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The big showdown over judicial filibustering was averted in the U.S. Senate, at least for now. The New York Times has a good story explaining what happened.
Legislative Watch
A Fight Over Tax Cuts?
It’s much too early to predict what’s going to happen with tax reform or the state budget in the next legislative session. The talk is all over the place, with some lawmakers saying it’s time for a tax cut and others saying it’s premature to speculate, particularly because the Tax Reform Task Force has barely begun its work. Gov. Jon Huntsman favors eliminating the sales tax on food and the corporate income tax, but wants to keep state revenues neutral overall.
Some experienced lobbyists are saying that while the last legislative session was pretty much a honeymoon for Huntsman, the upcoming one, with tax reform on the agenda, will be much more contentious. Huntsman will have had plenty of time in office to advance a specific legislative agenda to lawmakers. But this Legislature is quite independent and some of is leaders have definite agendas of their own.
It will be important for Huntsman to maintain high approval ratings with the public. It’s harder to defy a popular governor. The 2006 session will kick off the election year, and a popular governor can assist lawmakers by campaigning for them in their districts. However, most legislators are in pretty safe districts, and don't really need the governor to campaign for them.
Meanwhile, some House Democrats are upset because the Republican leadership rejected minority party leadership recommendations for Rep. Pat Jones to serve on the Tax Reform Task Force and Rep. Roz McGee to serve on the Health Care Task Force. Instead, the two were switched and Jones was appointed to Health Care and McGee to Tax Reform.
Jones has been a strong advocate for tax changes that would provide more money for education. McGee has been heavily involved in heath care issues. Democrats say it is highly uncommon for the majority party to reject minority party recommendations for slots on task forces and committees.
Hatch Eyes Major Committee
Chairs of the major committees in Congress clearly have the ability to deliver the bacon. A rather humorous example was documented by the Associated Press in a story about Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens obtaining $1.5 million for a bus stop (50 times the typical cost of a bus stop) in Anchorage when he was Appropriations chair.
Sen. Orrin Hatch is expected to ascend to the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee in the next few years (assuming he is re-elected next year), meaning he will be positioned to direct more federal bucks to Utah. Personally, I’d just as soon that we stop sending so much money to Washington and keep it at state and local levels so we could pay for our own bus stops. But since that’s not going to happen anytime soon, I’m all for Sens. Hatch and Bob Bennett hauling home the pork, because if we don’t get it some other state will.
Hatch is everywhere in the news these days, particularly regarding the judicial nomination filibuster issue. He’s also at odds with President Bush on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Newsweek recently said Hatch’s support for federal funding of stem cell research (under certain circumstances) provides a lot of cover for conservatives to do likewise because he is a “lion of the pro-life movement.” Rep. Steve Urquhart weighs in on stem cell research on his Web log.
Meanwhile, Hatch’s only announced opponent, Democrat Pete Ashdown, continues his low-key campaign. If you want to know Ashdown’s position on the issues, you can read transcripts of his chat sessions. He holds an on-line chat session every Thursday night.
Media Watch
No Barriers to Entry
The Wall Street Journal on Monday published an entire special section entitled, “How Old Media Can Survive in a New Media World.” An absolute upheaval is occurring in the communications and media worlds, driven obviously by digital convergence with everything moving onto the Internet.
But there are two specific factors that I believe are crucial to understanding what is happening. First, barriers to entry in the media world simply no longer exist. Second, ultra-broadband will soon be available almost anywhere, allowing voice, full-motion video and data to be broadcast and received from any Web site and computer with access to the Internet. These two factors change everything.
1. Barriers to Entry. Where previously becoming a publisher, a radio broadcaster or a TV broadcaster was prohibitively expensive, now almost anyone can do any of those things with very inexpensive (or free) software and equipment. Nearly anyone can publish a blog, post a podcast, or stream video from a Web site. And the Internet provides a potential audience of millions. Even highly specialized niche areas of interest, when available across the world, can attract big audiences. A few years ago, publication of a newsletter like this would have been enormously time-consuming and extremely expensive. Now, I do it in my spare time at relatively low cost (low enough that I’ve been willing to pay the costs from my own pocket). Micro radio stations (Podcasters) are springing up all over the Internet and video broadcasting is following.
The Internet is going to become millions of channels offering audio, video and text. The channels will be interactive and rich with links to even more information, and the flow of information will be at least partially controlled by the viewer, not the broadcaster. Thousands of movies, TV shows, documentaries and all manner of news shows will be available on demand.
Content will still be king, of course. Good content will draw more readers, viewers and listeners. Most Internet channels, like most Web logs, will be worthless. But some will be good, and some will be terrific. The traditional news media, with their substantial numbers of trained reporters and editors, will have a big advantage and will attract the most viewers. But their audiences will still be diluted among millions of Web channels, and some of the upstarts will attract large audiences, just like some bloggers do today. Specialized niche Internet channels, professionally done, will be successful. The traditional news media will continue to have large audiences, but they will never again dominate in almost monopolistic fashion like they did in the pre-Internet days.
2. The Impact of Ultra-Broadband. For all of this to occur, Internet connections must be ultra-fast. Internet channels will appear on computer monitors, laptops, PDAs, and cell phones, but also on high-density, big-screen devices in living rooms. Video and audio quality will have to be superb. Current DLS and cable modem speeds won’t be enough. It will require speeds in the range offered by the fiber connections of iProvo and UTOPIA. It is inevitable that these levels of speed will be offered nearly everywhere. Citizens will demand it. Ultra high-speed connections will change communications, the news media, business, entertainment, and nearly everything else.
Is this really coming? It is, and it’s all happening very quickly. Some of the biggest companies in the world, and thousands of small, innovative companies, are working to make it happen.
The traditional media can survive and even lead these changes. But the transition is going to be wrenching. Advertising is undergoing massive changes. Traditional media need to think about niches, not masses. The delivery of objective, high-quality, professionally written and edited news may, itself, become a niche product. Only a certain number of people want to be well-informed.
I’m an old-fashioned newspaper reader and news junkie. I love newspapers, especially printed newspapers that I can take out on the porch or in the bathroom. But I’m getting old and my children’s news and information consuming habits are much different than mine. They are the future, not me. |
Utah
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