Tuesday 13 May 2008

media guardian story

'Ofcom defends 9pm watershed'

Ofcom has dismissed claims by a group of MPs that the 9pm watershed is failing to protect young children because they can now access television online.
Giving evidence at a culture, media and sport committee hearing today, the Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, denied the regulator had put itself in an "impossible and absurd position" by not doing more to regulate objectionable content on the web.
Richards was responding to claims made by Nigel Evans, the Ribble Valley conservative MP, who argued that Ofcom's powers over broadcasting should be more rigorously applied to internet content.
"It's important to remember that the watershed isn't dead," Richards said.
"Despite the internet, television remains remarkably resilient as a medium. The watershed is still a very important and I think it will remain so for several years."
The cross-party group of MPs raised concerns about services such as the BBC iPlayer, which make it possible for anyone to view post-watershed content at any time of the day.
The Ofcom partner for content and standards, Stuart Purvis, said a lot of the responsibility rested with parents to make sure their children were not watching inappropriate material.
"If you look at the iPlayer, it immediately asks you if you are over 16," Purvis said.
"The question that arises is: Are children going to understand that or are they going to override it?"
He added that new technology had "in a sense disadvantaged parents" who might not necessarily know how to use access locks to protect children from post-watershed content.
However, both Purvis and Richards dismissed suggestions that it was the role of Ofcom on its own to encourage parents to become more aware of their children's online activities.
"We are definitely not the right body to deliver a mass campaign to promote media literacy," Richards said.
"We are not qualified enough to do it. We don't have the skills to do it. I think somebody does have to do that, but it's not the duty of Ofcom.
"That sort of mass campaign to bring parents understanding of literacy issues is not appropriate for us."
Asked by the panel whether he would allow a 10-year-old to watch Channel 4 drama Shameless, Richards replied: "Parents have got to make that judgment. These are matters for parents.
"The issue for us is: Is it in the right place in the schedule? I think it is."
Richards also told MPs that Ofcom would be willing to cooperate if police decided to launch an investigation into ITV's premium-rate phone abuses, but he said the regulator had not yet been approached to provide evidence.
Ofcom's appearance before the culture, media and sport committee comes after the publication of a report by Lord Byron in March on how to protect children on the internet.
Among the key recommendations was the introduction of a national strategy for child internet safety, which involves a self-regulatory approach to internet content.
The Byron report also called for better provision of information to families, after it concluded that there was a "generational digital divide", which meant parents did not feel equipped to protect their children online.

Wednesday 30 April 2008

media guardian story

A peak of 10.6 million viewers watched Manchester United qualify for the Champions League final on ITV1 last night, April 29.
The audience peaked across the last half hour of United's 1-0 semi-final victory over Barcelona between 9pm and 9.30pm at 10.6 million and a 40% share, according to unofficial overnight ratings.
Across the whole of ITV1's coverage between 7.30pm and 10pm, an average of 8.6 million and 34% tuned in.
The peak was 400,000 viewers up on last week's semi-final first leg between Liverpool and Chelsea, who play again tonight - this time on Sky Sports.
The football easily beat the BBC1 competition, Holby City and Waking the Dead, although both dramas posted respectable numbers.
At 8pm, Holby City attracted 5.7 million viewers and a 23% share, up 300,000 and one share point on last week, then at 9pm Waking The Dead held firm on last week's 5.9 million, with share at 23%.
On Channel 4, Gok Wan's style show How To Look Good Naked drew 2.5 million viewers and a 10% share at 8pm, with another 135,000 tuning in on the Channel 4 +1 catch-up service an hour later.
Then at 9pm, the second helping of medical show Embarrassing Bodies attracted 2.3 million and 9%, down 300,000 and two share points on Monday night's opener. A further 320,000 watched on Channel 4 +1.
The show is running for four consecutive nights, and last night turned its attention to breasts.
Its audience just edged out Channel Five's CSI repeat - which drew 2.1 million viewers and an 8% share - while both were a long way in front of BBC2's The Age of Terror. The Peter Taylor documentary drew 800,000 and 3%.
At 10pm, BBC's news romped home with 5.7 million viewers and a 29% share to News at Ten's 2.5 million and 13%.
Channel 4's Jacques Peretti documentary, Michael Barrymore: What Really Happened, pulled in 2.1 million viewers at 10pm, 12% of the audience. It drew 147,000 more viewers on Channel 4 +1.
BBC2's Later Live… with Jools Holland could only manage 600,000 and 3%.
Earlier, the soaps did the business, with Emmerdale drawing 6.5 million viewers and a 32% share at 7pm to ITV1, while BBC1's EastEnders pulled in 8.9 million and 39% at 7.30pm.
BBC2's coverage of the world snooker championship averaged 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share between 7pm and 9pm.

ms jones' questions

Media Quiz week 8
1)ITV were fined £4m b'coz of phone scandal
2)Women mag called 'EVE', core readers are women (30 +)
3)Miley Cyrus has offended her young fans through taking sexual photgraphs and revealing her body too much
4)iTunes (Apple)
5)Financial Times

Media Quiz week 7
1)Charles Allen
2)Newsday (Rupert Murdoch)
3)Coca Cola is beign targeted because they are sponsoring the Olympics.
4)Murdoch
5)March of the Penguins, the 2005 documentary that cost $3m to make and took $127m globally at the box office.

Saturday 26 April 2008

media guardian story

Local newspaper publisher Newsquest has told prepress staff at some of its titles that their jobs will be outsourced to India.
Prepress staff at papers in Sussex and Wiltshire, who design ads and check editorial pages before they are sent to the printers, have been told their positions are at risk.
Newsquest Sussex, publisher of Brighton's Argus newspaper, announced that 21 jobs will go as work is outsourced to a third-party supplier, Express KCS, an American company with operations in India.Staff were told of the move last week and there is now a four-week consultation period before the notice of termination of contracts.
At present there are 31 staff in prepress - 22 full-time and nine part-time - which are set to be cut to the equivalent of 10 full-time jobs.
The prepress staff design ads and check editorial pages for quality before sending them to the printers, which are based in the same building, Argus House, at Hollingbury.
Journalists at the titles fear that sending pages electronically to and from India before they are printed each morning in Brighton could jeopardise the quality of Sussex's daily newspaper, the Argus.
Steve Sibbald, national officer for newspapers at the Unite union which represents the workers, condemned Newsquest's actions as "a worrying development".
He said staff at Newsquest Wiltshire, which prints titles including the Swindon Advertiser, were also told last week that a dozen prepress jobs would be outsourced.
Newsquest said in a statement given to staff whose jobs are at risk that the company is "continually looking at production efficiencies", with a new software system in the pipeline.
"In addition, we are proposing to move a substantial proportion of our advertising setting in Brighton to a third-party supplier Express KCS who are an American company with operations in India," the statement added.
"The combination of fully electronic workflow, improvements for our property net system and the service from KCS would enable us to run the prepress operation in Brighton with fewer staff."


Globalisation
It is thought that Newsquest has been outsourcing work to India for about six months from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, although it is understood no jobs have been lost there.
Sibald said: "We are not whining about globalisation. That is old news. What is worrying is that these titles sell themselves as local papers for local people.
"But at the same time they are making local people who aren't on huge salaries redundant and moving their jobs 5,000 miles away to India where people will work in bad conditions for far less money," he added.
"Newsquest is a profitable company and this is a bloody con.
"PDFs can be sent electronically from Worcester or Mumbai or Delhi. But what is at risk is the origination and the local feel of the papers."
Staff numbers have already been cut at Newsquest Sussex this year, with two of the company's monthly magazines axed within the past month.
The Brighton Source, a glossy entertainment magazine covering music, clubs, fashion and food, was shut down with the loss of two editing and design jobs.
Rocks, an ethical lifestyle magazine covering environmental issues, was also closed and its editor made redundant.
Newsquest Media Group, a subsidiary of US newspaper giant the Gannett Corporation, publishes more than 300 newspapers nationwide.
Newsquest Sussex prints the Argus - formerly the Evening Argus - every Monday to Saturday and a series of free weekly Leader and Life titles across the county.
Newsquest managing directors at Sussex, Wiltshire and Stourbridge had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication. Leighton Jones, Newsquest's group print director, declined to comment.

THIS ARTICLE IS IMPORTANT AS IT LOOKS INTO A NEWPAPER COMPANY WHO HAVE MADE WORKERS REDUNDANT, AS THE POSITIONS ARE BEING FLED TO PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN INDIA. TOWARDS THE END OF THE ARTICLE THERE IS A SECTION ON GLOBALISATION WHICH IS ALSO AN IMPORTANT FACTOR AS THIS 'LOCAL' NEWSPAPER IS LOOKING TO EMPLOY PEOPLE ABROAD, FOR LESS MONEY AND WORSE WORKING CONDITIONS, LEAVES US TO ASK IS THIS REALLY A SIMPLE 'LOCAL' NEWSPAPER?

Thursday 17 April 2008

media guardian story

The Apprentice continued to build its audience last night, Wednesday April 16, hitting the 7 million viewer mark as its contestants took on a photography challenge.
BBC1's hit business reality show averaged 7 million viewers and a 30% audience share in the 9pm hour, up 100,000 and three share points on last week, according to unofficial overnight ratings.
The fourth episode of the Apprentice peaked at 7.6 million viewers and 32% in its final quarter hour from 9.45pm.
Last night's audience was another record for The Apprentice, which debuted with 6.4 million viewers and has now averaged 6.7 million across its run so far.
There was more misery for ITV1's talent show drama Rock Rivals, which pulled in just 2.2 million and 10%, the same performance as last week.
Rock Rivals was again beaten by Channel 4's offering: after five weeks of trailing Grand Designs, last night it was pipped by the documentary Child Genius, which drew 2.3 million viewers. A further 154,000 watched Child Genius an hour later on Channel 4 +1.
BBC2's documentary Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture added 400,000 viewers and two share points on last week, with 1.9 million viewers and an 8% share from 9pm.
Over on Channel Five, Indiana Jones: The True Story drew 1.4 million viewers and a 6% audience share.
In the 8pm hour, Channel 4's Property Ladder dropped 600,000 viewers on last week's series debut, attracting 2.8 million and 12%. The show had another 227,000 viewers on Channel 4 +1.
Property Ladder saw off BBC2's Natural World documentary about a plan to create a moose reserve in Scotland, which was watched by 2.3 million and 10% between 8pm and 8.50pm.
Also in the 8pm hour, BBC1's Traffic Cops scored 5 million viewers and a 22% share, while ITV1's The Bill won the slot with 5.4 million and 24%.
At 10pm, The Apprentice spinoff show You're Fired! was a hit for BBC2, attracting 3.3 million and 16%.
This put it ahead of Channel 4's US import Desperate Housewives, with 2 million viewers and an 11% share, and ITV's News at Ten, which trailed with 1.9 million and 9%. A further 107,000 watched Desperate Housewives on Channel 4 +1.
BBC1's news won the slot, averaging 4.7 million and 24% over 35 minutes.
On BBC2, Newsnight had a strong evening, most likely boosted by the audience inherited from You're Fired!, attracting 1.4 million viewers and a 10% share between 10.30pm and 11.15pm.
Angus Deayton clip show Comedy Sketchbook averaged 2.2 million and 18% from 10.40pm to 11.30pm.
Earlier ITV1's soaps drew the best audiences of the night: Emmerdale was watched by 7.2 million and 36% from 7pm, then Coronation Street pulled in 9.5 million and 45% half an hour later.
THIS IS IMPORTANT AS IT LOOKS INTO THE DIFFERENT PROGRAMMES THAT ARE BEING WATCHED. THE APPRENTICE HAD MULTITUDINOUS AMOUNT OF VIEWERS SUGGESTING THAT WE ARE LIVING IN A CAPITALIST SOCIETY AS EVERYONE IS CONCERNED WITH MONEY AND THE MEANS OF MAKING MONEY

Tuesday 8 April 2008

1970s

1970:
-Biafra surrenders after 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria.
-Doctors are writing 4.8 million prescriptions for Librium in England alone.
1971:
-Shillings disappear in Britain and decimals come in.
1972:
-Bloody Sunday,peaceful civil-rights march in Derry descends into chaos as British paratroopers open fire, killing 14 irish civilians.
-Newsround, first news programme for children.
-Second longest running soap on Brit tv = Emmerdale.
- Supreme Court rules that death penalty is unconstitutional (June 29).
-Eleven Israeli athletes at Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist group invade Olympic Village.
1973:
-Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark enter European Economic Community.
-Chile's Marxist president, Salvadore Allende, is overthrown.
-Watergate Trial, trial of 7 men accused of bugging the Democratic Party HQ in Washington leads to constitutional crisis.
-First teletext system is devised by BBC technicians.
-Fourth and biggest Arab-Israeli conflict begins as Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel as Jews mark Yom Kippur, holiest day in their calendar (Oct. 6
1974:
-Local Government Act reforms local government; replaces counties with metropolitan and non-metropolitan county and district councils.
-Patricia Hearst, 19-year-old daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army, later she takes part in the gang's terror activities, claiming she had been brainwashed.
1975:
-Equal Pay Act makes it illegal for men and women to have different terms and conditions of employment.
1976:
-Supreme Court rules that blacks and other minorities are entitled to retroactive job seniority.
-Trial of Liberal MP Jeremny Thorpe begins after allegations that he had arranged to murder a man with whom he had had a homosexual relationshiop.
-Bill Grundy from Sex Pistols says F word live on early evening tv, Pistols are dropped from their record label, the punk movement gains nationwide publicity.
1977:
-First woman Episcopal priest ordained.
-Elizabeth II celebrates her Silver Jubilee; 25 years on the throne.
1978:
-Winter of Discontent': during strikes power cuts and fuel shortages commonplace.
-Over 900 members of Reverend Jim Jones' cult die after a mass suicide/murder at their compound in Guyana, where poisoned juice is distributed, or force fed to his followers.
-Home cooking is in decline as people turn to takeaways, Delia takes charge!
1979:
-Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister (first woman to hold the office).
-Oil spills pollute ocean waters in Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
-Revolutionary forces under Muslim leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, take over.
-Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests (Dec. 27).

1960s

1960:
-Kennedy elected as President-seventy million people watched.
-Queen first message at Christmas.
-Top Nazi murderer of Jews, Adolf Eichmann, captured by Israelis in Argentina (May 23)—executed in Israel in 1962.
-Communist China and Soviet Union split in conflict over Communist ideology.
-The Pill goes on saleOral contraception which is 99% effective has a liberating effect on the English approach to sex.
1961:
-Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
-First episode of Songs of Praise.
-U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.
- Cuba invaded at Bay of Pigs ( an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. government) by an estimated 1,200 anti-Castro exiles aided by U.S.; invasion crushed.
1962:
-Marilyn Monroe dies of a drug overdose at age 36.-Government regulations force studios out of the talent agency business.
-Kennedy orders Cuban blockade.
-Cuba releases 1,113 prisoners of 1961 invasion attempt.
-Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago become independent.
1963:
-JFK assassinated, shot and killed by Jack Ruby, Dallas nightclub owner
-Civil rights rally held by 200,000 blacks and whites in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King delivers “I have a dream” speech (Aug. 28).
-Kenya achieves independence.
1964:
-Nelson Mendela sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of high treason, sparking off protests around the world.
-Top of the Pops.
1965:
-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more than 2,600 other blacks arrested in Selma, Ala., during three-day demonstrations against voter-registration rules.
-Malcolm X, black-nationalist leader, shot to death at Harlem rally in New York City
-Churchill dies.
-'Tomorrow's World', a show about new technologies and inventions.
-Kenneth Tynan first person to say F word on tv.
1966:
-England World Cup.
1967:
-First heart transplant.
-Coronation Street, 20 million viewers.
-Stamp with Queen on it.
-Sexual Offences ActThis Act ends the total ban on sex between men which has been in place since 1885.
1968:
-Sudents riot in Paris as they object to the apparent closure of the city's uni. hundreds arrested.
-First black woman police officer.
-First issue of Time Out. The essential listings guide to everything that's cool in London.
-"Rivers of Blood" speech. Enoch Powell makes his "Rivers of Blood" speech in Birmingham, stirring up racial prejudice and calling for forced re-patriation of immigrants.
1969:
-Stonewall riot in New York City marks beginning of gay rights movement.
-Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on the moon.
-Kray Twins convicted of murder. The East End's most notorious gangsters are convicted at the Old Bailey. The Kray twins were celebrities as well as violent criminals.
-Concorde was created.
-Benny Hill's first appearance - known for chasing scantily clad women, Benny Hill is one of this country's top comedy exports.
-voting age reduced to 18.
-Women's Liberation Workshop is founded.
-Parliament votes to outlaw capital punishment.