Archive for the ‘Corporate media’ Category

Overview of Venezuelan media

Monday, July 21st, 2008

One of my colleagues in the ICR, Andrew Kennis, has published an overview of the Venezuelan media system at Narconews. He starts with an analysis of US coverage, such as of the recent decision not to renew the license of one of the independent commercial stations, and moves on to ...

Denis O’Brien awarded all three Irish television multiplex licenses

Monday, July 21st, 2008

The BCI has just announced the results of its DTT licensing process. It had three applicants for three multiplex contracts, and decided to award all three contracts to the one applicant (each applicant had applied for all three of the contracts on an 'all or nothing' basis). That applicant is ...

Daily show requires knowledge, rather than generating it

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

When I'm talking with my students about their news diet, at least some - though not as many as you might think - will mention the Daily Show or similar satirical content. I've repeatedly commented that my sense is that the Daily Show doesn't inform viewers about what's happening in ...

The Cliff Richards performance copyright extension

Friday, February 15th, 2008

The EU commission is proposing to extend copyright terms for performers of music, to match the existing terms for composers. The notion of retroactive extension is problematic (though not unprecedented), but there are some interesting aspects to the proposal:For session musicians, the record companies will set up a fund reserving at least ...

Perez Hilton’s YouTube accounts suspended

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

In many senses this may appear trivial, particularly if you're not a particular fan of (that particular brand of) celebrity gossip. However, as noted in several places this is a straightforward, clear, example of the power of media oligopolies, and the problems that can occur when one corporation becomes the ...

Of strikes and solidarity

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

The Writers' strike has garnered quite a bit of support, both from other entertainment workers and from the wider public. One idea for support that originated with fans, before being picked up by the union, is to send pencils to the media moguls that run 6 of the major companies ...

Solidarity efforts for WGA

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

As the Writers' strike continues into a second week, word of an interesting solidarity action as many of the blogs that usually cover the content generated by these writers are 'going dark' for a day to express their support. This at the same time that another group of writers, working ...

Impressions from Vancouver

Friday, October 19th, 2007

I'm sitting in a room at Simon Fraser University, overlooking the Vancouver harbour. The rain, which had lifted over lunch, has returned, making the hills, of North Vancouver, on the far side appear ghostly, when they are visible at all. In a strange way, however, this rain seems so familiar, ...

Irish media literacy conference

Monday, September 17th, 2007

I recently got a mail calling for proposals for a symposium on "Media | Literacy | Education" to take place 3rd November in Dublin. Proposals are due by 28th September:We are specifically looking for people to contribute to A) parallel breakout sessions and B) general assembly presentations. The facilitated parallel breakout sessions ...

EU to relax rules on product placement, TV advertising

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006

European ministers have voted to remove EU restrictions on product placement on TV (other than in children's programming and news) and to allow more frequent commercial breaks in certain types of programming:Movies, news and children's programmes could be interrupted by advertisements every 30 minutes, but no commercial breaks are allowed ...