BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012 (Git back to school, kid!)
A quick look at this week’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2012-09-02--P1W/
See a map of today’s stories http://benton.org/headlines/map
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Democrats push for open Internet, cybersecurity
Politics on Social Networking Sites - research
Reporters: We loathe 2012 campaign
Media: Obama is egotistical, selfish, dull
Showbiz looks to read Romney tea leaves
Romney launches text donation campaign [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
EFF sues Justice for answers on alleged illegal surveillance of e-mails and calls
OWNERSHIP
Can Tribune turn the channel?
Broadcasters Ask FCC to Be More Flexible on Foreign Ownership
ESPN: Everywhere Sports Profit Network [links to web]
After Verdict, Assessing the Samsung Strategy in South Korea
Big Apple dwarfs entire regions [links to web]
A victory for Apple but inventors still lose - op-ed
CONTENT
What the e-book settlement means for publishers, Apple and you - analysis
The return of cheap e-books? Apple, publishers bend in Europe, too
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Few choices for broadband service, thanks to regulators - analysis
Small TV Stations Get Hot
TELECOM
Voice mail in decline with rise of text, loss of patience [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
UK games groups taxed by questions of culture [links to web]
Summer Olympics in Britain Helped Speed Growth of Public Wi-Fi [links to web]
India: lost connections [links to web]
Vodafone agrees Middle East tie-up [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
DEMOCRATS 2012 PLATFORM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Democrats reiterated support for open Internet policies that protect free speech and consumer choice, stronger cybersecurity laws and the protection of movies and songs from online copyright violations. The goals were outlined in the party’s platform on the eve of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this week. The tech policy is largely a continuation of promises made by President Obama during his 2008 campaign and initiatives launched during his administration. The party touted the administration’s push for more wireless spectrum to be converted into commercial mobile networks. It promised a public safety network — a long elusive goal first set after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Yet the most controversial goals were described in vague terms. And it’s unclear how Democrats would like to proceed if current net neutrality rules are knocked out by the courts.
benton.org/node/133591 | Washington Post
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POLITICS ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Lee Rainie, Aaron Smith]
A portion of social networking site users say the sites are important for some of their political activities and the way they decide how to engage with campaigns and issues. At the same time, most users of the sites say they do not use the sites for political purposes or debates. A nationally representative phone survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that:
36% of social networking site (SNS) users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in keeping up with political news.
26% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in recruiting people to get involved in political issues that matter to them.
25% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them for debating or discussing political issues with others.
25% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in finding other people who share their views about important political issues.
In each activity, Democrats who use social networking sites are more likely than Republicans or independents to say the sites are important.
benton.org/node/133588 | Pew Internet & American Life Project | Politico
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JOURNALISTS AND CAMPAIGN 2012
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Dylan Byers]
Presidential campaigns are supposed to be the greatest show in American politics — infused with big ideas and historical import. Yet after 16 months enduring a Republican primary and then a two-man contest so far defined by gaffes, cynicism, knife-fights and rapid-fire news cycles, even the best political reporters want the whole thing over with. Yet another high-profile veteran campaign correspondent had his Howard Beale moment this week — mad as hell (or rather, sad as hell) and not willing to take it anymore — when Mark Leibovich lamented the devastating “joylessness” of the 2012 grind and wondered what the hell he was doing with his life. “How am I ever going to get through it?” the chief national correspondent of The New York Times Magazine asked. But his cri de coeur is just the latest primal scream in a campaign that is sending a whole generation of journalists to the confessional.
benton.org/node/133590 | Politico
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MEDIA NARRATIVE ABOUT OBAMA
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Dylan Byers]
For over a year now, the political press has been writing the ever-evolving book on Mitt Romney. But as the Democratic National Convention gets under way in Charlotte, major media outlets are sending President Barack Obama through the spin cycle, lobbing five high-profile bombs at the incumbent in a single holiday weekend. The New York Times ran a front-page piece with the unmistakable subtext that Obama is a hyper-competitive egotist who often is not as good as he thinks he is at endeavors ranging from politics to poker. The Washington Post noted the continued controversy over Obama’s “you didn’t build that” line, and how the clumsy remark continues to leave him vulnerable to criticism that he doesn’t understand free enterprise. The Huffington Post argued that, for all his promises of a new kind of politics, Obama has “played the same old game.” The Wall Street Journal weighed in with a piece that portrayed Obama as stingy with fundraising — and vocal support — for fellow Democratic candidates. “We really do believe a high tide raises all boats,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told the Journal, explaining how Obama’s success would help others win. And POLITICO landed with an against-the-grain portrait of Obama as a conventional president — “relentlessly familiar” in his governing style, politically uncreative and culturally uninspiring.
The convergence of skeptical pieces, all of which suggest Obama has failed to live up to the mythic expectations he set for himself in 2008, signal that Obama may be facing unprecedented media headwinds just as the nation’s voters are really tuning in to the 2012 campaign.
benton.org/node/133560 | Politico
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TOMNEY AND SHOW BUSINESS
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Ted Johnson]
With Mitt Romney now the official Republican presidential nominee, the question for Hollywood is what a Romney presidency would mean for showbiz. Even with Clint Eastwood appearing at the convention, and Romney having gathered an array of endorsements and celebrities to support him, the candidate has fewer industry ties than John McCain in 2008 and George W. Bush when he first ran in 2000. Romney has never spoken to Friends of Abe, the fellowship of showbiz conservatives that has hosted a who's who of Republican leaders and popular figures, including Paul Ryan. Nor has he held a Hollywood-centric fundraiser like the previous GOP standard-bearers had by this point. The pressing question is how Romney's views would translate on the policy front at a critical time for the industry as it grapples with challenges including piracy, trade and runaway production. Romney has seldom addressed issues specific to Hollywood, but his campaign has said that he will offer robust protections for intellectual property; still, in a presidential debate he came out against the Stop Online Piracy Act, the anti-piracy legislation that was sidelined in January amid protests from Internet activists and the tech industry.
benton.org/node/133559 | Variety
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
E-MAIL SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against the Department of Justice to get answers about the National Security Agency allegedly engaging in illegal surveillance of Americans' emails and phone calls. A measure in the 2008 FISA Amendments Act (FAA) gave NSA authority to conduct surveillance on Americans' international email and phone calls so the agency could procure foreign intelligence information. The civil liberties group's suit asks Justice for any written opinions or orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that discusses illegal government surveillance, as well as briefings to Congress about these violations. In its complaint, EFF homes in on statements that an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence allowed Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to make public. These statements suggested that NSA had overstepped its legal bounds when conducting surveillance.
benton.org/node/133569 | Hill, The
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OWNERSHIP
TRIBUNE LICENSES
[SOURCE: Crain’s Chicago Business, AUTHOR: Lynne Marek]
After nearly four years, Tribune Company has the bankruptcy finish line in sight, with just one more major hurdle ahead -- getting the OK from the federal government to shift its broadcast licenses to new owners. The Chicago company wants to keep its media empire, including 24 local TV outlets, one radio station, a national cable station and 12 newspapers, intact for now because that's part of the bankruptcy plan that won court approval earlier this year. Even though Tribune may sell assets later, when it can negotiate those sales without court oversight, keeping them together is key to exiting bankruptcy soon. Dissident creditors seeking to throw Tribune off that course lost their latest battle last week when they were unable to post a $1.5 billion bond. Still, the effort to preserve Tribune's current license arrangement could thrust it from one legal battle into another. The company owns a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in five markets despite FCC rules that bar such cross-ownership. Its holdings include the Chicago Tribune, WGN-TV/Channel 9 and WGN-AM/720. Tribune must win FCC approval to transfer waivers as well as the licenses. The hitch is that the waivers were issued to Tribune at a time when the commission was more likely to grant them. Commissions with a Democratic majority, which is the case now, have opposed a concentration of ownership in a single market, even though Republican majorities have allowed them.
benton.org/node/133557 | Crain’s Chicago Business
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FOREIGN OWNERSHIP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A coalition of broadcast groups has asked the Federal Communications Commission to clarify that it will not foreclose, but look at on a case-by-case basis, investment in the parent company of a U.S. broadcast group owner that exceeds the FCC's de facto 25% limit on foreign ownership. In a letter to the FCC, the Coalition for Broadcast Investment -- which includes CBS, Celar Channel, Hearst, Ion, Sinclair and many others -- sought clarification of that point, saying it "would enable local broadcast stations to join their cable, satellite and online counterparts in having the opportunity to gain access to significant new or additional sources of capital." Given that its competition does not have a similar de factor cap on foreign investment, the FCC's policy is arbitrary and inequitable, particularly when the FCC has liberalized foreign investment policies towards common carriers. They ask the FCC to replace what is a historic presumption against such ownership to an actual case-by-case review using the FCC's public interest discretion.
benton.org/node/133566 | Broadcasting&Cable | TVNewsCheck
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SAMSUNG IN SOUTH KOREA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Choe Sang-Hun]
When a jury in San Jose, ordered Samsung Electronics to pay $1.05 billion in damages for violating Apple’s patents for the iPhone and iPad, it did more than decide who had infringed upon whose intellectual property. To South Koreans, the legal battle highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of both Samsung and their economy in general. “The ruling makes us reconsider the brand value of Samsung because it depicts Samsung as a copycat,” said James Song, who monitors Samsung for KDB Daewoo Securities in Seoul. “But a copycat or not, what Samsung has done with its smartphones was a brilliant move.” “Look what has happened to companies like Nokia, Motorola and BlackBerry, which didn’t do as Samsung did,” Mr. Song added, referring to competitors whose failures to adapt quickly to the smartphone boom driven by iPhones have drastically reduced their market shares. “Samsung may lack in innovation, but right now, no one can beat Samsung in playing catch-up.”
benton.org/node/133573 | New York Times
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VICTORY FOR APPLE, NOT INVENTORS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: James Dyson]
[Commentary] Apple’s $1 billion win over Samsung should give inventors cautious optimism. It was an overwhelming victory in spite of a vacillating process that puts the onus on the patent’s owner to prove it has been copied, rather than the infringer to prove it has not. Lately, intellectual property cases have shown the global patent system to be complex and fickle, seemingly promoting plagiarism over progress and offering the holder little, if any, protection. Innovation is burdened by a double standard, by which it is deemed immoral to forge a painting or rip off a handbag, while copying others’ technology or industrial design is practically encouraged as part of healthy global competition. But it is akin to theft. With Apple and Samsung sparring in almost a dozen countries, it is easy to forget that patents go beyond smartphones and intangible technology portfolios. But patents lead to revolutionary ideas and advances. We need compatible national patent systems – enforced uniformly around the world – that can deal with the realities of modern technology. They need to grant more robust patents and take copycats off the market faster. We need judicial systems to recognize that new ideas have value and should be protected.
[The writer is founder and chief engineer of Dyson]
benton.org/node/133585 | Financial Times
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CONTENT
WHAT SETTLEMENT MEANS
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
If you bought an e-book from one of the five big publishers between April 1, 2010 and May 23, 2012, you will get a 25-cent refund for each old title you bought and $1.32 if the title was a recent New York Times bestseller. The refund will come in the form of a credit to your Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes account; you’ll get a check if you bought from Sony or Google. The retailers have your email address so it will not be hard to notify you. This is a micro-windfall that you probably weren’t expecting, so it’s all to the good. The only catch is that it will be a long time coming. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote has to stamp the deal — and there’s a good chance she won’t while the case is ongoing against Apple and two hold-out publishers. Realistically, we’re talking years before that $1.32 credit hits your iTunes account. If the two hold-out publishers and Apple finally decide to settle, you may get another small credit.
Unlike the publishers, Apple has more lawyers than the state of Connecticut. It can (and will) fight this thing forever. At the same time, Apple has a stronger defense than the publishers — it wasn’t in the room or on the phone when many parts of the alleged conspiracy took place. Apple, which says it did nothing wrong, may also be concerned with protecting the commission model of its iTunes store (if the government wins on e-books, will it come after apps or music pricing next?). Finally, if the two other publishers fold and join the settlement, the government may quietly close the case against Apple rather than risk losing an expensive and high-profile court fight.
benton.org/node/133562 | paidContent.org
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SEEKING SETTLEMENT IN EUROPE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jacqui Cheng]
Apple and four publishers are reportedly trying to come up with an agreement that would make both Amazon and European regulators happy, as a way to settle an e-book price-fixing investigation. Apparently, Apple and the publishers are proposing a plan under which other e-book retailers—namely, Amazon—could sell e-books at a discount, rather than at the price set by publishers. The European Commission has not yet accepted the offer, according to Reuters, but is informally "market testing the commitments" to see whether such a solution would be workable. The publishers reportedly involved in the deal are Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan (owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck in Germany). Penguin Group, which has stood firm with Apple in fighting the DoJ in the US, was not mentioned as being involved in the agreement despite being part of the EU investigation. None of the companies has yet commented publicly.
benton.org/node/133563 | Ars Technica | Reuters
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FEW BROADBAND CHOICES
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Troy Wolverton]
[Commentary] It's amazing to me that even here in the heart of Silicon Valley consumers have so few choices for high-speed home Internet access. Valley residents can typically choose between AT&T and Comcast, if they have any choice at all. Neither company offers a great deal for consumers. Unfortunately, thanks to regulations put in place over the past two decades and the huge cost of building out networks, we don't have any other choices. In fact, we're lucky to have any choice at all; according to the Federal Communications Commission, the vast majority of Americans live in areas where they have just one choice --at best -- for high-speed broadband.
benton.org/node/133594 | San Jose Mercury News
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SMALL TV STATIONS GET HOT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: William Launder]
Small television stations face a tougher time than most competing with cable and the Web. But some investors are snapping them up, betting on a surge in the value of their airwaves. Investors including Michael Dell's MSD Capital LP and Fortress Investment Group LLC are buying small, sometimes bankrupt stations in major markets including Los Angeles, New York and Seattle, where the demand for airwaves, or spectrum, is at a particular premium. The investors are jumping into the market ahead of a so-called incentive auction hosted by the Federal Communications Commission, which plans to reclaim spectrum for use by wireless phone companies and other bidders. The auction is part of a broader rearrangement of U.S. airwaves by the FCC aimed at addressing consumers' seemingly voracious appetite for wireless broadband services. While the private-equity funds are buying stations for as little as several million dollars, observers say their value could be many times higher once the FCC auction gets under way. Much about the auction remains uncertain, however, including the timing.
benton.org/node/133592 | Wall Street Journal
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