Communications-Related Headlines for October 2, 2002
DIGITAL DIVIDE
TOP's 25 New Awards for FY2002
Africans Embrace Mobiles and the Net
ICT Skills Must be Imparted to Communities - Mbeki
BROADCASTING
Voices of Color Scarce on Urban Public Radio
Local Television Stations Become the New Arbiters of Political Fair
Play
INTERNET
Internet 'Best' for Green News
DIGITAL DIVIDE
TOP'S 25 NEW AWARDS FOR FY2002
The U.S. Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) announced the award of $12.4 million in Technology
Opportunities Program (TOP) grants to 25 nonprofit organizations, as well as
state and local governments, in 19 states and the District of Columbia. TOP
received 741 applications for FY2002 funds. The grants are matched by $13.6
million in contributions from the private sector and other sources. Grantees
will use the funds to demonstrate how information technology can address
issues such as housing, safety, economic development and e-government.
Decisions on any future TOP activities will be made once the federal budget
for FY2003 has been adopted. As information becomes available, it will be
posted on the TOP website.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/top/whatsnew/whatsnew.htm)
AFRICANS EMBRACE MOBILES AND THE NET
A report by the United Nations Information and Communications Technologies
Task Force shows that more Africans are accessing and using the Internet.
Internet access has increased steadily in Africa, where the number of people
with Internet accounts grew 20% over the last 18 months. UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan, commenting on the influx on communications in Africa,
says that these technologies can "help us turn this potential into concrete
opportunities that will help the poor work their way out of poverty."
Technology, said Annan, is "a powerful tool for economic growth and poverty
eradication, which can facilitate the integration of African countries into
the global market." There is still much development needed, though -- only
one in 250 Africans are online, compared to one in two North Americans and
Europeans.
[SOURCE: BBC News]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2290486.stm)
See Also:
INTERNET USE GROWING, BUT STILL LAGS, IN AFRICA
[SOURCE: Yahoo.con, AUTHOR: Thalif Deen (Inter Press Service)]
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=655&ncid=655&e=6&u=/onewor
ld/20021001/wl_oneworld/1032_1033494918)
ICT SKILLS MUST BE IMPARTED TO COMMUNITIES - MBEKI
Addressing South Africa's business leaders, President Thabo Mbeki said
information and communication technology (ICT) skills must be imparted to
local communities to foster a pool of skilled people and enhance its
competitiveness in this area. "In this way, you will... expand the [ICT]
market as more and more South Africans become consumers of your product," he
said. Mr. Mbeki said government had formed two structures to facilitate
discussion and common action in the area of ICT - the Presidential National
Commission on Information Society and Development and the Presidential
International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development. The
conference also marked the coming together of the Trustees of the Crossroads
Education Fund, a business partnership aimed at funding disadvantaged
students in commerce, science and technology, engineering and ICT in their
studies.
[SOURCE: AllAfrica.com, AUTHOR: Trevor Gozhi, BuaNews]
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200210010650.html)
BROADCASTING
VOICES OF COLOR SCARCE ON URBAN PUBLIC RADIO
The majority of voices on U.S. public radio stations in several urban
markets belong to white males, according to a recent study conducted by
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). The survey, which looked at the
ethnicity and gender of the daytime hosts and news anchors of KCRW in Los
Angeles, KQED in San Francisco, WBEZ in Chicago, WNYC in New York City, WAMU
in Washington, D.C., WABE in Atlanta and WLRN in Miami, found that 88
percent were non-Latino whites and 69 percent were male. The populations in
these metropolitan areas, however, are only 45 percent white on average.
"There is a dichotomy that the system hasn't come to grips with," said
Loretta Rucker, a radio consultant who helped launch the Tavis Smiley Show,
NPR's first and only predominantly black program. "Do they serve all the
people, or do they stick with the core audience they've been cultivating for
years?" Public radio producer and consultant Nan Rubin adds that many public
radio stations are not interested in reaching audiences outside their
familiar demographic base.
[SOURCE: FAIR, AUTHOR: Steve Rendall and Will Creeley]
(http://www.fair.org/extra/0209/white-noise.html)
INTERNET
INTERNET 'BEST' FOR GREEN NEWS
An online poll conducted for the Andreas Papandreou Foundation of Greece
finds that the Internet is the best place to go for obtaining news about the
environment. The poll, which involved more than 25,000 respondents in 175
countries, asked about people for their opinions on the environment in their
own country and worldwide. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents surveyed
favor the Internet for environmental news, versus 17 percent who favor
newspaper and television. "This experiment in e-democracy created a unique
opportunity for ordinary people to participate in a global debate about the
critical issues that affect their daily lives," said Greek Foreign Minister
George Papandreou.
[SOURCE: BBC News, AUTHOR: Alex Kirby]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2290380.stm)
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