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Just a few weeks after President Obama issued an executive order aimed at protecting the country’s critical infrastructure against cyberattacks, White House officials came to a major cybersecurity conference to lobby for industry support on the new order.
Throughout the weeklong RSA cybersecurity conference, top administration officials stressed that the successful execution of the executive order hinges on private-sector collaboration with the federal government. “We're in this together, both government and industry. We need your help,” Andy Ozment, a senior director of cybersecurity at the White House, said during a panel. White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel, who participated in two widely attended panels during the conference, also sought to drive home that same message about the president’s cyber order to the industry representatives in the crowd.
Administration turns to industry for support on cybersecurity order
In 2010, the Federal Communications Commission established a to expand the number of radio stations owned by American Indian Tribes broadcasting to Tribal lands. The Tribal Priority is a FCC rule through which Tribes or Tribally owned or controlled entities may more easily obtain broadcast radio licenses in both the AM and FM bands. The Tribal Priority is intended not only to provide radio service tailored to specific Tribal needs and cultures, but to increase ownership of such radio stations by Tribes and Tribally owned entities. In doing so, the Tribal Priority also fosters localism and diversity of ownership. The need for Tribal radio stations is clear.
Tribal Radio Priority
[Commentary] My two-year term as The Post’s independent ombudsman has run out. It has been both a privilege to serve Post readers as a pipeline to the staff and an honor to work in a newsroom of such distinguished journalists. I hope I succeeded even a little in explaining how journalism is changing in a media world transformed by new technology and new business models. The No. 1 topic of complaint to the ombudsman during my term: The Post’s online comment system. The second most common area of complaints to the ombudsman was from readers whom I call the “grammar police.”
Signing off as Washington Post ombudsman
Media and entertainment executives are more likely to work outside regular business hours than professionals in most other industries -- and they’re more likely to be single. That’s according to a global survey by Accenture about work/life balance issues.
The survey found that about 37% of M&E executives said they frequently work on holidays and weekends. That was higher than in any of the 26 other industry sectors Accenture surveyed. More than a quarter (28%) of media and entertainment professionals said they frequently do work while on paid time off (i.e., vacation), with only executives in the medical products industry claiming a higher rate, at 33%. Meanwhile, 31% of M&E types said they don’t have a significant other in their lives -- also the highest response rate among the sectors represented in the survey. Interestingly, however, just 39% of media and entertainment industry execs consider themselves workaholics, which was in line with the average of 40% across all sectors.
Working on the Weekend? Welcome to the Media Industry
The Nonprofit Media Working Group
Monday, March 4, 2013
10 a.m. to noon
On March 4, 2013, the Nonprofit Media Working Group will release a series of recommendations on how the IRS can modernize its rules to make it easier for nonprofit news to keep American communities informed.
Who:
The Nonprofit Media Working Group
- Steven Waldman, Journalist and Former Senior Adviser to the FCC Chairman
- Lucy Dalglish, Professor and Dean, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland
- Kevin Davis, CEO, Investigative News Network
- Joel Kramer, CEO and Editor, MinnPost
- Marc Owens, Member, Caplin & Drysdale
Additional speakers:
Eric Newton, Senior Adviser to the President, John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation
Vikki Spruill, President and CEO, Council on Foundations
What:
Panel discussion on nonprofit media and release of the new report, “: Toward Creating a More Informed Public”
Where:
The Knight Studios at the Newseum
Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street N.W., Washington, D.C.
Via Livestream: www.cof.org/nonprofitmedia
This nation has a proud history of journalism, long tied most closely to newspapers. But the newspaper industry, as we know, has experienced a severe decline in recent years. The signs of this decline were evident to many of us in my hometown of Detroit back in 1987, when our two highly competitive newspapers, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, announced the formation of a joint operating agreement (JOA). This allowed the two newspapers to combine their business operation, while keeping their editorial staffs separate. Despite reassurances from both news organizations that robust local news coverage would continue, it was pretty clear that change was in the air for the news business, and it remained to be seen how well the local community would be served.
Since then, the emergence of digital technology has complicated the landscape for news organizations. While there is great opportunity for innovation in news gathering and dissemination, not to mention the possibility for new nonprofit news enterprises, there are also obstacles posed by outdated regulations. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a report in 2011 entitled, “The Information Needs of Communities: The changing media landscape in a broadband age.” Pointing to the severe cutbacks in newsrooms across the country, the report noted that local communities are losing out on the kind of accountability reporting necessary to make informed decisions on local issues. Nonprofit media, the report suggested, could help address this concern.
To further explore the current state of nonprofit media, The Knight Foundation and the Council on Foundations joined forces to create a working group tasked to dig into regulatory obstacles. I was honored to participate on this working group and am pleased that our report, “The IRS and Nonprofit Media: Toward Creating a More Informed Public,” is being released on March 4th.
The Internal Revenue Service gets top billing here because the agency is using outdated regulatory approaches in determining tax exemption eligibility for nonprofit news organizations. While some nonprofits like MinnPost have been able to obtain nonprofit status, too many others have been waiting up to three years for the IRS to make a determination. Apparently the IRS does not consider journalism to be educational, an attribute key to tax exemption. Moreover, the IRS looks at operations rather than governance to see if a nonprofit news organization qualifies for tax exemption. As the working group report notes, in today’s technological environment, media distribution is identical, whether the news outlet is a newspaper, magazine, television, radio, public or private. Governance, the other hand, dictates who benefits from the enterprise – public or private interests.
The report also notes that the IRS has indicated to a number of nonprofit news applicants that their proposed revenue streams (subscriptions, ads and foundation funding) are problematic in that they resemble commercial business models. They would be better off, according to the IRS, relying solely on foundation grants for revenue. Meanwhile, the message from the philanthropic sector to the nonprofit news organizations is quite the opposite – the more diversified your fund streams, the greater chances for sustainability.
The working group report has a number of recommendations for the IRS to consider in making tax exemption determinations for nonprofit news organizations. Rigorous standards for tax exemption must be upheld, but the standards must align with intention, rather than appearance. They should also take into account new ways of doing business with 21st Century technology.
Meanwhile, back in Detroit, the JOA is still in effect and both local newspapers have now cut back home delivery. Both are much thinner than I remember them to be, but local news coverage is getting a boost. The Free Press entered a partnership in 2009 with the CBS owned and operated WWJ-TV, Channel 62 to produce a morning news program, bringing locally-produced news to the station in a long time.
For more information, tune in Monday, March 4th at 10am Eastern for a panel discussion and the release of the report: http://www.cof.org/templates/5.cfm?ItemNumber=18708.
Common Cause
Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14, 2013
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=8526707
Conference outline:
Wednesday, March 13
9:15 a.m. Welcome by Bob Edgar and Liz Holtzman
9:20 a.m. Remarks by Robert Reich
9:45 a.m. Opening session: Watergate - Democracy in Crisis
11:30 a.m. Large group discussions
12:30 p.m. Luncheon keynote by Hon. Russ Feingold
2:00 p.m. Afternoon session: Watergate's Lessons and Legacy
3:30 p.m. Breakout Sessions
6:00 p.m. Reception and Awards Presentation
Thursday, March 14
9:15 a.m. Opening Session: Democracy in Crisis Revisited
10:45 a.m. Breakout sessions
12:15 p.m. Closing luncheon
[Commentary] On February 27, the House Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) broadband stimulus programs: the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) directed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the Department of Commerce and the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) run by the Rural Utilities Service in the Department of Agriculture. Larry Strickling, the head of the NTIA, and RUS Administrator John Padalino testified before the Subcommittee. On February 11, the New York Times previewed this week’s hearing noting that rural areas certainly suffer a lack of high-speed Internet access. While about 88 percent of urban households in the United States have access to high-speed cable Internet service, only 40 percent of rural households do, according to NTIA’s and the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map About 20 percent of United States households have access to fiber optic Internet service, the fastest connection, compared with 86 percent in Japan and two-thirds in South Korea. But in the haste to get broadband everywhere, some grant planners appeared not to have taken into account the current condition of infrastructure.
BTOP-BIP Brouhaha
A federal judge weakened the blow from Apple’s legal victory in a patent case against Samsung, lopping more than 40 percent off the damages a jury awarded last year. It was a mostly symbolic setback for Apple, one that did not shift the case — one of the most closely watched in the technology industry — in Samsung’s favor.
While Apple has lost other skirmishes against Samsung in courts around the world, the jury award in the United States case has been the biggest victory for either side so far. Even at a reduced level, it would be among the highest damage awards in a patent dispute. The judge ordered a new trial to recalculate a portion of those damages, leaving open the possibility that some of them could be restored. She also indicated that Apple is entitled to additional damages for sales of Samsung products that have occurred since the jury’s decision last summer, which could further swell the amount Apple is owed by Samsung. In her review of the jury’s decisions, which originally awarded Apple more than $1 billion for patent violations by Samsung in its mobile products, Judge Lucy Koh of the United States District Court in San Jose, Calif., knocked those damages down by $450 million, to $599 million. The new trial will determine how much of the $450 million, if any, should be restored.
Judge Slashes Jury Award in Apple-Samsung Case Judge in Apple-Samsung Case Cuts Damages, Orders New Trial on Some Products, Upholds $600 Million of Verdict (WSJ) Judge cuts Apple's $1-billion Samsung judgment by almost half (LATimes) Judge cuts Apple award vs Samsung, sets new damages trial (Reuters)
Apple, attempting to block a group lawsuit alleging it collected data from millions of customers’ mobile devices while they used applications approved by the company, said plaintiffs failed to prove their claims.
Lawyers for the customers asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh at a hearing in San Jose (CA) to designate the suit a class action. Apple argues the request should be denied because plaintiffs haven’t shown that any users had personal information collected by the free apps without their consent, and as a result, can’t show they suffered any harm, according to a court filing. The customers’ attorneys have abandoned their damages claims because they can’t prove any injury, and are proceeding with the class-action request “in a desperate attempt” to recover fees, Apple argued in the filing.
Apple Argues Suit Over IPhone Data Fails to Show Harm