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The Pope in the past has praised the internet as an opportunity for the Catholic Church to evangelize, but the Vatican’s embrace of the medium goes only so far. The Vatican has issued cautionary statements against the internet because many other religions see within it the opportunity to spread the word. In two documents, called “Ethics in Internet” and “The Church in Internet,” the Vatican more or less disparages the web as a marketplace of religions where people can learn about many faiths and pick and choose bits and pieces of the tenets that suit them best. The statements caution consumers against using the web this way, expressing the opinion that religions must be accepted in their entirety and not put together piecemeal.
Slashdot: See big ads or pay to participate
Tech news and discussion web site Slashdot is joining the crowd and has started running obtrusive ad formats. But users won’t necessarily have to see them. Slashdot, which touts itself as the source of “news for nerds,” will offer premium subscriptions, and people who subscribe will see the site’s material free of advertising messages. Site co-founder and proprietor Rob Malda says in a note on the site that advertisers were demanding those formats. “If we don’t provide them we won’t be around much longer,” he writes. The large formats running on Slashdot include News.com-style messaging units and plus-sized banners. Most Slashdot users will be billed $5 for every 1,000 pages they see without ads. Hard-core Slashdot members who view more pages than that will be charged $5 a month.
Filmmaker Lynch starts an entertainment site
Film auteur David Lynch, who has made surreal movies including “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” has launched an entertainment web site. But don’t confuse it with enterprises like ifilm.com or atomfilms.com—it’s all Lynch, all the time. The site, DavidLynch.com, offers three new series that he directed and wrote. The series are called “Rabbits,” “Dumbland” and “Axxon N.” That Lynch would post series online seems appropriate, given that one of his biggest successes to date was “Twin Peaks,” the mysterious TV series that attracted a cult following. Users will have to pay to see Lynch’s content, because the site lacks both advertising and sponsorships. It charges $9.97 a month for all site content or $7.79 to access one series. Whether or not DavidLynch.com will take off remains to be seen, given that many original programming web sites have failed, and that many fans may not have the technology to fully experience the programming on the site.
Dot.com layoffs at lowest level in two years
The number of workers laid off from dot.coms in February was the lowest in 22 months, according to the latest bulletin from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, which has been tracking dot.com deaths and mass firings since December 1999. In all, 670 internet company positions were eliminated last month, off almost 63 percent from the 1,802 in January and well off from the high of 17,554 in April 2001. Three hundred of the dot.com jobs cut last month were in the financial sector; 159 of the jobs were in consumer services and 110 of the positions were in technology. Since the end of 1999, 144,912 dot.com-related positions have been eliminated. The spate of mass firings may have slackened, but that’s not necessarily good news, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas, because there’s no indication that hiring is going to bounce back soon.
Parade magazine rolls out web edition
With newspapers finding it harder to convince young readers to buy print editions rather than reading them online, weekend newspaper insert Parade magazine has unveiled a redesign of its web site that acts more like a supplement than simply an online alternative. A web version of a cover story might now include more photos, video clips, a quiz or links to other sites of interest. Readers will now be able to email questions directly to their favorite columnists or review past articles in an archive. Though the current online version lacks ads, Parade executives say they are developing opportunities. Main rival USA Weekend already offers substantial advertising and archives that go back to 1998. Parade offers articles from 2000 on.
March 5, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
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