XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2000 19:58:07 ET XXXXX

DEATH OF NEW MEDIA

I would have given a billion dollars to see Mel's face.

The man who thought he was going to be king, after he merged his CBS with Sumner's VIACOM last year, must have been spooked and shaken as he logged on from his Trump Tower Penthouse Monday morning.

Mel Karmazin topped by a 41-year old Geek in Khakis named Case who started his career marketing home perms for Procter & Gamble?

And Bill Gates -- who outsmarts them all? He's left with a media empire that consists of something called SLATE and the utterly unwatchable MSNBC.

Mel meet Bill; Bill meet Mel.

Rupert meet Bob.

Ted, forget Jane. Meet Steve.

Everyone: Meet Steve.

New dreamboat stud god to all who play and trade.

It's 2000. Are you a zillionaire yet?

Dramatic! Exciting! Levin is a Genius Mind!

Superlatives running on the AOLTIMEWARNERCNNFN ticker tape throughout Deal Day.

"The Death of Old Media" declares the WALL STREET JOURNAL in a high-IQ op-ed on Tuesday.

"AMERICA ONLINE's acquisition of TIME WARNER marks the beginning of the end of the old mass media, and the end of all serious debate about the triumph of the new," writes Peter Huber.

"For the next decade at least, the new digital bottlers will be in complete control. They will attract the money, define the architectures, and dictate the timetables. The old media vintners will sell out to them, one by one...

"Observe that Stephen Case will be chairman of AOL TIME WARNER. The New York Stock Exchange symbol will be AOL. We've lived through superficially similar transitions before, but none as fundamental as this one."

But did D-Day really mark the death of "Old Media" like the smarties say?

Wasn't it really just the latest greatest in a bull market blowout?

When Mel agreed to marry Sumner, not that many months ago, shareholders were told they would be #1, led by the chosen sons.

"Let's make it easy, when you think about the new VIACOM, you really only have to remember a single number: That's number one," Redstone's teeth snapped at reporters.

"This singularly powerful enterprise will be home to the number-one cable network group, here and around the globe; the number-one radio group; the number-one outdoor advertising company; the number-one entertainment brands in the most coveted demographic categories; the number-one TV station group; the number-one broadcast network; the number-one television programmer; the number-one provider of rentable home entertainment. And, when you put it altogether, and you can rest assured Mel and I will put it altogether, the new VIACOM will be the number-one outlet on the planet..."

Sumner meet Steve.

So TIME WARNER gets a digital make-over?

You've got mail. And movies. And music. And magazines. And roller coaster rides.

Big Media is Big Media, whether it's old or new.

Fewer and fewer people will continue to run it all until Orwell's vision is lived and loved.

Or until Mel snaps his fingers and orders a rewrite.

Steve: Meet Tomorrow.

-- 1984 (@ .), January 11, 2000

Answers

Response to Drudge: "Fewer and fewer people will continue to run the medis all until Orwell's vision is lived and loved."

Some see Orwell's 1984 in AOL-Time Warner merger

Updated 3:45 PM ET January 11, 2000

By Steve James

NEW YORK, (Reuters) - Privacy advocates, consumers and academics raised concerns Tuesday that the merger of Internet giant America Online and media titan Time Warner raised the specter of an Orwellian society.

But the companies dismissed the image of a "Big Brother" controlling every aspect of people's lives -- as George Orwell envisaged it in his novel "1984" -- insisting the $164 billion merger, including $17 billion in debt, was really aimed at making the world a better place by fighting social ills.

"This is not just about big business. This is not just about money," said Gerald Levin, the Time Warner chairman who will be chief executive of the new linkup. "This is about making a better world for people because we now have the technology and the instruments to do that," he said in a round of early morning television appearances.

Under the deal, America Online, whose 22 million subscribers now use telephone lines to go online, will gain access to Time Warner's cable television systems with faster and better quality connections. AOL will be able to offer speedier Internet service plus the wide range of Time Warner's content, like CNN or HBO and Warner Bros. movies.

But Internet services can already monitor what users watch or read or what they order online and many people see the latest business marriage as one more step towards Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian world. They saw in Levin's altruism, the cynical "doublespeak" of Orwell's future.

"If you look at it from the perspective of Orwell, it's scary," said Gary Klatsky, assistant professor of psychology at Oswego State University in New York. "But you can look at it from the other perspective that it will make life easier. For example, I can use the Internet to find a book to read. It's like having a friend giving you advice.

"We're just scratching the surface. With new technology, the tools are there, but we don't know how they can be used," said Klatsky, who teaches a class on "Human-Computer Interface."

Dean Alger, a writer and political scientist, said he saw a danger of a few powerful media companies monopolizing the flow of information.

"This clearly and profoundly deepens the megamedia threat, the concentration of all media in a few corporate hands," he said.

Alger, author of "MegaMedia: How Giant Corporations Dominate Mass Media, Distort Competition and Endanger Democracy", said that because corporations insist on profits over public service, they, "degrade the news process by pushing entertainment over journalism."

Consumer groups including the Consumers Union and the Consumers Federation of America, warned that the concentration of media and Internet power could hurt the public.

"Consumers do not want to be beholden to a giant media- Internet dictatorship, even if it promises to be a benevolent one," they said in a joint statement.

Mark Crispin Miller, a communications professor at New York University also hit at the merchandising aspect of the merger.

"What we will see from this deal is that it is going to give AOL-Time Warner the ability to get into people's heads all day long and use this information to sell everything they can," he told the Long Island newspaper Newsday.

"No one knows, not even AOL or Time Warner, about what this is all going to mean in five to 10 years."

And Robert McChesney, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, said: "Despite the fact that the press conference (Monday) made it sound like the kingdom of God was at hand, there is a lot to worry about here."

Jason Catlett, an Internet privacy advocate with the website Junkbusters.com, said of the AOL-Time Warner deal: "The media component alone raises considerable public concerns.

"Particularly dangerous is the powerful information and news-gathering machine the news media and Internet companies have created and the question of whether private information will be protected is a huge one," he told Reuters.

In Brussels, the International Federation of Journalists warned the merger could threaten democratic values and freedom of speech unless editorial independence was protected.

"This merger may redefine the worlds of entertainment, communication and commerce, but it may also threaten democracy, plurality and quality in media," IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said in a statement.

He failed to mention that in "1984" there was no on/off switch to the screen beaming Big Brother's face and words.

-- 1984 (@ .), January 11, 2000.

Response to Drudge: "Fewer and fewer people will continue to run the medis all until Orwell's vision is lived and loved."

"This is not just about money," said Gerald Levin, the Time Warner chairman who will be chief executive of the new linkup. "This is about making a better world for people"

What the f is he talking about?

-- huh? (not here@not.there), January 11, 2000.

Response to Drudge: "Fewer and fewer people will continue to run the medis all until Orwell's vision is lived and loved."

For alternate views of what this all means... Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org ___________________________________________________

Monday, January 10, 2000

AOL-Time Warner Merger

In the largest corporate merger in history, America Online and Time Warner announced a $350 billion deal today. The following analysts are available for interviews:

ROBERT McCHESNEY, rwmcches@uiuc.edu Professor at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois and author of "Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times," McChesney, who participated in a CNN discussion on the future of media with Time Warner head Gerald Levin a week ago, said today: "This deal culminates five years of frantic deal-making that have seen our media culture come to be dominated by less than 10 transnational media firms operating in largely non-competitive markets.... It hammers the last nail in the coffin of those utopians who regarded the Internet as providing the mechanism to radically change our media culture for the better. The Internet was established by massive public subsidies and now, without a shred of public debate, the system has become the plaything of a handful of billionaire investors who use their power to commercially carpet bomb every possible moment of our lives."

JILL NELSON, JillieJams@aol.com Author of "Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience" and a columnist for MSNBC, Nelson said: "This may be good for business, but it's bad for people and the free flow of information. In our lust for profits, we have forgotten democratic principles. This can only increase the public's deep skepticism of the quality of the news."

BEN H. BAGDIKIAN, benmar@uclink4.berkeley.edu Author of "The Media Monopoly" and professor emeritus and former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, Bagdikian said: "This acquisition is standard in the strategy of media corporations that no significant media company in the country will remain independent."

JEFF CHESTER, jeff@cme.org, http://www.cme.org Executive director of the Center for Media Education, Chester said: "[AOL head] Steve Case is the Benedict Arnold of the digital age. Now that he has bought himself a piece of broadband cable access, he is no longer advocating for public policy to ensure open access to the Internet."

FRANK BEACHAM, frank@beacham.com, http://www.beacham.com A writer specializing in technology criticism, Beacham said: "AOL has focused on making the Internet into a shopping mall. It also has a miserable track record of keeping people's information private. In the hands of Time Warner, that could be more dangerous. This merger demonstrates the failure of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to provide competition.... AOL was concerned that it didn't have access to broadband cable lines; now they have bought that access."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

-- Sheri (wncy2k@nccn.net), January 11, 2000.

Can't watch the TV news. Makes my skin crawl.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), January 12, 2000.

Viawhat? Danwho?...And in case no one knew it already, 1984 was here way before 1984. The 'inner circle'... no one sees, the 'outer circle' are the politicians, captains of industry, celebrities, etc. who bark the party line(and only stay in favor as long as they do), and we dear folks are the 'proles'. Nothing we do or say changes the status quo. If it appears that a lowly prole or group of proles(the Seattle crowd?...maybe, but I am too paranoid to think it wasn't possibly staged for some nefarious reason) is getting attention with their sacrilegious ideas it will quickly be spun by the lapdog media spin doctors. Forgive me for stating the obvious. Forget Y2K for the moment.....Polly, you hate this scenario...DON'T YOU??? Polly is not quite satisfied being a 'prole'. I suspect that Polly secretly desires to be a member of the outer circle. Polly, forget the inner circle.....they would rather play with their own feces as touch a computer....so you can forget that. And you certainly won't make it to the inner circle by fooling with this forum. It is obvious you don't have the money to make the 'inner' or you wouldn't be fooling with us. So, where does that leave you? LIMBO!!! I sometimes think the pollies keep haunting this board hoping we are right. All sheep need a flock. Polly just doesn't know where to find his.

-- Kyle (fordtbonly@aol.com), January 12, 2000.

Don't need to go to work to participate in a "hate session." Can do that from the comfort of your own home, watching TV.

-- A (A@AisA.com), January 12, 2000.

'Inner/outer circle'? Sounds more like 'The Outer Limits'... "Do not attempt to adjust your television, we have taken control..." or better yet, the land of Max Headroom, where those who live without TV are cast aside, the dregs of the future (and if I remember right, where the TVs have no off switch!!)

-- Just (anotherbuckeye@columbus.org), January 12, 2000.