MEDIA & SOCIETY
Clinton Orders Study on Selling of Violence (NYT)
Getting TV to Practice Safe Sex (ChiTrib)
EDTECH
Learning Built Into Future Schools (USA)
Textbook Publisher Plans Online University (CyberTimes)
FCC
A New FCC for the 21st Century (FCC)
Overcoming Obstacles to Telephone Service for Indians on Reservations
(FCC)
1996 Telecom Act Working (FCC)
TELEPHONY
Ameritech Hopes New Telephone Bills Ring Clear (ChiTrib)
PRINT MEDIA
Borders To Provide Instant Books (SJ Merc)
Titans of Black Magazines Redefine Their Missions (WSJ)
MERGERS
AOL Buys 2 Internet Music Firms (SJ Merc)
Intel Adds To Telecom Cache (SJ Merc)
Liberty Media To Buy Major Owner of Teligent (WP)
JOURNALISM
Court Action Affects Media Cooperation With Government (USA)
INTERNET
Federal Cybercrime Unit Hunts for Hackers (NYT)
Firm Makes Home Pages Free For All With Phones (USA Today)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
CLINTON ORDERS STUDY ON SELLING OF VIOLENCE
Issue: Media & Society
President Clinton has asked the Justice Department and the Federal Trade
Commission to investigate whether the entertainment industry violates its
own voluntary code by marketing violent movies and video games, and music
with explicit lyrics to children. Last month, the President also asked the
Surgeon General to study the possibility of links between violent content in
entertainment and real violence by young people. The study will take 12-18
months and cost $1 million. Entertainment executives are angry -- accusing
the President of making the industry as a scapegoat for a deeper societal
problem.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A18), AUTHOR: John Broder]
(http://www.nytimes.com/)
See also:
CLINTON SAYS FTC TO STUDY MARKETING OF VIOLENCE
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: John F. Harris and Sharon Waxman]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-06/02/081l-060299-idx.html)
CLINTON CALLS FOR VIOLENCE PROBE, RILES HOLLYWOOD
[SOURCE: USA Today (1A), AUTHOR: Susan Page]
(www.usatoday.com)
CLINTON ORDERS STUDY OF KID VIOLENCE, FILMS
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.4), AUTHOR: Gary Dretzka]
(http://chicagotribune.com/splash/article/1,1139,SAV-9906020119,00.html)
GETTING TV TO PRACTICE SAFE SEX
Issue: Media & Society
Amid all the rhetoric about reducing the amount of violence in entertainment
are other movements to reduce the amount of sex on TV. The Parent's
Television Council recently launched the Green Light Film Review as a
resource for viewers seeking "wholesome" entertainment fare. The project
hopes to encourage Hollywood to "voluntarily refrain from aiming at children
those products that glorify sex, drug use and a culture of disrespect and
death." The Media Project "provides entertainment-industry professionals
with the most up-to-date, socially relevant information about sexual health
issues." The project works with the creative community to provide audiences
with realistic portrayals of family planning, sexuality and reproductive
health. Surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation have found that teens list
television as one of the primary sources of information about sex -- and
that they engage in sexual activity because TV makes it look as if that's
what other tens are doing.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 5, p.1), AUTHOR: Gary Dretzka]
(http://chicagotribune.com/leisure/features/article/0,2669,SAV-9906020139,FF
.html)
EDTECH
LEARNING BUILT INTO FUTURE SCHOOLS
Issue: Technology
Architects and educators say they have created in Maywood Elementary School
(Hammond, IN), a prototype of what a new millennium school ought to be. A $9.5
million investment, the building incorporates a variety of education concepts
and trends to prepare 540 pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students for
today's fast-paced, high-tech society, says bob Flach, assistant superintendent
of business for Hammond's public schools. High-tech designs include schools
desks that accommodate a textbook, notebook and computer, and detachable desk
drawers for student to move around the room without moving furniture. The
builders have installed collapsible walls to enable teachers to team up for
interdisciplinary studies and cable lines connect cameras for surveillance to
keep the building secure and allow students to view faraway programs and
speakers. The educational approach is also innovative. A team approach to
teaching will be used and kids will often have lessons with more than one
teacher at a time. Educators and architects both agree that the
one-size-fits-all traditional approach to school buildings is obsolete, but
critics remember the tried and true trends of the 70's "open-classroom" and
recall how these eventually failed due to increased levels of noise and lack of
concentration. These architects, however, are confident that their 'flexible'
approach to the construction of Maywood Elementary School was key. Others,
however, continue to dream of an educational environment that would take kids
away from the confinement of a physical school structure, and into museums,
zoos or bank buildings