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LEAN LEFT? LEAN RIGHT? NEWS MEDIA MAY TAKE THEIR CUES FROM CUSTOMERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Austan Goolsbee]
Most people expect spin from politicians. When they perceive partisan slant in the news itself, they typically interpret it as evidence of underlying bias by reporters or media owners. But one of the most interesting things coming out of research on the economics of the media industry has been the notion that media slant may simply reflect business rather than politics. New research by two University of Chicago economists, Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse M. Shapiro, entitled “What Drives Media Slant? Evidence From U.S. Daily Newspapers” compiles some compelling and altogether unusual data to answer the question. Papers like The Washington Times or The Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City used Republican phrases while papers like The San Francisco Chronicle and The Boston Globe used Democratic ones. But more important, once the authors had this measure, they showed that the main driver of any slant was the newspaper’s audience, not bias by the newspaper’s owner. A comparison of circulation data (per capita) to the ratio of Republican to Democratic campaign contributions by ZIP code showed that circulation was strongly related to whether the newspaper matched the readers’ own ideology. Their measure indicates that The Los Angeles Times, for example, is a liberal paper. Its circulation suffers in Southern California ZIP codes where donations to Republicans are especially high. The authors calculated the ideal partisan slant for each paper, if all it cared about was getting readers, and they found that it looked almost precisely like the one for the actual newspaper. As Dr. Shapiro put it in an interview, “The data suggest that newspapers are targeting their political slant to their customers’ demand and choosing the amount of slant that will maximize their sales.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/business/media/07scene.html
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* See the research www.nber.org/papers/w12707.pdf

NEWS CORP IS POISED TO REGAIN LIBERTY'S STAKE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin julia.angwin@wsj.com]
A two-year standoff between News Corp. and its second-biggest shareholder, Liberty Media Corp., is nearing an end in a deal that will return Liberty to a powerful position in the media sector and solidify News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch's control of his company. Under an agreement, which could be finalized in the next few weeks, News Corp. will buy Liberty's $11 billion stake in the media giant in exchange for News Corp's 38.6% stake in satellite-TV firm DirecTV Group Inc., some cash and some smaller News Corp. assets. Selling the DirecTV stake would be a turnabout for Mr. Murdoch, who spent years pursuing control of the satellite-TV firm. But in the past year or so, DirecTV's subscriber growth has slowed markedly, as competition from cable operators has intensified. Cable companies are benefiting from their ability to offer a bundle of telephone, high-speed Internet and video. Satellite can't easily offer high-speed Internet.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116544470590142710.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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* Murdoch and Malone Find a Way to Make Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/technology/07cable.html

* Malone to Take Over DirecTV
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6397893.html?display=Breaking+News

FCC DEFENDS CUSSING CRACKDOWN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Saying broadcasters have "only limited First Amendment protection," that the V-chip is "ineffective," and that they gave the industry notice it was changing policy on swear words, the FCC Wednesday both defended its profanity findings against cussing in Fox's Billboard Music Awards and defended the underpinnings of its entire indecency enforcement regime. That defense came in its filing to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals of a brief responding to a broadcaster challenge of four profanity rulings issued last March. Saying that the Pacifica case -- the so-called Seven dirty words Supreme Court decision -- upholding its indecency enforcement powers was "good law," the FCC disputed Fox's contention that its definition of indecency is unconstitutionally vague. The FCC said that the Pacifica decision "endorsed the same definition," and said that Fox's broadcast of the words "fudge" and "shoot" [OK, maybe something a little stronger than that] lie far from any zone of uncertainty that might exist at the margins of the indecency standard's application." The FCC said it is free to change its policy if it explains it, argues that it did explain it, and says the broadcaster contentions are meritless.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6397889.html

ICANN REVIEWS REVOKING OUTDATED SUFFIXES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
Over the past few years, the Internet has seen new domain names such as ".eu" for Europe and ".travel" for the travel industry. Now, the key oversight agency is looking to get rid of some. Meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers began accepting public comments this week on how best to revoke outdated suffixes, primarily assigned to countries that no longer exist. The Soviet Union's ".su" is the leading candidate for deletion. ICANN wants to establish a formal policy and is accepting comments online until Jan. 31. Further deletions will likely take a year or longer to give users time to change. Reductions in the number of domains - now 265 - are likely to be temporary. ICANN is crafting rules on how to roll out additional domains, including ones in non-English characters. ICANN also is launching a review of eligibility rules for ".int," a domain reserved for international organizations.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ICANN_SUFFIXES?SITE=KTVK&SECTION=...