Long Distance in Michigan
NYT: Rejection May Show Bells Way to Long Distance
TelecomAM: Long-Distance: Ameritech Calls On FCC to Map Out the Road
Ahead
Internet
WP: Gamblers Play the Odds Online
WP: Netscape Changes Course, Offers Browser Alone
Journalism
WSJ: When Journalism Stood for Something
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* Long Distance in Michigan *
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Title: Rejection May Show Bells Way to Long Distance
Source: New York Times (D1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/fcc-longdistance.html
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Telephone Regulation/Long Distance
Description: Baby Bell Ameritech's bid to offer long distance service in
Michigan is expected to be rejected by the Federal Communications
Commission, but the rejection is supposed to come with 1) praise for the
work Ameritech has done to open the local service market in Michigan and 2)
a blueprint for how Ameritech can satisfy the FCC next time (sorry, no
pickle). Ameritech hopes to be able to fix the problems the FCC identifies
and resubmit their application by the end of the year.
Title: Long-Distance: Ameritech Calls On FCC to Map Out the Road Ahead
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Telephone Regulation/Long Distance
Description: The FCC is expected to reject Ameritech's bid to offer long
distance service in Michigan today and Ameritech is hoping that the
Commission will tell it how to win approval next time. "If we get a roadmap,
that's great," said an Ameritech executive. "But if it's a chart for an
unmanned mission to Pluto, that's another problem."
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* Internet *
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Title: Gamblers Play the Odds Online
Source: Washington Post (A1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-08/19/112l-081997-idx.html
Author: Beth Berselli
Issue: Internet Commerce
Description: Despite many attempts to outlaw it, Internet gambling is an
exploding industry. According to analysts, it is probably a $200
million-a-year business, and it may top a billion by the turn of the
century. The questions of its legality are very tricky because may of
these companies operate in states or countries in which gambling is
legal, but many of there clientele place their bets in rec rooms in the
Midwest, infuriating Senators and Attorneys General. Virtual casino
operators see actions against online betting as hypocritical
because state lotteries take in around $400 billion dollars a year, and
no one in state governments would dare speak out against them. Leaders
of industry see self regulation as a solution to the problems of ethics
and fair payoffs (one site mentioned it is registered with Net Nannies and
has a link to Gamblers Anonymous), because a ban would lead to
Orwell-style government invasion of privacy.
Title: Netscape Changes Course, Offers Browser Alone
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-08/19/042l-081997-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Online Services
Description: Netscape decided yesterday to sell their new Internet
browser, Navigator 4.0, by itself after negative response to its
packaging of the browser in the software package that it called
Communicator. Netscape was selling the Communicator package for $59
while rival Microsoft was giving its browser away for free. Some
analysts have questioned whether Netscape has gone far enough to appease
corporate customers, who will still have to pay $39 dollars in order to
get Navigator 4.0. Netscape concedes that it's more difficult, but that
their customers understand that Internet browsers are no exception to
the adage, "You get what you pay for."
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* Journalism *
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Title: When Journalism Stood for Something
Source: Wall Street Journal (A18)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Richard Norton Smith
Issue: Journalism
Description: A look at Colonel Robert R. McCormick, former publisher-editor
of the Chicago Tribune. The Colonel ran the self-styled "World's Greatest
Newspaper" and celebrated the great heartland of the country he called
Chicagoland, "the republic within a republic." Quoting his grandfather
Joseph Medill, McCormick explained the paper's success: "We go our own way
at our own time, in our own manner, in the company of our own choosing,
knowing as we do that vindication will be sure to follow." Not a bad credo
for the crusading journalist, in the 19th century or the 21st, writes Smith
-- author of a new biography of the Colonel.
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