Jan 12, 2009 (More on Transitions -- in Administrations and on TV)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY JANUARY 12, 2009

This is a busy week in policyland -- see http://www.benton.org/calendar

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DTV TRANSITION
   An Income Gap in Who May Lose TV
   FCC chairman: DTV delay could cause confusion
   All-digital TV's time has come

THE TRANSITION
   From each group that backed Obama, an agenda
   Broadband Stimulus: the Case for Going Slow
   Obama's big idea: Digital health records
   The High Security Risk Attached to Obama's Belt
   TV News Goes All Out Online, Too

DIGITAL CONTENT
   How the Music Industry Can Get Digital Satisfaction
   Let's Invent an iTunes for News
   YouTube Teams With Congress to Show Lawmakers at Work

JOURNALISM
   A Pale Reflection of America

QUICKLY -- Wanted: Better FCC indecency complaint stats; Safety Council Says Phoning and Driving Don't Mix; To Connect to the Internet, Just Turn on Your TV

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DTV TRANSITION

AN INCOME GAP IN WHO MAY LOSE TV
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Alex Mindlin]
Last month, Nielsen estimated that 6.8 percent of American households with television, or more than seven million households, were completely unprepared for the transition. Mediamark, an audience research firm, reported that the median household income of adults with only over-the-air television — a group that includes everyone unprepared for the transition — is $33,879 a year. That is about half the income of adults with cable or satellite television. Adults in antenna-only households are 29 percent less likely than the average to own their own homes.
http://benton.org/node/20589
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FCC CHAIRMAN: DTV DELAY COULD CAUSE CONFUSION
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Peter Svensson]
Postponing the turnoff of analog TV broadcasts beyond the scheduled date, Feb. 17, could confuse consumers, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin warned Saturday. In an interview at the International Consumer Electronics Show , Chairman Martin said it's important to make sure that the converter box subsidy program gets back on track, but that doesn't mean delaying the analog turnoff is necessary. "There are options they can do without having to delay to get coupons flowing immediately," Martin said. Congress could give the program additional funding, or eliminate the 90-day expiration deadline on the coupons, he said. "I'm concerned about a delay in the sense that if you can solve that issue other ways, a delay has actually the potential to confuse consumers," said Martin. "All of our messaging has been about Feb. 17 — not just ours — the industry's." Additionally, Martin said, some broadcasters have already scheduled the engineering work necessary to take down their analog antennas so they can maximize their digital coverage.
http://benton.org/node/20588
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ALL-DIGITAL TV'S TIME HAS COME
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The news that President-elect Barack Obama's transition team asked Congress to postpone the analog TV cutoff indefinitely was not well-received at the Consumer Electronics Show. Postponing the transition will simply delay the pain it will inevitably cause while denying the public some of its benefits -- such as new, innovative uses of airwaves no longer occupied by analog channels. Congress can fix the subsidy program for digital-to-analog converter boxes in time for Washington to resume mailing coupons this month, giving recipients a few weeks to use them before the scheduled switch. The end of analog TV will cause heartburn whenever it comes. Let's get on with it.
http://benton.org/node/20587
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THE TRANSITION

FROM EACH GROUP THAT BACKED OBAMA, AN AGENDA
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Joe Garofoli]
Nobody disagrees that passing an economic stimulus package is the top priority for the incoming Obama administration and the new Congress. Then what? Network Neutrality? The flipside of knitting together a winning coalition of techies, anti-war activists, women, labor unions, young voters and the like is: (a) everybody thinks they were most instrumental in sending Obama and more Democrats to Washington, and (b) they want Obama and the Democrats to make their policy wish lists reality - first. Or, at least, right after a stimulus bill is passed. The Obama campaign had a special affinity with the online world, as it revolutionized the Internet as a fundraising and organizing tool in a presidential campaign. The Free Press Action Fund, a media reform organization, has outlined an expansion of the nation's broadband network - at a cost of $44 billion - and compiled a wish list that mirrors those of other online activists: 1) It wants Obama to back his long-stated support for the principles of net neutrality with a law that would "forbid discrimination on the Internet based on the source, destination or ownership of online content." 2) It wants the Obama administration to champion greater diversity in media ownership. 3) San Francisco's Electronic Frontier Foundation has been fighting how the Bush administration has used electronic surveillance of citizens. It would like to see that practice end. In a speech last week on infrastructure investments, Obama proposed "expanding broadband lines across America, so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world."
http://benton.org/node/20586
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BROADBAND STIMULUS: THE CASE FOR GOING SLOW
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Stephen Wildstrom]
[Commentary] President-elect Obama should be very cautious in assessing the untested notion that pumping money into broadband can do much to boost the economy in the short term. Indeed, there's a good chance the new Administration may end up disappointing its enthusiastic tech supporters. While some parts of its economic program are well fleshed-out, technology policy is little more than a blank page. The concept of broadband stimulus consists of single vague sentence in the Obama economic agenda. Wildstrom claims there's no compelling argument for how spending on broadband might stimulate the economy in the short term. And, while there are many reasons that country could benefit from faster Internet connections, there's no evidence of a broadband crisis that the government must step in to fix. Over the longer term, improving the nation's broadband infrastructure may boost growth and improve competitiveness, though it is hardly a magic bullet. There are three big issues that need addressing. First we have to decide just what is required. The most pressing problems are bringing broadband to those who can't get it and those who can't afford it.
http://benton.org/node/20584
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OBAMA'S BIG IDEA: DIGITAL HEALTH RECORDS
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
President-elect Barack Obama, as part of the effort to revive the economy, has proposed a massive effort to modernize health care by making all health records standardized and electronic. Here's the audacious plan: Computerize all health records within five years. The quality of health care for all Americans gets a big boost, and costs decline. Sounds good. But it won't be easy. In fact, many hurdles stand in the way. Only about 8% of the nation's 5,000 hospitals and 17% of its 800,000 physicians currently use the kind of common computerized record-keeping systems that Obama envisions for the whole nation. And some experts say that serious concerns about patient privacy must be addressed first. Finally, the country suffers a dearth of skilled workers necessary to build and implement the necessary technology.
http://benton.org/node/20583
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THE HIGH SECURITY RISK ATTACHED TO OBAMA'S BELT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
Why can't the most powerful person in the world keep his BlackBerry? There are several compelling reasons to separate Obama from his beloved device. The first is security. Obama would be an extraordinarily juicy target for hackers, spies and other snoops who could try to exploit any kind of error made in configuring the device or the White House BlackBerry server to read Mr. Obama's e-mail. Then there's the question of whether Mr. Obama's BlackBerry could give away his location — perhaps to people trying to harm him. Every mobile phone continuously contacts the nearby towers in its wireless network when it is turned on, so that calls and data can be routed to the phone. It is technically possible that someone with access to a cellphone company's systems could use those contacts to roughly track Mr. Obama's movements, although this would not be easy. The president-elect's next set of BlackBerry naysayers are the pesky lawyers, who worry that Mr. Obama's impromptu thumb-tapped conversations could become subject to legal battles. Lawmakers, historians and open government groups routinely request all presidential communications under federal laws like the Freedom of Information Act. Under the 1978 Presidential Records Act, administrations are required to turn over their communications to public archivists, who make them public starting five years after the end of a president's final term.
http://benton.org/node/20585
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TV NEWS GOES ALL OUT ONLINE, TOO
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Bauder]
In all their planning to cover Barack Obama's inauguration as the nation's 44th president, television networks have paid particular attention to people who must spend their day in front of a computer. CBS News has built a special inauguration Web site to show its coverage on Jan. 20. CNN.com will have four live streams and will allow Facebook users to connect through its site. ABC is offering online archived speeches of past presidents. Fox News and MSNBC Web sites will both stream the inauguration live online.
http://benton.org/node/20577
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DIGITAL CONTENT

HOW THE MUSIC INDUSTRY CAN GET DIGITAL SATISFACTION
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L. Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] The music industry played one sour note after another as digital technology undermined its traditional business models. But after suing some 35,000 music fans for illegally downloading songs, music honchos decided not to sue the more than seven million others. Instead, the industry has concluded that if it can't beat them, it might as well join them in enjoying the benefits of technology. This marks a milestone in what might be called the Great Unbundling. Digital technology is a powerful disaggregator, giving consumers the power to pick and choose what we want, how we want it, and when and where we want it. Instead of buying a 14-song CD, people can download one favorite. Instead of owning physical CDs, we own access to digital copies. Instead of having to use a stationary stereo, we can play songs on our iPods, phones or laptops. Other industries are still coming to terms with the unbundling power of digital technology -- think of video, books and news -- which makes the music industry's story timely.
http://benton.org/node/20582
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LET'S INVENT AN ITUNES FOR NEWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
The newspaper business could not be blamed for hoping that someone like Apple's Steve Jobs comes along and ruins our business by pulling the same trick as he did in music: convincing the millions of interested readers who get their news every day free on newspapers sites that it's time to pay up. With newspapers entering bankruptcy even as their audience grows, the threat is not just to the companies that own them, but also to the news itself.
http://benton.org/node/20581
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YOUTUBE TEAMS WITH CONGRESS TO SHOW LAWMAKERS AT WORK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Miguel Helft]
On Monday, YouTube, in collaboration with Congress, will unveil two new Web pages, one for the House and one for the Senate, where every lawmaker will be able to create a video channel on the site. Already several members of Congress have channels on YouTube. But by creating a central hub for all senators and representatives, YouTube is hoping to encourage more members to create their own channels, not only as a place to promote their agendas but also as a forum for interacting with citizens.
http://benton.org/node/20580
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JOURNALISM

A PALE REFLECTION OF AMERICA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
Eight days before Barack Obama is sworn in, the relative paucity of black journalists at the White House is striking. A mostly white press corps at 1600 Pennsylvania would be cause for concern no matter what the color of the Oval Office occupant. But the advent of the Obama administration seems to underscore that racial progress has been uneven in a business that chronicles that very subject. While there are some exceptions, most major news outlets that regularly chronicle the White House do not have a minority reporter on this, Washington's most visible beat. The cable news channels have fared better on this score, but the broadcast networks, which are often grooming future anchors, are another story.
http://benton.org/node/20578
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QUICKLY -- Wanted: Better FCC indecency complaint stats; Safety Council Says Phoning and Driving Don't Mix; To Connect to the Internet, Just Turn on Your TV

WANTED: BETTER FCC INDECENCY COMPLAINT STATS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The Federal Communications Commission has released its latest broadcasting indecency complaint statistics, and as usual they are a roller coaster affair. In the first quarter of 2008, the number of complaints for "indecency/obscenity" shot up to 108,919 in January, then dropped to 10,825 in February, then collapsed to 1,187 in March. In the second quarter of the year, April's stats briefly rose again to 24,068, then fell to 679 and 311, respectively, in May and June. This repeats the wildly fluctuating pattern of the last three years, when complaints have risen from 179 to over 160,000 in a matter of months. These numbers stand in stark contrast to the FCC's stats for "general criticism" (whatever that means), which tend to stay constant from month to month. In the first three months of 2008, for example, they came out at 193, 487, and 270. And so, once again, Ars wonders whether the agency's indecency/obscenity statistics reflect spontaneous viewer response to the level of erotic/linguistic friskiness on TV or solely on the power of coordinated campaigns launched by groups like the Parents Television Council. It's time for the FCC to more fully disclose the nature of these complaints, answering at least the following three questions. 1) How many come from web auto-forms? 2) Who filed these complaints? 3) Did the complainer actually see/hear the program?
http://benton.org/node/20576
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SAFETY COUNCIL SAYS PHONING AND DRIVING DON'T MIX
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
A national safety group is advocating a total ban on the use of cellphones while driving, saying the practice is clearly dangerous and leads to fatalities. States should ban drivers from using both handheld and hands-free cellphones, and businesses should prohibit employees from using cellphones while driving on the job, the congressionally chartered National Safety Council says, taking those positions for the first time. The group's president and chief executive, Janet Froetscher, likened talking on cellphones to drunken driving, saying cellphone use increases the risk of a crash fourfold.
http://benton.org/node/20575
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TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET, JUST TURN ON YOUR TV
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
If there was one overarching theme from the Consumer Electronics Show here last week, it was that absolutely every device in our lives is becoming a computer connected to the Internet. These developments can be seen as more of the electronics industry's constant quest for something new to tantalize gadget lovers. But there is a darker side, too, for the companies that make the devices. If the most exciting thing about your phone or truck or TV is the Web sites you go to and the software applications you download, then the device itself is less important. That is what happened to the computer industry, with its relentless price pressure and indistinguishable products. It is hardly an attractive business model, even for consumer electronics companies already accustomed to low profit margins.
http://benton.org/node/20579
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