OBAMA : MEDIA MANIA, CAMPAIGN & RESULT

On the 5th of November a long and much hyped campaign come to an end. As Democrate senator BARACK OBAMA rose to 44th Prez of world's most powerful democracy.

Now generations will remember him. First black and outspoken. How we would like to remember him as a son of Kenyan economist or a child of single mother. Or as a senator who won the seat in the Illinois state in 1996.

But he will be remembered best as a best hyped presidential nominee who tried to steal the show via every possible manner. He debated his septuagenarian rival and republican senator Jhon Mccain.

In 2oth January 2009 when he will take oath his prowess will be tasted. Because he has to face more challenges. Economy may be big bash. Since 1930's it is very depressingly crunch time. America seems to be under pressure with many fronts like War in Iraq and Afghanistan and on foreign policy.

As we talk full use media and campaign. Will it be set a trend ? It is question of future? Because when he purchased all the time space from television media he pushed people to see only OBAMA and OBAMA. It is not good message.

Absolutely old adage says it is all fair in love and war. After he has won war, rest is upto him. It is hope alive for Kenyan from where he belongs, there president honoured him with one day public holiday in Kenya.

REDRESSAL OR RITUAL

Indian private news and current affairs broadcasters have intended that they are stepping ahead to self-regulate their content. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has come up with News Broadcasting Standards (Disputes Redressal) Authority to enforce NBA's code of ethics and broadcasting standards. A nine member authority will be headed by former chief justice and former NHRC chairperson Justice J S Verma. Its members are, historian Ramachandra Guha, former Nasscom chief Kiran Karnik, JNU don Dipankar Gupta and economist and ex-under secretary general of UN, Nitin Desai. Its editor-members are, India TV managing editor Vinod Kapri, Zee News group editor B V Rao, Star News managing editor Milind Khandekar and Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. The authority, to which the public with grievance over television content can bring their grievances, will become operational on October 2.

NBA "believes that media that is meant to expose the lapses in government and in public life cannot obviously be regulated by government, else it would lack credibility.

Again censure

In Association's " a censure emanating from a jury of peers would indisputably affect the credibility of a channel." The process of censure would not be without its legal ramifications. "A channel acting in breach of established guidelines could hardly defend its motives or suggest that it was acting fairly, if it is censured by a jury comprising its peers."

Is it again a eye wash or something else

Mostly people think channels are not doing any kind of charity work. The TRP bonded force not allow them to stick them must hyped Code of conduct. Because everyone thinks that the comptetition is very high.

So these channels in the name of their USP not relent to come with their awkward contents. So it will take to prove their hyped words.

BBC TARGETS LANGUAGE MEDIA

BBC journalists oppose offshoring of programming to IndiaAgenciesPosted
News: Reuters is going in the lap of Thomson Press. Zee Group is going to acquire UNI. And recently offshoring of Journalists from south Asia working in the Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali and Sinhala sections of the BBC World Service in London. They have launched a campaign to protest against offshoring of programming to the Indian sub-continent.
A series of meetings have been held between the affected journalists and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which is supporting a union campaign against what is described as a "money-saving adventure" of the BBC management.
The offshoring involves new contracts for the London-based journalists who have been told to accept redundancy or relocate to their countries of origin in south Asia, and accept downgraded pay conditions.
Defending the move, the BBC said it had plans to have around 50 per cent of overall language service staff located closer to their audiences.
Mike Gardner, Head of Media Relations at the BBC World Service, said: "The proposed redeployments of staff to India, Pakistan and Nepal recognise the new media realities in those countries."
He added: "It aims to serve our audiences in the region better; equip those services with the qualities that will be successful in these fiercely competitive media landscapes; and use resources more efficiently."
Gardner said, it was BBC World Service's policy that its language services work closer to the audiences they serve for some time.
However, Indian and other south Asian BBC journalists said that the redeployment would "dismantle a broadcasting service that is the envy of the world". They added that it would affect their working and the lives of their families.
Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, said after a meeting with BBC's south Asian journalists "We are committed to opposing these offshoring plans which are ill-founded and put at threat not just jobs but editorial quality, integrity and the future of the world service".
Dear said the plans which would have a fundamental impact on staff and their families were conceived without proper consultation and were in breach of agreements, which should worry staff across all BBC services.
"It is unacceptable that staff should be faced with the kind of choices - offshore or go - the BBC are seeking to impose... We're not against new staff, not against being closer to listeners across the sub-continent. We are against jobs being cut, offshored and outsourced to meet artificial budget restrictions.

Gardner noted that there was a rapidly changing media environment and highly competitive market both for radio and on-line in all parts of the world.
"This presents the BBC with new challenges, but also opportunities. It means the BBC can work closer with our local FM partner stations that deliver around one-third of our 183 million listeners a week and allows us to respond more rapidly to changing local media market conditions." According to Arjum Wajid of the BBC Urdu Service, the offshoring process started three years ago when Hindi programming was progressively shifted from Bush House, London, to New Delhi. This included the Hindi online service.
In 2007 end, staff of the Hindi Service was reportedly told that 80 per cent of the programming would be moved to India, while the Urdu Service staff learnt that 50 per cent programming would move to Islamabad.

BBC accused of off-shoring deception BECTU has accused the BBC of misleading Parliament over details of its plan to move finance jobs to India. The union has publicised a major discrepancy between information given to staff about the deal, and submissions made by top Corporation executives to the Public Accounts Committee.
“Parliament appears to have been mislead over whether the XANSA bid was the lowest” At a hearing on November 29th in the House of Commons the BBC claimed that a bid by Xansa, the company which was awarded a contract involving hundreds of jobs going to India, was the cheapest that had been received.
This contradicted a meeting only a day earlier, where the BBC had told BECTU officials that Xansa's bid was not the cheapest.
MPs also heard that all bidders for the BBC's finance contract, currently in the hands of Media Accounting Services (Medas), had included an element of offshore work in their proposals.
However, at the meeting with union representatives, the BBC said that the bid from Medas itself did not include any element of off-shoring, although some jobs would have been moved from London to Swansea if the company had won renewal of its contract.
BECTU Official Luke Crawley said: "The BBC is contradicting itself in its stories about the cost of off-shoring jobs. If what it says to the staff and BECTU is true then the BBC is spending more public money to send jobs overseas than it would cost to keep those jobs in the UK. This also raises a question about why the public purse should fund the resulting unemployment of this exercise.
"Parliament appears to have been mislead over whether the XANSA bid was the lowest bid for the outsourced work", he continued. "BECTU is calling on the BBC to own up and tell the truth, either it has lied to Parliament or it has lied to the staff and Unions about the contract."
The BBC's responded by saying that the winning bid from Xansa included a number of one-off costs that made "one of the other bidders marginally cheaper than the Xansa bid". BECTU has taken this as confirmation that, over the life of the 10-year contract, another bidder, thought to be Medas, would have been cheaper than Xansa
"We're not against additional resources and staff - we are against seeking to get work on the cheap," he said.

Hasty Media Again Makes Nasty

PUTIN with KABAYEVA.
It is old proverb 'Hasty makes Nasty'. It was revisited again. This time media which has been always claimed became the victim.
In Russia media tried to go akin to US media.

The scapegoat was former Russian Prez Vladimir Putin. A tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent, published rumors that President Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife to marry a 24-year-old gymnast Alina Kabayeva.

So again the media committed silly things and faced the ire.

Later it was proved a funny. Duma, or lower house of parliament, overwhelmingly passed a bill that would loosen the libel and slander laws, and also allow the central government to shut down news outlets that published material deemed to fall under the new definitions. The newspaper shut down after Moscow authorities barred its distribution
Well, Russia’s press has a lot to learn about journalism, too, said The Moscow Times in an editorial. Here, “leaks to the press are routinely used to discredit public figures, journalists are regularly accused of blackmail and authorities systematically cow independent-minded media.” In this case, “the newspaper did not identify its sources, a practice that, while defendable in certain circumstances, was unacceptable given that it did not even bother to call the Kremlin for comment.” This whole mess could have been avoided if the paper had observed some “basic rules of reporting.” Then the paper shut down, and the Duma promptly sealed the media’s coffin. "Are relations between Chairman Putin and Deputy Kabaeva anything more than comradely? Don't look for answers in a Russian newspaper anytime soon.”

The story, picked up by the world’s media, caused the Kremlin severe embarrassment and led Putin to blame journalists “who, with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies, prowl into others’ lives.”
The offending newspaper, Moskovsky Korrespondent, subsequently ran a front-page apology and suspended publication for “financial reasons”.
But that did not appear to satisfy angry parliamentarians who voted to give authorities unprecedented powers to shut down media organisations guilty of libel. A news outlet that “disseminates deliberately false information damaging individual honour and dignity” of a public official will be subject to harsh punishment.
The State Duma has voted 339-1 in favor of a measure that gives the government an additional tool to crack down on dissent, the Moscow Times reported Monday.
Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to widen the definition of slander and libel and give regulators the authority to shut down media outlets found guilty of publishing such material.
The legislation, passed by the State Duma 339-1, is the latest attempt by the government to squeeze the country’s increasingly embattled news media.
The bill allows authorities to suspend and close down media outlets for libel and slander — punishment that is identical for news media found to be promoting terrorism, extremism and racial hatred.
It also expands the definition for slander and libel to “dissemination of deliberately false information damaging individual honor and dignity.”
The legislation will be considered in two more readings, before heading to the upper house of parliament, where approval is likely, and then to Putin for signing.
The bill’s passage comes just days after a scandal involving a tabloid newspaper that had reported that President Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife and planned to marry a champion gymnast.
Putin vehemently denied the report in Moskovsky Korrespondent and the newspaper was shut down after Moscow authorities banned its distribution and the chief editor resigned.
The bill was submitted by Robert Schlegel, a former activist of the Kremlin-backed youth movement Nashi that gained notoriety for street protests and political pranks against Putin critics.

The Coveted Pultzer Medal

It Is again Washington Post

PUBLIC SERVICE
The Washington Post
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
The Washington Post Staff
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker of The New York Times
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
The Chicago Tribune Staff
EXPLANATORY REPORTING
Amy Harmon of The New York Times
LOCAL REPORTING
David Umhoefer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
NATIONAL REPORTING
Jo Becker and Barton Gellman of The Washington Post
INTERNATIONAL REPORTING
Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post
FEATURE WRITING
Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post
COMMENTARY
Steve Pearlstein of The Washington Post
CRITICISM
Mark Feeney of The Boston Globe
EDITORIAL WRITING
No Award
EDITORIAL CARTOONING
Michael Ramirez of Investor's Business Daily
BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Adrees Latif of Reuters
FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
Preston Gannaway of the Concord Monitor

Pulitzer Award announced. It is The Washington Post again, which snatched 6 Awards. For a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper through the use of its journalistic resources which, as well as reporting, may include editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics and online material, a gold medal.
Awarded to The Washington Post for the work of Dana Priest, Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille in exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The Charlotte Observer for its illuminating examination of the mortgage and housing crisis in the newspaper's community and state, resulting in federal probes and changes in a major lender's practices, and Newsday, Long Island, N.Y., for its comprehensive investigation into the hazardous gap between a New York railroad's trains and its boarding platforms, spotlighting individual injuries and triggering a multi-million-dollar remedy by the railway.
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
For a distinguished example of local reporting of breaking news, presented in print or online or both, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Awarded to The Washington Post Staff for its exceptional, multi-faceted coverage of the deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, telling the developing story in print and online.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The Idaho Statesman Staff for its tenacious coverage of the twists and turns in the scandal involving the state's senator, Larry Craig, and The New York Times Staff for its swift, penetrating coverage of a fire in the Bronx that killed nine persons, eight of them children.
BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Reuters pohotographer also confirmed his berth. For a distinguished example of breaking news photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or photographs, a sequence or an album, in print or online or both, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Awarded to Adrees Latif of Reuters for his dramatic photograph of a Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Mahmud Hams of Agence France-Presse for his picture of a missile, caught in mid-air, as it falls on a target in the Gaza Strip while young Palestinians scramble for safety, and the Los Angeles Times Staff for its powerful and often unpredictable photos that captured wildfires devastating California.

Content, services biggest drivers in mobile entertainment

FICCI Frames 2008
Traditional media is shifting to digital," said Ralph Simon, chairman emeritus and founder, Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), Americas, in his keynote address on Day 3 of Ficci Frames 2008. Simon said it is the content and services provided by mobile entertainment companies that will drive mobile entertainment. This shift is seen because the consumer has made his choice. He has expressed the need to have multiple touch points. He would like to be connected to his world and to the world outside his world at all times and whenever he likes. In order to met this need of the consumer and not lose out on him, traditional media players will have to reach consumers on multiple and newer platforms. Digital media is the newer media of the moment.
The panel discussion that followed was moderated by Pankaj Sethi, president, value added services and enterprise market, Tata Teleservices, and director, MEF Asia board. The panellists were Ferhan Cook, president, Any Screen Productions, and head of jury, Mobile TV Awards, MIPCOM, France; Tim Green, editor, Mobile Entertainment; Mazen Chmaytelli, senior director, global technical marketing and business development, Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies, USA; Sudhanshu Sarronwala, chief executive officer, Soundbuzz, Motorola; Troy Lobo, associate director, wireless, India and South Asia, Turner; and Simon."The strengths of the traditional media can be supplemented with the new digital media of the mobile," said Simon, continuing with his address. He warned that traditional media that stuck to the old ways of thinking would die off soon.Simon listed favourable ways of garnering the mobile medium into traditional media: monetising mobile inventory via ads, monetising mobile premium content via subscriptions, and differentiating with measurable actions such as calls, purchase or requests. There is a whole new subset of people who live by the mobile phone and all of their daily activities surround the mobile. The study of this individual is called mociology, said Simon. The consumer entertains himself with the mobile in various ways such as podcasts, video streaming, social broadcasting and photo galleries. Music artists have cashed in on this in a big way, and it is time filmmakers, content owners and the entertainment industry followed suit.Ferhan Cook talked about the necessity of creating content specifically for the mobile and not transferring content from another medium onto mobiles. Sudhanshu Sarronwala spoke of the music aspect of mobile entertainment. "Mobile music dominates the digital music space across Asia," he said. More than 95 per cent of all music sold digitally is sold on mobile devices. Mobile music would outdo the rest of digital music by a ratio of 10:1 any day, he said. Mobile music has come a long way, from monophonic ringtones to polyphonic ringtones and then the streaming video format. Caller ringback tones are the latest rage across the globe. Sarronwala said search would be the next to take over the mobile entertainment section – not in the web based format, but in a new format that is viable on the mobile. Troy Lobo was sure that advertising was the way to go with mobile entertainment to rake in revenue. Turner recently switched its subscription based model to an advertising based one. Tim Green presented a view of how mobile entertainment can provide services such as instant messaging, chat, photo and video uploading at a fixed monthly/weekly price because content and services are what will take mobile entertainment to the next level.Mazen Chmaytelli offered a typical technology provider’s thought about mobile entertainment. "Instead of viewing mobisodes on the mobile screen, consumers want to view content in the long form," he said. There has been a paradigm shift in the time at which the consumer wants to view his prime time content. The traditional prime time has moved to commute time and down time. Reality TV and sports are the most consumed genres of content on mobile TV. This time shift could be termed mociotime, a term he coined in sync with Simon’s mociology. All the panellists agreed that the technology for mobile entertainment was still in its infancy and the sky was the limit for the medium.