April 1998

Television
WSJ: Networks to Unveil Digital-TV Plans Next Week at Show
WP: Stations to Offer Candidates a Campaign Forum

Education
WSJ: Should a Newspaper Be Teaching Kids to Read?
WSJ: Better Education( at )Email.com
NYT: Nothing But Net? Not for Duke's Library Fans

Internet & Online Service
NYT: Another Round on Domain System
WSJ: AT&T an Microsoft Internet-Access Plans Rethink 'Unlimited'

Federal Communications Commission
TelecomAM: Dingell Continues To Blast Kennard On FCC Authority
FCC: FCC to Broadcast Audio and Closed Captioned Text of
Open Commission Meeting
FCC: Toll Free Vanity Numbers

Telephony
TelecomAM: MCI Says PacBell Is Delaying Competition In California
WP: The Long-Distance Line

InfoTech
WSJ: Sun, IBM, in Rare Cooperation, To Create Java Operating System

Arts
NYT: Hearing Case on Art Grants, Court Reflects on 'Decency'
WP: Court Hears Arguments On NEA 'Decency' Rules
WP: United They Stanza

Campaign Finance Reform
NYT: The Backlash in the House
WP: Petition Drive May Be Last Hope for Campaign Reform

Lifestyles
NYT: Post Office Unveils First Electronic Stamps

** Television **

Title: Networks to Unveil Digital-TV Plans Next Week at Show
Source: Wall Street Journal (B6)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Kyle Pope
Issue: Digital TV
Description: At the Nat'l Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las
Vegas next week, the networks are expected to formally unveil digital TV
plans. TV companies have been working for months to come up with ways to use
their digital spectrum, given to them by the federal gov't. last year in
hopes of nudging the TV industry into the digital age. But while the
networks will announce plans for some form of digital TV, they don't agree
on the basic technical standards. CBS and GE's NBC, for instance, said
they'll show super-clear HDTV in primetime, but the rest of the broadcasts
will show a slightly lower-resolution digital format, and could break up
their current channel into 3 or even 4 separate digital channels. In
contrast, Fox and ABC favor a technology embraced by the computer industry,
called progressive scanning. Due to this "technical spat," equipment makers
don't know which type of TV format they should build for. The confusion of
the use of the digital spectrum has raised concern in Washington this week.
Members of Congress say that any plans to skirt HDTV -- or to split the
digital channel into several pay services -- will be met with resistance.

Title: Stations to Offer Candidates a Campaign Forum
Source: Washington Post (D5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/01/069l-040198-idx.html
Author: John Carmody
Issue: Free Airtime For Candidates
Description: Six Post-Newsweek stations -- NBC affiliates WDIV in Detroit
and KPRC in Houston, ABC's WPLG in Miami and KSAT in San Antonio, and CBS
affiliates WJXT in Jacksonville and WKMG in Orlando -- will offer free air time
to qualified gubernatorial and congressional candidates for the November
election, according to president and CEO Bill Ryan. The format will consist
of 5-minute segments assembled into a long-form, commercial-free programs.

Title: Prime Cable Seeks Bidders to Buy Las Vegas System
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Cable
Description: Prime Cable has been accepting bids for its Las Vegas cable-TV
system which could fetch more than $1 billion. The Las Vegas system, which
has about 300,000 subscribers, is expected to command record prices because
of its unique character: the system has a robust hotel business, upgraded
lines capable of carrying two-way interactive services and a budding telecom
business. Prime invited four cable-TV companies -- Tele-Communications Inc.,
Cox Comm., Comcast, and Charter Comm. -- to submit bids for the Las Vegas
system.

** Education **

Title: Should a Newspaper Be Teaching Kids to Read?
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Lisa Bannon
Issue: Education/Newspapers
Description: The Baltimore Sun's unusual five-year initiative to improve
literacy in Baltimore schools, known as "Reading by 9," has attracted
criticism because it stretches the traditional function of a newspaper from
observer to participant. The Sun dedicates four pages to the reading issue
every week as well as having recruited anchor advertisers and signed up 130
of its employees to tutor children weekly. The series won the 1997 Public
Service in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
But some of the Sun's education writers, worried about a conflict of
interest, have declined to volunteer as tutors. Ron Peiffer, Asst. State
Superintendent for School and Community Outreach, said, "When someone is a
journalist and working as a volunteer, when does the job stop and the
volunteering begin?" The project is an outgrowth of a philosophy espoused by
Times Mirror Chairman Mark Willes who has drawn nat'l attention for
advocating that newspapers play a more activist role in their local
communities. He said, "If a paper exposes an issue and there is a reaction
to the story, the paper is a participant in that issue."

Title: Better Education( at )Email.com
Source: Wall Street Journal (3/31-Op-eds, A22)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Reed Hundt
Issue: Education/E-Mail
Description: More than 40,000 schools have applied for money from the FCC's
new universal fund, which will send $625 million their way this year. Where
can this money make the biggest difference? Improvements in how our children
are educated can be made with nothing more complicated or expensive then
e-mail. Teachers and parents should have a great deal to say to one another.
But working parents may not be available to talk on the phone or in person
unless there is a true emergency. E-mail is the perfect solution, for it
will let parents and teachers have a conversation when it's convenient for
both parties. E-mail between parents and teachers will change the dynamic of
parent-teacher-student relations, and bring systemic changes in the
educational system. This would be a giant step away from mass education to
mass individualization, in which the educational system could recognize a
and address the needs of particular students.

Title: Nothing But Net? Not for Duke's Library Fans
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/education/01education.html
Author: Pamela Mendels
Issue: Education
Description: A recent survey conducted by John Lubans Jr., a deputy
university librarian at Duke Univ., found that freshman frequently used the
Internet for their studies but they also continued to turn to the library
for everything from print and special online resources to the simple
pleasure of working amid the stacks. Luban conducted his study be greeting
users of the Lilly library's computers with an online questionnaire. Of the
schools 1,200 freshman, about 234 completed the surveys. "About 85 percent
said they used the World Wide Web at least several times a week for
'academic learning purposes,' with about 20 percent reporting that they used
it several times a day. When asked to describe the 'mix' of Web and
traditional library-based materials they relied on for class assignments,
more than 90 percent said Web materials represented at least 20 percent of
the resources they used. About 75 percent said they needed the supplemental
resources Lilly offered, from books to special online databases." In
addition, 36 percent said that they simply enjoyed working in the library.
"Somehow," Lubans said, "the library is playing the role of being the center
of intellectual life on campus rather than the student union. Being near
books, computers and other students studying is a way of realizing why you
are going to college." Lubans was quick to note that his survey was far from
scientific. But many affiliates have found the study to be enlightening.
"Some people have implied that once dorm rooms are wired no one will come
to the library. I'm not sure that's true," said Barbara J. Ford, president
of the American Library Association and executive director of univ. library
services at Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Results from Luben's survey can be
accessed at http://www.lib.duke.edu/staff/orgnztn/lubans/firstyear.html.
Also see Buildings, Books and Bytes at
http://www.benton.org/Library/Kellogg/buildings.html

** Internet & Online Service **

Title: Another Round on Domain System
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/cyber/articles/01domain.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: A presidential advisor announced yesterday that the Clinton
Administration will hold a round of public meetings on its controversial
proposal for moving Internet governance to the private sector and hopes to
have a final plan drafted within a month to six weeks "give or take."
Ira Magaziner, President Clinton's Internet czar, said at a subcommittee
meeting on the issue: "It's a volatile issue and I think it will remain
volatile but I do feel encouraged and I do think that if you sort of focus
on the substance as opposed to emotion there's a lot more agreement than
there is disagreement and I think the areas of disagreement should be
resolvable." "I think there are some misunderstanding about what we're
proposing. We need to clarify that. And then there are legitimate
disagreements. We just need to talk through them," said Magaziner. Since the
announcement of its proposal, the administration has received more than 650
opinions from around the world on the topic.

Title: AT&T an Microsoft Internet-Access Plans Rethink 'Unlimited'
Source: Wall Street Journal (B14))
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Internet sales and Services
Description: AT&T said it will charge users 99 cents per hour if they exceed
150 hours of monthly usage. Microsoft's WebTV Networks unit said it would
raise the price of its WebTV Plus unlimited-access service on June 1 to
$24.95 from $19.95 for new customers. Some industry observers predicted that
the flat-rate $19.95-a-month plans would be unprofitable because of heavy
users that would raise costs by preventing others from getting online. "You
have a limited resource you're selling in an unlimited fashion," said J.
William Gurley, a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners in San
Francisco. Mr. Gurley predicted services will become cheaper for lighter
users and more expensive for heavy users.

** Federal Communications Commission **

Title: Dingell Continues To Blast Kennard On FCC Authority
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) continued to take the FCC
Commissioners -- and especially Chairman Kennard -- to task over their
schools and libraries wiring program. The Commerce Committee's ranking
member challenged Chairman Kennard to find statutory language authorizing
the agency
to act as it has on its schools and libraries wiring programs. Rep Dingell asked
Chairman Kennard to show one thing the Commission has done to promote long
distance
competition and accused the agency of wasting time and money in its
"excessive enthusiasm" for close examination of Bell company long distance
applications.

Title: FCC to Broadcast Audio and Closed Captioned Text of Open Commission
Meeting
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/
Issue: FCC
Description: FCC to Broadcast Audio and Closed Captioned Text of the April 2
Open Commission Meeting, Live Via the Internet. The meeting's agenda
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/Agenda/1998/agenda.
html includes 1) Access to Telecommunications Services, Telecommunications
Equipment, and Customer Premises Equipment by Persons with Disabilities; 2)
Electronic Filing of Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings; 3) Performance
Measurements and Reporting Requirements for Operations Support Systems,
Interconnection, and Operator Services and Directory Assistance; and 4) 1998
Biennial Regulatory Review -- Streamlining of Mass Media Applications,
Rules, and Processes.

Title: Toll Free Vanity Numbers
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1998/nrcc8024.html
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: "The Commission issued an Order stating that vanity numbers in
the new 877 toll free code and future toll free codes shall be assigned on a
first-come, first-served basis as each code is deployed. Subscribers of
certain vanity numbers in the 800 toll free code, however, are granted the
right of first refusal for a limited amount of corresponding vanity numbers
in the 888 code that were set aside pending the Commission's decision. The
Commission said today's Order will further its goals of promoting the
efficient, fair, and orderly allocation of toll free numbers." [Hot off the
wire...toll free vanity numbers, who wants their toll free vanity numbers?]

** Telephony **

Title: MCI Says PacBell Is Delaying Competition In California
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: MCI launched a preemptive strike against PacBell's impending
bid to get Calif.'s long distance market by telling state regulators than
the Bell company is deliberately blocking local competition. MCI detailed
several "anti-competitive practices" that PacBell uses to "needlessly delay"
competition. MCI said PacBell fails to: 1) Offer automated Operations
Support Systems for ordering, billing and maintenance. 2) Properly load
customers' numbers into its statewide switches which may cause dialing
problems. 3) Provide competitors with the necessary tools to connect their
networks with PacBell's.

Title: The Long-Distance Line
Source: Washington Post (D6)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/01/059l-040198-idx.html
Author: Don Oldenburg
Issue: Competition/Long Distance
Description: Up and running now at the Telecommunications Research & Action
Center Web site is a free public service that can take some of the guesswork
out of choosing between AT&T, Sprint, and MCI. The automated WebPricer
(http://www.trac.org) compares interstate charges for various billing plans
offered by seven carriers. It's very easy to use: Besides access to the
'Net, all you need is a recent long-distance bill that's typical of the
calls you make, the area code and first three digits of phone numbers you
call frequently, and the times you make those calls. "We felt there needs to
be some kind of disclosure so consumers have a mechanism for verifying
rates," says TRAC research associate Geoff Mordock.

** InfoTech **

Title: Sun, IBM, in Rare Cooperation, To Create Java Operating System
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Lee Gomes
Issue: InfoTech
Description: Sun and IBM said they will work together to develop a new
operating system based on Sun's Java programming language. It'll be aimed at
a huge market: millions of terminals connected to central computers and
serving up data to reservation clerks, computer help desks, and data-entry
workers. Sun has argued that Java is the perfect technology to use in
replacing these machines, many of which are decades old. Sun and IBM have
already sold low-cost "network computers" as replacements. The Sun-IBM
announcement marks the first time that these two computer industry rivals
have worked together developing a product.

** Arts **

Title: Hearing Case on Art Grants, Court Reflects on 'Decency'
Source: New York Times (A18)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/scotus-nea-decency.html
Author: Linda Greenhouse
Issue: Arts/Politics
Description: The Supreme Court is reviewing a case over whether Congress can
limit federal arts grants to works that reflect "general standards of
decency." With the justices spending as much time pondering the meaning of
the 1990 restriction as debating its constitutionality, the prospect has
been raised that rather than ruling on the permissible limits of
government-sponsored speech, the court might decide that the entire issue is
too abstract and that the lawsuit that "barred enforcement of the decency
provision since 1991 should not have been brought in the first place. The
case before the court is an appeal by the Clinton administration of a 1996
federal appeals court ruling that the decency provision violated the First
Amendment." The measure requires that when awarding grants, the NEA must
take into consideration "general standards of decency and respect for the
diverse beliefs and values of the American public." In 1996, the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said in a ruling that the
measure's language was too vague, posed a danger of "arbitrary and
discriminatory application' and invited the government to refue grants on
the basis of controversial political or social messages.

Title: Court Hears Arguments On NEA 'Decency' Rules
Source: Washington Post (A16)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/01/126l-040198-idx.html
Author: Joan Biskupic
Issue: Arts/Politics
Description: The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday on whether the
federal government may require "decency" standards when choosing which
artists receive federal grants. The case raises the "provocative" issue of
whether when the government pays for a piece of art or cultural program it
can "favor certain points of view." A lower federal court ruled that such an
approach violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. But during
arguments, several justices suggested by their questions that they may never
get to the point of deciding the constitutionality of this case. Some
justices pointed out the procedural difficulties in the case brought by
Karen Finley and three other performance artists that may prevent a majority
ruling on "the merits of the dispute." Chief Justice William Rehnquist asked
whether the artists could broadly say that under no circumstances is the
decency standard constitutional and their rights had been violated when some
of the challengers had received NEA grants over the past several years.
While other justices asked whether the NEA's interpretation of the law was
as broad as the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found when it struck down
the statute in 1996. Karen Finley, a performance artist and the other
artists who have challenged the decency standard, say the statute
discriminates against nontraditional artworks and "chills" free expression.
David Cole, the artists' lawyer, told the court that the decency criteria
unconstitutionally suppresses certain points of view. He said the standard
favors projects "respectful of American beliefs" and disfavors those
challenging public sensibilities."

Title: United They Stanza
Source: Washington Post (D3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Annie Groer and Ann Gerhart
Issue: Arts
Description: Today at noon, Reps. Darlene Hooley (D-OR) and Doc Hastings
(R-WA) and Sens. Slade Gorton (R-WA) and James Jeffords (R-VT) plan to hand
out copies of "101 Great American Poems" to their colleagues as they enter
the House and Senate chambers. This "free verse spree" is a part of a
month-long, cross-country poetry giveaway by the American Poetry and
Literacy Project, headed by Andrew Carroll. Carroll is heading west from New
York city in a donated Ryder truck. Among his planned stops are "a 24-hour
wedding chapel in Las Vegas, where he'll hand out love poems, and a maximum
security prison in Louisiana noted for its literacy program. (Talk about
your prose and cons.)" The "Johnney Appleseed-style" trip is sponsored by
the Washington State Apple Growers, natch. Carroll's "odyssey" is tracked
and documented on the Academy of American Poets Web site http://www.poets.org.

** Campaign Finance Reform **

Title: The Backlash in the House
Source: New York Times (A28)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/01wed2.html
Author: NYTimes Editorial Staff
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: "By arrogantly preventing a vote on campaign finance reform
this week, Newt Gingrich so angered fair-minded lawmakers that they are now
rallying to the cause of cleaner elections. Supporters of an overhaul of
fund-raising laws were gathering more signatures yesterday for a drive to
bring remedial legislation to the House floor in defiance of the Republican
leadership. They have 190 names, 28 short of the number needed. Many more
House members favor revising the law in principle. Now is the time for them
to sign up."

Title: Petition Drive May Be Last Hope for Campaign Reform
Source: Washington Post (A1,A5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/01/085l-040198-idx.html
Author: Helen Dewar
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: Organizers of a petition drive to force a vote on the House
campaign finance reform bill were able to add two more names to their list
yesterday but still lacked more than two dozen votes for the required 218.
The petition drive is probably the last hope this year for producing a
reform bill, and supporters concede "it will be a tough fight unless members
feel more pressure from home during an upcoming three-week recess that they
have felt so far." It seems that many members of Congress remain reluctant
to change a system that continues to elect them and Republican leaders were
"loath' to give up any source of funding that helps give them a financial
advantage over Democrats. "There's not enough grass-roots anger about the
issue," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). "In many ways, the silence bespeaks
some very troubling cynicism about the whole process. People have given up
on the idea it can be reformed. They've given up on us," Collins added.

Title: Hypocrisy on Campaign Funds
Source: Washington Post (A18)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-04/01/000l-040198-idx.html
Author: WPost Editorial Staff
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: The goal of the House Republican leaders was to kill campaign
finance reform while avoiding related blame -- they may have failed at both.
A discharge petition is now being circulated in the House to "take control
from the leadership and force a series of votes on real reform, including a
ban on soft money." As of last night, the petition had 191 of the required
218 signatures. "The 20-plus holdouts and the 80-plus Republicans who are
cosponsors of reform bills ought to sign. In the Senate, the Democratic
leadership ought to start offering the deflected reform bill as an amendment
to other legislation. The fund-raising system is corrupt. In the end, the
very members who look to be its beneficiaries are the ones it taints.
Banning soft money would not solve all the problems, but it would solve
some. They ought to do it; other than raising still more money, they're not
sure not doing anything else of consequence."

** Lifestyles **

Title: Post Office Unveils First Electronic Stamps
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/04/biztech/articles/01stamp.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Lifestyles
Description: The first electronic stamps, called "e-stamps," were unveiled
yesterday and approved for testing. If all goes well, businesses and
individuals will be able to print their own postage stamps using the
Internet and personal computers. "The [postage] we unveil today represents
the most significant new form of postage payment in three-quarters of a
century," Postmaster General Marvin Runyon said. "This is the future," said
Runyon. "Postage directly from a personal computer." This move comes 78
years after the approval of postage meters and 151 years after the U.S.
issued its first postage stamps. People and companies that have a computer,
printer and Internet connection already have what they need to print their
own postage. The e-stamp system
provides a piece of hardware that fits into a computer port and serves as an
electronic vault for stored postage. The customer has an account with the
company and can download postage into this vault via the Internet and can
then print it on envelopes as needed. (I wonder what happens if you put your
envelope in backwards or upside down?)
*********
As noted in the previous message, not everything is a joke. I am leaving the
Benton Foundation's Washington office on Wednesday, April 22 to return to my
adopted home, Chicago, Illinois. Thanks for your readership and help in
making Headlines what it is (and isn't). Kevin