June 28, 2012 (The Future of Video; Comcast Fined)
Headlines is taking a break tomorrow. We will return MONDAY, July 2
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2012
Today: The Role of Public Media in Our Democracy and The Need for Privacy Protections: Is Industry Self-Regulation Adequate? http://benton.org/calendar/2012-06-28/
THE FURTURE OF VIDEO
Recap: The Future of Video
Public Knowledge: Spurring Online Video Could Speed Deregulation [links to web]
Netflix Wants Help From US Against Cable Data Caps [links to web]
The Smart Money Is on Big Data - op-ed
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Why the Real Wireless Capital of the World is San Diego - Not Silicon Valley
T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm Suddenly Resigns
Memo to T-Mobile’s future CEO: Don’t change a thing - analysis
T-Mobile now offering both 'high-speed' and throttled mobile broadband plans for business users [links to web]
A Look at How People Use Mobile Apps
An App That Encrypts, Shreds, Hashes and Salts [links to web]
SBA Communications to Buy Cell Towers For $1.45 Billion
When buying an iPhone, AT&T, Verizon customers stay put [links to web]
Political fundraising via text faces hurdles [links to web]
MORE ON CONTENT
Will the Americans with Disabilities Act tear a hole in Internet law? - op-ed
Google Now's Personalized Search With Automated Results: Creepy Or The Future Of Search?
Wozniak, Dotcom slam US piracy case [links to web]
Delaware Lawmakers Clear Online Gambling [links to web]
Twitter prepares curbs on hate speech [links to web]
Yahoo and Clear Channel Forge Digital Radio Partnership
MORE ON TELEVISION
Firings raise questions at Alabama Public Television
Comcast’s Rebranded NBC Sports Network Holds Key To Olympian Bet [links to web]
NBC's $1 Billion Olympics Sellout [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
FCC Resolves Investigation Of Comcast-NBCU Broadband-Related Merger Conditions - press release
News Corp board approves split plan
Murdoch the magician is running out of tricks - analysis [links to web]
What a News Corp. Split Could Mean for Editorial Coverage
Silicon Valley Needs a Foreign Policy - analysis
What a News Corp. Split Could Mean for Editorial Coverage
Google vs everyone: an epic war on many fronts - analysis
Google Tries Something Retro: Made in the U.S.A.
JOURNALISM
Investors See Some Value in Newspaper Companies
Want to save local newspapers? Then break the chains that hold them back
Leaving Alabama Behind - op-ed
What a News Corp. Split Could Mean for Editorial Coverage
HEALTH
New Wireless Sensors Tackle Old Problems Like Pneumonia [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Senate Republicans revamp cybersecurity bill
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Attack Destroys Pro-Government TV Station Near Damascus
América Móvil meets 27.7% KPN share goal [links to web]
Multiple Missteps Led to RIM's Fall [links to web]
THE FURTURE OF VIDEO
RECAP: THE FUTURE OF VIDEO
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), held a hearing examining how advances in consumer electronics, broadcasting, cable, satellite, the Internet and other platforms are changing how consumers access video content, how those changes are impacted by existing regulations, and what type of regimes should apply going forward. In light of technological changes in how video content is distributed and consumed, members heard from witnesses representing the entire supply chain of video content, from owners to distributors, each of whom provided insight into the current state of video, current regulations and the best course of action to allow for consumer access and innovation in the future.
Lawmakers disagreed over the role of Congress in the fast-moving online video industry. “The last thing we want to do is shackle everyone's entrepreneurial spirit with one-size-fits-all rules,” said Chairman Walden (R-OR). But Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) said current practices by cable and telecom firms have raised concerns that new Internet rivals aren’t going to get a “fair shot” at reaching consumers. “Independent creators need rules that prevent discrimination against carriage of their programming,” Waxman said.
The practice of charging Internet customers by how much data they consume took center stage, pitting Web firms such as Netflix against cable and telecom companies in a debate over whether such billing policies are anticompetitive. Netflix and public interest group Public Knowledge argued to lawmakers that data cap policies have the potential to hinder online video streaming providers, especially if cable and telecom companies only count competing video viewing as part of monthly bills and not their own. Highlighting the swift changes of the industry, where new battles lines are being drawn and competition is shifting, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen expressed concern over Verizon Wireless’ spectrum and marketing deal with cable firms. “We certainly would have a concern where two vicious competitors might get together and agree not to compete with each other and preclude others from competing with them," Ergen said to lawmakers. Ergen’s comments were part of a broad reexamining of cable industry rules that haven’t been updated since 1992, when cable television dominated American homes. Lawmakers also discussed whether new laws should be created to protect Internet video providers — questions that are expected to set the stage for lobbying and legislative battles for months ahead.
benton.org/node/127474 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Washington Post | Multichannel News | AdWeek | The Hill | MediaPost | National Journal
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BIG DATA AND TV
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sean Knapp]
[Commentary] A number of emerging and established companies are placing big bets on the future of television, looking to profit from a new media land grab. So where is the smart money in smart media? Content? Technology? Advertising? When you look at the macro and micro trends, it’s clear that the smart money is on Big Data. Big Data and online video analytics deliver extremely personalized media experiences that benefit both viewers and content publishers. Rather than “killing television,” the shift to mobile, multi-screen video viewing offers entertainment and technology companies a tremendous opportunity to create new and profitable digital distribution models. The key is for those companies to collaborate within a media universe that is changing dramatically quarter by quarter. Although type of content watched changes very little over time, the method of viewing is changing radically. There is no new online video market, nor is TV dying. Rather, what many perceive as a new market is simply a tried-and-tested market that’s experiencing rapid evolution fueled by a mix of newly available technologies, premium content and connected devices. Online video will not significantly increase the total number of TV viewers. There is roughly the same number of people watching video now as there was before the online TV boom. The key for both technology and media companies now is to work together to deliver the right content on the right screen at the right time. When Big Science delivers personalized, data-driven viewing experiences to every connected screen, viewers and video publishers will both win. [Knapp is co-founder and CTO of Ooyala, a video technology company that powers premium, personalized media experiences across all connected devices]
benton.org/node/127430 | Wall Street Journal
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SAN DIEGO VS SILICON VALLEY
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Mark Fidelman]
Two California regions, both well known for different things, find themselves competing for the same future. And it means business – big business. There are 6 billion people around the world with wireless phones, and only a fraction of them are smart phones. Both IDC and IMS Research predict smart phones will reach 1 billion in annual shipments as early as 2015. The new wireless mobile tablets are growing at 3 times the speed as smart phones did over the same period, with shipments expected to exceed laptop sales in the next few years. It’s clear that mobile technologies offer the greatest economic opportunity seen in the past 25 years. And if you ask most people where the heart of all this opportunity exists, they most likely will answer instinctively – Silicon Valley. But even with mobile juggernaut Apple, that instinct is wrong. Silicon Valley can lay claim to being the epicenter of a lot of technology, but wireless tech is not one of them. “The San Diego community is not only the largest wireless community but is also the origin of the wireless industry with Qualcomm at the center of it all. Even beyond the traditional uses of wireless technologies, research institutes like West Wireless are helping to usher healthcare into the wireless age to cut costs and provide whenever, wherever health care support,” Dexcom’s CEO Terry Gregg told me when explaining why the company is located in San Diego. As it turns out, Gregg believes it’s a competitive advantage to be located at the convergence of wireless technology and healthcare – and there’s no better place than San Diego.
benton.org/node/127417 | Forbes
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HUMM RESIGNS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Tricia Duryee]
Philipp Humm, the CEO of T-Mobile USA, has resigned. Jim Alling, T-Mobile’s COO, will take over his duties while a search is under way. In a statement, the company said that Humm is going to pursue a career outside of Deutsche Telekom, which owns the U.S. wireless carrier. GigaOm’s Stacey Higginbotham writes, “The change up top could be seen as fallout from the failure to close the acquisition by AT&T as well as an indication of T-Mobile’s tough road ahead in the U.S. market.” With its plans to swap spectrum with Verizon to cover more areas of the country it looks like T-Mobile is going ahead with this whole running-a-wireless-carrier idea as opposed to selling out. That’s going to take a different set of skills at the top, and perhaps Humm felt it was time to go.
benton.org/node/127437 | Wall Street Journal | GigaOm
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T-MOBILE’S FUTURE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Philipp Humm is out at T-Mobile, and we don’t know why. Maybe he really was planning to leave all along, as he claimed in an internal memo. Maybe he’s being forced out by parent company Deutsche Telekom for the failure of the AT&T-Mobile merger. Or maybe he was brought on board in 2010 for the sole reason of selling the U.S. subsidiary, and now that a sale is longer feasible, he’s moving on to the next project. Whatever the reason, the move is sudden, and T-Mobile finds itself looking for a new chief executive. We have some unsolicited advice for whoever that replacement will be as well as acting CEO Jim Ailing: Don’t mess with Humm’s work. T-Mobile may be suffering at the hands of its much larger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T, but the last thing T-Mobile needs right now is the strategy ‘shake up’ a new CEO invariably brings. After the failed merger with AT&T, Humm and his team put together a solid plan to become a competitive force in the market.
benton.org/node/127461 | GigaOm
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HOW PEOPLE USE MOBILE APPS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Joseph Walker]
When it comes to mobile apps, smartphone and tablet owners are becoming less fickle, iPhone owners are more loyal than Android phone users, and news outlets are the most likely to have users return to their apps on a regular basis, according to a new study from Localytics, a mobile analytics firm. With hundreds of thousands of options, it can be hard to get noticed and app developers have invested in aggressive marketing tactics to get their apps on consumers’ phones and see their rankings on the app download charts shoot up. An equally important, but often overlooked measure of an app’s success, though, is its retention rate. For many developers, getting their free app downloaded is only half the battle toward making some money — the real key is getting consumers to make in-app purchases and to view advertisements. According to Localytics’ analysis, about 31% of mobile users opened up their apps at least 11 times or more over a nine-month period, up from 26% a year ago. Still, creating loyal app users isn’t easy, with 69% of users opening an app 10 times or less, and over a quarter using the app just once after downloading it.
benton.org/node/127434 | Wall Street Journal
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CELL PHONE TOWER SALE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta]
SBA Communications agreed to buy more than 3,200 cell tower sites from privately held TowerCo for $1.45 billion in a cash-and-stock deal as its looks to capitalize on wireless carriers needing to meet rising demand for wireless data services. The deal marks the second major tower transaction this year for the SBA Communications and likely eliminates it as a possible bidder in T-Mobile USA's ongoing effort to sell some of its cell towers. (SBA Chief Executive Jeffrey Stoops said the company wouldn't be making "any other major U.S. transactions this year.") Based on the TowerCo valuation of about 15.4 times estimated annual tower cash flow, Wedbush analyst Suhail Chandy said the T-Mobile towers would be worth about $2.5 billion. Because there are multiple bidders likely and the portfolios have geographical differences, he expects a purchase of the T-Mobile towers for $2.8 billion to $3 billion to be announced imminently--and by year-end at the latest.
benton.org/node/127433 | Wall Street Journal
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MORE ON CONTENT
NETFLIX AND AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Eric Goldman]
[Commentary] Last week saw a ruling in the case National Association of the Deaf v. Netflix, Inc., 3:11-cv-30168-MAP (D. Mass. June 19, 2012), requiring Netflix to close-caption its online video. This is a bad ruling. Really terrible. It's the kind of results-oriented judicial activism that undermines the public's trust in the judiciary. The judge made it clear he was going to rule for the plaintiff, no matter what. But in doing so, he has potentially ripped open a huge hole in Internet law. Hey jobless recent law school grads—if this ruling sticks, there may be buckets of money to be made in ADA litigation against Internet companies. The most crucial ruling is where the court says that a website qualifies as a "place of public accommodation." The court deviated from—and, incredibly, didn't cite—a nearly unbroken line of precedent rejecting that conclusion. [Goldman is an associate professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law and directs that school's High Tech Law Institute.]
benton.org/node/127425 | Ars Technica
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GOOGLE NOW
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Austin Carr]
For more than a decade, online search has long relied on the same paradigm: a blank search box, and a user's query. But with the massive amount of data we're now providing to search engines on PCs and mobile devices--everything from location to calendar to browsing history--companies ranging from Foursquare to Bing to Airbnb are not just personalizing our results, but automating the process. Google unveiled its latest innovation in the search space: Google Now. Rather than having to manually enter a question, Android users will soon have the option to see widget-like suggested results without even having to type in the search box. "You used to have to enter a search query or type in a street address, but that changes with Google Now," said Hugo Barra, director of product management for Android. "Google gets you just the right amount of information at just the right of time, all automatically."
benton.org/node/127445 | Fast Company
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YAHOO-CLEAR CHANNEL
[SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Eriq Gardner]
Yahoo and Clear Channel have announced a distribution and cross-promotional deal. As part of the multi-year agreement, Yahoo will begin using Clear Channel's iHeartRadio platform as its digital radio service and the station will promote both companies' content. In addition, the new joint venture will offer exclusive access to various concert series and other music events, including the two-day iHeartRadio Music Festival in September at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. As part of the new partnership, both entities will exploit their significant assets to promote each other's content. According to the companies, the Yahoo! Media Network reaches more than 167 million monthly online users and Clear Channel stations reach 237 million monthly listeners across 150 markets.
benton.org/node/127458 | Hollywood Reporter
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MORE ON TELEVISION
ALABAMA PUBLIC TELEVISION
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Erika Fry]
In May 2011, the Birmingham Business Journal named Allan Pizzato, the executive director of the recession-tested Alabama Public Television, “nonprofit CEO of the year.” Since 2008, APT had seen its state funding cut in half, and the Business Journal commended Pizatto, especially, for his stewardship of the network through these hard times. Just over a year later, he was fired. Pizzato, APT’s executive director for 12 years, and his deputy, Pauline Howland, learned they were losing their jobs mid-afternoon on June 12, partway through their quarterly meeting with APT’s governing body, the Alabama Educational Television Commission. They were given minutes to collect their belongings and leave the building. Ferris Stephens, an assistant attorney general who serves as AETC’s chairman told me that the commission “wanted to go with a new direction in leadership.” APT declined to be more specific about what the new direction will entail, but said APTV “might do more social media.” Whatever the precise reasons for the firings—accounts on both sides differ, and Pizzato declined to comment for this story—they have been interpreted by the public and the press as a power struggle between APT and the more politically conservative, governor-appointed AETC, which allegedly tried to push conservative programming and scrub APT’s mission statement of its pledge for diversity, particularly in terms of “sexual orientation.”
benton.org/node/127424 | Columbia Journalism Review
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OWNERSHIP
FCC RESOLVES INVESTIGATION OF COMCAST-NBCU BROADBAND-RELATED MERGER CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau adopted a consent decree resolving the FCC’s investigation of Comcast Corporation’s compliance with certain broadband-related merger conditions imposed by the FCC’s Order approving the Comcast-NBCU transaction. The Bureau specifically negotiated an unprecedented year-long extension of the merger condition requiring Comcast to offer a reasonably priced broadband option to consumers who do not receive their cable service from the company. In addition, Comcast will pay an $800,000 voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury as part of the settlement.
Among other conditions in the Comcast-NBCU Order, the FCC required Comcast to continue to offer standalone broadband Internet access services at reasonable prices and with sufficient bandwidth to customers who do not subscribe to Comcast’s video cable services. Specifically, the FCC required Comcast to offer standalone broadband services on terms equivalent to packages that bundle broadband and video cable service. Comcast was ordered to offer a broadband service with a download speed of at least 6 mbps at a price no greater than $49.95 for three years. The FCC also prohibited Comcast from raising prices on the required broadband service for two years.2 Finally, Comcast had to “visibly offer and actively market” standalone broadband Internet access service to highlight the availability of this special service and other standalone broadband services. After receiving information suggesting that Comcast was not adequately marketing its standalone broadband services, the Bureau thoroughly investigated Comcast’s compliance with the merger condition. Comcast responded fully to the Bureau’s investigation. Ultimately, the Bureau and Comcast reached agreement to address the Bureau’s concerns, resulting in this consent decree.
Under the terms of the consent decree, Comcast must continue to offer its “Performance Starter” service until at least February 21, 2015, representing a one-year extension beyond the requirement in the Comcast-NBCU Order. This is the first consent decree in FCC history extending a merger condition. Consumers will directly benefit from the greater availability of this reasonably priced broadband option, potentially worth many millions of dollars in savings to consumers. Comcast also must pay $800,000 to the U.S Treasury.
In addition, the consent decree imposes a detailed compliance plan requiring Comcast to undertake numerous actions, including the following:
training its customer service representatives and retail sales personnel to reinforce their awareness and familiarity with the Performance Starter service;
ensuring that new and existing Comcast customers have equal access to a web page devoted exclusively to describing and permitting online purchase of all retail standalone broadband Internet service options;
listing the Performance Starter service tier on product lists issued to Comcast customers;
conducting a major advertising promotion of Comcast’s standalone retail broadband Internet access service offerings in 2013; and
continuing to offer the Performance Starter service at its owned and operated retail locations and offering its third-party retail agents and independent dealers the opportunity to sell the Performance Starter broadband service.
benton.org/node/127476 | Federal Communications Commission | read the Order | WashPost | The Hill | B&C | GigaOm | WSJ
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NEWS CORP SPLIT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson]
Directors of News Corp have approved a proposal to split Rupert Murdoch’s $50 billion empire in two, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for an announcement of a move many thought the 81-year-old proprietor would never countenance. After a board meeting in New York, chaired by Murdoch, formal confirmation of a separation of its entertainment and publishing arms was expected to come before a planned appearance by News Corp’s chairman and chief executive on Fox Business Network, one of the group’s cable channels. Completing a separation could take a year. The Wall Street Journal reports that one company will house entertainment businesses like 20th Century Fox, Fox broadcast network and Fox News Channel while another houses the publishing assets, which include The Wall Street Journal and the Times of London along with HarperCollins book publishing and News Corp.'s education business.
benton.org/node/127473 | Financial Times | WSJ | Bloomberg | NYTimes
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SILICON VALLEY AND FOREIGN POLICY
[SOURCE: Foreign Affairs, AUTHOR: Ernest Wilson III]
As California's high-tech firms grew to become economic powerhouses in the American economy, they punched below their weight politically. For the most part, they are not very savvy about the ways of Washington -- they came late to the lobbying game -- and their political strategies were naïve compared with those of old industrial sectors like oil and automobiles. The upshot is that the United States' foreign economic policy has suffered. In the last decade, it should have been geared toward promoting fast-growing, innovative sectors. Instead, it sat by as Washington pursued a hodgepodge of uncoordinated, often ineffective efforts that did little to advance the economy and instead threatened to leave the United States behind more tech-supportive international rivals. This was all the worse considering that in every economic age, government taxation, employment, and capital access policies have been instrumental to companies' competitive successes at home and in international markets. The United States will not be able to maintain its global advantages if the country fails to craft policies that maximize information-age soft and hard powers. But before defining an ideal high-tech foreign economic policy, one has to recognize that, as often as not, the sources of most policy lay in particular economic interests. When the interests are as politically sophisticated, organized, and strategic as agriculture and energy, then they successfully articulate and lobby for their own agenda. That has not been the case with Silicon Valley.
benton.org/node/127420 | Foreign Affairs
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GOOGLE VS EVERYONE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
Google is a company that is fighting a lot of battles on many fronts. In some places it is winning, but most places it is trench warfare. It is still the king of search and advertising. It is doing quite well when it comes to Android, though they never really talk about its real financial impact on Google’s business. I would argue that Google Apps and Google Chrome OS have a decent shot of carving out a meaningful role inside corporations, retailers, airlines and campuses. Google Maps is a market leader and well, there is nothing like YouTube – though the monetary impact of the video colossus is still kept under a fog by Google. However, this is where the list of sure things end. Simply take a look at this list of what I believe are important battles Google is fighting, and you begin to understand the challenges that Google faces.
benton.org/node/127464 | GigaOm
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GOOGLE: MADE IN THE USA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff]
Etched into the base of Google’s new wireless home media player that was introduced on June 27 is its most intriguing feature. On the underside of the Nexus Q is a simple inscription: “Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.” The Google executives and engineers who decided to build the player here are engaged in an experiment in American manufacturing. “We’ve been absent for so long, we decided, ‘Why don’t we try it and see what happens?’ ” said Andy Rubin, the Google executive who leads the company’s Android mobile business. Google is not saying a lot about its domestic manufacturing, declining even to disclose publicly where the factory is in Silicon Valley. It also is not saying much about the source of many of its parts in the United States. And Mr. Rubin said the company was not engaged in a crusade. Still, the project will be closely watched by other electronics companies.
benton.org/node/127462 | New York Times | NYTimes - Google Sees the Promise in Hardware
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JOURNALISM
INVESTING IN NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: David Benoit]
Newspaper companies, of the type News Corp. might spin off, are trading at premiums to book value, suggesting investors still see value in the business. New York Times Co., McClatchy Co. and Gannett Co., three of the biggest newspaper companies, all trade at premiums to the value they would hold if they were liquidated. Though print advertising revenues remain on a decline broadly, as advertisers follow consumers increasingly onto the Internet, some local newspapers that face less competition have held up and some big publishers have managed to improve returns with online changes.
benton.org/node/127416 | Wall Street Journal
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SAVING LOCAL NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Online Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Robert Niles]
When the Internet destroyed local newspapers' control of the flow of out-of-market news information in their communities, it eliminated many of the economies of scale that justified local newspapers being bought up into large, national chains. What good is a deal on wire service content when your readers can get that same information for free elsewhere on the Web? (And you can just link to it from your website.) When journalists can use consumer-grade technology to produce their publications, what's the advantage of maintaining a large, slow-moving, change-resistant, central IT department? What's the sense in paying for a large national sales force when the unique, defining characteristic of your audiences is that they are local? It didn't have to be this way. Newspapers had a moment when they could have created (and thus, controlled) the social media and publishing tools that the public eventually used to destroy local newspapers' information-access monopolies. What if Gannett had used its 1990s-era profit to create or buy something like Blogger, instead of leaving that to Google? Or Scripps had built YouTube? What if the late Knight-Ridder had used its Silicon Valley contacts to build something like Facebook? What if the newspaper industry had used its smarts to build a better search engine before Google did? Blame for this failure must fall on the leaders of the newspaper chains in the 1990s, because plenty of individuals within their companies were screaming at them then to make these types of moves. If local newspapers are going to have a chance to succeed in today's information market, they've got to shed excess cost. And corporate overhead must be included on the list of those costs. Locally-focused news publications must become truly local, with local information, produced by local reporters with local ties, sold to local advertisers by a local sales staff who work for a local owner.
benton.org/node/127415 | Online Journalism Review
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LEAVING ALABAMA BEHIND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Roy Hoffman]
[Commentary] The Mobile Press-Register, is going exclusively online four days a week — like our partner publications The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and The New Orleans Times-Picayune. Who wants to wait for the whop of a rolled paper on the porch every morning when its contents can be had in real time, with just a click? The physical editions aren’t disappearing entirely; Wednesday, Friday and Sunday papers will be offered in old-fashioned newsprint as well. But the news on other days will be available only on the Internet, for those who are wired. Which raises a question: Given how many Alabamians don’t have regular Internet access, what will they be missing? Let’s play this history game: what stories of special interest to Alabamians, and the nation, were published in newspapers on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday? How will stories like these reach readers who are not connected to the Internet? TV and radio will deliver the basics. Countless folks I’ve profiled in my home state have been old, poor or seen as marginal; they live down rural lanes or speak English as a second language. Yet they clutch the paper when it’s in their hands. They are hungry, too, for news of their community, town, state and nation seven days a week.
benton.org/node/127470 | New York Times
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WHAT COULD NEWS CORP SPLIT MEAN
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Lucia Moses]
Will a News Corp. split have a downside for its entertainment properties? As the media giant mulls splitting off its print business, among the many implications are that its entertainment empire will be further detached from the papers that can bolster the blockbusters churned out by the same entertainment side. Lore has it that News Corp. papers are used to promote Murdoch’s sprawling media assets and even the parent company itself. In 2011, a UC Berkeley study purported to show a "statistically significant, if small, bias" in how News Corp. properties reviewed 20th Century Fox movies. In the U.S. alone, News Corp.'s high-end (and increasingly consumer-aimed) Wall Street Journal and downmarket New York Post have ample opportunity to promote News Corp.’s vast sports, movies and TV interests. But even with Murdoch still very much in the picture, operators at separately run companies will have less opportunity for the interaction that can fuel such cross-pollination.
benton.org/node/127447 | AdWeek
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CYBERSECURITY
REVISED CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) introduced a new version of their cybersecurity bill, the Secure IT Act. The bill is similar to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) that passed the House in April and offers an alternative to the measure favored by the Senate Democratic leadership and the White House. Like CISPA, Secure IT would remove legal barriers that prevent companies from sharing information about cyber threats with one another and with the government. The new version of the legislation, S. 3342, aims to address the concerns of privacy advocates, who had warned that the old bill would give spy agencies access to Americans' private online information. The Republican senators said their new bill tightens the definition of "cyber threat information" and clarifies that the government cannot use or retain the information for reasons other those specified in the bill. They also said it creates new oversight authorities to protect privacy and civil liberties.
benton.org/node/127449 | Hill, The | National Journal
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
TV STATION DESTROYED IN DAMASCUS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Rod Nordland, Alan Cowell]
Gunmen stormed a pro-government television station in a suburb near Damascus, killed seven employees and destroyed its studios with explosives, Syrian officials said, calling the assault a brazen example of atrocities committed by the armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. Rebels disputed the official account of the attack, saying the killers were defectors from Syria’s elite Republican Guard, considered the most loyal core of defenders of Assad’s inner circle. If the rebel version is confirmed, the attack would constitute a significant breach of security for those close to Mr. Assad, who said that Syria was now in “a state of war.”
benton.org/node/127456 | New York Times
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