BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
For upcoming media policy events, see http://benton.org/calendar
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Report Says Gonzales Mishandled Classified Items
4 Journalists Arrested as Minneapolis Protests Turn Violent
Two J-Students and Adviser Still Jailed In RNC Protests
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Gustav brings down cell, Internet service
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Hurricane Palin
GOP to networks: Please cover us
Obama Met With Fox News Executives
Pastors' Web Electioneering Attracts U.S. Reviews of Tax Exemptions
Democrats Convention and Palin VP Pick Fuel Election Coverage
Based Solely on Olympics Ads, McCain Wins
McCain Campaign Pulls Ads in Wake of Gustav
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Limits of 'Unlimited'
Price War Erupts For High-Speed Internet Service
Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the US
Start-up wants to provide free broadband
BROADCASTING/CABLE
Media watchdog revives license challenge over election coverage
Verizon Argues Against Class-A LPTV Must-Carry
Wilmington (NC) gets ready for switch to digital TV
Pennsylvania TV stations to test analog cutoff Nov 17
Tribune TV stations downplay affiliation with CW network
QUICKLY -- Internet Evolution; TV 'Advocacy' Commercials Don't Tell The Whole Story; Americans Can't Live Without DVRs: Survey
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
REPORT SAYS GONZALES MISHANDLED CLASSIFIED ITEMS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Lichtblau]
Former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales mishandled highly classified information relating to the National Security Agency's wiretapping program and the administration's prisoner interrogation program, an internal report concluded Tuesday. The Justice Department inspector general, who investigated Mr. Gonzales's handling of the documents, said he kept classified material at his home and in an office safe in violation of security procedures. The inspector general referred the matter to the national security division of the Justice Department for possible criminal action, but officials there declined to prosecute Mr. Gonzales. The most sensitive material among the documents was Mr. Gonzales's handwritten account of an emergency meeting at the White House on March 10, 2004, regarding the N.S.A. wiretapping program.
http://benton.org/node/16491
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4 JOURNALISTS ARRESTED AS MINNEAPOLIS PROTESTS TURN VIOLENT
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Ten thousand people marched peacefully against the War in Iraq not far from the Xcel Energy Center Republican National Convention site. But late Monday afternoon, long after the antiwar marchers had dispersed, police requested and got 150 Minnesota National Guard soldiers to help control splinter groups near downtown. Protesters attacked delegates, smashed windows, punctured car tires and threw bottles. Police wielding pepper spray arrested at least 56 people. At least four journalists were among those detained, including Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke and Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, a nationally syndicated public radio and TV news program. Many of those involved in the more violent protest were clad in black and identified themselves to reporters as anarchists. They wrought havoc by damaging property and setting at least one fire. Free Press called on St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and local law enforcement officials to drop all charges against all journalists arrested while covering protests.
http://benton.org/node/16481
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TWO J-STUDENTS AND ADVISOR STILL JAILED IN RNC PROTESTS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Two University of Kentucky journalism students and their newspaper adviser remained jailed Tuesday night, more than a day after they were swept up with nearly 300 others during protests in downtown St. Paul. Police arrested students Edward C. Matthews and Britney D. McIntosh along with adviser Jim Winn on Monday afternoon. All came to the Twin Cities to document protests held in response to the Republican National Convention, meeting this week in St. Paul.
http://benton.org/node/16487
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
GUSTAV BRINGS DOWN CELL, INTERNET SERVICE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
Power outages caused by Hurricane Gustav brought down cellular and Internet service in parts of Louisiana, but its impact was much milder than that of Katrina. AT&T, the main landline phone company in the state, said it had 2,000 employees working to assess damage and perform repairs. Most of its cellular towers in areas hit by the hurricane were working Tuesday, according to spokesman Drew Giblin. Verizon Wireless said fewer than 1 percent of its Gulf Coast cell towers were out of operation Tuesday morning, mostly due to power outages. "Power is the only critical issue affecting our network," added Sprint Nextel Corp. spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge-Walsh. On Tuesday morning, the company was waiting for permission from officials to enter stricken areas so it could connect portable generators to blacked-out cell sites and refill the fuel tanks of those that have their own generators. T-Mobile USA said it had also some network disruptions in south-central Louisiana due to commercial power issues. The Associated Press bureau in New Orleans had no landline phone service Tuesday morning, and reporters had problems with their cell phones. Katrina had a wider impact on telecommunications in 2005, prompting the Federal Communications Commission to propose a requirement that cellular carriers have eight-hour backup batteries for all their cell sites. Wireless industry association CTIA, Sprint and T-Mobile fought the requirement in court and have prevented it from taking effect. The carriers say that requiring each cell site, even in areas that aren't disaster-prone, to have its own backup power is expensive and robs the companies of the flexibility to deploy generators in more sensitive areas.
http://benton.org/node/16480
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
HURRICANE PALIN
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Jack Shafer]
[Commentary] Starved to the point of collapse from the restricted-calorie diet served at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the press needed a news feast to restore its powers. With the Republicans' convention lite staring them in the face, the ravenous press corps decided to switch the menu from St. Paul to New Orleans. Now that Hurricane Gustav has fizzled, there is only one disaster story to cover, and Alaska Gov Sarah Palin is it. Thanks to McCain's miscue, everything the press touches about Palin turns into a scoop: her earmark flip-flops, her political inexperience, her Alaska Independence Party connection, her views on teaching "creationism," her book-banning phase, plus the "troopergate" scandal, her husband's ancient DUI, and her pregnant teenage daughter. And the press rampage has only just begun. Steve Schmidt, Sen John McCain's top campaign strategist, accused the news media Tuesday of being "on a mission to destroy" Gov Palin by displaying "a level of viciousness and scurrilousness" in pursuing questions about her personal life.
http://benton.org/node/16490
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GOP TO NETWORKS: PLEASE COVER US
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sam Youngman]
Republican officials are asking the television networks to expand coverage of their convention now that Hurricane Gustav is no longer a threat to New Orleans. Sen McCain decided to move ahead with the partisan convention program after consulting with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
http://benton.org/node/16479
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OBAMA MET WITH FOX NEWS EXECUTIVES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
At a secret meeting with Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) three months ago, Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes says, he tried to clear the air with the Democratic senator by saying that his organization was determined to be fair but would not be "in the tank" for Obama's campaign. During the sit-down in a Waldorf-Astoria hotel suite in Manhattan that included Rupert Murdoch, the network's owner, Obama expressed concern about the way Fox was covering him. "I just wanted to know if I'm going to get a fair shake from Fox News Channel," Ailes recalled him saying. "Senator, you're the one who boycotted us," Ailes says he replied. "We're not the ones who boycotted you. Nor did we retaliate for your boycott." The meeting appears to have eased tensions between the two camps, which began when all the Democratic candidates, complaining that the network favors Republicans, refused to hold any primary-season debates on Fox. After resisting invitations for months, Obama now plans to appear on Bill O'Reilly's prime-time Fox program on Thursday, the night that John McCain delivers his acceptance speech at the Republican convention. Sen Obama told the Australian-born mogul that he didn't want to waste time talking to Ailes if Fox was going to keep attacking the senator and his wife and portraying him as suspicious and foreign.
http://benton.org/node/16489
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PASTORS' WEB ELECTIONEERING ATTRACTS US REVIEWS OF TEX EXEMPTIONS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Paul Vitello]
When Pastor James David Manning posted an angry sermon in February on the Web site of his church, the Atlah World Ministries, denouncing Sen Barack Obama, his preaching spread like a virus on YouTube, earning lavish attention on right-wing talk shows — and two weeks ago, the less-welcome attention of a watchdog group, which filed a formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service. The I.R.S., which can revoke the tax exemptions of churches that express support or opposition to candidates for public office, has declined to say whether it is reviewing Mr. Manning's case. But in the past year, the agency has undertaken its first serious look at the digitized church world that his sermon represents, issuing a set of new guidelines that bar electioneering on the Web. Both partisan-minded religious groups and those that police the boundaries between church and state say the implications of that new scrutiny are great.
http://benton.org/node/16488
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DEMOCRATS CONVENTION AND PALIN VP PICK FUEL ELECTION COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
Coverage of the 2008 Presidential campaign reached its highest level last week with the drama-filled Democratic convention and the stunning Republican choice of a running mate. When it was over, the campaign filled 69% of the overall newshole from Aug. 25-Aug. 31, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That represents, by a substantial margin, the highest level of weekly election coverage since PEJ began tracking it in January 2007. The previous high was 55% the week of Super Tuesday. Last week also kicked off a new phase of the campaign with Election Day looming two months away. From June 9 through Aug. 24—the so-called summer doldrums when voters prefer the beach to politics—the campaign accounted for 27% of the overall newshole examined by PEJ. Last week, with the convention season underway and the VP selections completed, that total more than doubled.
http://benton.org/node/16486
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BASED SOLELY ON OLYMPIC ADS, MCCAIN WINS
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Steve McClellan]
In the Olympics, both Sens McCain and Obama spent between $5-6 million on ads. And according to the analysis by Nielsen IAG, based on responses of 1,600 likely general election voters who tuned in to the Beijing Games, McCain's Olympic ads were tops in what the research firm labels "breakthrough" (essentially aided recall), candidate recall, effectiveness in communicating the basic message and intent-to-vote increase. The research focused on four ads, two from each candidate. McCain's "Celebrity" ad, the one negative commercial in the batch, portrayed Obama as an empty-headed celebrity lacking in substantive ideas. The ad broke through by a margin of 18 percentage points higher than Obama's best scoring ad, and with a communication effectiveness rating of 90 percent, also far exceeding Obama's ads. But there was also significant backlash for McCain from the "Celebrity" ad. While 17 percent said they had a lower opinion of Obama after seeing the ad, and 22 percent said they'd be more likely to vote for McCain, 27 percent said they'd be less likely to vote for McCain after seeing his negative ad.
http://benton.org/node/16478
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MCCAIN CAMPAIGN PULLS ADS IN WAKE OF GUSTAV
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]
Sen John McCain's campaign (R-AZ) suspended advertising for the week because of the storm. The suspension comes at a cost. This is the last week the campaign can spend money raised for the primary. Once McCain is formally nominated Thursday, his campaign gets federal financing and can no longer use funding raised in the primary for expenses.
http://benton.org/node/16477
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
THE LIMITS OF 'UNLIMITED'
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Comcast announced that, starting Oct 1, it will impose a 250 GB cap on usage. At the moment, the announcement is relatively benign, although there are lots of dangers lurking in the weeds. However, this new cap doesn't appear to help Comcast meet its network management challenges. By Comcast's own admission, this new cap will, at the moment, affect less than one percent of their users, so it's not as if demand will be suppressed sufficiently to help the network run more smoothly. The whole concept of a "heavy user" is, of course, open to interpretation. Today's heavy user is tomorrow's medium or light user. It's like buying a computer. Today's newest and fastest model will be the middle of the road in a few months. As more bandwidth-intensive applications become more prevalent, whether streaming HD movies or gaming, customers are going to use lots more of their more or less unlimited bandwidth. We don't know how Comcast will adjust the cap as time goes on. We do know that it will have to be adjusted.
http://benton.org/node/16476
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PRICE WAR ERUPTS FOR HIGH-SPEED INTERNET SERVICE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Vishesh Kumar]
The battle between cable and phone companies to sign up new customers for high-speed Internet service is heating up, creating fresh opportunities for consumers to cut their bills. While the most generous offers are coming from the phone companies, some analysts expect cable companies will also become more aggressive in their own promotions as they compete to retain customers.
http://benton.org/node/16475
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INTERNET TRAFFIC BEGINS TO BYPASS THE US
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff]
Invented by American computer scientists during the 1970s, the Internet has been embraced around the globe. During the network's first three decades, most Internet traffic flowed through the United States. In many cases, data sent between two locations within a given country also passed through the United States. Engineers who help run the Internet said that it would have been impossible for the United States to maintain its hegemony over the long run because of the very nature of the Internet; it has no central point of control. And now, the balance of power is shifting. Data is increasingly flowing around the United States, which may have intelligence -- and conceivably military -- consequences.
http://benton.org/node/16474
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START-UP WANTS TO PROVIDE FREE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
M2Z is a small wireless start-up with a big goal: free broadband for the masses. Milo Medin, M2Z's chairman and co-founder and a broadband pioneer, wants the ad-supported service to ultimately be available to 95% of the USA. To make that happen, the company must snag a chunk of wireless airwaves being auctioned next year by the Federal Communications Commission. If all goes according to plan, free broadband could be available as early as fall 2009. M2Z's success hinges on whether it is able to buy wireless spectrum known as advanced wireless services-3, or AWS-3. The spectrum could fetch $50 million, at least. A number of companies are eyeing the block. Wireless carriers are grousing about M2Z's plan, saying the new service could cause service disruptions for their data customers. The most vocal opponent, by far, is T-Mobile. It spent $4 billion two years ago to buy the AWS-1 block, which abuts the now-idle AWS-3 spectrum. Medin says incumbents are just trying to throw out roadblocks. Why? Because they don't want to compete against free broadband, he says.
http://benton.org/node/16485
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BROADCASTING/CABLE
MEDIA WATCHDOG REVIVES LICENSE CHALLENGE OVER ELECTION COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Chicago Sun Times, AUTHOR: Robert Feder]
[Commentary] A Chicago watchdog group that challenged the license renewals of nine Chicago television stations won't take "no" for an answer. Despite two earlier rejections of their petitions by the Federal Communications Commission, Chicago Media Action has filed yet another appeal to deny the renewals, claiming the stations failed to provide adequate news coverage of elections in 2004. The group hopes a change in the White House and a reconstituted FCC might look more favorably on the appeal next year.
http://benton.org/node/16473
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VERIZON ARGUES AGAINST CLASS-A LPTV MUST-CARRY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission is getting push-back from cable and telco programmers on its proposal to extend must-carry status to class-A low-power TV stations. Currently, cable operators only have to carry a single class-A low-power, and only if there are a dearth of full-powers in the market to meet the cable must-carry set-aside. The FCC proposed that as part of a package of initiatives to encourage programming diversity and localism. But in comments to the FCC, Verizon Communications argued that granting must-carry status to low-powers would not necessarily promote diversity, and could even harm it by pushing existing channels off the air. Cable's monopoly power has eroded so much that forcing cable systems to carry local TV stations is no longer a legally sustainable policy. The company said that maybe at one time cable operators had market power that government needed to address. But that market power, it added, no longer exists to the extent it did in 1992 when Congress imposed so-called TV station must carry requirements on cable operators.
http://benton.org/node/16472
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WILMINGTON (NC) GETS READY FOR SWITCH TO DIGITAL TV
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
At noon on Monday, Wilmington's five commercial broadcast stations are scheduled to become the nation's first to permanently switch to all-digital signals, serving as a test of the government-mandated transition that other stations across the country will make in February. Dozen FCC staffers have spent the summer crisscrossing the region like tourists to raise public awareness. By all accounts the region is ready after the unprecedented FCC effort, which supplemented an aggressive publicity campaign by broadcasters. But the all-out federal effort is a major reason a successful test of what one Wilmington station has dubbed "the big switch" could turn out to be a big illusion. "It's great Wilmington has come forward and offered to be the canary in the coal mine," said Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst with Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. "But we have several concerns about just how good a canary Wilmington is going to be." One is that no other place will get the type of personal oversight that the FCC has showered on Wilmington. Other media markets will be visited by only a single FCC commissioner, accompanied by a few staffers, for a couple of days.
http://benton.org/node/16484
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PENNSYLVANIA TV STATIONS TO TEST ANALOG CUTOFF NOV 17
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Pennsylvania TV stations set Nov 17 for a test of the analog cutoff. So, far, about 40 stations have signed on for the one-minute test, either actually pulling the plug on analog broadcasts and leaving viewers with snow, or a "soft" test, in which the analog signal will be a message that if they are watching that message, "you or your pay TV provider are not ready for Feb. 17, 2009 -- the date analog television ends."
http://benton.org/node/16471
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TRIBUNE TV STATIONS DOWNPLAY AFFILIATION WITH CW NETWORK
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
The CW television network launched its new fall prime-time season with some of its highest ratings Monday night, but not before its TV station partner, Tribune, took steps to downplay its association with the youth-oriented network. Chicago-based Tribune, which also owns the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, has begun redesigning some of its websites, including that of KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles, by dropping the CW network brand and instead focusing on its local identity. The moves underscore the uneasy alliance between Tribune, which is under pressure to boost revenue amid a slowdown in advertising, and the CW, which failed last season to attract a large audience. The CW's pursuit of young viewers clashes with Tribune's focus on its newscasts, which generate most of its TV stations' revenue and appeal to older viewers. 13 of 23 Tribune stations air CW programs.
http://benton.org/node/16483
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QUICKLY -- Internet Evolution; TV 'Advocacy' Commercials Don't Tell The Whole Story
INTERNET EVOLUTION
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: John Horrigan]
The text of John Horrigan's keynote speech to the Progress & Freedom Foundation's Aspen Summit. The Summit's theme was "unlocking innovation" and the speech talks about what user behavior tells us about the current climate for innovation. Horrigan argues that the great variety of user behavior presents opportunities for innovators and that, with the advent of the mobile Internet, openness and security online are crucial to a healthy climate for innovation.
http://benton.org/node/16470
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TV 'ADVOCACY' COMMERCIALS DON'T TELL THE WHOLE STORY
[SOURCE: TVWatch, AUTHOR: Wayne Friedman]
Networks have problems with some TV commercials not because they present someone's opinion -- their "advocacy" -- but because the opinions, and presentation of what are deemed "facts" come at others' expense.
http://benton.org/node/16469
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AMERICANS CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT DVRs: SURVEY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
According to a survey commissioned by NDS, which sells DVR software, most Americans say a digital video recorder is indispensable -- and that it has improved their marriages by decreasing the likelihood of arguments over what to watch and allowing couples to watch shows of mutual interest together. About 81% of Americans surveyed said a DVR is an essential technology, beaten only by those who said they couldn't live without their mobile phone (92%).
http://benton.org/node/16482
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