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Benton media news digest – June-July 2008

Benton headlines
AT THE UNEASY INTERSECTION OF BLOGGERS AND THE LAW
 [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jonathan Glater]
 A grand jury subpoena sent by prosecutors in the Bronx earlier this year sought information to help identify people blogging anonymously on a Web site about New York politics called Room 8. The subpoena carried a warning in capital letters that disclosing its very existence "could impede the investigation being conducted and thereby interfere with law enforcement" -- implying that if the bloggers blabbed, they could be prosecuted. This, of course, is a blogger's nightmare: enforced silence and the prospect of jail time. The district attorney eventually withdrew the subpoena and lifted the gag requirement after the bloggers threatened to sue. But the fact that the tactic was used at all raised alarm bells for some free speech advocates.
 http://benton.org/node/15207

 AMERICAN JOURNALISM, STILL A MODEL
 [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Gideon Rachman]
 A comparison of the British and American flavors of journalism. American journalists regard themselves as members of a respectable profession -- like lawyers or bankers. Their British counterparts generally prefer the idea that they are outsiders. This Brit concludes, "[T]those American journalists who insist on the civic importance of good journalism are correct. What we write does matter - even if it is sometimes easier to pretend that it doesn't."
 http://benton.org/node/15206 
 
STRIKE UP THE BROADBAND
 [SOURCE: Boston Globe, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
 [Commentary] Not everyone has equal access to the Internet. Broadband users tend to be wealthier people who live in suburban and urban neighborhoods. Meanwhile, some 17 percent of Internet households still dwell in the slow world of dial-up. And while South Korea has the most widespread high-speed services, the United States is seventh on this list. Rather than accept this uneven playing field, a growing chorus is wisely asking the federal government to develop a national broadband policy to ensure that every resident and business has fast, affordable Internet access. What would a plan look like? Approaches to consider include more government and nonprofit coordination with the broadband industry, which is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure. The policy could also seed public/private partnerships to put fiber optics in rural areas. And federal grants could fund more school-based programs that put low-income students on the Internet's fast track. Education is essential. More people and institutions need the skills and motivation to use broadband. More should be done to target nonusers.
 http://benton.org/node/15204 
 
Business takes sides in Network Neutrality debate
 BUSINESS TAKES SIDES IN NET NEUTRALITY DEBATE
 [SOURCE: Toronto Star, AUTHOR: Prof Michael Geist]
 [Commentary] For most of the past two years in Canada, the Network Neutrality issue, which focuses on equal treatment of Internet traffic, was limited to academics and consumer groups pointing to the dangers to the public of a two-tier Internet. That dynamic changed dramatically this year when Bell Canada began "deep-packet inspection" of its traffic and limited the bandwidth it allocates to certain applications at peak times (a practice known as "throttling"). The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is unlikely to quickly solve the net neutrality issue or leave all parties satisfied with Bell's throttling policy. However, the issue has had a galvanizing effect on the Canadian business community, with many lining up with consumer groups and independent ISPs by pointing to the link between net neutrality and a robust innovation framework.
 http://benton.org/node/15199

FTC REPORT ON PHISHING
 [SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission]
 The Federal Trade Commission released a staff report on a Roundtable Discussion on Phishing Education that it hosted in April.
 http://benton.org/node/15198

COMCAST BROKE RULE BY BLOCKING INTERNET ACCESS, FCC CHAIR SAYS
 [SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John Dunbar]
 On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said he will recommend that Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, be punished for violating agency Network Neutrality principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. "The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet," Chairman Martin said. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles." He said Comcast has "arbitrarily" blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so. Company spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice denied that it blocks Internet content or services and that the "carefully limited measures that Comcast takes to manage traffic on its broadband network are a reasonable part" of the company's strategy to ensure all customers receive quality service. Chairman Martin will circulate an order today recommending enforcement action against Comcast among his fellow commissioners, who will vote on the measure at an open meeting on August 1.
http://benton.org/node/15154

NETWORK NEUTRALITY DEBATE GOES ONLINE (OF COURSE)
 [SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
 On July 8, Comcast's Joe Waz wrote that Free Press wants to "punish Comcast for engaging in network management that Free Press believes violates the Federal Communications Commission’s Internet Policy Statement." But, he argued, FCC Commissioners have said the Internet Policy Statement is not enforceable, and the law is very clear on that basic point. On July 9, Free Press' Marvin Ammori responded saying, "We want to ensure that all Americans, not just big corporations and their lobbying gangs, have a seat at the table in policy debates. We also want to protect the free and open Internet that we have always enjoyed. And finally, we want to make sure that lawmakers punish any company that tries to illegally insert itself as gatekeeper between consumers and online content. Unfortunately for the cable giant, what Free Press and the public want is the exact opposite of what Comcast wants. Comcast wants to monopolize your Internet connection, block online competitors, and control what consumers do online. Comcast wants to turn the Internet into cable TV, where every Web site has to cut a special deal with them to get carried or else get blocked. And Comcast wants to be above the law while doing this."
 http://benton.org/node/15140

STOP THE NEW FISA
 [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Chris Hedges]
 [Commentary] Journalist and author Hedges writes that if the sweeping surveillance law signed by President Bush on Thursday -- giving the U.S. government nearly unchecked authority to eavesdrop on the phone calls and e-mails of innocent Americans -- is allowed to stand, we will have eroded one of the most important bulwarks to a free press and an open society. This law will cripple the work of those of us who as reporters communicate regularly with people overseas, especially those in the Middle East. It will intimidate dissidents, human rights activists and courageous officials who seek to expose the lies of our government or governments allied with ours. It will hang like the sword of Damocles over all who dare to defy the official versions of events. It leaves open the possibility of retribution and invites the potential for abuse by those whose concern is not with national security but with the consolidation of their own power. He concludes, "[T]this law is not about keeping us safe, which can -- and should -- be done in a constitutional manner and with judicial oversight. It is about using terrorism as a pretext to permit wholesale spying and to silence voices that will allow us to maintain an open society."
 http://benton.org/node/15155
 * President Bush Signs FISA Amendments Act
 http://benton.org/node/15151

WHO KILLED THE ONLINE JOURNALISM REVIEW AND WILL IT LIVE AGAIN?
 [SOURCE: Media Shift, AUTHOR: Mark Glaser]
 For more than 10 years, the Online Journalism Review was published by the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern California as a place to follow the struggles and triumphs in the nascent field of online journalism. But on June 16, editor Robert Niles posted a note to the site titled, Goodbye, explaining that USC was suspending publication of OJR and that he would be leaving the school. Why? The short answer is that the Annenberg School is going through a major transition, with a new dean, Ernest Wilson, and a new director of the journalism school (which lives within the overall school of communications), Geneva Overholser. They are reconsidering many programs, and want to rethink the way that OJR operates at the school. But there’s a larger story behind the rise and fall (and possible rebirth) of OJR, relating to academia and its own struggles putting online journalism into curriculum in a meaningful way.
 http://benton.org/node/15139

IT'S ALL OVER NOW, VIOLET BLUE
 [SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Joe Uchill]
 What happens when a bog suddenly decides to remove all reference to someone and all the posts said person ever made on a site?
 http://benton.org/node/15136

ONLINE ADVERTISING HEARING RECAP
 [SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
 NebuAd, which has reportedly worked with more than a dozen ISPs in the United States, collects information about users' Web surfing habits, then delivers targeted advertising based on those results. Privacy critics have protested the service, saying it uses common Internet attacks to collect data and may be illegal because it does not get affirmative consent from both the ISP subscribers and the Web sites they visit. But NebuAd, Robert Dykes, the company's chairman and CEO told the Senate Commerce Committee that the company does not collect personally identifiable information or keep the information it collects for an extended time. NebuAd only collects information to use to create profiles for a limited number of advertising categories, Dykes said. All other data collected is deleted, he said. In addition, users can easily opt out of NebuAd's data collection. At the same hearing, the Federal Trade Commission testified that the issues surrounding behavioral advertising are complex, "the business models are diverse and constantly evolving, and ... behavioral advertising may provide benefits to consumers even as it raises concerns about consumer privacy," said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. The Center for Democracy and Technology noted that consumers are increasingly concerned about the growing amount of personal data being collected by online advertising practices, but that they are ill-equipped to take steps to protect their privacy. CDT also said that the emerging advertising model partnering ISPs with ad networks brings new legal complexities and privacy risks to the e-commerce equation. CDT urged Congress to take a comprehensive look at online advertising practices and made several recommendations for designing policies and laws that insure consumer privacy and instill trust in the electronic marketplace.
 http://benton.org/node/15107  

WHY IS YOUTUBE HOARDING DATA?
 [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
 [Commentary] Last week, a pretrial ruling in the case caused a furor for reasons that had nothing to do with copyrights. Granting a request from Viacom, District Judge Louis L. Stanton in New York ordered YouTube to turn over all the data it had collected about what its users watched. As it turns out, YouTube has kept extensive records of all its users' viewing histories, including the Internet addresses of the computers they were on at the time. And the data include not just the videos watched on youtube.com but also the YouTube clips embedded on other sites. Although the revelation might have come as a surprise to users, YouTube's privacy policy says the company "may record information about your usage," including the videos watched, the time spent on the site and the clips uploaded. It adds, "If you are logged in, we may associate that information with your account." Privacy advocates hit the panic button, saying the combination of user names and Internet addresses could provide enough information to identify individual users. Stanton's order is a reminder that websites shouldn't retain personally identifiable data any longer than the law or their services require. Google argues that the data enable it to improve its services, combat fraud and personalize offerings. Its approach, though, reflects an engineer's habit of hoarding information for the sake of as-yet-unimagined features, not the cautious practices of a privacy-conscious company. If YouTube really needs to keep months' worth of data about what users do, the least it can do is remove the links to who's doing it. In the meantime, users should remove the links themselves by following instructions on the site for erasing their viewing histories.
 http://benton.org/node/15122

INTERNET PROVIDER AS GATEKEEPER: FCC MULLS THE LIMITS
 [SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
 A look at the challenges facing the Federal Communications Commission as the agency seeks to more clearly define the boundary between acceptable network management and anti-competitive behavior. The line is constantly being blurred by new technologies and innovations that are often unforeseen and not easily categorized. The main course on the FCC’s Network Neutrality plate involves a complaint filed by Free Press and another advocacy group, Public Knowledge, alleging that Comcast, blocked customers from uploading content to BitTorrent, a file-sharing site featuring movies, music, television shows and video games. The FCC is expected to rule on the petition this summer. Blair Levin, managing director at the investment firm Stifel Nicolaus, expects the FCC to declare that Comcast erred in blocking BitTorrent and that the firm should have been more transparent about its policies -- but to stop short of imposing fines. Levin expects the FCC to dodge what he considers the thorniest issue in the debate: whether broadband companies can establish Internet toll lanes featuring premium content with faster download speeds.
 http://benton.org/node/15057

MASSIVE INTERNET SECURITY FLAW UNCOVERED
 [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn]
 Security researchers on Tuesday said they had discovered an enormous flaw that could let hackers steer most people using corporate computer networks to malicious websites of their own devising. For bad news, that's pretty impressive. But there are two pieces of good news: First, no bad guys are known to be using the flaw yet. And second, in a possibly unprecedented display of industry cooperation, virtually every major software company affected is issuing patches to fix the problem. System administrators will have 30 days to apply those patches before the details of the flaw are disclosed. Security experts hope that the patches are broad enough that evil types won't be able to reverse-engineer them to exploit the vulnerability.
 http://benton.org/node/15073

'BOOB TUBE' STILL CONTENT KING: NIELSEN
 [SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
 Video consumers are spending more time on every available platform, including TVs, computers and cell phones, according to a report on television consumption released Tuesday by Nielsen. Despite other options for consuming content, Americans are spending an increased amount of time in front of televisions: an average of 127 hours, 15 minutes a month. This viewing is not at the expense of Internet use: that metric is up 9%, to 26 hours and 26 minutes a month. Online viewing is estimated at 2 hours and 19 minutes and Americans watch 3 hours and 15 minutes a month on their cell phones.
 http://benton.org/node/15053

NIELSEN: BARACK OBAMA OWNING WEB
 [SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Mike Shields]
 When it comes to the Web, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama is drawing a much larger crowd and generating considerably more chatter, says a new report issued by Nielsen Online. As of May, the Illinois Senator attracted more than four times as many individual visitors to his Web site as did his Republican Senator John McCain: 2.3 million unique users for Obama versus just 563,000 for McCain. That same month, Obama’s campaign ran over 105 million ad impressions versus just 8.6 million for McCain. Similarly, In June, Obama generated nearly twice as much “buzz volume” on blogs, said Nielsen, as the Senator was referenced in 0.75 percent of consumer discussions, while McCain was mentioned in 0.39 percent of such discussions.
 http://benton.org/node/15028

EDUCATORS WRESTLE WITH DIGITAL-EQUITY CHALLENGES
 [SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Dennis Pierce]
 Despite gains in the number of households that are online and the number of computing devices in the hands of students, making sure all learners have equitable access to technology resources continues to be a challenge in the United States and worldwide. Students who lack this access to technology are at a disadvantage, ed-tech advocates say, because they are missing out on opportunities to learn and to become participants in an increasingly digital workforce and society.
 http://benton.org/node/15026

THE FACEBOOKER WHO FRIENDED OBAMA
 [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
 A look at Chris Hughes, one of the four founders of Facebook. In early 2007, he left the company to work in Chicago on Senator Barack Obama’s new-media campaign. Leaving behind his company at such a critical time would appear to require some cognitive dissonance: political campaigns, after all, are built on handshakes and persuasion, not computer servers, and Hughes has watched, sometimes ruefully, as Facebook has marketed new products that he helped develop. But in fact, working on the Obama campaign may have moved Hughes closer to the center of the social networking phenomenon, not farther away. The campaign’s new-media strategy, inspired by popular social networks like MySpace and Facebook, has revolutionized the use of the Web as a political tool, helping the candidate raise more than two million donations of less than $200 each and swiftly mobilize hundreds of thousands of supporters before various primaries. The centerpiece of it all is My.BarackObama.com, where supporters can join local groups, create events, sign up for updates and set up personal fund-raising pages.
 http://benton.org/node/14996

'PUBLIC' ONLINE SPACES DON'T CARRY SPEECH, RIGHTS
 [SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
 (7/6) Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won't eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative. Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed. Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that's controversial but otherwise legal. Service providers write their own rules for users worldwide and set foreign policy when they cooperate with regimes like China. They serve as prosecutor, judge and jury in handling disputes behind closed doors. The governmental role that companies play online is taking on greater importance as their services - from online hangouts to virtual repositories of photos and video - become more central to public discourse around the world. It's a fallout of the Internet's market-driven growth, but possible remedies, including government regulation, can be worse than the symptoms.
 http://benton.org/node/14982

STUDY SAYS MANY DIAL-UP USERS DON'T WANT BROADBAND
 [SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
 (7/3) A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project suggests that attitude rather than availability may be the key reason why more Americans don't have high-speed Internet access. Only 14 percent of dial-up users say they're stuck with the older, slower connection technology because they can't get broadband in their neighborhoods. Thirty-five percent say they're still on dial-up because broadband prices are too high, while another 19 percent say nothing would persuade them to upgrade. The remainder have other reasons or do not know. The study does support concerns that rural Americans have more trouble getting faster Internet connections, which bring greater opportunities to work from home or log into classes at distant universities. Twenty-four percent of rural dial-up users say they would get broadband if it becomes available, compared with 11 percent for suburbanites and 3 percent for city dwellers.
 http://benton.org/node/14981

PRODUCT PLACEMENT ON TV TARGETED
 [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
 (6/27) Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said the FCC will review new rules on how television programmers alert viewers about product placements in programming. He said product placements and integration into story lines have increased as television viewers increasingly use recording devices like TiVo and DVRs to fast forward through commercials. Currently, the FCC's rules require television programmers to disclose sponsors who have embedded products into shows. Those disclosures typically are done during the credits at the end of the show, which fly by viewers in small script. The FCC plans to study whether sponsorship notices should be written in bigger print and displayed for a defined period. They are looking at adopting rules similar to those for political ads, which require sponsorship messages to be in a print at least four percent the height of a screen and displayed for at least 4 seconds. The agency also will look into stronger rules for advertisement disclosures in children's and cable programming.
 http://www.benton.org/node/14975

TECHNOLOGY RESHAPES AMERICA'S CLASSROOMS
 [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jason Szep]
 From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America's classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves. Lilla G Frederick Pilot Middle School in Boston offers a glimpse into the future. It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at the start of each day, returning them at the end. Teachers and students maintain blogs. Staff and parents chat on instant messaging software. Assignments are submitted through electronic "drop boxes" on the school's Web site. Unlike traditional schools, Frederick's students work at vastly different levels in the same classroom. Children with special needs rub shoulders with high performers. Computers track a range of aptitude levels, allowing teachers to tailor their teaching to their students' weakest areas.
 http://benton.org/node/14992

CALLS FOR 1G BROADBAND IN US
[SOURCE: PCWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The U.S. should aim for 100M bps (bits per second) of broadband available to all U.S. residents by 2012 and 1G bps by 2015 in order to catch up to other countries that are moving forward with broadband rollouts, recommends a study released Monday. The study, by the Baller Herbst Law Group, also calls on the U.S. to create a national broadband strategy that helps state programs bring broadband to underserved areas. Neither private industry nor government programs alone can build the broadband networks needed for the U.S. to compete globally in the coming years, said Jim Baller, founder of Baller Herbst and the study's co-author. The e-NC Authority, a state program in North Carolina focused on broadband rollout, commissioned the study, and many of Baller's recommendations are focused on how North Carolina can get broadband to the 16 percent of the state's residents who don't yet have it. Among the recommendations: Grants to broadband providers, communities working together to finance broadband networks and funding for new broadband competitors. Several speakers at a forum accompanying the study's release said other states can learn from North Carolina's broadband efforts. The state has used a combination of state, nonprofit and other funding to bring broadband to its rural areas, and in January, it awarded a US$1.2 million grant to help bring broadband to four rural counties. But speakers at Monday's event said the U.S. government needs to step forward and help bring broadband to rural areas across the nation.
http://benton.org/node/14921

ICANN: MEDDLING WITH DNS POSES SECURITY PROBLEM
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Peter Sayer]
The interception of Internet traffic to snoop on phone calls or track surfers' behavior is a hot topic -- but what's keeping members of ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee up at night is the interception of traffic to and from sites that don't even exist. They explained why in a session at ICANN's public meeting. There are still a few possible domain names out there that have not yet been registered, and if you accidentally type one of them into your browser's address bar, you ought to receive an error message from the Domain Name System (DNS) signalling that the domain does not exist. What happens to those error messages is of concern to SSAC's members, who advise on the security and integrity of the domain name systems that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) coordinates. Some ISPs (Internet service providers) and domain name registrars see the error messages as a missed opportunity to "help" their customers find the site they are looking for -- and to make a little money on the side. They do this by intercepting the error messages and modifying them to point to a Web site that they control, typically carrying advertisements related to the domain name typed. 
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/24/Meddling_with_DNS_poses_security_problem_1.html

MCCAIN AND THE INTERNETS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye]
Having admitted he's a computer "illiterate," Sen John McCain (R-AZ) held a town hall Tuesday night via telephone. Mark Soohoo, McCain's deputy e-campaign director, drew guffaws at an Internet conference in New York when he tried to dig his candidate out of a techno black hole. “It’s a mistake to assume John McCain has no knowledge of this,” Soohoo said during a panel discussion with the Internet strategists of some other presidential campaigns. “You don't necessarily have to use a computer to understand how it shapes the country,” he said. Tracy Russo, who worked for John Edwards, as an Internet strategist, responded, "You actually do,” suggesting that a person gains a certain frame of reference from being online. Andrew Rasiej, a Democrat and founder and executive producer of the Personal Democracy Forum, which was holding the conference, said later that Sen McCain’s lack of familiarity with computers and the Internet “shows he doesn't understand how the world works and that he doesn't understand what it would mean to be president.” McCain’s relationship with the Internet also stands in stark contrast to that of his opponent, Sen Barack Obama (D-IL), whose campaign has made expert use of the Internet for fund-raising and organizing and recently surpassed the 1-million mark of “friends” on Facebook. (Sen McCain has fewer than 200,000.)
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/mccain-and-the-internets/

MARKEY: WAIT ON ONLINE-AD-SERVICE TECHNOLOGY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) has told cable operators and other broadband providers to hold off implementing ad-service technology similar to what Charter Communications was planning to use from online-ad network NebuAd. Chairman Markey and other members of his subcommittee wrote Charter last month asking it to hold off on the NebuAd partnership until concerns about online privacy were addressed. He praised Charter Tuesday for deciding to delay plans to "track the Web sites visited by their customers and disclose this sensitive the data to an ad firm." But Rep Markey went beyond that to advise other broadband providers to follow suit. "Given the serious privacy concerns raised by the sophisticated ad-serving technology Charter Communications planned to test-market," he added, "I am pleased to hear that the company has decided to delay implementation of this program, which electronically profiled individual consumer Web usage. I urge other broadband companies considering similar user-profiling programs to similarly hold off on implementation while these important privacy concerns can be addressed.”
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6572966.html?rssid=193

CRAFTING TV ADS FOR THE DIGITAL AGE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Brian Steinberg]
Marketers are already scrambling to figure out how best to adjust their 30-second TV spots for viewing via the web and on iPod screens. But as the nation prepares for the big shift from analog to digital TV on Feb. 17 next year, what could be a major conundrum has opened up for advertisers who love to make use of the wider high-definition screen. While traditional TV sets have for decades featured a 4:3 screen-size proportion, high-definition sets and the programming created for them have a much more rectangular 16:9 scope. Thus, ads crafted for high-definition broadcasts that show up on standard-definition sets could have their right and left sides digitally sliced off. Cries of concern are already surfacing in certain corners of the ad business, particular the creative side. "You work really hard to make the film look beautiful within the frame, and then somebody changes the frame on you," said Andy Langer, chief creative officer at Omnicom Group's Roberts & Tarlow agency. "They won't look as good, and they may not be as effective," he added. The move to digital frees up frequency for wireless broadband, not to mention police and fire communications. It also allows broadcasters to offer more high-definition programming and additional channels of content. But it also creates the potential for an "ad squeeze": Many living rooms, basements and bedrooms will still contain the older TV sets that aren't capable of showing high-definition ads in all their glory. Of the nation's approximately 113 million TV households, only 46 million have sets capable of receiving high-def content, a number that is expected to grow to only 55 million by the end of 2009, according to Forrester Research.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=127958

ONE MAN, ONE LONG LIST, NO MORE WEB ADS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Peter Whoriskey]
A machinist and self-described "blue-collar guy" in his mid-50s from upstate New York, Rick752, as he's known online, spends most nights upstairs in his den assembling a list of Internet ad sites and related data. That work, dubbed EasyList, enables millions of Web surfers to filter and freeze out nearly all advertising that would otherwise appear on their screens. Yet the effort to block millions of Internet ads, while drawing raves from users, is feared by some who say that if it continues to grow in popularity, it could threaten the financial underpinnings of much of the Web, where publishers are largely dependent on advertising.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401287.html

MANY SAY COVERAGE IS BIASED IN FAVOR OF OBAMA
[SOURCE: The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press ]
 Nearly four-in-ten (37%) say that in covering the Democratic race, news organizations have been biased toward Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) while just 8% say they have been biased toward Sen Hillary Clinton (D-NY); 40% say news organizations have shown no bias in their coverage. Substantial minorities of Republicans (45%) and independents (40%) say the press has been biased toward Obama; somewhat fewer Democrats (35%) see a pro-Obama bias. The weekly News Interest Index finds that Obama has clearly been the dominant figure in the campaign thus far, both in terms of press coverage and public visibility. Despite the widespread belief that the press has favored Obama, many of the events that have registered most strongly with the public centered on controversies involving either Obama himself or his campaign.
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=427

PRESS AND PUBLIC NEED A FEDERAL SHIELD LAW
[SOURCE: Minneapolis Star-Tribune, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Citizens concerned about the state of the news media begin meeting today in Minneapolis, where the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform proposes to diagnose a number of critical conditions that are changing -- and challenging -- the media business. Topics on the agenda include media consolidation, rapidly evolving media-consumption patterns and the erosion of traditional business models. It will be difficult to get consensus on cures for what ails the news media, but there is one issue conference participants -- and the country -- can rally around: the need for a national shield law. Dubbed the Free Flow of Information Act, it would create a qualified privilege to protect reporters from being forced to testify and reveal confidential sources, unless clear criteria are met.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/19582619.html?location_refer=Editorials

HILLARY VS BARACK: WHO HAD THE SMARTEST MEDIA STRATEGY?
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Anthony Young]
As we finally reached the end of the Democrat primaries and Sen. Barack Obama has been declared the presumptive nominee, it seems timely to analyze his marketing and Sen. Hillary Clinton's respective media strategies. As we know, advertising isn't the only determiner of success.
The product itself, the press and, no doubt, the sentiment of the consumer are all very influential factors. But with some $120 million spent by the two candidates in the past 12 months behind media and marketing activity, how did they perform?
http://adage.com/campaigntrail/post?article_id=127508

BIG MEDIA MEETS ITS MATCH
[SOURCE: Utne Reader, AUTHOR: Keith Goetzman]
Since President George W. Bush appointed Federal Communications Commission members Michael Copps (in 2001) and Jonathan Adelstein (in 2002), the two have become cult heroes to people who view the corporatization of media and telecommunications as a threat to democracy. Despite being in the minority on the commission, which is always weighted three to two in favor of the party controlling the White House, the two Democrats have consistently challenged the interests of big media on a body that has long been criticized for being too cozy with the corporate conglomerates it regulates. 'They both understand, as few members of the FCC have ever understood, the public importance of the work they do,' says media historian and critic Robert McChesney. 'That it's not just about these industries and helping them get rich, it's about the quality of journalism and culture we're going to have in our society. These guys are like throwbacks--they actually believe in the idea that they're public servants and they're here to uphold the law and represent the interests of the public.'
http://www.utne.com/2007-07-01/Politics/Big-Media-Meets-Its-Match.aspx

PANEL SAYS OLD MEDIA INTO NEW
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Dada Hayes]
Media deals combining old-line and new-model assets, a la CBS-CNET or Time Warner-Bebo, will happen at a steady clip in coming months, predicted several prominent dealmakers Thursday. The moneymen, all with stakes in the media biz, appeared on a panel on the closing day of Ad
Age's Advertising 2.0 confab at Gotham's New World Stages. "Time Warner has recently been trading at six times (operating cash flow), and a lot of the other big media companies are in that same area," said Dennis Miller, general partner at Spark Capital and a former cable exec. "When you're at that level, a lot of people at those companies realize they have to make some moves."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986991.html?categoryid=18&cs=1&nid=2562

INTERNET IN TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy and Technology, AUTHOR: ]
CDT released "Internet in Transition: A Platform To Keep the Internet Open, Innovative and Free," a 1.0 version of the organization's policy recommendations on Internet and technology policy for the next administration and Congress.
CDT also launched a companion Web site that, among other things, encourages Internet users to review and comment on the draft. Those comments will inform the final version of the transition document that will be presented to the new political leadership. June 05, 2008 Press release, June 05, 2008:
http://cdt.org/press/20080605press.php
Internet in Transition Web site, June 05, 2008:
http://www.cdt.org/election2008/

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET ECONOMY
[SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, AUTHOR: ]
Are we making the most of what the Internet has to offer our economies and societies? What are likely future developments, and can we make sure they are positive ones? This Policy Brief looks at likely future developments in the Internet economy, and how all stakeholders can help the Internet to meet the increasing demands made upon it, continue to drive innovation, provide new communications services and platforms, while being secure and respecting privacy.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/27/40780975.pdf
* Convergence and Next Generation Networks (OECD report)
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/25/11/40761101.pdf
* Broadband and the Economy (OECD report)
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/7/40781696.pdf

U2 MANAGER SLAMS INTERNET PROVIDERS
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Patrick Frater]
U2 manager Paul McGuinness launched a blistering attack on the world's Internet providers Wednesday, accusing them of strangling the music industry. Speaking at the Music Matters confab in Hong Kong, McGuinness likened ISPs to "shoplifters" and accused them of "turning their heads" away from the music industry's troubles and "rigging the market." "The recorded music industry is in a crisis and there is crucial help available but not being provided by companies who should be providing that help -- not just because it is morally right, but because it is in their commercial interest," McGuinness, said. He and numerous others speaking on the first day of the confab said the industry was caught between rampant piracy and ISPs' extortionate terms of trade.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117986863.html?categoryid=19&cs=1&nid=2562

A SHIELD LAW FOR THE WORLD
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Miklós Haraszti]
[Commentary]
The United States owes a federal shield law not only to American journalists but to journalists around the world. Passage of such a law is urgently needed. By finally allowing the media to protect the anonymity of confidential sources, Congress would do more than close a fissure in U.S. press freedoms: It would also help curtail the destructive behavior that current US prosecutorial habits are inspiring globally. The proposed U.S. federal shield law is officially called the Free Flow of Information Act, in reference to the renowned commitments of the Helsinki Accords more than 30 years ago -- human rights promises that still invigorate today's Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Passing the Free Flow of Information Act would send a clear message that prosecuting journalists is not in vogue anymore and would signal solidarity with nations that crave more press freedom.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060303158.html
(requires registration)

'NET NEUTRALITY' STRIKES A CHORD
[SOURCE: Tech Daily Dose, AUTHOR: ]
[Commentary] What do Aimee Mann, They Might Be Giants, and Wilco have in common? They've all donated tracks to a compilation album, which will be released next month, to benefit a proposed federally mandated "network neutrality" rule for broadband Internet providers. Future of Music Coalition and Thirsty Ear Recordings brought together 15 acts for the "Rock the Net: Musicians for Net Neutrality" compact disc. Look for it on July 29.
http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2008/06/net_neutrality_strikes_a_chord.php

IT ISN'T MAGIC: PUTIN OPPONENTS ARE MADE TO VANISH FROM TV
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Clifford Levy]
On a talk show last fall, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail G Delyagin had some tart words about Vladimir V Putin. When the program was later televised, Mr Delyagin was not. Not only were his remarks cut — he was also digitally erased from the show. Delyagin, it turned out, has for some time resided on the so-called stop list, a roster of political opponents and other critics of the government who have been barred from TV news and political talk shows by the Kremlin. The stop list is, as Delyagin put it, “an excellent way to stifle dissent.” It is also a striking indication of how Mr Putin has increasingly relied on the Kremlin-controlled TV networks to consolidate power, especially in recent elections. Opponents who were on TV a year or two ago all but vanished during the campaigns, as Mr. Putin won a parliamentary landslide for his party and then installed his protégé, Dmitri A Medvedev, as his successor. Mr Putin is now prime minister, but is still widely considered Russia’s leader.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/world/europe/03russia.html?ref=todayspaper
(requires registration)

VOA'S AUSTIN WARNS OTHER NATIONS ON WEB CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Dean Austin, the head of Voice of America, the US government's international broadcasting arm, advised other countries Monday that they must be on guard for Web censorship and "influence operations" disguised as journalism, and that they must protect journalists' rights to gather information without fear of overzealous courts.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6566280.html?rssid=193

GOOGLE SEARCH ADS RILE ITS BIG CUSTOMERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Emily Steel]
As Google pushes to sell ads crucial to its revenue growth, some of its largest advertisers are growing angry with the way the company oversees its sponsored searches. The problem is a tactic known as "piggybacking," in which smaller advertisers use major players' brand names, slogans or other trademarked words in the text of search ads to lure Web surfers to their own sites. While Google and other search engines have policies against this maneuver, some marketers say the practice often goes unchecked. The brick-and-mortar world has long-established laws in this area, but the legal situation is less clear for the Internet and has only recently started to be tested in the courts. Tensions over piggybacking have been simmering for a couple of years. Companies such as Marriott International Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Northwest Airlines Corp. say the use of their names and slogans in the text of other companies' search ads confuses potential customers and increases their cost of doing business. They are particularly upset with Google, which is the dominant player in the search business. It controlled 71.2% of the search market last year, according to research firm eMarketer Inc.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121245191440539815.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
(requires subscription)

SUDDEN DISCONNECT OVER SOCIAL NETWORKING DEAL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Whoriskey]
Google's announcement of a service to "make the Web more social" was decidedly casual, or staged to seem that way. Engineering director David Glazer explained how, through an agreement with Facebook and similar sites, Google's effort would serve a primal human need. But within three days, a dispute erupted between Google and Facebook, its largest partner in the new service, that reflected the fact that for Web companies there is nothing casual about the business of Internet socializing: There's too much money, maybe billions, at stake. Facebook, the burgeoning social network, abruptly withdrew its support for Google's Friend Connect, meaning that none of Facebook's tens of millions of members could sign in to Web sites using Google's new service.
Coming so soon after the highly publicized launch, it was an embarrassing rift for both sides. Many view the ongoing standoff as a contest with far-reaching implications for Web socializing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060202925.html
(requires subscription)

PROGRESSIVE INTERNET ENTREPRENEURS
[SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Chester]
[Commentary] As progressives gather in Minneapolis for the fourth annual National Conference for Media Reform, the fast-moving digital media marketplace should be high on their agenda. A record wave of mergers, acquisitions and significant investment from venture capitalists is raising alarms about the impact these new players will have on a long-term social and political reform agenda. Since there's no evidence these investors are interested in anything but profit, it's up to progressive organizations to become players in the global media game. Corporate giants are on a global digital shopping spree. Google, Microsoft, and Time Warner are gobbling up leading digital media companies (the current fight between Microsoft and Google for control over troubled Yahoo is an example of this trend). Venture capitalist investment in new media start-ups, including mobile social networks and broadband video platforms, is staggering. It reflects a keen corporate awareness about how a global generation of young people now communicate and promises to have a profound influence on the future of the Internet and other digital services. Progressives should be especially concerned about how corporate investments affect the diversity of digital ownership. The time is right for progressive organizations to develop sustainable, revenue-generating broadband news and entertainment services. This would enable media reformers, long relegated to the sidelines, to join the game and "counter-program" the mainstream informational culture. As political organizing increasingly moves online, progressive Internet TV channels and mobile social networks will be crucial tools for advocacy and constituency building. Digital media can also generate huge revenues. Income from such new ventures could help to transform the hand-to-mouth fundraising efforts that often mark our media production and activism activities.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080616/chester

DEAN DERIDES 'SEXIST' MEDIA COVERAGE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Walter Alarkon]
Asked if a recent suggestion that sexism among journalists has hurt Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean on Sunday strongly criticized the media’s coverage of the presidential race, saying it has been sexist. “There has been an enormous amount of sexism in this campaign on the part of the media, including the mainstream media," Dean said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”. “We’ll leave present company excepted, because I think that’s true. But there have been major networks that have featured numerous outrageous comments that if the words were reversed and they were about race, the people would have been fired.”
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/dean-derides-sexist-media-coverage-2008-06-01.html

CENSUS: TV CONSUMPTION IS UP
[SOURCE: MediaDailyNews, AUTHOR: David Goetzl]
The Census Bureau released some noteworthy details about the growth of American TV consumption in order to mark the "historic" February 2009 digital transition: 1) There were 110 million U.S. homes with TV sets in 2006, up from 76 million in 1980; 2) The average estimated hours a person (12 or older) will spend watching TV this year is 1,704 (4.7 per day), up from 1,502 (4.1) in 2000; 3) 98.2% of all homes had a set in 2005, the same as 1999; 4) The average home had 2.6 sets in 2005, up from 1.7 in 1980; 5) Analog TVs accounted for $273 million in sales last year, down from $5.8 billion in 2003; 6) Digital TV sales accounted for $26.3 billion, compared to $8.7 billion in 2003; and 7) Average monthly basic cable rate in 2006 was $41.17. In 1975: $6.50.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=83680&Nid=43281&p=368626

UPDATE: US INTERNET AD SPENDING TO BOOM
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Juan Carlos Perez]
Online advertising will balloon in the coming years, becoming bigger than all advertising media except direct marketing by 2012. Spending in U.S. online advertising will double from $25.5 billion in 2007 to $51.1 billion in 2012, along the way climbing up from the fifth-largest to the second-largest ad medium and dwarfing newspapers, cable and broadcast TV, IDC said Friday. Overall spending in U.S. advertising is expected to decline by about 7 percent this year compared with 2007, which means that online advertising is fueling its growth with ad dollars previously destined for "old" media, said IDC analyst Karsten Weide.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/30/US-Internet-ad-spending-to-boom_1.html

WAS PRESS A WAR 'ENABLER'? 2 OFFER A NOD FROM INSIDE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
In his new memoir, “What Happened,” Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, said the national news media neglected their watchdog role in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, calling reporters “complicit enablers” of the Bush administration’s push for war. Surprisingly, some prominent journalists have agreed. Katie Couric, the anchor of “CBS Evening News,” said on Wednesday that she had felt pressure from government officials and corporate executives to cast the war in a positive light. Jessica Yellin, who worked for MSNBC in 2003 and now reports for CNN, said on Wednesday that journalists had been “under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation.” On Thursday, she clarified her comments in a blog post, writing that her producers at MSNBC had wanted their coverage to reflect the patriotic mood of the country. A spokeswoman for General Electric, which owns NBC and MSNBC through its division NBC Universal, declined to speak about the specifics of the comments but said, “General Electric has never, and will never, interfere in the editorial process at NBC News.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/washington/30press.html?ref=todayspaper

MCCAIN'S WEB GAP IS SHOWING
[SOURCE:  Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James Rainey]
Six of the top 10 videos returned by a "John McCain" YouTube search Thursday pegged the 71-year-old as inconsistent, extreme, wooden or a combination of the three.  Contrast that with a YouTube search of "Barack Obama." It's a swoon fest, with virtually all of the top entries featuring the Illinois senator at his eloquent, uplifting best. The videos range from the pop-icon worship of Scarlett Johansson and John Legend & Co. in “Yes We Can” (closing in on 13 million views) to a clip of the candidate's speech on race after the explosion over the controversial sermons of his onetime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. "This is another example of the generation gap that the Republicans are facing. And that gap is morphing into a chasm," said Frank Luntz, a veteran GOP pollster. Yes, many of the young video viewers are already committed to Obama, but watching and even making the short films has turned the merely amused into the deeply committed. "You activate them and engage them in a way you haven't before, up to and including on election day," Luntz said. "I think this is a critical part of Obama's appeal."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-onmedia30-2008may30,0,2542273.story

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Communications-Related Headlines are compiled, summarized and edited by Rachel Anderson (rachel@benton.org), Andy Carvin (andy@benton.org) and Charles Meisch (charlie@benton.org) of the Benton Foundation -- we welcome your feedback. Based in Washington DC, the Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Other projects at Benton include:
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