Media Reform Headlines for March 25, 2008 Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:46:17 -0500 (CDT) Media Reform Daily http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=R2KG9ZDuOhha2A9CfnnCFA.. News of the movement for March 25, 2008 ANNOUNCEMENT Early Bird registration for the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform ends March 31. If you care about the state of the media, this is the one event you can't miss. Sign up now. http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=tyio7W3yby6SP_tpyQ84xQ.. http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=8Iz94jcJhRH32zHrMEd9_Q.. SAVE OUR SPECTRUM FCC Auction Delivers on Access, Not Competition Consumers of broadband services won only a partial victory in the FCC's sale of airwaves that ended last week. It won't bring major new competition among wireless phone companies, as some had hoped. San Jose Mercury News http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=Qv32TqFtvgSdFpGAHK-KLQ.. Congress Needs a Full Review of What Happened with FCC Spectrum Bids Something stinks about the recent FCC auction to build wireless networks for the nation's emergency responders. The short version appears to be that a nonprofit group was trying to shake down the companies that won the federal airwaves auction. The News Journal http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=QLr00jBnzWSBDE72GNVYRw.. Google Revives Push to Get Free Airwaves Google's wireless strategy could be summed up this way: Why pay for something you can get for nothing? The Internet giant is making a renewed pitch to regulators for free access to what may be the last great swath of airwaves -- the unused spectrum between broadcast TV channels. Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=RpF-qG5USlPGgbBT_oUW3Q.. Google Asks FCC for Access to TV White Spaces Google called on the federal government to open up unused portions of the broadcast television spectrum to create new, affordable broadband offerings with potentially faster speed and reach than Wi-Fi. Ryan Kim, San Francisco Chronicle http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=hxFobk4EPkLzSi1nakc_WQ.. Google Unveils White Space Airwave Plans Google unveiled plans for a new generation of wireless devices to operate on soon-to-be-vacant television airwaves, and sought to alleviate fears that this might interfere with TV broadcasts or wireless microphones. Peter Kaplan and Eric Auchard, Reuters http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=KTqTj7paNn8vHYO84DuIBQ.. Google Makes a White Spaces Concession In yet another chapter of "Why Citizens Movements Are Citizen Driven," I think Google has conceded too much too soon in its letter to the FCC. Harold Feld, Wet Machine http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=JBmB7hSVJQeftIM0_TvPLQ.. STOP BIG MEDIA Keep Media Independent The House can bolster an independent press by adopting a simple one-page piece of legislation. Rep. Jay Inslee, (D-Wash.) has introduced a "resolution of disapproval" that would stop the FCC from lifting its cross-ownership ban. Seattle Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=DwspupppYhfHZMhUxbm0yA.. Common Cause, Benton Challenge FCC Ownership Change Another challenge has been filed to the FCC's decision to loosen the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules, asking the agency to reconsider the decision to loosen the rules, to grant waivers to some existing combinations and to reconsider its decision not to tighten -- or loosen -- TV or radio local ownership rules. John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=J-nIQNBVJfnvgAuZAlxjqA.. ACT NOW Tell Congress to Stand Up for Better Media http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=wvQBSJlH0Z4LPsjDc0tmcA.. JOURNALISM & BEYOND As Iraq War Pushes On, Media Coverage Shifts As the U.S. military death toll in Iraq hit 4,000 and the war entered its fifth year, a study by the Pew Research Center found that the number of news stories about the Iraq war has fallen dramatically in the past year. Media analysts assess how the press is covering the conflict and the impact on public awareness of the war. PBS http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=DDsT668g--_em-TZshljOw.. Did Only Two Papers Feature 4,000 Iraq Deaths Across Their Front Pages? It's a sad day for America's media when the tragic milestone of 4,000 soldiers' deaths is reported and it appears that just two papers -- yes two -- place it across their front pages. Katharine Zaleski, Huffington Post http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=RZHwoJUL_S6D5hZGVtI0dQ.. The Pastor, the Candidate, and the Speech Lead the News It was, to put it simply, the week of "the speech" in the news last week. While the subject was race relations in America, there were so many subtexts it was hard for the press to know where to begin. Mark Jurkowitz, Project for Excellence in Journalism http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=sKiGvXHy_jtHJLRao8gU9Q.. Out of Print Trends in circulation and advertising and the rise of the Internet have created a palpable sense of doom in the newspaper industry. Eric Alterman, New Yorker http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=G9aT-nvRm3Zb5uMVUC_WrA.. Read It and Weep: The Perilous Fall of the Press-Telegram As readers, we watch suburban dailies like the Long Beach Press-Telegram wither and vanish at our collective peril. Blogs and weeklies simply can't fill the void because there's no substitute for local reporters covering local news every day in a local newspaper. Dennis McDougal, Los Angeles Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=C6O4ag5PJp-ZnHw0gWKFnQ.. ALSO IN THE NEWS Net Neutrality and the Billion-Dollar Question Phone companies are good at deploying lots of lobbyists to make sure the rules are in their favour. They're also good at deploying lots of capital to build lots of network capacity. What we pay for all of that, and in what way that is the multi-billion-dollar question. Jonathan Weber, Times (U.K.) http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=4EkPqJqZrIukyLuU1l6AhA.. Intersection of Race and Telecom Policy: Q&A with Media Access Project President Andrew Jay Schwartzman On March 18, Sen Barack Obama delivered a speech called "A More Perfect Union." Many have viewed the speech as a challenge to the nation to address our "racial stalemate." Beginning today, the Benton Foundation is taking the opportunity to host a dialogue on the intersection of race and telecom policy. Benton Foundation http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=IGuDx0O7K43plVDDqlnV8A.. Justice Dept. OKs Merger of XM, Sirius; Now It's Up to FCC Now that Justice has stepped aside, Sirius and XM need only to win approval from the FCC before they can close the deal that they struck in February 2007. Both companies are unprofitable and want to cut costs. David Lieberman, USA Today http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=Kn7bHb42jh-rnVVgIMzHAA.. Justice Dept. Approves XM-Sirius Radio Merger The Justice Department approved the merger of XM and Sirius, ruling that the union of the nation's two major satellite-radio services does not create an anti-competitive monopoly. Peter Whoriskey and Kim Hart, Washington Post http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=XVuFJLyTNg8WceMcu-U3nQ.. Pressed Over Tibet, China Berates Foreign Media Chinese officials have sharply criticized foreign reporters here over their coverage of the riots in Tibet, accusing them of biased reporting and preventing them from traveling to Tibet or neighboring provinces to report on the unrest. David Barboza, New York Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=irknEx4VRBZk4ADz9CPMSw.. Cuba Blocks Access to Top Cuban Blog The Cuban authorities have blocked access from Cuba to the country's most-read blogger, Yoani Sanchez, she said on Monday. Reuters http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=KpZ3XLrB1AW38IwL0JW6bA.. You are receiving this email as an opt-in subscriber to Free Press' Media Reform Daily. You can unsubscribe or manage your account at any time. Many of these articles are copyrighted material. We make such material available to advance understanding of public issues, which we believe constitutes a "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this email is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=MFryyEzZ8OaUhS1YUBWncA.. 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