BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY MARCH 18, 2009
DIGITAL TELEVISION
Vast Majority of TV Stations to Keep Analog Until June 12
THE STIMULUS
NTIA Scales Back Plans for Broadband Grant Program Meetings
Definition of Innovative Programs at Issue at NTIA Roundtable
NCTA: Don't Harm Existing Broadband Networks
Report: Online learning a 'lifeline' in rural areas
Online Records Get Patients Involved in Care
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Obama's Effort on Budget Echoes Fall Campaign
Leahy, Cornyn Introduce FOIA Reform Bill
Flaws Abound in FOIA, If Obama Wants to Fix Them
CRS Guru: Lieberman Proposal Lacking
THE TRANSITION
Rockefeller: Commerce Nominee 'Gets It'
Kundra Reinstated
Heads Pop Up and Heads Roll: Let's Keep Track
JOURNALISM
Pelosi goes to bat to keep Bay Area papers alive
Concept of Newspapers as Nonprofits Gains Ground
Why the Print Industry Should Subsidize the Kindle
Extra! Extra! Are newspapers dying?
Newspapers Expand Digital Platforms
DIGITAL CONTENT
Kindle e-reader: A Trojan horse for free thought
Three Screens, One Question: How Will Audiences Consume Content In The New World
Spending Bill Funds IP Enforcement
ONLINE PRIVACY
EPIC asks FTC to probe Google privacy safety
Browser add-on locks out targeted advertising
Recent Comments on:
NTIA Grant Eligibility by msh317 and by Craig Settles
DIGITAL TELEVISION
VAST MAJORITY OF TV STATIONS TO KEEP ANALOG UNTIL JUNE 12
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to a release from the Federal Communications Commission, 927 broadcast TV stations plan to end their analog broadcasts on June 12, 2009 while 158 stations will make the switch to digital-only broadcasts earlier than that. Over 600 stations have already pulled the plug, but the remaining thousand-plus cover the majority of the country. About 75 stations want to convert on April 16. They will need to begin informing viewers of their plans this week.
http://benton.org/node/23425
Also see: Deadline Approaches For Final Analog Cut-off Election
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE STIMULUS
NTIA SCALES BACK PLANS FOR BROADBAND GRANT PROGRAM MEETINGS
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
As a result of the overwhelming demand from interested parties for meetings and the expedited time frames in the Recovery Act for making the broadband grant, loan, and loan guarantee funds available, NTIA will not able to accommodate all meeting requests received. The agency, however, does reserve the right to schedule such ex parte meetings as necessary to fulfill the needs of the Broadband Grant Program.
http://benton.org/node/23424
Recommend this Headline
back to top
DEFINITION OF INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS AT ISSUE AT NTIA ROUNDTABLE
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Broadband adoption is widely viewed as spurring innovation, but $7.2 billion had stakeholders gathered at Monday's public meeting on broadband funding to offer comments on what sort of "innovative programs" could make best use of the funding. American Telemedicine Association CEO Jonathan Linkous said his organization was pleased that the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service were "taking the lead" on an issue he said had previously been spread between about a dozen federal agencies. American Library Association Executive Director Emily Shekatoff urged greater investment in public capacity at libraries, which she called "the premier public computer centers in America's communities." Libraries are the sole source of free access in 73 percent of America, she said. And as librarians are among the most "highly trusted" groups in America, Shekatoff said they could effectively implement training programs. OneEconomy Corporation CEO Rey Ramsey said, "It's important to be intentional about what we're trying to achieve," he said. If America wants every citizen to have access to broadband, Ramsey offered a simple solution: bring it into their homes.
http://benton.org/node/23423
Recommend this Headline
back to top
NCTA: DON'T HARM EXISTING BROADBAND NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association is circulating a paper, Moving the Needle on Broadband: Stimulus Strategies to Spur Adoption and Extend Access Across America, among federal policymakers outlining the lobbying group's position on new broadband funding programs the National Telecommunications & Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service. The first principle: do no harm to existing broadband networks. The general principles are that the funds should be used to increase broadband adoption and use, that they should be competitively and technologically neutral, that they be "value-producing" projects that can be quickly implemented and that the grant process should be transparent and coordinated with other agencies.
http://benton.org/node/23393
Recommend this Headline
back to top
REPORT: ONLINE LEARNING A 'LIFELINE' IN RURAL AREAS
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: ]
A new Sloan Consortium study, K-12 Online Learning, finds that online learning offers a lifeline -- especially for rural schools. The study also predicts "blended learning" could be the way most students learn in the future. Online learning has developed differently in K-12 schools than it has in higher education, the report noted. At colleges and universities, online learning has grown much more rapidly, as these institutions have invested significant dollars in developing and delivering their own online courses and degree programs. K-12 schools, on the other hand, have "approached online learning with caution," the report says. "Rather than investing resources in developing their own delivery support structure, they typically depend on a number of outside online learning providers, including postsecondary institutions, independent vendors, and state virtual schools."
http://benton.org/node/23392
Recommend this Headline
back to top
ONLINE RECORDS GET PATIENTS INVOLVED IN CARE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Laura Landro]
Large managed-care groups like Kaiser Permanente and Group Health Cooperative are increasingly using electronic medical-record systems to help solve the age-old problem of getting patients to take better care of themselves. The trend, known as information therapy, involves delivering reliable health information directly to patients to help them manage their conditions and make treatment choices. Health plans also are offering online self-management programs and virtual coaching sessions for a wide range of health issues. Doctors have long been concerned that patients surfing the Web for medical information aren't necessarily finding the most reliable and current data. As a result, a growing number of practitioners are pushing information therapy. And doctors without electronic systems are steering patients to medical Web sites vetted by experts with the latest guidelines for a wide range of medical conditions and diseases.
http://benton.org/node/23416
Recommend this Headline
back to top
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
OBAMA'S EFFORT ON BUDGET ECHOES FALL CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Helene Cooper, Carl Huse]
President Barack Obama's push to get his budget passed has come to resemble elements of the two-year-long presidential campaign. Supporters of Mr. Obama's presidential campaign have been receiving a barrage of e-mail urging them to call their Congressional representatives to voice support of Mr. Obama's economic recovery plans. MoveOn.org, the influential liberal advocacy group, has been urging its members to send scripted e-mail messages to their friends about Mr. Obama's "ambitious, amazing and unapologetically progressive" budget. The Democratic National Committee has been putting up advertising on Web sites rebutting Republican criticism of the budget. And Obama's advisers have been coordinating with interest groups to rally support for his agenda. Last week, Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, e-mailed millions of Obama's campaign supporters, similar to the e-mail that sought support during the presidential campaign. Obama's advisers have made no secret of their plan to use the huge campaign apparatus assembled over two years, along with the millions of names and e-mail addresses acquired, to mobilize his supporters during his presidency. The idea is centered on the premise that the traditional ways of communicating with voters and motivating them are giving way to new channels such as Facebook built around social networking.
http://benton.org/node/23422
Recommend this Headline
back to top
LEAHY, CORNYN INTRODUCE FOIA REFORM BILL
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
What do you call it when a D and a R do something together? Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen John Cornyn (R-TX) reintroduced a bill Tuesday requiring Congress to explicitly state its intention when writing statutory Freedom of Information Act exemptions into new legislation. FOIA "is the power cord that connects the American people to their government," Chairman Leahy told a Washington College of Law "Sunshine Week" conference . "The growing use of legislation to carve out new exemptions to FOIA poses a danger to the ideals of open government." The Senate first passed similar legislation unanimously in 2006 but a bill introduced last Congress did not clear Leahy's committee
http://benton.org/node/23391
Recommend this Headline
back to top
FLAWS ABOUND IN FOIA, IF OBAMA WANTS TO FIX THEM
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
President Barack Obama is promising to reinvigorate the Freedom of Information Act by opening more of the government's filing cabinets without a fight. It can't happen soon enough for the people awaiting replies to more than 150,000 requests for information. President Obama has begun to deliver, but there are conflicting signs about how far he will go. The Justice Department is writing new guidelines to flesh out Obama's policy. One key question: How far will the new administration go in reconsidering the Bush administration's refusal to release documents? In a few pending suits so far, the Justice Department under Obama has opposed or rejected delays to give it time to do just that.
http://benton.org/node/23390
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CRS GURU: LIEBERMAN PROPOSAL LACKING
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Harold Relyea, a well-respected Congressional research Service analyst who retired in January after more than 30 years of government service, says a recent proposal by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman to make Congressional Research Service reports more easily accessible to the public could pose constitutional challenges. A more workable approach could stem from the Rules Committee's authorization last Congress for CRS to create software to let senators place individual reports on their Web sites, Relyea said. The next step could be building an overarching IT framework that would allow the public to search for CRS reports across senators' sites, he said. Other than a "passing generic reference" in its enacting legislation, CRS is not statutorily obligated to publicly distribute reports, Relyea pointed out. By contrast, the Government Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office do have that requirement. In the past, CRS experimented with publishing summaries of its work but appropriators ended that practice.
http://benton.org/node/23389
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE TRANSITION
ROCKEFELLER: COMMERCE NOMINEE 'GETS IT'
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
President Barack Obama has found a candidate who understands what is happening on Main Street and has his "finger on the pulse of what direction America must head toward in generations to come," according to Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller. In prepared remarks for today's confirmation hearing for former Washington Democratic Gov. Gary Locke, Rockefeller said the administration has made "the perfect choice" for the job. If confirmed by the Senate, Locke will immediately begin to tackle the national transition to digital television; management of the 2010 Census, the allocation of $4.7 billion in broadband funds; engagement on climate change; and amplification of science and technology to increase U.S. competitiveness and innovation, Chairman Rockefeller said.
http://benton.org/node/23421
Recommend this Headline
back to top
KUNDRA REINSTATED
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye]
Vivek Kundra, President Obama's appointee to the job of chief information officer, was reinstated Tuesday. Kundra had gone on leave last week after F.B.I. agents raided his former office at the District of Columbia's technology department. His reinstatement was first reported by techpresident.com. In a statement Tuesday night, Nick Shapiro, a White House spokesman, said, "Mr. Kundra has been informed that he is neither a subject nor a target of the investigation, and has been reinstated." The Federal Bureau of Investigation had already indicated that Mr. Kundra was not implicated in the case behind the raid, on March 12, and a former employee of his, Yusuf Acar, has been charged with bribery. So it was not entirely clear why the White House waited until Tuesday to issue the statement and reinstate him.
http://benton.org/node/23420
Recommend this Headline
back to top
HEADS POP UP AND HEADS ROLL: LET'S KEEP TRACK
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Al Kamen]
Head Count is an interactive database to help you keep a sharp eye on the people President Obama is appointing to the nearly 500 top positions in the federal government that require Senate confirmation. The new feature will not only tell you who they are but also help you count all the demographic beans -- age, sex, ethnicity, education (elite schools or not), home states and so on. You can search agency by agency to determine which jobs are still open, should your private-sector job be looking a little shaky these days. You can also search by individual. It will also tell you who paid good, hard money or bundled huge sums for Obama/Biden, who worked on the campaign, who had the coveted Harvard Law connection, hailed from Chicago or was a pal of Michelle Obama, Tom Daschle or Ted Kennedy. The appointments that are tracked by Head Count do not include judges, ambassadors, U.S. attorneys or U.S. marshals.
http://benton.org/node/23419
Recommend this Headline
back to top
JOURNALISM
PELOSI GOES TO BAT TO KEEP BAY AREA PAPER ALIVE
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Zachary Coile]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), worried about the fate of The San Francisco Chronicle and other financially struggling newspapers, urged the Justice Department Monday to consider giving Bay Area papers more leeway to merge or consolidate business operations to stay afloat. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, released by Pelosi's office late Monday, the Speaker asked the department to weigh the public benefit of saving The Chronicle and other papers from closure against the agency's antitrust mission to guard against anti-competitive behavior. The speaker said the issue of newspapers' survival and antitrust law will be the subject of a hearing soon before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy
http://benton.org/node/23387
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CONCEPT OF NEWSPAPERS AS NONPROFITS GAINS GROUND
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John Christoffersen]
As sharp revenue reductions put the future of many U.S. newspapers in doubt, one idea gaining attention is the conversion of newspapers into tax-exempt nonprofits supported by large endowments. Although viewed by many as a long shot at best, such a radical change could be a savior for the industry and its vital role in a democracy. That's why the endowment model is drawing renewed attention as newspapers impose massive layoffs, scale back home delivery and make other drastic cuts to counter plunging advertising revenue amid a recession that has compounded struggles from the migration of readers to the Internet. David Swensen, who managed one of the world's largest endowments as chief investment officer at Yale University, said endowments "would enhance newspapers' autonomy, while shielding them from the economic forces that are tearing them down."
http://benton.org/node/23386
Recommend this Headline
back to top
WHY THE PRINT INDUSTRY SHOULD SUBSIDIZE THE KINDLE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Steve Rubel]
[Commentary] Newspaper and magazine execs have long regretted making their crown jewels -- quality content -- available for free. No one has really been able to make a go of digital subscriptions. As the tangible media era ends, the media formerly known as print can't count on advertising alone to survive. They need to find healthy subscription revenues. Thankfully, an unusual white knight has emerged: the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle 2.0's debut was a watershed moment for print media. It offers one last solid shot to build a robust digital-subscription businesses -- if newspapers and magazines move quickly. Subsidize Kindles. Create value-added content for the device. Or even partner with advertisers in creative ways to offer new content. This is the last shot at getting people to shell out for digital subscriptions. The Kindle is print's white knight.
http://benton.org/node/23385
Recommend this Headline
back to top
EXTRA! EXTRA! ARE NEWSPAPERS DYING?
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
Sometime soon, millions of people may find themselves unwittingly involved in a test that could profoundly change their daily routines, local economies and civic lives. They'll have to figure out how to keep up with City Hall, their neighborhoods and their kids' schools — as well as store openings, new products and sales — without a 170-year-old staple of daily life: a local newspaper. At least one city — possibly San Francisco, Miami, Minneapolis or Cleveland — likely will soon lose its last daily newspaper, analysts say. And it "could be a lot more widespread than people have been predicting," says Mike Simonton, who tracks media debt for Fitch Ratings. It's hard to ignore that possibility as the pace of newspaper closings accelerates.
http://benton.org/node/23414
Recommend this Headline
back to top
NEWSPAPERS EXPAND DIGITAL PLATFORMS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Erik Sass]
Unfazed by the sharp economic downturn and their own financial woes, newspaper publishers are pushing ahead with initiatives to expand their cooperative digital distribution and ad sales platforms. On the sales side, the latest round of expansion comes at QuadrantOne, a company formed by four major newspaper publishers for online ad sales, while Yahoo's newspaper consortium has recruited new members. QuadrantOne, a national network for online display ads formed by Tribune, Gannett, Hearst and The New York Times Company in February 2008, announced a slew of new hires as well as some promotions in recent weeks.
http://benton.org/node/23413
Recommend this Headline
back to top
DIGITAL CONTENT
KINDLE E-READER: A TROJAN HORSE FOR FREE THOUGHT
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Emily Walshe]
[Commentary] In our rush to adopt new technologies, we have too readily surrendered ownership in favor of its twisted sister, access. Web 2.0 and its culture of collaboration supposedly unleashed a sharing society. But we can share only what we own. And as more and more content gets digitized, commercialized, and monopolized, our cultural integrity is threatened. The free and balanced flow of information that gives shape to democratic society is jeopardized. Case in point: Kindle, the electronic reader. You can't resell or share your books - because you don't own them. You can download only from Amazon's store, making it difficult to read anything that is not routed through Amazon first. You're not buying a book; you're buying access to a book. No, it's not like borrowing a book from a library, because there is no public investment. It's like taking an interest-only mortgage out on intellectual property. If our flailing economy is to teach us anything, it might be that an on-demand world of universal access (with words like lease, licensure, and liquidity) gets us into trouble. Amazon and other e-media aggregators know that digital text is the irrational exuberance of the day, and so are seizing the opportunity to codify, commodify, and control access for tomorrow. But access doesn't "look and read" like printed paper at all - just ask any forlorn investor. Access is useless currency. Why is this important? Because Kindle is the kind of technology that challenges media freedom and restricts media pluralism. It exacerbates what historian William Leach calls "the landscape of the temporary": a hyper mobile and rootless society that prefers access to ownership. Such a society is vulnerable to the dangers of selective censorship and control.
http://benton.org/node/23412
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THREE SCREENS, ONE QUESTION: HOW WILL AUDIENCES CONSUME CONTENT IN THE NEW WORLD
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Manish Bhatia]
Television now operates 24/7, the maximum allowed by the laws of science. And in an increasingly global and fragmented media marketplace, it is highly unlikely such time will be reduced. How then will consumers continue to change their viewing experiences? As academically interesting as the question is, for all segments of the industry, getting the answer right will separate winners from losers. Although the amount of TV fare currently streamed online remains small, it is growing fast. But what happens if the Internet competes more aggressively for television viewers? Will online advertising become more valuable to all concerned? For broadcast networks, online ads may present new revenue opportunities - even with smaller audiences online - given the ability to better target advertising and, thus, charge higher CPMs. Cable networks, on the other hand, may have a higher bar to clear. They have two revenue streams - advertising and subscription fees from carriers like MSOs, satellite companies and telcos. So the break-even point is greater. Adding to the uncertainty, however, is the challenge posed by "all you can eat" Internet access pricing. Since significant increases in streaming video will put a lot more stress on current bandwidth, networks may be looking at a reduction in revenues just as online costs for content distribution go up.
http://benton.org/node/23381
Recommend this Headline
back to top
SPENDING BILL FUNDS IP ENFORCEMENT
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
When President Barack Obama approved a $410 billion omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2009 last week, he made the first two appropriations related to legislation passed by the 110th Congress that is aimed at fighting counterfeiting and piracy. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, which former President George W. Bush signed in October, increased both civil and criminal penalties for trademark and copyright infringement and created the yet-to-be-named post of an IP enforcement coordinator at the White House. Specifically, the omnibus included $9.4 million for hiring new FBI agents dedicated to work solely on IP issues.
http://benton.org/node/23388
Recommend this Headline
back to top
ONLINE PRIVACY
EPIC ASKS FTC TO PROBE GOOGLE PRIVACY SAFETY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Alexei Oreskovic]
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission asking for an investigation into Google's security safeguards after the company inadvertently released consumers' private information this month. EPIC faults Google's practices relating to its so-called cloud computing services, which store user-generated documents and other personal information on Google servers instead of on an individual's personal computer. EPIC also asked the FTC to bar Google from offering cloud computing services until the company has put certain safeguards in place.
http://benton.org/node/23384
Recommend this Headline
back to top
BROWSER ADD-ON LOCKS OUT TARGETED ADVERTISING
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Jeremy Kirk]
Christopher Soghoian, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, has developed a browser extension that stops advertising networks from tracking a person's surfing habits, such as search queries and content they view on the Web. The extension, called Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO), enables its users to opt out of 27 advertising networks that are employing behavioral advertising systems. Soghoian's TACO extension sets permanent opt-out cookies for Google's network and 26 others, even if the cookies are flushed from the browser. Since some Web sites use multiple advertising cookies, TACO puts a total of 41 opt-out cookies on a machine. Soghoian said it would be nearly impossible for the average user to collect opt-out cookies from the plethora of advertising networks. He said he spent three or four hours digging through the corporate Web sites of advertising networks to find the opt-out cookies to use in TACO.
http://benton.org/node/23383
Recommend this Headline
back to top
No Smooth Ride on TV Networks' Road to Diversity
Apple Unveils new iPhone Software
IBM in Talks to Buy Sun in Bid to Add To Web Heft
As Jurors Turn to Web, Mistrials Are Popping Up
Study Shows First-Time Online Donors Often Do Not Return
Maryland Is Latest State to Target Text Messaging by Drivers
CEA: Cable Should Rely On Common Downloadable-Security Scheme