International
Puerto Rico Paralyzed by Strike (WP)
Ownership
Hicks Muse Agrees to Sell LIN Television To Chancellor in $900
Million Deal (WSJ)
Chancellor Makes a Foray Into TV With Lin (NYT)
Education
Helping Girls With Computer Education (CyberTimes)
Needed: Techies Who Know Shakespeare (NYT)
TV/Media/Journalism
Cable Ratings Top Networks
No More Media Elite (WP)
Extra! Extra! Newsies Nix Facts for Glitz (WSJ)
Antitrust
Microsoft's Cable Efforts Under Scrutiny (CyberTimes)
Encryption
White House Yields a Bit On Encryption (NYT)
** International **
Title: Puerto Rico Paralyzed by Strike
Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-sr/digest/nat1.htm
Author: Guy Gugliotta
Issue: International/Telephony
Description: Puerto Rican Governor, Pedro J. Rossello's decision to sell the
Puerto Rico Telephone Company to GTE Corp for $1.75 billion has resulted
in a general strike that has almost closed down the entire island. More
than 50 public sector unions have joined in a 48-hour general strike in
support of the telephone workers opposition to privatization. Many
Puerto Ricans view the sale of the publicly owned telephone company as an
effort to move Puerto Rico toward statehood. "It is part of the national
patrimony...Today the phone company, tomorrow the water, then the
electricity. Pretty soon there's nothing," said San Juan storekeeper Primo
Kjrpalani.
** Ownership **
Title: Hicks Muse Agrees to Sell LIN Television To Chancellor in $900
Million Deal
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B9)
Author: Alejandro Bodipo-Memba
Issue: Ownership
Title: Chancellor Makes a Foray Into TV With Lin
Source: New York Times (D2)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/chancellor-lin.html
Author: Carol Marie Cropper
Description: Dallas investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst will sell LIN
Television Corp to its radio affiliate, Chancellor Media Corp, the
second-largest radio company in the nation. The stock transaction deal is
valued at "approximately" $902.7 million in stock. Hicks purchased LIN in
March for $1.9 billion. The deal will boost Hicks' control of Chancellor
from 9 to 18 percent. Chancellor hopes that the combination of television,
radio and billboard holdings will give it a unique offering to advertisers.
** Education **
Title: Helping Girls With Computer Education
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/cyber/education/08education.html
Author: Pamela Mendels
Issue: Education
Description: Last week the American Association of University Women (AAUW),
based in Washington D.C., announced the creation of a commission of
educators, researchers and software developers to examine gender, technology
and teacher education. The association, which has taken a lead in examining
problems relating to the education of girls, plans to release a report with
policy recommendations within 18 months. "Girls have made a lot of progress
with respect to mathematics and science," said Janice H. Weinman, executive
director of the AAUW. "But the area in which there appears to be a new boys
club, so to speak, is technology."
Title: Needed: Techies Who Know Shakespeare
Source: New York Times (OpEd, A27)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/08ullm.html
Author: Ellen Ullman
Issue: Education
Description: High-tech companies are luring students out of school with
high-paying jobs. They say its the schools fault for not teaching students
the skills they need in the real world and thus students don't see the point
of getting a degree. But what these critics are forgetting is that
historically, most programmers had plenty of education with just a little
coming from the computer science departments. After WWII, physicists and
mathematicians created the industry. Then is the late 60's and 70's, as the
need for programmers grew, government and businesses began to look beyond
those with doctoral degrees. Fortunately, this new demand coincided with all
types of overeducated people from the 60's looking for a way to earn a
living. Each member of this group largely taught themselves computing --
they all knew how to learn and weren't intimidated by having to pick up
another computer language. The next generation of programmers to come along
had computer science and engineering degrees. They too weren't intimidated
but did not seem to read anything but technical books. "They stood mute
among us when we said the occasional phrase in French. They looked confused
when we alluded to Shakespeare or Proust," says Ullman. Many of this group
obtained their degrees without having to study much of what some still call
Western civilization. In hopes of fostering a flexible and open mind, maybe
it is now time for "students and professors to realize that programming
instruction can take place in a few classes, and students can spend the rest
of their time studying foreign languages, literature, linguistics,
philosophy and history of science. Programmers seem to be changing the
world. It would be a relief, for them and for all of us, if they knew
something about it."
** TV/Media/Journalism **
Title: Cable Ratings Top Networks
Source: Washington Post (D7)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/08/020l-070898-idx.html
Author: David Bauder (Associated Press)
Issue: Cable/Television
Description: For the first time ever, cable networks toped broadcasters in
total viewers, ratings and audience share. The Nielsen Media Research
service reported that for the week ending July 5th, the 42 basic cable
networks had an average audience of 21.6 million, while the top four
broadcast networks drew an average of 21.3 million viewers.
Title: No More Media Elite
Source: Washington Post (Op-Ed, A17)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-sr/WPlate/1998-07/08/0201-070898- idx.html
Author: Robert J. Samuelson
Issue: Trends
Description: "Even as we're courted and castigated for our alleged power,
new communications and computer technologies threaten our incomes, social
importance and political influence," worries Samuelson as he contemplates
technologies' effect on changing media habits. More and more people get
their news from computers, while network news and newspaper audiences
continue to shirk. The trend is toward smaller and more specialized
distribution of information. "The notion of a media elite, if ever valid,
requires that people get news and entertainment from a few sources dominated
by a handful of executives editors, anchors, reporters and columnists. As
media multiply, the elite becomes less exclusive."
Title: Extra! Extra! Newsies Nix Facts for Glitz
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A14)
Author: Eugene Patterson, former editor St Petersburg Times & WashPost
Issue: Journalism
Description: A look at changes in and pressures on journalists and
newspapers. Patterson looks at it all -- increasing stories about
celebrities and the move of journalists to television star, cutting corners
and story fabrication, media concentration, alternative advertising
options...He concludes: "Given the glaring faults of contemporary
journalism, I remain confident that the news media will learn the lessons of
the recent embarrassments and succeed in pulling up their socks before the
public loses faith in them. The written word is going to prevail as the
reliable record of a free and reflective society, no matter what technology
delivers it to the reader, and the tough idealists who take up this line of
work will be committed in the main merely to telling the truth."
** Antitrust **
Title: Microsoft's Cable Efforts Under Scrutiny
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/cyber/articles/08convergence.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said yesterday
that he was concerned that Microsoft's "spending binge" into cable
television interests appeared to be an attempt to gain control of the
gateway to the Internet. Senator Hatch said that he was worried that
Microsoft might become a dominant provider of software for set-top boxes
that give TV sets access to the global network. "I don't want to seem like
I'm just on Microsoft's back all the time, but I am concerned about them
buying into all of these cable systems," said Hatch. "This is a matter of
great concern, much more than the browser ever was."
** Encryption **
Title: White House Yields a Bit On Encryption
Source: New York Times (D1,D5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/08encrypt.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Encryption
Description: The Clinton Administration announced today that for the first
time it would allow the export of strong data-scrambling software without
any promises of "back-door access" for law enforcement. However, it only
plans to allow this for banks and financial institutions in 45 nations that
have acceptable money-laundering laws.
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