Study Faults Net Training for Teachers
Spending More Money, But Not Necessarily Time, On Media Is Forecast
Sinclair to Buy Heritage's TV, Radio Stations
"Honey, They're Downloading Our Song"
Disney's ABC Keeps Ad Hole Mouse-Friendly
New Software Lets Talkers Move Out of the Chat Rooms
Clinton Backs Voluntary Ratings System To Let Parents Regulate Internet Use
FTC Rules on Online Data Collection
Clinton Vows to Work on Web Smut Safeguards
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Title: Study Faults Net Training for Teachers
Source: New York Times [CyberTimes]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/071797benton.html
Author: PAMELA MENDELS
Issue: Education Technology
Description: "As a nation, we are spending billions of dollars to bring
technology to schools," says Andrew Blau of the Benton Foundation. "There is
some indication that technology does change what goes on in the classroom,
that there is a positive effect to networking classrooms. But if we are
going to realize the benefit of that investment, we have to pay attention to
a wider set of issues than we are now." Benton's new report The Learning
Connection: Schools in the Information Age
http://www.benton.org/Library/Schools/ examines the resources needed to
make sure technology investments help improve education.
Title: Spending More Money, But Not Necessarily Time, On Media Is Forecast
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/(A1)
Author: Pamela Sebastian
Issue: Media Economics
Description: Average spending on broadcast and cable television, books,
music and online services is expected to remain steady with annual
compounded annual growth around 7% through 20001. Total TV viewing is
expected to remain flat at 4.3 hours/day. Cable TV viewership is expected to
rise, but not as fast as online use which is expected to rise 19.5% annually.
Title: Sinclair to Buy Heritage's TV, Radio Stations
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/(A4)
Author: Elizabeth Jensen
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Sinclair Broadcast Group will buy seven TV stations and 24
radio stations from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp -- after News Corp completes
its deal to purchase the stations from Heritage Media. Sinclair is already
one of the nation's largest owners of broadcast stations with 29 TV stations
reaching 15% of US homes with TVs. This purchase will extend its reach to
nearly 16%. The company will pay 14.5 times the stations' 1997 broadcast
cash flow.
Title: "Honey, They're Downloading Our Song"
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/(B1)
Author: Patrick Reilly
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Description: Looking for a boost for poor sales, the music industry is
looking to the Internet. Last night, upstart company N2K started selling
CD-quality tracks over the Internet for $.99 each. Sony has gotten a
trademark on Netman -- evoking its Walkman. The industry envisions
downloading music to personal computers which would store the music and
allow consumers to make their own disks.
Title: Disney's ABC Keeps Ad Hole Mouse-Friendly
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/(B1)
Author: Bruce Orwall
Issue: Mergers
Description: Disney's ABC network has informed rival News Corp's 20th
Century Fox that it will not air ads for Fox's new animation "Anastasia"
during ABC's broadcast of the "Wonderful World of Disney." An ABC
spokesperson said the network would refuse ads "because we believe there may
be confusion in the minds of viewers that these may be Disney products." The
decision has "raised eyebrows" at Fox.
Title: New Software Lets Talkers Move Out of the Chat Rooms
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/(B6)
Author: Thomas Weber
Issue: Internet Content
Description: New software is allowing online chat to be more useful by
allowing private chats to take place. Personalized chats -- or instant
messages -- work faster than e-mail, but is just as cheap. See your future
-- advocates say instant messages will be as indispensable as electronic
mail -- at http://www.mirabills.com, http://www.excite.com,
http://www.peoplelink.com, and http://www.ichat.com.
Title: Clinton Backs Voluntary Ratings System To Let Parents Regulate
Internet Use
Source: Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/(B9)
Author: Chana Schoenberger (with John Wilke)
Issue: Internet Content
Description: President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore met yesterday will
legislators, children advocacy groups and representatives from the computer
industry. After the meeting, President Clinton endorsed voluntary labeling
systems for web sites. Also yesterday, the Federal trade Commission warned
the industry not to collect personal information from children. The FTC
could prosecute for these practices under its unfair and deceptive practices
regulations.
Title: FTC Rules on Online Data Collection
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (C3)
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Privacy
Description: Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission released a letter
denouncing the
practice of collecting personal information such as names and addresses
from children. Many Web sites offer kids free product samples, or the
chance to enter contests in return for the information, but they fail to
notify the children or their parents that the information
may be used for marketing purposes. Last month, the Center for Media
Education http://tap.epn.org/cme/ released a study revealing that 90%
of the 38 largest "child-oriented sites" attempt to get such
information. The FTC letter said that the operators of such sites must
put notices on these information forms, and that parental consent must
be obtained before releasing any of the information to a third party.
According to Kathryn Montgomery, Director of the CME, "We see [the FTC's
letter] as a very good first step."
Title: Clinton Vows to Work on Web Smut Safeguards
Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (C3)
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: After yesterday's meeting with Internet industry leaders,
the President said that they had reached a "consensus on how to pave the
way to a family-friendly Internet." Major search engines such as Yahoo,
Excite, and Lycos have agreed to ask people who are registering their
Web sites to give themselves a rating based on an industry-accepted
rating scheme. The Center for Democracy and Technology http://www.cdt.org,
who oppose government controls on the Internet, has created a Web site
http://www.netparents.org to make it easier to navigate online "safely" with
their children.
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