Posts Tagged ‘Japan’

The Week (and Murdoch) Unplugged

Last week marked the most intense media gazing by the media and spectators alike in recent memory as News Corporation and its Chief Executive Officer, Rupert Murdoch, suffered incredible and sometimes almost deadly blows stemming from the phone-hacking scandal that started with allegations at the News of the World (now closed) and by Sunday night had progressed to high-level departures and arrests from the Murdoch camp and charges of police bribes.  Some of major events to date:

  • Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton resigned;
  • News International CEO Rebekah Brooks resigned and is arrested;
  • Murdoch apologizes to the family of the murdered 13-year-old girl whose phone was allegedly hacked;
  • Murdoch places apologies in UK newspapers on Saturday;
  • Former aid to UK Prime Minister David Cameron and former News of the World Editor Andy Coulson arrested;
  • News Corp. withdraws bid to remaining stake in BSkyB;
  • Murdoch and son James to testify in special parliamentary hearings this week;
  • And more sure to come.

So why does this matter besides the obvious questions of ethics?  In short, news-gathering tactics will surely change in the UK, and closer to home, Murdoch and his hand-picked team operate the most influential financial-industry publication in the US for investors and most of our clients. It remains to be seen what changes will take place at The Wall Street Journal as a result of probable UK political pressure on media operations. Throughout this scandal, The Wall Street Journal was perhaps more media grazing on the topic, barely covering news as it broke. (Interesting Joe Nocera piece on Saturday in The New York Times called, “The Journal Becomes Fox-ified” on this very observation and the shame of the Journal’s Murdoch interview on Friday.) Changes, for sure, to come in the US as well, and probably longer term, a switch in bylines amid forced and voluntary departures.

It is also interesting to note who was covering and talking about the scandal.  According to Project for Excellence in Journalism, the Murdoch scandal accounted for 53 percent of links on Twitter last week but only 6 percent of mainstream coverage. Twitter again appears to be the media’s media.

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1 Comment » Written on July 18th, 2011 by
Categories: From the News, Media Navel Gaze
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Amid budget headlines, an increase in the crisis level at the Daiichi nuclear plant to Chernobyl levels (translation: serious levels of radioactive materials emitted:  Interesting column, btw, from Tyler Brule in the Financial Times over the weekend about the mood of Japan right now – getting back to normal and a note that foreigners who fled post earthquake are called “flyjin,” a reference to “gaijin” for foreigner, you gotta love disaster humor) and a federal jury finding Barry Bonds guilty of obstruction of justice, news seemed to focus on journalists themselves:  Katie Couric made the publicity rounds, hinting at a life of syndication post CBS; The New York Times showcased Scott Pelley as the next in line for the anchor job at “60 Minutes”; and Sidney Harman, the new owner of Newsweek, died at 92 (amazing obit, by the way -- the guy was a true Renaissance man, from science and technology to jazz to education to civil rights, worth a Google search to read about a life in full).  Elsewhere:

  • China posted its first quarterly trade deficit in seven years, suggesting growth may be weakening a bit;
  • The NYSE requested a bid from Nasdaq, meaning the fight continues;
  • The Winklevoss twins must accept their $20 million in cash and $45 million Facebook stock from their earlier settlement and courts declared case closed, meaning the fight is over;
  • All My Kids will at last say goodbye in September;
  • The Flip video camera flopped, once popular but nowhere near the staying power of children from Pine Valley; and
  • The Dow ended the week slightly lower, pressured by rising commodities (probably another reason for the China trade deficit) and a few weaker-than-expected earnings report, settling at 12,341. CJP
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No Comments » Written on April 18th, 2011 by
Categories: From the News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Headlines focused on the unfocused budget debates all last week, with some networks and cable stations including a “shot” clock, ticking away to the midnight deadline, which seemed to take away from the seriousness of the stalemate. Now focus will turn to the budget ceiling and taxes.  Elsewhere:

  • President Obama kicked off his re-election campaign;
  • Japan suffered another round of tremors, keeping the nation on high alert for another extended period of time;
  • Google moved closer to its $700-million acquisition of ITA Software, marking its potential entrant into flight reservations;
  • A fuselage of a Southwest Airlines jet ruptured, forcing Boeing to try to explain away that this was not supposed to happen “until much, much later,” really not too reassuring to many; and
  • The Dow shed a few points last week to end at 12,380.

All the News That’s Fit to Hack

Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid, News of the World in London was forced to apologize, admit liability and offer payments to those impacted when their voicemails were hacked by an operative working for the newspaper. Among those alleged victims were Sienna Miller and at least two dozen other celebrities and politicians.  The admission was a volte face (great language, Financial Times) and comes as a crucial time for the publisher, which is trying to gain permission from the UK government to buy the balance of British Sky Broadcasting that it doesn’t already own. No word from Sienna but the Murdoch clan claimed no reputational damage. CJP

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No Comments » Written on April 11th, 2011 by
Categories: From the News, Media Navel Gaze
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Unemployment SignBusy financial news week amid ongoing reports from Libya and Japan, with economic news starting to illustrate a slightly rosier picture as the US unemployment rate slipped to 8.8 percent in March, from 8.9 percent, and non-farm payroll increased by 216,000, giving some support to President Obama as he fights to keep the government from shutting down this week from budget shortfalls.

Elsewhere:

  • Nasdaq OMX and ICE announced plans to acquire NYSE for $11.3 billion, topping the Deutsche Borse earlier bid;
  • Berkshire Hathaway and assumed Warren Buffett successor, David Sokol, resigned after revealing that he acquired stock in Lubrizol Corp. before  Berkshire agreed, on the recommendation of Sokol, to buy the chemicals company (talk soon followed on ethics, intent, corporate governance, etc., although Buffett and Sokol said the stock purchases were not “in any way unlawful – much more sure to come);
  • Facebook was reportedly in talks to hire former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs to help with its own communications; and
  • The Dow ended higher last week, ending at 12,407.

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No Comments » Written on April 4th, 2011 by
Categories: Business, From the News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

American, European and Arab leaders launched their air attack over Libya in what is being called by the US as Operation Odyssey Dawn to enforce a no-fly zone and support Qaddafi rebels in one of the largest interventions in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq. The UN Security Council authorized member nations to take the action in Libya late last week, which resulted so far in bombings in Benghazi. Elsewhere:

  • Japan continued to dig out from the damages of the earthquake and tsunami and deal with the face unanswered questions about nuclear destruction as elevated levels of radiation were discovered in food;
  • The G-7 staged a massive intervention to push down the yen ($25BB package), the first time they have acted together in more than a decade (interesting how coverage differed on the recent strength of the yen, with The Wall Street Journal calling it a “freak onslaught,” mostly from speculators, whom one Japanese official called “sneaky thieves”:
  • Not Working from Home: President Obama was in Brazil over the weekend, monitoring Japan and Libya from overbroad; and
  • The Dow, reacting to news out of Japan, the Middle East and relatively positive US economic data ended the week down 1.5 percent at 11,858.

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No Comments » Written on March 21st, 2011 by
Categories: From the News, Main Street, Wall Street
Tags: , , , , , ,
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