CRITICISM . COM
News Briefs: Meta Electronic Journalism
The following briefs contain news
related
to electronic
journalism and the Internet. Many of the briefs have
been culled
from wire services, newspapers and magazines by Edupage,
a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and
universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information
technology.
LIBERTARIANS ADVOCATE "SPLINTERNETS"
TO DODGE PROSPECT OF REGULATION
With privacy, child-safety, and e-commerce tax concerns prompting
the possibility of increased federal regulation of the Internet,
some libertarian policy makers are beginning to advocate
alternative, privately owned Internets. These "splinternets,"
said the Cato Institute's Clyde Wayne Crews, will allow for
alternative spaces safe from privacy regulation, as well as
spaces with more stringent privacy regulation. In fact, sites
like America Online already function as portals to
controlled-content material, and mini-Webs like SilverTech's
eKids offer guaranteed kid-friendly material to surf through.
Many Internet experts, however, including other libertarians,
believe the alternative Internet idea violates the raison
d'etre of the Internet: to surf a connected world. Crews said
that people do not really want to be connected to everyone else
in the world. "Fundamentally, people want to be connected to
other people like them."
(Wired News, 25 April 2001)
PANEL EXPLORES NET'S IMPACT ON SENSE OF SELF
At a conference at Santa Clara University entitled "Technology
and Us--A Vision for the Future," participants from the spheres
of academia, business, and journalism discussed the social
aspect of the Internet and its effects on society. Journalist
David Halberstam said that although the Web can be a powerful
tool, it can be also be used in a detrimental way. He believes
that Internet interaction methods are eroding relationships that
people enjoyed while growing up, such as family ties and hometown
links. He added that the lack of connection also exists in the
workplace and that people are feeling increasingly detached. Mary
Furlong, head of the Internet site ThirdAge Media, was more
optimistic about the Web. She said that Internet groups help older
adults widen their self-identity, since many of them feel left out
of the rapidly changing world of technology. John Staudenmaier,
editor of the journal "Technology and Culture," remarked that "We
share--because we are citizens of an electronic culture--a
suspicion about authorship." Whether people receive data from
e-mail or news, Internet users are more wary of the validity of
information, he said.
(SiliconValley.com, 26 April 2001)
GE'S WELCH LIKENS INTERNET TO INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
During the company's annual meeting, General Electric Chairman
John F. Welch announced to shareholders that the Internet is the
biggest thing to have happened in business since the Industrial
Revolution. GE, which ranked 8th in ownership of the world's media, mostly television, according to Ben
Bagdikian in the fourth edition of his book, The Media Monopoly,
has already become heavily involved in the
Internet due to Welch's influence; most of GE's divisions use
electronic commerce, including business-to-business electronic
trading, and hold investments in Internet companies. GE Capital
and NBC have stakes in Internet sites Snap, iVillage, and Autobytel,
and GE Equity holds 15 percent of investments in burgeoning technology
companies. Although Welch considers the Internet to be "the most
exciting thing" he has seen in the business environment, GE does not
plan to align itself with a major Internet player. Instead, the
behemoth will become involved in constant initiatives, such as a new
version of its CNBC.com Web site. (Bloomberg Online 04/21/99)
PUBLISHERS TURN THE E-PAGE
Despite the introduction of several models of electronic books in
recent months, the future of the e-book market remains murky. An
Open eBook standard is being developed by several companies,
including Everybook, Bertelsmann, HarperCollins, Microsoft Press,
and Time-Warner Books. Microsoft is doing its share to help
develop the market by introducing ClearType, a new font
technology that enhances the clarity of screen type and makes
reading easier. Likewise, Adobe has unveiled its Precision
Graphics Mark-up Language print technology. Everybook CEO Daniel
Munyan says ClearType provides a 300 percent improvement on pixel
"blockiness," while Precision Graphics provides 400 percent
improvement. Munyan predicts that e-books will have a vibrant future
in universities, where freshmen will load their e-books with
their curriculums for the next four years, receiving updates via
the Internet. (Financial Times 04/21/99)
NO MORE MEDIA ELITE
The economist and journalist Robert J. Samuelson says that new
communications and computer technologies threaten the incomes, social
importance and political influence of the so-called "media elite" who run
the TV networks and large newspapers. One evidence for his statement is a
survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, showing a
startling eclipse of TV networks' nightly news programs, which were in 1993
were regularly watched by 60% of Americans over 18, compared to only 38% in
1998. Similarly, Internet use has soared: in 1995, 4% of adults went
online to get news once a week, compared to 20% today. (Washington Post 8
Jul 98)
REUTERS, FANTASTIC TEAM UP ON MULTIMEDIA NEWS
Reuters is working with The Fantastic Corp. to develop a multimedia news
service scheduled for launch later this year. The Web-based service will
use Xing streaming technology to add MPEG-1 video to Reuters news content.
The initiative marks Reuters' first attempt to stream news content live
online. (Broadcasting & Cable 13 Apr 98)
NBC TO OFFER DIGITAL INFO ALONG WITH SHOWS
NBC is working with software developer Wink Communications on a new
technology that would enable viewers of NBC's news, entertainment and sports
programs to access further information with a click of the remote control.
Sports event watchers could call up players' statistics and biographies, for
instance, or would-be cooks could order up a recipe featured on the "Today"
show. Commercials aired on the network would come equipped with their own
technology for linking viewers to coupons or brochures for products. The
service will debut in the fall, initially to about 800,000 viewers with
specially equipped set-top boxes. By the end of 1998, the enhanced service
will be available to about 4 million viewers. (Wall Street Journal 30 Jun
97) http://www.wsj.com
INDIVIDUAL TO ACQUIRE E-PUBLISHER CLARINET
In its latest move to bolster its online content, Individual has agreed to
buy ClariNet Communications, an electronic newspaper publisher, and will
incorporate its breaking news products into Individual's service. The deal
follows Individual's June 6 purchase of Delphi Internet Services.
(InfoWorld Electric 16 Jun 97)
GATES: MICROSOFT NEWS WON'T COMPETE WITH NEWSPAPERS
Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates told a group of newspaper publishers
that their industry should not get "overly paranoid" over Microsoft's news
partnership with the NBC television network and the development of
information products for the general public. He said he has no plans to
sell classified ads or hire local news reporters. "Don't think of Microsoft
as a primary competitor here, but think of us as somebody who can provide
technology." (AP 30 Apr 97)
SCHOLASTIC SHEDS COMPUTER MAGAZINE
As part of a retrenchment effort, Scholastic Corporation plans to sell off
its consumer magazine Home Office Computing. Although the magazine is
profitable, it does not fit with Scholastic's new strategy of focusing
strictly on the education market. (New York Times 30 May 97)
DOES NET PLAY ROLE IN CULT ACTIVITIES?
Although many Internet enthusiasts argue that the Internet isn't creating
cults like Heaven's Gate, the group that committed mass suicide this past
week in Southern California, others see a dark side to the Net. University
of Oregon psychologist Ray Hayman says: "Much of the stuff you find is
nonsense, but because it comes off the computer it has the mark of being
credible." Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future says: "The Web is a
compelling new medium being put to all kinds of uses, by everyone from banks
to Cub Scouts to flying saucer cults. That said, it can also be a powerful
amplifier." (New York Times 28 Mar 97) But the Internet has large numbers
of defenders, one of whom says: "I hate to watch news people talk about the
Net. . . . One `expert' on CNN mentioned that cults often recruit on the Net
because -- and I quote --`technical people are often more gullible and more
trusting.' ... We get portrayed in a crappy light.. . . This time it's a
cult. Usually, it's that we're all child pornographers." (Washington Post
29 Mar 97)
COMPUSERVE SUED FOR DROPPING TIME MAGAZINE
Time magazine has filed a $3.5-million lawsuit against CompuServe and
charged the online services company with breaching a two-year contract to
carry Time's news service. CompuServe, which is in the process of a
financial reorganization following heavy losses, says it dropped Time's
online service because the content had not proven sufficiently valuable.
(Washington Post 19 Mar 97)
NEWS CORP. COURTING POINTCAST
Media giant News Corp. is negotiating to acquire PointCast Inc., an
entrepreneurial leader in "push" technology for the Internet. The deal
would be good for News Corp., giving it an established vehicle for
distributing its news and entertainment content, but would jeopardize
PointCast's existing arrangements with News Corp. rivals Time Warner, Times
Mirror, Knight-Ridder and Dow Jones Co. Meanwhile, PointCast is pondering
what effect a spurned offer would have on its plans to go public: "We've
received plenty of unsolicited offers in the past as well as recently and
we've accepted none of them," says PointCast's CEO. "The path that we're on
is to take the company public. We're enthused about that and our investors
are enthused about that." (Wall Street Journal 18 Mar 97)
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NEWS LINK SITE SUED OVER HOT LINKS
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New York City accuses
Phoenix-based TotalNews of "blatant acts of misappropriation, trademark
dilution and infringement, willful copyright violations, and other related
tortious acts." The plaintiffs, which include CNN, The Washington Post Co.,
Dow Jones, Times Mirror and Reuters, are upset that the hot links provided
from TotalNews to their Web sites display their content framed by the
TotalNews home page and its banner ads. Bruce Keller, an attorney for the
plaintiffs calls totalnews.com "a parasitic Web site with no content of its
own." However, TotalNews says it's simply providing PC users links to some
1,200 news sources, allowing viewers to compare information from each, and
that if the case goes against them, the precedent will endanger the ability
of Web site operators to provide hot links to other sites. "Hot links
either do or don't violate trademarks. That's not new. Framing is new. And
framing and selling ads is pretty damn new," says Keller. (Broadcasting &
Cable 3 Mar 97)
BREAKING NEWS IN CYBERSPACE
The Dallas Morning News seems to have set a cybernews
precedent by reporting
an Oklahoma City bombing-related story on the paper's Web site
before it
appeared in the newspaper. The attorney for the bombing suspect
in the
story said that "they put it on the Internet because they thought
we were
going to come over here and try to get a temporary injunction,"
but a Dallas
Morning News executive said: ``We put the story on the Web
site
because it
was, in our view, extraordinarily important and we got the story
finished
this afternoon and we felt we ought to publish, so we
published.''
(Associated Press 1 Mar 97)
RUPERT'S REACH FOR THE SKY
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. will spend $1 billion for 50%
ownership of
Denver-based Echostar Communications and will sell more than 500
channels of
digital TV service in all 50 states beginning in 1998 under the
brand name
Sky, offering serious competition both to cable TV operators and
to such
direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operators as DirecTV. In
contrast with
other DBS systems, Sky will have enough satellite capacity to
offer local
television programs, and the company will use "spot beams" that
target local
signals down toward small geographic areas. (Washington
Post 25
Feb 97)
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ACADEMICS CHALLENGE INDECENCY LAW
A group of 25 individuals and organizations has filed a
brief with the U.S.
Supreme Court, urging it to overturn a federal law restricting
"indecent"
content in cyberspace. The Communications Decency Act (CDA)
specifies
punishment for anyone who knowingly provides "indecent" material
to minors.
One of the signers, the American Association of University
Professors, wrote
that it "is concerned that the CDA will chill online expression
and
discussion on a wide variety of academic subjects (e.g.,
medicine, biology,
anatomy, social work, art, and journalism), impairing use of this
promising
new medium for legitimate pedagogical and research purposes."
(Chronicle of
Higher Education 28 Feb 97)
BAGHDAD SEES INTERNET AS END OF CIVILIZATION
An editorial in the Iraqi government newspaper
Al-Jumhuriya
says that the
Internet -- which is not accessible in Iraq -- is "the end of
civilizations,
cultures, interests, and ethics," and "one of the American means
to enter
every house in the world. They want to become the only source
for
controlling human beings in the new electronic village." (AP 17
Feb 97) SH: In light of these remarks, consider push technology.
CRONKITE IS (ALMOST) SPITTING MAD OVER INTERNET PRANK
Idly surfing the Internet several months ago, famed TV
newsman Walter
Cronkite searched on his name and found a home page created by an
Internet
applications developer in Ohio who wrote an untrue account of
meeting a
tipsy, cursing Mr. Cronkite accosting the developer in a
restaurant and
spitting in his food. The man has closed down the site and said
that "it
was never my intention to hurt anyone." Cronkite, who had
considered suing
the developer, calls the home page "scurrilous" and says: "I
don't think I've ever spit in my life." (The New York
Times 1
Feb 97)
PERSONAL NEWS NETWORK
The Canadian Broadcasting Company, in partnership with Bell
Canada, Telesat
Canada, Newbridge Networks, Oracle Corp. and Televitesse System,
is trying
to develop a news service that would scan television and other
sources
according to user specifications, then save articles for viewing
later on a
personal computer. The target market for the Personal News
Network will be
companies and government agencies that want news in selected
fields.
(Montreal Le Devoir 2 Apr 96 B2)
SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND AN INVESTOR
The Nynex Corporation, a Regional Bell telephone company, is
buying 5% of
Infoseek, which manages an Internet-based service designed to
help people
find Web sites of interest to them, and the Tribune Company,
owner of
newspapers, TV and radio stations, is buying 8% of Excite, which
provides a
similar search facility. (New York Times 9 Apr 96 C4)
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