Benton RSS Feed

Communications-related Headlines for 6/18/97

A Rock 'n Roll Station Is Pushed Off the Air In Bureaucratic Morass

The Costs of Online Government

Journalistic Muddle

UDC to Sell Radio Station

Motorola to Compete With Satellite Project

Deep Cuts Proposed For Arts

Senate Commerce Committee Approves Budget Plan With Major Amendments to
Administration's Bill

CBO "Score" of House Budget Bill Down By $9.7 Billion

CORRECTION: Monday 6/16's Headlines reported that "Billy Tauzin of the House
Telecom Sub-committee is against spectrum fees." The Broadcasting&Cable
article reported that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain is
"opposed to spectrum fees," and "that he believes they are another tax."
*********************************************
Title: A Rock 'n Roll Station Is Pushed Off the Air In Bureaucratic Morass
Source: Wall Street Journal (A1)
Author: John R. Wilke
Issue: Radio
Description: Sub-title: No more lost pig reports. WZLS in Asheville, North
Carolina was
shut down after it lost a confusing battle with a rival group of investors
at the FCC. "Beyond Asheville, hundreds of FM licenses lie in limbo at the
FCC. The agency hasn't decided a contested radio case since 1994, when a
court threw out its old rules and ordered new ones. Its backlog is now 873
undecided applications for 212 new stations." FCC Chairman Reed Hundt
agrees that there is a problem. He would like to change the license
granting process from what he calls "subjective judgements" to
auction licenses for cash or for what he referred to as "quantifiable
public-service commitments." Hundt says, "Broadcasting is about serving the
public interest."

Title: The Costs of Online Government
Source: Washington Post (A15)
Author: Barbara J. Saffir
Issue: Federal Government
Description: A new General Accounting Office report explains that
executive branch organizations in the federal government spent $349 million
over three years on Internet-related activities. The Defense Department
led the branches in spending. In 1996, 42 agencies and departments spent
$190 million on 4,300 web sites, 215 computer bulletin boards, and 4,200
copies of tetrus (ok not the last part). Ann Lewis, White House
communications director, explained that, "We have an obligation to provide
to the American people...as much information as we can about policies
that make a difference in their lives." Greater than 1/3 of the employees
at the federal agencies that were surveyed are connected to the Internet and
1.7 million workers have e-mail access. The extent workers use email varies
from agency to agency. Article has a nice chart detailing Internet-related
spending by department.

Title: Journalistic Muddle
Source: Washington Post (A17)
Author: David S. Broder
Issue: Journalism
Description: In his column, Broder asserts that the 25th anniversary of
the Watergate break-in is marked with uncertainty for the journalism
community. Citizens who are eager to be in the know have more easily
available and more informed sources than ever before. The broader public,
however,is not faring better. "In far too many cases, inadequate reporting
or wide-spread indifference have left people ignorant of essential
information they need to function as citizens." A disengaged public and
dropping readership is pushing newspapers to develop new solutions. Some
are trying civic journalism, which has had mixed results according to a
recent study by Pew. "More organizations are dumbing down the public, going
for soft, human-interest stories or private scandals to attract a jaded
public." Corporate news executives, who aren't aware that good
journalistic values are developed by practicing journalism, are giving "the
most visible and influential jobs in their organizations to transplants
from the world of partisan politics."

Title: UDC to Sell Radio Station
Source: Washington Post (B6)
Author: Valeris Strauss and Marc Fisher
Issue: Radio
Description: University of the District of Columbia will help ease its
debt by selling its radio station WDCU (90.1) and leave the District without
any full-time jazz stations. UDC Trustees were not happy about the
decision, but felt there was no other way to help the university's debt. An
organization affiliated with Salem Communications is rumored to be the
successful bidder for the station. "Salem's format consists primarily of
paid programming from fundamentalist Christian organizations. The company
also syndicates the Oliver North talk radio show as well as other
conservative talk shows."

Title: Motorola to Compete With Satellite Project
Source: Washington Post (C11)
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Info Tech
Description: Since Microsoft chose Boeing, and not Motorola, to help
build its (dum de de dum) Internet in the Sky, Motorola has transformed
itself from mild-mannered potential partner, to supreme rival. Motorola
filed with the FCC saying that it wants to create a 63 satellite, global
network for $12.9 billion. These satellites would beam video and data down
to land-dwelling consumers. Scientists are developing Orville Redenbacker
clones that can live in the oxygen free environment of deep space to send
popcorn down as well.

Title: Deep Cuts Proposed For Arts
Source: Washington Post (D1)
Author: Jacqueline Trescott
Issue: Arts & Culture
Description: The House Appropriations sub-committee voted to cut the budget
of the National Endowment for the Arts by 90% to $10 million. The Senate is
expected to support a budget of $99.6 million. The large difference between
the Senate and the House numbers will be worked out in conference committee.

Title: Senate Commerce Committee Approves Budget Plan With Major Amendments
to Administration's
Bill
Source: Telecommunications Reports
Issue: Budget Issues
Description: The Senate Commerce Committee approved the communications
section of the budget reconciliation bill with 16 amendments many offered by
the committee's chairman, Sen John McCain (R-Ariz). Despite criticism from
committee members, the provisions include estimated revenues from spectrum
license auctions over the next five years. The amendments prevent the FCC
from collecting license payments from bankrupt companies, block new fees on
spectrum users, eliminate a requirement that the FCC auction off "vanity"
888 phone numbers, and allow the FCC to lease spectrum for private mobile
radio systems. In regards to the digital TV spectrum giveback, an amendment
was approved will language similar to the House's: broadcasters will be able
to retain their analog spectrum until 95% digital TV penetration is reached.

Title: CBO "Score" of House Budget Bill Down By $9.7 Billion
Source: Telecommunications Reports
Issue: Budget Issues
Description: The Congressional Budget Office "scored" the House Commerce
Committee's budget reconciliation bill at $9.7 billion, down from an
original score of $19.4 billion. The reduction was a result of amendments by
Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) that will void future spectrum auctions that do not
reach two-thirds of projected revenue and allow television broadcasters to
retain extra spectrum until digital television penetration reached 95%.

From new ad campaign running in New York Times and other newspapers:
It's Time for Clean Money Campaign Reform. A message from Public Campaign.
To find out more, call toll free 1-888-293-5755 or visit
.
*********

Communications-related Headlines for 6/17/97

Member Gets F.C.C. Delay In Inquiry On Liquor

MacArthur Foundation Chooses Grant Winners

Protect Internet Privacy -- Privately

White House Opposes Censorship of Internet

The Clintons' Pen Pal
*********************************************

Title: Member Gets F.C.C. Delay In Inquiry On Liquor
Source: New York Times (A12)
Author: John Broder
Issue: Advertising
Description: Commissioner Rachelle Chong has vetoed an attempt to get the
Federal Communications Commission to investigate liquor advertising on
television. "While I share concern about the serious societal problems of
underage drinking, drunk driving and alcoholism, these problems should be
addressed directly, by stronger enforcement of laws restricting the sale of
alcohol to minors, by improving drivers education and by programs that
assist recovering alcoholics," Commissioner Chong's statement reads.
President Clinton asked the FCC to investigate the lifting of a 50 year
voluntary ban on broadcast advertising by the distilled spirits industry.
FCC Chairman Red Hundt supports an investigation; fellow Democrat
Commissioner James Quello, a former broadcaster, opposes any FCC action.

Title: MacArthur Foundation Chooses Grant Winners
Source: New York Times (A14)
Author: William Honan
Issue: Philanthropy
Description: 23 MacArthur Fellowships were announced yesterday. They include
Pamela Samuelson, a professor of information management and of law at UC
Berkeley studying how modern communication methods are affecting
intellectual property; Susan Stewart, professor of English at University of
Pennsylvania, whose work includes a study of how literary practices
influenced social perception and activity; and David Forster Wallace of
Illinois State University, author of Infinite Jest.

Title: Protect Internet Privacy -- Privately
Source: Wall Street Journal (A18)
Author: Esther Dyson
Issue: Privacy
Description: This op-ed by the president of Edventure Holdings argues
that the government should not create regulations on Internet privacy.
Rather, solutions to privacy concerns like the Open Profiling Standard or
TRUSTe, a group that evaluates businesses' information practices and lets
consumers know the results, should be promoted.

Title: White House Opposes Censorship of Internet
Source: Washington Post (D1)
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran and John Schwartz
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: According to a draft of a White House report, the Clinton
Administration will not support new legislation regulating Internet content. It
will support the continued development of technology to help users filter
online material not appropriate for children. The administration will still
back the Communications Decency Act, will lean towards industry
self-regulation, and will consider the Internet a medium different from
radio or television.

Title: The Clintons' Pen Pal
Source: Washington Post (C1) (6/16/97)
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Journalism
Description: Sidney Blumenthal, a former writer for the New Yorker, New
Republic, and the Washington Post, has been a long time friend/advocate of
the Clintons and now is going to become assistant to the President. Many
have argued that Blumenthal was too close to the President to evaluate him
in the press.
*********

Communications-related Headlines for 6/16/97

Communications-related Headlines for 6/16/97 (our biggest issue ever!)

White House Is Set To Ease Its Stance On Internet Smut

Waiving Our Freedom

Revisions in TV Ratings Called Imminent

If It Looks Like HDTV, It Does Not Mean It Is

CNN Orders Its News Staff To Avoid Ads

Internet Song Use Spurs Recording Industry Suits

Radio Technology Fails To Win US Acceptance

Cashing In When Opportunity Knocks

Privacy Fears and the Internet

The Jones Case: Glass Houses at The Fourth Estate

Concept Videos for Children: No Violence, No Sexism

Special Wall Street Journal Technology Section

House Commerce Republicans Overcome Doubts, Approve $26.3 Billion Spectrum
Auction Proposal

Ratings likely to get content adds

News Corp. finally gets Family Deal

House would give more time for DTV transition

Hundt agrees to put alcohol inquiry on hold

Did we forget to mention...

Hundt raps Grossman public TV plan

Shifting personnel atop the FCC

Annenberg grades children's television

FCC tracking cable competition

More Push for PSAs

Cable mergers draw fire from Washington

Broadcast Advertisement of Distilled Spirits
*********************************************
Title: White House Is Set To Ease Its Stance On Internet Smut
Source: New York Times (A1)
Author: John Broder
Issue: Communications Decency Act
Description: "To the extent, then, that effective filtering technology is
available, content regulations traditionally imposed on radio and television
need not be extended to the Internet. In fact, unnecessary regulation or
censorship could cripple the growth and diversity of the Internet," says a
draft policy paper written by a working group led by Ira Magaziner. The
proposed policy comes in anticipation that the Supreme Court will strike
down the Communications Decency Act. It also represents a reversal in the
Clinton Administration which argued for the CDA just 3 months ago. [see
for more information]

Title: Waiving Our Freedom
Source: New York Times (A23)
Author: Horace Freeland Judson, George Washington University
Issue: First Amendment
Description: Editorial addresses a draft amendment to the Constitution
allowing states to ban burning and desecration of the American flag. "The
American flag is beyond desecration by physical means, any more than I could
desecrate the Constitution by using a copy of it to light the barbecue. [The
draft amendment's] aim is not defense but attack -- an attack on freedom of
political agrement. Now's there's a desecration for you."

Title: Revisions in TV Ratings Called Imminent
Source: New York Times (B1)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Compromise may come as early as Friday on revising the current
TV ratings system. Most broadcast and cable operators seem ready to add
content warnings -- S, L, V -- to the current aged-based system. Meetings
continue this week between legislators, advocacy groups, and television
executives. Some groups also want D for dialogue added to shows with
suggestive dialogue. Many argue that Congressional involvement in this
process is "frightening" and uses children as an excuse for censorship. But
"if [television execs] had been more careful about how they rated the shows
from the outset, and not tried to get away with too much, they might not be
in this situation," said Peggy Charren, a longtime advocate for children's
programming.

Title: If It Looks Like HDTV, It Does Not Mean It Is
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Digital TV (ATV)
Description: Instead of making expensive, conventional TV equipment
obsolete, some broadcasters are looking into "line-doublers" that improve
the resolution of a standard, broadcast-television signal and convert it
into digital form. This "fake HDTV" could save broadcasters millions in
analog-to-digital conversion costs. Broadcasters must begin digital
broadcasts in the next 18-24 months. "I think its hilarious, but we don't
care," an official at the Federal Communications Commission said.

Title: CNN Orders Its News Staff To Avoid Ads
Source: New York Times (D3)
Author: Media and Technology Updates
Issue: Journalism
Description: Visa has agreed to stop an ad campaign that included CNN
reporter Jonathan Karl. CNN is changing its policy for review. CNN reporters
will now be banned from commercial advertisements except those that promote
CNN itself.

Title: Internet Song Use Spurs Recording Industry Suits
Source: New York Times (D6)
Author: Andrew Ross Sorkin
Issue: Copyright
Description: The Internet has been likened to a giant copying machine. But
for owners of intellectual property -- software manufacturers, the recording
industry, the movie industry, photographers -- this can mean a threat to
their business if copies are made unchecked. The recording industry filed
suit with three Internet sites that were pirating and distributing
copyrighted songs. Most music pirates operate their sites as hobbies not
revenue generators but "they don't understand the scope of the threat they
pose to the industry," a Business Software Alliance rep said.

Title: Radio Technology Fails To Win US Acceptance
Source: New York Times (D11)
Author: Steve Knoll
Issue: Radio/Info tech
Description: Radio Data Systems (RDS) seem to be a failure in the US. RDS
allows radio stations to transmit messages displayed on your radio, allows
your radio to be tuned by station format rather than frequency, even allows
a tape or regular program to be interrupted when there's important weather
or traffic info. There's no critical mass of Smart radio or stations using
the technology yet.

Title: Cashing In When Opportunity Knocks
Source: Washington Post (A1)
Author: Jerry Knight
Issue: Mergers
Description: Two Washington technology entrepreneurs have found that the
road to riches is 1) start tech company, 2) "take it public, 3) become a
millionaire
by selling off your stock, and then 4) arrange to merge with a bigger firm and
get really rich." Their company, Telco Communications Group Inc. which
provides discount long-distance service, is merging with Excel Communications
Inc. of Dallas. One analyst reports that the past 12 months have provided
telecom companies with a chance to merge and bundle services and that
companies in different niches are buying each other.

Title: Privacy Fears and the Internet
Source: Washington Post (A20)
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: Privacy Fears and the Internet
Description: At the Federal Trade Commission's hearings on Internet privacy,
the Commission
heard horror stories of privacy violations and cross-my-heart-hope-to-die
promises from tech companies that they would do a better job of regulating
themselves and allowing less information about individuals to be made
available. Companies have such strong financial incentives to use all the
information they can get from consumers to better tailor sales it's hard to
believe that they will be able to regulate themselves.

Title: The Jones Case: Glass Houses at The Fourth Estate
Source: Washington Post (C1)
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Journalism
Description: "It never fails: When journalists criticize the personal
conduct of public figures, someone points an accusatory finger at them."
Last week a writer for the New York Observer criticized five journalists for
their questioning of Clinton's ethics when they themselves had messy
divorces. Critiquing the private lives of journalists who are covering the
Clinton-Jones issue is not necessarily a fruitful investigative path.
Because a journalist is divorced doesn't mean s/he is incapable of covering
Clinton's ethics.

Title: Concept Videos for Children: No Violence, No Sexism
Source: Washington Post (Wash Tech pg 9)
Author: Sandra Evans
Issue: Children's Television
Description: DC-based Troon productions creates claymation home videos
(for the home, not homemade) for kids 10 and under. The story lines have
strong female characters and little violence. Research by Girls Inc. has shown
that there are three males characters for every one female character in
prime-time TV
and commercials.

Title: Special Technology Section
Source: Wall Street Journal (R)
Author: WSJ Staff
Issue: Family
Description: A special section on technology in the home with articles on
the technology gap when only one spouse adopts new gadgets, how to keep
children away from inappropriate sites on the Internet, how e-mail is
changing how we communicate, the dangers of cyberlife, and girls and
technology.

Title: House Commerce Republicans Overcome Doubts, Approve $26.3 Billion
Spectrum Auction
Proposal
Source: Telecommunications Reports
Author: Matthew Petrillo
Issue: Spectrum/Budget Issues
Description: The House Commerce Committee approved a budget reconciliation
bill that aims to collect $26 billion i spectrum license auctions over the
next five years. Most legislators do not believe that the auctions will
raise even $20 billion though. The FCC was directed to begin an auction in
2001 of spectrum to be returned by broadcasters in 2006. But the Committee
also approved an amendment that would allow broadcasters to retain that
spectrum if 5% or more households in those markets still rely on analog
signals. No new technology has reached that high a penetration so fast.

Title: Ratings likely to get content adds
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 12)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Broadcasters and cable companies (except maybe NBC) have
decided to add content indicators to TV ratings. Many politicians are trying
to take credit for this turnaround by broadcasters, who were initially
opposed to content ratings. House Telecommunication Subcommittee Chairman
Billy Tauzin believes that because the TV industry volunteered (with
pressure from children's advocacy groups) to add the new ratings, there is
no need for legislation on the issue.

Title: News Corp. finally gets Family Deal
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 12)
Author: John M. Higgins
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: A unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is going to take over
International Family Entertainment Inc. for $1.9 billion. News Corp. will
use the Family Channel, which IFE owned half of, as an outlet for kids'
programming. The Family Channel will be populated with kids' programs by
Saban Entertainment, which owns the other half of the Family Channel. Tim
Robertson, Pat Robertson's son, will continue to lead the Family Channel.
Walt Disney had also been trying to buy the channel.

Title: House would give more time for DTV transition
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 14)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: ATV
Description: The House Commerce Committee voted to extend the time
broadcasters can have their analog channel in the transition to digital
television. The Committee's proposition would let broadcasters hold two
channels past the FCC's 2006 deadline until 95% of the TV viewers in their
markets had digital sets or converters. Gigi Sohn of the Media Access
Project doesn't believe that this is in consumers' best interest as
broadcasters claim, "It's a backhanded way for broadcasters to try to keep
both blocks of spectrum indefinitely...and the notion that this is
pro-consumer is just a big, fat, lie." The Clinton Administration would
like those who did not pay for spectrum at auction to pay fees in case the
auctions of the analog channels don't raise the $26.3 billion the government
has them down for. Billy Tauzin of the House telecom sub-committee is
against spectrum fees and the committee hopes to boost the auctions by
allowing broadcasters to buy back their analog channel. Duopoly rules would
be relaxed, and broadcasters would be able to own one UHF and one VHF
channel (but not two VHF channels and certainly not two VHF channels with
cheese). Another provision might eliminate the ban against owning
newspapers and TV stations in the same market.

Title: Hundt agrees to put alcohol inquiry on hold
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 15)
Author: CM
Issue: Advertising
Description: Commissioner Chong requested that an inquiry into broadcast
alcohol advertising be removed from the FCC's meeting agenda this week, and
Hundt granted that request.

Title: Did we forget to mention...
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 18)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Journalism/Media Mergers
Description: When ABC's Nightline covered News Corp.'s acquisition of the
Family Channel last week, it did not mention that Disney/ABC (aka
Nightline's parent company) was in competition with News Corp. to buy the
channel. Nightline criticized Murdoch for a lack of imagination by airing
sports. Murdoch is trying to buy the LA Dodgers, but the fact that Disney
has an interest in the California Angels wasn't mentioned.

Title: Hundt raps Grossman public TV plan
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 20)
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Public Television
Description: Chairman Hundt came out against the former head of PBS's
proposal to have ads on public television. Former PBS president Larry
Grossman says that something needs to be done to help public television.
Billy Tauzin wants broadcasters to pay into a fund to support public TV and
wants this donation to free broadcasters of public interest obligations.
Hundt, on the other hand, wants educational programming to stay on the
heavily watched stations. Hundt says putting all the educational
programming on one channel would be like creating an "educational ghetto."

Title: Shifting personnel atop the FCC
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 21)
Author: CM
Issue: FCC
Description: Hundt's departure from the FCC could lead to a lot of personnel
shifts. Many people have already left: International Bureau Chiefs Scott
Harris, Donald Gips, Wireless Telecommunications Chief Michelle Farquhar,
and Chief Counsel Julius Genachowski (about to leave) among others.

Title: Annenberg grades children's television
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 21)
Author: Elizabeth A. Rathburn
Issue: Children's Television
Description: The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of
Pennsylvania has produced a study that found that 22% of the shows
broadcasters consider educational were not even close. Broadcasters must
start showing 3 hours a week of educational programming, but the FCC hasn't
really defined what counts as educational beyond "furthers the positive
development of children 16 years of age and under." Annenberg is hoping to
develop "reasonable benchmarks" that broadcasters can use to gage how
educational a program is for kids. The article has a chart ranking quality
of educational programming by venue (PBS, basic cable, big, three,
Paramount) and also side boxes on how local kids programming could suffer
under the FCC's new guidelines, how newspapers do not sufficiently cover
children's television according to child advocates, and one box with the
usual terrifying numbers on just how much TV kids watch.

Title: FCC tracking cable competition
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 25)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Cable
Description: The FCC has started its latest research into cable
competition. The Commission found in 1996 that cable had 89% of all
multi-channel video programming subscribers. This year it will be looking
into the impact of the Telecom Act on competition.

Title: More Push for PSAs
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 24)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Public Television
Description: Chairman Hundt is pulling in supporters for his campaign for
more public service announcements on TV. Colin Powell told broadcasters
that they should show more public service announcements, and Newt Gingrich
stated at a mayor's conference that TV networks could give some air time to
fight drugs. Gingrich said that if networks could afford to pay the actors
in Seinfeld $600,000 an episode, they could afford to spare a little air
time. "They [the broadcasters] ought to do it as citizens, because
Americans have been pretty darn good to the networks," sayeth the Speaker.

Title: Cable mergers draw fire from Washington
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 54)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: TCI's most recent round of proposed mergers has lawmakers
peeved and federal agencies are going to be reviewing proposals very
carefully. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz) stated
that "We are seeing mergers and consolidations with the telecommunications
industry, rather than competition...That should be very disturbing to all
of us." TCI has hired some top lobbyists to help smooth the deals through
Washington. TCI is one of the big holders of Primestar which just agreed to
a huge deal with Murdoch's News Corp. Also, TCI and Cablevision are working
together.

At the FCC
Broadcast Advertisement of Distilled Spirits. On Thursday, June 19, the FCC
will consider action regarding the recent initiation of broadcast
advertising by the distilled spirits industry, particularly with regard to
liquor consumption by minors, and seeks comment on what governmental
response, if any, is appropriate.

*********

Communications-related Headlines for 6/16/97

Communications-related Headlines for 6/16/97 (our biggest issue ever!)

White House Is Set To Ease Its Stance On Internet Smut

Waiving Our Freedom

Revisions in TV Ratings Called Imminent

If It Looks Like HDTV, It Does Not Mean It Is

CNN Orders Its News Staff To Avoid Ads

Internet Song Use Spurs Recording Industry Suits

Radio Technology Fails To Win US Acceptance

Cashing In When Opportunity Knocks

Privacy Fears and the Internet

The Jones Case: Glass Houses at The Fourth Estate

Concept Videos for Children: No Violence, No Sexism

Special Wall Street Journal Technology Section

House Commerce Republicans Overcome Doubts, Approve $26.3 Billion Spectrum
Auction Proposal

Ratings likely to get content adds

News Corp. finally gets Family Deal

House would give more time for DTV transition

Hundt agrees to put alcohol inquiry on hold

Did we forget to mention...

Hundt raps Grossman public TV plan

Shifting personnel atop the FCC

Annenberg grades children's television

FCC tracking cable competition

More Push for PSAs

Cable mergers draw fire from Washington

Broadcast Advertisement of Distilled Spirits
*********************************************
Title: White House Is Set To Ease Its Stance On Internet Smut
Source: New York Times (A1)
Author: John Broder
Issue: Communications Decency Act
Description: "To the extent, then, that effective filtering technology is
available, content regulations traditionally imposed on radio and television
need not be extended to the Internet. In fact, unnecessary regulation or
censorship could cripple the growth and diversity of the Internet," says a
draft policy paper written by a working group led by Ira Magaziner. The
proposed policy comes in anticipation that the Supreme Court will strike
down the Communications Decency Act. It also represents a reversal in the
Clinton Administration which argued for the CDA just 3 months ago. [see
for more information]

Title: Waiving Our Freedom
Source: New York Times (A23)
Author: Horace Freeland Judson, George Washington University
Issue: First Amendment
Description: Editorial addresses a draft amendment to the Constitution
allowing states to ban burning and desecration of the American flag. "The
American flag is beyond desecration by physical means, any more than I could
desecrate the Constitution by using a copy of it to light the barbecue. [The
draft amendment's] aim is not defense but attack -- an attack on freedom of
political agrement. Now's there's a desecration for you."

Title: Revisions in TV Ratings Called Imminent
Source: New York Times (B1)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Compromise may come as early as Friday on revising the current
TV ratings system. Most broadcast and cable operators seem ready to add
content warnings -- S, L, V -- to the current aged-based system. Meetings
continue this week between legislators, advocacy groups, and television
executives. Some groups also want D for dialogue added to shows with
suggestive dialogue. Many argue that Congressional involvement in this
process is "frightening" and uses children as an excuse for censorship. But
"if [television execs] had been more careful about how they rated the shows
from the outset, and not tried to get away with too much, they might not be
in this situation," said Peggy Charren, a longtime advocate for children's
programming.

Title: If It Looks Like HDTV, It Does Not Mean It Is
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Digital TV (ATV)
Description: Instead of making expensive, conventional TV equipment
obsolete, some broadcasters are looking into "line-doublers" that improve
the resolution of a standard, broadcast-television signal and convert it
into digital form. This "fake HDTV" could save broadcasters millions in
analog-to-digital conversion costs. Broadcasters must begin digital
broadcasts in the next 18-24 months. "I think its hilarious, but we don't
care," an official at the Federal Communications Commission said.

Title: CNN Orders Its News Staff To Avoid Ads
Source: New York Times (D3)
Author: Media and Technology Updates
Issue: Journalism
Description: Visa has agreed to stop an ad campaign that included CNN
reporter Jonathan Karl. CNN is changing its policy for review. CNN reporters
will now be banned from commercial advertisements except those that promote
CNN itself.

Title: Internet Song Use Spurs Recording Industry Suits
Source: New York Times (D6)
Author: Andrew Ross Sorkin
Issue: Copyright
Description: The Internet has been likened to a giant copying machine. But
for owners of intellectual property -- software manufacturers, the recording
industry, the movie industry, photographers -- this can mean a threat to
their business if copies are made unchecked. The recording industry filed
suit with three Internet sites that were pirating and distributing
copyrighted songs. Most music pirates operate their sites as hobbies not
revenue generators but "they don't understand the scope of the threat they
pose to the industry," a Business Software Alliance rep said.

Title: Radio Technology Fails To Win US Acceptance
Source: New York Times (D11)
Author: Steve Knoll
Issue: Radio/Info tech
Description: Radio Data Systems (RDS) seem to be a failure in the US. RDS
allows radio stations to transmit messages displayed on your radio, allows
your radio to be tuned by station format rather than frequency, even allows
a tape or regular program to be interrupted when there's important weather
or traffic info. There's no critical mass of Smart radio or stations using
the technology yet.

Title: Cashing In When Opportunity Knocks
Source: Washington Post (A1)
Author: Jerry Knight
Issue: Mergers
Description: Two Washington technology entrepreneurs have found that the
road to riches is 1) start tech company, 2) "take it public, 3) become a
millionaire
by selling off your stock, and then 4) arrange to merge with a bigger firm and
get really rich." Their company, Telco Communications Group Inc. which
provides discount long-distance service, is merging with Excel Communications
Inc. of Dallas. One analyst reports that the past 12 months have provided
telecom companies with a chance to merge and bundle services and that
companies in different niches are buying each other.

Title: Privacy Fears and the Internet
Source: Washington Post (A20)
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: Privacy Fears and the Internet
Description: At the Federal Trade Commission's hearings on Internet privacy,
the Commission
heard horror stories of privacy violations and cross-my-heart-hope-to-die
promises from tech companies that they would do a better job of regulating
themselves and allowing less information about individuals to be made
available. Companies have such strong financial incentives to use all the
information they can get from consumers to better tailor sales it's hard to
believe that they will be able to regulate themselves.

Title: The Jones Case: Glass Houses at The Fourth Estate
Source: Washington Post (C1)
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Journalism
Description: "It never fails: When journalists criticize the personal
conduct of public figures, someone points an accusatory finger at them."
Last week a writer for the New York Observer criticized five journalists for
their questioning of Clinton's ethics when they themselves had messy
divorces. Critiquing the private lives of journalists who are covering the
Clinton-Jones issue is not necessarily a fruitful investigative path.
Because a journalist is divorced doesn't mean s/he is incapable of covering
Clinton's ethics.

Title: Concept Videos for Children: No Violence, No Sexism
Source: Washington Post (Wash Tech pg 9)
Author: Sandra Evans
Issue: Children's Television
Description: DC-based Troon productions creates claymation home videos
(for the home, not homemade) for kids 10 and under. The story lines have
strong female characters and little violence. Research by Girls Inc. has shown
that there are three males characters for every one female character in
prime-time TV
and commercials.

Title: Special Technology Section
Source: Wall Street Journal (R)
Author: WSJ Staff
Issue: Family
Description: A special section on technology in the home with articles on
the technology gap when only one spouse adopts new gadgets, how to keep
children away from inappropriate sites on the Internet, how e-mail is
changing how we communicate, the dangers of cyberlife, and girls and
technology.

Title: House Commerce Republicans Overcome Doubts, Approve $26.3 Billion
Spectrum Auction
Proposal
Source: Telecommunications Reports
Author: Matthew Petrillo
Issue: Spectrum/Budget Issues
Description: The House Commerce Committee approved a budget reconciliation
bill that aims to collect $26 billion i spectrum license auctions over the
next five years. Most legislators do not believe that the auctions will
raise even $20 billion though. The FCC was directed to begin an auction in
2001 of spectrum to be returned by broadcasters in 2006. But the Committee
also approved an amendment that would allow broadcasters to retain that
spectrum if 5% or more households in those markets still rely on analog
signals. No new technology has reached that high a penetration so fast.

Title: Ratings likely to get content adds
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 12)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Broadcasters and cable companies (except maybe NBC) have
decided to add content indicators to TV ratings. Many politicians are trying
to take credit for this turnaround by broadcasters, who were initially
opposed to content ratings. House Telecommunication Subcommittee Chairman
Billy Tauzin believes that because the TV industry volunteered (with
pressure from children's advocacy groups) to add the new ratings, there is
no need for legislation on the issue.

Title: News Corp. finally gets Family Deal
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 12)
Author: John M. Higgins
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: A unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is going to take over
International Family Entertainment Inc. for $1.9 billion. News Corp. will
use the Family Channel, which IFE owned half of, as an outlet for kids'
programming. The Family Channel will be populated with kids' programs by
Saban Entertainment, which owns the other half of the Family Channel. Tim
Robertson, Pat Robertson's son, will continue to lead the Family Channel.
Walt Disney had also been trying to buy the channel.

Title: House would give more time for DTV transition
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 14)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: ATV
Description: The House Commerce Committee voted to extend the time
broadcasters can have their analog channel in the transition to digital
television. The Committee's proposition would let broadcasters hold two
channels past the FCC's 2006 deadline until 95% of the TV viewers in their
markets had digital sets or converters. Gigi Sohn of the Media Access
Project doesn't believe that this is in consumers' best interest as
broadcasters claim, "It's a backhanded way for broadcasters to try to keep
both blocks of spectrum indefinitely...and the notion that this is
pro-consumer is just a big, fat, lie." The Clinton Administration would
like those who did not pay for spectrum at auction to pay fees in case the
auctions of the analog channels don't raise the $26.3 billion the government
has them down for. Billy Tauzin of the House telecom sub-committee is
against spectrum fees and the committee hopes to boost the auctions by
allowing broadcasters to buy back their analog channel. Duopoly rules would
be relaxed, and broadcasters would be able to own one UHF and one VHF
channel (but not two VHF channels and certainly not two VHF channels with
cheese). Another provision might eliminate the ban against owning
newspapers and TV stations in the same market.

Title: Hundt agrees to put alcohol inquiry on hold
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 15)
Author: CM
Issue: Advertising
Description: Commissioner Chong requested that an inquiry into broadcast
alcohol advertising be removed from the FCC's meeting agenda this week, and
Hundt granted that request.

Title: Did we forget to mention...
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 18)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Journalism/Media Mergers
Description: When ABC's Nightline covered News Corp.'s acquisition of the
Family Channel last week, it did not mention that Disney/ABC (aka
Nightline's parent company) was in competition with News Corp. to buy the
channel. Nightline criticized Murdoch for a lack of imagination by airing
sports. Murdoch is trying to buy the LA Dodgers, but the fact that Disney
has an interest in the California Angels wasn't mentioned.

Title: Hundt raps Grossman public TV plan
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 20)
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Public Television
Description: Chairman Hundt came out against the former head of PBS's
proposal to have ads on public television. Former PBS president Larry
Grossman says that something needs to be done to help public television.
Billy Tauzin wants broadcasters to pay into a fund to support public TV and
wants this donation to free broadcasters of public interest obligations.
Hundt, on the other hand, wants educational programming to stay on the
heavily watched stations. Hundt says putting all the educational
programming on one channel would be like creating an "educational ghetto."

Title: Shifting personnel atop the FCC
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 21)
Author: CM
Issue: FCC
Description: Hundt's departure from the FCC could lead to a lot of personnel
shifts. Many people have already left: International Bureau Chiefs Scott
Harris, Donald Gips, Wireless Telecommunications Chief Michelle Farquhar,
and Chief Counsel Julius Genachowski (about to leave) among others.

Title: Annenberg grades children's television
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 21)
Author: Elizabeth A. Rathburn
Issue: Children's Television
Description: The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of
Pennsylvania has produced a study that found that 22% of the shows
broadcasters consider educational were not even close. Broadcasters must
start showing 3 hours a week of educational programming, but the FCC hasn't
really defined what counts as educational beyond "furthers the positive
development of children 16 years of age and under." Annenberg is hoping to
develop "reasonable benchmarks" that broadcasters can use to gage how
educational a program is for kids. The article has a chart ranking quality
of educational programming by venue (PBS, basic cable, big, three,
Paramount) and also side boxes on how local kids programming could suffer
under the FCC's new guidelines, how newspapers do not sufficiently cover
children's television according to child advocates, and one box with the
usual terrifying numbers on just how much TV kids watch.

Title: FCC tracking cable competition
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 25)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Cable
Description: The FCC has started its latest research into cable
competition. The Commission found in 1996 that cable had 89% of all
multi-channel video programming subscribers. This year it will be looking
into the impact of the Telecom Act on competition.

Title: More Push for PSAs
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 24)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Public Television
Description: Chairman Hundt is pulling in supporters for his campaign for
more public service announcements on TV. Colin Powell told broadcasters
that they should show more public service announcements, and Newt Gingrich
stated at a mayor's conference that TV networks could give some air time to
fight drugs. Gingrich said that if networks could afford to pay the actors
in Seinfeld $600,000 an episode, they could afford to spare a little air
time. "They [the broadcasters] ought to do it as citizens, because
Americans have been pretty darn good to the networks," sayeth the Speaker.

Title: Cable mergers draw fire from Washington
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 54)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: TCI's most recent round of proposed mergers has lawmakers
peeved and federal agencies are going to be reviewing proposals very
carefully. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz) stated
that "We are seeing mergers and consolidations with the telecommunications
industry, rather than competition...That should be very disturbing to all
of us." TCI has hired some top lobbyists to help smooth the deals through
Washington. TCI is one of the big holders of Primestar which just agreed to
a huge deal with Murdoch's News Corp. Also, TCI and Cablevision are working
together.

At the FCC
Broadcast Advertisement of Distilled Spirits. On Thursday, June 19, the FCC
will consider action regarding the recent initiation of broadcast
advertising by the distilled spirits industry, particularly with regard to
liquor consumption by minors, and seeks comment on what governmental
response, if any, is appropriate.

*********

Communications-related Headlines for 6/13/97

Communications-related Headlines for 6/13/97 (stay away from black cats today!)

Political Money, On Line

Madison Ave In Newsroom Once Again

Recipe for Halting Spread of 'Spam' Is Proving Elusive

TV Broadcasters Gain Ground in Effort To Delay Return of Licenses for Auction

Plan to Revise TV-Rating System Stalls As Parental Groups Seek Tough Criteria

FTC Vows to Crack Down on Fraudulent E-Mail

Burn Lifts "Hold," But Hollings Won't Budge on Klein's Nomination

House Commerce OKs Budget Measure on Party-Line Vote

Burns and Klein Make Up, But Klein's Nomination Still In Doubt

*********************************************
Title: Political Money, On Line
Source: New York Times (A30)
Author: Topics of the Times
Issue: Campaign Fiance Reform
Description: The California State Senate has voted to require prompt online
filing of contributions to state-wide candidates and ballot measure
campaigns. The measure will take effect in 1998. All state legislature
offices will be covered by 2000. About a dozen other states, including
Hawaii, Virginia, and Washington, have similar laws. System will allow Press
to better monitor donations in waning days of a campaign.

Title: Madison Ave In Newsroom Once Again
Source: New York Times (C1)
Author: Stuart Elliott
Issue: Journalism
Description: "If you are a journalist, you do not lend yourself to the
promotion of any goods or services," says Colombia Journalism Review's
Marshall Loeb. "It's a conflict of interest." Journalists' endorsements are
being discussed more in light of Jonathon Karl's Visa ad (he's a
correspondent for CNN) and CNN's news anchors and logos appearing in
Jurassic Park. See the Drudge Report , a web
site devoted to news media.

Title: Recipe for Halting Spread of 'Spam' Is Proving Elusive
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: For almost every move to cut down on junk email, spammers have
a counter move. Spammers use fake return addresses to get by filters. A
few years ago spammers were relatively rare and those that tried were
retaliated against by other users. Now, the number of spammers are growing
and only 4% of users respond against them.

Title: TV Broadcasters Gain Ground in Effort To Delay Return of Licenses
for Auction
Source: Wall Street Journal (B5)
Author: Bryan Gruley
Issue: Digital TV
Description: The House Commerce Committee adopted a provision that would
let broadcasters keep their second spectrum license beyond the FCC's 2006
deadline. The FCC would have to extend the deadline "for returning the
analog license in areas where 5% or more of households continue to rely
solely on over-the-air analog TV signals. Currently, about 30% of the
nation's households rely on such transmissions; the rest get their TV
signals from cable or satellite." Critics warn that extensions will slow
the transition to digital TV, lower the amount of money the government
raises in auctions, and enable broadcasters to limit competition since
they've got all the licenses: "if broadcasters get to hold on to both blocks
of spectrum, nobody else can have it, which means no [new] competition,"
says Gigi Sohn of the Media Access Project. Supporters of the provision
believe that it protects consumers who can't afford new digital TVs or set
top boxes.

Title: Plan to Revise TV-Rating System Stalls As Parental Groups Seek Tough
Criteria
Source: Wall Street Journal (B5)
Author: Kyle Pope
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Should hugging get an S for sexual content? Is the phrase
"getting lucky" bad language? Do veggie burgers merit a T for Tofu? These
kinds of questions have deadlocked the effort the develop more content based
TV ratings. Pro- and anti- hugging advocates both agree that everything
under discussion is still very much in draft form.

Title: FTC Vows to Crack Down on Fraudulent E-Mail
Source: Washington Post (G3)
Author:Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: The Federal Trade Commission announced that regulators would
increase their efforts to protect Internet users from junk email. Not only
is junk email annoying because it clogs In boxes, but much of it makes
fraudulent business claims. AOL states that 5 to 30% of the 15 million
daily messages it carries is junk email.

Title: Burn Lifts "Hold," But Hollings Won't Budge on Klein's Nomination
Source: Telecommunications Reports Daily
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burn
(R-Mont) has lifted his hold on the nomination of Joel Klein for Assistant
Attorney General-Antitrust. Sen Burn had concerns that Klein may try to
regulate the phone industry too much. Sen Ernest Hollings (D-SC) will not
lift his hold on the nomination until "Mr. Klein has a better understanding
of the Telecommunications Act." Sen Hollings thinks Klein may not regulate
the phone industry enough. The antitrust division monitors phone company
mergers.

Title: House Commerce OKs Budget Measure on Party-Line Vote
Source: Telecommunications Reports Daily
Issue: Budget Issues/Spectrum
Description: The House Commerce Committee approved a budget reconciliation
bill that projects the US Treasury will get $26.3 billion for upcoming FCC
spectrum auctions. However, member of the committee, the Office of
Management and Budget, and the Congressional Budget Office do not believe
the auctions will raise even $20 billion. That's how we balance a budget
here in DC. The committee approved an amendment that will relax
broadcast/newspaper crossownership rules. The committee also approved a
loophole that may allow television broadcasters to retain 78 MHz of spectrum
they were scheduled to return to the government for auction in 2006. These
will probably be points of contention when a conference committee addresses
this bill later this month. The Senate Commerce Committee is expected to
consider its spectrum budget package on June 17.

Title: Burns and Klein Make Up, But Klein's Nomination Still In Doubt
Source: Telecom AM
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: Klein gets handoff; fakes Burns right; tries to cut-back left;
stopped by Hollings. Coach Reno has full confidence.

Congratulations to the Media Access Project's Gigi Sohn -- recently elected
to the DC Bar Board of Governors. (And a slick fielding third baseperson to
boot!)
*********
Go Bulls! And remember...as bad as it may seem on Friday the 13th, its
always worse on Saturday the 14th.

Communications-related Headlines for 6/12/97

Personal Files Via Computer Offer Money and Pose Threat

Murdoch Will Buy Cable Empire From Robertson for $1.9 Billion

Among the Not So Well Heeled of Gucci Gulch

Bill Gates Goes Vertical

Rare Alliance On Privacy For Software

With a sale, Murdoch Will End Direct-Broadcast Bid

Welfare's Urban Poor Need a Lift -- to Suburban Jobs

Rivals Microsoft and Netscape Team Up To Protect Consumer Privacy on the Web

Murdoch to Buy Half Family Channel

Microsoft and Netscape Communications

Women, Communications and the Public Interest

Regulation for Fair Competition
*********************************************
Title: Personal Files Via Computer Offer Money and Pose Threat
Source: New York Times (A1)
Author: Nina Bernstein
Issue: Privacy
Description: In a special report, Lives On File: The Erosion of Privacy,
Bernstein addresses the "far-reaching national debate over legal protection
for privacy in a world where information is ever easier to mine and market."
As companies become more interested in personal data, individual privacy "is
looking more and more like an endangered natural resource." [Front page
story continues on two-page spread (A30-31).

Title: Murdoch Will Buy Cable Empire From Robertson for $1.9 Billion
Source: New York Times (A1)
Author: Geraldine Fabrikant
Issue: Mergers
Description: How much irony can we handle? The man who brought us the risque
"Married With Children," the nihilistic series "The Simpsons," and the most
violent children's program -- "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" -- is buying
the cable channel controlled by conservative Christian evangelist Pat
Robertson. Mark Crispin Miller, media studies professor at John Hopkins,
says that even though Murdoch seems unconcerned with Robertson's social
agenda -- which is regularly made fun of by the Simpsons -- the differences
between the two "may be more apparent than real." Fox Kids Worldwide will
buy International Family Entertainment which was spun off from the Christian
Broadcasting Network several years ago.

Title: Among the Not So Well Heeled of Gucci Gulch
Source: New York Times (A28)
Author: Francis Clines
Issue: Lobbying
Description: One of the unspoken secrets of Washington concerns all those
boring committee hearings you flip past on C-SPAN. There's actually dozens
of people wasting precious hours to get one of the prized seats in those
committee rooms. But none of them are the stereotypical $300/hr lobbyist --
they pay messenger companies $25/hr to save them a place. Of course, the
line-standers only see about $10/hr of that.

Title: Bill Gates Goes Vertical
Source: New York Times (A39)
Author: Neal Garber
Issue: Mergers
Description: Having conquered the software industry, Bill Gates now sets his
sights on defeating Michael Jordan! No. But the Comcast deal gives Gates
great potential with the technology to reach American consumers -- but will
he deliver what they want? The lesson of history is "Entertainment triumphs
everything. Entertainment is the most powerful force of our time, one that
is both inexorable and irresistible." Garber's editorial concludes saying
that Microsoft will have to move from the limited market in interfaces and
operating systems "to entertainment, whose market is limitless."

Title: Rare Alliance On Privacy For Software
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Privacy
Description: Netscape and Microsoft have agreed on a standard for privacy
software. The Federal Trade Commission is holding hearings on privacy
concerns and is expected to make recommendations to Congress this fall on
needed changes in Federal law and regulation. The standard has been endorsed
by 100 companies including IBM and Sun Microsystems.

Title: With a sale, Murdoch Will End Direct-Broadcast Bid
Source: New York Times (D4)
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Mergers/Satellites TV
Description: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has agreed to sell American Sky
Broadcasting (ASkyB) to Primestar Partners, the nation's second largest DBS
operator headed by TCI and Time Warner (the nation's major cable operators).
"What we decided to do is to, in a sense, discontinue our effort in
operating a DBS business and concentrate on our core content business," said
News Corps' general counsel.

Title: News Corp. Gains Entry to Cable Market
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
Author: John Lippman and Mark Robichaux
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: With two deals totaling $2.8 billion, Rupert Murdoch enters the
cable industry. News Corp. is selling its satellite assets for a stake in
the cable industry's direct satellite venture, Primestar. This deal is
an about face from Murdoch's earlier plan to challenge the cable industry
with his own satellite TV venture. In the second deal, a News Corp.
partnership Fox Kids Worldwide is acquiring control over International
Family Entertainment Inc., owner of the Family Channel. The Family
Channel is News Corp.'s first US cable network.

Title: Welfare's Urban Poor Need a Lift -- to Suburban Jobs
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: Michael M. Phillips
Issue: low-income/transportation/jobs
Description: For residents of low-income city neighborhoods, its up hill
both ways to get to Suburban jobs. Most public transportation systems are
designed to bring suburbanites to city jobs, but now the jobs are in the
suburbs and inner-city residents are trying to get to them. "Reverse
commuting" is one of the biggest topics in urban-development. Commuting
programs are crucial for the ability of welfare recipients moved into jobs
by the welfare reform act to hold jobs. "The Clinton Administration is
asking Congress for $600 million to fund welfare-related transport programs
over the next six years. It also is backing a five-city experiment called
Bridges to Work, designed to identify which programs work best."
[Many businesses (and therefore jobs) have left the cities
because advances in communications and information technologies have
eliminated the need to be close to collaborators in downtown areas.]

Title: Rivals Microsoft and Netscape Team Up To Protect Consumer Privacy
on the Web
Source: Wall Street Journal (B14)
Author: Don Clark
Issue: Privacy
Description: Microsoft has agreed to support a plan to increase web
surfers' privacy that was initially proposed by its arch-enemy Netscape.
The technology they're promoting is called open profiling standard (OPS)
and allows users to determine how much information is disclosed to
different web sites. The fact that Microsoft is supporting this standard is
evidence of how high the stakes are for electronic commerce. Profiling is
crucial to develop a market, and companies are trying to show the Federal
Trade Commission that
they can protect surfers' privacy before the FTC develops privacy regulations.

Title: Murdoch to Buy Half Family Channel
Source: Washington Post (E1)
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: News Corp. owned by Rupert Murdoch is going to buy half the
Family Channel, owned by Pat Robertson. The Family Channel is produced by
International Family Entertainment Inc. Also, Murdoch's deal with Primestar
to provide digital satellite TV removes Murdoch as a potential competitor
with the dominant cable industry since Primestar is owned by cable companies.

Title: Microsoft and Netscape Communications (Digest)
Source: Washington Post (E1)
Author: WP Staff
Issue: Privacy
Description: Microsoft and Netscape have joined in an alliance to limit the
amount of information businesses collect from web surfers.

At the FCC
Chairman Hundt's 6/10/97 Speech "Women, Communications and the Public
Interest" to the American Women in Radio and Television ("AWRT") Power
Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Commissioner Ness's 6/10/97 speech "Regulation for Fair Competition" at Asia
Telecom 97 - International Telecommunications Union
*********

Communications-related Headlines for 6/11/97

F.T.C. Opens Hearings on Computers' Threat to Privacy and Liberty

Alphabet Soup

Home Box Office Will Offer High-Definition TV Programming Next Year

Without Saying "SBC," AT&T Chairman Applauds a Bell Deal

For AT&T, Building Local Service is Tough Job

FCC Asks Bell Atlantic And Nynex for More Data

Murdoch Sets Satellite-TV And Cable Deals

Slamming: Hold the Phone

House Subcommittee Approves Budget Reconciliation Measure

Telecom Companies: If You Can't Do It, Acquire Someone Who Can

*********************************************
Title: F.T.C. Opens Hearings on Computers' Threat to Privacy and Liberty
Source: New York Times (A22)
Author: John Broder
Issue: Privacy
Description: The Federal Trade Commission began hearings on the growing
power of computers to collect and spread personal information about
consumers. Hearings include executives from information companies and
consumer advocates. Presentations included information available over the
Internet -- individuals can be searched by name, address, phone number, date
of birth, profession, college or business affiliation, by magazine
subscription, medical condition, and political contribution.

Title: Alphabet Soup
Source: New York Times (B8)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Negotiations continue in Washington to add content warnings to
the TV ratings system. Children advocates are talking to Vice President
Gore; broadcasters and cable operators are talking amongst themselves; Jack
Valenti will be talking to Vice President Gore; everyone's got something to say.

Title: Home Box Office Will Offer High-Definition TV Programming Next Year
Source: New York Times (D2)
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Digital TV
Description: HBO says it will start offering High Definition programming by
the summer of 1998. HBO plans differ from that of cable operators who seem
more interested in using digital technology to expand their channel capacity
than to offer higher quality transmissions. HBO appears to be putting
pressure on broadcasters to provide HDTV programming instead of multiple
standard definition channels using digital technology.

Title: Without Saying "SBC," AT&T Chairman Applauds a Bell Deal
Source: New York Times (D2)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Mergers
Description: AT&T Chairman Robert Allen said yesterday that merging a long
distance and local phone companies is not "unthinkable." Allen said that
partnering with local providers could "tubocharge" AT&T's entry into local
service. Allen restated AT&T's arguments that a possible merger would
actually promote competition because the merging local company would "bend
over backwards" to open its market to competition. An announcement on AT&T's
merger will an unnamed local monopoly serving California and Texas could
come in the next 2-4 weeks.

Title: For AT&T, Building Local Service is Tough Job
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: John J. Keller
Issue: Mergers
Description: AT&T has not made much progress gathering local phone service
customers. It has fewer than 10,000 customers in a couple markets, and this
is why it's so interested in a possible merger with SBC Communications, a
big local carrier. AT&T estimates it would take $30 million to break into
the local market.

Title: FCC Asks Bell Atlantic And Nynex for More Data
Source: Wall Street Journal (B3)
Author: WSJ Reporter
Issue: Mergers
Description: The FCC has asked Bell Atlantic and Nynex for more data on
their impending merger. According to these Baby Bells, this request signals
the last stage of the regulatory agency's review.

Title: Murdoch Sets Satellite-TV And Cable Deals
Source: Wall Street Journal (B10)
Author: Mark Robichaux and John Lippman
Issue: Satellite TV
Description: News Corp., owned by Rupert Murdoch, will likely announce
that it has formed a partnership with PrimeStar Partners, a satellite TV
company owned by a consortia of cable companies. News Corp. will also
announce that it's going to buy International Family Entertainment, which
owns the Family Channel.

Title: Slamming: Hold the Phone
Source: Washington Post (D5)
Author: Don Oldenburg
Issue: Phone Regulation
Description: "Phone slamming" -- the practice of switching a customer's
long distance carrier without their consent -- is becoming a bigger problem as
more companies compete for long-distance customers. The FCC has
established regulations to protect consumers from slamming and is soon going
to propose that customers pay no phone charges for the time they were
slammed. The article includes a nice list of tips you can take to protect
you and your loved ones from slamming.

Title: House Subcommittee Approves Budget Reconciliation Measure
Source: Telecommunications Reports Daily
Issue: Budget Issues
Description: The House Telecommunications Subcommittee rejected an amendment
to a reconciliation bill that would have required all TV sets sold after
2001 to be capable of receiving a digital signal. FCC digital TV rules call
for a "spectrum giveback" from broadcasters by the year 2006, but Congress
is considering provisions that would allow the FCC to waive the giveback in
any market where more than 5% of the households continue to rely on analog
television broadcasts. The returned spectrum will be auctioned and proceeds
will be used to balance the budget. Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) offered the digital
TV amendment because he is worried that consumers may not make a swift
conversion to digital sets which would delay the spectrum return and
auction. "If we don't do something...we're going to be totally short of the
money needed to balance the budget," Markey said.

Title: Telecom Companies: If You Can't Do It, Acquire Someone Who Can
Source: Telecom AM
Issue: Mergers
Description: "The industry is ripe for consolidation," says a Paine Webber
vice president. "There are companies that are lacking in areas, which makes
them ripe [for a takeover]." Telecom experts expect more mega-mergers in the
next year and beyond. Long distance providers and local exchange carriers
will look to eachother in partnerships to supply a total package to customers.
*********

Communications-related Headlines for 6/10/97

For Moscow's Ambitious Mayor, a New Way to Network

F.C.C. Head Opposes Proposal For Ads on Public TV Stations

A Changing Cast Of Media Players

The Next Act for Microsoft

The question is: What is the role of the Ad Council? The answer is: It is
under debate

Megadeals Bolster the Embattled Cable Industry

Readin', Writin', and the Internet

Hundt has not left the building

Getting Better All The Time
*********************************************
Title: For Moscow's Ambitious Mayor, a New Way to Network
Source: New York Times (A3)
Author: Alessandra Stanley
Issue: International/Television
Description: Center TV debuted in Russia yesterday. The station is owned and
operated by the city of Moscow and its main goal is to spread the image of
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov across the nation. Luzhkov may be running for President
in 2000. "There is no independent television," says Center TV's director.
"It is a politicized business."

Title: F.C.C. Head Opposes Proposal For Ads on Public TV Stations
Source: New York Times (A20)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Public Television
Description: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt said
yesterday that public television stations should reject the proposal from
Lawrence Grossman to air commercials during primetime on Friday and Saturday
nights. "'Commercial noncommercial TV' is an oxymoron that shouldn't be
tolerated," Hundt said. The Chairman admits that the funding of PBS needs to
be "depoliticized," perhaps by setting up a trust with monies raised in
spectrum auctions.

Title: A Changing Cast Of Media Players
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Just four years ago many thought the main media mergers would
be between cable operators and phone companies. In the TCI/Bell Atlantic
deal (which later fell apart) and the USWest/Time Warner deal (which still
may fall apart), the TV screen was seen as the "windshield" through which
the public would get their view of the information superhighway. Cable
companies would act as large video vaults for on demand movies and the
interactivity of the phone network would allow for shopping. With the
announced Microsoft/Comcast deal, we're seeing a shift -- cable systems are
the delivery pipeline and the Internet will provide the interactivity.

Title: The Next Act for Microsoft
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Mergers
Description: "microsoft is building a very large, powerful media company,"
says research firm Technology Partners. "What has motivated this push into
media is the search for future growth. And what has attracted Microsoft is
that the media business is going through a transition toward the digital
technology of computers." In addition to the Comcast investment, Microsoft
has teamed with NBC to operate MSNBC, purchased WebTV, and started the
online magazine Slate.

Title: The question is: What is the role of the Ad Council? The answer is:
It is under debate
Source: New York Times (D9)
Author: Stuart Elliott
Issue: Public Service Media
Description: The debate over the ad council center around whether public
service announcements ought to be redefined to reflect market changes.
Television networks have been asked by FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and the Ad
Council to devote one minute of primetime for public service announcements.
The networks believe that they are doing a fine job with PSAs with
celebrities that say Know When to Say When or Stay in School. The Ad Council
counters that although these messages are great, "it's not the same as
speaking in the voice of a nonprofit."

Title: Megadeals Bolster the Embattled Cable Industry
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: Mark Robichaux
Issue: Cable/Media Mergers
Description: A few deals made yesterday may significantly help the
not-so-healthy cable industry. Microsoft is going to invest $1 billion in
Comcast Corporation, the nation's fourth largest cable company, and
Tele-Communications and Cablevision Systems are going to swap some assets
so that TCI's big debt is cut and Cablevision gets a part of the lucrative
NYC market. These deals could allow the cable industry to commence
providing digital services.

Title: IBM's Electronic Mall to Close Up Shop
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: Thomas E. Weber
Issue: Corporate Retrenchment
Description: IBM's World Avenue cybermall is shutting down after a year
of business. World Avenue did not successfully attract shoppers.

Title: Microsoft Casts a Wider Communications Net
Source: Wall Street Journal (B5)
Author: David Bank
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: "Microsoft Corp.'s first attempt to jump-start interactive
television failed. Now the software giant is trying to create an updated
version by investing heavily in a broad array of communications companies."
Microsoft is going to obtain 11.5% of Comcast, the nation's fourth largest
cable company, for $1 billion. Microsoft is going to use its relationship
with Comcast to speed up the delivery of high-speed networks to homes so
more people will be able to get set-top Internet boxes like those from Web
TV Networks, which Microsoft bought two months ago. Microsoft does not
support the digital TV standard proposed by the broadcast industry and now
will be more able to affect the development of those standards.

Title: TV Channel in Germany Partly Owned by Time Warner Takes Bankruptcy Step
Source: Wall Street Journal (B9)
Author: Cacilie Rohwedder
Issue: Corporate Retrenchment/International
Description: Puls TV initiated bankruptcy proceedings yesterday "dealing an
embarrassing defeat to its owners, which include Time Warner, George Soros
and Central Media Enterprises."

Title: U.S. Households With PCs Exceed 40% for First Time
Source: Wall Street Journal (B9)
Author: WSJ Staff Reporter
Issue: Info tech/low-income
Description: A survey done at the end of last year by Computer
Intelligence indicated that the percentage of US homes with PCs rose to
40.7%. Growth, however, has been slowing overall. Education and income
are strongly linked to ownership. "About 60% of households with annual
income about $40,000 said they have a PC, compared with about 24% of
households with incomes below $35,000...But the lower income buyers made
up 54% of first-timer PC buyers last year."

Title: Database Firms Set Privacy Plan
Source: Washington Post (A1)
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Privacy
Description: Eight of the country's biggest consumer database companies,
including Lexis-Nexis, agreed to "limit the kinds of information they
assemble about ordinary people and more closely monitor who uses that data."
The companies will not add information from private marketing databases,
such as shopping preferences and magazine subscriptions, to their records.
Privacy advocates believe that this is a step in the right direction but
point out that the smaller database companies will continue to gather this
type of information. The Center for Democracy and Technology
in Washington
is working with a coalition of companies to create a common protocol so that
users can indicate how much personal information they want made available.

Title: Spam Attack
Source: Washington Post (A16)
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: There are two bills under discussion to regulate bulk junk
e-mail, aka SPAM. The bills have very different approaches to regulating
the Internet and are proposed days before the Supreme Court is expected to
rule on the Communications Decency Act. One measure proposed by Rep. Chris
Smith (R-NJ) compares spam to environmental pollution and is similar to a
1991 law that banned junk fax. Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska -- a state
so new no one seems to remember its abbreviation) is sponsoring a measure to
limit commercial email with a v-chip like device (this is also confusing
since few of us could actually tell you what a V-Chip is like) --
"Commercial e-mail would have to be 'tagged' and service providers would
have to supply blocking software that filtered it out on request." It
would be better to wait and see what the Supreme Court says about the
protections for speech on the Internet before Congress goes too much farther
with
either of these bills.

Title: From Satellite TV Matrimony to Acrimony
Source: Washington Post (C1)
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Cable
Description: Charlie Ergen of EchoStar was planning to produce a satellite
TV network with Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Now, however, Ergen and
Murdoch have split and Murdoch is partnering with EchoStar's arch-enemy,
PrimeStar -- owned by several big cable companies. Ergen thinks Murdoch
switched to PrimeStar because Murdoch can't make it without the support of
the cable industry. Murdoch needs cable networks to carry his Fox News
Network and FX movie channel. Murdoch is also competing with Disney to buy
Pat Robertson's International Family Entertainment, Inc and must have TCI's
backing (TCI is one of the owners of Primestar, which in turn owns Tubersol,
the maker of Tuberculin Skin Test Gauges -- ok that last part is not true).
Ergen has filed suit against News Corp for breach-of-contract and may join
in another merger soon because his company is having financial difficulties.

Title: Cablevisions Systems (Digest)
Source: Washington Post (C1)
Author: WP Staff
Issue: Cable
Description: Cablevision Systems is going to buy 10 New York City cable
systems from TCI. The deal eases TCI's debt problems and helps Cablevision
increase its hold in the New York market.

Title: Microsoft to Invest $1 Billion in Comcast
Source: Washington Post C1)
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Microsoft announced that it would invest $1 billion in Comcast,
the nation's fourth largest pantyhose manufacturer which fronts as a cable
company. This deal is Microsoft's largest investment in another company and
Microsoft hopes to hurry the development of interactive fiber-optic networks
that can carry video and audio to and from the home. Comcast has 4.3
million customers and owns half of home-shopping network QVC and 2/3s of
Philadelphia's basketball and hockey teams. The Comcast investment and the
earlier purchase of Web TV are part of Microsoft's effort to become just as
powerful in digital TV as it is in software, sayeth analysts. Because of
Comcast's sports investments, the NBA and the NHL must approve the deal.

Title: Readin', Writin', and the Internet
Source: Business Week (June, 9 1997)
Author: Stephen H. Wildstrom
Issue: Education Technology
Description: Congress and the Clinton Administration have made
substantial commitments to connect the nation's schools to the Internet.
"The trouble is no one seems to know which of the myriad problems facing
American education Internet access can solve...Student access to the
World Wide Web is useful, but probably less so than access to a good
library." One reason for the confusion is that not enough is being
invested to train teachers and administrators to use these new tools. "A
recent study by the Educational Testing Service found that only 15% of
teachers had received even nine hours of training in educational
technology." There are a couple of initiatives and examples, however, that
can help schools make the most of these ed-tech opportunities, including
Co-Nect schools (http://co-nect.bbn.com), the Global SchoolNet Foundation
(http://www.gsn.org), the Dalton School (http://www.dalton.org), and Netschools
(http://www.netschools.net). Wildstrom invites readers to send examples of
schools doing exceptionally good or bad job with ed tech.

Title: Hundt has not left the building
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.16)
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Television
Description: FCC Chairman Reed Hundt still has an agenda for television.
Hundt wants the FCC to address TV journalism, free airtime for candidates,
and broadcast liquor advertising. Hundt's comments are available at
.

At the FCC
Chairman Hundt's 6/9/97 Speech "Getting Better All The Time" to the
Annenberg Public Policy Center's 2nd Annual Conference on Children and
Television
*********

Communications-related Headlines for 6/9/97

Microsoft Near Deal to Acquire Cable TV Stake

Graduation Ends a Partnership Born in a Chicago Ghetto

Public TV And Ads: Rescue, At A Price

McLuhan preferred form to content. So does the Internet -- to its sorrow

Internet Charging How Research Centers Work

Legal Situation Is Confused On Web Content Protections

Niche Magazines on maladies Take Peppier and Glossier Route

Newspaper owners proselytize business sense to their reporters and editors

Zoe Baird To Take Over A Foundation In New York

Microsoft May Put $1 Billion Into Comcast

Cable and Wireless Signs Pact with China

Ply and Pry: How Business Pumps Kids on Web

Firms to Unveil Plans to Protect On-Line Privacy

A Blurry View of TV

A Controversial Twist

NBC hanging tough

Planned obsolescence
*********************************************
Title: Microsoft Near Deal to Acquire Cable TV Stake
Source: New York Times (A1)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Mergers
Description: The Microsoft Corporation is close to a deal to invest $1
billion in the nation's 6th largest cable operator, Comcast. Microsoft would
receive a 15% stake in Comcast and seems most interested in the company's
distribution pipeline for the Microsoft Network.

Title: Graduation Ends a Partnership Born in a Chicago Ghetto
Source: New York Times (A12)
Author: Don Terry
Issue: Radio
Description: An award-winning journalism team in Chicago is breaking up. For
the past five years LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman have covered their Chicago
neighborhood in radio interviews. Mr. Jones has graduated from high school
and Mr. newman still has a year left. They have compiled their work into a
book called "Our America" dedicated "to all people living ghetto lives."

Title: Public TV And Ads: Rescue, At A Price
Source: New York Times (B6)
Author: Walter Goodman
Issue: Public Television
Description: A look at the debate over allowing ads on public TV as proposed
by Lawrence Grossman, former head of PBS. How would ads be different from
the "announcements" before and after shows now? What are other possibilities
for funding public TV?

Title: McLuhan preferred form to content. So does the Internet -- to its sorrow
Source: New York Times (D5)
Author: Edward Rothstein
Issue: Old vs New Media
Description: Marshall McLuhan is hot again thanks to Wired and the MIT
Press. The man who coined phrases like "global village" and "information
age" gave birth to media studies and predicted a crisis in print culture:
"the future of the book is the blurb." The Medium is the Massage and War and
Peace in the Global Village are again available in print as is On McLuhan:
Forward Through the Rearview Mirror. Also see
.

Title: Internet Charging How Research Centers Work
Source: New York Times (D5)
Author: Geanne Rosenberg
Issue: Computer-based Communications
Description: More and more think tanks are conducting discussions over
computer networks. The systems break down physical and social barriers and
allow for more participants.

Title: Legal Situation Is Confused On Web Content Protections
Source: New York Times (D5)
Author: Matt Richtel
Issue: Copyright/WWW
Description: More and more businesses are looking for ways to control who
links to their World Wide Web sites, how they link and how they display
content. The first litigation on the issue has been settled out of court and
the Total News site has agreed to stop displaying CNN's and the washington
Post's content w/ Total News advertising. The next big case is Microsoft's
Sidewalk vs Ticketmaster over links to the TM site.

Title: Niche Magazines on maladies Take Peppier and Glossier Route
Source: New York Times (D23)
Author: Constance Hays
Issue: Magazines
Description: Magazines that help people and their loved ones cope with
illness are moving from low-budget, nuts and bolts infomercial material to
glossy, spunky, for-profit magazines.

Title: Newspaper owners proselytize business sense to their reporters and
editors
Source: New York Times (D23)
Author: Iver Peterson
Issue: Newspapers
Description: Competition for time and money means less people are reading
daily newspapers and publishers are conducting internal campaigns to get
their reporters and editor to accept the new economic realities of their
business. Workers are being taught "Business Literacy."

Title: Zoe Baird To Take Over A Foundation In New York
Source: New York Times (6/27/97)
Author: Judith Miller
Issue: Philanthropy
Description: "Borked" Attorney General nominee Zoe Baird will head the John
and Mary R. Markle Foundation. The foundation specializes in pioneering
projects in mass communication, information technology and public policy.
The foundation has $150 million in assets and awards ~$7 million in grants
each year.

Title: Microsoft May Put $1 Billion Into Comcast
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
Author: Mark Robichaux and Don Clark
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Microsoft is considering investing in Comcast, the country's fourth
largest cable operator. A pairing with Comcast would allow Microsoft to
hurry the cable industry in the roll out of Internet access to homes and to
influence the development of digital television. Microsoft could try to
get Microsoft software in the set-top boxes cable operators are purchasing
to display new channels.

Title: Cable and Wireless Signs Pact with China
Source: Wall Street Journal (A15)
Author: Gautam Naik
Issue: International
Description: The British company Cable and Wireless made an agreement that
"will make it the first foreign carrier to gain access to the coveted
Chinese market." Cable and Wireless is selling a chunk of its holdings in
Hong Kong Telecommunications to China Telecom to gain access to China's
market. Approximately 6% of the Chinese population has a phone, and the
Chinese telecom market recorded 50% compound growth over the last four years.

Title: Ply and Pry: How Business Pumps Kids on Web
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: Jared Sandberg
Issue: Children
Description: At a Web site for jelly beans, small sugar-focused users
(actually any users, but the site is aimed at the age range that still has
the tooth fairy on speed dial) can receive a free sample of jelly beans if
they enter a bunch of personal data. These types of marketing gimmicks
worry privacy advocates, and the FTC opens hearings tomorrow on Internet
privacy issues. At a site run by Mars Inc., kids are asked to supply the
email addresses of friends so that they too can help track down the imposter
M&M's. Parents are not pleased that information their kids enter on a web
site can be sold several times over. [for more info see ]

Title: Firms to Unveil Plans to Protect On-Line Privacy
Source: Wall Street Journal (B9)
Author: Don Clark and John R. Wilke
Issue: Privacy
Description: In efforts to stop the government from regulating electronic
commerce, several information-service companies are releasing a series of
consumer information privacy programs this week. Database companies have
developed a code of conduct and corporations like IBM and Netscape are
initiating other proposals. The Federal Trade Commission is starting
hearings on Internet privacy this week, covering such issues as "'look-up'
database services, consumer online privacy, unsolicited e-mail, and
protecting children's privacy." Database look-up services gather
information from Web sites and other databases and compile profiles of users
based on what sites they visit, data from mortgage, legal and driver's
license records, real estate, relatives, and phone numbers. Some
companies may post a "No Exchange" badge on their site indicating that the
site operator doesn't gather any information on the user. Other companies
want to let users determine how much information can go to which Web sites.

Title: A Blurry View of TV
Source: Washington Post (A18)
Author: WP Editorial Staff
Issue: V Chip
Description: This editorial in the Washington Post supports the broadcasting
industry's decision to start using more content-based ratings for television
programs. Pressure from Congress, however, should not develop into
legislation on what's objectionable and what shows should be shown.
"Enactment of censorship legislation should be resisted in any case."

Title: A Controversial Twist
Source: Washington Post (D1)
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Journalism
Description: When law enforcement agents in under-cover operations pose
as journalists, it could put other journalists at risk and start to get
journalism more involved in the creation of news than the gathering of it.
"It's one thing for a reporter to drop his pad and save someone from a
burning building, quite another to rent out his identity to the police."
Civic Journalism: A New Jersey newspaper provided in-depth information to
voters about a Senate race last year. "In 54 full pages over nine weeks,
the paper published issue-oriented stories, interviews with voters, detailed
candidate information and reader feedback. No insider tactics or horse-race
stuff on these pages, which cost $100,000 to print and were prepared by
nearly a dozen staffers." The Pew Center followed up the special coverage
with polling and focus groups and found that the effort did not make much
impact at all on readers. People did not read these stories any more than
other stories, nor did this effort change their views about political
coverage. News shows: Fox News Network has a new show hosted by Eric
Breindel, "the conservative former editor of the New York Post's editorial
page." Fox does not think that this host choice affects their efforts to
be fair and balanced in reporting.

Title: NBC hanging tough
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.6)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: V-Chip
Description: Many TV networks, the National Association of Broadcasters and
the National Cable Television Association appear ready to agree to including
content warnings (S,L,V) to the current ratings system. NBC, however,
opposes the addition: "We are not prepared to go along with S,V, and
L...They are misleading [designators] and lead to indiscriminate blocking
and censorship," said an NBC exec. There is mounting pressure from Capitol
Hill for the broadcasters to change. Senator John Coates (R-Ind) is
proposing legislation that would force broadcasters to return their spectrum
if they do not add content warnings. In a related story, a new poll reports
that only 35% of parents are using the new system to guide their children's
viewing.

Title: Planned obsolescence
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.7)
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Digital TV
Description: House Democrats are proposing legislation that would require
warning labels on TVs and VCRs to inform consumers that these devises will
become obsolete after 2006.
*********
Sorry for the late delivery, we had a late night at the library last night.

Communications-related Headlines for 6/6/97

Germany's Efforts to Police Web Are Upsetting Business

Libraries Will Get $16 Million In New Aid From Budget Deal

Code Word: Disaster

Florida Phone Firm to buy Local Internet Pioneer

France Telecom Sale on Hold

Microsoft Helps D.C. Libraries Get Connected

Network-TV Sales Head Skyward As Audience Size Remains A Lure

All Eyes Are on Top German Regulator

Internet Porn Could Be A Thorn In Libraries' Side

Congress Considers New Auctions in Budget Reconciliation Plan
*********************************************
Title: Germany's Efforts to Police Web Are Upsetting Business
Source: New York Times (A1)
Author: Edmund Andrews
Issue: Internet/International
Description: A German woman is in court she maintained a Internet home page
with a link to a left-wing paper called Radikal. The paper includes tips on
making bombs and derailing trains. German authorities are pressing hard to
control content on the Internet. In Germany, it is illegal to run sites with
pornography or offer "youth endangering" material that glorifies violence,
promotes racial hatred or bends morals.

Title: Libraries Will Get $16 Million In New Aid From Budget Deal
Source: New York Times (A34)
Author: Clifford Levy
Issue: Libraries
Description: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and City Council leaders
agreed to a budget that includes $16 million in new aid for the city's
libraries. Funds are intended to help local branches increase their book
purchases. "This remarkable effort on the part of New York's
leaders...underscores the important role of neighborhood libraries in the
city's initiative to improve reading skills, " said Paul LeClerc, President
of the New York Public Library.

Title: Code Word: Disaster
Source: Washington Post (A27)
Author: James P. Moran
Issue: Encryption
Description: This op-ed by Moran, a Democratic representative from
Virginia, encourages the US to stop regulating encryption policies under the
Arms Control Act and to start letting the Commerce Department make
decisions. Also, the government's prohibitions on the exportation of strong
encryption programs and demand for key recovery programs could have a
devastating effect on the growth of what so far has been a very successful
industry for the US.

Title: Florida Phone Firm to buy Local Internet Pioneer
Source: Washington Post (G1)
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: A Beltsville, MD Internet firm, Digex, is being bought by
Intermedia Communications, a Florida phone company, for $150 million.

Title: France Telecom Sale on Hold
Source: Washington Post (G3)
Author: Anne Swardson
Issue: International
Description: France Telecom was planning to "start its first stage of
privatization" next week, but the Socialist party's win in Sunday's
elections may put these plans indefinitely on hold. The new French prime
minister does not believe that profits should be made off public services.
Selling stock was part of France Telecom's way of gearing up for the global
competition when the European market opens on January 1. Most other
European communications companies have privatized partly or completely.

Title: Microsoft Helps D.C. Libraries Get Connected
Source: Washington Post from 6/5/97
Author: Vernon Loeb and Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Libraries
Description: Microsoft donated $1 million of computers, software, and
technical expertise to DC's MLK Library as part of an effort to connect the
District's 26 libraries to the Internet in the next 12 months. MLK Library
now has a computer lab with 16 state-of-the-art computers each with an Internet
connection. This gift was very good news for local libraries because the
DC Control Board cut the city's library budget by $1.5 million. Microsoft's gift
was part of the Libraries Online! initiative in partnership with the
American Library Association.

Title: Network-TV Sales Head Skyward As Audience Size Remains A Lure
Source: Wall Street Journal 6/5/97
Author: Sally Goll Beatty
Issue: TV/Advertising
Description: "Advance sales of advertising time on the Big Four broadcast
networks for the 1997-98 season are expected to hit a record $6 billion, up
roughly 6% from $5.6 billion a year ago, even though the network share of
the TV audience keeps shrinking." As one executive put it, advertisers
have many more outlets to reach people, but television is still the best way
to hit a mass audience. "Because of dwindling-audience factors advertisers
in many cases are paying double-digit percentage price increases to reach
the same number of viewers as last year."

Title: All Eyes Are on Top German Regulator
Source: Wall Street Journal (B7B)
Author: Silvia Ascarelli
Issue: International
Description: Germany has passed sweeping telecom legislation that
liberalizes Europe's biggest market. But -- as we know from implementation
of our Telecom Act of 1996 -- legislation is only the first step. The
question now is will Germany's top telecom regulator favor the state-owned
Deutsche Telekom AG over new competitors like AT&T?

Title: Internet Porn Could Be A Thorn In Libraries' Side
Source: Chicago Tribune
Author: Eric Zorn
Issue: Libraries
Description: Columnist Zorn is facilitating online debate Internet access at
public libraries. "Suspend my privileges at Liberalism Lodge if you
must...but I say libraries and librarians are asking for trouble if they
don't act vigorously to restrict minors from highly salty spots in
cyberspace." Trib site includes a follow-up article with a replies from
Chuck Munson, a Washington librarian, and readers.

Title: Congress Considers New Auctions in Budget Reconciliation Plan
Source: Telecommunications Reports Daily
Issue: Spectrum/Budget Issues
Description: Despite the shortcomings and criticisms of recent spectrum
auctions, Congress is considering mandating more to raise revenue for the
Treasury. The House Telecom Subcommittee is considering raising $27 billion
from the federal departments and agencies under its jurisdiction -- mainly
through spectrum auction.

At the FCC
Chairman Hundt's 6/5/97 Speech to the National Catholic Conference
Communications Committee in Washington, D.C.
*********

© 1994-2024 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.