May 15, 2006

Message From Michael                    
                                                  May 15, 2006                                                                                                              

• SWEEPS


• THE WORLDWIDE INTERNET


• JOBS WANTED, BOOBS NEED NOT APPLY


• CHILDREN’S FUTURES HALF EMPTY


• COCKTAIL CHATTER – ISLAMIC VIDEO GAMES TO HEALTHY BEER

• SWEEPS: Two events to watch for this week:  The BIG event of the week is the premier of the movie based on the best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code, Friday, May 19th.  Sunday, May 21st, marks the beginning of Remembrance Week leading up to the National Moment of Remembrance at 3pm on Memorial Day.  I have to confess.  This reminder comes from Dear Abby, but, hey, if she says it’s important, for millions of Americans it’s important.   And, besides, it is.


• THE WORLDWIDE INTERNET:  It’s easy sometimes to forget the basic amazing fact that the Internet connects the world.  Well, to help remind you of just how big it is, comScore has launched World Metrix which gathers data on worldwide use.  The measurement service says one out of every seven persons aged 15+ in the world connected to the Internet in March of this year.  That represents more than 694 Million people.  The U.S. has the largest population with more than 152 Million users, but the four developing nations of China, India, Japan and Korea have a quarter of the world population with 168 Million… and growing.  The average person worldwide spends 31.3 hours a month on the Internet.  The heaviest users are the Israelis who spend 57.5 hours a month, followed by Finland (49.3), South Korea (47.2), Netherlands (43.5), and Taiwan (43.2).  The three largest sites are MSN, Google and Yahoo, but the measurement firm says Wikipedia “has emerged as a side that continues to increase in popularity, both globally and in the U.S.” Research firm Kagan Research says the Internet, Interactive TV and Satellite Radio will continue to be the drivers for U.S. ad revenue in 2006.  Satellite radio showed the greatest growth (235%), followed by Interactive TV (115%).  While the Internet showed only 25% growth in 2005, it has averaged 57% over the past ten years. On a related note, Myspace.com was named in the annual Webby Awards as the “Breakout of the Year.”  The annual awards competition honors the outstanding websites in several different areas from ‘activisim’ to ‘youth,’ from banking to tourism.  The BBC won top honors in the news category.  Other nominees included NPR and, oddly enough, The Onion.  The Guardian Unlimited won in the newspaper category.  Other nominees included the Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Village Voice and the Wall Street Journal.  In television, the winner was HBO with Creating the Scene.  Other nominees included Channel One, PBS’s Point of View and Fox’s The Simpsons.  In the personal website category, the winner was stevensebring.com. which is a very artsy, very unusual site.  Others included daveloveselizabeth.com, brendakenneally.com, day26.com, and liberonline.com.  All worth visiting.  If you want to look at all the nominees, go to webbywards.com.              


• JOBS WANTED, BOOBS NEED NOT APPLY:  I looked for several appropriate headlines for this one, but nothing quite captured the tone.  Two items this week.  First, an ad on the website Craigslist that has made the rounds of everything from Wonkette to MediaBistro to Media Blues to AdRants.  A recent broadcast journalism graduate says she is looking for “understanding, kind-hearted people” who will help finance breast augmentation surgery.  For $3,000, the young woman says she can get from an A-cup size to a full C-cup.  “I know this is the final piece that I need to have more self confidence and gain better job opportunities.  In this day and age, I know how important looking good is for any career.  I know this surgery will increase my chances three-fold, on top of my education, experience and talent.”  The ad has since been pulled by the Craigslist people.  Coincidentally, there was an article on the shortage of good broadcast news candidates in The Rundown published by friend Kim Standish.  The article quotes Tom Dolan who says the short supply has had a significant impact on news operations.  Dolan, who heads up his own recruit group, Dolan Media Management, says calls and interviews to find good candidates are up from 30 to 40, to 50 to 70 now.   He says that for stations to win at recruiting, they have to “sell your shop.”  Plug Alert:  Kim has been publishing The Rundown since 1981 with an archive of 7,000 pages – “easily the largest record of hometown television’s on air activities.”  It is a compilation of story ideas and insights about local television news, programming and public service projects.Okay, another plug alert:  I couldn’t miss the opportunity to brag about our own graduates here at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.  We are one of the few broadcast journalism programs that produce a DAILY, LIVE newscast.  And unlike many, we don’t just cover ‘university news.’  The students cover everything from murders and fatal accidents to court trials and city council meetings.  Under daily deadline pressure.  And what makes our program even more unusual than the other ones with daily, live newscasts is that our students rotate through every position from photographer and reporter to anchor and producer.  So far, this semester our graduates have landed jobs everywhere from Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee to Oregon and California.  And, in the interest of “fair and balanced” reporting, I should note that the University of Missouri School of Journalism, is negotiating with a government-backed foundation in Qatar to open a branch campus in the capital city of Doha.On a related note, two websites worth looking at.  One is NewsU.org which is sponsored by our friends at the Poynter Institute and provides online training courses for journalists.  Although it is very print oriented, there are still some good courses available.  The other is MTVU.com which, if you’re wondering what those 18 to 24 year olds are interested in… well, this is a good place to find out.  It’s also a good way to keep your finger on the alternative media pulse.  


• CHILDREN’S FUTURES HALF EMPTY:  Another report from our friends at Pew Research  finds that half of American adults (50%) believe that today’s children will grow up to be worse off than people today.  Only about a third (34%) believe they will be better off.  Women (53%) are more pessimistic than men (47%).  Hispanics don’t quite buy into this view with 44% saying the children will be better off while 40% say they will be worse off.  Similarly, people 18 to 29 also aren’t quite as pessimistic with 45% saying they will be better off compared to 40% saying they will be worse off.  In case you’re wondering what impact of the events of 9/11, the survey authors note the figures were very similar during the mid-90’s when the economy was flat.  The optimism crept up as the economy improved through the late 90’s, but then came 9/11.  But even then the optimism was slightly higher with 40% saying in 2002 that they expect children to be better off, compared to today’s figure of 34%.              


• COCKTAIL CHATTER:  Islamic militants have modified combat video games in the U.S. so that they can be used as propaganda tools.  Reuters reports that the tech-savvy Al Qaeda and other groups have changed the games so that the U.S. troops are the bad guys and the Islamic radicals are the heroes, according to testimony before the House Select Committee on Intelligence.  Trend watching website Springwise.com reports that a couple of entrepreneurs have come up with an idea to ‘test drive’ your dream job while on vacation.  It’s called vocationvacation.com.  The organizers have developed a system where you can work alongside a mentor in your particular field of interest who will guide you through the job so that you can decide if it’s right for you.  St. Louis brewer Anheuser-Busch is expanding its brand to barbeque sauce and energy drinks.  The company is offering four Budweiser-branded cooking sauces and has secured a distribution deal for a group of energy drinks.  And on a related note, beer sales are up, according to ACNielsen, after beer makers took a page from the Starbucks coffee handbook and started marketing their product as “cooler, classier, healthier.”  And on a related note to the related note, after the traditional nationwide search Smirnoff Vodka has named a Las Vegas man, Cameron Bogue, as its expert on mixology.  For which, he gets $50,000 a year plus a $50,000 expense account to travel the country identifying the hottest trends in the world of drinks.  


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