February 2009

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2008

There's plenty going on next week and next month -- check it out at http://benton.org/calendar/2009-03

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Obama administration backs telecom immunity

THE BUDGET
   Orszag Is Economic Centrist Who Knows How to Deal
   Obama proposes to boost public airwaves fees
   Obama Budget Stresses Transparency
   Obama budget eyes boost to cybersecurity funds
   US could reap billions taxing Web gambling

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Putting the Angels in the Details: A Roadmap for Broadband Stimulus Success
   Expanding broadband to bail out economies
   Levin Says Broadband Grant Program Will Be 'Balancing Act'
   Blackburn believes broadband deployment to rural and other underserved areas should be left to the market
   US Internet firms defend tighter Web management
   Facebook lets users comment on new terms of service

TELEVISION/RADIO
   FCC's March 5 Agenda: You Guessed It -- DTV
   NTIA still doesn't have money needed to free up growing DTV coupon waiting list
   Senate backs ban on media 'Fairness Doctrine'
   GOP Beats Dead Horse; It Remains Dead [Video]
   Boucher Weighs In On Satellite TV Law
   Community Radio Movement gets Boost as LPFM Bill is Reintroduced in House

WIRELESS
   Out of the DTV Hot Seat, Baker is Proud of NTIA Tenure
   South Koreans want their sub-TV

JOURNALISM
   Journalists Create PAC to Recruit Liberal Candidates
   Newspapers Face a Challenging Calculus
   Scripps to shut Rocky Mountain News
   Newsday to charge for website, online cable service

QUICKLY -- OMB Seeks Comment on Federal Regulatory Review; Twitter's rapid growth raises regulation issues; Medpedia's Potential; Dakota Future aspires to join nation's tech leaders

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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BACKS TELECOM IMMUNITY
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Bob Egelko]
The Obama administration has asked a federal judge in San Francisco to uphold a law aimed at dismissing suits against telecommunications companies that cooperated with President George W. Bush's wiretapping program. In a filing late Wednesday, the Justice Department sought to dispel Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's concern that the law might violate the Constitution by giving the attorney general too much power to change the legal rules that govern the companies' conduct. The law requires that judges dismiss suits by people claiming that the companies violated their privacy rights, as long as the attorney general certifies that the firms were helping an anti-terrorism program that the president authorized. A statement Wednesday by Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller seemed to reflect Obama's lack of enthusiasm for the law. "The department is compelled to defend statutes as long as it can reasonably do so, and in this case the department was asked by the court to make a defense of the statute passed by Congress," Miller said. Cindy Cohn, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation who represents AT&T customers in the lead case before Judge Walker, said she was disappointed.
http://benton.org/node/22638
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THE BUDGET

ORSZAG IS ECONOMIC CENTRIST WHO KNOWS HOW TO DEAL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Philip Rucker]
Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag refers to himself as the administration's "super-nerd." At 40, he is the youngest member of the Cabinet and has assumed an outsize influence among the tight circle of wonks Obama has dubbed his "propeller heads": a team of economists with big personalities and bigger intellects. Orszag has already surprised lawmakers on Capitol Hill with his apparent overnight transformation from the low-key academic they remember from his tenure at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to a political dealmaker instrumental in negotiations over passing Obama's economic recovery plan. In the past week, Orszag has unveiled a $3.6 trillion budget and convened a "fiscal responsibility" summit aimed at easing the country's economic crisis and advancing the president's domestic agenda. He is also expected to play a leading role in efforts to reform the nation's health-care system.
http://benton.org/node/22637
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OBAMA PROPOSES TO BOOST PUBLIC AIRWAVES FEES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
The Obama administration's proposed 2010 budget seeks to significantly boost the user fees the US government charges holders of public airwaves held by many telephone and wireless companies. Yearly fees for spectrum licenses are proposed to rise to $200 million in 2010, from $50 million in 2009. After that, the fees eventually increase to $550 million per user per year, totalling $4.8 billion over the next decade. The administration also wants Congress to give the FCC the green light to authorize the auction of domestic satellite spectrum, hoping to generate $200 million from such bidding by 2019. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/22628
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OBAMA BUDGET STRESSES TRANSPARENCY
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
President Barack Obama's FY2010 budget includes a few basic lines on e-government, transparency and public participation as part of the policy-making process: 1) Maintain Recovery.gov, a site that allows individuals to see where recovery funds are going, for what purpose, and to what result, 2) Give the public five days to review all non-emergency bills before they are signed, 3) Disclose each earmark and the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, and make this information available on a searchable public Web site, and 4) Clean up military contracting by establishing the reporting requirements, accounting, and accountability.
http://benton.org/node/22627
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OBAMA BUDGET EYES BOOST TO CYBERSECURITY FUNDS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andrea Shalal-Esa]
The budget proposed by President Barack Obama includes funding aimed at improving the security of private and public computer networks. "The threat to federal information technology networks is real, serious and growing," said an outline of the budget proposal for fiscal 2010 that begins October 1 and released by the Obama administration on Thursday. The document called for $355 million in funding for the Department of Homeland Security to make private and public sector cyber infrastructure more resilient and secure. The money would help support the operations of the National Cyber Security Division, as well as initiatives under the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, according to the document. In addition, the administration said it would put "substantial" funding for cybersecurity efforts into the national intelligence program, but gave no details since that funding is kept secret.
http://benton.org/node/22626
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US COULD REAP BILLIONS TAXING WEB GAMBLING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Doug Palmer]
The US could raise nearly $52 billion in revenue over the next decade by lifting a three-year-old ban on Internet gambling and taxing the activity instead, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Gambling supporters hope the study will help propel efforts in Congress this year to repeal the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. "There is a dramatic need to have a regulated system that protects American consumers. Right now, it's the Wild West," Jeffrey Sandman, a spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, told Reuters on Wednesday. That group includes the London-based Remote Gambling Association, which represents European online companies that lost billions in market value after Congress passed the 2006 law and they withdrew from the U.S. market. The legislation attempted to squash online gambling in the United States by barring businesses from knowingly accepting payments in connection with unlawful Internet gambling, including payments made through credit cards, electronic fund transfers and checks.
http://benton.org/node/22625
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

PUTTING THE ANGELS IN THE DETAILS: A ROADMAP FOR BROADBAND STIMULUS SUCCESS
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: S. Derek Turner]
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, signed into law last week by President Barack Obama, allocates $4.7 billion to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for broadband adoption and deployment in "unserved," "underserved" and low-income communities; $2.5 billion to the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for rural broadband; and directs the Federal Communications Commission to develop a national broadband strategy. To ensure that these stimulus programs are successfully implemented, Free Press recommends the following: 1) Protect the open Internet: The NTIA and FCC should prohibit grant recipients from selling any service that violates open Internet principles and should require recipients to offer interconnection on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis.
2) Promote speed: The NTIA should establish speed guidelines and benchmarks and require grant applicants to detail actual -- not advertised -- network speeds, with priority given to next-generation projects. 3) Provide clarity: The NTIA and FCC should adopt definitions of unserved and underserved areas that are based on U.S. Census Bureau geographic boundaries (either census blocks, block groups or tracts), and are informed by new FCC broadband data. 4) Prevent waste: The NTIA should require grant applicants to provide extensive documentation showing how their proposed project qualifies as a new investment. 5) Gather information: The FCC should immediately initiate proceedings to gather data and ideas to inform the national broadband strategy. 6) Focus resources: The NTIA should refocus the $350 million currently allocated for state broadband mapping toward projects that work to stimulate broadband demand, because the FCC is already collecting this data. 7) Remove roadblocks: The RUS should eliminate current regulations that restrict broadband upgrades, create barriers to new entrants and undermine competition. 8) Ensure transparency: The NTIA and RUS should create a single, publicly accessible online database that hosts all the information relevant to the broadband projects funded by the Stimulus Act.
http://benton.org/node/22606
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EXPANDING BROADBAND TO BAIL OUT ECONOMIES
[SOURCE: International Herald Tribune, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
As policy makers the world over haggle over how to revive ailing economies, one strategy has found widespread support everywhere from Washington and Berlin to Sydney and Seoul: Investing in high-speed Internet access. In recent weeks, the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Finland have all included measures to expand broadband access and to bolster connection speeds in their planned economic stimulus packages. Australia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Japan and South Korea have announced separate broadband plans, according to a compilation by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. While some of the plans have been in the works for months or years, analysts say it is no coincidence that so many of them are being rushed out now: The perceived popularity of building broadband networks provides political cover for bank bailouts. And, as economies shrink, attracting foreign investment is ever more important. "The crisis is making countries push forward with their digital agendas much more aggressively," said Charlie Davies, a senior analyst at Ovum, a telecommunications consultancy. "There's this competition internationally to want to be there at the top and say, 'We're the most digitally advanced country, a great place to do business and all that."'
http://benton.org/node/22633
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LEVIN SAYS BROADBAND GRANT PROGRAM WILL BE 'BALANCING ACT'
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Blair Levin, an Obama transition team tech advisor who worked on the broadband grant portion of the stimulus package, says that handing out the billions in grant money will be balancing act between "stimulating jobs and at the same time build useful infrastructure." But, he said he didn't think anybody knew yet just how it would be administered. Levin said that those proposals should definitely be looked at in terms of job creation, "but if one proposal costs $100 million and creates 10,000 jobs, but only connects three people, and the other one costs $200 million, a few less jobs, but connects a million people, you probably want the latter." But he said he didn't think there would be "an algorithm" that will tell you ahead of time as to which proposals will be adopted. He said that the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is administering most of the grant money (the USDA gets a little over a third) will need to a "transparent and flexible process" for making those judgment calls, which he conceded was not an easy task. Levin did give some general parameters: Faster speeds are better than slower speeds, and more private money was better than less, but said there is "no single metric."
http://benton.org/node/22632
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BLACKBURN BELIEVES BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT TO RURAL AND OTHER UNDERSERVED AREAS SHOULD BE LEFT TO THE MARKET
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
Even though she has constituents in her congressional district who want broadband but can't get it, Rep Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) suggested Thursday that government should have little to no role in stimulating broadband deployment. If more people in rural areas demand broadband, a provider will bring it to them, Rep Blackburn said. "That is where I think we do let the market handle the job," she said. "I fully believe that the market can work this out." She criticized the broadband money in the stimulus law, saying it came with too many strings attached. More than half of the money includes net-neutrality regulations prohibiting companies receiving broadband grants from discriminating against some Internet traffic and from refusing to connect with other providers. New Network Neutrality regulations, supported by President Barack Obama, could slow deployment and inhibit broadband competition in the long run, she said. She called the policy "short-sighted."
http://benton.org/node/22631
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US INTERNET FIRMS DEFEND TIGHTER WEB MANAGEMENT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kim Dixon]
US Internet service providers are making greater efforts to manage traffic on their networks as they seek ways to avoid congestion caused by bandwidth-hogging services like video. Network management of Internet traffic has become a flash point between companies and public interest groups which worry that companies will become the arbiter of what is important or discriminate against certain applications or content. Internet providers say they must engage in reasonable network management due to increasing bandwidth of applications used by consumers and that they are not policing content. "In the future we are going to get into applications like real time video that are going to require some sort of management," Bob Quinn, senior vice president for regulatory policy at AT&T, told a panel at an event held by the Free State Foundation, a Washington think tank opposed to heavy regulation. "Management is going to absolutely be required."
http://benton.org/node/22630
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FACEBOOK LETS USERS COMMENT ON NEW TERMS OF SERVICE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Anupreeta Das]
Facebook is asking its members to help shape its governance policies after drawing their ire for a policy change that many perceived as being overbearing and potentially compromising privacy. From now on, the social networking site will be guided by a set of principles that reflect its dedication to transparency and openness in communication. Two draft documents are being put to test under what Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg called a "new model of governance." The "Facebook Principles" lay out the startup company's philosophy on privacy and control of information, while the "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" are operating guidelines based on its big-picture stance. Any Facebook member can access these proposals on the site and opine on them over the next few days. The networking site will incorporate people's reviews when firming up governance policies. Future policy changes will follow the same democratic model.
http://benton.org/node/22629
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TELEVISION/RADIO

FCC'S MARCH 5 AGENDA: YOU GUESSED IT -- DTV
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. in Room TW-C305, at 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, DC. The meeting will include presentations and discussion by senior agency officials as well as industry, consumer groups and others involved in the Digital Television Transition. A list of presenters will be released prior to the meeting. Congress has set June 12, 2009 as the final deadline for terminating full-power analog broadcasts. The purpose of the meeting is to educate and inform the Commission and the public about the digital television transition, including the partial transition on February 17, 2009, when some full-power broadcast television stations stopped broadcasting in analog and began broadcasting in digital only.
http://benton.org/node/22624
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NTIA STILL DOESN'T HAVE MONEY NEEDED TO FREE UP GROWING DTV COUPON WAITING LIST
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration's digital-to-analog converter box coupon program still does not have the money it needs to free up its growing waiting list -- 4.3 million applications at last count -- though it is looking for word to come any time. "We still do not have access to the funding," said NTIA spokesman Bart Forbes. "There is nothing new to report at this time." The program has been running, but at a snail's pace, with coupons sent out only when other coupons expire. NTIA can't start sending out the coupons en masse until it get's access to the $650 million set aside for that purpose in the economic stimulus package, and it can't get that access until the Office of Management and Budget gives it the go-ahead. The OMB press office had not returned several calls for comment on the status of that go-ahead.
http://benton.org/node/22623
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SENATE BACKS BAN ON MEDIA 'FAIRNESS DOCTRINE'
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kim Dixon]
The Senate passed an amendment on Thursday that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from requiring broadcasters to give equal time to all points of view, a ban strongly supported by some Republican lawmakers. The legislative amendment, sponsored by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from reimposing the so-called Fairness Doctrine to all broadcasters. It was repealed more than 20 years ago. The Broadcaster Freedom Act, would have prohibited "any similar requirement that broadcasters meet programming quotas or guidelines for issues of public importance.'' But that language was struck by a second amendment, introduced by Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL), that instead, explicitly reaffirmed the commission's power to "take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership." Durbin's amendment may have opened the door for yet more fairness doctrine debate, however, which has been fueled by both Democrats suggesting the doctrine could come back and talk radio hosts convinced that is in the Democrats' playbook. Aides to President Barack Obama have said he has no intention of trying to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, but that has not stopped some Republicans from raising the issue. Free Press, a media advocacy group, said the issue was a distraction. "An uncharitable interpretation is that they (Republicans) need an issue that unites their base and is an easy talking point for conservative radio," said Ben Scott, policy director at Free Press. The amendment was attached to an unrelated bill on voting rights for Washington (DC) residents. Whether it will survive in the House of Representatives is uncertain.
http://benton.org/node/22612
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GOP BEATS DEAD HORSE; IT REMAINS DEAD
[SOURCE: Rueters, AUTHOR: Dim Kixon]
On Thursday, the United States Senate unearthed the remains of a horse that was killed in 1987. The status of the horse was debated. What's wrong with it? I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it! No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting. Look, matey, I know a dead horse when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now. No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! It's stone dead. Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting! All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call! Now that's what I call a dead parrot. No, no.....No, 'e's stunned! STUNNED?!? Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Horses stun easily, major. Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That horse is definitely deceased. He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! After the debate, the carcass was summarily killed again -- pending approval from the House and the President.
http://benton.org/node/22610
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BOUCHER WEIGHS IN ON SATELLITE TV LAW
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
As Congress considers reauthorize the Satellite Home Viewer Act, House Telecommunication Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) sees two major questions: 1) should satellite providers offer local service to all 210 market areas nationwide and 2) should there be a general rule for signals where market areas straddle state lines. "Harmonization for harmonization sake has never made a whole lot of sense," says Chairman Boucher who believes that there are key differences between cable and satellite systems and lawmakers should carefully weigh calls to unify the platforms' statutory language.
http://benton.org/node/22622
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COMMUNITY RADIO MOVEMENT GETS BOOST AS LPFM BILL IS REINTRODUCED IN HOUSE
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Jesse Masai]
Members of Congress, public interest advocates and community organizations applauded the reintroduction of legislation to authorize a new wave of low power FM radio licenses during a Wednesday conference call organized by public advocacy group Free Press. Supporters of the Local Community Radio Act say the bill would unleash the potential of low power FM radio to create jobs and serve diverse communities across the United States. The LCRA would provide a mechanism for licensing approximately 3,000 low power community radio stations. Licensees would be limited to local governments and non-profit entities including educational, religious or labor organizations that serve specific audiences or small markets. The LCRA is sponsored by Reps. Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NE). The bill would lift current restrictions and allow the FCC to begin issuing new licenses. The Doyle-Terry bill does not yet have a Senate companion.
http://benton.org/node/22621
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WIRELESS

OUT OF THE DTV HOT SEAT, BAKER IS PROUD OF NTIA TENURE
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Former Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce Meredith Atwell Baker doesn't mind being unemployed. After spending much of 2008 as the public face of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's coupon program for digital television converter boxes, she expresses few regrets about her time at NTIA. Even at CTIA, then considered on the cutting-edge, the association's Internet access came from dial-up America Online service, Baker recalled. And discussions of broadband elicited snickers and drawings of "girls playing instruments," she said. But when Baker moved to NTIA five years ago, there was an open question before her: "How can we incentivize companies to build these fat pipes?" The answer was in facilities-based competition, she said. The conservative Bush administration believed the role of government in technology was to "set the environment and incentivize new technology, to level the playing field," and to deregulate, Baker said. And while Baker was proud of her success at "clearing out the regulatory underbrush," she wished broadband had been a higher profile issue at NTIA. Policies in place allowed broadband subscribership to grow from less than 5 million to over 100 million users, she said. NTIA's efforts led to more transparent and efficient use of spectrum by government and industry, Baker said. "I think we got a lot of things right," she said. And the next administration should "keep at it: there's a lot more to do."
http://benton.org/node/22636
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SOUTH KOREANS WANT THEIR SUB-TV
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: John Glionna]
Reeling from declining ad revenue and mounting debt from providing the expensive service at no additional cost to subscribers, South Korean cellular operators may soon cancel subway TV coverage that has yet to turn a profit. Losing underground TV reception may not seem like much to consumers in the U.S., where many are still struggling with cellular dead zones and where a switch to full above-ground digital TV service may leave millions staring at useless analog sets. But for many South Koreans, subway TV has become a familiar part of their daily routines. Phone companies in this digitally crazed nation in 2005 were the first to launch mobile TV that could be tuned in on phones just about anywhere -- even in the subway tunnels deep beneath Seoul and other cities. Today, nearly 10 million cellular users are watching soap operas, sports and sitcoms on a special frequency dedicated to portable viewing -- enjoying it all on larger digital-quality screens and high-tech handsets to improve reception.
http://benton.org/node/22634
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JOURNALISM

JOURNALISTS CREATE PAC TO RECRUIT LIBERAL CANDIDATES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
A group of online journalists say they are teaming up with organized labor and MoveOn.org to form a political action committee that will seek to push the Democratic Party further to the left. Soliciting donations from their readers, the bloggers say they are planning to recruit candidates to challenge the more centrist Democrats now in Congress, known as "blue dogs." The formation of the group is another step in the evolution of the blogosphere, which has proven effective at motivating party activists to give money and time to political campaigns, especially in local races. The new organization is in many ways the liberal equivalent of the Club for Growth, a conservative group that has financed primary challenges against Republicans it deems insufficiently dedicated to tax cuts and small government. Organizers of the new group, called Accountability Now, bristle at the comparison, saying they will not provide an issues-based litmus test for candidates. They say they will mainly support primary challenges when there is clear evidence that a lawmaker is out of step with his constituents.
http://benton.org/node/22635
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NEWSPAPERS FACE A CHALLENGING CALCULUS
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center, AUTHOR: ]
The trend is unmistakable: Fewer Americans are reading print newspapers as more turn to the Internet for their news. And while the percentage of people who read newspapers online is growing rapidly, especially among younger generations, that growth has not offset the decline in print readership. In the Pew Research Center's 2008 news media consumption survey, 39% said they read a newspaper yesterday -- either print or online -- down from 43% in 2006. The proportion reporting that they read just the print version of a newspaper fell by roughly a quarter, from 34% to 25% over the two-year period. Overall newspaper readership declined in spite of an increase in the number of people reading online newspapers: 14% of Americans said they read a newspaper online yesterday, up from 9% in 2006. This includes those who said they read only a newspaper online (9% in 2008), as well as those who said they read both print and Web versions of a newspaper (5%). These numbers may not include the number of people who read content produced by newspapers, but accessed through aggregation sites or portals.
http://benton.org/node/22615
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SCRIPPS TO SHUT ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Keith Coffman, Robert Boczkiewicz]
Media conglomerate EW Scripps lure qualified buyers. The 150-year-old Denver newspaper will run its final edition on Friday, but employees will remain on the Scripps payroll through April 28. Scripps Chief Executive Rich Boehne said the newspaper had "only one potential buyer" who had ultimately "backed away." The Rocky lost $16 million in 2008, and Boehne told workers that Scripps chose to close it to preserve the health of its other newspapers. The closure leaves a city that witnessed a colorful, century-long newspaper war with just one major daily -- MediaNews Group's Denver Post. Eight years ago, the two papers consolidated business, printing and advertising operations in a joint operating agreement to preserve both editorial voices. But the economy and a changing business model made it impossible for the city to support two newspapers, MediaNews Publisher Dean Singleton said.
http://benton.org/node/22614
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NEWSDAY TO CHARGE FOR WEBSITE, ONLINE CABLE SERVICE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Yinka Adegoke]
Cablevision Systems plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper, a move that would make it one of the first large US papers to reverse a trend toward free Web readership. The paper said in a statement late on Thursday that it is in the process of transforming the site into a locally focused cable service. Newsday, which covers the New York suburb of Long Island, was bought by Cablevision in a $650 million deal last May that was widely criticized on Wall Street as a puzzling move into a troubled newspaper market.
http://benton.org/node/22613
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QUICKLY -- OMB Seeks Comment on Federal Regulatory Review; Twitter's rapid growth raises regulation issues; Medpedia's Potential; Dakota Future aspires to join nation's tech leaders

OMB SEEKS COMMENT ON FEDERAL REGULATORY REVIEW
[SOURCE: Office of Management and Budge, AUTHOR: ]
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is developing a set of recommendations to the President for a new Executive Order on Federal Regulatory Review, and invites public comments on how to improve the process and principles governing regulation. Comments must be in writing and received by March 16, 2009. For well over two decades, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at OMB has reviewed Federal regulations. The purposes of such review have been to ensure consistency with Presidential priorities, to coordinate regulatory policy, and to offer a dispassionate and analytical "second opinion" on agency actions. In a recent Memorandum, the President directed the Director of OMB to produce a set of recommendations for a new Executive Order on Federal regulatory review. Among other things, he stated that the recommendations should offer suggestions for the following: The relationship between OIRA and the agencies; Disclosure and transparency; Encouraging public participation in agency regulatory processes; The role of cost-benefit analysis; The role of distributional considerations, fairness, and concern for the interests of future generations; Methods of ensuring that regulatory review does not produce undue delay; The role of the behavioral sciences in formulating regulatory policy; and The best tools for achieving public goals through the regulatory process.
http://benton.org/node/22618
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TWITTER'S RAPID GROWTH RAISES REGULATION ISSUES
[SOURCE: New Media Age, AUTHOR: Luan Goldie]
The hugely popular micro-blogging site Twitter is a child safety and privacy disaster waiting to happen, according to online safety experts. The site - which has had a yearly 974% jump in UK traffic alone and attracts between 4m and 6m people -- is open to abuse if it fails to effectively self-moderate. Twitter's terms state users must be 13 or over, but it doesn't offer a 'report abuse' button or explicit ways to flag offensive material or monitor sexually explicit and racist behavior and links to adult sites.
http://benton.org/node/22619
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MEDPEDIA'S POTENTIAL
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Susannah Fox]
[Commentary] Medpedia launched this week, prompting questions from many corners about how it fits in to the current realities of the health care world. Most people looking for health info online start at a search engine. 74% of US adults are online; 75% look for health info online; 47% use Wikipedia. Medpedia needs to either break into search engine results OR Internet users need a reason to change their habits (ie, so far most haven't been burned by erroneous info and they haven't been convinced by any pro-MD marketing campaign to make a switch from the "good enough" solutions). However, Pew Internet consistently finds (as does the National Cancer Institute, and the Center for Studying Health System Change) that when facing a serious health question, most adults turn to a health professional first. So there is still an opening for a MD-vetted information service.
http://benton.org/node/22617
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   What Sells Online? Unsexy Newsletters

WHAT SELLS ONLINE? UNSEXY NEWSLETTERS
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Sarah Lacy]
Nobody know this like Headlines readers: unsexy, e-mail newsletters are all that. They're not the newest fad, but daily digests sent via e-mail can generate some much needed ad revenue when there's not much of it to go around. It may sound odd that space on a low-tech newsletter could be so desirable in an age of mass-market blogs, when young people increasingly rely on instant messaging, texts, and such sites as Twitter and Facebook instead of e-mail. But remember that signing up for and opening an e-mail newsletter is a much bigger commitment than passively clicking on a link that takes you to a blog post. Publishers can see how many people open an e-mail, how long they read it, and how many friends they forward it to. Advertisers eat up that kind of engagement, because it's different, tangible, and more likely to result in an action such as making a purchase. [Headlines -- bringing you unsexy since 1996.]
http://benton.org/node/22620
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SOUTH METRO ASPIRES TO JOIN NATION'S TECH LEADERS
[SOURCE: Star Tribune, AUTHOR: Katie Humphrey]
Dakota Future, a nonprofit economic development corporation comprising representatives from businesses, education and government, is leading the charge for the cities and counties south of the river to climb the ranks of "Intelligent Communities" worldwide. A New York City think tank, Intelligent Communities Forum, each year recognizes the communities with the best access to, use of and plans for technology. The goal is to encourage communities to find innovative ways to thrive in an increasingly global economy. This spring, Dakota Future will be studying local broadband resources, technology skills, and education and business opportunities to gauge how Dakota and Scott counties compare with the nearly 400 other communities that enter the Intelligent Communities contest annually. Dakota Future's goal is to be ranked in the top seven within three years.
http://benton.org/node/22616
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