The Marketing Ideanet Newsletters

Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 9/28/2009

'Kimmel', Bud Light Strike Sponsorship Deal
While the industry is keeping close eyes on branded integrations for the new Jay Leno Show, another talk show host has just landed a new on-air partner. Bud Light and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live have struck a wide-ranging deal that will see the beer brand sponsor the show's concert series and be featured in a series of live commercials. The deal replaces Kimmel's previous concert series sponsor, General Motors' Pontiac, a brand that has been discontinued. Sources with knowledge of the deal value the arrangement at about $5 million through the end of 2010. That is down from the approximate $6 million annual price tag on the Pontiac sponsorship, with the modest drop attributed not only to a typical recession-induced pricing decrease but also to the brand taking a slightly smaller integration presence. ABC declined to comment on pricing. Kimmel opened ABC's upfront in May with a slew of strong but hilarious comments about product placement and the advertising business. It appears that Budweiser executives appreciated Kimmel's honesty. “If you pay enough, your product can kill Dr. Izzie on Grey's Anatomy,” he joked. Then he told ad agency buyers, “Who cares? It's not your money. Just give it to us.” In a statement provided to B&C, Keith Levy, VP of marketing at Anheuser-Busch, said, “We've had a presence on late-night television for some time now, and believe sponsorships like this one create talk value among beer-drinking consumers.” Bud Light will sponsor a series of outdoor concerts on a new custom-built festival stage in Hollywood and will also be a part of performances on the show's indoor lobby stage.
Broadcasting & Cable

NBC 'Trauma' Promos Simulate 911 Calls
NBC is reviving the art of radio theater in a series of ads for its upcoming medical drama "Trauma" that dramatizes mock 911 calls. The radio ads depict an emergency, a call to a 911 operator and then the aftermath, complete with voiceover from the point of view of the responding paramedic. "The show is about these characters who are defined by these moments between life and death, and we wanted to capture that in the campaign," said Adam Stotsky, president of entertainment marketing for NBC. "Part of the trick with radio is to break though and engage. This is the lost art of radio storytelling." The network is buying out two-minute blocks on radio stations in the top 13 markets with ads that will run as the only sponsored content in a two-hour programming block. Also to promote "Trauma," which premieres Monday night, NBC is partnering with Yahoo for a new interactive product. Users can change the skin of their Yahoo home page to a "Trauma" theme and interact with the characters from the show -- the first time the Web portal has offered this technology in the U.S.
Hollywood Reporter

'Frontline' Teams Up with Tehran Bureau Website
Tehran Bureau, an upstart news Web site that earned must-read status amid the postelection protests in Iran in June, has found a backer in “Frontline,” the PBS investigative journalism series. “Frontline” is essentially taking Tehran Bureau under its wing by financing and hosting the Web site and providing editorial support. The bureau will help shape a coming “Frontline” program about Iran. A revamped site is expected to be in place Friday. The collaboration between a Web site with mostly unpaid contributors and an acclaimed television documentary group evinces a broader trend among niche sites that are “gaining access to broader audiences,” said Joshua Benton, the founding director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard. The first-of-its-kind partnership for “Frontline” — which Ken Dornstein, a senior editor for the series, calls a joint project, not an acquisition — also reflects the efforts of television programs and networks to embrace the Web. Mr. Dornstein said “Frontline,” which is produced by WGBH, the PBS affiliate in Boston, was continuing to “integrate the Web into the core of its public interest mission.” “It’s hard to imagine a more powerful reporting partner on Iran than Tehran Bureau,” he added. Tehran Bureau acts as a clearinghouse for information about Iran and relies on contributors, some of whom are anonymous, inside and outside the country.
NY Times

Venezuela Muffles 'Family Guy'
Venezuelan authorities plan to impose fines on cable television companies that refuse to stop airing the animated television series "Family Guy." Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami says the program should be pulled from the airwaves because it promotes the use of marijuana. El Aissami was outraged by a recent episode in which the show's characters started a campaign to legalize marijuana. He said Thursday that cable networks that broadcast "Family Guy" would be fined by Venezuela's telecommunications regulator if they refuse to dump the program. The government of President Hugo Chavez is preparing to impose new regulations on cable television. Among other rules, cable providers could be forced to carry Chavez's frequent speeches.
Yahoo News

Execs Discuss Effective Brand Awareness for Hispanics
Promotions executives have found experiential marketing and events-based promotional campaigns to be a strong builder of brand awareness among Hispanic consumers, panelists said at the Hispanic Television Summit in New York on Sept. 24. “Cox understands that we Hispanics are much more community-centered,” said Renata Franco, marketing segmentation manager at Cox Communications. “Events do really well for us.” While community events may not immediately translate into customers for MSOs or their partnering sponsors, they allow brands to interact face-to-face with members of the community and serve as product showcases, Franco said. Cox employs bilingual brand ambassadors at their events to personally speak with those attending. “Our number one objective is to connect with our audience emotionally,” said Telemundo Station Group President Ronald J. Gordon. The broadcast group recently launched a tour that took the stars of popular telenovela Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso on two promotional runs to four different markets. “The results were fantastic,” Gordon said, citing increased ratings in the markets the stars visited. Matt Grim, director of marketing for Fox Sports en Espanol, said that bringing in high-cost talent to events often isn’t worth the price that talent costs. He said events with lower-cost giveaways and gifts often drew crowds of the same size. Like Gordon and Franco, he spoke of leveraging his brand’s assets to build community in the Hispanic market. Fox Sports en Espanol set up a scholarship for the male and female Latino Athlete Student of the Year in New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles. “Sports itself is experiential,” said Robyn Remick, VP of affiliate marketing for ESPN. “[Viewers] are experiencing it in real time. It is part of their life experience.” Remick, an industry veteran of more than 25 years, believes successful campaigns often hinge on an understanding of Hispanic culture in local markets. For example, a Caribbean baseball themed-promotional campaign might draw interest in New York but perhaps not as much in Los Angeles, she said. By the same token, a Mexican soccer-themed campaign likely would play better in Los Angeles than New York. “It’s about digging deeper to find where the cultural relevance is,” Remick said.
Broadcasting & Cable

Message From Michael
CHASING THE BRIGHT ELUSIVE BUTTERFLY: Of What? Well, despite the song, it’s not exactly love, but sort of, according to research by Harvard University professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski. As in the song, men apparently are trying to ‘catch a fleeting glimpse of someone’s fading shadow.” By studying the weblogs on such sites, he found the ‘biggest usage category’ is men looking at women they don’t know, followed by – what else – men looking at women they do know. Next is women looking at women they know. The result – women receive two thirds of all page views. Piskorski says the ‘killer app’ on social networking sites is pictures. He found that 70% of the time spent is either looking at pictures or looking at personal profiles. It’s a sort of ‘voyeurism,’ he says. While all that may be true of individuals, businesses are chasing the bright elusive butterfly of marketing through social networks, and going about it all wrong, according to Piskorski. They’re so interested in ‘selling’ their product that they have lost track of why social networks started – to fulfill ‘offline’ social needs. He uses a great analogy of people sitting at a table when a stranger comes up and tries to sell them something. Not going to happen. Instead they should be trying to help the socializing process. Interestingly that is very similar to a point made in Entrepreneur Magazine in an interview with Jason Sadler. Who, you say? Sadler is the guy who started a whole business, wearing company T-Shirts, uploading video of him wearing the T-Shirts to Facebook and Flickr and becoming, in essence, a human billboard. Before you dismiss him, he made $70,000 doing this and his appointment book is almost filled for next year. Anyway, Sadler makes a similar point that people and businesses slap content on a social networking site and think they’ve done something. He says the point is to share with people, don’t just shout at them, get involved in conversations and “be yourself.”

As noted before, several businesses, consultancies, websites and publications are offering seminars or advice on how to do social networking effectively. Heck, there’s now a Social Media Business Council created to “discuss, share and collaborate on best practices.” Multi-channel retail consultants The E-Tailing Group along with consumer review platform PowerReviews found that more than four out of five businesses (86%) of brand and merchants surveyed now have a Facebook ‘fan page’ and more than half (55%) are using consumer reviews on their websites. What’s particularly interesting about this survey is that many of the groups adopted social networking not because of advantages but because they were afraid either a) they would be trashed online and not know it or b) that they would appear “less competent” if they didn’t have a social networking presence. It tells you something that the bastion of conservative businesses, Forbes, has issued a corporate guide book which says ‘social technologies turn many corporate policies upside down.’ Interestingly, even Forbes has similar warnings to the ones noted above, warning that social networking is a communication tool but one in which you join the conversation, not direct it. But my favorite article on social networking has to be Advertising Age’s article on How To Spot Social Media Snake Oil which notes that there are a lot of ‘hucksters’ out there trying to ride the social media bandwagon to financial success.

ON THE FLIP SIDE of that is a video on YouTube titled the Social Media Revolution. It is built on the Now You Know theme used so often and says, for example, that social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web – something we’ve mentioned in previous Messages. One I didn’t know (and haven’t verified) is that one in eight couples married in the U.S. met via social media. The video also makes the point that social media is a conversation to be joined, not directed. Anyway, it’s well worth the 4 ∏ minutes to watch. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8&feature=youtube_gdata

SOCIAL NETWORKING’S SWINE FLU: Trying to be topical here, but this is probably a bad headline. Regardless, a fascinating article in The New York Times Magazine may have implications for social networking users. Two social scientists have found that clusters of friends (a la social networking) can “infect” each other either positively or negatively. Scientists Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler found that if your friends are fat, you are more likely to be fat; if your friends smoke, you are more likely to smoke; if your friends are happy or unhappy, same thing. They call it “social contagion.” Using data from a study originated by the National Heart Institute in Framingham, Massachusetts, they found, for example, that when a resident became obese, his or her friends were 57% more likely to become obese, too. Oddly, if a friend of a friend became obese, that person was 20% more likely to become obese. If a friend took up smoking, you’re 36% more likely to light up, and again, oddly, if a friend of a friend started smoking, you were 11% more likely to do the same. It is, in a way, the three degrees of connection versus the six degrees of separation. The reasons, in most cases, are “commonsensical” as the article points out. Peer pressure. What is different is that the study hypothesizes a clustering effect. If everybody in your group is obese, it is more acceptable for you to be obese. If everybody in your social circle drinks heavily, then it is okay for you to do so. Interestingly this example was more noticeable amongst women because women tend to drink less. On a more positive note, the scientists say that we are all connected to more than 1,000 people within three degrees. So, theoretically, we can make these people healthier, fitter and happier “just by our contagious example.”

TV’S FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: According to a report by marketing research firm Magna Global, it’s the DVR. In a report carried by Variety, the firm said the median age of broadcast network viewers has climbed yet again while the median age of cable network viewers has actually held steady or even dropped in some cases. Now, here’s where it gets a little tricky. As you sort through the numbers, you have to keep in mind there are three sets of them. LIVE broadcast viewing where the median viewing age is now 51, up from 50 last year and 43 eight years ago. If you throw in Live AND Time Shifted viewing, (which I should note is the new parlance of ratings) the median age drops – very slightly. The oldest skewing network, CBS, goes from a median age of 55 to 54 for both, and the same slight dip holds true for the others: ABC (51 live, 50 combined), NBC (49 and 47), Fox (46 and 44), CW (34 and 33). BUT if you count those watching programs ONLY on DVR, the media age drops a whopping ten years for ABC, CBS and NBC, a significant seven years for Fox and two years for the lower-aged and lower rated CW.

Of course, all you smart Message readers will say – the population as a whole is getting older. True. So, out of curiosity I did look up age on the Census Bureau website which says the median age in America is 36.7 years, up slightly from 36.4 a year ago, and that the over 65-population is expected to double in the U.S. and the World at large, from 8% of the world population now to 16% by the year 2050.

For a little more perspective, the quarterly report issued by Magna predicts that the percentage of TV Households with DVR’s will go from a quarter (27% or 31 Million households) this year to just under a half (42% or 51.1 Million HH’s) in five years. Video On Demand is already in 42% of the U.S. TV Households now, but will be in two-thirds of them (66%) by 2014. Meanwhile broadband access will reach 87.4 Million TV households by 2014, according to the Magna predictions, compared to 71 Million this year.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD: The latest ranking of TV Households from Nielsen shows the smallest increase in growth in a decade – less than half a million (400,000 to be exact) year to year, bringing the total to 114.9 Million HH’s. Household growth has averaged more than a Million every year for the past ten years, including the biggest leap in 2001 to 2002 when it grew by 3.3 Million. Nielsen estimates the number of person two and up (P2+) at 292 Million, which is a little odd since the Census Bureau puts the total U.S. population at 307,500,180. Does that mean there are 15 Million toddlers rug-ratting their way around homes? The Nielsen report notes that four Florida DMA’s (Tampa/ St. Pete, Miami, Fort Myers and Tallahassee) all dropped because of “domestic migration.” Orlando, Jacksonville and West Palm remained flat. Number one ranked New York added the most people (59,710) while little Waco only increased by 9,980, but that was enough to move it up five spots to number 89.

Michael Castengera is an instructor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia AND President of Media Strategies and Tactics Inc., a consulting firm that works with all media but primarily broadcasting. You can visit his website at MediaConsultant.tv.

The Troubled Future Of Reality Shows
The recent death of DJ AM has jeopardized Gone Too Far, a yet-to-air MTV program in which he helps people battle their addictions. Likewise, the suicide of a Megan Wants A Millionaire contestant accused of murdering his ex-wife has put an end to that show. What other scandals have disrupted reality series?

- NBC comes under fire when producers fail to vet 386-pound Biggest Loser contestant Lou Holloway, and he's revealed to actually weigh 172 pounds.

- Britain's Got Talent is temporarily thrown into disarray when a physically unattractive person is revealed to have some shred of societal worth.

- America's Got Talent is put on hiatus after Nick Cannon is stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border with a suitcase full of parrots.

- VH1's entire fall lineup is put on hold due to a syphilis outbreak among most of the shows' stars, contestants, and crew members.

- Production on Project Runway is suspended when frontrunner Christopher Straub is found to have simply glued some beads and tassels onto existing Talbots clothing during each challenge.

- The contestants on More To Love realize they aren't interested in dating other fat people and just wander off one by one.

- After learning there would be a new season of Paris Hilton's My New BFF, season-one BFF Brittany Flickinger tweets secrets she learned about Paris during their one day as "friends".

- Filming of 18 Kids And Counting is abruptly halted after several vital organs fall out of mother Michelle Duggar's abdominal cavity through her gaping vagina.

The Onion

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Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 9/24/2009

The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

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Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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In This Issue
Promo of the Day
What If News Promo Had To Show An ROI
PBS Leads News Emmys
Obama Draws Dave's Biggest Crowd Since Oprah
Cronkite Records Destroyed by FBI
Rather Seeks $70 million
CNN's Gupta Gets Swine Flu in Afghanistan
RTNDA Changes Name to RTDNA
Print Media's Role Vital, Obama Says
Little Public Support for Newspaper Bailout, Poll Finds
Facebook Scores Hit With Kutcher Series
Survey Ranks Drama, Multiplatform as Fall Viewing Trends
Many Twitter & Drive, Study Finds
Top 11 Rejected Fall TV Shows

Quotes

"Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious."
- Alfred North Whitehead

"We can escape the commonplace only by manipulating it, controlling it, thrusting it into our dreams or surrendering it to the free play of our subjectivity."
- Raoul Vaneigem

"That proves you are unusual, returned the Scarecrow; and I am convinced the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed."
- Lyman Frank Baum

Promo of the Day
The unusual & the unknown ...topics that bring us out of our 'safe zones.' Some more Fall Preview highlights on cable:

602communications.com/VideoExamples

Have a video clip to share? Email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Flash (.flv) or QuickTime (.mov) files, size 320 x 240, are preferred, but WindowsMedia (.wmv) files will also be accepted. Large files may be sent via http://www.yousendit.com. You can also mail your clip on VHS or DVD to Graeme Newell at 1011 Lyndhurst Falls Lane, Knightdale, NC 27545

What If News Promo Had To Show An ROI
By Paul Greeley

If anyone needs a wake-up call that the model for marketing local TV news might need repair, the recent news that the NBC O&O's are centralizing their creative services departments could be it.

I'm shocked by the news. After all, the NBC O&O's are in the big markets where the best and brightest TV marketers are drawn. But I'm not really surprised. I just thought it would be a group with stations in small- and medium-sized markets that would do it first.

Broadcast companies have a huge investment in marketing and advertising their local news — salaries, equipment and, most of all, the ad time given to the marketers every day.

Safe to say, it's millions of dollars every year for most groups, certainly for the likes of NBC. So, at some point, station groups have the right to ask themselves if they're getting a return on their investment just as Procter & Gamble does when its ad agencies come up for review.

It's appropriate that broadcasters review their in-house ad agencies — their creative services departments — and expect to see some increase in news ratings beyond what the stations get through lead-in programming.

And if they don't, they can be forgiven if they ask, what if?

So let's play ‘what if' to see how creative services departments could evolve to show a better return on investment and contribute more to the bottom line.

Today, many general managers regularly hand over tons of on-air time for local news image campaigns that haven't moved the ratings dial in years.

But what if the GMs and their creative services managers resolve to produce smarter image campaigns that get results.

How? Here are some ideas:

Identify the most talented, experienced and effective marketing people within your company. Spread their expertise beyond one station.

Look to the historically dominant stations to find what branding techniques have worked for them over the years.

Share news image promotions among the stations in your group and analyze why certain promos, campaigns and techniques work.

Air campaigns during times when you would expect to yield measurable results, say, the six weeks prior to sweeps. I have a saying: "You don't win news ratings during sweeps; they're only measured then." And give the spots plenty of GRPs to insure effective reach and frequency outside sweeps.

Keep track of what new local TV news marketing techniques, concepts, ideas and campaigns have yielded results for others. Then, beg, buy, borrow or steal them.

Test campaigns before focus groups even if they comprise only the employees within your station. If it doesn't stand up to their scrutiny, you can't expect it to work with your audience.

Make your spots convincing and quantitative as if you were a lawyer trying to persuade a jury that your news operation is guilty of something-great weather coverage, experienced anchors, dogged reporters, best news coverage. I'm a big believer in viewer testimonials. Not many stations use this technique anymore, but what your viewers say about you can be powerful.

Consider 60-second versions of your news image spots. You can really tell a story and make a powerful connection in 60 seconds. And sixties stand out from the crowd as there are very few on TV.

Keep an open mind on the nature of spots. I've seen news image spots that work with just words on the screen or images put to a song without any news talent at all.

While important, news image campaigns are not the only advertising tool to recruit viewers. They must be complemented by spots that promote the day's news.

Today, many stations take a shotgun approach to news topicals, airing them throughout the day, hoping they somehow stick in the minds of viewers. You see them in the morning teasing what's coming up at 5 o'clock, 6 or even at 10 or 11.

Can you influence viewers to watch your newscasts 10, 12, even 18 hours before they air? And what kind of news content can be in spots aired so far in advance? They could be sending the message that your newscasts aren't very newsy.

But what if stations began airing topicals when they would do the most good, right before the start of the evening or late news.

One 60-second spot at 4:55 p.m. or 10:55 p.m. filled with compelling and timely news content — reporters in the field, weather and anchor teases, sound bites — will do more good than a slew of spots scattered across all dayparts.

The impression such spots would create is that there is a lot going on and that you ought to stick around.

Today, many GMs and news directors at network affiliates define eternity as the time between the last scene in the 10 p.m. show and the beginning of the news at 11.

They know what the viewers are thinking: Do I click the remote to my pre-determined, favorite late newscast? Do I go to bed? Do I click around to see what else is on? Or do I stay here for the late news which comes on next?

Network affiliates have promotional co-op agreements with affiliates that give them a 30-second spot at 10:30 to promote the news.

But what if stations renegotiated their deals to eliminate the "eternal" gap so that the news would begin immediately after the last prime time show ended. Or, what if the affiliates swapped the 30 seconds at 10:30 for 30 seconds or a minute at 10:55.

Today, most stations ignore cable in their news promotion planning.

But what if they roadblocked a hot topical at 10:58 across all the popular cable networks — ESPN, Discovery, CNN and the like. Stations could use some of their retrans cash to buy the time. Cable is obviously better than radio for this purpose. You're reaching people who are already watching TV.

Today, during sweeps, TV stations fill radio stations with spots urging listeners to watch their newscasts. This practice hasn't changed much over the past 30 years, except that many stations today are nixing outside media buys altogether.

But what if TV stations partnered with radio stations that matched their demographics. TV stations have creative resources, production capability and air-time that radio stations covet. Exchange services and air-time so that you're on the radio year-round. Dominate afternoon drive. Ask for bonus time for image spots on nights and weekends.

Today, most TV stations have amassed thousands of e-mail addresses, but aren't doing much, if anything, with them.

But what if they began using those addresses to send out a promotional e-mail to viewers at work before the afternoon or early evening news. It could include a direct link to a video roundup on the Web site. These messages are not constrained by time, and could be made more compelling by using reporters talking about their stories as they're on the go, in their car or walking out the door of the newsroom.

The newsletter could also include a short promo for the network lead-in programming as well as coupons for local restaurants and other goods and services.

Millions of dollars are at stake in marketing newscasts. Timely and well-produced topical promos layered on top of well-conceived image campaigns can bring in new viewers, raise the numbers and shuffle the news pecking order in town.

But as owners and managers signed off on such efforts, they should make sure they have at least a shot at getting a solid return on their investments by always asking "what if."

Paul Greeley has over 20 years experience in local TV marketing and was recently the VP of marketing for a top-20 broadcast group and has worked at an ad agency and for local TV stations in Philly, Orlando, New Orleans and Ft Myers. Paul can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on his cell at 817-578-6324.

PBS Leads News Emmys
PBS led the pack at the 30th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards with six wins, followed by NBC and CBS with 5. Awards in 35 categories were presented at a gala ceremony at the Lincoln Center in New York Monday night. "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" topped both news story categories, for breaking story and continues coverage, with "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" winning for investigative journalism. NBC News' election night coverage also landed an Emmy. Barbara Walters was presented with a lifetime achievement award by ABC News president David Westin, with a tribute by Couric. CNN president Jon Klein accepted the President's Award for CNN Prods., the documentary unit of CNN. The event also featured tributes to the late Walter Cronkite and Don Hewitt, with Cronkite's son and Hewitt's wife as speakers.
Hollywood Reporter

Obama Draws Dave's Biggest Crowd Since Oprah
More than 7 million people watched president Obama visit David Letterman's CBS late night show on Monday. Obama's appearance -- the first by a seated president to Letterman's show -- was no match for the 13 million who turned in to that episode in December of 2005 when Dave and Oprah kissed and made up, ending a years-long feud. But it was Dave's biggest crowd since then. Dave also appears to have thumped not only NBC's timeslot competitor, "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" (2.4 million viewers) Monday night, but also NBC's Jay Leno-hosted primetime talk show (6 million viewers). Jay, predictably, got hammered Monday night when he aired against season-debut competition on the other broadcast networks. His audience was 12 million shy of the previous Monday's crowd but the curiosity factor was very high that night -- it was the premiere of "The Jay Leno Show" -- and it aired against nothing much on the other broadcast networks.
Washington Post

Cronkite Records Destroyed by FBI
The FBI destroyed its files on former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite two years ago under a policy that has been criticized by researchers for allowing potentially valuable records to be wiped out. A search of the agency's main index of the subjects of FBI investigations found some records tied to Cronkite's name were destroyed in October 2007, the FBI said in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by USA TODAY. Cronkite's death in July at age 92 made any FBI files about him available for release under the federal law. The FBI should have preserved records about Cronkite, who anchored CBS' newscasts from 1962 to 1981, said Scott Hodes, a former top lawyer in the FBI's records office. All FBI records on such a prominent person should have been saved under the FBI's policies, Hodes said. "You're not supposed to destroy records that are historically valuable," Hodes said. "Somebody should have known who Walter Cronkite was." FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the agency works with the National Archives to try to ensure historically important records are preserved. He did not respond to requests for further information Tuesday. The destruction of the Cronkite records illustrates the FBI's policies on keeping and destroying records, which date to a 1981 lawsuit over public access to those records. Although the FBI's rules call for preserving files with historical significance, researchers such as journalist Alex Heard have criticized the agency for wiping out too many potentially valuable records. The FBI destroyed a file on civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, The Detroit News reported in 2006. Heard, who is researching a 1951 execution in Mississippi, said he was frustrated to learn the FBI destroyed records about one of the civil rights lawyers involved. "They piled up the documents, and we (taxpayers) paid for it," Heard said. "With a lot of that material, the simplest thing would be to just keep it." The fact that the FBI had records involving Cronkite doesn't mean the FBI had investigated him, Hodes said. Celebrities' files often consist of letters they wrote to FBI officials or investigations of extortion attempts, he said. "When famous people's files are released, a lot of times they're the victims of crimes," Hodes said.
USA Today

Rather Seeks $70 Million
A New York judge on Monday rejected CBS Corp's bid to dismiss former TV news anchor Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit claiming he was fired over a controversial election-year report on former President George W. Bush's Vietnam War-era military service. New York State Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman set a Dec. 22 hearing in the case and directed that testimony be taken from witnesses including Sumner Redstone, the 86-year-old chairman of Viacom Inc, which once controlled CBS. "Let's get this case moving," Gammerman said. "I would really like to get this case ready for trial." Rather, 77, sued CBS in 2007 and has filed a separate fraud case against CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward over his firing from the network, his home for more than four decades. CBS has acknowledged it could not authenticate documents used in the Sept. 8, 2004, report on Bush's National Guard service, which aired two months before Bush won a second term in the White House. Rather accused the network in his lawsuit of breaching his contract in part by not giving him enough on-air assignments following his March 2005 removal as anchor of the "CBS Evening News," a job he held for 24 years. "It was definitely a positive day for us," said Martin Gold, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP who represents Rather, after Monday's roughly 40-minute hearing. "They saw their best interest was to abandon the story whether it was accurate or not and to get rid of Dan Rather," he said. "That's what this case is about." CBS spokesman said the hearing constituted a "good day," for the company, noting that Gammerman agreed with its request that testimony from Redstone be limited to half a day. Rather hopes to show Redstone wanted him fired. CBS lawyers argued that Redstone had no such recollection, and that deposing him would as a result accomplish nothing.
Rueters

CNN's Gupta Gets Swine Flu in Afghanistan
CNN Chief Medical Reporter Sanjay Gupta contracted H1N1, also known as swine flu, while in Afghanistan reporting on the war He exposed the news on his blog, where he also describes his experiences in Afghanistan, including how the flu has affected him and camera man Scottie McWhinnie. Gupta writes he got so sick he had to seek medical care at a battlefield hospital. He was given pain killers, decongestants and IV fluids. He has since recovered.
NowPublic

Sanjay Gupta's blog here

RTNDA Changes Name to RTDNA
You may have to squint to notice the difference, but the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) is changing its name to the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Oct. 13. The electronic journalists' trade association says the rebrand is about bringing a broader swath of news professionals-including digital media types-under the tent. "For some not familiar with RTNDA, the name 'Radio Television News Directors Association' implies that we might not have services, information or importance to anyone who wasn't a news director," said the organization on its Website, rtnda.org. "As you all know, that's not the case. RTNDA is for all electronic journalists. RTDNA will also be for all electronic journalists, including the newest members of our newsrooms working on the digital platforms." RTNDA says its mission to help news professionals do their jobs well does not change. "RTDNA will still do what it does best--protect journalists and allow them to provide unencumbered coverage, offer training in the best practices for all digital journalists, and recognize excellence within the field of journalism. We'll just do it with a renewed sense of purpose, a more inclusive spirit and a new name."
Broadcasting & Cable

Print Media's Role Vital, Obama Says
Saying he is a "big newspaper junkie," President Obama expressed hope on Friday that newspapers can find their way through the financial crisis most are now mired in. In an Oval Office interview with editors from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade, the President talked about the vital role journalism and newspapers play in American society. "Journalistic integrity, you know, fact-based reporting, serious investigative reporting, how to retain those ethics in all these different new media and how to make sure that it's paid for, is really a challenge," Mr. Obama said. "But it's something that I think is absolutely critical to the health of our democracy." Across the country, newspapers are struggling to maintain readership and advertising revenue that has been lost to the Internet. Thousands of journalists have been laid off, and over the last year several newspapers have closed. The Rocky Mountain News in Denver ceased operations, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer now publishes only on the Internet, and several large newspaper corporations have filed for bankruptcy, including the Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Obama said he noted the trend. "I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding," the President said. "What I hope is that people start understanding if you're getting your newspaper over the Internet, that's not free and there's got to be a way to find a business model that supports that." Several bills have been introduced in Congress to aid the newspaper industry, including a Senate measure that would allow newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks. The President was noncommittal about the legislation but said: "I haven't seen detailed proposals yet, but I'll be happy to look at them."
Toledo Blade

Little Public Support for Newspaper Bailout, Poll Finds
Nearly 8 out of 10 Americans would oppose any plan to spend tax dollars to aid failing newspapers, according to a poll on news media trustworthiness released Wednesday. That reluctance might have something to do with the fact that 38.1% of respondents to the poll by Sacred Heart University said they are reading newspapers less often than five years ago. Or the fact that nearly half, 45%, said they think the Internet is "adequately covering for failing newspapers." Just 35.6% disagreed with that statement. The third annual Sacred Heart poll found substantial support for the notion that good journalism ensures a healthy democracy, with 64.1% in agreement. On the other hand, the poll found Americans do not believe they are getting "good journalism." Just under 68% of respondents agreement with this statement: "Old-style, traditionally objective and fair journalism is dead." Just 26.5% disagreed, while 5.6% were unsure. Much of Sacred Heart poll concerns mainstream television news, which respondents clearly view with jaundiced eyes. Fully 83.6% said national news media organizations were very or somewhat biased while just 14.1% viewed them as somewhat unbiased or not at all biased. Overall, just 55.9% of respondents said they expected the media to tell the truth. "This perception of bias will eventually catch up with the news media outlets -- we found 45.9% have permanently stopped watching a news media organization, print or electronic, because of perceived bias," said Jerry C. Lindsley, director of the Sacred Heart University Polling Institute, which conducted the poll through telephone interviews of 800 Americans in early September.
Editor & Publisher

Facebook Scores Hit With Kutcher Series
Facebook has its first hit series—courtesy of Ashton Kutcher. The short video series KatalystHQ has been viewed by 9 million unique users since its February debut. The show, the first original series produced specifically for Facebook, is the result of a partnership between Kutcher's production firm Katalyst Media and the app developer Slide. Speaking during a keynote interview on Tuesday (Sept. 22) at the Mixx conference in New York, Kutcher compared the show's early success to that of a cable hit. "That's like Jon & Kate Plus 8, plus one." Besides garnering a sizable audience, KatalystHQ's impact can be gauged from the volume of sharing it brought to Facebook. According to Kutcher, the average person forwarded clips of the mockumentary-style show to 62 friends. "That's just a voluminous distribution strategy," he said. KatalystHQ is supposed to take place in the offices of Katalyst Media—not unlike NBC's The Office. The show, now in its second season, has featured product integration from brands such as Cheetos and Hot Pockets. Kutcher said that when brands are able to be showcased within Web video content in funny, nonintrusive ways, "people are happy to consume it." Meanwhile, in what had to be one of the more surreal sessions of Advertising Week thus far, Kutcher, who is perhaps best known for playing dim teen Kelso on the Fox hit That 70's Show, sat with Interactive Advertising Bureau president Randall Rothenberg and discussed topics such as social media metrics and the rapidly changing digital landscape. In today's environment, claims Kutcher—who famously challenge and beat CNN in a race to land the most Twitter followers—a brand can and should be its own broadcaster. When asked about Katalyst Media's role in the media-and-marketing landscape, Kutcher was careful to emphasize to the ad executive-heavy Mixx crowd that he was not out to replace the traditional ad agency. Rather, the goal is to specialize in marketing on the social Web. "I think we're additive," he said. "We're in a really unique position because we get to see alot of things first."
MediaWeek

Survey Ranks Drama, Multiplatform as Fall Viewing Trends
Comcast Corporation has released the results of its TV Pulse Survey, which found that 81 percent of individuals plan to watch prime-time TV this fall and many will use on demand, the Internet and DVRs when tuning in to the new season's offerings. "The research clearly indicates that time- and place-shifting convenience is complementing live TV viewing and making entertainment better for consumers," said Derek Harrar, the general manager and senior VP of video services for Comcast. “As the leader in video, broadband, on demand and related technologies, the trend toward watching entertainment on consumers’ terms is playing to our strengths." Comcast reported a nearly 25-percent increase among its customers viewing fall TV series through its On Demand service from 2007 to 2008. The platform is offering close to 1,000 TV episodes from 200 TV series in its on-demand slate. The survey indicates that nearly 85 percent of consumers plan to tune into this year’s fall prime time line-up when the shows air on TV, while 78 percent of individuals under 35, and more than 50 percent of those over 35, also plan to use technologies such as VOD, DVRs and the Internet—more than 67 percent of consumers said if they missed a show and knew it was available through video-on-demand, they would watch it. In terms of genres, 68 percent plan to tune in to prime-time drama, 67 percent to comedy, 61 percent to movies, 47 percent to news/educational content, 43 percent to sports and 41 percent to reality TV.
WorldScreen

Many Twitter & Drive, Study Finds
Crowd Science revealed some interesting findings from a survey on Twitter use today. It would appear that Twitter is the most used social network by drivers. I'm not sure if that's the kind of endorsement Twitter wants (the most dangerous network), but its short-form texting-like format caters to the mobile user. "Twitter is more of a mobile media phenomenon than other social networks, so these results, while a little disturbing, are perhaps not so surprising," noted John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. "And even though checking updates outpaces tweeting by almost two to one, the bottom line is that either type of activity takes a driver's attention away from the road." According to Crowd Science, about 11% of Twitter users admitted to accessing social media while driving in the preceding 30 days, compared to only 5% of other social media users. 29% of Twitter users said they had accessed social media from cars at some point in the past, compared with 13% of non-users. Additional findings from the survey:

- twice as many Twitter users as non-Twitter social media users (8% to 4%) had accessed any social media from a theater during a movie or live performance (during the preceding 30 days).

- During the same period, 17% of Twitter users vs. 12% of non-Twitter social media users had accessed social media from a washroom or toilet.

- nearly three times as many Twitter users as other social media users have accessed social media from restaurants (31% vs. 12%).

- 40% of Twitter users access the service via mobile at least sometimes (compared with 32% for Facebook users, for example), and 8% use mobile all the time (vs. 3% for Facebook).

- 41% of Twitter users prefer to contact friends via social media rather than telephone, compared with 25% of non-Twitter social media users, and 11% (vs. only 6% of those not using Twitter) actually prefer social media over face-to-face contacts.

- 14% of Twitter users said they have revealed things about themselves in social media that they wouldn't under any other circumstances. Then again, 8% admitted to "frequently stretching" the truth about themselves online.

- More than twice as many males than females (32% to 15%) access Twitter primarily through a third-party application.

- 43% of Twitter users employ a third-party application at least some of the time, and 26% as their main mode of access.

- Twitter users tend to be older than non-Twitter social media users (54% over 30 years old, vs. 42%), twice as likely to be self-employed or entrepreneurs (18% vs. 9%) and to be planning to start a business during the next six months, and more tech-savvy (24% vs. 15% "buy gadgets/devices when they first come out," 48% vs.

- 30% have created a website, and nearly four of ten (37%) currently maintain a blog, twice as many as non-Twitter social media users).
WebProNews

Top 11 Rejected Fall TV Shows

11. So You Think You Can Yodel

10. America's Next Top Podiatrist

9. Supernanny Kills a Kid

8. Extreme Makeover: Website Edition

7. Two And A Half Gigabytes

6. Lie To Me: Joe Wilson

5. Trollhouse

4. How I Dragged Your Mother Into The Woods And Buried Her Alive And Hope The Cops Never Find Out

3. The Creationist Theory

2. CSI: Toledo

1. Ice Road Gas Station Attendants

BBSpot

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Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 9/21/2009

Quotes

"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely."
- Henry Ford

"There is no failure. Only feedback."
- Robert Allen

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
- Thomas Edison

What Budweiser's Failure can Teach Us about News Branding
by Graeme Newell
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.602communications.com
Twitter: gnewell
Facebook: facebook.com/gnewell

The Bud Light "drinkability" advertising campaign has become one of Madison Avenue's biggest disappointments of the year. After decades of beer spots devoted to fun and product identification, Bud's agency decided to try a more cerebral product-feature approach. The goal - to convince beer drinkers that Bud Light had substantial product differences that made it a better food companion. But the campaign never connected and sales dropped. Few were convinced that Bud Light was any more drinkable than other light beers. Bud Light is backing off on "drinkability" and is heading back to its more familiar fun approach.

Bud Light's misstep is a valuable lesson for everyone in the marketing game - mature product categories and product feature branding don't mix. This is a lesson particularly applicable to today's TV environment. Staff cutbacks and industry downsizing mean most TV newscasts have less enterprise reporting, fewer technology advantages, and more superficial coverage. Stations just don't have the money to buy fleets of live trucks, huge dopplers, big name talent, and stealthy investigative teams. The product differences that existed just a few years ago are quickly disappearing. This is the new reality of TV, but many station managers are still holding on to branding approaches that worked in the old days, refusing to acknowledge a product life cycle that requires very different marketing tactics.

TV news is now moving into the mature product stage of the branding life cycle. This is where most brands live. Very few products are new and exciting. The product life cycle has three stages, and the strategy for each category is prescribed.

Stage One - a new product category

Brands in these young product categories tend to rely more heavily on product features because the features are truly revolutionary. Miller Lite was first into the light beer category and it spend a decade hanging its brand image on this product innovation. The "everything you always wanted in a beer, and less" campaign established a clear product difference and made millions for the company.

TV news brands have had their own game-changing product introductions: the first live, the first satellite trucks, doppler radar and live traffic mapping. Basing the station brand on these obviously superior features made a lot of sense because the quality of the product was demonstratively better. Station brands like "Action News" were built around this technology and it sparked a generation of new customers who loved the adventure and voyeurism of live programming.

Stage Two - Imitators dilute the brand

The market dictates that any successful product will quickly be copied and the innovator will find itself adrift in a sea of knock-offs.

Every major beer company quickly launched a light beer and Miller Lite found its product advantage had evaporated. It began to transition its brand away from product virtues and move towards an audience identification sell. People didn't drink Miller Lite because of superior product quality, they drank it because of a personal identification with the brand. The branding stopped being about beer and became a sociology lesson on wit and male bonding.

TV news did the same. Live stopped being special. Dopplers became ubiquitous. Everyone had an investigative team. TV branding took the first tentative steps towards relationship brands with marketing campaigns like "on your side," "the I-team" and "live, local, late breaking."

Stage Three - Product and Brand Uniformity Spur a Refining of the Category

In this final stage, all of the obvious brand positions have been diluted. For example, most all light beers use male bonding to win share. The actual product stops being a major component of the marketing. The companies that win in this space do so by re-inventing the mind space surrounding the product category.

While Delta, United, US Air, and American all tried to bond with the flying public using sophistication, success and privilege, Southwest Airlines kicked their butts by turning that brand on its ear and marketing with fun.

As dayplanner software was making paper office planners and notebooks obsolete, Moleskin stepped up and redefined the category. They tricked out the dayplanner with fine leather and uptown style, turning it from a functional tool into a fashion accessory.

Dell, Gateway, HP, NEC and Hitachi all branded using power, performance, and technology as their brand position. This uniformity of branding quickly led to the category's worst nightmare - a price war. Apple rocketed forward in market share and profit by branding with style, rebellion, and coolness. The computers are all about the same. Each is based on the Intel processor and a handful of other chip sets. Apple was smart enough to break from the branding herd.

This mature stage is where TV news finds itself today - in a sea of branding sameness - Live, local, late breaking coverage that's on your side with the most powerful doppler. Look around the nation and you will find only about six TV news brands continually re-used by almost a thousand different news operations - investigative, breaking news, weather, coverage, convenience, and advocacy. These brands were born in the 1980s, when Fox didn't exist, the internet was an experimental military project, and cable TV had 30 channels. The "I-Team" investigative brand was a knock off of the "A-Team" TV show which debuted in 1983.

All of these brands are firmly based on product feature differences. But the problem is, those differences are quickly disappearing. As budgets and staffs continue to shrink, there won't be much difference between your news and your competitor's news. The traditional six news brands have been done to death. Every weather promo promises to "keep you safe." Every coverage promo promises "the most complete coverage." Every investigative promo promises to "uncover corruption and find the truth."

Some Answers

So what can you do? How can you gracefully transition your existing brand into stage three of the branding life cycle?

Stop doing product research and start doing branding research

If Apple had put all its money into researching how customers feel about computers, it would never had broken free of the pack. Apple research focused on how computer users felt about themselves, not how they felt about computers. By holding up a mirror to this restless group, they bonded with computer users on a whole new level, and started a revolution.

Doing a better newscast will only get you so far. A basic level of product quality will be required to be a player, but marketing is the primary driver that builds audience in mature product categories. A fundamental mindset leap is required here. Your research should show how to match your product and marketing to the customer's hopes, fears and dreams. Don't study how they like your product, instead, study how they feel about their lives. What excites them? Take the focus off yourself and put it firmly on the customer.

Get honest about your influence

Most of us lived through the heady days when limited choices meant TV stations had amazing powers to influence an audience. We just aren't that important anymore. Things like ad clutter, mistrust in media, social networking, and the internet have all eroded our powers to get attention. None of us believe in advertising like we did in the old days. Realize that media companies must follow the same advertising rules as soap, hamburgers, and other mundane products.

Evolve your marketing beyond the standard six brands from the 80s

These brands worked well, but times have changed. What is the next step in your brand evolution? If your breaking news isn't much different from your competitor's breaking news, how will you build an emotional connection to your brand? Is that breaking news brand about excitement? Maybe adventure? Connectedness? Why do they like your breaking news? Find that out and you'll learn where your brand needs to go.

Stop the copycat imagery

TV news branding is some of the most incestuous in the business. Not only do we rehash ideas from other markets, we even rip off creative from national commercials. Last year station after station ripped off the Don LaFontaine Geico creative. Re-used creative approaches brand you as old and unimaginative. If it's been done before, leave it alone, and come up with new creative that's about the unique values and mindset of your town and your audience. Resist the temptation to use images like running with cameras, green doppler waves, answering phones, or pointing at maps. If it's been done before, don't do it again.

Get out there and listen to your customers

The economic downturn means most stations aren't doing research any more. At a lot of stations, research is gone for good. But don't let that be an excuse to stop listening to your audience. Invite them into the station each and every week. Hold Friday pizza listening sessions where you bring together small groups to share their thoughts. Again, don't talk about the news. Talk about their lives. What scares them? What's working in their communities? How do they feel about the future? What and who do they still trust?

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and new-media marketing specialist. He guarantees that his teasing seminar will immediately increase your news ratings or his workshop is free. Find out more here.

Mad Men and 30 Rock Named TV's Top Shows
Comedy rocked once again at the 61st Primetime Emmys, where 30 Rock was named top sitcom series and its lead male star, Alec Baldwin, outstanding actor in a comedy series. "That was a real nail biter," said the show's creator, producer and star Tina Fey when she accepted the award toward the end of Sunday night's ceremony. She also thanked NBC for keeping the show on the air, even though, as she pointed out, it is more expensive than a talk show. For the second consecutive year, AMC's Mad Men, a period '60s look at Madison Avenue's advertising world and those who worked in it, was named outstanding drama series. Bryan Cranston of AMC's Breaking Bad – and not that same network's resident sex symbol, Jon Hamm of Mad Men – won the Emmy for outstanding leading actor in a drama series. In an eloquent speech, Cranston said, "I'm a poor kid from the [San Fernando] Valley. I don't know what I'm doing up here." Glenn Close, star of FX's Damages, was named best actress in a drama series and thanked the other actresses nominated, whom she called "my category sisters." She called her TV character, high-powered lawyer Patty Hewes, "the role of a lifetime – depending on what the writers do with her this season." AMC'S Mad Men was recognized for its writing, specifically the episode titled "Mediations in an Emergency." Michael Emerson, dramatic supporting actor winner for ABC's Lost, admitted to "living out a character actor's dream," because what started as a guest spot "is now the role of a lifetime." Cherry Jones, a first-time Emmy nominee, took home the gold as outstanding dramatic supporting actress for her role as the President on FOX's '24'. She promised that her statuette will be on the crafts service's table when the series resumes filming Monday. Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won the Emmy for best writing of a variety series, then went on to be named outstanding music, variety or comedy series. Host Stewart thanked the crowd for giving him the Emmy and then the opportunity "to go backstage and watch a football game." The first half of the three-hour ceremony, which CBS broadcast live from Los Angeles's Nokia Theater, devoted the majority of its time to honoring comedy performers, with 30 Rock's Baldwin, The United States of Tara's Toni Collette, Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer and Pushing Daisies' Kristin Chenoweth ending up in the winners' circle. Host Neil Patrick Harris also kept things hopping – and funny.

For a complete list of Emmy winners and nominees, click here.

People

President Obama's Media Blitz
President Obama continues the "Personal Persuasion" approach when it comes to his healthcare reform proposals. Sunday morning the President made appearances on nearly all the news talk shows. The President sat down Friday for 5 interviews that aired Sunday morning on ABC, NBC, CBS, and the cable networks CNN and Univision. The interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos got testy at times, particularly when Stephanopoulos claimed that a mandate requiring individuals to buy health insurance amounted to a back-handed tax increase. President Obama said: "My critics say everything's a tax increase. My critics say I'm taking over every sector of the economy. You know that, George." George Stephanopoulos said: "But you reject that it's a tax increase?" President Obama said: "I absolutely reject that notion." On every network he was asked if the hardening opposition to his health care plans was racially motivated: "Part of it is that the opposition has made a decision that they're just not going to support anything. For political reasons.", said President Obama. But the President's Sunday media blitz didn't appear to sway Republican critics. Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R) South Carolina said: "He can be on every news show until the end of time if he doesn't get Republicans and Democrats in a room and get off TV we're never gonna solve this problem." After health care, the war in Afghanistan was the next most-discussed issue. The president flatly stated his reasons for keeping troops there. President Obama said: "We're there because Al Qaeda killed 3,000 Americans." But the president said he wants to wait to determine the best strategy for US forces in Afghanistan Before considering whether to send more troops there. President Obama said: "I have to exercise skepticism any time I send any man or woman in uniform into harm's way. Because I am answerable to their parents if they don't come home."
ABC News

Rush Limbaugh to Take Leno's 'Green Car Challenge'
Limbaugh America, are you ready for Rush Limbaugh in an electric car? The conservative talk show host has agreed to take Jay Leno's "Green Car Challenge." In the segment airing next Thursday on NBC's "Jay Leno Show," Limbaugh will race an electric Ford Focus around a custom-built track beside Leno's studio, the show's representative confirmed. The "Green Car Challenge" segment makes its debut on the primetime show tomorrow night. Celebrities who participate drive two times around the twisty track, which takes a little less than a minute to complete. By the time Rush gets behind the wheel of the zero-emission vehicle, Bob Costas, Al Michaels and Drew Barrymore will have set times to beat. Limbaugh is not a fan of hybrid and electric cars. Last March he criticized such vehicles -- including Ford's. "Nobody's buying 'em. Nobody wants them. The manufacturers are making them in droves to satisfy Obama. ... People are going to buy [hybrids] because Obama's going to see to it the price [of gas] gets back up to four bucks, since that is the tipping point … Ford and Toyota are manufacturing all kinds of new hybrids to keep politicians happy. Politics. You want to know what killed the auto industry? Politics.” Leno has been interested in getting more newsmakers on his new program than on "The Tonight Show." On his second night he welcomed Michael Moore into the studio. The advertiser-friendly "Green Car Challenges" allows NBC to work product sponsorship into the program, though some critics have wondered whether the segment will also be entertaining.
THR Feed

Nickelodeon TV, Websites to go Dark to Honor Day of Play
Nickelodeon's TV channels and Web sites are to go dark for an afternoon this month in honor of Annual Worldwide Day of Play, the U.S. network said. Nickelodeon, Nicktoons Network, NOGGIN, The N, Nick.com, Noggin.com, Nicktoonsnetwork.com and The-N.com are all expected to participate in the Sept. 26 event with a goal of inspiring kids to get up and be active. "Over the last six years, Nickelodeon's signature Worldwide Day of Play has encouraged millions of kids around the world to embrace an active and healthy lifestyle," Marva Smalls, executive vice president of public affairs for the Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group, said in a statement. "This year, we are utilizing the power of all our collective media platforms and partnerships to encourage kids and families to take action on this important issue."
UPI

Journos Jobs Disappearing 3x Faster than Average
Since the financial meltdown began a year ago, journalism jobs have gone away at almost three times the rate jobs have disappeared in the general economy, according to a report by Unity: Journalists of Color. Unity's 2009 Layoff Tracker Report shows an average 22% increase from month to month in journalism jobs lost from September 2008 through August 2009. The general economy lost jobs at an average monthly pace of about 8% during that time, according to Unity. For journalism jobs, there were big monthly increases in job losses from the month before at periods coinciding with the close of a quarterly financial reporting periods. News media, including newspapers, broadcast and digital, have shed 35,885 jobs since Sept. 15, 2008, according to Unity's tracking report. The great majority of jobs lost -- 24,511 -- were in newspaper and other print journalism, Unity said. Since Unity began tracking job losses on Jan. 1, 2008, the news industry has shed 46,599 jobs, it said. Job losses were occurring at a fairly steady rate of about 1,000 a month starting in January 2008, and then accelerated, in December 2008 when 7,398 job disappeared, Unity said. "The news industry has been hemorrhaging jobs long before the economic crisis began last year," Unity Executive Director Onica N. Makwakwa said. "These numbers confirm that the economic downturn has hit the news industry very, very hard." Unity's Layoff Tracker project uses data from Securities and Exchange Commission filings, plus self-reported data from 1,101 print and broadcast media outlets. It includes jobs lost by attrition as well as by layoffs and buyouts.
Editor & Publisher

CBS, Sirius XM at Risk of Bankruptcy, Study Shows
U.S. companies in the airline, automobile, television and publishing industries are about four times more likely to file for bankruptcy in the next year than companies in other industries, according to a study. The study by Audit Integrity, which usually analyzes accounting risks, used a quantitative model to track liquidity, debt levels, profitability, market prices and governance and fraud risk measures at more than 2,500 companies. "Even if we're coming out of the recession, companies have been substantially weakened," Audit Integrity Chief Executive Jack Zwingli said in an interview. "The concern was that the economic environment had changed and the risks on company balance sheets have changed." Zwingli said investors needed new models to detect bankruptcy risk as the combination of the U.S. recession and more complex corporate debt structures meant that bankruptcy could now happen with little advance warning. Among companies with more than $1 billion in market capitalization, the study showed that No. 3 U.S. drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp was most at risk of bankruptcy in the next year. The study gave the company about a 10.5 percent chance of filing for bankruptcy in the next 12 months. Despite a recent investment deal, satellite radio operator Sirius XM Radio Inc, was second on the study's bankruptcy risk list, with about a 9 percent risk of filing for bankruptcy in the next year. The study showed that American Airlines parent AMR Corp had an 8.7 percent risk of bankruptcy in the next year, while auto parts supplier Federal Mogul Corp had an 8.6 percent risk. It put the chance of a bankruptcy at manufacturer Textron Inc at a 7 percent. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co has about a 6.9 percent chance of bankruptcy according to the study, while Continental Airlines was given a 6.6 percent chance. Rounding out the top 10 were media and entertainment companies CBS Corp, Las Vegas Sands and Liberty Media Corp with a 6.2, 5.9 and 5.6 percent chance of bankruptcy, respectively, according to the study.
Rueters

Nipplegate Getting Another Look
The Federal Communications Commission wants to take another look at singer Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction.” During the Bush administration, the FCC fined CBS Corp.’s CBS Television $550,000 for the incident, saying it violated indecency standards. CBS aired a split-second shot of Jackson’s breast during her half-time performance at the 2004 Super Bowl, generating thousands of complaints to the FCC. The FCC said Tuesday now says it wants to review the Jackson case in light of a Supreme Court decision last year upholding another Bush-era indecency citation against Fox Television Stations Inc. for airing utterances of the “F-word” during a live music awards show. Fox is owned by News Corp., which owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. In May, the Supreme Court sent the CBS case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for further review. The lower court previously had overturned the FCC fine. In briefs filed with the appeals court, the FCC said it should be given the opportunity to further explain its position on indecency and examine whether CBS was reckless because video delay technology might have been available.
Wall Street Journal

PTC Prez Defends FCC Pursuing Fleeting Expletives
Parents Television Council President Tim Winter responded Friday to suggestions the FCC was off the mark in pursuing fleeting expletives and that the commission had effectively turned over the monitoring function of TV content to PTC. Responding to a court brief backed by a group of former FCC officials including three former chairmen, Winter said that their brief was not accurate. The former chairmen had said that the FCC had abandoned its former, more restrained policy toward indecent speech. But PTC said that the difference was that there was only one "F word" on broadcast TV in 1998, for example, while it appeared "no less than 1,147 times on 184 different programs in 2007." "The majority of the 1,147 times came in the form of bleeped or partially-bleeped 'f-words,' said a PTC spokesperson, "or various forms of the 'f-word' such as 'motherf***er.' In many instances the explicit word was discernible to the viewer." PTC has long argued that bleeping and blurring are hardly sufficient protections given that the word or image is usually discernible from context or insufficiently blocked. "If the former commissioners believe the public interest does not include or contemplate limiting ‘f-bombs’ on broadcast television until after 10 p.m.," said Winter, "then they are woefully out of touch with the American public. A majority of Americans, Congress, and the Supreme Court, all agree that expletives should not air over the publicly-owned
broadcast airwaves when children are in the viewing audience." The chairman had also called for a broader inquiry into the underpinnings of indecency regs on broadcasters that are not applied to cable or satellite, saying if there were ever a justification for lesser treatment based on the argument broadcasters are uniquely pervasive, it not longer applies. “If the former commissioners and the broadcasters want to have the same treatment of broadcast as other forms of media," said Winter, "then every public interest obligation of a broadcaster – every aspect – must be reconsidered, not just the indecency portion."
Broadcasting & Cable

FCC Chair Proposes Net Neutrality Rules
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission will propose rules on Sept. 21 requiring Internet companies to treat content providers equally, a person familiar with the matter said. Chairman Julius Genachowski will ask fellow commissioners to adopt the “net neutrality” rules, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the proposal hasn’t been made public. The proposal may ignite a clash between the Obama administration and AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., which along with some Republicans say regulations could choke investment and stem growth in the Internet. The FCC rebuked Comcast last year, saying it interfered with customers who were sharing videos and other large files. Rules would be “generally negative” for telephone, cable and wireless providers of high-speed Internet services, and would be “generally welcomed” by Internet companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Google Inc., David Kaut and Rebecca Arbogast, Washington-based analysts for Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said in a note to investors. Net neutrality includes the idea that Web providers shouldn’t be permitted to favor some Web sites by delivering their content faster than similar material from other sites. President Barack Obama said on May 29 that he was “firmly committed” to net neutrality, “so we can keep the Internet as it should be, open and free.” President George W. Bush’s administration said new rules weren’t needed, and a Republican-dominated House refused to adopt a Democratic net neutrality proposal in a 2006 vote.
Bloomberg

Funny Emmy Moments

MC Neil Patrick Harris:
It’s my job to make things go smoothly. Here’s hoping Kanye West likes ‘30 Rock.’”

Tina Fey and Jon Hamm presented best supporting comedy actress:
“I learned that comedy is like drama, only with less smoking,” notes Hamm, remarking on his “30 Rock” guest spot this year (yep, he was nominated for that, too). “And I learned that kissing a guy who looks like Don Draper will make you sweat through your lady blazer,” added Fey.

Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Amy Pohler presented comedy supporting actor:
“Amy and I are honored to be presenting outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series in the last official year of network television,” she quips.

Jon Cryer won it for “Two and a Half Men.” Bit of a surprise since the show has been ignored by the Academy for so long (Charlie Sheen hasn’t won in four nominations). Cryer says he used to not think awards were important. “Now I think they’re the true measure of a human being,” he notes.

Rob Lowe presented comedy lead actor, riffing on a failed pilot he did several years back:
“For those of you wondering why someone from “The West Wing” would be presenting best actor in a comedy series you may have forgotten a little series I did called ‘Dr. Vegas.’ If anybody needs any career advice, I’m your guy.” As for the trophy… Yup…Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock.” “I’d trade this to look like him, I’ll be honest with you,” Baldwin remarks while greeting Lowe.

Ricky Gervais presented variety, musical or comedy series:
“The thing about the Oscars and the Golden Globes, they’ve got film stars with their jaw lines and good looks, making me feel bad, but in this room… I’m probably above average,” Gervais quips, before targeting the stars of the American version of “The Office” (for which he serves as co-creator and exec producer) “Yeah, definitely. Here, Steve Carrell is considered handsome. But Rainn Wilson, we’ve got to be honest, he’s weird, even here.” Gervais then made a an inside-baseball joke about TV syndication… that turns into a joke about the Emmys recently bad TV ratings. “That joke is for the 5,000 people in this room, not the 5,000 at home watching,” he says.

Bob Newhart presented the comedy series trophy. “Tina Fey and I had a bet,” he says. If she won, she’d give me a big kiss like Halle Berry did for Adrien Brody at the Oscars. And if she didn’t win, I would continue to honor the restraining order.” Of course, Fey is up (no kiss). “Whew,” she says. “That was a nail-biter. She also thanks NBC chair Jeff Zucker for keeping her show on the air, even though “we are so much more expensive for a talk show.”

FanCast

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The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

TVSpy.com is home to ShopTalk, the FREE daily newsletter for the TV news industry, read by more than 25,000 subscribers. For more than 20 years, ShopTalk has given TV news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE. news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE.

Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 9/17/2009

The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com

In This Issue
Promo of the Day
Leno Premiere gets Strong Start
Leno Ratings Expectedly Drop Day 2
MTV VMA Ratings Up from Last Year
Obama's Kanye Remarks Tweeted
ABC Apologizes to WH, CNBC Over Off-the-Record Tweets
Obama Heading To 'Late Show'
Cannabis Benefits Highlighted in New Program
Social Nets High on Media Buyers Lists, Study Finds
CNN Wire Goes 'A La Carte' for Newspapers
WSJ to Launch Online Video 'News Hub'
7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You

Quotes

"A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future."
- Sidney J. Harris

"The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes - openly bad and secretly bad."
- Henry Ward Beecher

"Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack."
- Harry Emerson Fosdick

Promo of the Day
Brand Image Campaign: "Where will NPT take you next?", for NPT, Nashville Public Television, June 2009. Credits: Hugh Brian O'Neill, Creative Director/Copywriter/Producer; Suzi Hence and Ed Jones, editors; Brooke Bryant, voice-over.

602communications.com/VideoExamples

Have a video clip to share? Email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Flash (.flv) or QuickTime (.mov) files, size 320 x 240, are preferred, but WindowsMedia (.wmv) files will also be accepted. Large files may be sent via http://www.yousendit.com. You can also mail your clip on VHS or DVD to Graeme Newell at 1011 Lyndhurst Falls Lane, Knightdale, NC 27545

Leno Premiere gets Strong Start
NBC's "The Jay Leno Show" is off to a very strong start. The debut of NBC's high-wire-act 10 p.m. comedy show was seen by 17.7 million viewers and pulled a 5.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating. That's 34% stronger in the adult demo than the final national household rating for Conan O'Brien's "Tonight Show" debut last June (9.2 million viewers and a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating) and 50% higher than Leno's final "Tonight Show" last May (11.9 million viewers and a 3.4 rating). Leno's first night featured an interview with Jerry Seinfeld and a rather fortuitously timed appearance by Kanye West. Critics were somewhat unimpressed by the debut, nearly unanimously commenting how similar Leno's new show is to his tenure while hosting "The Tonight Show." Naturally, the format of "The Jay Leno Show" will be tweaked continuously in the coming weeks. Leno improved on his lead-in, NBC's "America's Got Talent" (13.8 million, 3.3). "Leno Show" also didn't hurt "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," drawing a 3.0 metered market household rating and 1.4 adult demo number, both were higher than O'Brien's recent performances. Some media stories have recently opined that Leno's premiere ratings do not matter because the show's fate will be determined in months rather than weeks. Not coincidentally, this is also what NBC has been repeating to reporters in every conversation. But saying "the premiere doesn't matter" is like saying the first primary in a presidential race doesn't matter just because it doesn't choose the president.
THR Feed

Leno Ratings Expectedly Drop Day 2
Everybody expects Jay Leno's new primetime comedy show to drop significantly this week following its highly rated premiere. The question is how fast, how far. For its second episode, "The Jay Leno Show" was seen by 11.1 million viewers and drew a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating -- winning its hour with strong numbers, yet falling 40% in viewers and 36% in the demo from its Monday debut. That's a more pronounced drop than the second night of Conan O'Brien hosting "The Tonight Show" last June, which declined about 30%. An NBC researcher described the drop as "expected." Night Two also had Leno against greater broadcast competition, with the NBC program facing the second hour of CBS' "Big Brother" finale, and ABC airing a Barbara Walters special on the late Patrick Swayze. Leno was aided by a strong lead-in from the return of NBC's reality hit "The Biggest Loser" (last night's reality show ratings here). The heavy hitters at 10 p.m. roll out next week, when broadcasters unleash the bulk of their premieres, including CBS' top-rated dramas such as "CSI: Miami" and "The Mentalist." The Leno episode featured an interview with Michael Moore in the studio, along with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz via satellite. Critics gave Leno props for his lively interviews (including asking Cruise if he's ever been to a strip club), but one opined that the second half of Leno's show had too many "excruciating" comedy bits.
THR Feed

MTV VMA Ratings Up from Last Year
When Kanye West put his foot in his mouth during Sunday's 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, a large audience was watching at home. The show averaged 11 million viewers on MTV, MTV 2 and VH1, up 21% from last year's show, which aired on two of the three networks, and the largest audience for the music video awards show since 2002, according to figures from the Nielsen Company released Monday. Sunday's telecast aired live from Radio City Music Hall, and included performances by Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Green Day, Beyonce' and Taylor Swift. However, it was West's outburst following Swift's win for best female video, beating favorites Beyonce' and Lady Gaga, that generated the most attention for the show. The rapper, who has pulled other stunts in the past, walked on stage, took the microphone from Swift and said, "I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time." He then made an obscene gesture to the audience, which was not carried on MTV. West became a touchpoint for the rest of the show and anytime his name was mentioned, he was roundly booed by the audience inside Radio City. Just shy of 9 million of the total audience watched on MTV alone, up 6% from last year. And, no surprise, roughly 7.5 million were between the ages of 12 and 34. Not included in the ratings is viewing done in out-of-home locations such as college dorms, where the viewership was likely to be high, or bars. The network's website had 2.7 million unique vistors Sunday, according to MTV, the most ever for a "VMA" day.
NY Daily News

Obama's Kanye Remarks Tweeted
President Barack Obama's candid thoughts about Kanye West are provoking a debate over standards of journalism in the Twitter age. ABC News says it was wrong for its employees to tweet that Obama had called West a "jackass" for the rapper's treatment of country singer Taylor Swift. The network said some of its employees had overheard a conversation between the president and CNBC's John Harwood and didn't realize it was considered off the record. Harwood had sat down with the president to tape an interview following his appearance on Wall Street on Monday. During what sounds like informal banter before the interview begins, Obama is asked whether his daughters were annoyed by West's hijacking of Swift's acceptance statement, according to an audio copy that was posted on TMZ.com. "I thought that was really inappropriate," Obama says. "What are you butting in (for)? ... The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She's getting her award. What's he doing up there?" A questioner chimes in, "Why would he do it?" "He's a jackass," Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people. The president seems to quickly realize he may have gone too far, and jovially appeals to those assembled that the remark be kept private. "Come on guys," he says. "Cut the president some slack. I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate." E-mails shot around among ABC employees about Obama's comments, said Jeffrey Schneider, ABC News spokesman. Before anything was reported on ABC's air or Web site, at least three network employees took to Twitter to spread the news. One was Terry Moran, a former White House correspondent. He logged on to Twitter and typed: "Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential." The incident is reminiscent of past "open-mic" incidents involving politicians. President Ronald Reagan, while waiting to make a speech in 1984, joked that he had outlawed the Soviet Union and that "the bombing begins in five minutes." During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush turned to running mate Dick Cheney to point out a reporter from The New York Times and used an obscenity to describe him. "If you're sitting there with a microphone on, you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy," said Kelly McBride, an expert in journalism ethics for the Poynter Institute. "If you're a governor or president, you know that." She also questioned whether news organizations should be agreeing to go off the record with the president. Judging by the things written by other Twitter users since West's action, Obama wasn't in the minority, she said. "The president calling Kanye West a 'jackass' is perfect information for a tweet," she said. "In fact, that's the ideal format. You can do it in 140 characters. There's not much else to say."
Yahoo TV

ABC Apologizes to WH, CNBC Over Off-the-Record Tweets
So, Jay Leno almost made Kanye West cry last night, asking him what his mother, who died in 2007, would have thought about him interrupting Taylor Swift's VMA acceptance speech Sunday night. "It was rude, period," West told Leno on his debut show. "I don't try to justify it 'cause I was in the wrong." Well, this morning ABC News correspondent Terry Moran might be feeling a little Kanye-like remorse. Politico reports Moran Tweeted the following: "Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a "jackass" for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential." Turns out that comment by the president was made off-the-record, but because CNBC and ABC share a fiber line, some employees at ABC News saw the comment and began emailing about it. Then, at least two employees Tweeted it, including Moran, who has many of his 1 million+ followers. We're told the "Nightline" co-anchor was under the impression the comment was about to be used in an ABCNews.com story. But upon learning it was off-the-record, Moran took down the Tweet. It had been on his page for about an hour. An ABC spokesperson says the Tweets were sent, "before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again." And this is not the first time Moran has made an off-the-cuff comment that went public. A few hours after Farrah Fawcett died, which was a few hours before Michael Jackson died, Moran added his thoughts about Fawcett's cause of her death in a network wide email thread.
MediaBistro

Obama Heading To 'Late Show'
While Jay Leno had a fake presidential interview on his first show Monday night, David Letterman will have the real thing September 21. President Barack Obama will make the first appearance ever by a sitting U.S. President on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman on next Monday’s show. He will be the sole guest on the broadcast. President Obama has already appeared on The Tonight Show since being inaugurated in January, making a visit to the program, then hosted by Jay Leno, on March 19.
Broadcasting & Cable

Cannabis Benefits Highlighted in New Program
Tips for cultivating marijuana. Testimonials by patients about its medical benefits. Cannabis cooking lessons. Even citations for award-winning strains of pot. Viewers here can now watch, every week, what amounts to a pro-weed news program. “Cannabis Planet” regulars include, top, Chef Mike DeLao and his assistant, Audrey Pulliam. Booted off one skittish TV station but quickly picked up by another, the low-budget “Cannabis Planet” show is televised evidence of how entrenched marijuana has become in California’s cultural firmament and a potent example of the way the pot subculture has been edging into the national mainstream. “We’re trying to show the legitimacy of this plant,” said Brad Lane, the executive producer of the half-hour program. Mr. Lane pays for the twice-weekly air time on the independent station KJLA — Thursday and Saturday nights at 11:30, sandwiched between “Bikini Beach” and “Jewelry Central” — and says he is now breaking even, almost two months after the show’s premiere. “Cannabis Planet” focuses on medical, agricultural and industrial uses of the hemp plant, purposely ignoring marijuana’s recreational aspects. Viewers, for instance, see very little actual smoking, even though the hosts and producers are known to inhale between takes. “We’re walking on eggshells here, to be honest,” Mr. Lane said. Still, “Cannabis Planet” remains on the air — with not a single complaint from viewers, according to the station.

Marijuana use has been depicted in the media for decades, though its presence has waxed and waned over the decades, from Cheech & Chong’s comedy albums and films in the late 1970s and early ’80s through more recent pot-centric efforts like Dave Chappelle’s “Half-Baked” and Seth Rogen’s “Pineapple Express.” On television, though, it has rarely risen above the level of a plot device or punch line — until recently. Medical marijuana is now legal in 14 states, and the lobbying organization Norml says efforts to legalize it are under way in 15 other states. Marijuana use remains illegal under federal law, but in a break from prior policies, the Obama administration said in February that federal officials would stop raiding dispensaries of medical marijuana authorized under state law.

Since then the number of dispensaries in California has surged in what some call a “green rush.” “It’s really blown up,” said Jay Peterson, a production executive at Original Productions, which is working with Blue Dream Media to create a reality show set at a pot collective, or distribution center, in Hollywood. The show, “Top Bud,” is envisioned as a cross between “LA Ink,” the TLC show produced by Original about a lively tattoo parlor, and “Weeds,” the Showtime hit drama about a dope-dealing mother of two. “While the drug is illegal in most states, the idea is to show that there’s a world somewhere where it’s legal, and where people are doing this,” Mr. Peterson said.

A native Californian prone to statements like, "Did you know the War of 1812 was over hemp?," Mr. Lane said he had smoked pot since his sophomore year of college. He is now a medical marijuana user, he said, relying on the drug to curb attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “Cannabis Planet” is beginning to turn a profit, Mr. Lane said, because of a growing list of advertisers, including companies that sell nutritional supplements for growers and recommend doctors. Calvina Fay, the executive director of Drug Free America Foundation, said a weekly TV show extolling marijuana as harmless contributes to inappropriate public perceptions of the drug. “They are putting people’s lives in danger as they promote a toxic, harmful weed to sick people and intentionally ignore the harms of it," she said, adding that the drug had been “linked to a plethora of health problems." Mr. Lane, strenuously disagreeing with the antidrug groups, says his show exists to spread facts about cannabis. That is why he will not present information about recreational uses of marijuana for now. “Unfortunately, it is still perceived as offensive by too many people,” he said.
NY Times

Social Nets High on Media Buyers Lists, Study Finds
New York—A new study by the Center for Media Research found that 56% of media buyers plan to buy ads on social networks next year, ranking just below those that will buy ads on e-mail marketing platforms (57%). The “2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study” was based on an online survey of 1,164 media buyers and planners. It found that on average, 57% of the media budget will be spent on nontraditional media, while 43% will be spent on traditional media. The study also looked at which media platforms respondents would “ideally” buy and “realistically” buy. Social networks were the top “ideal” buy for media planners. Also, one-quarter said they would ideally buy national TV, but only 18% would realistically buy it, and one-quarter said they would ideally buy mobile video, although 13% said they would realistically buy it.
BtoB Online

CNN Wire Goes 'A La Carte' for Newspapers
CNN, which earlier this year started a syndication service to distribute its content to newspapers, has launched an a la carte version that allows news outlets to buy stories online one at a time. The CNN Wire Store, which went up at midnight, makes its stories available to license and download for $199 per story on a single-use basis. Editors can use a credit card to complete the transaction, according to an announcement. The site, at www.cnnwirestore.com, also allows publishers to browse through CNN Wire articles, hold selected articles for review, and download story content on demand. "In discussions with publishers and journalists about the news industry and the changing face of the marketplace, CNN earlier this year expanded the offerings of the existing CNN Wire service and made it available for subscription," the announcement states. "And now CNN provides the new CNN Wire Store for publishers needing content for single use and on demand basis." CNN Wire was launched earlier this year as a way for newspapers seeking outside national and international content to use the news network's content in print and online. But it requires customers to sign up as syndication clients. The new a la carte service can be used on an as-needed basis. "CNN understands the changing business landscape of journalism and the marketplace. The expanded CNN Wire provides an opportunity for a new platform to make CNN Wire stories easily accessible, and for the first time, on a per-story basis to any publisher, anywhere on their own timetable. With the launch of the CNN Wire Store website, we've made our original journalism easily available to other publishers on demand," Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services, said in a statement.
Editor & Publisher

WSJ to Launch Online Video 'News Hub'
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday (Sept. 17) will launch The News Hub, a live video series, which will be streamed twice every weekday at 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. across the company’s digital network, including WSJ.com, Barrons.com, Marketwatch.com, Dow Jones Newswires and AllThingsD.com. The new series will feature Dow Jones journalists discussing the business news of the day in eight-minute segments. The morning edition of The News Hub will be hosted by Journal economic reporter Kelly Evans and will focus on that day’s key economic news to watch for. Meanwhile, the afternoon edition—hosted by Dow Jones Newswires columnist Simon Constable and WSJ.com staffer Kelsey Hubbard—will dissect that days market happenings. Officials said that The News Hub will frequently feature guest interviews, both with other Dow Jones reporters as well as important newsmakers from the business world. Episodes of the show will also be available for streaming on demand. A daily business-themed video series is nothing if not aggressive. Not only will the Journal be competing for eyeballs with CNBC—often ever-present in many Wall Street trading floors and offices—but with several other fledgling live series. For example, last February, News Corp. sibling Fox Business Network introduced a daily Web series that runs for a full hour each day. Plus, for more than a year, Yahoo Finance has featured Tech Ticker, a daily video series/news blog, which at times has commanded audiences comparable to CNBC. But Dow Jones executives are betting on the company’s journalistic reputation in the business world to help the new series stand out. "The News Hub showcases our unmatched stable of expert reporting and resources across Dow Jones," said Journal managing editor Robert Thomson. "Our journalists break more stories than any other news organization, and our analysis is clearly more perceptive, pertinent and prescient."
MediaWeek

7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You
Our personalities do more for us than determine our social circles. Temperament can impact a person's physical health. "The idea that behavior or personality traits can influence health is one that's been around for a long time. We're just now getting a handle on to what extent they do," said Stephen Boyle of Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. From those with a chill demeanor to the completely frazzled types, mental factors are ultimately tied to physical health. And while a highly neurotic person might deteriorate more quickly than others, not every character trait will kill you. Some might even boost lifetimes.

7. Cynicism
Cynics who tend to be suspicious and mistrustful of others, a character trait that scientists refer to as hostility, may have an increased likelihood of developing heart disease. "These aren't necessarily hot-headed people, but people who are more likely to read into people's behavior as some hostile motive," Stephen Boyle said during a telephone interview. In a study of more than 300 Vietnam veterans who were healthy at the study start, Boyle found that those who scored high on measures of hostility were about 25 percent more likely to develop heart disease. Boyle and his colleagues think that hostile individuals might experience more stress, which can cause spikes in an immune-system protein called C3 that has been linked with various diseases, including diabetes. In fact, the participants with higher scores on hostility showed an increase in these proteins while the non-hostile men showed no such increase.

6. Lack of Meaning
If you lack a sense of purpose, your stay on Earth could be truncated. A study involving more than 1,200 elderly participants who didn't have dementia at the study's start found that those who indicated having a high purpose in life were about half as likely to die over the study period, which lasted up to five years. The results, published in the June 15 issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, held regardless of a person's age, sex, education and race, along with level of depression and neuroticism. "Persons with high purpose readily derive meaning from and make sense of the events of their lives, and likely engage in behaviors and activities that they deem important," said study researcher Patricia Boyle of the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago. Some other research has suggested that people with a higher sense of purpose may have different levels of stress hormones, better heart health or improved immune systems, though more research is needed to firm up any of these biological mechanisms, she said. The opposite also holds: "The findings from our study suggested that people who no longer set and work actively toward goals or enjoy their day-to-day activities (how they spend their time) are those with greater mortality risk," Boyle told LiveScience.

5. Fretting
People who are highly neurotic -- constantly worried and anxious, and prone to depression -- die sooner on average than their chill counterparts. And a recently reported study of nearly 1,800 men followed over a 30-year period suggests that's partly because neurotics are also more likely to smoke. Perhaps having a cigarette eases anxiety, said study researcher Daniel Mroczek of Purdue University in Indiana, adding that such a short-term payoff might not be worth it if it kills you down the line.

4. Lack of Self-control
Late for appointments? Can't keep your desk organized? No self-control? These seemingly benign qualities could take a toll on your health. A review of more than 20 studies and nearly 9,000 participants revealed people who are conscientious -- organized and self-disciplined, as opposed to impulsive -- live two to four years longer than others. Study researcher Howard S. Friedman of the University of California, Riverside, suspects the boost in lifetime can be attributed partly to the fact that highly conscientious individuals are less likely to smoke or drink to excess, and live more stable and less stressful lives. The study is detailed in a 2008 issue of the journal Health Psychology.

3. Anxiety
The jitters can put a strain on your noggin, research suggests. Compared with the highly frazzled, individuals with a mellow demeanor who are outgoing may be less likely to develop dementia, which can be caused by Alzheimer's disease and other illnesses. The claim is based on a study that followed more than 500 elderly individuals for five years. Among the outgoing extroverts, dementia risk was 50 percent lower for participants who were calm compared with those who were prone to distress

2. Gloom and Doom
The gloomy, inhibited person is not just at a disadvantage socially, but also physically. A preliminary study of more than 180 patients suffering from peripheral arterial disease (plaque buildup in the arteries) showed participants with so-called type D, or distressed, personality, had an increased odds of dying sooner than other people. Type-D people are more likely to experience negative emotions while at the same time hold in their feelings. The researchers, who detail their work in the August issue of the journal Archives of Surgery, suggest the personality type is linked with the body's immune system as well as stress response system.

1. Stress
Whatever you do, don't let this list worry you! Research is showing that prolonged stress can be deadly, and if it doesn't do you in, workplace stress can increase your chances of heart disease, flu virus, metabolic syndrome and having high blood pressure. A study of nearly 700 Israeli workers found that those who experienced job burnout (when work stress becomes unmanageable) were nearly twice as likely as others to develop type 2 diabetes, in which a person's body becomes resistant to the sugar-regulating hormone called insulin. And while a job promotion might boost your income, it also stresses you out. British researchers recently found that when people get promoted, they suffer on average about 10 percent more mental strain and are less likely to find time to go to the doctor.

LiveScience

--------------------------------------
The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

TVSpy.com is home to ShopTalk, the FREE daily newsletter for the TV news industry, read by more than 25,000 subscribers. For more than 20 years, ShopTalk has given TV news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE. news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE.

Graeme Newell's Marketing Ideanet 9/14/2009

The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com

In This Issue
How to Build a Smart Social Media Strategy for your Station
Most Americans Think News is Biased, Pew Study Reveals
31.8 Million Watch Obama Healthcare Address
Fox News Leads as Cable Choice for Address
‘Beck' Boosted By Healthcare Address
Stossel Joins FOX News/Biz
Fox Lands TextsFromLastNight TV
HBO Tops Creative Arts Emmys Pace With 16 Awards
ESPN/ABC Bids Big for 20014/20016 Olympic Games
NBC Universal Mulls New Partner
Economist to Charge Readers for Its Online News Content
Record Companies Sue Ellen
Good Housekeeping Volunteers to Test Vibrators
Website Fires Back at 'You Lie' Rep
Late Night Licks: Joe Wilson

Quotes

"I don't know about liberal bias, but people of a liberal mentality are probably attracted in greater numbers to the arts than people of a conservative mentality."
- Sydney Pollack

"To make the argument that the media has a left- or right-wing, or a liberal or a conservative bias, is like asking if the problem with Al-Qaeda is do they use too much oil in their hummus."
- Al Franken

"Two quite opposite qualities equally bias our minds - habits and novelty."
- Jean de la Bruyere

How to Build a Smart Social Media Strategy for your Station
by Graeme Newell
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.602communications.com
Twitter: gnewell
Facebook: facebook.com/gnewell

You show up at work one morning to find an urgent message from the boss sitting in your inbox — “What are we doing with Facebook?” Suddenly, there is a mad dash to get online. Every moment you’re not on Facebook is an opportunity for your competitor to leverage this new medium and steal your market share. This simple question incites a fire drill that causes too many stations to build a social media marketing strategy that is a house of cards. They never ask themselves, "Just why are we using social media?" For most companies, the simple answer is “to get more viewers.” This is an obvious and blatantly transparent goal, and a very dangerous daily strategy that often leads to an audience backlash.

History Repeats Itself
Back a few years ago, blogging was all the rage. Managers read the trades, saw that everyone who was anyone was publishing a blog, and demanded that anchors, news directors, and everyone with a computer publish a daily blog. Problem was, the companies did not have a comprehensive marketing or operations strategy for blogging. They simply knew that blogging was the latest and hottest trend. They didn’t want to be left behind. They rushed headlong into this new medium with little thought given to daily operations, tactics, or goals.

Station blogs quickly digressed to sporadic posts that featured such scintillating topics as lunch plans, personal mood, and complaining. The harsh reality of blog marketing set in - they are a lot of work and require time, commitment, and back-end systems. Check most station websites and you’ll find that most blogs have disappeared. Stations spent countless dollars advertising their blogs and encouraged viewers to join the conversation. The audience was promised scintillating and relevant discussion, but they logged on to find only sporadic and frivolous content. Many stations were afraid of litigation and disabled commenting altogether. The tacit message - we don’t trust you. We don’t value your opinions. Plain and simple, the station had lied to them. The station was not committed to meaningful viewer conversations. It simply wanted the ad revenue. Blogging was merely the flavor of the day and became just another broken promise.

Now, social media is all the rage and stations are charging into this new medium with the same reckless abandon. Corporate has sent the message from on high, “You need to be in social marketing.” Most stations aren’t quite sure how this new medium works, and even fewer have any sort of written plan that lays out the goals and tactics of their social marketing campaign.

Who is in charge?
Exactly who is managing your social media efforts? Social media participants are usually a ragtag band of random contributors scattered throughout the station staff. Marketing contributes a few posts, a few news staffers weigh in with their thoughts, and management may occasionally chime in.

Is Twitter marketing, or is it content? Is Facebook part of the web department or is it news? There is a distinct leadership void in most station social media efforts. These rudderless ships typically drift aimlessly in a sea of random commenting and conflicting agendas. The tone and style of social marketing tends to reflect the personal agenda of those who comment the most, regardless of whether that agenda matches the station's goals.

Create a written social network marketing plan.
In that plan you should spell out the following:
What is the primary object of your posts? An action? Relationship building? Feedback?
What is the specific tone and style of your posts? Hard driving? Affable? Self-deprecating?
What kind of content gets the most mentions? Useful information? Community news? Breaking news?
What is the chain of command?
Who is monitoring your posts?
Who posts, how often and when? Who will be the online face leading the charge?
What kind of hot-button issues should be avoided?
How will you deal with hecklers and negative comments?
How personal are your posts? All business or should your team show a more personal side?
What is your measurement of success? Number of followers? Number of posts? Participation?

Build it Strong
It is important that you create a plan that has a true vantage point with actionable guidelines for daily operation. Wishy-washy goals like “we want a lot of followers” and “we will showcase our best news stories” will only perpetuate mediocrity. Everyone using social media wants these. Your plan must be the foundation for a strong and bold personality. The best social media plan has a depth and authenticity that is worn on the sleeve. It has a defined mind-set that is obvious and unapologetically intense.

Remember - you are not in charge
Social media is here to stay and it provides one of the most powerfully authentic opportunities to communicate with your customers. Remember, you are just one voice in the conversation, not the leader. After a lifetime of one-way communication, many broadcasters make the mistake of dictating the agenda instead of attentively listening and commenting. Your purpose is to foster discussion, build relationships, and to be a friend. Check your ego at the door, and remember that a “famous journalist” mindset only makes you a target. Your customers will be more than happy to take you down a few pegs if you show even a whiff of arrogance. Listen, comment, be authentic, and most of all, never use social media as an ad platform.

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and news media marketing specialist. He guarantees that his teasing seminar will immediately increase your news ratings or his workshop is free. Find out more here.

Most Americans Think News is Biased, Pew Study Reveals
Most Americans think news organizations are politically biased and often inaccurate, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. Despite that view, they still say that the demise of those news organizations would be a major loss. Television remains the dominant source for national and local news, beating out the Internet and newspapers, with TV stations cited as doing the most to "uncover and report on important local issues." A majority of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center (63%) said that news stories are often inaccurate, while only 29% said they even "generally" get the facts straight. That is the lowest accuracy level in more than 20 years, according to Pew. By contrast, 55% said they were accurate and 34% inaccurate in the inaugural survey in 1985. About the same majority (60%) say news organizations are politically biased, while only 26% say they are not. And their belief that those news media are "independent of powerful people" (20%) and willing to make mistakes (21%) are also at all-time lows.

Views toward leading news nets Fox and CNN continued to be divided along heavily partisan lines, with three quarters of Democrats having a favorable view of CNN, but only 44% of Republicans, while 76% of Republicans had a favorable view of Fox compared to only 43% of Democrats. There was a similar, though less pronounced difference of opinion about MSNBC, with 60% of Democrats having a favorable opinion vs. 34% of Republicans. The majority of both Republicans (64%) and Democrats (81%) had a favorable view of broadcast network TV news.

One finding revealed the relative inability of the respondents to say whether or not they liked the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. Again, a majority of Republicans (53%) and Democrats (53%) said they didn't know or could not decide whether they had a favorable unfavorable view. Independents (54%) were equally stymied. There was a similar response to The Wall Street Journal, but even more Republicans (55%) than Democrats 49%) couldn't say whether or not they like it.

Television was the dominant source for national and international news for 71% of the respondents, almost as many as chose the Internet (43%) and newspapers (33%) combined. It was also the top source for local news, the choice of 41% of those surveyed. Close to half (44%) said that local TV stations "do the most to uncover." Eight out of 10 people say that if local TV news shows went off the air and their Web sites shut down, it would be an "important loss," while 76% said the same about the sunsetting of network TV news; 75% about cable news, 74% about local newspapers and 68% about "large national newspapers." While network TV evening newscasts tend to skew older, actually more people aged 18-29 (83%) said it would be an important loss than people 60-plus (74%).
Broadcasting & Cable

31.8 Million Watch Obama Healthcare Address
President Obama's healthcare-focused address to Congress attracted 31.8 million viewers across the broadcast and cable networks, according to Nielsen. The address was televised on ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, Telemundo MSMNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC and BET. The 31.8 million viewers is down from his last address to Congress on February 24, which drew 52.3 million viewers. It was up from his last televised primetime press conference on July 24, however. That presser drew 24.68 million viewers. The last primetime address by President Obama to draw more viewers than the healthcare address was on March 24, which drew 40.3 million viewers. Preliminary broadcast numbers, which will likely change once Nationals are released, show NBC with 8.2 million viewers, followed by ABC with 7.4 million and CBS with 5.6 million.
Broadcasting & Cable

Fox News Leads as Cable Choice for Address
When it came to cable, Fox News Channel was the place most viewers turned to check out President Obama's healthcare address Wednesday night. The cable news leader averaged 4.4 million watchers, ahead of CNN's 2.7 million and 2.4 million for MSNBC, according to Nielsen Media Research data. All told, Nielsen estimated the speech on Sept. 9 averaged 31.8 million watchers across the aforementioned cable news services, as well as ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, Telemundo, CNBC, BET and Fox Business Network.
MultiChannel

‘Beck' Boosted By Healthcare Address
Despite a campaign to encourage advertisers to bolt from his show, Fox News' Glenn Beck continues to draw more and more viewers. Thursday, September 10,--one day after President Obama's address to congress on healthcare--Beck's program had its best night ever in total viewers, and second best in demo viewers. Glenn Beck drew 3.34 million total viewers and 958,000 P25-54 from 5-6 p.m. The demo viewers were the most of any Fox News program for the night, topping even The O'Reilly Factor at 8 p.m.
Broadcasting & Cable

Stossel Joins FOX News/Biz
Award-winning journalist John Stossel is joining FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network. Stossel, best known for his work as co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20," will anchor "Stossel," a weekly program on FOX Business Network, and make regular appearances on FOX News Channel, it was announced Thursday. The one-hour program will feature in-depth reports on domestic and international libertarian issues and will debut during the fourth quarter of this year in FBN's primetime lineup. Stossel and a panel of experts will explore a wide range of topics including civil liberties, the business of health care and Social Security. Prior to his work on "20/20," Stossel held consumer reporter positions for "Good Morning America" and New York City's WCBS-TV. He has received 19 Emmy awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club.
Fox News

Fox Lands TextsFromLastNight TV
TextsFromLastNight is headed to television. After strong interest from several networks, Fox landed a multicamera coming-of-age project based on the popular Web site that will be written by Steve Holland and produced by Sony TV and Happy Madison. The site's signature slogan is "Remember that text you shouldn't have sent last night? We do." The user-generated blog posts "regrettable," often embarrassing text messages usually sent late at night by people who are drunk or high. Called "a living document of twentysomething life in 2009," it has become a Web success story since launching in February, averaging 4 million hits a day. After a three-year stint on Sony/Happy Madison's comedy "Rules of Engagement," Holland met with Happy Madison executives about development and pitched an idea they suggested could dovetail nicely with TFLN. "The show is about twentysomethings in that post-college, pre-the-rest-of-their-lives limbo trying to figure out what to do, and texting is a large part of that," Holland said.
Hollywood Reporter

HBO Tops Creative Arts Emmys Pace With 16 Awards
Capturing 16 statues, HBO topped the Creative Arts Emmy Awards overall, with Cartoon Network and Showtime finishing second and third on the cable side of the hall with six and five wins, respectively. HBO's haul set the pace for all of TV, led by three wins apiece for telefilm Grey Gardens and its miniseries, Generation Kill. NBC was second with 11 wins, including a guest actor statue for Tina Fey's imitation of then-GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. ABC and Fox were next with eight Emmys apiece. CBS and PBS tied Cartoon Network for fourth overall with six statues apiece. Premium network Showtime followed in fifth with its five wins. History, with three, and AMC, with a pair, were the only other networks to register multiple wins. Cable's other winners were: A&E, Bravo, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, Fox Movie Channel, FX Networks, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike TV, Syfy (nee Sci Fi) and Travel Channel. Check out the complete list of Creative Arts Emmy Awards winners here.
MultiChannel

ESPN/ABC Bids Big for 20014/20016 Olympic Games
Standing on a deck overlooking the ESPN headquarters, executive vice president of content John Skipper delivers some bad news to network TV competitors about the upcoming bidding war for U.S. TV rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games. "We'll be there. We're having discussions with them," Skipper said. After scoring big with its coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, you'd think NBC would have the inside track on TV rights to the 2014 and 2016 games. But ESPN/ABC will likely be a strong competitor. Without blinking an eye, ESPN outbid Fox by more than $100 million for the rights to college football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) from January 2011 to January 2014. As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, the once rinky-dink and now incredibly deep-pocketed cable network seems hungrier for the validation an Olympics would bring. "There's no question the Olympics would continue the process of establishing ESPN as the home of championship sports and great sports," Skipper said. The International Olympics Committee has assured ESPN, said Skipper, that it will have a seat at the table when bidding begins in earnest for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in a still-to-be-determined host city. CBS, Fox and NBC have the next three Super Bowls. The NFL will select future networks as it hammers out new TV deals for 2014 and beyond.
USA Today

NBC Universal Mulls New Partner
Several financial industry sources said Tuesday that General Electric is paving the way for a possible change of the ownership structure at media company NBC Universal. The media industry’s favorite fall parlor game is guessing what Vivendi will do with its 20% holding and how that will affect NBC Universal’s future within GE. That decision isn’t due until November, though sources suggest GE is already sounding out the market. One highly placed Wall Street executive said the Vivendi situation was forcing GE’s hand somewhat: "It may not be a strategic sale, it may be a public offering, but no decision has been made." One analyst, who did not wish to be named, said GE has already begun circulating proposal documents: “Talk to people in the media banking community; there is a book out on NBCU,” said this analyst adding, “The crux of the matter is that right now, there is little or no value in the GE stock price from owning NBCU…The Vivendi thing pushes it from a timing perspective and adds a little more urgency to the situation.” When asked whether GE is actively looking for new partners for NBC Universal and whether there is a proposal document or so-called “book” in the market, GE spokeswoman Anne Eisele told B&C, "As you know, Vivendi has an annual option, exercisable later this year, to sell its stake in NBCU in the public market. If Vivendi determines to exercise its option, GE has several options, including bringing a new partner into NBCU, proceeding with an IPO or buying Vivendi's stake." The statement predictably doesn’t mention an outright sale of NBCU, a subject of countless rumors in the media business. In the 2008 company annual report, CEO Jeffrey Immelt wrote, “Should we sell NBCU? The answer is no! I just don't see it happening, not before the Olympics, not after the Olympics," he said. "It doesn't make sense.” In a long-running game of media industry fantasy football, a whole host of corporate names have been rumored as potential buyers for NBC Universal should it become available, though the list usually begins with Time Warner and Comcast.
Broadcasting & Cable

Economist to Charge Readers for Its Online News Content
Economist.com currently offers its readers free access to news content on the site, including the news copy from its £4 cover price weekly magazine. However, editorial copy more than a year old is charged for. Yvonne Ossman, publisher of The Economist in the UK, revealed to Media Week that the brand would move to a paid-for content model, following the completion of a review. The move is being driven through by Ben Edwards, publisher of Ecomomist.com, and the brand is understood to be looking at a number of payment options, including an iTunes-style micropayment model. Commenting on the News Corp decision, Ossman said: "Murdoch's move is welcome, although I am not sure others will follow suit. Newspapers are losing out to free content online and people will pay for analysis and debate." The move to the paid-for model, expected to be introduced within the next six months, marks something of a reversal for the brand, which, in 2007, moved to a predominantly free model. It had previously provided a mix of paid-for and free content, before deciding to make its content free on its homepage in September 2006. Rupert Murdoch's recent announcement that News Corporation's news sites would move to a paid-for model for its news sites was widely seen as a clarion call to other newspaper groups to follow suit.
MediaWeek

Record Companies Sue Ellen
A group of major record labels have banded together in a lawsuit alleging that "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" has violated the copyright on more than 1,000 songs that were broadcast on the talk show without permission, according to the Associated Press. The music companies, Atlantic, Capitol, Warner Bros., Motown and Sony, claim that Ellen's show has never asked for permission for the usage of their property, but Telepictures -- which produces the talk show -- says it has been trying to resolve this issue for months.
TV Week

Good Housekeeping Volunteers to Test Vibrators
The monthly publication shed its staid image in 2003 when it first ran articles on sex aids and internet porn. It was the first time the magazine, first published in Britain in 1922, had included any sexual content. Now, for its October issue, Good Housekeeping has asked a panel of women aged between 30 and 65 to test the UK’s best-selling vibrators and report back on their findings. The categories for scoring were: ease of use, instructions, noisiness and, most importantly, satisfaction rating. The magazine will feature five of the best sex toys, each scored out of 100.June Walton, Deputy Editor, Good Housekeeping, said: “Even though ‘Sex And The City’ has removed the ‘guilty’ tag from owning a sex toy, and it’s widely recognized that many young, single women own vibrators, our survey discovered that they’re just as popular among our readers - only 13 per cent of our testers were vibrator virgins.”
The Telegraph

Website Fires Back at 'You Lie' Rep
A website born overnight fires back at Rep. Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican who accused the president of lying, the Huffington Post reports. The site makes shocking accusations consistent with its slogan: “You dissed America, we’ll dis you right the f--- back.” A few gems from joewilsonisyourpreexistingcondition.com:

Joe Wilson yells while adults are talking
Joe Wilson stole your newspaper
Joe Wilson didn’t refill your Brita pitcher
Joe Wilson claims your sick child is faking
Joe Wilson yells “Free Bird” at concerts
Joe Wilson auto-tuned your Beatles remasters
Joe Wilson traded the dead batteries in his Walkman for the fresh ones in your TV remote
Joe Wilson canceled your insurance for buying off-brand insoles
Joe Wilson laid off your dad just before his pension kicked in
Joe Wilson hit on your mom

Newser

Late Night Licks: Joe Wilson

"I am not getting on Congressman Wilson's case for disagreeing with the president...Every congressman has a vote, he should use it, but not in the middle of a speech to a joint session of Congress. That's not what you do. It's not the Jerry Springer Show. You can't stand up in the middle of Congress and say 'Oh no you did not!' What the hell is wrong with you? He said his emotions got the better of him. Sometimes I want to have sex with a hooker, but I don't!"
- Craig Ferguson

"Barack Obama, of course, is not the first president to have 'you lie' yelled at him. Bill Clinton got that all the time, but only from Hillary. And that was only after he came home and told her he lost his pants in a tornado."
- Craig Ferguson

"Back when George Bush was president, Democrats in Congress, to be fair, would occasionally go 'Boooo!' But President Bush never took it personally, he just thought Congress was haunted."
- Craig Ferguson

"After Joe Wilson's outburst, everyone was shocked. Because usually when a politician shoots off his mouth and makes a fool of himself, his name is Joe Biden. But even Vice President Biden said he was embarrassed by Wilson's behavior. This is Joe Biden we're talking about. Joe Biden saying it's embarrassing is like an Australian bartender saying you've had too much to drink."
- Craig Ferguson

"When Wilson yelled 'you lie' at the president, I don't think he handled it very well. The president should go out and hone his material in some comedy clubs and deal with hecklers. Obama should have said, 'Hey buddy, do I come to your state and knock the wiener out of your governor's mistress?'"
- Craig Ferguson

"Even John McCain chastised Wilson for shouting. When you're McCain's age, you’re opposed to anything loud."
- Craig Ferguson

"It doesn't matter what the Congressman thinks about the President's policies, but he acts like he learned manners in the same place Michael Vick learned about pet care."
- Craig Ferguson

"During President Obama's speech, a congressman heckled him. This guy from South Carolina begins to heckle the guy, and I thought, OK, so now Gov. Mark Sanford is the second most embarrassing politician from South Carolina"
- David Letterman

"John McCain, here's a guy who's seen it all, he was shocked. He said he hasn't seen anything like this since Aaron Burr heckled Alexander Hamilton."
- David Letterman

"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, also shocked. At least that's what she said. You can't tell because her face doesn't move."
- David Letterman

"President Obama made his big healthcare address to a joint session of Congress last night. It went pretty well, except for one weird part in the middle of it, when a congressman from South Carolina suddenly yelled out, 'You lie!' It's amazing this guy was able to sit through seven years of President Bush telling him everything in Iraq is fine without a peep, but last night, he yells out, 'You lie!'"
- Jimmy Kimmel

"Even his fellow Republicans were horrified. He apologized immediately after the speech. He said he was watching 'Gossip Girl' on his iPod, and that Blair such a bitch he just couldn't hold it in."
- Jimmy Kimmel

"Republican Congressman Joe Wilson apologized for calling President Obama a liar during his speech on health care. Obama accepted Wilson's apology, and then invited him to appear before a death panel."
- Conan O'Brien

"During last night's health care speech, President Obama's told Republicans that the time for games has passed. Obama had to say that because most Republicans were on their BlackBerrys playing Brick Breaker."
- Conan O'Brien

"Everybody is talking about the big health speech last night. In his speech, President Obama said that he will not sign a health-care plan that adds one dime to the Federal deficit. And then he interrupted himself and said, 'You lie!'"
- Jimmy Fallon

"The President said that he wants to bring affordable health-care insurance to every American. Joe Biden got really excited. He thought he was finally going to meet the Geico gecko."
- Jimmy Fallon

About.com Political Humor

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