Kiddy TV in prime time: It seems the ABC is no longer able to distinguish between a children’s program and an adult one. The scheduling of My Place, an Australian children’s drama series in the Sunday night 7.30 slot and re-badging it as “family drama”, has been a complete failure with record audience lows.
The audience knows a kid’s drama when it sees it. This was the same show that premiered on ABC3, the new children’s channel. It is a huge leap then into 7.30 Sunday. And the ABC’s reliable and successful in-house show The Collectors has now lost its large Friday 8pm audience as it has been moved to early Sunday evening.
While audience numbers shouldn’t be the determining criteria for an ABC timeslot, surely the programmers should have a basic grasp of what content is suitable for what time slot and for what audience. — a Crikey reader
Content is king: Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch delivers the opening address to the Abu Dhabi Media Summit: “It is easy to be dazzled by this new technology. But the bright and shiny wonders that technology gives us can be like the desert sun — they can blind us to what is real and valuable. Amid the digital dazzle, we risk missing the magic: the creative content that brings these devices to life.” — Paid Content
Jarvis Coffin: Rupert gets it
“There is no way around it: I like the way Rupert Murdoch thinks, and today at the opening of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit … he nails it.” — Huffington Post
FT.com moves the wall — now video will cost
“The Financial Times could move its video content behind its pay wall, Stephen Pinches, lead product manager, told an industry gathering today.” — Journalism.co.uk
Warning to Chinese journos — don’t criticise the government
“A top editor of a weekly newspaper who recently called for the reform of China’s onerous household registration system, which restricts where people can live, has been forced out of his job in a fresh warning that journalists who challenge government policy too directly face retribution.” — New York Times
No court performance from Letterman after extortionist pleads guilty
A former top CBS journalist who was driven into a jealous fury after learning his girlfriend was sleeping with her boss — Late Show host David Letterman — pleaded guilty to extorting the late-night TV funny man for a whopping $2 million.” — New York Post
Conan creates a star — with or without a TV show
“Sarah Killen, the ‘someone’ Conan ‘decided to follow at random’ got 17,000 follows, a wedding dress, shoes, an iMac, and raised $2600 for cancer. She also appears to be unaware that Conan is no longer on TV.” — Gawker
Push for the bush to go digital
“Regional network WIN Television is negotiating with the federal government to pay for the digitalisation of its South Australia and West Australian networks.” — The Advertiser
Meow – anyone know “what gives” between Leigh Sales and “Labor”?
Pull out a few “interviews” and compare “attitude” – even the last two nights “Abbott vs Smith” – “giggle and scratch”!
And those classics when Chris Evans was “rotisseried” last year!
Admittedly as a layman, to me “journalists” shouldn’t be letting their personal prejudices cloud their profesional attitude to presenting whatever they’re covering, and should not be treating one group differently to “others” (depth of “research” for questions for a start) – when they do allow their better judgement to be bettered, they simply become “writers” (as in “Limited News”) or “publicity agents” (as in “7”,”9″ , “Fox”).
Going to be tough? Then be equally tough all the better – not “sweet or sour”.
Imagine what the likes of Kronkite, Murrow and a few here went through to build up the reputation of “their press” and media, to “educate” the community they “served”, to have it all torn up and used for the personal advancement and pleasure of the prima donna’s living off it the way they do nowadays? Especially with such a narrow ownership/influence base.
Yes, ABC TV is showing signs of SBS-itis, or more accurately NZBC-itis, in that the blokes in charge think they know everything especially when they get it wrong. Mark Scott talks a lot of future-is-digital geek-waffle (straight out of the 1990s if not before – but he wasn’t born then) but he hasn’t got a clue. Evidence: setting up a 24/7 news channel within existing resources (ie raiding all the good quality show budgets to fund it and stealing your only HD outlet for transmission) based on what? research? demand? the need to keep journalists happy? or over-worked. The man’s a dill. Must be, he thinks Twitter and Second Life is where it’s at! Fits in well with the rest of the glib nerds running our lives.