Subject: [Benton's Communications-related Headlines] May 16, 2007 (Wiretaps; XM jocks; Cable & FCC)

From: Kevin Taglang <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 07:05:48 -0500

Planning a communications-related course for the 
summer term? Let Headlines help keep your 
students up-to-date on developments in the field. 
We offer group subscriptions and pre-set 
unsubscribes as well. And, as always, its FREE -- 
fitting into every student's budget! For more 
questions or more info, email [email-masked]

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY MAY 16, 2007

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
	President Intervened in Dispute Over Eavesdropping
	U.S. ISPs slam into wiretap deadline
	Pentagon Newsletter Asks Soldiers to Watch YouTube -- After Banning the Site
		- Markey calls on Department of Defense to Reverse Decision

CONTENT
	XM Satellite suspends shock jocks Opie & Anthony
	PTC Urges Upfront Responsibility
	Today's Kids Inundated With Ads

CABLE
	FCC Needs Major Overhaul, Says McSlarrow
	Cable Customers' Choices Being Debated
	TV à la carte? I'll take the buffet
	Cable TV, Advertisers Join In Fight to Preserve Power

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
	Thomson, Reuters Agree on Merger Terms

INTERNET/BROADBAND
	Equal Opportunity Speedway
	Web 2.0 meets Campaign 2008
	Embarrassment forever

QUICKLY -- Spectrum Management Advisory Committee 
Meeting; CEA: Consumers Will Have Access To 
Converters; Supreme Court Declines Telecom Rate 
Case; GOP Worries About Iraq Fuel War Policy Coverage

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

PRESIDENT INTERVENED IN DISPUTE OVER EAVESDROPPING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Johnston]
President Bush intervened in March 2004 to avert 
a crisis over the National Security Agency’s 
domestic eavesdropping program after Attorney 
General John Ashcroft, Director Robert S. Mueller 
III of the F.B.I. and other senior Justice 
Department aides all threatened to resign, a 
former deputy attorney general testified Tuesday. 
President Bush quelled the revolt over the 
program’s legality by allowing it to continue 
without Justice Department approval, also 
directing department officials to take the 
necessary steps to bring it into compliance with 
the law, according to Congressional testimony by 
the former deputy attorney general, James B. 
Comey. The former No. 2 official in the Justice 
Department said the crisis began when he refused 
to sign a presidential order reauthorizing the 
program, which allowed monitoring of 
international telephone calls and e-mail of 
people inside the United States who were 
suspected of having terrorist ties. He said he 
made his decision after the department’s Office 
of Legal Counsel, based on an extensive review, 
concluded that the program did not comply with 
the law. At the time, Mr. Comey was acting 
attorney general because Mr. Ashcroft had been 
hospitalized for emergency gall bladder surgery. 
Mr. Comey would not describe the rationale for 
his refusal to approve the eavesdropping program, 
citing its classified nature. The N.S.A. program, 
which began soon after the Sept. 11 attacks and 
did not require court approval to listen in on 
the communications of Americans and others, 
provoked an outcry in Congress when it was disclosed in December 2005.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/washington/16nsa.html?hp
(requires registration)
* James Comey: White House pressed
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/james-comey-white-house-pressed-2007-05-15.html
* Gonzales Hospital Episode Detailed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051500864.html
* Ashcroft and the Night Visitors
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501890.html
* Mr. Comey's Tale
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501945.html
* Gonzalez accused of '04 end run while Ashcroft ill
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070516/1a_bottomstrip16_dom.art.htm

US ISPs SLAM INTO WIRETAP DEADLINE
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service]
U.S. broadband and VOIP providers on Monday hit a 
deadline to prove they could accommodate 
law-enforcement wiretaps. The Federal 
Communications Commission in 2005 required 
broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) and 
VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) carriers that 
connect to the public telephone network to comply 
with a wiretap access law. Under the 
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act 
(CALEA), service providers have to prove they're 
equipped for investigators to carry out the 
equivalent of a traditional wiretap. The 
broadband and VOIP providers had to send the FCC 
by March 12 a plan to comply with CALEA, and by 
Monday they had to either set up a system that 
allows monitoring or hire an outside company to 
make it possible. Those that don't comply must 
make a good-faith effort to do so and may be referred for enforcement.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/15/isps-slam-into-wiretap-deadline_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/15/isps-slam-into-wiretap-deadline_1.html

PENTAGON NEWSLETTER ASKS SOLDIERS TO WATCH ITS 
YOUTUBE CHANNEL -- AFTER BANNING THE SITE
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: ]
Eason Jordan's IraqSlogger blog notes an ironic 
bit in the Defense Department's Multi-National 
Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) electronic newsletter to 
soldiers, which asks on a banner that they watch 
its YouTube channel, even though access to the 
site was banned worldwide via military computers 
by the Pentagon yesterday. "Unless the Department 
of Defense lifts (or doesn't fully apply) its 
YouTube ban," notes IraqSlogger. "US military 
personnel won't be able to watch their own 
Iraq-focused YouTube channel unless they do so on 
non-DoD computers and via non-DoD Web connectivity."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003585414
* Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) calls on Department of 
Defense to Reverse Decision to Block Web Sites
"While I understand concerns about bandwidth 
strain on the network, I fail to see how blocking 
these particular sites is consistent with 
achieving network efficiency. If network 
congestion was an issue, for instance, it is 
surprising that no bandwidth-intensive gaming 
sites are on the list of prohibited sites. I 
believe the military should have opted to ration 
any scare bandwidth resources it was encountering 
rather than summarily blocking access to U.S. 
troops completely. rationed bandwidth between 
official and recreational use of military 
networks abroad would have been far preferable to 
the action the military has chosen to take, which has issues of censorship."
http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2832&Itemid=141

CONTENT

XM SATELLITE SUSPENDS SHOCK JOCKS OPIE & ANTHONY
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Shock jocks "Opie & Anthony" were suspended on 
Tuesday from their satellite radio show for 30 
days after remarks by a guest who said he 
fantasized about sex with U.S. Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush. In 
the latest outcry over radio content widely 
criticized as crossing the bounds of good taste, 
the company that carries the show, XM Satellite 
Radio Holdings Inc., said it "deplored" the 
comments made about a week ago on the program, 
hosted by Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia. 
The hosts issued an apology soon after the 
original airing, but XM said it was not convinced 
the two were sincere. The Opie & Anthony Show has 
gotten the two into hot water before. They were 
fired from a New York station for a 2002 
broadcast in which they encouraged couples to have sex in public places.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=peopleNews&storyID=2007-05-15T223605Z_01_N15454274_RTRIDST_0_PEOPLE-MEDIA-OPIEANTHONY-DC.XML
* XM Radio Takes Two Hosts Off the Air for 30 Days
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/arts/music/16radi.html

PTC URGES UPFRONT RESPONSIBILITY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
The Parents Television Council Tuesday gave a 
shout out to advertisers for the upfront, calling 
on companies making decisions about their 
sponsorships to exercise corporate 
responsibility. “As you make your ‘upfront’ 
television-sponsorship decisions over the coming 
weeks, please consider how the programming you 
support with your ad dollars will affect children 
-- even if children are not part of your target 
demographic,” PTC president Tim Winter said in an open letter to companies.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6442399.html?rssid=196

TODAY'S KIDS INUNDATED WITH ADS
[SOURCE: CBS News]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
teaming up with Dreamworks animation to use the 
widely popular movie character Shrek to get kids 
off the couch. But beyond the public service, the 
studio's also going after promotion -- through 
tie-ins with more than 70 food products, some healthy, some junk.
http://wcco.com/business/finance_story_135024932.html

CABLE

FCC NEEDS MAJOR OVERHAUL, SAYS MCSLARROW
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a speech to the Media Institute in Washington, 
National Cable & Telecommunications Association 
President Kyle McSlarrow suggested that Congress 
should institute some systemic reforms at the 
Federal Communications Commission, saying the FCC 
had gotten caught up in an "elaborate Web of 
rules," and adding that, at the current FCC, "the 
trivial metastasizes into the burdensome." He 
said he favors an approach put forth by the 
Progress & Freedom Foundation  in its proposal 
for rewriting the Telecommunications Act of 1996. 
That approach would turn the FCC into a more 
reactive agency, empowered to intervene "only if 
it determines that marketplace competition would 
not adequately protect consumers." Essentially, 
he said, the presumption would be against 
regulation, and the agency retooled more like an 
FTC or Justice Department, responding to abuses through adjudication.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6442420.html?rssid=193
* NCTA’s McSlarrow Calls for FCC Downgrade
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6442490.html?rssid=196

CABLE CUSTOMERS' CHOICES BEING DEBATED
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John Dunbar]
Sports fans everywhere want to know: "Why do I 
have to subscribe to the soap opera channel when 
all I really want is ESPN?" That's the kind of 
question the cable TV industry hates answering. 
The channel choice issue comes up every few 
years, but people who argue that subscribers 
should be able to choose channels "a la carte" 
have never made any real headway. The latest 
effort, and the newest reasoning for requiring 
cable companies to offer channel choice, or a la 
carte cable, has to do with yet another issue: 
television violence. The overall lack of support 
for a la carte might seem surprising, considering 
that the average household in 2006 received 104 
channels, yet tuned in to only 16 of them. 
Federal law requires cable companies to offer a 
bare bones, "basic tier" of service, consisting 
of local broadcast and public access channels. 
The second tier, commonly known as "expanded 
basic," includes most of the major cable 
networks. There's usually no choice on this tier; 
subscribers get all the channels or none of them. 
Beyond that, subscribers may pick premium 
channels like HBO, that are priced separately. 
Unlike over-the-air broadcasters, which rely 
almost entirely on advertising to stay in 
business, cable networks earn about half their 
revenue from per-subscriber charges levied on 
cable system operators. Those costs are passed on 
to cable subscribers. Two types of companies 
dominate the cable industry: those that own both 
broadcast and cable networks (like Walt Disney 
Co.); and those that own both cable systems and 
cable networks (like Time Warner Inc.). An a la 
carte regime would blow up that system and 
disrupt its economic model. And that would lead 
-- according to the National Cable and 
Telecommunications Association, an industry trade 
group -- to higher prices and less programming 
diversity. Fewer channels would mean less 
advertising and fewer advertising dollars. An a 
la carte system would also require more customer 
service representatives, higher billing costs and 
higher marketing costs. These factors and others 
-- according to the NCTA -- would ultimately lead 
to higher rates for consumers. The bottom line, 
though, is there is no way of knowing for sure. A 
2003 GAO report stated that "a variety of 
factors" make it "difficult to ascertain how many 
consumers would be better off and how many would 
be made worse off under an a la carte approach." 
Consumers Union has lobbied long and hard for a 
la carte, saying it would put a halt to steadily 
rising cable prices. It has an ally in the 
Parents Television Council, a group that 
successfully pushed for higher fines for 
broadcast stations that air raunchy programming.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/936590/cable_customers_choices_being_debated/index.html?source=r_technology

TV A LA CARTE? I'LL TAKE THE BUFFET
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Rep Hilda L. Solis (D-CA)]
[Commentary] In 2002, arch-conservative civic 
groups joined with consumer groups to fight the 
Federal Communications Commission-proposed "media 
concentration" rules that would have given large 
media companies the right to gobble up local 
print and television outlets. It was a watershed 
moment -- the kind of left-right consensus rarely 
seen but fused together over the populist issue 
of diversity in media. Today, the issue of media 
concentration is again at the center of a 
controversial proposal by the FCC that would 
change how 90 million consumers watch television. 
The idea is per-channel-charges -- or in the more 
sanitized lexicon known as à la carte pricing for 
the cable industry -- federal rules which would 
allow consumers to purchase cable channels on a 
per-channel basis. A close look at the idea of à 
la carte pricing shows that it would be a 
disaster for consumers. Most consumers would pay 
more for less, as the sweeping rules would 
decimate small and niche cable channels while 
raising prices. The fact of the matter is this: 
nearly every study, nearly every major civic 
group on the political right and left, and nearly 
every cable programmer who lives in the 
competitive trenches all have said that à la 
carte pricing is a bad deal for consumers and a 
poison pill for the cause of media diversity. 
When it comes to cable programming, I'll take the 
buffet approach over à la carte. On numerous 
occasions, Congress has made it clear to the FCC 
and the public its view, to quote old adage, that 
"if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The chief 
federal communications' agency out not to be tone deaf to this message.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/05/15/EDG23PQO3C1.DTL

CABLE TV, ADVERTISERS JOIN IN FIGHT TO PRESERVE POWER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Shira Ovide [email-masked]]
Advertisers are teaming up with cable operators 
to fight back as the Web erodes the power of the 
traditional TV ad and as viewers use 
digital-video recorders to zip through 
commercials. Cable operators, through which a 
majority of Americans watch TV, are developing a 
new generation of marketing platform, including 
video-on-demand and interactive ads that marry 
traditional TV viewing with the ability to order 
coupons, target messages to specific viewers or 
interact in other ways that are more common 
online. The business model is nascent, but cable 
operators, which today generate less than 10% of 
their total revenue from advertising, have made 
such new advertising platforms among their 
highest future priorities. The ability to direct 
ads to viewers' specific interests or demographic 
groups is driving the growth of Internet 
advertising, and could fuel the new ad opportunities on cable platforms.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117928330711804439.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
(requires subscription)
* Disney aims to sell trips via TV remote
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-disney16may16,1,7878503.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

THOMPSON, REUTERS AGREE ON MERGER TERMS
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Reuters Group PLC and Thomson Corp. said Tuesday 
they agreed on terms for a merger to create one 
of the world's largest financial news providers. 
The cash and stock transaction values Reuters at 
$17.2 billion. Reuters trustees, who could have 
vetoed any takeover, endorsed the deal. Reuters 
competes with Thomson and Bloomberg LP in 
providing data terminals to the world's major 
banks and brokerages. Reuters was the market 
leader for years before steadily losing ground to 
Bloomberg. An April report from Inside Market 
Data Reference said Bloomberg has a 33 percent 
share of the market, with Reuters holding 23 
percent and Thomson 11 percent. London-based 
Reuters was born in 1851 when Paul Julius Reuter 
started sending stock market quotations between 
London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003585181
* Thomson Adds Reuters in $17 Billion Bid to Be Giant
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/business/media/16thomson.html
* Reuters Trustees Say Sale Won't Hurt Journalism
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/business/media/16integrity.html
* Reuters, Thomson Reach Deal to Create Data Giant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051500229.html
* Reuters trustees approve $17B offer
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070516/2b_reuters16.art.htm
* Thomson's acquisition of Reuters faces scrutiny
[SOURCE:  Associated Press]
Thomson Corp.'s $17.6-billion takeover of Reuters 
Group announced Tuesday now faces scrutiny from 
antitrust regulators and unions unhappy about 
expected job cuts. The renamed Thomson-Reuters 
Corp. would reduce the number of major companies 
providing financial data, news and trading 
systems to the financial services industry from 
three to two and vault it slightly ahead of the 
current market leader, privately held Bloomberg. 
Reuters journalists expressed their "deep 
concerns" in an open letter to Pehr Gyllenhammar, 
chairman of the trustee company, "over whether a 
reconstituted Reuters would maintain the high 
standards of journalism and the integrity, 
independence and freedom from bias that have 
shaped the company's 156-year-old reputation and 
are crucial to its future success."
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-reuters16may16,1,6013553.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
(requires registration)

INTERNET/BROADBAND

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SPEEDWAY
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: ]
Speedy Internet connections once were considered 
perks for the privileged. Robust Net access was 
enjoyed by 30% of U.S. households as late as 
2005, mostly in white homes. Meanwhile, so-called 
broadband adoption by blacks was a mere 14%, 
according to data from the Pew Internet & 
American Life Project. The resulting "digital 
divide" between white and black was considered a 
lasting socioeconomic problem--like the 
protracted disparity between black and white 
unemployment. But in the past two years, African 
Americans have been devouring broadband 
technology--and the digital divide has shrunk 
significantly, at least for this group. The share 
of black households with a cable modem, DSL, or 
satellite Internet connection climbed to 40% this 
year, Pew says. That's almost twice as fast as 
the growth of broadband penetration for the 
general population, which grew to 47%. The income 
gap has narrowed, too, but not as much: 
Households making less than $30,000 a year 
doubled their broadband participation, to 30%. 
That still pales next to 76% for households that 
have incomes of at least $75,000. Some of the 
closing of the racial divide can be traced to 
falling prices and rising availability of new 
technology. But that masks a deeper shift in the 
relationship of blacks to the Web. The Net today 
offers an abundance of entertainment 
riches--digital music, pictures, movies, video 
chat, games--that can be tailored to individual 
taste, not to mention services such as job 
networks and training. Gaining access to that 
killer content without broadband speeds would be 
like sucking hot fudge through a straw.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21/b4035061.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech

WEB 2.0 MEETS CAMPAIGN 2008
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Linda Feldmann]
There's no doubt that interaction with voters – 
aided and amplified by still-unfolding Web 
innovations – is the name of the game in the 2008 
presidential race. What's clear is that the 
advent of Web 2.0 – the wave of 
social-networking, file-sharing, and 
collaborative sites that have come into common 
use – has expanded the playing field for 
presidential candidates in ways that were 
unthinkable just a few years ago. Wherever there 
are people, there will be politics. That's why 
candidates have flocked to set up pages on 
MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr. In the 
6-million-member Second Life cyberworld, 
presidential candidates have "offices," organized 
by volunteers who keep in touch with the official 
campaigns. MySpace will push the envelope in 
Web-based politics when it conducts its own 
presidential primary on Jan. 1 and 2, 2008 – just 
before the real primaries begin. With 64 million 
MySpace members being asked to vote, that's a 
contest the candidates cannot ignore.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0516/p01s02-uspo.html

EMBARRASSMENT FOREVER
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Jim Louderback, PC magazine]
[Commentary] Everyone wants their 15 seconds of 
fame, but from now on it's more likely to be 15 
seconds of embarrassment -- and it will live 
online forever. YouTube, pervasive cell-phone 
video cameras, and even newer technologies are 
conspiring to foster an environment where nothing 
is private. Today's Internet and the powerful 
computers that feed it mercilessly record 
everything they see and hear and store those 
recordings forever. Breakthrough technologies 
debut and quickly spread, without regard to how 
they might be misused. Take headcasting, for 
example. It's now possible for anyone to staple a 
tiny wireless camera to their head and broadcast 
their life 24 hours a day. Or Twitter, which lets 
anyone send the most banal thoughts instantly to 
anyone's computer or phone in the world. Forget 
"Candid Camera;" it's likely that you're live 
now, and recorded forever for posterity.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/05/15/EDGGTP3E441.DTL

QUICKLY

SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, which 
provides advise on spectrum management to the 
National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration, will meet again on May 30 at the 
US Department of Commerce. The Committee will 
receive recommendations from its Subcommittee on 
Technical Sharing Efficiencies and provide advice 
to NTIA on its Spectrum Sharing Test-Bed 
Proposal; will receive a status report from its 
Subcommittee on Operational Sharing Efficiencies, 
and will hear public comment. Interested parties 
are invited to attend and to submit written 
comments. Written comments should be sent to the 
above listed address and received by close of 
business on May 24, 2007 to provide sufficient 
time for review. Comments received after May 24, 
2007, will be distributed to the Committee, but 
may not be reviewed prior to the meeting.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/frnotices/2007/SMACMeeting_051507.html

CEA: CONSUMERS WILL HAVE ACCESS TO CONVERTERS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Consumer Electronics Association says 
broadcasters can rest assured that "every 
interested American" will have access to a range 
of retail options to obtain a digital-to-analog 
converter box," but stopped short of saying that 
would be by January 2008 or that every retail 
store would stock them. In a letter to National 
Association of Broadcasters President David Rehr, 
CEA President Gary Shapiro says "I imagine that 
certain boutique, custom installation and 
high-end stores may choose not to sell the 
coupon-eligible boxes, but rest assured any 
American who wants to purchase a coupon-eligible 
box will have a wide variety of convenient retail 
sources." That may or may not include Best Buy, 
which in a Hill hearing earlier this year would 
not commit to carrying the boxes in all stores.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6442402.html?rssid=193
* Broadcasters Want Converters On Shelves By January
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6442241.html?rssid=193

SUPREME COURT DECLINES TELECOM RATE CASE
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
The Supreme Court Monday turned down an appeal 
from an Iowa telecommunications company that 
claimed Qwest Communications International Inc. 
owed it money for wireless phone calls that Qwest 
connected to its network. At issue in the case, 
which was brought by Iowa Network Services Inc., 
is whether federal regulators have the final say 
on telecom rates or whether local call rates can 
be set by state officials. Lower federal courts 
ruled in Qwest's favor and gave Iowa's state 
utilities board a role in resolving the dispute. 
By declining to take the case, without comment, 
the Court let stand the lower court rulings in 
Qwest's favor, which will save Qwest tens of 
millions of dollars in charges and interest that INS had sought.
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/supreme-court-declines-telecom-rate-case/n20070514103709990036?cid=1225

GOP WORRIES ABOUT IRAQ FUEL WAR POLICY COVERAGE
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, 
AUTHOR: Tom Rosenstiel, Paul Hitlin, and Mark Jurkowitz]
As it has on a number of weeks this year, the 
political debate over U.S. policy in Iraq 
generated more coverage than any other story last 
week, filling 14% of the overall newshole, 
according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index from May 
6-May 11. This time, however, the story was not 
the predictable and continuing squabbling of 
Democrats and Republicans over Congressional 
maneuvering. It was Republicans challenging the 
President with their concerns that the war in 
Iraq would damage the party’s political fortunes 
for years to come. And much of the American news 
media treated the exchange at the White House as a breakthrough event.
http://www.journalism.org/node/5575
--------------------------------------------------------------
Communications-related Headlines is a free online 
news summary service provided by the Benton 
Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday 
through Friday, this service provides updates on 
important industry developments, policy issues, 
and other related news events. While the 
summaries are factually accurate, their often 
informal tone does not always represent the tone 
of the original articles. Headlines are compiled 
by Kevin Taglang [email-masked] -- we welcome your comments.
--------------------------------------------------------------
(c)Benton Foundation 2007. Redistribution of this 
email publication -- both internally and 
externally -- is encouraged if it includes this 
message. For subscribe/unsubscribe info email: [email-masked]
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Benton Foundation (www.benton.org) works to 
realize the social benefits made possible by the 
public interest use of communications. Bridging 
the worlds of philanthropy, public policy, and 
community action, Benton seeks to shape the 
emerging communications environment and to 
demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Free Press also collects media and media policy 
related headlines that complement well the work 
we are doing. Media Headlines is a free, daily 
news service by Free Press. It includes links to 
articles found on the Free Press News 
Center.  For more information or to sign up, visit http://www.freepress.net

Kevin Taglang
Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Foundation
Communications in the Public Interest
1625 K Street, NW 11th Floor
Washington, DC 20006
headlines AT benton DOT org 

____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     [email-masked]

You are subscribed as: [% user.email %]

Please direct questions or comments about Headlines or your subscription to Kevin Taglang at
[email-masked]

To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     [email-masked]

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.benton.org/lists/info/headlines