ftm is introducing a new daily column of media news, complimenting the twice weekly feature articles on major media issues. Tickle File items point out media happenings, from the oh-so serious to the not-so serious, that should not escape notice...in a shorter, more informal format. 

We are able to offer this new service thanks to the great response to our Media Sleuth project in which you, our readers, are contributing media information happening in your countries that  have escaped the notice of the international media, or you are providing us information on covered events that others simply didn't know about. We invite more of you to become Media Sleuths. For more information click here.

The Tickle File is a time honored journalistic tradition. Invented in 1761 by Urs Tickes, editor of a long disappeared Swiss newspaper, it is an effective tool for organizing article ideas.

To each journalist Tickes would hand 10 file folders saying "Halten Sie Ihre Ideen organisiert und Ihre Schreibtisch sauber, verdammt!"

Unfortunately Tickes met an unfortunate demise. While personally escorting a shipment of 10 million file folders from Sweden, the boat was sunk and all, including Tickes, was lost. Rumors of involvement by a militant Swiss journalists guild - Die organisierte Gesellschaft des Rechtgehirns, durcheinandergebrachte schweizer Journalisten - were never proven.

The legend of Tickes continues...

Here is the ftm Tickle File with notes from the ftm team...and you!

Tickle File Week of October 16, 2006

Danish Court Rules Jyllands-Posten Did Not Intend To Belittle Muslims

A Danish court has ruled that those 12 editorial cartoons published by Jyllands-Posten in September last year that caused riots  in the Islamic world earlier this year may have offended some Muslims, but their intent was not  to insult the Prophet or to mock Islam.

The City Court in Aarhus thus rejected a lawsuit by seven Danish Muslim groups seeking damages against the newspaper’s editor and the culture editor who commissioned the cartoons. The groups said they would appeal.

Editor Carsten Juste said, “Anything but a pure acquittal would have been a disaster for press freedom and the media’s responsibility to fulfil its duties in a democratic society.”

Denmark’s top prosecutor had earlier this year declined to charge the newspaper with any violation of laws against racism or blasphemy so the Muslim groups pursued the matter as a civil case.

Rambler TV Sells Out To Concentrate On The Internet

Rambler Media says it has sold its Rambler TV station in Russia for $23 million and will use the proceeds to concentrate on its Internet activities.

Prof Media owns the 2 x 2 TV station that broadcasts in Moscow. 2 x 2 will now expand by using Rambler’s various TV frequencies, including for instance, the one in St. Petersburg.

Rambler says most if its revenues come from the Internet. It runs  the Rambler.ru search engine, a portal, an ISP, an advertising agency, and a group of mobile technology and content companies.

A Special Tribute To Anna Politkovskaya

There are still no breakthroughs in the murder investigation of who shot Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in her apartment building entrance October 7, although the authorities say they are following three possible reasons for the killings.

To honour her memory, her colleagues and others published Thursday a special 16-page tabloid that included many tributes, and also an unpublished article by her that was found on her computer.

In her article she found it sad  that journalists are outcasts in Russia and were often forced to meet officials in secret. She also said that she received many death threats and other threats to harm her, but that she never wrote about them. “I think that is all trivial’” her article said.

NRJ Q3 Financial

NRJ Group released Q3 financial results citing growth in non-broadcast activities. Gross revenue for the first three quarters grew just under 20% to €79 million. Non-broadcast revenue, led by Le Roi Soleil, grew 35% quarter to quarter.

Broadcast revenue for the quarter dropped 10% under the continuing struggle in the German market. In July NRJ reached a sales agreement with AS&S.

UK Q3 RAJAR Figures Released

The Q3 UK and London radio audience figures were released at 0800 CET this morning.

National –

UP: BBC Radio 1, Radio 4, national commercial stations

DOWN: BBC Five Live, local commercial stations

London -

UP: BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show, KISS 100 Breakfast Show

DOWN: Capitol Radio Breakfast

Full analysis on Monday....

The Starbucks Channel Coming to the UK?

UK media regulator OFCOM has proposed further loosening sponsorship rules for radio and TV channels, allowing entire channels to be sponsored.

The new rules will allow sponsorship of news and public affairs programs. Childrens’ channels will be protected from the evils of alcohol and gambling.

Channels will not, however, be named after sponsors: no Starbucks channel, no Cadberry channel, no Radio BA.

Full guidance from OFCOM will soon be published.

JupiterResearch Says US Mobile Messaging and Advertising Will Double By 2011

Technology specialist JupiterResearch forecasts a total US advertiser spend on mobile messaging and display advertising of $2.9 billion in 2011, double the $1.4 billion this year.

In a report, ‘US Mobile Marketing Forecast, 2006 to 2011’, the research firm also says 22% of online advertisers are currently engaged in mobile marketing as part of their marketing mix, with a bias towards youth-oriented brands.

‘Educating consumers, protecting their privacy, and mitigating their concerns about the cost of commercial text messages and SPAM, will be key to driving consumer interest and adoption of mobile marketing executed with SMS,’ according to Julie Ask, Research Director and Senior Analyst.

Clear Channel Going Private?

Clear Channel Communications Inc, the leading US radio station operator, says it has hired Goldman Sachs & Co. to help it evaluate strategic alternatives, including a leveraged buyout to take the company private.

The Mays family, which controls the company, has been talking a number of buyout groups, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. The company has a $16 billion market capitalization, but it is thought private equity groups would bid higher. 

China Bans “False and Vulgar” Medical Ads

Ads for female breast enlargements, medicines to prolong male potency, treatments for anal and intestinal problems and the like will disappear starting November 1 from Chinese newspapers under a decree issued by two government organizations.

The move follows a similar one imposed in August on radio and television that banned advertisements for such ailments as weight loss and sexually transmitted diseases. Many of the treatments are unproven and the ban now requires media to vouch for the veracity and credibility of advertisements they publish.

And so commuters won’t spoil their breakfast, Beijing has banned advertisements from city buses that deal with anal and intestinal ailments. 

UK Newspapers Sued For Libel By Heather McCartney

British newspapers haven’t had a juicy story like this since Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorced. Now it is a divorce between legendary Beatle Paul McCartney and his second wife, Heather Mills McCartney. Even the lawyers are the same as Charles and Diana used.

Most of the media have been supporting the Beatles star and have painted Mrs. McCartney is a very unflattering manner.

She is suing The Daily Mail and The Evening Standard, both published by Associated Newspapers, and her law firm says they will also file suit against The Sun, Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid daily.

But in a warning that other newspapers may have their day ion court, her lawyers said, “She cannot sue – for now, at least – every single newspaper that has published false, damaging and immensely upsetting statements about her. We ask on behalf of our client for the media, as a matter of common decency, please now to show some restraint.”

Global Entertainment and Media Industry to Grow By 6.6% Annually

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) expects the global entertainment and media industry to reach $1.8 trillion by 2010, and that the industry is shifting from physical distribution to digital distribution of media content.

It said that global spending via online and mobile reached $19 billion last year.

PWC expects to see an annual average growth rate of 6.6%, with Ireland leading the European table at 7.1%.

Two US Supreme Court Justices Complain About Media’s Coverage Of Judicial Opinions

Two Supreme Court Justices, Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito Jr., don’t believe the media does a very good job of reporting judicial decisions and they believe the criticism aimed at judges in general stops many legal professionals from seeking a court position

Both men were speaking at a discussion sponsored by the National Italian American Foundation. Scalia said, “You can’t blame them. Because nobody would read it if you went into the details of the law that the court has to solve.”  Alito also complained that most people know what they know about the courts from a news media that oversimplifies and sensationalizes.

RSF Press Freedom Index Released

Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders – RSF) new Press Freedom Index, released Tuesday October 23, gives a telling glimpse of the journalistic independence’ moving center.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is the first southeast European country ranked in the top 20, tied for number 19 with Denmark, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago.

"Each year new countries in less-developed parts of the world move up the index to positions above some European countries or the United States,” chaffs the report. “Meanwhile the steady erosion of press freedom in the United States, France and Japan is extremely alarming."

African countries ranking above major Western democracies include Benin (23rd), Namibia (26th), Mauritius (32nd), Ghana (34th), Mali (35th), South Africa (44th) and Cape Verde (45th).

Bolivia (16th) ranked ahead of Canada and Austria.

North Korea remains solidly at the bottom of the list.

Sky Italia to Float?

Speaking to shareholders last weekend, Rupert Murdoch noted that News Corp’s once troubled Sky Italia unit is now profitable. Jumping on an oft-floated stock trader suggestion, Variety opined that a stock float is in the offing.

The financial press ignored the idea, preferring to focus on News Corps internet successes like MySpace.

Dutch Politicians Favor Open Cable

A majority coalition in the Dutch Parliament called on the government to open cable networks to competition. The government said it would consider new broadcast content rule making but questioned the possibility in light of EU rules. Currently cable networks must freely carry TV channels but are protected from further competition.

Swiss Redraw the TV/Radio Map

The Swiss federal agency of communication (UVEK) proposed enlarging some concession zones, raising the possibility that privately owned radio and television broadcaster might expand their coverage.

Concession zones for private broadcasters have been very small geographic areas, whereas public broadcaster SSR-SRG has virtually unlimited coverage through the three main linguistic regions. The recently enacted radio and television law (LRTV) sought to add some balance while protecting both private and public sector broadcasters.

The proposed new concession zones will combine several existing zones and allow broadcasters on the fringes to adopt the wider coverage areas. Plenty of debate will follow as the proposal is on its way to the Swiss parliament.

Advertisers Fight For Ads on Czech Public Television

Advertising trade groups are asking the Czech Parliament to rollback an order for Czech public TV to phase out commercial advertising, reports the Czech Business Weekly. 

The Czech Association of Communication Agencies (AKA) wants the phase out on hold until digital TV licenses are finally issued. Under the newly revised media law Czech public TV would end commercial advertising by 2008.  Advertisers fear huge price increases as TV Nova and Prima TV become the only major TV outlets. 

Czech regulator RRTV did issue digital TV licenses in April but the losers, including CME owned TV Nova, went to court and forced the process to start again.

GM Putting More Ad Money Into The Internet

General Motors is going to increase the share of its advertising spend that goes onto the Internet, according to a report by respected Merrill Lynch media analyst Lauren Rich Fine. Already the company is spending somewhere between 10-15% of its spend on the Internet.

Local dealers now apportion about 9% of their ad spend onto the Internet and GM is urging that that digital spend be increased, too, according to the report.

One reason for the GM move could be that 85% of online shoppers consider consumer generated content to be a major key when shopping for a new vehicle, and that consumers would welcome auto manufacturer participation in online discussions about their products, according to a study for Yahoo! Autos by J.DF. Power & Associates.

Most Consumer Electronic Purchases Influenced By Internet Research

Seventy-Seven per cent of US consumer electronic purchases were influenced by Internet research, according to a new study by the Consumers Electronics Association and Yahoo.

The least time was spent on the least expensive item – mobile phones – while the most time was devoted to research on televisions. But most of the buying is not done online – consumers still prefer to go to the store, but they have done their homework beforehand and know pretty much what they want when they walk in the door.

notes: FTM was recently quoted a price by a retailer to replace a PC which sounded very reasonable. But when we went to the manufacturer’s web site we found the recommended retail price was actually 50 Swiss Francs less. Faced with the printed proof the dealer reduced his price. 

Two Media Companies Rank As Top Five Arab Brands

Forbes Arabia, the Dubai-based Arabic edition of Forbes, has ranked leading Arab businesses based on brand loyalty and consumer perception, and the television satellie news channel Al Jezeera, topped the list, with Al Arabiya coming fourth.

According to Forbes Arabia editor Sulaiman al-Hattian, “The key question for those building Arab brands is how to think globally and act locally.”

notes:

Vietnam Cracks Down On Media

Vietnam has suspended a business magazine for an unlimited period and two newspapers for one month, and is investigating six others, according to the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Vietnamese media are either state controlled or come under strict press regulations that forbid “provoking people against the State of the Socialist Republic.

The two newspapers had apparently violated that ban by criticizing a new production of polymer-based banknotes that are longer lasting than cotton-based paper notes. The switch to polymer occurred in 2003 to fight counterfeiting.

Now It’s The Chinese Who Want A More Positive International Press

Chinese communications experts met at a summit over the weekend to try and figure out how Chinese media can better report domestic news for international audiences, but there were no easy answers.

Ma Shengrong, Xinhua vice president complained, “The voices of the Chinese media are still weak on the world stage due to various factors, including the difficulty of translating some Chinese values and phrases into English.”  She also said that the most talented professionals who could do that are moving to higher-paid jobs.

Wu Jianmin, president of the Foreign Affairs Council and a former Chinese ambassador to France, warned, “China’s distorted image would be the largest obstacle for its further development.”

The comments came at the First Global Journalism and Communication Conference sponsored by Tsinghua University, Duke University (US) and Dragon TV (Shanghai) to mark the 20th anniversary of China’s first English language TV program.

BBC’s Own Investigation Shows It Is Indeed Biased

The BBC is so biased against the US in its reporting that it treats it with scorn and derision and gives it ‘no moral weight’” according to an internal BBC investigation that was leaked to the UKs Mail on Sunday newspaper.

The newspaper reported that Justin Webb, a BBC Washington correspondent, admitted the bias was so bad that he has made an agreement with the BBC’s deputy director general to help him “correct” his reports.

An executive was quoted as saying, “There was widespread acknowledgement that we may have gone too far in the direction of political correctness. Unfortunately, much of it is so deeply embedded in the BBC’s culture, that it is very hard to change it.”

In one discussion executives admitted they would have no trouble if, in a comedy show, a Bible was thrown into the trash, but they would not allow the Koran to be similarly treated for fear of upsetting Muslims.

More Color Ads For The WSJ

September was a horrible month for the Wall Street Journal.  Ad revenue fell 5.9% and classified lineage dropped 13.1% so what better time to announce to advertisers that the WSJ is going to offer more pages for color advertising.

The two-year project, at a cost of $30 million, will add 17% more advertising color capacity, bringing the total number of pages available for such advertising to 168 each week.

ProSiebenSat Rumors

Financial Times Deutschland reported late last week that ProSiebenSat’s main investor Haim Saban is looking for a quick sale…again.

Dow Jones’ follow-up, quoting more unnamed sources, suggested otherwise.

Reality check: This is a great time to get out of the TV business in Germany. With new EC TV rules looming large, no business-friendly media policies in Germany, weak multi-media presence of ProSiebenSat…and the price will be far higher than Axel Springer dreamed.

Swiss TV License Tax Attacked

In an editorial Friday (October 20) the Tribune de Geneve strongly criticized arguments favoring an increase in the Swiss radio and television reception tax.

“The reasoning of (public broadcaster SSR-SRG) is amazingly limpid:  reform of the Radio and TV law (LRTV) cut public radio and television incomes and advertising revenue is falling. To compensate for the loss, the user is taxed.”

“The SSR takes refuge in a monopolistic policy.”

“It is urgent that radio and TV are reinvented, because the current model is about to explode.”

The current Swiss radio and television reception tax is the highest in the world.

notes:

Ah, there's been an amazing degree of self-censorship on this subject from SSR-SRG channels. So much for journalism in the public service.