March 2, 2009 (In like a lion)
Ten Years Ago Today...
CLINTON SAYS ALL CLASSROOMS WILL BE WIRED BY 2000
In early March 1999, President Bill pledged to have 100% of the nations public classrooms connected by the year 2000. At the time, the E-rate discounts had committed $1.66 billion in aid to schools around the nation, but were under attack from Republican leaders who would like to see major cut backs or elimination of technology funding to schools and libraries.
http://benton.org/node/11996
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY MARCH 2, 2009 (Happy Casimir Pulaski Day!)
http://www.polishamericancenter.org/Pulaski.htm
THE TRANSITION
Kansas Gov Sebelius Accepts Offer as Health Secretary
President Obama Nominates Jon Leibowitz to be Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
Genachowski Plays FCC Waiting Game
Web Archivist campaigning to head GPO
Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps
THE BUDGET
Obama's budget blueprint increases tech spending
Fed FY2010 budget outline emphasizes education
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC, NTIA and RUS to co-host Public Meeting on ARRA Broadband Initiatives
Obama's broadband stimulus: Will wireless fit the bill?
Northern States Need Broadband Dollars In Weeks Not Months
Mapping a New, Mobile Internet
TELEVISION/RADIO
Broadcasters ask court to invalidate FCC's 'white spaces' order
Analog switchoff goes unnoticed
Broadcast TV Faces Struggle to Stay Viable
TV ratings for kids' shows don't reflect aggressive content
APTS Praises Eshoo Bill
FCC Announces DTV Delay Implementation Dates
FCC Seeks Sirius-XM Merger Condition Input
WIRELESS
Mobile phone growth helps poorer states
iPhones and PCs take fitness to heart
JOURNALISM
Copyright Holders Challenge Sites That Excerpt
Bloggers Grade Obama, Revolt over Facebook
The Recession and the 'Deserving Poor'
Let's Talk About Race—or Maybe Not
LOBBYING
Senators closer to e-filing finance reports
Rural Mobile Broadband Alliance Launched
O'Leary To Lead MPAA's Lobby Team
Innovation Alliance Names Exec Director
Brenner Leaving NCTA
Media Lobbying: What They Spent and Who They Used
QUICKLY -- Alabama Senate panel passes bill to remove telephone service from state regulation; Reports illustrate media's decline; Amazon to allow disabling of Kindle 2 audio; California moves to hold onto Hollywood; Telecommuting: Once a Perk, Now a Necessity; Nonprofits brace for 2010 Armageddon
THE TRANSITION
KANSAS GOVERNOR ACCEPTS OFFER AS HEALTH SECRETARY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Peter Baker]
Apparently, President Barack Obama asked Gov Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kansas) on Saturday to become his nominee for secretary of health and human services. Gov Sebelius accepted the president's offer and will be introduced by President Obama at the White House on Monday. She became one of then-Sen Obama's most valued allies when she endorsed him early in the presidential nomination battle. She has been discussed for a variety of positions, including vice president and other cabinet jobs. A two-term state insurance commissioner and second-term Democratic governor in a reliably Republican state, Gov Sebelius has a reputation for bipartisanship. Although her main assignment would be running a large and complicated department with 65,000 employees, a $700 billion budget and involvement in everything from food safety to bioterrorism, Ms. Sebelius, if confirmed by the Senate, would presumably also be a key figure in the battle to extend health care coverage to more than 40 million uninsured people.
http://benton.org/node/22698
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PRESIDENT OBAMA NOMINATES JON LEIBOWITZ TO BE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[SOURCE: The White House]
President Barack Obama nominated Jon Leibowitz to be Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Leibowitz is currently the only Democratic Commissioner on the FTC. He was sworn in as FTC Commissioner on September 3, 2004. In joining the Commission, Leibowitz resumed a long career of public service. He was the Democratic chief counsel and staff director for the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee from 1997 to 2000, where he focused on competition policy and telecommunications matters. He served as chief counsel and staff director for the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism and Technology from 1995 to 1996 and the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice from 1991 to 1994. In addition, he served as chief counsel to Senator Herb Kohl from 1989 to 2000. Leibowitz worked for Senator Paul Simon from 1986 to 1987. In the private sector, Leibowitz served most recently as vice president for congressional affairs for the Motion Picture Association of America - from 2000 to 2004 - and worked as an attorney in private practice in Washington from 1984 to 1986. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in American History (1980), Leibowitz graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1984. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, and has co-authored amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court on issues ranging from gun control to the census.
http://benton.org/node/22697
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GENACHOWSKI PLAYS FCC WAITING GAME
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Why hasn't President Barack Obama nominated Julius Genachowski to be the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission? The consensus from a number of lobbyists who asked not to be identified is that the administration is looking for a replacement for the Republican FCC seat vacated by Deborah Taylor Tate in January, to be paired with a Democratic nominee who would succeed Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein if he exits. That means we could be waiting quite a while for a new regime at the FCC. Getting a minority voice and face on the commission is likely playing into the widespread speculation that the White House wants to move on more than one seat at a time. If the administration isn't planning to renominate Adelstein, it will likely look for a diverse candidate like, say, Mignon Clyburn. "You can't have three white Democrat males on the commission," says the veteran Washington insider. Clyburn is generally thought to be the Obama administration's pick for the Democratic seat if it opens up. She was one of the names floated as a possibility for chairman, and is now the first name that comes up as a replacement for Adelstein. Possible GOP nominees include FCC deputy general counsel Ajit Pai who was once a staffer for Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), David Gross, the top international communications adviser to the State Department in the administration of George W. Bush, and Hilda Legg, former administrator of the USDA's Rural Utilities Service under President George W. Bush.
http://benton.org/node/22696
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WEB ARCHIVIST CAMPAIGNING TO HEAD GPO
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Stephanie Condon]
Web archivist Carl Malamud has launched a campaign at YesWeScan.org to convince the president to charge him with the task of running the Government Printing Office, the department responsible for providing public access to a variety of federal work products. Malamud puts forth a seven-point plan to improve the GPO. 1) Lead the effort to make all primary legal materials produced by the U.S. readily available. 2) Work more closely with libraries and reform the Federal Depository Library Program to give them more support. 3) Establish a United States Publishing Academy to provide workforce development and vocational training for students on how to print and publish effectively. 4) Form a blue ribbon commission to reexamine the design of passports and other secure documents. 5) Create more materials for the public domain, both as fully produced books as well as freely available master files for others to use and remix. 6) Radically change how the government presents information on the Internet by means such as installing a cloud for .gov to use or upgrading the government's video capabilities. 7) Be fully transparent in its own financial affairs and a forceful and effective advocate for the public domain. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/22695
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WEB-SAVVY OBAMA TEAM HITS UNEXPECTED BUMPS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jose Antonio Vargas]
The team that ran the most technologically advanced presidential campaign in modern history is finding it difficult to adapt that model to government. WhiteHouse.gov, envisioned as the primary vehicle for President Obama to communicate with the online masses, has been overwhelmed by challenges that staffers did not foresee and technological problems they have yet to solve. Obama, for example, would like to send out mass e-mail updates on presidential initiatives, but the White House does not have the technology in place to do so. The same goes for text messaging, another campaign staple. Beyond the technological upgrades needed to enable text broadcasts, there are security and privacy rules to sort out involving the collection of cellphone numbers, according to Obama aides, who acknowledge being caught off guard by the strictures of government bureaucracy. Wherever this experiment leads, what's certain is that, in the same way Franklin D. Roosevelt harnessed the power of radio and John F. Kennedy leveraged the reach of television to directly communicate with the public, the BlackBerry-carrying Obama wants to use the Internet to redefine the relationship between the presidency and the people.
http://benton.org/node/22731
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THE BUDGET
OBAMA'S BUDGET BLUEPRINT INCREASES TECH SPENDING
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
President Barack Obama's new budget blueprint includes millions of new dollars for health IT and for technology research, according to the budget document. The proposed budget includes a $25 billion increase in the budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs over the next five years, with some of that money going to updated health IT systems. This first Obama budget document includes broad goals, but generally doesn't include details about how agencies will spend the money allocated to them. In addition to the budget increases, the blueprint stresses the importance of technology improvements. "To create a platform for our entrepreneurs and workers to build an economy that can lead this future, we will begin to rebuild America for the demands of the 21st Century," the budget says. "We will repair crumbling roads, bridges, and schools as well as expand broadband lines across America, so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with its counterparts anywhere in the world. And we will invest in the science, research, and technology that will lead to new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and entire new industries."
http://benton.org/node/22684
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FED FY 2010 BUDGET OUTLINE EMPHASIZES EDUCATION
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Laura Devaney]
Education -- and especially higher education for all students -- is a critical area of focus in President Obama's proposed budget for next year. A preliminary look at the budget outline reveals $500 million in education spending increases from 2009 to 2010, for a total of $46.7 billion in fiscal year 2010 discretionary grant spending through the federal Education Department. The spending proposal follows through on Obama's comments to Congress Feb. 24, when he said he wants every child to be able to pursue some form of higher education. Although three-quarters of the fastest-growing jobs require applicants to have some level of post-secondary education, President Obama said, only slightly more than half of U.S. citizens currently possess that level of education.
http://benton.org/node/22686
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC, NTIA AND RUS TO CO-HOST PUBLIC MEETING ON ARRA BROADBAND INITIATIVES
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: ]
NTIA, Rural Development, and the Federal Communications Commission will host a public meeting on March 10 to discuss the broadband initiatives funded by the Act, including the new Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, the new Rural Development Broadband Program, and the development of a National Broadband Plan.
http://benton.org/node/22667
OBAMA'S BROADBAND STIMULUS: WILL WIRELESS FIT THE BILL?
[SOURCE: Networld World, AUTHOR: Brad Reed]
When President Obama said during his address to Congress this week that "laying broadband" was going to one of the main priorities of his recently-passed stimulus package, the first question that comes to mind is, "What sort of broadband?" Although the government has allotted US$7.2 billion for broadband deployment in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the bill does not specify what sort of technology the money will be spent on. Rather, it will enable tech companies, telecom companies and ISPs to compete for broadband grants that will be administered by both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the United States Department of Agriculture. And with so many different types of existing and emerging broadband technologies out there right now, it seems that both federal agencies will have a wide array of options to choose from when deciding how to dole out the cash. Wireless broadband technologies such as should play a major role in any national broadband infrastructure because of their ability to cover large areas with a single base station, thus providing a more cost-effective alternative to deploying fiber-to-the-home in sparsely-populated areas. Harold Feld says that one wireless technology that could really take off in the wake of the broadband stimulus package is 802.11y, a new Wi-Fi standard approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) last September that runs over the 3.65 GHz band.
http://benton.org/node/22691
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NORTHERN STATES NEED BROADBAND DOLLARS IN WEEKS NOT MONTHS
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] It gets cold up here! DC people generally agree that it will that 4-6 months, at best, to start rolling out the broadband grants created by the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For people who can play hockey in their backyard during the winter, that's not a good timetable. We need to recognize that for the northern third of the country you can't lay a lot of broadband in the winter and it's winter from at least October until April. If we're going to get any stimulus effect out of these dollars this year we need to find a way to make capital available right away so that shovel-ready projects can start deploying immediately. But it's going to be nigh impossible for government to vet grant and loan applications any faster than the timeline laid out at the beginning of this post without inviting a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse into the system. So the only way we can responsibly speedily subsidize deployment is through the creation of a fast-track partial loan guarantee program.
http://benton.org/node/22690
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MAPPING A NEW, MOBILE INTERNET
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Stephen Baker]
Imagine that your business had a complete log of your customers' wanderings—every trip to the grocery store, every work commute, every walk with the dog. What could you learn about them? Armed with that knowledge, what sorts of goods and services might you try to sell them? Just as important, if you made your best pitch—relevant and timely, of course—would customers concerned about privacy tell you to get lost? This isn't science fiction. A nascent industry extending from the laboratories of Google and Nokia to a host of data-fueled startups is wrestling with these very questions
http://benton.org/node/22687
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TELEVISION/RADIO
BROADCASTERS ASK COURT TO INVALIDATE FCC'S 'WHITE SPACES' ORDER
[SOURCE: Bloomberg News, AUTHOR: ]
The National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television have filed a complaint with the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit against the Federal Communications Commission's decision to allow wireless Internet service on unused television airwaves, arguing it "will allow harmful interference" of television signals.
http://benton.org/node/22732
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ANALOG SWITCHOFF GOES UNNOTICED
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Thomas W. Hazlett]
[Commentary] When, in 1986, cell-phone makers and public safety agencies asked the Federal Communications Commission for a shot at using scores of idle TV channels, politically powerful TV stations quashed the idea. They hurriedly hatched a reason: extra frequencies had to be reserved for "advanced television." America, then reeling from Japan's emergence as a consumer electronics powerhouse, needed to develop its own cool video application and dominate the world. By the time the US made the switch to digital television just last month, "free TV" was already dead. One hundred million households now pay $600 or so per year to avoid it, subscribing to cable or satellite. Well over 90 per cent of TV viewing takes place in households opting out of broadcast delivery. And for a very small additional investment - no more than $3bn - every last rabbit-eared home in America could join them. Yet, the US is subsidizing off-air receivers; $1.5bn has been allotted for digital set-top converters (two $40 vouchers per family), and the Obama "stimulus" pumps in $650m more. This is not merely money down the drain. In extending life-support to DTV signals that hog hugely valuable frequencies, consumers lose hundreds of billions worth of wireless service. The bandwidth available to iPhones, Blackberrys and GPhones and other emerging technologies would double were TV air waves to accommodate mobile apps as requested in 1985.
http://benton.org/node/22730
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BROADCAST TV FACES STRUGGLE TO STAY VIABLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tim Arango]
For decades, the big three, now big four, broadcast television networks all had the same game plan: spend many millions to develop and produce scripted shows aimed at a mass audience and national advertisers, with a shelf life of years or decades as reruns in syndication. But that model, based on attracting enough ad dollars to cover the costs of shows like "Lost" and "ER," no longer appears viable. Network dramas now cost about $3 million an hour. The future for the networks, it seems, is more low-cost reality shows, more news and talk, and a greater effort to find new revenue streams, whether they be from receiving subscriber fees as cable channels do, or becoming cable networks themselves, an idea that has gained currency. The last bastion of the big network audience is the Super Bowl and other live events like the Grammy Awards and the Academy Awards. The rub is that those have traditionally been viewed as promotional outlets for a network's other shows, and rarely make money themselves. Ratings over all for broadcast networks continue to decline, making it harder for them to justify their high prices for advertising. Cable channels are spending more on original shows, which bring in new viewers and dampen their appetites for buying repeats of broadcast shows. For the networks, the crisis is twofold: cultural and financial. For viewers, the result is more low-cost reality shows, prime-time talk and news programs and sports from the institutions that once made "Hill Street Blues," "All in the Family" and "Cheers."
http://benton.org/node/22694
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PSYCHOLOGISTS' STUDY FINDS TV RATINGS FOR KIDS SHOWS DON'T REFLECT AGGRESSIVE CONTENT
[SOURCE: Physorg.com, AUTHOR: ]
A new study by psychologists from Iowa State University and Linfield College has found that TV ratings don't accurately reflect the aggressive content found in shows popular among children -- even cartoons. They found higher levels of physical aggression in designated children's programs (rated TV-Y and TV-Y7) than among programs for general audiences (rated TV-G, TV-PG, etc). The study, which is published online in the March/April issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, was the first to report a link between viewing TV verbal aggression and a child's resulting verbal aggression. The results also showed exposure to televised physical aggression was associated with a variety of negative behaviors in the fifth-grade girls.
http://benton.org/node/22693
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APTS PRAISES ESHOO BILL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Association of American Public Television Stations applauded Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) for reintroducing a bill that would require DISH Network to carry noncommercial stations' multicast channels. APTS already has a multicast carriage deal with DirecTV. DISH did not want to make the same deal. The bill, the Satellite Consumers' Access to Public Television Digital Programming Act, comes as Congress begins considering the reauthorizing the compulsory licenses that cover satellite's carriage of local and distant-signal TV stations (the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act, SHVERA). Rep Eshoo has conceded that the bill is something of a big stick meant to force DISH to follow DirecTV's lead.
http://benton.org/node/22692
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FCC ANNOUNCES DTV DELAY IMPLEMENTATION DATES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On February 20, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission adopted and released a Second Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rule Making to implement the most time sensitive of the remaining actions necessitated by the delay in the digital television transition deadline. On Friday, the FCC announced that the rules adopted in the DTV Delay Act Omnibus Order are now effective (with some exceptions later in order to give manufacturers, eligible telecommunications carriers and multichannel video programming distributors the necessary time to fully comply with the amended rules). The FCC announced that comments in the companion Notice of Proposed Rulemaking are due March 4 (Wednesday). The FCC also announced that the rules adopted in the Commission's Report and Order authorizing the use of distributed transmission system technologies in the digital television service are now in effect.
http://benton.org/node/22689
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FCC SEEKS SIRIUS-XM MERGER CONDITION INPUT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
In approving the transfer of control of licenses and authorizations held by Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, the Federal Communications Commission accepted the applicants' voluntary commitment to enter into long-term leases or other agreements to provide a Qualified Entity or Entities with rights to four percent of the full-time audio channels on the Sirius platform and four percent of the full-time channels on the XM platform. The applicants committed to entering into these third-party leases within four months of the consummation of the merger. In order to establish procedures for implementing the Third-Party Access Commitment, the FCC now seeks comment on a range of implementation issues, including the definition of a Qualified Entity or Entities, the process for establishing eligibility, the technical and financial qualifications of lessees, the criteria for selecting among competing applicants where demand exceeds supply, the technical aspects of allocating capacity to lessees, the duration of the "long-term" lease, as well as other terms and conditions of service. The FCC also invites interested parties to comment on whether there should be a single lessee or multiple lessees and, if more than one, how much capacity should be allocated to any single lessee. In addition, we note that the Applicants indicated that the merged entity, Sirius XM, "is willing not to be involved in the selection" of the lessees. The FCC seeks comment on whether Sirius XM should select or be involved in the selection of the lessees and how the involvement of Sirius XM in the selection process would enhance overall the spectrum leasing arrangements. If Sirius XM should not select or be involved in the selection of the lessees, the FCC invites comment on who should make the selection, such as an independent trustee.
http://benton.org/node/22688
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WIRELESS
MOBILE PHONE GROWTH HELPS POORER STATES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Laura MacInnis]
Two thirds of the world's cell phone subscriptions are in developing nations, with the highest growth rate in Africa where a quarter of the population now has a mobile, a United Nations agency said on Friday. While just 1 in 50 Africans had a mobile in the year 2000, now 28 percent have a cellular subscription, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The world has more than three times more mobile cellular subscriptions than fixed telephone lines, and in some countries in Asia and Europe people have more than one contract each, pushing the mobile access rate above 100 percent. In its Measuring the Information Society report, the ITU said the Internet is far less accessible in poorer parts of the world, for instance in Africa where just 5 percent of the population now uses the Internet.
http://benton.org/node/22727
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IPHONES AND PCS TAKE FITNESS TO HEART
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Dorene Internicola]
New technology turns the iPhone into a heart monitor and fitness tracking system. SM Heart Link, a so-called "wireless bridge," collects data from sensors -- such as heart rate chest straps and cycling sensors on bikes --and sends it to the iPhone for display and tracking. The iPhone can now double as a heart rate monitor and bike computer, tracking and storing workouts and even sending the data to medical assessment websites. This, of course, is not cheap. The applications are free, but the module costs $155. There is also the price of the assessments, the sensors, and the iPhone itself.
http://benton.org/node/22726
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JOURNALISM
COPYRIGHT HOLDERS CHALLENGE SITES THAT EXCERPT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
Um, yikes. After I consult with counsel, let me tell you that, generally, publishing excerpts of copyrighted works, like this article, have been considered legal, and for years they have been welcomed by major media companies, which were happy to receive links and pass-along traffic from the swarm of Web sites that regurgitate their news and information. But some media executives are growing concerned that the increasingly popular curators of the Web that are taking large pieces of the original work — a practice sometimes called scraping — are shaving away potential readers and profiting from the content. With the Web's advertising engine stalling just as newspapers are under pressure, some publishers are second-guessing their liberal attitude toward free content. Copyright infringement lawsuits directed at bloggers and other online publishers seem to be on the rise. David Ardia, the director of the Citizen Media Law Project, said his colleagues kept track of 16 such suits in 2007. In 2004 and 2005, it monitored three such suits each year. And newspapers sometimes send cease-and-desist orders to sites that they believe have crossed the line.
http://benton.org/node/22729
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BLOGGERS GRADE OBAMA, REVOLT OVER FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
While traditional media were overwhelmingly focused on the economy last week, bloggers and social media were much less single minded. The No. 1 subject was still politics, in particular critiques of Obama's early performance in office, though it was a much smaller subject than in the mainstream media. But a good many bloggers and others were also focused on a policy change made and then withdrawn at Facebook, which demonstrated the power of social media. Topic A was discussion of how Obama was faring in his first month in office. The subject made up 16% of the links found in the New Media Index of Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism for the week of Feb. 16-20. The second-largest story, comprising 10% of the links, was the ongoing financial crisis, though the focus last week moved from the stimulus bill to such matters as the banking industry and housing crisis.
http://benton.org/node/22685
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THE RECESSION AND THE 'DESERVING POOR'
[SOURCE: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, AUTHOR: Neil deMause]
Television news is covering poverty and related issues more but that does not necessarily mean better coverage. And while swelling food-stamp rolls and unemployment lines may become media staples as the economic downturn worsens, the way poverty issues are portrayed remains constrained by political biases and stereotypes. If there's one commonality to the recent surge in coverage of economic need, it's that the focus is on the newly poor—-with particular attention to those who can claim a middle-class background.
http://benton.org/node/22683
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LET'S TALK ABOUT RACE -- OR MAYBE NOT
[SOURCE: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, AUTHOR: Janine Jackson]
There were early indications that corporate media coverage of Barack Obama's candidacy would be squirm-inducing, putting on display the elite (mainly white) press corps' murky ideas about race much more than any straightforward reckoning of black Americans' situation or what an Obama presidency might mean for their concerns. Journalists were sometimes embarrassingly frank about how they interpreted Obama's blackness and what they hoped his success might mean.
http://benton.org/node/22682
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LOBBYING
SENATORS CLOSER TO E-FILING FINANCE REPORTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Reid Wilson]
Senators running for reelection in 2010 are one step closer to filing their campaign finance reports electronically instead of on paper, as Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced a measure most observers say is likely to pass this year. Feingold's bill, which would require senators to make electronic filings in the same way House candidates and political action committees do, had been held up in the last three Congresses by Republicans who wanted a specific amendment included in the measure.
http://benton.org/node/22678
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RURAL MOBILE BROADBAND ALLIANCE
[SOURCE: Rural Mobile Broadband Alliance, AUTHOR: Press release]
the Rural Mobile Broadband Alliance (RuMBA USA) was launched to provide a single, clear and significant voice to government agencies that will be involved in choosing grant recipients in the recently enacted stimulus package. RuMBA USA will seek to ensure that rural communities are offered the same affordable wireless broadband services available to urban and suburban areas, and equal access to wireless E-911 Phase II (location-based) coverage.
http://benton.org/node/22677
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O'LEARY TO LEAD MPAA'S LOBBY TEAM
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Winter Casey, Jeannette Lee]
Michael O'Leary, who once served as counsel to then-Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del), is being promoted from senior vice president to executive vice president of government relations at the Motion Picture Association of America.
http://benton.org/node/22676
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INNOVATION ALLIANCE NAMES EXEC DIRECTOR
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
The Innovation Alliance announced Friday that it had brought on Brian Pomper, former international trade counsel for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. After leaving Capitol Hill, he co-founded consulting firm where he worked with clients on international trade and intellectual property.
http://benton.org/node/22675
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BRENNER LEAVING NCTA
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mark Robichaux]
After more than 16 years of fighting cable's legal battles, Dan Brenner, the longtime legal counsel for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, is leaving to join Hogan & Hartson, a Washington telecommunications, media, and entertainment law practice.
http://benton.org/node/22674
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MEDIA LOBBYING: WHAT THEY SPENT AND WHO THEY USED
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: ]
The arrival of the Obama administration was greeted with cautious optimism and relief in many quarters of the media industry. After a Bush presidency that offered a two-headed approach to policy—thanks to the administration and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin often pushing different agendas during Martin's three years in charge—an Obama White House seemed to promise greater certainty. But at least one government edict has provided media execs with something of a landscape hurdle: the administration's stricter view of lobbying. A chart of lobbying expenses for CBS, Comcast, NBC Universal, News Corp., Time Warner, Viacom and Walt Disney Co.
http://benton.org/node/22673
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QUICKLY
ALABAMA SENATE PANEL PASSES BILL TO REMOVE TELEPHONE SERVICE FROM STATE REGULATION
[SOURCE: Birmingham News, AUTHOR: Dave White]
The Alabama state Public Service Commission would no longer regulate or supervise the rates or quality of service for basic telephone service starting in January 2011, under a bill approved by a state Senate committee. The Commerce, Transportation and Utilities Committee by voice vote approved the bill, which is supported by AT&T Alabama. Opponents said they feared phone rates would climb and service would deteriorate if the PSC no longer had any legal control over basic telephone service.
http://benton.org/node/22681
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REPORTS ILLUSTRATE MEDIA'S DECLINE
[SOURCE: TheDeal.com, AUTHOR: Chris Nolter]
As the recession unfolds, there are new efforts to gauge how the downturn will affect the fundamental economics of media and entertainment, and the merger and acquisition activity in the industries. PricewaterhouseCoopers illustrates the slowdown in its new study of US media and entertainment dealmaking. As of Dec. 31, 2008, the firm reports, there were pending entertainment and media deals worth $6.7 billion. A year earlier, the value of pending transactions was $100.8 billion. Moreover, the volume of deals announced in the fourth quarter slowed to 194, which PwC says is the weakest turnout since the second quarter of 2002. There were four megadeals announced in 2006 that closed last year, bringing the 2008 entertainment and media deal total to $150.8 billion: 1) The purchase of Harrah's Entertainment by Apollo Management and TPG Capital; 2) Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP buyout of Clear Channel; 3) Liberty Media Corp.'s purchase of a controlling stake in DirecTV Group; and 4) the merger of Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. Together, PwC says, those four transactions equaled more than half of the total M&A in entertainment and media.
http://benton.org/node/22680
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AMAZON TO ALLOW DISABLING OF KINDLE 2 AUDIO
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
Amazon.com, responding to criticism that a text-to-speech feature on its new Kindle book reader helps it sidestep royalty payments, plans to allow the audio function to be disabled. The online retail giant pledged to modify the Kindle 2 so that authors, publishers or any holders to a novel's rights can choose whether to turn on the feature, which takes written text and converts it to human speech. "Kindle 2's experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given," the firm said in a statement on Friday. "Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rightsholders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver's seat."
http://benton.org/node/22679
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CALIFORNIA MOVES TO HOLD ONTO HOLLYWOOD
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Daniel Wood]
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) is trying to stop film and television production from leaving the state. Billions are at stake, and not just for the upper echelons of the film industry - the actors, directors, producers. In the past few years, as the US has seen millions of jobs move offshore to other countries, California's multi-billion dollar film industry has been socked by major film production moving to states such as New Mexico, Louisiana, and Michigan as well as to Canada and Australia, all of which have offered tax incentives to lure film production. Losses from these moves have been estimated to reach about $10 billion per year. The state's refusal to play the subsidy game changed last week when Gov Schwarzenegger signed a budget bill that included $100 million a year in tax credits for the industry for so-called below-the-line spending, which are payments to crew members other than the main stars and filmmakers.
http://benton.org/node/22728
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TELECOMMUTING: ONCE A PERK, NOW A NECESSITY
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Michelle Conlin]
A growing number of companies are encouraging workers to work from home. Sure, employers have been doing this for years. But as the recession bites and companies look to save money on real estate costs, what was once a cushy perk is now deemed a business necessity. And that, along with a few choice enticements—voila!, a shiny new BlackBerry —is how companies are selling it to employees, whose emotions range from ecstasy to befuddlement.
http://benton.org/node/22725
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NONPROFITS BRACE FOR 2010 ARMAGEDDON
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Meredith May]
Nonprofits are seeing an alarming drop in funding and increased demand for help this year, setting the stage for a complete shakeup of the sector in 2010. Unlike recessions past, this one could permanently alter the nonprofit landscape, say nonprofit CEOs, forcing possible closures and mergers as the sector restructures to survive. Hardest hit will be the Bay Area, home to one of the highest concentrations of nonprofits in the nation. There are 25,000 nonprofits in the region; 7,000 in San Francisco alone. Among them are 10,000 charitable nonprofits with budgets above $25,000. Their combined budgets account for 14 percent of the Bay Area's gross national product - twice the national average. Many are teetering.
http://benton.org/node/22724
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