December 2008

Mr. Obama's Internet Agenda

[Commentary] President-elect Barack Obama recently announced an ambitious plan to build up the nation's Internet infrastructure as part of his proposed economic stimulus package. Upgrading the Internet is a particularly smart kind of stimulus, one that would spread knowledge, promote entrepreneurship and make this country more competitive globally. In a speech this month about his economic stimulus plan, he said that he intends to ensure that every child has a chance to get online and that he would use some of the stimulus money to connect libraries and schools. It is a critical goal. Children trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide are deprived of a fair chance to educate themselves and to compete for high-skill, high-paying jobs. Obama will need to work with Congress — and fight against corporate lobbyists — to accomplish some of his goals. Some he can achieve on his own. With the right appointments to the Federal Communications Commission, he should be able to get good net neutrality regulations. "This is the Eisenhower Interstate highway moment for the Internet," argues Ben Scott, policy director of the media reform group Free Press. Restoring America to its role as the world's Internet leader could be an important part of Mr. Obama's presidential legacy.

Time to settle net neutrality debate

[Commentary] Job one for the new Federal Communications Commission under President Obama should be to define and make permanent Network Neutrality. The FCC should establish clear guidelines for what constitutes acceptable network management. It's in the best interest of service providers, Internet companies and consumers to get this done. If net neutrality seems like so much Washington policy wonkishness, well, it's not. As Internet traffic explodes, telecommunications companies like Comcast and AT&T have argued that they're spending vast sums of money on new infrastructure that companies like Google are eating up with their search and video traffic. The service providers would like to charge some companies more to carry certain types of content, or to restrict the amount or type of content to end users to help manage that flow of traffic. The problem is that this punishes consumers, who face either lower quality service, or higher costs. Telecom companies could essentially set up a toll service, and those costs will get passed on to consumers either directly, in the form of higher broadband costs, or indirectly by companies that are forced to pay more to have their content carried across the Internet. This is bad for innovation and bad for our wallets.

Rethinking Computers in the Classroom

In many schools, PCs have failed to aid students' learning or improve test scores, or equip them with the analysis and communications skills that today's workplace demands, according to studies. The problems include a reliance on paper lesson plans that don't factor in technology, and inadequate teacher training and technical support. Also at fault, say educators, is American classrooms' occupation with teaching kids strategies for raising standardized test scores to meet provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. That often leaves little room for creative extras. Other times, school boards buy computers to prove their technical savvy to politicians and parents, without thinking through how kids will actually use the machines. "Any school that focuses on putting more computers in the classroom as their core goal will undermine the transformation that technology can provide," says Anthony Salcito, Microsoft's general manager for U.S. education. Now, bolstered by the prospect of new spending on school technology programs, educators are exploring new ways to weave the computer skills seen as essential to this century's workforce into children's daily lessons. "What's exciting about the Obama plan is not just the money," says Elliot Soloway, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan who studies the effect of technology in education. "He's going to help schools rethink what the kids do on a day-in, day-out basis." Giving more kids Internet access could compel teachers to switch from asking students to Google for answers to questions, to assigning more involved research projects, Soloway says.

Blago-gate Dominates the Week's News

The arrest of Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich (D) was the top story for the week of Dec 8-14. For all of 2008, it was the biggest weekly story not related to the election or economy. And it seemed to siphon media attention away from the week's other big stories. As a topic, coverage of the economy edged out Blagojevich when stories such as the auto industry, financial meltdown and holiday shopping are all combined. But last week's economic coverage dropped noticeably from the week before. And coverage of the new Obama Administration, the next-biggest Dec. 8-14 storyline, plunged to less than half the previous week's total. In a sign of its far-reaching tentacles, the media framed the Blagojevich bust as the Obama team's first test of crisis management.

Google off list of 20 most trusted companies

Facebook, Apple, Yahoo, Verizon and FedEx for the first time have made an annual ranking of the top 20 most trusted companies in the United States. Google, however, dropped off the list, released by the Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe in San Francisco, as did Countrywide Financial, Bank of America (which acquired Countrywide) and Weight Watchers. Concern about privacy is higher than ever, the survey showed. Less than half of consumers - 45 percent - feel they have control over their personal information. That's down from 48 percent last year and 56 percent in 2006.

China says within rights to block some websites

China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday the country was within its rights to block websites with content illegal under Chinese law, including websites that referred to China and Taiwan as two separate countries. China regularly blocks sites it finds unsavory, particularly those related to Tibet or critical of the Communist Party. Access to the Chinese-language versions of the BBC, Voice of America and Hong Kong media Ming Pao News and Asiaweek has been blocked since early December, according to a report by Asiaweek.

FCC Transition May Be a Bloodless One

Despite a scathing assessment of the Federal Communications Commission, it appears it won't result in any quick congressional restructuring of the agency. The result of a Congressional investigation faulted how FCC Chairman Kevin martin runs the agency, but a new chairman will be tapped by incoming-President Barack Obama. It is expected the Obama administration's FCC appointee will be making most of the desired changes at the FCC; and the congressional committees overseeing the FCC may have other priorities. On the House side, Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) will focus on healthcare and energy reform. It is unclear if Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) will keep his post -- a vote will not take place until January. On the Senate side, incoming Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller has announced his agenda.

Obama camp: No 'inappropriate' talks with Blagojevich

Barack Obama's transition team said Monday that the president-elect's staff did not have "inappropriate discussions" with Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich (D) about who should replace Obama in the Senate. He added that the U.S. attorney's office requested that the release of the transition review be "deferred until the week of Dec. 22, in order not to impede their investigation of the governor."

White males rule Sunday news shows

With David Gregory now hosting NBC's "Meet the Press," Sunday morning talk shows continue to be nearly all white men. Roughly 80 percent of the newsmakers and pundits who have appeared on the shows over the past eight years have been white men, according to an ongoing study by the liberal think tank Media Matters for America. The study found those percentages hardly changed in 2008, even as an African American and a woman battled for the Democratic presidential nomination, a woman was on the Republican ticket, and the political landscape was reshaped by the increased participation of African Americans, Latinos, and online activists and journalists.

Hey, talkers, who's afraid of the big, bad Fairness Doctrine?

[Commentary] What scares Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and now George Will even more than a Democratic-run government? The prospect of restoring fairness to the public airwaves. They have good reason to be afraid. It's been well documented that 90 percent of radio talkers are conservative, and 22 percent of Americans cite talk radio as their primary source of news. What's less known is that for more than two years, right-wing hosts have been lambasting the Fairness Doctrine on the radio. Only 10 percent of radio talkers are liberal, and most liberal shows can only be found on small stations. But independent research reveals that areas of the country that are exposed to progressive talk radio are now starting to vote blue.

Benton

Search