The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "broadband" ...
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Poverty Stretches the Digital Divide
The principle finding of the story was that even though broadband penetration is growing, large swaths of the nation, particularly in the rural South, are lagging behind.
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Updated Version of Well Connected Media Tracker
In October 2006, Well Connected, a project of the Center for Public Integrity, updated its Media Tracker. The Tracker is a tool to "identify the source of news and information filtered to their community through newspapers, broadcast, cable, satellite, phone lines and broadband." The Tracker also features political information. This set of stories tells about the new version of Media Tracker, with background stories which profile many of the "top companies in broadcast television, radio, telephone, cellular, cable, broadband and satellite TV and radio."
Tags: Internet; Media Tracker; media ownership; Well Connected; information filters; Center for Public Integrity
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Disconnect
By allowing new competitors into the local phone market, the 1996 telecom act helped create the new telecom economy. But it contained a fatal flaw that allowed the Bells to control new entrants' access to customers, even as these two compete for the same customers. The result is that the Bells are dominating the market and able to drive new telecom companies out of business.
Tags: telecom industry; Rhythms NetConnections; Telecommunications Act of 1996; DSL; Internet; broadband; Michael Powell; FCC; deregulation
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Losing Signal
"..the advent of the information economy has turned the FCC from a minor D.C. player into one of the government's most powerful agencies. As the de facto czar of the nation's communications infrastructure, the commission now makes daily decisions affecting America's technological destiny-reviewing megamergers like AOL Time Warner union, evaluating the Baby Bells' expansion plans, determining whether cable companies should decide what Web content their Internet customers can view. And no one appreciates the FCC's newfound authority better than the communications industry, whose lobbying expenses now stand at roughly $125 million, more than twice the amount spent by defense firms."
Tags: FCC; lobbying; telecommunications; "Big Media; " broadband; Internet; cable; telephone; radio; broadcast licenses; deregulation; digital transition; telcos; CFIC; Dingell; Tauzin; McCain; Lott; open access; First Amendment; location-based services (LBS); privacy; Digital Democracy; National Association of Broadcasters; NAB; analog spectrum; consolidation; government auction
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Power Outrage: For a Montana Utility, A Gamble on Telecom Looks Like a Bad Call
The Wall Street Journal focuses on the wrong step that Montana Power Co. has undertaken by dumping its generators and chasing a broadband dream, "just as energy takes off." The story reveals that the management team failed "to get shareholders' approval for the company's transformation," and sheds light on an "unusual lawsuit" against the utility, its board, and its senior executives and consultants. The reporter finds that the company's management has been "intoxicated by their stock price," and describes how the chief executives Bob Gannon still "scoffs at the notion that his company made the wrong move."
Tags: business; Wall Street; telecommunications; energy; electricity; stocks and bonds; litigation; shareholders; utility; deregulation; Anaconda river; IPO; PPL Corp.
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Hear no risk, see no risk, speak no risk
Winstar was one of the more spectacular crash and burns in the Tech wreck. The broadband company was hyped by Wall Street analysts and raised billions of dollars to support its operations and aggressive "last mile" expansion. Some of the money was "smart money" from astute companies such as Lucent and Microsoft. The company declared bankruptcy and blames Lucent, who it accused of breaking terms and not paying money it promised.
Tags: Analysts; bear; bull; Wall Street; IPO; market values; target prices; CLEC; competitive local exchange carrier; losses; Ebitda; B2B; "market performer"