Weekly media index: 20 - 26 June 2009

Utegate: The political debate over alleged improper influence favouring a car dealer in Brisbane by the Treasurer and Prime Minister, that has almost inevitably become known as Utegate, ended up being seen by virtually all the media as a major tactical blunder by the Leader of the Opposition and a win for the Government after one of the key emails upon which he based his claims against Kevin Rudd was shown to be a forgery. This revelation also led to serious doubts about the evidence of Treasury official Godwin Grech, while separate claims against Wayne Swan have been completely overshadowed by the forged email.

Wimbledon: After a strong performance by Australians at the French Open, the traditionally most watched foreign Grand Slam has achieved plenty of coverage across all forms of media in its first week despite there only being one Australian male in the singles draw for the first time in 70 years, with Samantha Stosur and Lleyton Hewitt once again sailing through the early rounds, while Jelena Dokic lost in the first round amidst coverage of her father’s serious illness and her rejection of any reunion.

State of Origin: Queensland wrapped up an unprecedented fourth series victory in a row with a solid if uninspiring win over New South Wales in the second match at ANZ Stadium. After racing out to an early 18-nil lead, the Maroons held on for a 24-14 victory, with the match winning the ratings and receiving wall-to-wall coverage in the rugby league states but far less interest outside Queensland and NSW.

Swine influenza: Swine flu coverage has dropped down the list again this week, despite claims of the first deaths in Australia from the virus, disputed in one case. The death of a 25 year old indigenous man has led to concerns over the comprehensiveness of the response to the potential spread of the virus in remote communities and amongst groups more susceptible to respiratory illness.

Iran: After a week of largely peaceful but widespread protests, the Iranian police and militias have cracked down hard on public protests, with footage of people being shot in the streets being accessed via social media sites and shown on mainstream media across the world. The U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the violence against protesters, following criticism from Republicans and parts of the media that his response had been weak, while the Iranian government blamed British and American influence for the unrest.

Quote of the week:

“I wanted to have a place that I could create everything I never had as a child." – Michael Jackson tells why he built his Neverland ranch

"When I saw him move, I was mesmerized, I knew that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James Brown." – Michael Jackson discusses what made him want to be an entertainer

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, television, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and entertainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 6 - 12 June 2009

Swine influenza: As swine flu started to affect sporting fixtures across the country, with a swimming meet cancelled and several football matches in doubt, media coverage focused on these sporting disruptions and continued to debate the severity of this form of influenza, as health authorities watched for any signs of the virus mutating into a more dangerous strain.

Twenty20 World Cup: Despite Australia falling at the first hurdle in the Twenty20, it still received plenty of coverage across all forms of the electronic media, with discussion of whether the team were properly prepared and whether Andrew Symonds sacking from the squad at the last minute affected their performance.

Ministry reshuffle: Following the resignation of Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon last week, Kevin Rudd announced a wider reshuffle of his ministry, with John Faulkner moving to the Defence portfolio, Joe Ludwig taking his Special Minister of State position, promotion for Chris Bowen and the promotion of NSW right wing powerbroker Mark Arbib and left wing powerbroker Greg Combet into the ministry.

Indian student attacks: Several attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide over the past two weeks has led to street protests by Indian students calling for greater protection and continued coverage of the issue in Indian and other Asian media. State and Federal government leaders have deplored the attacks and attempted to reassure students that Australia is a safe option for education.

Socceroos qualify: In a much less dramatic fashion than last time, the Socceroos have sailed into the 2010 World Cup with a draw in Qatar on the weekend, reasserting their dominance with an unexciting but easy two-nil win over Bahrain in Sydney during the week. The Socceroos were the second team to officially qualify for the tournament, just hours behind Japan.

“fair shake of the sauce bottle” – Kevin Rudd tries (incorrectly) to channel Dad Rudd

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, television, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and entertainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index - 30 May - 6 June 2009

Swine flu: Swine flu remained easily the most reported story across the country, although with significantly lower volumes than last week, as the number of cases headed quickly towards four figures, most of those still in Victoria, although most other areas of the country have been affected to some degree. Predictions in the media of how severe the outbreak would be continued to vary, although many experts are now likening the outbreak to a regular flu season.

State of Origin: Despite the recent bad publicity received by rugby league, the State of Origin was a ratings and publicity success, also achieving strong crowd figures at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. The NSW media tended to focus on controversial refereeing decisions while the Queensland media were basking in another win by their team, looking for an unprecedented fourth series victory in a row.

No recession: The Government were cock-a-hoop about the quarterly GDP figures showing the economy had grown in the first quarter of 2009, confounding most business and political commentators who felt sure the figures would confirm a second quarter of negative growth, the common definition of a recession. The Prime Minister immediately claimed the positive figure was due to the stimulus payments and first home owners grant while the Opposition claimed they showed that less could have been spent.

French Open: Samantha Stosur’s run at the French Open finally ended in the semi-finals against Svetlana Kuznetsova in a tough three set match, Kuznetsova facing Safina in the final, while interest was strong in who would earn the title on the men’s side of the draw following the early exit of Rafael Nadal.

Indian student attacks: There has been widespread concern of a possible drop in international student numbers after a series of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, with the Government being heavily criticised in Indian media reports, while Victorian police maintain theft rather than ethnicity was the motivating factor in the attacks.

Quote of the week:

“I have at least two or three Judases in my midst and they had the drip on me” – Former Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Slice of Life: Jason Murnane, Communications Manager, AFL Players' Association

Jason Murnane is the Communications & Publications Manager, for the Australian Football League Players' Association (AFLPA). But more than that he's a veteran Slicer, an avid reader, Collingwood support, rockin' Dad and cous cous eater! Right now he's working on a youth homelessness initiative with AFL players so listen up and read on...



You work for the AFL Players Association. How do you land that kinda gig?
What, other than being brilliant? No seriously, it’s about identifying where you would most like to be, throw in a little persistence, combine with a healthy dose of keeping your ears to the ground and voila. Working in the AFL industry is something a lot of people aspire to, but like Ron Barassi says, “if it is to be, it is us up to me.”

What are some of the key communication messages the AFLPA are working on right now?
At the moment we are doing a lot of work with ‘Ladder’ – a youth homelessness initiative, created by the AFL Players’ Association and AFL Foundation to help tackle youth homelessness. The idea is not to solve youth homelessness – Bob Hawke gave that a go and well, he came a bit of a cropper. It’s more about bringing the AFL industry’s pressure to bear on an issue that really shouldn’t exist in such a great country as ours. The initiative has seen the launch of two sites, one in Adelaide the other in inner Melbourne which will see the housing, mentoring and training of young people living at the site – all driven by AFL players.

Is the AFLPA using social media tools to assist with communication strategies?
We do. With much of our membership under 25 we use social media, such as your Facebook and Twitter et al, as they provide us with tremendous opportunities to get our message out to our members, but also to engage directly with the wider community, free from the on occasional negativity from some of our friends in the paid media.

Tell us something about the AFL players association we would find surprising...
We are not a department of the AFL and we’ve been around since 1974 - 35 years strong.

What has been your personal career highlight so far?
Working with and learning from a wide variety of really great people.

Have you found monitoring the media changes the way you communicate with the media?
Yes and no. The AFL industry is so driven by the 24 / 7 media cycle that it’s hard for some, sometimes to see the forest for the trees – to live and die by the media cycle. What’s a front page headline for a day disappears without a trace by the following day. With the growth of 24 hours sport news, there’s been a great tendency by some to concentrate solely on being first with the news, at the expense of being accurate. With well over 1,000 journalists’ accredited to cover AFL football (way more than cover Federal Politics), it’s a competitive gig – one I don’t envy.

Why Slice over other monitoring services?
The simplicity and cost effectiveness of the service.

Right now I'm:

Reading...
A lot of football journalism, good – (Martin Flanagan, Tim Lane, Rob Murphy) and bad. Fiction wise Cormac McCarthy (again and again), Peter Carey, Ben Okri, Richard Flanagan and many others but on the bed side table at the moment its a book called Standard Operating Procedure – a cold eyed first hand account of what happened at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and what occurs when a country’s military loses sight of what its’ supposed to be fighting for

Eating....
Cous Cous salad with chicken, sultanas and cashews

Listening...
Heaps of stuff – Bon Iver, Scud Mountain Boys, The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, The Black Keys, The Middle East, AC/DC, plus my mighty Collingwood game calls on good old ABC 774 radio

Planning...
On getting to the beach, one day

Buying...
Trying to save (thanks Kevin07)

Enjoying....
My life with my beautiful two girls and partner

Media monitoring

Twitter makes it outdoors...

Loved this billboard by Wholefoods in the States... although I think it should say 'tweeting'... but, meh... you get the message. Would have been a nice touch to add the Twitter URL perhaps?



(via Brian Gieson on Twitter http://twitter.com/bdgiesen and cotweet http://twitter.com/cotweet)

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 23 -29 May 2009

Swine Influenza: As the number of confirmed sine flu cases moved swiftly past 100 in Australia, the story returned to complete dominance of radio news in particular, with almost hourly updates on the status of the epidemic. Health authorities across the country have warned that there will be many more confirmed cases with some reports predicting up to 20% of the population could eventually catch the virus.

Emissions Trading: Once again the media is reporting an impasse in the Senate on the Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme, with the Nationals and Greens both firmly against it for opposite reasons and the Liberal Party attempting to delay a vote for another six months. Political commentators have focused on the likelihood of the issue being used to force an early election.

NSW Floods: Three major rivers in northern New South Wales broke their banks and caused millions of dollars of damage, with large town centres such as Kempsey, Grafton and Lismore hit by floodwaters along with extensive damage to surrounding farm land. Emergency centres have been set up to assist with the clean-up but the full damage bill may not be known for several weeks.

French Open: Australians performed well in the first week at the French Open tennis, with Jarmila Groth and Smantha Stosur winning through to the third round along with Lleyton Hewitt, who will face world number one Rafael Nadal. Jelena Dokic was forced to retire with an injury while leading in her second round match.

North Korea: There has been almost universal condemnation of a further nuclear test by North Korea, with media commentators describing the move as the first major test of Barack Obama’s presidency, with the UN Security Council quickly condemning the test and warning of further action if testing continues.

“Its all in French so you don’t know what’s bloody going on…then everybody stands up and claps, and its like ‘oh my god we’ve won something’”
Warwick Thornton describes winning the Camera D’Or at Cannes for his first feature film Samson and Delilah

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Slice like a pro: Adding past clips to your Slice account

Cooked to perfection and just out of the Slice oven comes a new 'Add' clip feature for Slice subscribers. That's right Slicers, you can now add news clips from the last 30 days into your Slice tracking folders... delicious!

OK Slicers, here's how to sink your teeth into it...

Creating a new tracking folder and adding past clips


1. Enter all tracking folder details Step 1 - 4
2. Go to Step 5 'Test, Add, Save & Start'.
3. Click 'Test and Add'
4. Clips from the last 30 days that match your tracking criteria will be presented to you in a table.
5. Review these clips to ensure your search string and media scoping options are picking up the right type of articles you're looking for. If the list contains irrelevant articles, review your search string and media options to prevent irrelevant clips being delivered into your account.
6. To add any of these clips, simply tick the check box next to the clip details.
7. Add as many clips as you like and then click 'Save'.
8. These clips will be added towards you package clip count and may take up to 30 minutes to be delivered into your account.
Tip: ensure you have email alerts for this tracking folder enabled - you'll then receive a message when these new clips arrive in your account!


Adding clips to an existing tracking folder


1. Go the tracking folder you'd like to add clips to.
2. You'll notice Step 5 is now called 'Test, Add, Save & Start'.
3. Click 'Test & Add'
4. If there are clips from the last 30 days that match your search, you'll see a list of articles presented by date and media type, with details of publisher/broadcaster.
5. You can reorder your list by simply clicking the table headings. By default clips are sorted by date.
6. Clips previously delivered into your account will have grey text and the check box for it will already be ticked(see fourth clip listed above). You can not add clips already received by your tracking folder.
7. To add clips, simply tick the check box next to the clip details.
8. Add as many clips as you like and then click 'Save'.
9. These clips will be added towards you package clip count and may take up to 30 minutes to be delivered into your account.
Tip 1: Ensure you have email alerts for this tracking folder enabled - you'll then receive a message when these new clips arrive in your account!
Tip 2: If you are adding a clip that was missed, review your search string and media scoping options to prevent the miss happening again.

We hope you enjoy this new addition to our pantry of Slice DIY ingredients. Eat up!

Media monitoring

Slice of Life: Casey Macneil, Director, Macneil Marketing & Communications

Casey Macneil knows how to squeeze a good time out of work and play... She lives on the Sunshine coast, has clients like the Noosa Longweekend and is mum to two bubs. She's also is a nifty Slice subscriber and doesn't mind a G&T every now and then...




Tell us a little bit about your good self...
Brizzie born and bred, and related to half of it (catholic – 40 first cousins – actually 41!) Went to school, uni then left for London, as we all did in the late 80s. Worked in Brisbane and Melbourne in my 20s and early 30s on fab projects like the Brisbane International Film Festival. Am now spending my days on an idyllic property near Coolum Beach on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. I run my own marketing agency (Macneil Marketing & Communications), I have a few little pip-squeaks at home, I work with some really clever people and my daily commute is very small. Life is rather good actually! G&T anyone?

What campaign are you working on right now?
We’re promoting the Noosa Longweekend festival (19 – 28 June) but also one of our favourite clients distributes fantastic European-designed products for babies and kids including the Bebedelice, a steamer/blender for baby food and a head support called Lovenest which prevents flathead in babies (otherwise babies end up having HELMET therapy – not a good look). You want babies fat not flat.

Are you using social media as part of its communications toolkit?
I yam! A friend of mine is a social networking specialist and owns an agency in London. The Queen is one of his clients! He’s been teaching me the ways of the web world and so has an associate Brad Howarth, great guy. I am working on a seminar event with this London-based guru in November in Brisbane – would love to hear from people if it’s something they’d want to go to and what they’d like covered. Also planning a smaller workshop style format for more intimate learning.

What's the biggest challenge facing professional communicators right now?
Crowded marketplace; social media stuff is very time consuming; everyone thinks they are a communicator. The list goes on, but I’ve been doing it for 20 years and I still love going to work, so something’s right.

Are you feeling the fallout of the GFC?
A little bit, yes. Things aren’t as fast and furious as they have been these last couple of years. Frankly, I really needed a breather, so am not unhappy about it!

Why Slice over other monitoring services?
Price; love the self-serve (but you need someone to help download it all).

Tips on using Slice for other subscribers?
Nail a tight string. (now that’s talking the lingo!)

Right now I'm:

Reading... the Noosa Longweekend program – full of juicy stuff!

Eating.... chocolate when I shouldn’t be

Listening... to my baby trying to talk and my toddler never stopping!

Planning... a trip somewhere…

Buying... nothing, saving for my trip! Sorry Kevin!

Enjoying... Twitter. And watching MAD MEN! Loving it. Also loved Entourage.

Drinking... green tea in the day and G&Ts on Fridays (martinis on Saturdays)

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 16 - 22 May 2009

Swine flu: Swine flu has returned to prominence in the media with a number of confirmed Australian cases across several states, including three children in Melbourne, leading to the closure of the Primary School attended by two of the children, as the number of global swine flu cases went over 10,000.

Queensland storms: South East Queensland is yet again suffering through an extreme weather pattern, with massive storms and the worst flooding in thirty years taking one life and causing millions of dollars of damage, while several dams are overflowing less than a year after the breaking of the area’s worst drought on record.

Sri Lanka: There were celebrations in the capital of Sri Lanka after the government announced it had killed the Tamil Tigers leader and taken the final rebel stronghold in the north of the country, although international aid organisations warned of the massive humanitarian effort required to protect and rehome refugees from the thirty year long civil war.

Annice Smoel: Melbourne woman Annice Smoel received a huge amount of coverage across all traditional media after she was arrested for stealing a bar mat in a bar in Phuket. After pleading guilty she was released with a good behaviour bond and fine.

Cronulla Sharks: In the wake of the group sex scandal involving Matthew Johns and another ten unnamed Cronulla players in 2002, a current player has tested positive to a banned substance, the media uncovered a payment to a former employee injured in an incident involving the Club CEO and the club’s major sponsor announced they would not be renewing their sponsorship at the end of the season.

Quote of the week:

“Let's see if it ever happens” – Sol Trujillo’s view from San Diego on the Australian Government’s planned National Broadband Network

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 9 - 15 May 2009

Budget: While the coverage was wall-to-wall last week, there was not a huge amount of new information in Budget coverage, with almost all of the major initiatives and even the deficit figure itself being leaked well beforehand. Even the one major surprise of a lift in the pension age to 67, phased in from 2017 to 2023, did not receive a huge amount of ongoing debate across talkback, blogs and other social media.

Matthew Johns: Matthew Johns made two public mea culpas on Channel Nine this week, one very brief and the other 20 minutes long, after ABC program Four Corners revealed he had been involved in a group sex incident while playing for Cronulla in 2002. The issue sparked off a massive debate over consent, the culture of rugby league clubs and treatment of women by sportsmen in general.

Bushfires Royal Commission: The Black Saturday Royal Commission into the Victorian bushfires once again received strong coverage throughout the week, the Commission hearing differing views on what level of threat the CFA were expecting on the day and claims of serious deficiencies in Victoria’s 000 emergency call system.

Alcopops: Immediately after the Budget the Government reaffirmed its commitment to send the Alcopops legislation back to the Senate unchanged in what some commentators claimed was an attempt to create a trigger for a Double Dissolution election.

Jumps Racing: The Victorian Racing Board once again delayed a decision on the future of Jumps racing in that state after claiming it needed more time to consider all of the submissions to its Jumps Review Panel.

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 2 - 8 May 2009

Swine flu: Remarkably, discussion of swine flu was still at number one last week, despite a huge amount of speculation surrounding Tuesday’s Federal Budget and the announcement of major changes in the Government’s emissions trading plans. Both infection rates and confirmed deaths in Mexico were revised downwards during the week, although concern continued that cases may be confirmed in many more countries in the coming week, while some commentators accused the media of damaging its own credibility with the amount of coverage given to the outbreak.

Budget speculation: Leaks aplenty were seen across the media, with the Government succeeding in presenting the Budget as a Robin Hood exercise, with commitments to raise the pension certain to be kept while superannuation tax benefits introduced by the previous government seen as most likely to come under attack in an attempt to limit what all business commentators say will be a record deficit.

Emissions trading: The Government announced it would be breaking a key election commitment to introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme by 2010, with the scheme now to be phased in from 2011, with full trading from 2012. Support was gained from a number of business and environmental groups for the move, which also committed to a higher cut by 2020, dependent on international agreements, although both the Greens and Coalition maintained their opposition to the scheme.

Unemployment figures: Many commentators expressed amazement and some pure disbelief as latest job figures from the ABS reported a drop in the unemployment rate to 5.4%, while most were expecting a figure heading towards 7%. Even the Government urged caution over the figure, maintaining that it expects unemployment to rise considerably, but unsurprisingly putting the current figure down to the affect of the stimulus packages.

Logies: While it didn’t come close to making the top five in any other media, very strong coverage on television of their own awards night pushed the Logies up to number five for the week, with most coverage related to the frocks and the performance of this year’s host Gretel Killeen, although gold Logie winner Rebecca Gibney did get to share some of the limelight.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I told reporters that I would fire a "wasp" (rocket launcher) at her (the ambassador) when I was upset and as a joke.” - Damir Dokic tells a Serbian court he was only joshing about firing an RPG into the Australian Embassy in Belgrade

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Slice of Life: Andrea Kerekes, Managing Partner, Access PR

We'd like you to meet the very gorgeous Andrea Kerekes, Managing Partner, at Access PR. When she's not staving off her teenage son's ever increasing appetite, Andrea is leading her team to provide PR counsel for some of Australia's top brands. Oh, and she also happens to be one very sassy Slicer.


Since launching just over 12 months ago, Access PR has grown incredibly fast. What has been the key to your success?
Paranoia is a wonderful thing.

Access PR has been finalists in many PR awards recently. Is there a campaign that you're particularly proud of?
We do less campaign work and more ongoing counsel and reputation management. Having said that, the Starlight Children’s Foundation Christmas campaign generated a ridiculously huge amount of media coverage as well as reaching fundraising targets – all PR led. We are also very proud of our Pizza Hut ‘Pasta Hut’ launch.

What do you think are the biggest challenges for the PR industry right now?
Nothing new I reckon. There’s the perennial ritual of having to read about publicity ‘professionals’ making announcements they are going to guarantee media coverage or that “PR as we know it is dead” (blah, blah, blah…). The main challenge is really keeping on top of the rising tide of digital media and opinion leaders online.

You've used other monitoring services. What gives Slice it's edge?
The self service aspect is great and it’s very simple to use.

Any tips for other Slice subscribers?
As Kath & Kim would say, be pacific.

Right now I'm....

Reading... How to Kill Your Husband by Kathy Lette (sorry George)

Eating.... a stupid carb-free diet that is killing me

Listening... to my teenage son tell me he’s hungry. Again.

Planning... to teach my son how to cook for himself

Buying... Food

Enjoying.... anything that doesn’t involve bloody food.

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 25 Apr - 1 May 2009

Swine flu: Australian and global news has been totally dominated by the outbreak, initially in Mexico, of a new influenza variant, now widely known as swine flu. Concern over the possible rapid spread of the disease and significant confusion about its current impact and death toll characterised the media coverage. Political leaders around the world have been touting their preparedness for any widespread outbreaks and the availability of effective medication, while also warning that the effects could be significant.

Richard Pratt: Melbourne billionaire Richard Pratt lost his battle with cancer during the week following an eventful few years in which the head of the huge cardboard manufacturing and recycling company Visy, well known for his philanthropy to the arts and involvement in football, was involved in price fixing investigations by ASIC which were then followed by criminal charges, dropped only hours before Mr Pratt’s death.

Bduget speculation: Budget speculation continued to ramp up in the last two weeks before what is expected to be a record deficit, with the Opposition continuing to strongly attack the amount of Government spending in the last six months, while women’s advocates have warned the Government against going back on its commitment to introduce paid parental leave.

Border protection: Media discussion of the asylum seeker issue and border protection dropped off significantly last week, although the swine flu concerns and claims of government payments going to asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island kept the issue in the news.

Bushfires Royal Commission: Coverage of the Bushfires Royal Commission has focused this week on the perceived lack of early enough and prominent enough warnings, in particular through state wide and local broadcast networks, while the Government announced bushfire relief was set to be extended.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

This is the freedom ride, We will not go and hide
We have just come over here, To keep the public occupied
We are going to ride, Around the Adelaide Hills
We are hardworking people, Who pay the bills

SA bikie leader Alex Vella revs up the troops with some poetry before the “freedom ride” to protest anti-bikie gang laws

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Slice like a pro: Using the 'test' function for a sneak peek

Slice subscribers have access to a fantastic 'test' function, that allows you to see brief summaries of the news for the past 30 days based, on a specific search.

This feature was originally designed as a guide to test how accurate your search string is for a given tracking folder. Doing a test before you save a tracking folder helps decrease the likelihood of irrelevant news being delivered to your tracking folder once it is saved and running in live environment.

But have you thought about using it simply as a research tool - a way to take a sneak peek at what happened in the last 30 days? 'Test' will allow you to do a quick and dirty search on your competitors, industry thought leaders, key spokespeople and past campaigns. What about doing a quick 'test' to see how the brands and potential business that you are trying to win have performed recently? Why not investigate industry issues, potential employers, evolving trends?

To do a 'test' simply:

• Login to slicemedia.com
• Go to My subscription > Tracking folders
• Select the 'Add new folder' folder button
• Enter in your search string, select your media scope
• Go to Step 5 and hit 'test' and you're on your way

The 'test' function gives you a brief window into the past, so you can be on track in the future.

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 18 - 24 April 2009

Border protection: There remains some uncertainty about the exact details of the incident near Ashmore Reef 10 days ago that lead to the deaths of five people onboard the boat now known as SIEV 36, although intense debate has continued in the media about Australian border protection laws and whether they are having an effect on the number of attempted illegal entries into Australia, with the Opposition maintaining strong criticism of the Government, while news of another boat detained during the week added to the level of coverage.

Recession: The Prime Minister finally mentioned the “R” word just a day before the IMF confirmed it believed Australia was already in recession, markets showing absolutely no surprise, although the further downgrading of most growth figures led to media speculation of further interest rate cuts and another increase in government spending.

ANZAC Day: ANZAC Day on Saturday continued the trend of increasing coverage of the 25th of April, with marches and events across the country, as well as announcements from the Government of improved facilities for those visiting battle sites in Europe, while some organisations were criticised for using Anzac Day in marketing campaigns.

Bushfires Royal Commission: Submissions have commenced at the Royal Commission in Melbourne into the Black Saturday bushfires in February, with some initial concern in the media over who is able to provide submissions and how they will be treated and the Commission itself hearing criticism of the early warning system from first submissions.

Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan Government forces appeared to be closing in on the last strongholds of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country, with fears that civilian casualties could be high in Tamil dominated areas after many years of fighting.


About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Bubbly flying logos, of course, they're "Flogos"

In the late 1990's, two international special effects inventors, Francisco Guerra and Brian Glover, wondered what would happen if they could make clouds into shapes? Nearly 10 years later, Flogos was born!

This is essentially a bubble-machine on steriods - a soap filled machine generates a cluster of eco-friendly bubbles that float up through a customised stencil, is sliced off and then floats into the sky. Click below to check out a video about how it all works.



This form of eco-friendly outdoor marketing has already been used by the likes of McDonalds, Mercedes Benz and Sheraton. This frothy promotional option joins the ranks of other 'green' advertising options (see previous post on GreenGraffiti), like those now spruked by Curb, the 'natural' media company.

Inspiration for this post: Springwise

Media monitoring

Free ebook: Blogging your brand (for newbies)

Dan Schawbel of PersonalBrandingblog.com has written and published a nifty little ebook with tips on blogging your brand - starting with the basics for newbies, with more sophisticated tidbits for more advanced users.

You can download the free ebook here: http://danschawbel.com/bloggingyourbrand.pdf

If you've never blogged before, or are just looking to pick up a few tips, take a few minutes to click through book - along with giving insights into operating a blog, the book also explains the importance of technorati.com, why you should have an 'About' page on your blog, commenting advice, search engine optimisation for blogs and integrating your blog with other social media platforms.

Ties in nicely with Dan's new book Me 2.0 - about how important blogging is for your own brand (especially if you're in your 20s). For an interview with Dan about the book check out David Meerman Scott's blog here.

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 11 - 17 April 2009

Border protection: A broad week of news coverage became completely dominated at the end of the week by an explosion onboard a boat filled with asylum seekers being towed to port by an Australian naval vessel. The WA Premier Colin Barnett claimed there were reports people on board the vessel had doused it in petrol, a claim the Navy and Government refused to verify, while the Federal Opposition stated the general increase in attempts to reach Australia by boat was due to the softening of the Government’s stance on illegal entry.

Qantas job losses: Another tough week for Qantas in the media and on the markets as they announced the shedding of a further 1,750 jobs and a significant profit downgrading. There was considerable media speculation that the company may be restructured more along the budget carrier lines of its subsidiary Jetstar following significant drops in higher fare travel revenue.

Thailand unrest: Following the forced cancellation of an ASEAN meeting in Thailand the week before last the civil unrest continued, with supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra continuing to occupy official buildings and staging mass protests. The siege of the current Prime Minister’s office was raised by the end of the week and Shinawatra’s passport has been revoked.

Fiji media crackdown: Regional leaders have been loud and long in their condemnation of Fiji military leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama after the Fijian President abrogated the constitution and gave Bainimarama full control of the Government. Strict controls have been placed on Fiji’s media and several international correspondents have been expelled from the country, with moves already underway to suspend Fiji from the South Pacific Forum.

Mel Gibson divorce: While it received relatively minor levels of coverage in radio and press bulletins, television news strongly featured the impending divorce of Mel and Robyn Gibson after 28 years of marriage.

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 4 - 10 Apr 2009

Interest rates: The Reserve Bank stuck with the law of averages as far as media speculation went, going for a quarter of a per cent cut in rates, the middle of the range of expectations, although it was the major banks’ decision to not pass on most of the cut that captured the majority of media coverage. The Treasurer and Prime Minister both talked tough, while the Opposition claimed the banks’ move had rendered monetary policy next to useless in tackling the domestic effects of the global recession.

Broadband network: The Federal Government shocked almost all commentators with its decision to build a fibre to the home network itself, committing to a $43billion project, after it rejected all of the submissions from private consortia as not providing value for money. The Government blamed the difficulty of funding private infrastructure at the moment and said its decision was vital for Australia’s development, while the Opposition said the move was too risky and would be too expensive for taxpayers and consumers.

Italian earthquake: The earthquake that all but flattened the central Italian town of L’Aquila over a week ago has claimed over 270 lives, with relief efforts now concentrating on assistance for the thousands rendered homeless by the earthquake. Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi claimed the town would be rebuilt within two years, a claim met with some scepticism in the Italian media.

Unemployment rate: Australia’s unemployment rate jumped half a per cent to 5.7% a figure worse than expected by most economists, with NSW recording a full per cent increase to 6.9%, with commentators predicting the jump would lead to further interest rate cuts in coming months, and the Opposition quick to claim the figures showed the economic stimulus payments had not worked.

Thomson claims: Federal Labor MP for the NSW Central Coast seat of Dobell, Craig Thomson, faced allegations of misuse of a union issued credit card while he was General Secretary of the Health Services Union. He has denied the claims while the Union continues an investigation into the card usage.

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring

Weekly media index: 28 Mar - 3 Apr 2009

Bikie violence: New “terrorist-style” laws have been introduced in NSW following continued violence between rival bikie gangs, with the brother of the man bashed to death at Sydney Airport shot several times outside his home in Sydney’s south west suburbs. Both sides of politics have supported tougher laws, while legal and civil rights commentators claimed the laws could be ineffective or even counterproductive.

G20: The Group of 20 leading economies meeting in London dominated international news for most of the week, with extensive demonstrations in the British capital by anti-capitalist protesters, and a commitment to significantly increased funding for the IMF and a range of other stimulatory measures, with the media and stock markets generally seeing the meeting as a moderate success.

World Cup Qualifier: The Socceroos beat Uzbekistan 2-0 in Sydney last week, bringing Australia to the brink of being the first team to qualify for the football World Cup in South Africa in 2010. The Socceroos only need a single point from their three remaining games to book a place in the tournament.

NSW floods: Less than two months after the devastating floods in Queensland and Northern NSW, large parts of the NSW mid North Coast were once again under water, with torrential rain seeing flood levels rise significantly higher than six weeks ago in and around Coffs Harbour, with damage again thought to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Australian Grand Prix: The Australian Grand Prix saw the brand new Richard Branson-backed Brawn team come in first and second, British driver Jensen Button getting his first win in Australia.

About the index
This list reports Australia's weekly top news stories by volume across thousands of newspaper, magazine, televion, radio and Internet news sources monitored by Media Monitors, including international and domestic, business, sport and enterainment news.

Data and analysis provided to Slice Media by Media Monitors Australia

Media monitoring