The Politics of America's DTV Transition: Will the Telecom Act Rewrite
Repeat the Fiasco of the 1996 Giveaway? May 24 at the New America
Foundation. For this and other upcoming media policy events, see
http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
A Different Reception For Public Broadcasting
Public Broadcasting Czar May Not Be
MEDIA
Comcast, Time Warner Pitch FCC on Merger
Guild Chief Under Fire for Comments About Attacks on
Journalists in Iraq
Stations Of The Cross
TELECOM
FCC Requires VoIP Providers to Provide Enhanced 911 Service
Markey's Concerns Linger Over Bells' Video Rollouts
QUICKLY -- Universal service management item deleted; Revenues for Top
Radio Stations; Tech-Driven Threats to Mainstream Media; Mommy Bars; I-SPY Act
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
A DIFFERENT RECEPTION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
"Liberal advocacy journalism." "Liberal media bias." "Liberalism is too
prominent on public TV, radio news and talk programs while conservative
ideas are marginalized." -- "This is not a controversy that I brought to
public broadcasting," contends Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chairman
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson . "There is an element within public broadcasting that
brought this controversy on itself." Pressed repeatedly for examples of
public broadcasting bias, Tomlinson cited only one program that he found
objectionable: Moyers's show, "Now." Tomlinson and CPB have relatively
limited direct influence over what's seen and heard on PBS and NPR. CPB
cannot, for example, force either service to air a program the agency
underwrites. The agency provides less than 10 percent of PBS's annual
budget and less than 1 percent of NPR's. But CPB is a vital source of
funding for the larger public broadcasting system. Its grants to public
radio and TV stations find their way back to NPR and PBS in the form of
station programming fees. One public television station manager, Bill Reed,
president and CEO of KCPT-TV in Kansas City, Mo., late last week sent a
letter to Tomlinson that was widely distributed among station managers. It
said, in part, "For you and members of the CPB board to go on this sad,
ridiculous witch hunt at a time when we should be standing together to make
sure that public broadcasting is funded adequately is a betrayal of your
responsibilities as a board member. You and those board members who support
you should be sacked."
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/19/AR200505...
(requires registration)
PUBLIC BROADCASTING CZAR MAY NOT BE
The investigation of CPB Board Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson may have
traction. Tomlinson hired Mary Catherine Andrews, former director of the
Office of Global Communications at the White House, to write a set of
guidelines for CPB's two new ombudsmen to use when monitoring political
content on PBS. The problem is that Andrews was still on staff at the White
House when she wrote the rules. This may violate Section 398 of the of the
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which bars federal employees from engaging
in any "direction, supervision or control over public telecommunications."
In addition, Tomlinson is the chair of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of
Governors, the panel that oversees all federally-sponsored broadcasting
agencies, such as Voice of America. As almost all of the media coverage of
the CPB case has failed to mention, in his role at the BBG, Tomlinson
himself is a "federal employee" -- yet he is explicitly trying to direct,
shape, mold and supervise public telecommunications in his role at the CPB.
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Paul McLeary]
http://www.cjrdaily.org/archives/001527.asp
* Tomlinson used Diane Rehm interview to further distort his actions as CPB
chairman
http://mediamatters.org/items/200505190007
* Kondracke baselessly claimed that CPB appointed a "liberal" ombudsman
Roll Call executive editor Morton M. Kondracke claimed that Kenneth Y.
Tomlinson, the Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting (CPB), appointed a "liberal ombudsman and a conservative
ombudsman" to monitor response to public television and radio broadcasts.
Kondracke was referring to recent appointees Ken Bode and William Schulz,
respectively. But while Schulz is clearly a conservative, Media Matters for
America has previously noted that Bode is hardly a liberal. A former NBC
national political correspondent and former CNN senior political analyst,
Bode is an adjunct fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200505180003
* Hands Off NPR and PBS
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=186966
* Save PBS from partisan operatives
http://www.freepress.net/action/pbs
MEDIA
COMCAST, TIME WARNER PITCH FCC ON MERGER
Comcast and Time Warner Thursday spelled out in a filing why the FCC should
approve their plan to carve up bankrupt Adelphia Communications. For
starters, the two companies said the deal would allow Adelphia subscribers
to receive advanced services such as cable telephone, high speed Internet
and high-definition television. The companies also said the deal will set
them up to better compete with regional Bell phone companies by boosting
the size of their regional clusters. Individual cable franchises are
generally much smaller than phone company service areas. With larger
service areas, Comcast and Time Warner say they will be able to roll out
voice and Internet services that will compete with the phone companies.
Another longstanding aim of the FCC will also be achieved