The acceptance of World Wide Web journalism is examined
by Rebecca Quick of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Quick: "Despite
booming readership, Web reporters say they have had trouble
getting everything from press kits to credentials for big
events like the NCAA basketball tournament." Last spring,
USA Today Online requested one press pass for its coverage of
the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournament, but was
denied. The NCAA, which says USA Today Online "missed the
deadline for requesting press passes, says it denied press
passes to on-line publications because there is no accurate
means for measuring a Web publication's audience." The NCAA
said its "minimum standard for a print newspaper to receive
credentials ... is a daily circulation of at least 60,000."
Since the Web doesn't have "a universally accepted measuring
standard to show its reach," Dave Cawood of the NCAA said,
"Until there's such an avenue to measure it, we can't pick
one Web site over another" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/14).
CYBERNOTES: In N.Y., Frances McMorris writes that
publishers "won a huge victory in the battle for electronic
rights when a federal judge ruled that they can put free-
lance articles they publish on-line and onto CD-ROMs without
getting permission from the writers." Among the defendants
in a lawsuit from free-lance writers was Time Warner's SI
(WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/14)....Netscape released its
Netcaster service, giving users of its new browser the
ability to have content "pushed" from up to 700 "channels"
(AD AGE, 8/14). InterZine Productions, publisher of THE
SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY, will provide three channels for
Netcaster, featuring golf, motor sports and outdoor sports
news (THE DAILY)....The Cowboys, along with Nortel, will
broadcast live Internet-based streaming video of the Cowboys'
final two preseason games at www.dallascowboys.com.
Sponsorships of both games are available (Nortel).
