December 2008

The Federal Communications Commission sponsored a NASCAR race car as part of its effort to inform Americans that on Feb. 18, television signals transmitted over the air will be transmitted solely in digital format. Old TV sets will no longer work. It paid $350,000 to emblazon "The Digital TV Transition" and other phrases on a Ford driven by David Gilliland. So how's that going? In November, the car crashed during a NASCAR race in Phoenix. It was the second crash in as many months. And how is the digital TV transition going? According to critics, about as well, despite a major marketing campaign that includes nightly ads on TV. According to surveys conducted by the Consumers Union, while 90 percent of the nation is aware of the transition, 25 percent mistakenly believe that one must subscribe to cable or satellite after February, and 41 percent think that every TV in a house must have a new converter box, even those that are already connected to cable or satellite. "This transition is possibly one of the worst understood consumer education programs in modern times," said Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group. While the government and industry have invested large sums to get the message out, the problem is that the effort is too little and way too late.

Until recently, there were few better ways to start a lobbying career than by leaving the office of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. With 40 years of seniority on important Senate committees, Mr. Stevens, a Republican, wielded unrivaled power over industries like fishing, forestry, communications, aviation and the military, steering billions each year to pet Alaskan projects. His power made his good will a valuable commodity on K Street, where many lobbying firms are located. During the past five years, just nine lobbyists and firms known primarily for their ties to Mr. Stevens reported over $60 million in lobbyist fees, not including other income for less direct "consulting." The most recent person to leave his staff to become a lobbyist reported fees of more than $800,000 in just the last 18 months. So when Alaskan voters narrowly rejected Mr. Stevens's bid for re-election last month, just days after a jury convicted him of federal ethics violations, it was in some ways like the closing of the plant in a company town. Stevens's former aides are hardly the only Washington lobbyists to rise and fall with a single Congressional patron. Representative John D. Dingell, the powerful Michigan Democrat first elected in 1955, long sustained a coterie of lobbyists sometimes known as the Dingell Bar. They, too, are feeling the pinch at the moment from his recent loss to Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, of the gavel as chairman of the House Commerce Committee. But Mr. Stevens — Alaska's "Uncle Ted" — is in a class by himself.

[Commentary] The founding president of Air America Radio agrees with conservative talk radio hosts: The Fairness Doctrine is an anachronistic policy that, with the abundance of choices on radio today, is entirely unnecessary. When conservative talking heads wave a red flag about the possible revival of the Fairness Doctrine, they know it's a great way to play the victim and rally supporters. But Sinton'll let Rush Limbaugh continue with his self-righteous indignation -- and he'll tune into Rachel Maddow, or one of the thousands of other voices that populate radio today.

The media took its share of lumps this year, with persistent claims of bias and complaints about often wrong-headed speculation from a seemingly endless parade of talking heads. Of course, there was great reporting, with journalists breaking news and penning terrific profiles of the candidates and the campaigns. TV ratings and Web traffic were through the roof, evidence of huge voter interest. But there were plenty of missteps on the way, and Politico's compiled a list of 2008's greatest blunders (along with a look at how the media responded to each). See #2 -- The New York Times' McCain-Iseman story: There was so much hype leading up to The Times front-page investigation of John McCain's relationship with lobbyists—dating back at least to a Drudge leak two months earlier—that without something concrete, the story was doomed to fail. Executive editor Bill Keller said there's more to the piece than the strongly suggested, never outright stated, romantic relationship between the senator with lobbyist Vikki Iseman, but that's what the public seized upon. The Times put it out there, but couldn't prove it, leading both the right and left to slam the piece. Response: The campaign sparred publicly with the Gray Lady throughout the campaign, using the liberal media as a whipping boy when needing to rally the base, and the paper often appeared to return the favor, most notably in an hostile October profile of wife Cindy McCain.