June 2017

Pew State of the News Media: Cable News Fact Sheet

Cable TV is home to a set of news channels that have become a destination for political news. In fact in 2016, cable news topped Americans’ list of most helpful source types for news and information about the presidential election. Financially, these channels have generally set themselves apart from other news media by their comparatively robust business model. In prime time, combined average viewership for the three major news channels (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC) increased by 55% percent to 4.8 million viewers. Total revenue across the three channels was projected to increase by 19 percent in 2016, to a total of nearly $5 billion

Online news outlets employing more women than print, TV: Report

In March, the Women’s Media Center released “The Status of Women in US Media 2017,” its annual report to assess “how a diversity of females fare across all media platforms.” The study found that men outnumber women both in bylines and as sources in stories. Journalism’s gender problem, however, looks a bit different outside male-dominated print and TV news. Online-only news outlets have come much closer to achieving gender balance, and a few journalism fellowships have made strides to better support female journalists. Women fared better in print news, according to the report, but not by much: men produced 62 percent of content.

Chairman Blackburn Working on Making Privacy Bill Bipartisan

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) says she’s working to get some Democratic Reps on board to the BROWSER Act, her broadband privacy bill that would require both companies like Google and internet service providers to develop opt-in policies for sharing users’ sensitive data. “I’m pleased that some of my colleagues across the aisle are interested in the bill — I am hopeful this is going to be bipartisan, bicameral,” she said without naming names. She also noted that she intends to broach the topic with the Administration as she continues to work with members of the White House on the infrastructure package. “As we move forward with broadband expansion and the infrastructure bill, it will give me the opportunity to talk with [the White House] and seek support for what we’re doing with privacy,” she added.

Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen said the pressure for action on privacy might fade as the FCC moves forward with its net neutrality rulemaking. “I think the fervor for privacy legislation may disappear if the FCC does proceed in four or five months and reclassifies broadband under Title I because then the FTC will again have jurisdiction to enforce privacy against ISPs as well as the internet ecosystem, so then there may be a question of whether any congressional legislation is necessary at that time,” Cohen said. He said whether all web browsing or just certain web browsing history should be deemed sensitive is a discussion that can be had during consideration of the bill.

A Counterproductive Privacy Bill

[Commentary] Privacy activists appear to have some new friends among congressional Republicans. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and cosponsors have introduced comprehensive privacy legislation that would apply a strict new privacy regime across the entire internet ecosystem. The legislation, known as the Browser bill, results from legitimate concerns about an “unlevel” playing field across the internet ecosystem and a mistaken belief that recent congressional action repealing the Federal Communications Commission’s privacy rule, promulgated under former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, left consumers unprotected. In fact, Congress’s action was the first step in re-leveling the playing field and returning privacy enforcement responsibilities over internet service providers to the Federal Trade Commission, which had that job before the FCC classified broadband internet service providers as “Title II” common carriers in 2015. Common carriers are exempt from FTC jurisdiction. The FCC then filled the gap by promulgating its now-repealed privacy rule. The Browser bill would return privacy jurisdiction over ISPs to the FTC, but would do so under a new and restrictive regime.

The better route to reinstating FTC jurisdiction is to follow repeal of the FCC privacy rule with repeal of the Title II classification. The FCC now has a rulemaking underway intended to accomplish that objective, a much better course than new privacy legislation.

[Thomas M. Lenard is senior fellow and president emeritus at the Technology Policy Institute. ]

Cable giant Charter snubbed a buyout bid from Verizon

Apparently, Verizon boss Lowell McAdam, his company facing slowing sales of mobile phones, made a proposal to acquire cable TV giant Charter Communications in recent months. The offer — valued at between $350 and $400 a share, and well over $100 billion, apparently— was rejected by Charter because it was too low — and because Charter and its largest shareholder, Liberty Media, weren’t ready to sell. Verizon, whose archrival AT&T has moved to expand beyond the wireless world by buying DirecTV and Time Warner, also recently expressed interest in another Liberty Media property, Sirius XM Holdings, apparently. Verizon’s interest in SiriusXM didn’t get as far as a bid.

Cross-Departmental Collaboration Increasingly Vital to Digital Inclusion

As life increasingly migrates into the digital realm, more agencies within municipal government are finding that digital inclusion — the effort to provide all residents with equal access to technology, as well as the related skills to benefit — is vital to the well-being of the public. Cities such as Seattle (WA), Portland (OR), Austin (TX), Kansas City (MO), and Louisville (KY) have laid out official digital inclusion strategies and forward-thinking plans, and many other cities now have appointees or departments dedicated to the issue. At the same time, the number of tangentially related government agencies contributing to the work is rising, and as it does local government leadership is acknowledging that digital inclusion is an increasingly vital foundation for healthy, equitable cities, cities in which the entire populous has a chance to advance and thrive.

Facing political crisis, President Trump leans on familiar ally: Fox News

President Donald Trump has swatted away swirling questions over his associates' contact with Russian officials by questioning the legitimacy -- if not the existence -- of unnamed sources cited in stories about the ongoing investigation into the Kremlin's interference with the election. But on May 30, the president promoted a Fox News report that was centered around claims from a single anonymous source. A day later, President Trump leaned on his favorite cable news program, "Fox & Friends," to support his insistence that the investigation is nothing more than a "witch hunt." The sequence provided a vivid reminder that at perhaps the most dire moment of his young presidency, with reporters and lawmakers alike raising questions that could have political and legal ramifications for the White House, President Trump has found refuge in the typically friendly coverage of Fox News.

Sean Spicer Holds Uncharacteristically Short Press Briefings

For two days in a row, since returning from President Trump's trip abroad, the White House press secretary has held uncharacteristically short press briefings in which he claimed not to know the answer to questions, outsourced questions to other officials or dismissed the premise of questions entirely. Both briefings included less than 20 minutes for questions -- far less than most prior briefings -- and ended with Spicer abruptly exiting the room to the consternation of reporters. At May 31's briefing, which was off-camera, one reporter could be heard shouting after the departing press secretary, "How short are these gonna be!?"

White House IT Director Gets Lobbying Waiver

Christopher Liddell, the White House director of strategic initiatives, was granted a 90-day waiver to conduct White House business while his trust divested assets that were deemed to be in conflict with his new position. Liddell, previously a CFO for Microsoft, has been a go-to on tech policy matters and helps run the newly formed Office of American Innovation. Also granted an ethics waiver is Charles Herndon, the White House information technology director. Prior to joining the administration, Herndon worked for IT contractor CSRA. The waiver will allow Herndon to provide technology services to the White House, though he is barred from participating in work related to a Defense Information Systems Agency contract in which he "participated personally and substantially while an employee of CSRA."

Mary Meeker’s 2017 internet trends report: All the slides, plus analysis

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker is delivering her annual rapid-fire internet trends report. Here’s a first look at the most highly anticipated slide deck in Silicon Valley:
Global smartphone growth is slowing: Smartphone shipments grew 3 percent year over year last year, versus 10 percent the year before. This is in addition to continued slowing internet growth, which Meeker discussed last year.
Voice is beginning to replace typing in online queries. Twenty percent of mobile queries were made via voice in 2016, while accuracy is now about 95 percent.
In 10 years, Netflix went from 0 to more than 30 percent of home entertainment revenue in the U.S. This is happening while TV viewership continues to decline.

Benton

Search