AT THE FCC
FCC Launches Payola Investigation
FCC Hires Conservative Indecency Critic
Adelstein Says DSL Order 'Basically Rewriting' Telecom Act
Strike Up the Broadband
Comcast, TW Defend Adelphia Deal
AT CONGRESS
Boucher Pushes Mandated Net Neutrality
DTV Bills in Final Stages, Congressional Sources Say
MEDIA
Media No More
'Large is No Longer in Charge' Says Viacom Chief
News Corp. Switches On Charm Offensive
QUICKLY -- Project to Bridge Digital Divide; WGA Files NLRB Complaint
Against ABC; DirecTV Doesn't Have to Give Data to EchoStar; The Digging
Life; Creation of the Media; Wordwatch: Echo Chamber; What Parents Can Do
Before Kids Play Videogames; In Silicon Valley, Doing Good Is the New Thing
AT THE FCC
FCC LAUNCHES PAYOLA INVESTIGATION
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has launched an investigation into payola.The
move was prompted by a settlement between Sony/BMG and New York State over
payments to stations for playing Sony/BMG artists, but Chairman Martin said
it could extend beyond those companies. "The FCC has longstanding rules
prohibiting payola," the Chairman said in a statement. "These rules serve
the important purpose of ensuring that the listening public knows when
someone is seeking to influence them. Broadcasters must comply with these
rules. The Commission will not tolerate non-compliance. While payola may
not be a widespread practice in the broadcasting industry, to the extent it
is going on, it must stop." The move was praised by Commissioner Jonathan
Adelstein who has made examining payola and plugola on radio and TV a
priority.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA633231?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* Chairman Martin's statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-260446A1.doc
* Commissioner Adelstein's statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-260453A1.doc
More coverage --
* FCC Plans Payola Investigation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/08/AR200508...
* FCC Launches Bribery Probe Over Payouts for Radio Airplay
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112354064480608033,00.html?mod=todays...
* U.S. to Revisit Payola Inquiry
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-fcc9aug09,1,548728.st...
FCC HIRES CONSERVATIVE INDECENCY CRITIC
The Federal Communications Commission has hired as an advisor an
anti-pornography activist and former lobbyist for groups that push for
Christian precepts in public policy. The move may herald a reinvigorated
campaign against broadcast indecency and bring renewed pressure on cable to
reconsider its racy offerings. Penny Nance, until recently a board member
of Concerned Women for America, is working as a special advisor in the
FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, said aides to FCC
Chairman Kevin Martin. The strategic planning office helps develop agency
policy. Some observers believe the FCC is preparing to act, perhaps in
coming weeks, on as many as 50 indecency complaints. Some see Nance's
arrival as an indication the agency is leaning toward stricter enforcement.
"Why else would [Martin] have someone like that on board?" asked one
Washington attorney who watches the FCC closely.
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10010...
* Bringing "Biblical Principles" to the FCC
[Commentary] Why Ms. Nance at the FCC? Maybe Brent Bozell wasn't available
-- or was unwilling to take the pay cut... But it might as well be Brent,
as the article makes clear. What does this say about the direction new FCC
Chair Kevin J. Martin intends to take the Commission on so-called
"indecency" issues? This is extremely troubling news for anyone concerned
about freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state.
http://www.creativevoices.us/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=134&PHPSESS...
* The Wages of Sin
[Commentary] I have a few places where Ms. Nance can start tackling this
"indecency" epidemic in cable. Let's begin with the ninth commandment "Thou
shalt not bear false witness."
http://www.riedelcommunications.blogspot.com/
* FCC Hires Anti-Indecency Activist
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA633238?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* FCC Hires Anti-Porn Advocate as Advisor
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-porn9aug09,1,6061866....
ADELSTEIN SAYS DSL ORDER 'BASICALLY REWRITING' TELECOM ACT
Speaking to telecom lawyers out West, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein
said the Commission had basically rewritten the Communications Act in three
weeks with the DSL order adopted last Friday. He voiced unhappiness at the
Commission's recasting DSL from a telecom service under Title II of the
Communications Act to an information service under Title I, "where it's not
clear we have any authority over anything." Noting that the U.S. Appeals
Court, D.C., has been dubious of the FCC's assertion of Title I authority,
Adelstein said: "If the D.C. Circuit gets pushy" in this case "maybe this
time, we'll have to take it up to the Supreme Court to get some deference."
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Louis Trager]
(Not available online)
STRIKE UP THE BROADBAND
[Commentary] In telecommunications, one of the most heavily regulated
sectors of the U.S. economy, classifications matter greatly. So
free-marketers have reason to applaud Friday's decision by the Federal
Communications Commission to reclassify high-speed Internet connections
offered by telephone companies. The ruling means that a digital-subscriber
line (DSL) hook-up offered by the Baby Bells will be treated as an
"information service" instead of a more tightly regulated
"telecommunications service." And that means phone companies will no longer
have to share their networks with rival Internet-service providers at rates
set by the government.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112354379047108101,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
COMCAST, TW DEFEND ADELPHIA DEAL
If you let us get bigger, trust us, we'll act in the public interest,
argued Time Warner and Comcast before the Federal Communications Commission
last week. The two largest cable operators are buying the assets of the
third-largest operator, Adelphia, as well as swapping systems for better
"clustering." Satellite operators, small cable programmers and public
interest groups [including the Benton Foundation] have argued that the
merger would be bad for consumers and competition. The cable giants counter
saying critics' objections were based on selective or inaccurate readings
of the law and market conditions, and the panoply of conditions recommended
should be dismissed.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA633235.html?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
AT CONGRESS
BOUCHER PUSHES MANDATED NET NEUTRALITY
"The FCC's recent adoption of a Policy Statement regarding the principles
of Net Neutrality is an appropriate first step in ensuring that all persons
continue to enjoy the unfettered ability to access and use the Internet in
a lawful manner without being impeded by broadband network operators," Rep
Rick Boucher (D-VA) said. "However, the next step must be taken by the
Congress in codifying the Net Neutrality principles and bestowing on the
FCC the clear authority to enforce the principles." He said the FCC should
be able to "prohibit operators from unreasonably favoring themselves over
their affiliates in the provision of Internet services."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA633229?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* Boucher Favors 'Net Neutrality' Law
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA633081.html?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
DTV BILLS IN FINAL STAGES, CONGRESSIONAL SOURCES SAY
Digital television transition bills are about ready for introduction in
both chambers of Congress. In the Senate, Commerce Committee Chairman Ted
Stevens has surveyed both Republicans and Democrats to see what they want
in the bill. He's on a 4-5 day retreat with staff in his home state,
finalizing telecom legislation. Industry sources said markups are scheduled
tentatively for Sept. 8 on the House side and Sept. 15 on the Senate side.
Both House and Senate sources are confident that whatever mechanism is
employed, digital television legislation is certain to pass this year.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Anne Veigle]
(Not available online)
MEDIA
MEDIA NO MORE
[Commentary] We are headed into the post-media age. When you think about
it, media are the artificial inventions of their means of distribution:
Books begat authors; fast and cheap presses enabled reporters and press
barons; TV bore anchors. But there is nothing to say that these media are
preordained as the best methods of sharing knowledge and getting things
done in society. They were the convenient ways. Emphasis on the past tense.
The natural means of interaction and of sharing information is, of course,
conversation, through the ability to ask and answer questions, to impart
and collect knowledge. I'm not one to make allusions to primitive life as
if that describes the natural state of man, but I will in this case: When
you listened to the tribe storyteller, you could remix before passing on;
when you heard from the town crier, you could stick your head out the
window and ask for details; when you set the price of a good or service,
you got to haggle with the seller. This is why Socrates said that education
is a conversation, and why Luther said that prayer is a conversation, and
why Cluetrain says that markets are conversations, and why I say that news
is a conversation. That is the natural order of things. Media changed that.
Media made society one-way. But now the Internet drains the one-way pipes
of media and pours us all in the same pond together. The Internet enables
conversation.
[SOURCE: BuzzMachine, AUTHOR: Jeff Jarvis]
http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2005/08/08/media-no-more/
'LARGE IS NO LONGER IN CHARGE' SAYS VIACOM CHIEF
Viacom's chairman-CEO, Sumner Redstone, who is expected to step down next
year when the media giant splits in two, opened an analysts' call yesterday
saying, "Agility and innovation will separate the winners from the losers.
In the 21st century, large is no longer in charge. Leverage will belong to
the nimble and the swift and of course content will always remain king."
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=45743
NEWS CORP SWITCHES ON CHARM OFFENSIVE
News Corp. is quietly courting Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill to
block a new local-TV ratings system that lowers ratings for many of its
stations. The company contends the new ratings system, launched by Nielsen
Media Research in four major television markets last year, greatly
undercounts the number of African-Americans and Hispanics watching shows
such as "Girlfriends" and "The Parkers" on the UPN network. Although Viacom
Inc. owns UPN, News Corp. owns several big-city affiliates of the network.
To slow the rollout of the new ratings system, News Corp. has hired a who's
who of Democratic operatives: Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary
Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign; Mike Feldman, a top adviser to Al Gore;
Chris Lehane, a political strategist for former President Bill Clinton; and
Minyon Moore, who helped found the liberal America Coming Together. The
charm offensive by News Corp. shows how even as Republicans control most
levers of the federal government -- with President Bush in the White House
and Republicans holding a majority in both the House and Senate --
companies often must win the support of Democrats to be successful.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brody Mullins brody.mullins( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112354389401108107,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
QUICKLY
PROJECT TO BRIDGE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Access( at )Home, a five-year project spearheaded by former Treasury Secretary
Robert Rubin, plans to invest $1 billion to build rental homes with
high-speed Internet access for roughly 100,000 people with low incomes. The
nationwide project is aimed at helping people with low incomes cross the
digital divide by providing affordable housing with broadband, vouchers to
buy computers, online training and community Web sites. The project will be
funded by grants, low-interest loans and equity investments from the
National Equity Fund, a unit based in Chicago of Local Support Initiatives.
The technology and training will be provided by One Economy Corp., a
nonprofit company based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on extending
access to technology to people with low incomes. Other contributors to the
program include Cisco Systems Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shawn Young shawn.young( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112352436785507723,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
WGA FILES NLRB COMPLAINT AGAINST ABC
The Writers Guild of America, East filed a complaint against ABC with the
National Labor Relations Board Monday. The complaint, alleging unlawful
bargaining practices, stems from contract negotiations that began Jan. 5,
2005 on a contract that expired the first of the year.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA633244?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
DIRECTV DOESN'T HAVE TO GIVE DATA TO ECHOSTAR
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ralph Zarefsky in Los Angeles denied EchoStar's
request that would have compelled DirecTV to provide profit margins from
sales of digital video recorders as well as internal documents regarding
DirecTV obtaining a license from TiVo. EchoStar, the No. 2 U.S. satellite
TV provider, had sought the documents for a lawsuit that TiVo filed in
January 2004 in Texas, accusing EchoStar of infringing a TiVo patent on
technology for recording one program while replaying another.
[SOURCE: Bloomberg News]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-direct9aug09,1,248731...
(requires registration)
THE DIGGING LIFE
16 years ago, TV producer Charles Lewis left "60 Minutes" to found the
Center for Public Integrity. In the years since, the Center has become the
largest non-profit investigative journalism organization in the world,
uncovering some of last decade's most important political stories.
[SOURCE: On the Media]
http://www.onthemedia.org/stream/ram.py?file=otm/otm080505c.mp3
CREATION OF MEDIA
It's often been observed that technological innovations are the primary
force driving the evolution of the mass media. But make your way through
the 402 pages Paul Starr's book The Creation of the Media, and that notion
will be left in dust - along with many other common assumptions. In the
book, Starr argues that the government has played a much more fundamental
role in the growth of the American media than is commonly thought.
[SOURCE: On the Media]
http://www.onthemedia.org/stream/ram.py?file=otm/otm080505e.mp3
WORDWATCH: ECHO CHAMBER
A free forum of ideas suggests a back-and-forth exchange between
individuals with various perspectives. But what happens when people are
sequestered to separate discursive spaces on the basis of their ideas? As
we're seeing all over the Internet these days, debate breaks down, and in
its place we find simply a multiplicity of "echo chambers." University of
Chicago professor Cass Sunstein talks about the metaphorical reverberations
of the phrase.
[SOURCE: On the Media]
http://www.onthemedia.org/stream/ram.py?file=otm/otm080505e.mp3
TAKING THE VIOLENCE OUT OF VIDEOGAMES: WHAT PARENTS CAN DO BEFORE KIDS PLAY
Research shows that videogames have become an important component of kids'
play and socialization. One study of Japanese kindergartners found that
children who played videogames together developed better social skills. A
recent survey by Harvard researchers of more than 1,200 7th and 8th graders
found that only about 1% of children studied had never played videogames.
Until more is known, videogame researchers say parents can adopt some
practical approaches to limiting children's exposure to game violence. 1)
Move the games to a high-traffic area so you can see what and when your
kids are playing. 2) Look beyond the rating system. Parents can learn more
about the game-rating system at www.esrb.com, but ratings offer only
general descriptions of the type of content. 3) Look at bestseller lists.
Parents can see what children are playing by looking at such Web sites as
Amazon.com and gamespot.com that post lists of the most popular games. 4)
Treat games like other media. While there isn't any conclusive research
about how much video playing is too much, researchers say parents should
think about a child's entire media diet of television, movies, books and
videogame playing, and set reasonable limits to encourage other types of
play and family interaction. 5) Play the games yourself. Parents who do
take the time to learn about the games children play will be surprised at
how much skill it requires -- and how much children enjoy watching their
parents struggle to play.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Tara Parker-Pope
tara.parker-pope( at )wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112354118842908054,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
DOT-COMS ARE SO 90S; IN SILICON VALLEY, DOING GOOD IS THE NEW THING
Ten years after the Aug. 9, 1995, initial public offering of Netscape set
off the Internet boom and five years after the bust, venture capitalists
are leading a push to remake Silicon Valley as a center for a new form of
social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy, a place where you can
make good money by doing good. While plenty of people here still are out to
make fast bucks, there also has been a surge in investments aimed at
solving some of the world's most formidable problems. Venture capitalists
chastened by the bursting of the bubble say they want to make a mark that
lasts beyond the next quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ariana Eunjung Cha]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/08/AR200508...
(requires registration)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
(headlines( at )benton.org) -- we welcome your comments.
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