July 10, 2006
- MINORITIES IN MEDIA
- U.S. VERSUS NORTH KOREA IN PRESS FREEDOM
- MEDIA WATCH DOG OR LAP DOG
- YOU’RE ONLY AS YOUNG AS YOUR TV
- IT ADVERTISES TO PAY
- HEY, BIG SPENDER, SPEND A LITTLE TIME WITH YOURSELF
- MEDIA WATCH DOG OR LAP DOG
- COMING TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU
- COCKTAIL CHATTER
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- MINORITIES IN MEDIA: You’re probably heard that television news recorded the second highest level of minorities in the newsroom ever reported in the annual RTNDA/ Ball State University survey while the percentage of minorities in radio sunk to its lowest level ever. Here’s a little more perspective. The 22.2% figure for television is still more than ten points behind the 33.6% minority population in the U.S., but it is also nearly ten points ahead of the 13.7% minority population in newspapers, as reported by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The percentage of women in television news changed little with women making up 40% of the workforce in television news. By way of comparison, the U.S. department of labor reports that women make up 46% of the general workforce. The survey also indicated that the percentage of minority news directors in television has risen to its second highest level ever at 13.2% while the percentage of women news directors reversed a two year trend and rose to 25.2%. Again, for comparison purposes, the percentage of women-owned firms reported by the U.S. Census Bureau was 26% and the percentage of minority-owned firms was 14.6%... in 1997. Also, the department of labor reports that the highest median income for women came in the occupations of pharmacists, CEO’s and lawyers.
- U.S. VERSUS NORTH KOREA IN PRESS FREEDOM: The United States comes in 44th out of 167 countries when it comes to freedom of press, according to Reporters Without Borders. North Korea was last in the 167th position. According to the survey, the United States fell 20 places because of the imprisonment of Judith Miller and legal moves undermining the privacy of journalistic sources. Seven countries tied for the number one spot – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Iraq came in 157th because of the killings of journalists and “media assistants.” The organization also has a designation for the United States of America in Iraq, which came in at 137th. Just ahead of the U.S. were Macedonia (43) and Italy (42). Just behind were Bolivia (45), Uruguay (46) and Israel (47). The organization notes that although the top of the index is dominated by rich countries, the argument that economic development is a precondition for democracy and human rights is negated by the fact that several countries with less than $1,000 GDP made it to the top 60. The organization which goes by its French name, reporters san frontiere (rsf.org), reports African countries (Benin and Namibia, 25; Cape Verde, 29; Mauritius, 34; Mali, 39) and Latin American countries (El Salvador, 28; Costa Rica, 41; Bolivia, 45) actually improved their rankings. The United Kingdom came in 24th; France came in 30th and Russia came in at 138th. (The same group recently called on the U.S. and Russia to investigate the murder of a Forbes magazine editor two years ago in Moscow.)
- MEDIA WATCH DOG OR LAP DOG: Remember the Dan Rather quote about whether the media would be a watch dog or lap dog? Okay, so I’m stretching here. Anyway, the point is there are now five media watch dog organizations in place. The latest two were funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation at two universities. In Southern California, California State University, Long Beach, and in New England, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, are supposed to “investigate accuracy and fairness complaints against the media.” The other three states with independent media councils, not associated with universities, are Minnesota, Hawaii and Washington State. Reaction to the news councils has been “mixed” to put it politely. Eric Newton, director of Journalism initiatives at the Knight Foundation, is quoted as saying the university supported projects are a way to “perform media criticism… not through kangaroo courts of commentators but through the fair, accurate, contextual pursuit of the truth.”
- YOU’RE ONLY AS YOUNG AS YOUR TV: And if you watch CBS, you’re older and if you watch UPN you’re younger. At least that’s according to a study by Magna Global USA which looks at the media age of network viewers. CBS as usual was the highest at 52, followed by NBC at 49, ABC at 46, Fox at 39, WB at 37 and the UPN at 31. Fox news daytime and primetime along with CNBC daytime had the oldest median age among basic cable networks at 65-plus.
- IT ADVERTISES TO PAY: Nearly half of the advertising executives surveyed by a public relations firm say they’ve paid for broadcast or editorial placement of their products. The survey by Manning Selvage and Lee and reported by Media Life magazine found that 24% had paid for editorial placement, 9% for broadcast placement and 16% had paid for both. Nearly half again (46%) said they would consider it in the future while only a quarter said they would not, either because they thought it was unethical or ineffective.
- HEY, BIG SPENDER, SPEND A LITTLE TIME WITH YOURSELF: The biggest advertiser in the U.S. (and worldwide for that matter) is Proctor and Gamble spending a whop-whop-whopping $4.6 Billion, beating out General Motors Corp., which spent $4.3 Billion. Okay, so advertising doesn’t seem to be helping GM much, but that’s another story. You may have seen the stories about the P&G and GM, but who came in third? Media giant Time Warner spent nearly $3.5 Billion. Verizon came in 4th spending $2.48 Billion while AT&T came in fifth at $2.47 Billion. Ford Motor Company was #6 with $2.4 Billion, closely followed by another media company – Walt Disney which spent nearly $2.3 Billion. Other major media groups in the top bracket are Viacom with a $1.5 Billion advertising tab, followed fairly closely News Corp which spent $1.2 Billion and further down the pecking order was Comcast at #83 with $453 Million. Sony spent $1.8 Billion and Sprint Nextel spent $1.6 Billion while computer giants Microsoft ($945 Million) and Dell ($939 Million) were neck and neck at #37 and #38 and IBM was #58 at $606 Million. Warren Buffet’s semi-secretive company, Berkshire Hathaway, came in at a surprising #42 spending $909 Million.On a related note, research firm PQ Media reports that spending on ‘alternative media strategies’ surged 16.4% in the first half of this year compared to last, reaching an estimated $53.37 Billion. And in case you’re wondering (because I was), alternative media strategies include not just online advertising but also “branded entertainment, including product placement, event marketing, event sponsorships, webisodes and advergaming.”
- COMING TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU: The big screen comes to the little screen. Three new websites have cut deals with major studios to make downloadable movies available. Watch Harry Potter or the Red Hot Chili Peppers on peerimpact.com; watch Chicken Little or The Exorcism on vongo.com; watch Good Night and Good Luck or Best in Show on guba.com; On some sites that can also mean anything in between, and that can mean anything from The Easter Bunny Hates You to Ask a Ninja. In the same vein, three more websites with consumer created content have sprung up in competition to youtube.com. Keep an eye on lulu.tv, eefoof.com and revver.com. They all promise to pay for video that generates interest on their sites.
- COCKTAIL CHATTER: Pornographic spam messages get the most response of any other spam messages, according to a study by CipherTrust, a company which makes devices to protect companies from spam and viruses. The click-through rate on porno is 5.6% -- 280 times more than the second leading spam response rate which is for pharmacy drugs. Rolex watches came in third in terms of spam effectiveness, according to the study reported by the New York Times. A bored Dutch design student tired of advertising has launched a fake online ad agency which offers advertising space on the thighs and cleavage of prostitutes. The Krispy Kreme donut franchise has announced it is opening 40 new stories… in Tokyo. Google has become official, having been added to the lexicon of accepted new words by both the Merriam Webster dictionary and
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