Education/Minorities
Racial College-Degree Gap Is Still Wide (WSJ)
Women, Blacks Gain in Educational Levels (WP)
Internet
We, the People of the Internet (NYT)
Group Weighs Need for Rules For Internet (WSJ)
Privacy From Whom? (WP)
Ideas Whose Time Has Come for Free Access (WP)
Radio/Television
Kennard Concerned About Rep Remarks (B&C)
Low Marks for Kids TV (B&C)
Prime Time for Documentaries (B&C)
Mergers
Media Convergence (NYT)
** Education/Minorities **
Title: Racial College-Degree Gap Is Still Wide
Source: Wall Street Journal (A2)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Christina Duff
Issue: Education/Minorities
Description: New data released by the Census Bureau shows that the gap
between the numbers of African Americans and whites who earn college
degrees, though narrowing, remains relatively wide. In 1987, census data
reported that about 23 percent of white adults aged 25 to 29 earned at least
a bachelors degree, compared with 11 percent of African Americans. Now ten
years later, more people in both groups are earning their college degrees,
but the gap still remains. Data from 1997 shows that 29 percent of whites
had obtained college degrees compared with 14 percent of African Americans.
At the same time, among young adults aged 25 to 29 who have earned high
school diplomas, the gap has disappeared. As of 1997, over 85 percent of
young adults from each race had graduated from high school. Analysts say
that this difference between high school and college graduation has a lot to
do with money. The rising cost of college is "a huge barrier" for black
students, says Jennifer day, chief of the Census Bureau's educational and
social stratification branch. The fact that African Americans have not fared
as well as whites on the college level has "everything to do with access,"
says economist Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute. "We've done
a great deal to promote access to high school education. Not only have we
not done enough to promote access to college education, but in fact policy
seems to be going the other way." Minorities can only go so far in this
economy," said Bernstein, "without access to higher education."
Title: Women, Blacks Gain in Educational Levels
Source: Washington Post (A7)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-06/29/058l-062998-idx.html
Author: The Associated Press
Issue: Education/Minorities
Description: A report released yesterday by the Census Bureau says that the
proportion of women completing college has "topped" that of men and that the
lead is continuing to grow. In comparing men and women in the same age
group, 29.3 percent of women completed four years or more of college as of
1997, compared to 26.3 percent of men. In addition, the report titled
"Educational Attainment in the United States, March 1997" states the
percentage of young African Americans graduating from high school have
almost caught up with whites. "The educational attainment of young African
Americans indicated a dramatic improvement by groups who historically have
been less educated," said Census population expert Jennifer Day.
** Internet **
Title: We, the People of the Internet
Source: New York Times (D1,D10)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/29net.html
Author: Amy Harmon
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: A variety of groups will be meeting at different times this
summer to discuss serious issues about the Internet, who will run it and
how. Jon Postel, a Univ. of Southern Calif. researcher who has recently been
anointed a founding father of the Internet's "nascent" political structure,
offers several examples of the questions being asked: "How do we form a
representative board? How do we make it international? How do we find enough
agreement to move forward?" etc. Postal and others are trying to reach some
sort of conclusions about the Internet before the deadline for the U.S.
government to hand over control of a key portion of the Internet to an,
as-of-yet, unformed nonprofit international group takes place on Sept. 30.
Title: Group Weighs Need for Rules For Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B7B)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Jennifer L. Schenker
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: Leaders in the high-technology industry will meet in Brussels
today to put forth their wishes on regulating the Internet. The meeting is
being organized by European Commissioner Martin Bangemann as part of his
ongoing effort to strengthen international coordination on governing the
Internet. A possible outcome of the meeting will be the creation of an
industry-led group called the Global Business Dialogue. U.S. officials and
the European Union Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce say they
don't see the need for an international charter or another industry group
working to settle Internet governance issues. But Paul Verhoef, the member
of Bangemann's cabinet responsible for information issues, points out that
it currently takes the commission two to five years to pass legislation, a
pace far over-taken by technological developments.
Title: Privacy From Whom?
Source: Washington Post (A14)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: Privacy
Description: Last week, Vice President Al Gore issued warnings to companies
doing business on the Internet in regards to privacy practices and spoke of
the administration's preference for "self-regulation." The administration's
interest in "self-regulation" focuses mainly on the types of information
gathered in electronic commerce. But electronic commerce is only a small
piece of the pie in the larger privacy problem in an increasingly electronic
world. "It is trivial next to the threats of intrusion on people's medical,
financial and employment data." But the "foot-dragging" of private companies
on the matter of self-regulation is a symptom of the difficulty of
protecting privacy on these other issues. "The trouble with urging companies
to self-regulate is that the real incentives all lie in the other direction.
The administration needs to recognize that and stop issuing ineffectual
warnings."
Title: Ideas Whose Time Has Come for Free Access
Source: Washington Post (Bus-20)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-06/29/031l-062998-idx.html
Author: John Schwartz
Issue: Technology Online
Description: In August, technicians will begin to connect one of the single
largest databases ever offered on the World Wide Web, the official record of
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). How big of a deal is this? Well,
as Bruce A. Lehman, commissioner of patents and trademarks puts it: "This
database in the record of technology at this moment in time." I something
unimaginable were to blast the U.S., Lehman said, the survivors could pull
the PTO's backup tapes out of the salt mine in Pennsylvania where they are
stored and "entirely reproduce all of the technology of the 20th century."
And now, he continued, "we are putting the entire library of the technology
of our time on the Web, available with a few keystrokes." You can
access the U.S. Patent and Trademark Web site at: www.uspto.gov
** Radio/Television **
Title: Kennard Concerned About Rep Remarks
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p22)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnel
Issue: Minorities
Description: Both FCC Chairman William Kennard and FCC Commissioner Gloria
Tristani said that the commission could be taking a closer look at the
advertising industry's impact on minority-owned stations. An internal memo
from the Amcast unit of Chancellor Media-owned Katz Radio Group said, sales
representatives were encouraged to advertise to "nonethnic" consumers and to
steer clear of urban stations. Another portion of the memo read: "When it
comes to delivering prospects, not suspects, the Urbans deliver the largest
amount of listeners who turn out to be the least likely to purchase." In
response, Commissioner Tristani said: "We need to find out what is going on
in the advertising world and how attitudes like these affect minority
ownership." At the same forum where this issue was discussed, the media's
portrayal of minorities was also brought up. Chairman Kennard pointed out
that children are bombarded with media images and added, "Not all those
images have to be positive, but they have to be fair." Kennard and Tristani
cited a recent study on media stereotypes by Children Now. "White actors are
more often seen as having money, being well-educated and being leaders,
while characters of color are often criminals, lazy and 'act goofy',"
Tristani said. "These stereotypes have an impact, especially on children."
Title: Low Marks for Kids TV
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p26)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Children's TV
Description: In its annual assessment of children's programming, the
Annenberg Public Policy Center found that the percentage of network-aired,
"highly educational" programs dropped from 43 percent to 29 percent. At the
same time it found the percentage of "minimally educational" programs
increased from 22 percent to 26 percent. The study also found that many of
shows containing fantasy violence are omitting the "TV-FV" label from
children's programming. "A full 75 percent of programs containing 'a lot' of
violence had no such rating," the report says. "We feel this is something
that needs to be addressed in the coming seasons," adds Amy Jordan,
Annenberg senior research investigator.
Title: Prime Time for Documentaries
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p34)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Kim McAvoy
Issue: Television (Trends?)
Description: Documentary programming is becoming increasingly popular on
cable television. The genre is becoming so popular that some cable networks
are discussing putting documentary series on their new digital channels.
"We'll air 50 to 60 documentaries a year on HBO, Cinemas, Signature and Zone
-- as opposed to the 12 or 13 hours we were doing five years ago," says
Sheila Nevins, HBO senior vice president, original programming. "Cable has
become a home for documentary programming," says Pat Mitchell, president of
Time Inc.-CNN productions. Mitchell believes that TV documentary is in a
golden age. "Documentaries are no longer a highbrow thing to watch.
[Viewers] now see that documentaries are for them," says Geoffrey Darby,
president of CBS Eye on People. (Farewell Springer - Hello Discovery!)
** Mergers **
Title: Media Convergence
Source: New York Times (A1,A11)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/06/biztech/articles/29phone.html
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Mergers
Description: AT&T's announced merger with TCI last week is the latest in the
rising trend of corporate deals sweeping up telecommunications, cable
television and media companies as these industries become increasingly
dependent of digital technology. The "business logic" behind these trends is
that these companies have a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to become early
leaders in the new markets of the information age. Whether any of these
deals pay off will largely depend on people who are technologically affluent
and whether they will turn to one company for one-stop shopping.
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