BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2008 (Shana Tova)
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ECONOMY
Financial crisis: The tech innovations at risk
House websites slowed by e-mails on bailout bill
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Economy, Debate Drive News Narrative
Palin: McCain campaign's end-run around media
McCain, Palin Deride "Gotcha" Press
McCain, Obama Ads Run in Network News
McCain-Obama debate draws 52.4 million viewers
McCain Backers Prefer TV; Obama's Pan Media
Obama Leads In Web Traffic, McCain In Paid Search
Obama to Arbitron: Delay PPM Rollout
CLC Urges FCC to Deny Internet-TV Station Exemption
NEWS FROM CONGRESS
Calls for 100Mbps broadband likely to go unheard... this year
Communications Bills Stalled by Wall St, Election
Congress Passes IP Bill with Provision Administration Opposes
Bill would force satellite radio units to go digital
Lawmakers Back Longer Retrans Quiet Period
INTERNET/BROADBAND
USDA Announces $342 Million in Rural Broadband, Telecommunications Loans
Telcos, IT companies unite to promote mobile broadband
Transpacific undersea cable completed
Security risks rise as smartphones become smarter
Korbel sues over postings on Craigslist
QUICKLY -- Sky 'should offer rivals premium content'
ECONOMY
FINANCIAL CRISIS: THE TECH INNOVATIONS AT RISK
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: John Edwards]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777 points, or 6.98 percent, to 10,365.45 as the House of Representatives rejected a plan to bail out financial markets. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 9.14 percent, falling 199.61 to 1983.73, and shares in some of the biggest names in technology fell even more steeply. Now that most of the major investment banks and sundry financial services firms have either evaporated, transformed, or been absorbed by other companies, an untold number of vendors in fields ranging from business intelligence to cloud computing are sadly waving good-bye to many of their prime customers. As October dawns, vendors that once served a seemingly reliable and stable market are now awakening to a starkly altered reality. The most obvious technology at risk from the financial services firms' meltdown is analytics, including business intelligence. Fewer customers with cutting-edge needs, combined with slowing revenue, may have the long-term effect of stifling innovation. Beyond BI and risk analytics, vendors active in such diverse fields as SOA, SANs, and cloud computing can also expect to feel at least some of the effects of a collapsed financial services industry.
http://benton.org/node/17427
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HOUSE WEBSITES SLOWED BY E-MAILS ON BAILOUT BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Public interest and concern over the bailout bill has caused a significant slowdown on the website of the House of Representatives. E-mail traffic in recent days has increased in volume by three or four times the normal rate, according to Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer. He attributed the resulting slowdown to "the extraordinary interest in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and a dramatic increase in the number of constituents e-mailing their members of Congress surrounding the bill."
http://benton.org/node/17415
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA
ECONOMY, DEBATE DRIVE NEWS NARRATIVE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
From the halls of the Capitol to the campus of Ole Miss, it was a week of high drama in the campaign. For the second week in a row, what has been called the gravest economic crisis since the Depression generated more coverage than the election. It filled 40% of the time studied on television and radio and space in print and online for Sept. 22-28, according to the News Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. And it further raised the possibility that the economy may frame the coming days of the election narrative. The campaign was the No. 2 story of the week, filling 33% of the newshole. Within the campaign coverage itself, or PEJ's Campaign Coverage Index, the No. 1 storyline last week, at 24%, was the candidates' response to the situation. Right behind it, at 23% of the campaign newshole, was the narrative that stemmed from John McCain's decision to suspend campaigning. The third-biggest storyline, at 7%, concerned the debate itself and the media post-mortems.
http://benton.org/node/17425
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PALIN: MCCAIN CAMPAIGN'S END-RUN AROUND MEDIA
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Joe Garofoli]
The McCain campaign is attempting to do something unheard of in the modern political era. It is not just running against the mainstream media, it is running around it. It's about the GOP's continued sheltering of its vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov Sarah Palin. She has yet to hold a major press conference 32 days after McCain announced her as his running mate - and that's not changing anytime soon. McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb said Palin will do at least one news conference before election day. That could mean that the person who could potentially lead the free world will have done one national press conference before being sworn into office. The Democratic vice presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has given more than 89 national and local interviews over roughly the same period of time.
http://benton.org/node/17426
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MCCAIN, PALIN DERIDE "GOTCHA" PRESS
[SOURCE: CBS Evening News, AUTHOR: Katie Couric]
In an interview that appeared on CBS Evening News, Couric noted Gov Sarah Palin's statement that the US should absolutely launch cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to, quote, "stop the terrorists from coming any further in." The position seems similar to that taken by Sen Barack Obama, but derided by Sen John McCain. Couric asked if Sen McCain if that was something that should have been said out loud. McCain answered, "Of course not. But, look, I understand this day and age of "gotcha" journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear ... the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation, grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country ..." After Couric asked Gov Palin if she is sorry she made the statement, Sen McCain said, "Before you say, 'is she sorry she said it,' this was a 'gotcha' sound bite.... she was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth." Gov Palin said, "[T]his is all about 'gotcha' journalism."
http://benton.org/node/17422
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MCCAIN, OBAMA ADS RUN IN NETWORK NEWS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: David Bauder]
Savannah Guthrie filed a hard-hitting report on NBC's "Nightly News" recently questioning the truth of some McCain-Palin campaign statements on the "bridge to nowhere" and Sarah Palin's foreign travel. Guthrie's story challenged the claims in one of McCain's TV commercials. A few minutes later, "Nightly News" ran one of McCain's campaign spots during a commercial break. It made for an odd juxtaposition, one not unique to NBC. Evening newscasts on ABC and CBS also ran McCain commercials during the past few weeks. Ads supporting a candidate for office are nothing new to local news viewers, but were once frowned upon - if not banned outright - from the networks' flagship newscasts. The worry was they could get in the way of the journalism. Though the practice may have changed, some experts feel the concerns haven't. "It can be confusing and, more importantly, distracting to the news coverage," said Bob Steele, a DePauw University professor and scholar for journalism values at the Poynter Institute. The networks don't consider it much of an issue since ads frequently flood local news programs.
http://benton.org/node/17421
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MCCAIN-OBAMA DEBATE DRAWS 52.4 MILLION VIEWERS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
The nationally televised debate last week between presidential contenders John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) drew 52.4 million US viewers -- just shy of the 52.7 million viewers who tuned in last Wednesday to see President George W. Bush's prime-time address urging swift congressional action on the financial crisis. The debate was shown on 11 broadcast and cable networks.
http://benton.org/node/17420
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MCCAIN BACKERS PREFER TV, OBAMA'S PAN MEDIA
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: John Consoli]
A majority of Republican presidential candidate John McCain's supporters get their news and entertainment from television, while a majority of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's supporters tend to be "media generalists" who get their news and entertainment from assorted media platforms, according to a new study by media agency MediaVest. The survey found that 65 percent of voters are paying more attention to the presidential election campaign than they did in 2004 and that 50 percent plan to increase their election-based media use through the election.
http://benton.org/node/17419
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OBAMA LEADS IN WEB TRAFFIC, MCCAIN IN PAID SPEECH
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Mark Walsh]
Web sites backing Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) -- including his own campaign sites -- are generating five times more traffic than those supporting Sen John McCain (R-AZ), according to a new study. In the report, "Searching for the Next President," Web marketing analytics firm AdGooroo found that Obama sites are drawing more than 20 million visitors per month, compared to about 4 million for McCain. Obama's huge traffic advantage is not a big surprise, given that the Obama has relied heavily on the Internet to build enthusiasm for his campaign and to raise money. Despite his smaller Web presence, however, McCain is drawing nearly 11% more traffic from politically neutral sites than the Obama campaign. If the race comes down to undecided voters, as some political experts have suggested, then that finding could be a positive signal for McCain. At the same time, McCain also has a higher proportion of sites directed against him, at 29% to 15%.
http://benton.org/node/17418
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OBAMA TO ARBITRON: DELAY PPM ROLLOUT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) weighed in on the Arbitron Portable People Meter radio-measurement-system rollout in eight markets, saying that he thinks the rollout should be delayed until the system is accredited by the Media Research Center. The MRC was created by Congress to vet media-ratings systems, although seeking its accreditation is voluntary, not mandatory. In a letter to Arbitron president Stephen Morris, Sen Obama and Sen Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said they were concerned that the meters -- which are replacing paper diaries in radio-audience measurement -- were undercounting minorities.
http://benton.org/node/17417
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CLC URGES FCC TO DENY INTERNET-TV STATION EXEMPTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
If it walks like a partisan campaign operation and talks like a partisan campaign operation, it should not qualify for the press exemption from campaign-finance restrictions. That's according to the Campaign Legal Center, which Monday asked the Federal Election Commission to rule that a proposed Internet-TV station did not qualify for the exemption. The center's filing came in response to a request from self-described proposed Internet-TV station Melothe for a ruling from the FEC on whether, as described, the group would qualify for the exemption, and if it did, if it could also solicit funds on the part of the candidates it "covered." Companies engaged in newsgathering do not have their expenditures for news coverage or commentary on a candidate counted as in-kind campaign contributions. The exemption from regulations on "contributions" to federal elections applies to "any news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, unless such facilities are owned or controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate," according to campaign law. The press exemption has been expanded to include online-news operations, but the definition of news operation is not a bright line and the CLC said Melothe definitely crosses it.
http://benton.org/node/17416
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NEWS FROM CONGRESS
CALLS FOR 100MBPS BROADBAND LIKELY TO GO UNHEARD... THIS YEAR
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
[Commentary] The US broadband strategy is not to have a strategy. Not only will the market's invisible hand dig those trenches for us, and then lay down the necessary wiring (thanks, ghostly fingers!), but it will ensure that speeds shoot ever upward, and US broadband is the envy of the world. Not only should the government butt out of the process, it shouldn't even set aspirational goals. How has this plan been working out? According to the Communications Workers of America and the Fiber-to-the-Home Council, not real well. This week, they called on Congress to pass a pair of resolutions that would set national goals, and come up with at least some plan for attaining speeds of 100Mbps by 2015. The resolutions in questions are H.Res.1292 and S.Res.191. Both call for the same thing: a baseline goal of universal, symmetrical 10Mbps access by 2010, increasing to 100Mbps in five more years. The resolution also asks relevant Congressional committees to talk with the President, and develop a plan by the end of 2009 to actually make the idea a reality. Much of the US remains far from these goals as 2008 winds down. The Communication Workers of America's 2008 study on broadband speeds shows, for instance, that Ars' home state of Illinois has tested median download speeds of 2.5Mbps this year, with an abysmal upload speed of 485Kbps. And numerous rural counties in the state get less than 700Kbps down. Half the states in the US are doing worse even than this, though Rhode Island takes the top spot at 6.7Mbps. As reports have indicated, this isn't good enough to keep us from falling behind the rest of the world.
http://benton.org/node/17414
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COMMUNICATIONS BILLS STALLED BY WALL ST, ELECTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The latest attempt at a federal shield law was introduced in 2007 to much fanfare. It was a bipartisan bill given the best chance in decades of finally giving journalists and their sources protections from overzealous prosecutors, a protection most states already grant. But with only a sliver of a chance of passage in a lame-duck session, that effort will likely have to wait until a new Congress and administration. As Senate Commerce Committee general counsel Christine Kurth told a group of broadcasters in Washington, DC, last week, "It is increasingly hard to pass any stand-alone legislation." Other bills that likely will have to wait for the next Congress, if then, include the Federal Communications Commission-blocking resolution announced with much fanfare by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that would block an easing of media-ownership rules. That bill actually passed the Senate by a voice vote, but a House version has not gone anywhere, mirroring a similar attempt to block the FCC's media-ownership-rule rewrite in 2003. While stand-alone bills don't stand much of a chance, the communications-related bill with arguably the best chance of making it into law would give the National Telecommunications and Information Administration an additional $20 million to send out DTV-to-analog converter-box coupons and give the FCC $20 million for DTV education/outreach. Both of those were appended last week to the continuing resolution that would allow the government to continue to be funded through the March installation of a new administration. It was passed by the House last week.
http://benton.org/node/17413
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CONGRESS PASSES IP BILL WITH PROVISION ADMINISTRATION OPPOSES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The House Sunday passed the Intellectual Property Enforcement bill, legislation backed by studios and publishers that boosts the government's effort to crack down on intellectual piracy. The bill already passed the Senate Friday after a provision was removed that would have given the Justice Department the power to pursue civil cases against copyright infringers. That and another provision still in the bill ran afoul of both the Justice and Commerce Departments. But the bill, as passed by both Houses and heading for the president's desk, still contains a provision for creating an IP-enforcement-coordinating post in the White House's Office of the President, which Commerce and Justice said they objected to strongly as a violation of separation of powers. It now remains to be seen whether the White House wants to take on a veto fight on a bipartisan bill -- it passed the Senate by unanimous consent and the House by a margin of 381-41.
http://benton.org/node/17412
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BILL WOULD FORCE SATELLITE RADIO UNITS TO GO DIGITAL
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The Federal Communications Commission is asking for public comment on whether to require satellite radio receivers to pick up digital radio signals. But Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) said the answer should be yes, and he's not waiting for the FCC to make the call. Markey's "Radio All Digital Channel Receiver Act" (H.R. 7157) would mandate that devices designed to receive both the new merged Sirius XM Radio service and terrestrial AM/FM radio be able to receive digital radio too. Markey's bill is co-sponsored by an interesting and bipartisan bunch of House members, including three staunch Clear Channel supporters, Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), Greg Walden (R-OR), and Lee Terry (R-NE).
http://benton.org/node/17411
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LAWMAKERS BACK LONGER RETRANS QUIET PERIOD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Nathan Deal (R-GA) weighed in with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin asking for a retransmission-consent quiet period that starts before the end of the year and extends beyond the Feb. 17, 2009, date for the switch to full-power digital TV. They say there is a "significant risk" that "more than a few" stations could be pulled from cable systems in January, given that a bunch of retrans deals expire Dec. 31. There are others expiring Oct. 1, as well.
http://benton.org/node/17410
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
USDA ANNOUNCES $342 MILLION IN RURAL BROADBAND, TELECOMMUNICATIONS LOANS
[SOURCE: US Department of Agriculture]
On September 26, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced that broadband and telecommunications loans totaling more than $342 million were awarded to 18 communications firms serving 22 states. The funds are meant to help bring new and improved telecommunications services to rural residents and businesses. The loans are being made through the Rural Development Broadband Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, which provides low-interest loans to deploy broadband and telecommunications services to rural communities of 20,000 residents or less, with first priority going to areas without broadband. Rural Development is also providing funding through the Telecommunications Infrastructure Loan Program, which makes loans to local firms working to provide both voice and broadband services in areas with 5,000 or fewer citizens.
http://benton.org/node/17409
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TELCOS, IT COMPANIES UNITE TO PROMOTE MOBILE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Niclas Mika]
A group of 16 leading telecoms and IT companies is uniting to promote mobile broadband in a marketing initiative worth more than $1 billion over the next year under the auspices of the GSM Association. The companies -- which include Vodafone, Microsoft and Asustek -- aim to make it simpler for consumers to identify laptops that have built-in access to the Internet via high-speed, next-generation HSPA and LTE networks. Many in the telecoms and computer industries believe that most people in the world will have their first and perhaps only experience of the Internet via a mobile device.
http://benton.org/node/17424
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TRANSPACIFIC UNDERSEA CABLE COMPLETED
[SOURCE: Dow Jones, AUTHOR: In-Soo Nam]
Six of the world's biggest telecommunications companies have completed the construction of a high-speed undersea telecommunications cable system across the Pacific. The fiber-optic cable, called Trans-Pacific Express, will directly link the U.S., China, South Korea and Taiwan. The 18,000 kilometer undersea cable will offer an alternative to the single low-capacity cable that now provides the only direct link between mainland China and the U.S. Currently, most Web traffic between the two countries has to go through Hong Kong or Japan, at times causing transmission delays. The $500 million project was signed in December 2006 by Verizon and its partners; KT Corp., China Telecom, China Netcom Group, China Unicom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom.
http://benton.org/node/17408
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SECURITY RISKS RISE AS SMARTPHONES BECOME SMARTER
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Jeremy Kirk]
As wireless devices become more numerous within businesses, their convenience will be counterbalanced by an increasing potential for security problems, according to a Gartner analyst. New trends in the wireless industry are making it easier for hacking attacks, said John Girard, a Gartner vice president. A few years ago, there was not a lot of standardization across wireless devices. Differing operating systems, differing implementations of mobile Java, and even varying configurations among devices with the same operating system made it hard to write malicious code that ran on a wide array of devices, Girard said. But that's changing as the quality control gets better on widely used platforms such as Microsoft's Windows Mobile and the Symbian operating system, he said. That standardization makes it easier for attackers to write code that will run on many devices.
http://benton.org/node/17407
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KORBEL SUES OVER POSTINGS ON CRAIGLIST
[SOURCE: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa CA), AUTHOR: Steve Hart]
In a case that could test the limits of free speech on the Internet, Sonoma County's Korbel Champagne Cellars is suing anonymous critics on a Craigslist message board, saying their false statements are hurting the century-old company's reputation. The postings accuse Korbel of punishing employees who reported sexual harassment. They also contend the winery is plotting to cut down redwood forests on its Guerneville property. "They are completely and absolutely false," said Terry Fahn, a Korbel spokesman. Korbel is seeking damages and an injunction barring the unidentified writers from posting libelous comments on the popular Web site. The company will not say if it has obtained the names from Craigslist. Defamation has become a hot issue with the explosive growth of the Internet, which gives ordinary people a chance to post comments anonymously to a worldwide audience.
http://benton.org/node/17406
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QUICKLY
SKY 'SHOULD OFFER RIVALS PREMIUM CONTENT'
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Parker]
British Sky Broadcasting, the UK satellite pay-television operator, should make its live Premier League football and blockbuster movies available to rivals at regulated wholesale prices, media watchdog Ofcom said on Tuesday. In what could be a significant setback for Sky and its business model, Ofcom said it had found that the satellite TV company exercised "market power" in the wholesale supply of premium content to rivals.
http://benton.org/node/17423
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OK, OK... "White Sox. White Sox. Go, Go, White Sox"