MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Critics Speak Out Against Planned Univision Purchase
FCC Deregulation Attracts Criticism
E-GOVERNMENT
US E-Government Czar Heading for Exit
DIGITAL DIVIDE
South African Telecenters Battle Against Costs
PRIVACY
Mail Tracking System Raises Privacy Fears
INTERNET
Email Experiment Confirms Six Degrees of Separation
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
CRITICS SPEAK OUT AGAINST PLANNED UNIVISION PURCHASE
A coalition of Hispanic media associations and businesses have publicly
urged the FCC to block Univision's proposed $2.8 billion purchase of
Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. The Univision network, which also owns
the TeleFutura TV networks, the Galavision cable network and 50 local
Hispanic stations around the country, hopes to purchase HBC's 63 radio
stations. Purchasing HBC would make Univision owner of largest
Spanish-language radio network; it already owns the largest Spanish-language
cable channel, TV network, record label and website in the US. "The proposed
merger will result in a level of concentration of Hispanic media that would
silence the diversity of voices available now in the Hispanic community,"
said Ivonne Cunarro of the National Association of Hispanic Publications.
The FCC's three Republican commissioners, Michael Powell, Kathleen Abernathy
and Kevin Martin, are supporting the merger, while Democrats Jonathan
Adelstein and Michael Copps may place conditions on the merger in order to
address critics' concerns.
SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News; Author: David Ho, AP
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6477962.htm
See also:
Spanish-Media Giant Near Approval
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25719-2003Aug6.html
FCC DEREGULATION ATTRACTS CRITICISM
Katy Boss of Grand Valley State University in Michigan offers an overview of
the ongoing media ownership saga from a university perspective. Critics of
the new rules, she says, are concerned about the decision's impact on local
news, warning that it could allow national media corporations to quash the
diversity of local content. "It can get Orwellian very quick, if you have
virtually seven people sitting around deciding how they're going to spin the
news," says Roy Winegar, the university's news media manager. Winegar adds
that breaking down the barriers to cross-ownership would be "the closest
thing to a media monopoly.... They'd do away with the WOOD TV 8s and the
WZZM weather guys, and do it all nationally," he says in reference to two
local broadcasters. "They say we have the freedom of choice in this country
but actually we have the freedom to choose, somebody else provides the
choices."
SOURCE: Grand Valley Lanthorn; AUTHOR: Katy Boss
http://www.lanthorn.com/news.asp?type=NS&aid=2539
E-GOVERNMENT
US E-GOVERNMENT CZAR HEADING FOR EXIT
Mark Forman, head of e-government and IT at the US Office of Management and
Budget, will leave his post August 15. Forman has been credited with
overhauling antiquated practices in the federal government and pushing
corporate-style management practices and online documents and systems. He is
leaving for an undisclosed job in the private sector. A number of
publications have printed reactions to Forman's departure. The Federal Times
wrote of Forman's legacy: "[IT managers] had to meet new demands to get
their budgets approved such as creating detailed blueprints for modernizing
their IT systems and abandoning their own e-government projects and instead
funding cross-agency projects." Consultant Robert Guerra told Federal
Computer Week, "Without Mark's energy and passion and intensity behind [the
e-government initiative,] I'm concerned whether or not there is anyone [who]
has the authority to put the pressure behind the effort." OMB spokesman
Trent Duffy said, "OMB will continue to press forward on the president's
e-government initiatives and improve the government's use of IT," according
to Government Computer News.
SOURCE: Washington Post; AUTHOR: Cynthia L. Webb
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28641-2003Aug7.html
DIGITAL DIVIDE
SOUTH AFRICAN TELECENTERS BATTLE AGAINST COSTS
South Africa's Universal Service Agency (USA), under the Department of
Communications, says that its telecenters face a number of challenges in
bridging the digital divide. High costs of electricity and telephone
accounts make it difficult to continue providing service to rural areas, and
telecenters tend to lose managers to the private sector. "The community
often does not see the need for using the Internet or the telecenter," says
Joshua Manamela, USA provincial coordinator. Manamela adds that 26 out of 70
telecenters in rural areas have been closed because they are not financially
viable. The agency is seeking to focus on educating communities about the
benefits of having a telecenter, and the it hopes to reopen or relocate
telecenters that have been closed. The more sustainable centers benefit from
companies that assist them with telephone costs or electricity bills. The
Siyabonga telecenter, for example, has been equipped with subsidized
broadband Internet access and document processing equipment.
SOURCE: IT Web; AUTHOR: Stephen Whitford
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2003/0308061159.asp
PRIVACY
MAIL TRACKING SYSTEM RAISES PRIVACY FEARS
A tracking system to verify senders and recipients of mail is being
considered by the US Postal Service. The Postal Service began studying the
idea a few years ago, but the effort has taken on a new urgency since the
anthrax mail scare in 2001. A presidential commission said that the
"Intelligent Mail" system could bolster security, as well as allow customers
to track the progress of anything they send. Intelligent Mail is raising
concerns among privacy advocates who say it could violate civil liberties.
Richard M. Smith, a security and privacy consultant, called the notion
ludicrous. "The idea that the way we get secure is to identify people all
the time is just wrongheaded," he said. Adds Rick Merritt of the advocacy
group PostalWatch, "You have to question the Big Brother aspect of the
government being able to document who is writing who." Zoe Strickland, the
Postal Service's chief privacy officer, responds: "Privacy is a major value
with us, and we will make sure those values are integrated into any program,
including Intelligent Mail."
SOURCE: Washington Post; AUTHOR: Brian Krebs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29130-2003Aug7.html
INTERNET
EMAIL EXPERIMENT CONFIRMS SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
It's often been observed that two random people can be connected to each
other through "six degrees of separation" -- in other words, a series of six
social ties that inevitably link people together. In this week's issue of
Science, researchers have announced that the theory holds true via email.
Cornell University's Duncan Watts solicited more than 60,000 online
volunteers (including at least one Headlines editor) in 166 countries to
review a list of 18 randomly selected target individuals from around the
world. Volunteers were encouraged to forward the name of each person to
someone they already knew who happened to be geographically closer to the
target individual. In most cases, volunteers' emails would reach the target
within five to seven degrees of separation. Researchers also discovered that
the social networks used by volunteers were largely driven by offline social
connections -- only six percent of connections were between people who'd met
each other online. Additionally, targets in the study were generally reached
more successfully when online participants of the same gender passed along
messages.
SOURCE: New Scientist; Author: Will Knight
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994037
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