April 2009

Panel debates future of television

They have looked into the crystal ball of television's future. Their verdict: cloudy. What kind of content will continue to work on TV and what will migrate to the Internet was an underlying theme during a panel at the OnHollywood conference Tuesday. Speaking separately at the same event, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington warned that attempts to protect TV content by controlling access to it simply won't work. "Promiscuity is the new exclusivity," she said. The key to monetizing online content, she told Variety, is to embed sites with links to video content. "These drive traffic to your site, which in turn drives advertising."

Court Upholds FCC Rule On Phone Number Transfers

A federal court is supporting regulators' efforts to make it easier for people to switch phone carriers by allowing customers to keep their phone numbers. A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring landline phone companies to allow customers take their phone numbers with them when they switch to a wireless service. The ruling comes as the FCC is poised to shorten the time period it takes to " port" a customer's phone number from one carrier to another. The current standard is four days. A shorter wait time would spur competition in an industry heavily influenced by big incumbents, advocates argue. They say people are reluctant to switch to a competitor phone company if they must wait a week or more to receive calls from their old number. The economic crisis gives new urgency to the issue as more people are considering switching phone carriers or cutting their landline service to save money.

Radio Stations Playing Same Old Songs

The Future of Music Coalition analyzed radio playlists to determine whether the Federal Communications Commission's policy interventions resulting from 2003-2007 payola investigations have had any effect on the amount of independent music played on terrestrial radio. The data indicate almost no change in station playlist composition. Specifically, the national playlist data indicated very little measurable change in airplay share from 2005-2008, with major label songs consistently securing 78 to 82 percent of airplay. The format data showed some modest increases in airplay for indies on some formats (Country and AAA Non-Commercial, in particular) but otherwise the data from year to year changed very little. An examination of airplay by release date showed that many formats leave only small portions of their playlist for new material, with current songs sprinkled in among well-worn hits. While such programming choices might make sense for a given station's target audience, the outcome is that there are very few spaces left on most airplay charts for new music. Looking specifically at airplay for new releases, FMC found that new major label songs typically receive a higher proportion of spins than new indie label songs. Finally, FMC looked at the indie labels themselves, and found that only a handful of indies have enough resources and clout to garner airplay consistently. For the remainder of indies, airplay is infrequent and modest, if it happens at all.

NAB Augments Radio 'Tax' Lobbying Blitz

The National Association of Broadcasters is ratcheting up its lobbying blitz against legislation currently moving through the House and Senate that the trade group believes would cost jobs and kill off local radio stations' offerings. The bill, which would end AM and FM stations' exemption from paying copyright royalty fees to performers of the songs that grace their airwaves, is being targeted in a series of new advertisements in the Washington Metrorail system.

Obama's 100 Days: High Marks for Science, Low for Privacy

Wired grades President Barack Obama on copyright, cyber security, science, net neutrality, transparency and privacy. Obama scored high marks in some (science, Network Neutrality, transparency), but in others (privacy, copyright) he may have to go to summer school.

Obama's First 100 Days Report Card: HuffPost Bloggers Give Their Grades

Graders include Madeleine Albright, Gary Hart, Robert Creamer, Lincoln Mitchell, Mike Lux, Robert Kuttner, Jeffery Feldman, Andy Ostroy, Paul Berry, and many, many more.

Spanish-Language Media Outlets Document Obama Administration Outreach to Hispanics

Excerpts of coverage of the first 100 days from some of the leading Spanish-language media outlets in the country.

House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
Friday, May 1, 2009
1pm
2322 Rayburn House Office Building

The Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a hearing titled, "Cybersecurity: Network Threats and Policy Changes," on Friday, May 1, 2009, in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will examine threats to critical infrastructure, including communications networks, power grids, and governmental information systems. The hearing will be chaired by Subcommittee Vice Chairman Anthony Weiner.

INVITED WITNESSES:

• Greg Nojeim, Senior Counsel, Center for Democracy and Technology
• Dan Kaminsky, Director of Penetration Testing, IOActive
• Larry Clinton, President and CEO, Internet Security Alliance
• Rodney L. Joffe, Senior Vice President and Senior Technologist, Neustar

Read more about Cybersecurity: Network Threats and Policy Challenges

How the President Fared In the Press vs. Clinton and Bush

As he marks his 100th day in office, President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George Bush during their first months in the White House, according to a new study of press coverage. Overall, roughly four out of ten stories, editorials and op ed columns about Obama have been clearly positive in tone, compared with 22% for Bush and 27% for Clinton in the same mix of seven national media outlets during the same first two months in office, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The study found positive stories about Obama have outweighed negative by two-to-one (42% vs. 20%) while 38% of stories have been neutral or mixed. When a broader universe of media—one that includes 49 outlets and reflects the more modern media culture of 2009, is examined, the numbers for Obama's coverage are similar, though somewhat less positive and somewhat more negative. In this expanded universe of media—which includes news websites, additional regional and local newspapers, plus cable news, network morning news, and National Public Radio, 37% of Obama's coverage has been positive, 40% neutral and 23% negative. Several factors may be at play in the favorable tone Obama has received during these first months. One element is the pace and sweep of Obama's activities.
Another factor may be the media reflecting, and in turn, influencing public opinion.

The President and the Press: Obama Style

[Commentary] In his first 100 days, Barack Obama has demonstrated how a chief executive can use the basic communications tools of the presidency and fashion them to a size and shape to fit his needs. To explain his ambitious policy agenda, Obama has gone to the public more frequently than his predecessors and used news organizations as a vehicle to get his thoughts, words, and image to his intended audiences. Television has been a crucial resource; the five major national television networks have interrupted their regular evening programming to provide the president with three one-hour slots for his two nighttime press conferences and his address on the economy to a joint session of the Congress. None of his five most recent predecessors held even one nighttime East Room news conference in the 100-day period. All of Obama's evening events drew large audiences. [Martha Joynt Kumar is a professor of political science at Towson University.]

Benton

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