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The New Voice Of The Music Industry
by Heather Greenfield
It's back to the entertainment spotlight for Cara Duckworth. After a job as a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Convention Committee, Duckworth will become the new communications director for the Recording Industry Association of America.
Duckworth previously worked in the communications department at the Motion Picture Association of America. She replaces Jenni Engebretsen, who left RIAA recently to join the Democratic National Convention Committee as deputy CEO of public affairs.
Duckworth is no stranger to the kinds of intellectual property issues faced at RIAA. She helped advance IP issues during her two years at MPAA.
Before joining the MPAA, Duckworth served as press secretary of the Senate Budget Committee under then-Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H. A native of Oklahoma, Duckworth worked in the office of Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla, during his tenure as assistant majority leader and as chairman of the Budget Committee.
"Cara brings an extraordinary range of especially relevant skills and experience to the job," said Jonathan Lamy, RIAA's senior vice president of communications. "With her expertise in the entertainment industry and Capitol Hill, and experience with the news media, she is the perfect match for the organization and the music industry."
Switching From Satellite To Cable
Ross Lieberman is switching from satellite to cable. He is leaving EchoStar Communications to become vice president of government affairs for the American Cable Association.
It is a new staff position that makes Lieberman the trade association's senior government advocate on Capitol Hill and at the FCC.
"The creation of this new position in Washington, D.C., strengthens ACA's ability to fight for the interests of our 1,100 members and the 8 million consumers they serve," ACA President and CEO Matthew Polka said. "With his extensive government relations experience, goodwill among individuals in Washington, and background on the complex legislative and regulatory issues facing our members, Ross is an invaluable addition to ACA's team."
Lieberman spent the past seven years as director of congressional and state affairs for EchoStar.
Planning Policy For Free Press
Shawn Chang will become the deputy policy director for Free Press next month. Chang said it was a tough decision to leave his post as a legislative assistant to Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
"I am so grateful for the opportunity Tammy has given me," Chang said. "I have been surrounded by some of the most talented and hardworking people that I have ever come across on the Hill. But the opportunity to help lead the policy shop at one of our nation's most prominent telecom advocacy groups is simply too hard to resist."
Among other things, Chang said he appreciated the chance to work in opposition to national cable-franchising legislation during his year-and-a-half with Baldwin. He leaves July 3 and has not yet been replaced.
Patents And Progress
John Duffy will have little time to set up his desk at the Progress and Freedom Foundation. PFF announced Duffy's appointment as an adjunct fellow this week, and he will join a panel discussion on patent law Friday.
Duffy is a law professor at the George Washington University and a nationally recognized specialist in intellectual property and administrative law. He is also the co-author of the leading casebook on patent law.
"There are extremely important intellectual property issues on the nation's policy agenda now," said Thomas Lenard, a PFF senior fellow and its acting president. "John is one of the nation's leading authorities in this area, and we are extremely pleased that he has agreed to be an adjunct fellow and increase his participation in our activities."
Before moving into academics, Duffy clerked for Stephen Williams on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Duffy received a degree in physics from Harvard College in 1985 and a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1989.
Just Say No To Campaign Internet Jobs
Zack Exley was the director of online organizing and communications for the 2004 presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, but he doesn't think that's the kind of job other politics and technology experts should take these days.
He wrote at his blog last week that the power to transform campaigns through new media doesn't start with a good Internet person but with a structure and a job title that lets that person integrate new media throughout the campaign. Under the headline "Don't Hire An Internet Person," Exley ranted about organizations that ask him to recommend "an Internet guy to hire."
He answers by saying: "You need to make your senior leaders, campaigners and organizers responsible for the Internet, just as they're responsible for everything else. The Internet is the biggest, greatest opportunity you have -- so why would you outsource it to some Internet person you'll just stick in a closet anyway?"
Exley said that with new media as the way to communicate in the future, Internet strategists are really strategists and Internet communicators are really communicators. He told his colleagues to "remove 'Internet' from our titles and resumes. The longer we leave 'Internet' on our nametags, the longer we're enabling all this bad behavior."
Bush Names Technology Laureates
President Bush has announced the latest recipients of the National Medal of Technology.
The winners are: Alfred Cho of Lucent Technologies; Dean Sicking, a researcher at the University of Nebraska specializing in computer simulation of vehicle dynamics; and the Wyeth Pharmaceuticals team, including Ronald Eby, Maya Koster, Dace Madore and Velupillai Puvanesarajah. Companies receiving the award included Genzyme, Semiconductor Research Corp. and Xerox.
The award is given to individuals, teams, and/or companies/divisions for their outstanding contributions to the nation's economic, environmental and social well-being through the development and commercialization of technology products; concepts; technological innovation; and development of the tech workforce. The Commerce Department administers the award, which was established by Congress in 1980.
Quote Of The Week
"These guys are telling lie after lie after lie. Most of the time they are too ill-informed to even know they're lying."
-- House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, speaking to CongressDaily about Republican complaints about earmarks in fiscal 2008 spending bills.
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