Archive for December 1st, 2006
A major drop across the board for the 11 p.m. news in Washington, D.C.: the three network affils saw double-digit percentage losses in their audience versus November, 2005. WJLA - the ABC affil - is down 35% versus last year. Even the #1 late newscast in DC - WRC - saw its audience drop by 11%. Where is the audience growing? The morning news. Ever the understaffed underdog at most stations, nearly all DC early-AM shows grew their audiences. Not a surprise: when you wake up, you still need to know what’s happening. The 11 p.m. news exists because of 10 p.m. network lead-ins. As the networks lose their grip on audience share, the late local news audience shrinks. And with the web, by 11 p.m., everyone already knows what happened that day.
December 1st, 2006
One of the dirty little secrets of blogging (well, it’s not really a secret) is that most blogs post photos without rights clearances. Now PerezHilton.com, a popular entertainment blog, has been slapped with a $7.5 million lawsuit from X17, Hollywood’s largest photo agency. The key quote from X17’s press release on the suit: “(Mario Lavandeira a.k.a. Perez Hilton) is profiting through advertisements on his site (one-week ads on his site go for between $9000 - $16,000) and has gained relative fame from the success of his blog, which, X17 contends, is due in large part to the quality and quantity of celebrity images he posts on his site, many of which are owned by X17.” I hate to say it, but I think they may have a case, especially since PerezHilton is really more of a photo blog.
December 1st, 2006
Charlotte, NC
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Los Angeles
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The U.S. government has warned financial instutions of an al Qaeda threat to attack stock trading and banking websites beginning today. The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed the warning to news agencies, and says there is no reason to believe the threat is credible However, the DHS makes no mention of the threat (which is leading many newscasts) on its own website, at least as of this writing. Over at Ready.gov, the DHS site for disaster preparedness, no mention either. We do find out, however, that September 2006 is “National Preparedness Month.”
December 1st, 2006
A very interesting development at Boston’s ABC affil, WCVB: longtime anchor Jim Boyd is leaving the TV airwaves but keeping his job as an anchor. He’s going to report on stories throughout the day on the station’s website, thebostonchannel.com. Boyd, 64, was with the station when it debuted in 1972. He starts the new gig on Monday. We’re looking forward to more stations devoting this kind of resource to their websites.
December 1st, 2006
One of the prime forces behind The Daily Show and The Colbert Report has resigned. Comedy Central confirms that Ben Karlin, executive producer of both shows, is leaving although they don’t say why. Karlin got his start at The Onion while he was a student at The University of Wisconsin. He started writing for The Daily Show in 1999. Comedy Central says Karlin will remain as a consulting producer, with head writer David Javerbaum taking over as executive producer. Oddly, The Huffington Post reports, Javerbaum had just announced he was leaving The Daily Show.
December 1st, 2006
