POLITICAL DISCOURSE
With Polls Closed, Political Sites Seek a New Focus (NYT)
E-Voting: Its Day Has Not Come Just Yet (NYT)
JOURNALISM
To Stay Afloat, Unlikely Ties in TV News (NYT)
How the Television Networks Covered the 2000 Presidential
Campaign (Brookings)
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Phone Mergers That May Help Competition (NYT)
Japan's NTT DoCoMo Nears Agreement On $10 Billion Stake in
AT&T Wireless (WSJ)
Third Generation Wireless (NTIA)
INTERNET
Group for Cooperatives Seeks to Make Credibility a Lure of
Its New .Coop Domain (NYT)
With Plot Still Sketchy, Characters Vie for Roles (NYT)
Voice Challenges the Screen In Race for the Wireless Web (WSJ)
Cable-Through-Sewer Strategy Hints Of Sweet Smell Of Success (USA)
Web Sites Help Patients Choose And Question Care (USA)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
How To Sell To Kids Without Selling Out (USA)
Net's Icebox Freezes Out TV Censors (USA)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
WITH POLLS CLOSED, POLITICAL SITES SEEK A NEW FOCUS
Issue: Political Discourse
Web sites that have acted as portals for news and information about
political issues are rethinking their mission post-election 2000. Many of
these sites are now thinking they'll become consulting firms, enabling
political groups to organize lobbying campaigns on issues before Congress
or developing online opinion-polling systems. By entering the arena of
Internet lobbying, the companies are on risky terrain. Online lobbying, in
recent years, has been dominated by consulting firms that generally employ
one to 12 people. The firms, which include companies like Mindshare
Internet Campaigns and the NetPolitics Group, accrued little debt and grew
slowly.
For political information online, this may be an opportunity for nonprofits
to renter the field. After the appearance of the commercial sites, some
foundations, including the Pew Charitable Trusts, became more interested in
investing in projects that set standards for Internet campaigning than in
supporting Web sites. But that reluctance may fade as commercial political
sites vanish. "This is a great opportunity for the nonprofit world with
foundation support to step back in," said Sean Treglia, a program officer
for Pew. "We won."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/technology/27POLS.html)
(requires registration)
E-VOTING: ITS DAY HAS NOT COME JUST YET
Issue: e-Voting
After observing the Florida process for nearly 3 weeks, one might wonder,
"why it is not yet possible to toss out the chaos and frenzy of paper
ballots or punch cards and move the process onto the Internet. After all, if
you can buy a book in your pajamas, why not choose a president?" First, the
merits: voting software could have an confirmation message, "did you really
want to vote for Buchanan? Really?" And of course, the best reason of all -
no chad. Well not so fast. "Fundamentally, less technology is more
reliable," said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer at Counterpane
Internet Security. "As soon as you move away from a paper audit trail, you
increase the risk a lot." Those who think the Internet holds easy answers
to the challenges of balloting are underestimating the problem, said Jim
Adler, founder of Votehere.net. "Keeping the ballots secret and at the same
time making sure that the ballots can be audited is a daunting task," he
said, "and it's easy to screw up." California's Internet Voting Task Force
released a study in January concluding "...additional technical innovations
are necessary before remote Internet voting can be widely implemented as a
useful tool to improve participation in the elections process." But voter
participation and human error pale in the face of the security questions.
Avi D. Rubin, a researcher at AT&T Labs who has studied online voting
extensively said, "If there are people with strong incentives to circumvent
the process, it can be done." In a recent paper, Mr. Rubin suggested that a
simple hacker's tool known as the "ping of death," which involves sending a
tiny amount of data to a victim's computer, temporarily disabling it, could
block many voters' efforts and throw the results of an election into doubt.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/technology/27CHAD.html)
(requires registration)
JOURNALISM
TO STAY AFLOAT, UNLIKELY TIES IN TV NEWS
Issue: Journalism
ABC's "Nightline" and PBS' "Frontline" reached an agreement that may have
some viewers confused in January. Nightline's Ted Koppel and Chris Bury
will appear in a two-hour Frontline special about the Clinton
administration. Frontline is paying Nightline for its reporting and video,
and it is helping to produce the special. Nightline news producers pitched
and sold the special to "Frontline," and their staff did the reporting. By
their very competitive nature, news outlets traditionally guard their work
jealously. But with broadcast news audiences going to cable, budget cuts
and corporate retrenchment, news organizations are trying to find cheap
ways to do what they do. CBS, ABC and Fox share stock footage of breaking
news events and the major news outlets also formed the Voter News Service
to collect election night exit polling data, expensive research each
partner had previously conducted independently. Such
collaborative arrangements have some fearing that news will not only
become further homogenized, but also increasingly vulnerable to error.For
more on the Frontline deal, see the URL below.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/business/27MEDI.html)
(requires registration)
HOW THE TELEVISION NETWORKS COVERED THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Issue: Journalism
With the dramatic conclusion of one of the closest presidential elections
in history, the Hess Report on Campaign Coverage in Network News presented
conclusions on how well or badly the TV networks covered the Bush/Gore
race. Brookings Senior Fellow Stephen Hess, a longtime observer of politics
and the media, spent nine weeks analyzing coverage of the campaign by ABC,
CBS, NBC, and PBS, reporting his findings weekly in USA Today and on CNN,
and giving out weekly awards for outstanding coverage. See results at the
URL below.
[SOURCE: Electronic Policy Network]
(http://www.brookings.edu/comm/transcripts/20001113.htm)
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
PHONE MERGERS THAT MAY HELP COMPETITION
Issue: Mergers/Competition
After five years of consolidation in telecommunications, "it now appears
that the long-term health of the $80 billion-plus long-distance sector
depends largely on even more mergers," Schiesel writes. The current
structure of the industry may fail both consumers and investors. Although
consumers are benefiting from competitive price wars, companies are getting
little profit out of current networks when they should be investing in the
broadband networks of tomorrow. The downturn in long distance companies'
stocks probably means something systemic is happening to damage the
financial prospects for the long-distance industry. Market competition is
working too well. There may be too many companies with too-similar networks
and business models for them all to survive in their current form. For
competition to be truly genuine, Schiesel concludes, it must also be
sustainable. Further consolidation in the short term, might actually ensure
genuine competition far into the future.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/technology/27NECO.html)
(requires registration)
JAPAN'S NTT DOCOMO NEARS AGREEMENT ON $10 BILLION STAKE IN AT&T WIRELESS
Issue: Wireless
Japan's NTT DoCoMo is close to an agreement to acquire a 16%-18% stake in
AT&T Wireless for nearly $10 billion, according to people familiar with the
situation. The deal is expected to be sealed later this week. NTT DoCoMo is
expected to acquire the minority position in AT&T Wireless by purchasing
the stake from both parent company AT&T and the
wireless unit. A deal between the two wireless concerns has been expected
for several months. NTT DoCoMo has been looking for a way to break into the
U.S. market and has held talks with both AT&T Wireless and Cingular, the
wireless joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth. NTT DoCoMo
has particular interest in wireless data services and has been looking for
a U.S. partner that can deploy a high-speed wireless service in a few
years. NTT DoCoMo has said it plans to be the first operator to offer
next-generation wireless service, which can do things such as download
music and video at 40 times the current speed available on wireless phones.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: Deborah Solomon And Nikhil
Deogun]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB975293587854028470.htm)
(requires subscription)
THIRD GENERATION WIRELESS
Issue: Wireless
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will hold
its second government-industry meeting on Third Generation wireless systems
on December 1. This meeting, organized in cooperation with the Federal
Communications Commission, the Department of Defense, and other Federal
agencies, is intended to provide technical experts an opportunity to review
and discuss the Interim Reports released on November 15, 2000 by NTIA and
the FCC.
NTIA has also created an open electronic-mail discussion forum
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/threeg/3gfr112000.htm) on issues
pertaining to the identification of radio spectrum for third generation
wireless systems in the United States. See Instructions for subscribing to
the 3G listserv (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/threeg/3glist.htm) and
Press Release (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2000/3g112200.htm).
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/threeg/3gasasr2f.htm)
INTERNET
GROUP FOR COOPERATIVES SEEKS TO MAKE CREDIBILITY A LURE OF ITS NEW .COOP DOMAIN
Issue: Internet
Icann has decided to add seven new suffixes to help relieve pressure on the
popular .com domain. One new domain is .coop; its purpose is make it
"easier for consumers, producers and others to find the businesses they
trust in the global electronic marketplace." "What a cooperative can do is
address chaos in the marketplace," said Paul Hazen, president of the
National Cooperative Business Association. Although most co-ops already
operate Web sites ending in .com or .org, Mr. Hazen said, "they didn't fit
neatly into those categories." He said co-ops may use the new domain to
find a space between the business interests of .com and the nonprofit world
of .org. "Consumer mistrust of e-commerce is growing," Patricia A.
Brownell, executive director of the National Credit Union Foundation, wrote
to Icann in support of the association. "It's critical that cooperative
businesses have an opportunity to identify themselves to consumers and
others who prefer to do business with us."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C6), AUTHOR: Chris Gaither]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/technology/27NET.html)
(requires registration)
WITH PLOT STILL SKETCHY, CHARACTERS VIE FOR ROLES
Issue: e-Publishing
There is something not entirely rational about the publishing industry's
infatuation with e-books. Low numbers of readers, an untested product, and
prior poor experiences with interactive books (CD-ROMs) should have warned
the publishing industry off of the products. Instead, major book publishers,
technology companies, online booksellers and new electronic book middlemen
are betting hundreds of millions of dollars this year on the future market
for digital books. Basically, the competing interests are hoping that the
e-book will do for the book business in 2000 what the paperback did for the
industry in the 1930's. At present, don't expect a clear plot to this story
- but the characters' motivations are clear enough: Authors see e-books as a
way to reach consumers without having to rely on publishers. Publishers see
a chance to cut out printers and even bookstores as they begin to print
custom-ordered books in their warehouses from digital files or sell
electronic editions to Internet users. Meanwhile, a handful of fast-growing
start-ups are racing to sell the contents of books in an entirely new way,
through huge digital archives of thousands of books and periodicals
available online, liberated from the confines of their covers.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: David Kirkpatrick]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/technology/27BOOK.html)
(requires registration)
VOICE CHALLENGES THE SCREEN IN RACE FOR THE WIRELESS WEB
Issue: Internet
Lawrence Goetz, a 27-year-old research assistant in Brooklyn, N.Y., checks
his stock portfolio on the run, by dialing a toll-free number to reach a
service called Tellme. He speaks a few words into the phone and listens as
stock prices are read aloud to him. Compared with Web phones, he says,
Tellme is fast, easy to use -- and it's free. Yahoo! and America Online
recently unleashed phone services that let members listen to e-mail and news
by calling a special number. Tellme, meanwhile, has gotten great reviews and
is marketing itself aggressively. Services like Tellme are not only
invaluable to consumers who want to access the Web anywhere, but also to
thousands of businesses trying to figure out how best to exploit a wireless
audience. For now, everyone is looking for clues to what the wireless future
will look -- or sound -- like. The wireless Web is growing fast, but its
shape remains hazy. Will we talk or type our way through this untethered
world? When you dial up the service at 800-555-TELL, you may not be able to
perform a full-text search of the Web. But you can easily get driving
directions, flight information, traffic reports and restaurant
recommendations. "Voice is a pragmatic solution," says Mike McCue, Tellme's
CEO. Mr. McCue, it turns out, isn't a purist. Though he argues that voice
has the advantage over screens in the early years of the wireless Web, he
also thinks the two must converge so that consumers will be able to speak
commands into the phone, then view results on a screen.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Thomas E. Weber]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB975273792207584662.htm)
CABLE-THROUGH-SEWER STRATEGY HINTS OF SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
Issue: Broadband
CityNet Telecommunications aims to revolutionize the rollout of broadband
services in cities by dispatching tiny robots to lay fiber-optic cables in
sewer pipes. One of the biggest obstacles to the rollout of high-speed
Internet and data services is that companies must tear up city streets to
lay fiber-optic cables, which increases costs, sparks lengthy battles over
rights-of-way and disrupts traffic. By using sewer lines, CityNet gains
access to the basement of every building in a city without the need to rip
up streets, which could cut the time and cost of fiber installation in half,
industry officials say. CityNet already has agreements to run the high-speed
fiber cables to commercial and apartment buildings in Indianapolis,
Albuquerque and Omaha and is in talks with 33 other cities.
[SOURCE: USAToday (3B), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001127/2867730s.htm)
WEB SITES HELP PATIENTS CHOOSE AND QUESTION CARE
Issue: Health/Internet
Americans are increasingly turning to the Internet for health information,
according to a recent report released Pew Internet & American Life Project.
The study found that 15 million American adults hunt for medical information
on the Internet every week. The Pew study also reveled that health
information on the Internet influences how many people will treat an illness
or condition. Half the people surveyed said that what they learned on the
Internet improved the way they cared for themselves. One major concern about
medical information on the Internet is the security of personal information.
Most -- 80% -- say it's important to be able to get health information
anonymously.
[SOURCE: USAToday (10D), AUTHOR: Robert Davis]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001127/2867826s.htm)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
HOW TO SELL TO KIDS WITHOUT SELLING OUT
Issue: Media & Society
Kenn Viselman, chairman of The Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company, agrees with
critics like Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) when they charge Hollywood and
toymakers
with over-marketing children-oriented movies, TV shows and merchandise.
"Companies know that they're wrong, but they don't want to change because
there are billions at stake," says Viselman. "Nobody's thinking about the
damage they do." He claims these companies often abuse the relationship --
with parents as well as children -- by loading tapes and DVDs with ads that
young viewers are ill-equipped to process. "To advertise to kids that way is
so violently wrong," he says. "My personal crusade is to have commercials
taken off of children's home videos."
[SOURCE: USAToday (6B), AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001127/2867721s.htm)
NET'S ICEBOX FREEZES OUT TV CENSORS
Issue: Media & Society
This June, several TV producers joined together to launch a Web site,
Icebox, that would be free of the meddling of network TV. On Icebox,
writers are free to tackle any topic, no matter how outrageous, including a
gay Jewish duck; a slanty-eyed, foul-mouthed Asian houseboy; and an
alcoholic Abraham Lincoln. While Icebox has beaten the odds to which other
online entertainment ventures recently have succumbed, it has also attracted
the wrath of activists angry about stereotypical portrayals of various
minorities. Jeff Yang, president of aMedia (which publishes aMagazine:
Inside Asian America), fired off an e-mail to 13,000 people, encouraging them
to bombard Icebox with negative comments about Mr. Wong. Yang calls the
series "one of the most blatant and disgusting examples of anti-Asian
stereotyping I've ever seen." Steve Stanford, Icebox executive and former
Hollywood agent, defended the site's programs: "We're sensitive people. We
make fun of all stereotypes here. As long as it's about humor, we're OK with
it."
[SOURCE: USAToday (3D), AUTHOR: Jefferson Graham]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001127/2867839s.htm)
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