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

October 2005

Oct 28: POST-KATRINA PRESS: SAME AS IT EVER WAS [SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Eric Alterman] [Commentary] For a brief moment in early September, it looked like the United States was about to have a long-overdue national conversation about race and poverty. But after many horror stories about post-Katrina conditions in New Orleans were found to be false, bloggers and talking heads jumped all over the press, bashing news organizations over the head with charges of anti-Bush bias for reporting rumors which made an already horrific situation look worse than it was. Now, if you get a story wrong, you ought to be called to account, but conservatives used the situation as an attempt to shift blame from the Bush administration's egregious performance to a game of "blame the media" instead. http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1139741

SORRELL SEES MEDIA INDUSTRY 'PANIC' OVER INTERNET [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Adam Pasick] WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell, head of the world's second-largest advertising and marketing company and one of the media sector's best known prognosticators, told attendees at a Internet Advertising Bureau conference that declining circulation, viewership and revenue figures had big media companies running scared. Sorrell's dire warning that print and television are steadily losing ground to their new media rivals was tempered by the influential views of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who said such distinctions would soon disappear. "The notion of Internet versus non-Internet advertising -- over the next decade that notion will be obsolete," he said at the conference. Gates said the future lies in all forms of content -- from movies to TV shows to news -- being distributed in a customized form online, sponsored in part by advertising that will zero in on specific demographics and interest groups. "We're taking it to a new level, for advertisers to target specific audiences," he said. Microsoft's new paid search system allows advertisers to indicate whom they want to reach based on criteria such as geographic location and gender, in addition to the keyword-based ads offered by companies like Google. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-10-27T161845Z_01_EIC749378_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-WPP.xml

FAKE END TO FAKE NEWS [SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Diane Farsetta, Center for Media and Democracy] [Commentary] When the Senate Commerce Committee amended the Truth in Broadcasting Act (S 967), it weakened the bill. First, the revised Act drops the continuous on-screen notification requirement for VNRs. Second, it calls for "clear notification within the text or audio of the prepackaged news story," without specifying the minimum requirements for audience disclosure. Most troubling, it allows that disclosure to be removed altogether, following rules that the Act requires the Federal Communications Commission to develop. "The bill clears the way for TV news operations to continue using snippets of government-produced VNRs for [video footage] in their own stories, as they do currently, leaving the issue of how to identify the material up to station news personnel." The problem is that nondisclosure -- that's covert propaganda -- is currently the norm. http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/27314/

Oct 26: AKIMBO, CURRENT COULD EMBODY TV's NEXT GENERATION [SOURCE: USAToday] Two decades ago, if you wanted to see how cable would change TV, you might've visited Turner Broadcasting and MTV, just to soak up what was going on. Today, there's no question the Internet is going to alter television -- not make TV go away, but make it different. So whom do you visit to check out where this is heading? Al Gore's Current and Akimbo. At Current, people are thinking about television in a very different way. Current is using the Internet to make its viewers a meaningful part of the TV channel. More than 30% of the segments on Current are produced by amateurs and are sent in through the website. Here's how the system works: Anyone can use a digital video camcorder to create a five-minute story -- or “pod” in the Current lingo -- and upload it to www.current.tv. Then the site's users view the pods and vote on them. The pods that rise to the top -- a sliver of the number sent in -- are considered for the Current TV channel. Akimbo is an interesting soup of technologies. The company sells a box that's something like a TiVo. It has a monster hard drive that can store hundreds of hours of video and an on-screen navigation system for finding what you want. Akimbo's box hooks to the Internet and to your TV. Through the Internet, the Akimbo box connects to Akimbo's servers, which store and sell video from 150 programmers. Some of it is stuff you could find on cable TV -- Discovery Channel documentaries, Cary Grant flicks from Turner Classic Movies. A lot of it is stuff you'd never find on regular TV. None of it is prime-time network fare such as Lost. The result is niche video-almost-on-demand, for a basic fee of $10 a month. You go through Akimbo's menus and click on something you want to watch -- but then wait, because the program must download onto the hard drive, which can take 20 minutes for an hourlong show. Akimbo is using the Internet to get around cable TV's limitations on the number of channels that can be offered; it's using the hard-drive downloads to get around the Internet's limitations on speed and bandwidth; and it's cutting deals with mainstream programmers such as Discovery to get around the shortage of high-quality, mass-market programming on the Web. Put together, Akimbo is a peek at what will happen when video entertainment comes in from anywhere - cable, broadcast, Internet - and viewers can see anything they want, pretty much any time they want. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051026/maney26.art.htm

BBC TO CLOSE 10 RADIO SERVICES AND OPEN ARABIC TV SERVICE [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sarah Lyall] The BBC World Service announced Tuesday that it would shut down 10 of its foreign-language broadcasts, most of them serving Eastern Europe, and open an Arabic-language television news and information service in the Middle East. The announcement is a sign of how much the global landscape has changed since the cold war, when countries under the aegis of the Soviet Union and elsewhere relied on World Service radio to provide news uncontrolled by the state. The World Service has an enormous presence, broadcasting in 43 languages and drawing more than 149 million weekly listeners, according to figures provided by the company. But its "mix of services has to evolve as the world changes," Nigel Chapman, director of the World Service, told reporters. All the services to be canceled - the broadcasts in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai -- cover countries that are either part of the European Union or are likely to join, or have few listeners, the BBC said. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/international/europe/26bbc.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration)

Oct 25: NETWORKS THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX [SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: R. Thomas Umstead] Welcome to the brave new world of cable-network programming, where not all the content is delivered through the set-top box. Savvy startups that don't make operators' regular channel lineups are finding new homes on video servers, sending their shows on request to viewers who may be looking at a computer screen. Established programmers are all figuring out how to profit from the second box in the home -- the cable modem or digital phone line adapter. With 61% of all Internet users accessing the Web via high-speed connections, according to Nielsen Media Research data from August, programmers want to reach potential viewers through any screen they might be sitting in front of. But network executives trying to pursue both computer and TV monitors must perform a balancing act. Cable programmers want to fully explore the financial potential of reaching viewers anywhere, anytime, over the Internet. But in doing so, they want to maintain their bread-and-butter relationships with traditional cable and satellite distributors that have put their brands, in some cases, in front of 90 million households -- and that provide most of their revenue base. As content providers continue to struggle to thread this needle, several issues arise. For one, negotiating for content rights has become more difficult for programming aggregators and distributors alike, according to executives on both sides of the table. And that begs a pair of questions: How do programmers structure rights agreements when not just cable programmers or dish distributors are on the other side of that table, but big Web site operators like Yahoo!, Google, AOL and MSN, are as well? And how do operators protect the exclusivity of what is coming down their pipes, when marquee networks like MTV and ESPN are creating their own robust, self-branded services on the Web? http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6277218.html (requires subscription)

Oct 24: WHY YOU SHOULD PAY TO READ THIS [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr] [Commentary] Only suckers pay for content. Sure, laugh, but many of the country's biggest media companies, including its newspapers, subscribe to the corollary: only losers charge for content. Free has worked handily before - radio and television have the billions to show for it. But in giving away content to match the Web's unrecompensed goodies, traditional print media is eating its own lunch. We have been through this before, back in 1999, with everyone rushing to harvest eyeballs and then worrying about making them cash-flow later. But this time around, at least on the Web, there is a business model that involves search, targeted advertising and the ability to scale. Free on the Web is one thing -- Flickr for pictures, Slate for news analysis, Craigslist for classifieds -- but taking free into the offline world of paper, delivery and vendors means scale, the grail of the race for eyeballs, and that adds to expense. If a Web site achieves a growing audience, it simply beefs up servers and serves up more ads. If a free print product catches on, its publisher has to deal with beefy union delivery drivers and serving up more expensively milled dead trees. And it has to deal with something else: consumers who value its publication at exactly zero dollars and zero cents. During the dot-com delirium, many people fondly quoted Stewart Brand, the founder of The Well and The Whole Earth Catalogue, saying "Information wants to be free." But don't forget that the full quote is: "Information wants to be free because it has become so cheap to distribute, copy and recombine -- too cheap to meter. It wants to be expensive because it can be immeasurably valuable to the recipient. That tension will not go away." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/business/24carr.html (requires registration)

TO GO GLOBAL, DO YOU IGNORE CENSORSHIP? [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tom Zeller Jr.] Companies seeking to cash in on the Chinese Internet boom -- its online population of 100 million is now second to that of the United States -- might want to keep an ear to the regulatory ground. And shareholders may rise up and force change where regulation fails to do so. The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders is preparing a joint statement, with nearly two dozen asset management signatories, calling on Internet businesses to ensure that their products "are not being used to commit human rights violations." Both the American public and policymakers appear to be frustrated with companies that do business in China and elsewhere -- and are complicit in cracking down on dissenters. "I've always taken the attitude that you're better off playing by the government's rules and getting there," Yahoo's chairman, Terry S. Semel, told attendees of the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco earlier this month. "Part of our role in any form of media is to get whatever we can into those countries and to show and to enable people, slowly, to see the Western way and what our culture is like, and to learn." The argument, of course, is that in resisting the demands of the police in China and risking censure, or in wholly divesting from the country on principle, companies would deny whatever fresh air the Internet -- filtered and censored as it is -- provides there. But it is also possible that cooperating simply delays an inevitability. "Who needs who more?" Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations asked. "Do the Chinese need Yahoo and Cisco more than Yahoo and Cisco need China?" If the answer is the former - as most analysts suspect - and if regulatory oversight and shareholder indignation continue to loom, then a little bit of civil resistance in China might be better for the bottom line than companies currently think. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/technology/24link.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration)

IN DEFENSE OF A PRESS SHIELD LAW [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Stuart Karle, The Wall Street Journal's general counsel] [Commentary] Congress is considering a federal shield law that would protect journalists from being compelled to testify in courts about confidential sources. Shield laws are intended to assure sources who risk their livelihoods -- or even their lives -- that their identities can be kept secret when they speak with the press, even as their information is published. It is an exaggeration to say that confidential sources are the lifeblood of journalism: Most stories are published without them, though some important stories cannot be reported without confidential sources. Putting aside the benefits shield laws give the public -- to wit, stories that otherwise could not be published -- they're great cost-savers. Compelling reporters to testify saps a lot of time from prosecutors, parties and reporters themselves, is enormously expensive, and rarely generates sufficient probative evidence to justify the delay and expense. Prosecutors know this. For decades, without any federal shield law, the Department of Justice has followed guidelines that limit prosecutors' ability to subpoena reporters. The guidelines require the U.S. attorney general to authorize any subpoena directed at a journalist. They have limited to a dozen or so the subpoenas to journalists for confidential source information over the past 14 years. Analogous guidelines should be adopted by every other investigatory arm of the government. The threat to the willingness of confidential sources to provide important news to the public justifies the passage of a shield law, as well as the adoption of the Justice Department guidelines throughout the government. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113011643074377214.html?mod=todays_us_opinion (requires subscription)

THE VILLAGE VOICE'S NO-ALTERNATIVE NEWS: CORPORATE TAKEOVER [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz] The nation's two largest alternative newspaper chains plan to announce a merger today, a long-rumored combination that champions of quirky, iconoclastic, locally controlled papers have been sniping at for months. New Times, the Phoenix-based publisher with 11 newspapers from Miami to San Francisco, is acquiring the Village Voice, the storied New York weekly co-founded by Norman Mailer, and five other papers owned by the Voice. Reaction is likely to be chilly among many staffers at the notoriously fractious Voice, where columnist Cynthia Cotts described a 2000 acquisition attempt by New Times as a "hostile takeover" by a company whose media purchases produced a "signature bloodbath." But David Schneiderman, chief executive of Village Voice Media, says the merger will give his papers a "national platform," particularly on the Web, an operation that he will oversee. While his staff will go through "a period of trepidation," Schneiderman says, "the resources of the combined company will strengthen us editorially." New Times executives, he says, "invest in editorial. This is what they're about. It's quite refreshing." As for the notion that the fabled counterculture papers of yore are becoming more corporate, Schneiderman says: "The issue is, what's in the newspaper? I would challenge anyone who's critical of this to point to anything in our papers or the New Times papers that's establishment. It's flat-out not true." The planned acquisition will require Justice Department approval on antitrust grounds, since the combined company would control about 14 percent of the circulation of the major alternative weeklies nationwide. The department has clashed with both companies before. In 2002, New Times agreed to close its Los Angeles paper, which competed with Village Voice Media's L.A. Weekly, in exchange for the Voice shutting down its Cleveland paper, which did battle with New Times's Cleveland Scene. To skeptics, a large company that serves both the 1.1 million readers of New Times and the 800,000 of Village Voice Media -- which also has papers in Seattle, Minneapolis, Orange County and Nashville -- is a giant step toward the corporatization of the alternative news world. But Michael Lacey, New Times's executive editor, argues that "media concentration at our end of the business is a good thing because it allows us to compete effectively," and says he hopes to restore the Voice "to its glory days." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102301504.html (requires registration) * The Village Voice, Pushing 50, Prepares to Be Sold to a Chain of Weeklies http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/business/24voice.html (requires registration)

PUBLISHERS TO BUILD OWN ONLINE BOOK NETWORK [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Georgina Prodhan] German publishers, keen to defend their copyrights as Internet search engines seek to put the world's literature online, aim to set up their own web-based database allowing readers to browse, borrow or buy books. In the longer term, the German association wants to build its own search engine to offer services which could rival those offered by Google, Yahoo or Lycos. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-10-23T190854Z_01_MOL368881_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-GERMANY-PUBLISHERS.xml

WEBISODES RETURN, NOW AS ADVERTISING [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jefferson Graham] Remember webisodes? Original minishows for the Internet were all the rage online before the Internet bubble burst in 2001. Now they're back, this time as advertising vehicles, courtesy of a robust online ad market and growing broadband audience. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051024/webisodes.art.htm

BRAND BLOGS CAPTURE THE ATTENTION OF SOME COMPANIES [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tania Ralli] As the number of blogs has grown, more consumers are keeping Web diaries dedicated exclusively to their favorite brands. Most of them are written without the consent of the companies that own the brands. But some companies are starting to pay attention to blogs, using them as a kind of informal network of consumer opinion. For these bloggers, intertwining their personal stories and commentaries gives them a stake in defining the brand's image while linking them with fans of similar mind across the country. For readers, these blogs help them make decisions about what to buy. And according to a survey released this spring by Yankelovich, a marketing firm, a third of all consumers would prefer to receive product information from friends and specialists rather than from advertising. The brand blogs also give consumers information that companies do not necessarily publicize on their Web sites. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/technology/24blog.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration) See also -- *

WHAT BLOGS COST AMERICAN BUSINESS U.S. workers in 2005 will spend the equivalent of 551,000 years reading blogs. http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=46494

Oct 20: BLOGGERS WILL INTERPRET NEWS -- FOR A FEE [SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Frank Bajak] Techdirt, a 12-person corporate intelligence outfit, is offering a new customized service dubbed InfoAdvisor that delivers tailored Web feeds from news outlets and blogs pertinent to a customer's interest. InfoAdvisor's journalists and analysts edit those feeds and provide commentary. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051020/ap_on_hi_te/blogging_for_fee_1

VOICE PHONE CALLS TO BE FREE WITHIN YEARS: EBAY CEO Executives at SBC, Verizon, BellSouth and elsewhere are feelin' a bit queasy; Meg Whitman, eBay's chief executive, predicted Wednesday that in a few short years, consumers can expect to make telephone calls for free, with no per-minute charges, as part of a package of services through which carriers make money on advertising or transaction fees. Perhaps not coincidentally, Whitman was defending eBay's purchase of Skype which allows high-speed Internet users to make free phone calls. The company is betting that by combining electronic markets, online payment systems and Web-based communications, eBay can emerge as a leader in all three businesses. [SOURCE: Reuters] http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-10-20T194855Z_01_SCH009971_RTRUKOC_0_US-TELECOMS-EBAY-SKYPE.xml&archived=False

Oct 19: CAN FLORIDA SHERIFF POLICE OBSCENITY ON THE INTERNET? [SOURCE: Online Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Mark Glaser] The website owner who offered soldiers free access to porn in exchange for gory war photos was arrested on 300 obscenity-related charges in Florida. http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/051018glaser/

'SPLOGS' ROIL WEB, AND SOME BLAME GOOGLE [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: David Kesmodel david.kesmodel@wsj.com] Just when you thought it was safe to surf the blogs, cue the Jaws theme music. Beware the splog! Spam, long the scourge of email users, rapidly has become the bane of bloggers too. Spammers have created millions of Web logs to promote everything from gambling Web sites to pornography. The spam blogs -- known as "splogs" -- often contain gibberish, and are full of links to other Web sites spammers are trying to promote. Because search engines like those of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo base their rankings of Web sites, in part, on how many other Web sites link to them, the splogs can help artificially inflate a site's popularity. Some of the phony blogs also carry advertisements, which generate a few cents for the splog's owner each time they are clicked on. The phony blogs are a particular problem for Google, Microsoft and Yahoo because each offers not only a Web search engine focused on providing the most relevant results for users but also a service to let bloggers create blogs. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112968552226872712.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

Oct 18: JOLLY ROGER'S GRAND PLAN Media ownership doesn't affect content, does it? Two months after Lachlan Murdoch's abrupt resignation as News Corp. deputy chief operations officer, cable news impresario Roger Ailes is wasting no time bringing the conglomconglom's network of 35 TV stations into the Fox News fold. And for the first time the former GOP operative will get to see if the brash brand of news and opinion that made him the king of cable will translate to a broadcast audience in urban centers that is a generation younger -- and not necessarily interested in news. In the weeks since Ailes was anointed chairman of the stations group, he's moved the center of power from Los Angeles, where the group has been run for years, to the Fox News nerve center in New York. Ailes added CBS exec Dennis Swanson to a group of Fox News Channel hands to run the group, including CEO Jack Abernethy and senior VP of news operations Sharri Berg in what amounts to a grafting of the Fox cable news operation onto its network of 35 local stations. Staff at News Corp.'s far-flung station group -- which includes Fox and UPN affiliates across the country -- are waiting to see what changes are ahead. While it's still early in the new regime, one thing seems certain: The landscape of local television is going to change. Local news editors, producers and on-air talent have been flown to New York for intense two-day training sessions to help local news personalities abandon dry anchor-speak and adopt a more Foxian barstool conversational style. The Fox 24-hour news operation is re-tooling to become a network-style engine for new national news programs. "We hope to tap into that resource in ways that haven't been done in the past by rolling out national news and information programs and providing elements that can be used in local news," says CEO Abernethy. He won't rule out a national evening newscast to take on the ABC, CBS and NBC. [SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Michael Learmonth] http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117931037?categoryid=1009&cs=1&s=h&p=0

MEDIA GROUPS SIGNAL SECOND INTERNET BOOM “Business models have emerged for the Internet and people are understanding it is possible to make money,” says Time Warner chief Dick Parsons. The boom has been fueled by two trends that, executives say, make it different from the last one. First, there has been a dramatic increase in broadband Internet connections around the world, making it easier to watch and download video content on the web. Second is the emergence of Internet advertising. Last year, online advertising generated revenues of $9.6bn in the US. Over the next five years, Merrill Lynch expects this to grow at more than 20 per cent a year, four to five times faster than the overall advertising market. By 2009, Internet advertising is expected to be worth $25bn in the US. Yet the second Internet boom comes at a difficult time for the world’s media giants. Following failed investments five years ago, many of them have shunned the Internet until recently. Share prices of US media companies have performed dismally amid concerns about the growth prospects of saturated markets and as investors worry that the Internet will grab their customers’ attention and money. In the US, “new” media stocks such as Yahoo and Google have outperformed traditional media stocks by 370% in the past four years, according to Merrill Lynch. Although digital distribution might open up another market in which media groups can sell their content, the ease and speed with which digital content can be copied raises concerns about whether piracy will erode media company profits. Media companies say they want to learn from the music industry’s mistake of ignoring for years customers’ demands for digitally available music. “Fighting piracy is a combination of factors, such as legislation and enforcement, but probably the most important aspect is having appropriate business models which make content available at appropriate prices,” said Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer at News Corp. [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Aline van Duyn and Joshua Chaffin] http://news.ft.com/cms/s/00324c9e-3f40-11da-932f-00000e2511c8.html (requires subscription)

ARMED FORCES RADIO TUNES OUT LIBERAL SHOW HOST Liberal radio talker Ed Schultz was eagerly anticipating his debut yesterday on Armed Forces Radio, which agreed last month to carry his program to nearly a million soldiers around the world. But at 7 a.m., Schultz's producer got a call from Allison Barber, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for internal communications, who said without explanation that the deal was off. Perhaps, Schultz said in an interview, it was just a coincidence that he spent the end of last week chastising Barber for coaching a group of U.S. soldiers in Iraq before a teleconference with President Bush. Barber was seen repeatedly on television last week asking mock questions to soldiers in Iraq, who generally gave responses similar to those they would momentarily provide to the president. Schultz played some of these clips on his show. The Pentagon said the soldiers were not rehearsed but apologized for "any perception that they were told what to say." "The fact is, they don't want dissenting voices or any other kind of speech unless it's going to be promotional for them. Obviously, these people are making sure they're not going to have any opinion other than the Rush Limbaughs of the world," Schultz said. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701666.html (requires registration) In a related story: * In Sign of Conservative Split, a Commentator Is Dismissed In the latest sign of the deepening split among conservatives over how far to go in challenging President Bush, Bruce Bartlett, a Republican commentator who has been increasingly critical of the White House, was dismissed on Monday as a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative research group based in Dallas. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/politics/18bartlett.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration)

BOOKS OF REVELATION [Commentary] What's Google Print? Imagine sitting at your computer and, in less than a second, searching the full text of every book ever written. Imagine an historian being able to instantly find every book that mentions the Battle of Algiers. Imagine a high school student in Bangladesh discovering an out-of-print author held only in a library in Ann Arbor. Imagine one giant electronic card catalog that makes all the world's books discoverable with just a few keystrokes by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Some members of the publishing industry who believe this program violates copyright law have been fighting to stop it. Google respectfully disagrees with their conclusions, on both the meaning of the law and the spirit of a program which, in fact, will enhance the value of each copyright. Imagine the cultural impact of putting tens of millions of previously inaccessible volumes into one vast index, every word of which is searchable by anyone, rich and poor, urban and rural, First World and Third, en toute langue -- and all, of course, entirely for free. How many users will find, and then buy, books they never could have discovered any other way? How many out-of-print and backlist titles will find new and renewed sales life? How many future authors will make a living through their words solely because the Internet has made it so much easier for a scattered audience to find them? This egalitarianism of information dispersal is precisely what the Web is best at; precisely what leads to powerful new business models for the creative community; precisely what copyright law is ultimately intended to support; and, together with its partners, precisely what Google hopes, and expects, to accomplish with Google Print. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112958982689471238.html?mod=todays_us_opinion (requires subscription) * Google Opens 8 Sites in Europe, Widening Its Book Search Effort http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/technology/18book.html?pagewanted=all * Google Print project inspires fans, fears http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051018/googleprint18.art0.htm

APPLE FACES HARD TIME WOOING HOLLYWOOD TO NEW iPOD Apple Computer chief Steve Jobs faces a far tougher task wooing film and television producers to create shows for the new video iPod than he did in the music industry as many questions remain over content and pricing, industry executives say. In the week since Jobs unveiled the handheld iPod, which plays video clips on a 2.5-inch diagonal screen, media and technology executives have been trying to figure out whether people will watch shows on a small screen, what types of programs will work and whether money can be made at the $1.99 price Apple set. "There is no doubt people are going to access content in more flexible ways going forward," said Rick Feldman, who heads the National Association of Television Program Executives. "What we don't know, for independent producers, is what kind of content is going to be wanted and needed, what it will cost and what it can be made for," he added. Media executives say it costs very little for networks to re-package shows for downloading in what amounts to test marketing because the consumer appetite, costs and profits of those programs already have been realized in other arenas. The networks can afford to experiment, but independent film and TV producers, which the networks rely on to dream up shows, want hard facts before investing dollars in new programing. [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Bob Tourtellotte and Kenneth Li] http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-10-17T211721Z_01_WRI776597_RTRUKOC_0_US-APPLE.xml * IPod Gets Some CBS Content Is there a disconnect here? CBS to make Andy Rooney commentary available for iPod users. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6275123?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

BLOGGERS UNITE FOR AGGREGATION SITE A group of bloggers including mainstream journalists from outlets such as CNBC, The Nation and The New York Times are banding together to strike a blow at established media and pick up some ad dollars in the process. Operating initially as Pajamas Media -- a play on criticism that bloggers are "just a bunch of guys in their pajamas" -- the site will offer original content and links to affiliate sites written by more than 70 bloggers, as well as basic news feeds from sources like The Associated Press [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Elinor Mills] http://news.com.com/Bloggers+unite+for+aggregation+site/2100-1025_3-5897224.html?tag=nefd.top

HOW TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING THE WAY WE REPORT AND WRITE NEWS Derek Willis, the Research Database Editor at the Washington Post, has written a series of essays about the future of journalism and how advances in technology have changed the way that the news is reported and written. Includes: The Collaboration Issue; The Information Gap; The Annotated Archive; The Engagement Process; and Rivers of Data. [SOURCE: CyberJournalist.net] http://www.cyberjournalist.net/

Oct 17: TV DOWNLOADS MAY UNDERCUT ABC STATIONS Last Thursday morning, Apple Computer started selling an episode of the hit television series "Lost" through its iTunes Music Store for $1.99 after the show aired the night before on ABC. It marked the first time a popular show was made available for legal downloading over the Internet so quickly after its original airing. With that, Apple may have helped open a Pandora's box for the media business. The company and its first TV partner -- Walt Disney Co., the parent of ABC -- have taken a potentially significant step in the dismantling of a decades-old system for distributing TV programming to viewers, a move that could have profound long-term consequences for broadcasters, cable systems and satellite companies if more users download shows instead of watching them the old-fashioned way. Apple's deal with Disney is already causing waves in the TV business. On Friday, Leon Long, the president of the association representing ABC's affiliate stations, expressed misgivings about the partnership. In a letter Mr. Long sent to the president of the ABC network, Alex Wallau, Mr. Long said ABC affiliates are concerned that they weren't given an opportunity for financial participation in a new form of distributing shows that derives value through the promotion and broadcasting of affiliates. For TV affiliates, Apple's new offering "is really bad," says Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research. "You don't get anything. You just get a smaller audience," he says. Also concerned about the Apple-Disney partnership are the unions that represent TV-show writers, producers, directors and actors. Soon after Disney and Apple's announcement, those unions issued a joint statement saying, "We look forward to a dialogue that ensures our members are properly compensated for this exploitation of their work." The Disney deal with Apple is part of a whirl of efforts at all major media companies to explore new means of distributing TV shows. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Nick Wingfield nick.wingfield@wsj.com, Joe Flint joe.flint@wsj.com and Ethan Smith ethan.smith@wsj.com] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112951305777370362.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription) * Joint Statement by AFTRA, DGA, SAG, WGAE, WGAw, on the Announcement of the Apple Video iPod http://www.aftra.org/press/statement_2005_10_12_videoipod.htm * Unions seek video iPod residuals http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-10-17T103434Z_01_HAR737815_RTRUKOC_0_US-WRITERS-IPOD.xml * Media players tune in to podcasts' potential http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-10-17T103510Z_01_HAR737836_RTRUKOC_0_US-PODCASTS.xml

CHANNELING DAVID HASSELHOFF Cable channeling, that is. When General Electric Co. struck a $14 billion deal to merge its NBC unit with Universal Studios two years ago, there was big talk about exploiting Universal's library of 55,000 television episodes and 9,000 movies to create new TV channels. Among the ideas tossed around: NBC could use Universal, home to the trio of "Law & Order" juggernauts and older police dramas such as "The Rockford Files" and "Dragnet," to create an all-crime channel. Now, almost 18 months after the deal was completed, no major new channels have materialized in the U.S., where demand has diminished. Many American households already have access to hundreds of TV channels. Cable-TV operators are more interested in developing new services such as video-on-demand than in carrying new channels. Although new channels in the U.S. remain a possibility, NBC Universal is first looking overseas. Last month, in what is likely to be a trial run for further initiatives, NBC introduced a channel in Germany, airing a diet rich in old Universal movies and TV shows. NBC Universal hopes a success in Germany will turn into a string of international expansions in Eastern Europe, Asia and Mexico. Overseas markets generate only about 20% of NBC Universal's annual revenue of $15 billion; the company hopes to change that. "Could it be 50-50 in five years? Maybe," says Brandon Burgess, executive vice president of business development. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Mike Esterl mike.esterl@dowjones.com and Brooks Barnes brooks.barnes@wsj.com ] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112951643506170425.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

A MESSAGE FOR THE MASSES, BUT ARE THEY TUNING IN? Does anyone listen to the President's weekly radio address? The broadcast, usually recorded on Fridays as a filler for slow-news Saturdays, is one of the little-noticed but crucial ways that President Bush tries to drive home his message, even if the White House says it has no clear idea of how many people actually listen to it. "I think it's definitely in the millions," said Jeanie Mamo, the White House director of media affairs. But Ms. Mamo, who oversees the radio broadcasts, admitted that she was in the realm of speculation because the White House did not monitor how many of the 14,000 radio stations in the nation carried the president's words. Arbitron, the radio ratings service, did not know either, although Thom Mocarsky, Arbitron's vice president for communications, said there were on average 43 million Americans listening to radio when the address is aired. The bottom line for President Bush is that the huge radio audience is less of a challenge to crack than television in prime time, when the networks sometimes balk at breaking into programming to carry a presidential speech. "It's easier to get five minutes on radio stations on a Saturday morning than it is to shake loose TV time," Mr. Mocarsky said. [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elisabeth Bumiller] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/politics/17letter.html (requires registration)

FREEDOM OF THE OWNER OF THE PRESS Over the last year or so, policymakers and legislators have been peppered with mailings instigated by the Assn. of American Publishers, warning of a development that "raises the specter of government censorship and encroachment upon scholarly discourse and academic freedom. The publishers were referring specifically to a proposal by the National Institutes of Health that would have required any NIH-funded research paper to be posted on a public archive within six months of its publication in a subscription-only scientific journal. But their attack was really one front in a war that is challenging the basic economic models of scholarly publishing. Rather than charge subscription fees, the Public Library of Science (PLoS) charges researchers to publish their papers; the current fee is $1,500. The idea is not chiefly to save money for universities at the expense of faculty members -- indeed, for universities with large faculties, the new model may be more costly than the old. The real goal is to wrest research copyrights from journal publishers; when researchers are paying for publication, they, not the publishers, retain control of their papers. [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Hiltzik] http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-golden17oct17,1,6441294.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-business (requires registration)

TIME FOR A REAL INTERNET HIGHWAY [Commentary] The recent Level 3 Communications/Cogent Communications tiff/Internet disruption raises some questions: Who owns the Internet? Is competition the best or only way to determine that ownership? Sure, the Internet is a great way to deliver content. But the Internet is not simply a new medium. It's also a marketplace. A global system for private communication. An art gallery without walls, an archive without shelves, the planet's largest collection of sound and music. The Internet is a utility, without which our daily lives cannot be productive or interesting. Governments, companies and institutions now need it to function. So do you and I. We now need broadband to live, work, recreate and even make a profit. Many local areas of America are attacking the need for broadband ubiquity, but perhaps it's time for a national program. Fiber, cable or wireless -- many areas of America are not going to run a profit for any broadband service provider. It's time for the National System of Interstate and Homeland Defense Broadband. Private companies will make billions building the system, as with the interstate highways. Once it's done, we'll all profit. [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Harry Fuller] http://news.com.com/Time+for+a+real+Internet+highway/2010-1028_3-5894664.html?tag=fd_carsl

Oct 14: 10 MEDIA TRENDS TO WATCH What do we need to know to keep on top of the media world? 1) Technology is at the root of many current trends in the media landscape, but perhaps one for which it has the power to have the most influence is the portability of video content. 2) In the past couple of years, blogs have grown from an outlet for tech-savvy geeks to something that has reached an almost mainstream level. 3) The past few years have seen the introduction of a new crop of celebrity magazines, especially weeklies, including In Touch, Life & Style, a retooled Us Weekly and Star, and British import OK! 4) For many media organizations, transparency is a growing trend, 5) The growth of Hispanic media. 6) Newspapers financial woes. 7) The digital migration of print media. 8) The model of one media entity owning outlets across multiple platforms is one that is not new to the industry. And it's likely to be something that will continue in the future. Conglomerates like Gannett, Clear Channel, and Time Warner hold a large stake in many forms of communication that Americans use on a daily basis. 9) The merging of technology and the 24-hour news cycle has only increased the amount of news available to consumers. And some believe that the abundance of information will only decrease the importance of traditional media. 10) The issue of media measurement has always been a tricky one: How relevant is the impressions figure when referring to print placements? Are Nielsen ratings really measuring a good cross-section of the population? Will there be an equivalent to Arbitron ratings in satellite radio? [SOURCE: PRWeek, AUTHOR: Erica Iacono] http://www.prweek.com/us/thisissue/article/520790/10-media-trends-watch

CRIB SHEET: PAYOLA [Commentary] Local radio stations everywhere have been swallowed up by a handful of giant corporations, playlists have shrunk, and local and independent acts have been drowned out, as Big Radio soaks listeners in a mind numbing mix of bland commercial acts. The rapid concentration of radio ownership has also ushered in a new age of "payola." Major recording labels now shower radio station owners with money and prizes to plug and play their most bankable stars, securing spins of Dion, Ricky Martin, J. Lo, Jessica Simpson and even major label indie kids Franz Ferdinand at the expense of struggling local acts. There's the catch: Payola is against the law. The New York Attorney General's Office, Federal Communications Commission and members of Congress are investigating radio industry corruption. There's no better time than now for music lovers to protect the radio airwaves from insatiable corporate greed and end payola once and for all. Here's the Top 10 things you need to know about Payola. [SOURCE: Campus Progress, AUTHOR: Tim Karr] http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/585/crib-sheet-payola

THE LAPTOP BACKLASH Bringing laptops and wireless Internet access into classrooms was supposed to enrich classroom discussions by, for example, allowing students to import information from the Internet and share it with the rest of the class. But instead some students are using their laptops to message friends, shop online, peruse Web sites and pursue part-time jobs. The result: There is a rising backlash against classroom computer use from professors and schools. (Hmmm. Young people are not using technology in the way authority figures intended them to... who coulda guessed?) [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gary McWilliams gary.mcwilliams@wsj.com] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112924976699568321.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

PODCASTERS PREPARE TO LAUNCH VIDEO ERA Podcasting is on the verge of setting off a video revolution (will we call it "vodcasting"?) and users of Apple Computer's new video iPod can expect a deluge of outspoken commentary, religious sermons and pornography. Podcasting, a term based on the name for Apple's portable media player, allows customers to download audio, and now video, segments for free to their computers and portable devices. Radio shows are among the most popular podcasts, but amateurs have helped turn podcasting into an eclectic global phenomenon. Success in the video realm may depend largely on programmers' resources and ability to grasp the complexities of a medium that is much more complicated than audio. [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Pascal Pinck] http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-10-13T205419Z_01_DIT374029_RTRUKOC_0_US-PODCASTING-VIDEO.xml

INDIA'S RURAL MAJORITY GETS CONNECTED India's mobile phone market may be growing faster than any other in the world -- at 35 per cent a year over the next five years in terms of revenues, but people in rural areas -- the majority of the population -- have not been invited to the party. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is hoping to bring the mobile revolution to those people through a set of recommendations that would give wireless operators an incentive to spread coverage to non-urban areas. The TRAI recommended that ~$1.8 billion from the Universal Services Obligation Fund, to which all telecoms operators in India already contribute, be used to set up 20,000 new base stations across the country. The subsidies, however, would only be given to operators that shared infrastructure. Analysts said the plan was largely workable, but that the regulatory body should impose restrictions on rolling out base stations because operators were likely to flock only to rural areas they thought lucrative, like the western states of Punjab, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, while ignoring poorer states like Utter Pradesh or Bihar. [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Anita Jain] http://news.ft.com/cms/s/391a5da6-3bfa-11da-94fb-00000e2511c8.html (requires subscription)

OVERZEALOUS FILTERS HINDER RESEARCH The Internet-content filters most commonly used by schools block needed, legitimate content more often than not, according to a study by a university librarian. Her report was presented at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference in Pittsburgh last week. Better communication between technology staff and classroom teachers is the key to ensuring that school and library Internet filters, installed as part of a federal effort to protect children from inappropriate online content, do not preclude students from accessing legitimate educational materials, the new study found. [SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Corey Murray] http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5911

EUROPEAN ANTITERROR LAWS LIMIT FREE SPEECH European countries, struggling to deal with firebrand Islamic clerics, have scrambled for laws to tone down the imams' provocative pronouncements. But in cracking down on such rhetoric, which some have blamed for encouraging youth to take up radical, violent jihad, European authorities are in danger of trespassing on the right of free speech, widely viewed as a fundamental principle of democratic societies. [SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Mark Rice-Oxley] http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1014/p06s02-woeu.html

Oct 13: REPORT: ANTISPAM PUSH HELPING CURB US JUNK MAIL While the United States continues to be the world's worst source of spam, computers there are relaying far fewer junk e-mails than a year ago, according to Sophos. In contrast, the spam volume from South Korea and China is substantially up, compared with the same period last year, the security software maker said in a report released Wednesday. The report covered Sophos's analysis of messages received in its scanning network between April and September this year. The United States was the country of origin for around 26 percent of global spam, down from 41.5 percent a year ago. The share of spurious e-mails from South Korea and China, which held the second and third position, has gone up to nearly 20 percent and 16 percent respectively, from 12 percent and 9 percent, Sophos said. The company attributed the decline in U.S.-sourced spam in part to the nation's crackdown against fraudulent e-mail. In particular, Sophos pointed to jail sentences for spammers, tighter legislation and better system security. [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com] http://news.com.com/Report+Antispam+push+helping+curb+U.S.+junk+mail/2100-7349_3-5894104.html?tag=nefd.top

HOW COMPUTER MAPS WILL HELP THE POOR "Community mapping projects hold great potential for giving a voice to community members who are typically underrepresented in planning and development decisions," says Hollie Lund, assistant professor of urban and regional planning at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. "These tools are a practical solution to a vexing problem. How does democracy engage low-income residents to speak out on matters that are vital to their communities so that government can understand and then remedy neighborhood issues?" [SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Thomas Ulrich] http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2005/1012/p13s02-legn.html

65% OF READERS BELIEVE MAGAZINES SELL EDITORIAL PLUGS While marketers are pushing for print’s answer to product placement, it turns out that most magazine readers already consider it rampant. A study released this week by Starcom USA found that 65% of the consumers believe that advertisers pay for editorial mentions. Moreover, Starcom found, readers are receptive to reading about brands in articles. Nearly 83% of the respondents, when they identified brand appearances in titles, found that the mentions of specific brands "fit" the content and context of its article, and that they expected to read about specific products. [SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Nat Ives] http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=46354 VIOLENCE IN GAMES STIMULATES BRAIN FOR AGGRESSION Violent video games appear to put the human brain in a mood to fight, according to a new study from Michigan State University. [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Michael Kanellos ] http://news.com.com/Violence+in+games+stimulates+brain+for+aggression/2100-1043_3-5893930.html?tag=nefd.top

Oct 12: AD GLUT TURNS OFF VIEWERS Lately, fans of Desperate Housewives, Lost and other top shows have been complaining about excessive commercials that seem more intrusive than ever and slow down the programs they surround. Across prime-time TV, the number of ads and promos has increased sharply over the years. A typical “one-hour” prime-time series clocks in at less than 42 minutes, down from 44 minutes several years ago and nearly 48 minutes in the 1980s. And shaving off the “previously on …” recap, opening credits and a teaser for next week's episode, Sunday's Housewives ran 40 minutes and 30 seconds, meaning for every two minutes of programming, there's a minute of commercials or promos for other network shows. On cable, MTV has even more so-called clutter, with USA and Lifetime close behind. But ABC, which studies show has slightly more commercials than other broadcast networks, has changed its drama format in a way that makes it seem even more loaded with ads. Until recently, dramas unfolded in four segments, or “acts,” often preceded by an introductory teaser that aired before the opening credits. Starting this fall, ABC required all drama producers to carve up each episode into six portions. For some shows, including Housewives, the first segment runs for nine to 11 minutes before the first break. Once viewers are hooked, they're confronted with four more commercial breaks, each about 31û2 minutes long, over the next 45 minutes. To prevent channel surfing, networks increasingly avoid airing commercials between shows. Instead, they save several minutes of more substantial scenes for a show's ending and then move “seamlessly” into the next program. The upshot is that more ads and promos air within programs. No federal agency regulates the amount of commercial time on television. Until 1982, the major networks adhered to a voluntary code of the National Association of Broadcasters that limited commercials to 9.5 minutes per hour in prime time. But since the code was dropped, the number of commercials on prime-time TV has crept steadily higher. [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Gary Levin] http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20051012/d_cover12.art.htm

TELEVISION ACROSS EUROPE: REGULATION, POLICY, AND INDEPENDENCE TV's role in underpinning democracy faces threat from media concentration as well as pressure on public service broadcasters (PSBs) to compete with commercial stations, George Soros' Open Society Institute (OSI) said Tues. The state of TV in 20 nations, including European Union (EU) members, transition countries, candidate states, and potential candidates such as Turkey was assessed by OSI's European Union Monitoring & Advocacy Program. PSBs enjoy a "special esteem" in a Europe concerned with democracy and European culture, OSI said. However, digitalization and convergence, plus pressure from commercial broadcasters, are blurring the distinction between PSBs and commercial TV in terms of program quality and content. The European Commission (EC) has upped the pressure by demanding more transparency in PSB financing and PSBs’ privileged position has drawn fire from the World Trade Organization and others. Across Western and Eastern Europe, PSBs increasingly are being reprimanded for having ties to government and for dumbing down programming as they try to keep up with commercial stations. And TV markets are highly concentrated in terms of ownership and viewership, OSI said. The EC has left media ownership regulation to member states, but even existing laws such as the TV Without Frontiers directive often are hesitantly or inadequately adopted into national law. [SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Dugie Standeford] (Not available online) Find the report online at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/media/articles_publications/publications/eurotv_20051011

WORLD'S CHILDREN LAPTOP FOR $100 After seeing children in a Cambodian village benefit from having notebook computers at school that they could also tote home to use on their own, Massachusetts Institute of Technology demi-god Nicholas Negroponte latched onto the idea of a $100 laptop. MIT researchers have developed these computers to be durable, flexible and self-reliant. Within a year, Negroponte expects his nonprofit One Laptop Per Child to get 5 million to 15 million of the machines in production, when children in Brazil, China, Egypt, Thailand, South Africa are due to begin getting them. In the second year - when Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney hopes to start buying them for all 500,000 middle and high-school students in this state - Negroponte envisions 100 million to 150 million being made. This certainly wouldn’t be the first effort to bridge the world’s so-called digital divide with inexpensive versions of fancy machinery. Other attempts have had a mixed record. With those in mind, Negroponte says his team is addressing ways this project could be undermined. For example, to keep the $100 laptops from being widely stolen or sold off in poor countries, he expects to make them so pervasive in schools and so distinctive in design that it would be “socially a stigma to be carrying one if you are not a student or a teacher.” [SOURCE: The Daily Journal] http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?ArticleId=199807&CategoryId=12396 See also: * Help for Info Age Have-Nots A host of high-tech giants -- from Advanced Micro Devices to Yahoo! -- have unveiled plans for bridging the digital divide. [SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Sarah Lacy] http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005104_6877_tc024.htm

STUDY SAYS SOFTWARE MAKERS SUPPLY TOOLS TO CENSOR WEB A new report from the OpenNet Initiative -- a human rights project linking researchers from the University of Toronto, Harvard Law School and Cambridge University in Britain -- once again raises tough questions about the use of filtering technologies, often developed by Western companies, by autocratic governments bent on controlling what their citizens see on the Web. As with their six previous reports, OpenNet researchers combined a variety of network interrogation tools and the cooperation of a volunteer in Myanmar "who remains anonymous as a safety precaution," the report noted, to test the accessibility of various Web sites. Sites like Hotmail, which offer free e-mail services, were routinely blocked, forcing Myanmar citizens to use one of the two officially approved (and easily monitored) Internet service providers for their e-mail. The OpenNet study suggests that Myanmar, which has long been under American sanctions, including the 2003 Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, has recently migrated from an open-source filtering technology to a proprietary system called Fortiguard, developed by Fortinet. That upgrade, which appears to have taken place as the OpenNet researchers were conducting their analysis, may have made censorship even more efficient and widespread than reflected in the new survey. For its part, Fortinet says that it uses "a two-tier distribution model," according to a company spokeswoman, Michelle Spolver, meaning that the company sells all of its products to resellers, who sell to end-users. [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tom Zeller Jr] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/technology/12filter.html (requires registration)

JUST WHAT IS A 'BLOG', ANYWAY? What is a blog? Sort answer from Jeff Jarvis, the veteran print journalist and prominent blogger behind BuzzMachine: "I don't care. There is no need to define 'blog.' I doubt there ever was such a call to define 'newspaper' or 'television' or 'radio' or 'book' -- or, for that matter, 'telephone' or 'instant messenger.' A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list. People will use it however they wish. And it is way too soon in the invention of uses for this tool to limit it with a set definition. That's why I resist even calling it a medium; it is a means of sharing information and also of interacting: It's more about conversation than content ... so far. I think it is equally tiresome and useless to argue about whether blogs are journalism, for journalism is not limited by the tool or medium or person used in the act. Blogs are whatever they want to be. Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining 'blog' is a fool's errand." [SOURCE: Online Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Michael Conniff] http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050929/ * Cyber-Catharsis: Bloggers Use Web Sites as Therapy The Internet is now teeming with some 15 million blogs. Although the medium first drew mainstream attention with commentary on high-profile events such as the presidential election, many now use it to chronicle intensely personal experiences, venting confessions in front of millions of strangers who can write back. Nearly half of bloggers consider it a form of therapy, according to a recent survey sponsored by America Online. And although some psychologists question the use of the Internet for therapy, one hospital in High Point (NC) started devoting space to patients' blogs on its Web site, a practice Inova Fairfax Hospital is also considering. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101781.html (requires registration) * Blogs of War http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/26715/

HOLLYWOOD WRITERS STILL LACK DIVERSITY Despite steady but modest gains over the last seven years, women and minority writers still lag behind their white male counterparts in jobs and pay for film and TV work, according to an industry study to be released today. The study by the Writers Guild of America, West, found that minorities accounted for about 10% of the 3,015 employed television writers in 2004, while women made up 27% -- even though those groups represented more than 30% and 50% of the population, respectively. In film, women represented 18% of the 1,770 employed film writers in 2004, while all minority groups combined accounted for just 6% of the total, virtually unchanged since 1998. [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Richard Verrier] http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-wga12oct12,1,378555.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business (requires registration)

Oct 11: THE INTERNET ENTERS A BOLD SECOND ACT Led by the Internet, the high-tech industry appears to be entering a vibrant new phase of both growth and upheaval. It is the Web's sober second act, characterized not by soaring stock prices but by forces that are challenging traditional industries - from publishing to telecommunications - to adopt new business plans. Consumers seem to be the only sure winners. The maturing of the Internet as an engine of the global economy is being driven by a handful of important forces: 1) shrinking sizes and prices, 2) "digital convergence" -- the fusion of computing with other traditional industries foreseen in the 1990s -- is happening in earnest, challenging traditional communications industries, and 3) wireless services are making the Web portable, not just a desk-bound tool. As all these trends shower consumers with new products and services, corporations face both risks and opportunities. The good news, experts say, is that the online realm has reached critical mass. [SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Mark Trumbull] http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1011/p01s03-ussc.html

A CAPITOL HILL PRESENCE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE There's a small but growing number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have tried their hands at blogging. More than a dozen have launched blogs or blog-like pages on their official Web sites in an apparent effort to sidestep the mainstream media and, like thousands -- possibly, millions -- of other Americans, take their stories directly to the public. Some are short-lived, beginning and ending with a trip overseas. Others are permanent. Some are updated daily. Others, once in a while. The sites, invariably, are much tamer than other, well-known blogs. There is no fire-breathing partisanship. No snarky dishing. No soul-searching confessionals. In fact, some appear to be little more than news releases strung together to look like a blog. Some Internet experts said they are heartened by the lawmakers' efforts, saying the sites can give constituents glimpses into their representatives' personalities, opinions and day-to-day responsibilities. "Anytime they do anything that is more responsive to constituents' needs and interests, and anytime they're trying to be more transparent about their work, it's a good thing," said Nicole Folk, technology analyst at the Congressional Management Foundation. Most lawmakers still shy away from the sites for any number of reasons: They do not have the staff to maintain them; their constituents are not demanding them; they are not comfortable with the loose, freewheeling tone associated with blogs. But an increasing number appear to have found a sort of middle ground, focusing less on developing their own sites and, instead, taking their writings to other, more established blogs with active followings. More than a dozen lawmakers have written for the Huffington Post, a celebrity-studded blog run by pundit Arianna Huffington. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Faler] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/10/AR2005101001241.html (requires registration)

FCC OFFICIAL WARNS AGAINST MEDIA CONSOLIDATION FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein railed against media consolidation last week, speaking to a crowd of 500 people at the University of Iowa. He said that media deregulation tends to harm small communities, where local broadcast news dries up. He warned that getting giant media companies to unmerge is "virtually impossible." [SOURCE: Des Moines Register, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Patch] http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051006/NEWS09/510060397/1001/RSS01 See Also: * Iowans testify against further media consolidation http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=98 * Iowans Irate With Media, Says Adelstein http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6264343.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP

NEW POLL FINDS ESCALATING VIOLENCE IN CHILDREN'S TV NOW A CRISIS FOR PARENTS Despite years of studies linking violence in children with violence on television, a new survey of parents with children aged 1-6 finds that violence in children's programming still remains a primary problem. The poll found an overwhelming 82% majority of respondents stating that such violence is a major concern for them as parents. The poll, conducted by the American Business Research Corporation, also found that nine in ten believed that violence in children's programming had a serious negative impact on their children and eight in ten felt that such programming created serious behavioral problems for them as parents, now and into the future. The study was designed to explore the content, educational and social values most sought after by parents of children at or earlier than pre-school ages, with an eye toward helping the industry develop programs more appropriately targeted to accomplish those objectives. Earlier studies, such as those by George Gerbner, Ph.D., at the University of Pennsylvania, have shown that children's TV shows can contain as many as 20 violent acts each hour and that children who watch a lot of television are more likely to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place. Dr. Dale Kunkel, of UC Santa Barbara, found that children's programming could be among the worst in the area of violence. He noted that another factor associated with children's programs is that they often depict violence in a humorous context, which seems to trivialize violence. Another hot topic revealed by the ABRC poll was the fact that eight in ten parents were also extremely interested in any programming that might help their children make the transition from home life to the pre-school environment. [SOURCE: American Business Research Corporation press release] http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=3051704

DEMOCRACY 'AT RISK' FROM CABLE, SATELLITE "It is television delivered over cable and satellite that will continue for the remainder of this decade and probably the next to be the dominant medium of communication in America's democracy. And so long as that is the case, I truly believe that America's democracy is at grave risk." That dire warning about the dangers of cable news and information came from Al Gore, former Vice President and now co-founder of cable news and information network, Current TV. But Gore was drawing a distinction between the established nets "monopolized" by a few big companies, and his own cable/Internet hybrid. "There is virtually no exchange of ideas at all in television's domain," he said in a speech in New York Thursday. "My partner Joel Hyatt and I are trying to change that - at least where Current TV is concerned. Perhaps not coincidentally, we are the only independently owned news and information network in all of American television." He said the same corporate "feudalists" who have gained control of TV are threatening to do the same with the Web. "We must be prepared to fight for it because some of the same forces of corporate consolidation and control that have distorted the television marketplace have an interest in controlling the Internet marketplace as well," he told his audience. [SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton] http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6265394?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers) * The Threat to American Democracy (text of Gore's speech) http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/06/D8D2IU703.html * Al Gore's Code Red http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/26494/

YAHOO SEIZES PODCAST INITIATIVE Yahoo introduced a test site yesterday devoted exclusively to downloadable audio programs known as podcasts, a move that some say puts the search engine on the forefront of a cutting edge technology and puts it ahead -- at least in this arena -- of its biggest competitor, Google. The site, at http://www.podcasts.yahoo.com , offers not only a search feature for podcast fans but also a lineup of podcasts that are new, noteworthy or just popular. By far, most of the programming is produced by amateur Web users armed with a microphone, an Internet connection and a desire to share some opinions or expertise -- the audio equivalent of Web logs or "blogs." [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Mike Musgrove] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/10/AR2005101001433.html (requires registration) * Yahoo is betting podcasts will sizzle http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/12871562.htm * Yahoo puts news, blogs side by side http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-10-11T113024Z_01_ROB115720_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-YAHOO-NEWS.xml

GOOGLE GOES INSIDE THE BELTWAY Google, the once-upstart search outfit, has hired its first full-time lobbyist in Washington, technology-law expert and Washington veteran Alan Davidson. "Our mission in Washington boils down to this: Defend the Internet as a free and open platform for information, communication, and innovation," Andrew McLaughlin, Google's senior policy counsel, wrote in an Oct. 6 company blog. The move to beef up lobbying coincides with forays by the online giant Google into a host of new markets and services beyond basic Web search. Google's push into Internet-calling service Google Talk and a plan to provide Wi-Fi for San Francisco threatens to tread on turf dominated by the biggest phone carriers. With an overhaul of landmark telecom legislation pending and legal battles brewing, Google needs to widen its influence in Washington while its developers dream up pie-in-the-sky projects in Silicon Valley. "The company is bleeding into so many new sectors and businesses that there are any number of government policies the company should be involved in," says Blair Levin, a managing director at Legg Mason and a former chief of staff at the Federal Communications Commission. Davidson, who joined Google on May 31, is well-suited to wave the company flag in the nation's capital. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained computer scientist and graduate of Yale Law School, Davidson served for eight years as associate director of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonprofit think tank and initiative group that opposes government and industry control of the Internet, while advocating user privacy. Associates say Davidson is best known for his work on intellectual-property and Internet-privacy policy issues. He has argued against the mandatory inclusion of special content locks in digital-recording devices and testified before Congress for increased measures to protect personal privacy online. Alan also enjoys long walks in parks that offer Wi-Fi access and crunching statistics on the Washington Nationals. [SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Burt Helm] http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051010_0156_tc024.htm

Oct 6: RECORD LABELS, SATELLITE RADIO SEEN IN SHOWDOWN The record industry may next aim its legal guns at satellite radio due to a dispute involving new portable players which let listeners record and store songs. The record industry, led by major labels, such as Vivendi Universal, Warner Music Group Corp, EMI Group Plc and Sony BMG, believe the recording capability is a clear copyright violation and could take revenue away from paid download music services. Two music industry sources said that the two sides were in talks to resolve the issue and could go to court over the matter. [SOURCE: Reuters] http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-10-05T213526Z_01_BAU577707_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-SATELLITE.xml

RADIO STATIONS TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION In a survey of randomly sampled news, talk and news-talk stations in the top fifty markets, News Generation has found that stations across the country are protecting traditional radio's turf by taking advantage of the digital revolution and opportunities created by the Internet. More than half of the stations surveyed are streaming 90% of their on-air content, and 40% are streaming 100% of their on-air content. [SOURCE: Radio Ink] http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=130769&pt=todaysnews

SMALLER VIDEO PRODUCERS SEEK AUDIENCES ON NET Video delivered over the Internet, which has been embraced by media and Internet giants like Viacom and Yahoo, is quickly shaping up as a way for smaller producers to reach an audience without having to cut deals with movie studios and the big networks that are the traditional gatekeepers of television. As interest in video soars (there are more than a million video clips currently available online), a host of new ventures is starting to cater to the publishing and advertising needs of smaller video creators. One new start-up called Brightcove, for example, has developed a system of online video production tools that makes it easier for small operations to distribute video programs as well as charge for them. [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/technology/06video.html (requires registration)

Oct 5: NEWS OF PANDEMONIUM MAY HAVE SLOWED AID Behold the power of the media. Five weeks after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, some local, state and federal officials have come to believe that exaggerations of mayhem by officials and rumors repeated uncritically in the news media helped slow the response to the disaster and tarnish the image of many of its victims. With nearly all communications systems with people on the ground crippled, live television became a primary information source. "The television stations were reporting that people were literally stepping over bodies and violence was out of control," said Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's press secretary Denise Bottcher, who was at the governor's side. "But the National Guardsmen were saying that what we were seeing on CNN was contradictory to what they were seeing. It didn't match up." "Rumor control was a beast for us," said Maj. Ed Bush of the Louisiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Superdome. "People would hear something on the radio and come and say that people were getting raped in the bathroom or someone had been murdered. I would say, 'Ma'am, where?' I would tell them if there were bodies, my guys would find it. Everybody heard, nobody saw. Logic was out the window because the situation was illogical." [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Robert E. Pierre and Ann Gerhart] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401525.html (requires registration)

MEDIA, MEDIA EVERYWHERE, AND NO TIME LEFT TO THINK? The average American is a ravenous media junkie, consuming up to nine hours a day of television, web time or cellphone minutes, according to new research which raises fresh questions about how technology is revolutionizing society. Some experts question whether as consumers are swamped by information, they lose the ability to decipher fact from rumor, or find it hard to think through what they hear. Among the most interesting conclusions was that 30 percent of 'media time' is spent on one or more device, as people perhaps have on eye on the latest reality show on TV while shuffling through their email. Another surprising find is that 18 to 24-year-olds spend less time online than any other age group except for the over 65s. [SOURCE: Yahoo News] http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051004/tc_afp/afplifestylemediausinternet;_ylt=AuozkzXDSQ6Ctwptz_t4vWQjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl See also: * Study Gauges TV, Computer Usage by Ethnicity A new study by Knowledge Networks shows that television plays "a more important social role" among both black and Hispanic households than it does among white households. And the data shows that white households own more personal computers and more pay for high-speed Internet connectivity than do black or Hispanic households. [SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: John Consoli] http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001221597

BIG MESS FOR BIG MEDIA The stock prices of the four major media and entertainment firms – Walt Disney, Viacom, News Corp and Time Warner -- are down an average of 11.2 percent through the first three quarters of 2005. The S&P 500, by way of comparison, is up 1.3 percent. There are several reasons why all four stocks have been weak this year, such as concerns about a sluggish advertising market for many traditional forms of media, the Hollywood box office slump and slowing sales of DVDs. What's more, many investors appear to be more attracted to the supercharged growth prospects of pure play Internet media companies like Google and Yahoo!. [SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: Paul R. La Monica] http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/03/news/fortune500/media/index.htm

BROADCASTING/TELEVISION JUST ANOTHER TOASTER [Commentary] Television is "just another appliance -- it's a toaster with pictures." Those are the memorable words of Mark Fowler, who chaired the FCC during the Reagan administration. The image of a toaster with pictures neatly deflates the notion that broadcast television is somehow special. That attitude of "specialness" is so out of kilter with the contemporary digital video landscape that it is causing repeated policy crashes in Congress -- on indecency, media ownership, and cable must carry mandates. Public interest groups have a history of backing broadcasters push to force cable operators to carry their signals. But that's not the case in the digital TV era. Some groups no longer believe the promises to air local, educational or civic programming. That's why they've ditched the quest for "public interest" obligations, and argue against must carry rules. But it hasn't been without disagreement. Philanthropist Charles Benton says that notwithstanding "the cynicism on the part of many people in the public interest community, we are reaching out to the NAB." His foundation played a key role in orchestrating a 1998 report -- by the so-called Gore Commission -- on broadcasters' public interest obligations for digital television. [SOURCE: Wired in Washington/Congress Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark] http://nationaljournal.com/about/congressdaily/columns/clark.htm

CALL-IN SHOW IS MUST-HEAR RADIO FOR INMATES CUT OFF FROM FAMILY Prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq drop everything to listen for messages from friends and relatives. To many, the program, called "Send Your Regards," is a lifeline. The daily 90-minute call-in show, broadcast by a Sunni Arab political organization and tolerated by U.S. prison officials, allows friends and family of detainees to send one-way messages of love, support and concern to those inside Abu Ghraib's walls. [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Edmund Sanders] http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-radioabu5oct05,1,1424935.story?coll=la-news-a_section (requires registration) DEBATE FLARES ANEW OVER VIOLENCE IN VIDEO GAMES As the video game industry gears up to release a new generation of consoles that allow even sharper graphics and more realistic action, lawmakers nationwide are considering bans on the sale or rental of violent titles to minors. In California, for instance, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has until midnight Thursday to act on a bill that would ban the sale to minors of games that "depict serious injury to human beings in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel." That worries the $25-billion global game industry, which fears that its wares would be the only form of entertainment other than pornography subject to such heavy regulation. [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Alex Pham] http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-violence5oct05,1,7319694.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business (requires registration)

Oct 4: FAUX NEWS IS BAD NEWS [Commentary] Federal auditors have blistered the Bush administration for secretly concocting favorable news reports about itself by hiring actors to pose as journalists and slipping $240,000 in taxpayer funds to a sell-out conservative polemicist. The government till was also tapped to have political spin doctors track whether the message of President Bush and the Republican Party was being well treated in legitimate news reporting. In its purchase of self-aggrandizing agitprop, the administration plainly violated the law against spreading "covert propaganda" at public expense, according to the report of the Government Accountability Office. More than that, Bush officials forged a cheesy new low in Washington politicians' endless bazaar of peddling public relations initiatives at taxpayers' expense. [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/opinion/04tue3.html (requires registration)

TV FANS CAN NOW DRESS THE PART American television has finally reached its full potential. Instead of offering programming that lures viewers into seeing ads, the programs now are the ads. Character-focused clothing lines are providing TV producers and creators with increase revenue streams through licensing deals -- while also expanding shows' presence in a way that appeals to a young, hip demographic. [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Laura Petrecca] http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051004/tvfashion.art.htm

RURAL INDIA GOES DIGITAL India is the world's third-largest television market with 108 million TV-equipped households, a number that is growing by about nine million a year. But that still leaves half of all Indian households without a television set. Moreover, many existing TVs are old 14-inch (35-centimeter) black-and-white models that can't receive some satellite channels via cable, even if cable operators were willing to hook up remote areas for new subscribers. So, many villages have been left with only India's famously stodgy state-owned broadcaster, Doordarshan, where the programming emphasis is on informing the rural masses about farming techniques and health issues. Now a satellite-television boom in India is finally pushing multichannel TV into its vast rural hinterland and opening a new commercial battlefield in one of the world's biggest TV markets. Nearly three-quarters of India's 1.1 billion people live in small villages, making it one of the world's least-urbanized countries. While India's cable connections have tripled over the past decade to 61 million, rural households have missed out as cable companies see no profit in stringing kilometers of wire to reach remote locations. Enter digital television. Relying on signals transmitted from a satellite to a receiving dish and from there to a set-top signal-decoding box, rather than through cables, digital TV can transmit anywhere, delivering more channels and better picture quality. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Larkin john.larkin@wsj.com] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112829847867958098.html?mod=todays_us_page_one (requires subscription)

SF MAYOR SEES WIRELESS SERVICE AS BASIC RIGHT San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said on Monday he considered wireless Internet access a fundamental right of all citizens. Mayor Newsom told a news conference that he was bracing for a battle with telephone and cable interests, along with state and U.S. regulators, whom he said were looking to derail a campaign by cities to offer free or low-cost municipal Wi-Fi services. Local officials are mulling plans to blanket every nook and cranny of this hilly city of 750,000 residents with Wi-Fi access. Officials said 24 proposals had been turned into the city to deliver wireless Internet services, ranging from Web search company Google, Cingular, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, to Internet service provider EarthLink. Newsom told reporters he hoped to streamline the final bidding process and choose a contractor to build the city-wide wireless service in as little as five to six months. But a series of public hearings and city approval processes, as well as potential lawsuits by opponents, could drag the process out far longer, he cautioned. Making wireless access affordable to the entire population of San Francisco was a vital step to differentiating the city in order to make it more economically competitive on a state, national and global level, Newsom said. But the mayor also singled out the power of Wi-Fi as an alternative network to provide emergency information to all citizens in the event a natural disaster such as an earthquake were to strike the city and knock out other communications. [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Eric Auchard] http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-10-04T060420Z_01_KWA382605_RTRUKOC_0_US-TELECOMS-WIRELESS-SANFRANCISCO.xml&archived=False * Google faces obstacles in SF Wi-Fi bid http://beta.news.com.com/Google+faces+obstacles+in+S.F.+Wi-Fi+bid/2100-7351_3-5887919.html?tag=nefd.lede

CDT CALLS FOR 'HANDS-OFF' APPROACH TO .XXX INTERNET DOMAIN The Center for Democracy and Technology is urging the U.S. Government to remove itself from the decision-making process surrounding the creation of a .xxx Internet domain. In a letter to Michael Gallagher, Assistant Commerce Secretary and head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), CDT highlights concerns about NTIA's recent letter to ICANN Chairman Vinton Cerf, recommending that he delay the approval of a .xxx Internet domain intended for use by adult-content Web sites. CDT is concerned that the move violates First Amendment protections and could also upset the United States' delicate relationship with the Internet's addressing system. CDT Letter: .XXX Domain http://www.cdt.org/dns/20050930xxxletter.pdf

DIGITAL MUSIC SALES MORE THAN TRIPLE The market for downloaded digital forms of music has more than tripled in a year, helping offset a continuing decline in CD sales and other physical formats. Digital music sales totaled $790 million in the first half of this year, equivalent to 6% of industry sales, compared with $220 million in the same period a year earlier, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimated. Recorded music sales fell 1.9% to a retail value of $13.2 billion in the first half this year from $13.4 billion in the previous period. The digital boom, which now exceeds the value of the global singles market, was largely driven by sales in the top five markets -- the U.S., Britain, Japan, Germany and France, the IFPI said. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Associated Press] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112834107711958392.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

MICROSOFT ENDS LICENSING TALKS WITH MUSIC LABELS OVER ROYALTIES Microsoft has broken off licensing negotiations with the four global music companies, raising questions about the software maker's plans to start a subscription-based music service. The development highlights the continuing fragility of the nascent digital-music business. According to the people briefed on the discussions, the negotiations broke down Friday over what Microsoft considered unduly high royalty rates sought by the labels -- a group comprising EMI Group PLC, Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group and Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG. Subscription services -- in which users effectively rent music by paying a flat monthly fee for online access to an unlimited number of songs -- have received less attention than Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store, which sells songs individually for 99 cents. But thanks to the recent debut of so-called "portable" subscription services -- which allow users to download their rented music onto personal music players -- many in the industry believe that, in the long term, such services have greater potential to replace compact discs. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ethan Smith ethan.smith@wsj.com] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112838627476659097.html?mod=todays_us_page_one (requires subscription)

LYCOS, YAHOO PUSHING TO PUT MEDIA ONLINE Today Lycos, an early Internet search engine, plans to launch a technology to allow its U.S. users to self-publish video content on its site. Yesterday, Yahoo said it would spearhead the Open Content Alliance, a group of companies and organizations hoping to negotiate rights to put billions of works online. These efforts join a broader push by Internet companies to channel the offline media world into an online one by sweeping up everything from obscure scientific research papers to famous rock videos. Driven by the growth of high-speed Internet subscribers, companies have turned from offering basic services such as e-mail and search to trying to create an ever more powerful database of knowledge and commerce, culling media from everywhere. Although many such services are offered for free, the companies hope to parlay the viewership into sources of revenue, through advertising, promotions or sponsorships on their site. That process means siphoning viewers and money from television, cable, and other sources of news and entertainment. To make it work, however, the companies must navigate a complex set of copyright and business issues. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301580.html (requires registration) * Lost Underground? Check Your iPod Site Offers Subway Maps for Download; Some Cities Claim Copyright Violation http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301581.html (requires registration)

Oct 3: MAKING A BUCK BY SELLING A 'DOLLAR' In Portland, Maine, skydiving lessons and weekend getaways at the Embassy Suites are selling fast on UPN affiliate WPME and sister WB outlet WPXT. Both stations peddle goods and services from area merchants on a locally produced home-shopping program, The Dollar Saver Show. That “show” is actually a bunch of disguised TV commercials strung together into a half-hour. Here's how the Dollar idea works: Viewers snap up goods and services, from cleaning services and hotel stays to restaurant certificates, all discounted by 30%. Merchants barter the goods, getting in return commercial exposure and foot traffic because buyers have to visit the merchant to pick their purchases up -- and perhaps buy more. (Wow, what a great way to promote localism in broadcasting.) [SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Allison Romano] http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6261997.html?display=News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

OUR HISTORY OF MEDIA PROTECTION [Commentary] A determined prosecutor demands that prominent journalists testify about their confidential sources to a grand jury. The courts side with the prosecutor, reasoning that journalists have no more rights than ordinary citizens to withhold information from criminal investigators. A journalist goes to jail and is released after a relatively short time. Commentators debate whether a First Amendment crisis is looming, while legislators consider passing a law to protect journalists from forced disclosure of their confidential sources. Sound familiar? It should, but not just because it describes the case of New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Strikingly, since the beginning of modern American journalism this scenario has repeated itself in each generation almost on cue, about every 35 years. And if history does repeat itself, journalists can take some comfort in knowing that every time this crisis has erupted, the jailing of journalists has been the catalyst for changes in the law that protected a subsequent generation of reporters. Time and again Americans have made clear that confidential newsgathering is an important part of a free press and that journalists who protect sources should not be treated as scofflaws. That is why every time a movement has started among a new generation of prosecutors and judges to force disclosure of sources, other democratic institutions have responded in kind. If the Supreme Court will not intervene, as it did not in this case, Congress should recognize that generations have already spoken on this issue and pass a federal shield law. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Nathan Siegel] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/02/AR2005100201237.html (requires registration)

GOOGLE PROPOSES FREE WI-FI FOR SAN FRANCISCO Marking its biggest step into the wireless communications market to date, Google Inc. said on Friday it has proposed to provide free wireless Internet services across the city of San Francisco. The Web search company said it has responded to a request for information by the City of San Francisco to test local Internet services via Wi-Fi, the short-range wireless technology built into most new laptop computers. Offering free wireless communications could thrust Google into competition with entrenched local suppliers of broadband Internet access, SBC Communications and local cable operator Comcast. If it is chosen for the project, Google is working with a variety of partners to help it set up and manage the wireless service. [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Eric Auchard] http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-10-01T062407Z_01_KRA110453_RTRUKOC_0_US-GOOGLE-WIFI.xml * Google offers S.F. Wi-Fi -- for free http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/01/MNGG9F16KG1.DTL * Google in San Francisco: 'Wireless overlord'? http://beta.news.com.com/Google+in+San+Francisco+Wireless+overlord/2100-1039_3-5886968.html?tag=nefd.top

GOOGLE'S WIRELESS PLAN UNDERSCORES THREAT TO TELECOM With eBay's purchase of Skype and Google's free WiFi service in San Francisco, Internet companies are making an aggressive and unprecedented push into services traditionally offered by phone and cable companies -- threatening to upend the business of transmitting voice and data. Troubling for telecoms, Google would bring to the industry an entirely different business model. Google generates nearly all its revenue, which totaled $3.2 billion last year, from the small advertisements it shows alongside search results and other Web content. By offering consumers free service, Google could pressure traditional providers to slash fees for Internet access, a growing source of telecom revenue -- when they don't have Google's advertising revenue to make up the difference, and have large, extensive networks for transmitting voice and data to maintain. Google's proposal to use wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, technology would cost far less than a traditional network. It also would give Google a direct pipeline into consumers' homes -- long the big edge for telephone and cable companies. Ironically, most of the newer, bigger Internet entrants see telecom services almost as an afterthought, not a key product. Companies like Google, Yahoo Inc., Microsoft and eBay consider free voice just an add-on service they can provide consumers to win their business loyalty and make their main businesses more attractive. For example, eBay customers could buy and sell more if they can talk to each other. EBay and Google have even said explicitly they are not seeking to compete with telecoms. But whether it's deliberate or not, some industry executives and analysts think their plans potentially could steamroll the telecom model. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jesse Drucker jesse.drucker@wsj.com, Kevin J. Delaney kevin.delaney@wsj.com and Peter Grant peter.grant@wsj.com] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112812593526357432.html?mod=todays_us_page_one (requires subscription)

ONLINE GAMES SPAWN OWN ECONOMY, SOCIETY Multiplayer online role-playing games now draw more than 20 million players globally. Alongside the multiplayer universe is a marketplace for the virtual characters and other assets created online. Some big name corporate players have started to get into the business of virtual asset trading, which is so hot that some industry experts say it may be overheated. Still, virtual asset trading has a long way to go before it rival's eBay's multibillion-dollar revenue. And some sellers -- who spent hours gearing up his characters to high levels with items including "the staff of dominance," a "kroll blade" and an "epic kodo" mount -- find that the process has been more a labor of love than a fast road to wealth. [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Lisa Baertlein] http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-09-30T210416Z_01_KRA075821_RTRUKOC_0_US-COLUMN-PLUGGEDIN.xml

GOOGLING COPYRIGHTS [Commentary] Weighing the advantages or disadvantages of inclusion in Google Print is ultimately a matter for the copyright holders themselves; neither Google nor its fans should presume to tell them what's best for their own property. Placing the burden on authors to opt out turns copyright on its head, as Paul Aiken, the executive director of the Authors Guild, has argued. Getting permission from all the rights-holders for such an ambitious undertaking would undoubtedly be time-consuming and bothersome, but no one said that storing and making money off someone else's copyrighted material was or should be easy. [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112829171745857927.html?mod=todays_us_opinion (requires subscription) See also: * Yahoo, Partners Plan Web Database Yahoo and a handful of educational and business partners plan to begin scanning books and collecting other multimedia content in a move to create a massive online database that sidesteps some of the controversy generated by rival Google Inc.'s efforts in that area. The consortium, which is calling itself the Open Content Alliance, will begin by scanning and making available free online the contents of books that are out of copyright or licensed under a looser copyright known as Creative Commons, the guidelines of which are set by the nonprofit organization of the same name. The Open Content Alliance says it is discussing with publishers and other content owners how it might make some traditional copyrighted content available, including possibly for a fee. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112830433729858188.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace * In Challenge to Google, Yahoo Will Scan Books http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/03/business/03yahoo.html

MURDOCH SELLS TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT News International, owner of the Times and The Sun, confirmed on Monday that it had made its first disposal since Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp began building up the UK newspaper group 36 years ago. It is selling TSL educational publications - publisher of the Times Educational Supplement -- $415 million to Exponent, a private equity group. The sale also includes Nursery World and other newspapers, magazines, web sites and exhibitions aimed at teachers and education professionals. The Times Literary Supplement will not be part of the sale, News Corp said. [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Peter John] http://news.ft.com/cms/s/2287c1ea-33ef-11da-adae-00000e2511c8.html (requires subscription)

Click here for earler Benton files.

(c) Benton Foundation 2003. Redistribution of this email publication -- both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message:
Communications-Related Headlines are compiled, summarized and edited by Rachel Anderson (rachel@benton.org), Andy Carvin (andy@benton.org) and Charles Meisch (charlie@benton.org) of the Benton Foundation -- we welcome your feedback. Based in Washington DC, the Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Other projects at Benton include:
Digital Divide Network (www.digitaldividenetwork.org)
Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org)
OneWorld US (www.oneworld.net/us)
Sound Partners for Community Health (www.soundpartners.org)

Return to top

Use this tool to search our site or the web.

WWW Guidomedia.com