Benton RSS Feed

BROADCASTERS, MIKE-MAKER PUSH FOR MORE FCC TESTING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Shure company and the National Association of Broadcasters (with and assist from the Association of Maximum Service Television) are asking the FCC for more interference testing and are arguing that one way to protect the DTV transition from interference would be not to allow mobile unlicensed devices to operate in the DTV band. The FCC commissioners have said they were inclined to allow the devices to get more use out of the spectrum and promote wireless broadband, but they have also said that preventing interference, and potential impediments, to the DTV transition is also important.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6438381.html

CHILDREN'S MEDIA SKEW GENDER
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Geena Davis, Actress]
[Commentary] In 2005-06, the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication conducted the most comprehensive analysis of children's movies and TV programming ever done. Analyzing the 101 top-grossing G-rated movies released from 1990 through 2004, USC's research reveals that there are three male characters for every one female. Children's TV does better on gender balance: Shows rated TVY (for children under 7) and TVY7 (for children 7+) have a male/female ratio of roughly 2-1, while TVG (for all ages) is nearly 1-1. It is troubling, though, that the imbalance is greatest in shows for the youngest viewers. In films and TV for children, male characters are half as likely as females to be parents or married, and much more likely to be violent and dumb; those disparities are even greater for male characters of color. As for females in G-rated movies, about a third are either entertainers or royalty (compared with the 0.1% of the American women who are entertainers; the USA has no royalty). Kids learn their value by seeing themselves reflected in the culture. If their reflection is visible and common, they can say, "I must count. I see myself." But what message are we sending children with so few female characters? Or when male relationships and female accomplishments are devalued? We're teaching them that girls and women are less valuable, while options for boys and girls are determined primarily by gender. This message damages girls and boys.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070502/opthree_02.art.htm

MAKING A KILLING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Mike White, screenwriter]
[Commentary] Someone who helps make movies asks "before cashing those big checks, shouldn't we at least pause to consider what we are saying with our movies about the value of life and the pleasures of mayhem?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02white.html
(requires registration)

COURT SAYS CONGRESSMAN MUST PAY DAMAGES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak]
No, this isn't a "Ten Years Ago" feature... A federal appeals court in Washington ruled Tuesday that Rep Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington, must pay damages to another congressman for giving reporters a tape of an illegally intercepted telephone call. The case was brought by Rep John A. Boehner of Ohio, now the House Republican leader. It arose from a conference call in 1996 in which Newt Gingrich, who was then speaker of the House, discussed how to deal with a finding against him by the House ethics committee. Mr. Boehner participated by cellphone. A Florida couple, Alice and John Martin, recorded the call using a radio scanner. They delivered the tape to Rep McDermott, then the ranking Democrat on the ethics committee, who passed it along to The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Martins pleaded guilty to intercepting the call and were fined $500 each for violating the federal wiretapping law. That law also forbids the dissemination of information obtained through illegal interception. But a 2001 decision of the United States Supreme Court, Bartnicki v. Vopper, ruled that the part of the law concerning disclosure violates the First Amendment, at least when the person doing the disclosing was not involved in the eavesdropping and the information was of public importance. Earlier decisions in the Boehner case had rejected arguments from Rep McDermott based on Bartnicki and the First Amendment. Yesterday’s decision, from the full United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was much narrower, turning on an ethics committee confidentiality rule.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/washington/02court.html
(requires registration)