BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012
Open FCC meeting and Cybersecurity Expo today http://benton.org/calendar/2012-10-17/
MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
Lobbyists rake in $14 million for Romney
Denver newsrooms tops in fact-checking - [op-ed]
Professors donate to Obama, opine about election in the news
Obama and Romney clash over Apple, Made in China
President Obama accuses Romney of investing in Chinese spy companies
The dangers of data mining for votes - editorial
Copps: Broadcasters Should Educate Public About Voting Rights
JOURNALISM
State Dept. on WSJ: ‘Right hand wasn’t talking to the far right hand’ - analysis
Santa Barbara is getting a nonprofit investigative newsroom [links to web]
What news brand has the most pull on Twitter? Finally, some answers [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC’s Pai: FCC Should Close Title II Docket ASAP
Gigabit Squared plans fiber broadband for Chicago’s south side
Richmond's (CA) Handling of Stimulus Grant Under Federal Review [links to web]
Reformers stress cybersecurity risks [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SoftBank deal's big on size, small on change - analysis
No Need to Run, but Sprint Investors Should Prepare for Exit [links to web]
Why SoftBank’s US ambitions may not include Clearwire - analysis [links to web]
FCC Adds Wireless Bill Shock Presentation to October Agenda - press release [links to web]
Thai regulator defends 3G license auction [links to web]
CONTENT
Internet providers set to crack down on illegal file-sharing [links to web]
What news brand has the most pull on Twitter? Finally, some answers [links to web]
Email Is The New Pony Express--And It's Time To Put It Down [links to web]
PRIVACY
EU warns Google risks fines over privacy
FTC Official Skeptical of Privacy Legislation
TELEVISION
Rules to help deaf viewers threaten local TV shows
Viewers Check Cable First, Then Broadcast [links to web]
Ted Turner Cited for ‘Place-Based’ Media Efforts [links to web]
A New Era in TV - op-ed [links to web]
TELECOM
Sen Coburn blasts FCC's phone subsidy as 'massive entitlement'
FTC Issues FY 2012 National Do Not Call Registry Data Book - press release [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Murdoch Prevails Over Protests at News Corp. Annual Meeting [links to web]
No Need to Run, but Sprint Investors Should Prepare for Exit [links to web]
Google CEO Speaks Publicly Again, Says He's 'Hopeful' About Outcome of Antitrust Probes [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
House Releases LightSquared Documents [links to web]
LOBBYING
Silicon Valley Companies Adjust To A New Norm In Washington
Facebook 'likes' Republicans [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Rep. Walden is sure bet to head NRCC [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Foxconn says underage interns found working
EU warns Google risks fines over privacy
Thai regulator defends 3G license auction [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Hollywood Moguls Pledge $90 Million to Organization Supporting Workers [links to web]
MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
LOBBYISTS RAISE MONEY FOR ROMNEY
[SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity, AUTHOR: Michael Beckel]
As Republican Mitt Romney works to unify the party faithful behind him, the number of lobbyists raising money to help him secure the White House has soared. More than five-dozen lobbyist-bundlers have raised at least $14 million for Romney’s election efforts. That includes 42 who raised nearly $9 million during the third quarter of 2012. The third quarter marked the first period of pro-Romney fundraising activity for two-dozen lobbyists, according a review of Federal Election Commission documents by the Center for Public Integrity. Among them, former Republican Sen. Alfonse D’Amato of New York, who raised $238,200; John Castellani, president and CEO of pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA, who raised $61,000; Brian P. Miller of oil and gas giant BP America, who raised $36,550; and Joseph Seidel of Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-largest bank. Two lobbyists each collected more than $1 million for Romney’s election efforts from July through September, records show. Bill Graves, the president and CEO of the American Trucking Association, and attorney David Beightol of D.C.-based firm Dutko Grayling both raised about $1.1 million. To date, Graves has now raised more than $1.6 million — more than any of the other 62 lobbyists whose names have been disclosed in federal filings.
benton.org/node/137238 | Center for Public Integrity
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NEWSROOMS AND FACT-CHECKING
[SOURCE: Denver post, AUTHOR: Kathleen Hall Jamieson]
[Commentary] From April 10 to Sept. 20, an estimated $29.2 million has been spent on third-party presidential ads containing at least one claim flagged as deceptive by fact-checking organizations including FactCheck.org This number represents 27.8 percent of dollars spent on third-party presidential television advertising during that period. Denver is among the targets of the resulting ad tsunami, with CU News Corp reporting more than $27.8 million spent on 26,081 political ads run on the four largest stations in the Denver market through Oct. 5. Broadcasters have two tools to protect viewers. First, although they have to air even blatantly false ads by federal candidates, stations have the unquestioned right to reject third-party ones outright and to insist on the accuracy of those they choose to air. However, since third-party advertisers pay up to four times more than candidates for the same time slots, some stations are reluctant to exercise these rights. But a second option exists in the form of on-air and online journalism that debunks deception.
benton.org/node/137277 | Denver Post
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PROFESSORS, OBAMA AND THE MEDIA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Bob Cusack]
At least a half-dozen professors who gave political donations to President Barack Obama have been quoted in news articles opining about his administration and the 2012 race for the White House. The findings of The Hill’s months-long investigation come as Republicans have been crying foul, alleging a media bias for President Obama and against Mitt Romney. The Hill cross-checked academics who have been quoted in news articles with Obama’s donor list and eliminated those who worked in prior Democratic administrations. The half-dozen professors detailed in this article do not mention their political affiliations in their bios online. A similar search for Romney donors did not yield any results.
benton.org/node/137255 | Hill, The
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CLASH OVER APPLE
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Amar Toor]
At the second presidential debate, moderator Candy Crowley confronted both candidates about the outsourcing of tech manufacturing jobs. "iPad, the Macs, the iPhones, they are all manufactured in China," Crowley said, citing low labor costs as a primary driver. "How do you convince a great American company to bring that manufacturing back here?" Romney, taking the floor first, responded with the following:
"The answer is very straightforward. We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. China's been cheating over the years. One, by holding down the value of their currency. Two, by stealing our intellectual property, our designs, our patents, our technology — there's even an Apple store in China that's a counterfeit Apple Store, selling counterfeit goods. They hack into our computers. We will have to have people play on a fair basis, that's number one. Number two, we have to make America the most attractive place for entrepreneurs, for people who want to expand their business. That's what brings jobs in.
Obama, in rebuttal, was surprisingly blunt, effectively dismissing the premise altogether:
"Candy, there are some jobs that are not going to come back," he said. "Because they are low wage, low skill jobs. I want high wage, high skill jobs. That's why we have to emphasize manufacturing. That's why we have to invest in advanced manufacturing. That's why we've got to make sure that we've got the best science and research in the world."
benton.org/node/137314 | Verge, The
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INVESTING IN CHINESE SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
President Barack Obama accused Mitt Romney of investing in Chinese companies that spy on their citizens. During the second presidential debate, President Obama said Romney "is currently investing in countries— in companies that are building surveillance equipment for China to spy on its own folks." A fund in which Romney has a blind trust invested in Uniview Technologies, which makes surveillance technologies for the Chinese government. The company makes cameras and software to help the Chinese police monitor the public. Romney fought back against the accusation, saying President Obama invested his own retirement savings in Chinese companies.
benton.org/node/137312 | Hill, The
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MINING FOR VOTES
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Do you watch college football? Listen to smooth jazz? Search the Internet for guidance on parenting, spirituality or a health concern? Look at pornography sites online? Do you like the fact that political strategists with the presidential campaigns know the answers to each of those questions? It's disturbing, but they do. The architects behind this year's presidential campaigns know far more about voters than ever before, thanks to the increasingly precise science of data mining. There are companies that compile and study a wealth of details about your personal life, from the type of beer you like to drink to whether you paid your bills on time last month. Some of those companies, like Rapleaf or Intelius, have been sued for alleged privacy violations. That hasn't stopped political strategists from buying their data. Data mining at this level carries terrible privacy concerns, and the campaigns need to be cautious. If they can't resist for ethical reasons, they need to think of the legal ones; the courts have yet to specify the legal limits of data mining, but there's no doubt that they will.
benton.org/node/137310 | San Francisco Chronicle
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VOTING RIGHTS PSAs?
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Former Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps has called on broadcasters to launch a primetime voting rights public service announcement campaign to counter what he says have been efforts to intimidate and suppress voter turnout. In a letter to National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith, Copps, now head of Common Cause's Media and Democracy Initiative, also asked the NAB to encourage stations to focus additional news coverage on state, county and municipal races. "I know you and I agree on the importance of doing everything possible to maximize voter turnout and minimize voter intimidation, voter suppression, and any other activity that might short-circuit America's democratic process," he told Smith. "I know that many broadcasters are working hard to inform their communities and to discharge their public interest responsibilities, and I continue to salute those that are doing so," he said. "But not all stations perform at such levels of excellence. Now is the time to remind those who are granted stewardship of the public's airwaves that their highest duty, especially in the days and weeks just ahead, is to inform and nourish the civic dialogue upon which the vitality of the United States always depends."
benton.org/node/137309 | Broadcasting&Cable
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JOURNALISM
WSJ REPORTING VS EDITORIAL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Erik Wemple]
[Commentary] The Wall Street Journal endured a double embarrassment October 15. First, a Wall Street Journal editorial bemoaned that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had stayed “mute” on the Libya scandal — at the very moment that Clinton was conducting a monster round of interviews with television networks. And to top it off, the Wall Street Journal’s editorializers were criticizing Clinton’s alleged accountabliphobia even though the news side of the Wall Street Journal had been sitting on a big Clinton interview that had gone down five days earlier. On Oct 10, Sec Clinton sat down with the Journal and told the paper that she took “responsibility” for the Libya affair — a story line that didn’t come out till Oct 15 via CNN. Why did the news side of the Journal have such a fine story and wait five days to push it out the door? Says a State Department official: “They cannot attack us for . . . not doing interviews. They can’t attack us for not taking responsibility and then realize they were wrong” and fail to address the contradictions. “It was just the right hand not talking to the far right hand,” says the official of the intra-Journal mix-up.
benton.org/node/137292 | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
COMMISSIONER PAI ON TITLE II
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai said that the FCC should not apply 20th century legacy regulation to an increasingly IP-delivered communications world, starting with closing the Title II docket. Commissioner Pai said closing Title II would signal to the marketplace that the FCC was not going to apply a Back to the Future approach. Commissioner Pai was speaking at a Communications Liberty and Innovation Project (CLIP) panel discussion on the transition to IP-delivery. He called the FCC's "silo" approach to regulation "hopelessly outdated," and said the Title II was one of those outdated regulatory approaches the FCC should abandon. Commissioner Pai said that a regulatory model based on monopolists with copper wire no longer cuts it and that if the FCC wants to free up some of the investment capital sitting on the sidelines due to regulatory uncertainty, it should recognize the technology shift and adjust its regulation accordingly.
benton.org/node/137248 | Broadcasting&Cable | Commissioner Pai | National Journal
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GIGABIT SQUARED COMING TO CHICAGO
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
The University of Chicago and surrounding neighborhoods will be the first to benefit from Gigabit Squared’s ambitious plan to bring to gigabit broadband connectivity to college towns across the US. Gigabit Squared has set aside $5 million for the Chicago project as part of its Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program in collaboration with partner Gig.U. The State of Illinois is kicking in $2 million, while the University of Chicago is committing $1 million now and plans to raise another $1 million in the surrounding communities. The first phase of the project will bring gigabit fiber connections to 4,825 homes, businesses, schools, libraries and healthcare institutions in the Hyde Park neighborhood U of C calls home, as well as surrounding communities. By bringing in the surrounding neighborhoods of Woodlawn, Washington Park and Kenwood, the project isn’t just targeting college students, professors and administrators. It’s covering a lot a lot of territory beyond the University’s direct sphere of influence. What’s more the project will expand outwards over the next four years taking in more neighborhoods. Eventually the project hopes to connect 210,000 residents living in 79,000 households with a combination of fiber and Wi-Fi technologies, as well as link 10,000 individual small businesses.
http://gigaom.com/2012/10/16/gigabit-squared-plans-fiber-broadband-for-c...
State, U of C plan broadband push for South Side (Crain’s)
benton.org/node/137282 | GigaOm | Crain’s
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SOFTBANK-SPRINT SMALL ON CHANGE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Nicola Leske, Edwin Chan]
It's this year's biggest technology acquisition and the largest outbound deal in Japan's history. But game-changing, it is not. Even if the SoftBank-Sprint deal succeeds, Sprint will still struggle to win customers in a market dominated by the twin towers of the U.S. mobile landscape - Verizon and AT&T - while T-Mobile and MetroPCS move to team up. That market dynamic will persist, analysts say. Analysts do not believe that the Sprint deal by itself can undermine the two U.S. market leaders' virtually unassailable position.
benton.org/node/137286 | Reuters
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PRIVACY
SKEPTICAL OF PRIVACY LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
During a discussion at the Hudson Institute, new Federal Trade Commission member Maureen Ohlhausen voiced skepticism with the FTC’s call for new legislation to help safeguard online privacy, saying it could undermine the agency's other mission of promoting competition. She believes the FTC and Congress should examine the FTC's current authority and identify any holes before seeking new power to impose rules to protect online privacy. "Before seeking new privacy legislation, I think it is important to identify a gap in statutory authority or to identify a case of substantial consumer harm that we would like to address but can't within our existing authority," she said.
benton.org/node/137284 | National Journal
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TELEVISION
CLOSED CAPTIONING
[SOURCE: Crain’s Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Paul Merrion]
Rockers, wrestlers and religious broadcasters producing low-budget television shows are facing a costly federal edict: Add subtitles to your programs or you're off the air. Under pressure from advocacy groups for the deaf, the Federal Communications Commission last year applied its 15-year-old closed-captioning rule to more than 1,000 churches and other independent, nonprofit TV show producers, including a dozen in Illinois, that previously had been exempted. Nonprofit video producers are still hoping to get waivers if they can prove it's “economically burdensome” to comply, but so far not one of more than 1,100 requests for exemption has been granted. At least 853 have been denied, mostly for failing to document their financial situation properly, and about 320 are pending, according to the FCC.
benton.org/node/137235 | Crain’s Chicago Business
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TELECOM
SEN COBURN ATTACKS LIFELINE PROGRAM
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sen Tom Coburn (R-OK) released the 2012 edition of his "Wastebook" report on the worst examples of government waste. In it he highlights the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program as "ballooning out of control" and has "morphed into a massive entitlement." "The government safety net exists to ensure all Americans have the essentials for living — food, shelter, and safety. Now that list apparently includes cell phones," he said. "To take advantage of the federal handout, prepaid wireless companies — who collect most of the subsidy — often camp out in low-income areas to get better access to those who qualify for the program," Sen Coburn wrote. He described reports that one company gave discounts to customers who referred friends and family to the program and other companies enrolled the same people multiple times.
Congress first enacted the Lifeline program in 1985, during the Reagan administration. In 2005, the FCC expanded the program to cover low-cost cellphone service. The program pays for phone service, not the phones themselves. But many companies that receive funding through the program offer free and low-cost phones to their subscribers. The discounts average $9.25 per month for qualifying households, and the program is funded through fees that the telephone companies pass on to consumers on their monthly bills. The point of the program is to ensure that everyone has access to basic communications services, especially during emergencies.
benton.org/node/137291 | Hill, The
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LOBBYING
SILICON VALLEY LOBBYING
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Chris Frates]
Policy makers are delving into issues, such as wireless spectrum and privacy, that will profoundly shape the industry's future -- and the once-irritating D.C. noobs are getting real. That's why Facebook, for example, recently increased its Washington wattage, hiring former Clinton, Bush, and Obama White House aides and a former spokesman from Sen John McCain's presidential campaign. Earlier this year, Facebook and Google dumped record amounts of cash on their Washington lobbying operations. Between April and June, Facebook spent almost $1 million. And Google bested its second-quarter record by spending $3.9 million--a sum that catapulted it to the top ranks of influence. As the following pages show in more detail, this is the movement that 2012 will really be remembered for, once the glow of the SOPA-PIPA victory wears off: The Valley found it has the power to influence policy, but it also learned it must pass the next big test--not just killing someone else's proposal but also passing an agenda of its own.
benton.org/node/137242 | Fast Company
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
FOXCONN INTERNS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Joe McDonald]
Electronics manufacturer Foxconn said it found underage interns as young as 14 working at one of its factories in China. Foxconn Technology Group said the interns were found by a company investigation at its factory in the eastern city of Yantai and were sent back to their schools. China's minimum legal working age is 16. Foxconn, owned by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is best known as the manufacturer of Apple Inc.'s iPhone but said the Yantai factory had no connection with its work for Apple. The company said it is investigating with schools how the interns were sent to its factory. It didn't say how many underage interns it found.
benton.org/node/137253 | Associated Press
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EU, GOOGLE AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: James Fontanella-Khan, Robert Cookson]
European Union regulators have demanded that Google substantially change its controversial privacy policies or risk fines, a move that threatens to slow the US search giant’s introduction of new products and advertising schemes in Europe. European privacy watchdogs said a probe led by the French regulator CNIL showed that Google failed to provide users with adequate information about how their personal data were being used across the US group’s different platforms. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, CNIL’s chairwoman, said that unless Google implements the recommended changes within three to four months, the dispute will “move on to another phase, which is a sanctions phase.”
Falque-Pierrotin, asked a senior official from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission last week to support a letter identifying significant legal shortcomings in Google’s privacy policy, she said. The FTC official, David C. Vladeck, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, declined. “We would have been happy if they would have signed it,” Falque-Pierrotin said. “I think they will study it and have their own conclusions.” Vladeck confirmed the French request, which was made during a meeting in Brussels, but declined to comment on his response. The FTC also has declined to comment on whether it is investigating any of the privacy issues raised by the other regulators.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/52803e8a-177d-11e2-8ebe-00144feabdc0.html
FTC declined to join European criticism of Google (Washington Post)
benton.org/node/137256 | Financial Times | Washington Post
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