Mediabistro.com DAILY NEWS FEED 12/27/05

mediabistro.com's
DAILY MEDIA NEWS FEED
edited by David S. Hirschman
Tuesday, December 27, 2005

BLOGGERS EMBEDDED WITH TROOPS TO PUBLISH GOOD NEWS (WaPo)As part of the administration's "information war," bloggers have been invited to join U.S. troops in hotbed areas in Iraq to help get out positive messages about the war effort. Military commanders suggest stories, often about U.S. reconstruction projects or community efforts by the military. AP via Boston Globe: Reservists' Iraq training includes lessons in media relations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

http://www.boston.com/

ABC WAXES NOSTALGIC IN GOODBYE TO MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)After 36 seasons in which it played a huge role in tying the massive knot between sports and television, ABC aired its final Monday Night Football telecast last night—at least until 2014. NYT: The end of Monday Night on ABC Sports was a significant moment in television sports history because it underscored the financial wallop of ESPN.
http://www.stltoday.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/

CELL PHONE TV THE 'NEXT BIG THING'? (BBC)According to handset giant Nokia and TV producer Endemol, mobile TV will likely be a huge hit with consumers, a big money-spinner for content providers and mobile operators, and will transform TV as it currently exists.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4529116.stm

SENATE APPROVES RESTORED NONCOM FUNDING (B&C)The Senate passed the conference report on noncom appropriations that left intact forward-funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and 2006 funding levels at $400 million for CPB.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/

DEBATE OVER HOW NEWSPAPERS SHOULD COVER IRAQ DEATHS (E&P)In a column timed to the holiday season, Kate Parry, reader's representative for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, paid tribute to the 31 Minnesotans who have lost their lives in Iraq and asked the question: Why didn't each of those deaths make her newspaper's front page?http://www.editorandpublisher.com/

APPLAUSE CUES AND LAUGH TRACKS? (WaPo)The administration is moving ahead with plans to renovate the dirty and decaying press room off the West Wing of the White House as early as July. This means the television, print and radio reporters and crews will be booted from the White House for at least seven months.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

2005'S MEDIA FOLLIES (AlterNet)Geov Parrish: As one would expect, there's plenty to unravel: stories that should never have been stories, stories whose reporting largely missed the point, and stories barely told at all in mainstream U.S. media. But, more than ever, mainstream media is no longer the last word in journalism. CJR Daily: Five great stories you didn’t read in 2005.
http://www.alternet.org/story/29877/
http://www.cjrdaily.org/behind_the_news/five_great_stories_you_didnt_r.php

AUSTRALIAN MEDIA MOGUL KERRY PACKER DIES (Guardian)Australia's wealthiest man whose media empire dominates its television and magazine landscape, died at 68 last night after battling a long illness. His holdings include Australia's Nine television network, as well as multiple top-selling magazines.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/

CLARK, PHILBIN TO HOST COMPETING NEW YEAR'S EVE SHOWS (AP via USAT)Dick Clark and Regis Philbin have long cultivated a sort of ageless appeal, and that will be put to the test during New Year's Eve specials on ABC and Fox, respectively. Clark partner Ryan Seacrest and NBC's Carson Daly are also on duty.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/

EDITORS' RESOLUTIONS (WWD)The desire to halt the encroachment of work on leisure time in 2006 was a theme of many editors' New Year's resolutions, as expressed to WWD. "Mine is to wean myself from my Treo, at least on weekend evenings and in the bathroom," said More editor in chief Peggy Northrop.
http://www.wwd.com/issue/article/103402

THE SONG DOESN'T REMAIN THE SAME (Reuters)Licensing music for older programs is as pricey as obtaining tunes for new series, and the issue is forcing studios to make radical changes for vintage TV shows reissued on DVD.
http://today.reuters.com/news/

GATES PULLS OUT OF MEDIA BIZ? (Forbes)The sale of Microsoft's stake in MSNBC leaves a bitter aftertaste for Bill Gates after what had been lauded back in 1995 as a golden opportunity for cross-media partnership that would see news delivered over both TV and the Internet.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/12/27/gates-microsoft-msnbc-cx_po_1227autofacescan01.html

YOU'VE READ THE BLOG, NOW BUY THE BOOK (NYT)Amazon is offering author blogs and extended personal profile pages as a way to increase the visibility of books in a crowded media marketplace.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/books/27blog.html

TV'S BEST AND WORST (Salon)Heather Havrilesky: Use the holidays to give your TiVo new marching orders! An overview of what to watch, and what to banish from your TV forever.
http://www.salon.com/ent/iltw/2005/12/27/year_end/index_np.html

TUNE IT OUT (NYDN)David Hinckley: The top five bad things that happened to radio in 2005 include the departure of Howard Stern to Sirius. "Without him, radio may seem like the NBA without Michael Jordan."
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/377908p-321076c.html

MOVEON PROTESTS TRIBUNE CUTS (NYT)MoveOn Media Action, an offshoot of MoveOn.org, says the cuts of 900 jobs at the Tribune papers undermine important watchdog journalism. Its campaign has included public demonstrations as well as petition drives in Tribune cities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/business/media/26tribune.html

NEW CHARGES AGAINST TURKISH JOURNO (AP via Seattle P-I)A Turkish prosecutor has opened a new case against one of the country's leading Turkish-Armenians. Hrant Dink, editor of the bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was convicted in October of "insulting Turkishness" and received a six-month suspended sentence.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Turkey_Journalists.html

TIME TESTING ONLINE AD GATEWAY (ClickZ News)Time Inc.'s flagship magazine is testing the notion of making formerly premium online content available free via an ad gateway. If the venture shows promise, the publisher may make future cover stories, or other content currently only accessible to subscribers, available on an ad-supported basis. http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3573476

IN YESTERDAY’S MB BLOGS:

TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY: DID FNC FORGET? [TVNewser]One year ago today, the deadliest natural disaster in recorded history swept across south Asia. But Fox News Channel apparently doesn't have a network correspondent in the region.
http://www.mediabistro.com/

TIMES SHUTS DOWN UNIV. PRESSES [GalleyCat]While everybody's been yapping about how this year's NYTBR list of notable nonfiction seems to have an awfully high number of contributions from NYT staffers...
http://www.mediabistro.com/ga

REMOTE (OUT OF) CONTROL: DVDS OF TV SHOWS DRAGGING BOX OFFICE DOWN? [FishbowlLA]OK. We all know theatrical box office is down by 5% for the year, as John Horn points out in today's Los Angeles Times. Part of the reason for this, it turns out, might be found within the very conglomerates pushing TV show DVDs: A new report shows that TV DVD sales are up 21%
http://www.mediabistro.com/

PULITZER BAIT, AND NO ONE'S BITING [FishbowlNY]'tis the season to trot out Pulitzer contenders, but the web buzz just isn't there.
http://www.mediabistro.com/

ETHICS LESSON [FishbowlDC]Does anyone ever get the impression that the big problem with journalism ethics doesn't lie quite so much with the full-time reporters as it does the think tank-based "columnists"?
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/stinky_fish/ethics_lesson_29965.asp

Today's Media Birthday: Cokie Roberts is 62