Broadcasters Get Extra Time for TV Changeover
Likely Pick for FCC Could Help Consumers
Internet/Online Services
NYT: Web Advertising Beyond Banners
NYT: Trying to make computer channel surfing as attractive as the
couch potato variety
WSJ: Disney Blitzes Cyberspace With 'Daily Blast' Service
WP: Advice for Removing Spam's Stain From the Screen
International
NYT: "Euroskeptics" Offer a Lesson On the Web as Political Arena
NYT: At Palestinian Papers, Money Is as Elusive As Freedom
NYT: Basque Web Site Suspended After Protests
In the Murdoch-Levin dispute, money talked
Sprint Gets Ambitious On Welfare Reform With Mixed Results
Hip and Irreverent, Alternative Papers Grab Readers
Let the People See Justice be Done
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Title: Broadcasters Get Extra Time for TV Changeover
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/digital-tv-media.html(D5)
Author: Deborah Shapley
Issue: Digital TV/Spectrum
Description: Budget Conference Committee members have agreed on provisions
that may delay the transition to digital television. The Federal
Communications Commission set 2006 as the date broadcasters would have to
return spectrum currently used to air television. All broadcasts after that
date would be in the new digital format. But House and Senate budget
conferees have agreed on language that sets up a three-tiered test for the
return of spectrum. Broadcasters may keep both their analog and digital
licenses if 1) 15% of all households in the market they serve lack access to
digital signals; 2) less than 85% of households have cable, digital TV sets,
or digital converter boxes; or 3) if one of the four major networks is not
broadcasting digital signals in the area. The Clinton Administration and
Senator John McCain have opposed changing the FCC's rules.
Title: Likely Pick for FCC Could Help Consumers
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: John R. Wilke
Issue: Federal Communications Commission/Policymakers
Description: William Kennard, President Clinton's pick to head the FCC,
will face a tough confirmation process, but once confirmed will do well
because of his consensus-building style of leadership. Kennard would be the
first African-American to be Chairman of the FCC. Kennard would be expected
to promote pro-consumer policies in terms of cutting cable rates and keeping
Baby Bells out of the long distance markets until they fully open their
local markets. Kennard is also concerned about the lack of diversity in
media ownership.
Title: Web Advertising Beyond Banners
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/072897advertising.html(D5)
Author: Nzong Xiong
Issue: Advertising
Description: Last year, advertisers, particularly technology and financial
services companies, spent $301 million on ads on the Internet. In the first
quarter on 1997 alone, $133 was spent. Advertisers want more bang for their
many bucks and are looking for new ways to advertise including: pop-up
windows, roadblocks, tickers, and incentives. [see http://www.swoon.com,
http://www.riddler.com, http://www.hotbands.net/musicstore]
Title: Trying to make computer channel surfing as attractive as the couch
potato(e) variety
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/techcol/072897techcol.html(D5)
Author: Regina Joseph
Issue: Old vs New Media
Description: Seventy-one years after John Logie Baird invented the
television, we've moved from the one-sized, fits-all BBC, one-station model
to the fragmented cable model to, most recently, the interactive channel
with a companion Web site. And Internet service providers are moving toward
the "channel" concept as well. "it's simply the easiest way consumers can
find info."
Title: Disney Blitzes Cyberspace With 'Daily Blast' Service
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/ (B4)
Author: Bruce Orwall
Issue: Online Services/Internet Content
Description: Disney has launched a Internet service for children 12 and
under called the 'Daily Blast' featuring different games, comics, and news
and sports information every day. "It's part of a recent blitz by Disney to
establish Internet beachheads for many of its products, from ESPN to ABC
News." The Daily Blast costs $4.95 a month and this doesn't include
Internet access. Disney hopes that the service becomes a ritual for kids.
Analysts question whether enough families will support the Daily Blast when
other kids' sites are free.
Title: Advice for Removing Spam's Stain From the Screen
Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-07/28/032l-072897-idx.html
(WashBus 19)
Author: Victoria Shannon
Issue: E-mail/Privacy
Description: This article looks into different strategies that one can
use to avoid the greasy spiced ham that somehow always finds a way into
one's "inbox." AOL users have different keywords they can type
("marketing prefs" and "postmaster") to help guard their e-mail
accounts. Several groups would like to put the responsibility on
Internet service providers to filter out spam, but no feasible way of
doing this has been realized. Many believe that legislation will be the
answer, but for those who don't want to wait the 2 and a half
years...check out the Coalition Against Unsolicited E-Mail
http://www.cauce.org and the Stop Junk E-mail site at
http://www.mcs.com/~jcr/junkemail.html.
Title: "Euroskeptics" Offer a Lesson On the Web as Political Arena
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/sites/072897sites.html(D1)
Author: Edmund Andrews
Issue: Old vs New Media
Description: "The media speaks the words of the Government, and the says we
want to be involved with the euro," says Martin Dessing president of Dutch
political group Boycot de Euro. "I think we've started a new discussion, and
that's why we've started to use the Internet." Television and newspapers had
all but ignored people skeptical of the European currency, but these
dissenters "have created a textbook example of how political groups outside
the mainstream can use the Web as a political tool." Activity on the Web
shows that there is more opposition to the Euro than political leaders care
to admit. See http://www.znet.se/centernej/e31.html and
http://www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofile.
Title: At Palestinian Papers, Money Is as Elusive As Freedom
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/westbank-papers-media.html(D1)
Author: Judith Miller
Issue: International/Newspapers
Description: Palestinian newspapers face pressures of censorship, high
production costs, and too few readers and advertisers.
Title: Basque Web Site Suspended After Protests
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/072897basque.html(D3)
Author: John Cushman
Issue: International/Internet
Description: The Institute for Global Communications http://www.igc.org,
an Internet service provider that specializes in working with human rights
groups, became the target of computerized protests that forced it to shut
down a Web site that provided a sympathetic account of the Basque separatist
movement. A spokesman called the episode "the electronic equivalent of
taking hostages" as IGC was unable to provide regular e-mail service to its
13,000 subscribers. IGC posted a message about the shutdown saying, "While
the site is suspended, we call on all those concerned that legal political
speech can be forcibly censored by mail-bombing attacks to protest the
tactics used against us. If it can happen to us, it can happen to anyone."
Title: In the Murdoch-Levin dispute, money talked
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/timewarner-newscorp-media.h
tml(D7)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Ownership
Description: In Media column, Mifflin examines the Time Warner cable system
vs. News Corp Fox News channel war. Why did Time Warner finally give in to
Fox when TW appeared to be winning on every front? There are a number of
theories: 1) Time Warner head Gerald Levin and News Corp's Rupert Murdoch
simply kissed and made up, 2) Time Warner won concessions on other future
deals, 3) News Corp offered a lot of cash, and/or 4) it was just time to
stop fighting and get back to work.
Title: Sprint Gets Ambitious On Welfare Reform With Mixed Results
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/ (A1)
Author: Dennis Farney
Issue: Jobs/Low-Income
Description: In his State of the Union address, President Clinton
mentioned Sprint as one of the corporations who would be involved in
training welfare recipients for jobs. Sprint had already started training
programs, but didn't know it would be mentioned by Clinton as a leader. So far
the company has only hired seven people as a result of its welfare-to-work
efforts. AT&T has hired one person from the training classes. Sprint and
other companies are learning as they go about how to train workers and how
much they can promise those people enrolled in classes. The companies'
learning curve, however, can be frustrating for trainees that don't make the
final cuts for jobs.
Title: Hip and Irreverent, Alternative Papers Grab Readers
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: James P. Miller
Issue: Journalism
Description: Daily newspapers have dropping circulation, but alternative
papers have a growing number of readers. "Since 1990, circulation and
revenue have more than doubled among the nation's more than 100 alternatives,
according to a trade group." Advertisers are using alternative papers to
reach the 20-somethings crowd.
Title: Let the People See Justice be Done
Source: Washington Post
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-07/28/010l-072897-idx.h
tml (A19)
Author: Fred Graham, Court TV
Issue: Journalism
Description: This op-ed, written by the chief anchor and managing editor
of Court TV, attacks the judicial trend of barring television cameras
from the courtroom in "high profile" cases. According to Graham, the
states that allow cameras in the courtroom all conducted studies to
judge the potential effect of the cameras on judges, attorneys, etc.,
and that these studies should not be ignored simply because a case is
"high profile." Graham believes that the public interest is better
served because the higher the profile of a case, the more vital it
is that the public be informed. And the better the ratings are for his
show.
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