Campaign Finance Reform
NYT: The Plot to Bury Reform
B&C: Kennard calls time-out on free airtime
Media & Politics
WSJ: Britain's Blair Is Criticized for Role in Murdoch Bid
for Italian Broadcaster
Television
B&C: Fox embraces 480P, not HDTV
B&C: Broadcast nets offer olive branch
B&C: Cable's Batting Average Keeps Climbing
Internet & Online Service
WSJ: Prosecutors Widen Attack on Gambling At Internet Locations
WSJ: AOL to Launch Effort to Boost Business Users
Radio
WSJ: A Public-Radio Maverick Generates Lots of Static
Privacy/Info Policy
WSJ: U.S. Law Enforcement Wants Keys to High-Tech Cover
WSJ: Metromail's Data Are Spoils of Takeover War
WP: Who Owns Information?
First Amendment
WSJ: Accounting Critic vs. Trade Group Brings
Up First Amendment Issue
Long Distance
FCC: Statement on Section 271
Jobs
NYT: Equal Work, Less-Equal Perks
Spectrum
NYT: The Hand-Held Satellite Phone Comes to the Third World
NYT: U.S. To Improve Satellite Navigation System
** Campaign Finance Reform **
Title: The Plot to Bury Reform
Source: New York Times (A20)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/30mon1.html
Author: NY Times Editorial Writers
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) has selected today
to announce four watered down campaign finance reform bills, but "under
rules preventing amendments or
substitutions and requiring a two-thirds vote for approval of anything. The
speaker's goal is clearly to see that nothing gets passed." This was already
made evident last week when Rep. Gingrich broke his promise to debate the issue
of a "campaign cleanup" and "pulled all relevant" legislation from the House
agenda. All of these moves draw attention to the fact that Rep. Gingrich and his
"wrecking crew" have been unable to gather enough support from fellow
Republicans to prevent passage of actual reform. "All he [Mr. Gingrich]
seeks the chance to say the House considered campaign finance reform and
was unable to pass a bill. It is a cynical maneuver that will come back to
haunt Mr. Gingrich and any House member who supports it."
Title: Kennard calls time-out on free airtime
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 14)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Free Time for Candidates
Description: FCC Chairman Bill Kennard said he wants to conduct an inquiry
on free TV time for candidates instead of a rulemaking, "Let's debate the
issues [and] try to increase people's comfort level about this, and then see
if we can move on." Free TV for Straight Talk Coalition President Paul
taylor said, "Any inquiry process is very helpful. The Media Access
Project's Andy Schwartzman said that regulators would have had to gather
more information anyway -- "What matters most I that the commission goes
forward."
** Media & Politics **
Title: Britain's Blair Is Criticized for Role in Murdoch
Bid for Italian Broadcaster
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A14)
Author: Robert Frank
Issue: International/Media & Politics
Description: While Rupert Murdoch was attempting to purchase Italy's
Mediaset SpA, British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke with Italy's Premier
Romani Prodi about the potential purchase. In one account, PM Blair asked
Premier Prodi if he would support the deal; Prodi answered that he would
prefer an Italian owner; Mr. Blair relayed the message to Mr. Murdoch and
Mr. Murdoch pulled out of the deal. Mr. Murdoch supported Mr. Blair during
the 1997 election. "The controversy underscores British anxiety about Mr.
Murdoch's influence and the broad reach of his company, New Corp.," the WSJ
reports.
** Television **
Title: Fox embraces 480P, not HDTV
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.6)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Steve McClellan & Glen Dickson
Issue: Digital TV
Description: CBS, ABC, and NBC have said they will do some High Definition
Television (HDTV) programming, but Fox Television has said it will provide
standard definition television (SDTV) programming to early digital
television stations. Fox will use the 480P format -- which means 480
scanning lines presented on the screen in a progressive format (like
computer screens). "We're embracing progressive over interlace, and we're
going to test some 720P; that's the extent of it at this point," said Fox
Television Network President Larry Jacobson. "The marketplace is going to
guide us from there." The 720P format is considered HDTV by industry
guidelines. ABC may also do HDTV in progressive; CBS and NBC say they will
use interlace (like today's television screens) to do HDTV. The progressive
format will allow Fox more flexibility with what it does with its digital
license. It will work better with computers and compresses better to allow
broadcasters to air more programming simultaneously.
Title: Broadcast nets offer olive branch
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.12)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Michael Stroud
Issue: Television Economics
Description: Top executives from the Big Four networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox, &
NBC -- met on March 17 to discuss ending mudslinging "that has tarnished the
Big Four's reputation among advertisers." Broadcasters are realizing that
their biggest competitor is not each other, but cable which seems to speak
in a unified voice. The executives spoke about promoting their shows without
publicly attacking other networks' shows. Their is also discussion to change
the industry practice of putting popular shows up against each other to
diminish competitors' ratings.
Title: Cable's Batting Average Keeps Climbing
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.24)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Kim McAvoy et al
Issue: Television Economics/Cable
Description: This week's B&C cover story is its annual report on baseball
coverage. This season broadcast stations will air 24% fewer games than
cable. Major league teams will receive $342 million (most of that going to
fan-friendly Albert Belle) from local broadcasters and regional cable
networks. Eight pages of coverage show a team-by-team broadcast to cable
comparison, highlights national network coverage, and takes a look at
baseball's plans to bring games to the World Wide Web.
** Internet & Online Service **
Title: Prosecutors Widen Attack on Gambling At Internet Locations
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B8)
Author: Dow Jones Newswires
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: In a government crackdown on Internet gambling, 21 people have
now been charged with taking bets on sporting events over the computer
network. "Using interstate or international wire communications, including
both telephones and the Internet, to take bets on sports events is illegal
under federal law, " the WSJ reports.
Title: AOL to Launch Effort to Boost Business Users
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A3)
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Online Services
Description: America Online is expected to announce plans for its Enterprise
unit in an effort to attract more, higher-profit corporate customers. The
new service will allow off-site employees to dial in to AOL and then connect
to their corporation's internal computer network. Corporate clients tend to
more profitable and stable than the consumer market. AOL hopes to bring in
$40 million in revenues in Enterprise's first year.
** Radio **
Title: A Public-Radio Maverick Generates Lots of Static
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Bob Ortega
Issue: Public Broadcasting/Spectrum
Description: In the bottom 1/5th of the radio broadcasting spectrum, 700
public radio and 800 religious broadcasters are starting to compete for
frequency. The religious broadcasters are trying to expand nationwide. Urban
public radio stations are trying to the same -- but are now poaching onto
other public radio stations' turf by fundraising in areas their signals
don't reach. In Colorado, for example, Max Wycisk, President of Colorado
Public Radio, has an aggressive plan to take over many local public radio
stations and replace them with a state-wide network and regional instead of
local programming.
** Privacy/Info Policy **
Title: U.S. Law Enforcement Wants Keys to High-Tech Cover
Source: Washington Post (A4,A5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/30/058l-033098-idx.html
Author: Robert Suro and Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Privacy/Encryption
Description: Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh
filed papers with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday "launching
a legal battle with the telecommunications industry" in an effort to
preserve wire-tapping capabilities in the digital age. "Law enforcers want
the FCC to require industry to build in capability to trace calls as they
are routed through complex computer switching. Among other things, this
would make it easier to identify all the participants in a conference call.
The industry says this upgrade in equipment is too expensive and that its
proposed standards meet legal requirements. And, to avoid a showdown on
another sensitive high-tech issue, Vice President Al Gore is trying to
broker talks between the Justice Department and the computer industry over
sophisticated data-scrambling technologies that can make computer messages
unintelligible to uninvited readers, including investigators with
court-issued warrants." Although preliminary talks revolving around both
issues began last weekend, both sides remain "armed with backup plans" to
battle it out in Congress over competing legislative proposals.
Title: Metromail's Data Are Spoils of Takeover War
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Robert Berner & Ernest Beck
Issue: Privacy
Description: Metromail Corp. has built a thriving business finding out
everything it can about you. The company sells lists names of recent home
buyers, parents and people who have moved for about $0.25/name. Metromail
recently agreed to a buyout offer from Britain's Great Universal Stores PLC,
a company that also has a huge vault of information and sells "everything
from household goods to Burberry raincoats." But now another company,
American Business Information Inc, has started a bidding war for Metromail.
The battle reflects the escalating value of personal data in a wired age.
Title: Who Owns Information?
Source: Washington Post (A24)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/30/002l-033098-idx.html
Author: WPost Editorial Staff
Issue: Internet/Copyright
Description: The House is "awash" in bills dealing with issues of current
copyright rules. Any decisions made will have huge implications for everyone
from libraries and scientists to online business and telecommunications
companies. One bill that is headed for the floor reopens the debated issue
over new international copyright treaties in 1996 in Geneva: "Should the
concept of copyright protection be extended beyond its current scope, which
covers the 'selection, coordination and arrangement' of facts but not the
facts themselves?" A proposal by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) would make illegal the
"extraction or use of a substantial part of a collection of information"
from a database assembled or distributed by another person, regardless of
whether that person had put effort into the data's selection or
presentation. This change would reflect of new technologies, with whose help
someone can grab another person's data, present it in a different format and
then resell it without putting in much "sweat equity," which was previously
considered to make the difference between a copyrightable and a
non-copyrightable product. The possible consequences of this bill have
brought opposition from the American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science,
the American Library Assoc., MCI, and companies that do research analyses or
provide services by browsing or briefly copying other companies' address
directories. "Opponents worry that a redefinition of database rights would
'swallow copyright law' without allowing the market to sort itself out first
-- and in the meantime would hand a huge disadvantage to companies that have
the largest amounts of data...This larger jump deserves more scrutiny than
it has yet received."
** First Amendment **
Title: Accounting Critic vs. Trade Group Brings Up First Amendment Issue
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B12)
Author: Elizabeth MacDonald
Issue: First Amendment
Description: Do accountants have first amendment rights? An accountant and
industry critic has been charged with violating the ethics rules of the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for "using his own words,
instead of industry boilerplate, in a report on an examination of the
finances of a New York trust fund. The accountant in question has blasted
auditors as "robots...programmed with checklists" who "only care about
protecting their backsides." He believes "that the First Amendment protects
our right to express...a deeply held opinion." An industry expert said,
"Many accountants mindlessly hide behind the rules, at the expense of the
general public." The account's lawyers say he is trying to raise standards
in his industry. [You think CRH is boring? Just wait 'til I start
Accounting-related Headlines].
** Long Distance **
Title: Statement on Section 271
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/Statements/stwek817.html
Author: Chairman Kennard
Issue: Long Distance
Description: "My fellow Commissioners and I are here to report on the
Federal Communications Commission's progress in fulfilling one very
important aspect of the mission entrusted to us by Congress and the American
people, that of determining when the Bell Companies have opened their
markets and otherwise met the requirements of entry into in-region long
distance service under section 271 of the Communications Act of 1934. We
take our responsibility in this area very seriously. We are mindful of the
fact that section 271 is a barrier to entry that excludes a potentially
potent competitor from the in-region, interexchange marketplace. But we
equally recognize that section 271 sets forth specific criteria that must be
satisfied before a Bell Company may be authorized to provide in-region long
distance service." See summary at
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/News_Releases/1998/nrmc8025.html.
** Jobs **
Title: Equal Work, Less-Equal Perks
Source: New York Times (D1,D6)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/biztech/articles/30work.html
Author: Steven Greenhouse
Issue: Jobs
Description: These are employees who hold the same high-technology,
high-prestige jobs and often do the same work as the Microsoft Corp.'s
permanent employees. Yet their health and vacation benefits pale in
comparison to those enjoyed by regular Microsoft workers and they do not
qualify for Microsoft's coveted stock options. These people are long-term
temps -- "a seeming oxymoron, but in fact a growing phenomenon in the
American work force." These types of employees are being embraced by many
corporations, especially high-tech ones like Microsoft, AT&T, Intel,
Hewlett-Packard and Boeing, to name a few. "It's a system of having two
classes of people and instilling fear and inferiority and loathing," said
Rebecca Hughes, who worked as a temp for three years at Microsoft, helping
edit its CD-Rom on health care. John Schussler has received a half-dozen
promotions since he began at Microsoft in 1992. Now working as a program
manager, the one thing Schussler says he really wants is a permanent job at
Microsoft and the benefits that go along with it. "Why is it that the guy
next to me, who does the same work as me, is a permanent employee and can
afford to buy a house, and I'm still in an apartment?" he asks. Some
temporary employees say they enjoy the flexibility that comes along with
their status. But others maintain that it is a way for companies to avoid
responsibility to employees and to skimp on benefits. According to the
National Association of Temporary and Staffing Services, in 1986 the number
of temps employed each day was 800,000, but last year the number soared to
2.5 million. By some estimates, "temps now represent at least 10 percent of
the work force at one-fifth of American corporations."
** Spectrum **
Title: The Hand-Held Satellite Phone Comes to the Third World
Source: New York Times (D5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/biztech/articles/30phones.html
Author: Steve LeVine
Issue: Spectrum
Description: Over the next few years several companies are planning to
introduce versions of a "technological-breakthrough" that analysts are
calling the "world phone." This new hand-held satellite phone can be used
anywhere in the world on a single number. Given the high cost of the phone
and its rates -- an advanced phone costs up to $3,000 and per-minute charges
range from $3.50 to more than $4.50 -- the primary market at this time is
business people that travel around the world and local users in
underdeveloped regions. "Sixty percent of the world doesn't have a phone.
That is billions of people," said Phillip Redman, a financial analyst with
the Boston-based Yankee Group. "If you can hit a small proportion of that
market you can have a nice business." Iridium LLC, a Washington-based
company, and Globalstar LP, based in San Jose, Calif, are expected to be the
first companies to place "world phone" on the market.
Title: U.S. To Improve Satellite Navigation System
Source: New York Times (A12)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/30global.html
Author: Matthew L. Wald
Issue: Spectrum
Description: Vice President Al Gore is expected to announce today government
plans to upgrade the Global Positioning System over the next several years.
This move, approved by a federal committee on Friday will make hand-held
navigation instruments up to 10 times more accurate. The change also
furthers a position established by the Clinton administration two years ago
to maximize the "commercial usefulness" of the system.
*********
Utes? 'Cats? Who's your pick?