Media Briefing for Wednesday, October 31, 2007

?The floodgates for thousands of new Low Power FM (LPFM) stations are about to open,? says Radio-Info.com. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has taken action to allow far more LPFM stations to be shoehorned in on the FM dial. An LPFM bill has passed the Senate Commerce Committee and is headed to the full Senate for a vote. The Local Community Radio Act of 2007, sponsored by senators Maria Cantell (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ), eliminates third channel protection for full-power FMs, thus enabling more LPFMs to be dropped in. A companion bill is making its way through the House, sponsored by representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NE) with 55 co-sponsors. This report is from All Access.com. Canada now allows full power stations to be just three channels apart on the FM band. For example, in Vancouver there are now full power stations on 93.1 and 93.7 mHz.

On the eve of his planned appearance today at an FCC hearing on the impact of media consolidation, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition founder the Rev. Jesse Jackson took aim at Republican FCC chairman Kevin Martin?s digital TV leasing proposal (which he calls ?a poor ?consolation? prize for minorities?) and what he called the chairman?s ?anti-diversity? agenda. In a letter to Martin and the other FCC commissioners yesterday, Jackson also put in a pitch for creating an independent task force on minority ownership issues before the FCC votes on new media-ownership rules, and he took issue with Martin?s push for a la carte (he called it an ?obsession?) and multicast-must-carry rules (?welfare for well-heeled broadcasters?), saying both efforts would hurt minorities. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

More than half of Americans surveyed oppose further consolidation of ownership of media outlets, reports Reuters. The FCC is holding a public hearing today on the issue of localism in broadcasting, and consolidation of ownership of media outlets. This is at the FCC headquarters at 445 12th Street Southwest in Washington, D.C.

Because of a referendum on the ballot in Oregon regarding an increase in cigarette taxes, big tobacco is spending big money on election ads on Portland TV stations, reports the Oregonian.

PBS ombudsman Michael Getler said he agreed with the central point of criticisms leveled at the underwriting for PBS? just-concluded special, The Mysterious Human Heart, as too close to the subject for comfort. The Center For Digital Democracy?s Jeff Chester complained that the show was sponsored by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and medical-technology firm Medtronic, which have major financial interests in heart-disease issues, as well as some recent problems that were not mentioned in a press release promoting their sponsorship. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

National Public Radio?s Nina Totenberg, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley and Washington Post columnist Colbert King were honored Tuesday for their role in promoting open government and First Amendment rights. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press presented First Amendment Awards to the three plus Mark Goodman of the Student Press Law Center. ?What we were shooting for was examples of people who?ve shown leadership,? said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the committee, which provides legal services and research to journalists relating to freedom of information. ?Executive leadership, leadership in the legal world and then leadership in print and broadcast.? Associated Press reports.

Veteran print publisher Chris Boskin, who has been a Corporation for Public Broadcasting board member for the past year, was elected to a one-year term as chair of the board. Boskin?s resume includes posts at Worth Media, The New Yorker and Hearst, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Should 13 years of a reporting career go out the window because of one bad day? That is the issue surrounding Rebecca Aguilar, a news reporter for Fox owned KDFW channel 4 Dallas, who was suspended after being criticized for being too forward in her interviews of a man who had shot two intruders on two separate occasions at his business. Now, WBAP 820 radio talk show host Mark Davis is calling for her reinstatement, in the Dallas Morning News.

Former Fox news reporter and White House press secretary Tony Snow says claims that Fox News Channel is biased are unfair, reports Advertising Age.

France?s president abruptly ended a 60 Minutes interview aimed at introducing him to U.S. audiences, dubbing it ?stupid? and a ?big mistake? and refusing to answer questions about his wife. Before the CBS news show interview in Paris even began, Sarkozy called his press secretary ?an imbecile? for arranging the session on a busy day. ?I don?t have the time. I have a big job to do, I have a schedule,? Sarkozy said. Associated Press reports.

A federal mediator is trying to help Hollywood writers and producers reach a last-minute deal today on a new contract, hoping to help them avert a strike that could slow production of new TV shows and films. Talks between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America are set to resume today, the last day of their current agreement, which expires at midnight tonight. The 12,000-member writer?s guild has said it is ready to present an updated proposal to producers. A key issue involves giving writers more money from the sale of DVDs and the distribution of shows via the Internet, cell phones and other digital platforms. Associated Press.

The conservative Parents Television Council has rated the suitability of the top 20 TV shows to children, ranking them from first to worst. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Hispanics are seeing progress in hiring in television, while other minorities are lagging, says Associated Press.

Transsexual characters are increasingly appearing on network TV shows, says the Hartford Courant.

It takes a miracle to save a British comedy TV show in America. Networks are often too scared to stay true to quirky imports from across the pond when they create American versions. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul, a libertarian, is running his first TV ads of the race - in New Hampshire. Associated Press reports.

More than 10% of American homes are receiving HD channels, says Media Daily News.

The FCC appears ready to ban exclusive cable TV contracts and deals with developments and apartment complexes are in jeopardy. Supporters say it will give viewers a choice of services, while opponents says viewers may well end up paying higher monthly bills. The Washington Post reports.

Is the United States stuck in the Internet?s slow lane? The Washington Post reports.

A global effort is underway to invent a better way of finding things on the Web. Could Google be vulnerable? Newsweek reports.

Google and some of its friends are taking on the new kid on the block, the social networking site Facebook, says the New York Times. Microsoft has bested Google in the Facebook race, says the Los Angeles Times.

The nonprofit organization that manages the Internet?s domain-name system is set to vote today on changes to the Web site registration process that would make it easier for people to shield their identities online and, indirectly, cut spammers off from an easy-to-mine database of legitimate e-mail addresses. The Washington Post reports.

Most consumers are familiar with do-not-call lists, which are meant to keep telemarketers from phoning them. Soon people will be able to sign up for do-not-track lists, which will help shield their Web-surfing habits from the prying eyes of marketers. Such lists will not reduce the number of ads people see online, but they will prevent advertisers from using their online meanderings to deliver specific ad pitches to them. The New York Times reports.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to prohibit states from levying taxes on Internet access through 2014, clearing the way for a presidential signature on the measure before an existing ban expires. The unanimous House vote yesterday resolved a dispute with the Senate, which last week called for the longest-ever Internet-tax ban by passing the seven-year moratorium. The House voted October 16 to prohibit the taxes for four years. The current ban ends tomorrow. Bloomberg News reports.

Google is in talks with Verizon to work together on mobile phone software and services, a person with knowledge of the discussions said. Google may build its own operating system software or applications for phones, the person said yesterday. The companies are discussing how they would put together a partnership and ways to make money off the developments, said the person, who asked to remain anonymous because the talks are private. Bloomberg News reports.

Yahoo?s message service is adding languages from six new markets, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Vietnam, for a total of 25 international markets. Reuters reports.

Webcasts are bringing local cable TV shows to the world, says the Boston Globe.

Does wireless transmission bring a health hazard? The Washington Free Press examines this question.

NBC chief Jeff Zucker says Apple has destroyed the music business, at least as far as pricing, according to the Financial Times.

The top editor of Newsweek is stepping down. The New York Times reports.

New manufactured homes would be required to come equipped with weather radios to warn occupants of severe storms under legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday. Sponsors said the measure would help prevent deaths from tornadoes that disproportionately occur in manufactured housing, including mobile homes. The bill would require builders to install National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radios capable of picking up direct broadcasts from the National Weather Service. Such broadcasts provide official storm warnings and watches, as well as general weather information, 24 hours a day. ?With today?s technology, we have the science to predict a severe storm, sometimes as much as a half hour before it arrives,? said congressman Spencer Bachus, an Alabama Republican who sponsored the bill. ?The cost of installing these radios is very small, but it will save lives.? The bill passed by voice vote without opposition. It has not passed the Senate, reports Associated Press.

Is it a free speech issue? A federal appeals court upheld Oakland, California?s ban on new commercial billboards near freeways and its restrictions on commercial signs elsewhere in the city yesterday, rejecting an advertising company?s argument that the measures violate freedom of speech. One of the ordinances prohibits ads on billboards designed to be seen from a freeway. The ban does not apply to noncommercial messages, such as those from charities or religious institutions, or to advertising for a business located at the site of the sign. The second ordinance prohibits new advertising signs in any part of the city, but allows a company to seek an exemption in certain locations, if comparable firms were able to install their ads before the ban took effect in 1997. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Media Briefing for Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Rainbow/PUSH Coalition founder Rev. Jesse Jackson will be among the headliners at a localism hearing at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington tomorrow. The FCC has announced the witness list for the hearing, where the FCC will also present a summary of its findings to date and give the public an opportunity to comment. Jackson has framed media ownership as an important civil-rights issue because, he said, control of the media is control of the national agenda. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

The media moguls who favor more consolidation and concentration of control of broadcasting and media outlets are endangering democracy, says The Nation.

KQRS 92.5 Minneapolis will apologize to Minnesota Indians - and more. Yesterday?s visit by American Indian leaders to KQRS and the office of general manager Marc Kalman produced immediate results (says the Star-Tribune): an apology for what the Tom Barnard morning show said about suicide rates and other supposed problems on an upstate Minnesota reservation. Airtime on KQRS will be given for ?positive issues? involving the Indian community, a possibility of hiring some Native American interns, continued PSAs for a suicide hotline, and an invitation for members of two tribes to guest on Barnard?s show. The paper says some tribal leaders would?ve preferred that some on-air personalities be fired, but they?re pleased. Radio Info.com.

C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb is receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, reports Breitbart.

Fox News Channel?s VP and Washington bureau chief Brian Wilson says he sent an email to Bill O?Reilly yesterday explaining his comments about the FNC anchor at Texas Tech last week. Last Thursday evening, after a day of teaching classes at the university, Wilson took part in a Q&A session with the local Society of Professional Journalists chapter; a group Wilson today described as ?fairly adversarial.? Wilson told the students, ?Bill O?Reilly is not a journalist; it is an opinion-based program.? The comments appeared in a story Friday in the Texas Tech newspaper then spread through industry blogs. Wilson says he was explaining to the students that, like a newspaper, FNC has news and opinion. ?What happens at 7:59 is that we move from the world of news to the world of opinion,? Wilson explained. ?Hannity and O?Reilly are radically different from the other 22 hours of the day. This is our opinion page.? TV Newser.

The marketer who organized fundraisers for Connecticut Public Broadcasting - tony wine auctions with names like ?Wine on Ice? or ?Wine on Air,? at which participants bid on the best bottles to raise money for CPB and the public network have soured. Jim Donahue, of Farmington-based Donahue Event Marketing, expects to face former public broadcasting friends and colleagues in Superior Court in Hartford today. In a civil suit filed against CPBI, Donahue says he is owed more than $100,000 for work as a consultant, and $31,000 in expenses and commissions related to fundraising for CPBI from 2003 to 2005. Jerry Franklin, the president and CEO of Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc., said Monday that he and his chief financial officer, Meg Sakellarides, ?for months tried to resolve various claims Mr. Donahue brought forth. We concluded we owe Mr. Donahue $5,700 and sent him a check for that amount.? The Hartford Courant reports.

The Fox Business Network, which launched two weeks ago yesterday, is stressing optimism. On its first morning, a glowing anchorwoman noted that on the same date October 15 in 1951, a TV institution was born: I Love Lucy. Good call. Fox?s new institution-in-the-making could aptly be nicknamed I Love Business, says Associated Press.

NBC chief Jeff Zucker is dismissing the threat of the Fox Business Network to CNBC, reports the Hollywood Reporter.

The issue of sex and politics is examined by the Washington Post.

A new anti-Hillary Clinton video has made its way onto YouTube, reports the Boston Globe.

Drexel University in Philadelphia is preparing for tonight?s 9 p.m. Democratic presidential debate on MSNBC with Brian Williams and Tim Russert. It is the 8th Democratic presidential debate. CNN will televise a Republican presidential debate in about a month, on November 28, says Associated Press.

NBC is looking for ways to put its shows online, and do so profitably, reports Bloomberg News.

In devising TV, radio, print, and Internet ads aimed at the gay community, marketers cannot assume that ?one size fits all.? In an unprecedented study, New American Dimensions and the Asterix Group reveal what motivates purchasing decisions of gays and lesbians, providing mainstream marketing executives with a one-of-a-kind glimpse into the lives of this coveted niche market. The study divides the gay and lesbian market demographic into five distinct segments, highlighting a wide range of lifestyles, values and consumption preferences. The segments are cross-referenced with preferred ad styles and imagery, creating a powerful set of insights for targeting this influential demographic. Super Gays ? educated, sophisticated, activists, most likely male; Habitaters ?serious, responsible, older, likely in a stable relationship; Gay Mainstream ?high gay identity, conservative, low profile; Party People ?youthful, cutting edge, risk-takers, residing in big cities; Closeted ? lowest gay identity, older, single. This report is from Asterixgroup.

Frontline on PBS and Thirteen/WNET tonight at 9 offers matter-of-fact voices from the family mortuary, says the New York Times.

Critics of allowing customers to pick and choose cable TV channels say it will make it very difficult for any new channels to gain entry, and it will make cable TV even more expensive. But a new Zogby poll says consumers prefer to pick their own cable networks - but a sizable portion of those users believe the privilege will cost them more money. Pollster Zogby Interactive said 52% of cable users would prefer to buy only individual channels, instead of being sold the current pre-packaged set of networks by cable and satellite distributors. But many of those same consumers - 37% - believe an a la carte regime would be more expensive. Roughly the same number - 39% - believe an a la carte system would be less expensive. Cable subscribers over 25 want it more than younger cable watchers, says Media Daily News. The poll was taken the final week of September, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Chef Tell of the PBS program In The Kitchen With Chef Tell has passed away at age 63, says the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was the son of a newspaper owner in Germany, says Associated Press.

Harkening back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s when network radio and TV shows had single sponsors, advertisers are experimenting with single sponsorship on the network evening news broadcasts. Advertising Age.

A Hollywood writers strike could come as early as Thursday, and the commercial networks are preparing, with plans for reality and game shows if a walkout happens and drags on, says Associated Press. Writers recall the 1988 strike, in the Los Angeles Times.

Google and Yahoo see mobile search as the next frontier in Internet advertising. But as they begin building out their wireless homesteads, the founders of two of the Internet?s most famous brands are bumping into a surprise competitor from their college days at Stanford University. Brian Lent, 37, is chief executive of Medio Systems, which provides mobile search technology to telecom giants like Verizon and T-Mobile. Lent says Medio?s behind-the-scenes approach gives the company a much broader reach than its rivals, whose popularity is threatening to carriers. The San Jose Mercury News reports.

A listing of the 25 worst TV shows of all time has been compiled by the Chicago Tribune.

Even though Jay Leno may be having second thoughts about leaving The Tonight Show in 2009, NBC is standing by the date, with Conan O?Brien taking over. Associated Press.

Tribune and Gannett say that they are working on a joint venture to expand Tribune?s Metromix local entertainment Web site network throughout the United States in a bid for more revenue from national advertisers. Metromix will be owned equally by Tribune and Gannett. The companies did not disclose financial terms, but Tribune Interactive President Tim Landon said the venture would not be as large as the CareerBuilder online jobs site they co-own with McClatchy and Microsoft. Metromix is the name of a group of websites in cities where Tribune owns a newspaper, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Orlando. The Web sites offer information such as entertainment listings, bar and restaurant reviews, and write-ups on television stations and movies. The sites are designed to tap into the Internet advertising market, particularly 21- to 34-year-olds. Associated Press reports.

Court TV changes its name to truTV January 1st, says the Hollywood Reporter

Ann Curry of Today is interviewed, discussing her trip to the South Pole, among other things, in TV Week.

Another salvo was fired in the letter wars over the XM/Sirius merger as 11 more members of Congress voiced their approval of the deal in a letter sent to FCC chairman Kevin Martin. The letter was signed by Democrats Yvette Clarke, Elliot Engel, Carolyn Maloney, Edolphus Towns, Greg Meeks, all of New York, Bobby Rush of Illinois, Danny Davis of Illinois, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, and Corrine Brown and Alcee Hastings, both of Florida, and Republican Ralph Hall of Texas. In their letter to Chairman Martin, the lawmakers identified a ?plethora of choices? in the audio entertainment market that compete with satellite radio, adding that enabling the two companies to merge will enhance ?innovative and diverse content, jobs and business partnering opportunities.? This report is from All Access.com.

Sirius satellite radio has grown to 7.7 million subscribers, and Sirius? Mel Karmazin predicts a closing of the merger with XM by December 31. Karmazin says Sirius is ?solidly on pace to exit 2007 with more than eight million subscribers.? Rival XM reported last week that it?s up to 8,570,000. Karmazin remembers that analysts had predicted the ?Stern Factor? would fade soon after Howard Stern?s arrival, but ?we said that was nonsense, that would see the benefit of our strong content? for a longer period of time. This report is from Radio Info.com.

Media Briefing for Monday, October 29, 2007

Bigots are exploiting the Internet to spread hate, according to the head of the Anti-Defamation League. Newsday reports.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency staged a fake news conference last week, with agency staff officials, pretending to be reporters, peppering one of their own bosses with decidedly friendly questions about the response to the California fires, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged. The New York Times reports. The fake news conference is FEMA's latest disaster, says the Los Angeles Times. Reporters were only given 15 minutes notice for the "news" conference in Washington, D.C., reports the Washington Post. Someone will be paying for the stunt, said Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff. The Tribune Co. Washington Bureau reports.

In what would be a big victory for AT&T, Verizon and the satellite TV providers, the FCC is set to end sole cable TV deals for apartments, says the New York Times.

The PBS station in Syracuse, WCNY channel 24, is dropping on-air pledge programming to raise money, says the New York Post.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Sunday that prescription drug companies should wait two years to begin advertising their new products to consumers, according to Associated Press.

Clear Channel Communications radio executives in Cincinnati, Ohio are quietly putting together the community advisory board demanded by local Hispanic groups it offended on two separate occasions this year. The League of United Latin American Citizens proposed the panel in May, when WLW-AM 700, the city's No. 1 station, put up the "Big Juan" billboards with a Mexican man and a donkey. The league's national office repeated the demand to Clear Channel's corporate headquarters in San Antonio, Texas in August, after the station broadcast a promotion offering "helpful phrases" to speak to illegal aliens, with Spanish music in the background. Cincinnati Enquirer.

Native American groups are upset with the announcers at KQRS-FM 92.5 Minneapolis after the announcers described members of two Sioux tribes as "ignorant," reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The clock is ticking away and it is only about one year and four months until all analog broadcasting by TV stations in the U.S. ceases and the stations begin broadcasting in digital only. Viewers relying on outdoor antennas or rabbit ears will have to either buy a new TV set or a converter to receive broadcast stations after February 17, 2009, reports Newsday.

Tell Me More, an NPR show focusing on diversity, airing on WNYE 91.5 New York weekdays 9 to 10 a.m., is profiled by the Washington Post.

The chief of the Fox News Channel's Washington, D.C. bureau is reportedly in trouble with his bosses after telling a college audience that the reason his network gets so much flak about being too conservative is because of commentators like Bill O'Reilly, who he says is not a journalist, reports Big Head DC.

The student audience was skeptical, says the college newspaper, the Daily Toreador. The Fox vice president came to the class after learning that the students had viewed the documentary Outfoxed which its Web site says "examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a 'race to the bottom' in television news." The film explores the different ways in which news can be manipulated to get a certain message across.

The Fox News Channel sent notices to the campaigns of the leading Republican presidential candidates ordering them to stop using images from their Fox appearances in their campaign ads. The notices were sent out after the network was criticized for singling out only Senator John McCain's campaign in barring use of the images. The New York Times reports. The Web site Talking Points Memo had pointed out that the campaigns of McCain?s rivals, specifically Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney, made liberal use of footage from Fox images to promote their candidates, but had not been told to remove the images. In his ad McCain had used 19 seconds from the Fox debate, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider, lost more basic cable TV subscribers than expected in the 3rd quarter, and its profits were down by 54%, reports Reuters.

There a sweet treat in store this week for fans of the comic strip and TV specials Peanuts: the debut of the American Masters documentary Good Ol' Charles Schulz on PBS and on Thirteen/WNET this evening at 9. Responsible for some of the most iconic characters of the 20th century, Charles M. Schulz introduced the dynamic Peanuts gang to the world over the course of 50 years with his syndicated daily and Sunday comic strip. Yet as Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and the rest of Schulz's two-dimensional personalities bared the complexity of their everyday trials, the life of the man who guided them remained largely out of the spotlight. Washington Post. There were nearly 18,000 strips since it began in 1950, says Newsday. The documentary is poignant and probing, says the Orlando Sentinel. By the time he died in 2000, Schulz knew the affect he had had on the world, says the New York Times. His character Charlie Brown always felt unloved and unappreciated, says the Philadelphia Daily News. The documentary receives high praise from the Baltimore Sun. The documentary shows Schulz's darker side, says Associated Press. It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown airs Tuesday evening at 8 on ABC.

Comedian Carol Burnett is being featured on PBS's American Masters on Monday evening November 5, at 9 on Thirteen/WNET, says Associated Press.

This week's Frontline episode, The Undertaking Tuesday evening at 9 on PBS and Thirteen/WNET offers a subdued, stark, one-hour glimpse of death that should be relatable to everyone. While we may not like to discuss death, this film encourages viewers to ponder it as an inherent part of life. The Undertaking, inspired by a book of the same name written by Michigan funeral director Thomas Lynch, follows both the Lynch family and their clients as they usher loved ones from the realm of the living. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports.

Sometimes words and phrases are introduced into everyday language by TV shows or characters on television. The word "vajayjay" has been introduced into the popular culture via television, says the New York Times.

The Educational Media Foundation has closed on its buy of classic rock WRCK-FM 107.3 Utica-Rome, N.Y., from Ed Levine's Galaxy Broadcasting for $1.22 million. Galaxy agreed to divest WRCK to comply with the FCC's ownership cap after the company said it would purchase Clear Channel's 9-station group in Utica-Rome last July. Earlier this year, EMF purchased three stations from Galaxy, with one being a station west of Syracuse and the other two serving the Albany market. With the addition of WRCK, this enables EMF's K-Love network to cover the Syracuse market with two signals. Radio-Online reports.

Can the Internet be a substitute for a significant other? A survey shows 24% of those questioned said yes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The post office forwards letters when a person moves, and telephone companies likewise forward calls. Should Internet companies be required to forward e-mails to customers who switch providers? There is no mandate governing e-mail forwarding, and industry officials say imposing one would be costly and unnecessary. But federal regulators are looking at the issue more closely following a complaint from a former America Online customer who claims an abrupt termination of service devastated her business. Associated Press reports.

In a time when newspapers are cutting back on or eliminating book review sections, the Internet is offering book reviewers a new chapter, says the Boston Globe.

Internet retail has been the bright spot in the sector for investors this year. People are more secure shopping online these days, according to analysts. Security breaches may still be a concern for some shoppers, though those can happen even at brick-and-mortar stores, said Patti Freeman Evans, an analyst at Jupiter Research, recalling the hacking of databases at TJX, which owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. There are other reasons Internet shopping is up: It gives consumers more choice and is convenient. It saves on expensive gasoline. Broadband has gotten cheaper, and more households have Internet access: about 75 percent and growing rapidly, according to research firm Sanford C. Bernstein. The Washington Post reports.

Young tycoons who have made fortunes from Internet innovations don't just sit on their millions and billions. They often start over to create a new invention, reports the New York Times.

YouTube, famous for its entertaining clips, now has a growing list of informative videos, too, posted by experts on many subjects - including dentistry, reports the New York Times.

In the 1970s, Vint Cerf played a leading role in developing the Internet's technical foundation. For the past seven years, he's faced the more daunting task of leading a key agency that oversees his creation. After fending off an international rebellion and planting the seeds for streamlining operations, Cerf is stepping down this week as chairman of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). "My sentence is up," Cerf said with his characteristic sense of humor, which he and others credit for helping him steer the organization through several high-profile battles from which it emerged more stable and stronger. Cerf, 64, is also a senior executive at Internet search leader Google. Associated Press reports.

In Minnesota, a woman has been found slain in the trunk of her car after answering an online job posting for a nanny job, says Associated Press.

Opposition Web sites in the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan were temporarily shut down, organizers said, for publishing documents relating to the public battle between the country?s authoritarian leader and his estranged former son-in-law. The Internet blocking, which lasted three days, was a fresh turn in a bitter and high-stakes conflict between President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Rakhat Aliyev, who until this summer was married to the president?s eldest daughter, Dariga, according to the New York Times.

The FCC has fined three television stations - in Alaska, Utah and Texas - for violating its rules regarding children's programming, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The deal to sell eight Clear Channel Communications radio stations on the Maryland shore is off, reports the Salisbury, Maryland Daily Times.

Hollywood is bracing for a strike Thursday by writers for TV shows and films, reports the Los Angeles Times. The affect a strike would have on viewers is examined by the Chicago Tribune. Can a federal mediator avert a strike? Broadcasting & Cable reports.

For the past three months, WCVB channel 5 Boston has been rotating news anchors on its 6 p.m. newscast, seeking a permanent replacement. After 35 years on the job, WCVB channel 5 Boston news anchor Natalie Jacobson retired in July. It is now the end of October and WCVB is focusing much more on making the correct decision than making a quick one. The Boston Globe reports.

Hillary Clinton has drawn nearly twice as much media coverage as any Republican presidential candidate, making her the dominant figure in the race. But that coverage is more negative than positive, a new study says, in part because the former first lady is such an object of revulsion on conservative talk radio. The Washington Post reports.

There is a televised Democratic presidential debate from Drexel University in Philadelphia tomorrow evening at 9 on MSNBC, with Tim Russert and Brian Williams. This is the 8th Democratic presidential debate.

A study shows the media is narrowing the field of presidential hopefuls, reports Associated Press.

It is not clear that Current TV, which has gained wide attention because of the involvement of Al Gore, has yet gained a substantial audience, and it is difficult to tell because Current TV does not subscribe to the Nielsen ratings, reports the New York Times.

Taking on YouTube, Hulu begins tests today with a Hulu sample page showing a variety of both episodes and clips from NBC's Heroes. NBC and Fox jointly own Hulu, the new-media creation of two old-media rivals. Hulu, an independent company with more than a hundred employees and its own offices in Los Angeles, will begin privately testing its new service with select users at Hulu.com. It will also begin sending its videos to the sites of five distribution partners, Microsoft, AOL, MySpace, Yahoo, and Comcast. The New York Times reports. "Consumers identify with shows and films," rather than networks, Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar said. Associated Press reports. Hulu is casting a wide net, says the Los Angeles Times.

The financial news Web site The Street.com remains unruffled by Rupert Murdoch?s foray onto its turf, says the New York Times.

TV late night host Stephen Colbert is running for president. His bid is not for real, but his supporters are very real. The Colbert Nation has quickly colonized the social networking site Facebook, says the New York Times.

In the Atlantic Canadian province of New Brunswick, a new newspaper is facing off against a well-established family, says the New York Times.

Country and western music icon Porter Wagoner is dead at age 80, says Associated Press.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a $24.7 billion buyout of Alltel Corp., the nation's fifth-largest wireless carrier, to a private investment group. The agency has approved the transfer of licenses held by Alltel to Atlantis Holdings LLC, a holding company consisting of TPG Capital, formerly Texas Pacific Group, and GS Capital Partners, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. Associated Press reports.

The FCC's planned auction of spectrum space is still facing challenges, says Associated Press.

The term "network neutrality" never came up in their letter, but Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) called on Senate Commerce Committee chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) to hold a hearing on possible "service discrimination" by cable and telco providers. That came after a number of recent criticisms of Comcast, Verizon and AT&T of how they are managing their networks. The pair said in a letter to Inouye Friday that the committee needs to determine whether the various actions - blocking access to text messages and anti-Bush lyrics, for example - "were based on legitimate business and network-management policies or part of practices that would be deemed unfair and anticompetitive." Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Despite low ratings, affiliates of MyNetwork TV are staying with the network. Variety reports. In New York the MyNetwork affiliate is WWOR channel 9. Affiliates include WCTX channel 59 New Haven.

Media Briefing for Friday, October 26, 2007

Neal Shapiro has been elected to Gannett?s board of directors, bringing the total number of directors to nine. Shapiro is president here at Thirteen/WNET New York, the largest public television station in the United States. He served as president of NBC News from May 2001 to September 2005. ?Neal?s diverse experience with network news and public television will be a tremendous asset for Gannett as we move forward with our strategic plan,? Craig Dubow, Gannett?s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. Editor & Publisher reports.

The backlash against reported FCC plans to allow even more consolidation of media ownership is growing. A group of 42 House Democrats led by Congressman Maurice Hinchey of the lower Hudson Valley have called on FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to abandon his plan to relax the media ownership rules by the end of this year. The House members expressed strong concerns over further media consolidation, the failure of the FCC to thoroughly and objectively study media ownership issues, and the lack of adequate time for the public to submit comments on the proposed changes. ?We hope that you will immediately take steps to resolve significant shortcomings in your plan regarding accountability, transparency, and scientific integrity,? Hinchey and his 41 colleagues wrote in a letter sent to Martin yesterday. ?At its heart, the debate over the future of media ownership in America is a debate over the future of our democracy. TV Newsday and Broadcasting & Cable report. Last November, Congressman Hinchey sponsored a public forum attended by some 300 people in which opponents of consolidation of media ownership said the trend is silencing local voices.

Free Press is ripping FCC chairman Martin on the date of the next public hearing on the issue of localism in broadcasting, saying only one week?s notice was given, not adequate time for commenters to prepare for such a serious inquiry. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

FCC commissioner Michael Copps wants an inquiry into the acquisition of the Wall Street Journal by Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp., reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The FCC released the agenda for its October 31 public meeting in Washington and it is a mixed bag for cable, with proposals to extend the industry franchise relief but to ban its exclusive deals with apartment buildings, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The conservative Parents Television Council grassroots chapters in Utah are urging the FCC to review the license of CBS affiliate, KUTV channel 2 Salt Lake City, Utah, for ?failing to adhere to its community standards of decency.? PTC said: ?This week, CBS offered a written excuse for its failure to implement terms of a consent decree it negotiated with the FCC in November of 2004. Under the terms of the decree, CBS agreed to pay a fine and take remedial action in the event that it violated the broadcast decency law and received a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) from the FCC.? TV Newsday reports.

A conservative Christian group has brought suit against the former owners of a non-commercial FM station in the Miami, Florida market, WKCP 89.7, which dropped religious programming and switched to a classical music format, giving Miami its first all-classical station in several years. The Miami Herald reports.

Can the state of Utah censor the Internet? That question is now in federal court, reports KUTV News.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has been asked by Fox News Channel to stop running a TV ad that inadvertently shows a Fox logo behind him, reports Associated Press.

In an episode this week, the Oprah Winfrey Show featured coming-out experiences of gays in homophobic foreign countries. The show started with Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of India, who came out after a nervous breakdown prompted by a miserable, closeted marriage. The Prince?s coming out was a huge scandal in India, with his mother buying an ad in the paper announcing that she had disowned her son and wouldn?t allow for anyone to refer to him as her child. Oprah also talked with Staceyann Chin, a New York-based poet, playwright and performer, who fled her native Jamaica after she was sexually assaulted by a gang of boys in a public restroom for being a lesbian. After Elton reports.

BBC reporter Alan Johnston describes what it was like being held hostage 114 days in Gaza. Associated Press reports.

Cuban television broadcast a large portion of George W. Bush?s speech in which Bush condemns both Fidel and Raul Castro. The McClatchy newspapers report.

Mainstream blogs are opening the gates for political coverage, says the Washington Post.

Pirates have foiled Hollywood?s high-tech security. A new high-profile movie-bootlegging case involving the coming Oscar-hopeful American Gangster shows that Hollywood?s supposedly reinforced preventive measures on piracy aren?t as reliable as the industry thought. The movie, which stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, is being distributed by General Electric?s Universal Pictures and is set to open in theatres November 2. Yet it has been available since at least Wednesday at various file-sharing sites on the Internet. High-quality DVDs were being sold for $5 yesterday morning in Los Angeles, where someone in a car pulled up in front of a Wilshire Boulevard office building and quickly sold a few copies before moving on, says the Wall Street Journal.

The DVR?s ability to fast-forward through commercials may be a blessing in the short term, but a curse long term, says the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Microsoft, based in the Seattle area, wants the Silicon Valley of California to be its friend, says the San Jose Mercury News.

Online technology news and entertainment provider CNet Networks has sold photo-sharing site Webshots to American Greetings Corp. for $45 million, substantially less than the service cost to acquire three years ago. The San Francisco-based company announced the deal yesterday along with its third-quarter financial results. CNet suffered a loss of $16.6 million during the three months ended in September, widening from a loss of $2.3 million at the same time last year. Associated Press reports.

Vonage Holdings, the beleaguered provider of Internet-based Vonage phone service, said yesterday it has settled a patent lawsuit brought by competitor Verizon Communications for a maximum of $120 million. The lawsuit, along with two filed by other phone companies, had cast a heavy shadow over Vonage?s future. The company?s service enables subscribers to connect phones to broadband connections for about $25 a month. Associated Press reports.

Senior citizens living in Europe and the Middle East will soon be able to watch shows produced for elderly audiences by Retirement Living TV, thanks to two new international deals expected to be unveiled this week. The television network signed its first international programming deal Monday with Anarey Communication?s Health Channel in Israel to air three of its feature shows. Later this week, Retirement Living TV also plans to announce its part in a consortium with six European channels to air its shows. The deal will involve stations in Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The Baltimore Business Journal reports.

In the Bronx, Fordham University?s WFUV-FM 90.7 is 60 years old. Alumni of the station include Charles Osgood of CBS. The New York Daily News reports.

In New York the Air America Radio affiliate, WWRL-AM 1600, has a new morning team in former WABC-AM 770 and WWOR-TV channel 9 host Richard Bey and former Air America Radio host Mark Riley. The former morning team, Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams, left the station after yesterday?s show, says All Access.com. Williams was at the center of controversy several years ago, when it surfaced that he had signed a contract with the U.S. Education Department for $240,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind Act, but did not disclose this as he expressed his support for it on the air. Last week, the FCC proposed fines totaling $76,000 against two television broadcast companies for their roles, reports Associated Press.

In Boston, transit officials are pulling the plug on ?T Radio? after commuters have turned a deaf ear on the private radio venture at three Boston subway stops. The MBTA has ended a two-week-old experiment of pumping music and other programming into the stations while passengers waited on platforms for trains. Boston Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the agency received hundreds of e-mails about the service, most of which were negative. Many commuters found it distracting or annoying, while others said they would prefer to listen to the street musicians who play live music in the stations. The Boston Globe reports.

In Boston, a teenage boy is denying blocking 911 messages, but police say he meddled in vital transmissions. The boy, 17-year-old Paul Lyndon of Jamaica Plain was arraigned in West Roxbury Municipal Court on charges of receiving stolen property and disturbing the peace. To his parents, Paul M. Lydon Jr. is an ?awesome kid,? an honor roll student at a Boston high school who reads the Bible regularly and whose lifelong wish is to become a police officer. But to Boston police, Lydon is a danger to public safety who deliberately blocked 911 radio transmissions between dispatchers and officers on the street numerous times over the past several weeks. The Boston Globe reports.

Media Briefing for Thursday, October 25, 2007

Paul K. Taff, who brought Mister Rogers to public television and led Connecticut Public Broadcasting and later the Connecticut Broadcasters Association (CBA), is profiled in the Decatur, Illinois Herald Review. He facilitated Fred Rogers? move to national public television while head of children?s programming at the National Educational Television (NET) network in New York, the predecessor of PBS. He also brought public FM to Connecticut in 1978, and the call letters of the flagship station of Connecticut Public Radio honor him, WPKT 90.5. He continues as president emeritus of CBA at age 87. Mister Rogers? Neighborhood is seen weekday afternoons at 2:30 on Thirteen/WNET.

The marketing of brand label clothing to teenaged girls on television and in teenaged magazines is contributing to a culture of attitude and even bullying for the girls who are not perceived to have the correct clothes and are not wearing the ?correct? brand names. The Wall Street Journal reports.

The fight over indecency on television is now on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, says USA Today.

Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS) have made it clear that they will do whatever they can to try to stop FCC chairman Kevin Martin from holding a December vote on media ownership rule changes. If Martin does try to ?ram through? that vote, Dorgan said, they vowed to use a rarely seen procedural move, a resolution of disapproval, to invalidate it. Broadcasting & Cable reports. Senator Dorgan says he expects to gain support in Congress from those who feel strongly about the issue, reports Reuters.

The FCC? s sixth hearing on localism is scheduled for Wednesday at the agency?s Washington headquarters, but the hearing was just announced late yesterday. Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have objected, saying it doesn?t give interested parties enough time to prepare. The purpose of the hearing is to gather information from consumers, industry, civic organizations and others on broadcasters? role in their local communities and proposed changes to FCC rules on consolidation of ownership of media outlets, says TV Newsday. The hearing is at Room TW-C305, FCC headquarters, at 445 12th Street SW in Washington, according to the FCC. The hearing will immediately follow the monthly open meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., says Broadcasting & Cable.

One of radio?s hottest-button issues - consolidation - took center stage at the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee?s ?Future of Radio? hearing yesterday. Parties representing both sides of each issue had a chance to make their points to Senators who most likely have already made up their minds on the issues. Free Press
research director S. Derek Turner called on Congress to ?send a message to the FCC to stop its rush toward more consolidation.? In prepared remarks, Turner said, ?Ownership rules exist for a reason: to increase diversity and localism, which in turn produces more diverse speech, more choice for listeners, and more owners who are responsive to their local communities ... Our research conclusively demonstrates that more consolidation means less female and minority ownership. The Commission needs to first adequately study the issue of minority ownership before moving forward with any rule changes. It may be hard to believe, but they?ve never even conducted an accurate count of who owns the nation?s radio outlets. How can the FCC conduct any meaningful analysis regarding the effects of its policies if it can?t conduct a basic count of who owns what?? All Access.com reports.

A Phoenix, Arizona judge has released grand jury records from an investigation of a newspaper whose top executives were arrested after writing about a subpoena seeking information on news stories and Web site readers. Presiding Criminal Judge Anna Baca of Maricopa County Superior Court said she ordered the release partly because the Phoenix New Times published details from the Aug. 24 subpoena last week. Saying the investigation had been compromised, County Attorney Andrew Thomas on Friday canceled the probe of the Phoenix New Times and dropped charges against the two executives of New Times? parent company, Village Voice Media. Associated Press reports.

Former ABC World News anchor Bob Woodruff, very seriously injured in a bomb attack in Iraq, continues to improve. He has recovered to the point that he has returned to work full-time as a correspondent for ABC News on its various programs, including World News and Nightline. The New York Times reports.

California First Lady Maria Shriver won?t resume her TV news career and the late Anna Nicole Smith is the reason why. Shriver says the media circus surrounding Smith?s accidental drug overdose death last February led to her decision. ?It was then that I knew that the TV news business had changed and so had I,? Shriver said. ?I called NBC News and told them I?m not coming back.? Associated Press reports.

There is a new definition for ?Trash TV.? With the digital rule on the horizon, outmoded sets are piling up. With earlier generations of analog televisions reaching the end of their functioning lives, and flat-screen technology replacing the familiar cathode ray tube, local officials and private recyclers say Massachusetts has been experiencing a bumper crop of discarded television sets in recent years. The Boston Globe has the story.

Conservatives are left without a voice on ABC?s The View . When Elisabeth Hasselbeck bade farewell to her co-hosts on The View Tuesday, it was all hugs, well-wishes, and baby-product endorsements. But as Hasselbeck begins her two-and-a-half month maternity leave, the political landscape is shifting as well. America?s most dangerous conservative - or so some liberals see it - is leaving TV for a while. Hasselbeck, the apple-cheeked blonde with the football-player husband, consistently draws a brand of hatred from the left that Hillary Clinton generates from the right; ?screechmonger? is one of the more printable slurs hurled at her from the blogosphere. Barry Manilow has called her ?offensive.? The Boston Globe reports.

The Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time in Fairfield County, Connecticut have been sold to the owners of the Denver Post, who also own the Danbury News Times and Connecticut Post of Bridgeport. This leaves the Norwalk Hour as the only daily in Fairfield County not owned by the Denver Post group. The Hartford Courant reports.

Apple, which has been so successful with music, is encountering obstacles in video. When it comes to video content ? hit television shows such as Heroes and The Office and movies ? Apple? bargaining position isn?t strong. For the second time in a year, Apple is getting significant resistance from a content creator that would rather turn its back on the mighty iPod than capitulate to Apple CEO Steve Jobs? pricing demands. And now, some music companies are starting to reexamine their relationships with Apple. And after December 1, when Apple?s contract with NBC expires, all shows that NBC Universal owns, past and present, will disappear from the site. That includes shows from Sci Fi, USA and Bravo cable channels, says the Washington Post.

For years people have been able to do their banking via computer ? and more recently via the browser on their cell phones. Now Wells Fargo is offering some limited information via text messaging. The banking giant announced this week that both individual and small-business customers can get their account balances, check for recent activity and get contact information via text messages sent to their cellphones, reports the Sacramento Bee.

The Dolan family, which built Cablevision Systems Corp. into one of the most successful cable TV providers in the country, is going to have to keep dealing with public stockholders for the foreseeable future, reports Associated Press. The outcome leaves Cablevision, which also owns Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, as an independent company. And it ends, for now, two years of work by the Dolans, the colorful dynasty that controls the cable empire, to take it private. While the rejection was not unexpected, it demonstrated the increasing skepticism about public-to-private transactions and whether shareholders are getting a fair price. No other deal of this size has ever been rejected; the next-largest deal to be voted down was an effort by the investor Carl Ichan to buy Lear, the auto parts maker, for $2.4 billion last year. The New York Times reports. The Dolans are disappointed, notes Broadcasting & Cable.

AT&T has been trying to establish cable TV service in Connecticut and is already serving several thousands of customers who were hooked up until the state halted the company. The state is trying to have all the rules governing the existing local cable systems in the state apply to AT&T as well. But this ?ruling protects the cable cartel,? says the Hartford Courant in an editorial.

Microsoft has bought a 1.6 percent stake in the social networking site Facebook for $240 million, reports Associated Press. Microsoft has won a high-profile technology industry battle, says the New York Times. It?s betting on a Web ad boom, says the Wall Street Journal and is paying top dollar, says the Seattle Times. With the deal, Microsoft is one-upping Google, says the San Jose Mercury News. The move values Facebook at $15 billion and also bolsters a new method of Internet advertising, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The social networking site had been wooed by both Internet giants, says the Los Angeles Times.

God Tube is a social networking site for believers, says the Hartford Courant.

Oral Roberts, one of the country?s first televangelists with a national profile, visited the university named after him and said his son and the administration are totally innocent of charges by three former Oral Roberts University professors that they were wrongfully fired or forced to retire. ORU?s board of regents is stepping up its role at the college following allegations made in the lawsuit, chairman George Pearsons said in an interview. ?The board is very quickly becoming . . . much more hands-on,? said Pearsons, pastor of Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas. ?The board has the oversight of the university, and we?re responsible for what goes on,? he said. ?We have every right to ask questions, to investigate.? The Tulsa World reports.

One-time news photographer Matt Braatz is now the top tech for NBC owned and operated TV stations, responsible for keeping all 10 on the air and making sure they have the gear they need to produce not just for broadcast, but for the Web, mobile and whatever other new media comes along. TV Newsday reports.

In Vietnam, a TV star has fallen from grace and her show cancelled after sex video made its way onto the Internet. In Vietnam?s sexually conservative culture, women have been taught to remain totally chaste until marriage and then faithful to her husband even if he cheats, according to Associated Press.

Marxists once referred to religion as the opium of the people, but in today?s China it is the music promoted on state-monopolized radio that increasingly claims that role. China?s leader, Hu Jintao, has talked since he assumed power five years ago about ?building a harmonious society,? an ambiguous phrase subject to countless interpretations. But Chinese musicians, cultural critics and fans say that in entertainment, the government?s thrust seems clear: Harmonious means blandly homogeneous, with virtually all contemporary music on the radio consisting of gentle love songs and uplifting ballads. In recent weeks, television networks have come under intense pressure from Beijing to purge their programming of crime and even mildly suggestive sexual references. The New York Times reports.

In a major strategy shift, the Cambridge, Massachusetts foundation that plans to provide laptop computers to poor children around the globe is asking wealthy individuals and corporations to help pick up the tab by purchasing hundreds or thousands of the machines. The Boston Globe reports.

Opie And Anthony, whose morning radio show was jettisoned by WYSP 94.1 Philadelphia, are offering their show for free to any Philadelphia station which will broadcast it, says the Philadelphia Daily News. Their show continues on WXRK 92.3 New York, WMOS 104.7 Montauk, Long Island, and a national network of stations and on XM satellite radio.

Media Briefing for Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS), who are something of a bipartisan tag team against media consolidation, have scheduled a press conference for today in the Senate Radio & TV Gallery to talk about radio and TV. The two are working on a media-ownership bill that would prevent FCC chairman Kevin Martin from what they argue would be a rush to judgment on a media-ownership rule rewrite now 18 months in the making. The bill will be one of the subjects of the press conference, although it is unclear whether they will have the legislation ready to introduce, according to a staffer, who said it will deal with both process and policy. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Congressman John Dingell, the powerful chairman of the House Commerce Committee, is urging the FCC to go slow on further media consolidation, says B&C.

Consumers, civil rights groups and labor unions oppose allowing further consolidation of media ownership, reports TV Week.

Great concern remains about the declining percentage of broadcast stations owned by minorities, says Broadcasting & Cable.

When it comes to cable TV franchise regulation, the states are telling FCC chairman Kevin Martin ?don?t tread on us.? This from B&C as well.

Conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck told his listeners on his nationally syndicated radio show Monday that those suffering losses in the California fires ?hate America.? ?I think there is a handful of people who hate America,? Beck said. ?Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today.? Beck then tried to backtrack, saying he didn't think those who hated the country were Democrats. ?I think there are those posing as Democrats that are like that,? he said. The comments came as Beck criticized Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for urging GOP presidential candidates to capture the political center in the 2008 election by focusing on healthcare reform and education. This report is from the Los Angeles Times. Beck is heard weekdays 9 a.m. to 12 noon on WELI 960 New Haven and upstate on 50,000-watt clear channel WHAM 1180 Rochester from 9 to 11 a.m. Beck also has a one-hour nightly cable TV show on CNN Headline News.

Before The Blog is a major exhibit of pre-Internet era propaganda techniques from around the world, reports the Miami Herald.

The National Association of Broadcasters is gearing up to challenge certain mandates given to broadcast stations regarding the February 17, 2009 switchover to all-digital TV broadcasting. But it may to too late to prevent the FCC from requiring broadcasters to air up to 12 public service announcements and 12 crawls a day alerting the public to the DTV transition and the February 2009 cut-off of analog telecasting, says TV Newsday.

A U.S. Senate hearing takes up the issue of music royalty payments by Internet radio stations. The Washington Post reports.

White House hopeful Barack Obama planned to launch a new radio ad Tuesday in South Carolina featuring the son of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson. In the one-minute ad, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. recalls 1988, when his father won South Carolina?s Democratic presidential primary. Associated Press reports.

Local TV stations in Los Angeles and San Diego are covering the giant wildfires via multiple platforms, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

KFMB-TV channel 8 San Diego reporter Larry Himmel covered the destruction of his own home by the wildfires and his report is posted on YouTube, notes Broadcasting & Cable.

The networks have mobilized their news operations to provide full coverage of the raging California fires, says B&C. The big three broadcast networks have dispatched their anchors to California, says the Hollywood Reporter.

With its transmitter overrun by fire, NPR FM station KPBS 89.5 San Diego is now broadcasting its programming over KBZT 94.9. Associated Press reports.

The fires are disrupting TV and film production in Hollywood, reports Associated Press.

Hundreds of fundamentalist Christian filmmakers gathered in Texas on Monday to study the work of Walt Disney and discuss their belief that his corporate heirs at Walt Disney Co. have strayed from his family-friendly legacy. The Christian Filmmakers Academy, which trains aspiring filmmakers and promotes films with ?biblical values,? contends that Disney Co. has become ?an engine of cultural decline after Walt?s death? that ?exercises an alarmingly vast global influence.? The two-day analysis of Disney, the man and the corporation, is part of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and the third annual Christian Filmmakers Academy. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Newspapers are down but not out, and there remains much to cheer about in the newspaper business, says Fortune magazine.

Google, which dominates the market for advertising on the Internet, seems to be hoping to do the same thing on television, says the New York Times. Google and Nielsen have formed an alliance that will bring demographic data to Google TV Ads. Google has two providers - satellite TV giant EchoStar, and a digital cable TV operator in the San Francisco region - which license their TV set-top data to Google as part of the proof-of-performance metrics for Google TV Ads advertisers, reports Media Daily News. The appliance will strengthen Google in its expansion into advertising, says Associated Press.

These days, Google conjures equal doses of respect and fear, not just at technology firms but at advertising agencies, movie companies, record labels, cable and telephone companies, libraries, book publishers, newspapers, television networks, travel agencies and real estate brokers, says the Washington Post.

Apple says that almost one of every six iPhones sold may have been unlocked to run on unauthorized wireless networks, surprising analysts who had estimated the problem wasn?t as widespread. Apple Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook says that 250,000 of the nearly 1.4 million iPhones sold may have been bought by users with the intention of unlocking them, says Bloomberg News.

Comcast has acknowledged ?delaying? some subscriber Internet traffic, but said any roadblocks it puts up are temporary and intended to improve surfing for other users. The statement was a response to an Associated Press report last week that detailed how the nation?s largest cable company was interfering with file sharing by some of its Internet subscribers. The AP also found that Comcast?s computers ?masqueraded? as those of its users to interrupt file-sharing connections. Associated Press reports.

The 3rd quarter profits of Amazon.com skyrocketed, reports Associated Press.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has outlined plans to turn the smart phone into the next laptop for business users. Ballmer opened the wireless industry trade show and convention at San Francisco?s Moscone Center by introducing a piece of server software called System Center Device Manager 2008, which allows companies to add Windows Mobile and roll out Web and phone-based applications while enabling employees to access company data behind corporate firewalls. The software, which will be available in the first half of 2008, is designed to help IT managers safely manage a fleet of smart phones as easily as they do corporate laptop computers. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A local listener group is trying to raise $25 million to purchase non-commercial FM station WGTS 91.9 Takoma Park, Maryland, outside Washington, reports Washington Times. A plan to sell WGTS to Minnesota Public Radio recently failed to gain approval of the board of the college.

Is Washington Post TV columnist Howard Kurtz getting a ?bum rap? over his new book about network television news? Marketwatch examines this question.

NPR Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor has gotten a restraining order against a Georgia woman he claims has made telephone calls and sent him explicit e-mails and disturbing gifts, including a petrified alligator foot and dead beetles. The Associated Press reports.

NPR has been on an American Idol-like quest to find its next great storyteller, someone to join the ranks of Garrison Keillor and Ira Glass. One of six people still in the running in the national talent search is 37-year-old Glynn Washington of Oakland, California, who definitely has stories to tell, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Baltimore?s NPR station WYPR 88.1 has set a record in its fundraising campaign, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse Media has acquired 14 more daily newspapers, making it one of the largest newspaper groups in the nation, says Editor & Publisher.

A radio station manager and journalist has been killed in Somalia, making him the eighth journalist killed in the East African nation this year. The victim, Radio Shabelle?s Bashir Nor Gedi, who was also a well-known businessman, was returning home from work late Friday when gunmen shot him three times in the head and chest, his younger brother, Abdinasir Nor Gedi, said. Associated Press reports.

A U.S. District Court judge gave the green light to a class-action lawsuit claiming Clear Channel Communications used its market dominance to illegally inflate ticket prices to live rock concerts across the country. The opinion issued by Judge Stephen V. Wilson, grants class-action status to five lawsuits on behalf of concert-goers in regions across the nation which are being lead by the Seattle-based law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. ?Clear Channel is a multi-billion dollar international media conglomerate and we intend to argue that it is leveraging its size and industry clout to exploit consumers and artists by eliminating the choices available to them and keeping ticket prices and concert promotion rates unreasonably high,? said HBSS attorney Beth Fegan. All Access.com reports.

In Pittsburgh, Achievement In Radio (AIR) awards are being presented to several area radio stations, reports the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

New York-based Opie And Anthony have been jettisoned from their Philadelphia station, WYSP 94.1. They continue on WXRK 92.3 New York and a group of stations nationwide. They gained national attention several years ago when they broadcast a skit of two young people simulating having sex at Manhattan?s Saint Patrick?s Cathedral. This created a firestorm that placed the license of their then-home station, WNEW (now WWFS) 102.7, in jeopardy with the FCC for a time. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

TV comedy icon Carol Burnett looks back on her glory days in the McClatchy newspapers.

Media Briefing for Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The latest advancement in cellphone technology can allow friends or family to see your whereabouts at any given time, but do we want this? ?Obvious benefits come to mind,? says The New York Times. ?Parents can take advantage of the Global Positioning System chips embedded in many cellphones to track the whereabouts of their phone-toting children. And for teenagers and 20-somethings, who are fond of sharing their comings and goings on the Internet, youth-oriented services like Loopt and Buddy Beacon are a natural next step.?

A new docudrama series featuring stories of missing Latinos, primarily children, in the United States is airing Mondays at 8 p.m. on KCVH Channel 30 Houston, Texas and other stations affiliated with Houston-based LAT-TV. Desaparecidos, or, ?the missing,? will air on LAT-TV?s 22-station network. Marian de la Fuente will host the 29-episode series, produced by LAT-TV and Miami-based Plural Entertainment. Plural also co-produced the 2004 film A Day Without A Mexican. The Houston Chronicle reports.

Even though Republican FCC chairman Kevin Martin is trying to quickly push through rule changes that would allow even more consolidation of ownership of broadcast stations by conglomerates, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is saying ?not so fast.? The Hollywood Reporter has the story. The issues and concerns of minorities, women and small businesspeople have not been taken into account, and must be addressed, says Senator Obama.

Russell T. Davies, the creator of the groundbreaking series Queer as Folk, is developing a new BBC drama series about forty-something gay men who are jealous of gay teenagers, reports Media Guardian.Queer As Folk, on the U.K.?s Channel 4, told the story of a group of gay friends in blue-collar Manchester, England. The subsequent U.S. version, appearing on Showtime, told the story of a group of friends in Pittsburgh.

Television viewing is not necessarily a bad accompaniment for the family dinner. When University of Minnesota researchers embarked on a study of family meals, they fully expected that having the TV on at dinner would take a toll on the children?s diets. But to their surprise, it didn?t make much difference. Families who watched TV at dinner ate just about as healthfully as families who dined without it. The biggest factor wasn?t whether the TV was on or off, but whether the family was eating the meal together. ?Obviously, we want people eating family meals, and we want them to turn the TV off,? said Shira Feldman, public health specialist at the university?s School of Public Health and lead author of the research. ?But just the act of eating together is on some level very beneficial, even if the TV is on.? The New York Times reports.

The work of a news consultant for ABC News has been found to be sound. ABC News has ended the investigation into a consultant whom it fired for falsifying his r?sum? and concluded that the reporting he had contributed to the network was sound. In response to the incident, ABC will make changes to its system of hiring consultants, reviewing claims of prior employment and academic credentials more thoroughly. Also, the network?s news practices unit will be involved in all hiring decisions and reporting situations involving consultants, he wrote. The changes stem from the case of Alexis Debat, a terrorism analyst who had been on the payroll of ABC as a consultant since 2001. Mr. Debat was suspended in May and fired in June after questions were raised about the legitimacy of his r?sum?. The New York Times has the story.

New federal government PSAs about obesity are too soft and don?t have teeth, according to critics. The Associated Press reports.

With out-of-control fires raging in southern California, TV stations are offering continuous and live coverage both on their airwaves and on their Internet sites. Examples include San Diego?s KFMB-TV channel 8 and KGTV channel 10, and Los Angeles? KCBS-TV channel 2, KNBC channel 4, KTLA channel 5, KABC-TV channel 7 and KTTV channel 11, along with the San Diego Union Tribune and its Internet radio station, reports Lost Remote. The TV stations have dropped network and syndicated programming for wall-to-wall coverage of the fires, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Presidential hopefuls Republican John McCain and Democrat Bill Richardson say they would appear on the new Don Imus show which reportedly will launch on WABC-AM 770 New York. McCain says he believes in redemption and Richardson says he believes in forgiveness. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who led the fight to remove Imus in the spring, now says he would not oppose a return of Imus. However, the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Organization for Women still oppose his return. Former Democratic senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska cautioned Democrats that they would spurn the show at their own peril. The New York Daily News reports.

In a major documentary, CNN is taking a look at a Planet In Peril environmentally, reports the Denver Post. The documentary tackles tough issues, says Hollywood Reporter.

Relations between the United States and Iran have been toxic ever since the ascension of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power in the late 1970s. Frontline examines this relationship tonight at 9 on Thirteen/WNET and PBS station nationwide. The New York Daily News reports.

In a TV drama uniting the Arab world, the men are heroic and the women are obedient, says the Orlando Sentinel.

A Hong Kong media magnate is baiting the Chinese government by pairing politics and sex. Jimmy Lai has long been a combative agitator for press and political freedoms in China, and has remade Hong Kong?s media landscape by pairing two unlikely subjects - democracy and sex. Lai?s Next Media Inc. publications frequently provoke Beijing and have stoked antigovernment rallies in Hong Kong, with political reports often interspersed with racy photos or consumer reviews of local strip clubs and saunas. The Wall Street Journal reports.

An Iraqi journalist working in Baghdad for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was reported missing yesterday after police officers found the body of her driver, who had been shot and killed on a city street, the American-backed radio network said. The New York Times reports.

Children are detaching from the natural world as they explore virtual worlds, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

There is a special two-day conference in California for women in the Internet world, focusing on networking and brainstorming, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

Lifted by the popular of the iPod, Apple?s revenue is soaring, says the San Francisco Chronicle. Apple is wowing Wall Street, says the San Jose Mercury News.

Two services launching just a week apart tap a growing interest in DNA testing to help people find their ancestors and learn more about their lives. GeneTree, which opens today, and Ancestry.com, which started its DNA ancestry service last Tuesday, both sell DNA kits for less than $200. Users can build online family trees and contact others with DNA matches to compare family histories, says Associated Press.

The ?secret? Web site Post Secret is not a secret, and is now getting one million hits a week, says the Boston Globe.

Wiring and providing free Internet service in large cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and Houston was all the rage last year, but the concept has fallen into the doldrums, as obstacle after obstacle has arisen, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Members of the general public in the San Francisco area comment.

Federal regulators appear to be resisting a formal investigation of alleged anti-competitive practices of semiconductor giant Intel, despite requests from members of Congress and corporate rivals. Associated Press reports.

The new chief of the ABC television network sees the local affiliates at partners, reports TV Newsday.

As HD Radio braces for a sliver of success - adding advertisers and a new wave of portable receivers - critics say tight control by big radio companies at the top is smothering the fledgling industry?s chances. ?Radio?s most popular formats were created by radio rebels, outlaws, misfits and ne?er-do-wells - not by corporate marketing executives,? says Robert Hughes, co-owner of San Diego rock station KPRI 102.1 San Diego, which has no immediate plans to broadcast in HD. Wired reports.

Journalist and radio announcer jobs are among the least secure and least promising for the new century, reports Forbes magazine.

There is a firestorm in the U.K. over a TV documentary exploring the use of children to test HIV drugs. The BBC has apologized after admitting that a documentary about the testing of HIV drugs on children contained ?serious breaches? of its editorial guidelines on accuracy and impartiality. In unpublished documents seen by MediaGuardian, the BBC admitted to ?very serious issues? in the BBC2 This World documentary Guinea Pig Kids, which originally aired in 2004. The corporation said the program had led to ?discussions at the highest editorial level.? The New York-based Center for HIV Law and Policy, which complained to the BBC, received an adjudication on the program at the end of July, but has become increasingly angry that it has not been published. The BBC told the group that until the serious issues raised by the investigation had been concluded, it could not decide on what further action to take. Media Guardian has this story.

Media Briefing for Monday, October 22, 2007

The American commitment to free speech is the most robust in the world, but these days that tolerance stops at the border, says The New York Times. Two cases pending in federal court in Manhattan will soon test how far the government can go in keeping Americans safe from what a U.S. State Department manual calls the ?irresponsible expressions of opinion by prominent aliens.?

One case is a criminal prosecution of two Brooklyn businessmen for transmitting Hezbollah?s television station on their satellite service. ?There are, of course, a lot of foolish and evil ideas in the world,? says the Times. ?The United States has generally leaned in the direction of confronting and rebutting those ideas rather than trying to suppress them, though it has been more equivocal in wartime and after terrorist attacks.?

Today the Times also editorializes in support of a strong federal shield law that would protect journalists from having to disclose confidential sources. Bush administration officials have raised the threat of a presidential veto of such a law.

There is a major freedom of the press issue in Arizona which has landed in the legal system, involving a weekly alternative newspaper and a sheriff who calls himself ?America?s toughest sheriff.? Associated Press reports.

Three ad representatives for the alternative newspaper the Orlando Weekly are under arrest on multiple charges after selling ads for escort services, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

The Republican presidential hopefuls appeared in person at a Washington, D.C. conference to try to lure fundamentalist Christians, who remain skeptical about the frontrunners, says the Wall Street Journal. Dr. James Dobson of Focus On The Family, for example, has said he would never vote for John McCain, and there is suspicion of Mitt Romney because of his Mormon religion and his change in positions on issues such as gay rights and abortion. There has even been talk that if Rudolph Giuliani becomes the Republican presidential nominate in 2008, fundamentalist Christians will support a third party presidential candidate, reports the Boston Globe.

After Rush Limbaugh referred to Iraq war veterans critical of George W. Bush?s war policy as ?phony soldiers,? he received a letter of complaint signed by 41 Democratic senators. Limbaugh decided to auction the letter, which he described as ?this glittering jewel of colossal ignorance,? for charity, and he pledged to match the price, dollar for dollar. On Thursday night, Mr. Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk show host, said he thought the letter would bring in as much as $1 million. He was wrong. When the eBay auction closed yesterday afternoon, the winning bid was $2.1 million. It is the largest amount ever paid for an item sold on eBay to benefit a charity. The New York Times reports.

One by one, starting a few weeks ago, 40 militant Islamist Web sites got knocked off the Internet. Gone were some of the world?s most active jihadi sites, with forums full of extremist chatter. The disappearances mystified American counterterrorism officials. They hadn?t shut them down, they knew, so who had? The New York Times has the answer.

All Access.com reports on the FCC?s rejections of various challenges to radio station license renewals, including challenges to non-commercial WHYY-FM 90.9 Philadelphia; Clear Channel talk station WSYR-AM 570 Syracuse; IZ Communications adult standards-talk format WCSS-AM 1490 Amsterdam. N.Y.; and Multicultural?s contemporary Christian WNYG-AM 1440 Babylon, Long Island.

The UPN and WB networks are no longer separate entities, having merged into the CW network, which in New York has WPIX channel 11 as its affiliate. Now, two women who were on the front lines have written a history of the competition between the two networks, a rivalry that was acrimonious and often comical. The book is Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN, by former WB executive Susanne Daniels and veteran entertainment journalist Cynthia Littleton. The Los Angeles Times reports.

David Nelson of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Desi Arnaz Jr. are among those who speak about appearing in shows and working with their parents on TV. The Washington Post has the story.

Washingtonian magazine turned the tables and asked journalists to speak about their lives?from their morning reading rituals to their secret passions. Participants include PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff, ABC News senior political reporter Rick Klein, John Donvan of ABC News, NBC political director Chuck Todd, WJLA Channel 7 Washington?s Beverly Kirk, WAMU-FM 88.5 Washington?s Kojo Nnamdi, Newsweek?s and McLaughlin Group regular Eleanor Clift, NPR news analyst Cokie Roberts, NPR?s Andrea Seabrook, CNN?s Jessica Yellin, Ed Henry and John Roberts and Fox News?s James Rosen. This is in Washingtonian magazine.

Hillary Clinton is finding a way to play along with conservative blogger Matt Drudge, who was so destructive in the 1990s to President Bill Clinton, reports The New York Times.

?Russian hackers became something akin to national heroes last spring when a wave of Internet attacks was launched from Russia against Web sites in Estonia, the former Soviet republic. The incidents began after the Estonians angered the Kremlin by moving a Soviet-era war monument. The motive for most wrongdoing, though, tends to be greed. In 2005, Russians broke into the State of Rhode Island Web site and then brazenly proclaimed that they had swiped credit card information from 53,000 transactions. Officials acknowledged the theft, though they said the scope was smaller. The perpetrators in these affairs are rarely if ever caught, but it is not hard to deduce their backgrounds. Russia has long had a strong system of math and science education, and until the relatively recent upturn in the economy, the multitudes of whiz kids who graduated from its schools often had poor job prospects. At the same time, they were entering a society that for decades had built up a deep skepticism about the virtues of following the rules. Under Communism, the thicket of strictures that governed almost every aspect of life was considered so inane that only fools were thought to abide by them.? This report is from The New York Times.

Libraries are shunning offers to have their collections moved to the Internet. Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections, reports the New York Times.

In the Internet world, libraries are changing and evolving, entering areas never thought of previously. The Boston Globe.

MSNBC has left Secaucus, New Jersey and is now broadcasting from new studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is at the MSNBC studio today for the dedicatory ceremony, reports MultiChannel News. Asked whether he will run for president, Bloomberg said ?Can you keep a secret? I am going to keep working in New York City.? Brian Williams and NBC Nightly News also get spiffy new studios, says Variety.

The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens is presenting a 33-title run of Andy Warhol home movies, through November 11. Warhol once said ?our movies may have looked like home movies, but then our home wasn?t like anybody else?s.? New York Times reports.

A five-part Masterpiece Theater mini-series called The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, which begins tomorrow night on PBS, is a guilty pleasure, says the New York Times. Masterpiece Theater is seen Sunday evening at 9 on Thirteen/WNET and repeated early Thursday morning at approximately 1 a.m. Check listings for exact early Thursday morning starting times, which vary from week to week.

Cellphone carriers tell us costumers what phones we can use, and what software and services can be offered on those phones. Consumers deserve better, says the Wall Street Journal.

Cellphone customers are punished for leaving a company before the contract ends, with fees of up to $200 imposed, says the Los Angeles Times.

Thanks to the iPhone and iPod, Apple?s market share is surging. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is talking of a decade of upgrades, reports the New York Times.

Satellites have not proved as important to high-speed communications as telephone and cable lines have. But they do have an important role in helping close the digital divide between people who have access to broadband communications and those who do not, says Pradman P. Kaul, chief executive of Hughes Communications, based in Germantown, Maryland. Kaul?s company recently launched a $310 million satellite to improve its service in the American market. The New York Times reports.

In SoHo, Manhattan in the 1980s, when art began selling like hot cross buns, the phrase ?made on the premises? usually wasn?t part of the packaging at the Mary Boone Gallery. But that was then. What might be called premise-based art is being turned out hand over fist right now at Ms. Boone?s gallery in Chelsea. Warm and almost wiggling, it is pinned to the walls for a few days and then taken away to make room for a new batch. It?s ?Newsroom 1986-2000,? a new effort from the Polish-born artist Aleksandra Mir. Through Saturday, you can watch Ms. Mir working in the gallery almost every day, says the New York Times.

There are signs that the existing order in the wireless world may be changing, reports the New York Times.

Google engineers are encouraged to take 20 percent of their time to work on something company-related that interests them personally. This means that if you have a great idea, you always have time to run with it, says New York Times.

In Boston, conservative talk show host Howie Carr of has appealed a judge?s decision that blocks him from jumping to WTKK-FM 96.9 and asked the Massachusetts state appeals court to allow him to work for ?the broadcaster of his choice? while his case works its way through the courts. The appeal asks that a single judge review decisions by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel that effectively keep Carr under contract at WRKO-AM 680 through 2012. At issue are sections of the contract that Carr signed with WRKO parent company Entercom Boston that permitted the radio station to match job offers that Carr fielded from rivals. The Boston Globe reports.

Connecticut has lured a steady stream of filmmakers since it began offering lucrative tax credits last year. Now it has chosen its next project: keep the cameras rolling, and the revenue rolling in, by providing producers with trained, skilled technicians who live and work in the state. The New York Times reports.

The story of how a hyper-chatty Wallingford, Connecticut public access host became a YouTube sensation is told by the Hartford Courant.

Some of New York City?s taxi drivers went on strike today to protest new rules requiring installation of equipment that would let passengers watch TV, pay with credit cards and check their location on Geographic Positioning System. City officials say the touch screen devices help passengers by making payments more convenient and lost items easier to locate. But the Taxi Workers Alliance said it called the strike ? the second over the issue in six weeks ? because the technology is a costly invasion of cabbies? privacy and works erratically at best. Associated Press reports.

It?s the world wide wedding. Internet video lets family and friends witness weddings in exotic destinations and can save both couples and kin thousands of dollars on travel and accommodations, according to the Boston Globe.

The Sandisk USB drive allows users to download TV shows. Flash memory maker SanDisk Corporation debuts an online video service and a USB flash drive that can carry television programs and videos from a computer for playback on televisions. Associated Press reports.

Google?s acquisition of Jaiku - a small Finnish startup active in microblogging, a word most often associated with the better-known company Twitter - might not appear to be an earth-shaking event, but some see a lot more in the purchase, says The New York Times.

A new daily newspaper has started in Spain aimed at the young, leftish reader, reports the New York Times.

How many site hits? It depends who?s counting. How many people visited Style.com, the online home of Vogue and W magazines, last month? Was it 421,000, or, more optimistically, 497,000? Or 1.8 million? The answer ? which may be any, or none, of the above ? is a critical one for Cond? Nast, which owns the site, and for companies like Ralph Lauren, which pay to advertise there. The New York Times reports.

Despite appearances, Anderson Cooper is not selling or advertising or endorsing Delta Airlines in magazine ads. He?s promoting CNN, says the New York Times.

Just one year ago, Vizio was an unknown brand of television set. Now, its 32-inch, high-definition television sets just catapulted to the No. 1 position for shipments of HDTVs in North America. It benefited from a low price and a boom in television sales ahead of the pending total phase-out of analog television signals in February 2009. With a 14 percent market share in the second quarter, Vizio surpassed such better-known, well-heeled competitors as Samsung, Sony, Phillips and Sharp, according to iSuppli. The Washington Post reports.

Microsoft has dropped a nearly decade-long legal battle with European regulators, agreeing to key parts of an antitrust ruling that has already led to hundreds of millions in fines. The world?s largest software company will slash the royalty fees it charges rivals for critical interoperability information needed to make programs that work smoothly with Microsoft?s ubiquitous Windows. It will broaden access for open source developers that the EU said are now ?virtually the only alternative for users.? Associated Press reports. Microsoft?s legal options were running out, says the New York Times.

Media Briefing for Friday, October 19, 2007

A top congressional critic of media ownership consolidation, Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, is working quickly with other like-minded legislators, likely including Republican Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, on a bill dealing with media ownership rules that the Federal Communications Commission is currently reviewing. A Dorgan staffer confirmed that a bill was in the works but would not comment on the substance of the bill, says Broadcasting & Cable. In a fiery two?page letter sent yesterday to chairman Kevin Martin, senators Dorgan and Lott say the FCC has not "adequately studied the impact of media consolidation on local programming." They are demanding that the FCC put "sufficient mechanisms in place to ensure that broadcasters are serving their local communities before the commission considers any changes that would relax the existing rules governing media ownership." Radio & Records reports. The senators are seeking a delay in the vote on the issue, which chairman Martin reportedly wants to take place before the end of the year, says Associated Press. Martin is hoping for a final ruling in December, says the Seattle Times.

The takeover of the Tribune Co. by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell is mired in the FCC consolidation of ownership proceedings. Zell is seeking waivers so he can own TV stations and newspapers in the Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Hartford markets, among others. But FCC chairman Kevin Martin is believed to oppose a waiver, and favors settling the Tribune issue in the final ownership rules decision. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Today, thousands of Christian conservatives, including televangelists and radio broadcasters, gather in Washington, D.C. to confront the fact that none of the Republican presidential candidates have won them over, says the Washington Post. As U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas drops out, the conservative Christians' options drop by one, says the New York Times.

The FCC is proposing to fine two TV broadcasting companies for airing the Armstrong Williams show without identifying the fact that he was being paid by the U.S. Education Department, reports Associated Press.

Comcast is blocking some Internet traffic, says Associated Press.

The Fox station in Dallas, KDFW channel 4, has suspended reporter Rebecca Aguilar after a controversial "ambush" report on a West Dallas, Texas man who shot and killed two men in separate incidents at his store in a 3-week period. A few days after receiving a major award, Aguilar was suspended after KDFW ran her piece about 70-year-old James Walton, owner of Able Walton Machine & Welding in West Dallas, who, early Sunday morning, shot and killed a man trying to break into his business. What made Walton's story so extraordinary was that it was the second time he'd killed an intruder in three weeks. As it happens, Walton also lives at his place of business. But today you will not find the story on KDFW's Web site. There's a page for it, but no accompanying video, because Aguilar's piece elicited a torrent of outrage, both on local blogs and from viewers who began deluging the station with angry calls. The Dallas Observer reports.

A new online radio station has been launched by the daily San Diego Union Tribune, reports All Access.com. With the debut, the paper is adding a second live online streaming radio station, this time with talk and music programming featuring a lineup of well-known local personalities. Charlie and Harrigan, Happy Hare, Dave Mason and Clark Anthony, as well as Union Tribune staffers, are featured. The paper previously launched a local music channel, Amplify SD. The new station is known as Sign On San Diego

At a forum on the transition to digital television and the end of analog broadcasting in February 2009, presented by the Connecticut Broadcasters Association at the Hartford Convention Center, a number of facts were explained:

- The FCC still has not issued final rulings on a number of issues TV stations must deal with in making the transition. Another FCC report and order is due within the next 60 days.

- 16% of American homes, or 20 million, have no satellite or cable, and thus will lose all service on analog sets relying on rabbit ears and antennas.

- There are more than 65 million TV sets not hooked up to cable or satellite, because many homes have one primary TV hooked up, and then additional TV sets in other rooms such as kitchens, bedrooms and work rooms that rely on rabbit ears or antennas.

- HDTV sets currently for sale start at $500 at one store checked, a Target store.

- Converters for analog sets to enable them to receive HDTV will not go on sale until January 2008.

- TV stations will continue to market themselves on their old channel numbers. For example, WFSB channel 3 Hartford, the CBS affiliate, will operate on channel 33 digitally, but will continue to promote itself as channel 3, even though there will be no WFSB signal on channel 3 after February 17, 2009. Viewers with cable and TV will continue to tune to channel 3 on their boxes, which will then bring in the channel 33 WFSB digital signal.

- UHF stations which currently operate with 5 million watts maximum will operate with one million maximum digitally. The powers of stations operating on VHF channels 2 through 13 will also be sharply cut. Most HDTV stations will be on UHF, with some on VHF channels 7 through 13.

- Very few HDTV stations will operate in the low band VHF channels, 2 through 6.

- The FCC still has not ruled on whether must-carry rules will require cable systems to carry all HD channels of stations. Many stations operate secondary channels offering local news and weather, such as WNBC channel 4 and WABC-TV channel 7 New York.

- If stations have additional side channels, they must provide 3 hours of education "kidvid" programming for each stream of programming.

- HDTV signals could be disrupted and receive interference if the FCC allows certain uses of white spaces between TV channels, especially from any mobile transmitters that might be permitted.

- There will be no extensions of time for TV stations to make the transitions. No exceptions will be made for stations that might experience technical or financial problems. Analog TV transmitters for all TV stations in the U.S. must be shut off February 17, 2009. (The only signals that will still come in on analog sets will be those near the Canadian or Mexican borders. For example, an over-the-air viewer with no cable or satellite in Bellingham, Washington will be able to receive the analog stations in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, but no U.S. TV stations.)

- TV station general managers must maintain control over the transition, keeping oversight of every department involved.

The panel included attorney David Oxenford of Davis Wright Termaine of Washington, Robin Oxford of the National Association of Broadcasters, and Jay Martin, vice president of sales of Dielectric Communications. It was moderated by WFSB vice president and general manager Klam DePalma.

Comedian Joey Bishop has died at age 89, says Associated Press. He played a talk show host in a situation comedy in the early 1960s on NBC and CBS, and then in the late 1960s was one, hosting the late-night Joey Bishop show on ABC from 1967 to 1969, going up against the immensely popular Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He then filled in as a guest host for Carson more than 200 times. The Los Angeles Times reports. He was described as a mild-mannered comedian by the Washington Post.

Chris Matthews says in the Boston Globe that during the MSNBC Republican presidential debate he hosted, the hopefuls seem to enjoy each other's company when the cameras were off, during commercial breaks.

Google is under fire in Brazil over a controversy surrounding its social networking site Orkut. When Google tried putting ads on the site, it ran into trouble. Critics in Brazil released a report showing advertisements on Orkut alongside pictures of naked children and abused animals. Google immediately suspended the ads, but the Mountain View, California company is still grappling with the fallout from critics' Orkut campaign. The head of Google's Brazilian operation is facing criminal contempt charges for refusing to turn Orkut users' data over to police. And next month there is a hearing in a case brought by a S?o Paulo prosecutor threatening daily fines of $100,000 or the shuttering of Google's Brazil office. This story is from the Wall Street Journal.

Advertising revenues are lifting profits for Google in a major way, with a 46% increase in profits for the 3rd quarter, reports the Los Angeles Times. Shares of Google are now flirting with $700, says Associated Press. Google is still flying high, says the San Jose Mercury News.
You're not alone on the new media frontier. Others are developing Web and mobile services and they are willing to share what they know about what works and what doesn't, according to TV Newsday.

Web users are turning the tables on copyright holders. They are standing up to takedown notices, says the Washington Post.

A group is offering copyright rules for Web sites. A coalition of major media and Internet companies yesterday issued a set of guidelines for handling copyright-protected videos on large user-generated sites such as MySpace. Conspicuously absent was Google, whose YouTube Web site this week rolled out its own technology to filter copyrighted videos once they've been posted, reports Associated Press.

The Wall Street Journal may end its fees for stories on its Web site by the end of the year, says Bloomberg News.

Whoopi Goldberg, now seen on The View on ABC mornings at 11 a.m., has lost the Chicago affiliate for her morning radio show, WLIT 93.9, reports the Chicago Sun Times. In New York her radio show is on WKTU 103.5 mornings 5 to 9 a.m.

In a West Palm Beach, Florida courtroom, a 31-year-old man named Rex Ditto pleaded guilty yesterday and was sentenced to life in prison for killing Alan Shalleck, who collaborated with the co-creator of Curious George to bring the mischievous monkey to TV. Curious George is on PBS, seen weekday mornings at 8:30 on Thirteen/WNET and weekday mornings at 11 on WLIW21. Associated Press reports. Prosecutor Andy Slater said "this was a heartless, brutal, pitiless homicide," reports the Palm Beach Post.

The Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco shows youthful ventures are growing up. Bold promises are incubating into real businesses on the Internet, says San Jose Mercury News.

Media Briefing for Thursday, October 18, 2007

The New York Times is reporting that Republican FCC chairman Kevin Martin is planning to allow even more media consolidation. Critics of media consolidation of ownership of local broadcast stations argue that it has led to destruction of local news and community coverage. At a series of public hearings across the nation since last December, citizens criticized the lack of local coverage and end of local ownership of their broadcast stations. Those favoring consolidation say restrictions on ownership are outdated.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate and George W. Bush have reached agreement on a domestic spying bill and the deal includes legal immunity for telecommunications firms that have aided the spying program, says the Washington Post.

Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein has confirmed that FCC chairman Kevin Martin has proposed a timetable for completing the years-long media ownership rule review by mid-December. But unhappy top Senate Democrats vowed to hold a hearing quickly on that move, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a federal shield bill to protect reporters from having to reveal their confidential sources in covering news stories, and George W. Bush is threatening to veto it, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Publicizing and offering praise to good television shows rather than lambasting bad ones is the best way to improve TV for children. So says a coalition of groups including the National PTA and the National Education Association, which are unveiling a Smart Television Alliance to tout better programming to parents, caregivers and advertisers. Advertising Age reports.

The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Organization for Women oppose the return of Don Imus to the airwaves. It has been widely reported that Imus is close to signing a contract that will return him to radio with a morning show starting the first week of December on WABC 770. Also, talks are underway with the RFD satellite and cable TV channel about simulcasting the Imus show. The Maynard Institute site reports.

The end of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 - two decades ago - opened the way for opinionated shows on radio such as Rush Limbaugh and conservatives oppose any return of the rule. U.S. House Republican leaders are calling on members of Congress from both parties to force a vote on giving Congress the final say in future attempts to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine ? a regulation considered potentially harmful to the conservative-dominated talk-radio market. Washington Times.

Conservatives are concerned about the editing of an ad on Radio Disney for the movie The Ten Commandments, according to Fox News.

Oral Roberts was one of the first televangelists, with a weekly program of faith healing. He founded Oral Roberts University (ORU) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now his son, Richard Roberts, is taking a leave of absence as president of ORU after spending allegations and family misconduct. These include reported encounters between Mrs. Roberts and "underage males" in her sports car and a university guest house, and school vandalism by a Roberts daughter, says the New York Times. The family has denied the allegations, says the Tulsa World.

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow said there is a threat to the First Amendment, and it comes from within. "There is an ideological sameness to major news organizations, and that makes for bad journalism and bad business, and it's bad for the First Amendment," he said, "which was designed for ferocious competition of ideas and not orthodoxy." Broadcasting & Cable reports.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet today that cable should be made to carry all of a TV broadcaster?s digital signals if the transition from analog to digital television is to have the best chance of success. TV Newsday reports.

Best Buy says it will no longer sell analog-only TVs in its stores. Best Buy also says it would have digital-TV-to-analog converter boxes on its shelves by early January, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Most people still are not aware of the big broadcast TV transition to HDTV transmission in February 2009, and the cessation of analog broadcasting. FCC chairman Kevin Martin wants more education about the changeover to digital TV. Broadcasting & Cable reports. Viewers with cable and satellite for their analog sets will not notice any difference with the changeover, and will receive the broadcasts. Some 20 million homes receive TV with antennas and rabbit ears, with no cable or satellite, and many other households have second and third TV sets in bedrooms and kitchens and other rooms that are not hooked up to cable or satellite, says the Los Angeles Times. Critics say the government has done a poor job educating the public, reports Associated Press.

Clear Channel Communications is being accused of greed after taking over an outdoor advertising sign company, and trying to cut the wages sharply, says the Boston Globe.

Air America radio personality Jon Elliott has apologized for saying that a colleague, the liberal talk show host Randi Rhodes, was the victim of a violent street mugging perpetrated by "the right-wing hate machine." Jon Elliott announced on his late-night show Monday that Rhodes had been assaulted Sunday while walking her dog in Manhattan near her Park Avenue apartment. He also speculated that the attack was the work of someone trying to silence a liberal voice. Associated Press reports.

Matt Lauer and Debra Lee will be honored at the Museum of The Moving Image's annual black tie dinner April 26 in New York. The museum singles out two individuals from broadcast, cable or motion pictures for the annual salute. Today show anchor Lauer was cited by Museum Chairman Herbert Schlosser for "incisive" interviews, as well as for being part of Today's illustrious tradition of versatile and engaging anchors who have made the program so successful over many decades." Broadcasting & Cable reports.

CBS all-news station KFWB-AM 980 Los Angeles is now offering 6-8 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays for sale to block programmers, according to All Access, which says it obtained an e-mail from a sales account executive, offering the time at a rate of $6,000 per hour and adding that the time "will go fast" and is a first for the station in 40 years of news programming. The move is the first major departure from the station's 24/7 news wheel other than Dodgers baseball, which it carried for the last five years before losing the contract to cross-town KABC-AM 790 this week.

"Prime Time" is any time, as the networks are starting to offer programming online, says the New York Times.

Free TV may be airing on cell phones, says USA Today.

Email providers are trying to steal some of social networking's thunder as fast-growing services like Facebook begin to encroach on their turf, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The founder of the social networking site Facebook says an initial public offering (IPO) for the company is probably years away, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

Apple is opening its iPhone programming to outsiders, reports the New York Times. The move is a change in course for Steve Jobs, says the Los Angeles Times.

Nokia, the world's dominant cellphone maker, is positioning itself to compete against the likes of MySpace, iTunes and Google, and is anchoring a key part of its new business in the Back Bay of Boston, its cellphone ad unit. The Boston Globe reports.

Morgan Stanley has sold its 7 percent stake in The New York Times Company, people close to the matter said yesterday, bringing an end to a bitter fight between one of the bank?s asset managers and the company. The New York Times reports.

In the ongoing quest to make Internet popularity pay, Viacom's Comedy Central channel today will unveil a website for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart that's designed to satisfy the most avid fans of the mock-news show with oceans of free video clips. Rather than providing just a sampling of the program's fare, as Viacom and other TV networks have done for years, Comedy Central is offering the works: about 13,000 video clips representing every minute of the show since its 1999 inception. The site The Daily Show.com is meant to pull in advertising money from Day One, but it also will be something of a test lab for Viacom and perhaps for rivals looking over its shoulder. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Vancouver is known as Hollywood North, and Connecticut is hoping to be known as Hollywood East where a committee of legislators, educators, union leaders and film industry officials are examining how to make it a reality. State senator James Amann, a Milford Democrat, has announced the formation of the Hollywood East working group. Producer and studio owner Frank Capra Jr. has discussed building a studio in southeastern Connecticut. The Hartford Courant reports.

The CEO of Gannett says the Gannett TV stations and newspapers will stay together, according to The Street.

For those who are fascinated with TV ads and see social history in them, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has a fun show of British TV ads. They include ads that might seem "amiss" if they were broadcast in the U.S. A Greenpeace ad that's in-your-face to SUV users - it cleverly parodies The Office (the British original, of course) - is so politically pointed its being broadcast over here is unthinkable, says the Boston Globe.

The slashing of broadcast news operations is not limited to the United States. The venerable BBC has announced that there will be major cuts in its news operation. The BBC is to axe 2,500 jobs and sell Television Centre in London, it has been confirmed. News, TV production and factual programs will be hardest hit by the cuts. The Press Association reports.

Television writers ? and particularly the writer-producers who serve as show runners ? wield considerable power over a television show, so much so that it often is not clear where their writing duties end and their producing duties begin. That has big implications if Hollywood writers go on strike next month. Certainly dozens of producers who also serve as writers on some of television?s biggest hits, and are members of the writers? union, would not be able to do at least half of their jobs, according to the New York Times.

How legitimate is the run for president by Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert - who announced plans to run for the presidency, though only in South Carolina, on his Comedy Central show Tuesday night. It is serious enough about the stunt that his staff reached out to the state?s Democratic and Republican committees in advance of his declaration. Joe Werner, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, said that a representative for Mr. Colbert, who was raised in Charleston, called three weeks ago asking about filing dates and other requirements. The New York Times reports.

Society is very unforgiving of overweight people, even though many of the heavy set people have no choice. As if all the slim people on television weren?t bad enough, now dieters must contend with the jealously inspired by contestants on The Biggest Loser the hit NBC reality series. The 18 obese Americans lucky enough to have been picked are sequestered on the show?s campus, work out with a trainer up to five hours a day, vote people off their teams and participate in challenges like who can run faster than a kindergartner. Such stunts may be embarrassing but the 24-7 focus on weight loss leads to major reductions, which are tallied when contestants step on an enormous scale. The New York Times reports.

Oprah Winfrey is now talking openly about the thyroid condition that slowed down her metabolism and caused her to put on 20 pounds. Associated Press reports.

The PBS Spanish language channel, V-me, is launching in the Los Angeles market, reports Associated Press.

Media Briefing for Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a federal law to protect reporters from having to reveal their sources for news stories. George W. Bush may well veto the measure, says Broadcasting & Cable. The measure passed by a wide margin despite warnings from the Bush White House, says the San Francisco Chronicle.

Free Press, an organization opposing the consolidation of ownership of media, has come up with an online game focusing on media baron Rupert Murdoch, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

In the San Francisco area, Comcast is raising rates for cable TV-only subscribers for the second time this year, and a consumer groups says the increases are an attempt to force cable-only subscribers to buy a bundle of products including Comcast Internet and phone services. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Customers of Time Warner were misled by an ad from competitor AT&T, says the Los Angeles Times.

Current TV - the network founded by Al Gore - is both ahead of the times and behind the times, says Associated Press.

Seventy percent of the 18- to 34-year-olds watching Current TV are noodling around on their laptops at the same time. On Monday, the 2-year-old San Francisco-based network began tapping into that juxtaposition with a plan aimed at drawing viewers to Current's Web site, then back to the TV station, in the latest bid for media's holy grail: the convergence of online and broadcast worlds. At the new site, Current.com, viewers now can take assignments from network producers and vie to have their clips shown on television. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

There are a number of British and Australian actors on American TV shows, but they have been trained to speak, sound and act like Americans, and disguise themselves, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

It is being widely reported that Don Imus will return to the airwaves December 3, on WABC-AM 770 New York. Now it is being reported that Imus is in negotiations to have his show simulcast on RFD-TV, a satellite and cable channel aimed at rural areas. The New York Times reports.

Air America radio host Randi Rhodes is temporarily off the air, but claims that she was brutally attacked near her Manhattan apartment are bogus, her lawyer and a police source said today. The New York Daily News reports.

In Boston a judge has ruled that conservative talk show host Howie Carr must remain at WRKO-AM 680 and finish out his contract, and cannot move over to WTKK-FM 96.9 as he wants to do. The Boston Globe reports.

Nearly a year-and-a-half after being fired, conservative talk show host Mark Williams is continuing his legal battle against KFBK-AM 1530 Sacramento, reports the Sacramento Bee.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin says that a bill mandating DTV-Education reporting by broadcasters would be helpful, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The FCC has issued an advisory for consumers about the transition to all digital TV broadcasting starting February 17, 2009.

A broadcasting trade group has unveiled a $697 million public service campaign aimed at educating viewers about the coming shift to digital broadcasting. The National Association of Broadcasters said that all broadcast networks as well as 95 television broadcasting companies have committed to air public service announcements as part of a campaign that will reach nearly every television viewer in the nation. Associated Press reports.

PBS and the cable TV industry also have revealed further efforts to educate the public on the changeover to digital-only TV broadcasting, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The FCC has smacked Radio Shack and other companies for failing to properly label analog-only TV sets that those sets will no longer pick up broadcast TV signals from American stations after the stations go all digital in February 2009, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a four-year extension of a moratorium on state and local taxes on Internet access, despite widespread support in both parties for a permanent ban. The tax ban, first passed in 1998, is set to expire on November 1. The extension exempts some states that approved taxes prior to the original enactment. The vote was 405-2. Associated Press.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced an agreement with the social networking Web site Facebook to protect underage members from sexual predators and inappropriate content. Under the agreement, Facebook will speed up its process for addressing complaints of inappropriate content or unwelcome contact, reports Associated Press.

In Los Angeles, a judge has ordered a firm to stop making computer software that aids scalpers, according to Associated Press.

A weekly edition of USA Today is being published overseas, with editions in Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Armenia and Israel, reports Associated Press.

Seeking support for a vetoed children's health insurance bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi charged that "hate radio has made a vicious attack" on a 12-year-old Baltimore, Maryland boy who receives coverage through the program. Democrats hope to enact the measure over Bush's opposition, and a House vote scheduled for Thursday. A two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress is required to override a veto, and supporters of the measure appear well short of their goal in the House. Numerous conservative commentators in recent days have questioned whether the 12-year-old boy, Graeme Frost, should qualify for the program for lower-income children, says Associated Press.

Fox Business Network news chief Roger Ailes discusses the strategy and techniques the new network is using in challenging CNBC, which has been entrenched for 17 years. This is in the Miami Herald.

Surprisingly, CBS's Kid Nation is a happy place for its citizens, reports Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Cheney's Law on Frontline on PBS airing on Thirteen/WNET Saturday morning at 5 a.m. shows a man on a mission to power, says the Denver Post.

There are few surprises as Nielsen provides ratings for individual ads on TV, according to Associated Press. The C3 ratings tilted toward ABC and Fox, says Media Daily News.

In their ongoing contract talks, the Hollywood studios now say they will take a divisive demand involving residual payments off the table in contract talks with writers in hopes of avoiding a costly strike. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it will no longer demand that companies recoup their entire investment in films and shows before sharing any of the revenue with writers in the form of residuals. Associated Press reports.

One of the several nice things about the strong showing for WBLS (107.5 FM) in the summer Arbitron ratings, says program director Vinny Brown, is that it should help provide a good basis for comparison now that Arbitron has switched to its new Personal People Meter (PPM) ratings system. WBLS finished No. 1 this summer with listeners 25 to 54, the group most coveted by radio advertisers. This report is from the New York Daily News.

Media Briefing for Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Verizon, the nation's second-largest telecom company, has told congressional investigators that it has provided its customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005. The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations. The Washington Post reports. Verizon stirred up controversy with a letter it has sent to customers recently telling them that it would begin sharing information from their calling records with its "affiliates, agents and parent companies." New York Times.

Tonight at 9 on Thirteen/WNET, Frontline looks at Dick Cheney's relentless pursuit of power, reports the Boston Globe. Cheney is devoted to expanding the power of the president, says the New York Times in its review.

A new campaign advertising Camel cigarettes is drawing concern, says the Ventura County Star.

In Pittsburgh, Duquesne University and its public station, WDUQ-FM 90.5, the NPR station in the area, are getting static over last week's controversial decision to pull public service ads underwritten by Planned Parenthood. Duquesne ordered WDUQ to stop airing a series of underwritten messages from the reproductive rights and health-care education group, saying that Planned Parenthood isn't aligned with the university's Catholic mission and that the station isn't required to accept donations. The series of ads promoted prevention, including health screenings and education, says the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Few women reach the top at Silicon Valley, California companies, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

If a radio station is doing a live remote broadcast from a location where an incident such as a shooting occurs, is the station responsible? A woman who was shot at a Pittsburgh nightclub is suing the urban Pittsburgh radio station, WAMO-FM 106.7, which was broadcasting live from the club, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

If a young person is gay, it is usually difficult to come out to friends and family. In Australia, a new Internet project is helping them come out, reports the Australian Broadcasting Company.

Facing competition from satellite TV programming originating in foreign nations, Iranian TV is loosening up a bit. One result: a spate of miniseries that depict love stories between characters who are not necessarily pious, and that allow women to show more of their hair - both of which have been considered un-Islamic. This is a bid by the Iranian government to use TV as a more effective instrument to shape public opinion, according to the New York Times.

Amidst much fanfare, the Fox Business Network debuted on cable and satellite TV yesterday. There was "a perky debut for the Fox Business Network (FBN). The mood on Rupert Murdoch?s latest television venture was so giggly and upbeat that it belied its own crawl, showing sinking stock prices.? This review is from the New York Times.

The 60 Minutes report on the Duke University rape case by the late Ed Bradley won a top award at last night's Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) annual dinner. It was Ed Bradley?s second-to-last story (which also won a Peabody). 60 Minutes producer Michael Radutzky?s emotional remarks honored Bradley as well as the Duke students wrongly accused of rape. Radutzsky had invested months in the story, and one of the students was in the audience with his family to witness the RTNDA awards ceremony. The second highlight was NBC News winning the overall excellence award. This report is from Lost Remote.

Dow Jones is dropping its ads on CNBC and is now advertising on the co-owned Fox Business Network, which was launched yesterday. The New York Times reports.

Wi Fi has arrived at the Baltimore Amtrak station, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Google is trying to put an end to the copyright wars over online videos on YouTube, reports the New York Times. YouTube is offering a tool that scans for copyrighted material. YouTube, under increasing pressure to remove pirated television and movie clips from its popular video sharing site, introduced a filtering tool yesterday that could give copyright owners better control over their material online, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. It is aimed at ending piracy on YouTube, reports the San Jose Mercury News. The crackdown uses software, says the Los Angeles Times.

The 2,000 layoffs announced by America On Line (AOL) represent one fifth of the company's work force, says the Los Angeles Times. The cuts are part of a continuing overhaul for AOL, says the New York Times.

The summer Arbitron New York radio ratings show the big winners are black-owned WBLS-FM 107.5 and all news WINS-AM 1010, reports the New York Daily News.

In Boston, a court decision on popular conservative talk show host Howard Carr, who has left talk radio station WRKO-AM 680 and is trying to move to WTKK-FM 96.9, may come today, says the Boston Globe.

Under an agreement expected to be finalized this week, Don Imus will be the morning host at WABC 770 New York, the nation's highest rated talk radio station. Imus is also seeking a cable TV network to simulcast his show. Variety reports.

Liberal talk show host Randi Rhodes of Air America radio and a frequent guest on cable TV news shows, was seriously beaten, reportedly losing several teeth, in a mugging in Manhattan. This was Sunday evening at 39th Street and Park Avenue, not far from her apartment. She will probably be off the air for the remainder of the week. In New York she is heard afternoons 3 to 6 p.m. on WWRL 1600. Talking Radio reports.

Online television viewing has more than doubled this year, according to a new report. "Nearly 73% of online households use the Internet for entertainment purposes on a daily basis, and an additional 15% search for entertainment several times a week. Online viewers cite personal convenience and avoiding commercials as their top two reasons for watching TV broadcasts on the Internet. Four out of every five online viewers say that watching these programs online has not changed their television viewing habits." This report is from Online Media Daily.

Advertisers at a Manhattan convention found themselves on the receiving end of pitches at the 97th annual conference of the Association of National Advertisers, which 1,200 people attended last Thursday through Sunday. The New York Times reports.

Looming on the horizon in just two weeks is a possible strike of writers for TV entertainment. It is the strike nobody wants. If it happens, a strike could wind up being even more damaging than the infamous 1988 writers' walkout, which academics and other observers have generally characterized as a lose-lose. Back then, thousands of people were thrown out of work for more than five months, and some estimates peg the entertainment industry's strike-related losses as high as $500 million. The TV business has changed a lot since then, in ways that may make a strike even less palatable now, says the Los Angeles Times.

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has surpassed Barack Obama in the amount of money she has in the bank for her campaign, reports Associated Press.

So far the presidential hopefuls are ignoring cable TV and are spending it on broadcast TV and radio stations reaching the states where primaries and caucuses are being held, says Multichannel News.

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, words among candidates are getting sharper, says Associated Press.

Lou Dobbs Tonight is being moved to 7 p.m., reports Broadcasting & Cable. Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room will take over the 6 p.m. hour, and become a 3-hour long program from 4 to 7 p.m. according toCNN.

TV casting is the art of knowing people, says Associated Press.

Media Briefing for Monday, October 15, 2007

An Internet jihad is providing English language versions of Islamic fundamentalism and extremism on the Web, some available on YouTube, reports the New York Times.

With newspapers making major budget cuts, investigative reporting is suffering. Now a private group formed by a veteran Wall Street Journal editor of 16 years, Paul Steiger, will provide investigative journalism. The New York Times reports.

A new study seems to shatter the common wisdom that sensationalism on local TV newscasts is good for ratings. Viewers, the study found, are perfectly willing to watch stories on education policy or tax debates - in many cases they'll tune in to those stories but flip away from a segment on a celebrity divorce or a deadly highway pileup. The findings suggest that the shift to violence and voyeurism has left everyone worse off. Boston Globe. In trying to determine whether the quality of local news segments had any relation to ratings, the researchers behind the book We Interrupt This Newscast had to design a reliable measure of quality. They asked a team of widely respected TV news directors, news executives and producers to put together a list of attributes that they all agreed defined good journalism. The Boston Globe reports.

A student at the Rev. Pat Robertson's Regent University has been suspended after posting an unflattering photograph of Robertson appearing to give an obscene gesture. McClatchy Newspapers reports. The student posted it on his personal page on the Facebook networking site, says Associated Press. Robertson hosts the daily 700 club seen on the ABC Family channel and also on local stations across the nation, including WTBY channel 54 Poughkeepsie, where it airs at 12 noon.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter's remark last week that Jews need to be perfected, saying "that is what Christianity is about" is too dangerous to be ignored, says the Los Angeles Times. The remark puts her back in the "hot seat," says the Los Angeles Times.

This is a story from the dark McCarthy era. Actress Marsha Hunt turns 90 on Wednesday, but you'd hardly know it. She has total recall of her life in Hollywood, including the infamous blacklist that almost killed her career. At the time, Hunt ? who signed petitions promoting liberal ideals and belonged to the Committee for the First Amendment ? was doing a lot of work in that new medium called television. "I was hot," she recalled. "I did the first Shakespeare that was coast to coast on TV. I was on the cover of Life magazine. I did a lot of talk shows, and three networks offered me my own talk show." Upon returning from vacation in Paris, the offers for her own show were rescinded. She soon found the reason: She had been accused of leftist leanings by Red Channels, a publication that targeted supposed communists. Associated Press reports.

From early 1963 until 1970, the nation's first all black commercial TV station operated in Washington, D.C., WOOK-TV channel 14. Now, four decades later, a commercial UHF station in Detroit is running a schedule aimed at the African-American community, calling itself Detroit's Urban Station. The station is WADL channel 38, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The new black museum on the Washington Mall isn't scheduled to open until 2015. But the organizers don't want to wait until then to make available their vast archive of information, so they have opened a Web site, nmaahc.si.edu, reports the New York Times.

A reporter for the Washington Post has been fatally shot in Baghdad, reports the Washington Post.

A Web start-up company with some of the same backers who helped catapult YouTube to glory wants to do for live video chats what YouTube did for video watching. The company, TokBox, allows people with Webcams and broadband Internet connections to conduct face-to-face chats inside a Web browser. Users can visit its site, ToxBox.com, or add a TokBox module to their pages on social Web sites like MySpace, says the New York Times.

Fox Business Network began today, challenging long-entrenched CNBC. There are reports from Associated Press, New York Times,Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Broadcasting & Cable and others.

Fox News Channel head Roger Ailes discusses his plans for the new business network in an interview in the Boston Globe.

The nation's chief telecommunications regulator wants to take advantage of the television industry's transition to digital broadcasting to make channels available to small businesses that may be owned by minority programmers. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin promoted his long-dormant concept Friday in the face of heavy criticism of his agency's record on promoting minority ownership of media. The chairman spoke at a media and telecommunications symposium hosted by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and its founder, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson, whose guests included four of the five members of the FCC, bemoaned the state of minority media ownership in America. Associated Press.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says that what he calls the "Imus Media Megaphone" suggests a ?Corruption of Concentration.? Jackson, the founder of Rainbow/PUSH, points out the lack of minority airtime, saying it was not so much what radio/TV jock Don Imus said about the Rutgers University women?s basketball players, although it was very offensive, but rather the size of the media megaphone he had to say it. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin says that he is not opposed to a media diversity task force along the lines proposed by commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, but it should not preclude moving forward on ownership issues. Broadcasting & Cable.

United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office has confirmed that there will be a floor vote tomorrow on a federal shield law that would protect journalists and their sources from overzealous federal prosecutors, says Broadcasting & Cable.

The Center for Media and Democracy and Free Press have filed another complaint about a Video News Report, reports in newscasts prepared by a private corporation, without revealing this to the viewership. The complaint targets ABC affiliate WGTU channel 29 in Traverse City, Michigan, for airing three unattributed videos in newscasts, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

FCC commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate is being praised by a children's media group for her efforts, which include trying to restrict unhealthy food ads, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

NBC News has cut the ribbon on its new high-tech headquarters. The news division will move into its new digs October 22. The six-month construction project will unite the NBC News and MSNBC staffs under one roof at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Business magazines are facing an advertising slump, competition from the Web and a new rival, reports the Wall Street Journal.

According to a new report, advertisers say the TV landscape has never been friendlier to gay-related content. The report, from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), says the seven gay regular characters on scripted broadcast shows represent 1.1 percent of all series regulars, down from 1.3 percent in 2006. While the survey acknowledges the growing number of gay characters on scripted cable - totaling over 40- it fails to count gay personalities populating broadcast and cable nonscripted series in the form of contestants, consultants and judges. To wit: On Bravo?s fourth cycle of Project Runway, launching November 14, seven of eight male contestants are gay. Media Week reports.

On network TV shows, transgendered actors and characters are confronting transgendered stereotypes, says the Boston Globe.

A contestant on GeoBar, a Georgian reality TV show, was expelled after saying on the first episode that he was gay. Civil Georgia Online has the report.

The pros and cons of School Bus Radio - a Massachusetts service that is on school buses in 40 states - is being debated in the Norwalk, Connecticut school system. The company says its service is better than playing commercial radio stations on school buses - stations which often present x-rated humor and songs with objectionable lyrics. Opponents of the idea are concerned about a profit-making company being placed on public school buses - a radio service with commercials for a captive audience - the students. The New York Times reports.

For those who like books, there is a Web site on which people find books for free, and give away their own books. It is Book Mooch, says the New York Times.

Despite its promise, the Web is failing to snare voters in Iowa, reports the New York Times.

America On Line (AOL) is cutting its global work force by 20%, reports Associated Press.

For states where it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving, bluetooth is the answer, says the San Jose Mercury News.

The satellite radio service XM is offering a channel devoted entirely to the 2008 presidential campaign. The channel is profiled by the Washington Post.

The early success of TMZ, a new syndicated television show based on the popular Web site of the same name, illustrates just how valuable the celebrity news niche has become, says the New York Times.

Chants of "Down with the BBC, Down with the Voice of America, Down with Radio Free Asia" were shouted during a demonstration in Myanmar sponsored by the ruling junta, with the crowd claiming the western media were responsible for the anti-government protests in the Asian nation in recent weeks, reports Associated Press

The Vatican said Saturday it has suspended a monsignor from a senior post at the Holy See after an Italian TV program using a hidden camera recorded him making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful. On the program on private Italian network La7, a man identified as a priest is heard saying that he "didn't feel he was sinning" by having sex with gay men. Associated Press. The monsignor says he is not gay, reports Associated Press.

The BBC is moving toward digital in a challenging period, says the New York Times.

The 3-part documentary Mysterious Human Heart is featured on a 2-hour presentation tonight and then again next Monday evening on Thirteen/WNET, reports the New York Times. Hartford, Connecticut radio personality Beth Bradley of WDRC-FM 102.9 is featured as an example of a person living with heart failure, reports the Hartford Courant.

Cable TV companies are struggling to keep up with the satellite TV service DirecTV, says the Wall Street Journal.

A new Web program allows people on the social networking site Facebook to lambaste people they dislike, Enemy Book. The San Jose Mercury News reports.

A year-old online forum where 30,000 doctors swap medical observations has lined up a partnership with Pfizer ? an alliance that runs counter to the site's founding ideal to give doctors a place to communicate without the pharmaceutical industry listening in. Associated Press reports.

Selling ads is Google's bread and butter - buying them isn't, says Associated Press.

Texting simplifies group messaging, says the Seattle Times.

With the rise of the Internet, the rules have changed in advertising, says the Miami Herald.

Media Briefing for Friday, October 12, 2007

Conservative commentator and author Ann Coulter is in the spotlight again, saying that Jews need "perfecting" - "that's what Christianity is." Editor & Publisher reports. Previously, she described today's Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore as a fag on MSNBC. She referred to John Edwards as a faggot in a speech to a conservative conference in Washington, D.C.

"-30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper" is a collection of articles previously published, mostly in newspapers and magazines. "This is a book you should read soon," says the Seattle Times.

The organization Free Press is supporting Low Power FM radio, and is circulating a petition to be sent to members of Congress to support it. Low Power FM stations have two classes: 100 watts and 10 watts. Local community groups supporting LPFM say it can be one remedy for the corporate takeover of most major and medium market full power FM and AM stations by conglomerates. Opponents say sandwiching in new FM stations on the FM dial would create interference with existing stations. In one example, Fairfield County has 3 full power 50,000 watt commercial FM stations, WRKI 95.1 Brookfield and WEBE 107.9 Westport, both owned by Cumulus of Atlanta, Georgia and Cumulus also owns the county's only strong signal AM station that covers the entire county, WICC 600 Bridgeport. Cox Communications of Atlanta, Georgia owns 50,000 watt WEZN 99.9 Bridgeport, plus 3,000 watt commercial FM stations WFOX 95.9 Norwalk and WCTZ 96.7 Stamford. That leaves just one commercial FM station in the county still locally owned: 3,000-watt WDAQ 98.3 Danbury. Cox also owns local AM stations WSTC 1400 Stamford and WNLK 1350 Norwalk. Cumulus also owns local AM station WINE 940 Brookfield.

Hollywood's beef with media consolidation of ownership of local broadcast stations will get an airing October 23 at Emerson College in Boston. Slated to participate are Democratic Federal Communications Commission members Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, who are veteran media-consolidation critics. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

A survey of teenagers shows that when it comes to cell phones, being cool is not as important as being connected. Media Post.com reports.

With a lengthy presidential campaign and wall-to-wall coverage, will viewers burn out on politics? Broadcasting & Cable reports.

ABC is reshaping the Evening News for the Web, reports the New York Times.

Frontline World video journalists are bringing the world to viewers, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

A 3-year-old boy who knows the capital of every state in the nation and most countries around the world is being featured on a segment on child prodigies on ABC's 20/20 tonight at 10, reports the Hartford Courant.

MSNBC's political talk show host Chris Matthews, whose program Hardball airs at 5 and 7 each evening, and a syndicated talk show that airs nationwide, including WNBC channel 4 New York Sundays at 10 a.m., is interviewed by TV Guide.

James O. Robbins, an executive at Cox Communications, who helped build it into a cable-telephone-Internet-TV giant, has died at age 65. The Atlanta Constitution Journal reports. He helped build Cox into a telecommunications giant, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Apple and AT&T are being sued by iPhone owners who say they are prevented from downloading software from competitors to use on the iPhone. Bloomberg News reports.

Even though every 5th household has a DVR, up from 1 in 13 two years ago, 95% of all TV viewership is live, shows watched when they air, according to a new study. Media Post.com reports.

The latest new technology in radio is HD radio, which provides superior sound quality to AM and FM stations, and allows FM stations to provide additional channels. Often unique formats are provided. In New York City, where there is no country and western music format, WKTU 103.5 offers the format on one of its HD channels. On Long Island, WALK-FM 97.5 also offers country and western music. In Connecticut, WKSS 95.7 offers a gay format. Electronic Jungle reports.

Myanmar's ruling junta have lashed out at Western powers and foreign media, accusing them of fomenting large protests that were ended by a brutal crackdown. The state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper described protesters, who continue to be hunted by the military across the country, as "stooges of foreign countries putting on a play written by their foreign masters." Associated Press reports.

The LIN television group is partnering with YouTube, reports Broadcasting & Cable. LIN stations include New Haven ABC affiliate WTNH channel 8.

It's known as the Google effect, the creation of great wealth in the area of California where Google is located. The San Jose Mercury News reports.

The giant Mexican TV network Televisa is making inroads into the U.S., reports the Miami Herald.

Is an Imus comeback too much? Reporter Larry McShane of Associated Press reports.

The Disney Channel is dabbling in magic with its newest sitcom tonight. Wizards of Waverly Place mixes spells, special effects, child actors and a fondness for vintage sitcoms such as Bewitched. The Orlando Sentinel. reports.

MSNBC moves into new high definition studios in Manhattan October 22, reports Lost Remote.

Media Briefing for Thursday, October 11, 2007

Long-dominated by English, the language of its founders, the Internet is about to take a big step toward becoming a truly world-wide Web. Starting on Monday, Web surfers will be able to test Internet addresses in 11 languages that don?t use the Roman alphabet - the 26 letters used in English and most other European languages. The development means the domain-name suffix, the part of a Web address after the dot - such as ?com? or ?org? - could now be in a language like Japanese or Hindi. The Wall Street Journal reports.

George W. Bush and other Republicans have stepped up their attacks on Democratic legislation that would require more oversight of surveillance within U.S. borders that is directed at foreign targets, escalating a partisan battle over the boundaries of U.S. spying. In separate votes along party lines, the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees approved bills that would require the government to get approval from a special intelligence court for blanket surveillance of targets overseas. Supporters say the legislation is needed to safeguard the rights of innocent U.S. citizens who may be caught up in such surveillance. The Washington Post reports.

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is opposing the return of Don Imus to the airwaves. NOW is encouraging its followers to complain to Citadel, which is widely rumored to be about to sign Imus to a deal to take over mornings at its talk radio station WABC-AM 770 New York and other stations. The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) also wants to stop the return of Imus, according to the organization?s NABJ Web site. The conservative American Spectator supports his return.

For the first time in several years, applicants can file with the FCC for a license for a non-commercial FM radio channel. The window for applying is from October 12-19. In an official FCC notice, apparently to prevent an avalanche of applications, the FCC says it is limiting each applicant to 10 applications. All Access reports.

A CBS report on Lynne Cheney is raising questions, despite a disclosure by the interviewer, Rita Braver, that her lawyer husband had represented Lynne Cheney in the publishing deal for her new memoir. The New York Times reports.

Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman of California denies that he is, or is planning to, investigate conservative talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, says All Access. Waxman has this statement on his official Web site. ?The American Spectator report is completely false and was written without any documentation or attribution...The American Spectator should immediately retract its report and apologize for the confusion its fictitious report has caused.? For its part, the American Spectator, in a post on its website, says that Waxman denial ?won?t sway us from our reporting of earlier this week. And we stand by our story...?

The Boston Globe profiles John Oliver, the political comedian and ?correspondent? for Comedy Central?s The Daily Show.

On local TV newscasts, reporters have been using props. Should they? The practice is bringing criticism, says the Houston Chronicle.

Documentarian Ken Burns? 8-part series about World War II, PBS?s The War is ?a monumental achievement,? says the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Employees are fighting back against no email days at work, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is moving its headquarters from Saint Petersburg, Florida to San Francisco, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

If your hipbone is connected to your BlackBerry or your thighbone is connected to your cellphone, those vibrations you?re feeling in the car, in your pajamas, in the shower, may be coming from your headbone. Many mobile-phone addicts and BlackBerry junkies report feeling vibrations when there are none, or feeling as if they?re wearing a cellphone when they?re not. Associated Press reports.

Police in Japan have arrested the creator of an Internet suicide site, reports Associated Press.

Public radio?s new morning show is set to go, reports the Boston Globe.

At the dedication of its new digital TV studios, NBC Pittsburgh affiliate WPXI channel 11 was forced by a glitch to go live from the parking lot, reports the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission has brushed aside proposals by Verizon Wireless to modify open-platform rules that the agency plans to impose in a January auction of key wireless spectrum. The auction is expected to raise at least $10 billion for the U.S. government from airwaves being returned by television broadcasters as they move to digital from analog signals in February 2009. The airwaves to be sold in the 700-megahertz band can travel long distances and penetrate thick walls. The Washington Post reports.

The New York Times? Washington bureau has one eye on the new competition, says the New York Observer.

NBC is leaving Burbank studios used for 50 years, for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and others. The Los Angeles Times.

There is a change at the top of the Huffington Post, reports the Financial Times.

The hit game show Nothing But the Truth in Colombia has been terminated after a contestant won $25,000 for admitting she hired someone to kill her husband. Associated Press/

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina will be a contributor with Fox News? soon-to-launch business news channel, which premieres Monday. Associated Press.

CKOI 96.9 Montreal afternoon hosts Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel have done it again, this time pranking Mick Jagger with a phone call purporting to be from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The French Top 40 FM station afternoon personalities claimed to be interested in inducting the rock legend into the Order of Canada, and kept Jagger on the line in a half-French, half-English conversation filled with Rolling Stones lyrics. Jagger went along with the gag but admitted after the ruse was revealed that he thought it was probably some kind of joke. The hosts? previous prank telephone call victims have included Paul McCartney, Britney Spears Bill Gates, and two French presidents, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, says All Access.

Media Briefing for Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The site Lost Remote has several reports on the Networked Journalism Summit 2007 underway today at the City University of New York. The summit is focusing on a wide range of issues involving journalism and the Internet.

TV and radio ads in Iowa are much cheaper than in other parts of the nation, presidential hopefuls are finding. TV ads in Philadelphia, for example, are eight times more expensive than on the most popular station in Iowa, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In Ohio, a fight between two middle school girls that was posted on YouTube is raising concern, reports WLWT channel 5 Cincinnati news.

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) wants to derail the return of Imus, says the organization on its NABJ Web site, which also compliments NBC and CBS for terminating Imus earlier this year. The African-American community comments on the return of Don Imus to the airwaves, says the New York Daily News. NABJ wants the talks with Imus cut off, reports the Maynard Institute Web site.

Little Mosque on the Prairie, the CBC-TV comedy about a Muslim community in a fictional prairie town in Saskatchewan, Canada, is the recipient of a prestigious humanitarian award previously won by Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. The show will be presented with the Search for Common Ground Award by the human rights organization of the same name on November 6 in Manhattan, says Canadian Press.

In Washington state, insurance companies and trial lawyers are smearing each other in television ads and painting vastly different versions of reality in anticipation of a referendum vote. The Seattle Times reports.

Jay Leno of the NBC Tonight show regularly jokes about politicians and other public figures, and to Leno ?it's guilty until proven innocent,? says the Los Angeles Times.

NBC, which owns the online women-oriented network iVillage, is purchasing the Oxygen cable TV network, reports the New York Times. NBC seeks to expand its female audience, reports Associated Press. Oprah Winfrey and others started Oxygen seven years ago, according to the Los Angeles Times. NBC plans to resuscitate Oxygen, says the Chicago Tribune. The deal ends weeks of speculation, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

Miami?s PBS station WPBT channel 2 has produced Miami: Reflections on the River, an original half-hour documentary and companion Web site that explores the Miami River as "Miami?s benefactor and historian." It premieres Thursday, October 18 at 10 p.m., reports TV Newsday.

Fox TV station WFXT channel 25 Boston will be adding an 11 p.m. newscast while retaining its hour-long 10 p.m. broadcast, reports the Boston Globe.

The similarities of Bill O'Reilly, Don Imus and Clarence Thomas are examined by the Washington Post.

The TV Guide channel and the Asian channels are being moved to the digital menu on the San Francisco Bay Area Comcast cable TV menu, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Free speech could lead to online disconnect. If you're displeased with the way a company treats you, you're free to air your feelings in public, right? Not necessarily if you receive high-speed Internet access from AT&T or Verizon Communications. Buried deep within both companies' voluminous service contracts is language that says your Net access can be terminated for any behavior that AT&T or Verizon believes might harm its "name or reputation," or even the reputation of its business partners. The Los Angeles Times reports.

eBay is launching its own social network site, says Associated Press.

Even an Intel founder can still be impressed by technology's pace, says the Wall Street Journal.

As Sprint Nextel looks to replace ousted Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee, the wireless carrier has reached another crossroad in shaping its future. Associated Press reports.

Cisco Systems doesn't believe business ends at the virtual water's edge. The San Jose, California company owns four "islands" in the virtual online world Second Life, each populated with "pavilions" for product demonstrations, training and meetings. But its push into virtual work spaces - where offices and conference rooms exist inside computers instead of concrete - reaches well beyond Second Life's quirky environment of flying "avatars," or digital people. The San Jose Mercury News reports.

Billionaire Sam Zell says he has no intention of selling the Los Angeles Times, reports Associated Press.

For the NBC television station in Pittsburgh, WPXI channel 11, the transition to its new digital studios has not been technologically flawless, says the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Radio stations are no longer vying to be number one overall, according to former WABC 770 program director John Mainelli who writes in Inside Radio.

Police in China have jailed a 50-year-old woman for posing as a teenaged rape victim on the Internet, reports Associated Press.

49 Up is a documentary featured on the PBS show P.O.V. focusing on a group of people who have been interviewed every seven years since 1964. 49 Up, airing Sunday at 12 noon on Thirteen/WNET, is reviewed by the Denver Post.

Changes are being made to the news programs on WNBC-TV channel 4, reports the New York Daily News.

The Fox broadcast network, home of The Simpsons, is adding a number of new cartoon programs, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Wall Street is still betting on the merger between the XM and Sirius satellite radio services, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Media Briefing for Tuesday, October 9, 2007

A small, private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups says the Bush administration?s handling of video ruined its spying efforts, according to the Washington Post. The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group?s communications network. ?Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless,? said Rita Katz, the firm?s 44-year-old founder.

The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is declining to investigate reports that phone companies turned over customer records to the National Security Agency, citing national security concerns, according to documents released on Friday. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin turned down a congressional request for an investigation as a top intelligence official concluded it would ?pose an unnecessary risk of damage to the national security,? according to a letter National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell sent to Martin on Tuesday. Reuters reports.

The new Howard Kurtz book goes behind the scenes and reports on the TV network news anchor wars, reports the Huffington Post.

Critics are focusing on reality TV shows that they believe have gone too far, depicting someone driving after drinking, and potentially unsafe working conditions for children, as just two examples. The New York Times reports.

Frontline narrator Will Lyman often lends his smooth baritone to other programs besides the PBS documentary series he?s narrated since 1982. But Frontline?s producers at WGBH channel 2 Boston said he should not have lent his unmistakable voice to an advocacy video on Internet regulatory policy. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

As the war goes on and on, the news anchors are the ones setting the tone of the on-air coverage, says the Washington Post.

In San Francisco, Los Angeles and other markets in California, a television advertising campaign is attempting to sway the undecided on gay marriage. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The Fox Business Network is set to debut Monday. Invoking Stonewall Jackson, Fox Business chief Roger Ailes is preparing to battle entrenched rival CNBC, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Some media buyers are taking a wait and see attitude on the Fox Business Network, says B to B.

This is no lie: the Washington state Supreme Court has ruled that political candidates can make false statements. A sharply-divided state Supreme Court has ruled that a law that bars political candidates from deliberately making false statements about their opponents violates the First Amendment right of free speech. The Seattle Times reports.

Don Imus is believed to be on the brink of returning to the air on WABC 770 New York, possibly around December 1. An executive with the company that owns WABC radio says Imus deserves another chance, reports the New York Times. A contract is likely to be finalized within a week, says the Washington Post.

Don Imus lunched with Fox News chairman Roger Ailes last week and discussed the possibility of simulcasting the radio show on the new Fox Business Network, which launches next Monday, reports Newsblues(subscription). When the Imus show was on WFAN 660 New York, it was simulcast on MSNBC.

Will Don Imus have a difficult time finding sponsors? Advertising Age reports.

Dan Rather threatened back in 2004 to take his story about George W. Bush?s National Guard service to the New York Times if CBS would not run it right away because Rather knew other news organizations were also working on it and he feared they might break the story first, says the Drudge Report, which quotes a new book by Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz. The book, Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News Race, is due out tomorrow.

In the U.K., what is being called ?Crowngate? is adding to a series of embarrassing BBC snafus: In a promotional trailer for a documentary, footage was edited to imply that Queen Elizabeth II walked angrily out of a portrait session with photographer Annie Leibovitz. The BBC entertainment channel?s chief has resigned over the film clip, which further batters the network?s reputation, says the Los Angeles Times.

Talks between Hollywood writers and studios abruptly broke off for the weekend, dimming hopes of averting a strike that could cripple the television industry. The Writers Guild of America has been in talks since July with studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Negotiations lasted only about one hour on Friday and are not scheduled to resume until tomorrow, reports Associated Press.

In Kentucky, political candidates are turning to Christian radio, reports Associated Press.

Around the world, millions are tuning into short wave radio to hear religious stations, reports the Washington Post.

Long Island?s Democratic congressman Steve Israel and Rush Limbaugh are trading words over Limbaugh?s use of the words ?phony soldiers? to describe soldiers who don?t support George W. Bush?s war policy, reports Newsday.

The raid on Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland, California came a day late for the editor, Chauncey Bailey of the African-American newspaper the Oakland Post, who was gunned down and killed. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Washington Post advertising content can be as controversial as Washington Post journalism. Some parents were unhappy with a full-page, blood-spattered ad on the back of the Sept. 28 KidsPost page. It was for the Showtime cable series Dexter, about ?America?s favorite serial killer.? Readers also have frequently complained about ads with sexual content. And two recent General Motors advertising supplements were controversial for mixing recycled news with ads. Advertising is the lifeblood of newspapers; it makes up 80 percent of Post revenue, says the Washington Post.

Television executives are using short-form series to lure advertisers and viewers, says Associated Press.

In the modern tech world, the San Jose Mercury News examines where privacy and free speech rights collide.

After decades of targeting young demographics, marketers are now trying to reach out to an older audience as baby boomers age, reports the New York Times.

For the first time as a Republican presidential hopeful, Fred Thompson takes part in a televised debate with those vying for the nomination. The debate, in Dearborn, Michigan, is today at 4 p.m. on CNBC and 9 p.m. on MSNBC. The New York Times reports.

Was a free meal behind that glowing online restaurant review? The rising influence of food blogs has chefs plying Web critics with dinners and drinks to avoid bad write-ups. The Wall Street Journal reports.

There are hundreds of movies known as ?brickfilms? that are getting attention on YouTube and other video-sharing sites. Amateur filmmakers use Lego pieces to create characters and scenes, sometimes spending months painstakingly arranging and rearranging the blocks before the camera. Re-creations of famous moments in Star Wars and Titanic, faithfully rendered in the primary colors of Lego pieces and stitched together from thousands of stop-motion frames, have drawn hundreds of thousands of viewings. Many of the productions are original films with elaborate plotlines, soundtracks and voice-overs, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Yesterday, shares of Google reached $600 for the first time. In its initial public offering nine years ago, the share price was $85. Associated Press. This is a rise of 617% since 2004, says the San Jose Mercury News.

With its new map and street view service, is Google getting too close? The Chicago Tribune reports.

The Federal Trade Commission is receiving an increasing number of complaints about Google, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Google will begin showing YouTube videos on thousands of other Web sites, hoping to profit from ads attached to the clips. The expansion represents the Internet search leader?s farthest-reaching attempt yet to cash in on its $1.76 billion acquisition of YouTube since the deal closed 11 months ago. Google already shows some video ads on clips on YouTube?s own site. Associated Press reports.

For Google, advertising and cell phones go together, says the New York Times.

A tweak of Google?s logo is sending its competitors into orbit, says the Los Angeles Times.

With all the attention being focused on iPhones and iPods, computers remain the core of Apple?s business. The San Jose Mercury News reports.

In some schools iPods are required listening now. Once banned from the classroom, the digital devices have become teaching tools, says the New York Times.

For Internet advertising, an indirect route to customers is working on the Web, with businesses offering games and videos on popular sites, reports the Boston Globe.

A recent rush by major Internet portals to buy advertising companies and extend their sales networks is a sign that the business of being a one-stop shop for information and entertainment isn?t what it used to be. Gone are the days of emphasizing ways to attract and keep visitors ? the way television networks long have operated ? by creating destinations with anything people might need for work, leisure or companionship. Instead, those companies are now more aggressively trying to follow Web surfers elsewhere ? and bring lucrative advertising to them, says Associated Press.

Many successes have risen from high-tech failures, says the San Jose Mercury News.

The beaten down shares of telephone provider Vonage more than doubled yesterday after the Internet phone company said it has settled the patent suit filed by Sprint Nextel. Associated Press reports.

Cellphones are not coming to the big tunnels in Boston any time soon. The Big Dig tunnels, which Massachusetts state officials pledged to have wired for cellular phone service by summer, remain a dead zone after federal officials refused to approve the long-delayed project because they said the planned wiring could put too much weight on walls that are anchored in place with epoxy. The Federal Highway Administration noted that an epoxy failure is believed to have caused the tunnel ceiling collapse that killed a Jamaica Plain woman last year, reports the Boston Globe.

Ask.com is pushing into TV integration. Advertising Age reports.

The chief of Sprint Nextel has resigned, as the 3rd quarter forecast is slashed, reports Associated Press. This adds to a line of departures, says the New York Times. Sprint?s woes remain, says the Washington Post.

WBZ 1030 Boston has a new nighttime talk host, Dan Rea, reports the Boston Globe.

The Sesame Workshop is producing DVDs for families of injured Iraq War soldiers, reports Associated Press.

The nation?s recording industry is hoping publicity over a federal jury?s decision ordering a 30-year-old single Minnesota mom to pay a nearly quarter-million-dollar fine for illegally downloading music will finally get the attention of tens of thousands of others across the country. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports.

A scandal is brewing at Oral Roberts University, according to Associated Press.

Be Productions is turning young actors into San Francisco Bay Area stars, says the San Francisco Chronicle.

There is not just one Newseum being built in Washington, D.C., but two. One is the building which will house the museum, the other is online. The Washington Post reports.

Investors are betting that even if the economy slows, people will still turn to Google for Internet searches and Apple for iPods. Associated Press reports.

IBM and Google say they are starting a program on college campuses to promote computer-programming techniques for clusters of processors known as ?clouds.? The cloud can run many software applications and can be accessed by many users. It promises to allow companies and universities to share resources and not have to expand their own costly data centers. However, the concept poses daunting questions about security, reliability and ease of use. The Wall Street Journal reports.

The one-year anniversary of the execution-style murder of the crusading newspaper journalist Anna Politkovskaya was marked yesterday by competing memorial events in Moscow. The events drew scant crowds and droves of police, on a rainy day. The Washington Post reports. The identity of her killer is known, according to her newspaper. The New York Times reports.

The San Francisco Chronicle profiles journalist Chauncey Bailey, who infused black pride into his work for more than three decades, writing hundreds of newspaper stories about Oakland?s African-American community, developing relationships with the city?s key players and hosting black cable television news shows.

At age 94, a New Hampshire resident, Doris Haddock, waged a quixotic campaign for U.S. Senate against a powerful incumbent. And at 97, she will see those feats projected on-screen in a documentary, Run Granny Run, by Brooklyn, New York, filmmaker Marlo Poras, depicts Haddock?s 2004 decision - with no money and no campaign experience - to go from an activist for voter registration to actively seeking votes in a campaign against Republican Senator Judd Gregg. Run Granny Run will be broadcast at 9 p.m. Thursday, October 18 on HBO. Associated Press reports.

There is a newspaper war in Connecticut, among Spanish language newspapers, with the prize being the region?s growing Latino readership. The Stamford Advocate reports.

The proposed merger between Canadian newspaper group Thomson and the Reuters news wire is drawing the scrutiny of the European Union, says the Bloomberg News.

The young mayor of Pittsburgh is avoiding the press, skipping public events, until election day on November 5, so he does not have to engage the media, reports the New York Times.

Films and filmmaking are a legacy of ABC newsman Peter Jennings, who passed away in August 2005, reports the New York Times

Newsvine looks nothing like the usual news Web site. On a given day, the site can hold dozens of user comments about a British newspaper analysis of trans-Atlantic relations; a first-person essay by an American soldier titled What My Life in Iraq Is Like and a link to a new music video by Avril Lavigne. As a social news source, Newsvine directly reflects the interests of its audience by encouraging users to write articles, comment on other articles and post links to relevant sites. The New York Times reports. Newsvine is a small Seattle startup that lets visitors read and comment on news stories from mainstream media outlets, says Associated Press.

The New York Times profiles Stephen McPherson, the new head of ABC Entertainment.

WHDH-TV channel 7 Boston investigating reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is balancing her TV career with a blossoming career as a mystery writer, reports the Boston Globe.

In Canada, two commercial networks are slashing news employees, news budgets and local newscasts, reports the Globe and Mail of Toronto.

In this digital age, paper and ink regional newspapers and magazines are flourishing in the Pittsburgh area, says the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The 31st annual Washington Quarter Century Broadcasters dinner will be held on Saturday, October 27, at 6 p.m. at the Kenwood Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. It?s the annual tribute to Washington/Baltimore?s broadcasting history as well as an opportunity for younger broadcasters to network with some of the region?s greatest radio and TV broadcasters. The event is open to all. No membership is necessary. For reservations or more information contact Anee Raulerson at 1-301-657-2560 or araulers@aftra.com
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation today will start a $100 million fund to nurture unorthodox approaches to global health, inviting scientists to bid for small, quickly-awarded grants, says the Wall Street Journal.

Associated Press examines the creation of a new font.

The controversial reality series Kid Nation on CBS is slipping in viewership but gaining in advertising, says the New York Times.

Starting with 2009 models, General Motors cars will be equipped with technology that will bring to a halt automobiles that have been reported stolen, and the radio will broadcast a message that police are watching. The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reports.

Like many stations across the nation, Houston?s KHCW channel 39 has lost its music video format with the shutdown of the music video network The Tube, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Media Briefing for Friday, October 5, 2007

A struggle between the First Amendment and privacy rights of two Boston firefighters killed in the line of duty ended yesterday with a court allowing a Boston television station to broadcast its story, 24 hours after its competitors had already done so. Shortly before 5 p.m., Appeals Court Judge Andrew Grainger dissolved an injunction that had barred NBC affiliate WHDH-TV channel 7 Boston from broadcasting a story Wednesday about autopsy findings that showed the firefighters had alcohol or illegal drugs in their systems when they died fighting a fire August 29 in a restaurant. The Boston Globe reports.

Dr. James Dobson, one of the top social conservatives in the U.S., is threatening to back a third party presidential candidate. Dr. Dobson, whose radio broadcast Focus On The Family on 500 plus radio stations reaches 1.5 million listeners, is concerned that the Republican Party may not nominate a presidential candidate who is conservative enough on issues such as gay rights and abortion. The Boston Globe reports. In New York, Focus On The Family is heard on WMCA-AM 570 at 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

A gay Republican group is running TV ads in Iowa and on national cable running clips of Mitt Romney?s support for gay rights in the 1990s when he was governor of Massachusetts, and highlighting his shift to anti-gay positions now that he is a presidential hopeful. Associated Press reports.

Mitt Romney isn?t the only Republican candidate who has shifted on many issues now that he is running for president. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had a show on WABC-AM 770 while mayor, and tapes show he had different positions than he does now, including strong criticism of the National Rifle Association. The New York Times reports.

A TV ad focusing on farm legislation spoofs the Senator Craig bathroom incident to make its point, reports Associated Press.

Some are criticizing an Iowa TV station reporting on Barack Obama and his decision to no longer wear an American flag pin, saying the station deprived viewers of Obama?s reasons for his decision. The station is KCRG channel 9 the ABC station in Cedar Rapids. Obama?s full quotes were run in the Associated Press story.

The station that airs Rush Limbaugh in Palm Beach, WJNO-AM 1290, his home area, refused to run an ad about his comments about phony soldiers, saying listeners don?t want to hear an anti-Limbaugh ad during his show. The site Black and Right has the statement from the Clear Channel owned station regarding its decision not to run the ad. Now, the WJNO Web site has a poll asking listeners to vote on the decision.

Rush Limbaugh is interviewed by the Palm Beach Post.

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards is questioning the draft deferment given to Rush Limbaugh during the Vietnam War, wondering how he could later in life sit for extended periods every day to do his conservative radio talk show. Politico reports.

E-mail scams seek to separate people from their money by promising a share of unclaimed lottery riches, bounty from a dead fugitive, work-at-home schemes and other enticements. But an Ocean County, New Jersey man recently got an e-mail with a darker twist: ?Gimme your money, and I?ll cancel the contract someone put out to kill you.? Associated Press reports.

Is it possible to write about American culture without cable TV, asks the New York Times.

Wal-Mart may lose its magazines unless a dispute is resolved, reports Media Daily News.

Gannett may be selling its TV station division, reports Media Daily News. Gannett stations include NBC affiliate WGRZ channel 2 Buffalo.

Some Boston Red Sox baseball fans are fuming after discovering they can?t watch the first round of the playoffs on television in high definition, reports the Boston Globe.

Ned Sherrin, creator of the 1960s cutting edge TV show That Was The Week That Was, has passed away at age 76, reports the New York Times.

The recording industry won a key fight yesterday against illegal music downloading when a federal jury ordered a Minnesota woman to pay $222,000 for sharing copyrighted music online. The jury ordered Jammie Thomas, 30, to pay the six record companies that sued her $9,250 for each of 24 songs they focused on in the case. They alleged she shared 1,702 songs online in violation of their copyrights, reports Associated Press. This is a triumph for the record labels, says the Los Angeles Times.

Luring new readers means connecting with them on the Internet through blogs, live online chats and interactive databases, industry leaders have told newspapers editors. Amid a steady decline in newspaper advertising and circulation, building communities of readers through the online experience is essential, said Jim Brady, vice president and executive editor of Washingtonpost.com. Associated Press reports.

Ad spending on Web sites will continue growing rapidly until topping out at $40 billion in 2012. But after that, the total will begin decreasing as marketers begin shifting money out of media and into their own sites and other efforts over which they have more direct control. TV Newsday reports.

Online ad spending increased by 26% up to a total of $10 billion for the first half of this year, reports Associated Press.

The music and supercharged atmosphere of the NBC Dateline show is the technique used in a new film about how the bible is used and misused by homophobes, says theNew York Times.

Shareholders of XM and Sirius will vote November 13 on the proposed merger between the two satellite radio services, reports Reuters.

After calling for less indecency and sexual explicitness on TV, the Chinese government is calling for less cigarette smoking on TV, reports Associated Press.
For the first time, while speaking in public, Rosie O?Donnell says she was fired by Barbara Walters from The View, reports New York Daily News.

The cable TV news wars is getting hotter, as each of the networks increasingly criticizes their competitors on the air, reports Variety.

Popular Los Angeles film critic Gary Franklin created a 1-to-10 scale for the movies he reviewed. He appeared on KFWB-AM 980, KNXT (now KCBS-TV) channel 2 and KABC-TV channel 7, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The dictator of North Korea says he is an Internet expert, reports Associated Press.

Radio has become dull, losing listenership, and its revenues are not growing since the corporate takeover of most powerful AM and FM radio stations in the nation. One expert told the national Association of Broadcasters conference in Charlotte, North Carolina is that the creative people need to return to the management of radio. Inside Radio reports.

One can find just about anything on Craigslist. Now, a silent 50,000-watt Idaho AM radio station has been listed on the site, reports All Access. KDJQ-AM 890 Meridian-Boise is the station for sale. The station?s owner Rob Combs took out an ad on Craigslist to look for potential buyers.

A suit against Google alleging age bias is being allowed to proceed in court by a California judge, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
Don?t give Google double the power, says an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Toronto Star is changing the way it sells advertising.

There is a big fight over TV ads selling diapers, reports Advertising Age.

At VH1, two reality producers rule, reports Associated Press.

Former New York City radio news reporter Dave Clark is now anchoring on Fox affiliate KTVU channel 2 Oakland, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The mainstream news media, TV, radio and newspapers, have been demonized as "the liberal media" for more than a half century, since the 1950s when Senator Joseph R. McCarthy attacked Edward R. Murrow of CBS, calling Murrow a "jackal." Now a new book, Dark Days In The Newsroom: McCarthyism Aimed At The Press by Edward Alwood delves deeper into the subject by tracing how journalists became radicalized during the Depression era, only to become targets of McCarthy and like-minded anti-Communist crusaders during the 1950s. The book is published by the Temple University Press.

Media Briefing for Thursday, October 4, 2007

Leaks to lobbyists are threatening transparency and fairness at the FCC, says Associated Press. Details and excerpts of the report are in this story from the Washington Post.

Is TV dying? No, says the San Francisco Chronicle, which says viewership increases in minority homes is particularly strong.

It is very unusual for a judge to issue an order preventing a TV station from airing a report. But in Boston, a judge has done so, in a story on the autopsies on two firemen killed fighting a fire in August. The Boston Herald reports.

?The great war of this generation?s time is the war against Islamic fascists,? WLW-AM 700 talk show host Bill Cunningham said Monday. The Cincinnati office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations? Ohio chapter called Tuesday for WLW to reprimand Cunningham. Such remarks ?can only serve to promote the kind of anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry that have such a negative impact on our society and on our nation?s international image,? said Karen Dabdoub, executive director of the Cincinnati office of CAIR. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

In an effort to fight stereotypes of Muslims on TV, an online film contest boasting celebrity judges, including actor Danny Glover and Mariane Pearl, is calling for entries that tell of the American Muslim experience. The ?One Nation, Many Voices? competition accepts submissions of films lasting five minutes or less. The winner will get a $20,000 cash prize and a debut on Link TV. The contest aims to bring attention to experiences that show what all Americans have in common and to challenge stereotypes, the event?s promoters said. The Washington Post reports.

A joke about the Philippines on ABC?s Desperate Housewives has created an outcry, says Associated Press.

The chilling effect of the FCC?s current indecency crusade, in which the FCC can fine a station up to $325,000 for one incident, continues. Even though the Allen Ginsberg poem Howl was found to be not obscene in a court ruling back in the 1950s, Pacifica radio?s WBAI 99.5 New York declined to broadcast it over the air because of fears of the FCC indecency crackdown. It aired on the Internet instead, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Broadcasting & Cable?s Washington bureau chief John Eggerton wonders if it was WBAI?s desire to make a point, rather than fear, that led to the station?s decision. One Pacifica official said one such fine could drive Pacific under. The New York Times reports.

NBC president Jeff Zucker says tougher penalties are needed for video and music piracy. The Washington Post reports.

In Pittsburgh, the PBS station WQED channel 13 ran the uncensored version of The War, reports the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

An AM station can still bring a high sales price, even if it does not have much of an audience. WLIE-AM 540 Islip, Long Island, which did not show among 37 stations in the most recent Nassau-Suffolk Arbitron ratings book, has reportedly sold for $12 million, says New York Message Board. WLIE has a format of all Spanish religion, a format the buyer also introduced to two suburban Boston stations it acquired last year, WESX 1230 Salem and WJDA 1300, which was reported by the Boston Globe.

The TV networks are streaming into online primetime, says the Washington Post.

A black caucus hosted by WYCB 1340 Washington mixed politics and religion, reports the Washington Post.

Spanish language news and entertainment channels are having difficulty getting onto menus of basic service on cable TV systems, reports Multi Channel News.

Blogs are helping the press in its fight to get Senate donations posted online, says the San Jose Mercury News.

Vote Vets.org, an organization of military veterans of the Iraq War who oppose George W. Bush?s war policy, is now running a TV ad rebuking Limbaugh. Limbaugh fired back on his show using an analogy that the left had attached its views to the soldier?s body. Appearing on MSNBC?s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the injured U.S. soldier featured in the ad, Brian McGough, spoke, saying ?My reaction is disgust that someone can sit in that chair and say I am a car bomber or suicide bomber. It?s disgusting. I?ve seen the after-effects of a suicide bomb. This makes me mad to a point where I can?t even think or describe. It?s just repugnant.? In the TV ad the soldier challenges Limbaugh to call him a phony soldier to his face, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Hillary Clinton?s laugh is examined by various TV pundits. The Washington Post reports.

Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani has launched radio ads in New Hampshire, reports Associated Press.

National Public Radio is courting the post-Boomer, tech-savvy set, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

HD radio has been heralded for bringing FM quality sound to AM radio stations. But there are serious problems during hours of darkness, when skywave signals cause interference and noise that make AM stations unlistenable, says the Pocono Record. Meanwhile, the company owning WABC has halted nighttime HD broadcasting, reports Radio & Records.

The United Kingdom is reviewing BSkyB?s proposed TV plan to add terrestrial service, reports Associated Press.

A ruling by a judge in San Francisco could mean that businesses would have to make their Web sites accessible to the blind, something disability rights advocates say is vital as the routine transactions of everyday life take place more and more on the Internet. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Online postings by former employees and disgruntled individuals can hurt companies, says the New York Times.

Facebook is investing in the theory that more outside interests will advertise on the social networking site, says the New York Times.

After a 17 month delay, construction has resumed on the new building that will house Chicago?s broadcasting museum, the Museum of Broadcast Communications, says the Chicago Sun Times.

Fans of early local television programming are the ideal audience for Pennsylvania?s Favorite Kids Show Hosts tonight at 8 on WQED channel 13 Pittsburgh, a production of Philadelphia PBS station WHYY channel 12 that features TV programs from all over the Keystone state. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports.

The Tonight show set in LA is being auction off for charity. Associated Press.

Antiques Road Show was in Milwaukee and these episodes will air in coming weeks, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Who is the audience for the new ABC primetime show Cavemen? It won its time slot among men between the ages of 18 and 34, and also men 18 to 49. The Washington Post reports. Critics are panning the show, but not viewers, says Media Daily News.

The new head of the Univision TV stations in Los Angeles KMEX channel 34 and KFTR 46 is working to end six months of turmoil at the stations, says the Los Angeles Times.

WXTV channel 41 New York forecaster Jack Rico has left to start the site Showbiz Cafe, a source of movie information for Hispanic audiences. The New York Daily News reports.

Media Briefing for Wednesday, October 3 2007

The FCC is being accused of giving inside information to help certain major companies, says the Los Angeles Times. A report is ripping the FCC for leaks, says Associated Press. The report is from the U.S. General Accounting Office, says Broadcasting & Cable.

In an editorial, the New York Times says it has ?long been concerned about the potential threat to free speech and a free press as communications migrate from old-fashioned telephone lines, TV broadcasts and printing presses to digital networks controlled by unregulated private companies. The threat stopped being theoretical recently when Verizon Wireless censored political speech on one of its mobile services. Verizon did the right thing after the problem was disclosed: it promptly dropped a misbegotten policy and said its new policy is to open its network to any legal communication. But alarm bells should be ringing on Capitol Hill, where industry lobbying, legislative goldbricking and Republican aversion to regulations have bottled up much-needed laws on digital communications.?

Is it a chilling effect? Even though the Allen Ginsberg poem Howl was found to be not obscene in a court ruling back in the 1950s, Pacifica radio?s WBAI 99.5 New York will not broadcast it over the air because of fears of the FCC indecency crackdown. It will air on the Internet instead, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

In a new book, The End Of America, author Naomi Wolf warns of the dangers of a tightening grip on the public by the government during the past six years, and compares certain trends to those in countries that were taken over by tyrannical regimes. The Guardian of the U.K. has a review of the book.

Key Democratic members of Congress are pressing telephone companies to disclose how they shared Americans? calling and Internet data with the government, part of an inquiry into domestic surveillance efforts such as the U.S. National Security Agency?s warrantless wiretapping program. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the telecom industry, yesterday sent letters to three major carriers, AT&T, Qwest and Verizon, posing questions aimed at understanding what consumer information is being shared with the government. The Washington Post reports.

The percentage of American TV and radio stations owned by minorities has decreased in recent years. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council agree that the Federal Communications Commission needs to take steps to promote diversity in media ownership but - not surprisingly - disagree on whether loosening ownership rules would help or hurt that effort. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Localism is steadily decreasing on the radio dial. Increasingly radio stations are running the programming of other, larger stations, instead of local programming. Plans to relay the programming of Boston all-sports station WEEI 850 on Portland, Maine area FM stations have been delayed, reports the Portland Press Herald.

Having abandoned for now their effort to force George W. Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq, Democrats are turning their attention to another opponent: talk host Rush Limbaugh. With the help of liberal advocacy groups, the Democrats in Congress are turning Rush Limbaugh?s insinuation that members of the military who question the Iraq war are ?phony soldiers? into the latest war of words over the war. The New York Times reports.

Vote Vets.org an organization of military veterans of the Iraq War who oppose Bush?s war policy, is now running a TV ad rebuking Limbaugh.

Clear Channel Communications, owner of 1,200 of the most powerful AM and FM radio stations in America, and the company syndicating Rush Limbaugh, is defending Limbaugh?s comments, says the Fox News Channel. Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays defended Limbaugh after Democratic Senators sent a letter calling on Clear Channel to get Limbaugh to apologize for the remarks, reports the Huffington Post.

It received wide airplay on various channels earlier this week. But now NBC has removed a video clip from Saturday Night Live, the one parodying the president of Iran and his statement that there are no gays in Iran. New Tee Vee reports.

After Chevron?s recent launch of its new ?Human Energy ? ad campaign, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) and its OilWatchdog.org project have called on Chevron CEO David O?Reilly to ?immediately sever Chevron?s ties to Myanmar?s brutal government and personally speak out against its violent suppression of peaceful protest.? In a letter to O?Reilly, OilWatchdog cofounder Judy Dugan said, ?Your ad campaign, which a Chevron official said would cost ?in the high tens of millions? of dollars, portrays a company that deeply cares about the world and its future. Given your investment in Myanmar alone, that is a gauzy, gorgeous lie.? This report is from Convenience Store Decisions.

ABC is establishing one-person news bureaus in locations around the world, reports the Hollywood Reporter.

The nation?s daily newspapers are spending nearly $1 billion on postage for services from the U.S. Postal Service, reports Media Daily News.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has run more than 10,000 campaign TV ads, most of them in Iowa and New Hampshire, reports the Boston Globe.

Internet blogs are hiring journalists to cover news stories, reports the Financial Times.

A report is ripping the FCC for leaks, says Associated Press.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin explains the $4,000 fine against Comcast for carrying a paid-for video news report on a newscast without identifying the source of the report to viewers. Broadcasting & Cable reports. Comcast says it will fight the proposed fine, says the Philadelphia Daily News. The FCC is proposing four additional fines against Comcast, says the Washington Times.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin has taken the opportunity of a speech to a Hispanic technology summit in Washington, D.C., to pitch his multicast-must-carry proposal, which would require cable operators to carry broadcasters? digital-multicast channels.Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Who will become the owner of the social networking site Facebook? USA Today reports.

Advertising Age reports on the 100 largest media companies.

Tim Russert is moving his one-hour interview program Saturday evenings on CNBC over to MSNBC, reports the Hollywood Reporter.

How does a network deal with fragmenting audiences? NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker says NBC has been ?ripping apart old business models? and trying ?radically new? ones as it attempts to hold on to an increasingly fragmenting audience. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

New executives at TV stations and groups and networks are all about new media. Underscoring the importance of the Web, most of the major TV station groups now have high-ranking executives dedicated to developing and monetizing online activities. TV Newsday reports. The LIN group whose stations include ABC affiliate WTNH channel 8 New Haven, CBS affiliate WIVB channel 4 Buffalo and WNLO channel 23, the CW affiliate in Buffalo, is featured in this article.

In San Francisco/San Jose, NBC owned and operated KNTV channel 11 has launched a new online community, reports TV Newsday.

First there were TV screens at the gasoline pumps. Now there are TV screens following golfers around on the course. The ABC network?s sales division for its owned-and-operated stations is pitching inventory on screens inside the carts used at some 400 golf courses. Media Daily News reports.

Spy technology has become caught in a military turf battle, says USA Today.

A senior Democratic Congressman is urging the Federal Communications Commission to help cut fees that major U.S. phone carriers charge rivals for access to high-capacity lines serving business and wireless customers.Reuters reports. Sprint is attacking the phone giants on access, says the Washington Post.

Science series on PBS tend to be more about the environment or military hardware or engineering than technology, particularly applied technology. That?s where ?Wired Science,? tonight at 8 on Thirteen/WNET, comes in, says the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

A chef travels around Spain and samples restaurants and foods around the country in a 13-part series on PBS airing this fall, reports the Associated Press.

Even though it?s a gospel show it is broadcast on Tuesdays instead of Sundays. The New York Daily News profiles Kirk Franklin, host of a gospel show on the BET cable channel.

Media Briefing for Tuesday, October 2, 2007

A new study recommends that television viewing by young children be curbed by age 5, reports Reuters.

In Hollywood, the Writers Guild representing writers for TV shows is seeking authorization to call a strike, says the Los Angeles Times.

The Financial Times has beaten Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal to the punch: Financial Times articles online will be free starting in mid October, reports Media Post.com.

The PBS station in Pittsburgh, WQED channel 13, is in a much stronger position financially today than it was a decade ago, reports the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The E! cable TV channel is now offering health benefits to freelance employees, says the Los Angeles Times.

Yahoo is offering a refined search engine, reports the Los Angeles Times.

A Denver city councilwoman is upset with a Wendy?s hamburger TV ad that she says glorifies graffiti, reports the Denver Post.

Democrats are calling on Clear Channel Communications to condemn comments by Rush Limbaugh describing soldiers who oppose George W. Bush?s war policy as ?phony soldiers.? Clear Channel owns and syndicates the Rush Limbaugh broadcast. The Hill reports.

Last week?s Republican presidential debate on minority issues, televised nationally on PBS and hosted by Tavis Smiley, drew little interest after the four leading hopefuls - Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson - refused to take part. The Baltimore Afro American reports. The Republican candidates keep snubbing minority forums, says the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The diminutive lion of the left among Democratic presidential hopefuls, Dennis Kucinich, was a radio talk show host from 1979 to 1989 and a TV reporter from 1989 to 1992, according to a profile of him in the Chicago Tribune.

The television news anchor involved in an affair with the mayor of Los Angeles has left the station, reports Associated Press. She failed to show up for her new job covering inland suburban counties for KVEA channel 52, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Three-quarters of online video viewers watch more video than they did a year ago, and more than one-half expect to watch even more next year, according to a study conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres and sponsored by AOL and Google. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they prefer keeping ads on video Web sites if it means that content remains free. EMarketer reports. Streaming video viewing keeps rising, says the Media Post.com.

There is some good news for the Tribune Co. It has received more than a third of a billion dollars in a settlement, reports Associated Press. In the New York area Tribune owns WPIX channel 11 and the Long Island daily newspaper Newsday.

Mommytime Radio has been launched as a new weekly show on 50,000 watt clear channel station WLAC-AM 1510 Nashville. It?s the brainchild of Karla Lawson, traffic reporter at country-and-western sister station WSIX-FM 97.9 and Sue Fabisch. Lawson is a 10-year radio veteran and previously was a personal assistant to Barbara Mandrell. Fabisch has a background in theatre and music and is the founder of Mommy Music, a record label aimed at moms and run by moms. Mommytime Radio.com describes the show as being, ?a fun and informative show for moms, for men married to moms and for people who have mothers.? The hour-long show airs on WLAC Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. (Central Time), reports All Access.

In Philadelphia, KYW-TV channel 3 is donating 20,000 videotapes covering 30 years of Eyewitness News, giving them to the Paley Library at Temple University to help create what the station calls ?a virtual diary of the history of the region during the last 30 years.? Broadcasting & Cable reports.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg says being watched is now a part of city life, arguing that cameras are a necessary shield, reports Associated Press.

A video that appears on You Tube giving instructions on making a bomb detonator is raising eyebrows and bringing scrutiny, says the Boston Globe.

Some creators of the Internet say it has gotten behind the times, and offer some possible remedies. The Wall Street Journal reports.

eBay is taking a blow on Skype, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

Verizon has integrated cell phone and landline telephone service, reports Boston Globe.

Sprint Nextel is picking a fight with the country?s largest phone companies over the price it pays for access to their fastest networks. The industry skirmish has swelled into a political battle that will find an audience in front of members of Congress today, says the Washington Post.

Adobe is buying the creator of Buzzword. The Adobe purchase of Virtual Ubiquity is opening a business software front, reports the Boston Globe.

In recruiting the YouTube generation, employers are producing offbeat and serious videos to attract young employees, reports Newsday.

The music video channel The Tube has shut down, reports DCRTV.com.

WNBC channel 4 New York?s consumer reporter Asa Aarons is gone after 14 years, reports the New York Daily News.

During the next year or so, the Saint Petersburg, Florida Times plans to continue pursuing deeply reported, long-term features about such topics as Florida?s property insurance crisis, complex tax issues, public education at all levels, and wildlife and endangered species, in addition to the regular bread-and-butter daily news stories. The New York Times reports.

Televangelist Rex Humbard was remembered at a weekend service, where mourners recalled that he repeatedly visited a TV station in Ohio until he finally succeeded in getting airtime, reports Associated Press.

Is Bill O?Reilly being given a pass on his comments about a black owned Harlem restaurant? This question is examined by columnist Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune.

The Sacramento Bee reports on what one of the five gay guys on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy has learned.

Media Briefing for Monday, October 1, 2007

A group of conservatives, including James Dobson of the radio show Focus on the Family, is threatening to run a third party presidential candidate in November 2008 if Rudolph Giuliani is the Republican presidential nominee, reports the New York Times. In New York Focus On The Family is heard on WMCA 570 at 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays. The religious right is divided, says the Los Angeles Times.

The deadline for comments on studies on changing the rules on consolidation of ownership of broadcast media has been extended 3 weeks, according to the FCC.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and a group of her colleagues are urging a listener-research group Arbitron to ditch a proposed new way of monitoring New Yorkers? radio habits -- saying the method will skew results against minority-audience stations. The New York Post reports.

There is a new ?footprint? at WGBH-TV channel 2 Boston as the new president takes the reins Wednesday. Jonathan Abbott started at Columbia University?s WKCR-FM 89.9 New York, introduced an all-news format on San Francisco?s KQED-FM 88.5, and has great knowledge of technology and digital broadcasting. The Boston Globe reports.

The PBS station in Philadelphia, WHYY-TV channel 12, is 50 years old. WHYY-TV began on UHF channel 35 in 1957, and when the unsuccessful commercial TV station WVUE channel 12 went off the air, WHYY-TV moved to channel 12 on September 12, 1963. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Vermont Public Radio (VPR) is splitting its classical and talk programming, reports All Access.com, which says classical programming is being dropped from VPR?s primary FM network, with the music continuing on the separate VPR classical network. The move adds news and talk programming to VPR between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and moves all classical music to VPR classical, available to about two thirds of the state on terrestrial FM radio, to some areas via VPR?s HD-2 channels, and online everywhere. VPR continues its jazz programming hosted by George Thomas, now aired every weeknight, on the main VPR network. VPR is now offering the classical music format on WNCH 88.1 in Norwich and WJAN 95.1 in Sunderland. VPR is also reportedly buying WAVX 90.9 Schuyler Falls, N.Y. to cover the Burlington area in northern Vermont.

Ken Burns? 8-part documentary on World War II, The War, tells the story of the war from the heart, says The New York Times. Broadcasting & Cable reports Ken Burns found some high school children who thought Germany was an ally of the U.S. in World War II, and this was a major incentive to do the series.

The English language section of the Middle East all news channel Al Jazeera is again making a push for carriage on American cable and satellite systems, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

WPIX channel 11 New York is the latest commercial TV station to heavily feature news about its own programs in its newscasts, says the New York Times.

Tampa?s NBC affiliate WFLA channel 8 and WTTA channel 38, the MyNetwork TV affiliate, are teaming up to create a 10 p.m. newscast on WTTA, reports the Saint Petersburg Times? TampaBay.com blog.

Some newspapers are not concerned about loss of circulation this decade, if the decline is of readers that advertisers are not targeting, says the New York Times.

With reporting staffs shrinking at many major daily newspapers, seven black journalists are departing the Saint Louis Post Dispatch, reports the Maynard Institute.

Iran?s TV has a miniseries that tells the story of an Iranian diplomat in France who helps Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust and viewers across the country are riveted, reports the Associated Press.

In Colorado, vulgarity in a college daily newspaper is now a free speech issue, says the New York Times.

The FCC?s crackdown on profanity on broadcast television and radio may remain in limbo until next year or even 2009, says Broadcasting & Cable.

Many TV viewers -- those using outdoor antennas or rabbit ears -- may be in for a surprise February 17, 2009. That is the date when analog TV broadcasts in the U.S. come to an end, reports the Washington Post.

In a new book for which he received a $1.5 million advance, conservative U.S. Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas lambastes the so-called liberal media, reports the Washington Post. He appears on ABC Nightline tonight at 11:35, reports TV Newsday.

The White House is very particular in selecting who gets to interview George. W. Bush. Is this a good thing in a democratic nation, asks the Washington Post.

The voice of the conservative group Freedom?s Watch, which sponsored the recent TV and radio ads supporting George W. Bush?s Iraq War policy, is growing louder, says the New York Times.

The national and local media are providing different takes on Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, reports the Washington Post.

ABC?s This Week with George Stephanopoulos may move to the new Newseum in Washington, D.C., reports Broadcasting & Cable.

China is banning bra, underwear and sex toy TV ads, reports Associated Press.

Even the shouters are being barely heard on AM radio these days, as AM?s audience gets older and smaller, says the Washington Post, which says four of the syndicated shows to be heard on WWWT 1500 failed to gain strong audiences when they were heard on other Washington stations.

Conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh is criticizing what he calls phony soldiers who don?t support George W. Bush?s Iraq War policy, reports Associated Press.

The new CBS show Cane about Cuban Americans is filled with stereotypes, says the Chicago Tribune.

On this cable TV channel, there are no political pundits, no reality shows, no poker games. There are livestock auctions, polka music and tractor pulls. CNN it?s not. Or MTV. Or ESPN. It?s RFD-TV, which bills itself as ?rural America?s most important network.? Associated Press.

Oprah is TV?s richest celebrity, reports Associated Press.

The BBC is premiering an American newscast, reports Associated Press.

With the Fox Business Channel debuting two weeks from today, competitor CNBC has revamped its weekday schedule, reports Media Week.

There is a new Web site for the Fox Business Channel.

The New York Times reports on the initiation of a global pipeline for television documentaries.

Charles E. Shutt, who as bureau chief for Hearst ran one of the first daily television news services in Washington, has died at age 86. He was hired in 1950 to run Hearst Metrotone News Division in Washington. His division provided on-site coverage to CBS and later to ABC until the mid-1960s, when the networks began producing their own coverage, says the Washington Post.

Former NBC president Ray Timothy has passed away, reports the New York Times.

Martin Manulis, who produced the acclaimed classic TV show Playhouse 90, has died, reports Associated Press.

The government of Myanmar has cut Internet access, raising fears that its deadly crackdown will be increased, reports Associated Press.

Blackberry?s new laptop taps into local networks, reports the Boston Globe.

In Connecticut, the ban on cell phones while driving the automobile is widely ignored, reports the Connecticut Post.

Job Web sites are misusing data on resumes and breaking privacy rules, says the Boston Globe.

Four software designers who were instrumental in the creation of Google?s popular e-mail and mapping services have founded a new company with the intent of making it easy for people to find out what Web material their friends are enjoying. New York Times.

The New York Times reports on the debut of a teenaged online phenomenon.

The Commercial Closet Association, which has the largest archive of gay-themed TV and print advertisements, is holding its Third Annual Corporate AdRespect reception, honoring Absolut Vodka and American Express for their fair portrayal of gays in their ads. This is Thursday, November 15 at the New York Times building in the Times Square area of downtown Manhattan.

Queer Eye for The Straight Guy, which along with NBC?s Will and Grace helped bring gays into the mainstream on TV, is beginning its final season, reports the New York Daily News.

When a TV ad runs too frequently viewers can get angry or even hostile, and marketers are working with how to deal with this problem, says the Wall Street Journal.

It's not Christmas in July, but it is Christmas in October, at least on the radio dial in Pittsburgh and possibly in Chicago. WTZN 93.7 Pittsburgh is playing all Christmas music all this week, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. In Chicago, WLIT 93.9 is considering going all Christmas music for the holiday season as early as Halloween, reports the Chicago Sun Times.