March 2008

Consumer discontent with wireless service has been brewing for years, resulting in lawsuits across the country and requests for government intervention. Now there's movement at the federal level to address long-standing concerns such as mandatory contract extensions, early termination fees and confusing billing. The latest draft legislation is a wireless consumer protection act from Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) who proposes, among other items, requiring operators to offer a service plan with no early termination fee and letting consumers cancel their contracts within 30 days without penalty. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) has also floated legislation to set up uniform requirements for wireless customer service.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri-wireless-backlashmar21,0,...

Five years later, the United States remains at war in Iraq, but there are days when it would be hard to tell from a quick look at television news, newspapers and the Internet. Media attention on Iraq began to wane after the first months of fighting, but as recently as the middle of last year, it was still the most-covered topic. Since then, Iraq coverage by major American news sources has plummeted, to about one-fifth of what it was last summer, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The drop in coverage parallels -- and may be explained by -- a decline in public interest. Surveys by the Pew Research Center show that more than 50 percent of Americans said they followed events in Iraq “very closely” in the months just before and after the war began, but that slid to an average of 40 percent in 2006, and has been running below 30 percent since last fall. Experts offer many other explanations for the declining media focus, like the danger and expense in covering Iraq, and shrinking newsroom budgets. In the last year, a flagging economy and the most competitive presidential campaign in memory have diverted attention and resources.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/media/24press.html?ref=todays...
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[Commentary] With a 20-page opinion handed down March 7, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton sent a shudder through journalists and their would-be sources. He found former USA Today reporter Toni Locy in contempt of court for not revealing the identities of people she talked to for a May 2003 story on the 2001 anthrax attacks and ordered her to pay the fine he had imposed -- as much as $45,000 -- out of her own pocket. Even worse, Judge Walton barred others from assisting Ms. Locy. A stay of the penalty pending an appeal was granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on March 11. We hope it presages a move by the court to reverse Judge Walton's sweeping and unjustified order. Judge Walton's opinion removes any protection that government news sources have come to rely on. If allowed to stand, it would seriously impair the ability of journalists not only to expose malfeasance and corruption but also to provide thorough coverage of institutions such as the Justice Department. Reporters rely on regular confidential sources to burrow into their beats; if they can be arbitrarily required to identify all their sources, it's likely they won't have any. Ms. Locy might not be in this predicament if the federal government had what 49 states and the District of Columbia have: protection of the relationship between reporters and their sources. A proposed federal shield law is stuck in the Senate. Maybe Ms. Locy's plight will finally spur senators to take action.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR200803...
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While preparing to take Fox Television to the Supreme Court over a handful of expletives, the Federal Communications Commission let expire a separate indecency fine against the network for airing a movie with multiple repetitions of one of the same expletives. The FCC blamed a recent federal appeals court decision, saying it has created confusion over how the agency can enforce its indecency rules. In March 2006, the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability to Fox station KTVI St. Louis, Mo., proposing a $27,500 fine for a 2003 airing of the movie "The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper," which contained numerous instances of "shit" and its variations, including "bullshit," "holy shit" and "owl shit," according to an FCC investigation into the lone complaint that was lodged. But the agency never followed up with a formal notice of forfeiture -- a demand for payment that the Justice Dept. is authorized to collect. The statute of limitation for collecting on a forfeiture is five years from date of the offending broadcast. Because the FCC never issued a forfeiture notice and because KTVI broadcast the film on March 15, 2003, U.S. attorneys saw their chance to enforce any fine against KTVI expire nine days ago.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982791.html?categoryid=14&cs=1