For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
BROADCASTING
Public Interest Update on Children, Closed Captioning Rules
Study Slams Broadcasters Election Coverage
Commission to OK Jackson Fine
INTERNET
Study: Broadband Leaps Past Dial-up
When Gadgets Get in the Way
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Hey, You Need a License to Watch That!
Publishing Industry Tackles Digital Rights
BROADCASTING
PUBLIC INTEREST UPDATE ON CHILDREN, CLOSED CAPTIONING RULES
After four years of consideration, the FCC is expected to adopt rules
concerning how digital television broadcasters should serve children at the
Commission's open meeting in September 9. Patti Miller, Director of
Children's Now's Children & the Media Program, is looking for additional
children's programming since digital broadcasters will be able to multicast
several channels at once. Analog broadcasters are currently required to air
three hours/week of children's educational or informational programing.
Children Now wants the FCC to forbid TV stations from embedding Internet
links in online interactive content that could lead children to commercial
ads. Ms. Miller says the FCC should also ensure that parents get more
information about programming in a digital age.
Meanwhile, Telecommunications for the Deaf, the National Association of the
Deaf and others have filed a petition with the FCC asking for a rulemaking
to add enforcement standards for its closed captioning rules. The groups
say there's a lack of access to captions on many programming sources and
the groups suggest the FCC should set captioning quality standards for
completeness, accuracy, readability and synchronicity. Among the
enforcement mechanisms the petition suggests are a standardized complaint
form, fines and penalties, and continuous FCC monitoring of captioning.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily]
(Not available online)
STUDY SLAMS BROADCASTERS ELECTION COVERAGE
The Committee for the Study of the American Electorate has released a study
of 10 states that it said shows that a "substantial majority" of Senate,
House and gubernatorial debates in 2002 were not televised and that a
majority of stations with debates in their market chose not to air them.
According to the study, 30 of 50 gubernatorial debates were televised,
eight of 17 Senatorial debates and 36 of 107 House debates. When it came to
multiple debates, commercial broadcasters actually aired more than double
those of PBS stations, with 17 network affiliates airing more than one
debate to only seven PBS stations.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA445585?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
COMMISSION TO OK JACKSON FINE
Let's get ready to rumble over indecency. The FCC is expected to announce a
fine against Viacom for the Super Bowl halftime show and earlier this
summer Viacom Co-President Les Moonves vowed to fight the FCC, saying any
fine would be "patently ridiculous." Many First Amendment lawyers are
hoping Moonves keeps his pledge to fight in court because they believe the
case would lead to a Supreme Court review of all the FCC's indecency
restrictions. They think such a review would likely result in looser, not
tighter, restrictions.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA446096?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
INTERNET
STUDY: BROADBAND LEAPS PAST DIAL-UP
As of July, there were 63 million people using broadband at home, making up
51% of the total U.S. Internet population, according to market research
company Nielsen/NetRatings. That's a 47% jump from last year, when
broadband totaled only 38% of all U.S. online households. Broadband
penetration is especially high among consumers under the age of 20,
approaching 60%.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Jim Hu]
http://news.com.com/Study%3A+Broadband+leaps+past+dial-up/2100-1034_3-53...
See also
* Reuters: U.S. Broadband Growth Slows - Analyst
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=599...
WHEN GADGETS GET IN THE WAY
Eighty-percent of public schools have high-speed Internet access in at
least one classroom. And among colleges, 69% have classroom Internet access
and 70% have wireless networks. Good, right? Teachers are fighting new
battles, however, with technology-distracted students. All agree that the
best weapon against attention deficit is the same one that worked before
the dawn of computers: strong teaching. In this Circuits feature, see five
examples of teachers who are fighting fire with... more technology.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Lisa Guernsey]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/technology/circuits/19teac.html
(requires registration)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
HEY, YOU NEED A LICENSE TO WATCH THAT!
You better not pout, you better not watch Canadian satellite TV. Why?
Because Santa and the FCC are coming to town. US laws prevents American
households from subscribing to foreign satellite providers unless they have
a special license to do so. Getting around the law takes specially tuned
dishes and receivers (available for $100 to $400 each from numerous
Internet suppliers) and a valid Canadian address available from "address
brokers" on the Web (($25 to $50 a year). The payoff, subscribers say, is a
much more balanced perspective on the world, without all the flag-waving.
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR:David Colker]
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-canada19aug19,1,65861...
(requires registration)
PUBLISHING INDUSTRY TACKLES DIGITAL RIGHTS
At a trade show this week, the publishing industry is discussing digital
rights management (DRM) of electronic content. Creative Commons, a
nonprofit group, is promoting a "some rights reserved" approach to DRM. Its
approach would embed each document with metadata that tells the consumers
what level of protection the author seeks. Mike Linksvayer, chief
technology officer for Creative Commons, said the approach has several
advantages, including the ability to present multiple views of the rights
documentation--a wordy legal version, a machine-readable version and a
"regular humans" version minus the legalese. "One of the benefits...is that
people actually start to understand the intentions the more they see the
metadata in the document," he said.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: David Becker]
http://news.com.com/Publishing+industry+tackles+digital+rights/2100-1025...
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
(headlines( at )benton.org) -- we welcome your comments.
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