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Benton media news digest – January 2007

TEAM OBAMA IS COURTING EVERYBODY BUT THE PRESS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
When reporters filed onto Barack Obama's press plane after his acrimonious debate with Hillary Rodham Clinton last week, one thing was noticeably missing amid the wine and snacks on the Boeing 737. There was no high-level campaign spinner to argue that Obama had gotten the better of the exchanges or that the verbal fisticuffs were part of some precisely calculated strategy. On the press bus the next day, mid-level aides dealt with travel logistics but made no attempt to shape the coverage. In an age of all-out political warfare, the Obama campaign is a bit of an odd duck: It is not obsessed with winning each news cycle. The Illinois senator remains a remote figure to those covering him, and his team, while competent and professional, makes only spotty attempts to drive its preferred story lines in the press. "There is no charm offensive from the candidate toward the press corps," says Newsweek correspondent Richard Wolffe. "The contact is limited. . . . They see the national media more as a logistical problem than a channel for getting stuff out."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012702160.html
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FCC LEVIES "NYPD" INDECENCY FINE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Brooks Boliek, Hollywood Reporter]
The Federal Communications Commission on Friday determined that a woman's naked backside is indecent. It proposed fining the ABC stations that aired a particular episode of NYPD Blue in 2003 a collective $1.43 million. FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate said Friday's action puts broadcasters on notice. "Our action today should serve as a reminder to all broadcasters that Congress and American families continue to be concerned about protecting children from harmful material and that the FCC will enforce the laws of the land vigilantly. In fact, pursuant to the Broadcast Decency Act of 2005, Congress increased the maximum authorized fines tenfold. The law is simple. If a broadcaster makes the decision to show indecent programming, it must air between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. This is neither difficult to understand nor burdensome to implement." In its decision the FCC ruled that the February 25, 2003, episode of the ABC program "NYPD Blue" in which a nude woman is surprised by a young boy as she prepares to shower is too much for primetime broadcast TV.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2534678020080127

BROADBAND'S GROWING 'NEED FOR SPEED'
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Rachael King]
The prospect of a recession is not keeping San Antonio-based AT&T -- or rivals, for that matter -- from pressing ahead with multibillion-dollar plans to install gear that will provide a raft of new television and high-speed Internet services to neighborhoods across the country. Economic slowdown or not, AT&T and its ilk are under pressure to provide ever faster Web access and TV products as they contend with cable companies such as Comcast encroaching on phone company turf with their own flavors of phone and Internet access. "Irrespective of a recession, there is a growing need for speed that is raising the stakes for broadband providers," says Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York. "I don't think there is much chance that the telcos will pull back on their network deployments. That ship has already sailed." During the telecom bust in the early part of the decade, communications service providers slashed budgets, trimming capital expenditures by 30% in 2002 alone. Analysts don't expect comparable reductions this time around, noting that competitive pressures make network upgrades essential. "The impact of that recession was as much related to technology over-investment, whereas now technology isn't the cause—it's being impacted," says Todd Rosenbluth, equity analyst at S&P.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2008/tc20080127_181692.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech

BUSH LOOKS TO BEEF UP PROTECTION AGAINST CYBERATTACKS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman siobhan.gorman@wsj.com]
President Bush has promised a frugal budget proposal next month, but one big-ticket item is stirring controversy: an estimated $6 billion to build a secretive system protecting U.S. communication networks from attacks by terrorists, spies and hackers. Administration officials and lawmakers say that the prospect of cyberterrorists hacking into a nuclear-power plant or paralyzing Wall Street is becoming possible, and that the U.S. isn't prepared. This is "one area where we have significant work to do," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. The White House's proposal has already dismayed lawmakers concerned about civil-liberties violations. Democratic lawmakers are also frustrated by what they see as the White House's refusal to provide details of the program, and say that could threaten the fate of the initiative.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120147963641320851.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
(requires subscription)

STUDY SHOWS eBAY BUYERS SAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Eric Auchard]
Buyers save billions of dollars each year bidding on eBay auctions, according to a new study that quantifies the benefits online consumers enjoy over and above what is derived by sellers, or eBay itself. The independent research by two statisticians from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business found buyers saved $7 billion that they might have otherwise been ready to pay in a study of eBay auction behavior in 2003. Applying the same analysis to 2004 buyer data, consumers saved $8.4 billion, said Wolfgang Jank, one author of the study. A linear projection of the research findings would mean consumers saved around $19 billion during 2007, Jank said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2742167120080128

AFGHAN SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER SHARING WEB PRINTOUTS
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
A 23-year-old Afghani journalism student is facing a death sentence in his home country for distributing articles allegedly critical of Islam that he had printed from a Web site, according to various news reports. According to the Associated Press, the judges arrived at their decision by citing Article 130 of the Afghan Constitution, which calls for "judicial discretion" when there is no provision in the constitution or other national laws to deal with a certain matter. Court head Shamsurahman Momand was quoted by AFP as defending the decision on Wednesday, saying the student had been found to be "insulting Islam and Prophet Mohammad." Local and international press freedom groups, such as Reporters Without Borders and the National Journalists Union of Afghanistan, immediately condemned the verdict as a violation of freedom of expression and called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to step in to overturn the ruling.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9856107-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

MPAA ADMITS MISTAKE ON DOWNLOADING STUDY [SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Justin Pope]
Hollywood laid much of the blame for illegal movie downloading on college students. Now, it says its math was wrong. In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry's domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus. The MPAA has used the study to pressure colleges to take tougher steps to prevent illegal file-sharing and to back legislation currently before the House of Representatives that would force them to do so. But now the MPAA, which represents the U.S. motion picture industry, has told education groups a "human error" in that survey caused it to get the number wrong. It now blames college students for about 15 percent of revenue loss. The MPAA says that's still significant, and justifies a major effort by colleges and universities to crack down on illegal file-sharing. But Mark Luker, vice president of campus IT group Educause, says it doesn't account for the fact that more than 80 percent of college students live off campus and aren't necessarily using college networks. He says 3 percent is a more reasonable estimate for the percentage of revenue that might be at stake on campus networks.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/22/entertainment/e142552S47.DTL&type=tech

LAST.FM, MUSIC LABELS LAUNCH FREE MUSIC ON-DEMAND
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Yinka Adegoke]
Last.fm, the social music network owned by CBS Corp, said on Wednesday it is introducing a free service for fans to listen to their favorite songs on-demand. The new service is being launched in partnership with the four major music companies, as well as over 150,000 labels and artists. When fans in the United States, Britain and Germany search for an artist on the Last.fm Web site, they can now stream the artist's song for nothing or pay to download an MP3 version of the song via Amazon.com. Last.fm said the streaming service is funded by advertising revenue, which is shared with the music companies. The move comes nearly six years after Last.fm first started reaching out to music companies to license songs to stream on its site.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2341167820080123

THE NEXT FACEBOOK SCANDAL
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Chris Soghoian] [Commentary]
Facebook is no stranger to the complaints of privacy activists. First, it was the site's News Feed feature back in 2006. Most recently, the company's Beacon service drew widespread criticism. This blog post will outline yet another major privacy issue, in which Facebook recklessly exposes user data. Facebook launched its widely popular application developer program back in May 2007. As of press time, there were more than 14,000 applications. Some, including most of the popular apps, are made by companies, while a few of the popular apps, and a significant number of the long tail of the less popular applications are made by individual developers. But a new study suggests there may be a bigger problem with the applications. Many are given access to far more personal data than they need to in order to run, including data on users who never even signed up for the application. Not only does Facebook enable this, but it does little to warn users that it is even happening, and of the risk that a rogue application developer can pose.
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9854409-46.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

WEB TALENT TESTS ADS
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Daisy Whitney]
Looking to increase revenues, a number of online video creators are turning to new ad strategies, including product placement. Besides product placement, some video online creators are focusing on selling ads on their own Web sites and promoting that site as the preferred viewing destination. Also, technology firms such as Blip’d and Blinkx are introducing technology solutions that let ads travel with video around the Web. They are doing this because most video bloggers have learned that while some fans may watch a Web show at the home site, most viewers watch Web shows on YouTube, MySpace or Facebook. But the ads don't always travel to those sites. Product placement ensures an ad is married to the video.
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/01/web_talent_tests_ads.php
(requires free registration)

NEWSPAPERS THRIVING? YES -- IN ASIA
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Simon Montlake]
Soaring circulation. Expanding newsrooms. A growing public hunger for, and appreciation of, a free media. As the ailing US newspaper industry gasps for air, its counterparts in Asia are breathing in the exhilarating oxygen of success. Rising incomes and literacy levels -- in an era of growing press freedom, democracy, and private media ownership – have lit a rocket under newsrooms across the region, say newspaper editors, industry analysts, and media executives. Seven of the 10 best-selling daily newspapers are in Asia, which also has the three largest markets: China, India, and Japan, in that order. In 2006, circulation in Asia rose 3.6 percent, compared with a 2 percent fall in North America, according to the World Association of Newspapers.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0124/p06s01-woap.html

IN PAKISTAN, TV NETWORK LOSES BITE IN ITS RETURN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Salman Masood]
With the notable absence of two hard-hitting political talk shows, Pakistan’s most popular private television news channel was allowed to resume cable broadcasts within the country on Monday, ending a blackout that had lasted more than two months. The channel, Geo, and other television networks, were taken off the air after President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in the country on Nov. 3 as he suspended the Constitution, fired the Supreme Court and blocked all independent news media. Almost all of the news networks were allowed to resume broadcasting by December as Mr. Musharraf lifted the emergency, and after the networks had agreed to sign a controversial “code of conduct.” But executives at Geo, known for its aggressive news coverage, refused to sign and so it remained off the air in Pakistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/world/asia/22pakistan.html?ref=todayspaper
(requires registration)

CHINESE INTERNET USERS UP TO 210 MILLION
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
The Chinese government said Friday its Internet population has soared to 210 million people, putting it on track to surpass the U.S. online community this year to become the world's largest. he official China Internet Network Information Center, also known as CNNIC, said the online population grew 53 percent, from 137 million reported at the same time last year. According to the government's Xinhua News Agency, China is only 5 million behind the United States online, a figure consistent with some American estimates. One-third of Chinese Internet users surf through cybercafes, according to Xinhua.
http://www.newsobserver.com/1595/story/889886.html

BLOGS INFLUENCE JOURNALISTS, NEARLY ALL FACETS OF NEWS COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Watershed Publishing and Media Buyer Planner]
Blogs are not only having an impact on the speed and availability of news but also influencing the tone and editorial direction of reporting, according to a survey of US journalists by Brodeur, a unit of Omnicom Group. New media (social media and blogs) are having an impact on many aspects of reporting, particularly the speed and availability of news, Brodeur said. The majority of journalists said blogs were having a significant impact on news reporting in all areas tested - except news quality: The biggest impact of blogs is in the speed and availability of news. Over half also said that blogs were having a significant impact on the “tone” (61.8%) and “editorial direction” (51.1%) of news reporting.
http://www.marketingcharts.com/print/blogs-influence-journalists-nearly-all-facets-of-news-coverage-2982/?camp=newsletter&src=mc&type=textlink

THE ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE ONLINE UNIVERSE TRAVERSED BY YOUNG CYBERAUTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Felicia Lee] If 21st-century parenthood is not scary enough, “Growing Up Online,” a documentary to be broadcast on the “Frontline” program on most PBS stations on Tuesday night, uses real-life stories to ask an increasingly important question: What does it mean to be part of the first generation coming of age steeped in a virtual world seemingly outside parental control? The documentary touches on the much discussed fear of online sexual predators, as well as concerns about the ease of cut-and-paste plagiarism, using the Internet. It also examines how notions of privacy and the meaning of friendships change when a computer button can ferry your words and your images to strangers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/arts/television/22front.html?ref=todayspaper
(requires registration)
PBS link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

PSAs GET 17 SECONDS OF EACH TELEVISION HOUR
[SOURCE: Kaiser Family Foundation]
To help inform the work of non-profits seeking to communicate with the public, the Kaiser Family Foundation is releasing a new, updated study that examines the extent and nature of public service advertising (PSA) on both broadcast and cable television. The report finds that broadcast and cable stations in the study donated an average of 17 seconds an hour to PSAs ­ totaling one-half of one percent of all TV airtime. The most frequent time period for PSAs to air was between midnight and 6 a.m., accounting for 46% of donated PSAs across all stations in the study; looking only at broadcast stations, 60% of donated PSAs ran overnight. The time period with the fewest donated PSAs was during prime time (8-11 p.m.), with 13% of all donated PSAs.
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia012408nr.cfm

2007 SETS A NEW RECORD FOR ONLINE READERSHIP
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Jennifer Saba]
More people read newspapers online in 2007 than in the previous year, setting a record, according to the latest data from the Newspaper Association of America. The organization reported that 60 million people visited an online newspaper last year, compared with 56.4 million in 2006 -- a 6.3% increase in unique audience. The average time spent per person also jumped in 2007 to almost 43 minutes compared with 41 minutes in 2006.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003701533
* See NAA press release:
http://www.naa.org/PressCenter/SearchPressReleases/2008/Online-Newspaper-Viewership.aspx

MURDOCH WON'T MAKE ALL OF WSJ FREE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Ben Hirschler]
News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday he would not make all online Wall Street Journal content free. "We're sort of dividing it up. Those things that you can get more or less as a commodity on different sites about finance, that will certainly be free at the Wall Street Journal," he said. "The really specialized (material) giving the greatest insights, that will still be a subscription service."
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL2473813520080124

PUBLIC TELEVISION EDUCATES AMERICA FAR BEYOND BROADCAST
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting]
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting released the results of a comprehensive survey of public television stations undertaken by SRI International. The study reveals that more than 84 percent of the stations are providing educational services directly to their communities. These services, which extend beyond the broadcast, range from special in-person reading programs for parents and childcare providers; to professional development resources for teachers; to online activities designed to spark student learning in subjects such as science and math.
http://www.cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=631

OPEN UP THOSE HIGHWAYS
[SOURCE: The Economist]
Broadband has become as vital a tool for producers and distributors of goods as it is for people plugging into all the social and cultural opportunities offered by the web. Easy access to cheap, fast Internet services has become a facilitator of economic growth and a measure of economic performance. No wonder, then, that statistics show a surge in broadband use, especially in places that are already prosperous. What accounts for the differences among rich countries? Two or three years ago demography was often cited: small, densely populated countries were easier to wire up than big, sparsely inhabited ones. But the leaders in broadband usage include Canada, where a tiny population is spread over a vast area. The best explanation, in fact, is that broadband thrives on a mix of competition and active regulation, to ensure an open contest. A lack of competition-boosting oversight is one reason for the poor record of the United States (and indeed for New Zealand, another unexpected laggard). Most Americans have a choice of only two broadband providers, either a telecoms or a cable operator. This virtual duopoly suits both sorts of provider, and neither has raced to offer its customers faster access. In some American states, prices have risen; in most other countries they have dropped. As broadband grows more popular, the political mood may change in many countries. At present, consumers are often misled by the speeds that operators promise to deliver. Soon regulators can expect to face pressure to ensure truth in advertising, as well as to promote easier access. Pressure will also come to correct another problem: most operators cap the amount of traffic users may send and receive each month, and nearly all provide far less speed for sending than for receiving. In other words, broadband doesn't really offer a two-way street. This will matter more as users turn into creators of content, from videos to blogs, and ask to be treated with due respect.
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348963&story_id=10534573

NEW REPORT CONCLUDES: TO BE COMPETITIVE, CITIES MUST OWN HIGH SPEED INFORMATION NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Institute for Local Self-Reliance, AUTHOR: Christopher Mitchell]
The United States, creator of the Internet, increasingly lags in high-speed access to it. In the absence of a national broadband strategy, hundreds of communities have invested in broadband infrastructure to solve their problem locally. A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) explores this essential infrastructure and the options now available to communities. The ILSR Report contends that DSL and cable networks fail to offer the speeds and capacity necessary for the digital future. “As broadband has gone from convenience to necessity, communities can no longer rely on private providers to satisfy their broadband needs,” explains Christopher Mitchell, author of the study and Director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative for ILSR. “As we transition from copper-based networks to fiber optic networks, each community has an opportunity to build the network they need for their stakeholders.” Communities are continuing to invest in broadband networks -- both wired and wireless. Mitchell’s study, Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options, serves to inform communities about these technologies and the tradeoffs of each.
http://www.newrules.org/info/munibb.html

DON'T CHANGE THE CHANNEL. CHANGE THE SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Josh Silver, Free Press] [Commentary]
Mainstream media -- especially television -- is like an alcoholic that keeps binging, repenting, swearing sobriety, and returning to the bottle. Problem is, it's the American public that's getting poisoned by their lethal stew of horse-race election analysis, celebrity gossip and soundbite coverage. We go to the voting booth -- a right that people fought and died for -- knowing very little about what the candidates actually stand for. And you can forget about any information on candidates like Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul, whom the press has shut out of the debate -- literally. It is a lethal brew of profoundly broken electoral and media systems that must be fundamentally reformed -- and fast. For media, that means rolling back ownership consolidation, so that TV and radio stations and newspapers are owned by people who represent the broad diversity of America and live in the communities they serve. It means strengthening non-commercial media outlets like PBS, NPR, low power radio and community television channels. It means investing in universal, affordable Internet access and breaking the corporate bottleneck on distribution, so that any Web site can have the reach of a TV or radio network. It means creating a media that provides every American with a megaphone. It means reclaiming a truly free press.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/dont-change-the-channel_b_82208.html

STUDY: WEB WAY BEHIND IN POLITICAL SPENDING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Michael Malone]
Online political spending will total $20 million in 2008, less than one-half of 1% of all political advertising, revealed a new study from Borrell Associates. Borrell estimated that one-half of Web money will be spent on search advertising, going to pure-plays like Google and Yahoo. Borrell’s 2008 Outlook reported that broadcast television, of course, will grab the lion’s share of the $4.8 billion that it forecast will be spent on political advertising this year. It’s getting nearly 60% of the candidates’ ad money, or $2.9 billion. Following broadcast television were newspapers (17%), radio (10%) and cable TV (5%).
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6524640.html?rssid=193

TO CUT COSTS, NBC UNIVERSAL ENDS PILOTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, said Tuesday the broadcaster was moving to save as much as $50 million a year by reducing its reliance on expensive pilots of new series on the NBC television channel. The decision to eliminate most pilots was made as the company looked for ways to cut costs in response to the Hollywood writers’ strike and the slowdown in the economy. Networks like NBC have long relied on big-budget pilot episodes of television series in an effort to attract advertiser support for the rest of the season. But Mr. Zucker said the pilots, the first episode of a show and whose production cost has shot up to $7 million for an hour from about $3 million three years ago, were a poor indicator of the future success of a series and many never move beyond the pilot stage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/business/media/23pilots.html?ref=todayspaper
(requires registration)

PRODUCT PLACEMENT ON REALITY TV SEEMS SOMEHOW MORE REALISTIC
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
As the writers’ strike keeps the television networks scrambling to fill their schedules, the producers of reality shows are gladly stepping in to fill the vacuum. And with the propensity of those producers to incorporate the products of sponsors into the programs, don't be surprised if the vacuum bears a brand name like Hoover or Dyson. It is typically easier to weave a product into an episode of a reality show than into a scripted series. For one thing, the contestants in reality shows are usually more willing to pitch products than the actors in scripted programs. Actors prefer to worry about their art -- and their long-term value as endorsers of a certain soda if viewers have already watched them cheerfully drinking a different brand. Also, viewers seem more tolerant when products turn up in settings that are deemed realistic rather than fictitious. A result is that the networks are expanding their reality plans, particularly as the ratings for some strike fare are surpassing the viewership for the scripted shows they replaced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/business/media/23adco.html?ref=todayspaper (requires registration)

CAN WEB-BASED WORLDS TEACH US ABOUT THE REAL ONE?
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Chris Gaylord]
Immersive online worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft attract populations that outnumber Sweden's. And now, scientists are following players down the rabbit hole in hopes of learning more about the real world. By tapping into the behavior of an estimated 73 million online gamers, they hope to study the effects of public policy with an ease and specificity that only computers can deliver. The tools are not yet perfected. But the potential is too strong to ignore.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0123/p13s01-stct.html

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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)
OneWorld US (www.oneworld.net/us)
Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org

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