Postings on media issues from Benton.org (most recent at top)

February 2006

Feb 27: TRUE DEMOCRACY HAS INDEPENDENT MEDIA [SOURCE: Seattle Post Intelligencer 2/24, AUTHOR: Kenneth F. Bunting kenbunting@seattlepi.com] [Commentary] Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said last week that the military's controversial practice of paying to plant stories favorable to the United States in the Iraqi media had been brought to an end. But three days later, he clarified the statement, explaining that the practice and its propriety were "under review," but yet to be prohibited. What was not clear after Sec Rumsfeld's clarification is whether he now approves of a communications strategy that includes paying Iraqi media outlets for the tone, content and placement of news stories. He insists that the military's initiative to influence the U.S. image in the Iraqi news media has always been, and always will be, about spreading truthful and accurate information. But if our long-term goal in Iraq is to create a sustainable democracy, it does not seem like an ethically sound or effective step toward that goal to be encouraging that war-torn country's fast-developing but fledgling news media to sell its message and become the mouthpiece of an occupying government. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/260680_bunting24.html See also -- * America's woeful failure in the war of ideas http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/13947961.htm

GOVERNMENT: GOOGLE'S PRIVACY CONCERNS UNFOUNDED [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Greg Sandoval] The Justice Department has denied requesting anything from Google that could threaten the privacy of the search-engine's users, as the company recently contended. But by trying to block the government's efforts to review a week's worth of search terms, Google is holding up efforts to protect children from pornography, according to a brief filed Friday by the Justice Department. The U.S. Justice Department was responding to Google's legal filing earlier this month, in which the search giant argued that the government's request for 1 million pages from Google's index, as well as copies of a week's worth of search terms, would harm the company in numerous ways. The information the Justice Department requested is to be used in a study to help the Bush administration defend the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA), an Internet pornography law. The government is seeking to highlight flaws in Web filtering technology during a trial this fall. Google maintains that complying with the government's request would mean disclosing important trade secrets, take up too many of the company's resources to produce and harm its reputation with users. http://news.com.com/Government+Googles+privacy+concerns+unfounded/2100-1028_3-6043338.html?tag=nefd.top

END OF AN ERA: TURNER LEAVING THE BOARD OF TIME WARNER [SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AUTHOR: Matt Kempner & Caroline Wilbert] Severing official ties to the TV networks so closely linked to his identity and that of Atlanta, CNN founder Ted Turner isn't running for reelection to the board of Time Warner, the New York media giant to which he sold his Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting. Despite sales and philanthropic giving of his shares, he remains the company's largest individual shareholder, with more than $500 million in stock. His departure from the board this spring would make it easier for the 67-year-old Turner to sell his Time Warner holdings or speak his mind more freely -- though he hasn't always resisted the latter during his decade on the board. His power within the company has waned. USAToday reports that Turner's departure from the board appears to symbolically close the book on a colorful media career during which he reshaped news, entertainment and sports. He pioneered the use of satellites to distribute ad-supported channels to cable operators nationwide -- circumventing the expensive land lines that ABC, CBS and NBC used to dominate television. He launched channels such as CNN, TNT and Cartoon Network and collected entertainment assets including the Atlanta Braves, animation company Hanna-Barbera and New Line Cinema. “He's one of the greatest visionaries many of us will ever know,” says former cable leader Leo Hindery. “Without CNN, the cable industry would never have matured and evolved as it did. The rest of us were putting in wires. Ted gave us something to watch.” http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/0224turnertimewarner.html * ‘Visionary leader' Turner to leave Time Warner board http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060227/3b_tedturner27.art.htm

STUDY FINDS TEST SCORES NOT LOWERED BY TELEVISION [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Jensen] Does television rot children's brains? A new study by two economists from the University of Chicago taps into a trove of data from the 1960's to argue that when it comes to academic test scores, parents can let children watch TV without fear of future harm. The new study is based on what the authors call a "natural experiment" that resulted from the way television was introduced in the United States in the late 1940's and early 1950's, when some cities got TV service five years ahead of others. Data from cities where preschoolers were exposed to the new technology, and data from cities where they were not, was correlated with test scores from about 300,000 students nationwide in 1965, as collected in the Coleman Report, a survey done under the Civil Rights Act. The study also looked at test scores from pre- and post-TV age groups within cities. The result showed "very little difference and if anything, a slight positive advantage" in test scores for children who grew up watching TV early on, compared to those who did not. In nonwhite households and those where English was a second language or the mother had less than a high school education, TV's positive effect was more marked. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/business/media/27brain.html (requires registration)

DIGITAL PRODUCT PLACEMENT ALTERS TV LANDSCAPE [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Steve Gorman] Blending brand names and products into television shows, as opposed to traditional ads that run during commercial breaks, has gained greater currency in recent years as the television industry faces the rising popularity of TiVo and other devices that let viewers skip commercials. But some industry experts suggest that product placement -- digital or otherwise -- has limited value in delivering a commercial message. Hollywood producers and writers also have raised concerns about their work being turned into virtual infomercials, and consumer activists have fretted about blurring the line between entertainment content and advertising. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-02-26T165858Z_01_N26385839_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIZFEATURE-DIGITAL-ADVERTISING.xml

AT CBS NEWS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING GETS A HIGHER PROFILE [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Peter Johnson] After a series of high-profile journalism scandals, at a time when many Americans doubt the media's accuracy, a safe route for news outlets might be to focus more on soft news and features and less on investigative reporting -- which is not only expensive but risky, especially if you're wrong. Nowhere might this be more true than at CBS News, where several producers lost their jobs, and Dan Rather his CBS Evening News anchor chair, after 60 Minutes' flawed 2004 Memogate report questioning President Bush's National Guard service. Yet a week from today, Armen Keteyian, an eight-time Emmy-winning journalist, joins the Evening News as chief investigative correspondent. It's one of the boldest moves yet by CBS News chief Sean McManus, who was charged last October with overhauling the newscast. McManus says establishing a team under Keteyian, a veteran of CBS Sports, ABC News, Sports Illustrated and HBO's Real Sports, harks back to CBS' decades-long tradition of investigative reporting. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20060227/mediamix27.art.htm

NET NEUTRALITY DEBATE TRAVELS TO EUROPE [SOURCE: Reuters] Internet content providers such as Google should pay for using new super-fast Internet access, Deutsche Telekom said in a report published Thursday. "These companies need infrastructure," CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke said. "It cannot be that infrastructure providers like Telekom continue to invest, while others profit from it." Ricke said it would only be fair if content providers like search engine Yahoo--which offers e-mail, online games and music videos--would pay for access to networks that would allow them to deliver their products at higher speeds. "It is not fair that only the customer, via the monthly subscription fee (for using the Internet), pays for this great new world," Ricke said. A Deutsche Telekom spokesman said the company was not seeking to charge Internet content providers for access to infrastructure but rather for offering bandwidth-demanding services such as movie downloads. http://news.com.com/Should+content+providers+pay+for+better+Net+infrastructure/2100-1034_3-6042880.html?tag=fd_carsl

CYBERTHIEVES SILENTLY COPY AS YOU TYPE [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tom Zeller, Jr] There is evidence that among global cybercriminals, phishing may already be passé. In some countries, like Brazil, it has been eclipsed by an even more virulent form of electronic con -- the use of keylogging programs that silently copy the keystrokes of computer users and send that information to the crooks. These programs are often hidden inside other software and then infect the machine, putting them in the category of malicious programs known as Trojan horses, or just Trojans. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/technology/27hack.html (requires registration)

THE WORLD'S A CELL-PHONE STAGE [SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Ryan Kim] Nothing has matched the seismic cultural shift created by the cell phone, with its ability to connect and deliver content virtually anywhere, anytime. The cell phone clearly inspires mixed feelings for many people. But as time goes on and people grow more accustomed to the cell phone and its attendant ills, it has only further insinuated itself into our lives. In straightforward and sometimes laughable findings, this dependency becomes increasingly apparent. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/27/CELLPHONE.TMP&type=business

Feb 24: AMERICANS' HOME NET ADOPTION SLOWING [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Daniel Terdiman] New research from Parks Associates finds that about 64 percent of Americans had some form of Internet access at home in 2005 -- up from 62 percent in 2004. But the firm predicts that Internet adoption will grow only 3 percentage points by 2009. The Parks Associates report said that 42 percent of Americans now have some form of broadband access at home, while 22 percent more have dial-up. An additional 13 percent get Internet access only outside of the home -- at work or a library, for example -- and 23 percent don't use the Internet at all. John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, says that there are large pockets of Americans for whom modern technology means fancy televisions and home entertainment systems and not computers. And thus, he suggested, the only way to convince such people to get online would be to bundle computers and Internet service with televisions. http://news.com.com/Study+Americans+home+Net+adoption+slowing/2100-1034_3-6042670.html?tag=nefd.top See the Park Associates press release at http://www.parksassociates.com/press/press_releases/2006/nat-scan_pr1.html

CHINA'S MEDIA IMAGE RATTLING WORLD IMAGE [SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Robert Marquand ] The war on liberal ideas is starting to alter the image of China overseas. For a decade, the country has been seen as a rambunctious marvel of manufacturing and export, of developing infrastructure, and a major source of cash reserves. It has managed to outflank human rights agendas, and enjoys an image as a safe, traditional society that is emerging into the international mainstream. Beijing won its 2008 Olympics bid in the midst of a brutal roundup of Falun Gong practitioners in 2001 -- many of whom remain disappeared. "China's deteriorating international image is impacting its ability to achieve its foreign policy goals, and could well affect its ability to stage a successful Olympics in 2008," argues John Kamm, former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, who now runs Dui Hua, a nonprofit human-rights group in San Francisco. Mr. Kamm says the State Department report on human rights in China due next month will be far tougher than in recent years. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0224/p01s04-woap.html * Breaching China's great firewall http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0224/p08s01-comv.html

CALIFORNIA BILL WOULD BAR TOXINS IN CELL PHONES, iPODS [SOURCE: Reuters] California would require manufacturers to phase out the use of hazardous materials in making cell phones, iPods and other electronic devices under a bill introduced by a state lawmaker. The bill unveiled on Thursday by Assembly Member Lori Saldana, a Democrat from San Diego, would apply to any electronic or battery-operated device. The bill, which was introduced on Wednesday, would require manufacturers to stop using the substances in devices sold in California by 2008. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-02-24T003419Z_01_N23179980_RTRUKOC_0_US-TOXICS-CALIFORNIA.xml&archived=False

Feb 23: WOODWARD WARNS OF SECRECY TREND [SOURCE: San Antonio Express-News, AUTHOR: Tracy Idell Hamilton] The greatest threat to America's democracy is not terrorism but governmental secrecy, said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward, whose reporting 35 years ago pierced the veil of secrecy behind Richard Nixon's presidency. The Bush Administration has cloaked its decision-making in "an immense amount of secrecy," he said, "too much, in my view." He also faulted a round-the-clock news cycle that emphasizes speed over accuracy and demands that journalists not just report but predict the future. http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA022206.01B.woodward.129cfa8d.html

LIMIT FREEDOM TO DO EVIL ABROAD [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Jacob Weisberg, Slate.com] [Commentary] Bill Gates recently suggested, an other tech companies seem to be interested in, a legislative fix to the problem of censorship and doing business in China. Such a law would enjoin US companies from assisting in the violation of human rights in China and elsewhere. American companies would not be prevented from selling equipment and services in unfree countries, but rather stopped from tailoring their products to work as tools of tyranny. Well-drawn restrictions could ease the predicament of US companies by, as Mr Gates says, making clear what they cannot do. An anti-repression law would give Yahoo a ready answer the next time Chinese officials demand evidence against cyber-dissidents. We must obey your laws, the American representatives would be able to respond. But we must obey our laws as well. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/54eaa1ee-a3d8-11da-83cc-0000779e2340.html (requires subscription) See also -- * China shuts conservative Web sites amid reform debate http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-02-23T090209Z_01_PEK205279_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-CHINA-WEBSITES.xml

MARK BURNETT PLANS "HIP" NEWS SHOW [SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Ben Grossman] The king of reality TV has found a new frontier -- the news. He is developing an idea for a newsmagazine show targeted to a young, hip audience. "I do believe there is a vacuum and a big opportunity in news," he told the audience. "The network news business still requires advertising, but their viewers are very old. Young people are interested in watching some form of news, if presented in the right way." http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6309953?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP

Feb 22: GOOGLE NAMES HEAD OF PHILANTHROPY [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Kevin Delaney kevin.delaney@wsj.com] Google has named Larry Brilliant, a former high-tech executive and doctor specialized in global health issues, to head its Google.org philanthropic arm. The Web search company has pledged 1% of its annual profit and 1% of its stock, currently valued at around $1 billion, to Google.org. Dr. Brilliant's current activities include serving as a director of the Seva Foundation in Berkeley, Calif., which he founded in 1979 to combat blindness in the developing world. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114057114449279634.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription) * Google signs on do-good doctor to head charity http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060222/google.org22.art.htm

PRESS CAN BE PROSECUTED FOR HAVING SECRET FILES, US SAYS [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Walter Pincus] The Bush administration said that journalists can be prosecuted under current espionage laws for receiving and publishing classified information but that such a step "would raise legitimate and serious issues and would not be undertaken lightly," according to a court filing made public this week. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022101947.html (requires registration)

CHINESE MEDIA ASSAIL GOOGLE [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Philip P. Pan] The Beijing News, a state-run newspaper, reported Tuesday that Google Inc. is under investigation for operating without a proper license in China and quoted an unnamed government official as saying the Internet giant needs to cooperate further with the authorities in blocking "harmful information" from its search results. On the same day, another state newspaper ran a harshly worded editorial about Google. The paper accused the firm of sneaking into China like an "uninvited guest" and then making a fuss about being required to follow Chinese law and cooperate in censoring search results such as pornography. The unusually bold attacks in the state media suggest that the Chinese government is unhappy with Google's efforts thus far to filter politically sensitive results from its popular search engine in China, and that its ability to do business in the country may be in jeopardy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022101844.html (requires registration) * Google denies acting unlawfully in China http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-02-21T090352Z_01_PEK146281_RTRUKOC_0_US-INTERNET-CHINA-GOOGLE.xml

US TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN USED TO BLOCK, CENSOR NET FOR YEARS [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR:] [Commentary] If you think there's something new or unique about Google censoring its Chinese website or Websense helping Yemen filter the Net — well, I hate to disappoint you. Those congressmen acting surprised about this stuff are either grandstanding or ignorant, or maybe both. To varying degrees, U.S. tech companies help repressive regimes around the world sift, block and censor the Net. They've been doing it for years. The U.S. Web-filtering companies either sell to China or want to. Websense, Blue Coat, Secure Computing and SurfControl all have offices in China. They'd be irresponsible if they didn't. Now Google is there, white-washing its search results for users inside China. Yahoo has given user data to Chinese law enforcement, resulting in arrests of dissidents. The companies got hauled before a blustery Rep. Lantos for basically doing what American tech companies do — selling the stuff to just about anyone who wants to buy it, and making the customers happy. “Can you say in English that you're ashamed of what your company and what the other companies have done?” Lantos frothed last week. “Congressman, I can't,” said Google Vice President Elliot Schrage. “I don't think it's fair to say that we're ashamed. ” Nothing in the American business coda says they should be. Now the question for all of us is: Do we want to change that? http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060222/maney22.art.htm

Feb 10: GOLDEN OLDIES [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Chernin, News Corp] [Commentary] Traditional media is not dead. In fact, our companies are leading the charge into the networked digital future. The media industry stands at the dawn of a new golden age -- fueled on the demand side by ever-more discerning consumers, and on the supply side by fresh thinking, new products and oceans of new content. Our businesses were built on our ability to enlighten, entertain and educate -- whether through the pages of a novel, the images on a screen, or the facts in a news broadcast. We exist to connect masses of people with compelling content. Yet throughout history, our power to achieve that mass connection has been limited by distribution constraints -- prohibitive costs, hard-to-reach locations, sluggish technology, etc. Even as media companies grew and thrived, complete access to a truly global audience was long out of reach. We can now reach almost anyone, anywhere, at any time, through a wide variety of devices. This new reality of ubiquitous low-cost distribution gives us more ways than ever to tell our stories and get them to an audience. The mass digital conversion of the past 10 years puts consumers at the very heart of media. They program. They timeshift. They manipulate. And perhaps most significantly, they interact and engage -- they have been liberated from the constraints of the old analog world. That liberated consumer is bringing about what can and should be the golden age for the so-called old media. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113945405858969177.html?mod=todays_us_opinion (requires subscription)

GOOGLE'S NEWEST SEARCH TOOL RAISES PRIVACY CONCERNS [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jefferson Graham] Internet search giant Google today unveils Google Desktop 3, the latest version of software that helps users find files on personal computers. A new feature can track data from multiple PCs. To do that, it copies personal text files to Google servers, which eventually route them back to the PCs. Previous versions merely indexed files, without storing copies at Google. But online privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation worries about Google extending its reach. “We think this is an enormous privacy risk for users who choose to utilize it,” says EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann. For Von Lohmann, the reality of what's on your computer -- and potentially on Google servers -- outweighs convenience. “Unless you go to the trouble of configuring Google Desktop carefully, it will cough up your tax returns, medical and financial records, and any other text files you happen to have.” http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060209/1b_google09.art.htm

DESPITE WEB CRACKDOWN, PREVAILING WINDS ARE FREE [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Howard French] For months now, the news about the news in China has been awful. Carrying out its vow to tighten controls over what it calls "propaganda," the government of President Hu Jintao has busied itself closing publications, firing editorial staffs and jailing reporters. More noticeably, the government has clamped down on the Internet, closing blogger sites, filtering Web sites and e-mail messages for banned words and tightening controls on text messages. If the Internet is at the center of today's struggle over press freedom, it is only the latest in a series of fights that the government has so far always lost. Under the veneer of resolute state control, one sector after another, including book publishing, newspapers and magazines, has undergone a similar process of de facto liberalization, often in the face of official hostility. The first wave came in book publishing, where beginning in the 1980's censors found themselves unable to suppress books that were critical of state policy or expressed divergent views on ideological matters. A big part of the reason for the weakening of the censors was the introduction of a market economy, where publishers had to seek profits to support their activities. Turgid, politically correct books that delighted the censors sold poorly, so profit-seeking publishers sought to get bolder, often provocative writing into print. Changes in the news media have also been driven by profit motives. With the state ending its subsidies for most publishing companies, publications have sought ways to build readership. Saucy entertainment and sports journalism have been big hits for many magazines and newspapers. Others, though, have hit on the idea of public affairs, uncovering corruption and writing about environmental problems and social inequality. As the readers' appetite for this kind of news has grown, the government has been hard pressed to force the genie back into the bottle. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/international/asia/09letter.html (requires registration)

PRESS-FREEDOM GROUP SAYS YAHOO GAVE CHINA DATA FOR SECOND JAILING [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Kevin J. Delaney kevin.delaney@wsj.com] Press-freedom group Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo supplied personal data about a user in China to Chinese police, leading to the dissident's jailing in 2003. This is the second such allegation that Yahoo has faced recently. A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company is "unaware of this case." She said the Chinese government didn't typically inform service providers why it was requesting information about users and said Yahoo was "rigorous" in making sure it provided only the material legally required in such cases. "We balance the requirement to comply with the laws in a country that may not be consistent with our values, and our conviction that our active involvement in China contributed to the continued modernization of the country," the spokeswoman said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113944196811768844.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

Feb 9: BROADBAND, CONTENT FIRMS FIGHT OVER NET NEUTRALITY [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jeremy Pelofsky] High-speed Internet providers and Internet content companies clashed before lawmakers on Tuesday, in a dispute over whether a law enshrining the right to surf anywhere on the Web would help or harm consumers. Representatives of local telephone and cable companies that offer fast Internet access, known as broadband, said passing a new law could stymie innovation while companies like Google said that could happen without legislation. Broadband providers have largely pledged that consumers will be able to access any Internet site. But some also said they may charge more for services that use faster private Internet networks, like downloading movies. In the middle were lawmakers who were divided and uncertain about whether they should act. Republicans and Democrats both expressed support for unfettered Internet surfing, but a few Republicans cautioned about legislating too quickly. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-02-07T232443Z_01_N07259780_RTRUKOC_0_US-INTERNET-NEUTRALITY.xml There's a good deal of coverage, here's some other articles -- * 'Net Neutrality' Debate Heats Up at Senate Hearing http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113937487289668158.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription) * Politicos divided on need for 'net neutrality' mandate http://news.com.com/Politicos+divided+on+need+for+net+neutrality+mandate/2100-1028_3-6036231.html?tag=nefd.lede * Ensuring Open Internet an Issue Before Congress http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001958729 * Network Neutrality Hearing Reactions http://mediapolicy.blogspot.com/ * Links to testimony http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1705

DOWNLOADS MAKE SINGLES A HIT AGAIN [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: J. Freedom du Lac] Commercially released singles, which were on the music industry's endangered-species list at the turn of the 21st century, have come roaring back to life in the digital age. In some ways, it's like the singles-driven 1950s and '60s all over again -- only with MP3s replacing 45s. As iPods and other MP3 players outsell CD players, sales of downloaded singles are booming accordingly: Though sales of full-length albums were down 7.2 percent last year, the digital singles market grew by 150 percent, with 352.7 million individual songs sold online. It was by far the highest figure for singles sales in any format since 1973, the first year for which Recording Industry Association of America shipment data are available for singles. In late December 2005, weekly singles sales topped CD sales for the first time, as American consumers -- many of them flush with holiday gift cards and loading new MP3 players -- purchased 19.9 million digital tracks but just 16.8 million albums. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020702051.html (requires registration)

Feb 8: VERIZON EXECUTIVE CALLS FOR END TO GOOGLE'S 'FREE LUNCH' [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Arshad Mohammed] John Thorne, a Verizon senior vice president and deputy general counsel, yesterday accused Google of freeloading for gaining access to people's homes using a network of lines and cables the phone company spent billions of dollars to build. "The network builders are spending a fortune constructing and maintaining the networks that Google intends to ride on with nothing but cheap servers," Thorne told a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. "It is enjoying a free lunch that should, by any rational account, be the lunch of the facilities providers." Verizon is spending billions of dollars to construct a fiber-optic network around the country for delivering high-speed Internet and cable TV services. "The only way we are going to attract the truly huge amounts of capital needed to build out these networks is to strike down governmental entry barriers and allow providers to realize profits," Thorne said yesterday. He described two obstacles to building such networks: the task of getting thousands of local franchise agreements to offer cable television; and what he called "Google utopianism," a concept he likened to "spiked Kool-Aid." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020601624.html (requires registration) * Web traffic jams bring fight over fast-lane fees http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060207/netneutrality7.art.htm

ABC CENSORS, STONES OK [SOURCE: Reuters, NYTimes] The Rolling Stones sang three songs for the Super Bowl XL halftime show Sunday night and were censored in two of them. They agreed to be censored a National Football League spokesman said on Monday. During "Start Me Up," the line "you make a dead man come" was cut short and a barnyard reference to "cocks" in the new song "Rough Justice" also disappeared. "The Rolling Stones were aware of our plan which was to simply lower the volume on his microphone at those two appropriate moments," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Reuters. "We had agreed to that plan earlier in the week. The Stones were aware of it and they were fine with it." The New York Times said last week the Stones had agreed to tone down their language on other occasions in the past. Back in 1967 the band appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on the same day as the first Super Bowl, which was then called the world championship game. They wanted to sing "Let's Spend the Night Together," but Sullivan insisted they change the lyrics to "Let's Spend Some Time Together." "Jagger consented, reluctantly, but rolled his eyes while he sang," the newspaper said. * ABC Avoids a Lyric Malfunction but Allows Mick's Midriff http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/06/sports/football/06half.html?pagewanted=all * Super Bowl ads play it safe, Stones censored http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2006-02-06T064912Z_01_N05370865_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-MEDIA-SUPERBOWL-DC.XML * Rolling Stones agreed to Super Bowl censorship http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2006-02-06T181843Z_01_N069079_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-SUPERBOWL-STONES.xml

Feb 7: NETWORKS' iTUNES GAMBLE PAYING OFF [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Chris Marlowe] Television networks took a leap into the unknown when they started selling their shows on Apple's iTunes online store, but even in these early days, it's starting to look as if that faith in digital downloads was well placed. Apple CEO Steve Jobs welcomed Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios content to the service in October. Now there are 40 different series, each episode of which costs a standardized $1.99 to purchase, and more are on the way. Nobody will disclose numbers for these television downloads. It's easy, however, to keep an eye on the iTunes download chart, which usually shows NBC's "The Office" as the top full-length program, followed by ABC's "Lost" and Comedy Central's "South Park." http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-02-06T085545Z_01_N06373811_RTRUKOC_0_US-IPODS.xml

WHAT WAS ONCE PRIVATE IS NOW UNDER GOOGLE'S DOMAIN [SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff] [Commentary] Search engine companies and other Internet firms are amassing unprecedented amounts of very personal information about every one of us. If the information were revealed -- whether by government order, inadvertent exposure, malicious hackers or deliberate misuse by the companies that collected it -- we would be digitally naked in the public eye. We should demand from the government far better legal protections for personal information that is held by third parties. And we should demand four things from the Internet firms that we do business with: That they collect and store as little personal information as possible, tell us what information they collect, allow us to choose not to have our search histories recorded and be better guardians of the information we entrust in them. The Internet affords us many freedoms. But living in fear that anything we do online could be exposed some day would be a bit like living under the ever-watchful eye of Big Brother. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/13802957.htm

AOL, YAHOO TO LET E-MAILS BYPASS FILTERS FOR A FEE [SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Dan Goodin] Two of the world's biggest e-mail account providers, Yahoo and America Online, plan to introduce a service that will charge senders a fee to route their e-mail directly to a user's mailbox without first passing through junk-mail filters, representatives of both companies said. The fees, which will range from a quarter of a cent to 1 cent per e-mail, are the latest attempts by the companies to weed out unsolicited e-mails, or spam, and identity-theft scams. In exchange for paying, e-mail senders will be guaranteed that their messages will not be filtered and will bear a seal alerting recipients that they are legitimate. Both companies have long filtered e-mail by searching for keywords commonly contained in spam and fraudulent e-mail. AOL also strips images and Web links from many messages to prevent the display of pornographic pictures and malicious Web addresses. Both practices sometimes falsely identify legitimate messages as junk mail, a problem for businesses that rely on e-mail. The plan, while it is optional and will apply to only a fraction of e-mail senders, amounts to a reversal in the economics of the Internet because it will charge message senders rather than those receiving them. The current model has led to the proliferation of spam and "phishing" scams because the people perpetuating them can turn a profit even when only a minority of recipients respond, analysts have said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/05/AR2006020500813.html (requires registration) * Marketers bristle at certified e-mail http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060206/1b_aol06.art.htm

Feb 3: RUMSFELD SAYS US CONSTRAINED IN INFORMATION WAR [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Will Dunham] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday the Pentagon had not done a good job in the information war against enemies like al Qaeda, saying U.S. personnel felt constrained partly due to fear of criticism in the media. "How do we compete in this struggle in a way that can counter the ability of the enemy to lie, which we can't do, (and) the ability of the enemy to not have a free media criticizing them? You don't see much criticizing of them," said Sec Rumsfeld. A debate is under way in America over what is permissible for the U.S. government to do to spread its message to foreign audiences as it engages in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in what it calls a global war against terrorism. The U.S. military command in Iraq is investigating a military program that funneled money to some Iraqi newspapers to publish pro-American articles. The Pentagon in 2002 closed its Office of Strategic Influence after reports that it planned to plant false news stories with foreign media outlets. "We're not going to lose wars or battles out there. The only place we can lose is if the country loses its will. And the determinant of that is what is played in the media," Sec Rumsfeld said. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-02-02T071415Z_01_N01383235_RTRUKOC_0_US-ARMS-USA-INFORMATION.xml

BEYOND BROADCAST: EXPANDING PUBLIC MEDIA IN THE DIGITAL AGE [SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy] "Beyond Broadcast" represents the Center for Digital Democracy's latest effort to help realize the full potential of public media -- including public broadcasting, but focusing especially on a range of new digital technologies -- in the broadband era. With the inability of the mainstream media, now dominated by a handful of multinational conglomerates, to serve the public interest, and the corresponding failure of the established institutions of public broadcasting to create a genuinely participatory system, CDD believes it is now time for more collaborative and community-based efforts. Just as desktop publishing and Internet communications forever changed the media ecology of the late twentieth century, so will the convergence of online and broadcast technologies (desktop audio and video) affect the early twenty-first century. The old rules of production and distribution have changed, and it is not too early to make sure that the new rules are applied in a more just and equitable manner. Technological convergence, in short, must not be allowed to become the latest victim of media consolidation. Part 1 of the report, Expanding Public Media in the Digital Age, is available at the URL below. http://www.democraticmedia.org/BB/BBfront.php

THE TELEGRAM, 1844-2006 [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Mike Musgrove] Maybe old media do die after all. For generations, Western Union's telegrams were the way news moved from one coast to the other, hand-delivered messages filled with staccato sentences that were usually missing punctuation. They were part of Americana, important elements in movies such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "It's a Wonderful Life" and tools for delivering news -- often bad -- about loved ones who were serving their country overseas. But now, overshadowed by instant and inexpensive forms of communication -- e-mail, cell phone and text messages among them -- the telegram has gone the way of carbon paper and mimeographs. Telegrams peaked in 1929 with 20 million messages sent. Last year, there were 20,000. The final one was sent last Friday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/02/AR2006020202467.html (requires registration)

CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN MEDIA AND CONSUMERS [SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News 2/2, AUTHOR: Jerry Ceppos] [Commentary] Ceppos suggests ways to bring consumers and the media together. For consumers: 1) Consult a variety of news sources. It's not fair to attack "the media" if you're looking at just one flaky Web site -- or even one newspaper and no other source. 2) Cut journalists a few breaks. Sure, we're self-absorbed. But we don't care less about injured soldiers than about injured journalists. 3) Point out errors and ask journalists questions, preferably before you call the talk-radio show. For journalists he suggests A) Explain why you do what you do. B) Tell consumers how to reach the boss, even if you're an Internet site or a radio or TV station. C) Explain how difficult news gathering is. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/13772459.htm

THE END OF THE INTERNET? [SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: Jeff Chester] [Commentary] Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers -- would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out. Under the plans they are considering, all of us--from content providers to individual users -- would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received. To make this pay-to-play vision a reality, phone and cable lobbyists are now engaged in a political campaign to further weaken the nation's communications policy laws. They want the federal government to permit them to operate Internet and other digital communications services as private networks, free of policy safeguards or governmental oversight. Indeed, both the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission are considering proposals that will have far-reaching impact on the Internet's future. Ten years after passage of the ill-advised Telecommunications Act of 1996, telephone and cable companies are using the same political snake oil to convince compromised or clueless lawmakers to subvert the Internet into a turbo-charged digital retail machine. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester * Links to White Papers mentioned above: http://www.democraticmedia.org/issues/netneutrality.html * Grand Rapids requires Network Neutrality in municipal wireless network http://www.wirelesscommunity.info/2006/01/31/grand-rapids-requires-network-neutrality-in-municipal-wireless-network/ * Just Say No(thing) http://gigaom.com/2006/02/01/just-say-nothing/ * The Real Bandwidth Hog? The Telcos http://techdirt.com/articles/20060202/024219_F.shtml

Feb 2: COMMUNITY WEB SITES EXPLORE HOW TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES FINANCIALLY [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Lee Gomes] Community Web sites started showing up a few years ago, often as a labor of love by some Web-savvy local resident. Now, many of these sites are trying to become actual businesses, complete with the sort of profits that can make them self-sustaining. The fact that a few of them are managing to attract advertisers shows they are taking the first fledgling steps down that path. Alas, the particular economic circumstances behind these ads demonstrate just how long that journey may be. Community sites operate much like a traditional community newspaper would, though all of them take advantage of newfangled, Web-based tools, such as allowing readers to submit digital photos or blog posts. The best of them also make an effort to do something resembling journalism: getting out and talking to people, then writing about what was learned in the process. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113875833236061670.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

Feb 1: AT&T CHIEF WARNS ON INTERNET COSTS [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Paul Taylor] Ed Whitacre, AT&T's chairman and chief executive, warned on Monday that Internet content providers that wanted to use broadband networks to deliver high-quality services such as movie downloads to their customers would have to pay for the service or face the prospect that new investment in high speed networks “will dry up.” “I think the content providers should be paying for the use of the network - obviously not the piece from the customer to the network, which has already been paid for by the customer in Internet access fees - but for accessing the so-called Internet cloud,” Whitacre said. The major US telecommunications providers, including T&T, have come under pressure from their investors in part because of their hefty investments in new fibre optic-based networks capable of delivering advanced TV and video services to their customers. “If someone wants to transmit a high quality service with no interruptions and 'guaranteed this, guaranteed that', they should be willing to pay for that,” the AT&T chief said. “Now they might pass it on to their customers who are looking at a movie, for example. But that ought to be a cost of doing business for them. They shouldn't get on [the network] and expect a free ride.” http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3ced445e-91c5-11da-bab9-0000779e2340.html (requires subscription) * Keep network neutrality http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/01/31/66882 * More (Negative) Thoughts on Prioritized Bandwidth http://www.technologyevangelist.com/2006/01/more_thoughts_on_pri.html

BOLD PREDICTION: TELECOS WILL BECOME WHOLESALE PROVIDERS [SOURCE: MuniWireless.com, AUTHOR: Esme Vos] [Commentary] The telcos' desire to eat out of two pots - charging customers for access to the network and content providers for access to those customers - is nothing more than fantasy perpetuated by nervous managers to calm down nervous investors, who suspect that, indeed, the Age of Big Telecom has faded into history like bowler hats and crinolines. There are several reasons why telcos cannot eat out of two pots and why they will end up as wholesale providers: 1) there is now a business model that allows companies such as Google and the people who partner with them (municipalities, ISPs, content providers) to offer free Internet access, free voice calls and even free entertainment programs; 2) (the open network model has been proven in Europe and Asia to lead to higher rates of broadband penetration, lower prices and more bandwidth; 3) high tech companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Apple simply won't let them, and 4) the telecos underestimate just how much the public hates them. http://www.tropos.com/newsletters/2006-01-27_guestcommentary.html

HOW POLITICS ARE PREVENTING PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE INTERNET [SOURCE: Utne Reader, AUTHOR: Bennett Gordon] If it's the government's duty to maintain roads and provide gas and electricity, then why not the Internet? Robert McChesney and John Podesta, writing in Washington Monthly, suggest that the problem isn't economic, it's not even technological. The problem is political. The United States is falling behind the technological curve as countries like Japan actively pursue municipally owned Internet systems. The "digital divide" is allowing populations with Internet access to surge ahead in innovation and education, leaving those without it in the dust. The United States is putting itself on the wrong side of this divide by passing laws discouraging Internet access. There are legitimate debates going on right now about Wi-Fi access. But the question shouldn't be whether or not it should be set up. The question should be "how." http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2006_233/news/11961-1.html See also: * Cities' wireless plans hit snags [SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Robert Brumfield] Across the nation, municipalities looking to provide wireless Internet access citywide are meeting with resistance from local cable and telecommunications companies that fear such projects will cut into their business. How these skirmishes play out will have important implications for school leaders and their efforts to provide anytime, anywhere learning opportunities for students. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6073

MEDIA CONSUMPTION STUDY REVEALS NEWSPAPERS MORE ENGAGING THAN TV, RADIO, WEB [SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Miki Johnson] Although newspapers are read only a few times a day and for brief periods each time, compared to other media, that time is relatively uninterrupted by other activities, a recent study by Ball State University's Middletown Media Studies finds. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001921052

UK BATTLES WEB TV REGULATION [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Graeme Wearden] The U.K. government is fighting an attempt by the European Commission to change the way television is regulated in Europe amid fears that this could lead to the regulation of Internet content. http://news.com.com/U.K.+battles+Web+TV+regulation/2100-1028_3-6032794.html?tag=html.alert

Click here for earler Benton files.

(c) Benton Foundation 2003. Redistribution of this email publication -- both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message:
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:
Digital Divide Network (www.digitaldividenetwork.org)
Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org)
OneWorld US (www.oneworld.net/us)
Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org)

Return to top

Use this tool to search our site or the web.

WWW Guidomedia.com