Communications-related Headlines for 9/3/97

Education Technology
NYT: At UCLA, a Mixed Reaction to Web-Based Courses
NYT: Despite Aid, School Ills Are Persistent

Campaign Fiance Reform
NYT: Next Round for Campaign Reform
WP: Back to the Thompson Hearings

Internet Advertising
WSJ: Knock, Knock! Who's There? Noisy New Internet Ads

International/Bosnian TV
NYT: Serb Faction Pledges to Halt Its Broadcasts Against Peace
WP: Bosnian Serbs Back Off, but Get TV Tower

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* Education Technology *
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Title: At UCLA, a Mixed Reaction to Web-Based Courses
Source: New York Times (A29)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/090397ucla.html
Author: Steven Knowlton
Issue: Education Technology
Description: In mid-July, the University of California at Los Angeles
announced that it would make a Web page available for every course in the
College of Letters and Sciences by September 25. The move represents a trend
to integrate use of the World Wide Web into higher education curriculum.
Some professors are setting up elaborate sites with audio/video links while
others are only making their syllabus available online. [For more on What's
Working in Ed Tech see http://www.benton.org/Practice/Edu/]

Title: Despite Aid, School Ills Are Persistent
Source: New York Times (A23)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/ny-schools.html
Author: Jacques Steinberg
Issue: Education Technology
Description: Students in the New York City school system are returning to
find four new computers and a printer in (nearly) every classroom, but they
still will also face overcrowding. The system has received millions in the
past few months after years of cuts. Their are many new teachers and many
teachers received computer training over the summer. [For more on Ed Tech
see The Learning Connection http://www.benton.org/Library/Schools/]

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* Campaign Fiance Reform *
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Title: Next Round for Campaign Reform
Source: New York Times (A30)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/03wed1.html
Author: NYTimes Editorial Staff
Issue: Campaign Fiance Reform
Description: Senator Fred Thompson's (R-TN) hearings on campaign finance
resume tomorrow and a new draft of the McCain-Feingold bill is expected
soon. "Many lawmakers who have thrived by the system would like the public
to believe that the chances for reforming it are nil. This is not true." New
momentum may be mounting. The Senate Committee has subpoenaed a number of
nonprofit groups to investigate "soft money" contributions and "educational"
messages to voters. The reform effort will try to tackle these issues as
well. [For more on the campaign finance debate see Destination Democracy
http://www.destinationdemocracy.org]

Title: Back to the Thompson Hearings
Source: Washington Post (A19)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/03/011l-090397-idx.html
Author: Elizabeth Drew, author of
"Whatever It Takes: The Real Struggle for Political Power in America"
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: As hearings resume this week, Drew offers some ways to think
about them: 1) Don't look for crimes, watch for patterns; 2) Don't look for
new techniques but variations on old ones, and quantum leaps; and 3) Don't
look for news, look for information. "The full flavor of the hearings on the
most fundamental issue in American politics today isn't available to the
public in any convenient form. But they are more revealing, interesting and
even funny than most of the public has any opportunity to see." [For more on
the campaign finance debate see Destination Democracy
http://www.destinationdemocracy.org]

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* Internet Advertising *
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Title: Knock, Knock! Who's There? Noisy New Internet Ads
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Sally Goll Beatty
Issue: Internet/Advertising
Description: If you thought BLINK was bad, now some Internet ads on
websites will be "whinning for attention." AT&T will unveil Web ads this
week that capture a user's attention with the sound of someone knocking on a
door. "Where we see this going is bringing more TV-like experiences to the
Web," says the software developer behind the ads. "They'll be more sound,
more graphics and more animation being employed. Its what advertisers and
agencies have been waiting for to express themselves better." /BLINK

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* International/Bosnian TV *
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Title: Serb Faction Pledges to Halt Its Broadcasts Against Peace
Source: New York Times (A8)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/03bosnia.html
Author: (Reuters)
Issue: International
Description: NATO troops returned control over a television transmitter to
Bosnian Serbs after an agreement that the Serbs would moderate their
propaganda war against the Bosnian peace agreement. The Serbs had threatened
to boycott upcoming elections if the station was not returned.

Title: Bosnian Serbs Back Off, but Get TV Tower
Source: Washington Post (A21)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/bosnia/bosnia.htm
Author: Lee Hockstader
Issue: International
Description: US troops relinquished control of a key television tower in
Bosnia. The move returned control of the facility and the airwaves of
eastern part of the Bosnian Serb Republic to allies of Radovan Karadzic who
oppose the integrated, multiethnical Bosnia laid out in the 1995 peace plan.

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Thanks to all the pinch-hitters over the past week+!