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A study published last month in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication shows that the way certain readers see news stories can be distorted by the comments below them. Especially when someone cares deeply about the issue being covered, disagreeable commentary may stoke concern over media bias. The study’s author is Eun-Ju Lee, a professor in the department of communication at Seoul National University, in South Korea
Online story comments affect news perception
A Q&A with Blair Levin, one of the premier communications strategists in the United States who lead in the creation of the National Broadband Plan released in March 2010. He now serves as executive director of Gig.U. He said communities have to take steps to remove bandwidth as a constraint on innovation.
National Broadband Plan relies on communities to drive innovation
As the nation's wireless carriers and messaging providers gear up to support text-to-911 service, they are also already staking out positions on a Next-Generation 911 service that could support a range of communication mechanisms including pictures, video and other IP-based communications.
The Federal Communications Commission announced proposed rules that will allow wireless users to send text messages to 911. The rules will require wireless carriers and over-the-top messaging providers like Facebook Messenger and Apple's iMessage to support text messages to 911 and to provide bounce-back messages if the service is unavailable. As part of that effort, the nation's four largest carriers agreed to deploy a nationwide text-to-911 service by May 15, 2014. However, the FCC is also seeking comment on a Next-Generation 911 system, dubbed NG911. That system, the details of which are still being hashed out, will support a wide range of functions beyond just text messages.
In comments to the FCC, major carriers including Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile USA generally voiced support for a next-generation 911 system, but pointed out several issues in the implementation of such a service. Specifically, Verizon urged the FCC to implement statewide or region-wide guidelines for the deployment of NG911 services to 911 call centers, dubbed Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). Verizon also said Congress should issue nationwide laws for liability--the carrier warned that "liability risks could potentially deter NG911 deployment or increase deployment costs in a particular state." In its filing AT&T noted that a NG911 system will require additional funding, and that the FCC and Congress should revamp the current funding system for 911. "AT&T believes that these public safety expenses should be funded through general revenues and that the burden of making 911 service access available to everyone should be borne equally. The commission should recommend to Congress that it explore ways of addressing this funding issue."
AT&T, Verizon, others debate liability, funding for Next-Generation 911 service
[Commentary] Most of the people I know who choose to live in rural America happily do without the conveniences of the cities and suburbs in order to enjoy the benefits of rural life. In today’s world, though, high-speed broadband networks are far more than a convenience for rural America. To forego the benefits that state-of-the-art broadband networks bring would limit the potential of small towns and rural counties that deserve to be equal beneficiaries of the technology revolution that’s being made possible by the transition away from legacy analog copper wire-based networks and to high-speed next generation Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks.
Wireless broadband is a natural solution for rural areas because it doesn’t involve running miles of expensive fiber-optic cable across thinly populated swaths of land. To encourage more of this kind of private investment in rural districts, federal and state policy makers need to trim cumbersome regulations written back in the days when telecommunications was limited to voice phone calls over antiquated networks with only one provider. With today’s many choices in communications delivery, the sweeping advances in IP communications technology make that era look like the Stone Age, and Stone Age regulations are a hindrance in the Information Age. Removing barriers to investment and modernization of our networks and accelerating the spread of advanced broadband networks is a crucial issue for the whole country. But nobody has a bigger stake in seeing it happen than the 50 million of us who live in rural America.
[Ashley McMillan is executive director of Partnership for Technology Innovation]
High-speed broadband a lifeline for rural America
Former-President Bill Clinton says businesses need broadband speeds comparable to those in parts of Asia to compete in the global market. In an echo of the broadband argument rumbling in the UK, Clinton believes the US needs to invest in fast, universal broadband throughout the country. Delivering the opening keynote at Dell World in Texas, the former president said: "You want to help small businesses, you want to help your entrepreneurs, you want to make it possible for people living in remote towns and upstate New York and West Texas to be part of the global economy? Then stop pretending we can do it with South Korea having average download speeds of four times ours."
Clinton: businesses need Korean broadband speeds
[Commentary] We're all frustrated at rate hikes from phone and cable companies. Every year, it's either an outright increase or some new fee that has the same effect. Now imagine being told that over the next five years, Comcast was going to raise the price of your Internet connection by over 800 percent. That's what the company told Martin County, Fla., a few years ago, aware that the region had few alternatives to turn to. But Martin County recognized the danger in agreeing to extortionary prices and built its own network to connect schools, libraries, police and other community anchor institutions. The project is forecast to save the county $30 million over 20 years. This is one of the many examples we at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance detailed in our fact sheet on the public savings community-owned networks bring.
Big Savings, New Jobs from Community-Owned Networks
Is there a future for low power television (LPTV) stations?? It’s a question even being asked by low-power broadcasters themselves. Now, the Federal Communications Commission is on record as saying even they aren’t sure yet.
The Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance, an industry organization of low power television broadcasters, translators, full-power television broadcasters and allied industry organizations and companies, believes the upcoming incentive auction must protect the pre-auction spectrum usage rights of all LPTV and translator operators. Under the law, these stations are considered “secondary” to Full Power and Class A services with regard to interference issues, and will therefore be ineligible to participate in the auction. Neither will they be compensated for expenses in moving to a different channel in their market should they create interference for a Full Power or Class A protected TV Broadcaster.
Will LPTV survive after spectrum auctions?
Appearing on C-SPAN's The Communicators, National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith said that as the original wireless service, broadcasting remains "highly relevant," particularly given what he says is mobile's limitations on video delivery and the indecency regulations that keep it a family viewing destination.
Smith used the word "fail" repeatedly to talk about mobile's inability to deliver the kind of live, real-time video, including high-value sports, which broadcasters supply through their one-to-many architecture. Smith warned that in a world where broadband has replaced, rather than complemented broadcasting, important public values like free, local and decent content will be lost. He stood up strongly for indecency regulations, calling them good public policy as well as a good talking point with Congress.
NAB's Smith Defends Broadcast Future
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has told the Federal Communications Commission to allow the reallocation of two station licenses from Nevada and Wyoming to New Jersey and Delaware, saying the move squares with the intent of a law that each state have at least one VHF station if it is technically feasible. The FCC in September 2011 upheld a 2009 Media Bureau decision denying the move of TV station channel licenses from Wyoming and Nevada to New Jersey and Delaware, which at the time of the initial request had no VHF stations. When PMCM TV, owner of KJWY-TV Jackson (WY), and KVNV-TV Ely (NV), filed for the move, New Jersey and Delaware were the only states without a VHF station. That was after WOR-TV Secaucus went digital and moved to a UHF channel. The stations asked to be "reallocated" across the country, but the FCC concluded that "reallocation" meant moving stations from one community to another because they were interfering with a nearby station on the same channel. The court disagreed and threw out that decision and told the FCC to approve the move.
Court Reverses FCC Denial of Station License Reallocation to New Jersey, Delaware
For years, cable companies have been dreaming about personalizing TV advertising. If ad spots weren’t just geared towards broad demographics but fine-tuned to the things you watch and other data available about you, then you’d be less bored and brands would be willing to pay more. Or so goes the logic. Unfortunately, efforts to get this off the ground based on cable set-top boxes have largely failed. Now, the focus may be shifting to TV set makers. At the coming CES in Las Vegas, media data provider Gracenote is going to demonstrate a proof-of-concept of technology that puts ad-swapping power right into the TV set. Gracenote is using video recognition technology to identify ad breaks, and will be able to insert ads based on the demographic of a viewer, as well as knowledge about what kind of shows he or she has watched in the past.
Your next TV set may show you advertising spots you actually like