MIDDLE EAST
06 WORLD NEWS
21 December 2008
MEDIA NEWS OF 2008—AS IT HAPPENED
No matter how hard you try, there’s no getting away from the fact that 2008 was the year of the global finan-
cial crisis—or at least the start of it. But while the credit crunch dominated much of the world’s media news,
there were plenty of other industry developments that grabbed the headlines over the last 12 months.
So join Media Week as we wave goodbye to 2008 and look back at some of the stories that had us in fits of
laughter, as well as those that had us crying inconsolably at our desks.
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL
Los Angeles Times editor Jim O’Shea took The Drudge Report broke a news blackout Jailed press baron Conrad Black filed an Journalists at Le Monde went on strike over
one for the team when he rejected a manage- to disclose the deployment of Prince Harry appeal claiming his trial judge misdirected job cuts, meaning the French evening daily
ment order to cut $4 million from the editorial in Afghanistan for the British Army. jurors and was overly lenient with prosecu- was not published for only the second time
budget. He was duly fired as a result. tors. Black remains behind bars in Florida in its 64-year history.
for corporate fraud.
Gemstar-TV Guide, the TV listings busi- Senior White House official and sometime Google bucked the trend and delivered a 31
ness part-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News news reporter Tim Goeglein resigned after The sale of social networking website, Bebo, per cent surge in quarterly profits, justifying its
Corporation, announced plans to sue cable admitting he had repeatedly plagiarized netted founder Michael Birch a £417mil- claim that a recession would not stop people
group Virgin Media, claiming Virgin had in- from other writers. Goeglein was also a PR lion ($850million) windfall. The site was from searching the web. First-quarter earn-
fringed three of its European patents. aide to George W. Bush. Oops. snapped up by AOL. ings jumped from $1billion to $1.31billion.
MAY JUNE
JULY AUGUST
Nike China launched a slamdunkin’ new Sebastian Faulks sent critics the ultimate
The Chinese government launched a clamp Gannett, the largest US newspaper pub-
marketing initiative, dubbed ‘Kobe Mentu’ up-yours when his much-panned James
down on OOH ads in Beijing, giving prefer- lisher announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs in
or ‘Kobe’s Disciples’, centered on a unique Bond novel, Devil May Care, became Pen-
ence to official sponsors of the Olympics. its American operation because of declin-
reality TV show bringing 24 Chinese young- guin’s fastest selling hardback fiction title
The move was to counter ambush market- ing ad revenue and circulation.
sters together with the help of NBA super- ever, with 44,093 copies sold in the first four
ers hoping to gain from the Games.
star Kobe Bryant. days of release.
Europe’s biggest media buyer, Carat, pre-
Soon after the creation of information com-
BSkyB announced it would break into the UK dicted online advertising will continue
pany Thomson Reuters, the firm revealed More than £3 billion ($5.5 billion) was
digital music market with a new monthly sub- to grow in 2008 and overtake radio as the
details of planned job losses, with up to 700 spent on online ads for the first time in the
scription service as an ambitious counter to world’s third most popular advertising me-
posts to be axed in the first round of cuts. UK last year, research showed.
iTunes’ track-by-track purchasing. dium, behind TV and print.
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER
Barack Obama showed he’s no technophobe Creative agency Mother won a $60 million Agencies feared the worst as Big Three car Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankrupt-
as he turned to social network sites for his contract with Coca-Cola Europe to promote giants General Motors, Ford and Chrysler cy protection with two of America’s most-
presidential election campaign. His overall the fizzy drink as ‘the drink of the summer’. continued to cut their advertising budgets. respected (no joke) newspapers Chicago
ad spend was a record $740 million. Tribune and LA Times being affected.
Coca-Cola held onto top spot in Inter- Brand Finance, the London-based brand Private television networks in India were
brand’s Best Global Brand study, with IBM valuation consultants, said the value of the rapped for their coverage of the Mumbai Financial advisors Deloitte predicted print
swapping places with Microsoft to take sec- top 100 global brands decreased by $67 bil- atrocities, which allegedly aided the terrorists media in developed markets could be deci-
ond spot. lion due to the flailing American economy. by providing them with tactical information. mated in 2009. Who next…
www.mediaweekme.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46