Friday, March 14, 2014

Media Spotlight--March 14


Every weekday in 2014, I'll be keeping an eye on what's happening in the media. My focus will be on some of my favorite subjects...the moguls, the pundits, the broadcast news biz, show business, and the publishing business. (Read "$everance" if you want a crystallization of my positions on those subjects.) And, of course, I'll also keep tabs on Chicago's media.



The Pundits

~Jon Stewart Smacks Down Fox Host Trying to "School" Him
This is so good, I'm posting both videos. It's something that has bothered me for years--Fox News' hatred of poor people (while crying about class warfare against rich people). Stewart is great in pointing this out, but his video archive staff is really tremendous. There's nothing quite as damning as video evidence.



~More Names Emerge As Candidates to Replace Piers
Last week we heard Jake Tapper and Bill Weir. This week (according to Deadline Hollywood) add the names Don Lemon and Michael Smerconish.


The Moguls

~As the Rupert Turns
According to revelations in the trial, one of the leakers to the News of the World was Princess Diana herself. She supposedly turned over her royal phone book to the tabloid. "Just Ask Her," the lawyers appear to be saying. Oh wait a minute, we can't. She's been dead since 1997. Well, then I guess we just gotta trust 'em.


Broadcast News

~Richard Engel Detained by Russians in Crimea
This guy is fearless. He was detained a few years ago in Syria too. Glad to see he talked his way out of custody.


The Radio Biz

~What Nationalization Will Mean To American Radio
Spot on analysis from Edison Research's Larry Rosin. Yes, it's been said before (by me...for the last ten years), but this is being said by someone the industry actually respects. Will they listen? My guess is no. Here's the most important part of his analysis...
"My guess is that the Cumulus and Clear Channel vision for radio’s future is fully nationalized stations whose only remaining local elements are traffic reports (because they can sell these) and weather (natch). The model is not NBC – where at least one gets local news injected through the day to create local branding – like my local “News 4 New York.” The model is, of course, MTV – a national channel with no local elements that, they hope, exerts enough coast-to-coast influence to assemble the hoped-for ‘leverage’ and ‘scalability.’ And maybe this model will work. But if it doesn’t, then everyone will be agreeing with my use of the word ‘disaster.’ Because if it fails, the re-establishment of ‘local’ on all these stations – and hiring all the local people back – seems inconceivable."


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