2005-2014

The most intriguing revelation of Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's news conference last week was his assertion that he would have presented his indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby a year ago if not for the intransigence of reporters who refused to testify before the grand jury. He said that without that delay, "we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005." Had that...

With prime-time TV ad clutter reaching an all-time high this year, advertisers and networks are holding talks to explore ways to improve TV's crowded ad schedule, which buyers say is partly to blame for declining viewership. Several ad agencies last week said they are in discussions with TV networks about exclusive sponsorship deals that will cut back the number of ads in a particular sponsored...

Imagine a day when you would be in total control of creating your own TV channel lineup. Instead of subscribing to a service from a cable, satellite or phone company that might offer you hundreds of channels you'll never watch, you would be able to select what you want and watch it on your own schedule. That day might not be so far away. Slowly but surely, content that's broadcast over cable...

Media people have debated for decades the relevance and fate of the newsweeklies, even as they hung on as other mass-market titles stumbled and died. Somehow Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report kept vital against the explosion of competing media. The question is, how much longer can they remain vital? The answer is, not much. That's the outcome of a recent Media Life poll of media planners...

HONG KONG–The Chinese authorities have blocked access to a personal Web log, or blog, written by a prominent critic of the communist regime after it was nominated for a key award. Wang Yi’s Microphone, was nominated for two categories in the Best of Blog (BOB) Awards sponsored by German radio station Deutsche Welle. "Initially I set up my blog as a place to collect together all my writings so they...

Abu Dhabi, 31 Dec. 05 (WAM)--In what is regarded as a major move in digital media service, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) has started a new transmission service that will allow millions of viewers in the four corners of the world to follow closely various events and activities taking part in the UAE. The new service has been recently launched following an agreement concluded between WAM and Ihals...

Steve Case, a co-founder of AOL and one of the key architects of the disastrous AOL-Time Warner deal, said Monday that he has resigned from Time Warner Inc.'s board of directors. Case had relinquished the role of chairman two years ago, but remained on the media conglomerate's board of directors, despite the opposition of shareholders angered by the fallout of AOL's purchase of Time Warner at the...

It's the big question on Madison Avenue: Is Google a friend or foe? Ad companies are increasingly jittery about signs that Google is contemplating expanding its online ad-placement business into traditional media. Such a move could threaten Madison Avenue's increasingly important media-buying operations. Media buyers help marketers figure out where to place their ads by analyzing the effectiveness...

NEW YORK: The most important newspaper in its region finally apologized to readers for accepting "cooked" evidence about WMD in Iraq that helped lead to war in 2003. No, it was not The New York Times. In a column on Sunday, O. Ricardo Pimentel, editorial page editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote that, "Yes, regrettably on the matter of WMD, count us as among the many who were duped. We...

When a gadfly independent legislator and television personality called Li Ao did a round of lectures at some of China's top universities last month, the meeting halls were packed, with swarms of students trying to catch his words on video monitors outside. Li, making his first visit to the mainland 56 years after fleeing as a teenager with his parents just before the communist victory in 1949...