TELEPHONY
AT&T Looks to Baby Bells for a Buyer (NYT)
October 1 Begins a New Era of Telephone Access (FCC)
Regional Telecom Upstarts Struggle To Keep Afloat Amid Downturn (WSJ)
E-GOVERNMENT
Destroyed Computer Links Leave Thousands of Poor People Without
Welfare Benefits (NYT)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
Onion's Bitter Tears of Irony (Wired)
TELEPHONY
AT&T LOOKS TO BABY BELLS FOR A BUYER
Issue: Telephony
The struggling communications giant, former telephone monopoly AT&T, is
seeking to
sell its telephone operations to one of its Baby Bell offspring. AT&T has
approached at
least three of the nation's largest local telephone companies - Verizon
Communications,
SBC Communications and BellSouth - about buying its consumer and business
telephone
operations. The three local phone companies were part of AT&T before the
government-
enforced breakup of the Bell System in 1984. A deal between AT&T and a Bell
company
would raise serious regulatory issues. William E. Kennard, former
Commissioner of the
F.C.C., said yesterday, "If this is a step to putting the Bell System back
together again, it
would reverse more than 20 years of promoting competition." A major concern
facing
regulators is competition on the local level, where companies other than the
Bells have no
more than 10 percent of the market, according to the F.C.C. In fact, AT&T is
one of the
largest competitors with the Bells in this area, making co-ownership of
local properties an
important issue in any possible deal.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/28/business/28PHON.html)
(requires registration)
REGIONAL TELECOM UPSTARTS STRUGGLE TO KEEP AFLOAT AMID DOWNTURN
Issue: Telephony
The outlook has turned grimmer than ever for the U.S. telecommunications
upstarts that
compete with regional Bells. The slowing economy before the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks in
the U.S. had already caused several local competitive phone companies to
seek Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection or restructure debt. Now, with economic conditions
worsening after
the terrorist attacks, many more of the so-called competitive local exchange
carriers
(CLECs), which grew up to compete with the large regional phone companies
after the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 opened the local phone industry to
competition, have
reduced earnings and revenue forecasts. Even the strongest CLECs are
hurting. On
Tuesday, Time Warner Telecom said third-quarter results would be below
expectations,
citing bankruptcies of telecom-carrier customers and lower intercarrier
compensation.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ann Davis]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1001632494292539240.htm)
(requires subscription)
OCTOBER 1 BEGINS A NEW ERA OF TELEPHONE ACCESS
Issue: Telephony
The Federal Communication Commission proclaims: "On October 1 of this year
our
country begins a new era of telephone access." That is the day that a new
calling shortcut,
711, will be introduced. The three digit number will provide access to all
Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS). TRS facilitates telephone
conversations
between people who do and those who do not have hearing or speech
disabilities. Under
the new rules adopted last year by the FCC, 711 TRS dialing must be provided
by all
telecommunications carriers in the United States, including wireline,
wireless, and
payphone providers.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/2001/nrcc0138.html)
E-GOVERNMENT
DESTROYED COMPUTER LINKS LEAVE THOUSANDS OF POOR PEOPLE WITHOUT WELFARE
BENEFITS
Issue: E-Government
Thousand of poor in New York City have been left without links to the state
computers that manage their
welfare, Medicaid and food stamp cases, leaving them and some in nearby
counties without normal access to
emergency cash, food and health care. "Because of the disaster in New York
City, our connection to the New
York State management system is down," said Dennis Nowak, a spokesman for
the Suffolk County
Department of Social Services, "and no one can tell us when we'll be up
again." The computer connections ran
through a central Verizon communications hub that was destroyed when 7 World
Trade Center collapsed, he
said. The results of the downed connections are that county agencies are
scrambling to collect paper
applications to be put into new computers; people already approved for
services are finding themselves
suddenly without active records; and many cannot get prescriptions filled.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nina Bernstein]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/28/nyregion/28POOR.html)
(requires registration)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
ONION'S BITTER TEARS OF IRONY
Issue: Media & Society
In our post-Sept. 11th world there seems to be a moratorium on humor. Take
for example the seemingly
endless hours NPR's "All Things Considered" is devoting to the "death of
irony" and America's supposed
changing face of humor. Amongst all of this concern over how and even
whether we should allow ourselves to
laugh anymore, one satirical newspaper, The Onion (www.theonion.com), has
taken the tragedy and the
media's ensuing coverage, head-on. And they have held nothing back: "U.S.
Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is
We're At War With," "Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag
Cake," and "Arab-American Third-Grader Returns From Recess Crying, Saying He
Didn't Kill Anyone." The Onion's
terrorist coverage even includes an interview with God: "Get it straight.
Not only do I not want anybody to kill
anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that
anybody ought to be able to
understand." John Krewson, an Onion writer, admits the staff had serious
doubts about releasing the issue.
But reader response and critical reaction have been overwhelmingly positive.
Despite the positive feedback,
the risks were high for the Onion staff. Bill Maher host of "Politically
Incorrect" found himself apologizing to
viewers and the White House for a failed attempt at satire. This morning the
Washington Post reports that the
apologies may not have been enough as one local affiliate has decided to
drop Politically Incorrect from its
lineup. Even given the success of The Onion's latest edition, Krewson
acknowledges that their humor is far
from light: "What we're seeing isn't the death of irony," Krewson said.
"It's the death of apathy... There is no
upside to this, except in making people think about how far up their asses
their heads have been."
[Source: Wired, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Benner]
(http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,47155,00.html)
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