media

In its latest quarterly financial report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Medialink Worldwide -- the largest producer of fake news products such as video news releases (VNRs) and audio news releases (ANRs) -- reports that revenue dropped by more than 28%, compared to the same three month period in 2007. From early 2008, the company's share price has dropped from a high of $4.50 to just 9 cents. In its report, Medialink notes (see page 11) that the company's stock has traded below "the minimum $1.00 per share requirement for continued listing" on the Nasdaq stock market and has been warned that it has until May 18, 2009, to "regain compliance."

An opinion column by David McKnight, an associate professor at the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, argues that "Rupert Murdoch's critics often make the mistake of caricaturing him as just another businessman, interested more in money than ideology. ... These claims underestimate Murdoch's powerful contribution to the shaping of political ideas in Britain, the U.S. and Australia in the past 25 years." In particular, he points out that Murdoch "maintains loss-making newspapers such as the New York Post and the London Times" and that The Australian was subsidized for 20 years. "Murdoch's preparedness to take losses year after year testifies to the fact that he often puts ideas and influence before profit," he writes.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to open up the "white spaces" on the television spectrum that will be available when the U.S. switches from analog to all-digital in February 2009. Sascha Meinrath, research director of the wireless future program at the New America Foundation, said that "All the PR spin and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) failed in the face of physics and the ground reality of engineering." Wired.com sees consumers as the big winners, but there are corporations that will benefit as well. Intel's chips could power new devices made by companies like Motorola, Philips, and Dell that will be used to access the broadband services in the newly available whites spaces. On the other hand, there are industry losers as well. Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast "have paid billions over the years to gain exclusive rights to the spectrum," which will now disappear. "All those problems of diversity on the airwaves and access to internet broadband connectivity are predicated on the artificial scarcity of airwaves," Meinrath said. "They will be alleviated."

"An e-mail went out last week to government agencies to get working on a project to lay out 'THE BUSH RECORD,'" reports Al Kamen. The e-mail tells agencies to "provide a one or two paragraph summary on the overarching communications strategy for your Department," listing any plans to produce "a document listing your Department's major accomplishments over the past eight years, a video of Department successes, etc." It also asks agencies to categorize accomplishments as one of the "three main themes of 'Kept America Safe & Promoted Liberty Abroad,' 'Lowered Taxes & Reformed Government,' and 'Stood on Principle / Tackled Tough Issues / Showed the Way Ahead.'" Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said it's "only natural to collect data" to help reporters writing retrospectives on the George W. Bush administration. Otherwise, the public may not be aware that "minority education test scores went up or that teenage drug use is down 18 percent," he added. Kamen concludes, "Looks like a pretty big PR blitz."

Armstrong WilliamsThe second debate between the major party U.S. presidential candidates didn't address immigration policy. That disappointed the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In September, FAIR held its third annual "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" event, where it brings "dozens of talk radio hosts from around the country" to Washington DC, to do broadcasts on immigration issues, while FAIR supporters lobby members of Congress. This year's radio hosts included Armstrong Williams, while CNN's Lou Dobbs broadcast from the event. "We had talk hosts broadcasting for four hours each day -- 336 hours of radio time across virtually the entire country," said FAIR's Bob Dane. The Republican PR firm Shirley & Bannister Public Affairs booked the radio guests, including members of Congress, authors and "other high-profile figures of the immigration movement." Although the presidential "candidates are not talking about" immigration and border security, complained Dane, "this event is a loud reminder that we aren't and will not be silent."

The Washington Post provides more information on the previously reported $300 million paid to private firms to propagandize Iraq over the next three years. The contractors will "produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to 'engage and inspire' the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government. ... The four companies that will share in the new contract are SOSi, the Washington-based Lincoln Group, Alexandria-based MPRI and Leonie Industries." Although U.S. law bans propagandizing domestic audiences, the contract lists "Iraqi, pan-Arabic, International, and U.S. audiences" as targets. One Pentagon official said information operations "helped in developing attitudes" against al-Qaeda in Iraq, and "could potentially be helpful" in minimizing Iran's influence. Another official admitted that Iraqi audiences rarely "know that the originator of the content is the U.S. government."

The managing editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson, has admitted in a lengthy review of Bob Woodward's latest book that the Times failed to publish enough front-page articles questioning the prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Midway through her 3,000-plus word review of "The War Within," Bob Woodward's latest book about George W. Bush's presidency, Abramson writes, "In 'Plan of Attack' Woodward acknowledges an error of his own: he admits he should have pushed The Washington Post to publish a front-page article about the flimsiness of the intelligence on W.M.D. I was Washington bureau chief for The Times while this was happening, and I failed to push hard enough for an almost identical, skeptical article, written by James Risen. This was a period when there were too many credulous accounts of the administration's claims about Iraq's W.M.D. (including some published in The Times and The Post)." Abramson admitted that at the time she "failed to grasp" the importance and the urgency of Risen's article.

Image from CleanSkies.tvFaced with "public complaints about its new drilling in an urban area" -- Fort Worth, Texas -- the natural gas company Chesapeake Energy is about to launch its own "brand-new media source," Shale.tv. The online video channel will be produced by "three Dallas-area former journalists," and is named after the Barnett Shale natural gas formation in North Texas. In response to questions about Shale.tv's objectivity, Chesapeake spokesperson Julie Wilson pointed out, "We pay those journalists -- whether on Channel 8 or Channel 11 or the [Fort Worth] Star-Telegram -- in terms of advertising support. ... Instead of running ads on the program, we're just writing the check direct." Chesapeake has also hired actor Tommy Lee Jones, "to help deliver its point of view." And, since April, the Chesapeake-funded group American Clean Skies Foundation has run CleanSkies.tv. The online video channel "has applied for press credentials that would place its reporters and crew inside the U.S. Capitol," reports Dow Jones. The CleanSkies.tv program "Clean Skies Sunday," which is anchored by former CBS Morning News host Susan McGinnis, is also broadcast on WJLA-7, the ABC affiliate in Washington DC. A recent show featured Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon discussing a Clean Skies Foundation report that concluded that "natural gas supplies are vast enough to meet current demand for more than 100 years, a key talking point by the natural gas industry in its congressional lobbying efforts."

In an attempt to "taint the al-Qaida brand," a British counter-terrorism unit has targeted the BBC and other domestic media outlets. A report from the UK research, information and communications unit described efforts to discredit al-Qaida (AQ) by promoting messages that the terrorist group is losing support, that "they are not heroes and don't have answers," and that "they harm you, your country and your livelihood." The unit is mostly sending information to "overseas communicators" such as British embassy and consulate staffers and others "working with overseas influencers and opinion formers." But the counter-terrorism report adds: "We are pushing this material to UK media channels, eg, a BBC radio programme exposing tensions between AQ leadership and supporters. And a restricted working group will communicate niche messages through media and non-media." The report also advocates using new media to "channel messages through volunteers in internet forums." The counter-terrorism unit's material "is a mixture of recent news reports and articles from Arabic, Middle Eastern and North African news sources illustrating the theme of 'AQ is in decline' as well as articles from the New York Times, the Observer, Newsweek and American websites," reports Alan Travis.

The Pentagon's new Defense Media Activity (DMA) -- which "combines formerly separate Pentagon media organizations, such as the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, the Stars and Stripes newspaper, and the Pentagon Channel" -- needs someone to run it. The Defense Department is looking for an "energetic and imaginative executive" to oversee "2,400 military, government and contract employees around the world and a budget of more than $225 million." The DMA is tasked with communicating "messages and themes" from Pentagon officials and providing "a wide variety of information products" to Pentagon staff, servicemembers and their families, veterans and "external audiences." The DMA also provides "high quality visual information products, including Combat Camera imagery depicting U.S. military activities and operations." According to the Army Times, "development of the group and its first-year budget has been given to [Bryan] Whitman, since the job of his supervisor ... is vacant." Whitman's name frequently appears in the Pentagon pundits documents. The DMA "will not include the America Supports You public relations program," which is currently under investigation for funneling PR and marketing contracts through Stars and Stripes. Whitman said America Supports You "wasn't placed under the DMA because it is not of the same 'nature' as other external information programs."