By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --A “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” episode about prejudice and an Alzheimer’s documentary with Maria Shriver are among eight programs to be honored Wednesday for demonstrating the power of TV.
The third annual Television Academy Honors spotlighting shows found to exemplify “television with a conscience” will be hosted by Dana Delany. The announcement was made by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Presenters were scheduled to include former Vice President Al Gore, Joel Grey and Shriver, the first lady of California and former NBC News correspondent.
“This is about the television community and the people who work in it putting their heart and soul into their work,” said academy Chairman and CEO John Shaffner. “None of these stories would be told if someone didn’t say, ‘I have to do this.'”
In the vast media sea, he said, the Academy Honors are “here to keep our mind on the main thing: TV can really matter and make a difference,” Shaffner said.
The programs to be honored:
• “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” for the episode “Coup de Grace,” which takes on racial bias and profiling in a story about an off-duty officer’s accidental killing by a colleague.
• “Glee” for the episode “Wheels,” which highlights entrenched biases, including those faced by people with disabilities.
• “Private Practice” for the episode “Nothing to Fear,” about physicians dealing with the moral, legal and ethical issues raised by an ailing man’s request for assisted suicide.
• “Taking Chance,” a film about the journey of a Marine officer shepherding the remains of a soldier killed in combat in Iraq to his final resting place.
• “Explorer: Inside Death Row,” about Texas’ use of the death penalty and the effect on three inmates awaiting execution, their families and those involved in carrying out the sentences.
• “Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am? With Maria Shriver,” a film about children dealing with grandparents with Alzheimer’s and narrated by Shriver, whose father, R. Sargent Shriver, has the disease.
• “Unlocking Autism,” about efforts to understand the causes of autism and to find therapies to treat the developmental disability.
• “Vanguard” for the episode “The OxyContin Express,” an investigation of prescription drug abuse and the route the drugs take from Florida to Appalachia.
The awards will be presented at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More