================================================================================
"NEWS ON DEMAND"
SERIES PRODUCERS: NINA ZACUTO and ALAN KAUL NEWS IS GOING TO BE DELIVERED IN THE
THIS SEGMENT: NINA ZACUTO
EDITOR: STEPHANIE LONGMIRE
ANCHOR: BRIAN WILLIAMS
TONIGHT, THE THIRD REPORT IN OUR
WEEK-LONG SERIES "ALMOST 2001." MOST
PEOPLE FIND OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE
WORLD WHEN THE EVENING NEWS IS
BROADCAST.. OR WHEN THE NEWSPAPER IS
DELIVERED. BUT INTERACTIVE TELEVISION
AND ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING ARE PART OF
THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY WE'VE BEEN
HEARING A LOT ABOUT.. AND ARE EVEN NOW
GIVING SOME PEOPLE NEWS ON DEMAND.
NBC'S GEORGE LEWIS REPORTS.
================================================================================
NARRATION: GEORGE LEWIS
PRESS RUN SAN JOSE MERCURY (NATSOT--presses rolling for a few
seconds, and then under)
(NARR) AT THE SAN JOSE MERCURY-NEWS,
THEY'RE STILL PUTTING OUT THE PAPER THE
OLD-FASHIONED WAY, 345-THOUSAND OF THEM
ON WEEKDAYS.
MERCURY CENTER ON COMPUTER SCREEN BUT THEY'RE ALSO TRYING OUT SOMETHING
COMPTLELY NEW HERE, CALLED "MERCURY
CENTER." NEWS, DELIVERED TO COMPUTER
USERS VIA PHONE LINES THAT PEOPLE CAN
DIAL IN TO. ANY OF THE 500-THOUSAND
PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE AMERICA ON-LINE
COMPUTER SERVICE CAN READ IT.
BOB INGLE--EXECUTIVE EDITOR (SOT) "One of the tremendous
advantages that a computer-based system
has over physical product is that it's
basically limitless. It's the
never-ending newspaper, if you will."
WOMAN AT TERMINAL (NARR) SUBSCRIBERS TO THE ELECTRONIC
NEWSPAPER WITH "READ MORE" EDITION CAN LOOK UP FULL TEXTS OF
INPUT CODE ON SCREEN SPEECHES AND ARTICLES THAT GET CROWDED
OUT THE REGULAR PAPER. READERS CAN
ALSO SEND ELECTRONIC MAIL TO EDITORS
AND REPORTERS.
GAY CRAWFORD AT HOME GAY CRAWFORD, A VOLUNTEER WITH THE
LOCAL BRANCH OF THE CANCER SOCIETY,
SAYS SHE HAS SEVERAL ELECTRONIC PEN
PALS ON THE NEWSPAPER STAFF.
GAY SPEAKS (SOT) "It's so immediate and it's so
easy to use. You don't have to be a
very formal letter writer, you don't
have to address this person, you don't
have to fill out an envelope and do the
stamp, you just do your casual little
`hello' and `this is what I think,' and
sign your name and it's done."
MITCH KAPOR-- It actually creates a kind of leveling
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER between the reporters and the editors
FOUNDATION and the audience because it becomes more
of a two-way conversation."
LEWIS ON-CAMERA BRIDGE (SOT) "At last count, about 100
WITH U.S. NEWS PRINTING OUT newspapers and magazines have started
ON COMPUTER SCREEN publishing electronic editions,
available via computer. More are
joining every day. One thing they're
finding is that young readers, who have
been turned off by traditional media,
are plugging in.
PHILLIP ELMER-DEWITT-- (SOT) "There's a generation of kids
TIME MAGAZINE growing up who just don't have the news
reading habit and certainly don't have
the newsmagazine reading habit. But
they are computer literate...
KIDS LOOKING UP (V.O.) "A lot of them are very
STUFF ON COMPUTERS comfortable with the computer networks.
MONTAGE OF MAGAZINES AND And in their own way, they've become
NEWSPAPERS ON-SCREEN sort-of information junkies."
(NARR) WHILE TIME AND U.S. NEWS ARE
DELIVERED THROUGH PHONE LINES BEFORE
THE REGULAR EDITION HIT THE STREETS,
NEWSWEEK PUBLISHES AN ELECTRONIC
EDITION QUARTERLY ON COMPACT DISCS,
CALLED "CD-ROMS."
"NEWSWEEK INTERACTIVE" DEMO NEWSWEEK INTERACTIVE, LETS READERS
MANIPULATE TEXT, PICTURES, SOUNDS AND
EVEN SHORT VIDEO CLIPS PLAYED ON THEIR
COMPUTER SCREENS.
(NATSOT---a few seconds of "Newsweek
Interactive" playing on computer
screen.)
HEWLETT-PACKARD DEMO (NARR) A NUMBER OF HIGH-TECH
COMPANIES...LIKE HEWLETT-PACKARD...ARE
WORKING ON MAKING TV MORE INTERACTIVE.
HUGE STORAGE DEVICES WILL SPEW OUT
VIDEO ON DEMAND.
ONSCREEN MENU OF STORIES VIEWERS WILL BE ABLE TO SEE WHAT THEY
WANT TO SEE...WHEN THEY WANT TO SEE
IT...ANY HOUR OF THE DAY OR NIGHT.
JIM OLSON-- (SOT) "By the turn of the century, by
HEWLETT-PACKARD the year 2000, more than half of U.S.
consumers will be using these types of
products and services."
MERCURY PRESSES RUNNING (NARR) NO ONE IS PREDICTING THE
IMMINENT DEMISE OF NEWSPAPERS, OR
MAGAZINES OR TV NETWORKS OR YOUR LOCAL
STATION. BUT IT'S CLEAR THAT THE SYSTEM
FOR DELIVERING NEWS TO MILLIONS OF
AMERICANS IS IN FOR SOME REVOLUTIONARY
CHANGES. GEORGE LEWIS, NBC NEWS, SAN
JOSE, CALIFORNIA.
====================================================================
ANCHOR: BRIAN WILLIAMS
AND FOR OUR VIEWERS WHO HAVE ACCESS TO
THE INTERNET.. WE INVITE YOUR COMMENTS.
THE ADDRESS FOR NBC NIGHTLY NEWS ON THE
INTERNET IS "NIGHTLY AT NBC DOT COM." NO
SPACES. WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM
YOU.