More response to Live 8

Some impressions of Live 8: It made a splash in Britain after all, where the whole "Make Poverty History" campaign had, from the beginning, much greater resonance than in the US.
The BBC seemed to think the London concert itself went very well, and prompted a rapturous response by the UK press (see also here for crowd feedback, and the London acts rated, both courtesy of the BBC). The BBC also pointed out some of the many events surrounding Live 8, from Sail 8 to the Unicef-sponsored C8 children's summit in Dunblane, Scotland. Meanwhile, the Independent noted it was "A Beautiful Day: Great music, massive crowds". The article asked, "Was anyone listening?" - and then went on to suggest quite a lot of people actually were: It claimed that "Half the world tuned in yesterday [July 2] to watch the biggest musical event in history, featuring 170 acts in 10 countries. A million people were said to be in the crowds in London, Paris, Philadelphia and elsewhere. And as Sir Paul McCartney started to sing in Hyde Park, the drums and bass of his backing band U2 must have shaken the most important windows in the world." I'm not sure how accurate the Independent is with its audience estimate. The LA Times on Sunday put the estimated audience for the concerts - "broadcast live on TV, radio and over the Internet in 140 countries" - at 1 billion. But the Hollywood Reporter quotes Bob Geldof as putting the "combined television audience" at "some 3 billion viewers".

Bob Geldof (seen at left with Ethiopian famine survivor Birhan Woldu, who was roundly exploited by Madonna in her appearance at London) has in fact already declared Live 8 a success - although concert attendance in Tokyo and Rome was "disappointing". It seems that TV ratings were also lower there than in the UK, France, and Canada. (While the Canadian concert only attracted 35,000, the Hollywood Reporter noted, "Canada's 18-hour contribution to Live 8, organized by veteran concert promoter Michael Cohl, drew 10.5 million viewers, or one in three Canadians, host broadcaster CTV Inc. said Monday."). The BBC attracted between 6.6 and 9.6 million to their Saturday concert coverage, which translated to a very respectable average 42 share. While the Hollywood Reporter was focusing on lackluster US audience ratings (see below), "the rest of the world was glued to their television sets to watch the concerts."

But was anyone listening in the United States? Live TV coverage of Live 8 was limited to Viacom-owned MTV/VH-1, and XM satellite radio (in contrast to the morning-till-night coverage on BBC 1 and BBC 2 in the UK). US network ABC replayed concert highlights at 8-10 p.m. Saturday, but the ratings were disappointing. The Hollywood Reporter notes that, in spite of "featuring performances from such heavy hitters as Paul McCartney, U2, the Who and Coldplay," the special averaged only 2.9 million, which translates to "barely a 1.1 rating/5 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research." On the plus side, though, Internet provider AOL carried live online coverage of the concerts and this appraently "drew a larger crowd than ABC's primetime highlights special."

As for the US mainstream press: The New York Times included this overview of the day's proceedings, as well as reviews of the London and Philadelphia shows. The Washington Post gave more prominence to Philadelphia than the Times did. The Philadelphia Inquirer seemed quite happy to wrap that city's Live 8 event into a very successful July 4 holiday weekend for Philly - even if the real meaning of the concert might have gotten lost in all the fun. An Inquirer editorial noted, "If Live 8 did nothing else over the July 4th weekend, it showed a global audience that America's birthplace can accommodate current events as well as it can revel in its history." But what about the impact on Americans, or even the concertgoers? Not so sure there. The editorial asks itself:

Did the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people who jammed the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Saturday learn much about the conditions that help perpetuate extreme poverty in Africa? No, though most of the audience probably heard more about that continent during the six-hour concert than ever before.

The LA Times gave greater prominence to the political element of the concerts, noting that "Musicians and celebrity speakers urged audiences to pressure President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and leaders of other wealthy nations to take swift action when they meet for the annual Group of 8 summit Wednesday near Edinburgh, Scotland." It also reminded us (unlike the NYT) that "About 220,000 people gathered [in Edinburgh] Saturday for a rally timed to coincide with the summit and the concerts."

Elsewhere, MSM coverage on broadcast and cable news was fairly cursory, as far as I could tell - after all this was July 4 weekend, when America turns even more introspective than usual. NPR had a couple of 3-minute pieces linking the concerts and the Edinburgh protests marches on Weekend Edition Saturday and Sunday. But now that there are reports of some clashes between police and marchers, CNN seems to be quite happy pushing that aspect up the news agenda.

Now that the focus in the States is moving, albeit grudgingly, away from domestic issues and to the G8 summit itself, we'll see how it plays out from here.