Not sure that the assumptions in this graphic below hold water but it’s still a nice graphic so I have decided to post it anyway. What do you think? Is social media killing magazines? Are you getting more from Twitter and Facebook than a magazine can provide you with?

Infographic by CartridgeSAVE.co.uk

Popularity: 9% [?]

I’ve been watching the box set of Frasier Season One recently and I can tell you it was brilliant right from the beginning. Here’s a great Niles & Frasier moment when they team up to write a book.

Popularity: 6% [?]

There is a major row between South Africa’s editors and Fifa, the owners of the Soccer World Cup, over what the editors charge are outrageous infringements on our constitutional right to freedom of expression.

The SA Media interest group, a group made up of members of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and industry body Print Media South Africa, are unhappy about a raft of Fifa requirements for journalist who apply for accreditation to cover the tournament. Among the main areas of contention are:

1. Newspapers will not be able to push pictures on to their mobile platforms (they can, however, push text);
2. There are restrictions on newspapers doing video packages for their websites;
3. That reporters will not be able to report on the names of hotels in which the teams are staying;
4. No newspapers will be able to sell papers within the restricted zone around stadiums, which has a radius of about 800m;
5. Although Fifa commits itself to guaranteeing freedom of expression there is also a clause that says that news organisations may not bring Fifa into disrepute; and
6. Many of the terms and conditions apply to reporters and photographers and their “organisations” (suggesting their colleagues, some of whom will not be covering the World Cup) rather than “employer” (ie, their editors).

Fifa’s Zurich-based media head, Pekka Odriozola, told me that the requirements have applied to previous World Cups. He also said Fifa respects freedom of expression, that its intentions are good and that it has dealt with and explained its position further in writing to Sanef to iron out misunderstandings.

But the SA Media interest group – for whom the point man in dealing with Fifa is former Rand Daily Mail editor Raymond Louw – says the written clarifications are not satisfactory and that the seriousness of the issue demands that they are able to sit down formally with Fifa and deal with the contentious issues, clause by clause – rather than in broad discussions as has happened in the past.

Thabo Leshilo, head of Sanef’s media freedom committee, said: “It’s outrageous what Fifa is used to getting away with. The tragedy though is the virtual absence of outrage by local media and editors on the violation of freedom of the press on such a scale. The local media has simply lost the will to fight and is simply going along so long as it can cover the event. It’s not too late though to catch a wake up.”… TO READ MORE OF MY MONDAY COLUMN ON MONEYWEB, CLICK HERE.

Popularity: 17% [?]

There’s nothing like a bit of corporate combat to kick off the year. If, like many in South Africa, you were still on holiday last week you might have missed this story on Fin24: veteran media writer Tony Koenderman on the Audit Bureau of Circulation relaxing its rules so that anything sold for less than 50% of its cover price can be counted as ABC-endorsed copy sales.

The juicy bit is that it was Avusa that drove the change, arguing that the rule was anti-competitive. So it appears that Avusa, the owner of the Sunday Times, the Sowetan and Sunday World, has kicked down a key pillar of the strategy of its rival, the Naspers-owned Media24, which has been pushing for some time now that “core circulation” be the standard.

Core circulation is copy sales sans third-party bulk (selling copies of your publication to a third party for them to give away – or not) and what is called “print media in education” sales or PMIE. The latter means bulk deals that go to disadvantaged schools that newspapers can count as circulation and simultaneously trumpet as helping to improve literacy.

As I wrote in a Moneyweb column last year, Media24 stole the march in July on everyone else in the newspaper industry and said that its advertising division would take out third-party bulk and PMIE sales from the circulation figures of its Sunday papers so that advertisers could focus on core circulation. The five papers are the Sunday Sun, City Press, Ilanga Langesonto, Rapport and Sondag.

In fact, the ABC numbers had started offering a breakdown of sales figures that separated out the third-party bulk and PMIE since the beginning of 2009. Media24, it seemed, had hit on a wily strategy as its arch rival on a Sunday, Avusa’s Sunday Times, has the most to lose because its high percentage of bulking – especially with City Press now improving under Ferial Haffajee. City Press is definitely a lot tighter and harder under Haffajee, previously the editor of the Mail & Guardian.

There are many critics of the ABC’s recent move, saying that it creates the opportunity for abuse and to confuse – just as bulking does. It could be used to mask declining circulation, they say, and that it will dilute what advertisers really care about: demographics… TO READ THE FULL COLUMN, GO TO MONEYWEB HERE.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Having spent the holiday weekend watching DVD seasons of the classics it’s time for a vote.
Go here to vote and see below for the map of how the voting is going.
Vote here

Popularity: 3% [?]

Found this really cool site called Ask500 which allows you to create a poll which dynamically maps how people are voting. So go ahead vote – and check out the responses from other users and where they are in the world.
Click here to vote

Popularity: 2% [?]