Nov 11, 2008 (Veterans Day)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2008 (Happy Veterans Day)
We've created a timeline of stories about the transition to a new administration -- see http://benton.org/headlines/transition_2008-09
THE TRANSITION
Democrats Eye Bush Midnight Regulations
Why Obama May Assent to Deals
Obama ready to embrace Internet as tool for persuasion and participation
Google-enabled government starts with Obama's CTO
Obama's Other Transition: Handling a Tougher Press Corps
THE ECONOMY
Circuit City Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
Great (Media) Depression Looms
As a road to a better economy, an old idea gains ground
Heavy Debt, Fewer Ads Put Radio Firms in a Squeeze
Trib's $122M loss deepens financial woes
FCC NEWS
FCC's Martin Says He's Not Packing Up Yet
FCC's Martin: DTV ad gets mileage in race car crash
Martin Defends Inquiry Into 'Consumer Confusion' Around DTV Transition
FCC Will Seek Comment On Retrans Quiet Period
Hawaii to switch to digital TV early to aid endangered petrel
FCC Denies Journal's Request For Failing Station Waiver
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
One-Way Media Lost the Election as Cable, Interactive Dominated
Majority of Voters Say Celebrity Endorsements Played No Role in their Decision
Barack: The master of TV moments
McCain's Most Vicious Attack Was on His Own Brand Name
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Frank urges delay Internet gambling rules
Blogging is no longer what it was, because it has entered the mainstream
Can Canadian culture policy apply to new media?
QUICKLY -- CPB Board of Directors to Meet Nov 18; The iPhone beats BlackBerry when it comes to reliability
THE TRANSITION
DEMOCRATS EYE BUSH MIDNIGHT REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cindy Skrzycki]
As President-elect Barack Obama's transition team prepares for the Jan. 20 inauguration, it is tracking the "midnight" regulations being churned out in the final days of the Bush administration. Regulatory policy may not have as high a profile as economic issues and foreign policy for Obama. Still, many of these latter-day Bush rules are flash points for liberal public-interest groups, Democrats in Congress and the business community. Some 130 rules could be completed before Bush leaves. The White House has finished reviews of 100 rules since Sept. 1, up from 36 in the same period last year. The new president may issue executive orders to reverse some Bush policies and may get help from a law passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in 1996 to review and eliminate Clinton-era rules it didn't like. The law has been successfully used once, in 2001, to kill a rule designed to prevent repetitive motion injuries in the workplace.
http://benton.org/node/18770
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WHY OBAMA MAY ASSENT TO DEALS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin]
Isn't the conventional wisdom that deal-making is going to be tougher under President Obama and a Democratic administration? David Boies, the superlawyer the government hired in the 1990s to bust up the Microsoft Corporation, says over the next two years, the exact opposite will be true. President Obama might want to police antitrust issues, but the economy is in such sorry shape that he probably won't be able to, Boies said. It just won't be politically palatable to kill deals that could save some jobs. Washington, of course, has tilted toward would-be monopolists for decades, starting with President Reagan. President Obama, of all people, could be the one who takes things the other way.
http://benton.org/node/18769
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OBAMA READY TO EMBRACE INTERNET AS TOOL FOR PERSUASION AND PARTICIPATION
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Frank Davies]
Get ready for presidential fireside chats on YouTube. And how about Barack Obama "friending" thousands of members on a "myWhiteHouse" social network that could help get legislation passed? Just as Franklin Roosevelt used the new technology of radio and John Kennedy grasped the power of television, Barack Obama is poised like no president before him to embrace the Internet as an innovative way to communicate, attract support and keep millions of his supporters involved in their government. "Obama now presides over the largest, best-organized and most enthusiastic political operation in the country — and it's not going away after the election," said Omar Wasow, a co-founder of blackplanet.com, a network for African-Americans. "Obama has called for more civic engagement, and some of that will depend on new technology."
http://benton.org/node/18768
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GOOGLE-ENABLED GOVERNMENT STARTS WITH OBAMA'S CTO
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Tom Jowitt]
Paul Strassman, a former CIO of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Defense Department's Director of Defense Information, said what the Obama Administration has to do first is to define its management issues and information policy and then the technology will follow. "The question is -- what are the objectives that are is he trying to achieve?" Strassman said. The White House may control the Information Technology budget, but the federal government agencies have their own Chief Information Officers, management, methods and turf.
http://benton.org/node/18756
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OBAMA'S OTHER TRANSITION: HANDLING A TOUGHER PRESS CORPS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
[Commentary] President-elect Obama must decide how to handle the media as he shifts from campaign mode to commander in chief. If he is overly influenced by editorial criticism, he could be thrown off course in ways that were rarely evident during his highly disciplined campaign. But if Obama tunes out the press, he could find himself isolated in a White House bubble. Journalists, who were widely seen as giving Obama an easy ride during the campaign, generally hailed his election as a breakthrough moment for racial progress. Once a president takes office, though, an adversarial relationship usually flourishes, at least with beat reporters.
http://benton.org/node/18755
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THE ECONOMY
CIRCUIT CITY SEEKS BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephanie Rosenbloom]
Any retailer that was weak before the economic downturn appears likely to end up as one of its victims. The latest example is Circuit City, one of the nation's largest electronics retailers, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday after months of declining sales. The company said bankruptcy reorganization would help it win back vendors worried about being paid, and that a $1.1 billion line of credit would keep goods flowing to Circuit City stores through the crucial holiday season. But outside experts said the prospects of long-term survival for a chain in Circuit City's position were bleak.
http://benton.org/node/18767
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GREAT (MEDIA) DEPRESSION LOOMS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Diane Mermigas]
[Commentary] That digital has become pervasive enough to be mainstream, but not advanced enough to be robustly profitable, is especially problematic. Morgan Stanley Internet analyst Mary Meeker sifted through the current mess in a recent Web 2.0 Summit presentationconceding that online advertising trends are not the runaway train forecast only a year ago, when there were an estimated 1.35 billion Internet users, $41 billion in online advertising revenues, and about $30 in ad revenues generated per user. In the midst of a recession, online ad prices will likely decline as supply far outstrips demand. The good news: "History proves that ads follow eyeballs; it just takes time," she said. The bad news: eyeballs are fixed to every kind of screen imaginable in the world, making measurement and ROI challenging. The best way to counter the unknown depth and breadth of the recession is to persevere, Meeker added. Master the mobile Internet, learn how to monetize social networks, create a cogent business model, get a foothold in emerging markets and provide digital consumers with value.
http://benton.org/node/18764
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AS A ROAD TO A BETTER ECONOMY, AN OLD IDEA GAINS GROUND
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Richard Simon, Jim Puzzanghera]
As recently as a few months ago, the idea of trying to bolster the troubled economy by pumping money into public works projects such as roads and bridges was dismissed as too slow -- not the quick pick-me-up that was needed. But today, economists and policymakers are beginning to change their minds. Most experts still think infrastructure spending is a slower way to put money in consumers' hands than simply mailing out government checks the way President Bush did over the summer. What's changed is that the economic crisis now looks to be so deep and likely to last so long that a stimulus plan that pumps out benefits for months and years seems to fit the situation -- with the added bonus of providing long-term benefits to the country. Lawmakers are looking at a wide range of projects, such as building new roads and repairing old ones, improving airports, and constructing schools and sewage treatment plants. They also are considering making funding available to help transit agencies buy buses and rail cars. The focus will be on job-producing projects that can get underway quickly.
http://benton.org/node/18763
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HEAVY DEBT, FEWER ADS PUT RADIO IN A SQUEEZE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride]
Mounting debt and a sharp drop in advertising at many of the nation's radio broadcasters have led to a slashing of their valuations to fire-sale levels and intense competition with other media for ad dollars. Historically, broadcast radio has been highly profitable and durable, weathering challenges from television, the Internet and other rivals. But starting in the late 1990s, radio companies loaded up on debt during a consolidation spree that narrowed the industry to just a few big companies. And, in the past few years, the industry has had to face new competition from iPods, satellite broadcasters and even mobile phones. Now, radio's problems are getting worse. The credit squeeze is limiting broadcasters' flexibility just as many of them seem likely to bump up against covenants that limit how much debt they can carry. And when some of them try to renegotiate terms with creditors, they may have a tough time bargaining their way out of trouble. At the same time, the contraction of ad spending, the industry's lifeblood, is deepening the crisis.
http://benton.org/node/18762
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TRIB'S $122M LOSS DEEPENS FINANCIAL WOES
[SOURCE: Crain's Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Ann Saphir]
Tribune Co lost $122 million last quarter as ad revenue sank and the company took one-time charges for severance payments and software writeoffs. Sales at Tribune's publishing unit fell 13% to $654 million, and operating cash flow plummeted 91% to $13 million. Sales at the company's broadcast division, previously a bright spot, dropped 6% to $383 million; cash flow fell 33% to $87 million. The $122-million loss compares with a $153-million profit in third-quarter 2007 and a $4.5-billion loss in this year's second quarter, which included a $3.8-billion write-down for goodwill related to its 2000 acquisition of Times Mirror.
http://benton.org/node/18761
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FCC NEWS
FCC'S MARTIN SAYS HE'S NOT PACKING UP YET
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is hinting he might stay on at the FCC when the new Obama administration takes over, at least through the Feb 17 digital TV transition. He will likely lose his chairmanship position shortly after President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in and either designates one of the FCC's Democrats as chairman or names a new chairman. Chairman Martin has been expected to depart, but he does have the alternative of staying on as an FCC commissioner. He said people in the industry were not asking him to stay on to ensure there would not be a 2-2 split between Democrats and Republicans on the committee, or give Democrats a 2 to 1 majority when Deborah Taylor Tate's term is up at the end of this year. FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, whose term expired in mid 2007, needs to leave the agency when Congress returns in early January. Commissioner Tate, asked Monday when she planned to leave, said, "I'd guess when I'm told to." Commissioner Tate said she is concentrating on the agenda for the FCC's Dec. 19 public meeting, probably her last.
http://benton.org/node/18760
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FCC'S MARTIN: DTV AD GETS MILEAGE IN RACE CAR CRASH
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kim Dixon]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pleased that the FCC's highest-profile digital television transition ad crashed and burned. A nine-car NASCAR pileup may have wrecked the vehicle sponsored by the FCC, but it gave the agency more mileage in advertising the imminent switch to digital TV signals, Chairman Martin said. The FCC spent about $350,000 to sponsor the car in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing event on Sunday, to advertise the TV signal switch mandated by U.S. lawmakers to free up airwaves for public users such as police and fire departments. NASCAR driver David Gilliland accidentally crashed the car in the Arizona race. Asked if it was a bad omen for the switch, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters it was more of a silver lining. "Except for the cars that win the races, the cars that are in wrecks get a lot of attention," he said.
http://benton.org/node/18759
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MARTIN DEFENDS INQUIRY INTO 'CONSUMER CONFUSION' AROUND DTV TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On Monday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin defended the FCC's enforcement bureau inquiry into whether cable operators were using the digital television transition to "confuse some consumers that they were going to have to go to a digital package as well." Broadcast TV viewers have to switch to digital, but cable viewers of both analog and digital service must continue to receive a viewable signal per FCC rules, though cable operators volunteered to do so, pointing out it is in the cable industry's interest to keep those viewers as well. Chairman Martin said the FCC was also concerned that cable operators were charging viewers more for less when they moved some channels from analog to digital without lowering the price. "I think that is a concern that we should be aware of," pointing out the Consumers Union has complained to Congress.
http://benton.org/node/18758
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FCC WILL SEEK COMMENT ON RETRANS QUIET PERIOD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Monday that he thought a retransmission consent quiet period was important to the digital transition and that the FCC would wind up seeking more info on the proposal, but he continues to side with broadcasters on a shorter period, rather than the longer period pushed by the cable industry.
http://benton.org/node/18757
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HAWAII TO SWITCH TO DIGITAL TV EARLY TO AID ENDANGERED PETREL
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
Hawaii will switch to digital TV faster than the rest of the country to make way for an endangered, volcano-dwelling bird. Most of the state will switch to digital TV on Jan. 15, more than a month ahead of the Feb. 17 nationwide mandatory conversion deadline. Federal wildlife officials recommended hastening the transition so that the Hawaiian petrel's nesting season on the slopes of Maui's Haleakala volcano wouldn't be disrupted by the destruction of the old analog transmission towers nearby. The nesting season starts in February, and the towers are being torn down before then, with new towers set up at lower elevations on the island for the early switch.
http://benton.org/node/18766
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FCC DENIES JOURNAL'S REQUEST FOR FAILING STATION WAIVER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has denied Journal Broadcast Corp.'s request for a "failing station" waiver that would have allowed it to buy KNIN-TV, the CW affiliate in Caldwell, Idaho, from Banks-Boise Inc. Journal needed a waiver because the purchase would have created a duopoly with Journal's KIVI(TV) Nampa, Idaho. Both stations are in the Boise DMA and the duopoly would have left fewer than eight independently owned TV stations in the market, which violates FCC ownership rules.
http://benton.org/node/18765
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
ONE-WAY MEDIA LOST THE ELECTION AS CABLE, INTERACTIVE DOMINATED
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Michael Learmonth]
Barack Obama's historic campaign for the presidency rode the wave of a sea change in the way that consumers access, personalize and share news and information. That transformation was happening with or without the election, but the campaign activated millions of young people already accustomed to consuming media in different ways. The winners were the ones that fed the public's desire for news where and when they wanted it: 24-hour cable TV news; participatory blogs that aggregate news of a political bent; websites that allow users to access media on their own terms (YouTube) and those that allow users to communicate and organize with each other (Facebook). Losers were the one-way media of the past: While the broadcast networks weren't without their moments, they were more marginal than four years ago. Network prime time, bereft of new hits and attempting to appeal to a distracted population, was down by double digits this fall.
http://benton.org/node/18754
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MAJORITY OF VOTERS SAY CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS PLAYED NO ROLE IN THEIR DECISION
[SOURCE: MediaCurves.com, AUTHOR: ]
Results of a new national focus group among 245 Americans revealed that the majority of male (90%) and female (87%) voters reported that celebrity endorsements had no influence on who they voted for in the presidential election. The communications research study was conducted during November 6-7 by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion to obtain Americans' views on celebrity endorsements for the presidential candidates. The top five most influential celebrities: 1) Oprah Winfrey, 2) Alan Greenspan, 3) Rush Limbaugh, 4) George Clooney, and 5) Barbara Walters.
http://benton.org/node/18753
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BARACK: THE MASTER OF TV MOMENTS
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Brian Lowry]
The Obama campaign had a great feel for TV. Look closely at the campaign's final week, as its players moved to seal the deal. Obama's slick primetime infomercial employed a heart-tugging newsmagazine format. And during a shared "Monday Night Football" appearance with John McCain, Obama talked about eliminating the Bowl Championship Series and installing a college football playoff. As inconsequential as it sounds, the exchange about a topic that regular sports fans discuss -- coupled with his fondness for playing pick-up basketball -- presented him to millions of males as a regular guy -- or at least one that, yes, you could picture having a beer with. So while web guru Arianna Huffington declared the Internet the election's winner -- well, not so fast.
http://benton.org/node/18752
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MCCAIN'S MOST VICIOUS ATTACK WAS ON HIS OWN BRAND NAME
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Bob Garfield]
When one looks to cast blame for Sen John McCain's loss, it's foolish not to cast a gimlet eye on the McCain campaign itself. Because strategically and executionally, it was not merely a disaster; it was an embarrassment -- whatever "it" was, because "it" was a moving target. Over the course of two months, McCain's marketing messages were, variously: 1) Country first. 2) Maverick. 3) Don't listen to those ridiculous, un-American, liberal, intellectual, coastal elites. 4) Barack Obama is a superficial celebrity. 5) Tested. 6) Change. 7) Obama is a dangerous unknown quantity. 8) Obama is a socialist. He should have stopped after No. 2, exactly as Obama never stopped talking about the economy, health care and education over and over and over and over no matter what flak the Republicans were shooting in his direction. He was relentless; McCain was reactive.
http://benton.org/node/18751
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FRANK URGES DELAY INTERNET GAMBLING RULES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Doug Palmer]
House Financial Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) on Monday accused the Bush administration of rushing to implement Internet gambling rules that have raised concerns among banks before it leaves office on January 20. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Chairman Frank wrote, "I am deeply disappointed to hear that your agency is proceeding with what I consider to be unseemly haste in issuing regulations implementing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act." In response to Frank's letter to Sec Paulson, a Treasury spokeswoman said the Treasury and the Fed were working together "to gather considerable public comment and complete these regulations as directed by Congress."
http://benton.org/node/18750
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BLOGGING IS NO LONGER WHAT IT WAS, BECAUSE IT HAS ENTERED MAINSTREAM
[SOURCE: The Economist, AUTHOR: ]
Blogging has entered the mainstream, which -- as with every new medium in history -- looks to its pioneers suspiciously like death. To the earliest practitioners, over a decade ago, blogging was the regular posting of text updates, and later photos and videos, about themselves and their thoughts to a few friends and family members. Today lots of Internet users do this, only they may not think of it as blogging. Instead, they update their profile pages on Facebook, MySpace or other social networks. Gone, in other words, is any sense that blogging as a technology is revolutionary, subversive or otherwise exalted, and this upsets some of its pioneers. Confirmed, however, is the idea that blogging is useful and versatile. In essence, it is a straightforward content-management system that posts updates in reverse-chronological order and allows comments and other social interactions. Viewed as such, blogging may "die" in much the same way that personal-digital assistants (PDAs) have died. A decade ago, PDAs were the preserve of digerati who liked using electronic address books and calendars. Now they are gone, but they are also ubiquitous, as features of almost every mobile phone.
http://benton.org/node/18749
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CAN CANADIAN CULTURE POLICY APPLY TO NEW MEDIA?
[SOURCE: Toronto Star, AUTHOR: Michael Geist]
Canadian cultural policy has long relied on two levers to promote Canadian content. First, regulators require broadcasters and cable companies to allocate a portion of their revenues to help support the creation of new Canadian content. Second, that content is granted preferential treatment through minimum "CanCon" requirements for both television and radio broadcasting. While these approaches may have worked for conventional broadcasting, the big question in the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's forthcoming hearings on new media is whether they can be applied to the Internet. Canadian cultural groups, the biggest proponents (and beneficiaries) of this policy approach argue that similar mechanisms can be adapted to the Internet by requiring Internet service providers to hand over a portion of their subscriber revenues for the creation of new media content. ISPs unsurprisingly opposed, arguing an Internet tax is unfair since it forces all subscribers to fund content in which they may have little interest. Moreover, they note such a scheme may also be illegal since it applies the Broadcasting Act to telecommunications activities.
http://benton.org/node/18748
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QUICKLY -- CPB Board of Directors to Meet Nov 18; The iPhone beats BlackBerry when it comes to reliability
CPB BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO MEET NOV 18
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting]
The CPB Board of Directors will meet on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 from 9:00 am - 3:30 pm in Washington, DC.
http://www.cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=695
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THE iPHONE BEATS BLACKBERRY WHEN IT COME TO RELIABILITY
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Tom Jowitt]
A study of new mobile phones from an online warranty supplier has suggested that Apple's iPhone has substantially fewer failures than handsets from BlackBerry and Palm.
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