FCC seek public comment on these very important issues." The letter continues: "While your stated goal is to encourage broadband deployment, we are concerned your proposal may actually hinder this process. While our home states and other states with large rural areas continue to make strides in expanding their wireless and broadband capabilities, there are still areas having no service or unreliable service. Sens John Cornyn (R-TX), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) and David Vitter (R-LA) have sent individual letters to the FCC expressing their opposition to the order.

Benton

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