USAToday

[Commentary] Donald Trump hardly has a record as a champion of the press. It's somewhat surprising that his choice of running mate, Gov Mike Pence (R-IN), over the years has been a stalwart champion of freedom of the press.

During his years in Congress, Pence was a leader in the persistent, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort to pass a shield law, which in many instances would protect journalists from being forced to identify confidential sources. In an op-ed in The Washington Times in 2008, Pence gave a ringing endorsement to the importance of an aggressive press in a free society, one that would have been right at home in a dispatch from the American Society of News Editors. But Pence stumbled mightily over the government/media relationship early in 2015 when his administration made plans to set up what essentially would have been a government-run news service. According to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star, the news service was to feature articles by state press secretaries that would be published on a website and made available for use by news outlets around the state. Once the plan leaked, it was instantly derided as a ploy to disseminate government-sanctioned news that would be more at home in a totalitarian state than in a democracy.

Two of the largest US technology firms rolled out products recently that reflect a new normal for those who operate important online networks. Now under attack "constantly" by cyber criminals, government agents and other hackers, companies are finding the best way to keep their users and customers safe on the Internet is to innovate.

The new tools from Facebook and AT&T are designed to do just that in this heightened threat environment. After more than three years of development, AT&T demonstrated a new security tool in San Francisco (Ca) it says will allow it to respond to network threats 95% faster. The product, called Threat Intellect, combines machine learning analysis with all the data that AT&T has collected on myriad cyber threats. Facebook, meanwhile, launched a new encryption feature for users of its Messenger service. The so-called end-to-end encryption can be applied to any two users who select it for an online conversation. The technology produces a set of two encryption keys — known only to the users — that make it impossible even for Facebook to see the content of the messages.

[Commentary] The White House Correspondents’ Association is alarmed by the treatment of the press in the 2016 presidential campaign. The public’s right to know is infringed if certain reporters are banned from a candidate's events because the candidate doesn’t like a story they have written or broadcast, as Donald Trump has done. Similarly, refusing to regularly answer questions from reporters in a press conference, as Hillary Clinton has, deprives the American people of hearing from their potential commander-in-chief in a format that is critical to ensuring he or she is accountable for policy positions and official acts.

We believe that whenever media access is restricted, the public’s right to know is restricted. Transparency is the key to a well-informed electorate, and without a well-informed electorate, our democracy is put in jeopardy. We will continue to advocate for more access during this presidential campaign. If we cannot do our job, then the American people cannot do theirs. That’s why we are concerned both with the rhetoric directed at the media in this campaign and the level of press access to the candidates. Both Clinton and Trump can do better.

[Carol Lee, the outgoing president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, is the White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Jeff Mason, incoming president of the WHCA, is the White House correspondent for Reuters.]

[Commentary] We know big-name tech CEOs want no part of the diversity debate. But at least we know who they are. Largely anonymous boards of directors for the tech industry are conspicuously silent and -- for decades -- have been the province of white, older men.

They are equally to blame for hiring trends that skew toward younger, white males, as illustrated in diversity reports recently released by Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Progress on boards for women has been glacial, and nearly non-existent for African-Americans and Hispanics. White men held about 75% of the board seats on the 500 largest publicly traded companies, vs. 5.5% for male African-Americans in 2012, the most recent year in which data was available, according to the Alliance for Board Diversity.

Launched in 2012, Girls Who Code's summer program has grown from 20 girls in one classroom to 380 girls in classrooms at 16 companies across the country.

Founder Reshma Saujani is addressing a pressing challenge for the tech industry: There are not enough computer science graduates to fill openings. Nearly three quarters of girls in middle school express interest in engineering, science and math. Yet, by the time they are in college, very few major in computer science.

Fifty-seven percent of bachelor's degrees are earned by women but just 18% of computer science degrees go to women. Women make up half of the US workforce but hold just 25% of the jobs in technical and computing fields.

The figures are even starker for women of color. Black women make up just 3% of the computing work force and Hispanic women just 2%.

So far the results from Girls Who Code show that early intervention is the key, Saujani says. Of the graduates from the Girls Who Code summer program in 2013, 95% said they were definitely considering or were more likely to consider studying computer science in college and 99% said they were considering a career in technology.

A Q&A with Facebook Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Sandberg sat down with USA TODAY to discuss challenges her company and others are confronting, and on the importance of diversity in the tech industry.

“I think we all want our company makeup to reflect the makeup of the people who use our products,” she said.

Sandberg added that Facebook does not just want to release numbers, but move them. “At the broadest level, we are not going to fix the numbers for under-representation in technology or any industry until we fix our education system and until we fix the stereotypes about women and minorities in math and science,” she said.

How much would you -- or your teenager -- pay per month for a phone that can only access Facebook? A new phone plan being offered at Wal-Mart is promising just that, and it has some network neutrality advocates concerned.

The concern is that with only certain apps and services, white-listed (accepted senders) users of these plans are less likely to try competitors. For advocates of network neutrality, any kind of selective treatment raises a red flag. So-called "zero-rated" services -- in which the service pays for the data so users can access them for free -- are a source of consternation for net neutrality advocates.

[Commentary] The sound of silence. That's what we're hearing from tech's biggest names about their industry's woeful record on diversity in the workforce and the urgent need to improve it Not one high-ranking CEO has stepped up to provide leadership for the industry or articulate concrete plans for diversifying the workforce.

This is puzzling and disappointing.

Facebook said it passed 1.32 billion monthly active users during its ninth straight quarter of boffo financial results, the latest exclamation point in the American success story of Mark Zuckerberg.

The 2010s are shaping up as the decade of the social networking giant, as it immerses itself in mobile and video technology. "Facebook has become a tech powerhouse," says Craig Palli, chief strategy officer at app-marketing tech company Fiksu, pointing to Facebook's flourishing businesses in mobile, video and instant messaging.

PBS chief Paula Kerger is proud that the public broadcaster is more popular: It ranked sixth among all networks in prime time last May, up from ninth in 2013 and 12th in 2012. Like its competitors, one way to extend its reach is on-demand viewing, and its online audience (average age: 40) is much younger than its typical crowd.

Hit dramas like Downton Abbey, Sherlock and Call the Midwife have helped expand its reach by drawing in new viewers. So in an experiment, Ken Burns' latest project, 14-hour series The Roosevelts (Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor) will be offered in its entirety for online streaming a day after the first installment airs Sept 14, airing for seven consecutive nights in 2-hour blocks.