1/10/12

News of the movement for January 10, 2012
Most cable and network television news outlets have been busy not reporting during the evening news shows on SOPA -- a sweeping, controversial piece of legislation that's being championed by the parent companies of the same television news outlets busy not covering the story. Unfortunately, we have seen this pattern before where major media outlets, particularly television, have made minimal efforts to report on sweeping efforts by the government to rewrite how their parent companies are allowed to do business.
Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America
Late last Friday journalists and protesters gathered outside the home of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to speak out in defense of the First Amendment. The event drew more police than participants, which only reinforced the message the group hoped to send regarding the NYPD's heavy-handed approach to journalists covering Occupy Wall Street.
Josh Stearns, SavetheNews.org
In a column about the launch of some recent digital projects from the Washington Post, the newspaper's ombudsman expressed concern that there might be too much innovation going on at the paper, and all this change might be happening too quickly for some, both inside and outside the paper. But as a number of responses have noted, the last thing the Post needs to worry about is whether it’s moving too quickly. If anything, the pace of change in media is speeding up rather than slowing down.
Mathew Ingram, GigaOM
Dirty words return to the usually staid Supreme Court. For the second time in three years, the justices are hearing arguments about an FCC regulation adopted during the Bush administration that allows the agency to punish broadcasters with stiff fines for the fleeting use of vulgar language.
Nina Totenberg, NPR
The Supreme Court will be asked to invalidate an FCC policy that punishes broadcasters for spontaneous vulgar utterances -- so-called fleeting expletives. That's an easy call, but the justices face the harder task of deciding whether advances in technology have undermined the rationale for any governmental policing of indecency on television.
Los Angeles Times
The head of the FCC announced a new plan to expand broadband Internet access by modernizing a program that provides discounted telephone service to low-income Americans.
Gerry Smith, Huffington Post
In a letter to Senate leadership, a bipartisan group of senators criticized the House version of legislation to overhaul how the country uses its airwaves. Sens. John Kerry, Mark Warner, Olympia Snowe and Jerry Moran support the Senate version of the legislation but said the House bill would inappropriately tie the hands of the FCC.
Brendan Sasso, The Hill
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a major opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act, announced that he is bringing in the techies to hold a public hearing highlighting the online security implications of a proposed bill that would force changes to Internet infrastructure to fight online copyright infringement.
David Kravets, Wired
Rep. Paul Ryan will not support the Stop Online Piracy Act, according to a statement released by his office. In the statement, Ryan calls the Internet "one of the most magnificent expressions of freedom and free enterprise in history" and says "it should stay that way."
Alex Fitzpatrick, CNN
If you refuse to support SOPA -- like Google, Al Gore, Paul Ryan and many Internet companies -- a new Android app wants to help you take the next step and become a SOPA boycotter.
Sarah Kessler, Mashable

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