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The New York Times’ internet division is launching a free, ad-supported email newsletter devoted to financial topics. The newsletter, called DealBook, will be edited by the newspaper’s chief mergers and acquisitions reporter, Andrew Ross Sorkin. DealBook’s inaugural edition comes out on Monday. The newsletter will be issued each morning before the markets open. It will include all sorts of financial news, on topics ranging from IPOs to lawsuits and venture capital, plus phone numbers for corporate conference calls. Additionally, DealBook will include links to business articles in The New York Times and even rival news outlets such as Dow Jones and the Financial Times. Advertisers include Brooks Brothers and financial services firms. Based on circulation figures for other NYTimes.com email newsletters, DealBook could go out ultimately to anywhere between 150,000 and 2.4 million subscribers.
San Francisco bans library internet filters
The City of San Francisco has voted to ban the use of internet filters on library computers, despite the fact that federal law now requires such filters for the purpose of blocking pornographic sites from children. If libraries do not comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, they lose $20,000 in federal funds. The act requires that libraries install the filters by the year 2003. San Francisco’s city library budget is about $50 million, however, so not getting an additional $20,000 is apparently no big deal. San Francisco libraries do require that adults accompany computer users ages 8 or younger. The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association have taken up arms against the law, which they believe violates the First Amendment.
IAB mounts online privacy campaign
The Interactive Advertising Bureau, along with the Privacy Leadership Initiative, has kicked off an online public service ad campaign to tell consumers how to protect their privacy online. In addition to traditional banners and buttons, the ads will be in skyscraper and large rectangle formats; both types will employ some sort of rich media. The skyscraper ads will use a rich media-like technology from a company called Netomat. Members of the IAB have donated more than $13 million worth of space to the campaign. The spots will contain tips on topics such as choosing and guarding passwords, protecting Social Security numbers to stymie identity theft, and ensuring that internet connections used for credit card purchases are encrypted. Some of the first ads in the campaign will run on IAB member sites About, iVillage and Lycos.
Alloy acquires Gen Y boys’ marketer
Direct marketer Alloy has extended its reach beyond teen girls and acquired a company called Dan’s Competition that markets to boys who are into extreme sports. Like Alloy, Dan’s uses both online and off-line tools to reach its audience. Alloy, which got its start as a destination web site but has since dropped the stigmatic word “online” from its name, is perhaps best known as a profitable dot.com. Eighty-five percent of its revenue comes from retail sales through both its web site and print catalog. Dan’s Competition markets goods such as BMX bikes and other sports accoutrements to teen boys, from its web site and off-line catalog, but its web site isn’t a hangout like Alloy’s. Nonetheless the acquisition gives Alloy access to a sizable database of teenage consumers.
Salon pulls prison-boxing piece for plagiarism
It looks like Salon just got sucker-punched by one of its contributors. The online magazine has stricken an article on prison boxing from its web site after learning that the author poached quotes from stories written by other reporters. Phil Busse, who in his day job serves as managing editor of the weekly Portland Mercury, wrote a story called “Down for the Count,” which detailed the last boxing match between inmates at Oregon State Penitentiary before its pugilistic program was cut. While Busse did conduct original reporting for the piece, he did not attend the boxing match in question. Only one journalist, Michael Wilson of The Oregonian, was allowed to attend, and his account of the bout was printed in May. The story contained other recycled bits as well. Busse confessed to Salon, and the Sept. 19 article was pulled off-line. In an interview with the Willamette Weekly, Busse defended his mistake as the result of careless note-taking.
October 4, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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