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
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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
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