JOURNALISM
Media Second-Guess Urge to Say Who's First (NYT)
UNIVERSAL SERVICE
Monitoring Report on Universal Service (FCC)
INTERNET
Awaiting the One-For-All Internet (WP)
Online Music Safeguards Withstand Hackers (WP)
MERGERS
U.S. Trade Officials Spar With AOL, Time Warner (WSJ)
WIRELESS
FCC May Seek Rule Changes To Free Up Scarce Airwaves (WSJ)
INTERNATIONAL
U.S. Taking Mexico Phone Dispute to W.T.O. (NYT)
ADVERTISING
Advertising: Internet Sponsorships for an Online Model (NYT)
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JOURNALISM
MEDIA SECOND-GUESS URGE TO SAY WHO'S FIRST
Issue: Journalism
Characterized by many in academia, politics and the news media as perhaps
the most egregious election-night gaffes in the modern television era,
television network executives are acknowledging that they were wrong in
calling Florida for Gore early Tuesday night and for Bush is the wee hours
of Wednesday morning. The mistakes are prompting TV executives to reexamine
how election projections are done. The mistakes also set off a chain of
events leading to Gore's concession call to Bush (later withdrawn) and many
newspapers to run headlines declaring Bush the new president-elect. The TV
projections were made based on surveys of voters as they leave the polls
and on analyses of returns from selected precincts is a longstanding
tradition in the television news business. Various networks used to do
their own Election Day polling; they now coordinate the surveying through
the Voter News Service, an organization they administer jointly with The
Associated Press. The service collects data at the polls across the country
and feeds it to the networks and the wire service. Each news organization
performs its own analysis of the data, and calls races independently.
[SOURCE: New York Times (B1), AUTHOR: Marks & Carter]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/09/politics/09MEDI.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
CONCESSION CONFUSION PROMPTS PREMATURE EDITORIALS, HEADLINES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Patricia Callahan And Jennifer
Ordonez]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB973730608410369903.htm)
(requires subscription)
A CROWD AROUND THE TELEVISIONS
About 65 million viewers tuned in to an average minute of coverage on the
channels covering the election on Tuesday night. That was short only of the
more than 80 million people who watched the Super Bowl in January.
[SOURCE: New York Times (B7)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/09/politics/09RATI.html)
(requires registration)
ELECTION CLIFFHANGER IS A WINNER FOR SOME INTERNET SITES
[Source: Washington Post (E5), Author: Neil Irwin]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49583-2000Nov8.html)
WEB SITES LEAK VOTING RESULTS
[SOURCE: USA Today (12A), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/)
UNIVERSAL SERVICE
MONITORING REPORT ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE
Issue: Universal Service
From Press Release: The staff of the Federal-State Joint Board on
universal service has released its most recent Monitoring Report on
Universal Service. This report reflects information on the telephone
industry filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) through
September 11, 2000. The Report released today details the various universal
service support mechanisms, which are projected to amount to over $4.5
billion in 2000. The report presents current data in each of the eleven
subject categories selected for monitoring. Of special note:
1) Lifeline support grew 5% in 1999 and Link Up support decreased 20%; 2)
Schools and libraries are making substantial use of their available
support, with commitments totalling nearly $2 billion for the second year
of the program (July 1999 - June 2000); 3) The demand for rural health care
support has grown to $5.4 million committed in the second year of the
program (July 1999 - June 2000); 4) The percentage of households
subscribing to telephone service reached an all-time high of 94.6% in March
2000; and 5) Overall telephone rates increased 0.4% in 1999, which is less
than the general rate of inflation (2.7%), with increases in local rates
being offset by decreases in toll rates.
The Report can be downloaded by section from the FCC-State Link internet
site, which can be reached at (http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats)
Common Carrier contact: Alexander Belinfante at (202) 418-0944; TTY (202)
418-0484.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov)
INTERNET
AWAITING THE ONE-FOR-ALL INTERNET
Issue: Internet
At last week's 14th annual Next Generation Networks conference in
Washington, debate centered around the question of whether or not all
communication -- phone calls, radio programs, TV shows, e-mail and even
newspapers -- will ride together on the same Internet, or if there is still
life left in the old copper-wire telephone network. Can the Internet's
25-year-old architecture handle its high-speed, many-device future, or does
it need a redesign? Conference founder John McQuillan, a researcher on the
original network that preceded the Internet, called this year a turning
point in Internet history and predicted the steep drop in telecom stock
prices will have a ripple effect on the industry as it races to deconstruct
and rebuild the global communications network. McQuillan cited a Lehman
Brothers report casting doubt on whether fiber-optic network operators can
complete their global build-out because they may have spent more than the
market for Internet access can afford to pay. "This isn't just about stock
prices," McQuillan said. "This is also about, 'Can we really build out the
network we have all been talking about--is there enough money to do it?'"
McQuillan described the Internet moving from its wild revolutionary days
into a counter-revolutionary period. He said incumbent telecom giants have
taken hits from insurgent Internet forces and are counter-attacking by
acquiring "rebel" start-ups. The takeovers range from telephone giant
Verizon's recently announced acquisition of high-speed Internet access
provider NorthPoint to scores of optical equipment-makers being snapped up
by the likes of Nortel, Cisco and Lucent.
[Source: Washington Post (E1), Author: Leslie Walker]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49571-2000Nov8.html)
ONLINE MUSIC SAFEGUARDS WITHSTAND HACKERS
Issue: Intellectual Property
Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), a coalition of companies in the
software and recording industries, sponsored a public challenge that would
award $10,000 to the first hacker to crack their new security measures as a
means to test the strength of the five technologies, some of which embed a
digital "watermark" in the music to prevent unauthorized copying. The
technology that the SDMI eventually embraces will be used by the recording
industry in an effort to help protect its copyrights while drawing consumers
away from the popularity of easily traded MP3 files. "Of the five proposed
technologies that SDMI still has under consideration, successful attacks
were not identified on three technologies and were identified on two," SDMI
Executive Director Leonardo Chiariglione said yesterday in a statement. To
be considered a winner, a successful hack had to remove the digital
watermark encoded in a sample sound file, and remove it in such a way that
preserved the audio quality of the file. There were 447 submissions. There
probably would have been more had not many members of the hacker community
decided to boycott the contest. Many said they did not want to help the
developers make it more difficult for consumers to exercise their right to
make personal copies of their own music collections.
[Source: Washington Post (E4), Author: Mike Musgrove]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49514-2000Nov8.html)
MERGERS
U.S. TRADE OFFICIALS SPAR WITH AOL, TIME WARNER
Issue: Mergers
A possibility exists that the AOL-Time Warner merger might be further
delayed. Federal Trade Commission officials sparred with America Online and
Time Warner over settlement terms in advance of a planned meeting on their
merger Thursday, making it likely that a vote on the deal could be delayed.
As negotiators struggled to finish a settlement, other FTC officials
continued to prepare to go to court to block the $124 billion merger if
those efforts fail, people close to the case said. If members decide to
continue negotiations, a vote on the deal could be postponed to give the two
sides more time to complete a settlement. The companies have already agreed
to broad settlement terms, but some commissioners are now asking them to go
further. A company official said talks were continuing and remained
constructive but acknowledged the possibility of a further delay. The
commission is expected to consider the merger in a closed session Thursday
afternoon.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: John R. Wilke ]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB973732458778120954.htm)
(requires subscription)
See Also:
FTC MAY BE DIVIDE ON AOL-TIME WARNER DEAL
[Source: Washington Post (E1), Author: Alec Klein]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47679-2000Nov8.html)
FTC MAY DELAY VOTE ON AOL DEAL
[SOURCE: USA Today 3B), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson and David Lieberman]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/invest/ina321.htm)
WIRELESS
FCC MAY SEEK RULE CHANGES TO FREE UP SCARCE AIRWAVES
issue: Wireless/Spectrum
Federal regulators are expected to propose rule changes that would make it
easier to buy or lease airwaves, as part of an effort to make spectrum more
available to the burgeoning wireless industry. In a meeting Thursday, the
Federal Communications Commission is expected to outline several proposals
to encourage so-called secondary markets that would help free up
increasingly scarce airwaves. The airwaves are used for everything from UHF
television to radio to wireless phones. Wireless companies are worried they
won't be able to get the spectrum they need to offer the next generation of
wireless devices their overseas competitors will offer. The goal is to get
the FCC "out of the way" and treat the airwaves more like a commodity traded
in the marketplace, said FCC Chairman William Kennard.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B10), AUTHOR: Jill Carroll]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB973733162365153168.htm)
(requires subscription)
See Also
FCC MAY ALLOW SPECTRUM TRADE
[Source: Washington Post (E9), Author: Peter S. Goodman]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49562-2000Nov8.html)
INTERNATIONAL
U.S. TAKING MEXICO PHONE DISPUTE TO W.T.O.
Issue: International
US Trade officials will take Mexico case to World Trade Organization,
accusing our 2nd-largest trade partner of failing to open its $12 billion
telecommunications industry. "While some progress has been made," US trade
representative Charlene Barshefsky said in a statement, "Mexico's failure
to take additional actions has left us no choice but to request a W.T.O.
panel." Jorge Nicol