May 2009

GAO: FCC school/library computer fund a pit of mystery

A new study issued by the Government and Accountability Office this week concludes that a Federal Communications Commission program that subsidizes school and library Internet, telephone, and computer costs has no real system for assessing its progress. The FCC "does not have specific, outcome-oriented performance goals or longterm goals" for its Universal Service Fund's "E-rate," plan the GAO says. That means the agency can't determine how far it has come in providing Internet and wireless connectivity for the nation's schools. Ah, you're probably already thinking, another big USF mess story. But between the lines of the report, there could be some good news here. A noticeable decline in demand for some of the program's services may indicate that E-rate has helped a critical mass of schools wire themselves up. "Given the increase in schools' and libraries' level of Internet connectivity," GAO notes, "it is no longer clear that the program serves an existing need." On the other hand, many schools don't apply for the money because they find the process too complex, the report notes. And others don't spend all the money they get. In the end, E-rate just doesn't know how its doing, the GAO says, because it sets no benchmarks for success.

Commentary on FCC v. Fox Television Stations

[Commentary] In a NYTimes op-ed, Adam Freedman writes that, ultimately, the Fox Television case raises a dichotomy well known to linguists: descriptivism versus prescriptivism — that is, whether to yield to the reality of how language is actually used (descriptivism) or fight to maintain objective standards (prescriptivism). Descriptivists happily accept "impact" as a verb and "my bad" as a form of apology; prescriptivists resist such innovations. As much as one sympathizes with language prescriptivism in general (please, let us all resist "c u l8r"), censorship is necessarily a descriptivist endeavor. Indecency laws are tied to evolving community standards. Times change, notwithstanding the fervent wishes of prescriptivists to keep dirty words dirty. The FCC may have won this round, but the bluenoses can't declare victory just yet. The next test of the FCC's regime will come soon enough, as the Supreme Court has agreed to review the commission's $550,000 fine against CBS for a nine-sixteenths-of-a-second exposure of Janet Jackson's breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. Perhaps the FCC's disproportionate response to that incident will be recognized for what it was: a regulatory malfunction.

Over at tvnewsday, Harry Jessell writes that the FCC's odious and discriminatory broadcast indecency policy lives, but it may have just been badly, perhaps mortally, wounded. When the case circles back to the Supreme Court, five, possibly six, justices may be inclined to strike down the policy on First Amendment grounds. And five or six is just what you need on a nine-person panel.

3.1% Of U.S. Still Unready For DTV Transition

With the digital TV transition hard date now just over 40 days away, the number of U.S. that would lose their analog signals continues to shrink. According to Nielsen estimates through April 26, 3.5 million households, or 3.1% of the nation's TV homes, remain completely unready for the June 12 switch. That represented a more than 100,000 household improvement from the prior two-week period. Among Hispanic households, the number of households that were not prepared for the DTV transition declined to 5% from 5.4%.

Congress Ready To OK Importing Signals

Congress is getting closer to allowing satellite-TV providers to import TV station signals into adjacent markets in cases where those markets cross state lines. Many cable operators don't want that to happen unless the change applies to them, too. Unless cable gets the same opportunity to reconcile its split-market problem, MSOs have argued, it would be unfair and consumer unfriendly to put the thumb on the scale in favor of satellites. The American Cable Association made that point last week in letters it hoped to get legislators to get behind. The ACA, whose members were in Washington last week to press the flesh, took that opportunity to circulate the letter, addressed to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Commerce Committees, asking that if the Congress decides to give satellite operators a break, it should do the same for cable operators.

Interrogation Memos, Miss California Drive the Online Narrative

Two topics-interrogation techniques and same-sex marriage led the conversation in blogs and social media last week. And while the catalysts that triggered those debates were fresh developments, it was clear that both subjects are familiar ones in the blogosphere. First, the Obama administration's April 16 release of memos detailing harsh interrogation techniques of terror suspects drove the dominant online conversation last week. More than a third (36%) of the links by blogs and social media sites from April 20-24 focused on the controversy, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. This marked the second time in less than a month that the question of torture was among the largest topics in the index. The No. 2 story (another 16% of the links) centered on a subject that surfaced because of an answer by a Miss USA pageant contestant. In response to a judge's question during the April 19 contest, Miss California stated her opposition to same-sex marriage. That turned out to trigger a heated response in the blogosphere that was not entirely new. Two weeks earlier, the issue of gay marriage was the top subject among social media.

FCC Appoints Group to Study Digital Closed Captioning and Video Description Issues

On May 1, the Federal Communications Commission established a working group to be focused on matters pertaining to accessibility of television programming for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, or are blind or have a vision disability.

The purpose of the working group will be to conduct an assessment of closed captioning and video description technical issues associated with the switch to digital television (DTV transition), and to recommend to the Commission's Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) solutions to any technical problems arising with these services in conjunction with the DTV transition. The CAC first recommended the establishment of a technical working group on digital closed captioning and video description in comments submitted in MB Docket No. 07-148 (the FCC's DTV Consumer Education Initiative), on October 1, 2007, and again at subsequent CAC meetings in June 2008 and January 2009.

Establishment of the working group is also consistent with Acting Chairman Copps' statement before the CAC at the January 30, 2009 meeting, during which he emphasized the need for the Commission to take a leadership role in addressing these matters. The working group will be supported by staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB), jointly with staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), who will provide technical support and guidance on the DTV transition and the provision of digital closed captioning and video description services. Staff will also provide interpretations of the Commission's closed captioning rules, but will not serve as voting members of the working group.

The group will meet May 18, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. at the Commission's headquarters in Washington (DC).

President Obama Nominates John Sullivan for Federal Election Commission

President Barack Obama nominated John J. Sullivan to serve as Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission. Sullivan is a leader in the labor community and has been a staunch advocate for election reform and voter protection. Since 1997, Sullivan has served as the Associate General Counsel at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), where he advises one of the largest independent political programs in the country. From 1994 to 1997, Sullivan worked as Associate General Counsel for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), where he was responsible for union governance issues and the administration of the election provisions of the federal consent decree with the Teamsters Union. Prior to that, Sullivan worked as an associate and partner at the law firm of Guerrieri, Edmond & James, where he was involved in the firm's representation of railway and airline unions in federal court litigation, bankruptcy proceedings and before federal administrative agencies. From 1990 to 1992, Sullivan worked in the Office of the Election Officer at the IBT as the election protest coordinator and counsel to the court-appointed Election Officer. Sullivan has also represented the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in public employee organizing campaigns. Sullivan has extensive additional election experience. He contributed to the Florida recount efforts in the 2000 presidential election; helped coordinate union voter protection activities in the 2004 general election; was a member of the team that directed the successful recount in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election; worked as an observer for elections in Ukraine; served on Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's Transition Team on Election Reform; served as the Vice President of the Montgomery County Board of Elections; and volunteered for voter protection efforts in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania for the 2008 presidential primaries. Sullivan received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and graduated with a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

WhiteHouse 2.0

In the President's last Weekly Address, he called on government to "recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking." He added that "we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative," and pledged to "reach beyond the halls of government" to engage the public. On Friday, the White House took steps to expand how the Administration is communicating with the public, including the latest information and guidance about the H1N1 virus. In addition to WhiteHouse.gov, you can now find the White House in a number of other spots on the web: 1) Facebook.com/WhiteHouse, 2) MySpace.com/WhiteHouse, and 3) Twitter.com/WhiteHouse

Parents Television Council Looking for Republican FCC Commissioner

The Parents Television Council is pushing for a Republican nominee to fill a vacant chair at the Federal Communications Commission, as well as swift action on pending indecency complaints, saying it was, "Critically important that families -- true owners of the broadcast airwaves-- have a voice on the commission." PTC put in a plug for Lee Carosi Dunn, a communications advisor to Senator John McCain.

AP's Curley Has Fightin' Words For Google

If Associated Press Chief Executive Tom Curley's remarks this week about Google reflect the tenor of the talks between the two, discussions can't be going well. The AP and Google have been debating content and compensation issues for months. In an interview with Forbes on Wednesday, Curley warned that if Google doesn't strike the right deal with the AP soon, "They will not get our copy going forward." The threat follows Rupert Murdoch's accusation earlier this month that Google is committing copyright thievery when it borrows material from news stories to assemble search rankings. A few days later, the AP weighed in with a similar charge -- though it did not mention Google -- announcing a content protection initiative and threatening legal and legislative action against news aggregators.

Benton

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