Telemarketing Finds a Ready Labor Market in Hard-Pressed North Dakota
Global Phone Pact Appears Near But U.S. Conditions May Block It
New Policy by America Online Pressures Content Providers
Paving the Information Highway
Cyberspace Resumes Fit the Modern Job Hunt
Does National Public Radio feel Pressure when foundation donors
specify topics?
DARS delays at FCC
Senate to hold liquor ad hearings
Senate, FCC to hear gripes on TV Ratings
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Title: Telemarketing Finds a Ready Labor Market in Hard-Pressed North Dakota
Author: James Brooke
Issue: Economics
Description: The spread of fiber-optic cable and advances in
telecommunications are bringing jobs to depressed, rural areas. Companies
say that the people in the Dakotas or Montana are appealing job candidates
because they have fairly high levels of education and strong work ethics.
New companies scour the region for untapped groups of farm wives or
Indians. The towns appreciate the business. For many families, a second
salary or medical benefits can help make ends meet. Omaha is the "toll
free" capitol of the nation; Rosenbluth Travel has a reservations center in
Linton, North Dakota; and Minot, North Dakota, has a reservation center for
Quality Inns.
Title: Global Phone Pact Appears Near But U.S. Conditions May Block It
Author: Edmund L. Andrews
Issue: International/phone reg
Description: Negotiators from more than 100 countries are working to
finalize an agreement to open government-protected telecommunication
monopolies to competition. Some negotiators say a deal will be reached by
the Feb. 15 deadline. The European Union's barriers between cable and phone
companies are coming down and the FCC has been pressuring countries to
lower accounting rates. "Accounting rates cover the price of completing
international calls into and out of country, and are often many times more
than their true cost. . . " The US is not certain the agreement will come
together b/c Canada may not scale back restrictions on foreign ownership.
If an agreement is forged, it would give big communications companies like
Sprint and AT&T more access to Latin America and Asia.
Title: New Policy by America Online Pressures Content Providers
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Internet Regulation/Content
Description: With the old AOL rate system, the longer a user stayed on a
content provider's site, the more money a content provider got. Now with
the flat rate, content providers, and AOL itself, must rely more heavily on
advertising for revenues. Content providers include businesses that post
information or speciality forums on AOL. AOL executives compare the
network's transitions to the transition undergone by cable systems in the
1970s when cable providers realized that they needed subscription fees and
advertising to stay afloat.
Title: Paving the Information Highway
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Internet growth
Description: According to US News and World Report, one of the best jobs
to have these days is commercial wiring specialist (public interest
advocate for telecommunications policy ran a close second). More and more
businesses rely on Local Area Networks and the Internet to communicate.
According to a research firm in California, spending on cables and
connectors (for private as opposed to national telephone businesses) grew
from $765 million in 1993 to $1.2 billion last year.
Title: Cyberspace Resumes Fit the Modern Job Hunt
Author: David Rampe
Issue: WWW
Description: If one is planning to do an electronic resume, one should
abandon efforts to make Camp Counselor sound like Advanced Child Care
Specialist and should start using terms computers will discover on searches.
Many big tech companies are inputting the resumes they receive into the
computer and then asking the computer to search for candidates with the
desired skills. Forget verbs, work with key words (for example, UCLA,
Unix, fluid dynamics, knitter). There are several sites on the web that
can help job seekers build electronic resumes or post electronic resumes.
Some sites include: Job Smart Resume Guide
http://jobsmart.org/tools/resume/index.htm, Yahoo's Resume Area
http://www.yahoo.com/business_and_economy/Employment/Resumes/Resume_Writ...
Tips/, Career Mosaic's Resume Writing Guide
http://www.careermosaic.com/cm/crc/crc15.html
Title: Does National Public Radio feel Pressure when foundation donors
specify topics?
Author: Iver Peterson
Issue: Journalism/Radio/Media Ownership
Description: National Public Radio receives 25 million from foundation and
corporate giving. Many grants are general; some support coverage of certain
topics like jazz or campaign finance reform. NPR states the organization
has established a firewall between donors and program content. Donors can
only speak to senior editors or the development office, not with the
reporters. Many news organizations receive money from benefactors and
must establish lines
between donors and content.
From Broadcasting & Cable, February 3, 1997 pg. 10
Title: DARS delays at FCC
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Satellite
Description: FCC Commissioners are divided about whether to instate public
interest obligations on businesses that provide digital audio radio
satellite service (DARS).
From Broadcasting & Cable, February 3, 1997 pg. 11
Title: Senate to hold liquor ad hearings
Author: Heather Fleming and Harry A. Jessell
Issue: Advertising
Description: Conrad Burns (R-Montana) states that his Senate Communications
Subcommittee or John McCain's (R-Arizona) parent committee (Commerce) will
hold hearings on TV liquor ads. Burns has also made clear, however, that
he would like the liquor industry and the cable companies to try to work
out the issue on their own first.
From Broadcasting & Cable, February 3, 1997 pg. 11
Title: Senate, FCC to hear gripes on TV Ratings
Author: Harry A. Jessell
Issue: V Chip
Description: The Commerce Committee will hear responses to the TV ratings
system from yet-to-be-named witnesses on Feb. 27. The FCC will schedule a
hearing in April or May.
Recommended reading for the web connoisseur: Dilbert, Washington Post
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
At the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov)
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