Media Brief
Post categories: mediabrief
|09:10 UK time, Monday, 21 March 2011
I'm the BBC's media correspondent and this is my brief selection of what's going on.
The Guardian says the BBC World Service will receive a "significant" sum of money from the US government to help combat the blocking of TV and internet services in countries including Iran and China:
"In what the BBC said is the first deal of its kind, an agreement is expected to be signed later this month that will see US state department money - understood to be a low six-figure sum - given to the World Service to invest in developing anti-jamming technology and software."
Jeremy Hunt is considering extending the public interest rules that govern the UK media industry. It is so that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation could face further sanctions if it grows without making any more acquisitions. In a Guardian interview the culture secretary says he will publish a discussion document next month to kickstart a consultation ahead of a green paper towards the end of this year. Ofcom has pointed out that, under current law, the tests can only be applied in a merger.
Twitter is five years old today. An editorial in the Independent quotes analysis by a Texas market research firm, Pear Analytics:
"38% of Twitter traffic is conversation, 9% is recommendations, 6% is self-promotion and 4% is news. But 40% is 'pointless babble'."
Stephen Glover says in the Independent that the Times is an outstanding newspaper but not a good business, having lost nearly 12% of its circulation in the year to February, more than any other quality title.
The BBC reports Comic Relief on Friday night raised £74.3m, the highest figure reached on the night of the TV show in its 23-year history.
Saturday's Times has an interview with Mark Thompson. It quotes his review of BBC output,:
"All sorts of ideas are bubbling to the surface. We need to look at our daytime TV service." He says local radio will not be abolished but resources "should be concentrated on the most important parts of the day" with "more hours devoted to 5Live".
The Guardian reports that on Friday a Cabinet Office report proposed cutting 1,000 staff as part of a dramatic scaling-back of the Government's £1bn a year communications budget. It said the Central Office of Information should be scrapped after more than 60 years and replaced with a new body to oversee marketing and advertising activity.
The BBC's newspaper review says Libya still dominates the front pages. Several papers seize on comments by the defence secretary that Col Muammar Gaddafi could be targeted.
