Media Brief

I'm the BBC's media correspondent and this is my brief selection of what you need to know.

Viewers are watching TV for more than four hours a day - 30 hours a week - according to BARB figures. Thinkbox says it's due to new TV technology, a new research system and people spending more time at home the BBC reports.

But scientists say too much television is bad for young children's development, according to the Daily Mail.

The Guardian reports that the Independent's new Russian owner has confirmed that Simon Kelner is returning as its editor. Evgeny Lebedev said Kelner would return on a permanent basis after a two-year hiatus and will remain editor-in-chief of the Sunday title.

The Sunday Times claims the BBC World Service is "braced for the loss of up to a quarter of its budget" because of Foreign Office cuts.

The BBC may have to use licence fee money to plug a hole in its pension fund according to the Daily Mail.

There's analysis in the Times and the Guardian of Kevin Lygo's move from Channel 4 to run ITV Studios, the first appointment by new ITV chief executive Adam Crozier.

The BBC's newspaper review says newspapers' election coverage takes on an air of urgency on the penultimate day of campaigning.

Links in full

BBC | 'Hard-up Britons watching more TV'
Daily Mail | Watching TV rises to more than four hours a day
Robert Booth | Guardian | Simon Kelner becomes editor of Independent
Chris Gourlay | Times | 'Terminal' cuts loom at World Service
Arthur Martin | Daily Mail | BBC to divert licence-fee money into pension fund
Alexi Mostrous | Times | Is it because I is back? Ali G team reunited at ITV
Steve Hewlett | Guardian | ITV values Kevin Lygo's skills
BBC | Newspaper review

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