TV Sales Weaken on Fears New Sets Will Soon Be Obsolete
To Screen or Not to Screen: Libraries Confront Internet Access
Editors Urge Limits on Input By Advertisers
For Ma Bell, the Bell Tolled Long Ago
Notable and Quotable
Knight-Ridder Puts Five Newspapers On Selling Block
Magazine Editors Worried About Trend of Warning Advertisers About Articles
The Baptists' Passion Play
Online, On the Tube
Year of TV's dissed content
Baptist church targets Disney, ABC for boycott
Hill giving on channel giveback
TV ratings talks falter
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Title: TV Sales Weaken on Fears New Sets Will Soon Be Obsolete
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Digital TV
Description: "This industry has a tough balancing act ahead. We have to
preserve sales of a product we are simultaneously trying to replace," says a
Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association economist. Sales of
conventional analog TV sets -- especially high-end, big screen TVs -- are
stagnating as consumers worry these sets will soon be obsolete and digital
TV sets will soon be available.
Title: To Screen or Not to Screen: Libraries Confront Internet Access
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Amy Harmon
Issue: Libraries/Internet
Description: Librarians across the country are testing Internet filtering
programs that will allow them to block children's access to pornographic
websites. Some find Net Nanny, Surfwatch and Cybersitter can't do the job
"without compromising the library's commitment to the free flow of ideas."
Title: Editors Urge Limits on Input By Advertisers
Source: New York Times (D7)
Author: Constance Hays
Issue: Journalism
Description: The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) is urging
editors to resist influence from advertisers over what appears in their
publications. The ASME board worries that some advertisers may mistake an
early warning as an open invitation to pressure the publisher or editor to
alter, or even kill, the article in question," the society wrote in a
statement last week. "We believe publishers should -- and will -- refuse to
bow to such pressure."
Title: For Ma Bell, the Bell Tolled Long Ago
Source: Wall Street Journal (A14)
Author: Robert E. Allen
Issue: Phone Regulation
Description: This op-ed by the chairman of AT&T argues that a merger
between AT&T and SBC would promote competition -- not re-establish Ma Bell.
"AT&T's position is clear: Local competition is the most important benefit
of the Telecommunications Act. No partnerships should be approved unless
they result in more competition in local service." Currently, local phone
companies are working hard to keep new entrants out of their markets, and a
merger between a local company and a long distance company could be the
thing that get's competition going.
Title: Notable and Quotable
Source: Wall Street Journal (A14)
Author: Text of interview of Reed Hundt by James Glassman
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Glassman questions Hundt on the subsidy system that will
support communications connections for schools and libraries. In the
interview, Glassman questioned the start of a new phone subsidy to raise
money to connect school and libraries.
In response, Hundt insisted that the fund will be small and that this is the
most equitable way to raise the needed capital.
Title: Knight-Ridder Puts Five Newspapers On Selling Block
Source: Wall Street Journal (B11)
Author: Martha Brannigan
Issue: Newspapers
Description: Knight-Ridder is going to sell the Press-Telegram in Long
Beach, CA; the Post-Tribune in Gary, Ind.; and a package of three papers
-- Boca Raton News, FL., Union-Recorder in Milledgeville, GA., and Newberry
Observer in South Carolina. Knight-Ridder is selling these papers because
they aren't pulling in enough profit. The company recently bought four
papers from Disney and has been revaluating its holdings since that purchase.
Title: Magazine Editors Worried About Trend of Warning Advertisers About
Articles
Source: Wall Street Journal (B11)
Author: G. Bruce Knecht
Issue: Journalism/Advertising
Description: The American Society of Magazine Editors is very concerned
about a trend among magazines to alert advertisers about the content of
articles in upcoming issues. The editor of Money magazine stated that he
"worries that some advertisers may mistake an early warning as an open
invitation to pressure the editor to alter or even kill the article in
question."
Title: The Baptists' Passion Play
Source: Washington Post (D2)
Author: Jonathan Yardley
Issue: Religion
Description: In his column, Yardley argues that though the Southern
Baptist Convention may be close minded about Disney, at least it's a
statement of belief. "By contrast, it is difficult to believe that Disney
believes in anything except money and the compelling need to make even more
of it..." In a related article on A9, many Southern Baptists attended
Walt Disney World this weekend.
Title: Online, On the Tube
Source: Washington Post (p.17)
Author: WP Staff
Issue: Advertising
Description: Viewers of DC TV station WDCA can get free email service and
access to Internet chat groups. When users register, they must provide a
certain amount of information including consumer preferences. The station
will use this consumer data to pull in advertisers who want specific
Internet audiences. The advertising revenue will finance the service
Title: Year of TV's dissed content
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.4)
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Television Regulation
Description: "It's been quite a lot like working in the emergency room
because you don't know what's going to come in next," says a lobbyist for
ABC. Broadcast lobbyists can't remember when Washington has been so bent on
using the TV schedule to help fix society's problems. The Media Access
Project's Andrew Schwartzman says they just don't have long memories; there
have been attempts to regulate TV content in every decade since the 50's.
Today's issues include "safe-harboring" violent shows, rating TV content for
use of the V-Chip, and curtailing alcohol advertising. Communications lawyer
Henry Geller predicts that many of the recent programming restriction
proposals would not hold up well in court: "There's no question that we're
in a period of raised eyebrows. I don't think the government wants to go to
the mat."
Title: Baptist church targets Disney, ABC for boycott
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.5)
Author: JS
Issue: Religion
Description: Hollywood's reaction to the Souther Baptist Convention's
decision to boycott The Walt Disney Company has been mixed. Some think it a
joke; other believe that it is time that someone took a stand against "the
pollution of the culture." Tom Wolzien, a Wall Street media analyst, says
the boycott will have little effect on the media giant.
Title: Hill giving on channel giveback
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.8)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Digital TV/Spectrum
Description: The House and Senate Commerce committees have forwarded budget
legislation that will allow broadcasters to keep their second channel of
spectrum for years to come. In an order adopted by the Federal
Communications Commission in May, broadcasters were to return one channel of
spectrum in 2006. The committees' bills adopted last week will allow
broadcasters to keep the additional channel until 95% of homes have digital
compatible TVs or convertor equipment.
Title: TV ratings talks falter
Source: Broadcasting&Cable
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: V-Chip
Description: After Vice President Gore voiced support for violence ratings
for television programming aimed at children seven years and older, the TV
industry -- broadcasters, cable programmers, and TV producers -- called off
negotiations. Ken Johnson, an aide to House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman
Billy Tauzin (R-LA) said, "the fact of the matter is that some members of
Congress as well as advocacy groups pushed the envelope too far."
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