OWNERSHIP
Results of FCC's Media Studies Released
Business As Usual
BROADCASTING
Local Television Stations Become the New Arbiters of Political Fair
Play
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
New Bills Aim to Protect Consumers' Use of Digital Media
INTERNATIONAL
Fighting Net Censorship Abroad
Establishing an Education Technology Initiative in Ghana
INTERNET
New Guidelines Open US Data to Challenge
Burns Victim Treated by Email
OWNERSHIP
RESULTS OF FCC'S MEDIA STUDIES RELEASED
According to US government studies released Tuesday, media consolidation has
not reduced the diversity of programs on television and radio, although
concentration of ownership may result in more TV commercials and similar
slants in news coverage. The results of the studies support FCC Chairman
Michael Powell's plan to re-draft or eliminate media ownership rules, which
cap the growth of broadcasters and restrict certain media mergers within the
same market. Media conglomerates claim that increased reliance on the
Internet for news has rendered the current rules obsolete, a claim that is
refuted by one of the studies. Jeff Chester, founder of the Center for
Digital Democracy, criticized the studies, saying they "reveal a deeply
flawed perspective that... fails to adequately assess the realities of the
news and entertainment media marketplace."
[SOURCE: The Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Edmund Sanders]
(http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fcc2oct02,0,2137189.story?coll=la%2Dh
eadlines%2Dbusiness)
(registration required)
BUSINESS AS USUAL
While news outlets have duly reported on some of the most egregious examples
of corporate wrongdoing, they have regularly omitted or glossed over the
shortcomings of some of the most powerful businesses in the country: their
own. Many media companies can argue that they have clean records, but a
review of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that all
of them have engaged -- to one degree or another -- in the kind of
questionable activities that have been much in the news this year. Bob
Steele, who heads the ethics group at the Poynter Institute, suggests that
by failing to report on its own industry's malfeasance, "[media outlets] run
great risks of undermining [their] credibility."
[SOURCE: American Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Miles Maguire]
(http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2648)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
NEW BILLS AIM TO PROTECT CONSUMERS' USE OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), plans today to introduce the Digital Choice and
Freedom Act, Silicon Valley's response to a host of Hollywood-backed bills
tilted in favor of copyright holders. Lofgren's bill would ensure consumers
could copy digital works for personal use, just as they now do with TV shows
and audio tapes. Instead of creating new rights for consumers, Lofgren's
bill would ensure that "the rights they have in the analog world, they have
in digital," she explained. The bills also would amend the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act to allow consumers to bypass the technological
protections built in to copyrighted works if the intent is to make a copy
for personal use. The legislation will vie with Hollywood-backed proposals
that would embed copy protection into an array of consumer devices while
allowing the entertainment industry to use aggressive anti-piracy
technologies to thwart unauthorized downloading over the Internet.
Supporters of Lofgren's measure believe that relaxing fair use standards
will drive demand for broadband Internet connections.
[SOURCE: The Mercury News, AUTHOR: Heather Fleming Phillips]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4193841.htm)
BROADCASTING
LOCAL TELEVISION STATIONS BECOME THE NEW ARBITERS OF POLITICAL FAIR PLAY
Television station managers in many communities are facing pressure from
Democratic and Republican party lawyers to pull political advertisements in
closely fought Congressional races -- or face the risk of a defamation suit.
While stations are not liable for an attack ad paid for by a candidate,
because they are required to broadcast those commercials by the FCC,
stations could be liable for an attack ad placed by a political committee.
Close to 25 TV stations have pulled advertisements during this election
season, fearing liability if a court determines the ads defamatory. The
ability to silence potentially damaging commercials has transformed station
managers and their lawyers into some of the most powerful political players
on the scene today.
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Nagourney and Adam Clymer]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/02/politics/02MEDI.html)
INTERNATIONAL
FIGHTING NET CENSORSHIP ABROAD
A bill introduced yesterday by US Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) would establish an
Office of Global Internet Freedom intended to thwart Internet censorship
abroad. Saudi Arabia and China both use heavy filtering programs to deny
their citizens access to a good deal of content on the Internet; this bill
would allocate roughly $50 million to both countries for their
participation. The government is interested in becoming more involved in
fighting censorship; currently, the private sector and hackers dominate
censorship battles. Hackers are developing and modifying programs such as
PeekABooty, Six/Four and Triangle Boy that provide peer-to-peer platforms
for uncensored Web content. "This isn't about imposing one country's
ideology on another, but rather about letting people freely choose which
ideologies, ideas and people to be exposed to and making up their own mind
about what's right," states Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a US-based organization working to protect fundamental rights
regardless of technology.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Mitch Wagner]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55530,00.html)
ESTABLISHING AN EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE IN GHANA
Dr. Parra DeWindt, An American high school teacher, writes about her
experiences distributing computers and providing a technology curriculum for
rural schools in Ghana. Dr. DeWindt encountered overwhelming challenges,
including poor state of Ghana's telecommunications and electricity
infrastructure.
[SOURCE: Digital Opportunity Channel, AUTHOR: Dr. Parra DeWindt]
(http://www.digitalopportunity.org/fulltext/dewindt20021002.shtml)
INTERNET
NEW GUIDELINES OPEN U.S. DATA TO CHALLENGE
In an attempt to examine the accuracy of government information, a new law
allows citizens and business groups to file complaints about the reliability
of published government data -- and receive a response from a federal agency
within 60 days. William Kovacs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say the law
allows citizens to ask the government to justify the information it's using.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget devised guidelines in February to
ensure the quality of information disseminated by the federal government.
"Simply put, the data-quality law promises to have an immeasurable impact on
every business that uses federal data, and on every business that is
regulated by a federal agency," writes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
[SOURCE: Washington Post]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24876-2002Sep30.html)
BURNS VICTIM TREATED BY EMAIL
Using a desktop scanner, a severely burned Australian teenager was treated
recently by doctors located some 1,100 kilometers (687 miles) away. Many
doctors in Australia are beginning to render health services with the
assistance of networked digital technologies because of distance. Numerous
trips to the doctor can be very expensive, so after an initial visit, the
mother of the young burn victim began taking pictures of her son and
emailing them to doctors. "Distances in Australia highlight one of the most
obvious reasons why online communication techniques in telehealth should
play a fundamental role in the delivery of health services," says Anthony
Smith of the University of Queensland's Royal Children's Hospital.
[SOURCE: BBC News, AUTHOR: BBC News]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284734.stm)
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