September 2010

O'Donnell's Delaware Stunner Drives Election Coverage

The surprise victory of a tea party-backed candidate in Delaware's Republican Senate primary fueled the biggest week yet for coverage of the 2010 midterm elections. Christine O'Donnell's September 14 upset over nine-term Congressman Mike Castle pushed the midterm elections to the top of the news agenda, where it filled 30% of the newshole during the week of September 13-19, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The previous high water mark for midterm elections was 18% the week of May 17-23, when incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter was defeated in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Last week, the midterms were the top story in all five of the media sectors studied by PEJ and completely dominated the ideological radio and cable talk shows, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the airtime examined. O'Donnell herself generated so much attention that she proved to be the week's leading newsmaker, figuring prominently in almost twice as many stories as President Obama. In the wake of O'Donnell's victory, the media narrative last week focused on several themes -- the strength of the tea party movement, the possibility that Democrats might now hold an endangered Delaware Senate seat and growing fault lines between the GOP establishment and tea party insurgents. The U.S. economy (No. 2 story) accounted for 16% of the newshole last week, about half the coverage devoted to the midterms. A subject that has lately been driven by grim indicators of economic health instead focused last week on tax policy, most notably a debate over whether to extend Bush Administration tax cuts.

House Dem: Want of network neutrality bill is not a permit to reclassify

If stakeholders and members of Congress fail to cobble together net-neutrality legislation before the House adjourns, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not gain a stronger argument for moving forward with reclassification, according to Rep Gene Green (D-TX). He thinks that if House lawmakers fail to produce a consensus bill before they leave Washington, the FCC nevertheless does not gain grounds for independently increasing its authority over broadband providers.

FCC Launches Online "Parents' Place"

The Federal Communications Commission launched Parents' Place, a new tool to deliver to parents the information they need to positively shape their children's experiences in the complex media landscape.

The website includes:

Find broadcast educational and instructional children's programs by zip code;
Block objectionable television programs;
Learn how to teach children about appropriate online behavior;
Receive information about online safety, Amber Alerts, safe use of wireless devices, and distracted driving; and,
Read about childhood obesity and the impact of the media on this growing health concern.

Wireless Lobby Urges More NTIA Funding

CTIA, the wireless industry's lobbying arm, is urging the Obama Administration to provide the National Telecommunications Information Administration with more resources so it can work to identify additional spectrum for the growing demand for mobile broadband.

In a letter to President Obama, CTIA President Steve Largent called on the Administration to push Congress to provide the NTIA with the funding it needs to identify additional spectrum to help meet the FCC's goal set in its national broadband plan of freeing up 500 megahertz of spectrum for mobile broadband over the next decade. Largent also urged the administration in its fiscal year 2012 budget plan to propose adequate funding for the NTIA to do this job.

Apple's outrageous share of the mobile industry's profits

Apple sold 17 million mobile handsets in the first half of 2010, compared with 400 million handsets sold by Nokia, Samsung and LG. Yet Apple pulled in 39% of the industry's profit during that period, more than the 32% earned by the world's three largest handset makers combined.

Grid Net Creates Industry Advisory Board to Help Drive Regulatory Strategy

Grid Net, a global leading provider of real-time, all-IP Smart Grid and Smart Home software platforms for any device and any broadband technology, today announced the completion of a regulatory advisory team that will guide its vision and strategy to upgrade the smart grid to 21st century standards.

Grid Net's Industry Advisory Board provides company executives with an important resource to help guide its corporate growth and operational excellence strategy. Grid Net's Industry Advisory Board consists of former chairs of Public Utility and Service Commissions in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Texas. Grid Net will leverage the wisdom and expertise of Paul Afonso, former chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE); Laura Chappelle, former chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC); and Paul Hudson, former chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC).

Blumenthal: 2013 meaningful use to ramp up health information exchange, decision support

Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health information technology coordinator, sent a strong signal to healthcare providers and vendors to expect more complex requirements for health information exchange and clinical decision support tools to be among forthcoming requirements for the next stage of meaningful use.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is now beginning to do "early reconnaissance" around development of stage 2 meaningful use requirements, according to Dr Blumenthal. "We know there were a set of unfinished tasks, things we passed over in the effort to get the first stage of meaningful use out the door," he said at an industry event Sept. 21 about states which are leading in electronic prescribing and where he took the opportunity to communicate some future plans. The provider and vendor community "should look forward to a much more robust set of requirements around health information exchange, an exchange that consciously ignores economic relationships, geographic relationships and political jurisdictions. "We want information to follow patients," Blumenthal said.

Network Neutrality: We're Still Waiting

[Commentary] Exactly a year ago, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski made a major promise to deliver on Network Neutrality. "If we wait too long to preserve a free and open Internet, it will be too late," he told an influential audience in Washington. We're still waiting.

Instead of doing what's right for Internet users, Chairman Genachowski has dodged, dithered and delayed. But it's not too late to turn things around. And Genachowski's legacy as chair of the FCC -- either as a champion of openness or as a toothless bureaucrat -- rests on what he does now. He can make a decisive and principled move to protect Net Neutrality and be remembered as a hero of the Internet, or he can continue to waffle and be remembered as the FCC head who stood idle as our online freedoms were handed over to the likes of AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. He needs to decide, and soon.

[Karr is campaign manger for Free Press]

In His Own Words: Julius Genachowski's Vision of Real Net Neutrality

What does real Network Neutrality look like? Any policy that truly protects the open Internet and its users must embody a few basic concepts:

There is only one Internet: Rules must apply to wireless and wired services.
Internet service providers must not block applications, content, services or devices.
Strong non-discrimination rules are key to preserving the open Internet.
Paid prioritization is harmful because it allows ISPs to pick winners and losers online.
"Reasonable Network Management" cannot be a loophole that undermines the open Internet.
"Managed services" cannot be allowed to stifle the growth of the open Internet.
Users, not ISPs, should determine which applications need Quality of Service treatment.

Network Neutrality Activists Target Google as Talks Heat Up

Network Neutrality activists and left-leaning interest groups are launching an online advertising campaign targeting Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin for the company's recently announced agreement about web traffic delivery with Verizon Communications.

Google has long been a supporter of net neutrality - the idea that Internet providers can't deliberately block or slow data traffic - however the company's recent legislative proposal with Verizon prompted some activists to suggest the search giant had sold out on the issue. The Google-Verizon proposal would have given the FCC limited authority to police Internet lines. But it would have allowed Verizon and other Internet providers to create special prioritized lanes of Internet traffic for companies willing to pay extra. It also wouldn't have imposed network neutrality rules on wireless Internet networks. "We're continuing to rally the public, including techies in Silicon Valley, against Google's decision to be evil and harm the free and open Internet," said Jason Rosenbaum, senior online campaigns director for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. The group is spending "tens of thousands" on the online advertising campaign, said PCCC communications director Adam Green.

Benton

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