from yesterday's benton headlines

CARLOS SLIM HELU: THE RETICENT MEDIA BARON
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Marc Lacey]
Carlos Slim Helú, Mexico's richest man and now a major shareholder in and lender to The New York Times, has a complex relationship with the news media. He invests money in an array of television and newspaper companies and says he sees a bright future for those media companies that adapt. But when the news media focus their spotlight on him, he sometimes gives the impression that he wants to be left alone to make more money in peace.
http://benton.org/node/22133
Recommend this Headline
back to top



THE FUTURE OF MUSIC POLICY
[SOURCE: Pew Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Mary Madden]
While the Internet can often be viewed as an unfriendly place for musicians' pockets, online radio has proven to be one of more lucrative digital channels for artists. Online radio stations are currently required to pay a performance royalty to musicians every time their song is played. Terrestrial radio, on the other hand, still benefits from an exemption that allows them to avoid paying performance royalties to musicians. The U.S. stands out in this regard, as many other parts of the world do not provide this exemption to broadcasters.
http://benton.org/node/22125
Recommend this Headline
back to top


CELL PHONE DEMAND TO STAY STRONG DESPITE DOWNTURN: U.N.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Laura MacInnis]
Mobile telephones are seen as "a basic necessity" around the world and should enjoy persistent strong demand throughout an economic downturn, a United Nations agency said in a report published on Monday. "With or without a recession," millions of people in India, China, Nigeria, and other emerging markets will seek out mobile phones, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Increasingly cost-conscious households in Europe and North America are also expected to keep up their mobile use, and many will drop their fixed-line telephones as a way to save money, the ITU said in a report released for the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.
http://benton.org/node/22135
Recommend this Headline
back to top



DO WE NEED A NEW INTERNET?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff]
[Commentary] There is a growing belief among engineers and security experts that Internet security and privacy have become so maddeningly elusive that the only way to fix the problem is to start over. What a new Internet might look like is still widely debated, but one alternative would, in effect, create a "gated community" where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety. Today that is already the case for many corporate and government Internet users. As a new and more secure network becomes widely adopted, the current Internet might end up as the bad neighborhood of cyberspace. You would enter at your own risk and keep an eye over your shoulder while you were there. "Unless we're willing to rethink today's Internet," says Nick McKeown, a Stanford engineer involved in building a new Internet, "we're just waiting for a series of public catastrophes."
http://benton.org/node/22142
Recommend this Headline




STIMULUS STIRS DEBATE OVER RURAL BROADBAND ACCESS
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Howard Berkes]
Michael Katz bashed rural life last week when he addressed an American Enterprise Institute panel discussion on the broadband elements of President Obama's economic stimulus bill. "The notion that we should be helping people who live in rural areas avoid the costs that they impose on society ... is misguided," Katz said, "from an efficiency point of view and an equity one." Katz listed ways that the $7.2 billion could be put to better use, including an effort to combat infant deaths. But he also spoke of rural places as environmentally hostile, energy inefficient and even weak in innovation, simply because rural people are spread out across the landscape.
http://benton.org/node/22136
Recommend this Headline