September 18, 2006

Message From Michael                    
                                                  September 18, 2006                                                            

• THE SOUND AND THE FURY


• FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC NEWS AFTER 9/11


• FRAGMENTATION AND CONSOLIDATION


• BROADBAND AND BROADCAST


• MACY’S AND GIMBLE’S NEWSLETTERS


• COCKTAIL CHATTER

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• THE SOUND AND THE FURY:  The sound is a report commissioned by the Federal Communications Commission that says LOCAL television station ownership results in more local news being broadcast.  The fury is the Congressional reaction to the FCC quashing the report.  The reason is that the report, which suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, is at odds with the arguments the FCC made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market.  That decision created a backlash with a federal appeals court rejecting the FCC decision and ordering it to try again.  The report was authored by two FCC economists based on material supplied by a University of Delaware professor and the Pew Foundations’ Project for Excellence in Journalism.  The study reportedly found that when a station is locally owned, there is 5 ½ minutes more news in broadcasts and 3 minutes more of ‘on location’ news. Present FCC chairman Kevin Martin says he knew nothing about the report.  It was before his watch.  Former FCC chairman Michael Powell says he knew nothing about the report and did not order it quashed.  Martin says he has added the report’s findings to the FCC’s current examination of localism (although I could not find it on the FCC website).  Meanwhile, the FCC had already scheduled a hearing on multiple ownership for October 3rd.  As a side note, Martin told Senators during his confirmation hearing that he was not comfortable with the original decision allowing multiple ownership.  


• FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC NEWS AFTER 9/11:  Not surprisingly, coverage of terrorism but also foreign policy has increased dramatically since the attacks in New York and Washington, but it has been at the expense of domestic issues, according to data generated for the Project for Excellence in Journalism by ADT Research.  For example, terrorism coverage was up 135% over the past five years while coverage of armed conflicts was up 69% and even foreign policy coverage was up a whopping 102%.  On the flip side, coverage of crime and law enforcement dropped 47% while science and technology coverage fell 50% and coverage of issues involving drugs, tobacco and alcohol fell 66%.  Despite that, the researchers say the coverage of ‘hard news’ only increased 2% over that time while the coverage of ‘soft news’ decreased by 5%.  Andrew Tyndall who publishes the Tyndall Report as part of ADT Research says the coverage patterns show that it is the events, not the journalists, who determine the news agenda.As a side note, Democratic party leaders have sent letters to the networks and news cable channels complaining that there is not enough balance in the coverage of national security issues.  House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada say President Bush and Republicans have made it clear that national security will be part of the agenda for the November elections, and complained that when the President has a news conference on national security it gets coverage, but when the Democrats hold conferences and briefings, it gets “scant coverage.”


• FRAGMENTATION AND CONSOLIDATION:  Those are the two themes that come out of the latest Veronis, Suhler Stevenson report on the communication industry.  First, a fact – total media and communications spending is expected to reach $962 Billion this year and $1.236 Trillion by 2010.  But much of that growth is coming in what they call “marketing services” or non-advertising-based forms of marketing.  The VSS report, which is one of the big annual reports, says that, plus out-of-home media, are the fastest growing segments.  Let me attempt to translate that into English.  The marketing services are things like experiential and event marketing.  You know, riding a Harley instead of reading about it, or mimes in Manhattan.  Out of home is, well, just that – like billboards but more.  The point is that it is becoming harder to reach the audience and marketers are looking at different ways to do that.  That’s the fragmentation.  The consolidation is the fact that so-called traditional media companies are holding their own, and then some, in the digital world.  Traditional media groups have increased their share of online and mobile advertising to 37% from 23% in 2000.  By 2010, their share is expected to increase to 39% as the ‘old’ media learn the ‘new’ media ways.  BTW – Last year’s report noted that the communications industry is expected to be the 4th largest and fastest growing part of the U.S. economy by 2009.  


• BROADBAND AND BROADCAST:  Proof of that changing world cited by VSS, and how traditional media are changing with it,   are four announcements worth noting.  NBC has started NBBC (National Broadband Company) to “connect the dots… (between)… the explosion in consumer digital video streaming (and the)… growing demand for online video content.”  Interestingly, the new company makes the point they will work with anybody.  Meanwhile ABC has announced that it will be dropping the traditional advertising sales standard of CPM’s for ads on the seven shows that it airs broadcast and broadband.  Instead they’re charging a flat rate for the shows which are streamed at ABC.com.  And two major players are jumping into the online movie business.  Amazon announced a service called the Unbox to compete with the present group of online movie download sites.  And Apple is expected to make a similar announcement about its iTunes site, making movies available for use on its wildly popular iPod unit.  


• MACY’S AND GIMBLE’S NEWSLETTERS:  Okay, if you don’t get enough cool ideas and trends from MfM, I’m going to do a Macy’s recommending Gimble’s.  (Remember?  Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street?).  Peter Stewart of the BBC publishes a monthly newsletter titled Useful Stuff which lists a potpourri of things such as coverage in the Middle East and Iraq, what the most popular journalistic clichés are, how to start your own Internet radio station, along with ten ‘kick-ass’ ways to start your creativity and much, much more.  I found Peter’s monthly newsletter after he found my newsletter when Graeme Newell picked up MfM for his newsletter (which needs no recommendation.)  Anyway, subscribe by writing to peter.stewart@bbc.co.uk.As long as I’m in the recommending mood, take a look at two training sites provided by your friends at Nielsen and Arbitron.  Nielsen Media offers a client service, NielsenU, which provides tutorials on ratings and Arbitron offers a similar tutorial system at arbitrontraining.com.  


• COCKTAIL CHATTER:  The makers of the Monopoly board game are creating an updated version of the 70-year-old game with Prius Hybrid cars, McDonald’s French Fries, Starbucks Coffee and Motorola Razr cell phones replacing the battleships, thimbles and the B&O Railroad.  Game maker Hasbro says it chose the new icons based on consumer surveys and not because of any product placement fee.  They will also continue making the ‘old’ traditional version as well.  Hasbro scores a second mention in cocktail chatter for inventing a toothbrush that lets you listen to your favorite music, by transmitting soundwaves through your teeth and jawbone, while you brush your teeth.  A single piece of music is stored in a microchip and you can buy replacement microchips, so you can listen to the Black Eyed Peas or Will Smith.  An electric car designed in California and built in India is selling like hotcakes in London.  The car, GoinGreen, is exempt from London’s congestion charge and road tax and comes in a variety of colors, including Leopard and Tiger print.


• FOLLOW-UPS:  It’s official.  The hugely popular YouTube video, Lonelygirl15, mentioned in MfM some weeks ago, is indeed a con, created by two film-makers who are using it to help create their storyline and create some buzz marketing.  The lonely girl was a not-so-lonely 20-year-old New Zealander.  And it’s official, two.  The South Korean guitar player who played the rock version of Johan Pachelbel’s Canon on the YouTube site Funtwo, also mentioned some weeks ago in MfM,  has been declared the consumer generated media’s first global rock star with more downloads than any other video.    


• SUBSCRIPTIONS:  If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM from 2006 are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com.