Communications-Related Headlines for April 1, 2003

HEALTH
Uganda Wireless Health-Care Aid

OWNERSHIP
NABJ Urges FCC to Delay Media Ownership Review
Northwestern Law School to Host Midwest Public Forum on Media
Ownership

INTERNET
Survey: Sweden More Web-Savvy Nation Than US

HEALTH

UGANDA WIRELESS HEALTH-CARE AID
One of the world's poorest nations, Uganda is at the center of Africa's AIDS
epidemic, with 10 percent of the adult population infected. A Boston-based
nonprofit hopes to use technology to help Ugandans obtain proper health
care. Satellife, which specializes in medical technology, plans to build a
low-cost wireless network to make up for the lacking infrastructure among
health care providers and the patients who need their services. Using
handheld computers, doctors can order and track medical supplies and
transmit new treatment guidelines.
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Leander Kahney]
(http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,58296,00.html)

OWNERSHIP

NABJ URGES FCC TO DELAY MEDIA OWNERSHIP REVIEW
In a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, National Association of Black
Journalists President Condace Pressley urged the FCC to delay ruling on
changes to US media ownership rules. "Action by the commission to change the
rules as currently written will have a resounding negative impact on the
quality of news content, the diversity of viewpoints, and most importantly
market competition," said Pressley. She also noted that if the FCC does
choose to relax the rules it should make diversity a priority for media
owners and hold them accountable for their efforts.
[SOURCE: National Association of Black Journalists]
(http://www.nabj.org/images/fccltr.pdf)

NORTHWESTERN LAW TO HOST MIDWEST PUBLIC FORUM ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP
The Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago will host a media
ownership forum tomorrow, April 2nd, at 10 a.m. in Lincoln Hall at 357 E.
Chicago Avenue. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps will attend. Students in
Northwestern's Media and Entertainment Law Society organized the forum with
help from local media outlets. "The potential impact of the FCC's regulatory
changes on the media landscape, and the free flow of information in our
society, is enormous," said James Speta, professor of law at Northwestern. A
detailed agenda for the event can be found at the URL below.
[SOURCE: Northwestern University School of Law]
(http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/communicate/newspages/spring03/mediao
wnership.htm)

INTERNET

SURVEY: SWEDEN MORE WEB-SAVVY NATION THAN U.S.
Sweden and Denmark have overtaken the United States as the most Web-savvy
nations in the world, according to a joint survey performed by IBM and The
Economist. All of the top nations have in common low-cost hardware, software
and access, and have a culture of spending time on the Web. South Korea made
a notable jump, from 21st place to 16th, as it now boasts the highest
percentage of high-speed Web households.
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2003-04-01-web-survey_x.
htm)

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