January 2010

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010

Another busy day in telecom policyland http://bit.ly/9WCa9d

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
   The National Broadband Plan: Let's Focus on Main Street First
   FCC's Copps, CPB Board discuss future of pubcasting spectrum
   Copps at State of the Net
   Baker at State of the Net
   Public interest group urges FCC to reclassify broadband
   FCC Forum to Address Emergency Response Interoperability Center

TELECOM/WIRELESS
   FCC Seeks Info on Wireless ETFs
   Federal Ban on Texting for Commercial Truck Drivers
   Mexico Seeks at Least $66 Million for Fiber Network
   Gap between Verizon's wireless and wireline arms widens
   FCC's Telecommunications Provider Locator
   IPhone Emerges at Core of Apple

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   How will SCOTUS decision affect corporate media?
   Court Ruling to Deliver $300M Boost to Media
    See also:Sizing Up Stations' Campaign Ad Windfall
   How to Counter Corporate Speech

CONTENT
   CBS Stands Behind Acceptance Of Focus On Family Spot
   In the App Economy, Newspapers Are Apps
   Apple pushes for lower TV prices

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
   NBCU Promises To Invest More In NBC
   Liberty Media Seeks Up to 35 Percent of Live Nation

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   YouTube Hails State of the Union 'Milestone,' Citizens To Ask Obama Questions
   Consumers are at the heart of IT efforts, top official says
   Data on Data.gov Disappears
   Public satisfaction with federal Web sites increased in 2009
   US urges shared cyberattack defense

JOURNALISM
   US News Media Get Tepid Ratings as Obama "Watchdog"

HEALTH
   Doctors ignore Internet at their own peril
   Less Sex, Rock-n-Roll as Drugmakers React to FDA TV Ad Scrutiny
   E-prescribing tools raise reliability concerns
   New Physician Adoption Statistics

MORE ONLINE ...
   Tapscott: Digital natives need tech-rich education
   Satellite Companies Sue Massachusetts Over Satellite Tax
   Privacy Groups Question Beacon Settlement, Facebook's Control Over Foundation
   A Little 'i' to Teach About Online Privacy
   US Cellular puts in call for big slice of federal stimulus funds
   3 Ways Television Makes the World a Better Place

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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN

THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN AND MAIN STREET
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Stuart Brotman]
[Commentary] It remains unclear whether the national broadband plan will deliver on the promise of being a 21st century version of the historic 1950s plan our nation developed successfully for the interstate highway system. Unfortunately, too much focus so far has been on increasing the speed of broadband in the U.S. so that our rankings in the world on this measure move closer to the top. In order for the national broadband plan to capture the public's attention and interest, along with garnering necessary bipartisan support in Washington, we need to abandon a "race to the moon" mindset for broadband immediately. The next two months will be critical for bringing the conversation about the national broadband plan back to Main Street and into our homes. With overall unemployment continuing to hover around 10 percent, the best connection that the FCC and other government policymakers can make is with broadband's relationship to new private sector investment, job creation, entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. If this refocusing is not done soon, we may find that the expansive conversation about broadband availability, access and impact that is needed does not take place. Broadband needs to be more than a side conversation in our country's vital agenda, but this can be accomplished only if technological capabilities and performance are linked with how they actually improve the ways we work and live.
benton.org/node/31626 | MediaPost
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FCC'S COPPS, CPB BOARD DISCUSS SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Current, AUTHOR: ]
Will public broadcasters someday be made to give up their portion of the spectrum? That concern surfaced during a wide-ranging discussion on the future of broadband at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Corporation board meeting. Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps visited the board to talk about the national broadband plan. One idea being floated is compensation for pubcasters that voluntarily turn over some of their spectrum to support the nation's growing appetite for broadband. CPB Board member Beth Courtney expressed concern that financially struggling stations may feel compelled to do so for monetary reasons. Copps said such issues would need to be taken into consideration before any decisions are made. The priority with any recommendations, he added, "is first do no harm."
benton.org/node/31640 | Current
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COPPS AT STATE OF THE NET
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael Copps]
Speaking to the Congressional Internet Caucus' State of the Net Conference, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps warned that simply because the US has generally met its infrastructure challenges before that it will rise to the occasion concerning broadband. "[W]ouldn't it be an awful irony if we short-change the present opportunity? If this liberating, dynamic technology that can make so many things better, ends by creating more and even wider divides in this country going forward than we have had in the past? If the Internet, rather than opening doors of opportunity for all, becomes yet another province controlled by, and serving primarily, the elite and affluent while the rest fall even farther behind? If, instead of closing the divides-digital and otherwise-that this technology can so clearly help us close, we end up instead with more and wider divides between us?" He said the US must no longer tolerate digital divides and must continue to maintain an open Internet.
benton.org/node/31639 | Federal Communications Commission
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BAKER AT STATE OF THE NET
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Speaking to the Congressional Internet Caucus' State of the Net Conference, Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Baker said she's "found that there is no agreed definition of "net neutrality" and different people often end up talking past one another because they don't have a shared concept of what we mean by "net neutrality." There seems to be broad consensus that networks must be managed to control spam and prevent unlawful content, but there is not as much agreement as I would like to see about the role of network operators in protecting intellectual property on the Internet. There is broad agreement that consumers should be empowered to control their Internet experience and the benefit to consumers should be the focus of any rules that we may adopt. And perhaps most surprisingly to me, while the most extreme net neutrality advocates want to see a network of heavily regulated dumb pipes where innovation is isolated to the edge, many recognize that quality of service can be advantageous, even necessary, for consumers. Even though some advocates fear theoretical abuses, they concede that the Internet experience today wouldn't be what it is without network management by our network operators. And I think a particularly promising area of potential consensus is transparency. To me, transparency is what the Open Internet is all about. Done right, transparency rules could obviate the need for other regulations of network management altogether by empowering consumers with information to make more informed choices about broadband."
benton.org/node/31638 | Federal Communications Commission
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PK URGES FCC TO RECLASSIFY BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Public Knowledge told the Federal Communications Commission it should reclassify broadband Internet services to erase any uncertainty over the agency's authority to oversee Internet service providers. Public Knowledge said in public comments filed to the FCC that a slew of policies the agency is working on are in jeopardy as fresh doubts have emerged whether the commission even has the jurisdiction to implement rules over broadband. "Without clear legal authority, the commission might find itself unable to respond to the needs of public safety, unable to protect privacy, and incapable of collecting needed information to ensure that the Internet remains affordable, open and competitive," said Harold Feld, legal director for Public Knowledge.
benton.org/node/31647 | Washington Post
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FORUM TO ADDRESS EMERGENCY RESPONSE CENTER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) will hold a public forum to discuss the creation of an emergency response interoperability center for public safety broadband communications. The Bureau is holding this public forum in response to public comments the Commission received as part of the National Broadband Plan proceedings which identified the need for enhanced coordination and cooperation among public safety entities to achieve broadband interoperability and operability. The forum will examine ways in which this could be achieved, including the creation of an emergency response interoperability center to develop common standards and to provide interoperability and operating procedures for the public safety licensee authorized to construct, operate and use the nationwide wireless broadband network. The forum will solicit ideas and comments from interested parties on these topics. Discussions will focus on how the interoperability center should be structured, what its role should be and how it can accomplish critical tasks such as establishing a public safety interoperability profile, interoperability standards, authentication, encryption, roaming, priority access, application uses and interconnectivity. The forum will also focus on the role an emergency response interoperability center would play in establishing a national framework for gateway functionality and interface capabilities, as well as a national framework for interconnectivity and compatibility of user networks.
benton.org/node/31637 | Federal Communications Commission
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TELECOM/WIRELESS

FCC SEEKS INFORMATION ON WIRELESS EARLY TERMINATION FEES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission Consumer Bureau Chief Joel Gurin and Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman sent letters to AT&T, Google, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless to gather facts and data on the consumer experience with wireless early termination fees. This inquiry follows last week's launch of the FCC's Consumer Task Force, which was established to promote cross-agency collaboration on the Commission's consumer agenda. In the letters, the FCC says it recognizes companies "may" have "various rationales" for the fees but says as an issue of transparency and consumer information, the commission wants to get the same set of information from each company on how they inform their customers about the fees. "These fees are substantial (and in some cases are increasing) and have an important impact on consumers' ability to switch carriers," wrote Joel Gurin, chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Ruth Milkman, chief of the Wireless Bureau. " We therefore believe it is essential that consumers fully understand what they are signing up for-both in the short term and over the life of the contract-when they accept a service plan with an early termination fee." CTIA, the wireless association, said it agreed with the FCC that transparency and disclosure were keys, as was understanding what was in contracts. The FCC requests responses by February 23, 2010.
benton.org/node/31642 | Federal Communications Commission | Broadcasting&Cable | B&C - CTIA | Reuters | The Hill | GigaOM
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FEDERAL TEXTING BAN
[SOURCE: Department of Transportation, AUTHOR: Press release]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced federal guidance to expressly prohibit texting by drivers of commercial vehicles such as large trucks and buses. The prohibition is effective immediately and is the latest in a series of actions taken by the Department to combat distracted driving since the Secretary convened a national summit on the issue last September. "We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe," said Secretary LaHood. "This is an important safety step and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving." The action is the result of the Department's interpretation of standing rules. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) research shows that drivers who send and receive text messages take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds while texting. At 55 miles per hour, this means that the driver is traveling the length of a football field, including the end zones, without looking at the road. Drivers who text while driving are more than 20 times more likely to get in an accident than non-distracted drivers. Because of the safety risks associated with the use of electronic devices while driving, FMCSA is also working on additional regulatory measures that will be announced in the coming months.
benton.org/node/31613 | Department of Transportation
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MEXICO TO AUCTION FIBER LINES
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Crayton Harrison]
Mexico's government will auction two unused fiber-optic lines for at least 858.6 million pesos ($66 million), Communications and Transportation Minister Juan Molinar said. The auction will include two cables covering about 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles). Rules for the auction, published in the official gazette, say a bidder could win one, two or all three divisions being offered as a 20-year lease. Results will be announced June 9.
benton.org/node/31619 | Bloomberg
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VERIZON WIRELESS CARRIES WIRELINE BUSINESS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Verizon may have always been a regional Bell operating company with a major wireless business, but as its fourth quarter results show, it's becoming a wireless company with a wireline company along for the ride. Once again, gains at Verizon Wireless continued to shore up losses at Verizon Communications, further broadening the gap between parent and daughter companies, but in the last quarter the chasm grew particularly wide. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/31614 | Connected Planet | Bloomberg | Reuters
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IPHONE EMERGES AT CORE OF APPLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Martin Peers]
Forget the tablet. Apple's tree is truly phone heavy. If anybody still questioned how much the iPhone has transformed Apple, the company's release Monday of historical profit statements revised for new accounting rules provides a clear answer. In the latest quarter, the handset generated more revenue than any other Apple product group-including desktop and portable computers combined. Under the old accounting rule, Apple had to defer much of the revenue and cost related to iPhone sales for two years. That masked the explosive impact of the device in its early years. Now Apple is recording virtually all of the revenue and costs as incurred. Being this dependent on one device has a downside, of course, exaggerating the impact of any slowdown in sales. But there is plenty of room for growth if Apple continues to out-innovate its peers. The mobile-device market this year is expected to hit 1.32 billion units, estimates Gartner. Apple has sold only 42.4 million iPhones since 2007. Apple has some structural advantages. First, the iPhone's integration with Apple's proprietary iTunes music software could hurt competing devices. Second, the iPhone has an enormous lead in the number of mobile applications.
benton.org/node/31645 | Wall Street Journal
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   How will SCOTUS decision affect corporate media?

HOW WILL SCOTUS DECISION AFFECT CORPORATE MEDIA?
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America, AUTHOR: Karl Frisch]
[Commentary] In 2004, the United Church of Christ produced a television commercial promoting its inclusive approach to organized faith. The ad showed two nightclub-style bouncers guarding the rope line of a church as they denied entry to a gay male couple, several people of color, and a man in a wheelchair. By contrast, a white family of four had no problems getting through. "Jesus didn't turn people away" was the ad's tagline, but CBS did, turning down the commercial which was intended for broadcast during that year's Super Bowl. The 30-second spot apparently violated the network's policy of "prohibiting advocacy ads, even ones that carry an 'implicit' endorsement for a side in a public debate." Now, six years later, CBS has agreed to run an ad by the notoriously anti-reproductive rights, anti-gay organization Focus on the Family, featuring college football star and anti-choice crusader Tim Tebow. The network's blatantly hypocritical decision has sparked intense controversy and brought new light to the shadowy world of corporate media policy governing political or issue-advocacy commercials. These cable and broadcast outlets seem to make the argument that only certain entities can make certain political arguments against certain figures on certain issues during certain programs. It's difficult to follow -- and perhaps that is the point. Lack of specificity provides ample wiggle room.
benton.org/node/31625 | Media Matters for America | UCC
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$300M BOOST FOR MEDIA
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Michael Learmonth]
Last week's Supreme Court decision on campaign financing will be good for the media business. Media companies and agencies were digesting the impacts -- more direct spending by corporations, unions and wealthy individuals, as well as more issue-oriented money pouring into the system. And much of that additional money -- $300 million, according to a Needham & Co. estimate, on top of the predicted $2.8 billion -- will flow to local TV stations. Couple the Supreme Court's decision with the Scott Brown Senate win in Massachusetts, which has "Republicans smelling blood in the water" and we'll see 10% more political ad dollars, said Laura Martin, a Needham analyst. "These two factors work together to create an arms race between corporations and unions, and the only weapons dealers are the local TV stations," she said. With an abundance of stations in what look to be hotly-contested political markets, station groups such as Meredith, McGraw-Hill and the network-owned groups look best poised to grab political advertising this year, according to investment bank M.C. Alcamo & Co. 75% of McGraw-Hill's four stations are in markets featuring "toss-up" races, followed by 64% at Meredith, 62% at CBS and 60% at both the ABC and NBC owned station groups. Gannett's "toss-up" rate is 58%, and the Fox-owned group comes in at 52%.
benton.org/node/31624 | AdAge | B&C
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HOW TO COUNTER CORPORATE SPEECH
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Bruce Ackerman, David Wu]
[Commentary] The Supreme Court's decision last week in Citizens United v. FEC fundamentally changed the nature of political campaigns. In a 5-4 ruling, the court held that corporations have a constitutional right to spend millions of dollars in independent campaigns that attack or support particular candidates. Critics of the decision worry, with good reason, that corporate interests might now exhibit outsize influence on campaigns. We need to embrace a market solution to this problem. The answer to the disproportionate influence of big money is to give ordinary citizens the financial capacity to compete effectively in the political marketplace. The place to begin is with a tax cut. Each American should get a refundable federal tax credit of $50 that they can use to make contributions to federal candidates during presidential years, and a suitably smaller sum during off-year federal elections. Each American should be allowed to claim a $50 refundable tax credit when filing an income tax return. Oregon and other states already do this. It's time to bring this plan to the rest of the nation.
benton.org/node/31649 | Wall Street Journal
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CONTENT

CBS STANDS BY ANTI-ABORTION AD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
CBS Tuesday (Jan. 26) stood behind its decision to take a Super Bowl ad from Focus on the Family that has drawn fire from reproductive choice organizations. The network said it does not reject advocacy ads out of hand, and added that it would consider "responsibly produced ads from all groups" for the "few" remaining spots in the broadcast. "We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue," CBS said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. "In fact, most media outlets have accepted advocacy ads for some time. At CBS, our standards and practices process continues to adhere to a process that ensures all ads -- on all sides of an issue -- are appropriate for air. "We will continue to consider responsibly produced ads from all groups for the few remaining spots in Super Bowl XLIV," the network said. That came in response to the announcement that the Women's Media Center, National Organization For Women and more than two dozen other groups have launched a campaign to pressure CBS into pulling a Super Bowl "pro-life" ad bought by Focus on the Family. That campaign includes a letter it delivered to CBS today, according to a spokeswoman, and e-mails its members are sending today to CBS, the NFL, and advertisers in the game.
benton.org/node/31634 | Broadcasting&Cable | UCC
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IN AN APP ECONOMY, NEWSPAPERS ARE APPS
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Maya Baratz]
[Commentary] If news media outlets want to thrive in this new environment, they need to start thinking of themselves as apps. Being an app is the condition of not only allowing, but thriving, having your content live elsewhere. On the flip side, being the platform -- or the 'giant', if you will -- fuels that growth through attracting an audience. The app environment represents a revised means of consuming content. In a way, it's a Darwinistic solution to a problem that's bred out of too much noise. With the platform/app structure, consumers visit one place to get content from numerous sources. But while some content-based industries -- especially casual gaming -- have been able to thrive in this new environment via organic business models (e.g., in-game payments and social goods), others -- namely news organizations -- haven't yet. This may be partially due to the fact that newspapers don't really see themselves as apps yet. But for a media company to survive in this type of web economy, it's becoming increasingly clear that it needs to play the role of an app or a platform. And if you're a content provider, you typically fall in the second bucket, as platforms offer the stage to spread your product or word.
benton.org/node/31622 | Huffington Post, The
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APPLE PUSHES FOR LOWER TV PRICES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Kenneth Li, Joseph Menn]
Apple is pressing US television networks to reduce their prices for TV shows offered on its iTunes digital store in order to cut the charge to consumers and to help spur demand. The push is seen as an integral part of the iPhone maker's long-term strategy for the tablet computer, which it is expected to unveil on Wednesday. However, networks are resisting the move as they fear a repeat of the music industry's pact with Apple in 2003 to sell individual songs for 99 cents on iTunes. The price helped to simplify and boost downloads of digital music but dented album sales. In recent months, Apple has suggested during meetings with media executives that the price it charges consumers for TV shows be halved from $1.99 to $1, people close to the discussions said. Apple's belief, media executives said, is that drastically cutting prices could spur sales of TV shows on the iTunes digital entertainment storefront, which have so far frustrated Apple executives.
benton.org/node/31621 | Financial Times
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP

NBC PROMISES TO INVEST IN NBC
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Kathy Haley]
NBC Universal Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin said, "We probably took too much out of the broadcast TV business. We drained away a little too much to invest in the businesses we thought were more robust.... About 5% of our profits come from NBC but 95% of the perception about us comes from NBC. I am consistently amazed at how much the press covers broadcast, even though it has less influence on the industry than cable." Putting too many eggs into its cable basket had another downside, and that lay in its program development effort for NBC, Gaspin conceded. "You want the best producers and talent to work for you. You want the community to support you and help you to succeed," he said. "If the creative community feels we are all in it together, better projects will flow your way."
benton.org/node/31641 | TVNewsCheck
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LIBERTY MEDIA SEEKS UP TO 35 PERCENT OF LIVE NATION
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: James Callan]
John Malone's Liberty Media plans to acquire as much as 35 percent of Live Nation Entertainment, the concert and ticketing company formed by yesterday's merger with Ticketmaster. Liberty Media plans a tender offer for as many as 34.5 million Live Nation shares at $12 each, the Englewood, Colorado-based company said today in a statement. Malone's company, owner of the Starz cable network, was the largest shareholder in Ticketmaster, with a 29 percent stake before yesterday's deal and now holds 14.6 percent of the combined enterprise. Liberty said it is a party to a stockholder agreement with Live Nation that allows it to buy as much as 35 percent of the stock.
benton.org/node/31620 | Bloomberg
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

YOUTUBE'S STATE OF THE UNION ROLE
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Laurie Sullivan]
YouTube on Wednesday will broadcast the State of the Union address on Citizentube and unveil a Google Moderator series that gives people the opportunity to submit questions to President Barack Obama. People will have the ability to submit questions and vote on their favorites. Next week, YouTube will bring some of the top-voted questions to the president in a YouTube interview that will stream live from the White House on Citizentube. A YouTube representative from the News and Politics team will moderate the interview. "With this opportunity, everyday citizens will have the same type of access once only reserved for journalists," says Steve Grove, head of News and Politics at YouTube. "It's a new milestone for the State of the Union speech and demonstrates the way that platforms like YouTube can be used to increase transparency in government and access to world leaders."
benton.org/node/31633 | MediaPost
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CONSUMERS AND GOVERNMENT DATA
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
The common denominator driving the Obama administration's push for widespread use of electronic health records, smart meters and downloadable agency statistics is consumer empowerment, the top federal technology official said on Monday. All three initiatives are intended to equip citizens with information that can help them make better life decisions, federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra told attendees of a health information technology conference sponsored by the eHealth Initiative, an independent organization that works to improve health care through IT. "2010 will be the year of implementation and results," Chopra said. "This will be the year we are going to see . . . newer products, services, tools and capabilities -- changes in the plumbing of our industry."
benton.org/node/31615 | nextgov
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US URGES SHARED CYBERATTACK DEFENSE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: James Blitz, Joseph Menn]
The US and its Nato allies have been urged to collaborate more intensely to fend off the threat of cyberattacks in the aftermath of the alleged Chinese assault on Google. The Pentagon's top cyber-strategist said shared warning systems had to be established and government contacts broadened. William J. Lynn, US deputy defence secretary, said America and the UK had been working to counter the growing international danger of cyberattacks. But he warned that the US, UK and other states had to deepen cross-border collaboration if they were to deal with a form of warfare that ignored national boundaries. "You can't just protect the system by defending yourself from inside your own country," Lynn said on a visit to London. "International co-operation is imperative for establishing the chain of events in an intrusion and quickly and decisively fighting back."
benton.org/node/31648 | Financial Times
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JOURNALISM

US NEWS MEDIA GET TEPID GRADES
[SOURCE: Gallup, AUTHOR: Lydia Saad]
Most Americans appear unimpressed by the media's performance as government watchdog in the first year of the Obama administration. A third say the media have done an "excellent" or "good" job of filling this important role of a free press, 37% say their performance has been "fair," and 27% rate it "poor." Americans do not appear to think that the media's current performance as a watchdog is unique to the Obama administration. The plurality (43%) say the news media's performance as watchdog under Obama is on par with how it did during previous administrations; however, by 31% to 21% the remainder tilt toward believing the media has done a worse, rather than better, job under Obama. The new poll also asked Americans to identify which one of several Obama administration policy areas they think the media did the best job of covering in the past year. Americans give the media the most credit on healthcare (24%) and the economy (20%), and somewhat less credit on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and terrorism. (This rank order may reflect the amount of media coverage devoted to each topic as much as it does the quality.) However, an even larger percentage -- 36% -- do not choose any of these issues, or have no opinion about which has been best covered. When asked which issue they would like to see the news media do a better job of reporting on going forward, the largest segment of Americans (40%) cite Obama's policies on the economy, followed by healthcare (30%). Relatively few cite U.S. wars or terrorism.
benton.org/node/31650 | Gallup
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HEALTH

DOCTORS IGNORE INTERNET AT THEIR OWN PERIL
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Kevin Pho]
[Commentary] Raise your hand if you've ever left a physician's office without fully understanding what the doctor just told you. According to The New England Journal of Medicine, half of patients admit to not understanding what their doctor told them during an office visit. As a primary care physician, being unable to clearly communicate with patients is frustrating. The typical, 15-minute office visit often is not sufficient for a thorough discussion. A better way to connect with patients is needed. Perhaps that is why more patients are turning to the Internet. A June 2009 survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimates that 61% of American adults surf the Web for health information, with many looking for user-generated content written by others with similar medical conditions. Social media websites that encourage reader interaction are playing a larger role in providing information tailored to online patients. There are thousands of blogs and Facebook groups, for instance. Patients use Twitter to share tips on battling diabetes, or to give advice on finding the right doctor or hospital. But like a lot of the information on the Internet, not all medical content is credible. That's where medical professionals can help patients decipher what is accurate on the Web. And with 24% of Americans reading blogs, combined with 120 million monthly U.S. visitors to Facebook and Twitter, social media presents a compelling opportunity for doctors to better interact with patients.
benton.org/node/31644 | USAToday
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FDA AD SCRUTINY
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Shannon Pettypiece]
Sexual innuendo is being muted in TV ads for Pfizer Inc.'s erection pill Viagra as drugmakers react to added U.S. scrutiny of promotional campaigns for medicines. Instead of middle-aged bikers singing "Viva Viagra," as seen in a 2007 commercial, the latest Viagra ad shows a gray- haired man meeting with a doctor. After Pfizer's quit-smoking treatment Chantix was tied to suicides in 2008, the New York- based drugmaker added more than a minute of safety warnings into advertising that earlier had just 14 seconds. Pfizer isn't alone in bringing a more serious tone to its ads.
benton.org/node/31643 | Bloomberg
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E-PRESCRIBING TOOLS RAISE CONCERNS
[SOURCE: FederalComputerWeek, AUTHOR: Alice Lipowicz]
E-prescribing technologies are gaining ground in doctors' offices and hospitals, but are hampered by gaps in the systems and worries about reliability, industry experts told the Information Exchange workgroup. E-prescribing is included as a component of electronic health record (EHR) systems in recent regulations from the Health and Human Services Department. HHS is distributing at least $17 billion in incentive payments to doctors and hospitals who buy and meaningfully use such systems. Benefits include more legible prescriptions, helpful reminder systems and better documentation of medications. However, e-prescribing currently has many limitations, including gaps in reliability when hub networks are down that temporarily prohibit electronic transfer of the prescriptions
benton.org/node/31628 | FederalComputerWeek
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NEW PHYSICIAN ADOPTION STATISTICS
[SOURCE: Health IT Buzz, AUTHOR: Dr. David Blumenthal]
[Commentary] The CDC recently released its latest report on the adoption of electronic health records/electronic medical records (EHR/EMR) amongst office-based physicians from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. As a physician who trained and initially practiced in a time where nearly every order, record, and prescription was paper-based, the results are striking to me. The final results for 2008 show about 16.7 percent of physicians reported having systems that met the criteria of a basic EHR/EMR system, and about 4.4 percent reported that of a fully functional system. Preliminary results for 2009 show about 20.5 percent reported having systems that met the criteria of a basic system, and 6.3 percent reported that of a fully functional system. Combined basic and fully functional statistics for the last 3 years are as follows: 2007 ­ 17%, 2008 ­ 21%, Preliminary 2009 ­ 27% The latest figures, especially the preliminary 2009 numbers, suggest that the pace of adoption of HIT is quickening.
benton.org/node/31627 | Health IT Buzz
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