Rep. John Lewis, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Rep. Charles Gonzalez and Co-Chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Reps. Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva sent a letter signed by 44 House members to the FCC. The letter addresses concerns about how the FCC’s proposal to relax its media ownership rules will impact diversity.
Free Press
Lautenberg Calls for More Consideration of Ownership Rules
Veteran News Corp. critic Sen. Frank Lautenberg is the latest legislator to ask FCC chairman Julius Genachowski to rethink his media ownership proposal.
John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable
Russia Backs Down on Proposals to Regulate the Internet
A Russia-led coalition withdrew a proposal to give governments new powers over the Internet, a plan opposed by Western countries in talks on a new global telecom treaty.
Matt Smith, Reuters
Cold Water for Google Fiber Fans: Covering the Whole Country Could Cost $140 Billion
Bad news for those of us who would love to see Google expand its fiber network out to the entire country: Doing so may be prohibitively expensive.
Brad Reed, BGR
FTC Expected to Settle Google Patent Case
After months of negotiations, federal regulators and Google could reach a deal as soon as this week over how the search company uses its acquired stockpile of patents to target its competitors, according to sources close to the investigation.
Michelle Quinn and Elizabeth Wasserman, Politico
Senate Commerce Slates Dec. 18 Vote on Clyburn Nomination
The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled Dec. 18 for a markup hearing and vote on the renomination of Mignon Clyburn to the FCC and Joshua Wright as the new Republican commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.
John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable
FCC Tackles Broadband Transition with New Taskforce
The FCC has formed a new taskforce with the goal of coordinating the Commission’s efforts on IP interconnection, resiliency of 21st-century communications networks, business broadband competition and consumer protection, with a particular focus on voice services.
Craig Galbraith, Channel Partners
Number of Jailed Journalists Sets Global Record
Imprisonment of journalists worldwide reached a record high in 2012, driven in part by the widespread use of charges of terrorism and other anti-state offenses against critical reporters and editors, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, CPJ identified 232 individuals behind bars on Dec. 1, an increase of 53 over its 2011 tally.
Committee to Protect Journalists
Why We Won’t Have Tablet-Native Journalism
We’re going to see universal journalism, which can be accessed — and possibly edited — in different ways on different devices. It might be free on the Web, for instance, while costing a couple of bucks in the form of a simple iOS app. Maybe it will be available only on iOS, but for business-model reasons, not because it couldn’t work on the Web. Or maybe, as in the case of Matter, it will be available in any format you like, for a single flat price.
Felix Salmon, Reuters
Men, College Grads and the Young Are More Engaged
In the growing realm of mobile news, men and the more highly educated emerge as more engaged news consumers, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Pew Research Center
Magazine Closures Down 50 Percent
Magazine closures were down nearly 50 percent from last year, while launches declined 5 percent, according to a recent report.
Michael Rondon, Folio