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Hijacking published text and photos has long been part of the propagandist’s playbook. The game is to disrupt and confuse. Digital tools and social media make it all too easy.
This week a Facebook posting posing as a cover-shot of Munich newspaper Abendzeitung showed a headline very different from the original. On the Facebook page of the Nuremberg branch of far (far) right extremist group AfP appeared a concocted headline stating “police caught leftist extremists setting fire to an asylum camp.” The original - and real - headline said “young people suspected in refugee center fire.” According to police, the teenaged fire-bugs showed “no evidence of extremist ideology,” reported Die Welt (March 8).
Abendzeitung editors were not amused. “Who is the lying press now?” said its (real) headline reporting the incident, referring to the marching slogan of far right anti-immigrant Pegida demonstrators. “We write the headlines, not the AfD,” said deputy editor Timo Lokoschat. Legal action will look into copyright infringements, he said.
An AfD spokesperson, quoted by Bavarian public broadcaster BR (March 9), posed an interesting rebuttal. “We find it unfortunate that the media manipulates and obscures, like in the article.” The Facebook page is no longer available.
The music people - publishers, producers and artists - have long complained that the great digital dividend left them behind. Online downloaders were threatened and punished until the joys of mobile technology made streaming attractive to consumers. Music rights revenues peaked years ago, forcing artists into long and brutal stage tours.
Streaming revenues are, however, on the up-tick, reported French music publishers association SNEP in its annual report. Streaming rights is the “growth driver” for the music industry, said SNEP general director Guillaume Leblanc, quoted by challenges.fr (March 8). French subscribers to the various streaming services in 2015 increased by one million, to 3 million, over the previous year. Streaming revenues now tops €100 million.
“The French are making up for lost time,” said Spotify France general director Yann Thébault. Music industry revenues in France fell 4.7% in the year largely on continuing declines in physical sales, CDs and such. Rights fees from radio and TV broadcasters have fallen to €426 million from €1.3 billion in 2002.
Figures released by the German music industry association (BVMI) last week were a bit different. Total music revenues were up year on year by 4.6% to €1.55 billion. Revenue from streaming services more than doubled to 14.4% of the total.
Some of the credit goes to “good old radio,” said Sony Germany general manager Philip Ginthör, quoted by wired.de (March 3). “The importance of radio again increases because of the close link with what happens online. Radio (stations) inform you very closely what is happening on the web.”
Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA) is a big company. It’s footprint extends far from its Italian roots and through many business sectors. The company doesn’t just make and sell cars. It has been the largest shareholder (77%) in ITEDI, publisher of Italian newspapers La Stampa and the smaller Il Secolo XIX. Last week FCA announced its intention to exit the media business.
FCA and minority shareholder Ital Press Holding will be merging ITEDI with Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, publisher of big newspaper La Repubblica and several magazines as well as operator of television and radio stations. In the same process, FCA will “distribute” its 16.7% holding in RCS MediaGroup, publisher of Corriere della Sera, to the shareholders. Agnelli family investment business Exor, controlling shareholder of FCA, will retain a 5% stake in the new company. Exor paid €650 million, roughly, for controlling interest in the Economist Group last year. (See more about media in Italy here)
The newspaper circulation and advertising in Italy has, like elsewhere, shrunk considerably over the last decade. But, like elsewhere, the signature titles have moved into the digital sphere. Asset value is no longer calculated on copies sold - similar to cars sold - but on web traffic.
The rather complex deal, expected to take a year, is a digital leap for Italian media. Newspapers in the printed form have relied on regional strengths. This will further fade as digital products are, at once, hyper-local and available everywhere. It’s likely that “editorial structures” at La Stampa and La Repubblica will leave behind pre-digital management to compete with a fully digital Corriere della Sera.
The media world has become engaged. The dearly betrothed is always social media. This has made Facebook et.al. rich, famous, powerful and richer.
Big French national channel Europe 1 let the world know this week that its Twitter followers have now topped a million. All French radio broadcasters are attached to social networks, from NRJ and Skyrock to Radio Classique. Radio broadcasters everywhere devote time, talent and money following the rainbow. (See more about social media here)
"We want to unite communities,” said RTL radio group executive director for digital products Thomas Karolak, quoted by Les Echos (March 7). RTL Group owns RTL, RTL2 and Fun Radio. More concretely: “We recruit tomorrow’s listeners on the web.”
None of this is particularly new. Social media “engagement” for audience building is a well-worn pitch from radio consultants. The best attended radio conference presentations offer tips on getting the most from the social networks.
Media buyers have tipped the scale by paying attention to social network traffic generated by broadcasters as much as traditional audience measurement. In response, broadcasters are finding social media traffic builds not only audience but advertising. Real-time broadcasting takes place on many platforms.
In the wake of last week’s dramatic seizure of Turkish media house Feza Gazetecilik Media Group fleeing employees launched a new daily newspaper Yarina Bakis, the Turkish phrase for “Look to tomorrow.” The new daily follows, with much smaller footsteps, notable opposition daily Zaman, owned by Feza Gazetecilik Media Group along with a television station, weekly news magazine Aksiyon, English-language Today’s Zaman, the Cihan news agency and associated websites. Zaman has been Turkey’s largest newspaper by circulation.
Government prosecutors were granted by an Istanbul court a request to seize the assets as part of an ongoing investigation into links with Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who the government deems a “terrorist.” And so, government appointed trustees arrived at the Zaman headquarters Saturday (March 5) with a police escort. Zaman executive editor Abdulhamit Bilici was fired, along with other executives, and removed from the building. (See more about media in Turkey here)
The first edition of Yarina Bakis headlined the riot squad’s response to the gathering of protestors and Zaman employees with water cannon and rubber bullets. A website is up and running. A spokesperson said the new daily has no ties with Feza Gazetecilik Media Group and was planned before the Zaman seizure.
Zaman, under new management, headlined new construction projects and other virtues of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government with look and feel of Pravda in the days of the Soviet Union. “No one should have hesitation about press freedom in Turkey,” said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to pro-government TV channel A Haber (March 6) before jetting to Brussels for a bargaining session with European Union diplomats.
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