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Benton media news digest – November 2006 30 Nov: 'NETWORK NEUTRALITY' CONTROVERSY ARISES IN MICHIGAN VIDEO BILL DEBATE
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 11/28, AUTHOR: Michael Martinez]
Opponents of a measure in Michigan to overhaul
the state's video franchising rules have thrown a
new wrinkle into their argument. Debate over the
measure now has shifted to how it would allow
high-speed Internet operators to treat online
content. Discussion over so-called network
neutrality provisions to ensure equal treatment
of similar content has derailed a federal
telecommunications bill this year. But this is
the first time network neutrality has become a
major issue at the state level. Over the past
year, California, Indiana, Kansas, New Jersey,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and
Virginia all have enacted laws to ease the
entrance into the video services market. Large
telephone companies pushing new video offerings
have lobbied hard for such measures, most of
which allow them to bypass localities completely
by negotiating statewide franchises. Earlier this
month, the Michigan House overwhelmingly approved
a bill to that end -- but it might meet more
resistance in the Senate. Democrats regained
control of the state House this month but fell a
few seats short seizing the state Senate. A
coalition of opposition groups Tuesday held a
rally in Lansing to urge Michigan lawmakers not
to act on the measure, H.B. 6456, during the state's post-election session. STUDY: AMERICANS FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT SOCIAL TIES ONLINE, TOO
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Stefanie Olsen]
For many people, membership to virtual
communities can be just as important as
real-world social ties, according to a new study.
An estimated 43 percent of Americans who belong
to online communities say they feel just as
strongly about their virtual worlds as their
real-world counterparts, according to the USC
Annenberg Digital Future Project, which released
findings Wednesday of its sixth-annual report
examining the Web's impact on society. The
findings seem to be in accordance with the ease
of meeting new friends online. According to
people polled by researchers at the Center for
the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School,
they met an average of 1.6 new friends per year
in real-world settings with whom they originally
met online. Those surveyed also met an average of
4.65 friends who remained virtual pals only. In
addition, more than 40 percent of Internet users
said that the Web helps them stay in touch with more friends and family. YOUNG FAVOR INTERNET OVER TV
GOOGLE CEO CALLS NET KEY TO WHITE HOUSE
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Google's chief executive offered some advice on
Wednesday to Republicans looking ahead to the
2008 presidential contest: make better use of the
Internet's electioneering power if you want to
win next time. "The ones that take advantage of
this most effectively will be the ones that will
be the winners of the next election," Google
Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told Republican
governors gathered in Miami. He offered a few
examples of how the Internet, especially video
file-sharing sites like Google's newly acquired
YouTube, had changed the political landscape by
enabling anyone to disseminate information widely and instantly. LATE-NIGHT NEWSCASTS SEE BIG DROP IN VIEWERS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: John Maynard]
A precipitous decline in late prime-time
viewership took its toll on 11 p.m. weeknight
newscasts, according to Nielsen figures for TV's
November "sweeps" period that concluded
yesterday. In Washington (DC), all three local
stations that have network programming after 10
p.m. -- WRC (Channel 4), WJLA (Channel 7), WUSA
(Channel 9) -- saw late-newscast viewership
plummet by more than 10 percent compared with
last year. Total weekday viewers at 11 p.m. fell
from 463,000 last November to 382,000 at those
stations -- a decline of nearly 20 percent. The
stations were hurt in no small part by the sharp
decrease in ratings among the network lead-in
shows; at 10:45 p.m., local weekday viewership
fell by more than 25 percent (from 673,000 to 505,000). 29 Nov: 1 IN 5 PARENTS SAY KIDS ONLINE TOO MUCH
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
One in five American parents believe their kids are spending too much
time on the Internet, though most say the online activities haven't
affected grades either way. In a study to be released Wednesday by
the University of Southern California, 21 percent of adult Internet
users with children believe the kids are online too long, compared
with 11 percent in 2000. Still, that's less than the 49 percent who
complain their kids watch too much TV. About 80 percent of the
children say the Internet is important for schoolwork. VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES EFFECTS LINGER IN BRAIN
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Susan Kelly]
Teens who play violent video games show increased activity in areas
of the brain linked to emotional arousal and decreased responses in
regions that govern self-control, a study released on Tuesday found. 28 Nov: THE COWARDS TURNED OUT TO BE RIGHT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nicholas Kristof]
[Commentary] For several years, the White House and its Dobermans
helpfully pointed out the real enemy in Iraq: those lazy, wimpish
foreign correspondents who were so foolish and unpatriotic that they
reported that we faced grave difficulties in Iraq. As we try to
extricate ourselves from Iraq, a basic lesson for the administration
is that it should deal with bad news in ways more creative than
clobbering the messenger. From the beginning of the war, the Pentagon
has had an incredibly sophisticated news operation (now including its
own news channel, carried on some cable networks), but it has often
seemed more concerned with disseminating propaganda than with
gathering facts. So how about if the administration devotes itself
less to managing the news and more to trying to manage Iraq? WILL O.J. FALLOUT AFFECT CROSS-MEDIA OWNERSHIP RULES?
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
Even though Fox Broadcasting's O.J. special was canceled, it still
may have done lasting harm to the broadcast industry. The backlash
comes at a sensitive time for broadcasters, which have been battling
the belief that cross-media ownership gives them too much power --
and some fear the incident gives ammunition to their foes. The
Federal Communications Commission is reconsidering rules that
determine whether media companies can own more than two TV stations
in a market, as well as whether those that own radio stations and
newspapers should also be allowed to own TV stations. News Corp.'s
Fox is at the forefront of a broadcast-network-TV push to be allowed
to buy more of its affiliate stations. "Think about how much O.J.
they could have crammed in if they owned three TV stations, eight
radio stations and the local paper in your town," said Craig Aaron,
communications director for Free Press, a group campaigning against
loosening of the rules. "It certainly doesn't help Big Media's case
for throwing out the rules." RINTELS ON O.J. FLAP: "THE DARK SIDE OF SYNERGY"
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable 11/20, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Jonathan Rintels, president of The Center for Creative Voices in
Media, sees a link between media consolidation and the growing flap
over Fox's O.J. Simpson If I Did It sweeps special, calling it the
"dark side of synergy." While a growing number of Fox affiliates say
they won't carry the show, he says he has heard of no network-owned
station who has dropped out. "Stations owned by the national network
don't preempt for taste reasons or content reasons content that their
network is putting out there," he says, a check and balance that is
missing because of consolidation. Rintels and company argue that a
lot of the indecency complaints can be traced to formerly locally
owned stations bought up by the networks after the FCC lifted the
ownership caps. IS HOMETOWN OWNERSHIP REALLY THE NEXT BIG THING?
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Mark Fitzgerald and Jennifer Saba]
There may be nothing new under the sun, but the sudden widespread
clamor to return troubled newspapers to local ownership -- after
decades of relentless industry consolidation -- at least represents a
dramatic change in course. Among industry experts, opinion is growing
that this phenomenon might just have legs. "My personal belief is
that it's the start of a trend -- and that the trend is going to
continue," says Scott Stawski, senior principal at Knightsbridge
Solutions. Just a year ago, the idea that local investors would line
up around the block for the chance to buy a metro daily seemed as
unlikely as the idea that big chains like Knight Ridder or Tribune
Co. would be forced to put them up for sale in the first place. The
tipping point for the local ownership boomlet surely came this spring
when the McClatchy Co. immediately hung "for sale" signs on 12
dailies it acquired in its purchase of Knight Ridder. Yet moving from
chain ownership to local ownership remains rare. "When that does
happen, typically it's because the chain has screwed up [the paper]
so badly it has to dump it," says one broker who insisted on
anonymity. That's because if a property were hot, potential local
buyers wouldn't have a fighting chance. "Generally you will find that
if something is attractive, the newspaper groups will be able to
outbid everyone else, including private equity funds," says Robert
Broadwater, founder of investment firm Broadwater & Associates. DON'T TRUST THE NEWS?
[SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Rory O'Conner]
[Commentary] How can you be sure that the news you see and hear is
true? Are there any journals and journalists that you can really
trust and rely on? If so, how can you find them amidst the clangor
and the clutter? Enter NewsTrust, an online social news network aimed
at helping people identify quality journalism -- or "news you can
trust." This free, not-for-profit service offers the most trusted
news of the day, as selected by community members using
state-of-the-art media literacy tools. By filtering content available
from online sources, establishing common metrics for evaluation, and
accessing the "wisdom of the crowds" through social networking, the
free, not-for-profit NewsTrust service offers one possible solution
to the "News You Can Trust" conundrum. The website, where members
rate the news online based on commonly accepted standards of
journalistic quality, features news and analysis from hundreds of
mainstream and independent news sources. This non-partisan community
effort tracks news media worldwide and helps citizens make informed
decisions about democracy across party lines. BRITISH JUNK-FOOD AD BAN ROCKS TV BUSINESS
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Emma Hall]
Marketers and media owners are counting the cost following U.K.
regulator Ofcom's surprise decision to end junk-food advertising to
all children under 16. Under the ban, U.K. media owners could lose
$75 million in ad revenue in 2007. Hardest-hit will be the dedicated
children's channels, which will lose up to 15% of ad revenue. For all
commercial broadcasters, the lost ads represent up to 0.7% of their
income, according to Ofcom's own calculations. Ofcom's ruling
includes a total ban on advertising foods high in fat, salt and sugar
(referred to as HFSS), not only around children's programming but
also in youth-oriented and adult programs which attract a lot of
viewers under 16. Many of the marketers involved have voluntarily
stopped targeting young children in recent years, and moved their
campaigns onto youth channels such as MTV, believing they were safe
in targeting teenagers. 27 Nov: IN A DIFFERENT RACE, TV WEB SITES WIN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye]
There were winners on Election Day other than the
Democrats. In the race for best media coverage,
the winners were television Web sites, according
to a report by the Project for Excellence in
Journalism, which followed 32 different outlets,
including newspaper Web sites, television
programs, blogs, magazine Web sites and
aggregators like Google and Yahoo. The Web sites
of both network and cable television delivered
results quickly, allowing users to dig as deeply
as they wanted into exit poll information and
interactive maps with reports on hundreds of
races. The posting of once-privileged exit polls,
which the networks pay for, and the linking with
state boards of election for county-by-county
results are changing the election-night equation
between media organizations and consumers, the
report said. “The exit poll may be more important
today, not less, since users are probing that
information directly, functioning as their own
editors going state by state, looking for
demographic information, late deciders and more,”
the report said. The report noted that television
Web sites did well in part because the exit poll
data was reliable. If that data were misleading,
however, as it has been in recent years, all news
organizations would be vulnerable. 17 Nov: CLEAR CHANNEL ACCEPTS $18.7 BILLION TAKEOVER BID
[SOURCE: New York Times 11/16]
The nation’s largest network of radio stations,
Clear Channel Communications, agreed Thursday
morning to be bought for $18.7 billion, in a deal
that may test private equity’s seemingly
insatiable appetite for media properties. A
consortium that includes Thomas H. Lee Partners
and Bain Capital won the bidding, beating out a
rival consortium of Providence Equity Partners,
the Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
& Company. The deal would rank as one of the
largest media buyouts ever, surpassing the recent
takeover of Spanish-language broadcaster
Univision Communications, which a private equity
consortium bought for $12 billion earlier this
year. In a press release announcing the
transaction on Thursday, Clear Channel put a
total value of $26.7 billion on the transaction,
including $8 billion in assumed debt. The
company’s board has unanimously approved the
proposed transaction and is recommending that
shareholders vote in favor of it. Clear Channel
said in a separate statement Thursday that it
would sell all of its radio stations outside the
top-100 markets, totaling 448 of 1,150 stations,
as well as its 42-station television group.
Overall, the properties generated less than 10
percent of Clear Channel’s revenue last year, and
all the properties are located in small to
mid-sized markets across the nation. In addition
to its radio stations, Clear Channel owns a
substantial number of billboards and other
outdoor advertising. The company generated $6.6
billion in sales in 2005. Clear Channel’s broad
reach could raise regulatory concerns, however.
Thomas H. Lee Partners is part of the buyout
consortium that owns Univision, so the Clear
Channel deal may be the first in which regulators
will have to consider private equity owners as
established players in some media markets. PRIVATE EQUITY LOVES MEDIA COMPANIES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin & Peter Edmonston]
Some of the largest broadcasters and publishers
are being swept into the arms of private equity
firms, which are drawn to the rich cash flows
these businesses generate and are undaunted by
their slowing growth. The trend could raise new
regulatory concerns, however, as some of the big
private equity firms start to weave a complex web
of cross-ownerships in the industry. As the
audiences for traditional media companies have
shrank, advertisers have responded by moving more
dollars to the Internet. As a result, the growth
rates at many media companies have slowed
sharply, making them undesirable to many
investors. But many of these same businesses
throw off a great deal of cash that can be used
to support a debt-financed buyout. There are
plenty of banks willing to lend money for such
deals, and interest rates are relatively low.
Private equity firms believe they can unlock
value by selling off pieces or making drastic operational changes.
A LOUD AND CLEAR SIGNAL ON MEDIA BUY-OUTS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Aline van Duyn and Joshua Chaffin]
The willingness of private equity investors and
banks to buy Clear Channel at valuations above
those placed on it by stock markets could lead to
other buyouts or sales attempts at media
companies. “Clear Channel is the most important
media deal so far,” said one senior banker. “Not
only is its scale important – it sets a new
benchmark for going-private deals – but the board
is voluntarily saying they’re better off private
than public.” Private equity investors, despite
the mountains of equity they are willing to
invest and the ease with which they can raise
debt, are not likely to pounce on all media
assets, however. In the sale of Knight Ridder,
private equity bidders were notable for their
absence. Even in Clear Channel’s case, the
attraction was not so much its radio stations,
but its outdoor advertising business, one of the
few media sectors that is not suffering from a
decline brought on by digital distribution.
READER'S DIGEST AGREES TO BE SOLD IN $1.6 BILLION DEAL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charles Duhigg]
The Reader’s Digest Association, the company
responsible for publishing some of the world’s
best-read magazines, agreed to a $1.6 billion
takeover offer from investors led by Ripplewood
Holdings. The investor group, which includes
Merrill Lynch Capital and the J. Rothschild
Group, will also assume $800 million in debt,
bringing the total purchase to $2.4 billion.
Ripplewood hopes to cut costs at Reader’s Digest
and expand sales by marketing to customers who
already subscribe to publications sold by
Ripplewood’s other media companies. Those titles
include the Time Life series, The Weekly Reader
and The World Almanac. Readers Digest is the
world’s largest publication by circulation,
selling 18 million copies a month and collecting 2006 revenue of $2.38 billion. STILL STICKING IT TO THE CONSUMER
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com 11/15, AUTHOR: Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge]
[Commentary] We're down to the last few days of
this Congress, in a lame duck session, and the
recording industry is still trying to stick it to
consumers. The industry continues to push
legislation that would outlaw new, innovative
devices that consumers use to listen to satellite
radio and digital terrestrial radio. It is
because of efforts like this that Public
Knowledge is proud to join with the Consumer
Electronics Association and other public interest
and industry organizations in launching the
Digital Freedom Campaign. The campaign is
intended to ensure that consumers continue to
have the right to use lawfully the technology and
digital media that they own. The collective
amnesia the entertainment industry has about its
past and recent attempts to limit consumers'
rights and technological innovation is nothing
short of startling. Beginning with the piano roll
at the start of the 20th century, continuing with
radio, TV, the VCR, MP3 players and digital video
recorders (remember Replay TV?), entertainment
companies have tried either to legislate or
litigate innovative new technologies out of
existence. Bringing balance back to copyright law
is more important than ever, as increasing
numbers of Americans become creators themselves
by using digital tools to engage in social
commentary and civic discourse online. Our
communications system has never been so
democratic--but it will not stay that way if our
copyright laws are used to preserve the business
models of old, centralized "command and control"
media. It is time for the next Congress to revise
our copyright laws to reflect the realities of today's digital culture. DEVELOPING WORLD LAGS BEHIND AS UN DUBS BROADBAND NEW "UTILITY"
[SOURCE: Yahoo, AUTHOR: William French]
Broadband Internet access is becoming so vital
for businesses that it can be seen as a new
utility comparable to water and electricity, the
United Nation's Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) has said in a report. The
growing importance of high speed Internet access
is "disturbing news" for the developing world
where broadband access is scarce, because
technology is exerting an ever greater influence
on global business trends, UNCTAD warned.
Developing countries also often lack the
necessary infrastructure to provide the service
at a reasonable price, the report said. OLD PEOPLE LIKE WEB VIDEO!
[SOURCE: Forbes.com 11/14, AUTHOR: Louis Hau]
The online video audience is older than you might
think. And Internet users are still much more
likely to tap out an e-mail or play a game than
watch a clip. Those were some of the details in a
snapshot of the Internet video market presented
Tuesday by eMarketer senior analyst David
Hallerman. Despite the fact that teens and
college students account for a big chunk of the
online video audience, BIGresearch estimated last
month that the average age of U.S. viewers is an
ancient 39. And according to data compiled by
Nielsen/NetRatings, comScore and Quantcast, Web
surfers ages 35 to 64 make up anywhere from 48%
to 65% of YouTube's audience. Despite the seeming
omnipresence of online video, viewing those clips
still isn't among the top three most common
online activities, which Forrester Research found
in April to be e-mail (96%), instant messaging
(37%) and playing games (36%). Watching online
video ranked fourth at 25%, outpacing downloading
music (12%) and downloading movies (3%). Among
heavy Internet users studied by Universal McCann
and InsightExpress, 54% watched online video or
streamed live music. But that still lagged far
behind shopping (84%), entering contests (80%),
playing games (73%), listening to Internet radio
(71%), reviewing a product (68%) and sharing photos (67%). TO THE NEA, NEWS-LADEN NPR IS MAKING A CLASSICAL MISTAKE
[SOURCE: Washington Post 11/12, AUTHOR: Marc Fisher]
Anew report from the National Endowment for the
Arts blasts public radio, saying it fails to
fulfill its obligation to provide music that
commercial stations won't touch. The NEA says
public radio -- once dominated by classical, jazz
and other minority forms of music -- is
retreating ever further from that mission,
choosing to focus on news and talk. National
Public Radio pleads guilty to using its new
resources to build a stronger news operation, but
rejects the NEA's notion that public radio is
abandoning its cultural mission. Rather, NPR
maintains, it plans to use the Web and other
emerging technologies to introduce a new
generation of listeners to music you can't hear on the radio. WANT TO PLACE A PRODUCT IN A TV SHOW? BUY AIRTIME TOO
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Marc Graser]
According to a "Product Placement Valuation
Study" released by Nielsen Media Research today,
57% of viewers recognized a brand when viewing an
integration in combination with a commercial, vs.
nearly 46% of those who only watched a
commercial. But that doesn't mean consumers will
buy the products. Whether the brand was presented
as a product placement, TV commercial or both, a
little more than one-third of all viewers
expressed high interest in the brands they were
able to recognize. The study specifically
examined brand awareness, brand attitude and purchase interest. 16 Nov: NEW YORK NEWSPAPER TAKES ANTI-CROSS-OWNERSHIP STAND
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Undermined by efforts to weaken the Federal Communications
Commission's limits on newspaper/broadcast station cross-ownership,
the New York Daily News has filed a statement with the FCC against
media consolidation. "Permitting cross-media combinations involving
one or more television stations and more than one daily newspaper in
the same market would do substantial damage to the Commission's
claimed goals of ensuring viewpoint diversity and economic
competition in local media markets," the Daily News writes. Published
by Daily News, L.P., New York's Daily News appears to be the only big
city newspaper in the nation to have filed recent comments with the
FCC advising against lifting its cross-ownership limits. The paper
holds no interests in television, radio, or in other dailies
published in greater New York, unlike its competitor, the New York
Post, whose owner, News Corporation, also owns two television
stations in the region, thanks to an FCC waiver on the cross ownership rule. THE DEATH OF NEWS
[SOURCE: The Nation, AUTHOR: Nicholas Von Hoffman]
[Commentary] So who needs newspapers anyhow? We have the Internet.
Other than the websites supported by newspapers, the Internet is
devoid of reporters. The Internet operations do not pay people to go
out and gather accurate information. Thus we are bumping up against a
contradictory situation. Thanks to the Internet, the iPod and so
forth, we have more media outlets than ever before--but fewer
reporters. When the last reporter is laid off, we can subsist on
rumor, speculation and gossip. These three are usually more
interesting than the facts, but do you want to bet your life and
livelihood on them? Well, there is always what they call citizen
journalism. That means, if you see something, take a picture of it
with your cellphone and call in. It's not exactly New York Times
reliability, but it's open-source, and they tell us that is terrific
stuff. You know about Wikipedia. So why not wiki-wacky news? 15 Nov: LITTLE PROGRESS CITED IN IDENTIFYING VNRs
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Center for Media & Democracy (CMD) and Free
Press Tuesday released a report on 46 TV stations
they say are airing corporate video news releases
(VNRs) without disclosure in violation of FCC
rules. The stations include ones owned by News
Corp., Tribune, Gannett, Disney, the Washington
Post Co., Sinclair Broadcasting, Media General,
and Univision. Free Press and CMD are filing a
complaint with the FCC asking it to broaden its
VNR inquiry, which was prompted in part by the
two groups first report last April identifying
77 stations, some of whom also showed up in the
second report, that were airing the undisclosed
VNRs. Free Press is also asking the FCC to look
at the relationship between media consolidation
and the rise of VNRs. "Our new report shows that
news audiences continue to be deceived by fake TV
news," said Diane Farsetta, CMD senior researcher
and co-author of the report, in announcing the
report and complaint. "Of the 54 VNR broadcasts
that we documented, only two offered clear
disclosure of the client behind the segment [both
from stations named in the first report]. Nearly
90 percent of the time, TV stations made no effort to disclose at all." GIVING NEWSPAPERS BREATHING ROOM
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor 11/14, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] News consumers in Los Angeles,
Baltimore, Boston, and other parts of the country
may have heard that local investors are
interested in buying their main newspaper. They
might think this is purely a business matter.
Actually, it's more about them - and the future
of journalism that informs their daily lives. The
potential buyers, some with very deep pockets,
are aiming to "rescue" these newspapers from the
maw of publicly owned corporations. Several of
the buyers believe Wall Street's profit interest
is trumping Main Street's public interest -
cutting newsroom staffs to the point that
journalism's watchdog role is in danger. Private
and local ownership has its advantages. The
monkey of excessive profits is off the back of
owners, who also have a natural stake in their
community. But conversely, local owners may be
more inclined to interfere with the editorial
independence necessary to maintain a paper's
credibility, or suddenly find their pockets for
investing in the future aren't as deep as they
need to be. No matter who owns newspapers, they
still must find a new business model to survive
an age where text, audio, and video are all
converging in cyberspace. Fortunately, they're
awake, and working on it. Keeping them hopeful is
the knowledge that the public still needs a news
organization's basic function as information
diggers, sifters, and watchdogs. Private, local
ownership has its risks. But if it can give
newspapers breathing room to find their way, it
seems worth it - for the sake of journalism and an informed public. JAPAN SETS UP PANEL TO STUDY NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Reuters]
The Japanese government on Wednesday set up a
panel to discuss Internet network neutrality -- a
concept that has stirred heated debate in the
United States -- and study how the surging
popularity of free file-sharing services such as
YouTube.com is impacting the infrastructure. The
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
said it will call for inputs from companies such
as Google, Yahoo Japan Corp. and Apple Computer
Inc., as well as phone operators and television
networks, and aim to compile a final report on
the subject by July 2007. Earlier this year,
Japan's ministry put together a report on future
competition policy in the industry, in which it
made some recommendations on the Internet
neutrality issue. The report gave suggestions
such as charging extra fees to heavy Internet
users to lighten the cost burden on network
providers, while making sure that end-users and
content providers would be able to access the network freely. 14 Nov: STUDY FINDS WEB ISN'T TEAMING WITH SEX [SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Elise Ackerman] A confidential analysis of Internet search queries and a random sample of Web pages taken from Google and Microsoft's giant Internet indexes showed that only about 1 percent of all Web pages contain sexually explicit material. The analysis was presented in a federal court hearing last week in Philadelphia in a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The ACLU said the analysis, by Philip B. Stark, a professor of statistics at the University of California-Berkeley, did not appear to substantially help the Justice Department in its effort to prove that criminal penalties are necessary to protect minors from exposure to sexually explicit information on the Internet. The Justice Department had commissioned the study as part of an effort to resurrect the Children's Online Protection Act, which was signed by President Clinton in 1998, but was immediately challenged by the ACLU. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/16007733.htm MEDIA DIVERSITY AND LOCALISM: MEANING AND METRICS
[SOURCE: McGannon Center Fordham University, EDITOR: Philip M. Napoli]
Questions concerning the quality of media
performance and the effectiveness of media
policymaking often revolve around the extent to
which the media system fulfills the values
inherent in the diversity and localism
principles. This edited volume addresses
challenges and issues relating to diversity and
localism policy in contemporary media markets.
Published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates and
edited by McGannon Center Director Philip M.
Napoli, Media Diversity and Localism is the
outgrowth of a recent McGannon Center conference
held at Fordham University and funded by the Ford
Foundation's Electronic Media Policy Portfolio.
The book collects selected papers from this
conference, all of which address the principles
of diversity and localism and their role in
communications policy from either a conceptual or
empirical perspective. Contributors to the volume
span a wide range of academic disciplines,
including law, political science, sociology,
communications, and economics. Media Diversity
and Localism explores the following topics: media
ownership and media diversity and localism;
conceptual and methodological issues in assessing
media diversity and localism; minorities, media,
and diversity; and contextualizing media
diversity and localism: audience behavior and new technologies. COMING SOON VIA YOUR TIVO: INTERNET VIDEO ON TELEVISION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
TiVo plans to introduce features that will allow
people to use its digital video recorders to
watch some video programming from the Internet on
their televisions. Until now, TiVo has not been
able to tap into the explosion of Web video —
clips uploaded by amateurs and, increasingly,
professional segments made for the Internet. The
new features, which are set to be announced today
and introduced early next year, are intended to change that. 10 Nov: CLASH OF CULTURES EXACERBATES WOES FOR TRIBUNE CO
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison sarah.ellison@wsj.com]
When Chicago-based Tribune Co. acquired Times
Mirror six years ago, it was more than an $8
billion fusion of two media companies. The merger
also threw together two competing and
incompatible cultures, each rooted in the
traditions of their respective flagship
newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Los
Angeles Times. Some Tribune executives think the
Times is arrogant, spoiled and overstaffed, a
paper with global ambitions that has ignored
local readers. Some Times people consider the
Chicago Tribune an inferior, provincial product.
Times denizens, proud of their city's position as
the nation's second largest, see the paper's
owners as bean counters in business suits.
Tribune thinks its Californian charges are too
slick and prefer to take pride in the company's
Chicago roots. Unlike many battles between
journalists and corporate bosses, which focus
largely on spending, this one is also driven by
fundamental differences between the philosophies
of the two newspapers. Even in 2000, some
executives saw trouble looming. The solution
dreamed up by Tribune and Times Mirror was to
merge their operations in a way that allowed them
to sell combined packages of newspaper and local
TV advertising in the same big, urban markets. The strategy was a dud. THE TOP CENSORED STORY OF 2005-06: NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Peter Phillips, Trish Boreta and Project Censored]
FOR 30 years, Sonoma State University's Project
Censored has released an annual list of the most
important news stories not covered by the
corporate media in the United States. The top of
this year's list is Network Neutrality.
Throughout 2005 and this year, a largely
underground debate has raged regarding the future
of the Internet. More recently referred to as net
neutrality, the issue has become a tug of war
with cable and phone companies on the one hand
and consumers and Internet service providers
(ISPs) on the other. Yet despite important
legislative proposals and Supreme Court decisions
throughout 2005, the issue was almost completely
ignored in the headlines until 2006. And except
for occasional coverage on CNBC's Kudlow &
Kramer, mainstream television remains hands-off to this day. MOST TV SHOWS WATCHED WITHIN THREE DAYS ON DVRs
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Jon Lafayette]
The vast bulk of television shows being watched
on digital video recorders are played back within
three days of being aired, according to Nielsen
Media Research. In households with DVRs, 78
percent of all viewers who watch recorded
broadcast prime-time shows played them back
within two days, and 84 percent played them back
within three days. Among viewers 18-49, 67
percent of them played back broadcast network
prime-time programs within two days. For
ad-supported cable networks, 84 percent of DVR
viewers played back shows within two days of when
they aired. After three days, 84 percent of DVR
viewers had watched the broadcast shows. The
three-day number hit 90 percent for cable. 9 Nov: AMERICA'S INTERNET DISCONNECT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps]
[Commentary] America's record in expanding broadband communication is
so poor that it should be viewed as an outrage by every consumer and
businessperson in the country. Too few of us have broadband
connections, and those who do pay too much for service that is too
slow. It's hurting our economy, and things are only going to get
worse if we don't do something about it. There are concrete steps
government must take now to reverse our slide into communications
mediocrity. To begin with, the Federal Communications Commission must
face up to the problem, adopt a real world definition of broadband,
cease assuming that if one person in a Zip code area has access to
broadband then everyone does, and start collecting data on pricing.
The FCC needs to start working to lower prices and introduce
competition. We must start meeting our legislative mandate to get
advanced telecommunications out to all Americans at reasonable
prices; make new licensed and unlicensed spectrum available;
authorize "smart radios" that use spectrum more efficiently; and do a
better job of encouraging "third pipe" technologies such as wireless
and broadband over power lines. And we should recommend steps to
Congress to ensure the FCC's ability to implement long-term
solutions. We need a broadband strategy for America. The solution to
our broadband crisis must ultimately involve public-private
initiatives like those that built the railroad, highway and telephone
systems. Combined with an overhaul of our universal service system to
make sure it is focusing on the needs of broadband, this represents
our best chance at recapturing our leadership position. It seems
plain enough that our present policies aren't working. Inattention
and muddling through may be the path of least resistance, but they
should not and must not represent our national policy on this critical issue. OLD MEDIA AND NEW MEDIA: FRIENDS, NOT FOES
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Scott Kessler]
Search and advertising services from Google and Yahoo! are helping
traditional media companies extend their content online and generate
revenue. Despite a growing population, TV and radio audiences have
been declining in the U.S. Movie ticket sales peaked in 2002, and
magazine and newspaper circulations have been trending lower for half
a decade, with revenue and earnings growth stagnating. Conversely,
from 2000 to 2005, the number of U.S. households with Internet access
rose 31%, and the number with broadband access increased more than
sevenfold, according to Forrester Research. Internet advertising
revenues jumped 55% during the same period, according to the
Interactive Advertising Bureau. From 2001 to 2005, spending on
Internet content nearly tripled, according to the Online Publishers Assn. TV STATIONS' WEB ELECTION RESULTS SMASH RECORDS
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
Local TV stations drew record traffic to their Web sites on election
day, according to Internet Broadcasting, which released traffic data
for its national network of 79 TV station Web sites. A record 3.5
million unique visitors, the highest number of visitors in history,
turned to local TV station sites to view election results. Stations
experienced 50 to 150 percent traffic spikes above typical page view
levels. Across the network, 24.8 million page views were recorded,
nearly 50 percent higher than the 2004 Presidential Election. NEWSPAPERS KNOW NO END TO TURMOIL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
It's no exaggeration to say that bad news comes every day for the
embattled newspaper industry. Yesterday, the editor of the
Philadelphia Inquirer became the second top editor of a major
newspaper in two days to leave. Also yesterday, investors increased
pressure on the New York Times Co. to scrap its venerated
family-ownership structure, saying it has harmed the company's value
and is no longer accountable to public shareholders. Facing declining
circulation since 1987 and diminished revenue for the past few years,
major newspapers and their owners are trying to remake themselves for
the digital age. Most papers have moved aggressively into Internet --
and some, mobile -- delivery of their news and ad sales, as they
attempt to follow their readers from paper to the Web and beyond. But
the changeover has been costly, and even though online ad revenue has
been rising, it is not enough to offset the loss of classified and
display advertising in newspapers. Newspaper companies also are
feeling pressure from Wall Street investors, who see an industry that
shows little or no growth potential. 8 Nov: BLOGS TAKE LEAD IN REPORTING POLLING PROBLEMS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tom Zeller]
Blogs of all political stripes spent most of
yesterday detailing reports of voting machine
malfunctions and ballot shortages, effectively
becoming an online national clearinghouse of the
polling problems that still face the election
system. And in a new twist this year, many
bloggers buttressed their accounts of electoral
shenanigans with links to videos posted on the
video Web site YouTube. That the blog now has a
firm place in the choreography of national events
— and in elections perhaps more so than in any
other cultural exercise — is a boon to the
democratic process, said Jonathan Zittrain, a
professor of Internet governance at Oxford
University and a co-founder of the Berkman Center
for Internet and Society at Harvard. “In a lot
of ways they’re helping to set the agenda for the
mainstream media in fast-moving events like
this,” Mr. Zittrain said. “They just need to be
able to produce enough that’s credible quickly to give a lead.” ALL SLANDER ALL THE TIME
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Ellis, Boston Globe]
[Commentary] According to Advertising Age
magazine, the total amount spent this year on
political advertising will reach $2 billion, a
hefty increase over 2004. If one conservatively
estimates that at least half of all political
advertising can be fairly described as
"negative," then 2006 will be the first year that
negative political advertising expenditures
reached the $1 billion mark. That's a dollar
amount greater than all of the television, radio
and print advertising buys done by Anheuser-Busch
in 2005. Look through the list of the major
advertisers in the U.S. and what strikes you is
that all of them spend vast sums of money
building and strengthening brands. What makes our
politics so sensationally awful is not just the
amount of money spent denigrating the category
and the profession, but the equally stunning
amount of energy that is expended by party
apparatchiks to amplify the negative in
news-media coverage of politics. And the news
media are only to happy to comply. The truth is
they can't get enough of it. The net effect of
this constant and unrelenting assault on
politicians and the political process is voter
resignation and ultimately a kind of doomed acceptance. GOOGLE POSITIONING FOR MOVE INTO US RADIO
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sue Zeidler]
Web search leader Google is hiring scores of
radio sales people and is spending heavily in a
bid to expand its position in the $20 billion
radio industry. Google spokesman Michael Mayzel
said this week that the company will begin a
public test of Google Audio Ads by the end of the
year. Advertisers will be able to go online and
sign up for targeted radio ads using the same
AdWords system they use to buy Web search ads. KAREN'S RULES OF DIPLOMACY: TALK TO THE MEDIA -- IF YOU DARE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Elizabeth Williamson]
Karen Hughes, the State Department's
undersecretary for public diplomacy and public
affairs, sent a long memo to chief diplomats, top
deputies and public affairs officers worldwide
Friday, spelling out "Karen's Rules" for working
with the media. Rule #1: Think Advocacy. I want
all of you to think of yourselves as advocates
for America's story each day. Rule #2: Use What's
Out There. You are always on sure ground if you
use what the President, Secretary Rice, Sean
McCormack or Senior USG spokesmen have already
said on a particular subject. Rule #3: Think
local. Because your key audience is your local --
or regional -- audience you do not need clearance
to speak to any local media, print or television.
Rule #4: Use Common Sense to respond to natural
disasters or tragedies. You do not need to get
Department clearance to express condolences in
the event of a loss, or express sympathy and
support in response to a natural disaster. Rule
#5: Don't Make Policy. This is a sensitive area
about which you need to be careful. Do not get
out in front of USG policymakers on an issue,
even if you are speaking to local press. Rule #6:
No Surprises. You should always give PA a
heads-up in the event that you speak to
U.S.-based media. This ensures that those who
should know are in the loop on what is happening.
Rule #7: Enlist the help of the hubs (for those
who have regional media presence) or my office if
you don't get a quick response for clearance or help. 13 NATIONS DENOUNCED FOR WEB CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Verena Dobnik]
The Internet enemies list numbers 13: Belarus,
China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Vietnam. These are the countries
singled out by the press freedom group Reporters
Without Borders as the worst culprits for
systematic online censorship, and they were
targeted in the group's 24-hour online protest
ending at 5 a.m. Wednesday. "No one should ever
be prevented from posting news online or writing
a blog," said the Paris-based group, Reporters
Sans Frontieres in French, which taps more than
100 journalists who are "keeping us informed."
Worldwide, 61 people, 52 in China, are in prison
for posting what the countries claimed was
"subversive" content, the reporters' group said in its annual report. 7 Nov: FTC CHIEF WARNS AGAINST 'UNNECESSARY' NET RULES
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
On Monday, Federal Trade Commission Chairman
Deborah Platt Majoras voiced reluctance toward
adopting consumer protection laws that target
technological concerns du jour, saying the
"collective voice" of consumers often prompts
change. She prefers relying on a combination of
existing laws, vigorous competition and user
pressure to address complaints about new products
or potentially worrisome uses of technology. "On
the Internet, consumers appear to reign supreme,
and they can be very powerful and tough
customers," Chairman Majoras told an audience of
about 300 people in a speech that kicked off a
series of public hearings hosted by the FTC.
Dubbed "Protecting Consumers in the Next
Tech-ade," the three-day event is billed by the
agency as a counterpart to global
consumer-protection hearings held in 1995. This
week's lineup is scheduled to include panelists
predicting how topics like communication, social
networking, advertising, computing power and
security will change over the next 10 years.
Despite the vast differences in technology use
between 1995 and today, existing laws that cover
"unfair and deceptive practices" have proven
elastic enough in many cases for Internet Age
adaptations, Chairman Majoras said.
6 Nov: FCC ENDORSES BROADBAND OVER POWERLINE
[SOURCE: TechWeb Technology News, AUTHOR: W. David Gardner]
The Federal Communications Commission on Friday
gave a big boost to Broadband over Powerline
(BPL), classifying the technology as an
"information service." The declaration places
BPL-enabled access services on equal footing with
cable modem and DSL Internet access services. The
FCC has campaigned for BPL approval for years,
although ham radio operators have long complained
that BPL would interfere with its service. By
ruling BPL service's transmission component is
"telecommunications," and an "information
service," BPL will find it easier to deploy
beyond the handful of networks that are currently
scattered around the country, mostly in the Northeast. NET NEUTRALITY IS AIMED AT SMALL FIRMS, GOOGLE SAYS
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 10/31, AUTHOR: ]
A Google executive warned that small businesses
would be harmed the most if the federal
government fails to guarantee the unencumbered
flow of Internet content. "Honestly, Amazon,
Yahoo, Microsoft, Google -- companies that we're
working with on this issue" -- are best
positioned to survive without so-called network
neutrality safeguards, Alan Davidson, the
Washington counsel for Google, said during
remarks here before the Northern Virginia
Technology Council. Davidson said deep-pocketed
companies could enter agreements with
telecommunications carriers to ensure that their
content is easily accessible. But Google is "very
worried" about the viability of small Internet
players, which he said are "a big part of our
future revenue stream." He further warned that
the "culture of innovation" that has spawned
online social networks, wireless Internet access,
video-sharing and other trends and technologies
could disappear if regulators do not take steps
to ensure equal treatment of similar broadband
content. Businesses can now deploy new services
without seeking anyone's permission, Davidson
said. But he warned that freedom would be
hindered if companies such as AOL Time Warner,
AT&T, and Verizon, follow through with plans to
charge for premium treatment on the Internet.
Speaking later to reporters, Davidson said that
if U.S. companies establish premium Internet
tiers, companies in other nations would follow
suit -- forcing small businesses to cut deals
with U.S. and international broadband providers. MEDIA'S NEW MASTERS
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Jon Fine]
[Commentary] It's now a matter of when, not if,
private-equity players will begin owning a large
chunk of the consumer media world. Thus,
regardless of who ends up controlling Tribune Co.
and Clear Channel Communications -- to cite just
two recent headlines -- it's worth considering,
without rant or cant, what this will mean to
media companies and properties. 1) Old dogs learn
new math: "There is equity. There is debt. There
is cash flow. There is interest. There is growth.
There is value. That's the world." A shift to a
"hard" accountability won't be easy. A soft-edged
ecosystem allowed generations of lower-tier
employees to make decent middle-class
salaries--in some cases, much better than
middle-class salaries. That world has been
shrinking. It will shrink faster. 2) Expect a
quicker sprint to digital. 3) The old-style
conglomerate, be it Knight Ridder or Time Warner,
consists of properties bolted together more or
less haphazardly. Their run of dominating media
will end. In their place will come tightly focused companies. SOMEBODY LISTENS TO PARENTS!
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Kevin Downey]
When PBS surveyed parents of preschoolers to find
out what bugs them about children's television,
it wasn't the commercials for fatty foods. No. 1
on their list was something a little more
touchy-feely. “We kept hearing from parents that
positive, real-adult role models are missing from
kids TV today,” explains Lesli Rotenberg, senior
VP of PBS Kids Next Generation Media, a PBS
initiative that, over five years, will explore
how to expand its content to new-media outlets.
PBS listened and broke new ground on its
preschool block in September, presenting “Miss
Lori,” a live host who is there to guide kids
through the schedule. That's such a new idea it's
positively old. In the early days of television,
it was common for stations to have hosts who
hawked toys and other goodies in between the
cartoons. “So much of kids TV is cartoons,”
Rotenberg says. “Parents are missing adults that
kids can learn from and who can model good
behavior that will help kids know what will help
them become good citizens in their community.
Parents are concerned with how they can help
their children succeed in school and succeed in
life,” she adds. “They want to be an educational
partner, but they want resources.” ONLINE PLAYER IN THE GAME OF POLITICS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
People in the elections business often say that
the most powerful form of endorsement, next to
meeting and being actually impressed by a
candidate, is the recommendation of a trusted
friend. In this election, YouTube, with its
extant social networks and the ability to forward
a video clip and a comment with a flick of the
mouse, has become a source of viral
work-of-mouth. As a result, a disruptive
technology that was supposed to upend a
half-century-old distribution model of television
is having a fairly disruptive effect on politics
as well. “In politics, there is a very high
signal-to-noise ratio,” said Mr. Avidor, who runs
his blog in his spare time. “It gives you a
megaphone and allows you to break through the
clutter, and maybe capture the attention of major
media. If you get the right message, it can go
viral in a hurry and have a big impact.” Campaign
video material, once restricted to expensive
television commercials that were endlessly
focus-grouped and tweaked, has performed a
jailbreak. And a growing tendency on the part of
people to run to the Web for current information
-- an Associated Press/America Online poll found
that 43 percent of likely voters get political
news from the Internet -- means a universe of new
opportunities and hazards for candidates. DO THE RIGHTS OF THE DISABLED EXTEND TO THE BLIND ON THE WEB?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bob Tedeschi]
The National Federation of the Blind has sued
Target, contending that the company declined to
make its Web site fully accessible -- with
specialized screen-reading technology -- to blind
people. The Federation argues that the company’s
inaction violated the Americans with Disabilities
Act because the Web site is essentially an
extension of its other public accommodations, and
as such, should be easily accessible to people
with disabilities. On Sept. 6, a federal judge in
California held, in a preliminary ruling on the
suit, that in some instances, Web sites must
cater to disabled people. Legal scholars say the
full reach of that ruling will not be clear until
the case is decided, if it reaches that point.
But in the meantime, the dispute shows that
although commercial Web sites have made
considerable strides in serving this small
fraction of their customer base, there are still
substantial difficulties on both sides of the screen. NEWSPAPERS TO TEST PLAN TO SELL ADS ON GOOGLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
Google is going to start selling advertisements
that will appear in the print editions of 50
major newspapers. Hoping to reach out to a new
crop of customers, such as small businesses and
online retailers, many of the largest newspaper
companies, including Gannett, the Tribune
Company, The New York Times Company, the
Washington Post Company and Hearst, have agreed
to try the system in a three-month test set to
start later this month. For Google, the test is
an important step to the company’s audacious
long-term goal: to build a single computer system
through which advertisers can promote their
products in any medium. For the newspaper
industry, reeling from the loss of both readers
and advertisers, this new system offers a curious
bargain: the publishers can get much-needed
revenue but in doing so they may well make Google
— which is already the biggest seller of online advertising — even stronger. HOLLYWOOD PUTS SQUEEZE ON TALENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Laura Holson]
Movie and television studios, facing escalating
budgets, rampant piracy and the uncertain future
of new media, are demanding concessions from
talent. But as actors, directors and writers feel
the squeeze, many are not happy about it. Worse,
the tension is not likely to ease soon. As
studios are set to begin contract negotiations
with talent in January, all sides are girding for
battle. Hollywood is in the midst of a strategic
shift. The average cost to make and market a
movie has skyrocketed — to $96.2 million last
year, from $54.1 million in 1995 — while
lucrative DVD sales have flattened. Major film
studios are fending off illegal piracy, which
industry executives say accounted for $1.3
billion in lost revenue in the United States last
year. The growth of new media threatens to
undermine traditional businesses, while studios
are flummoxed about how to take advantage of the
new opportunities they represent. And movies and
TV also face tough new competition from video
games and online social networking sites. Even
cellphones have become a favorite diversion among
the young. As in so many other show business
debates, money and control are at the heart of
the matter. And without solutions to these
problems in sight, relations between talent and
the studios are more strained than ever. 2 Nov: UN DELEGATES: ENGLISH ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
When the pioneering engineers who invented the
Internet began crafting the modern domain name
system, they came up with a rule that was
reasonable at the time: Domains must use only
English-language characters. A November 1983
specification proposed that domain names would
have "only letters, digits and hyphen"--which
meant that Cyrillic, Arabic, kanji or Chinese
letters and characters could not be used in
domains. Not even diacritical marks employed in
German, French and Spanish were permitted. On
Wednesday, delegates to a United Nations summit
complained that the ASCII-only choice was
representative of an Internet culture that is far
too English-centric and that fails to respect
other languages. "This new society leaves people
isolated, marginalized," said Adama Samassékou, a
former Mali government official who is the
president of the African Academy of Languages. "I
think the digital divide is not as important as
the linguistic divide. And that's the one we
should be bridging in order to guarantee the
democratic governance of the Internet." UNFETTERED OWNERSHIP CARRIES CONSEQUENCES
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein]
[Commentary] Earlier this month in Los Angeles,
the Federal Communications Commission held the
first of six full-commission public hearings on
our broadcast media ownership rules. As an FCC
Commissioner, the writer is obligated to review
and, if necessary, modify the current rules to
ensure that they promote competition, localism
and diversity. He concludes, "The FCC's review of
the broadcast media ownership rules is about our
democracy, which doesn't appear on corporate
balance sheets. Media companies do not have a
right to own more radio and TV stations than they
need to affirmatively promote localism,
competition and diversity to the fullest extent.
Wall Street demands a good return on its media
investments. Our job on the FCC is to demand a
good return to the public, as well, in exchange
for the free use of the airwaves." WHY NEWSPAPERS WILL LOSE ON MEDIA CROSS-OWNERSHIP -- AGAIN
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Mark Fitzgerald]
[Commentary] Even though lifting the ban on
broadcast-newspaper crossownership makes a lot of
sense, don't bet it'll happen. Prospects were a
lot better in 2003 when an energetic FCC
chairman, Michael Powell, opposed the ban and had
a majority ready to vote with him. But the
newspaper then shot itself in the foot and is
likely to do it again. How? By treating this as
an inside-the-beltway issue. "It's only a little
exaggeration to say that newspapers and
television imposed a blackout on the issue,
writing almost nothing about the impending rule
changes until the very eve of the vote." In the
FCC's 2006 proceeding, the public is filing
thousands of comments opposing lifting the ban.
But how much is the press covering the position
of the newspaper industry? How much is the
industry engaging in public debate? "Newspapers
and network television shamed themselves three
years ago by telling the public little or nothing
about media rule change that were in the works.
It wasn't a failure of journalism, so much as a
willful dereliction of duty to democracy."
Fitzgerald concludes: "The industry seems to have
convinced itself that it need not convince the
public about the rightness of its case, so long
as it can convince three out of five FCC
commissioners. That hasn't worked before, and I'm
betting it won't work this time around, either." NLY FOUR PERCENT OF TV VIEWING RECORDED
[SOURCE: MediaPostPublications, AUTHOR: Jack Loechner]
About 12% of all US households now have a Digital
Video Recorder (DVR) and 60 percent of all
digital cable subscribers have used
Video-on-Demand (VOD). But according to new
consumer research from Leichtman Research Group,
less than 4% of all TV viewing in the US today is
of recorded DVR programs or on-Demand viewing --
up from about 2% a year ago. 62% of DVR
subscribers, and 64% of VOD users, say that they
usually watch recorded or on-Demand programs when
there is no regularly scheduled TV on that they
want to watch. On-Demand TV services, says LRG,
have made major strides in the past year, and
these trends will continue. By the end of 2010
over 50 million households will have a DVR and
about 42 million will have access to VOD from their cable provider. STARTING SOON, COMPANIES WILL 'PAY' YOU AIRLINE MILES TO LOOK AT THEIR ADS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Laura Petrecca]
On Wednesday, Web start-up e-Miles introduced a
venture that lets consumers earn miles on Delta,
Continental, Northwest and US Airways by watching
ads online and answering follow-up questions
about those messages. About 14 advertisers,
including 1-800-Flowers.com and Hilton Hotels,
have signed on to the service, which launches in January. 1 Nov: GROUPS URGE WEB TRACKING INQUIRY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher
Conkey christopher.conkey@wsj.com and Robert Guth]
The Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S.
Public Interest Research Group will today file a
complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
urging the agency to examine technologies used
by Microsoft and other online companies for
possible violations of consumer privacy. "The FTC
should long ago have sounded a very public
alarm," the complaint reads, "concerning the data
collection practices stemming from such fields as
Web analytics, online advertising networks,
behavioral targeting and [virtual reality media],
all of which threaten the privacy of the U.S.
public." While the filing highlighted Microsoft,
the software giant is a recent entry in an area
led by Google and Yahoo, which garner the
majority of their revenue from online
advertising. The vast amount of private
information collected by Internet companies was
spotlighted last year when the Justice Department
demanded that Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Time
Warner's AOL unit supply information about
consumers' Web searches as part of a probe into
how to protect children from online pornography.
Google fought the department's action, arguing,
in part, that it would jeopardize its users'
private information. Ultimately a judge forced
Google to hand over a portion of the information.
Jeffrey Chester, the Center for Digital
Democracy's executive director, said he is
primarily concerned that consumers are
ill-informed about how closely they are monitored
when they surf the Web. Mr. Chester, whose
complaints to the FTC 10 years ago helped shape
the agency's view on how personally identifiable
information of children can be acquired online,
said he would like the FTC to push for
legislation that would lead to better disclosures
about data-sharing practices and force companies
to ask consumers if they are willing to allow
their Web activity to be shared with affiliates or marketers. CHINA: WE DON'T CENSOR THE INTERNET. REALLY
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
While many countries block off some Web sites,
China has long drawn heightened scrutiny because
of the breadth and sophistication of its Internet
censorship. Which is why it came as a surprise on
Tuesday when a Chinese government official
claimed at a United Nations summit here that no
Net censorship existed at all. The only problem:
Few cases of Net censorship are as carefully and
publicly documented as the Great Firewall of
China. A study by researchers at Harvard Law
School found 19,032 Web sites that were inaccessible inside China. THE NOT-SO-SIMPLE LIFE OF SMALL-MARKET TV
[SOURCE: tvnewsday]
A Q&A with Liz Burns, head of the small
family-owned TV group, Morgan Murphy Stations
which owns four network-affiliated stations: KXLY
Spokane, Wash. (ABC, DMA 77); WISC Madison, Wis.
(CBS, DMA 85); KVEW/KAPP
Yakima-Pasco-Richland-Kennewik, Wash. (ABC, DMA
125) and WKBT La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wis. (CBS,
DMA 127). She talks about the transition to
digital TV, media ownership rules, "virtual
duopolies," multicast must carry, indecency regulation and more. TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE TUNING OUT OF THE NEWS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Lambert]
[Commentary] The traditional news media in the US
are in a state of turmoil. Some of the biggest
newspaper chains – first Knight Ridder and now
Tribune Company – have put themselves up for
sale. Network news broadcasters are slashing
their budgets, the latest and most savage example
being the cuts heralded by NBC Universal two
weeks ago. No wonder there is a siege mentality
in newsrooms around the land. Investors seem to
be concluding that this is an industry with no
future. As is often the case, though, the mood
swing has gone too far -- these are still very
profitable businesses. The US newspaper industry
boasts daily sales of 55m copies, profit margins
well into double digits and strong cash flows.
There are indications that the long-term decline
in readership may have stabilized in recent years
and most people use the Internet as a supplement,
rather than a substitute, for newsprint. So the
big question is not whether the traditional news
media will continue to exist in the foreseeable
future. Most of them clearly will. But what kind
of service will they provide to the public as
they adapt their business model -- and with it
their editorial content -- to a much more
competitive environment? In today’s competitive
environment, what commercial interest would a
news publisher have in seeking to interest a
poorly educated and uninterested person in what
is happening in the world? And will market
forces, left to themselves, be enough to support
that vital component of democracy -- an informed citizenry? CITIZEN JOURNALISM'S PIED PIPER
[SOURCE: CommonWealth Magazine, AUTHOR: Dan Kennedy]
From Berkeley to Harvard, Dan Gillmor tries to
bring the new media into being, without bringing down the old. Click here for earler Benton files. (c)
Benton Foundation 2003. Redistribution of this email publication -- both internally
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