Media News

Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Daily Newsfeed via email.

How ABC News Plans to Stay #1 (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: ABC News President David Westin has been at the center of the network's revival. I asked him if he was surprised that Gibson's broadcast had overtaken that of NBC's Brian Williams. Westin nodded. "It happened more quickly than I would have thought," he said. "I always knew Charlie Gibson was a very strong anchor."

The Bancrofts and a Century of 'Free People and Free Markets' (WSJ)
Editorial: Everyone knows that the influence of Times Publisher and CEO Arthur Sulzberger Jr. extends to selecting not merely the editorial page editor but columnists, political endorsements and, as far as we can tell, even news coverage priorities. We don't see how this differs from most of what Rupert Murdoch is accused of doing with his newspapers. WSJ: Dow Jones's chairman has emerged as a key player as members of the controlling family and the board weigh Murdoch's bid.

200 Pakistan Journalists Face Complaint Over Protest (CNN)
Although no arrests have been made, the move Tuesday by the Pakistan government came a day after hundreds of journalists, lawyers and opposition supporters rallied in Islamabad to protest the imposition of a presidential decree that tightened the regulation of electronic media, including private television channels accused of anti-government bias.

FCC Chairman Not Mincing Words (Variety)
Cynthia Littleton: The chairman's choice of words in his reactionary reaction statement said it all. No, I'm not talking about the liberal use of "f**k" and "s**t" in the statement issued Monday by Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin after a federal appeals court decision tore apart the commission's rationale, or lack thereof, for its recent indecency policy decisions.

'DRM-Free' iTunes Songs Raise Concerns (CNN)
Apple Inc.'s recent rollout of songs without copy protection software at its iTunes Store has given consumers new flexibility, but questions have emerged over the company's inclusion of personal data in purchased music tracks. Are the songs that are being billed as free of so-called digital rights management technology really "DRM-free" or are there still strings attached?

More Newsfeed here...