Recent postings on internet issues from Benton.org

June 2004

June 2004
CLEAR CHANNEL SETTLES FOR $1.75 MILLION
Today, the FCC entered into a $1.75 million Consent Decree with Clear Channel Communications, Inc., and its subsidiaries (Clear Channel) to resolve investigations into whether Clear Channel stations had broadcast obscene, indecent, or profane material in violation of the Communications Act and Commission rules. As part of the agreement, Clear Channel admits
that some of the material it broadcast was indecent. In addition to the $1.75 million payment to the U.S. Treasury, Clear Channel has also committed to implementing a company-wide Compliance Plan aimed at
preventing future violations. The Consent Decree resolves all pending Notices of Apparent Liability, Enforcement Bureau investigations, and
third-party complaints against Clear Channel for possible violations. Commissioner Copps dissented from the ruling saying the FCC had entered into the settlement without first investigating some of the alleged allegations. "[M]y dissent is about process," he wrote, "and the process here is inadequate. What message do we send to citizens when we fail even
to investigate their complaints before making a sweeping settlement?"
[SOURCE: FCC]
Press Release
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-248237A1.doc
See coverage in:
B&C http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA425190?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
USAToday http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040610/6274538s.htm

GROUP CALLS ON FTC TO LAUNCH INVESTIGATION OF INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING
TARGETED AT CHILDREN, "TWEENS," AND TEENS
The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) urged the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday to review and analyze the interactive marketing and branding
technologies and techniques used by advertisers to target the country's children, "tweens," and teens. In a letter to FTC Chairman Muris and the other four commissioners, the nonprofit , public interest advocacy organization wrote that the "immersive, relational, and ubiquitous nature of such marketing raises serious questions about the ability of existing
safeguards and rules to protect our nation's children and young people." The letter urged the Commission to use its subpoena power to obtain any needed documents, including proprietary research studies. CDD also called on the ad industry to adopt a moratorium on all interactive techniques that -- in the absence of independent research suggesting otherwise -- could potentially harm or negatively affect children and youth. See more at the URLs below.
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy Press Release]
http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/FTCAdPR.html
Text of letter to FTC
http://www.democraticmedia.org/resources/filings/FTCletter.html

FEWER REPUBLICANS TRUST NEWS, SURVEY FINDS
The Pew Research Center finds that Republicans have come to distrust the media in greater numbers since President Bush took office while Democratic
views are mostly unchanged. "CNN's once-dominant credibility ratings have slumped in recent years, mostly among Republicans and independents," the
survey says. "By comparison, the Fox News Channel's believability ratings have held steady -- both overall and within partisan groups." While the percentage of people who rate CNN as highly credible has slid from 42 percent six years ago to 32 percent now, the study says, "more continue to say they can believe all or most of what they hear on CNN than say that about Fox News Channel," whose credibility rating is 25 percent. MSNBC clocks in at 22 percent. ("60 Minutes" edged the field with 33 percent.) In a finding that surprised Andrew Kohut, the Pew center's director, 29 percent of Republicans say Fox News Channel is credible, only
slightly more than the 26 percent of GOPers who feel that way about CNN. Among Democrats, though, 45 percent give CNN a thumbs up for credibility,
compared with 24 percent for Fox News Channel. The changing views "reflect the political polarization we've seen," says Andrew Kohut, the Pew center's
director. "It reflects anger on the part of Republicans about the way the media's treated Bush lately, and also reflects the appeal of Fox News."
Readers and viewers, he says, are "reacting to a perception of a political point of view, whether that means bias in political reports or tone."
There's much more at the URL below.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26345-2004Jun8.html (requires registration)

COMCAST PLANS TO CREATE 24-HOUR NETWORK -- FOR TODDLERS
Here's a solution for all our four-year old readers searching for quality video entertainment at 4am -- a new 24-hour cable channel for preschoolers
brought to you by Comcast, the Public Broadcasting System, Sesame Street Workshop and HIT Entertainment. The as-yet-unnamed network would carry no
commercials and would have rights to "Barney & Friends," "Sesame Street," "Bob the Builder" and "Thomas the Tank Engine," among others. The network
is likely to be a digital channel. Negotiations could be finalized in weeks and the channel could be launched by year's end.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108674158907832328,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

BROADBAND INTERNET USE UP 42% IN 2003
The USA FCC reported Tuesday that there were 28.2 million broadband lines in use by the end of 2003 up 42% from 2002. The growth was fueled by residential and small-business subscriptions. Cable-based services
continued to be the most popular form of broadband service, the FCC found, accounting for 16.4 million lines. Telephone-based digital subscriber line
service accounted for 9.5 million lines, while 2.3 million high-speed lines used satellite, fiber-optic or wireless technologies.The summary statistics released include state-by-state, population density,
and household income information, ranked by zip codes. For more info contact: FCC's Industry Analysis and Technology Division at (202) 418-0940
[SOURCE: Reuters]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=5373962
See FCC Press Release:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-248089A1.doc
The report is available online
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Reports/FCC-State_Link/IAD/hspd0604.pdf

CIVIL SOCIETY POLICY WEBSITES SET UP IN TEN NATIONS
APC has spent the last two years advocating for civil society involvement in international ICT (information and communications technologies)
policy-making processes. Now 10 APC members have created national ICT policy portal websites in their own countries in a joint initiative. The portals which are all uniquely adapted to address each country's particular situation all use free software that allows content-sharing in different languages and between multiple information databases hosted in different
parts of the world. The portals have been set up by APC members - organizations who work with ICTs for sustainable development, and social and environmental justice- locally in Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo*, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the UK and Uruguay.
More at the URL below.
[SOURCE: Association for Progressive Communications (APC) Press Release]
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=20966

FTC: ALL EYES ON CONSUMER PRIVACY
According to Director of Consumer Protection Howard Beales, the Federal Trade Commission plans to make consumer privacy rights a higher priority.
The FTC is gearing up to bring more privacy-related cases against Internet operators, with one expected in the coming weeks.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Stefanie Olsen]
http://news.com.com/FTC%3A+All+eyes+on+consumer+privacy/2100-1024_3-5230750.html?tag=cd.top

HEALTH OF US DEMOCRACY TIED TO NEW MODEL FOR PUBLIC ACCESS TO ONLINE INFORMATION
The Free Expression Policy Project released "The Information Commons", a report that links the vitality of 21st century democracy to the creation of online communities dedicated to producing and sharing information. The report begins: "For democracy to flourish, citizens need free and open access to information. In today’s digital age, this means access to information online." The information commons movement promoted by the report recognizes that public access to online information is being damaged by a combination of restrictive technology, unbalanced changes to intellectual property law, onerous licenses, and media industry consolidation. Essential ingredients for a healthy democracy - political
discourse, free speech, civic participation, and creativity - all suffer as a result. According to the report, these threats to democracy can be remedied, or at least dampened, by adopting the emerging concept of the information commons. Nancy Kranich, a former president of the American Library Association, is
the report’s author.
[SOURCE: Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law/Press Release]
http://www.brennancenter.org/presscenter/releases_2004/pressrelease_2004_0608b.html
http://www.fepproject.org/policyreports/infocommons.contentsexsum.html

ONE LAST THOUGHT: Juneteenth
From "Losing Ground Bit by Bit: Low-Income Communities in the Information Age" (1998)
http://www.benton.org/publibrary/losing-ground/intro.html
When Tony Riddle, executive director of Manhattan Neighborhood Network, wants to emphasize the importance of information to social welfare, he
tells the story of "Juneteenth."
June 19 commemorates the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas first learned that Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln actually signed the proclamation much earlier in 1863. But the Texas
slaves, deprived of this information, had to wait two and a half more years before finally achieving freedom.
Today, it's hard to imagine anybody being denied information so vital to his or her well-being for so long. Yet in ways more subtle but nevertheless
insidious, some people lack access to the emerging information resources of the digital age. By 1998, we may assume that every American has at least heard of, if not used, the global computer network called the Internet. But while kids in wealthier households may now take access to technology at home, at school, or at the local library for granted, the lack of access to up-to-date computers in low-income communities and to affordable Internet service in rural areas leaves many people cut off from good jobs and the chance to participate in the affairs of the broader society.
Indeed, even as digital technologies are bringing an exciting array of new opportunities to many Americans, they actually are aggravating the poverty and isolation that plague some rural areas and inner cities. Advances in telecommunications are speeding the exodus of good jobs from urban areas to the suburbs, leaving inner cities and rural areas more isolated than ever from the kinds of jobs, educational opportunities, quality health-care services, and technological tools that they need to be able to contribute to the overall economy.

DON'T BLAME TV
Although obesity rates in the US for both children and adults are alarming, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission writes, banning junk food ads on kids' programming is impractical, ineffective and illegal. In fact, advertising is part of the solution, Chairman Muris writes. "We need to harness that same power to help fight obesity. Year after year, manufacturers have shown great ingenuity in pitching foods to kids as tasty and fun; their challenge now is to develop and promote healthy foods, too. I urge them to accept this challenge." The role of the FTC, Chairman Muris
writes, is to ensure that advertising claims are truthful.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: FTC Chairman Timothy Muris]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108811772070847171,00.html?mod=todays_us_opinion (requires subscription)

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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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Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org)
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Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org)