April 2011

Last week, for the first time in nearly two months, a domestic -- rather than international -- crisis led the news as the threat of a government shutdown (averted at nearly the last second) was the No. 1 story. A closely related topic, the overall economy, driven by Representative Paul Ryan’s controversial 2012 budget blueprint, was the second-biggest topic.

The two domestic issues combined to fill 40% of the newshole from April 4-10, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. The two overseas events that have been dominating the news in recent weeks—turmoil in the Mideast and the earthquake in Japan—accounted for less than half as much attention (18%). Just one week earlier, those foreign stories accounted for 50% of the overall coverage compared with only 15% for the economy and the threat of a shutdown. The looming government shutdown, avoided with a late-night compromise on April 8, topped the news last week, at 29%. For much of the week, the narrative functioned as a countdown clock to a potential stoppage, zigging and zagging as prospects for a deal rose and fell. Both sides also used the media to amplify strategic talking points, as Democrats portrayed Republicans as fighting over social issues and Republicans depicted Democrats as wavering on spending cuts. The shutdown maneuvering was the top story in four of the five media sectors studied. But as is often the case with a politically charged issue, it generated the most attention by far in the cable news sector -- accounting for more than half the airtime, 53%, studied by PEJ. The week’s No. 2 story, at 11%, was the U.S. economy, which prominently featured Ryan’s dramatic 2012 budget blueprint that contains major spending cuts and significant changes to Medicare and Medicaid. The economy was the top story, 21%, in the newspaper sector.

The Obama Administration will make an economic case on April 6 for moving ahead with a controversial auction of broadcast airwaves, even as some analysts argue that AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile throws a wrench into the plan.

The Administration’s goal to blanket the country with wireless high-speed Internet connections has been pitched as an economic opportunity to create high-tech jobs that also help the U.S. compete globally. To carry out that goal, President Barack Obama said he hopes to raise $27.8 billion over the next decade from auctions of broadcast channels that would be converted into wireless networks to connect smart phones and tablets to the Internet. At a White House meeting on the plan , the Administration will present a letter of support signed by more than 100 economists who say the auctions are the best way to create new mobile phone networks and would “increase social welfare.”

But the plan appears to face new challenges because of AT&T’s recent proposal to take over T-Mobile for $39 billion, experts say. The merger could slow progress toward the administration’s goals and could “alter the current spectrum debate in Washington,” Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, said in a recent note. “If these two companies can satisfy much of their spectrum needs by joining forces, it would reduce some of the demand for new spectrum and possibly lower auction revenue estimates.” The merger would reduce the number of major national carriers from four to three. The money from the auction is to be used to pay back the broadcasters who give up spectrum, to expand wireless connections to rural areas and to pay for an emergency public safety network.

As the network neutrality debate moved to the House floor, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) made it clear he thinks it's bunk for Democrats to cite support for the regulations from Internet service providers.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) had highlighted phone and cable companies' approval of the FCC's controversial rules, noting that AT&T's top Washington executive Jim Cicconi testified in the House that the rules might remove uncertainty and allow future investment. The FCC has also cited support from broadband providers to bolster the rules it passed in December. But Chairman Walden strongly dismissed that support. "They're their regulator," Chairman Walden said of the phone and cable companies. "They have mergers, if you've heard of those," he said, adding that broadband providers supported the rules to fend off a stricter regulatory regime.

Apparently, federal prosecutors in New Jersey are investigating whether numerous smartphone applications illegally obtained or transmitted information about their users without proper disclosures.

The criminal investigation is examining whether the app makers fully described to users the types of data they collected and why they needed the information -- such as a user's location or a unique identifier for the phone. Collecting information about a user without proper notice or authorization could violate a federal computer-fraud law. Online music service Pandora Media said April 4 it received a subpoena related to a federal grand-jury investigation of information-sharing practices by smartphone applications. Pandora disclosed the subpoena, issued "in early 2011," in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The Oakland, Calif., company said it had been informed it is "not a specific target of the investigation." Pandora said it believed similar subpoenas had been issued "on an industry-wide basis to the publishers of numerous other smartphone applications."