BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2009
The latest Headlines are always available at http://bit.ly/2C0hLW
TELECOM
Consumers to Telecom Industry: Tell Us the Truth
Members of Congress Request Information on Access Charges and "Traffic Pumping Schemes"
AT&T Attacks Google Voice Again — This Time With Nuns
Justice Department Requires Divestitures in AT&T's Acquisition of Centennial
AT&T Missouri Agrees to Settle False Claims Act Lawsuit Involving E-Rate Program
EFF challenges VoIP patent
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Bandwidth Boost For Libraries Gaining Support
FCC Seeks Comments on Broadband Study Conducted by The Berkman Center
FCC Wireless Chief Ruth Milkman on Network Neutrality
3Mbps Down and 1Mbps Up Are Inadequate Bandwidth Goals
Businesses Need Thoughtful Projects to Capture Broadband Stimulus Funds, Say Panelists
Finland: Broadband Access Made Legal Right In Landmark Law
FCC NEWS
Coming to a Computer Near You: ECFS 2.0!
Redesigning the FCC's Website
FCC Continues EEO Audits
Spectrum Experts Release Guide to 'WiMAX Band' Before October 27 Auction
POLICYMAKERS
Senior House lawmaker urges Obama to appoint cybersecurity czar
A Vigorous Push From Federal Regulators
HEALTH
Where will healthcare IT find the techies?
Blumenthal: Standards development key to healthcare reform
Chopra seeks outside advice on health IT standards
Mobile Telemedicine Helps Patients In Transit
JOURNALISM
Investigative reporting in the Web era
The war on Beck
National Center on Disability & Journalism finds home at Cronkite School
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Congressional Democrats defend the White House's snub of Fox News
Newly Out In Front for White House: An Ol' Pro
Report Card Due on Stimulus
TELEVISION
More Changes In Store For Satellite TV Bill
DIGITAL CONTENT
FTC Puts Onus On Marketers, Not Bloggers
Which Consumers Will Pay For Content, And When
MORE ONLINE ...
EU May Take Germany To Court Over Digital Frequency Licenses
MIT project leads to programs that help health workers, farmers in developing countries
Libraries and Readers Wade Into Digital Lending
Redstone to Sell $1 Billion in CBS and Viacom Shares
Recent Comments on:
GOP Senators Criticize FCC's Net Neutrality Guidelines
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TELECOM
CONSUMERS TO TELECOM INDUSTRY: TELL US THE TRUTH
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Press release]
Free Press, Consumers Union, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge, Consumer Federation of America, and New America Foundation filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday encouraging the agency to protect consumers from misleading, confusing and harmful advertising and billing practices by phone, cable and wireless providers. The comments highlight some of the most egregious examples of these practices. Service providers often go to great lengths to create deceptive ads and to impose introductory rates, hidden monthly fees and surcharges that conceal true service quality and cost. Such practices harm consumer choice and limit the effectiveness of competition. The consumer groups argue that current protections are insufficient and urge the FCC to require meaningful, not misleading, disclosure. The misleading practices commonly used by the phone and cable industry include: 1) Internet access services are being labeled with theoretical "maximum speeds," rather than actual speeds. These actual speeds can lag behind advertised rates by 50 percent. 2) New "PowerBoost" services advertise even faster speeds, but do not guarantee that consumers will get faster service despite higher bills. 3) Service providers often deliberately obscure the real cost of services with misleading advertising that hides fees, surcharges, promotional periods, early termination fees and bundling requirements.
benton.org/node/28829 | Free Press
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MEMBERS OF CONGRESS REQUEST INFO ON TRAFFIC PUMPING
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Subcommittee Chairmen Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) sent letters to AT&T, Qwest, Sprint, and Verizon regarding access charges and so-called "traffic pumping schemes." The Committee is seeking information on the nature and scope of these schemes as well as the steps companies take to resolve disputed charges. The lawmakers have requested replies from the companies by October 27.
benton.org/node/28825 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | Washington Post | USAToday June 2008
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AT&T ATTACKS GOOGLE VOICE AGAIN
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] AT&T countered Google's claims that it's blocking Google Voice calls to rural areas because they're directed to free conference call lines and sex hotlines engaged in the dubious practice of so-called traffic pumping by trotting out a convent of Benedictine Nuns who apparently can't receive, or make, Google Voice calls, either. That's hardball. The AT&T filing sets out to prove that Google is indeed more than the mere collection of Internet applications it says it is, but also that even if it were an "information service," it would still be under the FCC's jurisdiction and subject to any potential Network Neutrality rules that forbid discriminating against any type of traffic.
benton.org/node/28805 | GigaOm | Washington Post | AT&T
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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REQUIRES DIVESTITURES IN AT&T'S ACQUISITION OF CENTENNIAL
[SOURCE: Department of Justice, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Justice announced today that it will require AT&T Inc. (AT&T) to divest assets in eight areas in Louisiana and Mississippi in order to proceed with its $944 million acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp. (Centennial). The Department said that the transaction, as originally proposed, would substantially lessen competition to the detriment of consumers of mobile wireless telecommunications services in those areas, and likely would result in higher prices, lower quality and reduced network investments. The divestitures cover portions of southwestern and central Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi. The Department's Antitrust Division, along with the Attorney General of Louisiana, filed a civil lawsuit today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed acquisition of Centennial by AT&T. At the same time, the Department and the Louisiana Attorney General filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive concerns in the lawsuit. According to the complaint, AT&T and Centennial are each other's closest competitor for a significant set of customers in eight Cellular Marketing Areas (CMAs), as defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The complaint alleges that the proposed transaction would substantially reduce competition for mobile wireless telecommunications services in each of these areas. The proposed settlement requires divestitures in these areas to eliminate the competitive concerns.
benton.org/node/28830 | Department of Justice | Bloomberg | Reuters
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AT&T MISSOURI AGREES TO SETTLE ERATE CASE
[SOURCE: Department of Justice, AUTHOR: Press release]
AT&T Missouri (formerly known as Southwestern Bell Telephone L.P.) has agreed to pay the United States $1.4 million as part of a settlement of a civil lawsuit alleging that the company violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission's E-Rate program. The United States contended that AT&T Missouri provided false information to the E-Rate program and otherwise violated the program's requirements by engaging in non-competitive bidding practices for E-Rate contracts. The United States further alleged that AT&T Missouri employees colluded with officials in the Kansas City, Mo., School District to award contracts to the company, extended contracts in violation of E-Rate rules and provided meals and other inducements to school district employees.
benton.org/node/28815 | Department of Justice
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EFF CHALLENGES VOIP PATENT
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation says it has discovered another bogus patent, and it's taking the newly found evidence to the Patent and Trademark Office to have the patent invalidated. The civil liberties organization filed a re-examination request to the PTO, stating it had discovered a prior patent as well as published reference material that should invalidate a patent that had been granted to a company called Acceris. The patent that Acceris was granted describes how voice over IP technology can be used to make calls to and from traditional analog telephones. The EFF has been challenging several patents as part of its Patent Busting Project.
benton.org/node/28832 | C-Net|News.com
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
BANDWIDTH BOOST FOR LIBRARIES GAINING SUPPORT
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: W. David Gardner]
An effort to make the nation's public libraries a major source of robust Internet access is gaining momentum as a disparate group of foundations, companies, and trade and government agencies weigh in with plans to build support for bringing fiber optic technology to the country's 16,500 libraries. The drive has attracted supporters that range from Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA) and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA). Boucher, who is House Communications Subcommittee chairman, has already told FCC chairman Julius Genachowski that a plan to equip public libraries should focus on delivering "extraordinarily high bandwidth" to libraries. Don Means, founder of the Fiber to the Library Project, has said improving Internet broadband access to public libraries "provides the biggest bang for the stimulus buck." The Gates Foundation, in a proceeding before the FCC, has estimated an investment of $700 million to $1.7 billion would pay for the installation fiber for 87% of public libraries currently without fiber. The Gates FCC effort seeks to generate public comments by Oct. 28. "We see libraries as early adopters of technologies," said Means in a statement. "A lot of people had their first experience with first-generation broadband at a library. We think libraries are demand drivers for emerging technologies."
benton.org/node/28828 | InformationWeek
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FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON BERKMAN BROADBAND STUDY
[SOURCE: Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, AUTHOR: Yochai Benkler]
On July 14, the Commission announced in a press release that Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society would conduct an expert review of existing literature and studies about broadband deployment and usage throughout the world to inform the Commission's development of a National Broadband Plan. A draft of that report is now ready for public review and comment. After an Introduction, Part 2 of the report outlines current thoughts on "what is broadband?"—that is, how the target of the policy should be defined, and how the definition may reflect on policy emphases. It briefly notes current reasons given in other countries for emphasizing next generation connectivity as a policy goal. Part 3 describes our independent assessment of current benchmarking and measurement sources, and describes the results of our independent analysis and testing of benchmarks. Part 4 describes our findings on competition and open access policy. Part 5 offers an overview of practices and policies concerned with mobile and nomadic access. Part 6 discusses government investment practices, on both the supply and demand sides of broadband and next generation deployment. The FCC is asking six questions: 1. Does the study accomplish its intended purposes? 2. Does the study provide a complete and objective survey of the subject matter? 3. How accurately and comprehensively does the study summarize the broadband experiences of other countries? 4. How much weight should the Commission give to this study as it develops a National Broadband Plan? 5. Are additional studies needed along the lines of the Berkman study? 6. Please provide any other comments on the Berkman study that you deem relevant. Comments are due November 16, 2009.
Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world
benton.org/node/28827 | Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University | hraunfoss.fcc.gov
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FCC WIRELESS CHIEF MILKMAN ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A Q&A with Ruth Milkman, head of the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Bureau. She said that Chairman Julius Genachowski's open Internet proposal would allow consumers to bring any phone that isn't locked into a network to another carrier's network. That would mean if you want to bring a Blackberry phone acquired through Verizon Wireless to Sprint Nextel, you could do so at the end of your contract, Milkman says. A draft of Genachowski's proposal, which will be voted on Oct. 22 (the vote will be the beginning of a months-long rule-making process before a final policy is created), also takes into consideration the unique capacity constraints of the wireless network. On the road, a cell phone connection is turned over from one cell site to another, a unique feature of mobile technology that the FCC is looking at as part of this process.
benton.org/node/28826 | Washington Post
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3MBPS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
Is there growing consensus in DC to set a broadband goal of 3Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream for residential subscribers? Bad idea, Daily writes. First off, we risk investing taxpayer dollars in inadequate technologies, in deploying broadband that's already outdated before it's even deployed. Secondly, if we rush to get the unconnected served by these lesser technologies we may put rural areas in the position of permanently being second-class digital citizens, both in terms of equipping them with technology that has inadequate capacity as well as preventing them from being eligible for getting future government funding to build the networks they need.
benton.org/node/28824 | App-Rising.com
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BUSINESSES NEED THOUGHTFUL BROADBAND STIMULUS PROJECTS
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Mercy Gakii]
Before submitting a proposal to the government broadband stimulus funds, a business enterprise needs to present a thoughtful, well drafted project involving the contracting of professional project managers, said participants in a Tuesday webinar on grant applications. "It would be important to consider hiring a consultant who is well versed with what your company wants to achieve," advised Laurie Itkin, director of government affairs for Cricket Communications. Itkin's company provides low-cost broadband services mainly young and lower-income subscribers. The lower-income brackets make up to half of the subscribers with Cricket that have not previously been subscribed to any form of Internet services. Furthermore, it is important that applicants include all business disciplines in this planning team, and have all areas polished up before making a presentation, she said. Itkin was speaking at an event, "Making the Most of Broadband Stimulus Funds" sponsored by the Rural Mobile Broadband Alliance, and organized by Phil Goldstein, editor of the news publication FierceWireless.
benton.org/node/28823 | BroadbandCensus.com
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FINLAND: BROADBAND ACCESS MADE LEGAL RIGHT
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: ]
Finland has just passed a law making access to broadband a legal right for Finnish citizens. When the law goes into effect in July 2010, every person in Finland, which has a population of around 5.3 million, will have the guaranteed right to a one-megabit broadband connection, says the Ministry of Transport and Communications (via Finland's YLE). Finland is reportedly the first country in the world to enact a law that makes broadband access a right.
benton.org/node/28822 | Huffington Post, The
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FCC NEWS
ECFS 2.0
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communication Commission has "upgraded and enhanced" its Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) and will present the changes at a public forum at FCC Headquarters on Friday, October 23, from 9:30 to 11:00 AM. The presentation will be held in the Commission Meeting Room. With the 2.0 upgrade, ECFS will including many new features, including fully Section 508 compliance; the ability for users to file multiple documents to multiple rulemakings in a single submission; advanced search and query of rulemakings; ability to extract comments; RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds; and the ability to export data results to Excel or PDF formats. The FCC will hold a public presentation on Friday, October 23, from 9:30 to 11:00 AM in the Commission Hearing Room to provide information about the upgraded system and to give citizens an opportunity to discuss the future uses and capabilities of the FCC's comment filing system. The presentation will be conducted by Bill Cline, Chief of the Reference Information Center.
benton.org/node/28819 | Federal Communications Commission
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REDESIGNING THE FCC'S WEBSITE
[SOURCE: SunlightLabs, AUTHOR: Ali Felski]
Mock-ups of a possible redesign of the Federal Communications Commission's website. What made the FCC redesign different from the Sunlight Foundation's previous efforts to show how federal sites can be easier to access was the dense content. "Most visitors find it difficult to understand the vast majority of the content for good reason: it can be highly-technical and the FCC's operations are foreign to most people," the group said in a blog post. Click here to read a detailed summary of the changes Sunlight proposes, plus screenshots of its FCC mock up.
benton.org/node/28804 | SunlightLabs | TechDailyDose
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FCC CONTINUES EEO AUDITS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
On October 14, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission mailed the third set of its Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) audit letters for 2009. This mailing was sent to randomly selected multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs). The FCC annually audits the EEO programs of randomly selected broadcast licensees and MVPDs. Each year, approximately five percent of all broadcast stations and MVPDs are selected for these random EEO audits.
benton.org/node/28818 | Federal Communications Commission
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GUIDE TO WIMAX BAND
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: ]
Strength-to-Strength Develop-Ed, LLC on Tuesday released a comprehensive report on who holds what licenses and lease rights in the "WiMAX Band" the 2.5 GigaHertz band used by the Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and Educational Broadband Service (EBS). This band is home to WiMAX giants Clearwire and Sprint. The report, "The 'WiMAX Band' (2.5 GHz): Characteristics, Technology, Major Spectrum Holders in the BRS-EBS Service and Prospects for Auction 86," comes on the eve of the next FCC auction in the band, scheduled for October 27, 2009. The report, by Gregory Rose and edited by Harold Feld, is based on an extensive study of the FCC's spectrum database and industry trends, concludes that Clearwire appears to be avoiding both the most rural areas and the most competitive markets, such as New York City. This should create opportunities for smaller companies such as Utopian Wireless and Xanadoo, said Rose, which focus on rural markets avoided by Clearwire. The report also describes how these trends will play out in the auction.
benton.org/node/28817 | BroadbandCensus.com
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POLICYMAKERS
LAWMAKER PRESSES FOR CYBERSECURITY CZAR
[SOURCE: Government Computer News, AUTHOR: Ben Bain]
Rep Yvette Clarke (D-NY) -- the chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Committee's Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee -- is calling on President Barack Obama to quickly appoint a cybersecurity coordinator. She said it was important to have a cybersecurity official in the White House with access to the president to ensure computer defense efforts are coordinated and disciplined.
benton.org/node/28812 | Government Computer News
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A VIGOROUS PUSH FROM FEDERAL REGULATORS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Lyndsey Layton]
With much of Washington focused on efforts to revamp the health-care system and address climate change, a handful of Obama appointees have been quietly exercising their power over the trappings of daily life. They are awakening a vast regulatory apparatus with authority over nearly every U.S. workplace, 15,000 consumer products, and most items found in kitchen pantries and medicine cabinets. The new regulators display a passion for rules and a belief that government must protect the public from dangers lurking at home and on the job -- one more way the new White House is reworking the relationship between government and business. The regulators will face significant hurdles if they want to dramatically expand government's reach. Most proposed regulations have to be vetted by a central White House office headed by another new appointee, Cass Sunstein, whose embrace of cost-benefit analyses may mean he will discourage expensive new rules. Some efforts to expand regulation are sure to face legal challenges from industry. And the private sector is likely to assert that new regulations would be an additional burden in a weak economy.
benton.org/node/28821 | Washington Post
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HEALTH
WHERE WILL HEALTHCARE IT FIND TECHIES?
[SOURCE: HealthLeadersMedia, AUTHOR: John Commins]
If the implementation of electronic health records matches the hype, it will revolutionize healthcare delivery in the United States. The new generation of electronic health records will be expensive and very complex, requiring the people who run them to possess strong critical-thinking skills and a hybrid set of abilities and experiences from the clinical, business, and IT sectors. Where will we find them? It's not clear how many people will be needed to make HIT run effectively. Some studies have estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 new HIT workers will be needed, but those estimates were made before the federal government in February committed nearly $20 billion to HIT implementation in the stimulus package. David Hunt, MD, CMO in the federal Office of HIT Adoption, says the flood of HIT funding could make the workforce shortage issue more acute in the short-term, as hospitals and other healthcare organizations struggle to make the 2011 deadline to meet the as-yet undefined "meaningful use" requirements for HIT.
benton.org/node/28809 | HealthLeaders Media
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BLUMENTHAL: STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT KEY TO HEALTHCARE REFORM
[SOURCE: HealthcareITNews, AUTHOR: Diana Manos]
Standards development is at the heart of healthcare reform, according to David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. "Congress may not know it or realize it, but you all are very much at the center" of making health reform happen, he told members of the HIT Standards Committee during a Wednesday workshop. "Health infrastructure is assumed will be present and functioning when needed. That is a very, very tall order and one we are committed to doing our best to put into place." Blumenthal said the National Health Information Network, designed to allow providers to share information for the efficient care of patients, is in the spotlight as Congress moves forward with health reform legislation. President Barack Obama has pledged $50 billion toward healthcare IT advancement over the next five years, with $20 billion already committed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009(ARRA), passed in February. Congress is calling for an open-source resource for providers to establish interoperability under the NHIN, Blumenthal said. "This is a public resource, whose broadest use is our goal," he added.
benton.org/node/28808 | HealthcareITNews
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CHOPRA SEEKS OUTSIDE ADVICE ON HEALTH IT STANDARDS
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
On Wednesday, the Health Information Technology Standards Committee said it would bring together experts from outside the healthcare field to share ideas about best ways to apply new workflow and information sharing standards across organizations. Aneesh Chopra, the White House's chief technology officer and chairman of the panel's newly formed standards implementation group, said he wants to mine the lessons of other industries in using information handling standards successfully and then apply them broadly to healthcare. "There is an interest in how other industries have adopted standards, and I think we're going to take that feedback to heart," Chopra said after the meeting. The panel will host a hearing on Oct. 29 to share best practices, Chopra said. Additionally, Chopra will open a two-week online forum to seek feedback from a wider audience on a series of structured questions and information posts on standards usage. The implementation workgroup will report on its findings at the next standards committee meeting Nov. 19
benton.org/node/28807 | GovernemntHealthIT
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MOBILE TELEMED HELPS PATIENTS IN TRANSIT
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: Marianne Kolbasuk McGee]
Telemedicine gear often helps patients and clinicians connect with remote physicians, but for the most part, those interactions typically take place from "fixed" locations, such as a home or office within another medical facility. However, a new telemedicine configuration developed with clinicians from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is linking patients in ambulances with remote medical specialists. "This is telemedicine on-the-go," said Dr. Hamilton Schwartz, who came up with an idea for using high-resolution video and other telemedicine gear, such as digital stethoscopes, for pediatric patients -- including sick premature infants -- while these children are in transit to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) from other area hospitals. In pediatric healthcare, especially cases involving critically ill children, care often needs to be delivered while the patient is being moved from one facility to another. But emergency or intensive care specialists at the destination hospital can get a head start in delivering care to those sick patient if the clinicians can remotely examine and observe the patient prior and during to transit, said Schwartz.
benton.org/node/28802 | InformationWeek
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JOURNALISM
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING IN THE WEB ERA
[SOURCE: McKinsey, AUTHOR: Paul Steiger]
[Commentary] We used to be able to count on robust metropolitan dailies to provide a steady flow of journalism intended to shine a spotlight on abuse of power and failure to uphold the public interest, and by so doing to give the public the information needed to produce positive change. Now, while many newspapers continue to do as much of it as they can, the destruction of the business model they once depended on and the resultant shrinkage and even shuttering of newspapers around the country are robbing the American people of an important bulwark of our democracy. This change, of course, is just one of the many effects of a revolution in the way we get our news and information, caused by the dazzling rise of the Internet. This revolution has transformed the typical large and mid-size metro newspaper from a hugely profitable quasi monopoly turning out a must-have product for vast swaths of society, into an at-best break-even business with the dismal prospect of flattening or shrinking revenues. Newspapers are in the position of producing, at legacy expense, a product that is liked but considered not needed by college graduates over the age of 40—while increasingly ignored by everyone else. At the same time, however, it's important to remember that this revolution has also brought many, many positives to society already, with many more likely to come in the future. [Steiger is editor-in-chief of ProPublica]
benton.org/node/28806 | McKinsey
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THE WAR ON BECK
[SOURCE: Politico.com, AUTHOR: Ben Smith]
Fox News has taken a relatively cautious line toward the White House attacks on the network, leaving the real fireworks to Glenn Beck, who Monday accused the White House of being "more worried about the war on Fox than the actual war in Afghanistan." The charge prompted one source with too much time on his hands to send over the results of a Nexis search of Beck's program since it began on Fox in January. The frequency of the words used offers a clue to its themes. And unsurprisingly, the Taliban (38 mentions) just isn't in the same league as some domestic threats, notably ACORN, which tops the list at 1,224 mentions. It's a remarkable shift, indeed, for Fox, which dwelled heavily on terrorism during the Bush administration but which, like the conservative movement, has turned toward a sharply domestic focus this year.
benton.org/node/28813 | Politico.com
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CRONKITE SCHOOL
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: ]
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University is providing the first university home for the National Center on Disability & Journalism, which provides resources for journalists covering people with disabilities. The center announced new members to its national advisory board of journalists and disability experts. The school also announced a new research Ph.D. program. It targets mid-career media professionals who want to work in education or sharpen skills and return to the media consulting professions. The Cronkite Ph.D. comes with a new orientation. The program is designed to retool the career professional. The program is different from most in several ways. It is a mentoring program matching the students' needs with faculty expertise, essentially providing an individually tailored program of study. The intent of the new Ph.D. is to immerse the student in the activities of original research. The degree is based in the study of philosophy, theory, differing scientific methodologies, and critical thinking. People with media experience are expected to bring divergent topical interests and will work with faculty mentors researching and developing those interests. They also bring a vibrancy into both the undergraduate and graduate classrooms as well as an enthusiasm for advanced learning. The new program is interdisciplinary, requiring complementary course work outside of the Cronkite School as a part of the student's program of study. A Ph.D. in addition to professional experience provides a mid-career professional a balanced base for careers in either education or the related business research professions. [more at the URL below]
benton.org/node/28803 | Editor&Publisher | school website
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS DEFEND THE WHITE HOUSE'S SNUB OF FOX NEWS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: J. Taylor Rushing, Jared Allen]
The growing rift between the Obama administration and the Fox News network is attracting criticism from Republicans, support from Democrats and a healthy number of legislators on both sides who want to stay out of it. The administration has taken increasing steps in recent weeks and months to isolate the TV network, with some Capitol Hill veterans recalling no such similar steps by any president since Richard Nixon's retaliation against The New York Times and The Washington Post during Watergate. The effort hasn't been a total blackout; White House press secretary Robert Gibbs still calls on Fox News reporter Major Garrett at press briefings, but the Obama White House is clearly targeting the network that it believes is biased. "The point is this, and it really needs to be made: Fox is not just another television network," said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (IL), a close Obama ally. "Fox has become the official/semi-official voice for the Republican Party, in opposition to the president. And I think calling them out is the only way to delegitimize them as political propaganda." Asked if he would follow Obama's lead and boycott Fox, Durbin said, "I don't know that I'd never go on Fox, but I will tell you that when I go on, it's with a clear understanding that this is not a news network. This is the closest thing to the Republican Party's official voice on television."
benton.org/node/28837 | Hill, The
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ANITA DUNN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jason Horowitz]
Earlier this week, Anita Dunn inserted two words into the conservative electronic echo chamber: Anita Dunn. With her CNN appearance on Sunday attacking Fox News as "a wing of the Republican Party," the White House dispatched its communications director to make one of its most aggressive salvos, in part because she alone in the communications department can withstand the blowback. "She's tough, she knows how to handle herself in the national media, she's not intimidated by it and she enjoys the fray," said David Gergen, a former White House communications director and fellow veteran of the Beltway fray. "It surprised me to see Anita Dunn out there, but if you are going to do it, go with your pro, and she's your pro." Inside the youthful Obama administration's communications shop, Dunn, 51, is valued as a D.C.-certified grownup, a mentor whose battle scars, survival skills and librarian glasses perched atop her blond hair give her gravitas. It's one thing to have championed Obama's election, but she's the only one in the inner circle who's actually worked against him.
benton.org/node/28836 | Washington Post
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REPORT CARD ON STIMULUS DUE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Alec MacGillis]
The public will get its first granular look Thursday at how the $787 billion stimulus package is being spent -- but the information may leave armchair auditors dissatisfied, and the data on job-creation data will be less than definitive. Recipients of stimulus grants, loans and contracts -- which make up about a third of the total package -- were required to file at the start of the month their first reports on how they spent the money and how many jobs were created. On Thursday, the government's Web site is slated to post the reports for all federal contracts awarded so far, and at month's end, it will post reports for all grants and loans awarded. The information released Thursday will cover just a sliver of the total stimulus spending, with details on $6 billion to $12 billion in contracts, according to the non-profit OMB Watch. The reports will be dominated by agencies that are spending their money through direct contracts, such as the Department of Energy, which is cleaning up nuclear-waste sites in Washington state and South Carolina, and the General Services Administration, which is renovating federal buildings. A more representative sample about 10 times larger will be reported at the end of the month, including the contracts awarded by states and local governments, which received stimulus grants for such projects as highway infrastructure and home weatherization. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," OMB Watch Director Gary Bass said.
benton.org/node/28838 | Washington Post | Recovery.gov
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TELEVISION
MORE CHANGES IN STORE FOR SATELLITE BILL
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Today, the House Commerce Committee is slated to markup a bill that would reauthorize sections of the Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act set to expire Dec. 31. Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is suggesting some changes to the version passed by a subcommittee: 1) Grandfathering language to ensure that consumers who are lawfully receiving distant network programming do not lose access to that programming. 2) Establishing a process by which a federal court could lift an injunction that prevents one satellite carrier, Dish Network, from using the distant compulsory copyright license once it provides local into local service in every U.S. market. 3) Allowing private negotiations over the retransmission of programming. 4) Requiring the Federal Communications Commission to issue a report to Congress concerning the ability of consumers to access in-state programming and the use of the designated market area system to define local markets for the purposes of receiving in-state programming.
benton.org/node/28835 | CongressDaily
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