OWNERSHIP/DIVERSITY
Media Companies Succeed in Easing Ownership Limits (NYT)
Tech World Makes Strides Toward Diversity (USA)
ARTS
Arts Online: Artists Share Their Files and Lives on the Web (NYT)
MERGERS
News Analysis: Path to AT&T Breakup Has Become a Rocky Road (NYT)
Amid an Advertising Slowdown, AOL Partnerships Provide a Lift (WSJ)
OWNERSHIP/DIVERSITY
MEDIA COMPANIES SUCCEED IN EASING OWNERSHIP LIMITS
Issue: Ownership
As a result of a changing regulatory climate in Washington, the nation's
largest broadcasters, cable companies and other media outlets have begun to
win important changes to federal rules that restrict their ability to grow
larger and to dominate new markets. This week, the Federal Communications
Commission is scheduled to relax a rule that for decades has prohibited one
television network from buying another. And within a few weeks, officials
said, the agency will begin to loosen a 26-year-old regulation restricting a
company from owning a television station and a newspaper in the same market.
Recently, the courts have also become more sympathetic to the free-speech
rights of corporations and more skeptical of the role of ownership limits in
promoting diversity in mass media. Consumer groups, however, are fighting
loosening of the rules, which they say will reduce the diversity of
viewpoints on the airwaves. "The erosion of these rules portends a troubling
sameness and enables a cartelization in which a handful of owners with
increasingly common interests have the ability to shape public tastes, and
less likelihood that one will be off the reservation," said Andrew Jay
Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/16/business/16MEDI.html)
(requires registration)
TECH WORLD MAKES STRIDES TOWARD DIVERSITY
Issue: Diversity
Civil rights activists have long accused the high-tech industry of being
dominated by white males. But some technology and venture-capital firms are
quietly making progress on the diversity front. In the mid-to-late 1990s,
barely a few million dollars of venture capital went to start-ups run by
minorities and women. Last year, they nabbed $3 billion of the $98 billion
in venture capital invested nationwide, reports the Milken Institute. On the
employment front, Cisco Systems increased its number of minority managers by
50% over the past year by closely measuring hires and basing part of its
executives' compensation on diversity hiring. "Not only is it ethically
right, it's just plain good for business," says Cisco CEO John Chambers. But
Jesse Jackson, whose Rainbow-PUSH Coalition sponsored a conference last week
for minority entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley executives, says there's still
a glaring lack of diversity in high-tech boardrooms. Of the 44 Silicon
Valley firms tracked by Rainbow-PUSH, only 28, or 8%, of the 356 directors
are minorities, and 35, or 10%, are women.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Edward Iwata]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010416/3236406s.htm)
ARTS
ARTS ONLINE: ARTISTS SHARE THEIR FILES AND LIVES ON THE WEB
Issue: Arts/Intellectual Property
An online exhibit, called "Life Sharing," relieves the entire contents of an
Italian young couple's computer. Visitors to Renato Pasopiani and Tania
Copechi Web site, www.0100101110101101.org are exposed to their software,
e-mails, work in progress and even error messages. Their version of virtual
performance art is intended to challenges the concept of copyright and
intellectual property in cyberspace. "This is open-source living in the
digital age. It's making a political statement about ownership and
commercialism. It's not just about viewing. Not only can you see in, but you
can use the plans yourself."
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matthew Mirapaul]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/16/arts/16ARTS.html)
(requires registration)
COMPETITION
NEWS ANALYSIS: PATH TO AT&T BREAKUP HAS BECOME A ROCKY ROAD
Issue: Divestiture
AT&T's grand plan to overhaul itself might finally be gathering momentum.
But a closer look shows a road still littered with obstacles. The plan, as
announced last year, is for AT&T to reorganize into four pieces: business
services, consumer services, wireless and cable. AT&T hopes to complete the
plan by the fall of 2002. But as the months pass, many complications remain
- not the least of which are the continuing fears of some investors and
communications experts that the breakup plan is not in the company's or
shareholders' interest.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel And Geraldine Fabrikant]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/16/business/16DEAL.html)
(requires registration)
AMID AN ADVERTISING SLOWDOWN, AOL PARTNERSHIPS PROVIDE A LIFT
Issue: Advertising
Amidst the current advertising slump, as media most firms are report notable
downturns in ad spending this quarter, AOL Time Warner Inc. has
landed eight advertising contracts that are worth a reported extra $100
million in revenue this year. The recent deals, the result of an initiative
by AOL Co-Chief Operating Officer Robert Pittman, are packages of Internet,
magazine and TV advertising that piggy-back off relationships AOL already
has with suppliers and companies in which it owns a stake. Some analysts
questions just how valuable these arrangements are for the newly merged
company over the long term and whether they can be replicated in years to
come. Some question whether the deals are circular just circular in nature,
with advertisers using money raised from AOL to increase their ad spending.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB987368878603120404.htm)
(requires subscription)
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