Benton RSS Feed
OVERWHELMING NEWS, EXCEPT IN PRIME TIME
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
On the night after the deadliest shooting spree in American history, the nation's most popular TV networks weren't covering the grim news during their prime-time hours. Instead, it was escapism as usual: ABC had "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Bachelor," Fox carried "24," CBS stuck with "Two and a Half Men," and NBC showed "Deal or No Deal." Which raises a question: Just how big does a story have to be these days to get the broadcast networks to pay attention during their most watched hours? More than a decade ago, faced with declining audiences and the choices of airing more profitable sitcoms and dramas, the networks began to cut back on coverage of the political conventions, presidential addresses and election-night results. More often than not, entertainment, not news, rules.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR200704...
(requires registration)
-- See also --
* Channel 9 to Shut Its 'Eye on Washington'
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: John Maynard]
Washington (DC) TV station WUSA is pulling the plug on its weekend political round-table show, "Eye on Washington." The national public affairs show and the Saturday half-hour local newscast that followed will be replaced by "Entertainment Tonight."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR200704...
(requires registration)
Overwhelming News, Except in Prime Time
WHY IGNORING OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBOR MATTERS
[SOURCE: Miami Herald, AUTHOR: Edward Wasserman]
[Commentary] Amid all the wailing over the decline of U.S. journalism, word that The Washington Post is shutting its Toronto bureau was barely audible. The Post follows The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times in ending full-time coverage of this country's northern neighbor. By this summer, The Toronto Star reports, no U.S. newspaper will have a staff correspondent in Canada. So why should you care? After all, if Canada were brimming with news U.S. readers would naturally demand to know what was happening there, and metro papers here would oblige. But by conventional U.S. standards of newsworthiness Canada is a nullity. If it's true, as Churchill remarked of the Balkans, that some places produce more history than they consume, Canada would be the opposite, a black hole that imports trends, culture, politics, histories from elsewhere -- from Scotland, England, France, the United States and, lately, the West Indies and South Asia -- and emits no perceptible light. At least that would be the explanation a budget-minded U.S. news executive might offer. The problem with that is that it says more about the wafer-thin imagination of our journalists than the realities of contemporary Canada. And I think it also says something about the weirdly selective way in which our media deem certain parts of the world worthy of notice.
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/75279.html
Why ignoring our northern neighbor matters
THE CRISIS OF CONSOLIDATION IN BAY AREA NEWS MEDIA
[SOURCE: Grade the News, AUTHOR: Philip J. Trounstine]
[Commentary] The core counties of the San Francisco Bay Area -- Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara and the contiguous portion of Solano County – have a population of about six million people. In addition to their seven county governments, they include scores of cities, towns, sheriff’s and police departments; school boards, planning commissions, municipal and superior courts; universities and community colleges; water, solid waste and air boards; transportation commissions and public utility, weed-abatement and mosquito control boards, and many more government bodies. In this region, one newspaper company -- MediaNews -- owns or controls every paid-subscription daily newspaper except for the San Francisco Chronicle. Should the San Francisco Chronicle become a part or party to this news consortium, coverage of virtually every level of government, education, sports, criminal justice, arts and business would be in the hands of one organization with a single set of principles, perspectives and purposes.
http://www.gradethenews.org/commentaries/Trounstine.htm
The Crisis of Consolidation in Bay Area News Media
YAHOO STRIKES AD DEAL WITH MORE PAPERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Miguel Helft]
After a flurry of deal making over the last few days, Google and Yahoo, two giants of the online advertising business, are set to encroach on each other’s turf even more aggressively than before. On Monday, Yahoo announced a broad deal with publishers representing 264 newspapers to sell national advertising across their Web sites. It may be the clearest sign to date of the company’s efforts to extend its advertising platform beyond the panoply of Yahoo sites. The move follows Google’s announcement on Friday of its plans to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, a bold move into the market to deliver display and graphical advertising to Web sites. It is a business that Yahoo dominates, and one in which Google — the leader in search-based text advertisements — has failed to gain much traction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/technology/17search.html
(requires registration)
* McClatchy Newspapers Join Yahoo's Ad-Sharing Alliance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR200704...
Yahoo Strikes Ad Deal With More Papers
IMUS MESS MAKES ARBITERS OF ADVERTISERS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Andrew Hampp]
Procter & Gamble was the first to walk away from Don Imus on April 6 -- yes, that was the Friday before the media frenzy erupted and almost a full week before the radio host's corporate bosses realized they had no choice but to pull the plug on the curmudgeon's show. If the whole Imus debacle tells us anything, it is that today the marketers are truly the reigning power in the fragmented media world. The week's events underscored what many pressure groups had proved in similar content controversies -- that the best way to effect change in media is to go after the ad dollars. There are so many media options today that it is easier for a marketer to pull out of a media outlet than put up with the negative publicity and the risk of a fall-off in sales. What's more, marketers have grown accustomed to those who have grievances about media content clogging up their inboxes and switchboards. Hence, P&G getting out of "Imus" two days after he first made his "idiot comment meant to be amusing" about the Rutgers women's basketball team; well before Al Sharpton arrived on the scene; and at a time when only a small handful of media outlets had even reported the incident.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=116102
* No Love Lost: Imus Ouster Heralds End of 'Hate Media'
[Commentary] "Whenever they take out one of the poster boys, it means it's a moment in time -- the end of an era. But forget the circus, forget the core cast of characters; the two stars here were the outcome and the rooting sections. Other than his circle of friends, it seemed most were rooting for Imus to be taken out on a stretcher, not just because of the tantalizing blood-sport appeal, but because this country is ready and begging to be a less hateful land."
http://adage.com/article?article_id=116101
* That's not entertainment
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] Americans saw a good example last week of the entertainment industry regulating itself. After listening to critics, advertisers, and its own employees, CBS fired radio host Don Imus for his recent racist and sexist jab. Now, if only more media executives could display such courage.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0417/p08s01-comv.html
* Don Imus and the FCC: Should Hate Speech be Regulated?
http://www.techliberation.com/archives/042279.php
* Blame falls on us for putting up with demeaning language
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/04/15/columnists/guest_column/48...
* Endless news cycle dumbs down America
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070416/COL...
POLL: AMERICANS SUPPORT IMUS' FIRING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jon Cohen and Jennifer Agiesta]
Americans by a narrow margin agree that Don Imus should have lost his nationally syndicated radio show last week, but while whites are evenly divided on the issue a sizeable majority of African Americans support the firing, according to a poll. Overall, 51 percent of respondents in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll said Imus should have been fired for making racially insensitive comments about black women basketball players from Rutgers University; 45 percent said he should have kept his job. However, that rough parity on the issue masks deep racial and significant gender divides. Whites were evenly split in the poll on Imus' firing, with 47 percent supporting CBS Radio's decision and 49 percent opposed. By contrast, more than seven in 10 blacks said he should have been fired over the incident. And 55 percent of women thought Imus should have lost his job, compared to 48 percent of men who agreed with that outcome. Among black women, 70 percent said Imus should have lost his show over his remarks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR200704...
(requires registration)
MARKEY WANTS TO PUT KIDS TV ON AD DIET
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Rep Ed Markey (D-MA), in a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioners Deborah Tate and Michael Copps, suggests that unless there is a "dramatic and swift elimination of advertisements for "junk food" during kids shows, the FCC should reduce the number of commercial minutes allowed -- currently capped at 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12 on weekends -- and discount educational shows from counting toward a station's FCC-friendly kids quotas. "If a "core" educational program tells kids to eat healthy foods and exercise, but the advertisements aired during the program encourage them to eat Twinkies and Fruit Loops, the ads have the potential to undercut the educational and informative value," he argues. Rep Markey cites his Children's Television Act as giving the FCC the power to restrict the ads. He gave the three until May 4 to tell him 1) whether they had examined other countries' efforts to combat childhood obesity, 2) whether they think the commission should limit or eliminate food ads on TV watched by kids, 3) whether they supported disqualifying educational shows with "junk food" ads from the FCC-friendly moniker, 4) and what other ideas they have for flexing the FCC's muscle to ensure station licensees aren't making the obesity and poor nutrition problems worse.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6434327.html
-- See also --
* FTC Takes Issue with Food Marketing to Kids
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]
The Federal Trade Commission intends to issue compulsory requests for information about food marketing to kids— much of it on TV— to a broad range of food, fast food and beverage marketers as it tries to assess the breadth of the marketing for a congressional report. Formal notice of plans for the "compulsory process orders" are expected to be announced in a public notice this week, with individual company requests likely being sent out this summer after the FTC seeks public comment and its plan gets a needed OK from the Office of Management and Budget. FTC chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, announced the plans in a little noted April 12 speech to the Food and Drug Law Institute saying the FTC wants to gather a far more detailed view of company food marketing practices to kids than has been readily available.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11891
(requires free registration)
SHARPTON ASKS FCC TO REGULATE RAP
[SOURCE: BET.com 3/25, AUTHOR: Tracy L. Scott]
The Rev. Al Sharpton took his message of accountability for rap artists who glorify violence to the Federal Communications Commission. Sharpton recently launched a movement to end the often violent lyrics associated with hip-hop music. Sharpton asked that the FCC impose fines on artists and radio stations that “encourage a pattern†of inciting violence. "What has been absent is some kind of government move to stop these actions happening on federally regulated radio stations,†Sharpton said. Sharpton has also suggested that the music of artists who are involved in violent confrontations – like those that allegedly led to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls – should be banned from airplay on radio stations and TV for 90 days.
http://www.bet.com/News/tlscott_sharpton_fcc.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMO...
Sharpton Asks FCC to Regulate Rap
PTC PANS CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Parents TV Council released a study to coincide with the National Association of Broadcasters convention Monday that takes aim at the industry's v-chip/ratings system. PTC helped prompt the FCC indecency crackdown with complaints over broadcast programming and has an ally in FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. In defending its profanity rulings in court, the commission has said the V-chip is in effective, in part because of inconsistently applied ratings. That was PTC's point Monday, arguing that the system is "grossly unreliable" and pointing to a study it said revealed that two-thirds of the shows they had looked at didn't have the "appropriate content descriptors."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6434297.html
PTC Pans Content Descriptors
FCC RENEWS LA STATION'S LICENSE DESPITE RIVAL PROTEST
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
The Federal Communications Commission has renewed the license of Los Angeles Spanish-language television station KAZA-TV Channel 54, denying an unusual protest brought by rival broadcaster NBC Universal. In November, NBC Universal, which owns the Spanish-language Telemundo network, asked the FCC to deny the license renewal by invoking a rarely used morals clause. Among other things, NBC Universal alleged that Mexico's second-largest broadcaster, TV Azteca, which runs the Los Angeles station, was corrupt and thus lacked "the character qualifications" required by federal law. But in a decision issued Friday, the FCC said it would not consider issues of misconduct outside the scope of its jurisdiction unless the behavior was "so egregious as to shock the conscious and evoke almost-universal disapprobation." In this case, "we conclude that none of the conduct at issue is disqualifying," the FCC said. NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., also charged that TV Azteca used its power in Mexico to manipulate police into raiding a studio where Telemundo was shooting a show. However, the FCC said it was inappropriate to intervene in a "private dispute" between NBC Universal and TV Azteca, and extended the license for the Los Angeles station to December 2014. KAZA-TV is owned by Pappas Telecasting Co. of Visalia, Calif., but is managed by TV Azteca. Pappas is beginning to distance itself from TV Azteca, announcing this month that it will discontinue its relationship in major markets such as Houston and San Francisco. The Pappas-TV Azteca agreement in Los Angeles expires in 2008, part of a complicated partnership that includes a $129-million loan to Pappas from TV Azteca.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-azteca17apr17,1,68345...
(requires registration)
FCC renews L.A. station's license despite rival protest
LANDRIEU PRAISES BROADCASTERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Glen Dickson]
"I come here not to bury you, but to praise you." Sen Mary Landrieu (D-LA) was full of praise for broadcasters on Monday at a policy breakfast at the NAB convention in Las Vegas. As reported yesterday, she unveiled a bill that would give broadcasters first responder status during emergencies in terms of access to food, fuel and water. Sen Landrieu said that Senate Commerce Committee ranking Republican Ted Stevens (Alaska) had agreed to co-sponsor the bill, and that a House version was also being introduced. Sen Landrieu drew applause when she said that the XM/Sirius merger should not go through. Parting company with some key Senate Democrats, Sen. L. Landrieu said parents with access to the right information and technology were in the best position to shield children from television programming loaded with indecent and violent content.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6434129.html
* Landrieu: Parents Best to Deal with TV Violence
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6434294.html
Landrieu Praises Broadcasters