PART II
NEW MEDIA VS. OLD MEDIA
Publishing Industry Contends with the Uncertainties of E-Books (NYT)
EMPLOYMENT
Government Urged To Aid Tech Training (SJ Merc)
Hollywood Jobs Lost To Cheap (And Chilly) Climes (NYT)
JOURNALISM
Pakistan Acts Against Critic in Crackdown on Journalists (NYT)
A Talking Head Becomes A Hybrid, With A CNN Deal (NYT)
ENCRYPTION
Encryption and Free Speech (WP)
NEW MEDIA VS. OLD MEDIA
PUBLISHING INDUSTRY CONTENDS WITH THE UNCERTAINTIES OF E-BOOKS
Issue: Publishing/ New Media vs. Old Media
Developers of e-books, hand-held electronic book devices, are finding the
culture of technology to be colliding with the publishing industry, steeped in
tradition. Laurence Kirshbaum, chief executive of Time Warner Trade
publishing, says there is a fear that the publishing industry will be left
out. Other
publishers say they do not fear losing out because readers will always savor
the touch of real paper. The first e-books became available last fall and many
schools are anxious to rid students of the burden of carrying heavy textbooks.
Davis Joint Unified School District in Davis, CA is waiting to see if it will
receive $6 million in a federal grant to help purchase 3,000 e-books to be
shared by 7,7000 students. This month, Nuvomedia will begin selling its $500
version in stores and Librium will sell a pocket-size devise for $200 in July.
While authors make the case that e-books will result in savings on paper,
resulting in higher author royalties, publishers, like Random House, say
e-books will incur new expenses such as formatting manuscripts and privacy
protection for digital material. The Authors Guild says that with lower costs
the author should get more from the sale, but instead publishers and
booksellers are getting more. For conventional books, 35% of the list price is
allocated to the publisher, 15% to the distributor, and 35% to the bookseller.
With new agreements between e-book manufacturers and publishers, publishers
are getting 25-40%, booksellers 35-40% and distributors 20%. Martin
Eberhard, chief executive of Nuvomedia, agrees that authors should increase
their share, but complained that Random House is taking the credit of
encrypting digital material in order to get the best royalty they can.
Random House's general
counsel, Harriette, Dorsen, says this is justified because "Publishers do the
formatting and each device needs to be individually done." She says encryption
costs get passed back to publishers through higher discounts granted to e-book
manufacturers.
[SOURCE: New York Times (B1), AUTHOR: Doreen Carvajal]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/051099electronic-books.html)
EMPLOYMENT
GOVERNMENT URGED TO AID TECH TRAINING
Issue: Employment
The Career College Association on Friday became the third group in two weeks
to issue results of a survey on the shortage of trained high-tech workers,
arguing that government must provide greater support of private trade
schools. These latest studies suggest that the roots of the problem can be
found in the nation's educational system. The Career College study,
"Preparing California for a 21st Century Economy," said the tight supply of
skilled tech workers is caused by the increasing prevalence of new kinds of
technical jobs that require special post-secondary training. In their
Silicon-Valley-centered report the group suggested there were too few
qualified workers for available high-tech jobs. They also said that in the
coming decade the fastest growing employment sector will be technically
skilled jobs -- those that do not necessarily require a college degree but
do involve training beyond high school. Some persons suggest other problems
cause the shortage. Many older engineers say part of the problem is that
high-tech companies can pay lower wages to foreign workers and recent
college graduates and ignore more expensive older engineers. Another reason
cited is that companies fail to train workers internaly, as they did years ago.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Jonathan Rabinovitz]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/labor051099.htm)
HOLLYWOOD JOBS LOST TO CHEAP (AND CHILLY) CLIMES
Issue: Employment
Hollywood has largely shifted production abroad, particularly for low-budget
movies, costing many US jobs. In 1997-98, 55 % of the made-for-TV movies
were made in other countries. USA Network made 14 out of its 23 films
outside the US. While union and immigration rules allow stars and directors
to work in
other countries, production employees, such as sound mixers and costume
designers are being left behind. Last week, 196 representatives from state and
local film commissions met in Washington DC to form a new trade group, Film
US. The group will press for federal tax incentives and easier access for film
crews to national parks and military bases. Most of "runaway productions" are
moving to Canada, which has been dubbed "Hollywood North." Some Hollywood
executives attribute the dip in US film jobs, not to runaway production, but
to decreasing film budgets causing studios to make fewer films. Film
production in British Columbia grew by 20% last year. Government-issued
financial incentives as well as the depreciating Canadian dollar allows US
film companies to save roughly 30 % in labor costs by producing in Canada.
The Canadian government is pushing to fend off this trend, however. The
Canadian government commission recommend eliminating tax incentives, saying
foreign production in Canada is getting in the way of fostering Canada's own
film and television production.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Andrew Pollack]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/film-abroad.html)
JOURNALISM
PAKISTAN ACTS AGAINST CRITIC IN CRACKDOWN ON JOURNALISTS
Issue: International
Pakistani authorities took a prominent Pakistani journalist from his home
Saturday night and are holding him in an unknown location. Najam Sethi, editor
of an English language daily, The Friday Times, is one of several Pakistani
journalists who have been arrested, interrogated and harassed over the past few
weeks. The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, says the
government is retaliating against writers who have conducted interviews with
the BBC. The official Pakistani news agency quoted a government spokesperson
as saying Sethi aroused government's suspicions when he gave a speech in
India on April 30, describing Pakistani's future as "darkly pessimistic."
Jugnu Mohsin,
Sethi's husband and publisher of The Friday Times, says the speech was printed
months earlier with no incident. She reported that 10 police officers entered
their bedroom at 2:30 AM Saturday, clubbed Sethi on the head, locked her in a
closet and took him away.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A5), AUTHOR: Celia W. Dugger]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/051099pakistan-journalist.html)
A TALKING HEAD BECOMES A HYBRID, WITH A CNN DEAL
Issue: Journalism
James Carney, a reporter of Washington politics for Time magazine, has signed a
contract to report the news for CNN as well. Editors hope he will be the first
in a "new breed of journalist," who can write for print and write and appear on
camera. James Kelly, deputy managing editor of Time, says CNN has made use
of Time writers since the two merged in 1995, but this is the first time a Time
reporter will be regularly paid for writing and producing CNN pieces.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C12), AUTHOR: Alex Kuczynski]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/media-talk.html)
ENCRYPTION
ENCRYPTION AND FREE SPEECH
Issue: Encryption
[Editorial] In a divided opinion the 9th Circuit Appeals Court has declared
unconstitutional government regulations designed to restrict the export of
certain types of encryption software, striking a serious blow against the
government's export control regime. Considering First Amendment limits, the
government's view is that source code on paper is expressive speech but on a
disk or scannable paper it becomes a device whose purpose is not
communicative but functional. The panel rejected the argument that source
code's functionality makes it regulable. The government's interest in
controlling the spread of strong encryption is a real one that cannot be
dismissed blithly. It would be well worth the Supreme Court's considering
where the precise line between speech and machine really is.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A22), AUTHOR: WP Editorial Staff]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-05/10/022r-051099-idx.html)
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