Media - Internet

(SEAPA/IFEX) - A state-owned newspaper has suspended the column of blogger Lee Kin Mun, following an information ministry official's warning that "it is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues." A 30 June 2006 article by Lee in the state-owned "Today" newspaper sarcastically discussed how many Singaporeans cannot make ends meet despite all the "progress" trumpeted...

Internet advertisers paid $800 million for bogus clicks on their marketing messages last year, shaking confidence in the industry and prompting many to reduce spending with Google, Yahoo and other Web sites, according to a study to be released today. The survey, by Outsell Inc., a market researcher in Burlingame, is one of the most detailed looks at the nagging, high-profile problem known as click...

THE blogging bubble has been taking on serious air of late. Last week, PaidContent.org, a blog that covers digital media, held its first mixer. It was, by all reports, filled to the brim with money and content guys speed dating on the way to marriage. Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media, was there, but he wasn't looking for love or money. "It made me want to move to Budapest, batten down the...

LONDON - BBC Worldwide has confirmed that it will launch an advertiser-supported international website, BBC.com, as soon as the first quarter of next year, one of the first advertising channels to be affiliated with the BBC brand. The commercial arm of the publicly funded broadcaster will also be looking into how it can maximise revenues from a pay-per-view service that would allow its audiences...

Not much has survived 10 years on the internet, so Slate magazine's celebration of that milestone this month sparked self-congratulation, criticism and much soul-searching about the future of old and new media. Slate, a news magazine website that mixes humor and political and social commentary, has plenty of critics, the loudest of whom were invited to air their views online. This prompted...

Back in the day -- that is, before the year 2001 -- Colorado State University used the U.S. Postal Service, faxes and e-mail to dispatch William Gray's seasonal hurricane predictions to reporters. Now consider the recently released 2006 report he co-authored: Just a few clicks from the university's home page on the Web, it linked to five downloadable audio and video interviews with Gray, professor...

LONDON - Nielsen Media Research has joined forces with sister internet research company Nielsen//NetRatings in an attempt to improve online advertising measurement. The partnership will boost Nielsen Media Research's coverage to almost 600 websites. Combining Nielsen//NetRatings' AdRelevance data with Nielsen Media Research's expenditure system, clients will be able to obtain improved information...

An eye-tracking study conducted by the Nielsen/Norman Group finds Internet users avoid viewing banner ads. Text advertising is read more often than display ads, according to the research. Banner blindness means Internet users focus on the content on a page and ignore the advertisements. This is especially true for bright, flashing ads, and other units that are not relevant to what the user is...

It's that man again: Sir Martin Sorrell, advertising mogul, media guru, the thinking man's Alan Sugar - or (as he would charmingly add) 'the poor man's Warren Buffett'. This time Sorrell is on his feet at a Newspaper Society conference designed to hymn the wonders of the local press, which he does in amiable if abbreviated fashion. But really he wants to talk 'legacy businesses' and 'verticals'...

When Michael Kinsley started Slate in 1996 he had a vision of people printing it out to read. Little did he know that 10 years later the idea of printing out something online would be as old-fashioned as, well, paying to read news. Kinsley reckoned that he had a new business model. If you didn't have to pay production, paper or distribution costs, then the magazine would quickly become profitable...