August 1999

MEDIA & SOCIETY
Pediatricians Expand Exams and Advice to Media Habits (USA)
Ads Put Pressure on Children (USA)

CONVERGENCE
Convergence Vows Ideal Communication But Beware the Fine Print,
Experts Say (WSJ)

INTERNET
Capital Dispatch: Internet Address System May Finally Be Opened Up
(CyberTimes)
Candidates Try Campaigning Online (CyberTimes)
The Score on Downloads (WP)

LEGISLATION
Capital Dispatch: 'Cybersquatting' Bill Moves Forward (CyberTimes)
Capital Dispatch: This Week (CyberTimes)

SECURITY
Scramble to Fix Computer Security Flaws (NYT)
Capital Dispatch: Committee Bars Money for
Surveillance System (CyberTimes)

EDUCATION
More Business Schools Are Adding E-Commerce Programs to Curricula (WSJ)

TELEPHONY
Phone Companies Seek Changes In Subsidies form Monthly Services (WSJ)

BROADCASTING
Broadcast Lobby Is Menaced By Network-Affiliate Static (WSJ)
Independent Radio Station Is Back on the Air in Serbia (NYT)

MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS
Launching Talk Isn't Cheap, But the Buzz is Priceless (ChiTrib)
The Info Culture: Knowing Your Niche (ChiTrib)
Newspapers Show They Can Meet Challenge Posed by the Internet (WSJ)

MEDIA & SOCIETY

PEDIATRICIANS EXPAND EXAMS AND ADVICE TO MEDIA HABITS
Issue: Media & Society
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is urging doctors to question
parents on their childrens' media exposure as they believe it is dangerous
to children's mental and physical health. The AAP also advises that no
computers or television should be in children's rooms and children should
avoid television viewing under 2 years of age. The policy, which will be
delivered to APA's 55,000 members, states that children are exposed to too
much violence -- which promotes aggressive behavior -- and too many sexual
images that are not responsible portrayals. Janet Parshall of the Family
Research Council said, "Their job is to deal with medical problems,
not to assess my parenting."
[SOURCE: USA Today (1D), AUTHOR: Marilyn Elias]
(http://usatoday.com/)

ADS PUT PRESSURE ON CHILDREN
Issue: Advertising
A poll commissioned by the New American Dream, a non-profit that advocates
that Americans cut down on consumption, raises worries about children and
advertising. In a poll of 400 parents with children ages 2 to 17, New
American Dream found that: 1) 87% of parents think advertising aimed at kids
makes them too materialistic; 2) 78% say ads put too much pressure on
children to buy
things; 3) 63% of parents said their children defined his/her self-worth
more by possession than their parents did at that age; 4) 55% said they
bought something for their child that was too expensive and junk just
because the child wanted it; and 5) 31% felt their spouse had to work longer
hours to pay for things the child felt it needed. New American Dream states
that $2 billion was spent on children's advertising in 1998 which is over 20
times the number from 10 years ago. (Don't know about you guys, but even
back in the 70's I remember annoying my Mom until I got my cool yellow,
hard-as-steel Tonka truck -- so what has changed??)
[SOURCE: USA Today (3D), AUTHOR: Deidre Donahue]
(http://usatoday.com/)

CONVERGENCE

CONVERGENCE VOWS IDEAL COMMUNICATION BUT BEWARE THE FINE PRINT, EXPERTS SAY
Issue: Convergence
Looking for convergence? Try this: An executive of Finland's largest
telephone company starts by photographing Sesser with a digital camera.
Pushing a button, he transmitted the photo through wireless infrared
technology into the memory of his mobile phone. Then he connected the phone
to the Internet and e-mailed the photo to the reporter, so he could retrieve
it on his laptop. The exec also e-mailed it to the Finnish post office, with
instructions to print it as a postcard and send it with an accompanying
message to the reporter's home in Hong Kong. The postcard arrived shortly
there after. Creating such postcards is a routine service of the Finnish
post office, which charges the equivalent of $1.50 to print and mail one.
And anyone in Asia or Europe can buy the phone he used, the Nokia 9110
Communicator, one of the first cell phones on the market to connect to the
Internet. By next year, almost every mobile phone on the market will have
the capability of connecting to the Internet. And, Sesser reports, phones
will soon be standard equipment in computers. "This all might sound like
science fiction to the average layman out there," says Tapio Hedman, a Nokia
vice president for communications, who reels off scenarios like getting
restaurant menus on the screen of your mobile phone for the neighborhood
you're walking through. "But it isn't science fiction. To some extent, it's
here already."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (), AUTHOR: Stan Sesser
(stan.sesser( at )news.awsj.com)]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB933614740961626931.htm)

INTERNET

CAPITAL DISPATCH:
INTERNET ADDRESS SYSTEM MAY FINALLY BE OPENED UP
Issue: Internet Infrastructure
On Friday, the Internet domain name registration business is scheduled to
open up to full-scale competition. The Commerce Department and Network
Solutions, however, have several issues left to be resolved including the
ownership of the directory of domain names currently managed by Network
Solutions. Something else in question is how much Network Solutions will be
able to charge its competitors for using the new shared registry system to
log new Internet addresses. Meanwhile, information is being sought to find
out what was the extent of ICANN's (the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers) talks with the Justice Department and about Network
Solutions' claim to have proprietary rights to the so-called "whois"
directory and its new service Dot Com Directory.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/capital/03capital.html)

FROM EXPERTS TO NOVICES, CANDIDATES TRY CAMPAIGNING ONLINE
Issue: Internet & Politics
Presidential candidates are trying all sorts of different methods to
campaign online. They are relying on high-profile Internet strategists,
Internet political consultants, volunteers, Internet political firms,
Internet political specialists or Web design firms to design, manage and
strategize their campaigns online. "[Using the Internet] will be a
component of a winning campaign," said Bill Dal Col, Steve Forbes' campaign
manager. "You can't do it with just television. You have to have grass
roots." Perhaps the most well-known consultant is Lynn Reed, who ran
President Clinton's campaign Web site in 1996 and is currently running Bill
Bradley's . Reed says the Internet must be used wisely.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/articles/03campaign.html)

THE SCORE ON DOWNLOADS
Issue: Ecommerce
Traditional retailers have been shrugging off the threat that downloadable
music online could pose to their businesses. Some stores have been late
going online, others have been calling it a "video game." Those in the
e-commerce business however see the possibilities. Record retailing is
under siege, says Mark Hardie, a senior analyst with market research firm
Forrester Research, because online merchants don't incur the expenses or
drawbacks of shipping and delays. Though downloadable music remains free,
expensive and hard to do, the competition is heating up online.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Stephanie Stoughton]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/03/069l-080399-idx.html)

LEGISLATION

CAPITAL DISPATCH:
'CYBERSQUATTING' BILL MOVES FORWARD
Issue: Legislation
The Senate Committee last week approved a bill to outlaw cybersquatting on
the Internet. The bill could go to the full Senate this week. It allows
trademark owners to recover damages if they prove a trademark name was
registered in "bad faith" and they could seek the forfeiture, cancellation
or transfer of an infringing domain name if they can't find the person who
registered it. Companies with trademarks to protect are lobbying together to
bring domain names under the protection of trademark law.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/capital/03capital.html)

CAPITAL DISPATCH:
THIS WEEK
Issue: Legislation
The House and Senate are trying to reach a compromise on tax-cutting
legislation for high-tech industry firms that would allow the companies to
extend their research and development credit from five to ten years.
Tuesday, the House may debate legislation to limit the sale of alcohol on
the Internet. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on a
bill to outlaw Internet gambling.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/capital/03capital.html)

SECURITY

SCRAMBLE TO FIX COMPUTER SECURITY FLAWS
Issue: Security
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Compaq are scrambling to solve serious
security vulnerabilities designed to interact with Microsoft's Internet
Explorer Web Browser. Intruders can plant malicious programs by sending a
victim email or by luring the fly to Web pages that automatically puts the
files on the visitors hard drive. These programs can be activated just by a
user reading email while online. Microsoft announced plans for major changes
in the Windows operating system and Internet Explorer to remedy the
situation. When a patch is available, Microsoft will post it at
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/mdac--typ.htm HP said a fix would
be posted at www.hp.com/support/hppavilion.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Sara Robinson]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/03soft.html)

CAPITAL DISPATCH:
COMMITTEE BARS MONEY FOR SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
Issue: Security
The House Appropriations Committee voted against giving the Federal
Intrusion Detection Network $35.8 billion in discretionary spending to
monitor federal computer networks to help government security officials
detect intrusions. Privacy advocates feared the government would use it to
monitor private networks and House Majority Leader Dick Armey
questioned the project and recent attempts to control the exchange of
encryption software over the Internet.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/capital/03capital.html)

EDUCATION

MORE BUSINESS SCHOOLS ARE ADDING E-COMMERCE PROGRAMS TO CURRICULA
Issue: Education/Internet
Corporate sponsors such as SBC, CDNow, Sprint and Pitney Bowes each pay
Vanderbilt $25,000 in a given year in exchange for students work with the
sponsors as consultants on proprietary e-commerce projects, developing
business plans and market assessments. Universities and businesses across
the country are working together to develop specific Master level programs
in e-commerce. "There was tremendous student demand and recruiter demand,"
said Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson, co-director of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology's e-commerce program.Other Universities that have jumped on the
booming industry bandwagon: Penn State University, Carnegie Mellon
University, University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and (my
old stomping grounds) the University of Massachusetts. The courses include
research in online-business strategies, marketing, consumer behavior,
customer service, security, privacy, signatures for legal documents and
programming languages. "It's all demand-driven because the people who come
to our campus placement centers, they say, 'We need business people who are
technologically savvy,'" Prof Arvind Rangaswamy of the Penn State Business
School said.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dinah Wisenberg Brin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB933635546571389221.htm)

TELEPHONY

PHONE COMPANIES SEEK CHANGES IN SUBSIDIES FOR MONTHLY SERVICES
Issue: Telephony
Consumer groups are displeased with a proposal by AT&T, Bell Atlantic,
BellSouth, GTE, SBC Communications and Sprint to simplify phone bills by
allowing local telephone companies to reduce the monthly fees they charge
long-distance companies. The proponents of the bill say that the measure
could untangle a web of phone-service subsidies, paving the way for more
competition in the telecommunications market, the aim of the 1996
Telecommunications Act. But Gene Kimmelman of the Consumer Union said,
"This is just an industry deal that will shift these charges on to
everyone's bills." MCI WorldCom, Ameritech and US West, who are not part of
the coalition, respectively declined to comment, stating that market forces
should determine the rate and that they are studying the proposal. The FCC
said the proposal would almost certainly be put out for public comment.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A2), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen and Stephanie N. Metha]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB933629353773483308.htm)
See Also:
PHONE COMPANIES COOPERATE TO PROPOSE CHANGE IN BILLING
[SOURCE: USA Today (B1), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/access080399.htm)
PHONE COMPANIES REACH PACT
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E3), AUTHOR: Shu Shin Luh]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-08/03/070l-080399-idx.html)

BROADCASTING

BROADCAST LOBBY IS MENACED BY NETWORK-AFFILIATE STATIC
Issue: Broadcasting/Lobbying
In June, FOX left the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and NBC is
considering leaving, too. Both Congressional leaders and broadcasters want
the NAB to get past this inside bickering. Ken Johnson, a spokesman for
Representative Billy Tauzin (R-LA) who heads a House telecommunications
panel, said "We told the networks and the NAB to work it out before coming
to Congress. We're not going to get involved in family food fights." The
problem is that the NAB sided with affiliate stations when deciding how to
lobby the Hill on broadcast ownership rules which limit networks to owning
stations that cover no more than 35% of the country's 100 million TV
households. Affiliates hold 20 of the 24 NAB board positions. NBC General
Counsel Rick Cotton said that budget concerns are one reason they may leave
the NAB, but that the network is also bothered by the NAB's decision to take
sides over the cap issue. Traditionally, the NAB has remained neutral on
divisive topics. Marty Franks, senior vice president of CBS, said the NAB is
not concentrating on what it should be and one area he would like to see
more movement is resolving a dispute over satellite-TV carriers' illegal
beaming of some network programs. While the NAB recently worked out an
agreement with the country's largest carrier, DirecTV, broadcasters say they
have been unhappy with the NAB's failure to shape pending congressional
bills that would set the final ground rules for satellite carriers to
legally transmit network shows.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, A24, AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB933641278289925994.htm )

INDEPENDENT RADIO STATION IS BACK ON THE AIR IN SERBIA
Issue: Radio/Censorship
Radio B292, Serbia's leading independent radio station, was back on the air
yesterday four months after the Government shut down the original station,
B92. That station had been a main source of independent news for Serbs since
it was founded in 1989. An early slogan of B92 -- which offered news, music
and jibes at politicians -- was "Don't believe anyone, including us." When
the Kosovo conflict started, B92 was taken over by pro-Government management
which supported President Slobodan Milosevic -- the entire staff walked out
when the change was announced. B292's news editor, Dusan Masic, said he
hoped to regain the 350,000 listeners the station says it used to have in
the Belgrade area, and eventually to extend broadcasts to 70 percent of the
country.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A5)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/serbia-radio.html)

MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS

LAUNCHING TALK ISN'T CHEAP, BUT THE BUZZ IS PRICELESS
Issue: Magazines
New York is abuzz this week with the release of Talk magazine -- a joint
venture of Walt Disney's Miramax Films and Hearst -- edited by Tina Brown.
Local TV newscasts were leading off a report on an interview in the magazine
and covered the party that celebrated the magazine's release. More than 900
magazines are created each year and the mast majority fail. There hasn't
such hype for a magazine launch since last year's ESPN The Magazine and
Talk, a general interest mag, may be receiving the biggest hype in the 90s.
New York magazine's Michael Wolff described Brown as "a woman who has
possibly lost more money in the magazine business than any person in
history. Tina has always managed to spend enormous sums of other people's
money that they no doubt did not originally plan to spend. She is about to
accomplish this trick in part because people and companies get a little
crazy when the light (even the reflected light) falls on them and, of
course, because she always manages to make herself the drop-dead center of
attention."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Tim Jones]
(http://chicagotribune.com/business/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-99080300
72,FF.html)

THE INFO CULTURE: KNOWING YOUR NICHE
Issue: Magazines
Keller takes her own look at the release of Talk and predicts success.
Nature abhors niches, she writes. No matter how much we try to slice 'n'
dice people into categories, into narrower and narrower segments, the human
animal resists. Inexorably, we slide back into consensus. The human impulse
is to become more and more like what we see around us, to blend, to meld.
Talk, Keller guesses from promotional material, is for everyone and
everyone, Keller contends, eventually wants to get out of their niche and be
part of the crowd.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 5, p.3), AUTHOR: Julia Keller]
(http://chicagotribune.com/leisure/tempo/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-990
8030259,FF.html)

NEWSPAPERS SHOW THEY CAN MEET CHALLENGE POSED BY THE INTERNET
Issue: Newspapers/Internet
Washingtonpost.com was already killing the online competition locally.
Among Washington-area households, its first-quarter average reach, or
percentage of users who come to its site at least once a month, was 29.3%,
well above Sidewalk.com's 10.4%, according to the most recent market report
from Media Metrix. So it looks like newspapers will be around for some
time. People were concerned about Microsoft's dominance so they stayed away
from sidewalk.com. Several years ago, Washingtonpost.com struck an online
partnership with CitySearch. Since CitySearch bought sidewalk.com that means
Washingtonpost.com is left with only one major competitor in the D.C.
region, AOL's Digital City guide.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Timothy Hanrahan]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB933598967638811714.htm)

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