July 23, 2009 (Vote for FCC Nominees Delayed)
Today's FCC Oversight Hearing Postponed
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY JULY 23, 2009
NEWS FROM THE HILL
Rockefeller Will Push For Government Oversight Of Violent Media Content
FCC To Revisit Kids TV Rules
Senate Panel Probes Paid Blogger Problem
Senator Wants FCC To Look Harder Into 'Fake News'
Vote for FCC Nominees Delayed
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
'Tectonic Shift' Needed For Open Government
Chopra: Balancing Open Government, Security
Shortage of cyber experts may hinder government
Congress Wants FCC Cyber Security Updates
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC Seeks Comment on Access to Broadband Data
Hey RUS: What Happened to Loan Guarantees?
Call for Network Neutrality Rules
CDT Files Reply Comments on FCC Broadband Plan
ITIF Files Response Comments For FCC National Broadband Strategy NOI
NCTA Offers Comments On Broadband Plan
Forcing the Net Through a Sieve: Why Copyright Filtering is Not a Viable Solution for US ISPs
Streaming, not P2P, behind mobile broadband data usage surge
WIRELESS
Mobile Internet Use on the Rise
The Truth About Cars and Cellphones
The Irksome Cellphone Industry
Keeping cellphones out of cellblocks a challenge for prisons
Verizon Wireless proposes roaming rule change
POLICYMAKERS
Genachowski Names New FCC Leadership
President Obama to Nominate Hightower for Deputy Secretary, Department of Commerce
For New Leader of the Arts Endowment, Lessons From a Shaky Past
MORE ONLINE
Seoul Media Ownership Bills Pass After Brawl
Murtha, 12 Colleagues Back a Murky $160 Million Request
Concerns Rise Over 2010 Census
Buyer's E-Morse: 'Owning' Digital Books
Officials: US wins WTO films, music case vs. China
Sotomayor Hearings Lead News; Palin Tops Online News
NEWS FROM THE HILL
ROCKEFELLER WILL PUSH FOR GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT OF VIOLENT MEDIA CONTENT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) indicated Wednesday that he would continue to push for government oversight of violent media content. He has tried before to expand the Federal Communications Commission's oversight to include violent programming, but without success. Chairman Rockefeller opened a hearing on revisiting the Children's Television Act in a digital world saying that it was not the media "violence and promiscuity" he was so concerned about, but said that would be the subject of future inquiries. He said he had not been deterred by the reactions of his fellow senators to a hearing last year at which he featured a clip reel of violent programming. He said he was shot down, mostly by members of his own party, because of concerns over the First Amendment. "There was an automatic mindset that because the First Amendment exists, you cannot even be talking about this so don't waste my time. I was furious, and I was undeterred."
http://benton.org/node/26574
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FCC TO REVISIT KIDS TV RULES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski told the Senate Commerce Committee that the agency is opening a inquiry into children's television rules. "I believe an examination of the Children's Television Act in light of the current marketplace and technologies merits the attention of both this Committee and the Commission," he said, "and I look forward to working closely with the Committee as it proceeds on its work in this area." And look for the FCC to cast its view wider than broadcasting to include cable, satellite, video games, mobile video, and the Internet. But while Chairman Genachowski said that the wealth of new digital media outlets justified re-opening the act, he also said that broadcasting remains an "essential medium" and that it was still "uniquely accessible to all Americans," a phrase that echoes one of the Supreme Court's justification for broadcast content regulation, though in that case the court specifically cited access to kids. Broadcasters, by contrast, have recently ramped up their argument that given all those media choices Genachowski cited, the uniqueness of that access is called into question, if not mooted.
http://benton.org/node/26573
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SENATE PANEL PROBES PAID BLOGGER PROBLEM
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Cable television, the Internet, cellular phones and other handheld electronic devices have provided new opportunities for techniques like viral and word-of-mouth marketing that add new complexities to the government's job of monitoring deceptive advertising, Federal Trade Commission Consumer Protection Bureau Director David Vladeck told the Senate Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee on Tuesday. National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg said blogging, by its nature, has encouraged an explosion of discourse about practically every product available -- but the FTC needs to crack down on those who are cash in by writing favorably about a product.
http://benton.org/node/26572
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SENATOR WANTS FCC TO LOOK HARDER INTO 'FAKE NEWS'
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) says "folks have enough problems with credibility right now without fake news being aired." She's infuriated by ads that mimic newscasts, with actors or even news anchors from a TV station being paid "to pretend like it is a newscast, with a ticker running underneath." Sen McCaskill said it was "unconscionable," and added that she was particularly concerned about stimulus money ads masquerading as news. Sen McCaskill said she was "amazed" that journalists had not complained more about the ads, though she said it may be because they were too focused on trying to keep their jobs. Citing FCC action two years ago against Comcast, McCaskill conceded the FCC had taken some "limited action" already, but said she would contact the commission for an update given her continuing concerns. But she also wanted to know what the Federal Trade Commission could do about it, asking why there wasn't a way for the FTC to say: "You can't do that. You can't pretend like you are broadcasting news when it is a paid advertisement."
http://benton.org/node/26571
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VOTE FOR FCC NOMINEES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
DC holds its collective breath waiting for a Senate vote on the nominations of Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker to be Federal Communications Commission commissioners. A vote was expected July 22 or 23, but Senate sources now say the vote will have to wait.
http://benton.org/node/26580
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
'TECTONIC SHIFT' NEEDED FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra believes a "huge, tectonic shift" is needed for government agencies to accept a new era of open government, which has become a major mission of the Obama administration. The bottom line, he told a high-tech conference on Tuesday, is that "at the end of the day we're stewards of taxpayer dollars and we need to be open and transparent around using that money." The latest project to launch in that space was in June when he unveiled a Web-based IT dashboard that sheds light on the performance of IT projects across government. As a result of that initiative, the Veterans Affairs Department said it was temporarily halting 45 projects that were found to be behind schedule or over budget.
http://benton.org/node/26569
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CHOPRA: BALANCING OPEN GOVERNMENT, SECURITY
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and Defense Department Deputy Chief Information Officer David Wennergren on Tuesday stressed the importance of agencies embracing transparency while maintaining a focus on network security. During speeches at an open government conference, the pair emphasized the goals are not mutually exclusive. "We cannot have an either-or scenario," Chopra said, citing several recent examples of federal projects that accomplish both objectives. Wennergren said that risk avoidance doesn't work in the Web 2.0 world since "relentlessly sharing is what the future is all about."
http://benton.org/node/26568
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SHORTAGE OF CYBER EXPERTS MAY HINDER GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Lolita Baldor]
Federal agencies are facing a severe shortage of computer specialists, even as a growing wave of coordinated cyberattacks against the government poses potential national security risks, according to a report drafted by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Partnership for Public Service. The study describes a fragmented federal cyber force, where no one is in charge of overall planning and government agencies are "on their own and sometimes working at cross purposes or in competition with one another." The report, scheduled to be released Wednesday, arrives in the wake of a series of cyberattacks this month that shut down some U.S. and South Korean government and financial Web sites. The recruiting and retention of cyber workers is hampered by a cumbersome hiring process, the failure to devise government-wide certification standards, insufficient training and salaries, and a lack of an overall strategy for recruiting and retaining cyber workers.
http://benton.org/node/26567
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CONGRESS WANTS FCC CYBER SECURITY UPDATES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
(7/15) In the wake of a series of cyberattacks on federal agencies, Congress included the Federal Communications Commission in a list of 11 agencies from which it wants cyber security updates. In the letter, which was dated July 14, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said the inquiry was prompted by July 4 reports of service attacks, some of which had taken sites down for "a number of days." An FCC spokesman was not aware of the FCC having been the subject of an attack. A Rockefeller spokesperson was not available to provide insight on why these 11 were sent the letters. The others were National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Transportation, Federal Trade Commission, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Maritime Commission.
http://benton.org/node/26566
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON PROVIDING ACCESS TO AGGREGATE FORM 477 DATA AS REQUIRED BY THE BROADBAND DATA IMPROVEMENT ACT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment on how to interpret and implement sections 106(h)(1) and 106(h)(2) of the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA). Since 2000, the Commission has collected basic service information from broadband service providers using Form 477. In 2008, the Commission adopted revisions to the Form 477, which would result in the collection of more detailed and granular data. At the same time, the Commission issued a further notice of proposed rulemaking, which, among other things, sought comment on the issue of how to provide Form 477 information to other broadband initiatives, including those undertaken by state agencies and public-private partnerships, and on how to preserve confidentiality when sharing the information collected on Form 477. Comments due Seven days after publication in the Federal Register; Reply Comments are due Twelve days after publication in the Federal Register. Contact: Jeremy Miller at (202) 418-0940
http://benton.org/node/26565
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HEY RUS: WHAT HAPPENED TO LOAN GUARANTEES?
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
When Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act back in February $2.5 billion was allocated to the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service to distribute as loans, grants, or loan guarantees to stimulate broadband deployment. When RUS released its Notice of Funding Availability a couple weeks ago it included the ability for rural broadband projects to apply for loans, grants, and loan/grant combos. This begs the question: whatever happened to those loan guarantees? Why didn't RUS listen to Congress and include them as an option? Why did RUS choose to ignore this important component of their funding toolkit? The short answer is likely because while RUS already has a loan guarantee mechanism in place no one's ever used it before for two primary reasons: the 80/20 guarantee isn't enough to entice private lenders to open their coffers, and it takes just as long to get approved for a guarantee from RUS as it does a direct loan.
http://benton.org/node/26564
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CALL FOR NETWORK NEUTRALITY RULES
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The Federal Communications Commission should include Network Neutrality rules in a national broadband plan the agency is developing over the next seven months, thousands of US residents have told the FCC. With the public comment period for the FCC's national broadband plan closing Tuesday, comments continued to flow into the agency's Web site, with many people using a form letter from media reform group Free Press to ask the FCC to include Network Neutrality and open access rules in the plan. As of noon Tuesday, more than 9,700 comments had been filed with the FCC on the national broadband plan. "An open and accessible Internet is essential to America's future," says the form letter. "In crafting the national broadband plan, the Federal Communications Commission must protect Internet users from corporate gatekeepers who seek to keep prices high and speeds slow, limit access to content and stifle innovation and market choice. Net Neutrality must be a basic and enforceable rule of the Internet. The plan must also ensure that every American -- regardless of race, income or location -- can connect to broadband at prices everyone can afford."
http://benton.org/node/26563
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CDT FILES REPLY COMMENTS ON FCC BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy and Technology, AUTHOR: Leslie Harris, David Sohn, John Morris, Alissa Cooper]
Center for Democracy and Technology filed a second round of comments today in the FCC proceeding to create a national broadband plan. CDT emphasized that the broadband plan should expressly affirm key elements of the Internet's successful policy framework. CDT also offered responses to a variety of arguments raised by other commenters on topics such as nondiscrimination, network management, the regulatory treatment of wireless broadband, active ISP policing of copyright infringement, and the role of self-regulation in protecting user privacy.
http://benton.org/node/26562
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ITIF FILES COMMENTS ON NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Robert Atkinson, Richard Bennett]
As the FCC develops America's first national broadband strategy it will be important to focus on both broadband supply and demand as well as the presence of market failures within the broadband marketplace. Relying on markets alone will not meet our country's future broadband needs. Instead, to meet the goals for broadband coverage outlined by the FCC, targeted subsidies should be used to expand coverage and adoption beyond what the market will provide. In this FCC filing, ITIF discusses the policy and non-policy factors that affect broadband deployment and outlines an appropriate policy framework for a successful national broadband strategy.
http://benton.org/node/26561
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NCTA OFFERS COMMENTS ON BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission won't be able to get broadband to every American, or meet any other of Congress' goals, if its grand broadband plan discourages broadband investment. It also should not get bogged down in the openness debate. That was the message from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association in the second round of comments on that plan, which were due to the FCC by Tuesday night. The bottom lines for the cable group were deployment and adoption, and beyond that, the FCC should get out of the way and let the industry continue writing its broadband success story. NCTA pointed out that the folks doing the broadband investing had already ponied up hundreds of billions of dollars for broadband, saying that was one of "many successes" that the FCC "must acknowledge." Others included increasing speeds and a "thriving market" for applications.
http://benton.org/node/26560
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FORCING THE NET THROUGH A SIEVE
[SOURCE: PublicKnowledge, AUTHOR: Mehan Jayasuriya, Jef Pearlman, Robb Topolski, Michael Weinberg, Sherwin Siy]
Copyright filtering, the latest proposed "magic bullet" solution from the major music and movie studios and industry trade groups, poses a number of dangers to Internet users, legitimate businesses and US federal government initiatives to increase the speed, affordability and utilization of broadband Internet services. This whitepaper presents a number of reasons why the use of copyright filters should not be allowed, encouraged or mandated on US Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks. Among them: 1) Copyright filters are both underinclusive and overinclusive. 2) Copyright filter processing will add latency. 3) The implementation of copyright filters will result in a technological armsrace. 4) Copyright filters do not make economic sense. 5) Copyright filters will discourage investment in the Internet economy. 6) Copyright filters will harm free speech. 7) Copyright filters could undermine the safe harbor provisions that shield ISPs from liability. 8) Copyright filtering could violate the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act.
http://benton.org/node/26559
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STREAMING, NOT P2P, BEHIND MOBILE BROADBAND DATA USAGE SURGE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Tremendous sales of both smartphones and laptop data cards mean tremendous data surging through cell networks, and a new report says that mobile data growth grew 30 percent over the course of the second quarter 2009. But (for once) don't blame P2P. Allot, a vendor deep packet inspection (DPI) and other network monitoring gear, has just released its Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Report for Q2 2009, using data gathered from wireless network operators. It found that the most popular use for mobile data is HTTP browsing, though HTTP streaming is by far the fastest-growing (58 percent over the quarter).
http://benton.org/node/26558
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WIRELESS
MOBILE INTERNET USE ON RISE
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: John Horrigan]
An April 2009 survey shows that 56% of adult Americans have accessed the Internet by wireless means, such as using a laptop, mobile device, game console, or MP3 player. The most prevalent way people get online using a wireless network is with a laptop computer; 39% of adults have done this. The report also finds rising levels of Americans using the Internet on a mobile handset. One-third of Americans (32%) have used a cell phone or Smartphone to access the Internet for emailing, instant-messaging, or information-seeking. This level of mobile Internet is up by one-third since December 2007, when 24% of Americans had ever used the Internet on a mobile device. On the typical day, nearly one-fifth (19%) of Americans use the Internet on a mobile device, up substantially from the 11% level recorded in December 2007. That's a growth of 73% in the 16 month interval between surveys. African Americans are the most active users of the mobile Internet. Nearly half (48%) of African Americans have at one time used the Internet on a mobile device, and on the average day 29% go online with a handheld - both figures are half again the national average. Moreover, the growth in mobile handheld online use on the average day since 2007 for African Americans is twice the national average - 141% for African Americans versus the 73% average.
http://benton.org/node/26581
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THE TRUTH ABOUT CELLPHONES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The New York Times finds it especially distressing to learn that in 2003, officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration quashed a proposal for a large-scale study of cellphone risks and withheld hundreds of pages of research that warned about the dangers of cellphone use while driving. The former leader of the agency said that he was urged by officials at the Department of Transportation to withhold the research to avoid antagonizing the Congressional appropriators who controlled the highway budget. They had made clear that they wanted the agency to gather safety data but not to "lobby" the states. Since when did trying to save lives constitute lobbying? Six years later, the Transportation Department advises drivers to avoid cellphones except in emergencies. But far too many Americans now consider phoning while driving to be standard behavior. The department estimates that roughly 12 percent of drivers are on the phone at any given time — twice the estimate of its own researchers when their effort to document the risks was rebuffed.
http://benton.org/node/26586
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THE IRKSOME CELLPHONE INDUSTRY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Pogue]
[Commentary] There are some valid arguments against banning exclusivity deals altogether. First of all, there are two different cell network types in this country: the AT&T/T-Mobile type (called GSM) and the Sprint/Verizon type (called CDMA). Creating a Verizon iPhone isn't just a matter of signing a few papers. It requires new engineering. It takes time and resources. Second, you could argue that exclusivity arrangements are actually good for innovation. Look at Visual Voicemail, which displays your voicemail list so you can get to them in any order, without being held hostage to your carrier's prompts. That's a very cool iPhone breakthrough that required Cingular (the iPhone's original carrier) to make special changes to its network — collaboration that probably wouldn't have happened if Cingular hadn't had the incentive of exclusivity. Above all, though, you've got to wonder why, if Congress has time for things like cellphone gripes, it's barking up this particular tree. Frankly, there are many other, much more whopping things that are broken, unfair and anticompetitive in the American cellphone industry -- text-messaging fees, double billing, phone subsidies, international calling...
http://benton.org/node/26585
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KEEPING CELLPHONES OUT OF CELLBLOCKS A CHALLENGE FOR PRISONS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Colker]
Cellphones in prisons have become a big problem, with inmates devising ever more exotic ways of smuggling them in. So federal prison officials have a new plan: If you can't beat 'em, jam 'em. The proposed Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009 would allow prisons to install wireless jamming systems that would make cellphones useless behind bars. While House and Senate versions of the bill languish in committee, smugglers are finding new ways to get the phones into prisons, including, reportedly, using slingshots to propel them over the walls.
http://benton.org/node/26583
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VERIZON WIRELESS PROPOSES ROAMING RULE CHANGE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sinead Carew]
Apparently, Verizon Wireless would be willing to make a compromise on roaming service agreements with smaller mobile operators. The company said it was proposing a new rule in response to lawmakers' concerns that current roaming regulations put small service providers at a disadvantage. When phone users travel outside the coverage area of their own service provider's network, roaming agreements allow them to use another carrier's network. Currently, wireless providers are not required to offer roaming services to rivals in areas where those rivals own wireless airwaves but have yet to build network coverage. But the company said that it would support a new law requiring it to provide rivals with roaming services in places it is not currently obliged to offer such services.
http://benton.org/node/26582
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POLICYMAKERS
GENACHOWSKI NAMES NEW FCC LEADERSHIP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis and the Chief Economist, who will join the other senior staff in OSP. The announcements include: Chief Paul de Sa, Chief Economist Jonathan Baker, and Deputy Chief Zachary Katz. he also named Terri Glaze as director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Last week, Chairman Genachowski announced four members of the senior leadership of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, who will join the other senior staff in WTB. The announcement includes: Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman, Senior Deputy Chief James Schlichting, Deputy Chief Renee Roland Crittendon, and Deputy Chief John S. Leibovitz.
http://benton.org/node/26557
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PRESIDENT OBAMA TO NOMINATE HIGHTOWER FOR DEPUTY SEC OF COMMERCE
[SOURCE: The White House]
President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Dennis F. Hightower to be Deputy Secretary, Department of Commerce. Hightower is a business executive with extensive global general management experience. His career spans the private and public sectors, including more than 30 years of experience in global marketing, strategic planning, operations and international general management. Most recently, Hightower was chief executive officer of Europe Online Networks S.A., a privately held broadband interactive entertainment company based in Luxembourg. From 1987 to 1996, Hightower was a senior executive of The Walt Disney Company, where he led multi-billion dollar enterprises as president of Walt Disney Television & Communications and president of Consumer Products, Europe/Middle East and Africa.
http://benton.org/node/26556
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FOR NEW LEADER OF THE ARTS ENDOWMENT, LESSONS FROM A SHAKY PAST
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Robin Pogrebin, Jo Craven McGinty]
Although it may be hard to remember now, there was a time when the National Endowment for the Arts seemed to be on solid footing, both financially and politically, and could spend its days quietly financing artists and arts groups at its discretion. After the Republican sweep of Congress in 1994, it was only a matter of time — just about a year — before the N.E.A.'s overall budget was cut by 40 percent, to $99.5 million for 1996, from $162.3 million, and its ability to finance potentially divisive artists (with the exception of some literary writers) was eliminated. For a while there, it seemed as if the agency might not survive. But it did, thanks partly to the efforts of successive leaders, partly to the gradual fading of the culture wars from public consciousness. And now, as the NEA's chairman-designate, Rocco Landesman, awaits his confirmation (his proposed nomination is expected to be approved before the Congressional recess in August), he looks likely to start the job on firmer ground than any of his recent predecessors. In June a House subcommittee approved a $170 million budget for the endowment for next year, an increase of $15 million from the current budget and $9 million more than President Obama, widely considered an avid arts supporter, had requested.
http://benton.org/node/26584
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