Category: media

Archivists grapple with digital storage. New-media records of today may make researching us impossible tomorrow. – Boston Globe 02/10/00 

The TV network has for several months been inserting “digital billboards” – promotional ads into the backgrounds of some of the stories it has covered on news programs, most famously on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Now CBS is threatening legal action against a team of Ohio sampler-jockeys for using digital snips of CBS broadcasts – including Dan Rather’s voice – in their digital montages. – Wired 02/09/00

A new Berlin awaits this year’s attendees at the Berlin Film Festival. Founded in 1951 in a politically motivated act to add glamour to the divided, occupied city, the Berlinale has ballooned to one of the world’s premiere film events. – Die Welt (Germany) 02/09/00

• Berlin Festival still struggling for respect. – The Oregonian (AP) 02/08/00

— vows to pursue those things that set the public broadcaster apart. Pat Mitchell says she wants to make sure it remains clear that “what we stand for is something singular in this consolidated and commercialized world.” – Los Angeles Times 02/08/00   

It’s coming into Academy Awards season. But first a lot of work. Choosing candidates and evaluating efforts is a time-consuming process. – San Francisco Chronicle 02/08/00 

The tiny “progressive” radio network is the last non-mainstream American network. “What began as a labor dispute at Pacifica’s Berkeley, Calif., station nearly a year ago has degenerated into a tedious, slow self-immolation that has involved firings, resignations, court intrigue, lost listenership and a protest march of more than 10,000 people in Berkeley.” – Washington Post 02/08/00

— is the latest of the big national public broadcasters to find its role changing. After the government cut its budget, ABC went looking for commercial sources of revenue. The latest deal has some worried about the network’s independence. – Sydney Morning Herald 02/08/00 

— Pat Mitchell is a former reporter and a respected documentary maker. Her appointment is expected today. – Los Angeles Times 02/07/00

Want to know where all that Hollywood movie and TV industry production is headed? North to British Columbia. The province’s movie industry grew 20 percent last year, making it the third-largest producer in North America. – Variety 02/07/00 

• Canada scored record film exports in 1999, but 90 percent of the movie business at home is dominated by American fare. – CBC 02/07/00

Sinclair Broadcasting contends that the TV industry’s new digital standard delivers less than the clear crisp picture that has been promised, and that the standard should be changed. Nope, says the FCC, in a unanimous ruling. – Variety 02/07/00