April 29, 2010 (Palm finds a $1b home)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010
Today's agenda http://bit.ly/ccIXSR
OPEN INTERNET/BROADBAND REGULATION
Industry consensus would be the best Network Neutrality solution
Genachowski reiterates 'unwavering commitment' to open Internet [Video]
US Telecom: FCC reclassification would be overturned
Comcast: net neutrality should be less filling, taste great
Public Knowledge Tells FCC Hearing Rules Needed To Protect Open Internet
Time for FCC to reclassify broadband to ensure Internet remains a democratic medium
Preempt State Broadband Reporting Requirements? Under What Authority?
NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
Broadband access in the United States is even worse than you think
FCC AllVid Rule Would 'Ban The Set-Top As We Know It': Analyst
Clyburn Says States Should Not Preempt Community Broadband
Rural Aspects of National Broadband Plan Discussed at Broadband Properties Summit
Cities Seek Access To Unused Airwaves
THE STIMULUS
$19M for high-speed Internet in Virginia
Charlotte, N.C., and Mecklenburg County seek stimulus funds for a shared broadband network
MORE ON BROADBAND
OECD countries agree to tackle global environmental challenges through information and communication technologies
Verizon Feels They're 8-10 Years Ahead Of Cable
Facebook: Lawmakers aired 'legitimate' concerns, but most users like changes
Sorry, Google, but Facebook is the Web's most important company now
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Senate Foreign Relations Committee calls for more Web censorship circumvention efforts in Iran
China's encryption rule could shut U.S. businesses out of big market
Why reporters are down on President Obama
GSA Hits Social Media Road
OWNERSHIP
Honolulu Joining Ranks of One-Paper City as 'Star-Bulletin' Gets Antitrust OK to Buy 'Advertiser'
Comcast/NBCU Docket Filling Up
Comcast Profit Up 12%
Hewlett Packard to buy Palm for $1.2 billion
Apple buys voice apps developer
Fox, CBS unruffled by NBC-Comcast deal
Tribune Company seeks FCC action
FREE SPEECH/FREE PRESS
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists condemn censorship of 'South Park'
Video games are protected speech
Apple vs. Gizmodo
Search of blogger's computers suspended
MORE ONLINE
Al Gore Wants To Democratize Television, Leaks 'Crowdsourced TV'
Android Jumps Past iPhone in U.S. Mobile Web Use
Media and Communications 5th largest sector of US economy
FTC Helps Prepare Kids for a World Where Advertising is Everywhere
Trade group seeks to limit cybercrime regulations
Cellphone Payments Offer Alternative to Cash
Apple to Charge a Premium To Put Ads in Mobile Apps
Panel Backs Bill Aimed At Boosting U.S. Innovation
Illinois' teen sexting bill aims to educate, not criminalize
Stanford students' video helps effort to save preemies
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Follow the money in NC
OPEN INTERNET/BROADBAND REGULATION
INDUSTRY CONSENSUS ON NET NEUTRALITY?
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
[Commentary] Could opposing (commercial) sides of the great Network Neutrality debate find consensus? "I think it ought to be resolved in a deal basically," said Amazon vice president for global public policy Paul Misener. "And the view would be this: Network operators would accept Net neutrality rules in exchange for the certainty of explicit permission to offer paid managed services, and that kind of a package it seems to me is eminently doable and it benefits all ... stakeholders." Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, was not so explicit, but he was also optimistic about the idea of the industry reaching its own solution. "I think in the near term we can reach agreements on the Net neutrality issue which would allow consumers to be protected, the network providers to be able to offer all the services that we are capable of providing, and all of the other players to be certain that they also can thrive in the space," he said. Tauke said Verizon was working hard with Google and other players to try to reach a consensus and then offer that solution to the FCC. The idea of stakeholders devising their own Net neutrality solution is particularly appealing now that serious questions have arisen about whether the FCC has authority over broadband.
benton.org/node/35160 | Connected Planet
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GENACHOWSKI'S 'UNWAVERING COMMITMENT' TO OPEN INTERNET
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski pledged his "unwavering commitment" to a "free and open Internet" during a public workshop on the topic in Seattle. He specifically called out Comcast's traffic throttling, which ultimately led to a court ruling that cast doubt on the FCC's ability to impose net neutrality rules. "And it was just a few hours south of here on the I-5-in Hillsboro, Oregon that Comcast's secret blocking of lawful Internet traffic was discovered -- by an engineer and former police officer who loves barbershop quartets and simply wanted to share lawful music clips with others. That experience and others made clear that an Internet in the dark runs too great a risk of becoming a closed Internet -- with substantial costs to our ability to lead the world in innovation and freedom."
benton.org/node/35186 | Hill, The | B&C | FCC | Transcript
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US TELECOM NET NEUTRALITY COMMENTS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A potential move by the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify broadband Internet services as a Title II phone service wouldn't hold up in court, an attorney hired by trade group US Telecom wrote in a letter to the agency. That could lead the FCC into a lengthy legal battle that when challenged in court would be "impossible to square with the deregulatory purposes of the Telecommunications Act of 1996," wrote former Supreme Court litigator Seth Waxman. His comments echoed those recently made by FCC member Robert McDowell.
benton.org/node/35185 | Washington Post
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COMCAST ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The star Internet service provider in the drama over the Federal Communications Commission's proposed Open Internet rules filed comments with the agency on that subject this week. Comcast comes to the task after having convinced a Federal court to overturn the FCC's order sanctioning it for P2P throttling. You might think, then, that the cable giant's comments would be full of triumphant swagger. Quite the contrary, they're diplomatic and make recommendations based on what Comcast sees as the consensus among filers in this proceeding. That broad agreement, the company thinks, boils down to two major points—the agency should come up with Open Internet policies for everybody, and they should be as unobtrusive as possible. "A diverse group of commenters [have] noted that the rules cannot focus too narrowly on Internet service providers as the only potential 'gatekeepers'," Comcast observes, "but should account for the interdependent nature of the Internet ecosystem." And: "the Commission should not adopt an absolute ban on 'discrimination' . . . A more flexible and realistic standard, such as one that focuses on 'unreasonable and anticompetitive' discrimination, would give the Commission sufficient authority to monitor practices that create a meaningful risk to innovation and the openness on the Internet."
benton.org/node/35163 | Ars Technica
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PK TESTIFIES ON OPEN INTERNET
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Press release]
Public Knowledge President and Co-Founder Gigi B. Sohn said today that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should enact rules to meet the threats to an open Internet. Testifying at a Commission hearing in Seattle on "Approaches to Preserving the Open Internet," Sohn said that, "the open, decentralized nature of the Internet is at risk, as the cable, telephone and wireless companies that provide the on-ramps to the Internet seek to insert themselves in the middle picking winners and losers in the process. The FCC's Open Internet rulemaking proceeding, which would prohibit this kind of discrimination, is a welcome step towards preserving the open Internet."
benton.org/node/35162 | Public Knowledge | Sohn's written statement | Sohn's oral statement
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TIME TO RECLASSIFY
[SOURCE: Seattle Times, AUTHOR: Timothy Karr]
[Commentary] To be or not to be? That is the question weighing heavily on the Federal Communications Commission officials who visit Seattle this week for a public workshop on the future of the Internet and their agency's role in it. There will be much to discuss. The FCC simply needs to "reclassify" broadband as a telecommunications service, over which the commission has unchallenged authority to promote broadband access and to protect consumers. Reclassifying broadband would unleash the full might of phone and cable company lobbyists and lawyers who have profited from the incumbents' near monopoly control over Internet access. But it's a fight that needs to happen right now. As the Internet becomes the most democratic communications medium of our time, the FCC must evolve, too. The agency must ensure openness, guarantee competition and protect users from abuses of power in ways that benefit everyone, from the shores of Clallam County to the banks of the Potomac. It's time to reclassify. [Timothy Karr is campaign director of Free Press, a national, nonpartisan media-reform group.]
benton.org/node/35158 | Seattle Times
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HOW COULD THE FCC PREEMPT STATE BROADBAND REQUIREMENTS
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission members have been pushing the FCC to preempt state data collection of broadband deployment. The matter came up when the FCC issued a Declaratory Ruling finding that nothing in federal statutes or previous FCC orders stops states from collecting their own information about broadband deployment. The ruling expresses no opinion about whether state PUCs have existing authority (given that broadband is a Title I "information service") or whether or not it would be a good idea for states to collect their own data. But even this specter that someone somewhere might do something carriers don't like prompted Commissioners McDowell and Baker to push for the FCC to preempt state authority to collect information. After all, as we all know, broadband providers are timid creatures and likely to be scared off by the least thing that could conceivably raise their cost of doing business — as the broadband providers themselves constantly remind us. But Feld just has to ask, "Under what authority, exactly, do McDowell and Baker believe the FCC could preempt state reporting requirements?"
benton.org/node/35161 | Public Knowledge
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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
US BROADBAND WORSE THAN YOU THINK
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Sascha Meinrath, James Losey]
[Commentary] Given the dismal state of broadband connections in America, it was illuminating recently to hear a major telecom executive paint a rosy picture of where the country stands. When Wall Street Journal Deputy Managing Editor Alan Murray asked how the United States ranks in broadband, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg didn't hesitate: "One. Not even close." But Seidenberg is deliberately conflating "access" and "adoption"—the difference between who has the option of buying broadband service and who has actually done so. Using Seidenberg's logic, Americans also have universal access to health care, college, and employment. Dispelling this sort of misinformation, however, isn't always easy. One of the big problems in this debate is that the data about broadband are as spotty and unreliable as the connections themselves. And, taking a page from the playbook of big oil and tobacco, the telecom companies are spending millions to further confuse the issue, spending about $100 million in 2009 alone in lobbying fees. With all the bogus information out there, hucksters like Seidenberg can lie through their teeth and get away with it.
benton.org/node/35156 | Slate
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FCC ALLVID PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
The Federal Communications Commission's proposed AllVid devise for providing a common way to access cable, satellite and telco TV services would, if enacted as a regulation, "ban the pay-TV set-top box as we currently know it from the U.S. market," according to IMS Research senior analyst Stephen Froehlich. "Such a ban would directly affect more than 40 million set-top box shipments and $4.7 billion worth of sales annually," Froehlich wrote in a research report. On the other hand, such an FCC rule could "significantly decrease" the overall cost of customer-premises equipment for pay-TV operators by forcing them to migrate to standardized IP-based gateway architectures, in Froehlich's analysis. Furthermore, if the FCC's AllVid regime no longer required cable set-tops to include both CableCard and FireWire (IEEE 1394) components, that would eliminate about $600 million per year in set-top box costs for the cable industry, he added. networking interfaces, such as Broadcom, Entropic Communications, CopperGate Communications (owned by Sigma Designs), Atheros Communications, DS2 and other makers of Wi-Fi chip sets. Major set-top box vendors affected if the proposed rule is enacted would include Motorola, Cisco Systems, EchoStar, Technicolor, Pace, Humax and Samsung.
benton.org/node/35177 | Multichannel News
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CLYBURN SAYS STATES SHOULD NOT PREEMPT COMMUNITY BROADBAND
[SOURCE: MuniNetworks.org, AUTHOR: ]
Speaking at the SouthEast Regional Chapter conference of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn noted that the FCC and the National Broadband Plan oppose state preemption of local broadband networks. "Thus, the Plan recommends that Congress clarify that State and local governments should not be restricted from building their own broadband networks. I firmly believe that we need to leverage every resource at our disposal to deploy broadband to all Americans. If local officials have decided that a publicly-owned broadband network is the best way to meet their citizens' needs, then my view is to help make that happen."
benton.org/node/35154 | muninetworks.org | Commissioner Clyburn
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RURAL ASPECTS OF NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
There are a daunting number of rural American that do not have access to broadband, Rob Curtis, deployment director of the Federal Communication Commission's omnibus broadband initiative, said at the Broadband Properties Summit. With 14 million Americans without access to broadband, or at least twelve-hundred feet from a fiber connection; Curtis tasked the FCC to finalize that number using various means of statistical data. The goal was to enable the distribution of first round broadband stimulus grants into the hands of applicants clamoring to build new infrastructure. His task included coming up with an economic model that realistically supported the best case scenario for economic viability. That included projecting a take rate; a payback, and cost analysis. This analysis included both wireless and landline applications which looked at using incremental economics by adding to existing plant. The team created the plan using a Census block group, finding that cost curves varied widely based on density and captured the disincentives; meaning less density and the cost goes up. The plan was submitted on a conservative basis; he said there was no "pie in the sky" numbers built into the scenario.
benton.org/node/35172 | BroadbandBreakfast.com | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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WHITESPACES DEBATE
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Catherine Welch]
Just when you thought you'd heard the last of the national switch to digital TV, along comes another technical term to further clutter your brain: white spaces. They are the unused airwaves between licensed TV channels — and cities want to access them for everything from transmitting data from traffic and security cameras, to providing broadband access. A test is going on now in Wilmington (NC).
benton.org/node/35157 | National Public Radio
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THE STIMULUS
BTOP GRANT FOR VIRGINIA
[SOURCE: Tidewater News, AUTHOR: ]
Sens Jim Webb (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) on Tuesday announced $19 million in funding to bring affordable high-speed Internet to the cities of Emporia and Franklin (VA). The infrastructure grant awarded by the Department of Commerce's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to Buggs Island Telephone Cooperative will expand and improve the existing broadband and voice communications network. The funds are provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, supported by both senators. This is the second installment of funding to expand high-speed Internet service in Southside Virginia. In February, Sens Webb and Warner announced a $16 million infrastructure grant. Upon completion, the project will offer high-speed wireless Internet to as many as 100,000 households, 14,800 businesses, and 800 community institutions. Additionally, the project will reduce the equipment costs of equipment for residents to install broadband service at home.
benton.org/node/35155 | Tidewater News
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NC BTOP APPLICATION
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Hilton Collins]
The city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have united to create a comprehensive broadband network for their governments, and officials think stimulus money is an ideal way to help pay for it. They've acted quickly. The jurisdictions sent their grant application during the second application window, from Feb. 16 to March 15. Those awards won't be given until sometime between June and September. "We think we have a great story for our application, but I realize we'll be competing against a lot of other applications. So this is not a foregone conclusion that our idea is the best," said Dennis Baucom, director of Charlotte's Network Technology Services (NTS) Division. Baucom oversees a robust city/county public radio system that's distributed across more than 10 sites and supports 17,000 subscriber radios. It's an analog Motorola wireless voice platform that serves not only departments in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, but also those in neighboring jurisdictions.
benton.org/node/35175 | Government Technology
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MORE ON BROADBAND
OECD RECOMMENDATIONS
[SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, AUTHOR: ]
Boosting sustainable economic growth is high on government agendas. The Recommendation of the OECD Council on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Environment supports governments to increase the environmental benefits of ICT applications and improve environmental impacts of ICTs. As governments embark on green growth paths, this recommendation addresses areas where public sector action can help overcome shortcomings identified in OECD reports on ICT and the environment. OECD analysis shows that most "Green ICT" initiatives concentrate on the direct effects of ICTs themselves rather than tackling climate change and environmental degradation through the use of ICTs as an enabling or "smart" technology. The OECD Recommendation lays out a 10-point check list on how governments can employ ICTs to enhance national environmental performance. It encourages cross-sector co-operation and knowledge exchange on resource-efficient ICTs and "smart" applications, and highlights the importance of governments supporting R&D and innovation. By doing so, governments send positive signals for private sector investments. "Smart" electricity grid technologies for example have been receiving government attention and have attracted venture capital investments during the crisis, despite overall clean technologies seeing a dip.
benton.org/node/35159 | Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
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VERIZON 8-10 YEARS AHEAD OF CABLE?
[SOURCE: dslreports.com, AUTHOR: Karl Bode]
[Commentary] Pike and Fischer analyst Scott Sleek had this to say in a recent blog post: "The CableLabs project would represent yet another attempt by the industry to implement new bandwidth optimization technologies that would keep the hybrid fiber coax network architecture functional for years to come. But cable operators and other broadband service providers in general have a track record of underestimating future bandwidth needs. It is reasonable to assume that within the next three to five years, cable operators will need to have migration strategies in place to move to either deeper fiber or all-fiber infrastructures." Of course Verizon, who recently said they were testing 10 Gbps FiOS (despite claiming even 100 Mbps was marketing hype) likes the sound of that. In a blog post, the telco takes the analysis to mean they have a nice head start on the cable industry: "Verizon was visionary when we chose more than 5 years ago to take fiber all the way to the home. If Sleek is right, Verizon is 8-10 years ahead of cable. Nice place to be." While Verizon deserves credit for being the only major U.S. player with the guts to stand up to myopic investors and seriously deploy fiber to the home, Verizon's not acknowledging the whole picture. Do the millions of people in Verizon markets the company either sells to cash-strapped companies or plans to leave on last-generation 3-7 Mbps DSL for years feel a decade ahead of the curve?
benton.org/node/35153 | dslreports.com
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FACEBOOK ANSWERS PRIVACY CRITICS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Top Facebook officials on Wednesday admitted Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had aired "absolutely legitimate questions and concerns" during a recent meeting about the site's features that share user data with select websites and advertisers. However, representatives from the 400-million strong social network later stressed that negative reaction to those new tools on Capitol Hill differed markedly from the opinion of "the vast majority of users," who Facebook said, "appreciate these innovations." "That's why we're really pleased following the announcement we made last week... at the response that people have had," said Elliot Schrage, Facebook's vice president of Global Communications, Marketing and Public Policy. "Because while a lot of people in Washington may be focused on the concerns people have, the response across the Web has been that more people are more engaged..." "And candidly, the fact that users... consistently spend more time on Facebook and related services makes us feel like what we're doing is working in the right direction," Schrage added.
benton.org/node/35184 | Hill, The
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FACEBOOK MOST IMPORTANT COMPANY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Chris O'Brien]
[Commentary] It's been a week since the Facebook developers conference, and I can't escape the feeling that it represented a pivotal moment in the history of the Internet. We will look back on that day as the point where Facebook usurped Google's position as the most important company on the Web. There's almost no way to overestimate the impact of what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled during his keynote address. The ambitious new set of features will make Facebook the central nervous system of the Web. This will grant Facebook an astonishing amount of power. While that has the potential to bring an array of benefits to users, it also means we must become more vigilant about our privacy, and that Facebook must recognize its new responsibilities.
benton.org/node/35183 | San Jose Mercury News
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
SENATE COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON WEB CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a symbolic message to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) on April 27, urging its members to support "Internet censorship circumvention measures" in Iran. Lawmakers on the committee unanimously approved the "sense of the Congress" amendment, pitched by Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Delaware), as part of this year's State Department budget. The effort arrives as lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned by Iran's practice of detaining dissident bloggers and others who use to Web to further the state's burgeoning opposition movement. The measure that won committee approval on Tuesday has no force of law, but it nonetheless petitions the BBG to "expand international broadcasting in Iran," while promoting "means which provide for the dissemination of accurate and independent information... through radio, television, Internet, mobile devices and other forms of connective technology."
benton.org/node/35174 | Hill, The
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CHINA'S ENCRYPTION RULE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
US businesses would be blocked from selling computers and other electronics to the Chinese government, unless they share their encryption technology with officials in Beijing by this weekend. Saturday marks the deadline by which certain tech firms must submit to China a series of details about their security tools. Failure to do so, according to officials, means those businesses will lose access to the multi-million dollar market for Chinese government contracts. The new rules do not apply to all tech products; rather only manufacturers of Internet firewalls and Web routers, among six total tech areas, must submit their encryption techniques. Still, only Chinese companies have so far submitted the necessary information, which experts fear China will only use to bolster its practice of rooting out online dissidents and blocking content on the Internet.
benton.org/node/35176 | Hill, The
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WHY REPORTERS ARE DOWN ON OBAMA
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Josh Gerstein, Patrick Gavin]
President Barack Obama and the media actually have a surprisingly hostile relationship -- as contentious on a day-to-day basis as any between press and president in the past decade, reporters who cover the White House say. Reporters say the White House is thin-skinned, controlling, eager to go over their heads and stingy with even basic information. All White Houses try to control the message. But this White House has pledged to be more open than its predecessors, and reporters feel it doesn't live up to that pledge in several key areas: 1) Day-to-day interaction with president Obama is almost nonexistent, and he talks to the press corps far less often than Presidents Bill Clinton or even George W. Bush did. President Clinton took questions nearly every weekday, on average. President Obama barely does it once a week. 2) The ferocity of pushback is intense. A routine press query can draw a string of vitriolic e-mails. A negative story can draw a profane high-decibel phone call or worse. Some reporters feel like they've been frozen out after crossing the White House. 3) Except toward a few reporters, press secretary Robert Gibbs can be distant and difficult to reach — even though his job is to be one of the main conduits from president to press. "It's an odd White House where it's easier to get the White House chief of staff on the phone than the White House press secretary," one top reporter said. 4) And at the very moment many reporters feel shut out, one paper — The New York Times — enjoys a favoritism from President Obama and his staff that makes competitors fume, with gift-wrapped scoops and loads of presidential face time.
benton.org/node/35166 | Politico
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GSA HITS SOCIAL MEDIA ROAD
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Emily Long]
The General Services Administration is heading full force into the Web 2.0 space, a move to increase collaboration among federal agencies, officials said at the Web and New Media Conference. The agency wants to share data and use social media tools to allow the pubic to join the dialogue, but the real challenge is learning to collaborate, said GSA Administrator Martha Johnson, who joined the conference via Skype. The government can "get enamored with its toys but needs to pay attention to what its customers need," she added. To that end, GSA officials highlighted several initiatives to expand the government's presence in the Web 2.0 world. For example, the agency recently launched go.usa.gov, a link shortener similar to bit.ly but available only to individuals with a .gov or .mil email address. The site helps maintain the authenticity of the .gov brand, ensures permanent access for users and allows the government to gather data, said Bev Godwin, head of GSA's Center for New Media and Citizen Engagement.
benton.org/node/35168 | nextgov
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OWNERSHIP
HONOLULU NEWSPAPER MERGER
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: ]
The Justice Department's Antitrust Division said April 27 that it has closed its investigation into the purchase of the Honolulu Advertiser by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Star-Bulletin owner David Black was required by the Justice Department to try to sell the paper after he made an unexpected offer to buy the Advertiser. He intends to consolidate the papers into a single Honolulu daily. Dozens of layoffs are expected as a result. The sale attracted just two bidders, none of which were approved by Antitrust. Black is expected to consolidate the two papers, with the bulk of the layoffs coming from the Advertiser. Hawaiian media reports say the paper will be named the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The sale is expected to close Sunday.
benton.org/node/35170 | Editor&Publisher | Star Bulletin
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COMCAST/NBC COMMENTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Comcast/NBCU deal has drawn more than 1,300 comments so far, many of them a form e-mail opposing the deal. The Federal Communications Commission stopped the clock on the merger April 16 while it collects more information from the companies on the economic benefit of the deal and on its potential impact on online video distribution. The move also gave everyone more time to weigh in on the deal, a request that had been made by several groups opposing it.
benton.org/node/35171 | Broadcasting&Cable
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COMCAST PROFIT UP
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Deborah Yao]
Consumers signing up for digital cable TV and high-speed Internet services led to a 12 percent increase in first-quarter profit for Comcast Corp. The company also said advertising on its cable channels rebounded in the quarter, indicating that an economic upturn is taking hold. The nation's largest cable TV provider still sounded cautious notes Wednesday. It said that its growth could be hampered in future quarters because the jobless rate remains high and the housing market still is under duress. Such factors could lead fewer people to sign up for service. The quarter also showed how competition in the TV business is taking a toll. Comcast's overall video revenue fell, in part because the company wasn't able to raise cable TV rates as much as it had a year earlier.
benton.org/node/35173 | Associated Press
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HP BUYS PALM
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters, Chris Nuttall]
Hewlett-Packard has stepped in to buy the troubled smartphone maker Palm, announcing a $1.2 billion deal on Thursday that brings to an end the growing doubts over the future of the personal technology brand. The deal will catapult HP, the world's largest tech company in terms of revenue, into the middle of the rapidly growing smartphone business in direct competition with a handful of other tech giants, including Apple, Google and Microsoft. HP said it would pay $5.70 a share in cash for the company, representing a 23 per cent premium over its closing stock price on Thursday. Palm's shares have fallen by three-quarters from their peak six months ago as the Silicon Valley-based company has failed to drum-up the sales it needed to convince Wall Street that it could remain an independent company. Shane Robison, chief strategy and technology officer at HP, said the company was making the purchase mainly to get its hands on Palm's Web OS operating system, which has won plaudits in the tech world since its launch early last year. HP executives also hinted that they would use the software in future for larger "tablet" computers to rival Apple's iPad.
benton.org/node/35189 | Financial Times | Bloomberg
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APPLE BUYS SIRI
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: David Gelles]
Apple on Wednesday purchased Siri, a start-up that recently unveiled an application for the iPhone that allows users to complete complex tasks using simple voice commands. The move will arm Apple with powerful new voice processing and natural language technologies as it battles for smartphone dominance with Google, developer of the fast-growing Android operating system. "There is an Apple versus Google element to this," said Charles Golvin, analyst with Forrester Research. "Apple valued this technology and wanted to keep it out of the Android world." Siri allows users dictate requests into their phones and then delivers results from a choice of websites.
benton.org/node/35190 | Financial Times | NYTimes
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FOX, CBS UNCONCERNED BY COMCAST-NBC DEAL
[SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Paul Bond]
NBC Universal needn't worry about a couple of its primary competitors trying to derail its merger with Comcast. It seems that Fox and CBS don't much care. "From a macro perspective, I'm certainly not troubled by it," Chase Carey, News Corp.'s deputy chairman, president and COO, said Wednesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference. "Being that NBC is in fourth place, we sort of don't like anything to change," CBS president and CEO Les Moonves joked. "It will become a very powerful company," he continued. "There are other people out there that are worried that there may be some trade problems with that. I don't feel that way." Also top of mind, at least for Carey and Moonves, was the trend of cablers paying retransmission fees to broadcast networks. Carey said the fees were "truly way past due." "If broadcast is going to be competitive, it has to have a dual revenue stream," he said. Said Moonves: "All I can say about that is, it's about time. The fact is that networks are finally getting paid what they deserve from the cable operators. In a previous life, we weren't getting credit for the quality of the programming we were putting on or the tremendous sports rights we were paying."
benton.org/node/35181 | Hollywood Reporter, The
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TRIBUNE SEEKS FCC WAIVERS
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Phil Rosenthal]
Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Company filed a series of applications with the Federal Communications Commission necessary to emerge from bankruptcy protection with its broadcast portfolio intact. This will require the FCC to sign off on assignment of their broadcast licenses to the reorganized, post-bankruptcy iteration of Tribune Co., along with continued cross-ownership waivers. "Very simply," Tribune Co. Chief Executive Randy Michaels and Chief Operating Officer Gerry Spector wrote in a note to the company's employees, "this is a necessary step to ensure the orderly transition of our licenses to the new ownership structure that will be in place once we emerge." The company is at least temporarily exempt from restrictions on newspaper-broadcast combinations in Chicago, Los Angeles, South Florida, and Hartford, Conn. New York also is considered a cross-ownership market for Tribune Co. because, in addition to WPIX-TV, it retained a small percentage of Newsday when it sold that newspaper to Cablevision in 2008.
benton.org/node/35180 | Chicago Tribune
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FREE SPEECH/FREE PRESS
CONDEMNING CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Michael Cavna]
Seventeen Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists, including "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau and 2010 winner Mark Fiore, have signed a petition to condemn "threats" against Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of the Comedy Central show "South Park," by a group calling itself Revolution Muslim. The group produced the site RevolutionMuslim.com -- on which images of the fatally stabbed filmmaker Theo van Gogh (a noted critic of Islam) appeared with the caption: "Have Matt Stone And Trey Parker Forgotten This?" Comedy Central censored an episode of "South Park" last week that was to depict Muhammad. Depictions of the religious leader are considered blasphemous by some Muslims. Stone and Parker said Comedy Central also censored the show's speech about fear and intimidation.
benton.org/node/35195 | Washington Post
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VIDEO GAMES AS SPEECH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Tim Rutten]
[Commentary] The Supreme Court waded into murky and, perhaps, treacherous waters when it agreed to decide whether the Constitution permits California to prohibit the sale of violent video games to people younger than 18. This is a well-intentioned but ill-conceived law that not only undermines several generations of legal progress toward making free speech a day-to-day reality in this country, but also threatens an emerging expressive industry in which California and the United States currently play a leading role. More important, it's an unnecessary gesture toward child protection in an area millions of parents already are handling competently on their own.
benton.org/node/35194 | Los Angeles Times
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APPLE VS GIZMODO
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:]
[Commentary] The tech blog Gizmodo paid a source $5,000 earlier this month for a prototype of a new Apple iPhone that had been left behind in a beer garden. It was a small investment, considering the huge audience for its posts about the device. But Apple is now pushing for criminal charges and Gizmodo is crying foul, saying investigators overreached when they seized the scoop-writer's computers. It's right, even if its brand of checkbook journalism seems wrong.
benton.org/node/35188 | Los Angeles Times
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SEARCH OF COMPUTER HALTED
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera]
The examination of the computers and devices seized Friday by local law enforcers from a technology blogger who got his hands on an unreleased iPhone prototype has been put on hold while authorities discuss whether the operation conflicted with California's shield law. San Mateo County chief deputy district attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Tuesday that attorneys with tech blog Gizmodo asked San Mateo prosecutors to consider how the raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's Fremont home and the seizure of several items - including laptops, digital cameras, flash drives, a credit card and credit card bills - might conflict with the state's shield law, which protects journalists from sharing unpublished, work-related material. "The computers are not being examined to make sure we don't invade anybody's privacy," Wagstaffe said. He added that his office is studying the situation and is expected to send a legal memo this week to the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, the state high-tech crimes task force that served the search warrant, with its recommendations on the matter. Chen's property is currently in REACT's hands, and the team will have the final call on whether they inspect Chen's computers or return them, Wagstaffe said.
benton.org/node/35187 | San Francisco Chronicle
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