January 2010

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2010

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   FBI broke law for years in phone record searches
   In War Against the Internet, China Is Just a Skirmish
   Scaling the Digital Wall in China
   China Says U.S. Backsliding on Trade, Warns on Google
   China plays down Google dispute but U.S. concerned
   Why America and China will clash
   Fallout From Cyber Attack Spreads
   Google, the Internet and Civil Disobedience As a Business Strategy
   Google Holders Applaud China Stance, See Lost Revenue
   China, Where U.S. Internet Companies Often Fail
   Google Hack Attack Was Ultra Sophisticated, New Details Show
   Rep Smith: Google makes '180-degree turn' on bill backing Internet freedom
   Law Meant to Curb Lobbying Sends It Underground

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   Establishing telecommunications systems tops feds' to-do list for Haiti
   A Deluge of Donations via Text Messages

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Unofficially 110,000 back proposed expansion and codification of Network Neutrality rules
   FCC Inundated With Network Neutrality Filings From Wide Range of Groups
   What the Network Neutrality Filings Say
   Wu urges FCC To Preserve Internet 'Payola' Ban
   Net Neutrality Advocates To FCC: Two Titles Are Better Than One
   NCTA To FCC: No New Internet Rules
   Why the Kankakee County Farm Bureau hates net neutrality
   Why the Right Is Wrong About Net Neutrality
   CTIA: Internet Rules Shouldn't Apply to Wireless
   Verizon, Google File Joint Letter on 'Open Internet'
   Google Says It Favors 'Reasonable' Network Management
   Skype to FCC: Keep the Internet Open & Neutral
   Why the Opinion Industry Hates 'Most People'
   FCC's Open Internet Workshop at MIT Brought Robust Exchange Among Academics
   The true economic value of the Internet? Lots of people

THE STIMULUS
   NTIA, RUS Announce Final Round of Broadband Stimulus Funding
   See also: BTOP Changes, Requirements, and Critical Details | BIP Changes, Requirements and Critical Details

ED TECH
   Schools weigh in on national broadband plan
   FCC Proposes Revising E-Rate

MEDIA & ELECTIONS
   Internet Politics From Both Sides Now
   Last-minute TV ad buys raise the stakes in Massachusetts Senate race
   Roger Ailes is the real head of the GOP

JOURNALISM
   As Shrinking Newsrooms Use Upstarts' Content, Vetting Questions Arise
   Broadcast Coverage: Compassion and Self-Congratulation

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
   The Myths -- and Realities -- About the Comcast/Universal Transactions
   Minority Media Ownership Workshop

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   FCC Clears 700 mhz Frequency for Public Safety and Next Generation Wireless
   How the battle between Apple and Google will shape the future of mobile computing
   What Google's Nexus One means for carriers
   FCC Takes Action to Enhance Access to Digital Wireless Service for Individuals With Hearing Disabilities
   Verizon simplifies phones, pricing as it preps LTE

MORE ONLINE
   Is DC telecom to-do list too long?
   Pick for Top Digital Job in Europe Is Grilled
   Five Takeaways From World's Fair Use Day
   Thinking Outside the Box: Web TVs Skirt Cable Giants
   HHS panel: CMS should reconsider discarded quality measures
   DVRs In 44% of Homes By 2015
   China Internet population hits 384 million
   The Promise and Peril of Big Data

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

FBI BROKE LAW FOR YEARS IN PHONE RECORDS SEARCHES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: John Solomon, Carrie Johnson]
The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions. Counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put in place to protect civil liberties. The stream of urgent requests for phone records also overwhelmed the FBI communications analysis unit with work that ultimately was not connected to imminent threats. A Justice Department inspector general's report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed. Documents show that senior FBI managers up to the assistant director level approved the procedures for emergency requests of phone records and that headquarters officials often made the requests, which persisted for two years after bureau lawyers raised concerns and an FBI official began pressing for changes.
benton.org/node/31357 | Washington Post
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WAR AGAINST INTERNET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
No matter what happens in the fight between Google and Beijing's leaders, one thing seems clear: the company is not going to be able to turn the clock back to 2006. That year, Google itself helped to fracture the Internet by creating Google.cn. China is not the only country where Google is bumping up against political or cultural opposition to the laissez-faire practices that Internet companies prefer. Different cultural norms are only one barrier to a global Internet. Commerce is another. As the Internet has evolved from a noncommercial communications tool to a hypercommercial media outlet, it has taken on characteristics of the platforms it now rivals or surpasses. Media companies and governments seem to be increasingly united in the belief that curbing some freedoms is necessary to foster the development of legitimate business on the Internet. But a single global approach to that is unlikely.
benton.org/node/31354 | New York Times
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SCALING THE DIGITAL WALL IN CHINA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone, David Barboza]
The Great Firewall of China is hardly impregnable. Just as Mongol invaders could not be stopped by the Great Wall, Chinese citizens have found ways to circumvent the sophisticated Internet censorship systems designed to restrict them. They are using a variety of tools to evade government filters and to reach the wide-open Web that the Chinese government deems dangerous — sites like YouTube, Facebook and, if Google makes good on its threat to withdraw from China, Google.cn. It's difficult to say precisely how many people in China engage in acts of digital disobedience. But college students in China and activists around the world say the number has been growing ever since the government stepped up efforts to "cleanse" the Web during the Beijing Olympics and the Communist regime's 60th anniversary last year. As part of that purge, the Chinese government shut down access to pornography sites, blogs, online video sites, Facebook, Twitter and more. While only a small percentage of Chinese use these tools to sidestep government filters, the ease with which they can do it illustrates the difficulty any government faces in enforcing the type of strict censorship that was possible only a few years ago.
benton.org/node/31353 | New York Times
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CHINA SAYS US BACKSLIDING ON TRADE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: ]
China charged the U.S. with "backsliding" toward protectionism and said companies must comply with foreign laws in the aftermath of Google's threat to pull out of the country. The U.S. use of trade remedies against China in 2009 was "unreasonable," Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said at a briefing in Beijing today. Multinationals' parent countries, including "Google's home country" should step up oversight of overseas businesses, he said. The U.S. may take formal measures against China after Google this week said it was targeted by cyber attacks from the nation, a State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Yao's comments signal China's confidence that the dispute won't deter companies and came as a government report showed foreign direct investment more than doubled last month. "China's recovery means that the nation's growth rate will lead the major economies by an even bigger margin," said Qu Hong bin, chief China economist at SBC Holdings PC in Hong Kong. "Thus China's appeal -- strong economic fundamentals and the world's most populous consumer market."
benton.org/node/31352 | Bloomberg
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CHINA PLAYS DOWN GOOGLE DISPUTE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Alee Wang, Arshad Mohammed]
China sought on Friday to play down a threat by Google to quit the country on hacking and censorship concerns, but the United States said it will formally express concern over the cyber attacks the Internet search giant said originated in China. A spokesman for China's Commerce Ministry said there were many ways to resolve the Google issue, but repeated that all foreign companies, Google included, must abide by Chinese laws. "Any decision made by Google will not affect Sin-U.S. trade and economic relations, as the two sides have many ways to communicate and negotiate with each other," spokesman Yao Jian told a regular news briefing in Beijing. "We are confident about developing healthy trade and economic ties with the United States." Yet the U.S. State Department said on Friday it will ask China to explain the attacks. "We will be issuing a formal demarche to the Chinese government in Beijing on this issue in the coming days, probably early next week," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
benton.org/node/31351 | Reuters | Dept of State
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WHY AMERICA AND CHINA WILL CLASH
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Gideon Rachman]
[Commentary] Google's clash with China is about much more than the fate of a single, powerful firm. The company's decision to pull out of China, unless the government there changes its policies on censorship, is a harbinger of increasingly stormy relations between the US and China. The reason that the Google case is so significant is because it suggests that the assumptions on which US policy to China have been based since the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 could be plain wrong. The US has accepted - even welcomed - China's emergence as a giant economic power because American policymakers convinced themselves that economic opening would lead to political liberalization in China. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush firmly believed that free trade and, in particular, the information age would make political change in China irresistible. The two presidents were reflecting the conventional wisdom among America's most influential pundits. Tom Friedman, New York Times columnist and author of best-selling books on globalization, once proclaimed bluntly: "China's going to have a free press. Globalization will drive it." Robert Wright, one of Mr Clinton's favorite thinkers, argued that if China chose to block free access to the Internet, "the price would be dismal economic failure". So far, the facts are refusing to conform to the theory.
benton.org/node/31358 | Financial Times
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FALLOUT FROM CYBER ATTACK SPREADS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jessica Vascellaro, Aaron Back]
The fallout from an alleged hacker attack against Google Inc. and others continued to spread, as Google moved to investigate whether any of its employees were involved and rival Yahoo Inc. was reprimanded by its Chinese partner over its response to the incident. Google is investigating whether any of its employees in China played a role in a massive cyber attack, according to people familiar with the matter. The attack, which Google said it traced back to China, targeted the search giant and 34 other companies, according to Internet security experts. People familiar with the matter say Yahoo was among the companies targeted in the attack. Alibaba slammed Yahoo for its public support of Google in the conflict. "Yahoo's statement that it is 'aligned' with the position Google took last week was reckless, given the lack of facts in evidence," an Alibaba spokesman said. Yahoo responded that its earlier remarks condemned Internet attacks, not the Chinese government. "Yahoo condemns all cyber attacks, regardless of origin or purpose," said a Yahoo spokeswoman. Separately, on Monday, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China said some of its members' Google Gmail accounts had been hijacked and forwarded to an unknown address. Google said last week that while investigating the attack against its corporate networks, it noticed that some Gmail accounts that belonged to human rights activists had been "routinely accessed" by third parties, but it is unclear whether the incidents are related. Meanwhile, India's national security advisor, M.K. Narayanan, said he suspects Chinese hackers recently attempted to gain access to Indian government information.
benton.org/node/31359 | Wall Street Journal | Associated Press
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CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AS A BUSINESS STRATEGY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Kelleher]
[Commentary] Everyone, it seemed, had a strong reaction to Google's decision this week to stop censoring its search results on Google.cn. Some were impressed with its moral stance; some found it to be too little, too late; and still others viewed it as a cynical move. Maybe I've been writing about the business world for too long, but my first thought was -- hmm, Google has turned civil disobedience into a business strategy. To be clear, civil disobedience is substantially different for a company than it is for individual citizens. Google will never face the triumvirate risks that many people who defy oppressive governments do: jail, torture, death. Instead, Google will likely have to shut down its offices in China, a move that could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue this year alone. But judging from some of the ideas that shaped Thoreau's use of the term back in the 1840s — the refusal to resign consciences to governments or to become agents of injustice -- Google is in fact acting out of civil disobedience. It's certainly not the first company to do so; those that voluntarily divested from South Africa and other countries with appalling policies were doing the same. But Google is the first company I can think of to act on such a large scale.
benton.org/node/31350 | GigaOm
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GOOGLE HOLDERS APPLAUD CHINA STANCE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Ian King, Brian Womack]
Some Google investors admire the company for standing up to the Chinese government and protecting its users from cyber attacks and censorship. They also say it's going to cost them. "It's kind of nice to see them take a stand, but it is a big business opportunity that they would be losing," said Ken Smith, a portfolio manager at Munder Capital Management in Birmingham, Michigan. The firm oversees $15 billion in assets and owned 24,268 Google shares in its Internet fund at the end of November. "They will have to work hard to replace that." Investors say they want Google to protect its customers' private information from possible misuse and take a stand against censorship. The cost, they say, is giving up Google's chance to win a stake in a market that already has more Internet users than the total U.S. population and is on course to double in the next three years.
benton.org/node/31349 | Bloomberg | Bloomberg - Google sought support | Reuters
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CHINA, WHERE US COMPANIES FAIL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone, David Barboza]
If Google pulls out of China because of frustration with government restrictions, it will not be the first time an American Internet giant has retreated from the country. EBay and Yahoo arrived with high hopes for a market that failed to live up to their expectations. Social sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have never managed to gain a significant foothold in China, partly because of government blocking and censorship and partly because most major Chinese Internet companies offer popular social networking features of their own. In fact, no major American Internet company has dominated its field in China, which by some measures is the world's largest Internet market. Many experts thought Google would be the first.
benton.org/node/31348 | New York Times
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GOOGLE HACK WAS SOPHISTICATED
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Kim Zetter]
Hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe and dozens of other high-profile companies used unprecedented tactics that combined encryption, stealth programming and an unknown hole in Internet Explorer, according to new details released by the anti-virus firm McAfee. "We have never ever, outside of the defense industry, seen commercial industrial companies come under that level of sophisticated attack," says Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee. "It's totally changing the threat model." The attackers used nearly a dozen pieces of malware and several levels of encryption to burrow deeply into the bowels of company networks and obscure their activity, according to Alperovitch. "The encryption was highly successful in obfuscating the attack and avoiding common detection methods," he said. "We haven't seen encryption at this level. It was highly sophisticated." The hack attacks, which are said to have targeted at least 34 companies in the technology, financial and defense sectors, have been dubbed "Operation Aurora" by McAfee due to the belief that this is the name the hackers used for their mission.
benton.org/node/31313 | Wired
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GOOGLE SUPPORTS GLOBAL ONLINE FREEDOM ACT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Google has reversed its position on legislation meant to increase Internet freedom in China, even as it threatens to abandon that country over censorship. Google in 2006 lobbied against the Global Online Freedom Act sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), but is now supporting legislation that would prevent an Internet company from filtering or blocking basic political or religious terms, unless they disclose those terms to the State Department. "What a 180-degree turn they've made," said Rep Smith, ranking member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. "Before, Google wouldn't even answer questions about what they censor. Now they're in our office giving us briefings about their situation."
benton.org/node/31347 | Hill, The
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LOBBYING SENT UNDERGROUND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Kirkpatrick]
Ellen Miller, co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation, has spent years arguing for rules to force more disclosure of how lobbyists and private interests shape public policy. Until recently, she herself registered as a lobbyist, too, publicly reporting her role in the group's advocacy of even more reporting. Not anymore. In light of strict new regulations imposed by Congress over the last two years, Ms. Miller joined a wave of policy advocates who are choosing not to declare themselves as lobbyists. "I have never spent much time on Capitol Hill," Ms. Miller said, explaining that she only supervises those who press lawmakers directly. "I am not lobbying, so why fill out the forms?" Her frankness makes Ms. Miller a standout among hundreds of others who are making the same decision. Though Washington's influence business is by all accounts booming, a growing number of its practitioners are taking a similar course to avoid the spotlight of public disclosure.
benton.org/node/31334 | New York Times
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

ESTABLISHING TELECOM SYSTEMS A PRIORITY IN HAITI
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Bob Brewin]
President Barack Obama said on Thursday that aid to Haiti, in the wake of that country's devastating earthquake, is the top priority of every federal agency, with re-establishing telecommunications in the country as the first order of business. The Defense Department is mounting a massive response, including the dispatch of the hospital ship Comfort to the Caribbean nation, along with three amphibious ships and 2,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune (NC). "Right now in Haiti, roads are impassible, the main port is damaged and communications are just beginning to come online, and aftershocks continue," Obama said. "None of this will seem quick enough, but it's important that everyone in Haiti understand that one of the largest relief efforts in our recent history is moving toward Haiti." Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of the U.S. Southern Command, said at a Pentagon press briefing on Wednesday that the first priority in providing aid to Haiti was "getting command and control and communications there so that we can really get a better understanding of what's going on." Some of the first personnel deployed to Haiti included communications specialists from the 1st Special Operations Communications Squadron based at Hulbert Field, Fla., according to the Air Force Special Operations Command.
benton.org/node/31323 | nextgov
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A DELUGE OF DONATIONS VIA TEXT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephanie Strom]
A push by celebrities, athletes and the first lady encouraging text-message donations for earthquake relief in Haiti has contributed to a fund-raising bonanza for the American Red Cross, which a little over a year ago turned to Congress for a bailout. As of late Sunday, the organization had collected pledges of $103 million, about $22 million of which came through the text-messaging program. The National Football League's promotion of text-message donations during its weekend playoff games produced stunning results, with money "coming in at the rate of $500,000 an hour," said Roger Lowe, a Red Cross spokesman. "I need a better word than 'unprecedented' or 'amazing' to describe what's happened with the text-message program," Mr. Lowe said. The Red Cross is the biggest relief organization with a system in place to receive such donations, which are sent by cellphone to 90999 and billed at $10 each to the cellphone account. The total raised, a small portion of which will be shared with other members of the Red Cross federation, puts the organization well ahead of other relief groups in fund-raising for operations in Haiti.
benton.org/node/31360 | New York Times | WashPost
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THE STIMULUS

NTIA, RUS ANNOUNCE FINAL ROUND OF BROADBAND STIMULUS FUNDING
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and USDA's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announced availability of $4.8 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants and loans to expand broadband access and adoption in America. This is the second funding round for the agencies' broadband programs. The investment will help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, and create jobs. NTIA and RUS also announced the rules for applying in this funding round, which have been modified to make the application process easier for applicants and better target program resources. "Based on the feedback we received from stakeholders and our own experience in the first funding round, we are making the application process more user-friendly, sharpening our funding focus to make the biggest impact with this investment, and streamlining our review process to increase efficiency," said Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of NTIA. "In response to lessons learned from the first funding round, RUS is making important changes that will make the process easier for applicants and target our resources toward''last-mile' broadband connections to homes and businesses," said Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, Rural Utilities Service, United States Department of Agriculture. "This draws on our long experience in improving rural networks to the most difficult-to-reach areas of our country that need it most. We've streamlined the application process, added support for satellite service for rural residents left unserved after other funds are awarded, and provided ourselves more flexibility to target areas of greatest need. We are going to stretch every last dime to maximize economic development in rural areas that currently lack adequate broadband service." The agencies announced the rules for this funding round in two separate but complementary Notices of Funds Availability (NOFAs) that promote each agency's distinct objectives.
benton.org/node/31340 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | Key revisions | NTIA Notice | BTOP Changes, Requirements, and Critical Details | BIP Changes, Requirements and Critical Details | Handicapping NOFA 2
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ED TECH

SCHOOLS WEIGH IN ON NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: ]
To help provide broadband access to more citizens, the Federal Communications Commission should expand the eligible uses of e-Rate discounts to include after-school programs and community centers, many school leaders and education groups say -- but only if the $2.25 billion-a-year funding cap also is raised. The federal stimulus package that Congress passed last year directed the FCC to submit a National Broadband Plan to lawmakers by Feb. 17, but FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has asked for a one-month extension so the agency can comb through the vast number of public comments it has received over the past year as it has gathered input on how to make universal broadband a reality. Several dozen of those comments come from education stakeholders, who responded to the FCC's call for feedback on how it might leverage the e-Rate in its national plan. The e-Rate provides telecommunications discounts of up to 90 percent for eligible schools and libraries, based on the percentage of students they serve who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and whether they are considered in an urban or rural area. Under current program rules, schools applying for discounts cannot use e-Rate funded equipment to deliver Internet access to their communities, either by acting as an Internet service provider or by opening their facilities to the public after school. Relaxing these eligibility rules is an approach favored by several education stakeholders, including Albuquerque Public Schools, Chicago Public Schools, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), AT&T, and the state of Alaska, among others.
benton.org/node/31337 | eSchool News
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FCC PROPOSES REVISING E-RATE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed revising its rules regarding the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism, also known as the E-rate program, to comply with the requirements of the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act. Among other things, the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, titled Promoting Online Safety in Schools, revised the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), by adding a new certification requirement for elementary and secondary schools that have computers with Internet access and receive discounts under the E-rate program. We also propose to revise related Commission rules to reflect existing statutory language more accurately. Comments on the proposed rules are due on or before February 18, 2010 and reply comments are due on or before March 5, 2010.
benton.org/node/31336 | Federal Communications Commission
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MEDIA & ELECTIONS

INTERNET POLITICS FROM BOTH SIDES NOW
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ross Douthat]
[Commentary] For a brief shining moment, late in the 2008 campaign, Democrats thought that they might own the Internet. A year later, some of the Democrats' advantage is still there. But it's been crumbling ever since Obama took office. Republican politicians have taken over Twitter. Sarah Palin has 1.2 million followers on Facebook. And in liberal Massachusetts, Scott Brown, the Republican Senate candidate, has used Internet fund-raising to put the fear of God into the Bay State's establishment. The Web is just like every pre-Internet political arena: ideology matters less than the level of anger at the incumbent party, and the level of enthusiasm an insurgent candidate can generate. It's like other arenas, too, in its capacity to disappoint idealists. Indeed, it may be crueler to dreamers, because it offers an artificial sense of intimacy with politicians, without delivering any practical results. This is the bitter lesson many net-roots types have drawn from Obama's first year in office. The promises of transparency have given way to the reality of backroom deal-cutting. The attempts to turn the campaign's online community, weakly re-dubbed Organizing for America, into a permanent political force have flopped. In a recent post on the Web site Personal Democracy Forum, Micah Sifry captured the free-floating sense of anger with Obama's governance: "The people who voted for him weren't organized in any kind of new or powerful way, and the special interests ... sat first at the table and wrote the menu. Myth met reality, and came up wanting."
benton.org/node/31332 | New York Times
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TV WINS IN MASSACHUSETTS SENATE RACE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Chris Cillizza]
Just how big are the stakes in the Massachusetts Senate race? Independent and party groups were set to spend nearly $5 million on television ads in the final weeks leading up to Tuesday's special election between state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) and state Sen. Scott Brown (R). According to ad-buy information provided to the Fix, there are 13 -- yes, 13 -- groups paying for ads in the race's final days, with Democratic groups outspending Republican-aligned by more than $1 million. Coakley's ad advantage comes from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is set to spend $1.4 million on ads in the final week of the race -- a staggering sum given the overwhelming Democratic tilt of the Bay State, and yet another sign of how worried the party is. (The National Republican Senatorial Committee is not running ads in the state.) The other major Democratic groups in the mix are labor-affiliated. The Service Employees International Union is up with $549,000 in ads, and Citizens for Strength and Security, which is funded by unions, is spending $425,000 on ads. On the Republican side, there are more groups airing television commercials -- including the Chamber of Commerce and a group affiliated with the conservative Tea Party movement -- but they are spending just about $1.6 million. Add those numbers to the $2.2 million Brown is spending on television and the $1.9 million by Coakley, and the total in the contest's final days is near $10 million.
benton.org/node/31356 | Washington Post
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AILES IS THE REAL HEAD OF THE GOP
[SOURCE: Newsweek, AUTHOR: Howard Fineman]
[Commentary] Does the Republican Party have a "leader"? Surely it's not Michael Steele, the loose-lipped chairman of the Republican National Committee. Not Mitch McConnell, the funereal Kentuckian who heads the Senate's rejectionist GOP minority. Not Sen John McCain; he's too busy watching his own right flank back home in Arizona. And certainly not the Bushes, elder and younger, hunkered down in Texas. As for the 2012 wannabes, none gets more than a fifth of the GOP vote in the early polls. Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum—which is why God created Roger Ailes. The president of Fox News is, by default, the closest thing there is to a kingmaker in Anti-Obama America. And that, in turn, makes him the de facto leader of the GOP. In a relentless (and spectacularly successful) hunt for cable ratings, Ailes has given invaluable publicity to the tea partiers, furnished tryout platforms to GOP candidates, and trained a fire hose of populist anger at the president and his allies in Congress. While Beltway Republicans wring their hands or write their tracts, Ailes has worked the countryside, using his feel for Main Street resentment to attract and give voice to this year's angriest—and most powerful—voter-viewers: those who hate the Feds, the Fed, and the Ivy League. It was Ailes who put the "party" in the tea parties by giving them a round-the-clock national stage. Next month Fox will have priority access to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. The irony is that Ailes is not in the game to wield political power per se. He doesn't talk to the RNC and he can't stand most elected politicians, even the ones he puts on the air. "It's beneath him to get into politics," says a longtime friend. In his universe, the Washington equation is reversed: political power begets profits, not the other way around. But if politics is a nonstop talk show, being the head booker means you are the boss. If Fox feels Nixonian in its resentments and its sometimes shaky fealty to the facts, well, that is what Jon Stewart is for.
benton.org/node/31333 | Newsweek
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JOURNALISM

SHRINKING NEWSROOMS USING MORE OUTSIDE CONTENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Perez-Pena]
News comes from more and more outlets, about which readers know less and less. Publishers and broadcasters have always called on freelance journalists. But a generation ago, if they used material from another organization, it was usually limited to a handful of large, well-known and respected ones like The Associated Press or Reuters. With established newsrooms shrinking, a raft of smaller news outlets have cropped up in the last few years, selling or simply giving news reports to the traditional media — groups like ProPublica, Global Post, Politico and Kaiser Health News. "There are more pressures than ever to acquire content from outside sources, and there are going to be even more going forward," said Alan D. Mutter, a media consultant and former newspaper editor who blogs about the news business. That means that despite declining resources, newsrooms, he said, "have to get better at due diligence in terms of who this provider is," and at explaining it to their audiences.
benton.org/node/31331 | New York Times
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COVERING HAITI
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Alessandra Stanley]
Disaster is both one of the hardest and easiest sights to watch on television; the medium feeds on paradox, presenting extraordinary images that horrify and also comfort. Since the earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, network and cable news shows have organized the chaos with raw, graphic footage, as well as with beautifully edited vignettes, some scored to music, that calibrate the balance of hope and despair. In a disaster this huge, television reporters are the heralds of the fund-raising effort. News organizations repeatedly let people know how and where to donate money for Haiti, and those reminders allow Americans to feel that they can do something useful. They also help television news organizations by reminding viewers — and earthquake victims — that journalists serve as a pillar of the rescue mission, on the scene to do more than just gather information. Lines of communication are still poor, and conditions are not exactly cozy: some reporters are sleeping on the ground and using car batteries to record their stand-ups.
benton.org/node/31325 | New York Times
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP

COMCAST'S MYTHS AND REALITIES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a document Comcast is using in visits with Washington policymakers about the deal to acquire a controlling stake in NBC Universal, the company states, "Comcast does not and will not foreclose consumer access to any online Internet content for anticompetitive purposes." It also says the deal "will have no impact" on cable prices and that there is "nothing to [the] rumor" that the deal presages a spin-off of the NBC network or local stations. Comcast argues that the deal will not reduce competition or result in a "meaningful" increase in market competition. The promise, labeled as a "Reality," came in a sheet titled "The Myths--and Realities--About the Comcast/Universal Transactions,." The Myth it was responding to? "Comcast could discriminate against unaffiliated online Internet content." Comcast is planning to seek FCC approval of the deal by the end of this month. That will include a request for the transfer of FCC licenses and a public interest filing outlining those commitments. It is expected to file for antitrust review with the Justice Department soon.
benton.org/node/31329 | Broadcasting&Cable | TechDailyDose
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MINORITY MEDIA OWNERSHIP WORKSHOP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
On January 27, the Federal Communications Commission will examine: The interaction of the FCC's media ownership rules and minority/female ownership, including the potential impact of any rule changes on such ownership; Marketplace or other factors that encourage diverse entrants; The constitutionality of targeted race-based measures for promoting diverse ownership; and The impact of subsequent judicial decisions on the Adarand standard. The forum will consist of two panels. The first panel will be comprised of representatives from the academic community. The second panel will consist of broadcasters and representatives from media advocacy groups. Public participation in the workshop is encouraged.
benton.org/node/31317 | Federal Communications Commission
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

FCC CLEARS SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking prohibiting the further distribution and sale of devices that operate in the 700 MHz frequency. This action helps complete an important component of the digital television transition by clearing the 700 MHz band to enable the rollout of communications services for public safety and the deployment of next generation 4G wireless devices for consumers. The order will primarily impact the use of wireless microphone systems that currently operate in the 700 MHz band. These unlicensed devices cannot continue to operate in this band because they may cause harmful interference to public safety entities and next generation consumers devices that will be utilizing the 700 MHz frequency. Thus, the Commission is making clear that no devices utilizing this frequency may be sold or distributed. In order to ensure that individuals and groups currently using unauthorized devices in this band have ample time to transition to appropriate frequencies, the FCC is providing a sunset period until June 12, 2010, one year from the DTV Transition. The Commission is also unveiling an aggressive consumer outreach plan in order to assist consumers who have previously purchased wireless microphone systems and other related devices that utilized the 700 MHz band. (This item was scheduled for the Jan 20 FCC open meeting. It has been deleted from the agenda.)
benton.org/node/31321 | Federal Communications Commission | Report and Order, FNPRM | Chairman Genachowski | Item deleted from mtg agenda | B&C | Public Knowledge
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APPLE VS GOOGLE IN MOBILE COMPUTING
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Peter Burrows]
When companies start to imitate one another, it's usually either an extreme case of flattery -- or war. In the case of Google and Apple, it's both. Separated by a mere 10 miles in Silicon Valley, the two have been on famously good terms for almost a decade. Now the companies have entered a new, more adversarial phase. With Nexus One, Google, which had been content to power multiple phonemakers' devices with Android, enters the hardware game, becoming a direct threat to the iPhone. With its Quattro purchase, Apple aims to create completely new kinds of mobile ads, say three sources familiar with Apple's thinking. The goal isn't so much to compete with Google in search as to make search on mobile phones obsolete. "Apple and Google both want more," says Chris Cunningham, founder of the New York mobile advertising firm Appssavvy. "They're gearing up for the ultimate fight."
benton.org/node/31320 | BusinessWeek
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WHAT NEXUS MEANS FOR CARRIERS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Rich Karpinski]
Now that we've seen the dust settle around Google's entry into the mobile phone business, what are the real takeaways and impacts of the move - particularly for traditional mobile operators? 1) Decoupling phones and carriers. 2) The "Find-Stuff-Phone" -- Android phones are built from the ground up for searching the Web, navigating maps and directions, finding local businesses - all search-driven functions that Google has taken great pains to (a) own and (b) be able to offer for free while monetizing with advertising. 3) Monetizing Voice -- voice service becomes just another data object on tomorrow's IP-driven wireless architectures. 4) Customer Service Quagmire -- Customers buying hardware and service contracts need more hand-holding.
benton.org/node/31326 | Connected Planet
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ENFORCING WIRELESS RULES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Enforcement Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission has taken action against several companies for their failure to provide information that helps individuals with hearing disabilities fully utilize wireless phone services - allowing them to communicate effectively on their wireless phones without excessive feedback and noise. FCC rules require most digital wireless handset manufacturers and wireless service providers to make available a minimum number of hearing aid compatible handsets. In order to ensure that consumers have access to up-to-date information on the availability of those handsets, and to ensure that the Commission can monitor compliance, FCC rules also require these manufacturers and service providers to make periodic status reports and to post specific information on their public web sites. The reports and web content provide valuable information to the public concerning the technical testing and commercial availability of hearing aid-compatible handsets, both for consumers, particularly those with hearing disabilities, and for service providers seeking information regarding the hearing aid compatibility of manufacturers' products. The rules at issue in this week's actions require the following: 1) Manufacturers were required to submit reports detailing their efforts toward compliance with the hearing aid compatibility requirements on January 15, 2009, on July 15, 2009, and must continue to file them on an annual basis on July 15 thereafter. 2) Service providers were required to submit status reports on January 15, 2009, and must continue to file them on an annual basis on January 15 thereafter. 3) Manufacturers and service providers with publicly-accessible web sites must also maintain a list of currently available hearing aid compatible handset models, the technical ratings of those models, and an explanation of the rating system.
benton.org/node/31316 | Federal Communications Commission
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VERIZON SIMPLIFIES PRICING
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Sarah Reedy]
Verizon Wireless made several moves to simplify its devices and services structure, introducing lower unlimited price points, streamlining device categorization and offering new options for unlimited prepaid. The new plans came as the nation's largest carrier gears up to roll out its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks throughout this year and looks to drive as many consumers to data as possible. The new monthly service plans take VZW's unlimited price point down from $99 to $69.99 for unlimited monthly calling or $89.99 for unlimited talk and text. In addition, Nationwide Family SharePlans will now have unlimited options for $199.99 monthly voice access or $149.99 per month for voice and text for plans based on two lines. In terms of data, VZW expanded its $9.99 25-megabyte-per-month package to all of its 3G multimedia phones, discontinuing its $19.99 data package option. Those customers on the lower tier, using what VZW is now dubbing Simple Feature phones, will continue to pay $1.99 per megabyte or choose either a $9.99 or $29.99 data package. Consumer data packages for 3G smartphones, including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Android devices, will remain at $29.99 per month.
benton.org/node/31315 | Connected Planet | GigaOm | Bloomberg
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