Media Reform Headlines for April 8, 2008 Resent-Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 23:56:19 -0500 (CDT) Media Reform Daily News of the movement for April 8, 2008 --SAVE OUR SPECTRUM-- TECH, TV VIE FOR UNUSED AIRWAVES Ten months before the nation flips to digital television, technology companies and TV broadcasters are fighting over the virtual remote, with different ideas of what to do with the unused airwaves. Dibya Sarkar, Associated Press http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=pytYeuU7iB9Lo0pMm2XFlA.. RURAL CARRIERS WERE BIG LOSERS IN 700MHZ AUCTION If anyone lost in the recent 700MHz spectrum auction, it was rural carriers. The FCC set reserve prices too high for small companies to afford individually and its anticollusion rules kept them from banding together to buy airwaves as a group. Kelly M. Teal, xchange http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=t5QvLqBqUh2FfUtoKcwM4w.. 768 KBS STILL ISN'T ENOUGH A recent survey finds that telecom industry professionals think the current Universal Service Fund should be used to expand rural broadband, and they believe location and economic status should not determine the extent to which broadband is available. Carol Wilson, Telephony Online http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=0nImG2aV1zvw8xp9Cu3E7w.. --SAVE THE INTERNET-- 10 WAYS THE INTERNET (AS WE KNOW IT) WILL DIE It's unlikely that our children's Internet will look anything like what we have now. How might the Internet as we know it, die? Alistair Croll, GigaOM http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=Ja5eZZiiDzYpCZx20DzMvQ.. YAHOO AGAIN REJECTS MICROSOFT OFFER AS TOO LOW Running out of time and options, Yahoo again rebuffed Microsoft's buyout offer and continued to seek refuge in the arms of Time Warner. Yahoo is trying to sell a substantial minority stake to Time Warner. Joseph Menn and Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=yNew_sz8WYwUFc-jky-FSg.. YAHOO ATTACKS MICROSOFT BID TACTICS Yahoo attacked Microsoft as it again rejected its takeover offer, paving the way for a hostile bid for the Internet firm. Jemima Kiss, The Guardian http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=5Ib0rDPlAxvKanFbc_fY5Q.. ACT NOW Support the Internet Freedom Preservation Act http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=WqfNZakMJbnROPcUtRCfDw.. --JOURNALISM & BEYOND-- THE WASHINGTON POST WINS SIX PULITZER PRIZES The Washington Post won six Pulitzer Prizes for coverage that ranged from an expose of poor care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to an examination of Vice President Dick Cheney's behind-the-scenes clout. Howard Kurtz, Washington Post http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=if_qh4Zbt9_u5OWXuJ9gaQ.. WASHINGTON POST PULITZER WINNERS SPEAK Winners of six Pulitzer Prize Awards in Journalism from the Washington Post accepted their awards in the newsroom. (Video 7:11) Washington Post http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=0jcPRwcUPKfF5DtEpvT_Aw.. BILL MOYERS ACCEPTS THE RIDENHOUR COURAGE PRIZE The job of trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is almost as complicated and difficult as trying to hide it in the first place. We journalists are of course obliged to cover the news, but our deeper mission is to uncover the news that powerful people would prefer to keep hidden. The Nation Institute http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=QRw6iGnX8OXSJeaZuJT2CA.. SEATTLE TIMES ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS The Seattle Times Co., reeling from continued declines in advertising revenue, announced it will slice its flagship newspaper's staff by nearly 200 and make other cuts aimed at saving $15 million. Eric Pryne, Seattle Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=YqykEFNGL-PO4nFCK6TqoA.. CBS IN TALKS TO OUTSOURCE SOME OF ITS NEWSGATHERING TO CNN CBS, home to the most celebrated news division in broadcasting, has been in discussions with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its newsgathering operations to CNN, two executives briefed on the matter said. Tim Arango, New York Times http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=s4lppTm_zunAwtkxpo_M_A.. CBS, CNN DOWNPLAY 'OUTSOURCE' RUMOR Insiders at the two companies downplayed a report posted on the New York Times' Web site suggesting that CBS was considering a deal to "outsource" most of its newsgathering operations to CNN. Cynthia Littleton, Variety http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=MKM7Fi-hbzz2FMgirG21sw.. CLINTON PUNCHES, OBAMA BOWLS, AND MCCAIN REMINISCES Last week saw growing pressure on Hillary Clinton to withdraw from the primary fight. Barack Obama tried his hand at hands-on campaigning while John McCain hoped to grab the media's attention with a tour of some old stomping grounds. Mark Jurkowitz, Project for Excellence in Journalism http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=xwJ7B_C7OgXlJeaJtQ8pPQ.. FIVE YEARS AFTER DEADLY PALESTINE HOTEL AND AL-JAZEERA STRIKES, UNANSWERED QUESTIONS LINGER Five years after a series of U.S. military strikes against media outlets in Baghdad killed three journalists, The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on the U.S. military to fully investigate the incidents and make its findings public. Committee to Protect Journalists http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=MYfT0cWmayKDm895cTW2pg.. JOURNALISTS RELEASED IN ZIMBABWE A New York Times correspondent and a second man, reportedly a British journalist, have been released on bail in Zimbabwe after they were jailed for covering the country's elections without government permission. John Plunkett, The Guardian http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=mkOcsKZuWAa7g5mctYkA7g.. --NCMR 2008-- There are only seven weeks before the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform. If you care about the state of the media, this is the one event you can't miss. Sign up now. June 6-8 - Minneapolis http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=52riGz8JaWsfWDxehSY9mQ.. --FP ACTION NETWORK-- http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=u4UXlKTakNq8Ch5Agu05jg.. --IN OTHER NEWS-- TRIBUNE TURNS TO RADIO TO REVIVE EMPIRE As real-estate magnate Sam Zell tries to rejuvenate ailing newspaper and television empire Tribune Co., he is turning to another, more freewheeling medium: radio. Sam Schechner and Sarah McBride, Wall Street Journal http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=ck6H3cS-gqnjv6GYTyTGwQ.. NAB'S 2007 LOBBYING TAB TOTALED $9 MILLION The National Association of Broadcasters spent nearly $9 million in 2007 to lobby on digital TV, cable and satellite radio matters. Associated Press http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=jEfaHrOIN71VZl_iISVAYw.. MYSPACE EXPANDING SITE FOR U.S. LATINOS The online hangout MySpace is expanding its offerings for U.S. Hispanics, adding eight bilingual communities focused on Latino bands and celebrities, soccer and other interests. The year-old MySpace Latino has largely been a translation of MySpace's English site into Spanish, but MySpace will soon unveil content specific to one of the fastest growing groups online. Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=pljOAfrLmFbhHg4ffwMfqA.. TENNESSEE FRANCHISING BILL AIMS TO EXTEND BROADBAND SERVICES Legislators in Tennessee have been presented a new version of a state franchising bill with a unique scheme to offer incentives to new providers to extend broadband services. The bill language, which has been the subject of negotiations, contains broad build-out language. Linda Haugsted, Multichannel News http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=2ASynYvDiMN3cyFPj7panA.. EU WANTS TO SLASH SEARCH DATA RETENTION PERIOD TO SIX MONTHS The EU's top data protection experts have concluded that search engines should only keep user data for six months and should be forced to treat IP addresses as "personal information." Nate Anderson, ars technica http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=CaicHBvmMSvoZvSLMdNH6g.. THE ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF BUTT-KICKING The new Newseum sounds like a cross between Front Page, Spiderman, and that Honey I Shrunk the Audience movie at Disney World, only in this case the Newseum has apparently enlarged the profile of journalism to epic proportions. John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=RBJdh5QzhXiTYX-Yntv1zQ.. 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. 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