Looking for the light

摘要

When Rupert Murdoch sees beams of light in the American advertising market, it is not necessarily time to reach for the sunglasses. Last October, when the impact of September 11th was only beginning to tell, the boss of NewsCorp, a media group, had already identified "strong rays of sunshine". With ad sales still languishing, Mr Murdoch declared last month that "there are some hints of a modest upswing in the us advertising market." His early optimism turned out to be misplaced. Now, however, other industry observers are beginning to agree with him.