News of the movement for May 6, 2011

Gov. Perdue Must Protect Broadband in North Carolina The North Carolina state Senate just rammed through an awful bill that would stop local communities from building their own high-speed Internet networks. With the Senate out of the way, this bad bill is headed to the desk of Gov. Bev Perdue, who has hinted that she'll veto it. But hints aren't enough. We need to make absolutely sure that Gov. Perdue vetoes this bill. Joshua Levy, SavetheInternet.com Local Broadband Limits Go to Gov. Perdue North Carolina state lawmakers have sent the governor a measure limiting local governments' ability to set up public broadband networks. The bill, H129, sets a higher bar for municipalities who want to get into the broadband business. Laura Leslie, WRAL-TV Data Caps and Web TV: Heading for a Clash? Online video channels are popping up like weeds, and major players like Netflix expect their popularity to just keep growing. Meanwhile, another major Internet service provider, AT&T, just began a policy of limiting the amount of data its customers can send and receive each month. Are these trends headed for a collision? Richard Adhikari, TechNewsWorld A 'Rube Goldberg Theory of Regulation': Net Neutrality Hearing Gets Testy This week's Net Neutrality hearing took 10 seconds to turn adversarial. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) opened the House Judiciary Committee meeting with a series of broadsides against the FCC and its chair, Julius Genachowski, seated below him at the witness table. Nate Anderson, Ars Technica FCC Chief: Antitrust Law Can't Adequately Defend Internet Antitrust law was inadequate to preserve the openness of the Internet and to allow innovation to flourish, the top U.S. communications regulator said, defending Internet road rules adopted last year. Jasmin Melvin, Reuters Key Senate Office Questions Spectrum Crunch A key Senate office is questioning the existence of a spectrum crunch that the White House and the FCC have repeatedly invoked as justification for measures to repurpose TV airwaves to mobile broadband companies. Sara Jerome, The Hill FCC Gears Up for Reverse Auctions Last week's FCC workshop on Universal Service reform was a reminder of just how serious the commission is about the idea of using a reverse auction to award funding for areas that do not currently get broadband service. The workshop also revealed that many decisions about how such an auction would work have yet to be made. Joan Engebretson, Connected Planet How the Media Have Covered bin Laden's Death In the first three days since the death of Osama bin Laden, the attention given to the event in both traditional and new media has been only nominally focused on the political ramifications of the terrorist's death. Instead, the discussion across a broad range of mainstream media, on Facebook, Twitter and in the blogosphere, has centered on trying to sort out what happened and on people's feelings about it. But so far the coverage has defied the tendency seen in many major national news events to turn quickly partisan. Mark Jurkowitz, Project for Excellence in Journalism Does Posting Things to Twitter Make You a Journalist? Why don't journalists want to admit that others can now perform many of the same functions they do, given these new tools? Because that means that anyone with a Twitter account or a blog is competition. But that is the reality -- and journalists of all kinds had better start getting used to the idea, instead of trying to define their way out of it. Mathew Ingram, GigaOM How State-Funded TV Stations Covered the Osama News Around the world, state-funded satellite TV stations -- like Russia Today, Iran's Press TV, China's CCTV, France 24 and Al Jazeera -- are broadcasting world news as they see it. That means that millions are hearing stories from new perspectives, and stories like the death of Osama Bin Laden can vary dramatically, depending on which channel you're watching. Linette Lopez, Columbia Journalism Review Breathing Room: Toward a New Arab Media As Arab politics are transformed, journalists across the region are assessing their role in this new landscape, warily testing boundaries, adjusting to new realities and daring to dream of the possibilities. Lawrence Pintak, Columbia Journalism Review Is Non-Profit Journalism a Safeguard for Press Freedom? Non-profit journalism, in the sense of news not being the profitable activity, is a way of helping to guarantee more editorial independence. This is one more possible safeguard for press freedom. Clothilde Le Coz, MediaShift

This week: Jigsha Desai is one of Editor & Publisher magazine’s 25 people under the age of 35 who are helping to reshape journalism and guide media companies through the digital era. And public interest advocates call for reforms to the FCC's Universal Service Fund in order to support broadband build-out and adoption. Listen here. Big Companies, Special Interests Hire Private Congressional Delegations to Lobby Government When AT&T goes forth to lobby the U.S. Congress, the company brings its own congressional delegation -- six former members in all. And AT&T is hardly alone in tasking congressional alumni to do its corporate bidding on Capitol Hill. In all, 43 different companies, organizations and special interest groups last year employed at least three former congressmen as registered federal lobbyists, according to a new report. OpenSecrets.org AT&T-T-Mobile Merger: A Bum Note for Musicians? The AT&T-T-Mobile merger is not just about phone service. Mobile handsets are fast becoming one of the main ways people connect to the internet, and this trend is only going to continue. So why should musicians and music entrepreneurs care? Lots of reasons, actually. Future of Music Coalition Gov. McDonnell's Public Broadcasting Cuts Actually Strip Funding from Virginia's Classrooms Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced that he was using his line-item veto power to cut $424,000 in funding state legislators had approved for public broadcasting. The funding McDonnell eliminated with the veto doesn't actually go towards developing television or radio programming. Rather, its for the Instructional Telecom Services contract with the public broadcasters, a program dedicated to developing and providing low-cost or free electronic educational materials for Virginia schools. ThinkProgress Google, Facebook: 'Do Not Track' Bill a Threat to California Economy Google and Facebook are warning legislators of dire consequences if California passes a "do not track" bill. The proposed law would require companies doing online business in the Golden State to offer an "opt-out" privacy mechanism for consumers. Ars Technica Third Attack Against Sony Planned A group of hackers says it is planning another wave of cyberattacks against Sony in retaliation for its handling of the PlayStation Network breach. CNet Sony Chief Says PlayStation Network to Return Soon Sony posted a series of announcements on its PlayStation blog, answering customer questions about a cyberattack that brought down the entire PlayStation Network and other services last month. Sony's chief executive, said that the PlayStation gaming network would be back online in the coming days. Sony also laid out plans to try and reimburse customers who have been without access to services for almost three weeks. New York Times Time Warner Chief: Netflix Is No Threat Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes insisted that Netflix does not pose a threat to traditional broadcast and cable outlets -- and that he has seen little evidence that Netflix subscribers are "cutting the cord." But some analysts have suggested that Bewkes may be overly optimistic. IMDb First Broadcast Network Aimed at African Americans Will Debut This Fall Bounce TV, the first broadcast network designed exclusively for African Americans, announced a deal with broadcaster Raycom that will allow the channel to debut in 26 markets this fall. The Hill Facebook Now Pays Users 10 Cents to Watch Certain Ads Facebook will now reward users who watch certain ads with Facebook Credits, which can be redeemed to purchase goods on Facebook Deals, the company's new Groupon-like daily deals service. The incentive, however, is not huge. Initially, the average ad will yield one credit, which is equivalent to 10 cents. Mashable FCC May Open Meeting May 12: Washington, DC 36th Annual Community Radio Conference Jun 1-Jun 4: San Francisco, CA Create or Die 2: Journalism That Matters Jun 2-Jun 5: Greensboro, NC Personal Democracy Forum Jun 6-Jun 7: New York, NY FCC June Open Meeting Jun 9: Washington, DC 140 Character Conference Jun 15-Jun 16: New York, NY Netroots Nation Jun 16-Jun 19: Minneapolis, MN Allied Media Conference Jun 23-Jun 26: Detroi, MI National NOW Conference Jun 24-Jun 26: Tampa, FL Blogging While Brown Jul 8-Jul 10: Los Angeles, CA