Free Speech in the 21st Century
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(Mon, 12 May 2008 17:08:08 -0500 (CDT)) --- Media Reform Daily
News of the movement for May 12, 2008
--SAVE THE INTERNET--
LAWMAKERS RENEW EFFORTS TO ENACT NET NEUTRALITY BILL Rep. John
Conyers (D-Mich.) reintroduced a bill that would require broadband
providers such as AT&T or Comcast to interconnect with the facilities
of other network providers on a "reasonable and nondiscriminatory
basis."
Roy Mark, eWeek
CONYERS BILL WOULD CODIFY NET NEUTRALITY House Judiciary Committee
Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) introduced a bill that would codify
net neutrality in antitrust law, prohibiting Internet service
discrimination.
John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable
ANOTHER NET NEUTRALITY BILL, IN A COMCAST-CHARGED ATMOSPHERE The
latest Net Neutrality bill, offered by Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.)
and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), is a second try to treat neutrality as
an antitrust issue.
Richard Koman, ZDNet
DUELING APPROACHES TO NET NEUTRALITY CLASH IN THE HOUSE Should the
FCC be the final authority deciding just what constitutes "Net
Neutrality," and how ISPs should be punished if they fail to provide
it? Some members of Congress don't think so.
Scott M. Fulton, BetaNews
COMCAST CAPS ARE A BAND-AID AT BEST Well-disclosed caps for Internet
use are obviously better than Comcast's current practice of illegally
blocking Web traffic. But they're not the long-term solution.
Free Press
FREE SPEECH IN THE 21ST CENTURY Media giants provide a portal to
the high-speed Internet for more than 98 percent of residential
users in America. Now they want to be more than just a window to
the Web.
Timothy Karr, Huffington Post
SEN. JOHN KERRY CALLS FOR FEDERAL INTERVENTION FOR REGIONS WITHOUT
HIGH-SPEED INTERNET During a Senate Commerce Committee meeting,
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) used his own state as an example of the
continuing problem of the digital divide.
Speed Matters
ACT NOW!
Support the Internet Freedom Preservation Act
--STOP BIG MEDIA--
NEWS CORP. WITHDRAWS BID TO BUY NEWSDAY Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
has withdrawn its bid to purchase Newsday. The decision came just
days after Murdoch confidently predicted he would clinch a deal to
buy the Long Island paper.
Associated Press
NEWS CORP. UNEXPECTEDLY DROPS BID FOR NEWSDAY Rupert Murdoch dropped
his $580 million bid for Tribune Co's Newsday newspaper, leaving
cable television operator Cablevision as the likely winner of the
Long Island daily.
Kenneth Li and Robert MacMillan, Reuters
MEDIA: CITIZEN MURDOCH Rupert Murdoch's penchant for media properties
has helped supporters of media reform who argue that cross-ownership
hastens media consolidation, which leads to less diversity of opinion
and fewer minority and women voices.
Elizabeth Wasserman, CQ Politics
FEDERAL RULES GIVE CORPORATION-BACKED CONSERVATIVE RADIO ALL THE
LOCAL VOICES There's a mournful hush in Sacramento these days, the
empty sound of an entire political viewpoint quieted. And it's
because policymakers, whose campaigns were financed in part by big
media corporations, changed two important rules.
Sue Wilson, Sacramento Bee
BIG MEDIA SLAMS PROPOSAL TO ROLL BACK CROSS-OWNERSHIP RULE Rarely
has one FCC filing provoked as much ire as this: Thirteen major
broadcast and newspaper groups have filed lengthy denunciations of
a public interest group's appeal to redo the FCC's recent relaxation
of media ownership rules.
Matthew Lasar, Ars technica
ACT NOW!
Tell Congress to Stop the FCC
--NO FAKE NEWS--
BEWARE COZY DEALS BETWEEN POLITICIANS AND THEIR PUNDITS Nobody
interested in how people in power manipulate public opinion can
afford to miss the expose of the Bush administration's use of
"experts" to sell the Iraq war and defend itself over Guantanamo.
Jackie Ashley, The Guardian
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS SAYS MEDIA MUST HOLD THEIR
MILITARY ANALYSTS TO JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS The Society of Professional
Journalists is urging the media to hold their military analysts to
the same ethical standards journalists are required to meet concerning
potential conflicts of interest, financial ties, and governmental
relationships.
Editor & Publisher
MORE REVELATIONS ABOUT PENTAGON'S MEDIA PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN -- USING
MILITARY 'PUNDITS'-- EMERGE The New York Times article exposing the
Pentagon's use of retired military officers to push the Iraq war
in the media has received relatively little follow-up from the news
outlets involved. But bloggers are taking up the slack.
Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher
ACT NOW!
Tell Congress to Investigate the Pentagon Pundits
--FEATURE--
NCMR 2008 Join us in Minneapolis June 6-8 for the 2008 National
Conference for Media Reform. Check out the program details and make
your plans to be there and help create a more diverse and democratic
media system.
FP ACTION NETWORK
--IN OTHER NEWS--
DOMESTIC SPYING FAR OUTPACES TERRORISM PROSECUTIONS The number of
Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and
other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase.
But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court has
continued to decline.
Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times
VINT CERF SUPPORTS MUNICIPAL BROADBAND NETWORKS Municipal broadband
networks could help boost the availability of high-speed Internet
access and even help to ensure Net Neutrality in the U.S., said
Internet evangelist Vint Cerf.
Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
BANDWIDTH BATTLE Cable operators, telcos and satellite providers
are scrambling to exponentially expand their HD offerings before
the digital transition occurs.
George Winslow, Multichannel News
XM-SIRIUS STILL CONCERNS ATTORNEYS GENERAL States attorneys general
continued to register their concerns with the proposed XM Satellite
Radio-Sirius Satellite Radio merger.
John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable
MOYERS, RATHER TO HEADLINE MEDIA REFORM CONFERENCE Less than three
months before the Republican National Convention convenes in St.
Paul, a group is gathering in the Twin Cities for the June 6-8
National Conference on Media Reform.
Bob Geiger, Finance and Commerce
BIG CONTENT FIGHTING CAMPUS P2P BY LOBBYING FOR STATE LAWS Neither
DMCA takedown notices nor RIAA prelitigation letters have any
necessary correlation with on-campus P2P usage rates.
Nate Anderson, Ars technica
ALARM AT GOOGLE YAHOO PARTNERING Federal regulators are being urged
to investigate any potential online advertising and search partnership
between Google and Yahoo by a coalition of 16 American civil rights
and rural advocacy bodies.
Maggie Shiels, BBC News
CABLEVISION PLANS WI-FI MESH CHALLENGE Cablevision has decided to
build a massive $350 million Wi-Fi mesh, covering its customer base
in the New York Metropolitan area, and offer the service free to
its customers.
Telecom Web
PHILLY'S WI-FI NETWORK IN JEOPARDY The fate of Philadephia's citywide
Wi-Fi deployment is still in limbo as EarthLink threatens to pull
the plug.
Marguerite Reardon, CNet
SMALL TV STATIONS LOSE APPEAL A federal appeals court has denied a
request from owners of thousands of low-power television stations
to force a ban on government-subsidized converter boxes that can't
display their signals.
John Dunbar, Associated Press
CABLE INDUSTRY BATTLES FCC CHIEF TO A STALEMATE FCC Chairman Kevin
Martin thinks cable television subscribers should be able to buy
only the channels they want.
Peter Kaplan, Reuters
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR LOOKING AT CHANGES IN EFFORT TO REMAIN
VITAL As the Christian Science Monitor marks its 100th anniversary
this year, the Boston-based newspaper is weighing changes with an
eye toward remaining viable in an uncertain media environment.
Don Aucoin, Boston Globe
BURMA'S FIREWALL FIGHTERS When Burmese troops opened fire on unarmed
demonstrators here last September, the Norway-based Democratic Voice
of Burma had 30 undercover reporters on the streets.
Committee to Protect Journalists
NEW GOOGLE SERVICE MAKES WEB PAGES SOCIAL To socialize these days,
hundreds of millions of people every month turn to social networking
sites such as MySpace or Facebook. But what if the Web itself worked
as a social network?
Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post
Many of these articles are copyrighted material. We make such
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