July 9, 2008

BET

BET News Premieres the Third and Final Episode of 'Hip Hop vs. America

This upcoming Saturday night -- grab your girls for a night of stimulating conversation as BET News gives the ladies the final word with HIP HOP VS. AMERICA II: WHERE DID THE LOVE GO?. Hosted by MC Lyte and Jeff Johnson, this controversial town hall meeting joins an all female panel to candidly explore the role that Hip Hop plays in the way young women are raised in America today. Are we doing enough for our young women? Are we creating positive role models for them to look up to? Does the lack of female MC's have anything to do with the way females are represented in Hip Hop today?

GM, Procter & Gamble said to have pulled ads from two BET programs

Media watchdogs are declaring it a victory. Black Entertainment Television hasn't said much, and advertisers are mum. What is clear, though, is that at least two top advertisers-automaking giant General Motors and consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble-have pulled ads from BET's Rap City and 106 & Park programs

FOX

Q&A With Bill Macaitis, SVP Online Marketing For Fox Interactive Media

Bill Macaitis is the SVP of Online Marketing for Fox Interactive Media (FIM) which runs a network of entertainment sites which include MySpace, Fox Sports, IGN, Photobucket, AskMen, Rotten Tomatoes and American Idol, GameSpy, Scout and Flektor. The FIM network reaches over 171 million monthly unique visitors. Bill has over 12 years of online marketing experience with a specialty in search.

MTV

Country's Leading Gay Lifestyle Magazine to Partner with MTV

Genre Magazine, the nation’s longest-running gay men’s lifestyle magazine, enters the second phase of its brand refresh activity this week, with the launch of a nationwide TV advertising campaign with Logo, the lesbian & gay network owned by Viacom's MTV.

First political ads to air on MTV

MTV viewers have been told to "Choose or Lose" for years, but never before have they been able to watch full-fledged political ads between installments of My Super Sweet Sixteen. At least, not until recently. MTV has confirmed that it will now allow official advertisements from political candidates and campaign committees on its airwaves.

MTV Partners With Cadbury and Dish Network to Launch Interactive TV Campaign

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, has announced that it is partnering with Cadbury to launch an advertiser-supported interactive television campaign. In line with this, iTV voting and polling presented by Cadbury's Sour Patch Kids will be enabled during The N's all-new reality series, Queen Bees, which premieres on July 11, 2008. The campaign will be available exclusively in Dish Network homes throughout the US, the company said.

VIACOM

Outraged YouTubers Bash Viacom in Videos

Angry YouTubers are lashing back at a court's ruling that Google will have to turn over all user histories to media giant Viacom. The ruling says records of all videos watched by YouTube users, along with the users' names and IP addresses, must be handed over to Viacom, which is suing YouTube for copyright infringement. Since the controversial ruling was handed down Tuesday, dozens of ranting videos blasting Viacom have surfaced on the video site.

Time for a YouTube intervention

Witness the latest episode of “Viacom vs. the Internet,” a long-running reality show in which a media behemoth holds fast to its antiquated business ideals while taking advantage of our increasingly tenuous hold on personal privacy, and accepting none of the responsibility for the resulting fallout.

Viacom won't soon shed image as corporate bully

Ever since Viacom, parent company of MTV and Paramount Pictures, filed a $1 billion copyright suit against Google's YouTube last year, Google has won kudos for championing the rights of Internet users. On the other side, Viacom was blasted by critics who accused it of trying to lock down information and block people from enjoying South Park and The Daily Show.

YouTube can't blame Viacom for ad woes

That's the lesson that YouTube and Google are learning the hard way, according to a story published Tuesday evening by The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper's Web site reported that YouTube is generating $200 million in ad sales and is stilling failing to meet its revenue expectations.

AFRICA

Ethiopian Bodies Express Concern Over New Media Law

The new media and information law passed by parliament this week encounters strong opposition from different media groups. "According to the new law, previous restrictions against media outlets such as detention of journalists suspected of infringement of law have been scrapped" a parliament statement said. The new law bans censorship of private media and detention of journalists but retains other threats to freedom of expression.

Ghanaian Stars support HIV kids

Ghanaian internationals, Michael Essien and John Mensah have supported the campaign for the provision of antiretroviral drugs for HIV infected children in the country. The two Black Stars players interacted with children diagnosed of HIV at the Ridge Hospital in Accra on Tuesday. The session was organized by Woyome Foundation for Africa (WOFA) - an HIV/AIDS Charity Organization - which supports the cause of HIV infected persons in Ghana and Africa.

New season of African Footprint opens

African Footprint, South Africa’s most successful touring stage musical of the past decade, opens in Gold Reef City’s state-of-the-art Lyric Theatre on July 9, 2008 while negotiating offers to move into major theatre venues in the USA and London’s West End in 2009.

West Africa launches regional drive against AIDS, malaria

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has launched a region-wide campaign with the aim of creating awareness on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, three of the most devastating pandemics in the region, official sources have said.

ASIA

HIV/AIDS And Children In India

New data reveals that HIV/AIDS epidemic in India is smaller than previous estimates. But with the overall number of HIV cases still high – 2.47 million Indians have the virus- it is cause of concern. Chief among them is concern over the growing impact of the disease among children particularly girls.

CARIBBEAN & LATIN AMERICA

Brazil to Place Condom Dispensers in All Public High Schools

An official of the Brazilian federal government has announced that 400 condom vending machines will be placed in public schools by October of this year in the beginning stages of a massive distribution to the entire public school system.

Caribbean region celebrates Caricom Day

The occasion is observed to appreciate some of the achievements throughout the region, while focussing on current challenges and the available solutions. Emphasis is placed on the role of the youth in the region’s future development.

Caribbean takes leadership role in Summit of the Americas

In the next 10 months – 17-19 April, 2009 – Trinidad & Tobago will hold centre stage as 34 presidents and prime ministers gather in Port-of-Spain for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. It will be the first such event to take place within the Caribbean Community (Caricom) since the hemisphere-wide summit process began 14 years ago, and Prime Minister Patrick Manning has stated that he sees his country’s involvement as a Caribbean effort.

Hard to change attitudes towards HIV/AIDS

I am of the belief that the only thing standing in the way of stemming the tide with this disease is people's feelings: emotions and behaviours. You cannot stop people from thinking the way they do, neither can you control their emotions nor prevent them from behaving in the way they deem fit.

EUROPE

Women run STI risk while on holiday

Young British women are having unprotected sex on holiday, putting themselves at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STI), a survey has found. More than half of the women surveyed were worried about picking up an STI as they did not always use condoms.

HIV/AIDS AND SEXUAL HEALTH NEWS

Plan for spray-on condoms shelved

A German inventor has admitted that spray-on condoms may never hit the shelves after his team were unable to overcome technical problems. Jan Vinzenz Krause of the German Institute for Condom Consultancy made headlines across the world when he announced his pioneering design in 2006.

MULTI CULTURAL NEWS

AOL's Black Voices.com launches weekly video entertainment wrap up with Toyota

Black Voices, has launched The Black Voices Weekly Wire, a weekly three-minute video recap of top entertainment news. Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. is the official sponsor of the six-week program, with a new video available every Friday on Black Voices' Entertainment Newswire and Style Spotter blogs. The Black Voices Weekly Wire is hosted by Tatyana Ali, R&B artist and actress who is best known for her role as Ashley Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Black Voices is the No. 1 online destination for African-American news, culture and community.

Coalition of Latino Groups Launches Voter Drive

A multi-million dollar ad campaign designed to encourage voter registration and increased political participation among Latinos who are legal residents launches today nationwide on Spanish-language television and radio stations. The National Association of Latino Elected Officials, in cooperation with National Council of La Raza, Univision, State Farm and other groups will spend $3 to 4 million on the campaign. The coalition will air 30- and 60-second radio ads, as well as public service announcements on Univision, Time Warner Cable, Comcast Cable, and other outlets.

New Social Network Allows Professional African American Women to Connect Online

BlackWomenConnect.com is a new social network that enables professional Black women to "connect" with each other online. The site, which is free to join, gives African, Caribbean and African American women the ability to create a profile, view other profiles, and interact for business, networking, empowerment, entertainment and more.

SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS

3rd Annual San Francisco Social Networking Media Conference

The third annual summer business event will take place on Thursday and Friday in San Francisco. In the spirit of new and bright ideas, the conference is located within the campus of the University of California, San Francisco at the Mission Bay Conference Center. The environment, the discussions and the trade show all will encourage innovation and business networking.

Social Media, the New Face of Public Relations

Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed are just a few of the tactics discussed at a recent Utah Technology Council (UTC) peer-to-peer clinic on social media in public relations. The clinic, lead by Brian Watkins, PR Manager of Social Media at Omniture, together with Snapp Conner PR, allowed marketing and public relations experts to openly discuss the utility of new media in a Web 2.0 world.

OTHER NEWS

Clear Channel Revisits 'Less Is More' Campaign

About a year after declaring victory in Clear Channel Radio's "Less Is More" campaign, launched in 2004, president and CEO John Hogan said last week that there will be some changes in the company-wide policy, which originally called for Clear Channel stations to reduce their ad inventory to deliver a better listening experience.

Global Pay TV To Become 'Hypercompetitive'
Battered broadcast executives know the worldwide pay-TV market has become increasingly crowded. A new report shows how much worse it is going to get, forecasting that "hypercompetitive" media markets around the world will grow by nearly 40% in five years.

Office Video Network Adds Live Events
The Wall Street Journal Office Network, a collection of video screens in 630 offices showing ad-supported WSJ content, is expanding beyond the electronic screen. The company plans to support its branded video content with live product demonstration in office lobbies.