Subject: [Benton's Communications-related Headlines] March 28, 2007 (More DTV; Rock the Net; Kids' junk ads)

From: Kevin Taglang <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:05:12 -0500

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2007

BROADCASTING
	Lawmakers back keeping 2009 digital TV date
	The FCC and Armstrong Williams' Continuing Legacy
	Supreme Court Urged to Lift Political Ad Restrictions
	Nexstar: Retrans Consent Key to 2007 Revenue

INTERNET/BROADBAND
	'Net Neutrality' Strikes Chord With Coalition Of Musicians
	Surprise: Study Finds Online Users Finish More Stories Than Print Readers
	Web fuels 'democratization' of knowledge
	A Radio Station Just for You
	Searching for Ads Offline
	Packet Politics

CHILDREN & MEDIA
	Children's TV ads loaded with junk food
	Child Wants Cellphone; Reception Is Mixed
	Amp'd Mobile faces $100,000 FCC fine

OWNERSHIP
	Tribune Co. Board Pressured to Accept Zell's Bid

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
	Study Finds FCC Spectrum Auctions Anti-Competitive
	"Family friendly" Internet proposal challenges status quo on FCC auctions
	Dauman: Wireless Industry ‘Respects’ Copyrights

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
	Communication in the Face of Terror

QUICKLY -- Freedom of information? Uncle Sam, get 
it right!; The Scent of Scandal Makes Gonzales 
the Big Story; Congressional Internet Caucus: 
It’s For Sale!; Income Gap Is Widening

BROADCASTING

LAWMAKERS BACK KEEPING 2009 DIGITAL TV DATE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Rachelle Younglai]
The switch to digital television from analog 
should not be delayed because it is critical that 
emergency services have access to freed-up 
airwaves to communicate, members of the House 
Telecommunications Subcommittee said at a hearing 
on Wednesday. U.S. television stations are 
required to switch to airing only digital 
broadcasts by February 17, 2009, and that will 
free up 108 megahertz of analog airwaves. Out of 
that chunk, 24 MHz is being set aside for public 
safety so that emergency workers can better 
communicate with each other, a significant 
problem during 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. 
Lawmakers raised concerns over the progress and 
logistics of the transition -- a move that will affect tens of millions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2835021920070328
* Politicians squabble over digital-TV funds
http://news.com.com/Politicians+squabble+over+digital+TV+funds/2100-1028_3-6171346.html?tag=html.alert
* Statement of Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell:
As we prepare for February 2009, we should not 
forget that we are asking ordinary people to pay 
for a Government decision that essentially makes 
their television sets obsolete. For that reason, 
we should ensure that this transition is as 
painless as possible for American consumers.
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110st30.shtml
* Upton Predicts Converter Subsidy Is Sufficient
By the time of the transition to DTV in February 
2009, only a little more than 20 million sets 
will need analog-to-digital converter boxes, 
predicted Rep Fred Upton (R-MI). And, if that 
projection is correct, the Republican-backed plan 
to provide up to $1.5 billion toward the boxes, 
which would cover 33.5 million sets, will be 
enough money to cover everyone who needs them.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6428657?title=Article&spacedesc=news
* Yager Details DTV Education Plan to House
National Association of Broadcasters board member 
and Barrington Broadcasting CEO Jim Yager spelled 
out the NAB-MSTV joint efforts to educate the 
public on the industry’s transition to digital 
television broadcasting in 2009.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/03/28/daily.4/
* Jim Yager Speaks Before the House Telecom Subcommittee
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6428679?title=Article&spacedesc=news
* Britt Unsure About Local HDTV for Basic-Only Subs
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said Wednesday 
that his company hadn't established policy for 
making HD local TV signals available to customers 
who buy just the introductory basic-programming 
tier. “We have not addressed yet somebody who 
buys basic only and might want HD. My guess is 
that there aren't very many of those people,” 
Britt said in testimony at a House Subcommittee 
on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing on 
cable’s role in the national shutdown of analog 
TV signals on Feb. 17, 2009. Presumably, Britt’s 
point was that a subscriber who had spent 
hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on an HD 
set was unlikely to be among the small percentage 
of customers who don't buy multiple programming tiers.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6428870.html?display=Breaking+News
* Best Buy Won't Commit To Labels or Carriage of Converters
Best Buy admitted that the company does not have 
any warning labels on it's analog-only sets to 
inform potential buyers that the sets will not 
work without a converter box after the DTV 
transition in 2009. A company executive would not 
commit to stocking stores with analog-to-digital 
converter boxes. Commerce Committee Chairman John 
Dingell (D-MI) asked whether there should be 
concern that retailers would be discouraging 
people from getting the converters so that they 
would, instead, buy more expensive DTV sets. Best Buy said no.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6428721?title=Article&spacedesc=news
* Fuzzy Pictures
[Commentary] House Telecommunications & Internet 
Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) says the 
DTV transition picture is still fuzzy; B&C reporter John Eggerton agrees.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138/post/1350007935.html?nid=2960

THE FCC AND ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS' CONTINUING LEGACY
[SOURCE: PR Watch, AUTHOR: Diane Farsetta]
[Commentary] On March 14, House Commerce 
Committee Chairman John Dingell asked FCC 
Chairman Kevin Martin about the status of the 
agency's ongoing Armstrong Williams 
investigation. Williams is a conservative 
commentator who was retained by the U.S. 
Education Department, as a subcontractor of the 
public relations firm Ketchum, to promote the No 
Child Left Behind Act. Williams' $240,000 
government contract and his failure to disclose 
it, first reported on by USA Today's Greg Toppo 
in January 2005, spurred public outrage and calls 
for accountability. To date, two government 
reports on Williams have been released -- both 
late on a Friday, presumably to limit media 
coverage of them. In May 2005, the Education 
Department's Office of Inspector General stated 
that it had "found no evidence of any ethical 
violations," though it admitted there were "poor 
management decisions," and "poor judgment and 
oversight." In September 2005, the Government 
Accountability Office issued a harsher 
assessment, finding that aspects of the Education 
Department's contract with Ketchum violated 
federal law. "The Department violated the 
publicity or propaganda prohibition when it 
issued task orders to Ketchum directing it to 
arrange for Mr. Williams to regularly comment on 
the NCLB Act without requiring Ketchum to ensure 
that Mr. Williams disclosed to his audiences his 
relationship with the Department," concluded the 
GAO. Meanwhile, the FCC's investigation into the 
Williams affair remains open. However, Rep. 
Dingell's recent questioning of FCC Chair Martin 
did reveal new information, as well as establish 
a mandate for yet another report, on the status 
of the agency's ongoing investigation.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5902

SUPREME COURT URGED TO LIFT POLITICAL AD RESTRICTIONS
[SOURCE: CNSNews.com, AUTHOR: Randy Hall]
With an eye on the 2008 elections, a number of 
groups from across the political spectrum are 
asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ban 
on organizations airing issue advertisements on 
TV or radio 30 days before a primary and 60 days 
before a general election. "The work of the 
government does not cease in the days leading up 
to an election, and those who seek to comment on 
key political and cultural issues should not be 
silenced during that period," Jay Sekulow, chief 
counsel of the conservative American Center for 
Law and Justice (ACLJ), said in a news release. 
Moreover, he said, "citizens enjoy a fundamental 
right to petition for a redress of grievances. To 
prohibit the use of genuine issue advertisements 
by grassroots lobbying organizations is not only 
wrong, but it also violates that sound 
constitutional principle." "The Supreme Court has 
an important opportunity to end this censorship 
and should do so without hesitation," he added.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200703/POL20070327a.html

NEXSTAR: RETRANS CONSENT KEY TO 2007 REVENUE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Michael Malone]
On the heels of recent retransmission consent 
victories, Nexstar  CEO Perry Sook vowed to be 
“right back at the trough” in the coming months. 
Speaking at the Bank of America Media, 
Telecommunications and Entertainment Conference, 
Sook pointed out Nexstar’s $13.7 million in 
retrans cash in 2006 and $49 million over the 
last five years, and predicted a bigger windfall: 
“That’s without the telephone companies 
delivering TV service,” he said. “They’re just starting to talk to us.”
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6428820?title=Article&spacedesc=news

INTERNET/BROADBAND

'NET NEUTRALITY' STRIKES CORD WITH COALITION OF MUSICIANS
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Michael Martinez]
A coalition of musicians announced a campaign 
that they hope will rock the nationwide debate 
over the future of high-speed Internet networks. 
The "Rock The Net" campaign is being backed by 
musicians who want Congress to mandate network 
neutrality, or the principle that broadband 
network operators should treat all traffic 
equally. The coalition includes several 
high-profile artists from varying musical genres, 
including R.E.M. and OK Go, the band that 
recently took home the "most creative" trophy in 
the inaugural awards by the YouTube video-sharing 
site. Rock The Net is being organized by the 
Future of Music Coalition, Noise Pop and 
Zeitgeist Artist Management, and funded by the 
Proteus Fund's Media Democracy Fund. A series of 
concerts throughout the country will be held by 
participating artists to raise awareness on the 
issue. Media Access Project President Andrew 
Schwartzman said that for musicians, network 
neutrality is just as much about uploading 
content as it is downloading. He said artists 
should be able to upload without facing higher 
prices for certain content so they can take 
advantage of social media and distribute their 
works. "It really involves people's right to 
speak as much as it involves their ability to receive information," he said.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-MVLT1175104332892.html
* Music Stars Back "Rock the Net" Campaign
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6428643?title=Article&spacedesc=news
* Musicians campaign for free Internet (Associated Press)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17821093/

SURPRISE: STUDY FINDS ONLINE USERS FINISH MORE STORIES THAN PRINT READERS
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Joe Strupp]
In a surprise finding, online readers finish news 
stories more often than those who read in print, 
according to the Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack 
study released Wednesday at the American Society 
of Newspaper Editors conference here. When 
readers chose to read an online story, they 
usually read an average of 77% of the story, 
compared to 62% in broadsheets and 57% in 
tabloids. The research also found that 75% of 
print readers are methodical in their reading, 
which means they start reading a page at a 
particular story and work their way through each 
story. Just 25% of print readers are scanners, 
who scan the entire page first, then choose a 
story to read. Online, however, about half of 
readers are methodical, while the other half 
scan, the report found. The survey also revealed 
that large headlines and fewer, large photos 
attracted more eyes than smaller images in print. 
But online, readers were drawn more to navigation bars and teasers.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003563988

WEB FUELS 'DEMOCRATIZATION' OF KNOWLEDGE
[SOURCE: eSchool News]
Getting into college might be tougher today than 
it used to be--but an increasing number of top 
schools are now offering courses free of charge 
online. What's more, some program administrators 
report giving away course content actually is 
having a positive impact on student recruitment. 
The moves--which differ from the 
distance-education courses that many schools 
offer for credit and charge for--come as colleges 
and universities say they want to democratize 
education, making the best resources available to 
more people. But the schools also hope such 
efforts lead to more interest from potential 
applicants and inspire alumni in far-flung locales to make a donation.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6958

A RADIO STATION JUST FOR YOU
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Wilson Rothman]
For all the talk about satellite radio, the most 
vibrant frontier in radio may be the Web. Many 
traditional AM and FM stations have begun 
streaming on the Internet, along with hundreds of 
smaller online-only operators. Even subscription 
download services like Napster, Rhapsody and Urge 
from MTV have preprogrammed radio for users who 
are not in the mood to hunt for tracks. 
Currently, the most compelling online radio is 
interactive. Services like Pandora, Last.fm and 
Slacker evaluate your musical tastes, then serve 
up a continuous stream of programming to match. 
They mix familiar songs with new material you 
might like. They all do it by harnessing the 
technological forces of social networking, data 
mining and music analysis, though each uses a 
slightly different technique. With so much 
momentum, there are still plenty of bumps. The 
Copyright Royalty Board of the Library of 
Congress recently announced a Web-radio royalty 
payment plan that has caused many free Internet 
broadcasters to fear for their fragile business 
models. Some new interactive music services 
choose not to stream anything. Instead, they rely 
strictly on music the listener already owns or 
new tracks donated by publicity-hungry 
independent artists and labels. Others are 
becoming as creative with the way they license 
content as they are with the way they personalize it for you.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/technology/29basics.html
(requires registration)

SEARCHING FOR ADS OFFLINE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Miguel Helft]
If there was any doubt about the scope of 
Google’s ambitions in the advertising world, one 
of its recent job postings should dispel them: It 
seeks a “head of national TV sales” to help build 
“a world-class national TV advertising sales 
team.” Then there is radio. Google’s chief 
executive, Eric E. Schmidt, said last year that 
the company would eventually have 1,000 employees 
dedicated to radio advertising alone. Google may 
one day rock the television and radio advertising 
markets. But its TV plans have yet to take shape, 
and its other efforts to extend its dominance 
over online advertising into offline media like 
newspapers and radio are inching along. The early 
results are mixed, suggesting that Google’s 
successful transition from online kingpin to 
credible player in traditional media is far from assured.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/technology/29google.html
(requires registration)

PACKET POLITICS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Daniel Henninger]
[Commentary]  Computer, the Internet and changing 
screens hundreds of times each day to access 
different gobs of "information" has changed the 
way our brains order the world, which is known as 
human consciousness. This "change" is having a 
material effect on just about everything else; 
why not on who gets elected president next year? 
In 1996, an eon ago, Steve G. Steinberg wrote a 
prescient article in Wired magazine on the battle 
between what he called Bellheads and Netheads. 
This was essentially an argument over the network 
design of the Web between engineers for the 
established phone companies, the Bellheads, and 
the anarchic engineers of the Web, Netheads. It 
was a war between the old world of 
circuit-switching and the new world of 
packet-switching, the one we inhabit today. 
Today, the Bellheads are long-form TV, 
traditional political ads, 74-minute CDs, 
two-hour movies -- predetermined A-to-B formats. 
(Newspapers are in fact a collection of 
"packets," a subject for another time.) The 
Netheads are YouTube, shared playlists, remixed 
videos, the idea of personal choice, and randomly 
arriving political ads such as "Hillary 1984." 
That Netheads are chop-shopping "The Daily Show" 
or "The Colbert Report" is ironic, but as the 
Yoda of old-media Walter Cronkite said, "That's 
the way it is." Prepackaging versus packets. And so in politics.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117513310695452758.html?mod=todays_us_opinion
(requires subscription)

CHILDREN & MEDIA

CHILDREN'S TV ADS LOADED WITH JUNK FOOD
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
In a child’s buffet of food commercials, more 
than 40 percent of the dishes are candy, snacks 
and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, 
vegetables, poultry or seafood. For years, health 
officials have warned that kids were being 
inundated with commercials about not-so-healthy 
foods. Now, researchers have put numbers to those 
warnings in the largest-ever study of commercials 
aimed at children. “The vast majority of the 
foods that kids see advertised on television 
today are for products that nutritionists would 
tell us they need to be eating less of, not more 
of, if we’re going to get a handle on childhood 
obesity,” said Vicki Rideout of the Kaiser Family 
Foundation, which conducts health research. 
Children ages 8-12 see the most food ads on TV — 
an average of 21 a day, or 7,600 a year. 
Teenagers see slightly fewer — 17 a day, or about 
6,000 a year; and children ages 2-7 see the fewest — 12 a day or 4,400 a year.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17831211/from/ET/
* Food for Thought: Television Food Advertising 
to Children in the United States
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia032807pkg.cfm
* Kaiser Study: Tweens See Most Food Ads
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6428627?title=Article&spacedesc=news
* Forced Feeding
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032800596.html
* Study Says Junk Food Still Dominates Youth TV
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/media/29adco.html
* No sugarcoating this: Kids besieged by food ads
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20070329/d_tvfoodads29.art.htm
* Study finds TV feeds children plenty of junk
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-foodads29mar29,1,981043.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business

CHILD WANTS CELLPHONE; RECEPTION IS MIXED
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Lisa Foderado]
After securing a foothold in the teenage market, 
cellphones are quickly emerging as the must-have 
techno-toy among elementary-school society. 
Companies are sating the appetite -- and 
expanding demand -- by offering special phones 
for children like the bright blue Firefly, which 
features only five keys, including ones with 
icons for speed-dialing a parent, and allows 
users to call a maximum of 22 numbers. Industry 
analysts say the ’tween market, defined as 8- to 
12-year-olds, represents one of the major growth 
opportunities for the wireless industry. Some 6.6 
million of the 20 million American children in 
that age range had cellphones by the end of 2006, 
according to an analysis by the Yankee Group, a 
technology consulting firm in Boston, which 
projects there will be 10.5 million preteen 
cellphone users by 2010. The number of 
8-year-olds with phones, Yankee Group estimates, 
more than doubled to 506,000 over the past four 
years while the number of 9-year-olds jumped to 
1.25 million from 501,000.  Children want a 
cellphone for reasons obvious to them. It looks 
cool and makes them feel grown-up. It conveys a 
certain status. And it lets them stay in 
near-constant touch with friends and (oh, yeah) 
parents. For parents, the decision of when, or 
whether, to buy children cellphones -- 
paralleling the age-old debate over the 
appropriate age for ear piercing — is emotionally 
charged and value-laden, raising ticklish 
questions about safety and status, maturity and 
materialism. Some parents and child psychologists 
say the need for cellphones among such young 
children, who are rarely without adult 
supervision, is marginal, and the gadgets serve 
mainly as status symbols, quickly lost in a 
tangle of toys, batteries hopelessly out of 
juice. Others, though, say the phones are an 
electronic security blanket for both parent and 
child in a world of two-career households and 
split-custody arrangements, Amber alerts and color-coded terror threat levels.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/fashion/29cell.html
(requires registration)

AMP'D MOBILE FACES $100,000 FCC FINE
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
The Federal Communications Commission is 
proposing a $100,000 fine against Amp'd Mobile, 
the wireless phone company aimed at the youth 
market, and two other companies for failing to 
protect consumers' personal calling records from 
thieves. The FCC has proposed such fines against 
at least three other U.S. companies since January 
2006 for failing to comply with rules requiring 
that consumer phone records be protected by 
internal safeguards. The FCC promised 
"aggressive, substantial steps" to crack down on 
phone companies that fail to protect such records.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AMPD_PHONE_FINE?SITE=CACRU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

OWNERSHIP

TRIBUNE CO BOARD PRESSURED TO ACCEPT ZELL'S BID
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
Two powerful forces are pushing Tribune Co.'s 
board of directors toward Chicago billionaire Sam 
Zell's bid for the troubled media empire: the 
rapid and recent deterioration of the newspaper 
advertising market and the backing of Tribune's 
largest and most contentious shareholder group. 
Saturday is the company's self-imposed deadline 
for deciding what to do. The board's favored plan 
is to accept Zell's outside offer, though it 
could still pursue its own refinancing plan. And 
Southern California billionaires Ronald Burkle 
and Eli Broad could still sweeten their offer, 
which Tribune put on the back burner last month 
because it would give the pair control of the 
company. In recent weeks, Zell's $8 billion bid 
for Tribune's nine newspapers and 25 television 
and radio stations has looked more attractive to 
the company's board, said a source close to the 
situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity 
because discussions are ongoing. Zell, a real 
estate magnate who recently sold Equity Office 
Properties for $39 billion, is offering $33 a 
share for Tribune, a 6 percent premium on yesterday's share price.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802208.html
(requires registration)
* 2 Suitors for Tribune Co. Renew Their Interest
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/media/29paper.html
* How Zell's offer for Tribune might work
Some hints about the structure of the Zell bid 
have surfaced in conversations with several 
people familiar with the auction, all of whom 
declined to be identified because the process is 
supposed to be confidential. Those hints, 
together with comments from finance and legal 
experts, suggest ways that a Zell buyout could 
work. Until Zell or Tribune supplies more 
details, however, any picture is speculative.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-esop29mar29,1,7272533.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
* Judge delays sale of Tribune's Stamford Advocate to Gannett
A federal judge says the sale can't go through 
until the future of a union contract for newsroom 
employees is settled. The union says Gannett 
plans to rip up the contract between Tribune and 
36 Advocate union members; the union filed a 
grievance saying that any new owner is bound to honor the contract.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/scn-injunction,0,6402629.story?coll=stam-top-headlines

SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

STUDY FINDS FCC SPECTRUM AUCTIONS ANTI-COMPETITIVE
[SOURCE: WirelessIQ]
A new study filed with the Federal Communications 
Commission (FCC) finds that the FCC's use of 
auctions for assigning spectrum licenses could be 
subject to anti-competitive behavior by incumbent 
carriers. The study performed by Dr. Simon 
Wilkie, former chief economist at the FCC and 
current head of the University of Southern 
California Center for Communications Law and 
Policy, reviews past auction results and finds 
that auctions do not work in all circumstances to 
secure for the public the benefits of the 
efficient use of spectrum as the law requires the 
FCC to do. For example, in the recent AWS 
auctions, the study found that 98% of the 
spectrum in major metropolitan areas went to 
incumbents, effectively shutting out any new 
entrants. _Spectrum Auctions are not a Panacea: 
Theory and Evidence of Anti- Competitive and Rent 
Seeking Behavior in FCC Rulemakings and Auction 
Design_ identified and analyzed four 
anti-competitive tactics that incumbents use to 
manipulate the spectrum auction process: 1) 
Strategically warehousing spectrum in order to 
prevent entry for potential competitors; 2) 
Delaying the decision-making process at the FCC 
by drawing out debates over service rules and 
unquantifiable arguments over technical matters 
and other means: 3) Adopting a no holds barred 
bidding strategy to block new entrants in 
auctions with insufficient safeguards against 
incumbent carriers' potentially anti-competitive 
tactics, and no caps on the overall amount of 
spectrum that incumbents may hold; and 4) Slicing 
new available bands for private commercial use 
that make it more costly or impossible to build a 
viable national competitive business plan to 
challenge the incumbents' dominant position.
http://www.wirelessiq.com/content/topstories/1886.html

"FAMILY FRIENDLY" INTERNET PROPOSAL CHALLENGES STATUS QUO ON FCC AUCTION
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Over the last nine months, hundreds of 
organizations, community leaders, and politicians 
have written to the Federal Communications 
Commission in support of M2Z Network's proposal 
for a free national broadband service. But while 
the idea may stumble over FCC auction rules, it 
has stimulated an interesting debate about the 
agency's competitive bidding system for spectrum. 
Menlo Park, California based M2Z petitioned the 
FCC for their proposed "family-friendly, free, 
nationwide wireless broadband service" in May of 
2006. M2Z says that it wants to roll out the 
network to 95% of the population of the United 
States within ten years of receiving a license. 
One of the proposals' biggest selling points is 
its claim that the network will save the FCC's 
Universal Service Fund billions of dollars by 
taking on the USF's mission of bringing broadband 
to poor and rural areas. Needless to say, the 
smut free aspect of M2Z's proposal makes it a 
strong sell with parents, community, and 
indecency groups across the United States, who 
have filed hundreds of pro-M2Z comments with the FCC.
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/384

DAUMAN: WIRELESS INDUSTRY "RESPECTS" COPYRIGHTS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said the media company 
is the largest supplier of content to wireless 
carriers -- producing more than 100 hours of 
mobile video worldwide each month -- and praised 
the industry for its “respect” of copyright 
protections. Mobile carriers provide Viacom with 
a “brand extension that respects copyrights,” 
Dauman said, adding, “I’m guessing you’re not too 
surprised about my feelings on that point.” 
Wireless, he said, “is a distribution medium and 
a business model that works for everyone -- 
carriers, content providers and consumers. That 
is its genius and its point of competitive differentiation.”
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6428671.html?rssid=108

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

COMMUNICATION IN THE FACE OF TERROR
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] One of the glaring shortfalls during 
the 9/11 attacks — the fumbling attempt by 
federal agencies to communicate with one another 
in a crisis — remains stuck at ground zero. Five 
years after the government’s law enforcement and 
disaster agencies vowed to develop a unified 
wireless network to put the 81,000 federal agents 
in sync, a scathing inspector general’s report 
finds the plan fractured, disjointed and facing 
“high risk of failure.” The project is already 15 
months behind schedule. But there’s an 
opportunity to get back on track as the deadline 
approaches for awarding a major management 
contract to spur progress. The crucial missing 
ingredient has become clear — a believable 
commitment from Homeland Security and Justice 
that the nation’s future security demands that 
they cease going their separate ways.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/opinion/29thu2.html
(requires registration)

QUICKLY

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION? UNCLE SAM, GET IT RIGHT!
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Eric Sinrod]
[Commentary]  The Freedom of Information Act 
enables the public to obtain information from the 
federal government to ascertain, as stated by the 
Supreme Court, "what the government is up to." 
After all, a government shrouded in secrecy is 
not a government by the people and for the 
people. But recent audit by the National Security 
Archive paints a bleak picture of governmental 
noncompliance with E-FOIA a decade after its 
enactment. This situation is unacceptable. Not 
only is it against the law as written 10 years 
ago, it also completely goes against the goal of 
freedom of access to government information.
http://news.com.com/Freedom+of+information+Uncle+Sam%2C+get+it+right/2010-1028_3-6170879.html?tag=html.alert

THE SCENT OF SCANDAL MAKES GONZALES THE BIG STORY
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
The fallout over the firing of the eight U.S. 
attorneys was not only the biggest story last 
week, March 18-23, it really amounts at this 
point to a mega story. Filling 18% of the overall 
newshole, it was the second-biggest story of the 
year. The only one to receive more coverage was 
the debate over the Iraq war, which filled 34% of 
the newshole the week in January when President 
Bush announced his troop “surge” plan. Already 
the level of coverage of the U.S. attorneys flap 
has substantially exceeded that of two other 
major Washington scandals—the Scooter Libby trial 
and conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital. It 
also was a big story across the media spectrum 
last week, the top subject in four of the five 
media sectors—newspapers, network TV, cable TV, 
and radio. And the subject attracted considerably 
more attention than other major stories last 
week, including the Iraq policy debate (second at 
12%), the violence inside Iraq (third at 9%), the 
2008 presidential race (fourth at 7%), and the Iraq war at home (fifth at 4%).
http://journalism.org/node/4733

CONGRESSIONAL INTERNET CAUCUS: IT'S FOR SALE!
[SOURCE: Digital Democracy, AUTHOR: Jeff Chester]
[Commentary] Who really runs the U.S. 
Congressional Internet CaucusMembers of Congress 
or the companies and special interests with the 
deepest checkbook? Take a look at how a 
forthcoming Congressional Caucus meeting on 
wireless issues is, literally, for sale. At the 
NetCaucus website for the event, chaired by 
Congressman Mike Honda [Chair of the 
Congressional Internet Caucus’ Wireless Task 
Force] is a pitch for “sponsorship.”
http://www.democraticmedia.org/jcblog/?p=225

INCOME GAP WIDENS, DATA SHOWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Cay Johnston]
Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, 
with the top 1 percent of Americans -- those with 
incomes that year of more than $348,000 -- 
receiving their largest share of national income 
since 1928. The top 10 percent, roughly those 
earning more than $100,000, also reached a level 
of income share not seen since before the 
Depression. While total reported income in the 
United States increased almost 9 percent in 2005, 
the most recent year for which such data is 
available, average incomes for those in the 
bottom 90 percent dipped slightly compared with 
the year before, dropping $172, or 0.6 percent. 
The gains went largely to the top 1 percent, 
whose incomes rose to an average of more than 
$1.1 million each, an increase of more than 
$139,000, or about 14 percent. The new data also 
shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively 
enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 
million Americans. Per person, the top group 
received 440 times as much as the average person 
in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/29tax.html
(requires registration)
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