BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2012
Today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2012-10-10/
MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
TV ‘watchdogs’ quiet as political ad cash rolls in - op-ed
Presidential debate 101: How much would US save by cutting off Big Bird? - analysis
Obama's Big Bird bet
Romney doubles-down on Big Bird
Don’t Mess With Big Bird - editorial [links to web]
Romney slams Obama for talking Big Bird
Sesame Street asks Obama campaign to take down attack ad featuring Big Bird [links to web]
The State of the 2012 Election — Mobile Politics - research
Networks Like Split-Screens in Debates, Even if the Candidates Don’t
Political Reddit AMA chats on the rise [links to web]
Tech Industry: Obama Will Win, But We Prefer Romney
Big data politics: Why you can’t outrun campaigns by avoiding the TV
In social media battle, Obama beats Romney [links to web]
Nickelodeon TV Says Romney Skipped Kids’ Questions [links to web]
Outside Political Groups Swamp Montana's Media Market [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Is mobile broadband a luxury or human right?
Widening Scrutiny of Google’s Smartphone Patents
IT Experts Say Mobile Phones Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks [links to web]
Verizon Wireless: Soon Majority of Data Traffic Will Be on LTE [links to web]
Survey: 40% of U.S. teens own an Apple iPhone. 62% want one [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The dangers of delaying heightened cybersecurity - op-ed
White House to meet with House staffers over cybersecurity order [links to web]
A Quirk in Time Warner Cable’s New Modem Fee
Funding uncertainty puts rural Internet plans in jeopardy in Wisconsin [links to web]
CONTENT
Judge allows case against Megaupload to move ahead [links to web]
YouTube wants you to tell on publishers without closed captions [links to web]
PRIVACY
Study Finds Broad Wariness Over Online Tracking [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Media General Sells Final Paper [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Stifel Nicolaus: Republican FCC Would Favor Big Cable on Access [links to web]
Reinventing the News Wheel is a Tough Job [links to web]
NPR Names New Executive Editor [links to web]
NEWS FROM HIGH COURT
Supreme Court lets AT&T immunity stand in surveillance case
Supreme Court Will Hear Case on FCC “Shot Clock” Rules
HEALTH
Trade Group Opposes Republican Move to Suspend EHR Incentives [links to web]
More Consumers Get Health Info On Mobile Devices [links to web]
LABOR
House Commerce Committee Leaders Troubled with Stimulus Dollars Sent Overseas, Producing No American Jobs - press release
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
US panel to probe new wave of complaints against Huawei, ZTE [links to web]
EU holds fire on ZTE, Huawei telecom trade case
Huawei's Business Grows in Canada [links to web]
Huawei faces exclusion from planned Canada government network [links to web]
Huawei's Ally: IBM [links to web]
President’s documents now accessible on smartphone [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
China Calls Huawei Report 'Groundless' [links to web]
EU holds fire on ZTE, Huawei telecom trade case
Google offers to brand web search results
EU antitrust chief hopes to settle Apple case soon [links to web]
Taiwan asking Apple to blur satellite images of "secret" military base [links to web]
5G research center gets major funding grant [links to web]
Ethiopia: Independent papers say gov’t banned them, won’t let printer publish their papers [links to web]
MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
TV JOURNALISM, ADS AND THE ELECTION
[SOURCE: Miami Herald, AUTHOR: Edward Wasserman]
[Commentary] News media that rely on ads have always had a problem covering their own advertisers. It’s rare to find a reporter who doesn’t have a story, sometimes well-founded, of an employer whose newsroom pulled its punches or looked the other way to avoid rattling the worthies who paid the bills. Obviously that’s bad, a corrupt concession to an institutional conflict of interest. Still, at least the harm was confined: The advertiser usually had narrow concerns — say, a car dealer that wanted to squelch some sour publicity. Killing the story was hardly a proud moment for the Fourth Estate, but the ad dependency didn’t shackle the media to a generalized, paralyzing incapacity to cover realities that lay at the core of civic life. But suppose the ads don’t come from mere local retailers. Suppose they’re from people who bankroll elections. Welcome to 2012, where the sources of the money that’s critical to the business success of influential news media are, at the same time, the people who are orchestrating the major campaigns — people who, if news media were covering the news, would be confronted, exposed, and made to explain who they are and what they’re up to. Instead, some of the same media that should referee political discourse and oversee the process by which a sovereign electorate selects its leaders are in thrall to the backroom players whose mission it is to manipulate and game that discourse.
benton.org/node/136685 | Miami Herald
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HOW MUCH COULD BE SAVED
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Peter Grier]
How much money would Washington save if it stopped subsidizing Big Bird? It should come as no surprise that cutting Big Bird off the US dole would save very little money, relatively speaking. In part that’s because Sesame Workshop, the company that produces “Sesame Street,” gets most of its money from sources other than Uncle Sam. Sesame Workshop’s total revenue for 2009 was about $130 million. Of that, about $7.9 million came directly from government grants. So, a rounding error in a Pentagon checkbook. Now, Big Bird gets program fees from stations, too. Sesame Workshop lists $27 million in content distribution revenue. Some of that comes from federal dollars funneled to local PBS entities. Let’s figure that 8 percent of Sesame Workshop’s total budget comes from the government. That’s the figure the company has quoted in recent media reports. Given a $130 million overall budget, that comes in at about $10.4 million. Given that this year’s federal deficit is $1.1 trillion, Big Bird is nothing but speck of dust on a mote on a dandelion that Horton the Elephant is trying to save from being boiled in oil. Of course, “Sesame Street” is only one program. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting – funding partner of PBS and National Public Radio – got about $445 million in 2012 from the federal budget. Axing that, as Romney promises to do, would save a bit more. Still, even $445 million wouldn’t pay for a computer system on one of the new ships Romney wants to add to the Navy. So why bother to go after it?
benton.org/node/136698 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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OBAMA’S BIG BIRD BET
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Edward-Isaac Dovere]
President Barack Obama’s campaign has transformed an 8-foot yellow Muppet into its mascot — but Democrats remain divided over whether the idea is big or bird-brained. For Obama aides, mocking Mitt Romney’s pledge to cut funding for PBS and Big Bird means more than throwing up a flutter of feathers to distract from the rising anxiety among Democrats since last week’s debate. And it means more than just using a children’s character to turn Romney into a caricature of a big, bad budget-cutting Republican. The Obama campaign is trying to do what the president failed to do in Denver: Pin down Romney for being short on specifics and act a bit silly themselves to highlight what they say is a lack of seriousness on the other side. Romney’s response, and that of worried Democrats, is that if Obama wants to recover from the first debate and win a second term, he’s going to need more than a giant 6-year-old bird who sleeps in a nest with a teddy bear.
benton.org/node/136697 | Politico
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ROMNEY DOUBLES-DOWN
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Dylan Byers]
CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Romney whether he regretted mentioning Big Bird during last week's presidential debate, a statement that was ridiculed in an ad released by the Obama campaign. Far from showing any sign of regret, Romney doubled-down. "We've got 23 million Americans out of work, or struggling to get a full time job. We've got one-out-of-six Americans now in poverty, 47 million on food stamps, and the President is spending his time talking about saving Big Bird," Romney told Blitzer. "I think people understand that we can't keep on spending like there's no tomorrow, we can't keep on borrowing and spending massively more than we take in every year," Romney went on to say. "Big Bird is going to be just fine, Sesame Street is a very successful enterprise. I don't believe CNN gets government funding, but somehow ya'll stay on the air." "I just think that PBS will be able to make it on its own, and it does not require us to go to China to borrow money to keep PBS on the air," he said.
benton.org/node/136695 | Politico
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ROMNEY SLAMS OBAMA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Justin Sink]
Mitt Romney slammed President Barack Obama for talking about Big Bird on the campaign trail. "These are tough times, with real serious issues. So you have to scratch your head when the President spends the last week talking about Big Bird," Romney said at a campaign event in Iowa. "I actually think we have to have a President who talks about saving the American people." The Obama campaign punched back at Romney in a statement from spokeswoman Lis Smith, who pointed out Romney had repeatedly cited Big Bird himself. “If anyone should be scratching their heads, it’s the American people when Mitt Romney says that he’ll reduce the deficit and pay for $5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans by getting rid of PBS and Big Bird, which make up 1/10,000th of the federal budget," Smith said. "That’s not a serious deficit reduction plan – it’s a joke.”
benton.org/node/136681 | Hill, The
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SPLIT-SCREEN DEBATES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters]
Don’t scratch your ear — even if it really itches. If you have a thought you want to come back to, quickly jot down one memorable word, not an entire sentence. And remember: that camera in front of you represents 60 million sets of eyes. Seasoned debate coaches bombard their candidates with tips like these, warning that even the slightest gesture or facial tic can make the difference between a performance won and a loss. Their biggest fear? The dreaded split-screen shot, which has long bedeviled presidential candidates who — no matter how many times they are reminded — seem to sometimes forget that they are still on camera even when they are not speaking. Last week, President Obama became the latest to fail to put on what people in the television business call “neutral face,” a warm but flat expression that betrays no hint of whatever feelings might be simmering inside. And thanks to the president’s lackluster debate, when he was often shown looking down or appearing otherwise disengaged as Mitt Romney, his Republican opponent, spoke, the split-screen should not be far from the minds of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Representative Paul D. Ryan when they meet on Oct 11.
benton.org/node/136709 | New York Times
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MOBILE POLITICS
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Aaron Smith, Maeve Duggan]
As of late September, 88% of registered voters own a cell phone of some kind -- and significant numbers of these voters are using their mobile devices to get information about the 2012 election, to interact with the campaigns, and to converse with other voters about political issues:
27% of registered voters who own a cell phone have used their phone in this election campaign to keep up with news related to the election itself or to political issues in general.
Three quarters of these cell-owning registered voters use their phone to send or receive text messages, and within this group:
19% have sent text messages related to the campaign to friends, family members, or others
5% have signed up to receive text messages directly from a candidate or other group involved in the campaign
5% say that they have received unwanted election-related text messages that they did not sign up to receive
benton.org/node/136631 | Pew Internet & American Life Project
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TECH INDUSTRY: OBAMA WILL WIN, BUT WE PREFER ROMNEY
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Eric Katz]
A majority of technology executives think President Obama will be reelected, but consider Republican challenger Mitt Romney to be better for their business, a new study has found. The survey, conducted by international law firm DLA Piper, found 76 percent of senior executives, advisers and venture capitalists involved in the technology industry predict Obama will get a second term in office, while only 41 percent think such a result would positively affect the technology sector. Sixty-four percent of respondents said the same about a Romney victory.
benton.org/node/136669 | nextgov | read the report
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BIG DATA POLITICS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Derrick Harris]
If you think you can avoid the ceaseless barrage of political ads by merely avoiding the television at all costs and keeping your telephone silenced, think again. Politicians and their campaign managers know you too well, and they know you have to consume content somewhere. They’ll be damned if they’ll let a little thing like the internet get in the way of letting you get to know them just as well. We call it big data in the age of the ubiquitous web, but the truth is that politicians have been amassing files on potential voters for at least a decade. Some experts credit the strategy to Bill Clinton’s reelection team in 1996, which decided to focus its efforts on winning over swing voters rather than the entire electorate. George W. Bush took it even further, narrowing his focus down to swing-voter Republicans so as to maximize resources even more efficiently. All of this required a tremendous amount of data mining to figure out who these people were, where they lived and what they cared about.
benton.org/node/136635 | GigaOm
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
IS MOBILE BROADBAND A LUXURY OR HUMAN RIGHT?
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: Chris Boyette]
Moderating a discussion on the future of broadband, Mashable editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff tossed a provocative question to the audience: "By quick show of hands, how many out there think that broadband is a luxury?" Next question: "How many out there think it is a human right?" That option easily carried the audience vote. Ulanoff's fellow panelists at the United Nations' recent "Social Good Summit" took a similar view. Held annually to coincide with the UN's General Assembly, the gathering brings together business executives, activists, academics and entrepreneurs to explore how technology can help "make the world a better place." Broadband access is too important to society to be relegated to a small, privileged portion of the world population, Hans Vestberg, president and CEO of Ericsson, said during the discussion. Dr. Hamadoun Touré, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, echoed Vestberg's remarks.
benton.org/node/136649 | CNNMoney
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SMARTPHONE PATENTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
For more than a year, the Federal Trade Commission has been conducting a broad antitrust investigation into the way Google runs its Internet search and search advertising businesses. But in recent months it has added another investigation into Google’s competitive behavior. This time, the focus is on phones — specifically, on patents that apply to lucrative smartphone technology, and the conduct of Google’s Motorola Mobility subsidiary. The FTC issued subpoenas in June seeking information from Google and smartphone rivals including Apple and Microsoft, and it questioned representatives of the companies as recently as a few weeks ago, said people briefed on the investigation. Google owns patents covering communications and data-handling technologies that are crucial for the basic operation of smartphones and tablets — what are known as standard-essential patents. The investigators are scrutinizing the company’s policies for licensing these patents and suing other companies that it claims are infringing on them, said these people, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified. Google’s Motorola unit pledged to technology standards organizations that it would license the patents to others on “fair and reasonable” terms to stimulate the growth of the industry, benefiting all companies.
benton.org/node/136707 | New York Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
DANGERS OF DELAY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Sen Joseph Lieberman (I-CT)]
[Commentary] Congress has recessed until after the November elections without passing cybersecurity legislation, which a bipartisan chorus of prominent defense and intelligence officials says is urgently needed to protect our country’s economic and national security. Since Congress has not been able to find common ground on cybersecurity legislation, I appreciate the president’s stated intention to fortify the security of critical cybersystems through his executive powers. We know our adversaries are already stealing valuable intellectual property and exploiting our critical infrastructure to prepare for attack. Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Department of Homeland Security has clear authority to conduct risk assessments of critical infrastructure, identify the systems or assets that are most vulnerable to cyberattack, and issue voluntary standards for them to maintain adequate cybersecurity. Executive action is not the best way to protect the United States from cyberattacks. Without congressional action, the president cannot offer liability protections to industry to reward compliance with voluntary security guidelines. Nor can he require industry to report major cyber-intrusions. But the president can encourage owners of critical infrastructure to improve their cybersecurity by identifying systems and assets that pose the greatest risk and recommending measures necessary to protect them.
benton.org/node/136705 | Washington Post
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TWC’S MODEM FEE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
No commercially available modems support Time Warner Cable’s voice service, so there’s no option for TWC voice customers – they must pay the new $4/month modem rental fee. In a statement last week, Time Warner Cable justified the rental fee by saying it was necessary to cover the cost of repairing and replacing cable modems over time. Why would Internet customers have to pay a rental fee to use a modem, but not voice customers? Or does this quirk confirm the suspicions of some Time Warner Cable customers that the fee is simply a price increase in disguise? Justin Venech, director of public relations at Time Warner Cable, acknowledged the disconnect between the company’s explanation of the fee and the inconsistent billing methods. When asked whether the decision to charge a rental fee for Internet use but not voice service contradicted his previous statement about the reason for the fee, Venech responded, “It does. But the way we have decided to charge this fee is, we’re charging it for use of the Internet portion of the modem.” “It’s a business decision,” Venech added. “It’s a matter of starting to treat this equipment the same way we treat our other equipment.”
benton.org/node/136645 | New York Times
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NEWS FROM HIGH COURT
COURT LETS AT&T IMMUNITY STAND
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit against AT&T for helping the National Security Agency monitor its customers' phone calls and Internet traffic. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued AT&T in 2006 after a former company technician, Mark Klein, testified that AT&T had worked extensively with the NSA to implement a vast warrant-less wiretapping program. Klein said AT&T routed all of its customers' phone and Internet traffic into a room in a facility in San Francisco. He said the company provided the customer information, including phone calls, emails and Web browsing history, to the NSA without a court order. The civil liberties groups also named Verizon and Sprint in their lawsuit, accusing the companies of violating their customers' rights under the Constitution and federal privacy law.
benton.org/node/136644 | Hill, The
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COURT WILL LOOK AT SHOT CLOCK RULES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
The Supreme Court agreed to consider how much deference to give federal agencies in setting their own jurisdictions, in two combined cases that could affect the ability to deploy wireless telephone services nationwide. At issue is the ability of the Federal Communications Commission to step in and help further the placement of wireless communications facilities when state and local governments failed to act on tower-siting applications fast enough. Cities including Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Arlington, Texas, as well as the New Orleans City Council, said that interfered with their power to enforce local zoning standards.
The cases are City of Arlington et al v. U.S., No. 11-1545; and Cable, Telecommunications, and Technology Committee of the New Orleans City Council v. FCC, No. 11-1547.
benton.org/node/136642 | Reuters
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LABOR
SAMKNOWS
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: press release]
Leaders of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology expressed concern to the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration about a “stimulus” program that awarded $1 million to the U.K. company SamKnows to conduct a broadband speed test, an initiative that produced no American jobs. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Vice Chairman Lee Terry (R-NE), and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) wrote, “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Act) was supposed to go to shovel ready projects and create jobs. And the $4.7 billion in funding from that Act earmarked for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program was supposed to expand broadband access. Yet, oversight hearings in the Communications and Technology Subcommittee have indicated that much of the money has been misdirected or remains unspent…
“…The $1 million spent on speed tests is perhaps emblematic. That stimulus funding, meant to help here at home, was sent abroad to U.K. company SamKnows and - according to the Recovery.Gov website - created no jobs. What was the rationale for sending Americans’ hard earned money overseas for a project that didn’t put any Americans to work, especially in the current fiscal climate?
“…Now the FCC apparently intends to expand its speed testing to wireless services. What reason do we have to believe this endeavor will be any more valuable? If anything, it will likely be even less meaningful in light of technical challenges.”
The members concluded, “While we lament that the Commission and NTIA have already spent $1 million of ARRA funds abroad in an effort that created no jobs and little else, we urge you not to compound this mistake by expanding the scope of the program.”
benton.org/node/136672 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
EU HOLDS FIRE ON ZTE, HUAWEI
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Philip Blenkinsop]
The European Commission has delayed a trade case against two Chinese telecom equipment makers also under scrutiny in the United States, easing tensions between the European Union and its second-biggest trading partner. A U.S. congressional report said that Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp -- the world's second- and fifth-largest makers of wireless telecoms gear -- were potential security risks and should be shut out of the U.S. market. In Europe, where the two have had greater success in selling equipment and the concern is over prices rather than security, they can expect some respite -- probably until the middle of next year, EU diplomats and trade experts say. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht is gathering evidence in order to launch an anti-dumping or anti-subsidy case, but his efforts have been hindered by the fact that no European producer, such as Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, has complained. A formal complaint is normally a prerequisite for an investigation.
benton.org/node/136621 | Reuters
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BRANDING WEB SEARCH RESULTS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters, Alex Barker]
Google has made a bid to avoid an antitrust war with Brussels by offering to label information from its in-house services that are included in its search results pages, according to people familiar with the search giant’s submission. Under the proposal, Google would put its brand on any of its own maps, stock quotes, airline flight details or other pieces of information returned with search results. It is an attempt to resolve regulators’ fears that Google is unfairly squeezing out other specialist information services on the web. However, the idea has drawn complaints privately from some of the company’s fiercest competitors, who said Google could still rob rivals of online traffic by promoting its own services more prominently than others.
benton.org/node/136708 | Financial Times
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