Public Broadcasting
WP: Justices Question Barring Fringe Candidates From Debates on
Public TV
WP: Public Broadcasting Close to Getting More U.S. Funds
Current: Coonrad, new president at CPB,
a diplomat by career and style
Current: Sought: 45% of DTV cost
Current: PTFP to help add 1.1 million people to radio coverage
Current: Lucky to get reserved spectrum,
we may now have to work to keep it
Infrastructure
WSJ: Putting Telecom Services on Power Lines Could
Spark Internet Usage in Europe
NYT: Electric Utility Announces Net Access Through Power Lines
WP: Fast Forerunner to a New Internet?
Internet Regulation
NYT: 'Luring' Law Wins Support of Advocates Of Free Speech
and Foes of Child Porn
WP: Hill's Use of Domain Fund For Internet2 Is Protested
FCC:
TelecomAM: Commerce Committee Gives a Half-Hearted "Aye" to FCC Nominees
Encryption
NYT: Europeans Reject U.S. Plan On Electronic Cryptography
NYT: U.S. Official Says Clinton Wants
Market-Driven Encryption Policy
Arts
NYT: Arts Head Attacks Critics
WP: Out of the Fire and Back Into the Spotlight
NYT: Honorable Fatigue
Lifestyles!
NYT: Microsoft to Test European Internet Mall
NYT: Old Foods Make a New Comeback
** Public Broadcasting **
Title: Justices Question Barring Fringe Candidates From Debates on Public TV
Source: Washington Post (A15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/10/09/2281-100997-idx.html
Author: Joan Biskupic
Issue: Public Broadcasting
Description: Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism over whether or
not public TV has the right to exclude candidates from televised debates who
are on the ballot, but only at the fringes. Arguments pit broadcasters'
interest in journalistic integrity and editorial control against an
independent party candidate's First Amendment right to political speech.
Public TV stations are generally free to decide what candidates to include
in their debates. Justice Antonin Scalia said this to a lawyer for a
state-run TV network, "There are some things that private broadcasters can
do and you cannot." Exclusion of third-party candidates may be one of those
things. A high court ruling against the stations could increase public
exposure for marginal candidates or cause some station to abandon the debates.
Title: Public Broadcasting Close to Getting More U.S. Funds
Source: Washington Post (E1)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/10/09/0871-100997-idx.html
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Broadcasting Budget Issues
Description: Lawmakers have budgeted about $300 million in taxpayer
support for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting or fiscal year 2000. This
would be a
20% increase from the previous year and the first hike after 5 years of
declining gov't support. If the appropriation becomes a law, it would also
mark a huge political comeback for public radio and TV. Public broadcasting
officials and congressional aides agree that efforts to wipe out PB's
funding underestimated the grass-roots backing for public stations. "The
American people expressed their very strong support for public broadcasting
and we got the message loud and clear," said Rep. John Edward Porter (R-Ill.),
who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees CPB's funding. Also, Rep.
W.J. "Billy" Tauzin is preparing a multimillion-dollar trust fund for public
broadcasters.
Title: Coonrad, new president at CPB, a diplomat by career and style
Source: Current, the Public Telecommunications Newspaper
http://www.current.org/ (p.1)
Author: Steve Behrens
Issue: Public Broadcasting
Description: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has chosen Robert
Coonrad as its president. Mr. Coonrad was a foreign service officer for 25
years and was deputy director of the Voice of America under Richard Carlson.
After Mr. Carlson became the president of CPB, Mr. Coonrad soon followed and
became acting president when Mr. Carlson resigned in April.
Title: Sought: 45% of DTV cost
Source: Current, the Public Telecommunications Newspaper
http://www.current.org/ (p.1)
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Public broadcasting estimates it will cost $1.7 billion for it
to convert to digital television and radio. Public broadcasting is
negotiating with the Clinton Administration and congressional offices,
seeking $771 million for the transition. David Liroff, spokesman for the
field's joint Digital Broadcasting Strategic Planning Steering Committee,
says, "We will raise the rest. It seemed realistic to assume that public
broadcasting was going to have to at least match and maybe
a-little-more-than-match what it is asking the federal government to
appropriate." Most of the money would go to the transition to digital
television and the funds would be dispersed by either the CPB or the Public
Telecommunications Facilities Program, an ongoing grant-giving office in the
Department of Commerce.
Title: PTFP to help add 1.1 million people to radio coverage
Source: Current, the Public Telecommunications Newspaper
http://www.current.org/ (p.7)
Issue: Radio/Public Broadcasting
Description: The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration's Public Telecommunications Facilities Program announced last
month aid to 97 stations and educational institutions. The grants total
$14.2 million including matching grants for three new public radio stations
and other improvements. The grants will help expand public radio's potential
audience by 1.1 million people.
Title: Lucky to get reserved spectrum, we may now have to work to keep it
Source: Current, the Public Telecommunications Newspaper
http://www.current.org/ (p.25)
Author: Ron Kramer, executive director Jefferson Public Radio
Issue: Spectrum/Public Broadcasting
Description: An editorial by a public broadcaster on the history of spectrum
reservations for noncommercial educational stations. The recent auction of
WDCU, a public radio station in Washington, DC, raises a host of issues that
pubcasters and the FCC should begin to address. "I believe it is time for
public broadcasters to actively work to preserve the reserved spectrum for
its intended uses by sharpening the policy distinctions between
noncommercial and commercial broadcasting, by prosecuting our case for the
continuing reservation of spectrum/capacity in emerging media technologies
and by gathering data on religious super-stations and networks across the
country."
** Infrastructure **
Title: Putting Telecom Services on Power Lines Could Spark Internet Usage
in Europe
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B21)
Author: Gautam Naik
Issue: Infrastructure
Description: Scientists working for United Utilities and Northern Telecom
announced this week that they have found a way to provide high-speed
telecommunications services over existing electric power lines. This could
be a great boon for Internet access in Europe where Net penetration has been
slowed by the high costs of connecting through national phone monopolies.
The new technology offers Internet access at speeds 20x faster than the
highest speed modems and 10x faster than ISDN.
Title: Electric Utility Announces Net Access Through Power Lines
Source: New York Times, CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/100997powerlines.html
Author: Chris Allbritton
Issue: Internet
Description: The British utility company, United Utilities PLC, and Canadian
telecommunications firm, Northern Telecom Ltd., announced yesterday that
they plan to provide a new technology that will offer high-speed Internet
access to British homes through power lines. This technology would
provide data at about 1 megabit per second, almost ten times the speed of
the fastest connections currently available to home-users.
Title: Fast Forerunner to a New Internet?
Source: Washington Post (E1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/10/09/1291-100997-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Internet
Description: "Internet2" is a collaborative effort among U.S. research
universities, the Nat'l Science Foundation and several technology companies
to get around the traffic jams and speed limits on today's commercial
Internet by creating an ultra-fast, members-only network. In experimental
service
at 12 universities, it allows users to send and receive data
as much as 100 times faster than on the normal Internet. The most
significant development will be the ability to send very large files over
the 'Net at real-time speeds. Started a year ago with 34 member
universities, the project now has 112 educational institutions that have
invested more than $50 million into the network. There are estimates that
about 30 institutions will be online by next year. "Today's Internet doesn't
work as well as we need it to for world-class research," said Douglas E. Van
Houweling, Internet2's new chief exec. "That's partly because of the way the
network was built and partly because everybody is using it."
** Internet Regulation **
Title: 'Luring' Law Wins Support of Advocates Of Free Speech
and Foes of Child Porn
Source: New York Times, CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/law/100997law.html
Author: Carl S. Kaplan
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Over the past several months, laws restricting the
dissemination of smut on the Internet have not fared well in both federal
and state courts. But one law that continues to draw a large amount of
support both in and outside of the court system is New York Penal Law
235.22. Effective November 1, 1996, and successfully upheld for the first
time in an indictment last week in Brooklyn, this statute makes it a crime
to disseminate indecent material online to minors for the specific purpose
of inducing them to engage in sexual acts. J. Robert Flores, senior counsel
to The National Law Center for Children and Families, a Virginia-based group
that seeks to protect children from sexual exploitation, says that "This law
makes a lot of sense. It strikes a balance between free expression on the
Internet and the protection of minors." Ann Beeson, staff lawyer for the
American Civil Liberties Union and frequent opponent of the National Law
Center for Children and Families, agrees that "the luring law is not
constitutionally invalid." The ACLU accepts the statute because it is
"narrowly aimed at preventing criminal solicitations and does not represent
a broad attack on protected expression." According to the ACLU two other
states besides New York have passed similar luring laws.
Title: Hill's Use of Domain Fund For Internet2 Is Protested
Source: Washington Post (E1)
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
http://www.washingotonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/10/09/0851-100997-idx.html
Issue: Internet
Description: The decision the House made to draw a $23 million fund for
development of a "next generation" Internet enraged some Internet activists
and several officials at the Nat'l Science Foundation. They contend that the
fund should be used to improve today's Internet, not "Internet2", a Clinton
administration-backed project to connect federal labs and universities with
a network 1,000 times faster than the current Internet. "This is a breach of
trust with the Internet community," said an unidentified NSF official. "The
people whose fees went into the fund aren't going to see a return from the
[Next Generation Internet] for at least half a decade." But other Internet
leaders say the new 'Net is exactly what the fund was intended for. Anthony
M. Rutkowski, a former exec. director of the Internet Society, said, "It
sounds like a very useful way to spend the money, to develop a new set of
advanced technologies."
** FCC **
Title: Commerce Committee Gives a Half-Hearted "Aye" to FCC Nominees
Source: Telecom A.M.--Oct. 9, 1997
http://www.tpgweb( at )cappubs.com
Issue: FCC
Description: The Sen. Commerce Committee endorsed all 4 nominees to the
FCC, but comments made prior to voting indicate lingering reservations. For
example, Sen. Hutchinson, R-Texas, refused to support nominee Gloria
Tristani because she felt that her written response to some questions
weren't deferent to state and local governments. Hutchinson approved of all
nominees in the voice vote, though. Sen. Stevens, R-Alaska, refused to
vote for any of them, saying he was "disturbed" by all of their
philosophies. "I don't believe any of the nominees appreciate the
importance of universal service," Stevens said. He singled out Bill Kennard
because he feels Kennard has no respect for Congressional authority. The
vote goes to the full Senate, which should consider the nominees in the next
few weeks.
** Encryption **
Title: Europeans Reject U.S. Plan On Electronic Cryptography
Source: New York Times, D4
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/100997encrypt-side.html
Author: Edmund L. Andrews
Issue: Encryption
Description: In a report released today, the European Commission "rejected
proposals by the United States aimed at insuring that police agencies can
crack coded messages over telephone and computer networks." They stated
that in addition to the American approach being possibly ineffective, it
could "threaten privacy and stifle the growth of electronic commerce. The
U.S. officials did not disguise their disappointment, and challenged the
Europeans to come up with better alternatives."
Title: U.S. Official Says Clinton Wants Market-Driven Encryption Policy
Source: New York Times, CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/100997encrypt.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Encryption
Description: In a forum yesterday on computer encryption, William Reinsch,
Assistant Commerce Secretary, said that the Clinton Administration wants a
market-driven system for key recovery of scrambled computer files as opposed
to a mandatory system. "To facilitate that goal," Reinsch said, "the
government will begin purchasing new software and hardware that will
communicate only with other key-recovery systems -- that is, with systems
that allow the police a key to unscramble encrypted files." His statements
drew criticism from the forum's audience, which consisted primarily of
computer, software and business interests, who questioned "whether the
government should be using tax dollars to force unwanted technology and a
'de facto standard' on the rest of the world." In reaction to criticism,
Mr. Reinsch stated that "We see companies wanting to engage in a
key-recovery framework for their own security reasons. We see the market
going in that direction anyway. What we have tried to do is devise a set of
policies that facilitate that movement." He added, "If private parties
want, they can ignore key recovery -- unless they want to communicate with
us in an encrypted fashion."
** Arts **
Title: Arts Head Attacks Critics
Source: New York Times, A16
http://www.nytimes.com
Author: Judith Miller
Issue: Arts
Description: Jane Alexander yesterday confirmed that she would resign as the
chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts by the end of the month. In
an interview, she lashed out at Congressional critics who have cut the
agency's governmental funding in half during her four year tenure. She
contends that the majority of the NEA's critics were attempting to
capitalize on public outrage over a minuscule number of controversial
projects that received Federal support. Ms. Alexander points out that "it
was a case of: 'I can get points for trashing the NEA; I get points from the
people who give away money for trashing the NEA; I can get headlines and air
time for trashing the NEA." In addition to their response to a few
controversial grants, Congress also eliminated funding for most individual
artists, except for writers. When asked why she was resigning, she said, in
part, to return to acting. Alexander has given several recommendations for
a successor to the White House.
Title: Out of the Fire and Back Into the Spotlight
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/10/09/1901-100997-idx.html
Author: Jaqueline Trescott
Issue: Arts
Description: Jane Alexander, the departing chief of the NEA, reassessed
her role in the endowment's past, and feels good about its future, despite
the many battles she fought with them over money, morality, integrity,
obstinate conservatives like House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and artists. "She
was placed in a no-win situation of trying to forge compromises that would
placate the attack forces...and not disturb the needs of the arts
community," said Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts.
Title: Honorable Fatigue
Source: New York Times, A38
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/index.map?77,105
Author: New York Times Editorial Staff
Issue: Arts
Description: It is no wonder that Jane Alexander is giving up her position
as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts given all she has had to
endure to ensure that the NEA will continue to exist. It is quite a tribute
to Ms. Alexander's leadership and commitment that Congress has not
completely dismantle the NEA. When the National Foundation on the Arts and
the Humanities Act was passed in 1965, it stated "While no government, can
call a great artist or scholar into existence, it is necessary and
appropriate for the Federal Government to help create and sustain not only a
climate encouraging freedom of thought, imagination, and inquiry, but also
the material conditions facilitating the release of this creative talent."
This statement remained as part of the NEA's mission statement until 1995
where it gave way to a more recent version which states that the Endowment's
mission is "to foster the excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts in
the United States, and to broaden public access to the arts." Now there is
talk of "allowing" the NEA to privatize itself. "This may work for the
helium reserve, which President Clinton has recently agreed to privatize,
but it cannot work for the reserves of thought and imagination - the
foundation of free speech - whose protection is a public matter."
** Lifestyles! **
Title: Microsoft to Test European Internet Mall
Source: New York Times, CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/100997microsoft.html
Author: Martin Nisenholtz
Issue: Internet Lifestyles
Description: Holiday shopping already? You didn't think we would let you
down with Halloween just around the corner. Microsoft says it will create
an Internet shopping mall with retailers in eight countries. They say this
experiment is being conducted with hopes of increasing electronic commerce
and Internet use in Europe. The electronic mall, dubbed E-Christmas, will
debut on November 4. According to John Leftwich, Microsoft's vice-president
for corporate marketing in Europe, he predicts that 70 to 150 retailers will
participate in this test that will run for four months.
Title: Old Foods Make a New Comeback
Source: NewsoyTimes
http://soy.com
Author: Reggie Tarian
Issue: Lifestyles
Description: People nationwide are calling out for fastfood chains to begin
carrying the latest growing rage: tofu-burgers. Tofu, which was first used
in China around 200 BC became lost through the ages but it is now making a
comeback with its miraculous ability to soak up any flavor that is added to
it. Loved by many, Kevin Taglang especially, school lunch programs also are
considering carrying the delicious ancient food. [How did this get in the
paper without some P-Chip warning label?]
*********