April 4, 2014 (Cuban Twitter; Internet Governance)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2014
You will not find Headlines in your In Box next week; we’ll be back Monday, April 14. For updates next week, check us out on Twitter @benton_fdn, see http://benton.org/taxonomy/term/6 or add us to you RSS reader http://benton.org/headlines/feed
PCAST on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2014-04-04/
Next week’s agenda -- http://benton.org/calendar/2014-04-06--P1W/
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
US Secretly Created 'Cuban Twitter' To Stir Unrest
White House: Creation of 'Cuban Twitter' Was Not Covert Program [links to web]
The US thinks it can invent a Cuban Spring? Puh-leez, say Internet freedom scholars. [links to web]
Sen Patrick Leahy: Cuban Twitter plan ‘dumb’ [links to web]
The State Department is trolling America's enemies on Twitter [links to web]
Introducing the ACLU's NSA Documents Database - press release [links to web]
Federal Shield Bill: A New Hope for Old Media - op-ed [links to web]
The White House Is Not Amused By Samsung's Selfie Stunt [links to web]
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Despite Knowing Risks, People Are Banking and Filing Taxes Over Public Wi-Fi Networks [links to web]
Cyberspace, self-defense, and the law of the sea - AEI analysis [links to web]
Tech Start-Ups Are Targets of Ransom Cyberattacks [links to web]
INTERNET/TELECOMMUNICATION
Defending the Multistakeholder Model of Internet Policymaking and Governance - analysis
'Global' Internet Governance Invites Censorship - op-ed
Internet governance campaign continues
What House lawmakers still don’t get about control of the Internet
Older Adults and Technology Use - research
It’s More Than Mere Access - analysis
Understanding FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Statement On Peering - analysis
Wake up, FCC: The Internet Protocol transition is now - Richard Bennett analysis
National Lifeline Accountability Database Up And Running - press release [links to web]
Public Knowledge Calls for More Data and Consumer Protections in Phone Network Trials - press release
New Approaches to Broadband -- Wireline, Licensed, and Unlicensed - press release
TELEVISION
Why so many want Aereo to beat broadcasters in the Supreme Court
Professors: Aereo Is Healthy Response to Dysfunctional System
Williams Filing JSA Waivers This Week
NAB: Local TV Stations to Test Interactive Services [links to web]
NBC Asks Gifford Not To Plug Her Wine On 'Today' [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Republicans See Opening to Ask Court to Void More Campaign Limits [links to web]
Ex-Connecticut Governor Goes Off Air Amid Campaign-Finance Inquiry [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC’s Use and Enforcement of Buildout Requirements - public notice
AT&T Not Bringing Text-to-911 to Cricket’s CDMA Network [links to web]
Mobile search spend to hit $17B by 2018: study [links to web]
DIVERSITY
Divided Media Gender Gap - press release
Media Giants Struggle To Win Over Latino Audiences [links to web]
CONTENT
Native ads: Advertorial for the digital age - analysis [links to web]
The End of ‘Television Without Pity’ - editorial [links to web]
HEALTH
Proposed health IT strategy aims to promote innovation, protect patients, and avoid regulatory duplication - press release
Remember The Healthcare.Gov Woes? State Exchanges Had the Same Problems [links to web]
EDUCATION
Districts Tackle Technology Gaps [links to web]
LOBBYING
High-Stakes Duel in DC: NAB Vs. FCC [links to web]
Veteran Washington trade groups seek new blood in Silicon Valley [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Liberty Media Will Sell Most of Its Investment In Barnes & Noble [links to web]
Facebook Explores Anonymity Features [links to web]
What Happens to a Content Business When You Fire All the Content Creators? - op-ed [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Turkey Regulator Says It Will Unblock Twitter [links to web]
Broadband Commission Reaffirms Crucial Role in Development - ITU analysis
Europe Moves Ahead on Internet Rules - NY Times editorial [links to web]
Fearing cyberattack, Israel curbs government websites' foreign traffic [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
US SECRETLY CREATED 'CUBAN TWITTER' TO STIR UNREST
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Desmond Butler, Jack Gillum, Alberto Arce]
In July 2010, Joe McSpedon, a US government official, flew to Barcelona to put the final touches on a secret plan to build a social media project aimed at undermining Cuba's communist government. McSpedon and his team of high-tech contractors had come in from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Washington and Denver. Their mission: to launch a messaging network that could reach hundreds of thousands of Cubans. To hide the network from the Cuban government, they would set up a byzantine system of front companies using a Cayman Islands bank account, and recruit unsuspecting executives who would not be told of the company's ties to the US government. McSpedon didn't work for the CIA. This was a program paid for and run by the US Agency for International Development, best known for overseeing billions of dollars in US humanitarian aid. The plan was to develop a bare-bones "Cuban Twitter," using cellphone text messaging to evade Cuba's strict control of information and its stranglehold restrictions over the Internet. In a play on Twitter, it was called ZunZuneo -- slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet. Documents show the US government planned to build a subscriber base through "non-controversial content": news messages on soccer, music, and hurricane updates. Later when the network reached a critical mass of subscribers, perhaps hundreds of thousands, operators would introduce political content aimed at inspiring Cubans to organize "smart mobs" -- mass gatherings called at a moment's notice that might trigger a Cuban Spring, or, as one USAID document put it, "renegotiate the balance of power between the state and society."
benton.org/node/179772 | Associated Press
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INTERNET/TELECOMMUNICATION
DEFENDING THE MULTISTAKEHOLDER MODEL OF INTERNET POLICYMAKING AND GOVERANCE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] On March 14, 2014, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced its intent to transition key Internet domain name functions to the global multistakeholder community. As the first step, NTIA asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition the current role played by NTIA in the coordination of the Internet’s domain name system (DNS). Some have argued that what NTIA is doing is tantamount to “giving away the Internet”. On April 2, the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on the NTIA’s announcement. In a press release after the hearing, Subcommittee leadership said, “Members sought answers regarding the Obama administration’s proposal instructing the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to explore ways to remove the United States from its oversight role of the Domain Name System and replace it with a different multistakeholder governance model. Members expressed concern about any change that could leave the Internet vulnerable to power grabs from international governments and sought commitments that the administration would not permit any outcome that fails to protect the ideals of Internet freedom and openness.”
http://benton.org/node/179759
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GLOBAL INTERNET GOVERANCE INVITES CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julius Genachowski, Gordon Goldstein]
[Commentary] The Commerce Department announcement about Internet governance comes at a time when global Internet freedom has never been more important or under greater threat. Governments around the world are considering measures to squelch free speech or free enterprise on the Internet. The International Telecommunication Union has historically had authority over certain international telephone rates and global spectrum allocations. At its next conference in South Korea in October, the ITU's 193 member states will likely consider extending the agency's authority to the Internet. The U.S. can influence this and other multilateral gatherings, working to convince countries on the fence that a free and open Internet promotes economic growth globally and within countries that embrace it. Toward this end, changes in the US relationship with ICANN should be designed to preserve the unrestricted flow of information and data over the Internet. This means, first of all, that any entity that might replace the US oversight role cannot be a government entity. Instead, it must be a multistakeholder body rooted in the private sector and civil society, preserving the decentralized, nongovernmental approach that has "governed" the Internet from its inception. Otherwise, no deal. The Commerce Department made such conditions implicit when it announced its intention to eventually transfer its current oversight role with ICANN. We believe these conditions should become explicit and nonnegotiable.
[Genachowski, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is managing director at The Carlyle Group. Goldstein is managing director at Silver Lake.]
benton.org/node/179821 | Wall Street Journal
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INTERNET GOVERANCE CAMPAIGN CONTINUES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello, Julian Hattem]
On April 4, Commerce Department Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling will speak at the Hudson Institute on the department’s plans to step back from its current role in overseeing the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Fadi Chehade, CEO of the nonprofit tasked with developing a plan to transition this oversight role away from the U.S. government, will also speak at the event. The event will also include Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, deputy assistant secretary of State, and former Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell. McDowell, a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, said he will be raising questions about the accountability of Internet governance organizations if the US steps back from its oversight role.
benton.org/node/179820 | Hill, The
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WHAT HOUSE LAWMAKERS STILL DON’T GET ABOUT CONTROL OF THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
America is the reason why everyone thinks the Internet is awesome and, more important, it's why Russia and China haven't already taken over the Web and foisted their draconian rules on the rest of us. That's apparently what some members of the House believe, at any rate. Republican lawmakers grilled officials about a recent proposal that would end the Commerce Department's business relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit charged with administering the Internet's system of names and numbers. This system syncs Web domains to IP addresses and makes sure that when you type in Google's address, you actually land there. Maintaining this system has technically been the US government's job. But for more than a decade, it has contracted with ICANN to do the work. This contractual relationship is what people are talking about when they refer to the United States' "control" of the Internet. It also helps that ICANN's international headquarters are in California. Now the Obama Administration may let that contract lapse, replacing it with a multistakeholder body composed of corporations, states, advocacy groups and other potential members. It's not yet clear what that body will look like, but this idea already has some members of Congress worried. They're concerned it means the United States is giving up its influence over the Web -- even though that critique has already been debunked. The power over the Internet that some in Congress think the United States has to beat back authoritarian regimes doesn't actually reside in the United States at all. But that reality is being obscured by a myth: that the United States, having played a pivotal role in the Internet's creation, has a magical power to thwart speech-stifling regimes.
benton.org/node/179780 | Washington Post
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OLDER ADULTS AND TECHNOLOGY USE
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith]
America’s seniors have historically been late adopters to the world of technology compared to their younger compatriots, but their movement into digital life continues to deepen, according to newly released data from the Pew Research Center. In this report, we take advantage of a particularly large survey to conduct a unique exploration not only of technology use between Americans ages 65 or older and the rest of the population, but within the senior population as well. Two different groups of older Americans emerge. The first group (which leans toward younger, more highly educated, or more affluent seniors) has relatively substantial technology assets, and also has a positive view toward the benefits of online platforms. The other (which tends to be older and less affluent, often with significant challenges with health or disability) is largely disconnected from the world of digital tools and services, both physically and psychologically. As the Internet plays an increasingly central role in connecting Americans of all ages to news and information, government services, health resources, and opportunities for social support, these divisions are noteworthy -- particularly for the many organizations and individual caregivers who serve the older adult population. Among the key findings of this research:
Six in ten seniors now go online, and just under half are broadband adopters
Younger, higher-income, and more highly educated seniors use the internet and broadband at rates approaching -- or even exceeding -- the general population; Internet use and broadband adoption each drop off dramatically around age 75
Older adults face a number of hurdles to adopting new technologies, from physical challenges, skepticism about technology, and difficulty in learning new technology
Once seniors join the online world, digital technology often becomes an integral part of their daily lives
Seniors differ from the general population in their device ownership habits in that fewer older adults own mobile devices, and among older adults, tablets and e-book readers are as popular as smartphones
27% of older adults use social networking sites such as Facebook, but these users socialize more frequently with others compared with non-SNS users
benton.org/node/179764 | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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IT’S MORE THAN MERE ACCESS
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Cecilia Garcia]
[Commentary] The newly released Pew Research Center’s report, “Older Adults and Technology Use,” shows substantial forward movement in Internet use and broadband adoption by America’s senior population. However, given the increasingly important role that this 21st century technology plays in all of our lives, it is troubling that 41 percent of seniors still do not use the Internet (compared to 14 percent of all adults), and that 53 percent do not have broadband access where they live (all adults: 30 percent). The Benton Foundation has been working with Senior Service America, Inc. (SSAI) to address the challenges of bringing senior non-Internet users online. This latest Pew research reaffirms what we’re finding in our work. SSAI conducted a two-year Digital Inclusion Initiative that helped seniors learn to use computers and the Internet. By training 555 participants of its Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) as peer coaches in using software developed by Generations on Line, the Digital Inclusion Initiative (DII) helped more than 26,000 seniors through the end of 2011. SCSEP peer coaches provided free one-on-one assistance at 355 community-based sites in 16 states, using a non-classroom style, self-paced, peer coaching approach that proved to be very successful with seniors.
http://benton.org/node/179754
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UNDERSTANDING FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER STATEMENT ON PEERING
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] At the press conference following the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) March 31 Open Meeting, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made the following observation: “Interconnection is part of the Network Compact. ‘Peering’ is just a $3.50 word for interconnection.” Personally, I think most people are totally misreading this. Chairman Wheeler’s statements make it look more likely to me that the FCC will start looking closely at the Internet peering market, not less likely, especially as part of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal. l rant at considerable length that (a) Chairman Wheeler is right, this is not a “network neutrality” issue, but the same goddam interconnection issue that we have struggled with for more than a hundred years in every networked industry from railroads to electricity to broadband; (b) The FCC needs to actually look at this and study it and understand how the market works before it makes any decisions on what to do; and, (c) While Chairman Wheeler is not saying -- in any way, shape or form -- that he actually plans to do anything before he has real information on which to base a decision, he is signaling -- for anyone actually paying attention -- that he is, in fact, going to actually look at this as part of his overall transition of the agency around his “Fourth Network Revolution” and “Network Compact” ideas.
benton.org/node/179776 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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WAKE UP, FCC: THE INTERNET PROTOCOL TRANSITION IS NOW
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Richard Bennett]
[Commentary] Some 45 years after design work started on the cellular network and the Internet, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an Internet Protocol (IP) Technology Transitions Order amounting to a reluctant invitation for trials on the decommissioning of the legacy telephone network. While the telephone network is no longer the centerpiece of telecommunications in the United States or around the world, the FCC is clearly anxious about turning it off, probably because the FCC and telephone network grew up together. This reluctance is apparent in the many obstacles the FCC’s transition order places in the way of the decommissioning trials. While it is worthwhile to ensure that no essential capabilities are abandoned in the transition from the telephone network to its replacement (pervasive broadband networks running IP), it is important for the FCC to approach this transition sensibly.
benton.org/node/179778 | American Enterprise Institute
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MORE DATA AND CONSUMER PROTECTIONS
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Jodie Griffin]
On March 31, 2014, Public Knowledge, along with the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute and the Benton Foundation, told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that AT&T’s plans to test its new services on consumers must include more thorough data collection plans and more robust consumer protections. In our comments, we pointed out ways AT&T’s trials should be improved so they produce useful, reliable information:
The proposal should collect data on many metrics beyond just the number of dropped or blocked calls, like network capacity, call quality, device interoperability, accessibility for users with disabilities, system availability, and 9-1-1 access.
The proposal should specify a control group to compare results with, ideally one within the same wire center as the trial.
The proposal should make the trials transparent by involving community representatives and by releasing the collected data.
In addition, the trial plans need to ensure network users will continue to be protected throughout the tests. No carrier should be allowed to systematically turn customers away from services on the traditional network infrastructure until the FCC has ensured the replacement services are comparable—a conclusion we are still far from reaching. To the extent that customers move voluntarily onto new services, AT&T must explicitly and prominently notify them of the known limitations or risks in the new technology, like losing access to medical alerts, alarm systems, 800 numbers, and collect calling services.
benton.org/node/179819 | Benton Foundation
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NEW APPROACHES TO BROADBAND -- WIRELINE, LICENSED, AND UNLICENSED
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
The Federal Communications Commission approved two items that use innovative approaches to free up spectrum for broadband. One order utilizes spectrum sharing in the AWS-3 band to make airwaves currently used by government available for flexible, commercial use. Another order is taking 100 MHz of unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band that was barely usable -- and not usable at all outdoors -- and transforming it into space that is fully usable for Wi-Fi. Building on this work, the theme of the Commission’s April 23rd open meeting agenda will be “New Approaches to Broadband -- Wireline, Licensed, and Unlicensed.” As evidenced by the AWS-3 order, spectrum sharing is a potentially revolutionary new approach that will allow us to derive greater value from the finite spectrum resource. For consideration at our April open meeting, I am circulating proposed rules that are designed to make the 3.5 GHz band a test-bed for spectrum-sharing innovation. The proposal includes three tiers of prioritization: federal and non-federal incumbents, priority access licensees, and general authorized access users. It includes a single, highly flexible band plan, avoiding the analog trap of Balkanizing spectrum into sub-bands, each with its own sets of rules. The proposal also anticipates a wide range of flexible uses. Small cells will undoubtedly be a core use case, but we would not limit the band to such use. Finally, the proposal reflects economic incentives. The proposal would set up a flexible auction and licensing scheme that leverages the technical capabilities of a Spectrum Access System (SAS) database, which will function like a traffic cop for spectrum by assessing available spectrum so that it can be accessed by prioritized users. Phase I of the Connect America Fund has already provided more than $430 million to leverage tens of millions in additional private investment to deploy broadband to more than 1.6 million unserved Americans in 45 states. To put this into perspective, this reduces by about 10 percent the number of Americans without access to broadband. We must continue to move forward with the implementation of the CAF Phase II process, even as we reexamine our approach in light of marketplace and technological developments.
benton.org/node/179811 | Federal Communications Commission
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TELEVISION
WHY SO MANY WANT AEREO TO BEAT BROADCASTERS IN THE SUPREME COURT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Precious little is known about Aereo, the online video startup that doesn't say how many subscribers it has in its select number of markets. Yet as it prepares to argue its legality before the Supreme Court in late April, the company has captured the attention and imagination of the media and technology world. That's because the company, funded in part by IAC chairman Barry Diller, could upend the television industry if the high court decides that its capture of broadcast television signals doesn't violate copyright law. Turns out many want to change the way the television industry works -- where programmers such as Fox, NBC Universal and ABC (Disney) charge cable and satellite firms enormous licensing fees and cable companies push fat and expensive bundles of channels on consumers. Aereo's supporters came out in force in a string of amicus filings to the Supreme Court ahead of an April 22 hearing. In the filings, Dish satellite, smaller cable firms and even some small broadcasters argued that Aereo isn't violating copyright laws as alleged by every major television broadcasting firm. They, too, would like to get broadcast content without paying for ever-increasing retransmission fees.
benton.org/node/179775 | Washington Post
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PROFESSORS: AEREO IS HEALTHY RESPONSE TO DYSFUNCTIONAL SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Aereo definitely has friends in a trio of law professors who weighed in on its side with the Supreme Court. Filing the brief were Warren Grimes is a professor of law at Southwestern Law School and co-author of The Law of Antitrust: An Integrated Handbook; Shubha Ghosh, law professor at University of Wisconsin Law School and cofounder of the American Antitrust Institute; and Joshua P. Davis, associate dean for academic affairs, professor and director, Center for Law and Ethics at the University of San Francisco School of Law. In their amicus brief, the professors called Aereo a "healthy free-market response to a dysfunctional and anticompetitive television distribution system that raises prices, reduces output, and denies consumers meaningful choice." They say broadcasters have a responsibility to support the wide dissemination by Aereo of their free TV signals, a responsibility given their spectrum grants that trumps the pursuit of copyright payments. They point out that broadcasters have two limited government monopolies, access to free spectrum -- free except for the public interest standard--and certain exclusive copyright protections of a "fair return" for their creative investment in local programming. But the academics argue broadcasters undermine their public interest obligation to free, over-the-air TV by invoking copyright law. They say Aereo simplifies access to those over-the-air signals, signals that already ensure a fair return to broadcasters through ad revenue. Granting broadcasters the relief from Aereo they seek would "decrease the output of local television broadcasting and leave consumers with very limited, technologically deficient and expensive choices for obtaining local programming," they say.
benton.org/node/179787 | Broadcasting&Cable
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WILLIAMS FILING JSA WAIVERS THIS WEEK
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators series, Armstrong Williams said he had instructed his lawyers to apply for waivers of the Federal Communications Commission's just-approved policy making joint sales agreements attributable as ownership interests. He said he is confident he will get them because he is active and involved in running the television stations, something he could not afford to be doing without the joint sales agreements (JSAs). Williams has JSAs with Sinclair for the two stations he owns in Flint (MI), and Myrtle Beach (SC). Williams says Sinclair's big pockets were a blessing without which he could not have gotten access to the capital -- through J.P. Morgan -- to buy the stations, which he did as part of a spin-off deal of stations by Sinclair when it bought the Barrington group. Williams said that without Sinclair's backing, he would go belly up in a matter of months, though he later said if he did not get the waiver and had to unwind the JSAs he would find a way to reinvent himself that included owning the TV stations. He said if he had to negotiate as a standalone, cable operators would just drop him from their systems. "It is important that we have someone with a proven track record in broadcasting and programming to be there for us and to fight for us." He said he was very confident he would get the waiver.
benton.org/node/179810 | Broadcasting&Cable
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC’S USE AND ENFORCEMENT OF BUILDOUT REQUIREMENTS
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: ]
Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license data for five wireless services and found that buildout requirements were met for 75 percent of those licenses, and FCC generally terminated those that did not. As part of enforcement, FCC also grants or dismisses licensees’ requests to extend the deadline for meeting a requirement. FCC may grant an extension if the licensee shows that it cannot meet a deadline due to causes beyond its control, like a lack of available equipment. For the five wireless services examined, GAO found that extensions were requested for 9 percent of licenses, and FCC granted 74 percent of these requests. FCC officials said that the Commission seeks to be aggressive but pragmatic when enforcing buildout requirements, including being flexible on deadlines when needed. Some licensees and industry associations GAO interviewed said that extensions can provide needed flexibility when unexpected problems occur. Some concerns were raised, however, that granting extensions can undermine buildout requirements by creating an impression that they will not be strictly enforced. Stakeholders GAO interviewed generally said that buildout requirements are effective in meeting two of four goals commonly cited in FCC documents and statute—encouraging licensees to provide services in a timely manner and preventing the warehousing of spectrum. Stakeholders had mixed views on the effectiveness of buildout requirements in meeting two other goals -- promoting innovative services and promoting services to rural areas -- largely because they believed that other tools could better address these goals. Other tools stakeholders mentioned include greater use of spectrum licenses that allow a wider array of uses and providing licensees with subsidies to serve rural areas. Nearly all the licensees and industry associations GAO interviewed said they support FCC having buildout requirements, while spectrum policy experts GAO interviewed were mixed in their support of the requirements. Experts who did not support buildout requirements said that the requirements are set too weak or that other tools could better meet FCC goals, among other reasons.
benton.org/node/179762 | Government Accountability Office
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DIVERSITY
DIVIDED MEDIA GENDER GAP
[SOURCE: Women’s Media Center, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Women’s Media Center examined 20 of the most widely circulated, read, viewed and listened to US based TV networks, newspapers, news wires and online news sites. The Women’s Media Center commissioned Global News Intelligence (GNI) researchers to analyze 27,000 pieces of content from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013. The survey focused on the gender breakdown of full-time newsroom staffers, paid freelance journalists and non-paid content contributors from the following news organizations: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Chicago Sun-Times, The Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, CNN.com, Daily Beast, FOXNews.com and The Huffington Post. The research findings tell a stark story about where women stand across every platform in the 24/7 news cycle. We conducted this research in order to shine a light on how well American news media -- the shaper of images, ideologies, and ideals -- allow women to craft our own narrative and include our voices in a wide-ranging public discourse over the airwaves, in print and online. The report summarizes the most recent available statistical data on:
Representation of women in media occupations associated with determining content of news
Representation of women in media occupations associated with determining content of television and film entertainment
Gender equity in film reviews
How women are depicted on entertainment television and film
Women and digital news consumption
Representation of women for online-only sites and in video games
Recommendations to news organizations, producers and interview bookers
Our conclusion: American media have exceedingly more distance to travel on the road to gender-blind parity.
benton.org/node/179763 | Women’s Media Center
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HEALTH
FDA SEEKS COMMENT ON HEALTH IT REPORT
[SOURCE: Food and Drug Administration, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Health and Human Services released a draft report that includes a proposed strategy and recommendations for a health information technology (health IT) framework, which promotes product innovation while maintaining appropriate patient protections and avoiding regulatory duplication. The congressionally mandated report was developed in consultation with health IT experts and consumer representatives and proposes to clarify oversight of health IT products based on a product’s function and the potential risk to patients who use it. The report was developed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in consultation with two other federal agencies that oversee health IT: HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FDA seeks public comment on the draft document.
benton.org/node/179817 | Food and Drug Administration
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
BROADBAND COMMISSION REAFFIRMS CRUCIAL ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT
[SOURCE: International Telecommunication Union, AUTHOR: Elaine Weidman]
[Commentary] Everyone taking part in the Broadband Commission’s recent session in Dublin understands the ways in which broadband is impacting every aspect of our lives, while at the same time accelerating progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. However, we all share the same concern: how can we secure affordable access for all, in the shortest possible time, and in keeping with the goals of the Broadband Commission? In September the commission published its Transformative Solutions for 2015 and Beyond report, along with a supporting manifesto which has been signed by 48 members of the commission to date. The manifesto, presented at a side event of the 5th session of the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals in September, states that: “Overcoming the digital divide makes sense not only on the basis of principles of fairness and justice; connecting the world makes sound commercial sense. The vital role of broadband needs to be acknowledged at the core of any post-2015 sustainable development framework, to ensure that all countries -- developed and developing alike -- are empowered to participate in the global digital economy.” So, the question we faced in Dublin was not what to do; the recommendations of the report were clear, and we reviewed progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals as well as progress on our task group’s activities. The discussion now was far more focused on how to most effectively get our messages across to national governments and leaders who influence the global agenda in order to ensure that broadband is affordable and accessible, and that its benefits reach as many people as possible.
benton.org/node/179766 | International Telecommunication Union
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