NOVEMBER

Is Saving Private Ryan a Bridge Too Far?
On Veterans Day the ABC network screened Saving Private Ryan and 30% of the network’s stations declined to show the film, fearing FCC fines for excessive violence and bad language.

Research shows, research sells
Reading through reviews of recent European radio conferences it is striking how thinking small makes broadcasters happy.

News Agencies Need to Re-Examine Their News Production
The Times has followed the Independent in the UK and gone tabloid. Free tabloids given to commuters have garnered very large circulations. And similar swings prevail across Europe. The effect is profound. National news agencies must change the text products provided to their main customers.

The Public Diplomacy of Willis Conover
The end of October brought the end of Swiss Radio International broadcasting on shortwave and as I considered this I could not help but think of Willis Conover.

OCTOBER

Reuters Media Targets the Consumer Market: About Time, Too (Again!)
The company has taken a giant step forward to making media a financial powerhouse in its own right

Turn the FCC Loose in Europe
For less than a split second of seeing Janet Jackson’s pierced nipple aired by CBS at the Super Bowl, the FCC fines the network $550,000. Gee, it makes one wonder how it would react watching the hardcore sex on France’s Canal Plus or the softcore sex that even some European public stations broadcast.

Survival for Some French Dailies in Doubt
If anyone was ever in doubt that newspapers that fail to satisfy their readers will lose readers, then look no further than France

SEPTEMBER

It's Not Dan Rather, Rather It's US Journalism
Phil Stone unravels RatherGate, rips US journalism

More - and Bigger - Media Business
Michael Hedges updates big business, UN radio in Africa and previews coming articles

Size Counts - Tabloids Lead The Way
The news that the once mighty Blick has been dethroned by a free tabloid as newspaper circulation leader in Switzerland is sure to have ramifications far outside Swiss borders. If ever there was a case of "If it can happen there, it can happen here" then this has to be it.

Television: You Get What You Pay For - September 6, 2004
Europeans enjoy live coverage from the Olympic Games morning, noon and night. No waiting for prime time to see your country's top athletes win their Gold medals -- a far cry from watching the Games in the US where NBC makes you wait until prime time to see the best.

Media tribes, hot conflict zones
The excellent EBU conference Multimedia Meets Radio expanded the cultural tribe idea. As all things technical become all things purposeful, these new capacities expand medias ability to give voice, and narrative. Something very powerful happens as the tribe, then, becomes the driving force in the media brand.

AUGUST

Advertising...the slump is still with us
Phil Stone reviews ad figures and projections, ices down the champagne for internet party

New measurement service targets in-car listening
Michael Hedges reports on the expanding universe of electronic measurement

JULY

Media concentration studied...and studied
Concentration of media ownership in Europe is more than a pointless academic debate. Every regulatory agency takes it seriously. The EC takes it seriously. Measuring media concentration and analyzing the effects has rarely been systematic. Conventional wisdom, often from the public sector, charges concentration with metaphysical badness.