Questions, comments or suggested links? Contact me at: Ralph.Hanson@mail.wvu.edu Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, a new text for Introduction to Mass Communication classes.

March 2004 Archive

Note that some of these links are short term and will expire after two weeks. If you have access to Lexis-Nexis at your college or university library, you can retrieve many of the stories that are no longer on the web.

Main Archive List

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

• Short Films as an Advertising Medium
  As people tune out broadcast ads through channel surfing, personal digital recorders, and just turning the box off, advertisers are looking at new ways of reaching audiences, especially the coveted young adult audience. One way they are doing this is through creating short films that are distributed over the Internet and other alternative channels. Here are several links that deal with this new phenomenon.
  • Revlon uses big name stars to promote cosmetics in mini-movie (USA Today)
  • BMW films feature prominent directors (BMW's web site)
  • An analysis of the BMW films as marketing (imediaconnection.com)
  • E! Online discusses BMW Internet films
  • Short films used by advertising industry
    An analysis of these films on the UNLV short film archive.

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

• You Know About Spam, but what about Spim?
  The newest form of spam is known as spim -- spam messages that arrive via your Instant Message program. The story is from the Online Spin column at Media Post.
  • Spim news from USA Today
  • Spim delivering adware and spyware (NY Times)
• WP's Howard Kurtz on Jack Kelley
  More on the USA Today reporter scandal.
• Ken Auletta on the Future of Newspapers
  Transcript of an online chat session at Forbes.com with on of the premier media journalists in the U.S. today. Thanks to Romenesko for this link.

Monday, March 29, 2004

• Iraqi Newspaper Closed
  A popular Iraqi newspaper was closed by American soldies on March 28 after it was accused of "printing lies that incited violence." Story from the NY Times.
• USA Today Rocked by Fabrication Scandal
  USA Today has joined the New York Times in discovering that one of its star reporters has been fabricating facts in news stories. An investigation at the newspaper found "strong evidence" that Kelley fabricated portions of at least eight stories over an extended period of time. Here are links to several stories on the scandal:
  • USA Today's report on the investigation
  • Why is fabrication such a problem? (Peter Johnson's Media Mix)
  • Detroit News editor weighs in on Kelley
  • A profile on Kelley from AJR written right before the scandal broke
• BBC America is New Innovator on Cable
  The NY Times says that BBC America is taking over the role of the most innovative network on cable. This works for dicussing cable television or the changing role of the BBC.
• One more Reality Show Item
  I can't help the fact that Reality TV seems to be the top media story for the last few days. This is from the Sunday NY Times on casting reality shows

Saturday, March 27, 2004

• How Much Reality is there on Reality Programs?
  Given their popularity in the ratings, there's been a lot of news lately on reality programs. Here are a couple of stories that have recently been in the news on reality TV. (Thanks to Romenesko for the Survivor item.)
  • "Survivor" columnist may have violated confidentiality agreement. (Providence Journal) And.... the column that led to the fuss.
  • NBC gives "The Apprentice" extensive coverage on "Dateline.
    Is it news, or just cross-promotion? Should a news program be used as a two-hour commercial for a "reality" entertainment program? (AP story on CNN)
  • Kinder, Gentler, Reality Programs
    This story from MSNBC talks abut the less exploitative reality programs that are turning into cash cows for cable networks.
  • Stereotyping on reality shows (WP)
    Do reality shows depend on tired, old stereotypes to tell their stories? Teresa Wiltz writes about the image of the "Sista With An Attitude."

Friday, March 26, 2004

• JenniCam Goes Dark (BBC)
  Following a seven-year run, the drama that was JenniCam came to a close in 2003. JenniCam was the brainchild of web designer Jennifer Ringley, who chose to live every aspect of her life live on the World Wide Web. As discussed in Chapter 1 of Living in a Media World, Ringley bypassed the traditional media to create her own reality show that went out to thousands (maybe even millions) of viewers nationwide and around the world. For an indication of Ringley's reach, the link above is to the BBC's web site! Why was JenniCam shut down? Pay Pal alledgedly decided that it would no longer handle payments for subscriptions to her site because of the occasional nudity. The amazing thing is the level of coverage that the closing of the site had:
  • CNN's report
  • FoxNews story
  • National Review's coverage
  • San Francisco Chronicle's story
  • Los Angeles Times report
  • 1998 Interview with Ringley on NPR

Thursday, March 25, 2004

• Reality Shows Rule
  Does it seem like everywhere you turn there are reality shows on television? Well, they are everywhere! According to an AP story at CNN, more than half the top shows for March 15-21 were reality programs. (By the way, what constitutes a reality program? American Idol? Survivor? The Apprentice? Fear Factor? 60 Minutes????)
• How to NOT Watch a Channel
  Reuters reports that cable companies are looking to offer consumers the option of blocking out cable channels they don't want to receive. (But they're still paying for them!) Information about this initiative can be found at www.controlyourtv.com.
• Does Oprah Talk Dirty?
  The Chicago Tribune asks whether there is there a double standard that allows "dirty talk" on Oprah, but not on Howard Stern.
• Color TV is 50 Years Old
  USA Today looks at 50 years of color television in the United States.
• Vintage Harper's Political Cartoon
  A quick look at a vintage political cartoon that originally ran on this day in 1882. Nice item for a PowerPoint slide.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

• Father of movie ratings to retire
  Jack Valenti, who has been head of the MPAA since the 1960s, is planning to retire. He has been the voice of the movie industry for decades and has had his hand in much of the movement to provide content rating of media content. The Washington Post has been reporting about Valenti's potential retirement throughout March.
• Bill facilitates webcasting
  According to the WP, the House has passed a bill to make it easier for small webcasters to negotiate royalty deals with music publishers. (Article also has several links to related stories.)
• Ted Turner Speaks Out on Media Consolidation
  CNN founder Ted Turner explains why he is concerned about consolidation in the media industry, despite the fact that he is a member of the Time Warner board of directors. This WP opinion article is nearly a year old, but the issues in it are still current
• Bob Edwards out as NPR Morning Edition host (WP)
  After 25 years, Bob Edwards is being replaced as the host of NPR's morning news magazine. (It's also the top rated morning news program!) Thanks to Romenesko for this link. More on the story from the NY Times.
  • Future of NPR (Baltimore Sun)
  • NPR's Morning Edition

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

• What's News in the 21st Century?
  The Sacremento Bee's ombudsman has written a thoughtful column on how readers and journalists oftentimes have differing perceptions of what is news and what belongs in a newspaper. Thanks to Romenesko for bringing this to my attention.
• Self Publishing
  Laura Vanderkam writes in USA Today on how self publishing, publishing on demand, and the Internet are changing the dynamics of the book business.
• Information Wants to be Free
  One of the principles of the hacker ethic (discussed in Chapter 10 of Media World) is that "Information wants to be free." But the media giants are trying to keep control of their content for longer and longer periods of time. This link is to a review of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig from the Washington Post, which deals with this central conflict.

Monday, March 22, 2004

• Fox Network going after younger viewers with "Idol"
  The New York Times reports that Fox is devoting one-fourth of its prime time schedule to the amateur singing contest, "American Idol." Fox is trying hard to win the competition for viewers ages 18-49.
• Web Radio Growing as Ad Market
  Webcasting has been in a continuing legal limbo as copyright holders have battled over compensation. But web on the radio is starting to become a significant advertising market, according to the NY Times.
• FCC Commissioner Copps looking to clean-up radio
  The Washington Post profiles FCC commissioner Michael J. Copps, who is crusading against "broadcast indecency."
• The Next Dot Com?
  Organizations have submitted proposals for at least two new domain suffixes for the Internet: .mobi for mobile services and .xxx for adult materials, according to CNN. (But who knows how soon these are coming. CNN was reporting on this story back in 2000!)

Sunday, March 21, 2004

• Liberal Talk Radio
  The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz takes a look the new left-leaning talk radio network, Air America.

Saturday, March 20, 2004

• Why do people use Digital Video Recorders?
  They want to skip commercials but don't like giving up their privacy, according to the Center for Media Research. BTW, even advertising execs can't resist zapping commercials on their TiVos.
• Opinion News
  Sree Sreenivasan, WebTips columnist for the Poynter Institute, has some good suggestions on where to go for links to newspaper opinion pages. Among his favorites are Opinion-Pages.org and JohnPeterZenger.com.
• The FCC, the Networks and Decency
  Bill Carter of the New York Times reports on how broadcasters are reacting to new penalties for indecent material on the airwaves.