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

December 2005

Dec 23: CALIFORNIA FORCED TO DEFEND 'JUNK FAX' LAW [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Greg Sandoval] California fax machine owners tired of watching junk faxes eat up their toner cartridges and paper will have to wait a little longer for relief. A law designed to ban marketers from sending unsolicited faxes was set to take effect in California on Jan. 1, 2006, but SB 833 is being held up in court after the pro-junk U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a legal challenge. http://news.com.com/California+forced+to+defend+junk+fax+law/2100-1047_3-6006191.html?tag=nefd.top

JUDGE BLOCKS CALIFORNIA VIDEO GAME LAW [SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh] A federal judge has blocked enforcement of a California law restricting violent video games, saying it violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression. U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte ruled late Wednesday that the state law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October, unconstitutionally restricts minors' rights to information and granted the video game industry's request for a preliminary injunction. http://news.com.com/Judge+blocks+California+video+game+law/2100-1043_3-6005835.html?tag=html.alert

LATEST TAX TOOL: 'INTERNET SHAMING' [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Ben Jones] At least 18 states have launched websites to post the names of people and businesses that owe back taxes. Maryland calls its website “Caught in the Web.” In South Carolina, it's “Debtor's Corner.” Wisconsin on Jan. 3 will launch “Website of Shame.” http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051223/1a_bottomstrip23.art.htm

MOST THINK PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN IN IRAQ WRONG [SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR:] Almost three-quarters of Americans think it was wrong for the Pentagon to pay Iraqi newspapers to publish news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, a new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows. Of the 1,003 people surveyed Dec. 16-18, 72% said it would be inappropriate for the U.S. military to secretly pay Iraqi media to publish stories favourable to the USA. And almost two-thirds said such payments would bother them a “fair amount” or a “great deal.” http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051223/a_propaganda23.art.htm See also -- * Young Firm Finds a Bonanza in Middle East Planted stories brouhaha is good for Lincoln Group's business. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122202078_pf.html (requires registration)

ON OPINION PAGE, A LOBBY'S HAND IS OFTEN UNSEEN [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: ] Think tanks are facing new and uncomfortable scrutiny over their links to special interest groups after the disclosure this week that the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff had paid at least two outside writers for opinion articles promoting the work of his clients. The issue of whether supposedly independent writers and researchers are having their work underwritten -- directly or indirectly -- by lobbyists and other special interests is hardly new. The Bush administration acknowledged this year that it had paid outside writers, including Armstrong Williams, the conservative columnist and television commentator, to promote the Education Department policy known as No Child Left Behind. Executives in the public relations and lobbying industries say that the hiring of outside commentators to promote special interests -- typically by writing newspaper opinion articles or in radio and television interviews -- does happen, although it is impossible to monitor since the payments do not have to be disclosed and can be disguised as speaking fees and other compensation. While major newspapers and magazines usually insist that outside writers disclose conflicts of interest, editors do not routinely conduct background checks, especially for authors affiliated with credible research groups. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/politics/23lobby.html (requires registration) * Pundit Payola [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Michael Kinsley] [Commentary] How embarrassing: opinions for sale, like cheeseburgers. Can I supersize that tax break I'm advocating for you, sir? You can buy a pundit for even less than it costs to buy a politician. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201771.html (requires registration)

THE DIGITAL HOMESTEAD ACT [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal] [Commentary] In the best government giveaway since cheese handouts from the Reagan Administration, Congress has voted to provide consumers $40 vouchers to buy digital-to-analog converter boxes. Essentially, Congress is budgeting $1.5 billion for millions of Americans who don't need the money -- so that they can keep using obsolete technology. Moreover, most people won't notice a change in 2009. They will already have digital TVs (all new sets sold after mid-2007 must be digital), or they will still be subscribing to cable or satellite services that can send digital signals even to analog TVs. One universally acknowledged truth -- even in Congress -- is that the people who gobble up many of those vouchers will not be needy. Millions of households with satellite dishes and new big-screen TVs also have at least one old analog set lying around, and each family is entitled to two $40 vouchers. As we learned when many of the non-poor joined long queues for Reagan cheese, Americans would stand in line for marmoset pelts if they were labelled "free." To encourage such grabbiness in 2009, Congress has earmarked $5 million for voucher advertising. Mark your calendars. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113530781228130250.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal (requires subscription) * NAB Statement on DTV Legislation http://www.nab.org/newsroom/pressrel/statements/122105_Sen_Budget_Recon_Statement.htm * TIA Urges Final Passage of DTV Legislation http://www.tiaonline.org/media/press_releases/index.cfm?parelease=05-93 * Diverse Group of High-Tech Leaders Urge Lawmakers To Finalize DTV Legislation http://www.ntca.org/ka/ka-3.cfm?content_item_id=3904&folder_id=522

Dec 22: NEW STUDY ON LOCAL TV WAR COVERAGE [SOURCE: Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy press release] The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) has released a new study entitled “Violence, Soldier Deaths and Omissions: Local TV News Coverage of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” This study looks at war coverage by Grand Rapids TV broadcasters during the period from August 1 to November 8, 2005. Key findings of this study are: 1) The majority of all local TV coverage about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was focused on area soldier deaths or local soldiers returning home. 2) Coverage of Iraq was primarily focused on violence with little contextual information provided. 3) Coverage of Afghanistan was almost nonexistent with only three stories about Afghanistan appearing during the study period on all three stations combined. 4) The primary sources used in news coverage were US government officials, military personnel, or friends and family of those in the military. 5) There were very few Iraqi voices (5) and no Afghani voices in the entire 72 day study period. 6) There were very few stories with dissenting voices. Cindy Sheehan was the primary dissenting voice in most anti-was stories. http://www.griid.org/localnews/mediaalert.php?alertId=17 See full report online at: http://www.griid.org/pdfs/War_Coverage_2005.pdf

TAKE YOUR CABLE CHANNELS WITH YOU ON THE ROAD [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ken Belson] A profile of the creators of Slingbox, a way to let cable and satellite television customers watch what was on their home televisions while they were on the road. The size of a shoe, it sells for $250 and unlike TiVo does not require a monthly subscription. The box can be hooked to a cable set-top box or a digital video recorder, and must be linked to a broadband line so the video can be "streamed" to a laptop or other device. Faster connection speeds provide better video quality. Users install software on laptops that communicates with the Slingbox over a high-speed Internet connection at a hotel or other remote location. (Again, faster connection speeds make for better viewing.) Users can watch what is playing live on the cable or satellite service at home, or anything stored on a digital video recorder. A virtual remote control that appears on the laptop allows users to change channels or play, pause or rewind a recorded program. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/technology/21sling.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration) * Now I can watch my TV from anywhere on Earth http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1221/p16s01-cogn.html

LOVE IS NO LONGER COLOR-CODED ON TV [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Ann Oldenburg] Interracial pairings are integral to several of today's top-rated TV shows, including Grey's, Lost, My Name Is Earl and ER. But these on-screen pairings no longer draw the kind of attention and reaction they did in the '60s and '70s. Romances between people of different colors are being handled more offhandedly, with race being neither an issue nor much of a plot point. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20051221/d_cover21.art.htm

A KOREAN TV SHOW REPORTS, AND THE NETWORK CANCELS IT [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: James Brooke] A classic case of kill the messenger as a top Korean scientist is revealed to be faking data -- and the TV program that broke the story takes the fall. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/business/media/21cell.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration)

BROADBAND FIRMS FIGHT FOR PREMIUM TREATMENT [SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: David Hatch] AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon Communications are fiercely lobbying to retain language in a pending House telecommunications bill that would permit them to offer premium tiers of high-speed Internet service favoring their content. The draft bill, floated recently by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, contains "network neutrality" provisions intended to prohibit telecom and cable companies from blocking or impeding competitors on their high-speed networks. But the draft makes an exception for companies to offer multiple tiers, resulting in potentially faster transmission rates for them and slower speeds for competitors. "Do you want the Internet ... of the last 10 years, or do you want it to look like a cable system?" asked Gerry Waldron, an attorney representing a coalition of Internet companies. "They're fooling around with the basic DNA of the Internet here," added Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge. "What they're trying to do is make it their Internet." The coalition members said they recognize that communications carriers have a right to manage their networks to carry bandwidth-hungry video without interruption. http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-TMKJ1135117419682.html

$1 BILLION AOL STAKE FOR GOOGLE APPROVED [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi] Time Warner approved Google's $1 billion investment in its America Online unit yesterday, a deal aimed at giving both companies a greater share of the burgeoning online advertising business. Company executives also characterized the deal, which gives Google a 5 percent stake in Dulles-based AOL, as an opportunity to cross-pollinate Time Warner's vast media library with Google's highly profitable online advertising business. As part of the deal, Google also will tap AOL's instant-messaging customer base of 43 million users, integrating it with Google Talk, a recently released product with far fewer users. That pits AOL and Google against rivals Microsoft and Yahoo, which next year plan to integrate their instant-messaging systems. Google will also be able to access more of AOL's content, such as music videos and television shows, through its media services. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001388.html (requires registration) * Bumpy Road Led to Alliance Of AOL, Google http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113512960036228044.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription) * AOL and Google Formalize Partnership to Include Shared Selling of Ads http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/technology/21aol.html?pagewanted=all

FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR INTERNET ADS [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Paul Bond] JMP Securities on Tuesday raised its global advertising forecast for not only this year but for next year and beyond. The firm now expects the global online ad market to grow at a 25% clip annually for the next five years, up from a previous forecast in the low 20% range. In the next year the Wall Street firm expects the online ad market to grow to $26.4 billion worldwide and to $33.2 billion in 2007. Forrester Research, meanwhile, said that those who have the Internet are spending more than 30% of their media time nowadays online, a metric that prompted JMP to increase its market share expectations for Internet advertising in the U.S. JMP now expects online advertising at $13.2 billion in the United States this year, or 4.7% of total advertising revenue, to soar to $35.9 billion in 2010, when the Internet will command 11.1% of all ad dollars spent. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-12-21T110301Z_01_ROB139698_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-INTERNET.xml

ENGINES FOR WORLD GROWTH [SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration] In a December 19 speech, outgoing NTIA Director Michael Gallagher identified US priorities in telecom policy: 1) President Bush has a vision for making advanced technologies available to all Americans _ by creating the economic and regulatory environment to enhance competition and promote innovation; 2) The telecom sector is growing dynamically, and many new technologies show great potential for expanding broadband deployment. IP services are having a very dramatic and positive impact on the U.S. economy; 3) This Administration is committed to spectrum and broadband policies that create a domestic and international environment for economic growth by removing barriers to the implementation of U.S. technologies and services; and 4) the President's goal will ensure that all Americans have the personal and economic benefits of high-speed Internet applications and services. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/2005/MGallagher_DEW_12192005.htm * Tauke Praises Departing NTIA Head http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6293251?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

FTC SEES SPAM LAW WORKING [SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Brian Morrissey] The CAN-SPAM Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2004, has helped to improve the problem of spam, the Federal Trade Commission said in a progress report to Congress. The FTC did not offer any hard numbers, but MX Logic, an anti-spam software maker, reported 67 percent of the e-mail going through its system as spam in the first eight months of 2005. That's a 9 percent decrease from the amount MX Logic found the year before. http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001701182

NEWS CORP SIGNS $25M CONTRACT WITH AILES [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Joshua Chaffin] News Corp, the global media company, has signed a new five-year, $25 million contract with Roger Ailes, the head of its television group. Mr Ailes, an advisor to several Republican presidents, was hired in 1996 by Rupert Murdoch, News Corp's chairman, and soon brought the fledgling Fox News Channel to ratings dominance over its more established 24-hour news rival, CNN. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c9eb3862-71ad-11da-836e-0000779e2340.html (requires subscription)

WIRELESS TO APPROACH 50% OF $1.2 TRILLION TELECOMMUNICATIONS REVENUE [SOURCE: saschameinrath.com] The Insight Research Corporation's new analysis [1] finds that "wireless revenue will approach almost 49 percent of all telecommunications services revenue by the close of 2006 and will grow to 55.6 percent of all telecommunications industry revenue by 2010." Mirroring the continuing stagnation in broadband penetration in the United states, Insight Research finds that wireless market growth will be slower in North America than in many other locations surveyed around the world. http://www.saschameinrath.com/node/275/print

Dec 21: TIME TO PUT TV REMOTE BACK IN VIEWERS' HANDS [SOURCE: Benton Foundation press release] It is now time for policymakers to take the next step in the digital TV transition -- putting the remote control back into viewers hands -- by outlining basic public interest obligations for broadcasters to ensure that the public's airwaves indeed meet the public's needs. The House approved early Monday legislation which sets a date certain for the end of analog TV broadcasts in the US. What remains uncertain is what kind of content consumers should expect in the age of digital television. The transition from analog to digital television does not just represent a technological change, but an important opportunity to reassess whether the public's airwaves are being used to meet the public's needs. Ironically, Congress's action comes just days after the sixth anniversary of the FCC's opening of the public interest obligation for digital television broadcaster's proceeding -- which still asks a number of critical questions in the digital television transition which have yet to be answered. As the final decisions about the DTV transition now move to the Federal Communications Commission, critical questions remain unanswered: Will DTV broadcasters provide the necessary civic programming before elections necessary for an informed democracy, or will democracy itself be left behind? Will the DTV future include a variety of voices and views, or will the nation's diversity be left behind? Will DTV provide truly educational content, or will our children be left behind? Will DTV programming be accessible, or will people with sight- or hearing-impairments be left behind? Recently, the FCC's own Consumer Advisory Committee called on the Commission to answer these questions by June 2006. Charles Benton said, "With the DTV transition now certain, the FCC needs to provide the same certainty for how the DTV transition will serve the public's interest." http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/953

DIGITAL TV AGREEMENT WILL RENDER MILLIONS OF TV SETS UNWORKABLE [SOURCE: Consumers Union Press Release] “The consumer compensation program established in this program is unworkable, unfair and unacceptable to consumers,” said Jeannine Kenney of Consumers Union. “It provides only a fraction of the funds needed to compensate consumers for the costs of a digital transition they never asked for. And by requiring consumers to jump through restrictive hoops to request vouchers, those who most need compensation will be the least likely to receive it.” Four in ten households own a total of up to 80 million televisions that will require the converter boxes expected to cost $60 or more each. Many of these households include minorities, the elderly and low income families. And because the bill does not authorize cable companies to convert broadcast digital signals to analog, tens of millions of cable customers are unlikely to receive local broadcasts without expensive digital cable boxes. Kenney noted that the bill sets aside only $5 million for consumer education. “Consumers will have no idea what's coming and what they need to do to prepare for it, making it likely that tens of millions of televisions sets will go black on February 17, 2009.” http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_telecom_and_utilities/002990.html#more

PANEL ADDRESSES RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MEDIA, RACE, AND POLICY [SOURCE: civilrights.org] The media often stimulate racial animosity, participants in a December 6 panel discussion at the U.S. Capitol said. The panel, speaking at a briefing sponsored by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, said that the mass media convey impressions that whites occupy different moral universes from African Americans, Hispanics, and other people of color. http://www.civilrights.org/issues/communication/details.cfm?id=38859

NIELSEN BOWS TO LATINO VIEWERS [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James] Nielsen Media Research will include in its national ratings shows aired by Univision Communications starting next week, a move that is expected to better measure the nation's growing Latino audience. Nielsen has long been criticized for failing to provide a complete picture of television viewership by using a system that excludes the preferences of millions of Spanish-speaking Latinos when it calculates the size of TV audiences and the most popular shows. http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-nielsen20dec20,1,1898523.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business (requires registration)

GRANT FOR DATA CONTENT STANDARDS FOR DIGITAL PUBLIC RADIO [SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting press release] The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded a grant of $284,380 to Public Radio International (PRI) to develop proposed digital radio standards that public radio networks, producers, and stations will use to transmit program associated data (PAD). PRI leads a consortium that will develop the content and operational standards, including WGBH Radio Boston, the Public Radio Exchange, KUVO/Denver, Chicago Public Radio, and Public Interactive. http://www.cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=512

COMPANIES INTRODUCE FASTER INTERNET ACCESS [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Li Yuan li.yuan@wsj.com and Dionne Searcey] Cable and phone companies are introducing new souped up high-speed Internet services that allow consumers to send photos, large files and videos at speeds up to 50 times faster than regular broadband. These premium versions of broadband service can cost as much as $180/month. It's not clear how wide an audience there will be for the more expensive services. For many customers, standard broadband plans are likely to suffice for popular activities such as sending emails, shopping online and checking news sites. But a number of Web sites now offer video streams and games, which often require higher-speed Internet service to work effectively. Consumers also increasingly want to share video and photo files online -- tasks that usually require faster connections. The new premium service from cable and phone companies come as some broadband providers have cut prices for common high-speed Internet service in hopes of luring customers who still are using slower dial-up modems. In a few cases the price has dropped so low that investors questioned how the companies could make money from selling the service. By marketing the higher-priced tiers, companies are hoping to push consumers to more profitable services. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113504095161426952.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal (requires subscription)

IRAN REVIVES BROADCAST BAN ON WESTERN MUSIC [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Nasser Karimi] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned all Western music from Iran's state radio and TV stations -- a throwback to the 1979 Islamic revolution, when popular music was outlawed as "un-Islamic" under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/19/AR2005121901730.html (requires registration)

Dec 19: HIGH-SPEED INTERNET OVER POWER LINES COULD SERVE MILLIONS [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dionne Searcey dionne.searcey@wsj.com and Rebecca Smith] Current Communications Group LLC and TXU Electric Delivery plan to offer high speed Internet access over electric power lines to over two million customers in Texas by the end of 2006. Current's rollout to a wide swath of customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and elsewhere in Texas is a sign that the technology is more than a fad. The service will be offered in TXU's traditional utility territory in North Texas, which has overlap with areas now served by Time Warner and Charter Communications as well as AT&T and Verizon Communications, which are spending billions of dollars to upgrade their networks with fiber. Under the terms of the agreement, TXU, the biggest utility company in Texas, will sign a 10-year contract for $150 million to use Current's technology to get instantaneous alerts about outages and to gather information about its electrical system. The technology eventually could be used to read meters and even to remotely shut off or turn on power, eliminating utility jobs. There are regulatory hurdles since the transmission and distribution systems that form the backbone are regulated assets and utilities must seek approval to use them in this new way. Texas became the first state this year to pass a law permitting utility holding companies to set up separate concerns, funded with shareholder dollars, that would make the investments and reap the rewards, insulating utility customers from a possible costly boondoggle. But in most states, utilities would be expected to share profits or savings with rate payers, reducing incentive for utilities to pursue a broadband strategy. Top officials at the Federal Communications Commission have expressed support for such power-line services because they could expand the availability of high-speed Internet access to rural communities that the big providers ignore because of the cost of establishing service in areas with low concentrations of users. In suburban Washington, D.C., Current has set up a home to conduct demonstrations of its power-line broadband. Among the 5,000 people who have visited include FCC chairman Kevin Martin, former FCC chairman Michael Powell, Richard Russell, technology adviser at the White House and members of Congress. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113496015165026111.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

PLANTED PR STORIES NOT NEWS TO MILITARY [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Mark Mazzetti and Kevin Sack] In contrast to assertions by military officials in Baghdad and Washington, interviews and Lincoln Group documents show that the information campaign waged over the last year was designed to cloak any connection to the U.S. military. military officials in Iraq were fully aware that a Pentagon contractor regularly paid Iraqi newspapers to publish positive stories about the war, and made it clear that none of the stories should be traced to the United States, according to several current and former employees of Lincoln Group, the Washington-based contractor. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-infowar18dec18,1,6843651.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage (requires registration) * Tomlinson Pans Paying for Pro-Military Stories [SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton] Former CPB Chairman Ken Tomlinson is outraged -- outraged! -- to learn that the US military is trying to manipulate the media. That's his job, after all. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6292078?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

SATELLITE RADIO IS APPROACHING A SECURE ORBIT [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Taub] The mainstreaming of satellite radio, XM and Sirius hope, is just around the corner. A new generation of portable satellite radio receivers - many being heavily marketed this holiday season - has helped to raise consumer interest. The smaller devices make it possible for subscribers to listen in the house and even while walking down the street. Later in 2006, new devices are to enable XM to be played through a wide variety of home entertainment systems. For now, satellite radio's most important market remains the automobile. Typically, customers ordering a new car with a satellite radio receiver also get several months of free service. XM, which holds the advantage in the auto market, has exclusive distribution agreements with GM, Honda and Hyundai. Toyota is to offer factory-installed XM radios beginning next year. And by 2007, XM is to be the exclusive provider to Nissan. Sirius has exclusive agreements with BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and some Ford-owned manufacturers, as well as Mazda and Mitsubishi. Some automakers offer both satellite services as options. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/business/media/19satellite.html (requires registration)

GUIDELINES SET ON SOFTWARE PROPERTY RIGHTS [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr] To remove obstacles to joint research, four leading technology companies and seven American universities have agreed on principles for making software developed in collaborative projects freely available. An announcement is expected today. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/technology/19research.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration)

Dec 16: SELLING FOOD TO CHILDREN [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Melanie Warner] As major food producers face scrutiny over their role in contributing to increasing childhood obesity rates, they are under pressure to make fundamental shifts in the way they sell their products to American children. Entertainment companies are also feeling pressure. Walt Disney said that beginning in the next few months, it would remove characters like Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and Chicken Little from candy and food products it determined to be unhealthy for children. And in partnership with a major supermarket chain, which Disney would not identify, the company will put Mickey Mouse thumbs-up seals on items like bananas and on store-brand products like pasta and juices. None of these changes go as far as the Institute of Medicine, a leading scientific advisory group, urges. In a report last week, an institute committee of 16 nutrition and marketing experts called for sweeping changes in the way the food industry markets its products to children. It added that 80 percent to 97 percent of the food products now aimed at children and teenagers are of "poor nutritional quality." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/business/16food.html

FINAL REPORT OF THE DIGITAL FUTURE INITIATIVE PANEL RELEASED [SOURCE: New America Foundation] Business, philanthropic, education and public broadcasting leaders from across the country met in Washington Thursday for the Digital Future Initiative (DFI) Summit, an invitation-only event where participants explored the future of America's public service media. The event included the release of DFI Panel's report, Digital Future Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities for Public Service Media in the Digital Age. It calls for major new initiatives in several areas where the public broadcasting system's strengths coincide with pressing national needs. The panel has identified education, civic engagement, health care and emergency preparedness as areas that are critically important to the future of our nation and where public broadcasting can make a unique impact by leveraging a combination of multimedia, on-demand content with new broad-based partnerships. The report argues that public broadcasters should harness the on-demand and interactive digital platforms of the 21st century as they did analog TV and radio in the 20th century, using these new and powerful communications technologies to advance the public good in innovative ways. * Digital Futures panel zooms in on specific services pubcasting should offer http://www.current.org/dtv/dtv0523dfi.shtml * Digital Future Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities for Public Service Media in the Digital Age http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_2766_1.pdf * $3 Million Grant for PBS "Citizen's Channel http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20051214_knightfoundation.html

AT STAKE: THE NET AS WE KNOW IT [SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Catherine Yang] [Commentary] The Internet has always been a model of freedom. Today the Web is flourishing because anyone can click to any site or download any service they want on an open network. But now the phone and cable companies that operate broadband networks have a different vision. If they get their way, today's Information Highway could be laden with tollgates, express lanes, and traffic tie-ups -- all designed to make money for the network companies. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051215_141991.htm

Dec 15: IN THE YEAR 2006: ONLINE TV SECESSION, SUVIVALISM [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Marissa Newhall] The Trends Research Institute releases its “Top Trends 2006” today, the 15th report of its kind from the social, economic and political trend forecasting think tank predicts: 1) Online TV, the ultimate in media convergence, will signal the decline of the communication industry's monopoly on broadcast news and entertainment and 2) Entertainment that pokes fun at the consumption habits of the wealthy elite will become popular as reality TV's projection of “real life” becomes increasingly inaccurate. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20051215/d_trends15.art.htm

NEW REPORT ON EDUCATIONAL MEDIA FOR BABIES, TODDLERS AND PRESCHOOLERS [SOURCE: Kaiser Family Foundation] In recent years, there has been a big increase in new electronic media products for very young children, including those as young as one month old. A driving force behind this new market is the advertising and package labeling that makes claims about the educational benefits of specific products. A Teacher in the Living Room? Educational Media for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers examines the educational claims about commercially available educational media products (videos and DVDs, computer software, and video games) for very young children and what kind of research has been conducted to substantiate the educational claims. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia121405pkg.cfm

* See Baby Touch a Screen. But Does Baby Get It? http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/national/15toys.html (requires registration)

* Educational Claims of Kids' Videos Lack Support http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5053816

* Products fail to produce Einsteins http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20051215/bl_line15.art.htm

TRYING TO TAKE OWNERSHIP [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim] [Commentary] Behold, the Internet, poster child for free marketers. But with 2006 looming as a watershed year for congressional action on the Internet's future, it would be good if all concerned dissected the notion that the Internet grew so well because it was never regulated -- or at least took a close look at the truth's other half. Compared with, say, the banking, utility or telephone systems, the Internet is indeed barely regulated. But what gave the Internet its disruptive power and exhilarating appeal was that it was barely *owned*. Suddenly, the mom-and-pop store in Des Moines could advertise and sell to the world, without paying the freight of someone else's marketing apparatus. Intellectual and artistic works could be shared rapidly, at little or no cost. Games could be created and distributed without ever having to manufacture a physical item. We may think of it as the information superhighway, but really the Net has been a gigantic bypass, circumventing barriers to entry and whole swaths of middlemen (think travel agents or, I'm sad to say, newspaper owners) who are now trying to figure out how to survive. It's been a ride akin to the opening of the Wild West, with booms and busts, a goodly share of lawlessness, and the thrilling sense that anything was possible because everything was so wide open and cheap. No one owned the Internet itself (there's no patent on it), and its rules were the province of a handful of volunteers whose motivation was purely to make it work. You paid a small fee to get on, and the sky was the limit after that. But much of the lobbying and jockeying over the past several years have been efforts to restore order by assigning property-like rights to cyberspace wherever possible. But as Congress rethinks telecommunications policy next year, let's hope it looks hard at this equation and is absolutely sure that this new Internet will be better than the one we have now. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402360.html (requires registration)

TELECOMS WANT THEIR PRODUCTS TO TRAVEL ON FASTER INTERNET [SOURCE: Boston Globe 12/13, AUTHOR: Hiawatha Bray bray@globe.com] AT&T and BellSouth are lobbying Capitol Hill for the right to create a two-tiered Internet, where the telecom carriers' own Internet services would be transmitted faster and more efficiently than those of their competitors. The proposal is certain to provoke a major fight with Google, Yahoo, Time Warner, and Microsoft, the powerful owners of popular Internet sites. The companies fear such a move would give telecommunications companies too much control over a fast-growing part of the Internet. The battle is largely over video services. Several major telecom companies are working on ways to deliver broadcast-quality television over the Internet. Currently, online video can be slow to download and choppy to watch, even with higher-speed Internet services. The proposal supported by AT&T and BellSouth would allow telecommunications carriers to offer their own advanced Internet video services to their customers, while rival firms' online video offerings would be transmitted at lower speed and with poorer image quality. Rep Edward J. Markey (D-MA) says, '"I don't understand why we would tinker with the model that has been so wildly successful." Rep Markey says he's engaged in ''intense private negotiations" with telecom companies and congressional colleagues in search of a compromise. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/12/13/telecoms_want_their_products_to_travel_on_a_faster_internet/

Dec 14: PENTAGON ROLLS OUT STEALTH PR [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Matt Kelley] Speaking of indecency... a $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source. Run by psychological warfare experts at the U.S. Special Operations Command, the media campaign is being designed to counter terrorist ideology and sway foreign audiences to support American policies. The military wants to fight the information war against al-Qaeda through newspapers, websites, radio, television and "novelty items" such as T-shirts and bumper stickers. The program will operate throughout the world, including in allied nations and in countries where the United States is not involved in armed conflict. The description of the program by Mike Furlong, deputy director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, provides the most detailed look to date at the Pentagon's global campaign. The three companies handling the campaign include the Lincoln Group, the company being investigated by the Pentagon for paying Iraqi newspapers to run pro-U.S. stories. Military officials involved with the campaign say they're not planning to place false stories in foreign news outlets clandestinely. But the military won't always reveal its role in distributing pro-American messages, Furlong says. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051214/1a_lede14.art.htm * 3 groups have contracts for pro-U.S. propaganda http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051214/a_propagandainside14.art.htm

Dec 13: STUDY: 'DIGITAL DIVIDE' AFFECTS SCHOOL SUCCESS [SOURCE: eSchool News] Access to a home computer increases the likelihood that children will graduate from high school, but blacks and Latinos are much less likely to have a computer at home than are whites, according to a study by a researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). The study also found that the so-called "digital divide" is even more pronounced among children than adults. The study's findings, which have important implications for schools, seem to confirm the value of computer take-home programs--such as one-to-one school laptop initiatives, or donating old machines to students' families as they are replaced--as an effective instructional strategy. The study shows the persistence of the digital divide and suggests it has a profound impact on educational outcomes, even when factors such as income and parental education are taken into consideration, said Robert Fairlie, associate professor of economics at UCSC. His findings appeared in the October issue of the Economics of Education Review. "The digital divide is large and persistent, and black and Latino children are particularly hard-hit," said Fairlie. "The digital divide has important implications for educational and economic inequality in the United States. These findings should be a wake-up call for policy makers." http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5999

BRUSSELS TO LIBERALIZE TELEVISION ADVERTISING [SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Sarah Laitner and Tobias Buck] The European Commission will on Tuesday launch a sweeping plan to liberalize television advertising under the biggest shake-up of European Union broadcasting rules since 1989. For the first time it will let TV producers, advertisers and broadcasters tap into the lucrative world of product placement as well as enjoy greater flexibility on timing commercial breaks. Viviane Reding, the media commissioner leading the review of the "television without frontiers" directive, believes the changes will help broadcasters compete in the new media era. But the revised legislation faces intense criticism both from some of Ms Reding's fellow commissioners and also new media - which are covered by the directive for the first time and are bridling both at being regulated at all, and at the nature of the new rules, which they say are unclear. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e8753bc8-6b4c-11da-8aee-0000779e2340.html (requires subscription)

MADE-BY-VIEWERS TV [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Lawton christopher.lawton@wsj.com] What some people really want to do is direct. After a decade of the Internet revolutionizing the way people communicate and spend their leisure time, a growing number of consumers are going further -- creating entertainment and other media "content" on their own. Cable networks, radio stations -- even advertisers -- are embracing such "user-generated content" and serving it up, hoping to appeal to new and younger audiences that are impatient with standard media fare. This new genre of Do-It-Yourself Media harks back in some ways to public-access cable TV, to funny home videos and radio call-in shows. But it's slicker and more sophisticated. For a generation of young people raised on the Internet, it is second nature to express themselves in new ways. These aren't passive consumers: They think they have something to say and they don't see why they can't do what the big media companies are doing. In a series this week, The Wall Street Journal explores how Do-It-Yourself Media in various forms is creating a kind of parallel media universe. Today's article describes Al Gore's Current TV, which is helping to fill its 24 hours of daily programming with films made by viewers. Subsequent articles will look at how advertisers are soliciting ad ideas from their consumers, how cable operators are asking viewers to contribute material for dating services and real-estate channels and how phone companies are encouraging contributions to video logs. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113443820320320817.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

FORMER KR BAGHDAD CHIEF NOT SURPRISED BY PAYOLA PROGRAM [SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Joe Strupp] Recent revelations that the Pentagon has paid hundreds of Iraqi journalists for positive stories in the war-torn country are no surprise to former Knight Ridder Baghdad bureau chief Hannah Allam. During her two years in the capital city, Allam says signs of a "cozy" relationship between U.S. officials and the local press were everywhere. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001658829

Dec 12: HOLLYWOOD REWRITE: VIACOM OUTBIDS GE TO BUY DREAMWORKS [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Merissa Marr merissa.marr@wsj.com, Kate Kelly and Kathryn Kranhold] Yesterday, Viacom announced plans to acquire closely held DreamWorks, the live-action film studio that made hits like "Saving Private Ryan" and "American Beauty," for $774 million, plus the assumption of about $840 million of net debt. The deal also will give Viacom the right to distribute movies from DreamWorks Animation SKG, a separate public company. To help pay for the deal, Viacom plans to recruit outside investors to contribute as much as $1 billion of the total $1.6 billion package. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113416622175118798.html?mod=todays_us_page_one (requires subscription) HAPERCOLLINS PLANS TO CONTROL ITS DIGITAL BOOKS [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com and Kevin J. Delaney] In the latest salvo in the fight over the future of books on the Internet, one of the country's biggest publishers said it intends to produce digital copies of its books and then make them available to search services offered by such companies as Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com., while maintaining physical possession of the digital files. News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers Inc. hopes to head off the prospect of these big Internet companies taking charge of books that it has purchased, edited and published. Its move to digitize its active backlist of an estimated 20,000 titles and as many as 3,500 new books each year comes at a moment when technology companies and the publishing industry are wrestling over rights and economic models for books online. HarperCollins's effort to make search companies use its digital copies is an aggressive response to anxieties felt by publishers worried that they will lose control over their intellectual property. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113435527609919890.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace (requires subscription)

AN INDUSTRY UNWILLING TO PLAY BY RULES OF 'FAIR USE' [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Hiltzik] [Commentary] Scarcely a week passes without the entertainment industry warning us that its business model is about to be exterminated by some new technology. The Internet, satellite radio and TiVo are among the mortal threats that have sent media executives scurrying to Washington with proposals to rein them in, tax them, even ban them. The music labels, TV networks and movie studios never propose to alter their own models to accommodate new technologies - they merely insist that everybody else change to accommodate them. When they don't get their own way with lawmakers, they take it out on consumers. Media companies detest fair use. They regard your ability to make a backup copy of a CD as a lost opportunity to sell you a new disc. They worry that a song parody by "Weird Al" might be mistaken in a store for the real thing. They don't understand why a critic with the knives out for a book should be permitted to quote from it in a review. If they had their druthers, you'd pay them a few bucks every time you played a DVD at a party or put songs on a mix CD to give to a friend. http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-golden12dec12,1,5724963.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-business (requires registration)

BRING IT ON-LINE [SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Allison Romano] Across the country, TV stations are taking on newspapers, Web sites and all comers online -- and challenging them with video and exclusive online newscasts. Indeed, many stations say they are just beginning to flex their broadband muscles, offering rich video clips of dramatic news and displaying real-time traffic reports and weather by a local meteorologist. The market for online news is exploding. Twenty-nine percent of Americans say they go online regularly for news, up from virtually zero a decade ago, according to the Pew Research Center. The migration has caused tectonic shifts across media sectors, shrinking the audience for TV news -- both national and local -- and sending shockwaves through the newspaper industry, which has seen readership tumble sharply in the past decade. According to the Pew study, 71% of adults 18-29 say they get their news online, yet only 46% say they regularly watch local TV news. In the early 1990s, 75% of Americans said they watched local news. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6290218?display=Feature&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers

BAD NEWS, TOO OFTEN TRAVELING FIRST CLASS? [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently started to criticize press coverage of the war in Iraq, saying it is too negative. Privately, at least, some journalists say Rumsfeld has a point. But there is no shortage of critics. David Halberstam, the author and former Vietnam correspondent whose reporting led John F. Kennedy to demand that the New York Times recall him, says Rumsfeld is starting to resemble that era's Pentagon chief, Robert McNamara. "When the policy doesn't work, shoot the messenger," Halberstam says. "When the policy doesn't work or is seriously flawed, you go after the press, and certainly that happened in Vietnam. What was particularly odious is that if we were writing pessimistically, they'd say we were insulting the soldiers of an ally and insulting the U.S. military. As the people in the field were suppressed, they turned to the journalists, and we became their outlets." Michael Ware, Time's Baghdad correspondent, calls Secretary Rumsfeld's remarks administration spin. "It is so far from the truth on the ground it's almost indescribable," he says. "The defining quality of the Iraq story is the horror. It is a war, and it is awful, and bloody, and vicious, and brutal on all sides. To devote your energies to making that day's story the opening of a health clinic is almost irresponsible." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/11/AR2005121101228.html (requires registration)

FIRM FILES BELIEVABLE, NEWSY COPY, FOR A PRICE [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Annys Shin] Meet NewsUSA Inc, a 70-person company that churns out audio clips, newspaper copy and radio scripts, all based on information provided by paying clients -- corporations, associations and others. Reformulated into journalistic style, with a pitch for the client included as unobtrusively as possible, the articles are distributed free to newspapers and radio stations around the country. Invoking the credible tone of traditional news media for commercial purposes, the articles find their way into the advertising supplements of major dailies. They fill out the news pages of staff-strapped small-town or community newspapers. They get airplay in the guise of consumer tips -- often rounded out with a mention of a Web site or a company that can solve problems like hair loss or how to set up a bridal registry. Though news placement services have been around for more than 50 years, they have recently come under fire after articles and columns commissioned by the Bush administration appeared in U.S. and Iraqi newspapers without disclosing who paid for them. But such criticism is not likely to end a practice that for first-time authors, small trade associations, and even well-known corporations such as Home Depot Inc. and Volkswagen AG offers a handsome payoff: the ability to place a message before a mass audience for much less than the cost of buying traditional ads. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/11/AR2005121100636.html (requires registration)

HOLLYWOOD GIVES THE PRESS A BAD NAME [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr] [Commentary] Has the public been taught, movie by movie, to loathe and suspect the press? Maybe not, but the movies in which the press is seen as holding business and government to account -- how the press likes to think of itself -- are far outnumbered by the films in which the news media come off as entirely unaccountable. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/business/media/12carr.html?pagewanted=all (requires registration)

Dec 6: SO WHO IS BEHIND PLANTING STORIES IN IRAQI PRESS? [SOURCE: Editor&Publisher] A look at the Lincoln Group, the company that helped plant pro-American propaganda in the Iraqi press. http://www.freepress.net/news/12631

ADS IN GAMES FOUND EFFECTIVE [SOURCE: Associated Press] Ads in video games can have a major influence on whether people buy products and recommend them to friends, a new study by Nielsen Entertainment concludes. Previous studies have shown that static ads in games, such as a billboard or blimp, or integrated advertising, such as a car a player must drive, can improve awareness of a brand in the same way as a 30-second TV spot. But the new study released Monday shows that when ads are on screen long enough and are highly integrated into the game, they can make players feel more positive about a product. The study found that when ads were relevant to the game, the ads could remain on screen longer and resulted in a high percentage of brand awareness. Players surveyed after 20 minutes of game playing also said they would be highly likely to recommend an advertised product to a friend. http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-gameads5dec05,1,4011870.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business (requires registration)

LOOKING FOR THE PROCEEDS IN TV-ON-DEMAND [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Richard Siklos] For five decades or so, the television industry's main mission has been to come up with hit programs, get them on screens, and hope people will stop and watch. Now, that is just the starting point. As an era of ordering TV shows at the push of a button gets underway, new challenges are clouding the landscape in the year ahead: What business models are going to work and who is going to get paid what? Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research, a technology and market research company based in Cambridge, Mass., predicts TV shows available by video-on-demand will eventually be free, and that new interactive business models for advertising on demand will help pay the freight. For instance, he believes broadcasters will adopt "click though" pricing models similar to the fast-growing Internet advertising on portals like Google and Yahoo. Under that scenario, the network would be paid each time a viewer clicked on an ad or perhaps an icon super-imposed on the screen that paused the show they were watching and took them to a longer commercial. Cable operators including Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications have already made long-form advertising such as sponsored musical performances and infomercials part of what they offer on free video-on-demand. TiVo - a service for which subscribers pay a monthly fee to access - offers so-called showcases to advertisers. These showcases encourage customers to check out long-form advertisements and special promotions when they are browsing through a cable company's listing of TV shows, for example. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/05/business/media/05media.html (requires registration)

Dec 2: US MILITARY COVERTLY PAYS TO RUN STORIES IN IRAQI PRESS [SOURCE: Los Angeles Times 11/30, AUTHOR: Mark Mazzetti and Borzou Daragahi] Since the model worked so well for crafting US education policy... As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq. The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country. Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments. The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S. military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington-based firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-infowar30nov30,1,3365667.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage * U.S. Is Said to Pay to Plant Articles in Iraq Papers http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/01/politics/01propaganda.html?hp&ex=1133499600&en=3af8aaf9fa1cb0bc&ei=5094&partner=homepage

BUSH'S WAR ON THE PRESS [SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: John Nichols & Robert W. McChesney] [Commentary] With its unprecedented campaign to undermine and, where possible, eliminate independent journalism, the Bush Administration has demonstrated astonishing contempt for the Constitution and considerable fear of an informed public. Over the past five years the Administrations has: 1) corrupting public broadcasting, 2) issued fake video news segments, 3) paid off pundits, 4) turned press conferences into charades, 5) gutted the Freedom of Information Act, 6) obscured coverage of the war in Iraq, and 7) pushed for more consolidated media ownership. The Bush Administration attack on the foundations of self-government demands a response of similar caliber. Under pressure from media-reform activists Congress has begun to push back, with a strong bipartisan vote in the Senate Commerce Committee to limit the ability of federal agencies to produce covert video news segments and to investigate Defense Department spending on propaganda initiatives. But until the Administration is held accountable by Congress for all its assaults on journalism, and until standards are developed to assure that such abuses will not be repeated by future administrations, freedom of the press will exist in name only, with all that suggests for our polity. http://www.freepress.net/news/12548

ANONYMOUS SOURCES AND A KNOWN QUANTITY [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Tina Brown] [Commentary] Now that everyone's a moralist, all mistakes are outrages. It's born of the desperation of Big Journalism's realization that it has lost control. Mainstream Media are trapped in the pincer assaults of the fact-free ethical anarchy of the blogosphere and the cynicism of quarterly profit-driven conglomerates enslaved to entertainment values. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113002399.html (requires registration)

IF OLD JOURNALISM DIES... [SOURCE: The Village Voice, AUTHOR: Sydney H. Schanberg] [Commentary] Chattering oracles are telling us that newspapers will die soon, as the Internet takes over. But the puzzlement is, where will the new digital providers of information get their fresh news? serious journalism is labor-intensive and time-consuming and therefore requires large amounts of money and health benefits and pensions. The blogosphere has plenty of time, but as yet none of the other items. So if and when newspapers fade into darkness, as the all-seeing oracles foretell, what will happen? Perhaps, in a future time of airborne pigs, altruism will suddenly infuse our culture, and money will descend, like manna, on the Internet to pay for the reporters to do the intensive journalism needed as a check on abusive power. And if altruism or labor-friendly corporate ideologies don't magically appear? The oracles are mostly silent on that eventuality. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0548,schanberg,70452,6.html

BELLSOUTH WANTS TO CHARGE FOR WEB SPEED [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jonathan Krim] William L. Smith, chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth, said yesterday that Internet service providers should be allowed to strike deals to give certain Web sites or services priority in reaching computer users, a controversial system that would significantly change how the Internet operates. He believes BellSouth should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google. Or, Smith said, his company should be allowed to charge a rival voice-over-Internet firm so that its service can operate with the same quality as BellSouth's offering. Several big technology firms and public interest groups say that approach would enshrine Internet access providers as online toll booths, favoring certain content and shutting out small companies trying to compete with their offerings. "Prioritization is just another word for degrading your competitor," said Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group. "If we want to ruin the Internet, we'll turn it into a cable TV system" that carries programming from only those who pay the cable operators for transmission. Consumer groups wonder, for example, how any Web start-up that might want to challenge an incumbent could expect to outspend it to get top or even equal performance over a network charging for the privilege. Ms. Sohn said claims of bandwidth scarcity are overblown. The real agenda, she said, is to put rival services at a disadvantage. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113002109.html (requires registration)

VYING FOR REMOTE CONTROL [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steven Levingston] The marriage of the television and the computer moved a step closer yesterday when the giant chipmaker Intel unveiled its vision for using a new technology that blends the two devices. Intel said it is working with more than 40 companies around the world in the movie, music, television, gaming and photo-editing fields to deliver content to computers using the technology called Viiv (rhymes with five). Due out early next year, Viiv-equipped computers are designed to control the overall entertainment experience. They turn a television into a computer screen with the capability of performing any computer task, including searching the Internet. Operated by remote control, the system will be able to show a movie on the television while downloading music for later listening. The computer will turn on instantly like a television and with an add-on feature will record, pause and rewind live television programs. An entertainment center operated by a Viiv-platform computer will be able to connect to other devices, such as DVD players and portable media players. Yesterday's announcement intensifies the competition among cable companies, game makers, computer manufacturers, software firms, retailers, entertainment giants and Internet search engines that are all scrambling to find a way to dominate -- or at least carve out a niche in -- the digital home-entertainment hub. Companies have hurried to form alliances to strengthen their positions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113002118.html (requires registration)

MEDIA WILL BE EXTINCT SOON [SOURCE: Ball State Daily News, AUTHOR: Sean Bueter] Author and National Public Radio host Bob Garfield believes the media as they exist are headed for extinction due to a fragmented audience and a significant loss of advertising dollars. He believes that the corporate media giants currently in operation will give way to less expensive outlets. As advertisers look for new outlets to spend their money, small specialized operations will become the dominant forces in media. http://www.bsudailynews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/11/30/438d3d67f10b7

CYBERSPACE COMES TO AID OF KASHMIR QUAKE SURVIVORS [SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Terry Friel] The armies and emergency services of India and Pakistan were caught largely off guard by the October 8 quake that killed more than 73,000 and made millions homeless, but new technology is allowing ordinary people to step in and help in a major way. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-11-30T145949Z_01_FOR030661_RTRUKOC_0_US-QUAKE-SOUTHASIA-BLOGS.xml

PLANTED PROPAGANDA [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff] [Commentary] The Bush Administration's history of news manipulation makes it less surprising, but no less loathsome and damaging to find that the Administration has treated the Iraqi press, the Iraqi people and the very idea of Iraqi democracy with even greater contempt. The problem with this propaganda, as senior military officials who blew the whistle on it understood, is that it undermines the very effort it is trying to promote. An essential element of a democracy is a free press, not one controlled or covertly manipulated by government. As a senior Pentagon official told the Times, "Here we are trying to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give in that country is about democracy. And we're breaking all the first principles of democracy when we're doing it." That shouldn't have been so hard to figure out. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/01/AR2005120101520.html (requires registration)

PLANTED PROPAGANDA [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff] [Commentary] The Bush Administration's history of news manipulation makes it less surprising, but no less loathsome and damaging to find that the Administration has treated the Iraqi press, the Iraqi people and the very idea of Iraqi democracy with even greater contempt. The problem with this propaganda, as senior military officials who blew the whistle on it understood, is that it undermines the very effort it is trying to promote. An essential element of a democracy is a free press, not one controlled or covertly manipulated by government. As a senior Pentagon official told the Times, "Here we are trying to create the principles of democracy in Iraq. Every speech we give in that country is about democracy. And we're breaking all the first principles of democracy when we're doing it." That shouldn't have been so hard to figure out. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/01/AR2005120101520.html (requires registration)

LEGENDARY NEWS SERVICE TO CLOSE [SOURCE: Associated Press] From the home office in Chicago... The Chicago Tribune has announced it is shutting down City News Service -- the Tribune-owned successor of City News, the cooperative news service that had been feeding newspaper and broadcast subscribers for over a century -- and replacing it with a 24-hour news desk to serve Tribune websites. City News Service has had a long history in Chicago, starting in 1890 as the City News Bureau. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mike Royko, author Kurt Vonnegut and investigative reporter Seymour Hersh worked there. It was owned by Chicago's major daily newspapers until the Tribune became the sole owner and in 1999 renamed it the New City News Service. Because City News paid rock-bottom wages, it recruited young and usually untrained reporters and let them prove themselves - if they could. Many quit or were fired within weeks, but others went on to fame. One alum, playwright Charles MacArthur, turned his City News experiences into "The Front Page," which he co-wrote with Ben Hecht. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-citynews2dec02,1,1214541.story?coll=la-news-a_section (requires registration)

Dec 1: TV's TURN INTO VENDING MACHINES FOR PROGRAMS [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: David Lieberman] With network TV moving towards, video on demand (VOD), ten years from now, who'll pay for new network TV shows? And how will potential viewers discover that they exist? By 2010, viewers in 76.4 million homes (up from 12.5 million this year) will be able to watch shows when they want and zip through ads, Morgan Stanley projects -- due to aggressive promotion by cable, satellite and electronics companies of digital video recorders (DVRs) and other devices. The growth of VOD could threaten the building blocks of the TV business. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051130/tvfuture.art.htm

CHERRY: PONY UP FOR SCRIPTED PRODUCT PLACEMENT [SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Ben Grossman] While Writers Guild of America, West President Patric Verrone said recently that securing compensation for writers who pen shows that include product integration was not part of his agenda, Desperate Housewives executive producer Mark Cherry apparently feels differently. Speaking at a Tuesday luncheon in Beverly Hills hosted by the Hollywood Radio and Television Society, Cherry said he wants his show to be compensated if he and his staff have to take the time to write a product into a scene. “I'm all for product placement if I can get some of the money, but if it just all goes to the company, then we'll just put the car in the parking lot behind the characters,” he said. The guilds took on the product-integration issue with a code of conduct released on Nov. 14. The code comprises four points: the visual and aural disclosure of product integration deals at the beginning of each program, limiting integration within children's programming, including writers in decision-making regarding integration, and extending product integration regulation to cable TV. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6287705?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP (free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

A FALSE WIKIPEDIA 'BIOGRAPHY' [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: John Seigenthaler] [Commentary] This is a story of how vandals, hiding behind federal privacy laws, can use the highly popular, free online encyclopedia to attack fellow citizens. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051130/oplede17.art.htm

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Communications-Related Headlines are compiled, summarized and edited by Rachel Anderson (rachel@benton.org), Andy Carvin (andy@benton.org) and Charles Meisch (charlie@benton.org) of the Benton Foundation -- we welcome your feedback. Based in Washington DC, the Benton Foundation's mission is to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Other projects at Benton include:
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)

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