Write on: CBS and WGA make news writers deal
At least one long-simmering labor skirmish could soon be history. CBS has reportedly reached a deal with some 500 TV and radio news writers, editors, production assists and researchers. The deal promises the CBS News employees a 3.5 percent raise as soon as it’s voted on by the Writers Guild of America members, plus another in 2009. The contract will run through April of 2010. Some union members, who had been working under an expired contract for nearly three years, will also receive a $3,700 bonus after CBS abandoned a demand for a tiered pay scale that had been at the root of the dispute. No surprise, the WGA seized upon the announcement of the deal to urge CBS back to the negotiating table with striking television and movie writers. Union members had voted to authorize a strike last month, forcing CBS to cancel a planned presidential debate after candidates said they would not cross a picket line.
Study: Americans don't find media all that believable
The recent New Hampshire primary debacle, in which pundits were forced to eat crow after confidently predicting a Barack Obama victory, won’t help a growing image problem for our nation’s media. A new poll by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., finds that only 19.6 percent of respondents believe all or most news media reporting, down from 27.4 percent for the same poll in 2003. “News media” includes a variety of sources, from broadcast and cable news to PBS, newspapers and radio. Almost 24 percent said they believe little or no news reporting, with 55.3 percent believing some. Some of those numbers can be explained by the fact that many respondents feel news organizations are pushing an agenda. Nearly 88 percent said the news media attempts to influence public opinion, up from 79 percent in 2003.
Golf Channel suspends announcer for lynching joke
You just don’t joke about lynching, even if it’s meant as a lighthearted jab. Golf Channel yesterday handed anchor Kelly Tilghman a two-week suspension after her racially charged on-air joked about the best way to compete with superstar golfer Tiger Woods. While discussing what young players need to do to slow in Woods’ dominance last Friday, analyst Nick Faldo said, “to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up for a while,” to which Tilghman responded the players should “lynch him in a back alley.” “While we believe that Kelly’s choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate,” the Golf Channel said in its statement revealing Tilghman’s suspension. Though Al Sharpton appeared on cable news networks denouncing Tilghman, Woods himself apparently was not offended. His agent, Mark Steinberg, said Woods and Tilghman are friends and that he knows there was no ill-intent in her comments. Tilghman will be back on the air in time for the Buick Invitational on Jan. 24, Woods’ first event of 2008.
In France, perhaps a farewell to public TV advertising
It looks like it could be au revoir to advertising on French public service television. French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a plan yesterday to nix ads on the country’s five public television outlets. Instead these channels would be supported by a tax on the advertising carried by private broadcasters, plus taxes on things like mobile phones and internet access. It’s all part of what Sarkozy has dubbed a “cultural revolution” for French public TV. His aim is to create something a bit like a French version of Britain’s BBC. Not surprisingly, Sarkozy’s vision is controversial for a number of reasons, among them the fact that Sarkozy has a number of friends who head up French media firms. As advertising departs state channels, some of it is expected to flow into these firms.
2007: The year magazines really embraced the web?
In an attempt to reach new audiences and advertisers, magazines ramped up their online presence last year with more blogs, videos and partnerships with online social networking sites such as MySpace, according to new research by the Magazine Publishers of America. Last year, 207 magazine digital initiatives were initiated. That’s an increase of 33.5 percent compared with the 155 digital initiatives started by magazines in 2006. Condé Nast last year entered a relationship with the online community YouTube, while Hearst Magazines and Time Inc. began in-house video production companies for their internet sites. Magazines also increased user-generated content as well as mobile applications such as podcasts. For example, Business Week began an online video hub and added user-generated content, while Consumer Reports added videos of its vehicle crash tests online.
