"Digital is one of the most crucial things for a modern brand manager to get right, so the pressure is on for (social media/digital strategist) Siobhan to explain her strategy. Twitter, Facebook, Mashable and even MySpace all have their part to play in creating the digital legacy for the Games."

BBC Two's Twenty Twelve comedy series (already a must-see) nails the overzealously social nature of the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the video above. All kidding aside, teams of social media strategists at the BBC and indeed around the world have been working almost as vigorously as the athletes, organizers and sponsors on how to make this the most interactive Olympic Games yet.

Since the previous Olympics in Beijing, tech advancements including Super Hi-Vision, live 3D TV and live broadcasting via smartphones have moved center-stage. Now the advent of social apps, social TV and social everything will be threaded through this Olympics, and — brace yourselves — all Olympics to come.Continue reading...

Now that news of the News Corp. is officially moving ahead with splitting its vast global media empire, founder and chairman Rupert Murdoch warned analysts and reporters on a conference call this morning that the plan to divide into two companies “is not a fait accompli. There are a lot of steps to take.”

He also said the impetus, hailed by the markets as a smart business move that will unshackle its challenged newspapers from its more profitable entertainment brands, is  “not a reaction to anything in Britain” such as ongoing investigations into his newspapers’ phone hacking and bribery scandals. COO Chase Carey, who will become CEO of the newspaper and publishing assets that Murdoch has built from his days as a scrappy Australian news magnate, added there were “no changes” in the corporate plan to buy the rest of BSkyB it doesn't currently control.

Murdoch, with his inimitable Aussie turn of phrase, discredited rumors that the publishing unit was the weak ‘orphan’ and emphasized the pending split is not a lack of faith in that business.Continue reading...

It may be 79 degrees and sunny today in Atlanta, but we're guessing storm clouds quickly gathered over One CNN Center after the collosal correction the cable newscaster was forced to make on-air and online corrections today.

CNN misreported the historic 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld Obamacare and affirms the individual mandate portion of President Obama's healthcare law. (Update: its PR team has issued an apology.)

Below, the before and after of the ratings-challenged network's breaking news flub this morning — and to be fair and balanced, Fox News got it wrong, too.Continue reading...

The New York Times today unveiled its first Chinese-language website, which will publish "about 30 stories a day," according to assistant managing editor Jim Roberts on Twitter. According to a note to readers, "The goal of the new site is to provide China’s growing number of educated, affluent, global citizens with high-quality coverage of world affairs, business and culture. The site will be edited specifically for readers in China, presenting translations of the best of The Times’s award-winning journalism alongside original work by Chinese writers contributing to The Times."

Following a board meeting this evening in New York, the board of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has approved splitting the company into two publicly traded entities: publishing and entertainment. The Wall Street Journal broke the news, just as it earlier reported that its parent company was contemplating such a move.

According to WSJ the company split would take about a year to approve, dividing assets such as its lucrative FOX broadcast network and TV stations, cable TV channels and 20th Century Fox studio into one company (likely led by Chase Carey, News Corp. deputy chairman, president and COO) and its newspapers, HarperCollins book publishing unit and other publishing assets into another.Continue reading...

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has confirmed a report in its own newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, that it's considering dividing itself into two companies, separating its publishing division in order to focus on its much larger and more profitable entertainment arm. 

"News Corporation confirmed today that it is considering a restructuring to separate its business into two distinct publicly traded companies," was the comment in its one-sentence statement.

Top editors and publishers from the company’s newspapers gathered in New York (according to the New York Times) to discuss the proposal along with Murdoch, his son James Murdoch, Chase Carey, COO, and Joel I. Klein, CEO of News Corporation’s education division and a trusted adviser.Continue reading...

In an historic and formidable alliance formed by America's Cable Advertising Bureau, a consortium of TV networks, print, radio, digital and media brands and individuals are joining forces to educate marketers about the buying power and "the new realities" of the Black consumer market.

The CAB has pulled together a who's who of black media for its 23 charter members: BET Networks, HuffPost BlackVoices, Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, KJLH Radio, Johnson Publishing Company, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Nielsen, North Star Group, National Newspaper Publishers Association, One Solution, Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Root, The Africa Channel, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media plus Walton Isaacson to create America's first black media and marketing consortium, #INTHEBLACK.

Using a Twitter hashtag as its name is a catchier hook than the group's more SEO-friendly alternative name (Reaching Black Consumers). The initiative launched Monday with a microsite and an ad in the business section of the New York Times and trade magazines such as Adweek and Broadcasting & Cable, as well as ads across of the consortium's media member outlets. The goal, they stated, is "to encourage increased investments in the African American consumer marketplace while helping companies reach the African American audience more effectively."Continue reading...

When Comcast formally acquired NBC Universal back in January of 2011, it was only a matter of time before the two sports powerhouses combined their national, regional, and cable efforts to create a single sports media juggernaut.

Following a complete overhaul from brand strategy through to creative execution that included the rebrand of Comcast's Versus channel to NBC Sports Network on January 2nd, 2012, NBC Sports Group is showing off its new face in 2012.

The NBC Sports Group’s new identity launched in January with the rebrand of Versus to NBC Sports Network, and has rolled out across their coverage of the Super Bowl and Triple Crown. The new brand is set to further roll out during NBC Sports Group’s Olympic coverage in July, and will be featured on NBC, NBC Sports Network, the Group’s RSNs (regional sports networks), and digital and web properties.Continue reading...