BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017
NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
FCC Votes To Protect Small Businesses From Needless Transparency Regulation - press release
Nearly 200,000 People Urge the FCC to Protect Network Neutrality - press release
Reactions to FCC Vote on ISP Transparency Regulation [links to Benton Foundation]
FCC Takes Next Steps Toward Expanding Rural Broadband Access - press release
FCC Advances Seamless Nationwide Access To Mobile Voice And Broadband Service Through Mobility Fund II
FCC Proposes 'Next-Generation' Broadcast Television Transmission Standard - press release
FCC Expands Area Where FM Translators Rebroadcasting AM Radio Stations Can Be Located - press release
FCC Reduces Or Eliminates Burden Of Unnecessary Accounting Requirements For Carriers - press release [links to Benton summary]
Deletion of Consent Agenda From February 23, 2017 Open Meeting - public notice [links to Benton summary]
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
Partisan Conflict and Congressional Outreach - Pew research
University of Texas Chancellor McRaven calls Trump’s media comment ‘threat to democracy’ [links to Benton summary]
The Trump White House doesn’t really want balanced media coverage [links to Benton summary]
Charles Sykes: Why Nobody Cares the President Is Lying [links to New York Times]
Sure the Media Is Biased. But the Enemy? Not Quite.
Political scientists: Democracy in the United States is strong, but showing some cracks [links to New York Times]
Steve Bannon Rips ‘Opposition Party’ Media at CPAC: ‘It’s Always Wrong’ [links to Wrap, The]
President Trump Bashes Media to Raise Money for GOP [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Sec DeVos defiant at CPAC: ‘My job isn’t to win a popularity contest’ [links to Washington Post]
How Politics Could Put the Reliability of Future Elections at Risk [links to Technology Review]
Loud and angry, protesters turn congressional town halls into must-see political TV [links to Los Angeles Times]
7-year-old to senator: Don't take away PBS to build the wall [links to CNN]
Misrepresentation in the House of Representatives [links to Brookings]
How Citizens United gave Republicans a bonanza of seats in U.S. state legislatures [links to Washington Post]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
CBO Scores Bill that would Terminate Taxpayer Financing of Presidential Election Campaigns [links to Congressional Budget Office]
How Trump’s campaign staffers tried to keep him off Twitter. The trick? Making sure his media diet included a healthy dose of praise. [links to Politico]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Alternative Facts of Cable Companies - Susan Crawford op-ed
It’s time bring US broadband subsidies up to world standards - Mark Jamison
New FCC chair says the internet should not be run by 'lawyers and bureaucrats' in DC [links to Benton summary]
Trump, Congress may punt on infrastructure until 2018 [links to Hill, The]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Republicans Are Trying to Let Internet Providers Sell Your Data
Sen Markey, Interest Groups Vow to Fight Rollback of Privacy Rules [links to Multichannel News]
US CyberCorps, ROTC For Hackers, In Disarray In Trump Admin [links to Vocativ]
Your privacy: Verizon's takeover of Yahoo is all about user data [links to Los Angeles Times]
Google Team Cracks Longtime Pillar of Internet Security [links to Wall Street Journal]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Spectrum fragmentation: Causes, measures and applications - research [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
Amazon says Alexa’s speech is protected by the First Amendment [links to Verge, The]
Study reveals bot-on-bot editing wars raging on Wikipedia's pages [links to Guardian, The]
Dakota Access developer ‘underestimated’ social media opposition [links to Hill, The]
‘Order Ahead’ Catches on, Making Starbucks Victim of Own Success [links to Bloomberg]
JOURNALISM
Room for Journalists in Facebook's 'Global Community'?
Platforms and publishers: No sign of retreat [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
Matthew Ingram -- Facebook and Google Funding Journalism: A Solution, or a Hail Mary Pass? [links to Fortune]
For many of us, generating and managing the ceaseless flow of news, social media and questionable facts has become a full-time job. [links to Vox]
ADVERTISING
Facebook is starting to put ads in the middle of its videos [links to Vox]
OWNERSHIP
Is anyone gonna review this AT&T–Time Warner merger or what? [links to Benton summary]
ARRIS: Every Carrier Will Become a Wireless Provider, So We Bought Ruckus Wireless [links to Benton summary]
HEALTH
Why Former Tech Execs Are Leaving Google And Twitter To Start Health Care Companies [links to Fast Company]
DIVERSITY
Hidden Staffers: Why Diversity in Government Matters [links to New America]
How racial bias could be hurting Silicon Valley’s bottom line [links to Washington Post]
Google commits $11.5 million to racial justice efforts [links to CNN]
LABOR
Why Hollywood's Defiant Awards Show Speeches Won't Stop Any Time Soon [links to Fast Company]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FirstNet: Building the Nation's Dedicated, Advanced Public Safety Communications Network [links to First Responder Network Authority]
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
CBO Scores Bill that would Prohibit the GPO from Providing Free Copies of Federal Register to Members of Congress [links to Congressional Budget Office]
TRANSITION
Zuckerberg group that fought Trump gave to transition [links to Politico]
LOBBYING
Companies Seek to Sway Trump Administration on FTC Choice [links to Wall Street Journal]
POLICYMAKERS
What Is a Think Tank? First, We Should Ask ‘Who Is a Think Tank?’ [links to New America]
Former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker is joining the board of trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace [links to Politico]
Tom Wheeler Gets Board Seat on Actility, a Paris-based IoT Networking Company [links to Multichannel News]
John Podesta joins The Washington Post as contributing columnist [links to Politico]
COMPANY NEWS
Why AOL — yes, AOL — could get a new crop of customers [links to Washington Post]
Verizon launches Exponent, a new technology and business venture designed to accelerate growth for global carriers [links to Verizon]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
With Big Red Stamp, Russia Singles Out What It Calls ‘Fake’ News [links to New York Times]
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NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
FCC TRANSPARENCY VOTE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission relieved thousands of smaller broadband providers from onerous reporting obligations stemming from the 2015 Title II Order, freeing them to devote more resources to operating, improving and building out their networks. An Order adopted by the Commission finds that providers with 250,000 or fewer broadband connections would be disproportionately impacted if required to comply immediately with the 2015 enhanced reporting requirements. These providers frequently serve rural areas that lack broadband, or provide competitive alternatives for consumers in other markets. The Order mirrors the bipartisan compromise reflected in the pending Small Business Broadband Deployment Act of 2017. After today's action, smaller providers must still give consumers the information that has been required since 2010 to assist them in making an informed choice of broadband providers. The Order applies retroactively and prospectively to cover the period beginning on the date the enhanced reporting requirements became effective, January 17, 2017, and ending five years after the date the order is adopted.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-votes-protect-small-businesses-needless-transparency-regulation | Federal Communications Commission | Vox | The Hill | IDG News Service
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NET NEUTRALITY PETITIONS
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Katherine Fuchs]
On Valentine’s Day, tens of thousands of Free Press members sent out love letters to the open internet that described why they need network neutrality. On Feb 23 we delivered these messages to the Federal Communications Commission. We were met with resistance from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Services. Both DHS and private security were adamant that we couldn’t protest on FCC property — turning everyone with a sign back to a grassy area across an alley from the building. In addition to taking personal information from two of us who entered the FCC to deliver our comments, private security leafed through all of our documents and then had us X-ray those same boxes of paper. Despite this reception, we managed to deliver our petitions and comments gathered by allies including the Center for Media Justice, Color Of Change, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, the Nation and Open Media. Our friends from Future of Music Coalition and Free Software Foundation joined in the delivery.
benton.org/headlines/nearly-200000-people-urge-fcc-protect-network-neutrality | Free Press
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FCC TAKES NEXT STEPS TOWARD EXPANDING RURAL BROADBAND ACCESS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission set key rules for a competitive “reverse auction” that will provide nearly $2 billion for rural deployment over the next decade. In the upcoming Connect America Fund Phase II auction, providers will compete for support to expand broadband to unserved areas, along with voice service. The auction rules established today aim to maximize the value the American people will receive for the Connect America Fund dollars spent by balancing deployment of higher-quality services with cost efficiencies. The action focuses on census blocks unserved by broadband in 20 states where the nation’s largest carriers – known as “price cap” carriers – declined last year’s Connect America Fund offer of support. Also included in the auction are locations across the country with extremely high deployment costs. The Order balances incentives for deployment of higher-quality services with cost efficiencies by establishing auction “weights” that credit bids by companies offering more robust service. Specifically, the Order:
Establishes bidding weights to compare bids across performance tiers set in 2016
These weights account for the value of higher speeds, higher usage allowances, and low latency
But the formula used to rank bidders balances these performance goals with the need to reach as many consumers as possible within the FCC’s budget for rural universal service support
benton.org/headlines/fcc-takes-next-steps-toward-expanding-rural-broadband-access | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC MOBILITY FUND II
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission took steps to help expand and preserve 4G LTE mobile coverage across rural American and in Tribal lands by providing $453 million in annual universal service support through the FCC’s Mobility Fund Phase II for a period of ten years. The Mobility Fund was created in 2011 to preserve and extend mobile broadband and voice services in unserved and underserved areas. Mobility Fund I offered providers up to $350 million in one-time funding to spur deployment of advanced wireless services in unserved areas, including Tribal lands. Despite that support and extensive 4G LTE deployment by industry, approximately 575,000 square miles either still lacks access to 4G LTE service or only has 4G LTE coverage because of universal service support. The rules adopted today help close that gap. The actions taken in the Order will:
Close Coverage Gaps Through a Mobility Fund II Auction
Target Areas Needing Support
Set Service Requirements
Establish an Auction Framework
benton.org/headlines/fcc-advances-seamless-nationwide-access-mobile-voice-and-broadband-service-through | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC PROPOSES ‘NEXT-GENERATION’ BROADCAST TELEVISION TRANSMISSION STANDARD
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission seeks comment on a proposal that would allow television broadcasters to use the “Next Generation” broadcast television transmission standard, called “ATSC 3.0,” on a voluntary, market-driven basis. ATSC 3.0 has the potential to greatly improve broadcast signal reception on mobile devices and television receivers without outdoor antennas. It is also intended to enable broadcasters to offer enhanced and innovative new features to consumers, including Ultra High Definition picture and immersive audio, more localized programming content, an advanced emergency alert system capable of waking up sleeping devices to warn consumers of imminent emergencies, improved accessibility options, and interactive services. A coalition of broadcast and consumer electronics industry representatives petitioned the Commission to allow the use of the new standard. The upgraded technology is intended to merge the capabilities of over-the-air broadcasting with the broadband viewing and information delivery methods of the Internet using the same 6 MHz channels presently allocated for digital television (DTV).
benton.org/headlines/fcc-proposes-next-generation-broadcast-television-transmission-standard | Federal Communications Commission
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RADIO TRANSLATORS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission expanded the site locations where FM translators can rebroadcast AM radio stations. The amended rule provides greater flexibility for an AM station to place a rebroadcasting FM translator in a location where it will better serve its AM station’s listeners. AM radio stations that want to improve their service area with a clearer signal can do so by using an FM translator, which receives the AM signal and re-broadcasts it on an FM frequency. This is particularly useful for the many AM stations forced to reduce their power at night, since the FM translator can operate at the same power 24 hours a day. At issue is a current FCC rule that may make finding a location for these translators unnecessarily challenging. Under the old rule, an AM station could place a rebroadcasting FM translator either within its daytime service contour or within a 25-mile radius of its transmitter, whichever distance was less. The new rule allows the rebroadcasting FM translator to be located anywhere within the AM station’s daytime service contour or anywhere within a 25-mile radius of the transmitter, even if the contour extends farther than 25 miles from the transmitter.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-expands-area-where-fm-translators-rebroadcasting-am-radio-stations-can-be-located | Federal Communications Commission
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
ALTERNATIVE FACTS OF CABLE COMPANIES
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] Cable is in many ways an uncreative business—“like chicken in a grocery store,” as Comcast founder Ralph Roberts once said. The cable guys (today, mostly Comcast and Charter in the US, who together account for half of the 92 million high-speed internet access subscriptions in the country) have successfully implemented one basic, foolproof idea: locking up entire geographic markets by acquisition while scaling up rapidly as possible. With high numbers of subscribers all within clustered markets, costs per subscriber are vanishingly low, back office functions can be shared, programming can be bought at a bulk discount price (half or a third of what any smaller operator might pay), and competition can be avoided. Meanwhile, customers keep paying. Another week, another chicken. But in order to avoid anyone getting the idea that oversight might be a good idea, Charter and Comcast have to uphold the fiction that their service is getting better and better in response to trumpeted “competition”—even if there isn’t any actual rival anywhere around. If everyone believes that services are improving, then there’s no need for government intervention. The market is providing! What a monopolist most desires is a quiet life. That’s why Spectrum’s marketing and management teams let loose with ads claiming that consumers would get new X internet data speeds — “fast, reliable internet speeds.” The branding people went nuts, using adjectives like Turbo, Extreme, and Ultimate for the company’s highest-speed 200 or 300 Mbps download offerings. But no one, or very few people, could actually experience those speeds. Why? Because the company deliberately required that internet data connections be shared among a gazillion people in each neighborhood.
benton.org/headlines/alternative-facts-cable-companies | Medium
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BROADBAND SUBSIDIES
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Mark Jamison]
[Commentary] Count yourself unlucky if you are a US telecommunications customer, because you have been funding a system that is far behind international standards. It is time for the US to catch up with the rest of the world class for subsidizing broadband, especially if taxpayer money is on the line. International best practice carefully identifies areas where service is not commercially viable, requires service providers to compete for subsidies, and holds subsidy recipients accountable for results. Best practice begins with identifying smart subsidy and true access gap zones. The smart subsidy zone is those rural or high cost areas and low-income population groups for whom service is not commercially viable absent a one-time subsidy for initial investment. The true access gap consists of similar areas but with the added requirement that service isn’t commercially viable without an ongoing subsidy for operating expenses and maintenance. Competition for subsidies ensures that money isn’t wasted. Competition within a market tends to give the best results for customers, but this competition isn’t feasible in smart subsidy and true access gap zones. So the next best solution is competition for the market.
[Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida. He served on the FCC Transition Team for the Trump Administration]
benton.org/headlines/its-time-bring-us-broadband-subsidies-world-standards | American Enterprise Institute
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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
CONGRESSIONAL OUTREACH
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center US Politics and Policy, AUTHOR: ]
Hostility in political discourse was thrown into sharp relief in 2016 by a contentious presidential campaign. A new Pew Research Center analysis of more than 200,000 press releases and Facebook posts from the official accounts of members of the 114th Congress uses methods from the emerging field of computational social science to quantify how often legislators themselves “go negative” in their outreach to the public. Overall, the study finds that the most aggressive forms of disagreement are relatively rare in these channels. For the average member, 10% of press releases and 9% of Facebook posts expressed disagreement with the other party in a way that conveyed anger, resentment or annoyance. But there are distinct patterns among those who voiced political discord: congressional leaders, those with more partisan voting records and those who are elected in districts that are solidly Republican or Democratic were the most likely to go negative. Republicans, who did not control the presidency during the 114th Congress, were much more likely to voice disagreement than were Democrats.
benton.org/headlines/partisan-conflict-and-congressional-outreach | Pew Research Center US Politics and Policy | Washington Post
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MEDIA AND THE PEOPLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sydney Ember]
Biased? Probably. Oppositional? Maybe. Essential? In theory. But the enemy? Not so much. President Trump la called the news media “the enemy of the American people.” But in interviews around the country, Americans of varying political affiliations, even those with serious misgivings about the media, largely allowed that the president’s characterization had gone too far. Trump’s presidency has exacerbated already deep ideological divisions in the country, and Americans on one end of the political spectrum increasingly find themselves unable even to look their counterparts in the eye. But if there has been one instance when the rift has not seemed quite as large, perhaps it has been the response to Trump’s harsh rebuke of the media. Still, the feeling toward the news media among those interviewed was far from warm and fuzzy. Many said they believed the media was flawed in general, and certainly when it came to the coverage of President Trump and his administration.
benton.org/headlines/sure-media-biased-enemy-not-quite | New York Times
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
OPPOSITION TO PRIVACY RULES
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Klint Finley]
A set of internet privacy rules passed by the Federal Communications Commission has become a target for Republicans. Though it’s received far less attention than healthcare or immigration, the rollback would affect millions of consumers and bring basic changes to how they use the internet—though they might not ever know it. Companies like Google and Facebook can learn an awful lot about you based on what you search for, what pages you “like,” and who your friends are. But your wireless company and in-home broadband provider could learn much more. Although Google uses encryption to protect your searches from prying eyes, these companies can potentially see what sites you actually end up visiting and when you visit them. Mobile carriers track your location and could keep tabs on how much time you spend using different apps. And they can sell that information to the highest bidder. Now Sen Jeff Flake (R-AZ) plans to introduce a resolution to overturn the FCC rules, enabling internet providers and wireless companies to sell your data unless you explicitly opt out. “The FCC’s midnight regulation does nothing to protect consumer privacy,” Senator Flake said. “It is unnecessary, confusing and adds yet another innovation-stifling regulation to the internet.”
benton.org/headlines/republicans-are-trying-let-internet-providers-sell-your-data | Wired
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JOURNALISM
JOURNALISM AND FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Robbie McBeath]
[Commentary] Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently posted “Building Global Community” on his Facebook page, illustrating the company’s plans for developing the “social infrastructure to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us.” Notably, Zuckerberg directly analyzes the state of the news industry and its important function in our society. Some people criticized Zuckerberg’s post, arguing it actually serves as a blueprint for destroying journalism. This week we take a closer look at Zuckerberg’s vision and what it could mean for the future of journalism.
https://www.benton.org/blog/room-journalists-facebooks-global-community
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