Americans flock to the Internet for news

Walter Cronkie

A poll by Rasmussen Reports in the U.S shows how far the world has come since the day of the great evening news anchors. It  shows that more Americans now get their news from the Internet than from traditional network news. The net exceeds evening news by 25 to 24 percent. Cable news, however, continues to lead both with 32 percent.  The poll has barely 10 percent of news users reading newspapers, although the data does not indicate if this includes newspaper websites. When Walter Cronkite ruled the airwaves he did so literally, garnering a large percentage of those seeking their primary source o news. The poll was based on 1,000 likely voters.

Google denies NASCAR "copyright" on video

PaidContent

Ozzie Sweet was a photo illustrator

At the end of World War II, Ozzie Sweet’s picture of a friend posed as a German soldier surrendering appeared on the cover of Newsweek — “the magazine of news significance,” as it billed itself then. Not a stratagem that would pass muster in contemporary journalism, but Mr. Sweet, who had apprenticed to the Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum, appeared in a Cecil B. DeMille film and helped create promotional ads for the United States Army, found the art in photography to be in creating an image, not capturing one. He considered himself not a news photographer but a photographic illustrator, and like the work of the painter Norman Rockwell, whom he claimed as an influence, his signature images from the 1940s through the 1950s and into the 1960s, many in the fierce hues of increasingly popular color film that emulated the emergent Technicolor palate of American movies, helped define — visually, anyway — an era. New York Times 

Duffy profile by former publisher of Frank

Toronto Star

MIke Duffy to pay back expenses on Ottawa home

Senator Mike Duffy says he's going to pay back the living expenses he's claimed for his Ottawa home. In an interview with CBC News, Duffy said the issue has become a "major distraction" from the work he's trying to do for Prince Edward Island, the province he represents in the Senate. CBC

Vidéotron to launch Netflix-like streaming service

The Montreal-based cable giant, owned by Quebecor Inc., plans to launch Illico Club Unlimited, a Netflix-like service that will offer hundreds of movies and television shows a month to its subscribers for just under $10. While several of Canada’s cable and satellite companies allow subscribers to access content online, this service will be available to anyone with an Internet connection and will allow the Quebec company to compete for viewers outside its traditional markets for the first time – starting with Ontario, when it launches this weekend.
More

Neilsen TV ratings to include online streaming

The company that measures television viewership will soon begin counting people who watch programming through broadband instead of a traditional broadcast or cable hook-up.
The move announced Thursday by Nielsen is a significant step toward recognizing a world where the definition of TV viewing is swiftly changing. For many years, roughly 99 percent of homes in the U.S. had televisions that received service through broadcast, cable or satellite signals.
Now the number of homes without such service is 4.2 per cent — and growing each year. Most of those homes have TVs, however, and their owners watch programming through game consoles or services like Netflix and Amazon.
Starting September, Nielsen will begin tracking the habits of these homes. It will soon ship out updated monitoring units to the 23,000 Americans whose viewing habits it currently tracks to come up with ratings data.

New York Times puts Boston Globe up for sale again

The New York Times Co is putting The Boston Globe on the auction block for a second time as it seeks to focus solely on growing its flagship newspaper, the company said on Wednesday.
The sale, which will also include the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, is expected to come at a big loss as newspapers struggle for subscribers and advertisers in the digital age, Reuters reports.
Ken Doctor, an analyst with Outsell Research, estimated that the Globe could fetch about $150 million. The New York Times paid $1.1 billion for the newspaper in 1993.
Once the Globe and the Telegram & Gazette are sold, the New York Times Co will be down to the flagship paper and its international edition, the International Herald Tribune.

Conrad Black loses bid to void guilty verdict

Conrad Black, convicted in 2007 on fraud and obstruction charges, lost a bid to void that verdict on grounds he was blocked from hiring the defence lawyers he wanted.

Black argued that the seizure by federal agents in 2005 of about $9 million in proceeds from the sale of a Manhattan apartment left him unable to retain criminal defence lawyers Brendan V. Sullivan and Gregory Craig, then both with Washington’s Williams & Connolly LLP. Craig is a former White House Counsel under President Barack Obama. Sullivan is known for defending U.S. Marine Corps Lt.-Col. Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal.

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve, who presided over the trial, on Tuesday rejected Black’s argument and faulted him for not pressing it earlier.

The full Star story

Reader's Digest plans to reinvent itself in Canada

As Reader’s Digest slips into bankruptcy protection in the United States for the second time in four years, the Canadian publishing company that shares its name is fighting its own battle for relevancy outside the courts, The Globe's Steve Ladurantaye reports.
Reader’s Digest Association (Canada) ULC – which until recently was the country’s reigning subscription champion – plans to reinvest in the printed magazine the money it saved last year when it shut its direct marketing division.
More

Soledad O'Brien on way out at CNN: N.Y. Post

High-profile morning anchor Soledad O’Brien is on her way out at CNN as new boss Jeff Zucker moves Erin Burnett into her morning slot, the New York Post reports.
"We’re told award-winning journalist O’Brien has indicated she is ready to leave after she was initially promised a plum prime-time slot, but that role has so far failed to materialize," the Post says.

NY television anchor accused of choking wife, CBS financial news anchor, at their home

A New York television news anchor fought with his wife and then choked her at their home and threatened her even after he was arrested, police said.
Officers received a call early Sunday morning from WCBS-TV anchor Rob Morrison's mother-in-law about what was going on at the couple's home in Darien, police said. Morrison had been belligerent toward his wife, CBS television financial news anchor Ashley Morrison, throughout the night and ended up with his hands wrapped around her neck, leaving red marks, they said.
Morrison, who has been a combat correspondent and was a reporter and anchor for WNBC-TV, anchors WCBS-TV's news programs "This Morning" and "News at Noon." Ashley Morrison worked for Bloomberg Television before joining "CBS MoneyWatch." The couple has a young son.

Alex Baldwin and NY.Post photog file harassment complaints with police

New York City police are investigating harassment complaints made by actor Alec Baldwin and a New York Post photographer after an altercation. Photographer G.N. Miller says the former 30 Rock star yelled racial epithets and other insults when he was trying to take pictures of the actor outside his Manhattan apartment. Baldwin maintains he hollered at the photographer, but never said anything racist. He called the allegations “outrageous.”

Tesla Motors takes on N.Y. Times car reviewer

This week’s highly-publicized exchange between the New York Times‘ John Broder and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has become an amazing case study for the idea of truth in journalism, and the significant hurdles facing the future of electric automobiles.

So earlier this week, when Josh Broder wrote a damning review of the Tesla's Model S’s performance under cold weather conditions for the New York Times, it became another example of a high-profile institution delivering a potentially game-breaking verdict to Tesla Motors at a critical point in their growth.

Broder’s piece is an engaging, well-written account of his drive from Washington to New York; it ends with his Model S car dead on the side of a highway, as a tow truck crew struggles to get it onto a flatbed truck. He claims to have run out of charge prematurely, and generally complains of the difficulties he had getting the car from point A to B.

Usually, that would have been the end of it. A scathing review comes out, and the company in question has its PR team work on damage control. Instead, Elon Musk, after consulting with his engineers, called the review “fake.”

What Broder didn’t know was that ever since a previous incident, the Tesla Motors team had taken to enabling tracking data on all cars they gave to the media. Everything from distance, to time spent at charging stations, to the speed and location of the vehicle at any given moment were recorded and stored at Tesla HQ. Musk promised he would post the data and prove all of Broder’s claims false, using the exact telemetry from his test drive.

To read all about it, click here

A new TV show--the Canadian Senate? But who will watch?

Debate in the Senate may not be closed to cameras for much longer, with estimates obtained by CTV News putting the cost of four web cameras at a mere $153,000.
However, senators remain divided on whether Canadians should be able to keep tabs on their daily work despite a series of recent controversies to hit the upper chamber.
Canadians are able to watch MPs in the House of Commons thanks to a handful of cameras and a livestream on CPAC. Despite suggestions over the years that the Senate do the same, the upper chamber remains closed to cameras.
More

Big turnout for Quebec sports journalist's memorial

Hockey greats and political leaders are among those who gathered today to remember longtime Quebec sports journalist Richard Garneau.
Garneau, a popular Radio-Canada television personality, died last month at age 82.
Ex Habs Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer and Rejean Houle attended the memorial, as did Quebec Premier Pauline Marois.
More

Apps replacing TV channels

The way we access our TV programs is evolving with technology. From programmable DVR (Digital Video Recorders) to network specific tablet apps and even the ability to purchase last night’s episodes of your favourite shows on your device, there are increasingly more convenient ways to watch TV.
Tablets and notebooks have become the ideal second screen devices not just for surfing the web while watching TV, but as viable access points or terminals to watch shows on demand.
More

Is newspaper circulation and readership falling or rising?

Thumbsucker story in the Huffington Post
Link

Swedish photog wins 2012 World Press Photo with pic of Palestinian funeral

Swedish photographer Paul Hansen won the 2012 World Press Photo award Friday for newspaper Dagens Nyheter with a picture of two Palestinian children killed in an Israeli missile strike being carried to their funeral.The picture shows a group of men marching the dead bodies through a narrow street in Gaza City. The victims, a brother and sister, are wrapped in white cloth with only their faces showing.
Link

SI Swimsuit Issue Sparks Controversy (as usual)

The guys and gals at Sports Illustrated have  had the good luck to be criticized for the cover of their annual swimsuit edition. Got to be good for quite a few sales. We are so cynical.  Yahoo News

Thomson Reuters to cut 2,500 jobs this year

Thomson Reuters Corp. expects net sales in financial & risk to turn positive in the second half of 2013. The company also announced it expects to cut 2,500 jobs or about 4 % in 2013.

Naylor to face off against McCown in pm drive

TSN Radio will throw Dave Naylor up against Bob McCown on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. in the late afternoon/early evening. Radju Muhar

Hoax radio alert warns of "dead bodies rising"

Hoaxers in  Montana accessed a local television station’s emergency alert audio system and broadcast news of  what is being called a zombie apocalypse. The messages, which were crawled underneath schlocky, but legitimate ads, were narrated with funereal portent.  The Montana Television Network says hackers broke into the Emergency Alert System of Great Falls affiliate KRTV and its CW station Monday. The warnings said “dead bodies are rising from their graves” in several Montana counties. The alert claimed the bodies were “attacking the living” and warned people not to “approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous.” Apparently four people called police to see if the reports were true. This might be considered an advance for humanity from the 1938 Orson Welles scare production which caused a regional panic.

She scoops world because she can speak Latin

It is a story that will live in journalism history. ANSA reporter Giovanna Chirri is the only scribe in the room who speaks Latin when the Pope, speaking in Latin, announces he is going to resign. Hardly daring to believe what she has heard, Cherri nonetheless mails the story to her newsroom and scoops the world on what will surely be among the stories of the year and a never-to--be-forgotten press club favorite.  Washington Post

Challenges of embedded war reporting

Thoughtful assessment of the pressures on reporters who are embedded with Canadian forces by Rebecca Lamarche. King's Journalism Review

Government policy shuts out Canadian publishers from Harper's hockey book

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s upcoming book on the history of professional hockey will be published in the United States rather than Canada because of prohibitions embedded in the government’s own cultural policy, the Globe and Mail reports.
Simon & Schuster, the U.S.-based company chosen to publish the English-language edition of the Prime Minister’s book, is banned from publishing books in Canada under the Investment Canada Act. But the act does permit foreign-owned companies to distribute titles they have published in their home territories.
More

Torstar board chair John Honderich honoured for contribution to newspaper industry

Torstar board chair John Honderich has been honoured for his lifelong support of the newspaper industry.

Honderich received the first annual Award of Merit from the Advertising Club of Toronto at its annual Newspaper Day luncheon Wednesday. The award honours someone who has worked tirelessly to promote and improve the industry, Newspaper and Magazine Day co-chair Michele Beaulieu said.

Some question print media’s relevancy as technology advances but newspapers are important because they bring communities closer and build a better democracy, Honderich told the crowd.

And ads in print, he said, still hold the most credibility with readers because they trust newspapers.

Ontario Superior Court of Justice issues protocol on use of electronic devices in the courts

The protocol, effective on February 1, 2013, says that unless the presiding judge orders otherwise. electronic devices may be used by counsel (lawyers), licensed paralegals, law students and law clerks assisting counsel during proceedings, self represented parties and "media or journalists."

"Members of the public are not permitted to use electronic devices in the courtroom unless the presiding judge orders otherwise," the protocol says.

The use of the devices has to be in silent mode and in a discreet and unobtrusive manner, the protocol says.

The document does not define "media or journalists." This is sure to cause problems in the era of "citizen journalists."

The full text

Russian oligarch's newspaper wins British TV franchise

London’s Evening Standard, backed by the family of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, won a London television franchise on Monday, beating four other bidders with a package offering live news from the paper’s West London offices.
Britain’s telecoms regulator is offering 21 licences for local digital TV stations, most covering single cities. The London franchise, which offers an audience of up to four million people, is potentially the most lucrative.
More

National Post nixes its weekend Toronto section

The National Post has decided to cease publishing its weekend Toronto section effective immediately, ending the feature's gradual decline from what was once a 40-page pullout magazine.
Post Toronto, a compact pull-out containing short local features and movie listings, appeared for the last time in October 2012. Much of its content, including Robert Cushman's theatre review and Shinan Govani's scene column, was tacked onto the back of the Weekend Post section. As of Saturday, the former Post Toronto content will be shifted elsewhere at the expense of several smaller features.