More on Local Media Monopolies – from South Dakota

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Jon Lauck summarizes a number of recent posts on the implications of local media monopolies, particularily on our democracy.
Corporate earnings pressure is certainly one thing, but I believe there are other factors at play such as:

  • Insulated environment: The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 sanctioned newspaper monopolies. Competition is a good thing, however in this case, the Act has simply created a general malaise.
  • Lowered expectations: Rather than informing readers with depth, many newspaper’s have adopted the USA Today “McPaper” approach. This flies against internet users demands: lots of information quickly and deep information (google and others) when I want it.
  • Hiring: The sports page often has more depth than others.
  • Failure to take advantage of new tools & media.

Money is not the only issue, in fact, I don’t believe it’s the issue. Leadership is.

Wisconsin State Priorities?

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The State Journal editorial page takes Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager to task for joining with six other states and New York City to sue five of the country’s largest power producers to force them to cut carbon dioxide emissions. This is the same organization that, under Democrat Jim Doyle signed us up for the Matrix personal data mining project – then later withdrew.
Keeping the environment clean is certainly important, but the WSJ raises some useful issues on this topic. I believe that our state leadership is ignorning (for political reasons) the most important economic issues of our time, such as the construction of true high speed networks.
High speed data networks are the rails and roads of the future. Yet, today, we are saddled with slow services supported by local telco monopoly SBC.
Verizon just announced that fiber to the premises (“fttp” or to the home) will be available in Keller, Texas, parts of Southern California and Florida. Prices will range start at $40/month for 2 to 5mbps service; with optional speeds up to 30mbps. (Currently, many state residents can choose from 384kbps to 1.5mbps DSL or cable service – 1/10th the speed, or less of the fibre based products).
These speeds make high quality personal video conferencing a reality (family & friends), new small businesses from the home possible and most importantly, will reduce the cost of true high speed access for all residents.
Nice to see our politicians are paying attention.
David Isenberg has some useful examples of “value-subtracted” telco business models. Isenberg also discusses a May, 2004 study that shows a dramatic reduction in telco operating expenses after they switch from a copper wire based network to a fibre system.

Weblogs & Journalism – Where’s the money going?

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Glenn Reynolds, Jay Rosen and Jon Lauck discuss monopoly newspapers, reduced reporter counts and journalism quality. The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 and the general monopoly position of most papers has not done much, as far as I can see, other than insulated entrenched organizations from the market. Perhaps atrophy is starting to take its course.

I summarized my thoughts on Madison’s local newspaper monopoly here (along with some of the unintended consequences). There are some parallels to Microsoft’s tactics.

Checking Account Fraud

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Caroline Mayer and Griff Witte cover a growing problem with checking account fraud (helped, in part by the growth of automated payments):

When Shereen Greene recently scanned her bank statement, she found a $139 charge from a company she had never heard of — Pharmacycards.com.
The Atlanta paralegal dug out her canceled check and easily saw it was fake. The name on it was her maiden name, which she had not used in seven years. The address was five years old and her signature was missing. In its place, was a brief message: “Authorized by your customer. No signature required.”
Still, the numbers at the bottom of the check belonged to Greene’s bank account, and in the increasingly automated world of check processing, that was all that mattered.

25lbs of King Crab

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Travel can often be interesting. This evening, I sat next to a retired executive returning home from two weeks panning for gold in Nome, AK. He mentioned that he had 25lbs of king crab in the cargo hold ($4.99/lb) just off the boat….

Dining in Santa Fe

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Dave Winer is in Santa Fe. The excellent India Palace restaurant features delicious East Indian cuisine. The Fodors says:

Even seasoned veterans of East Indian cuisine have been known to rate this deep-pink, art-filled restaurant among the best in the United States. The kitchen prepares fairly traditional recipes — tandoori chicken, lamb vindaloo, saag paneer (spinach with farmer’s cheese), shrimp biryani (tossed with cashews, raisins, almonds, and saffron rice) — but the presentation is always flawless and the ingredients fresh. Meals are cooked as hot or mild as requested. Try the Indian buffet at lunch. AE, D, MC, V.
-Fodors