CPP welcomes new Headliner Betsy Puckett to our growing team!
Internet
TelecomAM: Web Television: Trying To Make Better TV
WSJ: RCA Challenges WebTV in the Race To Link TV and Net
WSJ: Muzak Wafts Tunes Into Cyberspace
WSJ: Should Only the Paranoid Get E-Mail Protection?
WSJ: Internet Ad Proponents Try a New Tack
NTIA: Internet Domain Name Policies
Journalism
WSJ: Feathers Fly
Arts
WP: NEA Backers Gain
NYT: More Than Enduring Faulkner Prevails
Cable
FCC: The State of Competition in the
Cable Television Industry
Telephone Regulation
NECA: FCC Preempts Provision of Wyoming Telecom Act
Campaign Finance Reform
NYT: Mr. Clinton's Blow for Reform
NYT: An Old Fund-Raising Law Is Revisited in New Context
Education
NYT: In Public School, Uniforms as Dress for Success
Info Tech
NYT: Many Reported Unready To Face Year 2000 Bug
*********************************************
* Internet *
*********************************************
Title: Web Television: Trying To Make Better TV
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Info Tech
Description: WebTV, admits chief executive Steve Perlman -- is really not
about the Web; its about better television. "People that are really into it,
they don't think of it as the Web, they think of it as better television. We
would call WebTV interactive television if it didn't have such a bad
reputation -- if, called that, it wasn't doomed to failure." WebTV Plus will
go on sale next month using a pared down version of Microsoft's Windows
called Windows CE. The system will include a 56K modem and a 1G hard drive
capable of storing 12 hrs of compressed video or 50 hours of video. The
system will provide an electronic programming guide that goes beyond just
show times to include descriptions of films (or movies) and a star's
filmography. Sports statistics can also be viewed during a game.
Title: RCA Challenges WebTV in the Race To Link TV and Net
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Walter Mossberg
Issue: Info Tech
Description: RCA wants to challenge market leader WebTV and to get you using
your TV to view the Internet. RCA's Network Computer is the first consumer
product to be based on a design from Oracle's Network Computer division. But
this new device doesn't compete well with WebTV or the promise of WebTV Plus
(expected soon) which will allow TV programs and Web material to be shown on
the same screen -- thus creating an early form of truly interactive
television. WebTV Plus will also include a large hard disk, the ability to
play video clips off the Web, and "an ultrafast 'video modem' that blasts
certain Web content to your TV."
Title: Muzak Wafts Tunes Into Cyberspace
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B1)
Author: Bill Richards
Issue: Internet Content
Description: Elevator music is coming to the Internet! No not really. "Next
to spam, we have the most negative brand identity in the world," says the
company's programming director. Musak licenses snippets of songs from music
companies and sends them over the Net to Web sites. The service is already
being used by Tower Records http://www.towerrecords.com/, Blockbuster
http://www.blockbuster.com/, and Microsoft's "Music Central."
Title: Should Only the Paranoid Get E-Mail Protection?
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B6)
Author: Thomas Weber
Issue: Encryption
Description: Worried about the wrong people reading your email? Encryption
technology is getting easier to use and, as some security consultants say,
even in low-crime towns, people lock their doors at night. Encryption allows
you to turn today's email postcard into an email letter -- safe, snug and
private in an electronic envelope.
Title: Internet Ad Proponents Try a New Tack
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B8)
Author: Sally Goll Beatty
Issue: Advertising/Internet
Description: In order to sell advertising on the Internet, some firms are
trying to point out the similarities between Web surfing and traditional
couch potatoes-ing. A recent survey shows that Web advertising really is
effective in getting a brand name known and getting people more interested
in buying a product. But, for now, Web advertising is more expensive than
television ads. The price per 1,000 people reached for television ads is
generally $12 and runs up to $20-$30 for the highest rated shows. For Web
advertising, the cost is generally $40-$50 per 1,000 people reached and for
the priciest sites, its $60-$70.
Title: Internet Domain Name Policies
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/congress/92597_domnametest.htm
Author: Larry Irving
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Communications and Information
Description: Testimony before House Committee on Science, Subcommittee on
Basic Research: "No single force embodies the electronic transformation we
are experiencing today more than the evolving medium known as the Internet.
Once a tool reserved for scientific and academic exchange, the Internet has
emerged as an appliance of every day life, accessible from almost every
point on the planet. Students across the world are discovering vast
treasures of data via the World Wide Web. Doctors are utilizing telemedicine
to administer off-site diagnoses to patients in need. The Internet is being
used to reinvent government and reshape our lives and communities. Finally,
as the Internet empowers citizens and democratizes societies, it is also
changing classic business and economic paradigms...."
*********************************************
* Journalism *
*********************************************
Title: Feathers Fly
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A1)
Author: Kevin Helliker
Issue: Journalism
Description: Twenty-one armed federal agents descended on a Jordan, Montana
ranch to investigate reports that the owner was poisoning eagles that were
preying on his sheep. Why such a show of force by the US Fish and Wildlife
Service? Because it made for good television, the owner contends. Unknown to
the owner, three of the federal agents who served him with a warrant were
wired -- not to other law officials but to a CNN tape recorder. Three of the
people who spent the day investigating the ranch were CNN employees. "This
was a case where government agents became reporters and reporters became
government agents," the owner's lawyer contends. The owner is suing the
federal government and CNN claiming their Fourth Amendment rights were violated.
*********************************************
* Arts *
*********************************************
Title: NEA Backers Gain
Source: Washington Post (C2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Jacqueline Trescott
Issue: Arts
Description: The battle over funding of the National Endowment for the arts
heated up yesterday. Long-time supporter Rep Sidney Yates (D-IL) got a
nonbinding resolution passed in the House that instructs House and Senate
conference committee members to approve the $100 million budget for the NEA
that the Senate passed earlier this year. Rep Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) released
a report critical of NEA management and grant distribution.
Title: More Than Enduring Faulkner Prevails
Source: New York Times (B1)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Mel Gussow
Issue: Arts
Description:Commemorations take place around the United States today to
celebrate the birth of William Faulkner. Faulkner, who was born in New
Albany, Miss. but spent most of his life in Oxford, Miss., has been
acknowledged as one of the most important novelists of the 20th century. He
is probably best known for his masterpieces, "The Sound and the Fury," As I
Lay Dying," Light in August," "Absalom, Absalom!," and his vivid stories
built around the fictional Yoknapatawpha County.
*********************************************
* Cable *
*********************************************
Title: The State of Competition in the Cable Television Industry
Source: FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Hundt/spreh754.html
Author: Reed Hundt, Chairman
Issue: Cable Television/Competition
Description: Testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary
Committee: "I am pleased to appear before you today to provide the Federal
Communications Commission's perspective on the status of competition in the
cable television industry. The Commission, and the Commission's Cable
Services Bureau, are working hard to promote the development of competition
and consumer choice in the marketplace for multichannel video programming...."
*********************************************
* Telephone Regulation *
*********************************************
Title: FCC Preempts Provision of Wyoming Telecom Act
Source: National Exchange Carrier Association
http://www.neca.org
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: (MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER, CCBPol 97-1, FCC 97-336)
"The Commission has preempted a provision of the Wyoming Telecommunications
Act of 1995 (Wyoming Act) that empowers certain incumbent LECs to veto any
attempt by a competitor to provide service in the service areas of the
incumbent. The Commission also preempted an Order of the Wyoming PSC denying
Silver Star's application to provide local exchange service in the Afton,
Wyoming local exchange service area. In deciding to preempt, the Commission
found that the Wyoming Act and the Order of the Wyoming PSC fall within the
prohibition of Section 253(a) of the Communications Act. The Commission
further found that the Wyoming Act and the PSC Order are not *competitively
neutral* within the meaning of Section 253(b) of the Communications Act.
*********************************************
* Campaign Finance Reform *
*********************************************
Title: Mr. Clinton's Blow for Reform
Source: New York Times (A34)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: New York Times Editorial Staff
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: On Tuesday of this week, Bill Clinton threatened to call a
special session if Congress adjourned without addressing the campaign
finance reform issue. Democrats and Republicans have now agreed to permit a
vote on the McCain-Feingold reform legislation as early as October. This
reform would enact a variety of changes reaching from a ban on unlimited
donations to all political parties by individuals, corporations and labor
parties, to an amendment that require labor unions to notify any
non-union members, so they may request refunds, of any dues that have gone
towards political purposes. Currently there are 45 Democrats and 4
Republicans in support of this legislation with the spotlight being placed
on those Republicans that have expressed unease with the current campaign
finance system in the past.
Title: An Old Fund-Raising Law Is Revisited in New Context
Source: New York Times (A1)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Stephen Labaton
Issue: Campaign Finance Reform
Description: On the urging of Senator George H. Pendleton, the 1883 Congress
passed one of the most significant civil service reforms in history. This
law was created to protect low-level civil servants from being forced to
make "voluntary" political "contributions". This reform, which has been
ammended several times over the past century, is once again on the chopping
block. Justice Department officials are now aiming to decide how to
interpret the laws original intent in relation to fund-raising calls placed
from the offices of today's high-ranking officials and the big-time donors
of the nineties.
*********************************************
* Education *
*********************************************
Title: In Public School, Uniforms as Dress for Success
Source: New York Times (A1)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Tamar Lewin
Issue: Education
Description: From small towns to large cities, public school uniforms are
becoming more and more common. Ten or 20 years ago this concept would have
probably raised eyebrows being criticized as keeping students from
expressing their individuality. But today it is being more readily embraced
as it appears to breed unity and self-esteem among the students, makes it
less expensive and easier for parents to outfit their kids for school, and
cuts down on the divisions between the have and have nots. At most schools
the uniforms are voluntary but may become mandatory in the coming years.
*********************************************
* Info Tech *
*********************************************
Title: Many Reported Unready To Face Year 2000 Bug
Source: New York Times (D3)
http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Laurence Zuckerman
Issue: Info Tech
Description: In a recent study conducted by the Gartner Group, findings show
that 30 percent of companies around the world have not even begun to address
the effect that the year 2000 will have on their computers. The majority of
these were smaller companies with less than 2,000 employees. But research
also showed that larger organizations, such as hospitals, universities, and
Government agencies, were also way behind schedule. Top economists have
warned that if the 2000 problem, or millennium bug as it is often called,
is not effectively dealt with we could be faced with a global recession.
*********
Happy wire-to-wire day to the O's!!!!