March 2009

Mapping a New, Mobile Internet

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

Fed FY2010 budget outline emphasizes education

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.

Bloggers Grade Obama, Revolt over Facebook

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 But a good many bloggers and others were also focused on a policy change made and then withdrawn at Facebook, which demonstrated the power of social media.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.

Obama's budget blueprint increases tech spending

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."

The Recession and the 'Deserving Poor'

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.

Let's Talk About Race—or Maybe Not

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.

Alabama Senate panel passes bill to remove telephone service from state regulation

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.

Reports illustrate media's decline

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.

Amazon to allow disabling of Kindle 2 audio

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."

Senators closer to e-filing finance reports

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. Sens. Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) are prime co-sponsors. But the bill cleared a major hurdle earlier this month when Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who had issued a hold on the bill, told The Hill he would not oppose the measure this year.

Benton

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