Nielsen says its new electronic viewer measuring devices show Americans are watching more TV than previously measured. “The new local-TV ratings system, which replaces a written paper-diary system with a remote-control-like device, showed an 18.6 percent in TV viewing in San Francisco, followed by a 9.1 percent gain in New York, 1.4 percent in Chicago and 0.5 percent in Los Angeles. Among TV watchers, the demographic that saw the biggest increase was men between the ages of 18 and 49, an audience that advertisers pay a premium to reach.”
Tag: 06.09.05
Arts Journalism – The Best And Worst Of Times
The National Arts Journalism Program has closed at Columbia University, and the timing is not auspicious. NAJP director Andras Szanto says that for arts journalism, “it’s the best of times and the worst of times. It’s the worst of times in the uncertainty, anxiety, insecurity, and dislocation facing arts journalists in institutions that are being staffed by outsourced freelancers with pay scales that are comparable to artists. Within news organizations, they’re trying to keep up with an arts world that is being marginalized.”
An End To Pakistan’s Bollywood Ban?
Pakistan’s film industry is trying to get the country’s government to end a ban on showing Bollywood films. “The ban was imposed after the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. The local film industry has proven itself to be completely unable to meet the demands of the local market.”
Newspaper Pays Settlement For Breaking Book Embargo
“The London Evening Standard has paid undisclosed compensation to publisher Jonathan Cape after the newspaper broke an embargo and threw the release of its star author Ian McEwan’s latest novel into chaos.”
New Art In Venice? (It Doesn’t Bear The Titian Test)
“The problem with the Biennale is that it takes place in Venice, the city in whose Frari church you can see Titian’s altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, one of the world’s supreme works of art. It is the consummation of Venetian art, mysterious, modest and, as you find if you visit near the feast of the Ascension, still serving a community of worshippers. It seems a futile thing, championing the new in a city that is such a great advert for the old, but in recent years the Biennale has been so atrociously curated and so pathetically managed that it would disgrace a far lesser city.”
A New Classical Recording Model?
Into the desolate landscape of classical music recording, a new boutique recording label finds a niche… and maybe some success? Norman Lebrecht sees an opening.
Mandela Sues Over Artwork
Nelson Mandela is suing his former lawyer over sales of Mandela’s artwork. “Mr Mandela’s side now claims that unauthorised prints are being marketed which bear false signatures. It is argued that these sales are worth millions of dollars. Mr Mandela’s prints typically sold for over $10,000 each until last month.”
Discovered: Major Trove Of Ancient Roman Statues
A site in Cyrene in Libya that has been under excavation for 150 years has recently yielded 76 intact Roman statues. “One morning, a collapsed wall in the Roman temple, which was discovered in the 1930s, revealed a marble serpent wrapped around a stone. We could not have known that this was only the first in a series of statues of every kind and size that we would pull from the ground. We just kept discovering them every day, for a month and a half, and found 76 in total.”
Jazz Culture Meets L.A. Sprawl
Los Angeles has a jazz scene. Really, it does. But you have to know how to look for it, and be ready to accept that it may not be a carbon copy of New Orleans or Chicago. “Contrary to popular grousing, there is jazz to be had in Los Angeles — and we’re not just talking about high-profile clubs such as the Jazz Bakery or this weekend’s Playboy Jazz Festival. The experience may come wrapped in a way we’re not accustomed to, or it might take some seeking. The bad rap about L.A., from performers to listeners, is this: ‘People don’t come out.’ Or, ‘It’s too over their heads.’ But the jazz issue is deeper and more complex: It’s an issue of sprawl, of competing distractions.”
Warhol Foundation Files For Copyright Violation
The Warhol Foundation has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a website that offers “museum-quality copies of famous masterpieces painted by our Thai artists totally by hand.” The site offered “oil-on-canvas copies of famous works created by a studio of artists in Thailand. Many artistic tastes were represented – from pop artists like Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to impressionists Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet – for prices ranging from $250 to $500 US.”