February 4, 2008

BET

HIV/AIDS: People from All people must confront the crisis

NNPA Special Commentary by Bob Johnson founder of BET

As the founder of Black Entertainment Television, I helped launch Rap It Up-a multi media campaigned focused on raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and encourage our viewers to first protect themselves and engage in open discussions about HIV/AIDS. I'm very proud of the fact that the Rap-It-Up campaign has become one of the most effective AIDS social marketing campaigns in the country and arguably the most successful AIDS media campaign targeting African American youth.

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20080204q

CW

CW: 'Canary in the Coal Mine' for TV Industry

The struggling CW could be a canary in the coal mine for the broadcast television industry. Declining viewership and increased competition from video games, cable TV and the Internet are affecting ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. But they are hitting the youth-focused CW harder.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cw4feb04,1,600010.story

MTV

Rhapsody and Yahoo! Announce Strategic Partnership In Digital Music

Yahoo! and Rhapsody America, the award winning digital music service of RealNetworks and Viacom's MTV Networks, today announced a broad strategic relationship in digital music.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/technology/article/rhapsody-yahoo-announce-strategic-partnership-digital-music_463349_12.html

MTV, Verizon Become 'Dance' Partners

MTV and Verizon have teamed up to provide exclusive on-demand full episodes of MTV's new series, Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew, on Verizon FiOS TV, the companies announced Monday. The episodes will be available free-of-charge 24 hours after the MTV premiere.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/tvstations/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003706336

Univision

Hispanic Radio Listeners Nationwide to Support Life-Saving Efforts Against Childhood Cancer

Univision Radio, a division of Univision Communications Inc. and the leading Spanish-language radio broadcaster in the United States, joins forces again with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital(R) through the network's Promesa y Esperanza (Promise and Hope) broadcast on February 7 and 8.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-04-2008/0004748973&EDATE=

Univision.com Receives Media Rating Council Accreditation for Fourth Consecutive Year
Univision Online, Inc., a subsidiary of Univision Communications Inc., announced today that the Media Rating Council (MRC) has voted to fully renew its Accreditation of key traffic measurements on Univision.com. Univision.com was the first Spanish-language website to be accredited by the MRC, and remains the longest-running MRC Accredited website, in any language.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1061552/

AFRICA

African women slam abuse of females with HIV/AIDS

Hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans rallied Monday in Burkina Faso against the abuse of women infected with HIV/AIDS. "There is no doubt that lots of human rights violations characterise the (HIV/AIDS) pandemic," said Bernice Heloo, president of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA).

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hIDEl66yJ-aALX-e6QdVmM2HseCQ

Nigeria: First Ladies Campaign Against Violence

At the end of their meeting in Addis Ababa, which held on the sideline of the AU Summit, they also resolved to mobilise efforts and resources to fight the scourge of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS.The meeting was attended by Nigeria´s First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar´Adua, accompanied by wives of Oyo and Benue states governors.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802041152.html

Surprising research results at AIDS conference

Researchers at a major scientific conference here warned Sunday that adult male circumcision, which may dramatically reduce the risk of HIV transmission in Africa, could raise the risk for women there whose male partners seek the procedure after they are already infected.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/04/MNCVURII9.DTL

Uganda: Country to Benefit From World Bank $15m HIV Programme

THE World Bank approved and launched a $15m (sh27b) grant Regional HIV/AIDS Partnership programme, at Serena Kampala Hotel recently. The programme will address regional HIV/AIDS challenges in the Horn of Africa.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802041038.html

Zimbabwe: Trust Set to Embark on HIV, Aids Awareness Programmes

The Miss Biggy-Matofotofo Trust will soon embark on HIV and Aids awareness programmes targeting models and celebrities as they are highly exposed to the pandemic, Lwazi Mbowa the pageant's founder has said.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802040896.html

CARIBBEAN

Cable & Wireless' Caribbean Chief Canned

Cable & Wireless' chief executive of the Caribbean and Americas, Chris Hetherington, has been canned. The shake-up comes as C&W continues to face stiff competition in the Caribbean from Irish company, Digicel.

http://www.caribbeanworldnews.com/business_one.php?sid=962&a=4&cut=301&ad=business

INDIA

Condom vending machines for Delhi women

For the first time in India, female condoms are now available in vending machines, giving women a new option for safe sex. As another step for women's liberation, in a conservative society, young women in Delhi would not have to go through the embarrassment of asking the chemist.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080040253&ch=2/3/2008%204:45:00%20PM

HIV/AIDS & SEXUAL HEALTH NEWS

Experiment to treat genital herpes produces no protection

A once-promising experiment to see if treating genital herpes with a common drug could dramatically reduce susceptibility to HIV infection has found no protection whatsoever -- a shocking setback for researchers hoping to find a pill that would slow the spread of the AIDS epidemic.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/04/BAJRURTMM.DTL&type=health

Fight Looms Over Global AIDS Plan

A five-year, $15 billion effort to combat AIDS in Africa and other areas — arguably the most important and popular international program of the Bush presidency — may become a political battleground as it comes up for renewal.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1709622,00.html

NATIONAL BLACK HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY PRESS CONFERENCE UNVEILS EVENTS NATIONWIDE ON FEBRUARY 6TH

The organizers of the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) will conduct a special press conference on Wednesday, February 6, 2008. The conference, set from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m., takes place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Noted celebrities and spokespersons for Black AIDS Day, including Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph and noted Radio Personality Russ Parr of the Russ Parr Morning Show, are among the speakers and presenters

http://www.blackprwire.com/display-news.asp?id=3870

Talk Focuses on African Americans' Struggle with HIV/AIDS

A free workshop designed to introduce methods for fostering greater collaboration between the black community and health care professionals in dealing with HIV/AIDS will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

http://media-newswire.com/release_1060235.html

OTHER MEDIA NEWS

Google Builds its Own Social Graph

Google is building a Social Graph API to rival Facebook, although the Web giant is taking "a much different and more open approach" to social graphing. Whereas Facebook operates under a walled-garden approach -- meaning everything that leverages Facebook's social graph links back to Facebook -- Google will allow third parties to grab social graph data produced by links or data included on Web pages but not shown in a browser. Google plans to let third parties build the data into applications made for Open Social and other initiatives.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/01/googles-gathers-social-graph-information-from-the-web-launches-api/

Interactive TV: Marketing's Next Frontier

TELEVISION VIEWERS ARE USING their remote control just as they would a mouse: to request information, ask for free samples, or even to buy products. The marriage of technology and marketing is available in over 65 million homes, but in their rush to discover the next big thing and jump on the latest bandwagon, all but the most progressive marketers (albeit a growing list) are completely unaware of interactive TV's power as a super-charged marketing communications tool.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/tv_board/?p=252#comments