BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017
Jerry Krause, GM of Bulls dynasty, remembered for drive, work ethic, loyalty
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
From the Internet to Trump's Twitter feed, how a phony conspiracy theory caught fire - analysis
Hot mic catches GOP congressman’s adviser planning spin about ‘un-American’ protesters [links to Benton summary]
What Happens When the President Is a Publisher, Too? [links to Benton summary]
Opposition and a Shave: Former Obama Aides Counter President Trump [links to Benton summary]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
House Communications Subcommittee Examines Opportunities to Boost Broadband Deployment and Infrastructure - press release
Muni broadband customers could lose service unless a new bill becomes law
Fiber to the Home Council Americas is now Fiber Broadband Association [links to Fiber Broadband Association]
TELEVISION
Appeals Court Rules TV Streamers Don't Get Compulsory License to Broadcast Networks
Public Knowledge Responds to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals FilmOn Decision [links to Public Knowledge]
Fear and Misconception: Why Television Disruption Isn’t What You Think [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
TV’s Dead Zone: How the Cable Sector Is Killing Off Struggling Networks [links to Variety]
Small Cable Channels You Pay for—but Don’t Watch—Are Dying. But don’t expect your bill to decrease as networks go away. [links to Wall Street Journal]
PTC Urges ‘SNL’ to Be ‘Mindful’ of the F-Bombs for 8:30pm West Coast Airings [links to Wrap, The]
BUDGET
Groups deliver petitions to Congress supporting CPB funding
If You Like the Arts, Save the NEA, Advocates Tell Lawmakers [links to New York Times]
Op-ed: Rebuild Our Defenses for the Information Age [links to Wall Street Journal]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
The White House Is Paranoid Over Its Privacy, and Consumers Should Be Too [links to Public Knowledge]
JOURNALISM
Study: Sharer of digital news outweighs news source - research
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FirstNet Legal Battle Ends, Buildout Could Begin as Early as June 2017 [links to Government Technology]
CONTENT
Twitter suspends over 500,000 accounts tied to violent extremism [links to USAToday]
Voice Assistant Penetration Jumps to 12% of U.S. Broadband Households [links to telecompetitor]
TELECOM
We think technology can solve the world's problems, but it can't even stop robocalling [links to Vox]
ADVERTISING
How the Ad Council Turned the PSA Into a Powerful Engine for Social Change [links to AdWeek]
What Happens When Brands Play Politics [links to MediaPost]
After advertisers complained, Google promises to keep ads away from ‘offensive content’ [links to Vox]
DIVERSITY
What ProPublica Is Doing About Diversity in 2017 [links to ProPublica]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
House Passes Bill Requiring TSA to Disclose Changes To Its Tech Investment Plan [links to nextgov]
Industry Perspective: What the Reality of a Mobile-First Society Means for Local Governments [links to Government Technology]
Trump’s laptop travel ban is a confusing mess [links to Verge, The]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Google Launches ‘Protect Your Election’ Kit Ahead of French Vote [links to Fortune]
Microsoft Modifies Windows 10 for China’s Government [links to Wall Street Journal]
COMMUNICATIONS AND DEMOCRACY
HOW A PHONY CONSPIRACY THEORY CAUGHT FIRE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Finnegan, Mark Barabak]
When Michael Flynn, President Trump’s short-lived national security advisor, resigned last month, Mark Levin was outraged. Not because Flynn had falsely denied speaking with the Russian ambassador about US sanctions before Trump took office. Rather, the conservative talk radio host was furious that US surveillance had picked up Flynn’s venture into freelance diplomacy. “How many phone calls of Donald Trump, if any, have been intercepted by the administration and recorded by the Obama administration?” Levin demanded on his program, which reaches millions nationwide. “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the real scandal.” With that, what began as rumors and unverified accounts percolating through right-wing media coalesced into a wild conspiracy theory adopted by a president with an itchy Twitter finger, a penchant for intrigue and eagerness to embrace information — however sketchy — that reinforces, rather than tests, his beliefs. Trump’s unfounded claim that President Obama had wiretapped his telephone ricocheted throughout the country, shook Washington and stunned disbelieving US allies. The fallout continues to rattle the embryonic Trump White House. The president’s own Justice Department, the head of the FBI and the bipartisan leaders of two congressional oversight committees have all said they’ve found no evidence to substantiate the outlandish assertion. But the president and his chief spokesman, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, have refused to back down, aligning themselves with Levin and others operating in what amounts to a hall of mirrors, where the unproven claims of one media outlet are cited as evidence by another and facts are twisted, misdirected or ignored in the service of political propaganda.
benton.org/headlines/internet-trumps-twitter-feed-how-phony-conspiracy-theory-caught-fire | Los Angeles Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
SUBCOMMTECH HEARING ON BROADBAND
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
The House Communications Subcommittee, chaired by Rep Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), held a hearing examining barriers to broadband deployment throughout the country. In addition to receiving testimony from two panels of witnesses, the subcommittee looked at two discussion drafts aimed at alleviating the burden and eliminating the red tape when it comes to deploying broadband throughout the country.
1) Discussion Draft to facilitate the deployment of communications infrastructure, would: Create an inventory of federal assets that can be used to attach or install broadband infrastructure; Require all landholding agencies to use common templates when leasing space for wireless broadband attachments, and; Streamline processes for communications facilities locations applications at the Department Interior and Forest Service.
2) Discussion Draft Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2017, would: Mandate the inclusion of broadband conduit during the construction of certain highway projects that receive federal funding.
Joanne S. Hovis, President of CTC Technology and Energy, spoke to the importance of public-private partnerships when deploying broadband, stating, “By working cooperatively with state and local governments, the private sector stands to benefit in multiple ways – as partners, as users of the networks to market their goods and services in the rapidly emerging information-based global economy, and as contributors to the next generation of innovations.” “We are all tired of hearing stories about parents driving their children to the local McDonald’s for Internet access in order to finish their homework assignments. We owe them better, period. The 5G revolution is upon us and we should modernize our laws to address issues such as tower siting and federal rights of ways, which are tying the hands of the private sector,” concluded Chairman Blackburn. “Unleashing broadband will create economic, educational and healthcare opportunities for millions of hardworking taxpayers.”
benton.org/headlines/house-communications-subcommittee-examines-opportunities-boost-broadband-deployment-and | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Hearing Info | B&C | Committee Majority Staff | The Hill | Public Knowledge
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MUNI BROADBAND IN NC
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
In 2016, North Carolina won a court case against the Federal Communications Commission, a victory that allowed it to restore a state law that restricts the growth of municipal broadband networks. This created an immediate problem for new customers of one municipal-run broadband provider. After the FCC's 2015 vote to preempt the state law, Greenlight Community Broadband in Wilson, North Carolina, began offering service outside the Wilson County boundaries, something it previously wasn't allowed to do. Greenlight now serves about 200 customers in the nearby town of Pinetops, as well as Vick Family Farms in rural Nash County. Greenlight came close to shutting off Internet service to those new customers after the state ban on municipal broadband expansion was upheld by a federal appeals court. But in October 2016, the Wilson City Council voted to provide free Internet service to Pinetops and Vick Family Farms for six months. Wilson's wholesale providers agreed to waive their fees for six months, making this decision possible. Wilson's Greenlight ISP was technically in compliance with the state law as long as it didn't charge its new customers for service, but Wilson community leaders hoped the state legislature would eliminate or change the state law before the six months were up. That might be on the verge of happening. Reps. Susan Martin, R-Wilson and Jean Farmer-Butterfield, D-Wilson introduced a bipartisan bill that would allow Greenlight Community Broadband to keep its existing customers outside the Wilson County lines.
benton.org/headlines/muni-broadband-customers-could-lose-service-unless-new-bill-becomes-law | Ars Technica
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TELEVISION
FILMON RULING
[SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter, AUTHOR: Eriq Gardner]
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a seismic victory in favor of streaming company FilmOn, handing significant relief to broadcasters like CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC who were aghast by a federal judge's decision in July 2015 that streamers could be deemed to be a "cable system" eligible for a compulsory license under the Copyright Act. The battle took place after the US Supreme Court determined in June 2014 that another streamer, Aereo, had publicly performed the copyrighted work of broadcasters. The high court, though, left some room for further litigation upon Justice Stephen Breyer's opinion that compared unlicensed Aereo to licensed cable systems. After this decision, which ultimately brought down Aereo, FilmOn argued that it was entitled to perform copyrighted works without consent of copyright holders by taking advantage of Section 111 of the Copyright Act, which was enacted by Congress in the 1970s thanks to a perception of the burdensome nature of requiring cable systems to negotiate with every copyright owner over the retransmission of channels on public airwaves. In a huge surprise, US District Court judge George Wu then agreed with FilmOn, writing that "courts consistently reject the argument that technological changes affect the balance of rights as between broadcasters and retransmitters in the wake of technological innovation." Now a three panel led by Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain overturned Judge Wu by holding that a service that captures copyrighted works broadcast over the air, and then retransmits them to paying subscribers over the Internet without the consent of copyright holders, is not a "cable system" eligible for a compulsory license.
benton.org/headlines/appeals-court-rules-tv-streamers-dont-get-compulsory-license-broadcast-networks | Hollywood Reporter | B&C
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BUDGET
GROUPS DELIVER PETITIONS TO CONGRESS SUPPORTING CPB FUNDING
[SOURCE: Current, AUTHOR: Dru Sefton]
Petitions with more than 660,000 signatures to save the Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding will be presented to Congress March 21 after a rally for parents and kids near the Capitol. The event is sponsored by five advocacy organizations including the progressive hub MoveOn.org, media reformer Free Press and ParentsTogether Action, a family issues nonprofit. PBS is not a co-sponsor. The petitions urge members of Congress to reject President Donald Trump’s initial budget proposal, which calls for zeroing out of CPB funding. Trump’s decision to end CPB support “was expected from a president who believes the media are enemies of the American people,” Free Press CEO Craig Aaron said. “But members of Congress should do themselves a favor by listening to the voices of their many constituents. These people believe in overwhelmingly numbers that support for NPR and PBS programming, including PBS Kids, is taxpayer money well spent.”
benton.org/headlines/groups-deliver-petitions-congress-supporting-cpb-funding | Current | NBC | Free Press
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JOURNALISM
SHARER OF DIGITAL NEWS OUTWEIGHS NEWS SOURCE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Mike Snider]
Your trust in news shared over social media may depend more on the person who shared the news than the news source itself, new research suggests. The results suggest opportunities for news organizations in building strong online followings -- and challenges for social media in countering fake news. An online sample of 1,489 US adults participated in the experiment, conducted by The Media Insight Project, a collaboration of the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Those who got the news from a person they trusted were more likely to say the story was well-reported, correct and contained diverse points of view. For instance, 51% of those who got news from a trusted sharer said the information was well-reported and trustworthy, while only 34% said so if they got the news from a non-trusted sharer. Trusted sharers influenced outcomes in other ways, too. When the story is passed on by a trusted figure and the article was attributed to The AP, 52% of respondents said the article got the facts right. When the article was attributed to The AP, but the person passing it on is less trusted, only 32% say the facts were right.
benton.org/headlines/study-sharer-digital-news-outweighs-news-source | USAToday
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